Miklos Nemeth

I went away for a month, and came back to see Andrew's top camera a Canon 1DC! The apocalypse is nye!

You should probably change this feature to the top 5 cameras of the week, no? 

Andrew, following your logic, this years' best camera BY FAR is Sony's F35, as there's some available s/h for the same amount you paid for your 1DC (£5000). So actually, you got a terrible deal.
Therefore, the Rating should be:
-1) Sony F35 (from a quarter of a million down to just £5000)
and at a VERY long distance, everything else.

I don't disagree with the order of your top 5 but I do with the price you continue to mention of a second hand 1Dc and using that as an argument to have it on the top of your list as well, that's not a 5K camera, it still is a 12000 dollar camera. That's the same like waiting a few years and to buy a used gh4 for 500 dollar and comparing it against 200 dollar camera's and then saying it's the best camera money can buy or buying a old Alexa camera and saying it's better then a new 1DC.
The 1Dc is on top of your list just because you where able to buy it second hand, if that was not the case the a7s would be on top of your list and you still would be trashing the 1DC and adding points to your top 25 list why the a7s is a better camera. It now looks more you are trying to justify your purchase.
As I see it "new" price should be taken into consideration as well when comparing camera's and then the 1DC doesn't even belong on that list and should be compared to camera's in the same price range.
 

Andrew, total bull!!! And you think that you are a filmmaker? Grow up, man! Because you own them , they are the best cameras? Haha, the best joke of 2014, is you!!!

One thing I'm surprised that more people aren't trying is Sony's own LA-EA4 A Mount to E Mount adapter.. in theory you could attach the Tamron 24-70 in Alpha mount to the A7S. I literally have seen no one try this.. but if the lens works at all I'm willing to bet it will be less buggy and cheaper overall than the Metabones.
Of course you'd have to find a suitable stabilized alternative to the 70-200 as well (would have to be a Sigma or Tamron in this case).

Thanks for the review.  I pondered the Shogun for my A7s but then decided at the extra expense, etc., I'd sell the whole lot and get something else. Also, the stealth of the A7s gets lost with the Shogun. What Atomos needs to do, like you mentioned, is make a small 4k recorder like a Blade that I can velcro or screw on to my cage and call it day. Also, the fact that Atomos don't have an HDMI lock or hood, is disappointing. How were they expecting us to use it. Even with full size HDMI, the last thing you want is a lost connection during a take. It will happen. 
Andrew, you may want to consider a small compact cage. I can't recommend the Movcam enough. Not much bigger than the camera, braces the Metabones adaptor so there's absolutely no jiggle, and the HDMI and sound cable lock works like a charm. You can than throw a ball mount on the 1/4 20 or 3/8" holes and not worry about wonky shoe mounts. The only mod I did to mine is buy a new handle with NATO rail so I can pack it away more tightly by popping the handle off quickly. Sorry about your Metabones issues. I have a more recent iteration (from September) and have absolutely no issues talking to my EOS lenses. AF is still slow as expected.
Interesting conclusions about the color science. Does the color science in the A7s work the same, better or worse through HDMI than internal 1080p? I've been playing around with pre-sets and been finding you really must boost the saturation in S Log to get a decent grade. Perhaps 8bit is just too thin for boosting it in post without shadow noise penalties. I actually get my S Log closer looking to Canon log out of the box.  I've been also using PP6 a lot and getting very nice colors. Something tells me S Log was really made for a more robust codec.

​I've heard Cinema5d getting incredibly criticised on the Internet regarding the lab tests. I personally have no idea if they are right or not. Where are they wrong?
​Another cool solution I've seen away from the hotshoe is the Edelkrone Modula 3 upwards. It's a shoulder based rig with a classic camcorder grip, the Shogun to the left (so it's in front of your face) and a mount option at the back to fit in an external device, such as extra power. It seems like the most intuitive solution I've seen... The hot shoe mount seems like a pain.  

It is just such a shame they overpriced the 1D C. The 1D X should have had 4K and the would have sold so many and demolished the competition.

Even at £10,000 I wouldn't buy a C500. It needs an external recorder to do anything impressive.
Canon camcorder division just need to stop playing games and actually answer the FS7. That's the only piece of kit around now that says "buy me and your work will look better and I will be worth more to you than I cost", at the business end of the market.

