Well, I finally got my hands on one of these Canon 5D mark 2′s. I’m using the camera strictly for video and it is working beautifully. This clip shows what sort of “photographer inspired” imagery can be done with this thing. There are many drawbacks to using this camera for video, but there are also amazing features like: interchangeable lenses, the full frame sensor, and extreme low light sensitivity!
Warning: Music is a bit of a downer. Skip to the motorcycle video if you want something a little more “upbeat”.
Nostalgia (flare-free version) from Edgar Maguyon on Vimeo.
My first shots with the camera would not even play on my MacbookPro 2.0Ghz. The raw shots off this camera are 1920pix X 1080pix at about 40MB / second. That is a ton of info just to play back.
Getting the footage to work in an editing program in real time is another thing all together. Here’s my workflow.
The transcode into the AIC codec will bring the file size up quite a bit. The 5d mkII uses the .h264 codec which saves file size but eats your computer power.
Once your files are all rendered into the AIC codec Premier Pro CS4 [or CS3 I guess] should scrub the files in real time.
NOTE: You can only encode to the AIC codec on the Mac, It is a free codec that comes with OS X.
There is a lossy compression going on in this process. The alternative intermeidate codecs for editing are ProRes [Final Cut Studio] or Avid DNxHD. Both of these are closer to a lossless compression but also require more power to decode and edit in real time.
Have fun!
UPDATE:
check the comments, I’ve moved to a proxie workflow, it’s not that hard I promise and it will save you countless headaches if your longing for real time renderless editing with a mobile workstation. I am running a MBP with 2.0Ghz processor.
d
Tags: 1080p editing, 5dmk2, AIC, canon 5d mark2, Premier Pro CS4, video codecs
Thanks for sharing your work flow and if you have tweaked it all since please share.
Yo bro! This vid with the bike is sick… I want my CBR back again!!! I am pretty sure I never went 299 klicks Per H. I will someday when I get back up on the crotch rocket. peace and stay safe on the bike!
thanks buddy, appreciate it. i knew that each vid would have its fans!!
@matt
actually there are some updates to this post, I will post them once there I have the right screenshots, they pretty much include creating a 1080p 42Mbits/s preset for the footage and updating the sequence preview settings [you can specify the playback codec per sequence].
I’m working on integrating the footage to a fullscreen progressive download, so I will post the workflow there too… the target is something like what http://www.peakperformance.com has done .
hi there, did you ever get the updates to your work flow up? I’d appreciate any info you have on it.. thanks -andy
Ok here is the deal in short.
proxies are required for smooth editing.. from my experience there is NO HOPE of RENDERLESS editing the raw .h264 files from the 5d mk2 in premiere pro cs4 especially once effects and transitions are added. This is critical for me as I lose all creativity when waiting for renders and spinning balls of death…
transcode all raw files with mpeg streamclip to apple intermediate codec [or .h264 if you really have to..] @ [640 x 360 pix]
save these in a new folder alongside your raw files, call it “proxies”.
open mpeg streamclip
press command + b for BATCH
dump all your raw files in the batch
export to quicktime
mpeg streamclip transcode settings:
no interlaced scaling [this is awesome progressive footage..]
30 fps
5Mbps
square pixels
50 % quality
RUN THE BATCH AND WAKE UP IN THE MORNING…
open ppro cs4
new project:
square pixels
30fps
1920 x 1080
progressive
[save that as a preset]
after importing all the raw footage to the project panel, select all raw clips right click > make offline
with all clips selected, replace them with the 640 x 360 proxies right click > link media
NOTE: the file names need to be exact filename matches to the raw files, this will allow premiere to replace all the clips when you just select one.
ANOTHER NOTE: the 640 x 360 proxies will not fill the 1080 work area until you right click on them in the timeline and select “scale to frame size”.
HAPPY EDITING.. Premiere will now be able to work on this low-res footage much quicker. Welcome back to real time editing.. FINALLY
Once the cuts are complete, then repeat the process and replace the proxies with the raw files. Render them out at nothing more than 25Mbps [my advice for smooth playback... unless you have top end machines along the life of the file]
Here is the post with all the details, my workflow is more or less the same as that one. I did try to make the proxies SD and it still choked my macbook pro 2.0 GHZ, I would recommend going straight for the 640 x 360 resolution and a bit rate of 5Mbps or maybe even lower. The key is to be able to have it play smooth not only for straight cuts, but also renderless dissolves and color corrections.
Peace,
Justin
Hi. I’m trying to do the batch export but I can’t find Apple Intermediate Codec. I have Apple Video in the Movie Exporter window. Is that it? Thanks.
Im with okeefe1979 I wonder if you need to have final cut to have the Apple intermediate Codec that would beat all the purpose of having premiere. Just curious because that’s the only missing link i have in order to edit using your work flow. Any free codecs that function like the AIC
ThNKS
Heya,
Yeah the AIC codec comes with Apple OS X I believe, if you are using PC I think there is a free codec here:
http://lags.leetcode.net/codec.html
Basically you want to use a codec [AIC or other,] with minimal compression and decompression, this will make it easier on your system to work in realtime. Also be sure that the bitrate drops as well.. the raw files are somewhere around 40Mbps so bring these proxies down to something like 5Mbps.
