Canon 50D ML Raw in late 2015??

[IronFilm]

Soooo.... made the decision, and have now purchased a 50D!! (it was at "a price that I can not refuse" deal)

Got it here in my  hands. But oops... the seller forgot the charger cable. And I don't have a single CF Card to use with it! (well, I have one on its way.... but thanks to a screw up with NZ Customs it is not here yet)

http://ironfilm.co.nz/does-canon-50d-magic-lantern-raw-make-sense-in-late-2015/

[IronFilm]

@IronFilm 

Don't be afraid no It's nothing like a Red in cost need to operate.

 Oh when I was comparing it with a RED, I wasn't meaning that it would end up costing a similar amount! LOL

No, as my comparison was how looking at the "body only price" (US$150) can be very misleading. As the price creeps up much higher with all the other extras (thanks to how very expensive fast CF Cards are, at least they were back in early 2013), and it has a bunch of other "gotchas" (like crop modes, and volume of data to handle with the post workflow. Like with a RED). 

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)

Heh, I don't really care about its stills capabilities. As already got a Nikon D90/D5200 to use (plus heaps of mirrorless cameras). Plus... the camera is *stuffed* when it comes to being a stills camera! Haha

Throws up error messages if you try to take a pic through the OVF. Is why I got it so dirt dirt cheap. But it is fine for ML raw use :-D As live view works. 

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. 

 But why would you be so evil as to give a Canon DSLR to a kid for their Christmas present?? You're leading them astray setting them down that path...

 

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. 

 Yup, I reckon if I do go ahead and take it a bit more seriously and do a few projects with it then I'll want at a minimum 2x 128gig cards 

But which ones.... so many options! Hoping Komputerbay 128gig 800x are a wise choice. 

The camera came with 3 batteries, but I suspect I might be wanting a couple more. 

Got the loupe and little gorrillapod already. 

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. 

I've got heaps of Nikon lenses! ;-) Is how I ended up buying this camera, as I purchased a Nikon 85mm f/1.8D from the seller and I got the 50D for only a very tiny amount extra. 

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  

 Hehe... I got it for much much less than US$150 ;-) It was priced at a deal that I could not refuse! 

 

[Cinegain]

[..]

 But why would you be so evil as to give a Canon DSLR to a kid for their Christmas present?? You're leading them astray setting them down that path...

[citro1]

Hi @IronFilm how did it work out, what's your experience shooting with it?
I'm in a similar position, thinking about getting one.

How reliable is it? I'm aware of overheating, battery drain and occasional pink frames. Any less obvious caveats?

Is live view usable while recording?
When I was playing around with raw on a 600D years ago that was a major issue, it became rather slow despite grayscale/GD off, and the framing in crop mode was inaccurate. But that's possibly fixed by now.

[tweak]

Have you considered 7D also?

I got one for 420USD initially for photos as I already had a GH4 for video, but I found the MLraw to be so nice and easy that it's getting more use than my GH4 now. You can almost shoot 1080p and you can choose aspects for anamorphic. 

Don't buy KomputerBay cards, they are a total lucky dip (do some searching through ML forum and you will read that). I've read the Lexar cards are pretty consistent with their speeds, I've got a 128GB 1066X which you can shoot about 30mins of MLraw on. (Cost was about 100dollars).

I've read a lot about people not liking the aliasing and such of the 7D but I haven't really had a big issue with it in any of my shots yet and for the price I couldn't be happier. It may well lead me to getting a BM cam in the future.

[tugela]

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2015 at 9:17 PM, IronFilm said:

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???

Keep in mind that the write specs of a lot of these cards are pretty dubious, particularly if they are a generic brand.

[tweak]

46 minutes ago, tugela said:

Keep in mind that the write specs of a lot of these cards are pretty dubious, particularly if they are a generic brand.

Yes, KB is terrible for that, all over the place. Stick to Lexar, Scandisc, etc.

[IronFilm]

On 6/20/2016 at 1:57 AM, citro1 said:

Hi @IronFilm how did it work out, what's your experience shooting with it?

Wellll.......... only in the last few days or week or so have I got:

a) a battery charger for the batteries! (as the camera was meant to come with this from the seller, but it didn't and I waited aaaaaages for him to get it to me! So eventually I just bought one myself from eBay)

b) ultra fast CF cards from a job that owed me it (the editor lost my SD cards!! So she gave me these instead)

Thus I haven't got around to trying it out yet. But not too bothered, the whole thing only cost me US$35! ;-) 

I've only got it because it is so crazy ultra cheap, but I wouldn't recommend it. It can't even record audio! 

Just buy a BMD Micro Cinema Camera instead, it will be 10000x times more painless and 100% better.

