Q&A: Canon helps usher in the video SLR era
The camera industry and photographers, having just gotten accustomed to the arrival of video in point-and-shoot cameras, just now are beginning to grapple with its arrival in the more serious SLR realm.
Chuck Westfall, technical adviser for Canon's professional products marketing division and a 26-year veteran at the Japanese company, is in the thick of it. Nikon was the first to market with a single-lens reflex camera equipped with video, the D90, but Canon offers video in two SLRs: the high-end EOS 5D Mark II, with a large sensor the size of a full frame of 35mm film, and the Rebel T1i, a more affordable, mainstream model.
Chuck Westfall
(Credit: Canon USA)These cameras combine high-definition video--1900x1080 pixels at 30 frames per second in the case of the 5D Mark II--with SLRs' advantages when shooting in dim conditions and with a broad variety of lenses. But even though today's video SLR features offers hold some appeal to enthusiasts and professionals, they're something of an awkward afterthought. SLRs and those who use them that haven't yet had much time to adapt.
Welcome to the world of digital photography, where change is incessant. In an interview with CNET News, Westfall talked about not just video, but also OLED displays, the arrival of rival full-frame SLRs from Sony and Nikon, changing flash card and file format standards, wireless networking, and more.
Question: The age of the video SLR has begun. A lot of people in the high-end camera market are set in their ways, and video is a radical difference for a lot of them. How does that change the camera design, the marketing, and everything you have to do to sell a camera?
Westfall: Right now we're at an early stage for all this. Actually, the camera design itself has not changed that much--yet. If you look at a camera like the 5D Mark II, it's really been intentionally designed as a still camera first and foremost. The video feature is definitely a very important addition to the camera, but it really is an option as opposed to the main purpose. One of the things we're hoping to accomplish with this approach is to give our still photographers--the bread and butter of our business--the opportunity to try something different without necessarily taking them out of their comfort zone--in terms of the camera shape, size, layout. I'd say that a very key element, at least in terms of 5D Mark II, is that it does have the full-frame sensor. This has a big impact in image quality in terms of low noise and angle of view issues, but it also has tremendous importance to a still photographer in the respect that the look and feel of the movies is very similar in terms of perspective and angle of view and depth of field. The familiarity photographers already have developed in terms of what lenses they're going to pick can be carried forward.
We pretty rapidly went from "Wow, freaky, video!" to "How come it can't do all the things I want it to do?" For example, setting the aperture or locking it at a certain ISO--why are those features not there?
Westfall: In the beginning, we had to take into account that there are going to be a fair amount of users out there who are into the customization aspect, but the overall customer profile on this camera (the 5D Mark II) includes a lot of amateurs as well. Anything we can do to give those customers automation on the basics of video, including exposure, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO--those are things that will make it easier to produce high-quality footage without that much experience.
To be honest with you, one of the other issues is that adding the full range of manual controls on this camera makes it a much more complicated instrument. It's not necessarily that we're never going to do it, but it's generation 1.0. We'd like to get some market feedback, which we've already received now, before we start making any serious changes to the overall feature set or design.
Do you think video is going to be pretty much standard in every SLR henceforth?
Westfall: We don't want to guarantee that. It is going to depend on the overall market strategy. But at this stage, the image processors we're using, especially the Digic 4, are powerful enough that it really makes it very easy for us to add that feature without increasing the cost.
It's fascinating to me watching the arrival of video. It's not as if it hadn't existed before, but when it started showing up in the 5D Mark II and the Nikon D90, there was this novelty aspect. It was the video snapshot that people were rediscovering. You could even call it a moving picture. It was like a century ago where people were excited by the possibility of watching a horse gallop. It seems like there are a whole lot of people who hadn't considered video beyond the kid blowing out the birthday candles--the equivalent of point-and-shoot photography. There's some cultural shift going on. I'm not sure if that's a short novelty phase or whether it's going to be a deep shift in how people use cameras.
Canon's T1i can shoot HD video and costs $800 including a basic lens.
