Canon 50D ML Raw in late 2015??

[IronFilm]

I'm seeing them going cheaper than ever before! Could pick one up in the US$150ish region, or even less.
Does it make sense though to get a 50D for video in this day and age? (be it raw, or the ML H.264 option)

[mercer]

At that price, I would say it makes perfect sense. The biggest drawback, IMO to the 50d Raw is the lack of audio to help synch up dual sound, but not impossible. Great camera for music videos though, I guess. 

[IronFilm]

Yeah, sadly the only hope for audio with the 50D is a direct hardware hack to the internals or USB audio being implemented by MagicLantern (highly unlikely I suppose).

[mercer]

I was messing around with 720p raw on the eos-m a few months back, but it just wasn't stable enough for me. For very short work, it is usable but the audio issues are a pain. To use .mlv raw, you would basically get one take with audio and then the camera would freeze up. Very frustrating. I loved the image, but the workflow is tedious especially the pink dots. I believe the 50D has stable full 1080p raw, which is amazing. So, if you can get a work around with audio, then I would go for it. I don't know how well the image matches up with the BMPCC, but the 50d could be a perfect b cam. 

[BrorSvensson]

dont even think about the h.264 in the camera, a 50d with the mosiac morie filter is a very beautiful camera. Amazing colors and a very good option if you want to get into anamorphic. I prefer it to the eos m beacuse of the profiesional build and buttons.

[IronFilm]

Been looking into the mosaic moire filter tonight, but its price is so sky high I won't be getting it. 

What is the cheapest option for CF cards to go with? Am thinking two 128gig cards might be the minimum I'll need to get through a short raw shoot? (such as a music video)

Such as the Komputerbay 128gb 600x:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008O7N0W6

(and you can get a double pack at a discount: http://www.amazon.com/KOMPUTERBAY-PACK-Professional-Compact-Extreme/dp/B00D09AFEY/ )

They've got a write speed of 60MB/s, so the 1000x or 1066x cards would be *heaps* faster  but they're also nearly double the price!!

But based on this:

http://rbrune.github.io/mlraw/

It appears 40 to 55MB/s is all I need for 24fps 
 

[IronFilm]

I was just thinking though that 30fps is kinda nice for a subtle slow motion effect. 
Plus if I'm not doing 3x3 sampling but doing the 1x1 crop mode, then the date rate is higher. 
So likely do need faster cards! However, no point getting anything faster than 70MB/s, because this chart tells me that is the fastest the 50D can handle:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cgnRivbUv7nA9PUlCLmLdir3gXdIN3pqzCNAAybepc/edit#gid=5

Thus I should go for the Komputerbay 128gig 800x cards, which handle a minimum of 75MB/s:
http://www.amazon.com/KOMPUTERBAY-128GB-Professional-COMPACT-Extreme/dp/B00ESCR2KM/
http://www.amazon.com/KOMPUTERBAY-PACK-Professional-COMPACT-Extreme/dp/B00D09AH88/

Then I'll be sorted! (well... unless I do something foolish like renting a 5D mk3 for ML raw to push to its max, then I'd need cards capable of 100MB/s, but that strikes me as a very unlikely thing for me to do) 

 

[IronFilm]

Found Andrew's blog on this topic:
http://www.eoshd.com/2013/05/which-compact-flash-cards-for-5d-mark-iii-raw-video/

But no mention of the Komputerbay 800x cards.

 

edit: Spooky... I've been reading that USB2.0 readers can damage some of these cards!!!!?? So must remember to only use USB3.0 card readers with them. (also what is with this strange view 64gigs is better than 128gigs?? hmmm...)

[Andrew Reid]

$150?

Well then, that is the best video you can get for the price for certain. No contest.

BTW, anyone tried the 100D for raw?

[BrorSvensson]

$150?

Well then, that is the best video you can get for the price for certain. No contest.

BTW, anyone tried the 100D for raw?

friend of mine tried it out, very similar to the 50d in terms of resolution.

[IronFilm]

$150?

Well then, that is the best video you can get for the price for certain. No contest.

 Jump on eBay and you can see a fair few have sold at around about that US$150ish price region:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_nkw=canon+50d&_sop=15
 

(they're often being sold "for parts", but so long as live view is working then it is all fine and dandy to go ahead and use for ML raw video! :-D )

However once you add up the hefty cost of fast CF Cards (which thankfully are heaps cheaper than what they were back in early 2013!!) then a 50D isn't looking quite so crazy cheap. As for most of us these CF Cards are not anything we'll ever use with any other cameras we've got now, and ditto its old batteries! Buy a bunch of them for a 50D, only to never be able to use it for anything else (if only the 50D was ever so slightly more modern and used the ridiculously commonplace Canon LP-E6 instead!!).

