independent

They don't... The Canon is in a whole other class. Even in low-light where most cameras will struggle, the 1DX Mkii finds focus. It really is... and I mean this... a game changer.

Did some tests with the 1DX II today. We plan to use the 1DX II with the C300 II for multicam shoots (and with the A7S II as well).
After testing the builtin profiles and getting close to something I liked with a modified Faithful profile, I created a custom picture profile using Canon's Picture Style Editor. The goal was to emulate CLog: boost shadows and pull highlights (and look decent straight out of camera). I tried a few variations and below is the result I felt was a good start:
Lens: Canon 24-105, 1/50, F5, ISO 1600, Highly Tone Priority On, custom picture profile. Full frame IPB 23.98 1080p, PADF, internal camera mic, mixed lighting (challenging LED practical lights (green bias/spike), monitor lights, and a decent LED in the background).
Thoughts: I like the camera. It does a nice job in mixed lighting, it looks pretty good out of the box and even better with a custom picture profile. RS is present but low. 4K60 plays back fine in PP CC. Transcoding to much smaller H.264 IPB 4K files at 250Mbps looks decent when not pixel peeping (mostly loses noise detail), might try to optimize further. Currently everything we create is for online 420 IPB delivery (YouTube, Vimeo).
I haven't done low light tests yet, however pulling up the shadows is very clean, and the noise grain is pleasing. Canon's full frame 1080p isn't as good as Sony's full frame (4K 100Mbps downscaled to 1080p in post). It's not just the downscale where the A7S II is better, the Canon is doing lower quality pixel binning/skipping as there is aliasing and moire (see my glasses frame edges). The 1DX II looks amazing in 4K, however it's a 1.33 crop. Thus for full frame 1080p the A7S II looks better (when RS won't cause an issue). For internet delivery and the average viewer, the difference probably isn't important. If the quality difference becomes important, we can shoot in 4K with a 1.33 crop (and purchase more hard drives). We're currently shooting with the C300 II in 50Mbps 1080p IPB- quality is more than sufficient, including for green screen (I'll post technical details and a clip in another thread).
The 1DX II uses new batteries, which are proprietary and very expensive compared to 5D3 batteries (and not currently available- should be available soon). Size wise, the 1DX II is like a 5D3 with the battery grip built in.
The AF is pretty good, it keeps tracking even when the head is turned sideways: their face detector is trained beyond just straight on, which is cool. AF noise is somewhat loud; less of an issue when not using the built in mic (same for C300 II). Canon's EF-S STM lenses can't be mounted to full frame cameras without modification, so there's currently limited options for quiet AF FF EF lenses (e.g. the Canon 40mm F2.8, 50mm F1.8, and 24-105 F3.5-5.6 EF STM)).
In summary: with a custom picture profile to boost shadows and pull highlights (attached to this post) along with Highlight Tone Priority enabled, it's possible to get close to CLog, and image quality, noise quality, skintones, RS, and AF are really nice.
 
1DX2e_Logish.pf3

Shots fired! But I would say in the independent filmmaking scene, a Director or DP should know his gear or equipment, both for aesthetics as well as technical reasons. Not unusual to see a Director op, let alone a DP. What you lack in funds, you make up in knowledge.

shoot through pantyhose

shoot through pantyhose

Too risky for long form interviews and events, but for most other things why not roll out with two of these?
You can just hand off the entire camera to  your DIT or assistant to offload the footage, swap the battery, and let it cool while you use the other body. 
It's good to have a backup body anyways.
You also have the option for 2 cam setups, or have one camera with a wide lens, another with a long. Or one on a gimbal, the other on sticks. Less setup. 
I guess a half hour limit doesn't seem like a huge problem because I remember when I had my RED w/ handle and it would last only like 20 minutes anyways (battery and media). 
 
