testing the 5dmkII



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6WLudodYv4

click on the HD button if you have a decent internet connection.

Since my RED camera is in Chicago on a shoot, I broke out the 5dmkII for a quick promo video. It's no RED cam, but considering that it took 15 minutes to set up and 15 minutes to shoot, I think it looks pretty good. The 5dmkII really isn't meant to be a video camera, but with some creative workarounds it is possible to get some decent looking stuff. The backlights are just stage lights and the front lights are 2 of the very affordable 4x55 softlights from coollights.biz. I know some of you guys are using work lights from home depot to light and while it does sort of work, if you can swing the extra cash, the cool lights stuff is a much better option at $359 each. You can get them with daylight or tungsten balanced tubes depending on your needs. If that seems freakishly unaffordable, check out how much kinoflos cost. :)

As an alternative to that, pick up a couple of the cool lights softbox bulbs at $79 each and build your own softboxes or umbrellas. All you need is a mogul (lamp) base, some white ripstop nylon or a cheap photo umbrella. It wouldn't be much light to a red camera but for the 5dmkII you could probably get away with it. If you want to mix normal tungsten lights in the background, make sure and get the tungsten balanced bulbs. Another common thing to do is to stick the bulb in a china ball, which is merely one of those white paper chinese lanterns. You can get a lot of this stuff at www.filmtools.com. For nice soft light though, I like at least a 3 foot foot soft box, which is why I double up these lights. Also remember, the farther away you put a softbox, the harder the light source gets since the rays become more and more parallel. Usually I have the softbox just out of frame.

If you're determined to use work lights, there's some info at the coollights site about how to convert them to fluorescents and a kit to add barn doors.

Posted: Wed - April 8, 2009 at 01:38 PM          

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