 

But the main reason why I question its relevance, is we've got BMPCC also selling very cheaply, and 4K cameras like the Panasonic G7 selling very cheaply as well. Just to mention a couple. The world now in (almost) 2016 is very different to what it was in early 2013 when the 50D first hit the headlines. 

Especially if you already own a BMPCC like myself.... I wonder what is the point??

 

 

BTW, anyone tried the 100D for raw?

100D is not listed here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cgnRivbUv7nA9PUlCLmLdir3gXdIN3pqzCNAAybepc/edit#gid=5

But I imagine it has the same kind of restrictions that all the others have which use SD cards rather than CF cards. 

[Cinegain]

However once you add up the hefty cost of fast CF Cards (which thankfully are heaps cheaper than what they were back in early 2013!!) then a 50D isn't looking quite so crazy cheap.

But the main reason why I question its relevance, is we've got BMPCC also selling very cheaply, and 4K cameras like the Panasonic G7 selling very cheaply as well. Just to mention a couple. The world now in (almost) 2016 is very different to what it was in early 2013 when the 50D first hit the headlines. 

Especially if you already own a BMPCC like myself.... I wonder what is the point??

lol, my exact thoughts. And 2013... sure, with ML and everything... but it's really a late 2008 camera even...

[mercer]

Google videos and you'll see the point. 

Better yet here's one by somebody who goes by Planetarium on Vimeo.  Freakin' amazing!!!

 

[Cinegain]

Could say google 'BMPCC' or 'G7' as well. I mean, there's bound to be good videos shot with anything, really.

But yeah. Ok. 2008 was also the year of the Sony F35 and I certainly don't mind that footage either.

[Nikkor]

I'm glad I sold my 50d for 250€ a month ago, it eats through batteries like hell it's such a pain in the ass. You can get like 5 mins or even less depending on the baterries health.

[mercer]

Hey I don't mean any ill will towards the BMPCC (I've wanted one forever) or the G7 (I have one and love it - probably the best camera I have ever owned)

But for $150 for full HD raw... It's a no-brainer. Of course, for some reason I thought the 50D was a full frame camera. But I guess if you already own a BMPCC, then I see why you might hesitate. 

[IronFilm]

lol, my exact thoughts. And 2013... sure, with ML and everything... but it's really a late 2008 camera even...

Could say google 'BMPCC' or 'G7' as well. I mean, there's bound to be good videos shot with anything, really.

But yeah. Ok. 2008 was also the year of the Sony F35 and I certainly don't mind that footage either.

Somebody is getting me exactly! :-D

 

I'm glad I sold my 50d for 250€ a month ago, it eats through batteries like hell it's such a pain in the ass. You can get like 5 mins or even less depending on the baterries health.

Are you freaking serious?????? :-o :-o Is 5 minutes the normal for the 50D?? Oh boy, and I used to think a BMPCC is bad with its battery life. Now I'll be left wishing it is as *GOOD* as I had it with a BMPCC....

 

Hey I don't mean any ill will towards the BMPCC (I've wanted one forever) or the G7 (I have one and love it - probably the best camera I have ever owned)

But for $150 for full HD raw... It's a no-brainer. Of course, for some reason I thought the 50D was a full frame camera. But I guess if you already own a BMPCC, then I see why you might hesitate. 

"$150" is a bit like the price of a RED Brain, it lulls you in with the low low "low" cost...  but then you realise you need to sell a kidney to afford all the pricey media it needs, and this and that on various other extras (like you need a *LOT* of batteries?? araucaria just wrote that they could last as little as 5 minutes in a 50D!! What the hell.... 50D sounds even worse than my BMPCC! Which I used to think is the worst thing ever for battery life).

And before you know it, that RED camera has just cost you several times what the brain itself cost! (and just like the RED, the 50D has a bunch of "gotchas" as got to enter crop mode to be able to do this or that....)

Ditto a 50D, I can see it might be easy for me to spend multiples of what the cheap body itself cost. 

