Last Wednesday I used my two 5D MkII’s in a 3 camera music video shoot. The third camera was a Sony PMW-EX1. Audio was recorded on two additional devices. One audio recording device was an Edirol R4 Pro. The other audio recording setup was a Tascam USB Interface to a MacBook Pro.

The Sony Camera, Edirol, and Tascam/MacBook Pro devices all synced sound perfectly over the full duration of the shoot (just over 20 minutes). To clarify – once the different sources are sync’d quickly and easily to the slate clap on the waveform at the beginning of the shoot they all stayed perfectly in sync for the rest of the video.

Both Canon cameras audio and video sync’d perfectly to each other but drifted significantly from the other 3 devices even over a 3 minute segment. The is a very serious problem for me and one that introduces significant post-production trouble expense.

This issue was so unexpected that I performed 3 subsequent tests to confirm that the 5D MkII’s run too fast. The results from the test show both of my 5D Mark II run about 14 frames too fast in 10 minutes. Audio that is 1 full frame out of sync is noticeable on sharp sounds causing an echo. Audio that is 2 or 3 frames out of sync looks odd in terms of lip sync.

That the two Canon cameras audio sync’d OK to each other tells me that the cameras can be calibrated to a standard. Evidently they are just calibrated to an incorrect standard.

Anybody else experience this? Does anybody really know if this is likely a chip issue or a firmware issue? Does anyone know an easy reliable way to get the clips to conform to the standard without time-consuming constant tweaking?

Thanks for your help!
Mike

Thanks for your answer i am thinking of buying the camera but i want to see the reviews on the video, its the video section on the camera that makes me say the camera is worth the price it is, if it didn’t have the video function i wouldn’t be willing to pay that much as my 5d cost £1200.

thanks
juanita

I have found that using a good mic is essential and well worth the investment, personally I use a Robe VideoMic see http://uk.rodemic.com/microphone.php?product=VideoMic

It was quite well priced and fits into the hotshoe, just don’t forget to turn it on

I have found people really like a bit of video mixed into a slideshow, and I really love the confetti idea, I may have to try that one!

At the moment I am right at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to photography, so maybe the video doesn’t look too out of place, I think it would become difficult to maintain higher standards of video production in line with getting to be better photographer. I will be very interested to see what you do with the technology here.

Cheers

Cris.

The output of the camera was on the HD plasma screen live whilst I shot the ‘bride’ pictures. The HDMI output will be useful for training purposes too. I hope this helps.

Damien.

thanks
juanita

I’m definitely thinking of getting the new 5D for my wedding shots – it will certainly be an extra service that I can provide.

http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/20/something-very-interesting-is-comingboth-to-this-blog-and-to-our-industry/

I thought that with the confetti you’d shoot video then at the peak of the action take a couple of stills and then let the video kick in again a second or so later. When edited together I’d expect to have a bit of slow motion video running at 50% speed cut to a still shot via ‘peak white flash’ transition, hold on the still for 2 seconds before returning to video footage at 50% speed. I think it would be a really good look.

For the vows I’d have the 5D mk2 running all the time on video whilst I shot stills from the second body

I can see clients being reluctant to have no stills of say the vows or ring exchange but if you can say “look I can make you a page of stills from the movie footage” then you have quite a compelling proposition.