As promised, here is the review of the 5D training DVD from F-Stop Academy. A lot of people are interested in getting HDSLR training DVD for Christmas but dont know which one to get. By the end of this review, you should have a better idea of which one is better for your needs. While this video is targeted at the 5DMrkII market, almost all of its content is also valid for other HDSLRs.

I have decided to keep a similar review format to the one I used for my previous review of the 5dFilmschool DVD.

Notice: I reviewed the electronic download version of the training. And, as always, I suggest this format for a better viewing experience.

Pace

The pace of the clip is quite fast. Blasting over 25 chapters in less than 75 minutes could seem scary but it is in fact a very good way to cover everything one has to know to get going with an HDSLR. And if you miss something, there is always the rewind button!

Precise

Each concept is demonstrated with actual footage from the 5D. I really like the example with the Vari ND filter. The only example that I did not find convincing enough was the demonstration of what happen when a high shutter speed is used instead of staying around 1/60 as we already outlined in a past article. I would have expected a side by side comparison with a footage shot at 1/60sec.

Useful content

Philip covers a lot of ground in this training. Actually, he covers pretty much everything you need to know to start shooting your first clips. He starts from the very first step, reviewing all the gear in his bag and shows how/when/why to use each of them.

While most of the content has already been talking about somewhere on the web (or even this site!), the DVD regroup everything in a single content packed DVD. In a bit more than an hour, you will get pretty much every bit of useful content that has been written about and all of this illustrated with nice examples. you might even learn a few tricks! Not a bad deal if you ask me!

Entertaining

Philip is an entertaining guy and shares a few of his recent experiences with us during the training. I was quite surprised to see how easy it has been for him to ‘convince’ his clients to agree to use the 5D instead of a conventional camera. I also like the aesthetic style of the video. While the video is shot with a big Sony video camera, the training is littered with clips from the 5D. These clips are either from past jobs or footage taken while making the DVD content. I am sure they did this on purpose because when you see side by side clips form the 5D and those form the video camera, there are no doubts in your mind about which one you want to use.

Verdict

My wife went to Guatemala to do some humanitarian work and I wish I could have shown her this movie before she left. It would have saved me hours of explanations and I am sure she would have remembered everything.

While I think everyone will find at least one interesting/useful bit of information on this DVD (even I did learn something!), I think the people who will benefit the most from it are those who are either new to HDSLR or dont want/can spend the time to browse the net and learn all of these things. This make this DVD the perfect companion gift to a brand new 5DMrkII for Christmas!

So, should you get this DVD or the other one from 5DFilmSchool (review)? While some of the content overlap between the two products, the F-Stop DVD talks more about how to shoot and get good images (Bloom style) while the 5DFilmShool is more about the various steps required to make a film (with a story/directing line) with high production value.

My advice: get both if you can afford them

Next up: 7D training from F-Stop Academy.