My New Canon 5D Mark II - Back To School

Trading the broadcast-standard kit of my BBC days for the raw, tactile potential of a modern HD-DSLR has been a humbling shift. While my years of professional experience provided a solid foundation, learning to master the Canon 5D Mark II is proving to be a complex, demanding, and exhilarating new chapter in my creative life.

So it finally arrived: an HD-DSLR all of my very own. Don't worry, I intend to take some serious photography with this beast, not just use it for video. I don't mind admitting that this purchase has crippled me financially, which is why I am starting without any decent lenses. Those will follow shortly; for now, I am exploring the adaptor and second-hand market and have already had some interesting results.

Working for the BBC for four years meant I handled cameras daily, developing a subconscious knack for grabbing the equipment I was used to and getting it running without a second thought. By now, those routines are second nature. I can usually pick up any camera and get going quickly. While every camera has its specifics, they typically share common traits and functionality. But not with HD-DSLRs. Having had a play this evening, I can honestly say I am excited, scared, and intimidated by just how different filming on the 5D is going to be.

This isn't news to me - I did my research incredibly thoroughly. Buying a camera like this cannot be a rash decision. Yet, even with all that preparation, it still feels refreshing, strange, and disorienting to instinctively reach for a control only to realise I need to override that autopilot. Methodical thinking is now the order of the day.

If you really need me to sum up my first impressions of shifting from a true video camera to an HD-DSLR, I would describe it thus:

It is like going from driving a car to piloting a tank.
With no co-pilot.
In the dark. On ice.
And it is raining. On the edge of a ravine.

The results will be - and are - remarkable, but by The Force, you absolutely have to know what you are doing. Currently, this is all new to me, and frankly, I don't have a clue. I am a rookie with my own camera, and I find this massively exciting.

I can't wait to rediscover whatever it was that got me interested in cameras, editing, film-making, and directing in the first place. Recent experiences with the usual industry bureaucracy have left me rather despondent and, at times, wanting to jack it all in.

However, looking through the lens of a camera like this and capturing a shot does something that manuals, tech checks, blogs, and comparisons never could. It allows you to capture little pieces of magic. And that is priceless.