[Damphousse]

 

"$150" is a bit like the price of a RED Brain, it lulls you in with the low low "low" cost...  but then you realise you need to sell a kidney to afford all the pricey media it needs, and this and that on various other extras (like you need a *LOT* of batteries?? araucaria just wrote that they could last as little as 5 minutes in a 50D!! What the hell.... 50D sounds even worse than my BMPCC! Which I used to think is the worst thing ever for battery life).
And before you know it, that RED camera has just cost you several times what the brain itself cost! (and just like the RED, the 50D has a bunch of "gotchas" as got to enter crop mode to be able to do this or that....)

Ditto a 50D, I can see it might be easy for me to spend multiples of what the cheap body itself cost. 

Two solutions.  One buy KomputerBay cards directly from them and test them out.  Exchange if they don't work.  Two, test the batteries your camera comes with.  The camera has been out for a looonnnggg time.  The batteries are probably at the end of their life for most of these cameras.  I doubt a new battery would only get five minutes.  Most Li-on batteries for 2008 suck by now regardless of what camera they are used on.  I would bet you one new fresh battery would work quite well.

I bought a 50D maybe a couple of years ago.  I played around with it and sold it during the BMPCC fire sale to finance the nobrainer BMPCC purchase.

The 50D is a pain in the @$$ to use but I have sold stock video from it.  I actually used the digitally zoomed image to get around the moire/aliasing.

[IronFilm]

Where did you sell stock footage? (and what of?)

I live in NZ, I'm afraid if I had to buy a bunch of KomputerBay cards and send them back and forth that would end making them more expensive than the other options due to postage costs! Are they really that likely of not working as fast as they claim & not even reaching their minimum specs???

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

BTW, anyone tried the 100D for raw?

100D Canon SLR? As in SL1? I assume a typo. I have one anyway, a lovely camera that gives SLR benefits in a mirrorless size. But as far as I know, its raw ML abilities are identical to all Canon rebels like the 600/700D/1200D lines, i.e., memory buffer caps at lower than SD resolution. 

 

I'm glad I sold my 50d for 250€ a month ago, it eats through batteries like hell it's such a pain in the ass. You can get like 5 mins or even less depending on the baterries health.

I have the 50D right here and it has a great battery life, as in days shooting stills and 30ish minutes liveview/video/raw, sometimes 40mins. I suspect your battery/ies were drained and at the end of their life expectancy, something common with such an old camera. 

 

@IronFilm 

Don't be afraid no It's nothing like a Red in cost need to operate. When you buy that for 150$, you have a fully functional, fast, durable SLR with build quality that stands to the highest end 2015 standards, with great ergonomics, battery, OVF, AF system, lenses available, just a wonderful camera for stills with a great image quality (looks the same to me as the 2015 standard 100D)

If you instal the free ML, you get video shooting and all those punch of features like an intervalometer (you can get this camera just as a timelapse body at thia price), and decent video quality sufficient for Web use. 

If you want to to take it to RAW shooting, the software update is fre and you only need a Memory Card. That's it. 

As with any camera, you can expand it to any cost with accessories. My own personal picks for a 50D raw solution would be: 

 

-2 128GB cards 

-2 Batteries (and the third inside the body, the 50D drains a bit more battery life than the newer models as the LV function was still in infancy)

-A cheap LCD loup for an EVF (and ML gives zebras/peaking) 

-A Gorrillapod to use for extra stability contact points. 

 

Lenses are a creative choice but my 50D has the 18-135mm IS STM glued to it, a do it all lens from wide to tele. And a 10-18mm IS STM for wide epic landscapes, and a 50mm prime for lowlight and shallow DOF. All ridiculously cheap glass that performs very highly. Of course you probably have glass you're eager to test with the RAW resolution/colour of Canon Raw. 

If I could buy a 50D for 150$ I would get three just to use as timelapse bodies (which I do a lot) and as a rugged stills camera when I want to shoot out in the rain/dust/sports and family, and as a great gift for a young relative interested in photography as it has a professional body/controls she/he can learn on. This last use might be only for me being old and giving presents to grandchildren though  

I am getting the shutter replaced as we speak and getting the sensor fullh cleaned as well as the VF assembly, packaging it with the 18-135mm and 50mm 1.8 and giving it for a 16 year-old neice for christmas who really wants a DSLR to learn photography. I didn't give the 100D/600D/1100D as I believe she'd be better of starting with a fully controlled professional body and get over the intimedation of it. It really is a great camera for many uses. Get it.