Time Immortal

As in ridiculously stunning. And yes, I know that the linked video was shot by a professional…but it is also being touted as having received no processing save for the scene-joining edits. No noise reduction, no colour correction…nothing but the raw footage.

If so, then Canon, with the EOS 5D Mark II, has done something incredible. The video has excellent dynamic range, great contrast and (most important of all) fairly minimal digital noise. Considering that much of it was done at night, that’s incredible. The video’s composer, Vincent Laforet, even goes so far as to say that the 5D Mark II outperforms, in low light, the video recording capabilities of the Canon XH A1 camcorder, their top-of-the-line video recording unit (also, be sure to check out the “making of” video at that last link).

As the lolcats say:

I had a chance to speak with a news photographer recently, who gave me a bit of clarity on the reasoning behind Canon’s incorporation of HD video into the 5D Mark II. Apparently, rather than being a nod to the consumer side of the market, it’s a nod to professionals, especially news photographers. I wasn’t aware of this, but it does make sense: apparently, there is a real shift away from still photography taking place in the media right now, so much so that it just makes sense to blend the two functions — traditional still Photography and high-powered video recording — into one unit.

…with the EOS 5D Mark II.

…Canon has finally unveiled the successor to the venerable EOS 5D, the world’s first ‘compact’ full frame digital SLR. The EOS 5D Mark II boasts a new 21MP CMOS sensor, an expanded ISO range of 50-25,600 and a wealth of improvements and new features including full 1080p HD movie recording, live view, 3.0″ 920k dot LCD, DIGIC IV processor, increased battery capacity and sensor dust reduction.

HD movie recording? On an SLR?

Well, people have been asking for it. Oh, who am I kidding: people ask me if my puny (but still pretty cool) EOS 350D can “do movies,” which it can’t. “Movie mode” is what consumers are looking for, even if it makes no sense to put it in a semi-pro camera body.

Oh yeah, the downside of all this awesome:

US: $ 2,699, EU: € 2,499, UK: £ 2,299.

*sigh*

But hey…I can dream, right?