Blogs

Philip Bloom - Now known as a leader in the HDSLR revolution, Philip Bloom has a lot of knowledge to share on his very popular blog.
Planet 5D - Videos, news and more.
DSLR News Shooter - DSLR News Shooter is dedicated to the use of the latest HDSLRs like the Canon Eos 5DmkII, 7D and Nikon D300s for news, documentary and factual shooting.
Hurlbut Visuals - Shane Hurlbut shares knowledge on using HDSLR for filmmaking.
FreshDV - Industry news, reviews and training resources for HDSLR users.
Negative Spaces Blog - Ben Cain tests DSLRs and shares some tips on how to use them.
Vincent Laforet’s Blog - Vincent is another leader in the DSLR revolution and is continually pushing these cameras to create captivating images.
Cinema 5D News – Daily news feed for DSLR filmmakers.
Wiegaertner Films – Sebastian Wiegärtner shares info, teaches HDSLR workshops and much more.
DSLR HD - Blog with a interesting series called: Why You Should Not Shoot Video With A DSLR.
ProLost - Stu share info on color correction, cameras and the like.
Learning DSLR Video - Best blog for beginning HDSLR users. Dave explores shooting video on DSLRs and shares findings.
No Film School - Home of The DSLR Cinematography Guide.
Canon Filmmakers - One of the first kids on the DSLR-for-film block.
DSLR Cinematography - News, reviews and tutorials for DSLR filmmakers.
El Skid’s Blog – Robin Schmidt’s killer blog on filmmaking, HDSLR filmmaker and more.
Nino Film - Commercial and documentary shooting with a stellar blog.
A 550D User’s Blog – Michael Schmidt shares links, videos and more.
7D Pro - Designed simply to provide an online presence for Canon EOS DSLR users
Wide Open Camera – Tests, giveaways and great information for HDSLR users.
Cheesy Cam – If your interested in DIY and DSLRs this is the blog for you.
FStoppers – Information pertaining to professional photography of all kinds.
Tom Guilmette – Sports and nature shooter who is always sharing tips and tricks.
DV Culture – Online platform focused on Digital Video News, Product Reviews.
Phil Hoyt – Sharing info on HDSLRs, gear and more.
Digital SLR Shooter – Blog on Hybrid shooting and video production.
Scene Blog – A Blog by Filmmakers For Filmmakers.
Daniel Freytag’s Blog – DSLR related blog content.
Need Creative – For those who are passionate about HDSLRs, Macs and other visual tech.
Next WaveDV – The Next wave of digital video.
5D Mark II Team – Improvements and Gear.

Podcasts

The C47 | iTunes – Learn lighting, shooting, and post workflow from a DSLR user.
16×9 Cinema | iTunes – The home of Carl Olson’s ”Digital Convergence Podcast” and blog where he shares information, resources, and interviews industry professionals.
Crossing the 180 | iTunes – Ron Dawson interviews filmmakers and talk about DSLRs in production.
My DSLR Show – weekly web series for filmmakers using DSLR cameras.
RED Centre | iTunes – Wait… RED??? Yes, but lately Mike Seymour and Jason Wingrove cover a lot of DSLR topics and info.

Forums

EOS HD - Forum and blog sharing news and videos.
Cinema5D - International HDSLR Forum with a great community.
DVX User – Its a DVX user blog with HDSLR info to boot!
Creative Cow – Creative Community of DSLR Users.

Vimeo Groups

Cinemacuteo Free Film School.
DSLR Cinema.
Canon DLSR Video Users Group.
DSLR Filmmakers Group.
Canon EOS 7D.

ATTN: Footage Shooters!

There is a free set of tutorials for Final Cut Express 4 available online done by Izzy Hyman.  There are 9 lessons with a total of 2.5 hours of tutorial.  A few of us in the office went through these tutorials and learned almost everything we needed to know for submitting quality edited clips.  It breaks down the editing process and color correction in a few short and easy to follow segments, and even teaches a lot of keyboard shortcuts to further simplify post-production.

You can find this tutorial and many others at: www.izzyvideo.com

The Final Cut Express tutorial is on the products page at http://www.izzyvideo.com/learn-final-cut-express/ and just follow the instructions on the page. The tutorial is available to download in it’s entirety in the zip file called Learn_FCE.zip.  Also download the sample videos  from the link at the Chapter 1 table of contents called ch01media.zip.  He uses these clips to create a fully rendered video and you learn by watching the tutorials in QuickTime, while copying what he does step by step in Final Cut Express!

This is a very powerful and useful tool for our mac users! Take a look and start editing… Good Luck!

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=DownloadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=314&modelid=17662

Go to the product page, use the drop-down menu to select OS-X operating system, and it should be sitting right there.

Further down the page you will find a Quick Start Guide PDF document describing its operation.

Whereas Photoshop is the preferred software for high performance editing of stills, the software of choice for video is Final Cut Pro.  This is especially true for Canon 5D Mark all files.  The 5D uses the H264 codec created by Apple 4 years ago.  It uses a 4-2-2-compression which is more than adequate for HDTV.  When processing the file using software other than Final Cut is that the software will convert the H264 to its native codec and then translate it back into H264 when it’s done.  This could have undesirable effects on quality.  The end result could be better with more modern codecs but could also be worse.  When in doubt, stick with the original if you can.

(That said, since we are primarily a PC shop, we use Adobe After Effects with good results.  We are also looking into using i-Movie on a MacBook to do basic editing chores.)

To speed up your editing make a “proxy file” (a lower resolution and thus smaller file) to make your edits on.  When you have the EDL (your edit decision list) saved, substitute the full resolution file and run the processing.  Your edits will go faster this way.

The 5D uses Long GOP (Group of Pictures) coding, which takes a long time to process.  Do your batch conversions into proxy files overnight to save time during working hours.

DV Kitchen (http://dvcreators.net/dv-kitchen/) is an $80 program that will do this job.  Create .mov files for editing.  For example, you can export the original to Apple Pro Res HQ422 wrapped in the .mov extension.  We haven’t had time to try this yet but I was assured it works well.

Lightroom is a good program for managing the finished clips.  Capture 1 was mentioned as better than Light room for feathering clips.

A rule of thumb is that it takes about 4 times as long to edit footage as it does to shoot it.  This makes sense since you have to watch the clip first to see what to do with it.  You are already at 1X the time before you even begin making changes!  Next, make your time in and out decision, then color and other corrections.  Then there is also the keywording, which may require repeated viewing.