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Canon has announced that the long awaited, video-related firmware for its EOS 5D Mark II will be available from mid-March. Firmware version 2.0.3 enables full 1080p HD video recording at 24, 25 and 29.97fps to match the PAL and NTSC broadcast standards.

Adds or changes the following movie frame rates.

NTSC:
* 1920×1080 : 30 fps (changed – actual 29.97 fps)
* 1920×1080 : 24 fps (added – actual 23.976 fps)
* 640×480 : 30 fps (changed – actual 29.97 fps)
PAL:
* 1920×1080 : 25 fps (added – actual 25.0 fps)
* 1920×1080 : 24 fps (added – actual 23.976 fps)
* 640×480 : 25 fps (added – actual 25.0 fps)

Finally there comes the long awaited news. 5D Mark II Firmware 2.0.3 is right behind the corner! It will allow you to shoot Full HD1080 videos in 24 fps NTSC. It offers new additional frame rates 24fps and 25 fps to the camera’s EOS MOVIE video function, changes 30 fps option to NTSC video standard 29.97fps as well as supporting 25.0 fps (PAL) at both 1920 x 1080 and 640 x 480 resolutions. Other updates include addition of manual audio level control, enhanced audio sampling from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz and a new histogram display.

Other improvements would include a manual volume adjustment, shutter and aperture priority modes in movie shooting mode as well as improved audio sampling among others. Guess this update would mean you are no longer exempt from capturing sub-par images.

Additional tweaks include a manual volume adjustment (as opposed to the automatic gain the cameras usually employ), a brightness or RGB histogram display (this function, like some of these other features, has been available for a while as a hack), shutter and aperture priority modes have been added for movie shooting, and the audio sampling ramp has been bumped from 44.1KHz to 44KHz. The bad news: now you don’t have any excuses for not shooting that heartwrenching mumblecore masterpiece you’ve been telling everyone you’re working on. Hit up the source link for the download instructions.