EOSHD 5D Mark III Raw Shooters Guide

[EOSHD]

Audionut (mod) has asked me to write a post about the book, so those not familiar with EOSHD can understand what it is, what it isn't and what my intentions are in providing it. I have created a 106 page guide in my spare time which covers raw shooting on the 5D Mark III, the workflows, cinematography and more of my own research.

The book page at EOSHD is:
http://www.eoshd.com/eoshd-5d-mark-iii-raw-shooters-guide-pdf-book-download

I'd like to start with a thanks and a credit to the Magic Lantern team. It seems appropriate to take the one from the introduction chapter in the book itself:

---
I want to thank the Magic Lantern team for making raw recording on the 5D Mark III possible. In particular, thanks go to - A1ex, Malcolm Debono, Giovanni C, coutts, g3gg0, 1% and all the Magic Lantern developers who contributed to the achievement. My gratitude goes also to Trammell Hudson and AJ who pioneered Magic Lantern on the 5D Mark II in earlier days. Magic Lantern are not a profit seeking organization or business and donations are only sought when they need funds for a development related task.

Keep an eye on this page to see what they are up to right now and whether they require any donations: http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Donate
---

Q: Is the book my own research and 100% my own material?
A: Yes all my own research and writing - anything I didn't understand or try or refine myself with my own two hands didn't go in the book, simple as that.

Q: What is the aim of the book?
A: Education and to put stuff in one place. I also intended to take pressure away from the developers and ML Forum from having to spend so much time answering questions from new users.

Q: Any advertising in the book?
A: Zero. I doesn't run advertising on EOSHD either.

Q: What motivated you to write the book?
A: Getting to grips with raw for my own creative filmmaking. It excites me BIG TIME. The filmmaking I do drives everything on the blog. I want the best image quality I can get on a DSLR. Also I personally like to explore new technology, new aesthetics and creative features, like raw crop mode, bolt trigger - really creative and nice. I'm not participating in these forums with the intention to take knowledge, package it and sell it - I'm here to contribute. I put back in all of what I do through my blogging and forum posts.

Q: What is the book about exactly?
A: The book covers raw like a technical consultant would on a film set or in a camera technical team, and it is written like one to one advice to other filmmakers. There's a section where I list the advantages of the raw format in general for example - and what kind of filmmaking it suits and what it doesn't. A lot of effort went into structuring and writing the book in a professional way to make it straight forward for anyone, whether technical or not, to take my advice and to apply it to their shooting - or even to glean some creative inspiration from it.

Q: What do I get from it?
A: You will get a chunk of my brain.

It's not just from the last eventful few weeks but from nearly a year of raw with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Resolve. It's all in there!

Q: ML is free. The guide is not in that spirit?
A: I love the spirit of altruistic giving and open source, open standards and I also support the EFF. Through EOSHD I want to contribute my test shoots, creative shoots, blog posts, forum posts all for free.

It is only fair I take some of this work on my own shoulders of explaining Magic Lantern to the broader film community (as well as getting more people using it on the filmmaking projects) as it's my day job. Precisely for that reason (it being a full time job) I have to charge a small amount for the book ($19.99) as I did my Anamorphic Guide and the GH2 Shooter's Guide. The day job funds the creation of the material itself and without it I would probably have to get a job in McDonalds

I'm interested in leading an interesting creative career, not having the nicest tombstone in the graveyard but reality means a creative pursuit requires funding, as well as investment back in... More so I think original content like the book and original work like ML *deserves* rewarding. In some cases the reward can't be monetary unfortunately (due to legal risks). I'm trying to get Canon to back the project so ML can start taking donations more regularly without fear of legal issues coming up. Wouldn't we all like to give up or day jobs and do what we love for money? It's important

Q: Precisely what does the book cover?
A: It is 12 chapters and 106 pages. Here's a list of selected highlights -

• Comprehensive workflow guides including - Cinema DNG, CineForm raw, native raw, ProRes, LOG conversion and grading, LUTs, Resolve, Premiere, After Effects
  EOSHD's recommended settings for raw video
  My own Magic Lantern installation guide
  A guide to the raw recording features, including performance enhancements
  A guide to editing 5D Mark III raw video directly in Adobe Premiere without transcoding
  Anamorphic shooting advice and aspect ratio cheat-sheet
  Using Kodak, Fuji and Alexa film looks for Resolve (by Hunter and Juan)
  How to use 1:1 crop mode and continuous 3.5K raw 10fps timelapse recording in video mode (without mechanical shutter)
  Overcrank 48p / 50p / 60p for raw slow-mo
  Going beyond 1080p resolution at 24fps, what the stable settings are
  A guide to recommended software
  Understanding data rates and a buyer's guide to Compact Flash cards
  Technical glossary, trouble-shooting, test shoots, shootouts and FAQ

Also creative advice, such as....