(Credit: Canon USA)Westfall: There's a perfect storm of technology developments that has occurred over the last few years that is really making this much more accessible. HD television penetration into the market is much deeper than it was even a year ago. HD cameras and camcorders are able to connect directly through HDMI to play back movies and still photos, so it couldn't be much easier. At the same time, the cost of recording media storage capacity is drastically reduced even compared to a year ago. 8GB or even 16GB cards are going for less than $100. That gives people the capacity to experiment and produce lengthy feature films if they wanted to.
How's the low-light performance compare to reasonably high-end HD video cameras?
Westfall: It's actually a lot better. In part it has to do in part with the size of the pixels on the sensor. Compared to a camcorder, they're huge. We're looking at 6.4 micron pixels on this camera (so each pixel is 6.4 millionths of a meter on edge). By comparison, on the CMOS sensor in the Vixia series' 3 megapixel CMOS we did, that was only a 1.7 micron pixel pitch. The difference between 6.4 and 1.7 is quite substantial. As a result, you're going to see an improvement, especially in the noise quality.
The 5D Mark II debuted a notch cheaper than the 5D, and everybody wonders what the trajectory is for full frame. We have Sony and Nikon providing some competitive pressure in the full-frame market. Is the low price because of the competition, because the technology is cheaper, or some other factor?
Westfall: I think there are elements of all those things involved in pricing. You've got to be competitive in the market. On the other hand, the manufacturing issues that have been developing over time have worked out in our favor as far as lowering costs. We've got a lot more experience than any other company in terms of developing full-frame CMOS since we were with the first one out there back in 2002 with the EOS 1Ds original. All that experience including the design as well as the manufacturing has really worked out in our favor to make the costs more reasonable.
What's the future trajectory? Are prices going to come down further? Are the people buying a 50D today--the higher-end enthusiast market--going to be making the jump to full-frame, or is there always going to be big quantum leap between APS-C (the smaller sensor size used in mainstream digital SLRs) and full-frame?
Westfall: We're going to evaluate the market overall in terms of the pricing issues and try to offer the best combination of features for the money. Value is very important to everybody, especially in this economy. That doesn't necessarily mean we would avoid a full-frame sensor just to cut the cost, but on the other hand we can't really say that a low-cost full-frame camera is going to be something that we're definitely going to pursue. We generally take it as it comes to see if we can find a spot in the market for the lower-priced full-frames.
With 21 megapixels on Canon's high-end SLRs, are we reaching practical limits for resolution? There's discussion that image quality now is limited by lens optics, even with pro-grade L lenses, regardless of the technical challenges of higher sensor resolution.
Westfall: As always, Canon's bottom line for digital imaging is the ongoing improvement of overall image quality, especially for printed output. With that goal in mind, Canon does not consider 21 megapixels "a practical limit" for sensor resolution in the 24x36mm imaging format. Higher sensor resolution is only one element of overall image quality. However, the evolution of the EOS-1Ds series from 11.1 megapixels in 2002 to 16.7 megapixels in 2004 and 21.1 megapixels in 2007, together with advances in digital image processing has clearly shown improvements in terms of lower noise and finer detail in printed output at any comparable ISO speed setting. The larger the print, the more noticeable the improvement. I would expect this trend to continue in future products. I would also expect to see further improvements in the optical performance of Canon EF lenses over time.
Nikon has been making market share gains in the last year. How does that change things for Canon in terms of pricing, marketing strategy, or product development?
Westfall: I'll say this: It's been very good for Canon as well as the rest of the industry and customers especially to have a very vigorous competition between the two companies. It works out to better products and very competitive pricing. We're in this business to stay. We don't back down from challenges. Our situation is pretty good. We are very well positioned in terms of our investment in R&D to be able to continue developing new products and technology to keep us at our No. 1 level. Based on the market research we've seen, although it is true that Nikon made some gains on us last year, we still ended up in the No. 1 position in units and dollars for both the SLR and compact camera categories.
