Excuse me while I pick up the brain fragments scattered across my office. In the last few months, there have posts and chatter about raw video recording being enabled in Canon's popular DSLR through new developments in Magic Lantern's firmware. It appeared to be only useful in bursts of less than a second, but now news is coming out now that they have unlocked the ability to record, without issue, continuous raw video at 24fps.
The above video was made by Luke Neumann of Neumann Films.
I'll get right to it. Here's what has been developed as of the time of this posting:
• The data comes out as 14bit uncompressed
• Raw data can be converted in various ways in camera or on your PC or Mac to DNG or ProRes 4444
• A new raw video menu lets users select a resolutions from 1920 x 1080 to 1280 x 1280 at full frame
• 1:1 Crop mode resolutions from 3592 x 1320 to 1280 x 720. (reports of dropped frames at the highest res)
• Custom resolutions can be created as well
The threads on Magic Lantern's site can get a little dizzying, so here's the link to the thread on the development of this. Forum Thread
If you want to see the resulting DNG files for yourself, Luke Neumann of Neumann Films has graciously shared them here: DOWNLOAD DNG FILES
*****UPDATE*****
There is a video that has been released that compares the Black Magic Cinema Camera's Raw Video to the Canon 5D Mark III's raw video with magic lantern. It has been posted here: VIDEO LINK
Other important notes:
• It's only been tested on the 5D Mark III so far.
• It's not an official release (yet)
• A workflow to get it on your camera has been created by the guys over at cinema5d
• Try this at your own risk! It's still very early in development, so unless you are prepared to brick your camera because you messed up the installation, just wait until the public release is ready.
Please keep in mind that more details are still coming out on this, to keep up on the latest, I'd suggest following the Magic Lantern Twitter account here: @autoexec_bin
Early testers at Cinema5d and EOSHD are quick to say that the footage is better than what you get out of the Black Magic Cinema Camera. This is quite a claim, and one I don't think they or anyone else is going to take lightly. I'll be keeping a close eye on any further news on this. Video out of a Canon DSLR changed the industry once, and if this Magic Lantern Firmware becomes tested and stable, it could very well change it again.
[via EOSHD]
Whoa! :D
5Dmk3 vs. Black Magic 2k comparison video : https://vimeo.com/66170436
Mind blowing.
Annnd, no Nikon hackers trying with the D800 or 600 apparently. :(
Nope and it's Nikon's fault, they jumped on the band wagon wayyy too late, as I recall some of the first Nikon DSLR's that shot video were only shooting video in Auto mode and you could get decent results with the AE lock button but it that's a quick fix not a proper solution. Meanwhile Canon was offering full manual and classic frame rates like 24p which all filmmakers know and love.
True, it is Nikons own fault. there is a Nikon hack group out there but they are kinda stagnant. The D800 does alright video. Good enough for me anyways.
haha D800 video "alright"? It bloody rocks Sir!
The film crew that produces the show Dexter think the D800 is good enough even with the in camera compression. Granted this is for the small screen, but they usually shoot the Arri Alexa and they can hardly tell the difference from the D800 uncompressed footage.
http://nofilmschool.com/2013/01/nikon-d800-hollywood-janusz-kaminski-dex...
nikon is finished kid, you use nikon you iz in the 70s, they never got their video world together, you want a real camera get a canon full frame 5d3 raw
this..... is amazing.. I am tickled to death..
OH NO! Horrible news for BMCC owners, if anybody wants to sell their BM camera let me know.
Any idea how does it downscale from 3840p to 1080p? Is it just plain line dropping, ditching away over 90% of sensor data? That tends to create quite a lot of moire at least in theory
What does Canon have to say about all of this? Seems to me that SOMEONE at Canon had to realize the capability was there in some form or another...this is more than just a simple "overclocking" of the camera. To me, it's like an aftermarket customs shop taking a Corvette and "tweaking" the insides and finding out it can fly! Either Canon knew it was possible but didn't push it for some reason, or the folks at Magic Lantern are wizards from some alternate universe, lol
I'm sorry but everyone knows EOSHD claims should always be taken with a grain of salt. I think Black Magic is still the best answer for a RAW recording "working tool", even the BMPocketCC is pushing it on short record times (about 10 minutes fills a 64GB card) but at least it's a usable length that's stable and includes reference audio.
Honestly, I agree whole heartedly. The ML hack is in no way something people should be doing full productions with, at least not at this point. I just tested it and while it's fully capable, it feels sketchy and I've already had one out of 3 shots not code properly into .dng files in the post workflow because I was too excited and turned off the camera too soon after stopping the clip. The Black Magic camera is a production camera and people should remember that a 5D is a photo camera first and foremost. That being said I am super happy to have this hack on my camera, at the very least my personal projects and music videos are probably going to be shot in RAW from here on out.
ps. Reference audio is nice but not necessary. Having worked with film for ages, I'm used to using a clapper and syncing in post ;)
Andrew Reid is probably best writer and in DSLR video and understands the technology too. Why the hate?
since there isn't much of a difference between the 5D Mk ii and Mk iii are we safe to say that we are going to be able to take raw outpost using 5D Mk ii soon after??
I heard that the software will eventually be coming to the Canon 7D, is this true, and if so, YAY.
already done bt its cropped frame, the 5d is the only ful frame raw camera int he world, get a real camera