# Why Do You Need 250 60D's?



## Canon Rumors Guy (Jul 29, 2011)

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<p>“Creative lab” Party has released a music video for the band androp that required the use of 250 Canon 60Ds wired together.Ã‚Â The effect is a wild and creative strobe show.</p>
<p>I wish they had clicked my “<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/732047-REG/Canon_4460B003_EOS_60D_DSLR_Camera.html?BI=2466&KBID=3296">buy a 60D here</a>” link.</p>
<p><object width="500" height="306"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hYgw7XRf5nc?version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hYgw7XRf5nc?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="306" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<blockquote><p>Inspired by the song’s lyrics, “not to make it a memory,” Party created the video using 250 Canon still cameras; their flashes were controlled via a potent DIY cocktail of arduino, openFrameworks, and Flash. The effect is a Ã¢â‚¬Å“light animationÃ¢â‚¬Â produced with no CGI at all.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Source: <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1769198/flash-light-party-s-mind-bending-strobe-animated-video-for-androp">Fastcompany</a></strong></p>
<p><em>Thanks Raed</em></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">c</span>r</strong></p>
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## douflag (Jul 29, 2011)

Wow, those are 580EX II's also!


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## terwilliger (Jul 29, 2011)

If you look at the video, it seems clear to me that they're using several different kinds of cameras, and several different types of flashes (the silhouettes are not the same).

I guess it's sort of neat, it seems like a really painful & expensive (foolish) way to get this effect. Couldn't you get the same effect for a lot less money by:

1) Not having a camera at all, and just triggering the flashes with a PC cable? (HiViz sells kits that can trigger a flash for ~$20).

2) Not using a flash at all, and just triggering some kind of bulb directly?

If they did this with only 60D + 580EXII, then that's ~$425,000 worth of kit.


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## terwilliger (Jul 29, 2011)

...er not PC cable; I guess I meant by shorting the pins on the hot shoe.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 29, 2011)

Getting the timing correct is not easy for that type of photography. Breeze has done custom software to control dozens of cameras at a time.

I use it to capture studio images.

Note the image on their home page with 120 Canon 30D's all linked together and controlled by 5 laptops. I think they were fired sequentially to give a moving image effect. There were no large format low cost video cameras back then.


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## gmrza (Jul 29, 2011)

Most expensive cold shoes I have ever seen....


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## J. McCabe (Jul 29, 2011)

I agree with previous posters - the cameras are used just to turn the flashes on, and as the same lights effect could have been created with cheaper & simpler ways, this looks like a gimmick.


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## wtlloyd (Jul 29, 2011)

Actually, it looks like a video shoot done with Canon Marketing input.


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## fman (Jul 29, 2011)

wtlloyd said:


> Actually, it looks like a video shoot done with Canon Marketing input.



Is 60D selling so badly in the light of Nikon D7000/D5100?


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## RuneL (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm a bit disappointed. That is very little they got out of those 250 cameras.


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## c-law (Jul 29, 2011)

You do realise those were rentals. They hardly went out and spend $400,000+ on cameras for a 2 day use. If Japanese rental prices are at all comparable to US then the cost would have been about $25,000 if they had used all 60D's and all 580EX's which I'm not sure they did. I think they have 60D's with different lenses and different flashes.

And the reason for the "expensive cold shoe stands" is that the cameras loosely tied in with the lyrics of the song.

As for cheaper ways to get the same effect. They could have green screened it but that has been done before. Doing it manually gives it a much cooler vibe that is important for a music video to have if it wants to stand out.

Overall, pretty interesting.


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## hutjeflut (Jul 29, 2011)

c-law said:


> You do realise those were rentals. They hardly went out and spend $400,000+ on cameras for a 2 day use. If Japanese rental prices are at all comparable to US then the cost would have been about $25,000 if they had used all 60D's and all 580EX's which I'm not sure they did. I think they have 60D's with different lenses and different flashes.



wel they must have rented all the cameras in the entire country then as i highly doubt any rental store has more then 15/20 of the same camera's avaieble at one time.


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## Stuart (Jul 29, 2011)

Seems to devalue the camera to me - as a 60D owner (one) it seems wasteful even if rented.
At the minuite mark the letter t come accross the screen, the flash seems to continuasly strobe for quite a while, recharge times seem good, maybe too good to beleive?


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## RuneL (Jul 29, 2011)

Stuart said:


> Seems to devalue the camera to me - as a 60D owner (one) it seems wasteful even if rented.
> At the minuite mark the letter t come accross the screen, the flash seems to continuasly strobe for quite a while, recharge times seem good, maybe too good to beleive?



The 580EX II is pretty hefty, if you set it to minimal charge you could fire it till it got too hot. I'm figuring that should be possible even if no external power pack was used.


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## kode (Jul 29, 2011)

hutjeflut said:


> c-law said:
> 
> 
> > You do realise those were rentals. They hardly went out and spend $400,000+ on cameras for a 2 day use. If Japanese rental prices are at all comparable to US then the cost would have been about $25,000 if they had used all 60D's and all 580EX's which I'm not sure they did. I think they have 60D's with different lenses and different flashes.
> ...



the Greater Tokyo Area has an urban population of some 30 million people, if I remember correctly. You could probably find 250 cameras for rent in a few rental stores without going through too much trouble.


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## sb (Jul 29, 2011)

I guess it would be a cruel joke to introduce these people to Adobe After Effects at this point? 

