Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/16039
HDSLR ExpandingRole As our industry embraces this new camera format, workflows for post are being established. By Christine Bunish The popularity of HD video-enabled DSLR cameras, namely Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 7D, among film and video professionals has sparked a need for tools and workflows to facilitate post production for the commercials, inde- pendent films and episodic television programming originating on these systems. Developers are introducing post-related products designed to smooth the way, and post houses are expanding support for HDSLR workflows to meet the demands of an increasing client roster. CANON Chuck Westfall, technical advisor to Canon USA’s Consumer Imaging Group (www.usa.canon.com), reminds us that when the EOS 5D Mark II was originally designed, the impetus behind intro- ducing video in the camera’s development phase was to respond to requests from major wire service customers.“They were mov- ing online in a big way and anticipated generating a lot more video content,” he says.“They hoped they could leverage their invest- ment in EOS focus cameras and lenses with the incorporation of HD video in that type of equipment.Then it wouldn’t be neces- sary to carry two cameras on assignment.” What came as a surprise to Canon was that the 5D was “so en- thusiastically received by segments of the market that we weren’t necessarily catering to,”Westfall notes.“It became so popular with all disciplines and among advanced amateurs expanding their creativity. We’ve continued to support and introduce HD features in the rest of our EOS cameras: the 7D, 1D Mark IV and Rebel T2i.We’ve got the waterfront covered from $800 up to about $5,000. Customers can choose to enter the market at any price point Chuck Westfall and Canon’s EOS 7D. that’s comfortable, depending on what their needs are.” On the post side, Canon partnered with Apple to develop EOS Movie Plugin-E1 to be used with Final Cut Pro software. Available as a free download on the Canon Website, it smooths ingestion of EOS video files using FCP’s Log and Transfer function; adds timecode to each clip; automatically transcodes clips from H.264 to various Apple codecs; and speeds transcoding. In addition, Canon has bundled Picture Style Editor software with the camera to offer further control of image quality be- yond adjustments to contrast, sharpness and saturation that can be made through the Picture Style Menu. “Picture Style Editor gives a lot more control to create custom picture styles and do more sophisticated things, especially in the gamma curve and tone curve of the image,”Westfall explains. 18 Post • September 2010 www.postmagazine.com