Low-light street videography with the 5DMkIII/4k anamorphic, 12-bit lossless RAW

[IDA_ML]

Hello all,

This is my first attempt to film low-light street portrait videography at night using the 5DMkIII with the amazing EF 85/F1,4 L IS lens.  The footage was recorded hand held in the pedestrian zone of Sofia called Vitoshka.  I used the October 13-th experimental build found here:

https://bitbucket.org/Dannephoto/magic-lantern/downloads/

and filmed at 12-bit RAW with lossless compression in the anamorphic 1360x2296 mode which results in 4080x2296 final resolution.  Overall, very pleased by the video quality from the above setup:

Postprocessing workflow:
----------------------------

1) MLVApp: very basic adjustments - white balance, exposure, curves, saturation, sharpness, export in ProRes 422 LT,

2) DaVinci Resolve Lite: cutting, mounting and adding text and music, final export in MPEG using the Quicktime codec for lowest file size.

3) Upload to Vimeo in 1920x1080 resolution without upscaling - unfortunately, my internet connection is too slow for uploading larger resolution files.

Some feedback on your part will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[timbytheriver]

@IDA_ML Really nice. Even under the street lights the skin tones look healthy.

[Danne]

And no aliasing or moiré. 5DIII is the true 4k cinema beast.

[IDA_ML]

@IDA_ML Really nice. Even under the street lights the skin tones look healthy.

Forgot to mention that I used the skin tone white balance option of MLVApp which does a fantastic job even in difficult light conditions.  Absolutely amazing job of our MLVApp developers!

[timbytheriver]

@IDA_ML Great stuff. What ISO did you shoot?

[IDA_ML]

Timbytheriver,

ISO was between 1000 and 6400 but I always expose to the right.  Did not use any noise reduction or stabilization in post. 

[garry23]

@IDA_ML

In general it’s only worth ETTRing below about ISO 1600 on a 5D3, unless you need to use higher ISOs to access faster shutter speeds.

Above ISO 1600, the 5D3 is effectively ISO invariant. Thus ETTRing at ISO 6400 is throwing away photons and DR.

Cheers

Garry

[timbytheriver]

re the ISO - Interesting charts here: http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm

[IDA_ML]

In general it’s only worth ETTRing below about ISO 1600 on a 5D3, unless you need to use higher ISOs to access faster shutter speeds. Above ISO 1600, the 5D3 is effectively ISO invariant. Thus ETTRing at ISO 6400 is throwing away photons and DR.

Garry,
You are certainly right, I may be losing some DR at high ISOs but it appears that I get somewhat cleaner shadows.  Could be "placebo" though, I am not argueing about that.

[DeafEyeJedi]

I’ve been inspired once again. Love the simplicity you stood with as far as post production and yet it feels very authentic especially w the skin tones.

Even better that you shot entirely in handheld which is icing on the cake and as always thanks for sharing your talents @IDA_ML!

[ilia3101]

Wow! This is stunning.

However, I think you should have filmed this on the much more cinematik EOS M 😉🤪

[Danne]

Wow! This is stunning.

However, I think you should have filmed this on the much more cinematik EOS M 😉🤪

Haha, true story

[IDA_ML]

Thanks a lot for your kind words, DeafEyeJedi.  Greatly appreciated! 

I should also mention that the EF 85/1,4 L IS is the best Canon prime lens I have ever touched.  Razor sharp at F1,4, blazing fast and accurate AF, also in servo mode and the image stabilization is the best I have ever seen.  I take stills at 1/4 sec. shutter speed handheld with close to zero missed shots.  Lenses like this one, as well as the 35/F2 IS and 24/F2,8 IS alone are a good enough reason to continue ML development and support for old cameras such as the 5D3 which, thanks to A1ex's and Danne's systematic efforts, is an extremely powerful cinema camera now.   To say nothing about the EOS-M which, as I hear, is even more cinematic 

[yourboylloyd]

This was amazing! Keep posting! Sharp and bokeh. The EOS M is apparently more cinematik though

Some minor feedback, I wish you would have picked a less orange white balance.

[ngemu]

Love the image stabilization system on canon lens. Very impressive at 85mm.

From what I've seen and experienced, tamron and sigma are too jerky.

