Andrew Reid

The 1D C's 4K resolution has 2160 lines vertically, the BMCC has 1350.   Subjectively without having done a chart test I'd put the 1D C at around 1500 lines and the BMCC at 1200.   That's not a huge difference.   Upscale 1200 to 1500 and they will look similar.   4K on the 1D C is not true 4K.   They look like soft-ish 8MP JPEG images, which is what they are. They sharpen up nicely, but they don't grade as well as raw. All pretty obvious really.

Canon's Cinema EOS line is a perfect judgement. It is 'good enough' for commercially churned out work. Their sensors are pretty good, versatile in low light. Raw and the rest, the commercial industries just see it as a hassle. Raw is more for artists and big budget features.   If you look at Hollywood you won't see many C300s. They'll have Alexa, F65 or Epic Dragon for their main camera and maybe a 1D C as a POV or crash cam like Hulbut does. $12k even for a crash cam is cheap for these guys and I am sure they will rent not buy.   The Cinema EOS stuff is mostly designed to be rented which would explain somewhat the high purchase price.   Where Canon is a complete mess at the moment is with guys like us. Indie filmmakers and consumers. They really have come up short with the mass market DSLRs.

  The 1D C could have been much better, something which is rather glossed over in some of the more glossy reviews light on technical knowledge. A group of bedroom programmers added peaking for free, and Canon can't do it for $12,000. Even the NEX 3 at $150 on eBay has peaking!   Canon don't have the hardware to play with the big guns. No global shutter tech like Sony, no internal raw recording technology either. If a better codec wasn't possible with the 1D X image processors then why don't they add a 10bit 4-4-4 HD-SDI port and use an external recording solution?   A lot of people will be having issues with shadows and grading skin tones on this camera and there's no fix.

Pretty good list. Couple of things - I'd put the F65 at the top, it is the only true 4K camera sampling from an 8K sensor! GH2 is above FS100 for resolution.

The GH3 holds up better, much cleaner in the shadows.

Here's Philip's review   http://vimeo.com/58263312   This is telling...     I honestly can't see any more detail in the 4K grab. Maybe it was due to the mist and rain.

  I don't believe it sorry. The 5D Mark III HDMI will be a Super 35mm crop of the sensor? Or full frame and the same sharpness? Neither seem very likely! I've been told such bullshit by Canon reps in 2012 I am very wary of going off what they say from now on.

http://vimeo.com/58252561 Johnnie Behiri has a Canon 1D C on loan at the moment as do quite a few other people. I've been watching the various footage and here's my view of how it performs...  

The D5200 has above average image quality for the price but the rolling shutter is horrendous and the GH3 has more features and a better lens mount (more adaptable).   I'd be interested to see if the D5200 HDMI is uncompressed 4-2-2.

Read this...   http://moedred.livejournal.com/2009/03/04/   Very interesting to see them discussing how the film should take shape.   (thanks James Miller & Ed Moore on twitter)

Good point ScreensPro. Most of the requests to license EOSHD footage has been for the stuff I shot in Taiwan and in buddhist temples, the stealth factor was essential to those shoots and makes the footage all the more rare for that.   The price of the 1D C is such a shame, it compels us to take a large financial risk or loss. I will likely wait until it turns up on eBay in a year for $6k.

http://vimeo.com/57016257 Check out more of Andrew Wonder's work here Here director, cinematographer and DSLR user Andrew Wonder talks to EOSHD about his latest anamorphic spot for G.E. The technology behind the shoot is rather interesting. Two Sony F3 cameras mounted on the front of the train, remotely controlled and recording to e-sata drives in the control carriage, kitted out with Joe Dunton / Panavision anamorphic lenses from London. Joe Dunton is a British Bafta winning camera equipment guy who has always held a great fascination with anamorphic lenses, and was one of Stanley Kubrick's closest collaborators after A Clockwork Orange in the 70's and provided Kubrick with his lenses on Eyes Wide Shut.  

I think we're on the same page TJB. I didn't think you were referring just to expensive cameras, you said "if you're shooting your own project than rent". Shooting it with what? GH3 or C500?... It really depends. One is a good ownership prospect, one isn't. One has the need for a C500, one shooter doesn't. I agree it is a risk to buy very expensive cameras, $12k plus. The depreciation on it is hell. Renting a 1D C - yes that would be fine for some.   Just putting it out there that renting a camera that costs less than $3k is not sensible.   I am not in love with the idea of renting because I use my cameras almost every day and have quite a few of them. Renting all that would be ridiculously expensive long term.

I did some research on the noise grain in 50Mbit long-gop vs 72Mbit ALL-I   Actually the noise grain is the same in 50Mbit 24p and 72Mbit 24p. But it is different between 50Mbit 50/60p and 72mbit 24p especially in motion. Less noise in the 50/60p codec.   But the difference is quite small. 50p is on the left versus 25p (I have PAL camera hence EU frame rates).  

Renting is ridiculous for some. A total abject waste of money.   If you are happy with DSLR image quality or the Blackmagic, why rent them? They are SO cheap to buy.

2.5" drive is hardly too much real estate even for a crash cam. Look at the size of the Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle, it is tiny.   I think Canon felt that spec creep would eat into their margin on it.   The margin by the way is rather large.

Uncompressed is actually cheaper and less hardware intensive than compression.   This is why the BMCC costs $3000.   14 bit 4K of the sensor to shitty MPEG and it costs us money!   If I were Canon I'd have done an SSD box in a battery grip style casing under the base of the camera and do the absolute minimum of processing on the sensor output.

  Speed Booster still possible on the FZ mount. Read this...   http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1912-metabones-speed-booster-review/?p=25898

True they use FZ mount but the flange is the same as E-mount ,18mm. That is the important thing - enough room to accommodate the Speed Booster. FZ just has a wider diameter to accommodate some rear elements on PL glass and has a tougher locking system, and adapters to PL out of the box.  

On a film production the job of the DP is not to file tax returns or chase clients for new business.   The job of a lone operator is 50% business and not all artists have that skill.   If you have though, the 1D C could be a good investment. I know people who have taken out a loan for more to get something leisurely like a camper van which depreciates and costs money to run and doesn't make you any money. At least this could make you some money.

There's such an embarrassment of riches at low prices at the moment for filmmakers, to spend $12,000 on a camera body has to be somewhat more than just an artistic decision. It has to pay its way... Here are 5 ways to become a Canon 1D C owner without taking a huge gamble on your finances!

Are you guys testing this by focussing at the further extent of zoom, then zooming back to wide angle, then back out again?   If you first focus at wide angle and zoom, the accuracy won't be enough.   Probably obvious but just thought I'd throw this in there.

It's a shame the form factor is so bulky. There's also a real lack of comparisons between 10bit F3 footage, BMCC 12bit raw and FS100 8bit AVCHD. Would be interesting to compare the F3.

Seems the F3 has halved in price since it came out.   £5200 on eBay. That is only a grand more than a new FS100!!   http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5574929666&toolid=10001&campid=5336727214&customid=&icep_item=251217406711&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229508&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=l

BTW the Sony F3 might dip below $8k on eBay before long. That does 10bit to external recorder if it has the required firmware upgrade.