Canon 5D IV and BM Video Assist question

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Wes Nicholson

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  • Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:43 pm
  • Real Name: Wes Nicholson

Canon 5D IV and BM Video Assist question

PostTue Dec 18, 2018 5:58 pm

Hi everyone.
I've been a photographer on and off for the last 6 years but am now branching out into videography- to which I'm fairly new, but rapidly learning and buying the equipment needed.
I've just picked up my brand new Canon 5D4, with C-Log and knew about the crop factor issues with it when recording in 4K but I've always been Canon, so I stayed with what I knew and had the glass for.
I have recently bought a SMALLHD branded 5" touchscreen monitor too which I might be able to post back to the US where I bought it (unused/unpackaged) and buy a BM video assist monitor here if it will help me with how new I am to this and also editing.

The sales blurb on the main page states this:

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DSLR Assist
Improve the quality
of your DSLR shots!
The latest full frame DSLR cameras used with high quality photo lenses can shoot incredible stills but the quality of the video recorded is limited by the heavily compressed formats they use. You can bypass the compression on your DSLR by connecting the HDMI output directly into Video Assist to record professional, broadcast quality 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes and DNxHD video.
Plus, you get a much larger monitor than the DSLR’s small built in display so you can evaluate framing and focus with greater accuracy. Blackmagic Video Assist helps you get the best possible quality from your DSLR!
---------------------------------------------------

Does this mean that if I buy a BM monitor with video assist, I can possibly avoid the 4K cropping?
Will this change things with my camera being set up for C-Log? (I'm not sure what ProRes and DNxHD are compared to C-Log)

Any/all help and advice is highly appreciated.

Thanks :)

Wes
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Denny Smith

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  • Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:19 pm
  • Location: USA, Northern Calif.

Re: Canon 5D IV and BM Video Assist question

PostTue Dec 18, 2018 6:47 pm

First, the BM Video Assist only records what it gets from the camera, if the camera crops down to APS/C window to capture video, this will still be the case with the external video feed. One issue you are going to have, is finding SD cards to record om with the VA, as the officially listed SanDisk SD cards for the 5-inch HD version have been changed, and their current V30 cards do not work. So you. Ignite want to hold off and see what happens. The newer and larger VA4K (7-inch) Monitor has a UHSII SD card slot and will work with the currently recommended UHSII SD cards, you should check the list of supported cards first, as neither VA models work with all SD cards.

As for recording to camera, yes is compresses the signal to a AVCHD format in order to record it in small data files, and bit rate. The VA uses Raw DNG or ProRes file formats, yiu can record the Canon C Log, a flat profile file type that needs post color correction to get saturation up to normal. The VA ProRes files will be much larger than the AVCHD files the camera creates, requiring a fairly new computer to handle the files. The VA also requires very fast recording SD cards to record these large files.
See: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54330

I would recommend using the SmallHD monitor (sounds like it is the “Focus” model, which is a great little monitor), and just start shooting some video with the camera’s AVCHD Codec to get started, and see how you like it before spending more money on something that later you might not need or find you want.

I would also look at some of the other monitor/recorders available like the Video Devices PixE which has better audio suport. You need to do some research, reading and shooting some video before spending a lot of money on accessories based on marketing claims. Poke around a Canon users site to see what other Canon shooters are doing and what works for them, based on experience. ;)
Cheers
Denny Smith
SHA Productions

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