independent

Can't get better image quality than the pocket 6k or 4k for the money. 

Can't get better image quality than the pocket 6k or 4k for the money. 

Not good. So similar to the A7III. But slightly better than the EOS R and 1DX III’s awful 30ms.
I think 20ms is the upper limit at which one wouldn’t notice it too much. The pocket 6K was generally fine.
16ms seems like the standard number at which rolling shutter is fairly controlled. But most of those cameras at that number are not full frame and obviously not 8K. 
I hope the R6 does better. 
 
 

Got the 1Dx III yesterday and I did play around a bit here some first observations:
 
The good:
Camera is really fast in everything, scrolling to images, menu etc.. is faster than the 1Dx II
20 fps silent shooting is really good and there is no slideshow effect is more like looking at video at 20fps.
Normal OVF seems to be improved and with the people/face priority seems to do a good job, test with 50mm at 1.2 in af-servo with my kid and was quite impressive. In LV with eye tracking is almost perfect.
The new AF touch joystick seem useful, need to get used a bit more but is already working out well for me.
FF 5.5k and 4k the image quality is really good.  4k crop it is similar to the 1Dx II but with the benefit of 10bit and log. 120fps FHD seems the same as the 1Dx II but would need to test more (also here benefits is 10bit log and also EIS works at 120fps too)
Video AF is a big improvements over the 1Dx II, face / eye tracking works really well. Also tracking objects seems better than the 1Dx II. For manual AF peeking and the arrows are quite useful.
EIS work surprisingly well at least from my first test especially up to 50mm, above is not that effective (at 200mm is not that great) but this is known. With a 24 1.4 seems gopro 7 style stabilization that is quite cool but need to test it out more.
All files types are now natively supported in Resolve so CRM, 10bit h265 and 8bit h264.
 
The not so good:
You can record RAW on one card and 4k proxy on another but you cannot record a 4k on both card at the same time. I knew it before but just doublechecked.
The video format menu is a mess, would be cool to be able to disable modes that I never use like all the HD ones and the IPB ones.
With the USB-C cable you can mount the camera as storage but strangely enough you can copy any file but not the CRM, you need to open the canon tool to copy. Of course with the card reader it works for all files.
Still no histogram while recording video, also no zoom in while recording.
On my machine with Resolve (Nvidia 1070) the h265 10 bit files are not HW decoded so they are very slow much slower that the RAW. H264 are fine. Apparently 1070 can only do h265 4:2:0 10bit HW decoding. 2070 can do also 4:4:4 but could not find if it can do 4:2:2.
As the LV AF is so good they could have offered an EVF as addon a la M6 so you can have both OVF and EVF.
 
Tomorrow I will have my first ice hockey match with it so I can test the AF for photo, I will try a bit with OVF and a bit in LV, maybe if I have time I will try to record some video too.

I work (and have worked) in multiple rental houses that have rented to all types of productions. Easyrigs get rented a lot, but mostly to commercials and branded content. They work great for getting that spontaneous, free-floating handheld look, shot-from-the-hip style that's prevalent now in ads, both on TV and stuff that get's aired on Youtube. It's also great for documentary work, since it allows to hold the camera for much longer periods of time. 20, 30, 40 minute handheld takes become much easier with an Easyrig.
For actual dramatic, narrative material, easyrigs are used much less. Dramatic cinematography relies on the ability to control your frame and land precisely on marks. This is really hard to do with an Easyrig because it tends to swing the camera when you turn. Also, extended handheld tracking shots are impossible because when you walk with an Easyrig, the motion from your hips gets transmitted through the arm and is visible in the footage. There is a use for the Easyrig for helping with low-angle handheld shots with really heavy rigs (such as Alexa 65, or Venice with certain anamorphic lenses), but the standard in handheld cinematography is a well-balanced camera on the shoulder and a pair of strong hands either holding grips, or the mattebox.

On the other hand...
Here's Roger Deakins from Skyfall.
Shooting a moving train from his shoulder, TRACKING shot:

 

 
Emmanuel Lubezki on Birdman:

Interstellar (Imax):

Dunkirk:

Arrival (Bradford Young):

Witcher:


Handmaid's Tale:

 
Veep:


Marriage Story:

On the other hand...
Here's Roger Deakins from Skyfall.
Shooting a moving train from his shoulder, TRACKING shot:

 

 
Emmanuel Lubezki on Birdman:

Interstellar (Imax):

Dunkirk:

Arrival (Bradford Young):

Witcher:


Handmaid's Tale:

 
Veep:


Marriage Story:

On the other hand...
Here's Roger Deakins from Skyfall.
Shooting a moving train from his shoulder, TRACKING shot:

 

 
Emmanuel Lubezki on Birdman:

Interstellar (Imax):

Dunkirk:

Arrival (Bradford Young):

Witcher:


Handmaid's Tale:

 
Veep:


Marriage Story:

Interesting. What "sets of Netflix series" have you have worked on that used easyrigs? 

All horseshit and misinformation. 

I'm not saying that.  My experience is with commercials, where most dp's I worked with had their own easyrig, monitor and filters. Everything else they rent on case by case basis. No, they're not always with the easyrig. No even close. But some jobs, when handheld is the aesthetic, they use their own thing. That's it. And I said young dp's in my first post.

And I think that's really odd. "Most guys are using an easy rig more than a tripod or dolly on dramas and commercials?" That runs entirely contrary to my experience in the past six years on sets and locations around NYC (Brooklyn, queens, Manhattan). This ranges from productions from Netflix, HBO, A24, NBC, etc. to smaller, independent shoots. And a TON of commercials. Dollys, cranes, jibs, sticks, dominate shoots. If there's handheld, most of the time it's on the op's shoulder w/ AC pulling focus, and if there's tracking, a dolly grip behind the op. 