How about Sony? I think they're up to No. 3 in the SLR market. Do they strike terror into your heart, or have they not made enough gains to make you lose any sleep yet?
Westfall: On the SLR side, they are making some headway, but they're still according to our information slightly below 10 percent of the market. So they are an important factor, but they are not as frightening to us at this point as they could be, theoretically. We're watching them and seeing how they're handling the issues they have.
Can you be more specific about the issues they have?
Westfall: One of the things that is an issue for any company besides Nikon or Canon is the huge installed base of owners that already own our lenses. Has Sony, being a relative newcomer, got enough user base to be able to chip into that share? The SLR market is not just camera bodies, it's also the lenses. For some customers it's even more so the lenses.
Yeah, as soon as you buy one lens beyond that kit lens, the barrier to switching becomes pretty high. The overall balance between APS-C and full-frame--it's probably way less than 5 percent are full-frame.
Westfall: I couldn't break it down for you, but full-frame is growing. Cameras like the 5D and 5D Mark II have really helped out a lot, and that's just for us. The other full-frame cameras coming into the marketplace from Nikon and Sony are also making a dent.
So the proportion of full-frames is increasing?
It is. The fact that there several products out there below the $3,000 price point is really helping a lot.
When you look at wireless networking support--there are a few cameras here and there that support it, but it really doesn't seem to be mainstream at this point. What's the barrier to getting 802.11 wireless networking build into a camera?
Westfall: There are a couple things. One is the existing 802.11b and g are almost at the end of their life cycle in the market. Although there's a lot of compatibility out there in terms of home networks for that technology, we're looking ahead to the next generation. At this point we have hopes that both the speed of data transmission and the range of transmission will improve substantially. Part of our issue is judging the market for the right time to bring that new technology in.
Are you talking about 802.11n or post-802.11n?
Westfall: N is one of the options. But there are other options out there. Canon is closely monitoring the situation to see which one of the options ends up being the de facto standard.
GPS support is another challenge. Nikon now has a widget that plugs into the hot shoe, but most people I know carry a separate GPS unit. What's the prognostication for built-in GPS for easier geotagging.
Westfall: It's going to be here sooner rather than later, but there are issues. One is the power consumption. The in-camera solutions we've seen so far are very thirsty for battery power, especially in an area where there is very low signal, and that is quite common when you're indoors for example. Another thing I think is going to have to be implemented to really make this fly properly is the ability to have a compass heading in your camera. It's not enough to know where the photo was shot; it's important to know which direction the camera was pointed.
Canon a few years ago demonstrated a 5D with an OLED (organic light-emitting display) screen. I just saw some cheap OLED keychain displays that cost $60 or so. What's the timeframe for building OLEDs instead of LCDs in the cameras? It's a much higher-quality image and I there might be battery advantages as well.
Westfall: It is a higher-quality image, no question about it, and the power consumption is lower because of the design. It's a very efficient design. Canon has been developing that technology for quite some time. We showed our prototype in 2005, and here we are four years later. I think the bulk of what's been going on in that interim is perfecting that technology--not just in terms of performance but also in terms of manufacturing process. I can't give you a timeline today, but we're a whole lot closer now.
One of the things I could tell you about is that in 2008, we purchased a manufacturing facility for OLEDs, so in Japan, we're creating the infrastructure to be able to bring this online. The issue for us is not just the perfection of the technology and lowering of the manufacturing costs, it's also being able to generate the quantity of these devices to satisfy our needs across an entire range of consumer products. If you look at our global production, we have in somewhere in the vicinity of 25 million or so compact cameras every year, and it's growing. Digital SLRs last year we did 4.4 million. And that's just cameras. Then you could start talking about the Pixma inkjet printers--a great many of them have LCD displays.
Since right now you don't build your LCD displays, that would give you a better profit margin, would it not?
Westfall: I think that's one of the issues for us. Probably the other issue is being able to control the time to market with a lot of our products.
