5D Mark II for travel videos?

[poker]

I have about 13 days of traveling this month and I'm caught without a video camera since my Canon HV20 broke.

The idea of using my 5DMKII for both photo and video is appealing but I've never been able to view 5D video without alot of computer work first.

My options:

Buy a 45mb/s 16GB card for the 5D faster memory
Buy a 30mb/s 32GB card for the 5D slower memory with more storage
or buy a cheap video camera for ease of use

I'm leaning towards the 30mb/s 32GB with the hopes that there is a easier way to view the video either now or in the near future.

Thanks in advance.

[kdog]

Have you tried the VLC Media Player yet? It's a free open-source video player that's incredibly efficient. I can play 5DMII videos perfectly on a low-end laptop using it. There's a magic setting for increasing the performance of H.264 playback which you'll want. Instructions here: http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42328

Get VLC here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[poker]

Originally Posted by kdog

Have you tried the VLC Media Player yet? It's a free open-source video player that's incredibly efficient. I can play 5DMII videos perfectly on a low-end laptop using it. There's a magic setting for increasing the performance of H.264 playback which you'll want. Instructions here: http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42328

Get VLC here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

I've been out of the loop on 5DMKII video progress. I look forward to trying VLC. Thanks!

[THX1965]

Originally Posted by poker

:

The idea of using my 5DMKII for both photo and video is appealing but I've never been able to view 5D video without alot of computer work first.

My options:

Buy a 45mb/s 16GB card for the 5D faster memory
Buy a 30mb/s 32GB card for the 5D slower memory with more storage
or buy a cheap video camera for ease of use

I'm leaning towards the 30mb/s 32GB with the hopes that there is a easier way to view the video either now or in the near future.

Thanks in advance.

The slower cards are more than fast enough for recording video. Anything faster is a waste of money, as far as video is concerned.

Are you on a PC or a Mac? The (1080p) H.264 files straight out of the camera are not really meant to be played back on a computer as is (unless you have a very powerful machine). If you are on a Mac, I'd be glad to point you in the right direction as to what to do to get the most out these files.
VLC player is certainly a good choice for viewing on a PC or a MAC. But for editing you should transcode them into a more editing-friendly format, IMHO, and store the camera-originals as backup copies.

--- Markus ---

[poker]

Thanks for the response.

I tried VLC for the first time yesterday and it's a dream come true with the 5DMKII vids!

I ended up buying Extreme III cards based on what I've read. There's a rebate going on at the moment also.

I brought the camera to a recent weekend getaway and used it for stills and video. I think if I keep my videos really short, I can pull it off for vacationing. Here's something from the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aPE9i2CAYw

I bought a 4x6 led light for it. I tried to use is last night with my mom at the airport. It was too bright and quite annoying. I have to think twice about using it on vacation. It draws too much attention. Even with custom WB, it looks very artificial in the video.

The nice thing is that it came with a bracket so I can have my flash on top and the led panel to the side if I really wanted to walk around with both. I still need to test if it's worth bringing.

[kdog]

Cool video! What software did you use to edit it?

Glad to hear VLC worked out for you.

[poker]

Originally Posted by kdog

Cool video! What software did you use to edit it?

Glad to hear VLC worked out for you.

Thanks.

I converted the files to AVI using NeoScene and edited in Sony Vegas 7e.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by poker

Thanks.

I converted the files to AVI using NeoScene and edited in Sony Vegas 7e.

Hadn't heard of either of these tools, so had to look them up. I see that Sony Vegas 9 is a $600 tool. That puts it in a league with Adobe Premier. Any opinion on which is better? Was 7e as expensive?

Thanks,
-joel

[poker]

Originally Posted by kdog

Hadn't heard of either of these tools, so had to look them up. I see that Sony Vegas 9 is a $600 tool. That puts it in a league with Adobe Premier. Any opinion on which is better? Was 7e as expensive?

Thanks,
-joel

I bought Sony 7e at an academic discount a couple years ago which made it cheaper than Premier at the time. I couldn't tell you which is better but for sure there is more knowledge about Premier out there than Vegas.

I use Neoscene to make my 5DMKII clips easier to edit and I use it to make my Canon HV20 clips true 24p in post.