5D2 vs 5D3 - file limit and other

[Kadzam]

I'm in the market for a new camera and really keen for shooting raw video. It's the main reason that I want to switch from Nikon. I have a feeling that the 7D2 will tick all my boxes but for the time being I need to decide between the 5D2 and 5D3. I can't get my hands on either camera for a good play so it would be great if you could help me understand the 5D2's shortcomings compared to the 5D3.

4GB limit
I understand that I have about 1 minute with the 5D2. What happens if the file limit is reached? Does the recording stop and the file is written? Does it corrupt the file? Does it start a new file? Is it best to stop recording before the limit is hit?


Switching between raw photo and raw video
Most of the time I take photos and the videos are just a bonus. Is it easy to toggle between raw stills and video? Or do I have to go deep in the menu to shoot raw video? Is either camera better for hybrid shooting?
It bothers me that the 5D2 has only one card slot. Can the 5D3 save videos and still on separate cards (ie CF for video, SD for stills)?


Upscaling
I see the 5D2 comes really close to 1080p. Do people bother with upscaling to 1080p? If yes, do you upscale at photo level or do you export the video as 1080p? Is the tiny resolution difference an issue for you?

Aliasing
I've read about aliasing issues with the 5D2. Is this a general problem of the 5D2 or related to shooting raw? The sample videos I have seen don't look too bad but it's really hard to tell from youtube videos. Is it only an issue with certain fabrics/buidlings or do you find it really distracting? Who is mostly affected by this problem?

Other
Can you think of any deal-breakers and good reasons why you would buy the 5D3?

I'm sorry for the many questions and I know that much of it has been covered ad nausea. But I've had a Nikon over the last year and 5Ds are new terrain for me. Anyway I appreciate all the pointers!

[Africashot]

I'm in the market for a new camera and really keen for shooting raw video. It's the main reason that I want to switch from Nikon. I have a feeling that the 7D2 will tick all my boxes but for the time being I need to decide between the 5D2 and 5D3. I can't get my hands on either camera for a good play so it would be great if you could help me understand the 5D2's shortcomings compared to the 5D3.

4GB limit
I understand that I have about 1 minute with the 5D2. What happens if the file limit is reached? Does the recording stop and the file is written? Does it corrupt the file? Does it start a new file? Is it best to stop recording before the limit is hit?


Switching between raw photo and raw video
Most of the time I take photos and the videos are just a bonus. Is it easy to toggle between raw stills and video? Or do I have to go deep in the menu to shoot raw video? Is either camera better for hybrid shooting?
It bothers me that the 5D2 has only one card slot. Can the 5D3 save videos and still on separate cards (ie CF for video, SD for stills)?


Upscaling
I see the 5D2 comes really close to 1080p. Do people bother with upscaling to 1080p? If yes, do you upscale at photo level or do you export the video as 1080p? Is the tiny resolution difference an issue for you?

Aliasing
I've read about aliasing issues with the 5D2. Is this a general problem of the 5D2 or related to shooting raw? The sample videos I have seen don't look too bad but it's really hard to tell from youtube videos. Is it only an issue with certain fabrics/buidlings or do you find it really distracting? Who is mostly affected by this problem?

Other
Can you think of any deal-breakers and good reasons why you would buy the 5D3?

I'm sorry for the many questions and I know that much of it has been covered ad nausea. But I've had a Nikon over the last year and 5Ds are new terrain for me. Anyway I appreciate all the pointers!

Have some inputs from a 5d2 owner below:

The 4GB limit is not a problem, this only means the files are being chopped into 4GB junks, but recording continuously is possible for much longer then that

Switching between photo and video is a breathe on the 5D2 and I am sure the same counts for 5d3, essentially you can configure the buttons for each function to your own liking

Upscaling is not a challenge either, its up to you what method you use, if you were to upload to web a upscaled output should do, if it was going on the big screen you could do a detail preserved upscale to please pixel peepers but I doubt anyone could really tell the difference

Aliasing is by far the biggest problem you will have with the 5D2 of any of those things you've mentioned, get a VAF or get the 5D3, or deal with it, but be aware it will show in places you wouldn't even dream of, and specially when shooting raw

Other: There are many others, low light performance, 48+ fps, resolution, dual cards, etc... the 5D3 is simply more advanced and the 5D2 is over 5 years old and I wouldn't hold my breath for the 7DII either, from what I hear it going to be a fresh load of the same crap canon has been giving us for years now...

[Kadzam]

Thanks that's very helpful. I'm into underwater/wildlife photography and there are few straight lines. So I tell myself that I can live with the aliasing. What is hard to stomach is the lack of active focus even in the 5D3. I was hoping that the 7D would have that sorted plus 4k video. It will be interesting to see whether they went out of their way to stop ML. I still don't know where Canon stands with ML.

Is it possible to delete raw videos to free-up some space? Or do I have to take the card out of the camera? 

[Walter Schulz]

Is it possible to delete raw videos to free-up some space?

Possible via File-Manager module.

[Africashot]

Thanks that's very helpful. I'm into underwater/wildlife photography and there are few straight lines. So I tell myself that I can live with the aliasing. What is hard to stomach is the lack of active focus even in the 5D3. I was hoping that the 7D would have that sorted plus 4k video. It will be interesting to see whether they went out of their way to stop ML. I still don't know where Canon stands with ML.

Is it possible to delete raw videos to free-up some space? Or do I have to take the card out of the camera? 

I do a lot of wildlife myself and if I tell you will get aliasing and specially moire in places like the foliage of trees with the 5D2 you probably won't believe me until you see it for yourself... for under water the low light extra on 5D3 also comes in handy, either one will do better then the 7D here. You can do a lot to prevent aliasing but once moire is in the image you are screwed, and this happens to me a lot.
4K on the 7DII? I'd love that but that's wishful thinking, there is no way Canon is going to hand this to their Semi-pro flagship replacement, the speculated rumors are not mentioning this anywhere and those speculations almost every time surpass reality. I can almost guarantee you there will be nothing exciting happening on the video side of things, only higher resolution in stills and faster bursts, maybe some better low light performance, but that's going to be it. Where Canon stands with ML? They ignore it the same way they ignore anyone using their DSLRs for anything other then stills, if you want video pay for something in the C line, that's their attitude.

[Midphase]

If you're interested in raw video, and you can afford it, then the 5D3 is the camera to buy. It is simply the least compromise, highest resolution, best of everything camera for ML raw at the moment.

[Kadzam]

Thanks everyone for the valuable input. It helped me a lot with my decision and in the end it came down to price. Going the 5D2 route was $3000 cheaper ($2000 camera, $1000 u/w housing). I'd rather put those funds towards a trip and I bought a 128GB 1000x Lexar.

It's hard to overstate how much I LOVE THE RAW VIDEO and it makes me feel that I have wasted all my life.  I've come across a few relatively minor issues that I wanted to clarify:

1. 1880 x 1016 worked when I enabled small hacks which in turn disables auto exposure. How should I feel about the lack of auto-exposure? I would rather have it I think. Any other way I could free-up enough buffer for this resolution? How come I can't select 1856 x 1004, which is supposed to be highest available resolution for 5D2s?

2. In the Canon menu, I set movie recording as a custom function for the 'set' button. It's a shame that it records videos the regular .mov way. Is it possible to have a dedicated raw video button?

3. Is it true that it's better to set image quality to small jpeg for recording raw videos? I saw that in a video tutorial.