[RH42]

Hello all,

This is my first attempt to film low-light street portrait videography at night using the 5DMkIII with the amazing EF 85/F1,4 L IS lens.  The footage was recorded hand held in the pedestrian zone of Sofia called Vitoshka.  I used the October 13-th experimental build found here:

https://bitbucket.org/Dannephoto/magic-lantern/downloads/

and filmed at 12-bit RAW with lossless compression in the anamorphic 1360x2296 mode which results in 4080x2296 final resolution.  Overall, very pleased by the video quality from the above setup:

Postprocessing workflow:
----------------------------

1) MLVApp: very basic adjustments - white balance, exposure, curves, saturation, sharpness, export in ProRes 422 LT,

2) DaVinci Resolve Lite: cutting, mounting and adding text and music, final export in MPEG using the Quicktime codec for lowest file size.

3) Upload to Vimeo in 1920x1080 resolution without upscaling - unfortunately, my internet connection is too slow for uploading larger resolution files.

Some feedback on your part will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Looks great! What shutter speed and frame rate did you use?

[IDA_ML]

Looks great! What shutter speed and frame rate did you use?

1\50 s and 24 fps

[ilia3101]

Also looks like you didn't have highlight reconstruction enabled in MLV App, the highlights are pink. Did it ruin the colours? I am curious to see how this video looks if you enable it. (if you could just show a screenshot maybe? )

[DeafEyeJedi]

...I am curious to see how this video looks if you enable it.

+1

Actually would you mind sharing a trimmed MLV from the scene where it shows the guitarist playing with the highlights behind him?

I’d love to have a play...  curious if you had the iris open wide or a bit closed slightly?

[RH42]

1\50 s and 24 fps

Thanks 

[IDA_ML]

Also looks like you didn't have highlight reconstruction enabled in MLV App, the highlights are pink. Did it ruin the colours? I am curious to see how this video looks if you enable it. (if you could just show a screenshot maybe? )

Ilia3101,

I just did not bother to reconstruct the highlights, thanks for noticing that.  I have just tried reconstructing the highlights on that shot and yes, the pink cast disappears completely.  Here is a shortened MLV file from the guitar player shot with blown up highlights in the background for you and DeafEyeJedi to play around with:

https://we.tl/t-Dp3Q1fpatY

Please post your results here.  I also became curious.

[ilia3101]

Thanks for the file. Very clean compared to what I'm used to. Making me closer to getting a 5D3...

And here's my edit:


In fact I think the mark 3 must be one of the best low light video cameras... I just never see this kind of quality on the mark 2

[DeafEyeJedi]

Please post your results here.  I also became curious.

Thanks for the file @IDA_ML. Can't believe how sharp it looks even when shot wide open @ 1.4! 

Graded w clarity (+9), vibrance (+4), Highlights (-70) w Highlight Reconstruction enabled and a basic curve to accommodate the LUT I applied (ML Cinelog-C to Ektar 100 TWISTED.cube @ 85%) on top.

All this while under HLG for Tonemapping Function & Rec.2020 for Processing Gamut w the gamma still set @ 3.15 and most importantly w Uncolorscience Fix enabled (one of my fav features).

Don't even know if this is all legit. Ha!



Receipt & LUT from above included for references: https://mega.nz/#F!ewkgCaDS!8J3K4UkjGrdKtPSUoqI__w

Making me closer to getting a 5D3...

Just get it already @Ilia3101! Btw I dig your grade big time!

[Dmytro_ua]

[IDA_ML]

Glad to see that the good old 5D3 is creating so much inspiration, guys.  Thanks a lot for your feedback.

Ilia3101,

If you consider buying the 5D3, now is the time to do that.  Thanks to the mirrorless madness, prices of this fantastic camera have dropped dramatically.  In my country, serious photographers are so pleased with their 5D3-s that they use them until the shutter breaks - very often after 350'000 actuations, and then they just throw them away since repair is too expensive.  Then they look for another used 5D3.  If you can find one in a good condition and with a low shutter count, do not hesitate to buy it.  You will be very pleased with its performance and especially the unmatched video capabilities and quality with the latest experimental ML builds.  Also, it will provide excellent service to you for many years to come.  So, good luck to you and everyone else considering a 5D3 purchase.