Instead of having to wait for somebody else to develop it?
Westfall: Or, depending on their manufacturing capacity, how long it's going to take them to deliver an order. If we manufacture our own displays, we're in better shape to forecast our capacity.
The overall camera market, on the compact side, is flat or down overall. How's that affecting Canon specifically?
Westfall: We're still very optimistic. We've been No. 1 there since 2004, and we've been building our market share recently. We see that as opportunity for further growth, even if the overall industry is shrinking slightly this year. The fact is that even in these tough economic times, people still need to record their memories. The use of digital photography for that is not going to go away.
But there's a lot more growth in the SLR side. Why did that start to take off now? Is it pricing?
Westfall: It helped quite a bit that the price of SLRs has come down, but I think the other issue is that the penetration of SLRs is only about 10 percent compared to 80 percent for point-and-shoot. There's a lot of room to grow. And the installed base for point-and-shoot users is so huge--they are looking for something better. Whether it's the responsiveness of the SLR, or the image quality, or its interchangeable lenses--all those things are very attractive to point-and-shoot customers.
Why don't we have a snappy compact digital camera. One that focuses quickly and shoots very quickly. There's a big lag, still.
Westfall: It's actually gotten a lot better. Every year, it keeps on getting better. The one thing that is always going to be an issue is the autofocus system being part of the actual image sensor instead of a separate module. The so-called contrast-detect autofocus simply takes a long time to execute. We're making some inroads on that from the processer speed and the intelligence of the focusing algorithm to cut that down to the minimum level.
It's also an issue once you have live view in an SLR, especially with video. That seems to me a major disconnect when people move from the point-and-shoot world. You can use live view, but it's really not very satisfying because of the focus problems. When are we going to see that fixed?
Westfall: It's clearly a need that's going to be addressed. My guess is that in the next stage the product design engineers will have to think about a dedicated ASIC-type chip (application-specific integrated circuits are tailored for specific functions) that is really geared primarily to that task so you can speed up that operation without affecting other camera performance issues.
In storage, CompactFlash and SD seem to be the winners. You support both, and all your compacts use SD. What's the timeframe for the new SD standard, SDXC, arriving?
Westfall: I'm pretty sure it will be available around the industry by the end of next year.
What are the big advantages of that besides just capacity?
Westfall: There is really an advantage in terms of data writing speed. That has a big impact on performance issues such as shooting movies. If you're going to be shooting high-resolution, 30 frames-per-second HD video, you really need speedy data transfer. And I'm very interested from a personal perspective when this standard comes out if they will get past this existing file format issue, where the maximum individual clip is limited to 4GB. I think that should go away, and hopefully the SDXC standard might offer us a path to accomplish it.
Is SDXC good enough that you could get rid of CompactFlash and move solely to XC and its successors?
Westfall: Theoretically there's no reason why you'd have to stick with any of the legacy formats if SDXC is all that it's hyped to be, but we don't necessarily want to change our entire strategy at this point.
There's a new version of CompactFlash, the SATA version. Does that have some appeal to you?
Westfall: We're always going to watch to see what's available, whether it's SATA for CF or XC on the SD side. We like to get the right technology for the product. However, we're not in a position to confirm the details of future products.
There's a break in CompactFlash compatibility with the SATA version. As soon as you hit that discontinuity, that's a reason hat SDXC looks comparatively compelling to me if you can hit the capacity and data transfer speed you need.
Westfall: SDXC uses different (electrical) contacts, so the interface is not going to be the same. On the other hand, the form factor is basically the same. That bodes well for camera design.
There's a new version of Digital Negative (DNG) that Adobe Systems is kicking around that has the ability to store more data such as editing setting settings such as peripheral illumination correction or chromatic aberration. Does that make DNG potentially more appealing to you, or you sticking to CR2.
Westfall: As far as I know there's been no change in our status as far as keeping our raw image data proprietary. On the other hand, we are signed up with the Metadata Working Group, and we will be very active supporting those initiatives to make metadata much more effective for a variety of different software applications.