 

shoot through pantyhose

Zeiss Otus 28mm

4K 10-bit Prores - This is what the blackmagic ursa mini 4.6K is about. It's the only one that does that in the price range. It lacks the lowlight and autofocus, but those are specific features (some would say niche) for other cameras. It has a few bugs, but so does every new camera that pushes  boundaries. Some of you are looking for a perfect solution for features, performances, and price, and it doesn't exist. You demand it like some God-given right. "Why can't X, why can't Y" - because these are companies that operate in a market, as do we, in various segments, and these products also must obey the laws of physics. The Sony A6300 is a prime example of that. It's both brilliant and terrible, an incredible value and useless. But somebody is probably going to use it to make a movie, that will also probably be terrible but not because of its visuals.

I would like to see this hooked up to a Leica SL, which can actually output 4k 10-bit. 

4K 10-bit Prores - This is what the blackmagic ursa mini 4.6K is about. It's the only one that does that in the price range. It lacks the lowlight and autofocus, but those are specific features (some would say niche) for other cameras. It has a few bugs, but so does every new camera that pushes  boundaries. Some of you are looking for a perfect solution for features, performances, and price, and it doesn't exist. You demand it like some God-given right. "Why can't X, why can't Y" - because these are companies that operate in a market, as do we, in various segments, and these products also must obey the laws of physics. The Sony A6300 is a prime example of that. It's both brilliant and terrible, an incredible value and useless. But somebody is probably going to use it to make a movie, that will also probably be terrible but not because of its visuals.

This looks like the best image you can get under 10K without buying into Red's ecosystem. This, coming from a former Red owner and operator - and I sold that once I saw how the very first blackmagic camera handled low-light noise. 
The Rolling Shutter, oh so what. Hey look, I'd rather have a company that tries to do something really amazing and fall short, rather than a company that intentionally cripples cameras to sell you the next model 6 months later, or are trying to protect their tiered market strategies. 
There is no false advertising or bait and switch. Because you technically didn't buy anything. It was a pre-order. And BM was upfront about the issue and now they're releasing the camera. They're actually pretty damn responsive without the attitude (RED). 
Yeah there was a delay - like other small companies in any industry. That's what happens when a company is driven by innovation and don't have billion dollar resources. A world without RED and Blackmagic would be immensely damaging to the independent film community. They've changed the market for the better.
The crazy sense of entitlement, construing this as some unethical business practice is hilarious. "I will never again buy a blackmagic product" - Ok, enjoy your hacked 5D or franken dslr, or whatever you shoot with. Because blackmagic doesn't owe you anything. If you sat in front of your computer hitting refresh for the past six months, you have every right to be angry. But not at blackmagic. You sad, sad little man.
I hope everybody cancels their pre-orders, so please! Keep complaining. 
 

This looks like the best image you can get under 10K without buying into Red's ecosystem. This, coming from a former Red owner and operator - and I sold that once I saw how the very first blackmagic camera handled low-light noise. 
The Rolling Shutter, oh so what. Hey look, I'd rather have a company that tries to do something really amazing and fall short, rather than a company that intentionally cripples cameras to sell you the next model 6 months later, or are trying to protect their tiered market strategies. 
There is no false advertising or bait and switch. Because you technically didn't buy anything. It was a pre-order. And BM was upfront about the issue and now they're releasing the camera. They're actually pretty damn responsive without the attitude (RED). 
Yeah there was a delay - like other small companies in any industry. That's what happens when a company is driven by innovation and don't have billion dollar resources. A world without RED and Blackmagic would be immensely damaging to the independent film community. They've changed the market for the better.
The crazy sense of entitlement, construing this as some unethical business practice is hilarious. "I will never again buy a blackmagic product" - Ok, enjoy your hacked 5D or franken dslr, or whatever you shoot with. Because blackmagic doesn't owe you anything. If you sat in front of your computer hitting refresh for the past six months, you have every right to be angry. But not at blackmagic. You sad, sad little man.
I hope everybody cancels their pre-orders, so please! Keep complaining. 
 