​Prices aren't falling fast? The C500 just got a £10,000 price drop at Park Cameras http://www.parkcameras.com/23725/Canon-EOS-C500-EF.html
It's now £9999 and in-stock, and they still can't seem to shift them.
Canon may be number one for the 1D C's image but it came too expensively.
They are number 5 in the market that really matters. Behind Sony, Nikon, Blackmagic and Panasonic for anything affordable!
C100 and C300 are the last gasp of the 1080p era... workhorses that were great in their day but we're moving on quick from this era now. People need high speed and high resolution.
That C500 is bound to be attractive to someone at £9999! Or perhaps they think it should do 4K internally for that price considering the FS7 is out now. Times change. Opinions change. Better accept it.

​That you like it Christina is a good sign
Just unboxed it and already I can tell there's a ton more colour and data in the 4K MJPEG files than in the A7S Shogun files.
Canon LOG is phenomenal, the amount of stuff that is in the shadows and highlights when you grade it or pull it around.
It's like having raw again on the 5D! But 4K and bullet proof reliable!

​The 1D C was £12,000 in the UK inc VAT when it came out. You expect me to have the same opinion now it is £5k and sitting on my desk, isn't that just a BIT silly!?

Yeah it's weird the amount you change your mind at the drop of a hat or suddenly irrelevant things become relevant or vice versa.
But, it's refreshing to see you embrace things with an open mind. Also, the general all-round positivity. Keep up the good work. Wishing you a stellar 2015!
 

Like I've already said (did you read the blog /P/?) it will be my stills DSLR as well, and a top end one it is. X-T1 can't do AF properly. D750 has a Nikon mount, can't use all my lenses on it. A7S can't do AF properly either! 1D X / C can do everything in terms of stills and allows me to sell the 5D 3 and quite a bit of other kit to fund the purchase. The 4K image from the 1D C is amazing. I love the NX1, amazing for the price but the 1D C holds onto a more filmic fine grain and has Canon LOG so you get more D/R plus it has the all important low light whilst NX1 does not. The A7S with Shogun is also great but sometimes I need to go without the external monitor or into tricky weather situations where the A7S & Shogun would simply die.
Then there is the Canon colour...
Yes I may still regret it but you only live once.
I believe at it's current used price it's a bargain, bonafide Hollywood cam.

Why bother spending even 5k on a 1Dc with all it's regular DSLR flaws and lack of functions when SONY and other manufacturers will undoubtedly come out with other internal 4k cameras this coming year??
And you kept comparing the NX1 to the 1Dc, listing the pros of the NX1 vs the 1Dc and even argued the point over on Cinema5D (even with the price reduction your original points of pro NX1 are still relevant) to only buy one a week or so later??
I think you'll regret the $5,000 purchase before mid next year.
 
 
 
 

Sorry Andrew,
You lost me here. After so many articles bashing Canon, you are now buying one of their "old" product. (?!)
(I can't wait seeing you with a 7D mark II when price drop.)
I love reading blogs all over internet and I thought your needs were close to mine and followed you for long.
Now, I have to admit you are not consistent at all.
1 month ago, you announced also the death of Canon DSLR for video. remember?!
Yes, you will argue, that it was just a mater of price. But the price do not matter that much when this is your job to deliver quality...
If you had bought the 1DC years ago, its image quality will make you have more joy and happy customers to make the price difference goes away very fast.
To me, the 1DC today's price is more expensive as new camera are around the corner, even from Canon. It's a mistake to buy one now, it was right to buy it when it was just out.
But, this is just me..
 
 
 
 

Very much thank you for the review. I skipped GH4 because of the many quirks. The Sony FS7 is hell very expensive, no Sony APS-C/FF cameras below 2000 with in-body 4K video. Today NX1 is really the best bang for the bucks, you are right (although you wrote "could be", which could mean anything). Sony seems to be trying to protect its high-end video camera products by avoiding 4K from affordable camera models. Maybe they have a deal with Atomos? I am not in a rush, and Sony is a serious player in videography whatever the others do.

FS7 
 

Which shots? Other than the shaky whip zoom, I'd love to know what stood out to you. I won't be offended :)

Heres a short clip from a documentary i'm working on. This was shot probably 50/50 full frame and crop mode. The opening slider shot was in full frame mode. 
 
I am not finding the rolling shutter to be an issue at all
 

This is the best I've seen so far:
EDIT - I thought you meant A7s, sorry!!
 

I'm loving my A7s as well. Sweet video.. I wonder, though, if the A7s is necessary for this kind of work. It seems to be a retro throwback, and you were looking to achieve a vintage music video look and make it look more like video. I think the best thing to do is just use the technology of that time to achieve that look, insofar as you can. Like my friend shot a music video in 8mm film and I was like "how did you get that 8mm vintage look?" And she was like "Uh, I used an 8mm vintage camera." Here's a music video I shot a couple years back using the FS700 (didn't have control of color or post, but many of the effects we achieved in camera anyway).