5D3 ML Raw Screen Grabs

[mercer]

So as some already know, I recently purchased a 5D3 primarily to shoot Magic Lantern Raw. Well this week I started my first short film with it. It was definitely a learning experience but I really don't know of any camera where I would have achieved such pleasing images. I also purchased the Canon 24-70mm f/4 lens and I am consistently blown away by what a great lens it is and the OIS is so damn good, even at 70mm, that the majority of my short, thus far, has been shot handheld.

With the recent 4K Raw developments, I figured I would post some pros and cons in case somebody else is looking to pick one up.

Well the first pro is that shooting Raw could not be simpler with it. Set up Raw histogram with the overexposure hint and when it shows your color channels are starting to clip or the word "over" appears on the histogram, then just dial back your exposure a touch.

Another pro is that there are a bunch of people on this forum still shooting with the 5D3 and everybody is helpful. If you have a problem about any aspect of the process or workflow, there are plenty of other ML shooters around here that go out of their way to answer even the stupidest of my questions... not nearly as daunting as the ML forum.

Now a couple cons... you need a bunch of cards... or a computer and hard drive to offload your footage... 12 minutes on a 64GB cards gets filled quickly. Even with 3 cards, and trying to be conservative with my shots and shot ratios, I still ran out of space 3/4 of the way through my second day of shooting.

Converting the footage is a bit tedious. The RawMagic route of converting the MLV files to CDNG is fairly fast but then you still have to process the footage through Resolve or After Effects before really seeing what you have. I really like the MLRawViewer program, but although you get to preview your footage, the conversion is slow and after I updated my Mac to Sierra, the version I have does not work with it, but I believe there is a newer version,  so hopefully it will work then.

I guess that's about it for now, so I'll leave you with a couple graded screen grabs, from a couple shots I briefly messed around with yesterday...

[Dan Wake]

very nice.

do you shoot in crop mode? I wish to ask you if when you shoot 4k you can see a fluid preview on the LCD screen live view or if it is in black and white with choppy low frame per second view.

[mercer]

1 hour ago, Dan Wake said:

very nice.

do you shoot in crop mode? I wish to ask you if when you shoot 4k you can see a fluid preview on the LCD screen live view or if it is in black and white with choppy low frame per second view.

Thanks Dan, sorry I should have been more clear in my long post... this isn't 4K... I actually shot in 2:35, so it isn't even 1080p... it's 1920x810. Since I'm new to the 5D3 and ML, I haven't tested the 4K Raw yet... yet. 

But I am pretty sure the 4K Raw is not a fluid preview and liveview is in grey scale.

[jpfilmz]

Try the new Footage App developed by one of the magic lantern forum member martinhering.

 You can get the latest version here.
https://rink.hockeyapp.net/apps/3ed6ecf60e684239a6aba3d407cf3935/app_versions/77

There isn't real time playback yet like MLRawViewer but you can quickly scrub the timeline and export the dng or mov files. Also, you may get more than 12 minutes by shooting in 14bit lossless raw.

[mercer]

13 minutes ago, jpfilmz said:

Try the new Footage App developed by one of the magic lantern forum member martinhering.

 You can get the latest version here.
https://rink.hockeyapp.net/apps/3ed6ecf60e684239a6aba3d407cf3935/app_versions/77

There isn't real time playback yet like MLRawViewer but you can quickly scrub the timeline and export the dng or mov files. Also, you may get more than 12 minutes by shooting in 14bit lossless raw.

Thanks JP, I'll check this out. I do like the "LogC" function of MLRawViewer, do you know of any other programs that offer a pseudo LogC conversion? I've been reading a little bit about MLVFS and CineLOG, I know Hyalinejim uses CineLog, and when my day job slows up a little bit, I'll probably give that route a test. I really just wish FCPX would accept CDNG files.

[Nikkor]

Just use the raw files directly in Resolve without using crappy compression/log 

[mercer]

3 minutes ago, Nikkor said:

Just use the raw files directly in Resolve without using crappy compression/log 

I would but I don't really like Resolve. That's what I'm using now but I actually think the "LogC" from MLRawViewer works really nice with FCPX and an Arri LUT as a start off. Then just a few corrections with FCPX's simple Color Board is all the footage really needs.

But I guess it wouldn't hurt to learn a little Resolve. Was thinking it may be a good way to do a rough edit of my shots and that would make for a quicker ProRes conversion in the end. I guess I could also add the Arri LUT in Resolve before I convert it to FCPX for my final edit.

[Evgeniy]

Looks great!

Can you preview and delete clips in the camera?

[mercer]

34 minutes ago, Evgeniy said:

Looks great!

Can you preview and delete clips in the camera?

Thanks, supposedly you can preview the last clip recorded. I'm not sure if you can delete them. I'm pretty new to all this, but I'm sure someone else has the answer. I will say I got a little scared because this was the first time I ever filled a card and when they fill, the camera asks you (in writing) if you are sure the card is formatted as ExFat. I went to check the previous file to make sure I got the last clip and it wouldn't preview, but I assume I was doing it wrong because it asked me if I wanted to delete it. I immediately exited and took the card out. Then I hoped and prayed I didn't erase all the files. Lol. I didn't. 

