Interesting series of articles on the Canon 5D2 and its inherent tendency to capture very contrasty images (read
HERE). I really like that crushed black look but will admit that it wouldn't be appropriate for all situations. I was planning on using the Picture Styles settings to compensate but apparently it might not be all that necessary as the information may be hidden in the movie files it creates (the picture style setting files can be found
HERE - these presets keep teh over-all image of the 5D2 balanced to avoid highs and lows from tearing). The problem seems to be in the decoding through Quicktime which is now fixed with the 7.6 release but on that same note I think you should always try and capture the look you want in-camera rather than rely on manipulating it in post. I think one of the problems people are running into is that they are not taking the time to properly light what they're shooting. Granted you can't always control the lighting of every given situation but those situations should be reserved for guerrilla or documentary shooting in which it is generally accepted that there will be imperfections like highlights blowing out. I've seen a few comparisons of the RED vs the 5D2 but one flaw of these shoot-outs is that they only use one master lighting setup for both cameras. I think a true comparison would be to light the scene to the individual latitudes of the cameras and then compare the resulting image.
