ML RAW video: 50D camera test

Started by TrueIndigo, June 23, 2016, 04:27:06 PM

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TrueIndigo

I finally edited some shots I made during summertime in the harbour at Weymouth (Dorset, UK) in 2013, using my Canon 50D and an old version of ML -- better late than never, I suppose! Shot with just the standard Canon kit zoom, it was my first serious test shooting with ML RAW and I recorded wild audio for some atmosphere sound. Post production workflow was: import DNG sequences into After Effects to export small proxy files (H.264 MOVs) for the off-line edit in Premiere. Then reproduce the edit in After Effects for the on-line, which includes final colour work (invoking ACR) and enlargement to 1080p25 for the export.

Almost any camera can pull off a decent close-up of something, so although it's a bit boring, I shot mostly wide views on a tripod featuring lots of detail to see how well it was resolved. It was a warm day and as expected the 50D got very hot. On a few occasions when I wasn't noticing the temperature warning turning orange, some takes were automatically terminated because the camera was forced to shut down -- sometimes the top of the pentaprism was actually too hot to touch. But turning the camera off frequently after a few takes was a reasonable working method for heat management and using a battery grip probably helped too.

It's not a short film but a camera test - the leisurely editing style is purely to give a bit of time to see the RAW image character, though it's a shame something of the sheer luxury of the RAW look does not fully survive my H.264 export followed by youtube's own secondary encoding. But I do like the character of these older Canon cameras with RAW shooting: almost incandescent colours are available in the files yet skin tones remain very natural. And the fact that the 50D can't normally shoot video at all makes it strangely rewarding. 

Some technical info
Date of shoot: 26th August, 2013.
Camera: Canon 50D (no Mosaic Engineering VAF filter fitted).
Lens: Canon kit zoom 18-55mm.
ML build: 2013jul27.50D.109.go.unified.728e571a1276.
RAW frame: 1584 x 662 x 25 fps.
Camera frame AR: 2.39:1 (final export within a 16:9 frame).
Sound recorder: Zoom H2 (wild sound).
Export: 1920 x 1080 x 25 fps H.264 MOV (12,000 kbps).

Here's the youtube link:

https://youtu.be/BemZ_oXCMII