Canon 5D Mk 2 Kits
When should I use the Canon 5D Mk2?
HD video from a big sensor
The sensor of the 5D Mark II is big. Bigger than Red's. So that means a shallower depth of field. Combined with a fast Nikon manual lens like the 35mm 1.4, you can get beautiful shots. There are some situations where this may over-ride the technical limitations below.
30 frames per second
The 5D Mark 2 only shoots 30 frames per second. This is fine for web use say, but if you are combining it with other European acquired footage at 25fps you will have to do some converting which will take time and add artifacts.
H264 compression
Unlike Red, the Canon does not shoot RAW in the video mode: that is just too much of an ask for a small camera. So it compresses the pictures to H264. This means you have little ability to colour correct later and you may find the compression artifacts evident in the shadow areas. So even though some high-profile idents have been shot on it, we personally would advise not using it for broadcast projects without clearance with your technical revue department first.
Aliasing
So the sensor is physically bigger than Red's but it does not use all the info in video mode. It throws away a lot of the information rather than truely downscaling to get to HD 1080 size. This means you can potentially notice aliasing (a jaggedness) on verticals. In practise, people shoot with a lot of defocussed imagery so don't see this very often.
Sound
The built in microphone is for guide audio only. Adding an external top mike helps. But the connectors are domestic minijacks so any decent microphones need a Beachbox XLR to minijack convertor.