This looks like a great camera to pick up B-Roll, cramped locations, run/gun, especially when you can't fit/get/get away with a focus puller.
Or even a Director's viewfinder; the sensor size is close enough to all the other close-enough cinema 35mm. Great for DP, scouting locations too. 
Some of you have ridiculous expectations. It's a $1K camera. Obviously it's going to involve compromises. Those drawbacks might not work for your project, but that's on you if you somehow expected a perfect camera for $1K. "How could it not have X, how could it not have Y" ... because these aren't professional cinema cameras. It's a consumer camera that has some pro features. Don't get it backwards. If it isn't your perfect camera out-of-box, and you're not willing to tinker with it or work around it's issues, then get one that does. 
But the 4K quality, low-light and usable video autofocus will give it a place in the market. I certainly am looking to add it to my bag. There are only three other cameras who have all those features: Canon C300 ii ($16K), the upcoming Canon 1DXII ($6K), and the Sony A7Rii ($3K). 
And those cameras have their own issues. It's valuable to talk about the limitations, no question. But the pissing and moaning? Lord. Nobody's forcing you to do anything. 
There will probably be some talented folks who will shoot a feature film with just this, and it'll look great, because they'll know how to work around its limitations. Ever since the Canon 5K Mark II came out, there's been a terrific growth of indie filmmaking, because people are willing to manipulate these non-pro video machines to effectively tell stories.
And big ups to people who actually shot with this...a lot of great, usable footage. Exciting. 
 

Here is a good example of how to use this camera.
Limit camera movement. Don't shoot handheld while running. No whip pans. It looks good.
 
Also, regarding color science, skin tones etc... most of the videos have been graded with a desaturated and cool look. But this one looks fine, with just some adjustments in camera and post. The color and skin tones look pretty accurate to me.
 

This looks like the best image you can get under 10K without buying into Red's ecosystem. This, coming from a former Red owner and operator - and I sold that once I saw how the very first blackmagic camera handled low-light noise. 
The Rolling Shutter, oh so what. Hey look, I'd rather have a company that tries to do something really amazing and fall short, rather than a company that intentionally cripples cameras to sell you the next model 6 months later, or are trying to protect their tiered market strategies. 
There is no false advertising or bait and switch. Because you technically didn't buy anything. It was a pre-order. And BM was upfront about the issue and now they're releasing the camera. They're actually pretty damn responsive without the attitude (RED). 
Yeah there was a delay - like other small companies in any industry. That's what happens when a company is driven by innovation and don't have billion dollar resources. A world without RED and Blackmagic would be immensely damaging to the independent film community. They've changed the market for the better.
The crazy sense of entitlement, construing this as some unethical business practice is hilarious. "I will never again buy a blackmagic product" - Ok, enjoy your hacked 5D or franken dslr, or whatever you shoot with. Because blackmagic doesn't owe you anything. If you sat in front of your computer hitting refresh for the past six months, you have every right to be angry. But not at blackmagic. You sad, sad little man.
I hope everybody cancels their pre-orders, so please! Keep complaining. 
 

This looks like the best image you can get under 10K without buying into Red's ecosystem. This, coming from a former Red owner and operator - and I sold that once I saw how the very first blackmagic camera handled low-light noise. 
The Rolling Shutter, oh so what. Hey look, I'd rather have a company that tries to do something really amazing and fall short, rather than a company that intentionally cripples cameras to sell you the next model 6 months later, or are trying to protect their tiered market strategies. 
There is no false advertising or bait and switch. Because you technically didn't buy anything. It was a pre-order. And BM was upfront about the issue and now they're releasing the camera. They're actually pretty damn responsive without the attitude (RED). 
Yeah there was a delay - like other small companies in any industry. That's what happens when a company is driven by innovation and don't have billion dollar resources. A world without RED and Blackmagic would be immensely damaging to the independent film community. They've changed the market for the better.
The crazy sense of entitlement, construing this as some unethical business practice is hilarious. "I will never again buy a blackmagic product" - Ok, enjoy your hacked 5D or franken dslr, or whatever you shoot with. Because blackmagic doesn't owe you anything. If you sat in front of your computer hitting refresh for the past six months, you have every right to be angry. But not at blackmagic. You sad, sad little man.
I hope everybody cancels their pre-orders, so please! Keep complaining. 
 