[webrunner5]

5 hours ago, mercer said:

Thanks Dan, sorry I should have been more clear in my long post... this isn't 4K... I actually shot in 2:35, so it isn't even 1080p... it's 1920x810. Since I'm new to the 5D3 and ML, I haven't tested the 4K Raw yet... yet. 

 

That looks crazy good for not even being 1080p HD. Wow. The last screen grab is sharp as a tack. And who can argue about Canon Colors!

[mercer]

Thanks Don, I appreciate it. I am pretty pleased with this set up. That lens is great wide open and gives me just enough dof. To be able to shoot Raw video, handheld is amazing. I was a little worried about interior shots... but after looking at a couple shots, I think they turned out alright for a 2 minute color process. However I still wish I had a better monitor than my MacBook Air...

They look a little browner than they did on my computer. 

I also rarely shoot anything longer than a minute, so I may try to up the resolution to a 2.5k 2:35 variant to see how long I can record with it. 

[webrunner5]

12 minutes ago, mercer said:

Thanks Don, I appreciate it. I am pretty pleased with this set up. That lens is great wide open and gives me just enough dof. To be able to shoot Raw video, handheld is amazing. I was a little worried about interior shots... but after looking at a couple shots, I think they turned out alright for a 2 minute color process. However I still wish I had a better monitor than my MacBook Air...

They look a little browner than they did on my computer. 

I also rarely shoot anything longer than a minute, so I may try to up the resolution to a 2.5k 2:35 variant to see how long I can record with it. 

Wow the DR looks great indoors also. I don't see Any crushed Blacks, and the grade looks very realistic. You made a heck of a good choice on the 5DIII Glenn.

[mercer]

24 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Wow the DR looks great indoors also. I don't see Any crushed Blacks, and the grade looks very realistic. You made a heck of a good choice on the 5DIII Glenn.

Thanks Don, I appreciate it. Have you had the chance to do any more AF100 tests?

[webrunner5]

No sad to say. It has rained or overcast and cold as heck for days. But here are a few screen grabs I shoot a week ago. My new 14-140mm 3.5-5.6 mkII I think is pretty impressive sharpness wise. I haven't done too much AF with it, but I think it might work out pretty well on that part with good contrast subjects. The Jeep was done with AF with it. So was the Bird Feeders.

[webrunner5]

27 minutes ago, mercer said:

Thanks Don, I appreciate it. Have you had the chance to do any more AF100 tests?

I had the little Canon 40mm f2.8 Pancake lens. It was Really sharp. And they are cheap. They are around 100 bucks used on Amazon. I would latch on to one of those in the future. Talk about a small, light setup up! And it is pretty stealth looking. Just about my favorite focal length.

I think it is close to what we see with our eyes. Not the total width, but our aspect ratio, focal length. So I have always thought, if it looks good to our eyes why use a lens that is very far off from that.

[mercer]

They look great. Love the jeep shot. Looking forward to seeing your historical doc. 

Yeah the 40mm looks like a sweet little lens. I had the 35mm f2 for a blink of an eye last year, I think I may pick up another one, if I can get a good deal. And the 50mm 1.4 is supposed to be a beauty as well. Ugh, too many choices. 

[PannySVHS]

4 hours ago, mercer said:

.

 

They look a little browner than they did on my computer. 

I also rarely shoot anything longer than a minute, so I may try to up the resolution to a 2.5k 2:35 variant to see how long I can record with it. 

 

Now, that looks very sweet. I think this is an awesome setting for a mood piece. Would you like to share some footage? Really

awesome looking. So how do you like canon raw from the 5diii vs black magic raw?

By the way, what monopod are you using in your videos? I think I remember you did use one, didnt you?

Always loving your camera movements and framing.

 

[mercer]

3 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

 

Now, that looks very sweet. I think this is an awesome setting for a mood piece. Would you like to share some footage? Really

awesome looking. So how do you like canon raw from the 5diii vs black magic raw?

By the way, what monopod are you using in your videos? I think I remember you did use one, didnt you?

Always loving your camera movements and framing.

 

Thanks Marty, I appreciate it. Yeah that shot turned out okay, even with the JPEG compression from the screengrab. The other interior shot didn't fare as well as a jpeg.

This has all been handheld, but I usually use a monopod. I have a Sirui and a Benro. Both are great. The Sirui is a great concept, but it hasn't really held up to the test of time. The Benro is more solidly built but it isn't as stable on its smaller feet... there's always concessions with inexpensive gear.

No footage for now, not until the short is finished. But I will leave you with a few final screengrabs from part one of my shoot.

 

Now these are all just color tests but they're close to what I want the final mood to be. 

After running my other cards through Raw Magic and Resolve, I think @Nikkor is right about going the Resolve route. Now I just have to learn how to use Resolve more proficiently. 

[PannySVHS]

Arrgh! That last shot- beautiful! What focal lenght did you use on that one? Was that using the complete area of the 36mmx24mm sensor or what kind of crop factor? Got myself another tokina, the 25-50 f4 and a sigma zoom master 35-70 2.8-4 for really cheap! Liking the Tokina 24 -40 f2.8 so far,

great mechanics and to hold in hand and work it. Though I think

on my lens T Stop is rather a 3.8 instead of 2.8. I tested it against the beautiful pocketcam oly xz10, little marvel it is.