Remember that you need to keep the same extension in order to replace all the proxies with the originals, so use a .mov wrapper with whatever codec you choose for your working files… This all sounds tedious but once you are able to work in real-time it’s all worth it.
Hope that helps,
Cheers,
Frost
Hey, could you please make a video tutorial showing your work flow, I think it would be greatly appreciated by many viewer. Thanks.
Hey there,
Thanks for the comment… I have had a couple people ask me for a video tutorial for this.. Hopefully I will be able to get around to it in the next couple weeks… My 5D2 is broken and sent back to Canon so I have some time to work on this stuff[:
Cheers,
J
Hello
I used you workflow to edit and it worked a treat, so huge thanks! However I now am struggling to export the footage. Now I don’t really understand what all of these settings mean (pixel aspect ration, anamophic…) but the footage all looks great when rendered out at low res. Now, I need to export it as uncompressed so I can bring it into Adobe After Effects to add some titles etc. the problem is that I can’t get the uncompressed export to work, it seems to make the footage almost metallic looking. I’ve tried messing around with many options but I just can’t find the best solution. The only really way I can export it and it looks ok is by using the h.624 format but this makes my cross dissolves look really pixilated. So, any ideas for ways to make this work?
Ta
S
Ahha! I just realized that if you make the codec bit rate higer then the metallic look of the footage goes…wohoo!
S
Great! I’m glad to bear that it helped out. I’ve had great results using the photo-jpeg codec as a working file for use in after effects and premiere.. Use 90% or above on the compression settings for the full res renders, from my research this is very comparable (but much more manageable) than an uncompressed or “animation” codec based workflow.
Thanks for checking out the blog,
Justin
[...] Intermediate Codec. This site has some good information on this stuff specifically for 5d2 files. http://www.frosted.ca/2009/03/26/can…080p-workflow/ I wish someone would just make a complete walk through hah. Video > Ryan. __________________ [...]
Hey Justin:
I’ve been using a proxy editing workflow over the past year with decent success. However, the thing that has baffled me the most is the color shift that occurs when, 1. I load the “raw” video file directly from the 5DmkII into Premiere Pro, and 2. when I transcode the footage with any codec escept Cineform’s NeoScene for Mac.
Have you experienced any color shifting in your workflow? And if so, have you cared? And if so, how have you handled it?
Today I followed your suggestions above by transcoding from the 5DmkII using both MPEG Streamclip/AIC and Quicktime/AIC, each output of which had a different result, and neither of which matched the original file. I am baffled!
My workflow is documented here (although it is in need of some minor updates):
http://bcjphotography.com/blog/allthatglitters/refined-video-process/
Thanks for your time,
bcj.
Hey BCJ,
I have experienced color shifting and luma shifting actually.. After much research and trial & error, I have come to believe that this stems from using codecs and rendering engines that work in differing color spaces.. RGB vs YUV.
If at any point in the workflow one of these is different, it will result in a color shift [or luma] because of the conversion that occurs, sort of like when changing from CMYK to RGB in print I suppose.. the results are never perfect.
With the workflow I use now, I do not have any issues with color/luma shifts, the only issue I have is a known bug within premiere that occurs when a clip is time remapped and output to quicktime [any codec I think]. Any clip remapped will appear fine within the preview but upon render will go dark [approx 20%]. I get around this by using dynamic link to AE [right click the clip and "replace with after effects comp"].
I have updated my workflow again from the original post, but I think it’s mostly covered in the comment I followed up with.. I will summarize here quickly:
1. download from 5D mark ii
2. make selections in bridge for clips that will go into production [reduces rendering of garbage clips]
3. create “raw” and “proxy” folders
4. dump the selections into the “raw” folder
5. using adobe media encoder I have a preset for proxies quicktime 1/9th resolution [640x360] – photo-jpeg 70% quality 30fps, PAR 1.0 [these render to "proxy" folder]
6. go to sleep
7. wake up and add the proxy files to the premiere project
8. do editing and “make offline” then “relink” when time to render.
Thats it..
Make sure that your project settings for video previews matches the codec that you use for the proxies.. in my case photo-jpeg.
Another note, after so much research I have gone with photo-jpeg as my “holy grail” codec.. from what I know this codec when quality is set @ 100% is 4:4:4 [nearly lossless] and when below 75% is 4:2:2, this makes for a strong intermediate transcode [100%] and also a good proxy [<70%]. Photo-Jpeg is also a good balance of size vs. quality [especially below 75%, I use H264 for "final generation" deliverables]
I have never used NeoScene but the same principles apply I’m sure, I also heard that final cut’s engine works in YUV..
Let me know if these tips help, my next project will have a video tutorial so I can share this a little more “dynamically”.
Cheers,
Frost
Hey Justin:
Thanks for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. I’m going to give your updated workflow a try. I’m beginning to think everyone has some level of color shift, but just doesn’t focus on it or worry about it much. It’s too noticeable for my personal taste thus far.
bcj.
Can you run your raw+encoded footage through a difference filter? That should highlight the areas of change.. also if you could upload some screenshots of the raw and transcoded footage somewhere that could give some insight too.
Cheers,
J
Good suggestions. I’ll work on the difference filter and putting together some screen shots. Won’t be till this weekend at the earliest.
bcj.