Django

CaNikon were actually pretty slow to the mirrorless transition. And their DSLRs are still up for sale in every camera shop I visit so they haven't yet fully abandoned them, the majority of consumers have. As much as I have fond memories of DSLR days, mirrorless brings so much more to the table, I don't see how/why things would go back. All I really also miss is the OVF for certain stills situations, but EVF has its own benefits. I also wish bodies were a little sturdier/chunkier as the overall goal seems to be towards lightness/compactness vs robustness/balance/ergonomics. Just like any premium brand sure you pay for the badge but also the materials, design, craftsmanship, made in Germany (M,Q, SL range) and the aftermarket service which in my experience is quite unique. Walk in any Leica store and get your camera serviced on the spot by the in-house tech. In contrast I ended ditching Nikon after my D750 got recalled and took 3 months to get back to me due to parts shortage in South Asia. Also if you pay second hand for older model the price hit isn't that bad and the cameras last forever. My M9P from 2010 still looks and operates like new. Doubt the current mirrorless crop will withstand the test of time that well. Z9 is getting shutter angle and other video enhancements in the next update. I'm quite sure custom LUTs will appear soon as well with the whole RED acquisition. They are priced quite aggressively too, I feel they could eat up Panasonic shares as the outsider in the hybrid video field. Canon hasn't really changed their lens strategy imo. L glass on top, entry-level lenses on the bottom. The middle ground is actually EF lenses! A lot of Canon mirrorless shooters adapt their EF lenses. RF wise Canon has started to develop hybrid stills/video lenses with the VCM primes which is nice but still L priced. Nikon Z has an even more interesting strategy with their entry priced non S f1.4 primes. Tamron & Sigma are just now releasing RF lenses but yeah the RF gates are pretty much closed. Worst system for sure if you wanna adapt glass.

Oh I agree, I was thinking more about the photography world. Also depends on the scene, here in the EU Leica is pretty well known, especially in the art/music scene. That's where I mainly see Fujis & Leicas. Art galleries, concert halls, red carpet events etc. It's why I said its niche! But beyond the prestige/hype I really do like Leica products and color science. I only shot video on a Q2 and it was pretty great to be honest. The real time punch in crop modes especially. That's another premium camera that is slowly becoming accessible as it goes under the 3K bar. For pure video work, the FX line is everywhere around me. Will probably upgrade my FS7 soon to an FX something just because it gets you work. It's rather annoying because Sony is my least favourite brand and I find them trailing behind as a result of being number one (a bit like Canon back in the day) but so it is. Would love a RED and the Komodo is pretty cheap as well but would have to get into more high-end commercial stuff to really justify it. I'm more into events and run & gun situations.

Leica color science for stills is probably my favourite so that alone could entice me towards an SL2. The 10-bit 5K open gate with log is also really interesting even if its a s35 crop. Poor AF compared to Sony, Canon, Nikon is probably the biggest drawback but I'd probably use my Leica M glass. Build quality I'm sure is top notch and yeah the Leica badge always brings a certain prestige although sometimes unwanted attention. I have a blacked out M9P and SL2 with its huge "LEICA" logo is a little too much for my taste. I guess that's where an S1R would make better sense. In the end, for me this would probably be more indeed a personal passion project, artistic, travel cam. Definitely usable for pro applications but more for niche projects..

Excellent write-up! Been experimenting with Runway a lot lately since production company has the unlimited license. But past the initial impressiveness, these prompt based AI generation tools do show quite quickly their limits imo. Never been a fan of stock footage and to me this is really still just customisable stock footage. Great potential if indeed they added log, sensor size, lens choice etc.. Generating from stills can help get you that precise look but its still way too quirky and uncanny valley for pro use. Prompt base also leads to too much free interpretation with odd quirks. At least with Sora and the remix function you can potentially get more accurate results via subsequent prompts a bit like how Chat GPT works. Love the storyboard feature with 4 variations. Very eager to try it.. but I can already see the limits of its actual use. No 4K being a big one as you point out. For story boards and pre-production its fantastic though.

No it has that via "view assist" option. Only during shooting though, not playback. What I meant though is that unlike R5C, you can't load custom LUTs and view/bake them in the file like on most cine cams.

4K60p is what is downsampled on the R5C versus pixel binned on the R5/R5ii. That alongside better codecs, shutter angle, loading LUTs, and the fan is what tilts me in R5C's favour. If it had IBIS it would be perfect but that's a big downer on a 3K euros hybrid cam. I mostly shoot prime lenses with no OIS too. And yes generally speaking the R5's IQ is very similar if not identical and it has a few other advantages such as the C1/C2/C3 custom shooting video banks and all the photo AF options and performances available for video AF. Those are missing on the R5C video side. So yeah in some ways R5 has more to offer for less. Great bang for buck.

Custom LUTs are available on Canon R5C, R5ii.. Sony FX3, FX30, ZVE1. Nikon need this ASAP. An upcoming Z9 firmware leak did confirm shutter angle was coming so there is hope, especially with the new RED LUTs recently released. Not sure what you mean by this, R5/R5ii is slightly smaller and lighter than Z6iii and tons more than Z8. and yes R3 < Z9. Nikon takes the lead on big & heavy bodies. Personally I don't see this as a negative, but I like a little weight and heft on my bodies, especially while balancing zooms or DSLR lenses. Sony is of course most compact FF system.

