03.02
On the 2nd of March 2010 Canon announced the details of the firmware update coming soon to the Canon 5D mkII. The update has significant benefits for those who use the video side. Thankfully 30 frames per second is no more! Canon have added 24, 25 and 30p (23.97, 25 and 29.97 frame per second) which means full PAL and NTSC compatibility but sadly 50p and 60p have not been included. At the moment the 7d still remains the choice for anyone wanting to do nice smooth slow motion work (watch out for aliasing problems when shooting 720p on this camera!)
This update includes two further features that will be of huge benefit. The addition of manual audio gain control and a histogram. On the Canon 7D the histogram can’t be viewed in the video mode. You need to switch to stills live view mode in order to see the histogram before shooting. My current understanding is that the histogram on the 5D mkII will be viewable in the video live view mode which will be very useful. Currently all the Canon HDSLR cameras feature auto gain control which isn’t ideal. The firmware update will allow manual gain at 48khz rather than the previous 44khz.
These are going to be some life changing updates for Canon 5D users. Lets just hope that manual gain gets added to the 7D at some point soon!
