Scenes for The Mandalorian were shot on a Canon EOS 5D – by the co-creator of Photoshop, no less!
(Image credit: Industrial Light & Magic)
Blockbuster Disney+ series The Mandalorian made headlines for its use of bleeding edge technologies like virtual sets. However, a number of scenes in the Star Wars spinoff were actually shot using a DSLR – the Canon EOS 5D.
Indeed, not only were these scenes captured using a Canon EOS 5D, they were shot on a 28mm Nikon lens – and they were filmed by none other than John Knoll, one of the co-creators of Photoshop!
A fascinating behind-the-scenes video from Industrial Light & Magic – the Hollywood effects house established by George Lucas to create models for the original Star Wars in 1975 – reveals how the team went old school to create these shots.
While most of the space scenes in The Mandalorian were created using ILM's computer-generated wizardry, series creator Jon Favreau was interested in creating and shooting a physical model of the Razor Crest (the Mandalorian's ship) – partly as reference for the computer graphics artists, and partly as homage to the way the original Star Wars features were made.
This saw ILM's veteran model maker, John Goodson, creating a ship using a 3D printer and tinfoil, while Knoll (ILM's chief creative officer) devised a custom 50-foot motion control rig with a Canon EOS 5D at its heart.
While you would assume that this would be the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, it is very possible that it's actually the Mark III or even Mark II. Which may sound peculiar, given that none of these cameras have strong video specs by 2020 standards.
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However, these cameras are fantastic for the creation of stop-motion effects, whereby bursts of still images are used to capture the equivalent frames of film (the 5D Mark II is still favored by many production houses to produce stop-motion features and series).
The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine, Digital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.