mercer

@BTM_Pix thanks for the suggestion but I am kinda Sony’d out right now and if I did decide to go with a Sony, the a6000 for the sheer, next to nothing, cost would be top of my list... but then I wouldn’t get IBIS. Being a video shooter first, the video specs are a little more important but I’d like to know that whatever camera I choose will be viable for stills as well. But that TechArt adapter does sound pretty awesome and may force me to buy an a6000 used just try it out.

So in the new year I want to start doing more hybrid work, mostly hobby stuff, but with the potential to grow. As of now, I only own the 5D Mark iii and it’s a little bigger than I’d like for street shooting and all around content creation. The first spec that is most important to me is IBIS. I want to just grab the camera and go with any single lens I have with me at the time. So, with that in mind, I have narrowed down my options to 3 choices... • GH5 - for video, there are few better choices but I don’t know how great they are for photos. Most of the stuff I’ll do will be for Instagram or other web publishing. So is the GH5 a capable stills camera? • X-H1 - honestly I just love the Fuji image. It is so modern and crisp and more often than not when I am blown away by a photo on IG, it was shot with a Fuji camera and usually a jpeg. I have also been really impressed with the video coming from it. The 120p looks gorgeous to my eyes... especially with that Fuji color. How is the IBIS with vintage lenses? Does it even work with lenses other than Fuji? Olympus - insert model here... I’m hoping by the holidays, Olympus will release the E-M5 iii and they may make my decision easier. I’ve decided against the a7iii because I really want to keep the price below $1500 and I want to keep the entire kit small with a few native primes and honestly, I just don’t love Sony’s cheaper lens offerings. I’d much rather have Fuji glass like the 35mm 1.4 or the 23mm f2. Or the Olympus 17mm 1.8 or Panny 20mm. And I also am looking for a system where I can use some of my older C-Mount lenses and in FF that really isn’t an option. Now I would love for Canon to release the M5 Mark II with 4K, DPAF and IBIS, but I assume at least one of those specs will be missing... probably the IBIS, which is most important... for now anyway. Thanks for any insight you guys may have.

Jesus, you have a GIF for everything. You should just post in GIFS and no words and make us translate your point.

I love the top LCD on my 5D3. At a quick glance I can see what my AF mode, ISO and WB is. Also I know everybody here is doom and gloom and consider anything short of 10bit 4K 60p a failure and a death warrant for Nikon as a company, but please remember that only 5% or less of the potential buyers of this camera will care about those features... for us they matter, for the intended market... not so much.

Good plan. The C100 version I or II will just get out of your way and let you work.

@webrunner5 I am a fan of competition. I want every company to try and beat the best. But in the end what is best for you isn’t best for me. I love Nikon colors. Their Flat Profile is a simple joy to work with. If I was forced to only have a D5500, I would happily shoot with it. If I was forced to have an a6000, I would do the best I can do with it. If I was forced to have a GH5, I’d be ecstatic to tell a story with it. We are so lucky to have a plethora of cameras to choose from. And the only thing stopping any of us from telling the next great story is ourselves and our innate desire for the next best option to tell the story with. So hopefully Nikon releases an amazing mirrorless with 10bit ProRes Raw and IBIS and Canon level DPAF. I’ll preorder it.

Nikon doesn’t have the technological prowess for an exposure compensation dial... they aren’t Sony...

When you go into Best Buy or Target or WalMart, there are exactly two interchangeable lens brands... Canon and Nikon. As far as specs go... I guess... so Nikon needs to have 4 specs to match Sony... well they’ve had Super 35mm mode for years in their FF DSLRs so I don’t see that being a problem. They’ve also had some of the best stills AF for years, so that shouldn’t be a problem either. These are stills cameras first, but even their low level face tracking worked pretty good in the lowly D5500 so...

I don’t mean to knock Sony here, I like Sony cameras, but where are all of these crazy specs in Sony cameras that I keep reading about? Other than a million options in their PP, they seem to have normal specs like most other mirrorless cameras. In fact, it seems the GH5 is the camera full of specs and not Sony. But you also need to remember that not only is this Nikon’s first FF mirrorless, they are also releasing an entirely new lens line up with a new lens mount. They truly cannot afford to fail with this. These are cameras for their professionals to not only lure them into mirrorless but also to lure them into investing into a new lens system. Now how their video specs will be is another story.

Too much credit? Nikon has been making cameras since 1948. Of course we don’t know their processor capabilities but it’s not like they’re Z-Cam... of course maybe Nikon should buy them out. To add, I wish I had extra money lying around, I’d love to buy that Sigma camera with the 30mm Art lens.

I wasn’t either until I was forced to sell my Canon L 24-70mm f/4... now I feel lost without it. I was able to get this shot on the long end and my wide primes wouldn’t have cut it... of course I would have loved a 70-210mm for this shot... Honestly, I’ll probably buy that lens again and then just add to the long end. Now I just need to decide which route to go for manual primes... I change my mind every week. I’ve also just decided I like B&W this week too. Lol.