Not a R5C user, but I've researched this product extensively: You have to switch to Cine mode for video capture. And there is a couple seconds delay when you switch. Main drawback is you lose C1/C2/C3 video custom banks. But you gain S&F modes with quick access so slow-mo can be done in cam with many more options (like 36/40fps for subtle slow-mo) and with shutter angle you don't have to worry about setting shutter speed. Other advantages vs R5 is no pixel binned 4K60p which is huge for me personally. Also all the cine exposure tools, Wide DR profile and custom LUTs. Codec wise you gain XF-AVC which cuts like butter even on old intel Macs. This is major for me because I had to convert h265 files on R5 to edit on my iMac Pro. Smallest file sizes for 10bit 4K is around 100mb/s. No record limits on R5C plus a fan for zero overheating. IBIS, now that's a tough one. Stabilisation is my main concern too. I'm so used to it. But if you do use OIS lenses in conjunction with EIS you can get good if not better results. Big question mark I have is concerning non IS EF lenses. Handshake & jitter on 4K/8K isn't a pretty thing. There is always gimbals but not my cup of tea. IBIS aside, if you weigh the pros/cons to me R5C is the clear winner, especially now that battery life is drastically improved if you use the new Canon batteries. That said I've seen dirt cheap used R5 bodies which is also tempting, just to put my dormant Canon glass to good use.

Yeah terrible design choice and that’ll tip some towards the R5ii but me personally I never used an external monitor on my C100/200 and rarely do even on mirrorless. I do really like an EVF and find that missing in the FX3..

That would be easy for Canon actually, just stick the R5ii sensor and CPU allowing Clog2, better AF etc. Add a Full HDMI port. IBIS. Would be incremental though. What Id like to see is actually something closer to 1DC with the R3 body allowing long batterie life, vertical video shooting and of course open-gate. But that’s wishful thinking, it won’t happen. Another very weird thing Josh Satin revealed was that the rolling shutter on R5ii is somehow worst than R5C even though it has a stacked sensor. On top of that you still got pixel binned 4K60p which is a total deal breaker. I really don’t get what the stacked sensor is there for, maybe stills?! So for me right now, R5C is the best bang for buck hybrid cam in Canonland. Used prices keep falling to the point I may trade in some gear for one. With the vari-ND EF adapter it’s like a mini C line cam with 45MP stills cam included.

That is really cool, I saw a recent test I think from Josh Satin where shockingly the battery life of R5C was quite longer than R5ii using the new batteries. That plus 8K60p internal is starting to really make R5C give R5ii a run for its money!

..or Gareth Edwrds who shot the Creator on an FX3. But I agree the cinema world is super conservative with ARRI sitting firmly on top. TV, docu & indie is a more crowded market but there are big players: RED, BM, Canon C & Sony FX. I'm not sure who the target of this Fuji Eterna will be, its gotta be super niche. It's kind of the camera nobody asked for. Medium format sounds great but if you're going to have poor rolling shutter with razor thin DoF plus huge lenses, I don't see many applications where this would warrant such an investment. I've said this a while ago, but my dream for Fuji is that they revive their old school Fujica system with hand grip a la Bolex. Modernise it with pro I/O and an EVF/flip screen but keep the form factor and essence. Place the XH2S sensor with built-in cooling and an E-ND. It could even be vertical sensor default and it would switch if you rotate 90 degrees. That might make people cringe but the camera would be a hit in wide segments (think X100 craze). And if anyone can go quirky/retro/legacy its Fuji X:

What a useless interview, guy said nothing other than its the same IQ as GFX100II. I noticed a Japanese spec sheet on a monitor towards the end of the video that specifies ProRes HQ, ProRes 422 & ProRes LT so there's that. Anyways yeah I don't see much purpose in this cam versus a GFX 100 II. I'm betting it will be +$10K too. Page me when they stick the XH2S sensor in an affordable cine body. Speaking of rigged GFX 100 II Fuji USA posted this yesterday:

Looks expensive.. are Fuji not releasing specs yet?? Hopefully this paves the way for a more budget S35 cine cam with something like the XH2S sensor. Exciting to have a new player in the market, Fuji nonetheless !

Everybody's different and is going to cite their own camera choices. I'm brand agonistic even though I have my own subjective preferences. I love Canon for the simplicity, reliability, skin tones & lenses. R5ii, R3, R1, C70/C80 form a good eco system. The Vari-ND adapter paired with the extensive EF lens market is also a unique edge. What I don't like is the third-party RF blockade. Sony, although dominating the video market has ironically fallen behind imo. The Alpha and even FX line still don't have proper +4K resolution, open-gate or built-in RAW, ProRes etc. I also find the alpha bodies very consumerish and uninspiring. That being said the FX30 is definitely a great deal and now that it has shutter angle it makes for good compact solution. For S35 though I prefer Fuji. XH2S is very slept on with 6.2K, Open-gate, ProRes plus its a true hybrid. I don't use Panasonic and they seem to be asleep this year so I won't comment. This brings me to my favourite cam manufacturer this year: Nikon. Z8, Z9, Z6iii. Fantastic cameras at aggressive pricing. Z-mount is also the most adaptable mount. Z9 is still my number one camera with pro build, long battery life, grip, stacked sensor, 8K60p, ProRes etc. Z8 is right behind it. And now with the RED acquisition it's only going to get better for cine users. In fact the first collaboration was done a couple weeks ago with the free release of RED technical and creative LUTs for the system. I've seen a test where they match very closely to RED cameras. Exciting stuff!

