Performance
So… how does this SLR camera fare as a video camera? Well, I have two answers. First, the video it produces is superb – beyond anything that most video cameras are able to produce.
I’ll show you some more sample frames in the next section. However, as a video camera, it is lacking a lot of features that make it difficult to use for filmmaking.
Now before we get into all the cool things about how the footage looks, we do need to address one issue of performance. For some reason, when the camera records video, there is an annoying, constant clicking sound that renders the audio unusable. (It almost sounds like a mechanical shutter opening and closing very quickly, which is odd because the camera uses a rolling shutter when acquiring video.)
The solution is either use a remote microphone or go with second sound. Of course, although it does have a mini-mic jack, the camera doesn’t have XLR inputs or Phantom power to drive a professional microphone. And the camera is difficult enough to move for cinematic effect as it is, without having cables attached to it.
Now with that said, let’s take a look at some still images from video clips.
The clarity of the images and the faithfulness of the images to the original colors is simply unbelievable. No wonder the EOS 5D Mark II has won so many awards for the excellence of its still images. I’ve seen some beautiful imagery before from some of the top prosumer video cameras available, and the images that the EOS 5D Mark II produces just blows everything else away in terms of quality. Look at the detail in the grass, the slight depth blur in the gate, the fine detail in the wood grain of the fence. It’s just eye-popping.
