EOS 5D Mark II and movie exposure

How many readers have the EOS 5D Mark II?
Of you, how many have tried the movie modes and have figured out the way to accurate exposure?

You essentially have two controls over exposure on the camera. Firstly, there is the AE Lock button. Just like in still shooting, the AE lock button will hold the exposure at whatever value is currently set when you press the button. The one thing to remember is that you don't need to keep the button pressed. Just press it once and leave it alone. The exposure then won't change unless you press the button again... or use the second exposure control: The quick command dial.

The quick command dial acts like exposure compensation in still shooting. Essentially it makes the scene brighter or darker and that is about as much information as it gives you.

Clearly there are a couple of different ways of getting the right exposure then - you can either point at a dark area, let the camera open up the exposure, use AE lock and then use the command dial to make it darker again, or you can start pointing at a light area, use AE lock and then open up the exposure. Both will work, but it is worth experimenting as you only have +/- 2stops of compensation available so you need to make sure it's within the range of adjustment.

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Filming, tripods, long lenses and IS

We're all aware that IS is a wonderful invention whether you're shooting stills or video. However, there is one caveat to that - when using a tripod.
Most of the recent IS lenses don't require you to turn off the IS when you mount the camera on the tripod, however in our experience, if you're pretty certain the setup is stable, then turn it off otherwise you'll end up with slightly blurry images as the shutter speed drops.
For filming, you don't end up with blurry images. From our experience, we've seen that with longer lenses when filming from a tripod, you don't so much get blurry images, as motion in the images - in other words the image seems to drift back and forth as the IS spins but there is nothing to correct. Essentially the IS elements that move to counteract are creating a movement that isn't there. To avoid this, simply turn the IS off when you put a big lens on a tripod and plan to do some filming.
Look out for a post early next week where I'll put up two video clips, one with IS on and one with IS off to show the effect...

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The power of pictures

What is it about stills that always seems to capture the imagination? Movie footage just doesn't seem to be able to replicate that intensity or remain in the memory for as long. Think of any of the most famous events in the last 50-100 years and they have all been defined by an image. 

Sure it was harder to shoot movies in the past, there was no EOS 5D Mark II to use to capture a few minutes of video to tell the story. However, there were plenty of other moving image cameras and yet it's always the stills we remember. 

The protests in Tiananmen square with the lone student standing in front of the tanks taken by Stuart Franklin. The Vietcong guerilla being shot in the head by Eddie Adams. The young Vietnamese girl running away from the napalm attack taken by Nick Ut. The flag raising on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal. The dying soldier by Capa. These are all still images that define a moment in history, that capture a moment in time in such a way that the whole story is contained in the one image. Real photojournalism.

Fortunately for us as viewers, the art of photojournalism is not dead. There are still great photographers out there working and capturing these defining moments with their camera. To offer some proof and provide you with your daily fix of photographic inspiration, take a look at The year 2008 in photographs over at the Boston Globe, a paper long known for its commitment to photojournalism. Be aware they are not all cute fluffy images. There are one of two that may be disturbing to some viewers, but they are covered by a link to click if you want to see them displayed. 

Hit the comments with your thoughts on these images and whether you think the power of still images will remain now that it is getting ever easier to shoot movies as well......

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