I remember an R5C review from a guy doing commercials that said he always used this one unusual frame rate for very slight slow-mo. I forget maybe it was 48fps? The result was more subtle than your typical 50/60fps. I have the files somewhere on my hard drive, going to try and figure that one out. I just seem to remember it was in Q&S. I love having shutter angle, because even in custom modes for HFR it sometimes happens you accidentally change the shutter speed. It also alleviates the math for creative shutter angle shots like 45/90/360 degrees. But yeah no custom banks on cine OS is a bummer. It seems like they're sleeping a bit on that side of things. What about the crop modes on R5C, you can do S35/S16. That's pretty cool if not too many hoops in the menu?

@gt3rs Nice summary, thanks! I would just add in R5C's favour shutter angle (a big plus), custom LUT support and Q&S. Also I think there may be more crop modes on R5C and even anamorphic modes?

Yeah RF lenses definitely feel plasticky and cheap. I think its mostly because Canon was trying to adjust the weight for small mirrorless bodies but I agree it doesn't feel like quality, especially for the expensive price you pay for L series. However optically they are far superior to EF. I've A/B'd them on shoots and its almost night & day, especially on 45MP sensors. That said, EF lenses are so widely available and affordable on the second hand market and some do have a certain mojo. Very good point about the vND adapter, I kinda forgot about that. Body wise, yeah they feel kinda cheap and plasticky as well. I shot on a 5D4 recently and was shocked how sturdy it felt (I had forgotten after so many years on mirrorless). The R3 though feels great. Z9 is still the benchmark for me. Sony is the worst, feels so consumerish.

If you're doing video only sure but most of us are hybrid shooters. FF is also important if you're using RF lenses and IBIS if you shoot handheld. The R5 series are great A/B cams to a C70 though. Its nice to have that ecosystem. Personally I'm still thinking of switching to Nikon Z9 (would have already purchased one this summer if it weren't for a major financial setback) but the Canon ecosystem still has my attention. And now with Clog2 on board the DR finally competes and IQ looks so much more natural. The compressed RAW is also interesting. WFM is maybe the biggest win, always hated the histogram that disappeared when you hit record.

@herein2020 Thanks for the detailed feedback, always appreciated! Yeah I dunno why 4K60p is line skipped when the R5C and Z8/Z9 can do it downsampled with the same MP count. As for the DR tests have shown that it’s actually slightly lower than R5. That is of course expected from a stacked sensor. But the upside is CLOG2 is now available so you win in DR vs CLOg3. And of course the faster readout means less RS. There is definitely some great improvements (full HDMi finally!) but it somehow still feels incremental and catching up to Nikon Z8, which actually still has the edge in a few areas. I guess what I’d really like is an R5C mk2. Give it the sensor and speed of R5II but put it in an R3 body with the big battery and lockable IBIS. Actually that might be an R3C. I really like the dual OS of R5C. Having all the cine options like shutter angle, LUT support, Q&S etc. Sorry I’m derailing this thread with wishful thinking. Back to R5 mk2. Jave you guys tried the eye control AF? Some say it’s a total game changer others can’t get it to work correctly. Stills only I think but that’s definitely something unique to Canon.

@gt3rs Thanks for the info, so wait you need the new batteries for 4K fine and such? I thought it was mainly for 8K60p. I'm kinda bummed out about the line-skipped 4K60p. I use that a lot. Do the new batteries give you much more run time than R5C in 4Kfine/8k modes?

Hey folks, bugs aside how are you finding the camera improvements over R5/R5C? How is the overheat? Are you using the cooling grip? Really good deals on R5C at the moment so I'm curious about your feedback, thanks!

I was waiting on this release to see if I'd go for it over the Z8/Z9. At the euro price its just not worth it to me. Very solid release nonetheless. ProRes HQ really seals the deal for me on the Nikon platform. My iMac Pro just can't deal with h265 in +4K resolution. That and the fact that I can smart adapt all my EF, E-mount, Nikon F/AIS & Leica lenses. Probably going to pull the trigger on a used Z8/Z9. Z6iii would be a dope B-cam body down the line when price comes down a bit.

Tamron is also putting out an RF-S (APS-C) zoom lens (11-20mm F2.8). Makes sense as Canon have barely developed any RF-S lenses (not a single prime or fixed aperture lens). So this will surely help sell crop bodies. So yeah while this is great news for APS-C Canon owners, I really don’t see this as a solid indicator Canon will open third party FF RF lenses although one can hope!

That seems most likely. Canon cine lenses have PL options and thats Nikons historical competitor..