DSLR video downfalls, and what I’m hoping for in the Canon 5D Mark III

5Dmk2 with a 100-400L lens. Beautiful

There’s a possibility of a Canon 5D Mark III announcement coming in March April, according to Canon Rumors . Needless to say, I wait hourly for that announcement. Sure, I’m excited about the new Sony camera with an S35 sensor, the Panasonic AF100, and especially the RED Scarlet, but what ever happened to product loyalty? I’ve shot Canon my entire professional life, and have loved their cameras. I’ve used most of their recently made cameras, but my first was the Canon GL2, MiniDV Standard Definition. 4:1:1 color space baby! Somewhere in there I bought A Rebel XT and a Rebel XTi. I then moved onto the XHA1, miniDV HDV camera… ooooo… Then finally graduated into the 5D Mark ii. A still camera that shoots video. The revolution begins! I picked up my 5D Mark ii back in early 2009, at the bleeding edge of the DSLR video storm. Back then, the Nikon D90 was the talk of camera folk (and that video quality sucked!) I vividly remember taking the 5D Mark ii out for tests and being completely blown away by the video I was shooting. Gradually the love affair lost it’s initial luster and the quirks of the workflow began to stick out. I made an early short list of problems with the DSLR:

• H.264 codec is a problem. Convert to….?
• Big Rolling shutter issues (and coming from a CCD camera… wow!)
• Alaising in fine detail (which I later defined as moiré  patterns)
• 11 minute limit on recording time
• No pro-audio inputs (and with earlier firmware, only Auto Gain Control… no manual)
• No real tools for exposure (Histogram came later)

Finally! Manual control on Audio. Wait-wait-wait... what do you mean I can only monitor levels from the menu? Firmware 2.0.4

It was quite a list of negatives on the camera. Yet all of those instantly disappeared when I shot an interview in a small 10’x10′ room and was able to open my aperture and throw everything in the room completely out of focus, except my subject. I suddenly had access to THOUSANDS of lenses. Talk about creative freedom! I also noticed that the DSLR was much more sensitive to light than my 1/3″ chip on my XHA1. Whereas a 2:1 lighting ratio on the face of a subject would be fairly subtle on the footage of my XHA1, the 5D marvelously captured a separation of brightness like I had never seen. The dynamic range on this $2600 camera was absolutely unbelievable. Still, nearing two years later, the new wave of cameras coming to market jab at my side when I spend extra time syncing audio… or transcoding footage… or carefully planning around hectic moves to avoid rolling shutter.

I decided a day or so ago to post my “realistic” dream list for the Canon 5D Mark iii. Things that I think are possible and hope to see in the camera. If I’m lucky, someone from Canon will see it and send me a preproduction model of the camera (wink, wink).

• h.264 codec is ok for in camera, but selectable bitrates. Ideally prores would be amazing.
• Faster scan on CMOS chip, thus little to no rolling shutter
• Longer record times (11 minute clips can be a real challenge)
• Pro Audio inputs (or a module from canon that you can buy extra to stick underneath, like the juicedlink system but integrated into the menus and such)
• On-screen audio levels while recording
• Tools to measure exposure (zebras, false color, IRE meter, RGB histogram, ANY or ALL!)
• 1080/24 Full, uncompressed 10-bit SDI/HDMI output
• Selectable framerates (up to 60fps at 1080 would more than satisfy)
• Something other than line skipping. Alaising is killer! Use that awesome 120 megapixel technology

Maybe these items are too much to ask. Maybe there’s corporate red tape that prevents this power from residing in one camera. But I’ll say this… If a camera came out with these features at a full frame sensor, similar to the DSLR with upgrades and around the same $2600 price, it would be game over. Canon would dominate the market uncontested. I mean, who would take a 4/3″ sensor when you could have a full frame that does it all? And still takes stills?

I’m a dreamer and idealist. I recognize my lofty requests. But Canon engineer, if we can have a brief heart to heart for a minute: If you design the 5D mark III with the video features that make it easy to shoot, and take care of the few flaws, there won’t be a corner of the Earth that your camera doesn’t dominate.