• Raw shooting advice
  Cinematography / shooting tips from myself
  Advice on applying raw to your specific kind of filmmaking

Cheers everyone. It's a great community, long may it continue. If any the devs need a copy, please email me and you can have a complimentary one. Furthermore, I am happy to help advice with the official documentation and manual if you think my input would be useful for such a project.

[hirethestache]

 What shame you have taking a profit on this. I am appalled.

[EOSHD]

Yes making a profit off EOSHD material and my own hard work. How terrible.

[hirethestache]

Making a profit off of something that is...

1) Not yet officially stable, or even alpha release
2) Created off the volunteered hard work of dozens of others, with zero help from yourself from a development standpoint
3) Littered with inevitably-outdated facts that have the potential of misleading consumers
4) Using the mask "donation" when "mandatory payment" is applicable
5) Without mention of any plan to donate back to the ML team

Please, in one sentence tell me how you can justify the ethical standards of this?

[EOSHD]

Making a profit off of something that is...

1) Not yet officially stable, or even alpha release
2) Created off the volunteered hard work of dozens of others, with zero help from yourself from a development standpoint
3) Littered with inevitably-outdated facts that have the potential of misleading consumers
4) Using the mask "donation" when "mandatory payment" is applicable
5) Without mention of any plan to donate back to the ML team

Please, in one sentence tell me how you can justify the ethical standards of this?

Does it have to be one sentence or can it be two, sir?

I'M NOT MAKING A PROFIT FROM MAGIC LANTERN I AM MAKING IT FROM MY OWN MATERIAL.

That is all there really is to it.

Magic Lantern also are not profiteering off the back of Canon. They're doing their own research and work.

1) People want to learn as early as possible. Most of the commits are bug fixes, not new features or huge sweeping changes.
2) By that logic, if you make a profit from your filmmaking shot using Magic Lantern, that is MORALLY WRONG also no?
3) You've not read the book so don't see how you can comment on the contents, simples.
4) Mandatory payment? If you don't like it don't buy it. EOSHD is free, you forget that obviously, but still follow me.
5) If you were aware of the lengths I am going to with Canon to legitimise ML in their eyes, the end result will be worth a million donations.

[Danne]

"5) If you were aware of the lengths I am going to with Canon to legitimise ML in their eyes, the end result will be worth a million donations."

Could you elaborate on this? Are you in contact with canon, discussing about magic lantern? So what,s the talk. Appreciated or not?

[EOSHD]

Yes I am in touch. Appreciative but cautious I'd say. Plus there's a lot of internal politics, which prevents them from putting the statement of support out that I asked for. It is going to take time, but I am still pushing for it.

[AnotherDave]

I think this is cool.  Glad someone is compiling a lot of the information into a place where people have access to it.

It is pretty tough to follow on this site, and this will only serve to (1) get magic lantern raw into more people's hands, and (2) make it more widely accepted as a professional recording format.

[Audionut]

This isn't the thread to discuss the spirit of this guide.  Discussion relating to the spirit of this guide and any other discussion not directly related to the content of this guide, should go in this thread.

Keep the discussion here civil and on-topic.

Thanks.

[EOSHD]

To the complainers who think capitalism is illegal, don't lower the tone here. If you have a problem with me, use my forum, or even better a PM. http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/2927-the-eoshd-5d-mark-iii-raw-shooters-guide-available-now/page-3

[nightvision04]

EOSHD, thanks for being self-motivated in solving a problem and making it worth your while. Nice job.

Magic Lantern devs, thank you (on a different order of magnitude) for pioneering vision and engineering the technology of Magic Lantern. I believe Entrepreneurs and Engineers are two very valid roles when scaling up an open source project.

I too am an entrepreneur, so I'm familiar with growing pains and resistance to an evolving project. My tendency is to smell an opportunity, accelerate interest around it (invited or not), and get things done. I package and sell the work of others.

EOSHD, I totally get it. Good initiative. Keep connecting people.

[ChadMuffin]

As changes are made to the ML firmware and new workflow methods develop, will you update your guide?

[N/A]

Why not expand upon the idea to make it a complete raw video guide, and encompass other brands such as Black Magic? That would definitely be worth the money imho.

[g3gg0]

there is a thing i hate more than people who make profit: people who want everything for free

but i am fine with people who sell their work, even if it is based on other's work.
as long credits go where it is advisable and no work of others is being sold as your own.
but thats what i already said in the other thread.

that said - lets not discuss about captialism and socialism, there is enough other stuff to do.

