New LCDVF to fully support 550D/T2i shipping in 4 weeks
April 12, 2010 - 10:19 am - posted in 550D/T2i, hddslr
Before talking about the big news, let me just get into the whole LCD-as-a-viewfinder issue for a second.
I’ve been interested in the LCDVF since I first heard about it. Since the viewfinder on the DSLRs is blocked by the mirror when set to movie mode, the LCD screen has to be used as a VF. Obviously this makes it very very hard to focus – especially when shooting in 1080p. In the past few months companies have responded to that issue, one of the first solutions being the Hoodman HoodLoupe (which was actually build for still photographers, making it easier to review the images on the LCD screen when shooting in bright daylight).
Today, many people rely on the Zacuto Z-Finder, which sure is a great product – but very expensive. A cheap alternative, the LCDVF, had been introduced by a one-man company early this year. It offers a magnification of about 200% but no diopter. No problem for me, since I’m using contact lenses anyways. The LCDVF is listed at about 160$ (130€ in Germany), which is still much less than the cheapest Z-Finder (starting at 265$, but at that price also without diopter).
The LCDVF has been out of stock pretty much everywhere for the past few weeks, so I wasn’t able to get my hands on one of them. The only retailer in Germany selling these things seems to be a web shop called EnjoyYouCamera.com (they also ship to UK, FR and IT btw). After checking back with EYC I was told the LCDVF should be back in stock by last week ;-) Nothing there yet, though.
Another issue has popped up on the internet when someone with a 550D/T2i got his hands on a LCDVF – apparently the screen of the 550D is a bit smaller than the ones on the 7D or 5DmkII, resulting in the mounting frame of the VF cropping off 2mm on both sides of the LCD screen. Not much you might say (so do I), but also not really perfect when you think about the 160$ you invested into this.
UPDATED 2: 550D/T2i knock-off battery test with surprises (1400mAh)
April 10, 2010 - 8:46 pm - posted in 550D/T2i, film, gear reviews, hddslr
Update May 04, 2010:
Watch out when buying batteries from the ebay seller mentioned in the text (“trade-shop”); it seems he sends out different kinds of batteries (with less power than the ones i got) – check out Lucas Pfaffs blog entry on this matter (it’s in german). Thanks for the warning, Lucas!
Update May 06, 2010:
I have received word from quite a few people now the ebay seller (“trade-shop”) now ships batteries with significantly less power than the ones I got. Be careful when buying the batteries on ebay, try to get a statement from the seller first and feel free to link to this blog entry!
_
Since the first knock-off batteries for the 550D/T2i appeared on Amazon and eBay a few weeks ago, I was eager to get my hands on some of them. The original Canon battery LP-E8 is still listed at something like 60$ and I believe it was even more before the first knock-offs were introduced. For me this is far too much money to be spend on a battery; even though they obviously are an essential piece of equipment for the DSLR filmmaker (especially when it comes to longer shoots).
Anyhow, since I was planning to get enough batteries to last for a whole shooting day (and still keep an eye on the money spent), I wanted to be sure the ones I got would be as long lasting as possible. After checking back with Nino Leitner’s experiences with some of the clones I decided to get some myself. Now the ones Nino tested lasted for about 47min compared to a total of 147min with the original Canon battery.
I decided to give a battery from eBay (Germany) a shot – it claimed to have 1400mAH, which is quite a bit more than the original battery has (1120mAh). I bought it for about 10€ (which is something like 13$) and didn’t expect too much. But hey, not much of a risk at 10 bucks, right. Well, prepare for some surprises.
UPDATED: canon 550d/t2i finally here! stay tuned for more!
April 7, 2010 - 2:41 pm - posted in film, hddslr, photographyUpdate April 09, 2010:
You can now find a sample video on my vimeo profile.
Hey folks,
I finally got my new camera – the Canon 550D/t2i. I’m already in love with it and will be uploading sample videos to my vimeo profile soon. The full HD footage looks stunning with my canon 50/1.8 lens. stay tuned for more, i’ll be putting together quite some gear in the near future for hddslr filmmaking while staying on a budget. maybe i’ll be of help for some of you guys who also want to get into hddslr business.
i’m currently waiting on the LCDVF to be sold in Germany again – it seems to be out of stock anywhere else as well, but i was told new stocks should arrive some time this week. i’ll keep you posted on this as well for i know it is a low priced alternative to the zacuto z-finder and is supposed to be working quite okay. check back here for more info, reviews and footage on that later!
hope you have a wonderful week!
xo
canon releases plugin to connect FCP and DSLRs *UPDATE*
March 24, 2010 - 10:26 pm - posted in generalI just found out about a plugin for Final Cut Pro that was released by Canon just a few days ago – looks like this plugin makes it possible to convert hd video material from the 7D, 5DmkII and 1DmkIV directly and very fast into Apple ProRes 422 using the log & transfer feature of FCP. Doesn’t yet work for the 500D/550D (t1i/t2i), but looks like this is planned for future versions of the plugin. Very nice if you ask me, could come in handy.
check out the US Canon website for the download links (select your camera model first, then find it in the ‘drivers & downloads’ section.
Update:
Apparently there already is a workaround to get the plugin working with the 550D as well. Check out these instructions by Nathan Beaman to get it done.
xo
my new lens: canon ef50 f1.8 mkI
March 22, 2010 - 11:23 pm - posted in film, hddslr, photographySince yesterday i’m the proud owner of a beautiful canon ef 50mm f1.8 lens. yes, i know there is a mkII version out there which is not 20 years old like this one, but it seemed to me more like a step back than forward, especially when it comes to production quality. the mkI version features a metal bayonet, while the new one has plastic. plus – most important point for me – since i’m planning to use this lens for hddslr filming i will be able to actually use the focus ring on the mkII. it’s still not really wide, but much wider than the one on the newer version (which is like 1.5 mm).
the mkI is kind of hard to get though, there are a few ones on ebay, but often they are quite expensive due to their rareness. i was lucky and got mine for about 170$ from a marketplace in a dslr forum.
i already played around with the lens a bit, but have yet to test it under real low light conditions (in which i was planning to use it obviously). i’ll show some samples here then.
in the next days i’ll get myself the new canon 550d, really looking forward to it. i can’t wait to get into the whole hddslr filmmaking, after seeing all the possibilities you have with these cameras (check out the blog of filmmaker/dp philip bloom – i love his work and he’s totally into hddslr filmmaking).
xo
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