Shooting ML RAW video for the first time, in the Southern Alps of New Zealand

[basementvision]

For a Long time I wanted to try out ML RAW but couldn't afford the right equipment. I have been traveling for the past few years and my first post to this forum years back was about using ML while shooting a documentary film about coral reefs, where I was shooting on my 7D for all of my scuba underwater shoots. I purchased a 5dii last August and built a nice lens collection over the years. Last week I embarked on a trip with my partner, to go and shoot in the Southern Alps of New Zealand for social media content for two commercial brands. So I took the plunge to get hold of a fast memory card and finally have a go at shooting ML RAW in a place which would look ultra incredible.

I wanted to compile my experience on here incase anyone could benefit from what I learnt in a small amount of time with a focus on using ML RAW to film in sub zero temperatures and within a lightweight backcountry setup, and also to enjoy some shots from the mountains! I am a travel filmmaker from England, currently pitched up in New Zealand. For the past ten years I have shot across America, Europe, Asia and most lately in the Oceania region.

Setting off for a week of adventure in the snow, I had the following key items in my bag along with lots of other kit which I might end up mentioning:
- 5d ii
- 16-35mm f4 IS, 24-105mm f4 IS, 70-200mm f4 IS
- Lexar 1066x 64gb
- Macbook Pro & Sandisk card reader
- SYRP Genie & Magic Carpet
- Manfrotto 535 carbon sticks w/501 head



I picked up the memory card the day before my flight so I had no time to practice with it. I have been reading these forums for some time in order to prepare for the experience, so first things I did with the card after unboxing was to run a bench speed test. I was somewhat disappointed with the results, and immediately thought I had bought a dud card (from a private seller in Auckland NZ, which I had swapped for an old Rode shotgun mic). I then did a bit more reading and found out that this could be due to the really old build, from 2013, that I was using! After downloading the latest build and installing it to the card and camera, I had somewhat worse results?

Old build test 5dii w/ Lexar 1066x 64gb CF:


New build test 5dii w/ Lexar 1066x 64gb CF:


I set up for a really quick test and set the resolution to the highest I read you can shoot on the 5dii, 1856x1044, which would work just fine for me stretching out to full 1080, or down to 720 if needed. I had just bought myself a new 16-35mm f4 IS, so it was also my first test with that. But I didn't have long to play around as like normal, I had left all my packing to the last moment . I got a burst of around 20 seconds I think it was until ML stopped the recording automagically. I dumped the .RAW to my computer and unpacked with raw2dng. This gave me a folder with all the individual frames, and also a PRORES .mov - I then proceeded to select all the frames, and open in PS for some quick CC.



Already very impressed with the increased dynamic range compared to the factory video from the camera. Colour correction was very easy (exactly how I treat my RAW photos). Once complete, a simple batch save to JPEG and then import as sequence into Premiere. I will be continuing this post with the results from my shooting, so please do follow and if I can answer any questions then by all means fire away - although I am completely new to this way of shooting too .

Link to h264 exported clip: https://www.dropbox.com/s/61guv9ui1p6kcti/first-raw-video-test-5d-ii-magic-lantern.mp4?dl=0