Any new thoughts on JPEG XR, which is destined to become a standard this year?
Westfall: I continue to be a strong proponent of that technology on my own. I'm not saying this is Canon's direction, but I've always felt that the JPEG XR technology that's being developed really has a lot to offer, both in terms of image quality and storage size. Those are both major issues where I think JPEG XR provides a huge improvement compared to existing JPEG.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
We that have spent $3k-$5k buying this camera since Thanksgiving have been begging and imploring Canon to give us manual controls for Video. While it's obvious that you know something of the chatter on the internet to get Canon to upgrade the firmware, you didn't push Chuck very hard on this. This is the closest thing in 4 months to a statement from Canon about this issue. While brought up frequently on their feed back page for the 5D Mark II, Canon has been deleting those posts. But it's well publicized on the internet.
To find get a feeling for the uproar over the crippling of this camera, just visit sights like
http://cinema5d.com/index.php
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?f=166
or google Canon 5d Mark II manual control.
I'd pont out to Chuck too things. There is a huge shift in technology with this Camera and Canon is not making friends with both Photographers and Video customers who bought this for video. It's difficult to use the camera in a video production environment without manual controls and they know it. The size is not a deal breaker. It's manual controls and 24P for some. I for one had to get an adapter and old Nikon Lens to at least lock down aperature. Image quality and low light features are outstanding, but it's terribly wrought with "gotch ya's" when using it in the field because of the lack of controls.
Chuck points out it's about Lens, and that's probably true. Do they want to alienate those with thousands of dollars in Canon lens.
His comment about keeping it simple is just an excuse. One more menu for manual control out of the many menu's already there will make no difference in terms of ease of use. It would also further Canon's market leadership position.
Wait a few days and see the responses to this article from both photographers and videographers who have purchased this camera.
Then go back and do a real interview on the 5D mk II. Dive in to what's on their customers minds in regards to the frustration levels with their lack of manual controls and their 4 months of silence as to a possible firmware upgrade.
The world is changing and this camera is a big part of the shift for photographers and Videographers. Go do a followup interview. Help us get some answers.
High end cameras seem to have video features "bolted" on... Ditto video cameras that have photo taking features just added in.
"Did you think it had additional manual controls when you bought it ?"
Yes.
The promotional literature promised 'amazing' 'professional' control over depth of field, the camera has none, not that the control over depth of field is less than professional, but that is entirely absent, zero, nothing.
This renders some great lenses like my fantastic Canon f/1.2 - 85mm, a very expensive lump of glass that heads straight for f22 anytime the sun so much as shines a single ray, and there is little I can do about it besides the usual work arounds. I am extremely disappointed at having been duped in such a blatant way.
T.
Option 1 is to continue to upgrade both cameras and camcorders. I was about to upgrade my camcorder when video started to emerge. Frankly, I buy Sony.
Option 2 is to enable us to use Canon for both. I'm more than glad to not lug around both. And yes, though I get that a dedicated camcorder will always have more, I bet like a lot other Canon users, photography is my focus. I have a zillion lenses that I would like to leverage, even if i there is some tradeoff versus a dedicated camcorder.
So start acting like one company that produces both video and still products. I'm one person who is now holding off on camcorder purchases to see if "adequate" video comes to the Canon mid-range.
G
Also of note, this video function was made a major selling point and was widely publicized. The fact that it's for amateurs was hardly noted (if it was at all.) You can get a cheapie HD camera with manual controls at Wal-Mart for about $200, last time I checked, which might be a better choice for anybody who cares about video or knows how to use it.
Canon should learn a thing or two from the downfall of the record labels- in this day and age, if you don't give the customer what they want, the customer will cut you out of the loop. As we speak, they are driving loyal users away to buy Nikon lenses, and fund firmware hacks (which seem to be coming along just fine.) Meanwhile all of us who bought the Mk.II will remember Canon's sneaky "HD VIDEO!!1!" ploy, and nothing will return our confidence in the company short of an official firmware update.
