July 13 at 8:22am

It Does Keep Getting Better And Better

The evidence is out there. The future is less painful than the present. Our tools keep improving. Access too. Thus opportunity. Wasn’t it less than a year ago that we hadn’t seen all that a DSLR camera can do? Evidently, REVERIE was the first 1080p video widely released that was shot with the Canon 5D MKII. I am sure that the millions of folks who have now watched it weren’t all filmmakers, but still you can feel the excitement of watching it for the first time and recognizing what you can do with these cameras. They’ve already made films I am involved in better.

Reverie from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.


  • Digg
  • Google Bookmarks
  • email
  • Print
  • Sabrina
    Interestingly, while the whole thin-focus aesthetic has blossomed because of DSLRs and, before them 35mm adapters on standard camcorders, there are quite a few earlier examples to be found in random places. przeprowadzki It all looks brilliant, and I’ve only just started playing around with the features. I particularly like the improvements they’ve made to the profile pop-ups, and everything feels really slick and modern.
  • Sarah
    Great video, thanks for that! Maybe you can get some more inspiration on here http://www.amusementhub.co.uk
  • I like this topic. thx anyway =D
  • When I bought my first camera I ended up with a lens adapter, sure I lost some light, but I could make my video look more like film. I since upgraded to the 7D and am loving it. There are still some things that I wish it could do, but I am willing to sacrifice those things for image quality alone.

    These cameras changed the way video and film are compared. I can hardly wait to see what happens next!
  • Brook
    While I love the low light capabilities, and am always all about pushing the cheap tools to their limit, I mourn the death of deep focus photography and aesthetics in independent film. Follow focus, shmollow focus. Shallow depth of field too often means shallow meaning and composition. But that's a personal bias I suppose, but that "House" episode shot with the 5D felt like a product demo, not filmmaking. Given the choice I'd take an upper-level Vixia, an HMC-100 or even a DVX100 over a DSLR in most circumstances.
    If I was shooting commercials or some types of music video I'd probably feel differently.
  • mutinyco
    They're good but not perfect. And I'm saying that as somebody who shoots with a DSLR.

    For instance, virtually every project I shoot features some examples of banding. Also, if you really want to take advantage of the high ISO settings while minimizing noise, 35mm still lenses, for the most part, aren't fast enough -- you really need to invest in Zeiss master primes which all open at f/1.3, but, of course, cost $300 per day per lens to rent. The other thing is the H.264 video compression which allows users to shoot 45 minutes of 1080p with only 16 gb of memory -- as opposed to the HVX200 which would've only shot about 30 minutes with the same memory at only 720p in DVCPROHD (what are you losing in all that compression? Information.)

    Interestingly, while the whole thin-focus aesthetic has blossomed because of DSLRs and, before them 35mm adapters on standard camcorders, there are quite a few earlier examples to be found in random places. You can see it in the candle light sequences in Barry Lyndon, as the Zeiss lenses used were actually 50mm still lenses opened up to f/0.7. You can also see a similar effect in the video for REM's Everybody Hurts, shot by Harris Savides, back in '93.
  • The HDSLR option is very exciting, indeed! We will be shooting my feature film on the Canon 7D next month. Why? Because of it's low-light capability and small size, it lends itself to our primary location, my small home, where there is little power and minimal space. We're very excited!
blog comments powered by Disqus

This site could not have been built without the help and insight of Michael Morgenstern. My thanks go out to him.

Help save indie film and give this guy a job in web design or film!