I downloaded the latest ML Firmware and set to work in ernest.
OMG i'm so glad i did!
New improvements:
1. Magic Lantern have changed the way the Canon 5D Mk2 records RAW by putting a MLV wrapper around the RAW video, what does this mean? It means the audio is now captured and included with the video. I know this is not that much of a big deal but having scratch audio really helps.
2. The 3x RAW video Zoom!!!! this is great, it means i can now record just the center of the image effectively trebling the focal length of my lenses!!!! this is huge as it makes my goto lens 24-105 L a 24-315mm F4! and with my 1.4x TC a 24-441mm!. You can also extend it further by using the 1280x720 mode which crops even further! but your better off doing this in post.
3. The third thing and something which i never knew about is MASSIVE!!! by using the ML RAW function when using an external field monitor you retain full HD display when recording!!!! NO MORE 480p camera mode required!!!!! this is superb and worth the extra workflow required with RAW video.
So what are the downsides of using RAW video, well its all about storage, 4GB and 8GB cards are useless, a 4 GB card records around 12 minutes of H.264 video and about 1 minute of RAW! so you need 64GB fast cards (x1000), if you only want to record in 720p mode then a 300x card is fast enough. You also need to extract your RAW video from the MLV wrapper which actually isn't that much of a big deal.
The good news is you can do it right from the CF card using MLVBrowseSharp which converts 4 streams at a time making extraction almost as quick as straight copying across!
You can then simply drag the footage into Devinci Resolve 12 and it will sort the sequences and even multiple clips. The controls in Devinci 12 make RAW video correction a dream. Devinci prefers the RAW DNG files to H.264 and plays back smoother.
The first time you drag the contrast slider across when watching a RAW video and comparing it to a H.264 you'll never go back! H.264 just looks like mush!
Here's a quick video showing the detail advantage RAW has over H.264. I've converted the H.264 and RAW 1080p to 4K.
In this test the conversion is straight to 1080p
The difference is stunning! Up until fairly recently Youtube had been blamed for the video looking poor, it's low bit rate was always blamed, this obviously goes a way to prove that theory wrong as the H.264 codec may well have been the culprit all along.
Its fair to say i am in love with my Canon 5D Mark 2 again.
Overlay screen shot. (Click for full size)
Is H.264 in my Canon dead!!! well yes and no! if your after extreme detail and dynamic range then yes if not and just what to record something quick then it has its uses, but it's like shooting RAW stills vs JPG's... once you use RAW you don't go back to JPG!