I have dumped the XL1 for Sony HD. But Sony make crappy still cameras.
Now how about repeating it with Nikon, Olympus, Pentax and Sony? That would be cool. Same questions.
Robert
I will still prefer that video to record in Video Recorder with bigger storage capacity, especially if you like to record really 24f 1080p video, your media storage source need to be have that capacity to full length 2 hrs.! Or make the Digial SLR better and cheaper will be better!
Below I would like to post some comments, regarding Westfall's answers:
"To be honest with you, one of the other issues is that adding the full range of manual controls on this camera makes it a much more complicated instrument. It's not necessarily that we're never going to do it, but it's a generation 1.0. We'd like to get some market feedback, which we've already received now, before we start making any serious changes to the overall feature set or design."
- Comment 1: implementing Full manual control in a dedicated menu for video mode (as has been already suggested) will certainly NOT make the camera more complicated. Instead it would give more ease of use. Those who do not use video, just simply skip that menu. And those who want to use video, enter the menu and make the appropriated settings, like when you take photographs.
It won't make the camera more complicated, at the contrary, it will make it easier to use, and also LET the use of Canon lenses instead of Nikon to achieve "at least" Aperture Control.
Currently to achieve "at least" Aperture control we must interrupt the communication between the lens and the camera or use Nikon lenses. Both ways are NOT normal, and using other brand lenses is contrary to Canon's own interests too.
- Comment 2: The Full Manual Control implementation via Firmware Update DOES NOT require a "serious changes to the overall features set or design". It's only a part of the firmware to be rewritten (NOT the entire firmware, and not any changes to the Hardware nor Design at all). Currently the camera's program takes full control of the Aperture, Shutter and ISO values for Video mode.
We are requesting, along with the existence of the Program mode, to let the user set these values Manually, wich is much easier than writing a program to manage all of them correctly. And any programmer knows that it is completely possible without any serious change, because the camera is already managing these values with a program.
- Comment 3: How many more feedbacks do Canon need? LOT of people has written reviews at Canon 5D Mark II website telling the need for Full Manual control.
You can also check an INTERNATIONAL PETITION TO CANON Inc, started on March of 2009:
http://www.petitiononline.com/5dmark2/petition.html
It is respectfully written, and it is very interesting to see how many Photographers, Videographers and even independent Filmmakers from all around the world have signed it, expressing their interest and requesting for Full Manual Control in video mode (that CAN be implemented without any hardware change, without any new overall design, nor big costs to Canon)
- Also, it is IMPORTANT to note that MANY customers bought the camera thinking there was manual control in video mode.
Canon statement on its White Paper (page 6) "photographers and videographers can capture high definition video with depth-of-field control found only in professional video models" is NOT really true..
Canon has revised the White Paper and added some comments to clarify it. And the answer that Canon "found" for online inquiries (as many customers received) was something like that the Depth-of-Field can be controlled if you control the distance to the subject and the focal lenght of your lens.
Obviously that answer is completely a workaround and NOT a real control, nor professional at all.
Thousands of current customers are requesting and waiting for this Firmware Update. How many more feedbacks do Canon need?
Thanks a lot for reading.
Best regards.
Please, please stop treating your users like they are going to buy next year's camera. The 5D MkII is a great, but expensive Pro camera (which I own). The typical price is similar to a professional video camera like the DVX100 or HVX200 (~$4000) for most users so this is not a CONSUMER camera. Full manual video mode is required for pros. Also, the fact that there are real bugs like video running at 30 fps while sound is captured at 29.97 is just unforgivable. Do you think a wedding photographer would use this feature? How would the client feel when 5-6 minutes into a video the movie of the bride or groom's speech starts to look and sound like a bad chinese dub with the lip sync off by 3-4 frames.
Worse yet is the new Rebel T1i. Adding video and then crippling it by adding a 1080p 20 FRAMES/SECOND capture mode is just a joke. There is no video standard in the world that is 20 fps so this makes the camera effectively useless in high resolution mode. If you wanted to limit the video mode for market differentiation just stick to 720p30 and folks will be perfectly happy.