This looks like the best image you can get under 10K without buying into Red's ecosystem. This, coming from a former Red owner and operator - and I sold that once I saw how the very first blackmagic camera handled low-light noise. 
The Rolling Shutter, oh so what. Hey look, I'd rather have a company that tries to do something really amazing and fall short, rather than a company that intentionally cripples cameras to sell you the next model 6 months later, or are trying to protect their tiered market strategies. 
There is no false advertising or bait and switch. Because you technically didn't buy anything. It was a pre-order. And BM was upfront about the issue and now they're releasing the camera. They're actually pretty damn responsive without the attitude (RED). 
Yeah there was a delay - like other small companies in any industry. That's what happens when a company is driven by innovation and don't have billion dollar resources. A world without RED and Blackmagic would be immensely damaging to the independent film community. They've changed the market for the better.
The crazy sense of entitlement, construing this as some unethical business practice is hilarious. "I will never again buy a blackmagic product" - Ok, enjoy your hacked 5D or franken dslr, or whatever you shoot with. Because blackmagic doesn't owe you anything. If you sat in front of your computer hitting refresh for the past six months, you have every right to be angry. But not at blackmagic. You sad, sad little man.
I hope everybody cancels their pre-orders, so please! Keep complaining. 
 

This looks like a great camera to pick up B-Roll, cramped locations, run/gun, especially when you can't fit/get/get away with a focus puller.
Or even a Director's viewfinder; the sensor size is close enough to all the other close-enough cinema 35mm. Great for DP, scouting locations too. 
Some of you have ridiculous expectations. It's a $1K camera. Obviously it's going to involve compromises. Those drawbacks might not work for your project, but that's on you if you somehow expected a perfect camera for $1K. "How could it not have X, how could it not have Y" ... because these aren't professional cinema cameras. It's a consumer camera that has some pro features. Don't get it backwards. If it isn't your perfect camera out-of-box, and you're not willing to tinker with it or work around it's issues, then get one that does. 
But the 4K quality, low-light and usable video autofocus will give it a place in the market. I certainly am looking to add it to my bag. There are only three other cameras who have all those features: Canon C300 ii ($16K), the upcoming Canon 1DXII ($6K), and the Sony A7Rii ($3K). 
And those cameras have their own issues. It's valuable to talk about the limitations, no question. But the pissing and moaning? Lord. Nobody's forcing you to do anything. 
There will probably be some talented folks who will shoot a feature film with just this, and it'll look great, because they'll know how to work around its limitations. Ever since the Canon 5K Mark II came out, there's been a terrific growth of indie filmmaking, because people are willing to manipulate these non-pro video machines to effectively tell stories.
And big ups to people who actually shot with this...a lot of great, usable footage. Exciting. 
 

