Canon 5D Quality and Paper Roses

The Cannon 5D Mark II is everywhere. I keep walking around corners and there it is (like the Geico Cash) just looking back at me.

I guess the emergence is only part of natural selection. It was very Darwinian to watch the mutation of a professional grade SLR to include HD video. Then I watched as professionals and peers gravitated to the results.

Below is one of the first videos that introduced me to the power of the 5D (I would love to give credit to whoever sent this too me, but I have forgotten you. I know, heartless). The video is from Donald Kilgore and was filmed in Houston.

Paper Flowers & A Little Patience from Donald Kilgore on Vimeo.

So, Donald’s video is pretty. But, is quality really even that necessary for web video? Web video viewership is increasing and there is a tremendous amount of crap video…. Do you need a 5D?

The chart listed below shows the percentage of video content on the web continuing to rise. Of course YouTube is counted as video and not web, and Wired has some questions to answer about the data behind the graphic (see comments).

So, with all the video out there being consumed how and why does something like a 5D matter?

I heard it best explained by Ross, from Zen Films, that the amount of content we are “carpet bombed with” has caused humans to invent mechanisms to block unwanted streams. Like Twisted Sister… We have enough, we’re not going to take it anymore. So Ross said we have to “Pay People For Their Time“.

“Pay People For Their Time“

That’s brilliant. We have to pay people for the time they spend reading and consuming our content… including video. And we pay them by making the “Value” greater than the “Cost“.

The 5D (and 7D for you snobs) that is a step in the right direction of making content better quality and more easily consumed. Quality in the value to cost ratio matters. A 5D could help make your “web video” worth watching.