@BTM_Pix no problem, thanks for looking. How about the Zeiss ZF 50mm 1.4 or 85mm 1.4... or any ZF variant... the 25mm? I hear they’re all fairly matched. I’d love that Sigma 30mm if I still had an aps-c sensor but unfortunately all FF for me... for now. Lol. However, I read a review that Sigma Art lenses were no match for micro contrast compared to the Zeiss... however again... I am also kinda interested in the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 art, so the 35mm could be my one good prime to go along with it. You don’t have that Zoom do you? Or heard anything about it?

Yeah this site does some weird stuff to contrast too. Thanks for your help! Any chance you have any of the Zeiss ZF lenses... the 35mm f/2 Distagon is supposed to have amazing micro contrast and I’m looking to shoot more B&W in the coming months so that lens is on the top of my list... I can probably go handheld with it too if I don’t drink too much coffee or smoke too many cigarettes that day... so maybe not handheld...

Yeah, wow, that is a night and day difference on the skin tones. And they didn’t look bad to begin with. It would be great if they could make one for the GH5.

@BTM_Pix bear with me because I am looking at this on my phone right now but the Sigma 35 and the Fuji 35 look like the clear winners here but the 18-35 is holding its own considering it is wide open... But when you consider the prices... the 7artisans wide open is a steal and definitely worth consideration. Thanks. Btw, which Fuji do you have? I’m considering picking up the X-H1 because of the IBIS and it seems the 35mm 1.4 is one of the lenses that works the best with it?

Wow, Fuji is stepping up. Damn. I must admit the X-H1 is on my short list for my next camera but now... hmm... too bad it doesn’t have IBIS. REALLY?! Man, I actually really liked the E-M5ii and have almost bought a second one about 3 or 4 times over the past year... hopefully the Mark III will be worth the wait.

But secretly you love the shit out of the camera and so do your clients probably. What’s the multiplier?

That’s true, I’m just grumpy today and need a nap. Plus there aren’t too many positive Canon posts around here and me being a Canon shooter... they’re nice to see once in a while.

Derr... that’s the point. This happens way too often on this site. People ask opinion between A and B camera and somebody goes off on some G option. Yeah, typing too quick.

Oh yeah... and he said he wants a Canon and never mentioned the a7iii.

Adapting lenses sucks on mirrorless cameras. Canon lenses aren’t that small and then you add another two inches to their length and they don’t work nearly as well as on a Canon body plus then you need an electronic adapter which adds more money. Doesn’t make sense. But another two reasons why he would choose the C100 over an a7iii is the 30 min recording limit... for the performances and weddings he shoots, that may be one of the most important features. And then the inevitable overheating with the Sony... even at 30 minutes, the a7iii would probably start melting.

For one... he wants to stay with Canon... so why even bring up the a7iii? Two and three... built in NDs and XLRs. Four... Canon color. Five, six, seven, etc... he wants to stay with Canon. @webrunner5 Not to mention, two weeks ago you were seriously thinking about buying a C100 Mark I...

$2000 for a cinema camera that has XLR, cLog, DPAF, internal NDs, with a really clean 1080p image downscaled in camera from 4K... that cost $6000 new only a few years ago... yeah that’s dirt cheap.

Well, the OP also already said that he is pulling triple duty as director, DP and operator... so anybody who has ever done anything similar would know that one less thing to worry about is useful. So I would say AF is important in this scenario. I never used Sony PDAF but I know Canon DPAF has been described as having a Hollywood focus puller following you on set... to me that sounds pretty damn useful if you’re also worried about lighting, camera movement, composition, actor’s performances. Hell, the time saved marking the floor is worth its weight in gold in that scenario. The good thing about AF is you don’t have to use it, but if you don’t have it, you can never use it. With that being said, AF doesn’t automatically beat codec and codec doesn’t beat AF. Now if he/she were to come back and post that he is making a feature film to try and get distributed, then codec would probably win. If he is working on some short films for festivals but mostly for the web, AF may be more important. Personally, if I were him/her, I’d go with the GH5. Since he/she has shot with the DVX200, possibly in vLogL, the GH5 may be a logical transition. It will give a good beefy, 10bit codec for grading and it will offer some AF that could be used for tracking shots. It’s not perfect AF but in a pinch it can help with difficult shots where movement, composition and performance are also critical. The IBIS is another plus.

Are the Sigma Art primes a lot sharper than their zooms? I know traditionally primes are sharper but everyone raves about how sharp the 18-35mm is, so I wasn’t sure. It is pretty sharp though. I was watching a video on YouTube with the 18-35mm on the 80D and it really made the 80D pop.