@EOSHD:
i am no raw filmer, but i am interested in your article.
just to get an inspiration what else is missing and where users may see the problems.

[EOSHD]

I will PM you a complimentary copy g3gg0.

Cheers

[EOSHD]

As changes are made to the ML firmware and new workflow methods develop, will you update your guide?

Yes. Revisions will be ongoing and revised documents sent to readers automatically via my mailing system.

[g3gg0]

thanks.
i looked over it and it looks like a good starter's guide with a lot details, background and experiences.
it is worth it's money if you are new to videography and magic lantern.

OT:
i am just paying 1k$ here at work for a primitive software to mount USB devices via network to
share the 25 dongles with approx. 10k$ cost per dongle via network.
so the 20 bucks are more like a donation

[EOSHD]

thanks.
i looked over it and it looks like a good starter's guide with a lot details, background and experiences.
it is worth it's money if you are new to videography and magic lantern.

OT:
i am just paying 1k$ here at work for a primitive software to mount USB devices via network to
share the 25 dongles with approx. 10k$ cost per dongle via network.
so the 20 bucks are more like a donation

Yes! the real world non-socialist workers like us must spend or die

'Dongle nightmare' Here's my equivalent...



I wonder if the trolls realise how much of my own money was necessary to make ONE BOOK about anamorphic lenses?

[hjfilmspeed]

Thank you for your hard work!!! I found out about ML RAW via your site and i have been successfully running the nightly builds on my MarkIII  for at least a month now. 

[driftwood]

Reidy's alright - he just winds people up now and again.

But you gotta hand it to him - he works hard at helping people on his site. There's nothing stopping others doing what he does - the reality is few can be bothered/are able to do it. Where's my free copy Reidy?! 

[bp]

Sure, he's charging $20, but pouring through the daily happenings here, and then constantly updating his material isn't something I'd be in the mood to do.

Also, in the process, he may be diverting stupidity, and preventing another 500 posts in this forum from newbies who can't figure out basic questions like "I installed the 5D Mark 3 Alpha build from the home page, but can't find the option to shoot raw?!?!"   heh

[eatstoomuchjam]

'Dongle nightmare' Here's my equivalent...



I wonder if the trolls realise how much of my own money was necessary to make ONE BOOK about anamorphic lenses?

While I don't object to you charging whatever you want to people who will buy your guides, it's sort of silly to complain about all the money you spent on anamorphics to write your book about anamorphic shooting since the adapters most likely haven't depreciated a lot since the time you bought them.  You could flip them and recoup a lot of your costs.  If you decided to keep them because you like shooting anamorphic, then more power to you, but that's hardly a cause for complaint.

[EOSHD]

I'm not complaining. I love my family of lenses. They were not bought to write a book, they were bought for my filmmaking. So it is not a moan, it is about making a point - and the point is this...

You can't magic anamorphic lenses out of thin air and make a book or a film. It took 3 years of searching, investing, shooting and testing to get that collection built. Consumers expect a free flow of free films, free music, free information. What they don't appreciate is the role of the creator.

When I was a student, I had a consumer mindset. Music and films for free on the internet! Great! I'm now a content creator, making films and books. This has resulted in a perspective which is 180 degrees from the consumers.

The consumer needs to appreciate that if they keep consuming for free or at extremely low prices, nobody is going to be able to supply the stuff they love. Quality things take time, they take investment, they take skill. Consumers don't see this. They expect it and take it for granted. They just want it all for free via bit torrent. When Radiohead released In Rainbows under a system of voluntary donations, 90% of their fans downloaded it for free and the average price per album was something like $2. Truly ridiculous.

Even to most of their fans, Radiohead are worth less than the price of a SINGLE PINT OF BEER to them.

If you don't value the creators, don't moan when everything is common denominator mass sales shit like Bieber teen pop and Hangover sequels.

[Audionut]

I'd like to remind everyone again, that this is not the thread to discuss the spirit of this guide or any other off topic discussion.

[mkrjf]

Could you provide details about whether Mac workflow is discussed? I can't get some of the Mac tools to work or they only produ e 8 not not 12/14. Also I have asked several times for some implementation details - do you describe how sensor is read and what exactly gets captured?
Maybe posting a few pages would help us decide if this is a glorified FAQ or a technical book.
Philosophically I think some give back to Alex / ml is really required - even if just a time amount.
<Flame on>Regarding 'talking with canon' that sounds unlikely. Which group are you talking with and you are client in Japanese right? Or you are talking with some junior is marketing rep? <flame off>
Profiting with quick start is okay if it gets you into post quickly
Mike