Lighting, grading, and lenses make a huge difference (often in that order). I think most cinematographers when surveyed cite lighting as the biggest factor in cinematography, rather than the camera. 
As far as complaints about Sony color, a lot of Hollywood thrillers/horrors intentionally have that "Sony" look, graded more towards green and yellow. None of their skin tones look "rich" or "beautiful." David Fincher's films look pretty Sony. Even House of Cards looks Sony. And Fincher has shot a lot of RED, or exclusively RED for the past decade. Roger Deakins shot Prisoners, which is somewhat similar, and that was shot on the Alexa. 
When I saw Lone Survivor, I honestly thought it was shot on Canon dslrs or C-series. It looked cheap, and way punchy, like Act of Valor, and I hated the look for the dark material/story...and it was shot on RED too.
So if the color is an intentional decision, then Sony's colors may not necessarily be less cinematic. Sure, many people do like Canon's out-of-the-box color. Even if you're grading C-log, it certainly takes less effort if the punchy vibrant color is the look you're going for. But subject matters too. If we're talking doing as little as possible beyond image capture, then there are more cinematic cameras depending on the project. Romantic comedy? Canon would work. Thriller? Why not Sony.
To be fair, motion cadence is harder to cover up. The dslrs/h brid cams struggle with this. I think smooth camera movements help alleviate the motion cadence issue. Slow-motion almost always has better motion cadence - and I think this is because it eliminates the micro jitters in real time that look video (unnatural). Aliasing is another. So soften the image a little (lenses or desharp) and limit shaky cam, and I think that would help motion cadence. Just a theory.
But really, almost everything is a compromise, isn't it? Including the Alexa, which is price. You have to find what works for you or your project. But we all have our hierarchy of preferences. I sold my Red when I saw how noisy it was in low light... compared to the blackmagic cinema camera 2.5K, which looked a lot more cinematic at 1600 ISO. And blackmagic has a nice cinematic image, but if your focus puller isn't very good, maybe you're missing focus, hunting, or having to stop down. And then maybe that dual pixel Canon is nailing rack focusing and shallow depth of focus, is starting to look far more cinematic. And then, maybe your lighting budget is cut, and you have to shoot fast, in very low light. None of those will look more cinematic than the A7Sii in that context. 
Lastly, "Cinematic" is a complex, fluid term with a lot of variables and different contexts, but when you say cinematic, you mean what's shown in movie theaters historically and culturally. Which has been film, until recently. Cinematic has evolved over the years. Black and white was cinematic until technicolor. Which looked cinematic until film color improved and improved. Until it peaked, then you have all these disruptive looks and fragmentation, 16mm in the 60s, grittier exploitation films in the 70s, home video's influence in the 90s, with blair witch project and paranormal activity. I think Alexa is popular for being that transition (digital emulation of film), but the reality is that film is no longer the capture medium. When it was revealed Skyfall was being shot in 35mm, nobody really noticed or cared. But with HDR, 3D and future technologies, and even more fragmentation, cinematic is changing. 
And in the end, what's the point? Serve the story, in an appropriate (and hopefully creative) way. As great as the cinematography was for Revenant (reminiscent of the New World, also shot by Lubezki), it wasn't as fresh and exciting to me as the cinematography for Victoria. Shot on a C300 with a single lens.
The best cinematic look is the result of the right tool, not the perfect one, and skills, experience, and hard work. And a good team. 
I think that's a factor too. No camera can deliver cinema. Roger Deakins claims he could care less about the camera, he'd shoot on anything, he'd make an iPhone image look cinematic. And I believe him, because he's mastered lighting, framing, lensing, movement. He almost always works with good directors and postproduction teams too, which helps cohere all the elements of filmmaking.
 
 

To clarify, did it work on "every" lens or the Canon lenses that you've listed? Second, are you sure that all 5-axis are engaged (yaw, pitch, roll, X, Y)?  
I think what causes confusion is the statement the stabilization system works for all lenses. That may be partially true, in the sense that 3 out of 5-axis may be engaged, but that doesn't mean that all 5 are. 
This site quotes Mark Weir as making some unclear comments about it : http://www.thephoblographer.com/2014/12/17/comparison-olympus-sonys-5-axis-stabilization-work/#.VicvKbwyeRs
According to the site, entering the focal length into the camera provides pitch and yaw. Roll stabilization is always available - lens agnostic.
Based on the process of elimination, it seems that X and Y stabilization needs focal distance - that's the information that can't be manually inputed into the lens. This isn't absolutely clear though. Second, it's not clear if focal distance is communicated electronically via adapters like metabones - whether at all, or more importantly, accurately. If it's being communicated but incorrectly because of the middleman adapter, then it'll be lost in translation. In the article above, they recommend turning image stabilization off in canon lenses.
What complicates this further? These comments were made about the A7II, not A7S II. So it's uncertain how much those comments apply now. 
I think clarity on this issue makes a big difference... it can be a determining factor on what lenses to use for certain shots, and it can have a major impact on your cinematography.