Article Summary:

HD Magazine published an article on the use of Canon 5D Mk2 video footage being used on a BBC drama, and subsequently received a call from the BBC technology department seeking to emphasize that DSLRs are not on the BBC’s approved camera list and that they were being considered on a ‘case by case” basis.

Ian Potts, BBC Executive Producer said:

“Cameras like the 5D and the 7D are going through our R&D departments and our simulations but at the moment they are not cleared for use mainly because of their aliasing issues. Moire patterns are also a concern but these aren’t new and cameras like the Arri D20 and D21 also show them. But the fact that the 5D produces a 22 megapixel image then brings that down to 2 for video without the necessary processing and filtering does concern us but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

He went on to say that the BBC is in the process of a tendering project to approve new HD cameras, and that anything with less than 50mb/s data rates was being looked at “unfavorably”.