I'm also new to this forum but I think it's really important to note some things about the 5d MkII that have NEVER been true about any other Canon camera. The fact that it's an interchangeable lens 1080p video camera with a full-frame sensor for $2,700 is a game-changing proposition for independent filmmakers. It took us by surprise, but it's here now! As a point of comparison, Sony's EX-3 has interchangeable lenses and 1080p but the the image sensor is a 1/2" chip, which is many many times smaller than the 5d and thus has the "typical" videocamera characteristics of unlimited depth-of-field. And it's $8,000. More to the point, for a HD camera with a sensor capable of the DOF characteristics of a 5dMkII you are looking at about $30k-50k for a RED (which is APS-C sized) or $200,000 + for offerings from Sony, et al. So the 5d is really hundreds of times cheaper than the next full-frame HD camera.
The reason I bring all this up is that if someone were to hack the 5dMkII to add merely 25p/24p -- a LOWER framerate than what the camera already has, and something it's easily capable of -- it would be an incredibly enabling firmware update. If someone were to enable manual settings of the shutter speed, exposure, and ISO -- options that are already available in still mode -- I think we're talking about a firmware update that a lot of filmmakers would be willing to pay handily for. I know the firmware hacks on CHDK have been free and open-source to date, but the 5dMkII is such a unique, unprecendented device (the Nikon D90 has HD video at 24p but it's full of codec problems and other dealbreaking limitations) -- that I hope some of the programmers out there will see this for the opportunity that it represents.
I do think future dSLRs will start competing more with each other based on video features (as the line between still and motion photographer becomes increasingly blurred), but Canon, Sony, and Panasonic all have more expensive video camera sales to protect. I doubt there will be another full-frame 1080p dSLR with a 38mbit h.264 codec and HDMI out at a competitive price point any time soon -- and as Canon has an XL line of camcorders to sell for $10k, I doubt they'll add any of these desired video features by firmware update themselves. Even with the 30p limitation the 5dMkII is going to move a ton of units -- also a good thing for programmers, given there will be a lot of units out there.
Anyway, I think everyone HOPES someone would hack the movie mode of the 5dMkII out of the goodness of their heart, but I wanted to point out the magnitude of this PARTICULAR model's capability for change via firmware hack, and also not-so-subtly suggest that someone could make significant money doing so (while momentously helping the indie film community at the same time!).
I have no hacking skills myself, just wanted to point all that out... Sorry for the mammoth post.
Ryan
The West Side