I don't think I have EVER seen an easyrig on any of these sets. I've seen a handful on documentary (I think Vice) over the years, but that's about it. I don't even see them on the music video shoots; I see way more gimbals or just handheld. For news gathering/event shooting, I see shoulder mount, tripods, and monopods. That's just my limited experience of course, but you might want to ask any grip, DP, or operator about the easyrig phenomenon taking over the world. 
On that note, why would so many Australian DP's own those two things (and just those two), an easyrig and smallHD monitors? I can understand a freelance camera operator perhaps owning one as a wet hire, but why would so many DPs? The production wouldn't provide a monitor and camera support for them?
“We’ll bring the Alexa; you bring the easyrig.”
”P.S. don’t forget the SmallHD monitor.”

It's 2020. Live streams. 

Some don’t show symptoms, so why take the chance? Don’t shake hands with anybody. Or make out with them. Definitely none of the old in-out. 

It's 2020. Live streams. 

It's 2020. Live streams. 

I don't think the C300 crowd would really demand RAW or 6K (cumbersome workflow, storage requirements), those would be more for narrative, creative projects. That crowd would prefer efficient codecs to accommodate news gathering, live events, reality/docs, etc. I also think that's why IBIS would be key for them. Goodbye easy rigs! And the full frame would be important for light-gathering in uncontrolled environments and flexibility for focal lengths in tight locations.  
 
 
 

Sure. I got mine from powerextra's distributor out of California. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-6-6Ah-NP-F960-Battery-For-Sony-NP-F970-NP-F975-NP-F960-and-Smart-Phone-w-USB/264401969297?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
I forgot to also mention an even easier option that doesn't require an added battery sled:
If you're using a monitor that uses Sony NPF batteries (most do), Just insert this battery into your monitor, and use a DC to Weipu cable to your Blackmagic 6K. There's several cables there, but this was the cheapest one from B&H (happens to be from Tilta):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1490898-REG/tilta_ta_t01_dc_pc_bmpcc4k_5_5_2_5mm_dc.html?lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=CjwKCAiAhc7yBRAdEiwAplGxX5GicoBgFbqupXftJu6FVUTH8u1sX77KOUconCCKg48txkKYubcqOBoCEN4QAvD_BwE
 
 

Sure. I got mine from powerextra's distributor out of California. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-6-6Ah-NP-F960-Battery-For-Sony-NP-F970-NP-F975-NP-F960-and-Smart-Phone-w-USB/264401969297?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
I forgot to also mention an even easier option that doesn't require an added battery sled:
If you're using a monitor that uses Sony NPF batteries (most do), Just insert this battery into your monitor, and use a DC to Weipu cable to your Blackmagic 6K. There's several cables there, but this was the cheapest one from B&H (happens to be from Tilta):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1490898-REG/tilta_ta_t01_dc_pc_bmpcc4k_5_5_2_5mm_dc.html?lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=CjwKCAiAhc7yBRAdEiwAplGxX5GicoBgFbqupXftJu6FVUTH8u1sX77KOUconCCKg48txkKYubcqOBoCEN4QAvD_BwE
 
 

I've found the best (cheap, light, etc.) solution is the Tilta Sony F970 battery plate. I mount it on the top right side of my SmallRig cage, above grip (buttons are still accessible).

I use 6600mah "Powerextra multifunctional" batteries that are $20 each on eBay.  I bought four and I don't think I ever used a third on a shoot.
These particular batteries are useful because they have a USB-out and DC-out, which can power a monitor.
I also got great audio straight into the phantom powered mini-XLR and 3.5mm audio jacks. Curtis Judd has a video on it. I've used wireless receivers, shotgun mics, etc. all with clean results. Make sure your settings are right and you feed it a hot signal (the new Rode NTG5 is great: light weight and hot). That is a major plus, to not have to mess with a separate recorder or mixer. 

If you have a relatively simple shoot, you can keep the package compact, light, and cheap.
 
 
 

I've found the best (cheap, light, etc.) solution is the Tilta Sony F970 battery plate. I mount it on the top right side of my SmallRig cage, above grip (buttons are still accessible).

I use 6600mah "Powerextra multifunctional" batteries that are $20 each on eBay.  I bought four and I don't think I ever used a third on a shoot.
These particular batteries are useful because they have a USB-out and DC-out, which can power a monitor.
I also got great audio straight into the phantom powered mini-XLR and 3.5mm audio jacks. Curtis Judd has a video on it. I've used wireless receivers, shotgun mics, etc. all with clean results. Make sure your settings are right and you feed it a hot signal (the new Rode NTG5 is great: light weight and hot). That is a major plus, to not have to mess with a separate recorder or mixer. 

If you have a relatively simple shoot, you can keep the package compact, light, and cheap.
 
 
 

Of course, everybody has different priorities. But I specifically stated the A7 III was remarkable at the time for how complete the feature set was - including price. 
The A7 III was successful for one innovation only: comprehensive features. Every camera will have its fans who prioritize or fetishize a feature. But the most successful will have the complete shooting package, because that's what the general market is looking for: utility.
The R5, 8K marketing gimmick aside, will live or die on the same. 

It’s hard to imagine how 8K won’t be crippled. It’ll leapfrog the c500 II? 
No, the key for the R5/R6’s viability is not omitting the features that were missing in the past: internal recording of pro codecs, IBIS, full frame, acceptable rolling shutter. 

 

But it'll be 8-bit with 30+ ms of rolling shutter