What a waste, I could think of a better way to spend $25,000... And I'd hate to be the sucker who ends up renting (or worse yet buying second hand) one of those units after they've been gang fired like this


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## amarlez (Jul 29, 2011)

I really hope they didn't buy all those 60Ds. Why 60Ds in the first place? The regular person watching a music video wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and a Rebel XT. 

What was the video shot with?


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## outsider (Jul 29, 2011)

If all that is required is flashes to be fired, why did they use all those cameras? 

Unless it was all for show. It certainly looks cool/impressive to see all those camera with flashes attached. 

I know if I would have done that setup (well I would likely use CGI, but I digress) I would just trigger the flash directly. The camera is an unnecessary expense, and likely one more thing that needs to cared for, especially when we're talking 250 parts.


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## douflag (Jul 29, 2011)

I believe that some of the cameras were actually taking pics. I think this is apparent during the "slow motion" parts of the video.


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## Edwin Herdman (Jul 29, 2011)

Stuart said:


> Seems to devalue the camera to me - as a 60D owner (one) it seems wasteful even if rented.


I was wondering when the first camera collector post would come up. The things are meant to be used, after all...this is just an unusual use.

For the video the flashes usually appear on a low-power setting so the potential for damage should be smaller than normal. (Maybe it's the AF assist mode, or maybe their software allows custom power settings?)

I noticed there's a couple of Matrix-y scenes as well, so yes they were able to use the cameras to take pictures too.

I didn't watch the whole thing start to end but did notice an EF-S 18-135mm mounted on one of the 60Ds at one point.


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## papa-razzi (Jul 30, 2011)

Something different. Fun. Very cool. Just doing lights isn't interesting. The fact that it is cameras/flashes is what makes the video cool. They do use many of the pictures taken by the cameras in the final video. Buying and then selling or renting the cameras is not a huge cost for a video production - not a lot else going on in this video so overall doesn't seem like a huge budget video. Plus, I would imagine that they got a good deal on the cameras from Canon because it is good marketing exposure for Canon.

I liked it.


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## spedi (Jul 30, 2011)

i don't see the point in using:
1) 60Ds... why not 600Ds, or 550 or even 1100Ds?
2) cameras at all... as some1 else pointed out already, using flashes only if it had to be flashes... 

in my opinion the song is rubbish and the video as well.


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## victorengel (Jul 31, 2011)

douflag said:


> Wow, those are 580EX II's also!



Those are a variety of flashes. I first noticed from the inconsistent color of the output. In the making of video, you get a good view of the equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lGmO6eq9gM&feature=related

I'm guessing someone put the word out that they needed to borrow a bunch of cameras and flashes. Probably 250 willing participants lent theirs for the shoot.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 31, 2011)

Its very likely that they had help from Canon, perhaps even loaners that will eventually be in a Refurb store.


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## /dev/null (Aug 2, 2011)

victorengel said:


> Those are a variety of flashes. I first noticed from the inconsistent color of the output. In the making of video, you get a good view of the equipment.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lGmO6eq9gM&feature=related
> 
> I'm guessing someone put the word out that they needed to borrow a bunch of cameras and flashes. Probably 250 willing participants lent theirs for the shoot.



In that video you see that they put a little circuit at the back of each flash. To me that means that the cameras are really used only as stands, not even as cold shoes. In the footnote they mention that they went through arduinos, which is a very cheap way to generate simple 1/0 digital output, for example to drive LEDs. You can buy open hardware kits with software and everything for under $100.

http://evilmadscience.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/75

If instead of LEDs you connect a little driver for the flash to this circuit you are home for about $200-$300 plus rental of the cameras (which you don't even use) and flashes. Depending on how popular the band they are in Japan, Canon Marketing should have been more than happy to supply these, maybe even in a Canon warehouse 

what impresses me more is how fast the flashes regenerate. Some must be firing several times a second. I guess the output per flash must have been tuned way down, also to not blind the camera that is looking straight into the flash unit.

I think it is cool - even if I don't like the music.


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## leGreve (Aug 2, 2011)

Shitty in the sense that this is no more than an advert for Canon... it's so blantantly obvious that it becomes tacky.

The execution says more about the human technicians behind the scenes than the camera itself... much less the band.

It's fun to watch... but an achievement from Canon?? Far from it.


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## c-law (Aug 2, 2011)

spedi said:


> i don't see the point in using:
> 1) 60Ds... why not 600Ds, or 550 or even 1100Ds?
> 2) cameras at all... as some1 else pointed out already, using flashes only if it had to be flashes...
> 
> in my opinion the song is rubbish and the video as well.


My thought on your first point is that I can't see rental places carrying Rebel line cameras. I think they'd be harder to find in the right quantities.

Point two was already covered in the thread and the article accompanying the video. There was a link to the lyrics to do with memories and thus camera.

Chris


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 2, 2011)

c-law said:


> My thought on your first point is that I can't see rental places carrying Rebel line cameras. I think they'd be harder to find in the right quantities.
> 
> Point two was already covered in the thread and the article accompanying the video. There was a link to the lyrics to do with memories and thus camera.
> 
> Chris



So much for that theory

http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/canon/cameras


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## c-law (Aug 2, 2011)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> c-law said:
> 
> 
> > My thought on your first point is that I can't see rental places carrying Rebel line cameras. I think they'd be harder to find in the right quantities.
> ...


My error then. I have never looked into renting camera bodies, let along a rebel. I was just speculating.

Chris


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