[tweak]

For that price it's worthwhile I think! @IronFilm

[TrueIndigo]

I've just added my Magic Lantern RAW video camera test for the 50D in the "Shooting" section if anyone wants to check it out:

http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/20129-ml-raw-video-50d-camera-test/

[Katrikura]

A couple of years ago bought a Canon 50D, this in order to try and explore the characteristics of MagicLantern. As economic price, I submitted to every possible test: making timelapse, videos in different fps (2, 4, 6, etc.), anamorphic video and of course Video RAW in the various resolutions that offered me ML for this camera, plus several workflows for raw video and everything worked very well. After that I took the decision to acquire the 5diii, so I served as a test camera.

[citro1]

@tweak Thanks a lot for the heads-up re the cards! Wasn't aware it's that bad.
Would a good card make shooting raw more or less reliable, or will there still be missed shots, just less than with a bad one?

@IronFilm  I'm aware of the limitations. I guess everyone has different needs, I'm looking for a budget solution and zero aliasing/moire in crop mode is particularly useful for me (filming mobile devices screens, which is moire hell).

Two questions:

- What about live view during recording raw? Stuttering grayscale image, or does it work normally, including overlays?

- Low light? As @Andrew Reid pointed out in the initial review, in theory it should be better due to less megapixels, but when googling I came across some older articles, from the time when photographers upgraded to the then new 60D and reported low light improvements over the old 50D.

 

 

@TrueIndigo Nice  

 

 

[tweak]

With a decent card I haven't had many problems with "missed shots", certainly a decent card plays a big role in a stable recording.

Not sure of how well 50D MLraw actually performs sorry, can only comment on 7D at this stage.

 

[mercer]

All this talk of new cameras I can't afford reminded me of old cameras I couldn't afford then but can now...

Now that you've had this for a little while, how are you getting on with it? 

From my research, it seems if you have a plan and a workflow, it's pretty painless and the results I've seen online... Beautiful.

[IronFilm]

Heh, mine has just been sitting on the shelf! I have so many better/easier cameras to use instead. 

[BrorSvensson]

39 minutes ago, mercer said:

All this talk of new cameras I can't afford reminded me of old cameras I couldn't afford then but can now...

Now that you've had this for a little while, how are you getting on with it? 

From my research, it seems if you have a plan and a workflow, it's pretty painless and the results I've seen online... Beautiful.

i gave up on mine, no audio, lots of overheating, horrible screen but it's a beatuiful image. Currently waiting on Mark ii prices to drop even farther

[mercer]

21 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Heh, mine has just been sitting on the shelf! I have so many better/easier cameras to use instead. 

Well, I guess when you spend 35 bucks on it, if you use it once or even turn it on, you got your money's worth.

I actually just bought one myself. I found a mint copy for a fair price, so I jumped on it. I've been wanting to get more into stills and was planning on getting a D5500 for stills and hybrid video, but then when I saw the deal I got, I figured I could easily brush up on my stills skills, with the 50d, and have ML Raw... Win win. 

I loved the raw from the BMMCC, just hated the ergonomics. With the 50d, I assume I'll like the ergonomics and hate the post workflow, but workflow is my time, I have plenty of that... ergonomics makes shooting more difficult and that time is limited.

13 minutes ago, BrorSvensson said:

i gave up on mine, no audio, lots of overheating, horrible screen but it's a beatuiful image. Currently waiting on Mark ii prices to drop even farther

Yeah, I have heard of the downfalls, but I thought it would be a good way to get my feet wet with ML raw.

I dabbled with the eos-m raw last fall, but after spending a couple hours shooting stuff, there was never a guarantee you could get rid of the pink dots. On most occasions, the entire shoot was a waste of time.

The lack of audio, on the 50d, is annoying but for small, silent projects and mood pieces, it's doable.

Eventually I am thinking along your lines... Pick up a Mkii. Right now they are a little out of my price range for the experimenting phase, but if I can get half the quality I've seen online out of the 50d, I may own a Mkii by year's end. 

[IronFilm]

I'd be much much more tempted by a BMMCC or secondhand BMPCC (I have one myself) than a 5Dmk2 for ML raw. 

[mercer]

12 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

I'd be much much more tempted by a BMMCC or secondhand BMPCC (I have one myself) than a 5Dmk2 for ML raw. 

I don't like rigs. The BMMCC is unusable without one. The Pocket isn't much better from my understanding. 

[Damphousse]

On 12/17/2015 at 11:17 PM, IronFilm said:

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

Crap.  Never saw this question.

I've used Pond5.  I just put up some clips from vacations and stuff like that.  I am a hobbyist.  I don't shoot professionally.  I've only made a few hundred dollars here and there.  Not even sure if it is worth my time.

I guess there are certain topics that are more in demand.  I mean if you have stock clips of a diverse group of people in a medical or business setting with model releases I suppose you would do a lot better.  Or if you live somewhere with exciting news.

I also shoot 1080p.  Really I think for stock 4k is the way to go.