The ever-enterprising crowd over at the Cinema5D forums have managed to overcome the most sought-after complaint by those who use the Canon 5D MarkII camera for shooting video – the lack of any manual control over audio levels.
In particular, the user “Hudson” has developed an alternative firmware named 5D Mark Free which not only disables the automatic audio gain control (AGC) leaving it set to the default +36 dB, but now also adds onscreen audio meters (see video above).
Bear in mind this firmware remains heavily in “alpha” territory… it’s a proof-of-concept so far, not a working version for everyone to flash today, in fact it’s not available for download yet.
But what is very significant indeed is that it proves once and for all that it is actually possible. There is not an unknown hardware limitation, it’s merely a question of developing the right firmware.
Canon? The ball would appear to be in your court….
Photographer Doug Plummer’s blog posts a news release from XLR audio adapter company BeachTek announcing their new model specifically designed for the Canon 5D Mark II. Back in January of this year photographer Edmond Terakopian posted a preview of the device.
This isn’t just a simple XLR adapter like the rest of the company’s product line, but includes one special feature to overcome a specific problem that photographers and videographers using the camera have been complaining about since the camera was launched – namely that it applies audio Auto-Gain Control (AGC) all the time, with no way for the user to switch it off and exercise manual audio gain control.
The new device is said to get around the problem by “sending a high frequency inaudible tone to the left channel of the camera” – in effect tricking the AGC circuit into thinking volume is at a high, fixed level all the time and so applying a fixed level of gain, which in turn allows the user to control overrall gain via a dial on the device (if my reading of the technology is correct). The device also allows the photographer to monitor the audio in real-time with headphones, another feature missing from the camera itself.
According to the press release posted the device will be shipping at the end of May for $379. Of course it would all be a lot simpler if Canon just allowed the user to switch AGC off completely, which presumably could be done via a firmware update… although there’s no clear sign of that coming.
For lots of discussion on the subject of the camera’s audio and other features as regards shooting video, take a look at these sites:
The Canon EOS 5D MkII can shoot video in either 640×480 (VGA) or 1920×1080 (1080P, Full HD) resolution, both encoded with H.264 video compression. Playing video files in the former is easy, but the sheer amount of data that needs to be processed with 1920×1080 resolution can tax even quite modern computers. VLC has been my video player of choice for many years as it is free, open-source, and will play virtually everything you can throw at it – but disappointingly I couldn’t get it to play 5D MkII videos without major stuttering or no playback at all.
Go to Tools > Preferences
In the lower left of the box click the checkbox “Show settings – All”
Then go to Input & Codecs > Other Codecs > FFmpeg and look for the option called “Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding”
Change it from “none” to “all”
Restart VLC
I’ve tried it on Windows and all the 5DmkII videos that were problematic before now play perfectly. It also works on Mac, though you may not need to do it on that platform.
Bear in mind this method DOES reduce the playback quality (by not doing any de-blocking noise reduction), so if you aren’t having problems with playback then don’t do it, but if you are then it’s pretty useful.
The RED rumors continue… this time it’s that RED is working on a sensor called Mysterium “Monstro” (Who makes these names up?) that will go into their planned EPIC camera, but more interestingly for photographers would find its way into “another camera aimed squarely at the DSLR market“.
Now that’s not to say it will actually resemble a DSLR – but it’s a clear sign that RED see the potential of the stills needs of photo-video-journalists.
The rumors and plans of RED always seem to be a long way ahead of their actual available products, but nevertheless this is additional evidence of the coming fusion of video and stills cameras.
Just in case the recent announcement of Nikon’s D90 DSLR with high-definition 720p movie mode wasn’t enough for you.
It seems interactive panoramas are all the rage, or I’m just noticing them more. The New York Times yesterday posted this 360 degree panorama shot from the top of the 10-meter diving platform at the Olympics, with commentary from American diver Thomas Finchum. Technically speaking it’s quite impressive, but the empty stadium leaves it without the fascinating details of this one by Kari Kuukka that I wrote about yesterday.
US Photographic equipment retailer B&H have put together a useful guide aimed at those considering buying one of the new generation of Digital Audio recorders.
There’s a lot of good models out there now, so choosing the right one for your particular needs isn’t so easy. Places to look for good reviews of such equipment include Brad Linder’s digital home and Transom. Also see this previous post. Hat-tip to Tewfic for alerting me to this quide.
3072 x 1728 pixel images at 120 fps (180fps burst) from a handheld device powering a sensor named Mysterium X?
Welcome to the truly terrifying innovative future of photography….. You can leave your Leicas at the door.
