Snowbro

Update: You guys are awesome! I got busy with finals and didn't expect this many people to provide their input. I was finally able to finish a video from a recent trip to San Francisco. I had shot this entire thing in 4K 24p & 4K 60p. The video did take me a very long time to finish. I realized how amazing the 4K footage from the camera is and how much harm I will be exposing the camera to (I just got a contract to shoot video/photos for a company that rents snowmobiles, dirt bikes & side by sides). I personally feel I can do better work on this camera at the moment, eventually I will look at an A7SIII or a cinema camera if I get more jobs. I made a quick guide to try to help give back to any users that have experienced banding with the MJPEG codec in premiere pro. It can be quite frustrating on windows, as converting to ProRes isn't usually an option. It can also help IQ a bit for people currently converting to ProRes in Final Cut X and Davinci Resolve 15 in my findings. Here is the video I shot on Alcatraz in an unplanned crazy environment. I used a custom faithful profile and created a LUT in Lightroom, then micro adjusted in Premiere. I have only ever made a few videos, so I have much to learn. Thanks for the help! I had discovered many things here, before making my first post.

Thanks for your input. I agree, it does seem easier to get a good looking video from the Canons right now. I see some cool stuff by people using a Sony, but then they have some scenes that look like they were shot with my Samsung S8. I did more research and saw that a bunch of people have put out videos showing an issue with the 24p 4k (jittering at 50 shutters speed). Then I did see problems with the continuous autofocus tracking, plus some jumpy focus problems. I don't know if those issues persist on the A7Riii. I am sure they will work awesome for 99% of the buyers, but I really need the best cinematic autofocusing available. It's a shame Canon has dragged their feet and purposely left out features from cameras like the 5D IV and even CLOG from the 1DX II. I wish they had a 35mm & 50mm with stabilization, I guess I will just get faster at rebalancing my gimbal in the field.

Focusing on cinematic work on youtube, but also have a 10k instagram, so I need both video and photos. I get amazing video out of the 1DX II, but there are a few things that bother me. Workflow: If shooting 4k, I have to transcode and the 4k footage ends up being massive vs the sony (transcode to h.264 looked like junk), 300GB+ for 1 day of shooting 4k. C-Fast cards are also pretty pricey for not much footage. IBIS: Canon's lack of stabilized lenses is annoying, I want to hand hold some 60p(4k)/120p with some motion. It doesn't always work to stabilize it a little in post. I mostly have to get it on a gimbal, but switching lenses requires re-balancing and is annoying. Then not being able to steady a shot on my knee in 4k for a wide landscape shot is irritating. Size/Weight travelling: One big thing with the 1DX is; everyone in a 70 yard radius is looking at the camera. It draws a lot of attention, I didn't film a bunch of areas because I didn't want to get robbed. Using the 16-35 2.8 the weight on a crane 2 gimbal feels like it is going to eventually snap in half if you do any movements other than hold it straight up and down. Reasons to stay with 1DX II over the Sony: Autofocus: It seems to still be a little better on the Canon for non face tracking scenarios. I would always get some focus breathing regardless of settings when using an a6500 on a gimbal following someone. The Canon autofocus racking is extremely smooth as well, it looks like it was done manually by a pro. Color: The 1DX II has 8 bit 4:2:2 internal vs the 4:2:0 in the Sony. I don't know how much that matters, but I noticed less banding than on my Sony I had. I know the Sony colors have been improved, but I seriously had some instances in forest type areas with my Sony that I could not get this fluorescent green/yellowish color to correct (flat/erased color data). I would probably create a LUT for the Sony; the Canon looks awesome out of the box and it's easy to do creative grades without the skin tones in highlighted areas getting messed up. Lenses: The Canon lenses holding many of us hostage haha. I have about $8,000 in L lenses and will only get about $4,000 selling them. The switch to a $2,000 body vs the $6,000 + a few Sony lenses will equate to me having the same amount of money spent as on the 1DX II and the lenses. If anyone has experience in this, please let me know your thoughts. I was thinking an A7iii or A7Riii/A7Siii combo when it comes out. It is a hard decision.