Canon cannot continue to segment the market by trickling out features that don't meet user requirements and expect to be successful. Other manufacturer will not hold back on features to protect market segments or avoid product line conflict. Even though I have well over $10,000 invested in Canon gear between bodies and lenses (which are truly great), my next video DSLR camera purchase is going to be a Panasonic GH1.
It will all come as we continue to make our voices heard, but I appreciate your passion and analysis.
This is like Sarah Palin explaining foreign affairs. Huh??
The camera already does that (as does virtually every DSLR)...it gives the user the OPTION of letting the camera control the exposure OR allows for full manual, Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. Again, it's called AUTO mode and every DSLR in the past twenty years or so has it...as well as the other options
Look at your cameras Chuck - you solved this issue a looooong time ago. And to claim that people buying a $3000 camera marketed toward upper end amateurs and pros somehow don't understand the basics of photography is patently absurd. And you use the same techniques and controls to get useable video footage.
More absurd however, is saying with a straight face that this was done in the users interest. Again, why would you simply not allow the EXACT SAME controls in video as in photography? You didn't add any benefit and you know it. This is literally crazy talk. You simply eliminated any ability at all to get a decent image in video.
Canon does understand that shutter rate is critical to getting any look and any consistency in editing- right?
They also know that not only does the shutter speed wander from shot to shot but that the on screen representation of ISO, shutter etc aren't even accurate. In other words not only can't we get editable shots with the same shutter speed side by side, but after fudging for ever to get a useable exposure setting, Canon actually decided to eliminate those settings as soon as you stop shooting????
There are so many things Canon did wrong with the HD component of this expensive camera that they should simply be embarrassed and step up and correct this miserable engineering failure.
This is everything that is wrong with corporate arrogance today.
Now that I've finally heard a response, I am more insulted then ever.
"Anything we can do to give those customers automation... "
Are you kidding me? Get a clue. This is a $3000 camera. Why does my $400 consumer video camera offer control of shutter speed and aperture? Heck, I'm an amateur even. It's not hard to figure out. S
Step it up Canon! Offer a firmware upgrade. That Nikon glass is looking awfully tempting.
Having said this, the 5D Mark II is otherwise an outstanding camera and, in my opinion, an excellent value.
Canon heavily advertised the video features of this camera and touted the control it gives over depth of field, only to deliver a product which gives the user no control of video at all. Does Canon really want to push its customers towards buying Nikon lenses and lens adapters? I thought I'd be a Canon customer all my life, but I've been forced into buying so many Nikon lenses for use on my 5D mk II that making the switch to Nikon won't be that hard in the future!
Come on Canon, stop playing these silly games. Give us manual control in video mode via a firmware update. It won't take away from your professional video camera market, but it will make your customers happy... and happy customers make a company profitable.
G
I refuse to buy Nikon lenses when I have so many, excellent Canon L lenses. So I am forced to use the "twist" method to control aperture.
Unlike some, I'm not worried about the lens falling off (how could it?, I don't twist that far), but I am worried that it might end up causing some sort of electrical problem.
It's pretty obvious Canon will never give us full manual control. But I wish they would at least give us aperture control, so I don't have to risk physical harm to my camera to use this thing the way it should be.
- by Mark_D3P April 11, 2009 3:26 PM PDT
- I had set aside the money to buy a 5D MKII, assuming from all the talk on the internet that Canon would (wisely) update the firmware to at least give some manual control of video and a 24P function. The deafening silence from Canon corporate and now this interview, has me waiting for the release of the Panasonic GH1 in May or June. The new 4/3rds format looks interesting, besides. And Panasonic, with it's embrace of independent filmmakers with the DVX100 and the later HVX200 might be a better fit for me.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(28 Comments)It's amazing, given the economic climate, that companies will continue to thumb their noses at their customers in this way.