herein2020

On paper sure its specs are not bad. But to me in reality the colors are very muddy, details are not sharp, and anything short of daylight lighting is a disaster. Due to its sensor size, unless there is some major breakthrough, GoPro will always be best at one thing; going places no other camera can. I love my Hero8, its my go to action camera and underwater camera, but I also know it has severe sensor limitations that no codecs, data rates, or log curves will fix.

I know, totally left field here but someone had to do it so might as well be me 😀 but would the Ronin RSC 2 not work for you? I know it is heavier and probably larger than you are looking for but at the end of the day no one comes close to DJI for reliability, stability, and performance. I've had a love/hate relationship with their gimbals for many years now. I started out on the original Zhyiun Crane; switched to DJI's Ronin S and have never went back. I now have the RS2 and there is nothing more that I could want out of a gimbal. The thing is, your starting rig is pretty heavy, so putting a rig on a gimbal that is anywhere near its maximum payload is asking for trouble; the payload capacity could be overstated, the motors could simply die sooner, or you could just get jittery footage. The RSC 2's payload capacity is nearly 50% more than your planned payload so it will be able to handle everything you throw at it. Every other gimbal maker feels like they are just trying to be as good as DJI (but failing) so for me I'd rather buy once and use for many years vs always looking for something "almost" as good as DJI. As far as fatigue goes, you probably know all of these but there's many little tricks to reducing it. I stick the end of the gimbal into my belt anytime I am not shooting with it or have to stand for long periods of time, you can get a shoulder strap for them, there's even a shoulder strap mounting rig, etc. Working out helps greatly too, a few dumbbells and hammer curls each day will make your payload feel weightless and help with the fatigue within just a few weeks. Also, I don't know your particular typical project, but for me I've pretty much ditched my gimbals altogether and really enjoy handheld. I only use gimbals when I need to walk or run with the talent or need complex camera movements. If you do a lot of interview type stuff you could try a monopod or even a shoulder ENG style setup which are all less stressful than a gimbal. Obviously if you are only shooting complex camera movement and need what a gimbal offers then a gimbal is your only option; but for me personally I have gotten much better with my handheld technique and the gimbal usually never leaves the bag.

I have the Azden SMX-30 which is what I use with the R7, but that mic is why I didn't want another Azden. The audio quality is fine, but the buttons are terrible quality and the one main feature I bought it for (turn off automatically when where is no audio signal) stopped working within about a month of owning it. I am pretty happy with the SGM-250MX though; no buttons for them to cut corners on, no batteries, mini XLR straight into the C70, and since it uses phantom power it turns off and on with the camera automatically. I will say though after the SMX-30, if I had found a Rode mini-XLR shotgun mic I would have picked it over the Azden. To me, audio quality wise, they are all good enough for what I need, it is the other smaller details that matter more to me.

Not possible with the given budget, time and venue. I brought the MixPre6 with me but wouldn't have been able to mic all of the instruments with only 4 XLR channels and no setup time. Only the mics were ran to an amplifier, everything else was live. Plus I'm not a sound guy, I would have later had to mix them in post which would have taken me a long time so once again not possible given the budget. For paying projects, budget is everything, when you start turning it into a passion project you start losing money in the form of time. I think most music videos are at least half passion projects anyway, you definitely do not shoot them for the money; but they are great to push your creativity. I agree, I would have liked to have had more b-roll to add to the footage; but there's that budget thing again. I even thought about shooting some b-roll at a different venue on the way back from the shoot but it was already dark and the rest of the budget was allocated for editing. The two cameras mix perfectly at least to me. I am not a pixel peeper or Hollywood colorist so all I did was WB them the same, same LOG profile (CLOG3), and exposed the same (both were set at F2.0) to keep it simple. I used AF on the R7 for all of the indoor shots, I used MF a few times outdoors to get it to focus on what I needed but indoors even in the lowlight it was perfect. I kept it simple as usual and used the center crosshairs only, no fancy face or subject tracking. All of the band performances was a single take so no camera problems from either one. The C70 of course was locked down and set to MF, no way would I have trusted that camera with AF in that lighting (yes it really is that bad at lowlight AF) plus I didn't need it anyway with the 24mm lens on it and stationary. Yes, that mic is awesome, I was a little skeptical since I wanted a Rode mic, but that one is one of the few mini XLR shotgun mics available and I hate fiddling with extra wires and adapters if I can avoid it so I got that one instead. BTW mini-XLR has really grown on me, I think it was a really good decision by Canon and I believe BM did the same thing with their smaller cameras. It really makes the handheld form factor more manageable without dropping all the way down to 3.5mm. For my Sennheiser wireless receiver, I got this locking mini-XLR cable which pairs with the camera and receiver perfectly.

I recently completed a music / band performance video project where I was asked to shoot 3 videos in 2hrs without even seeing the venue. To make it even better, the audio was not pre-recorded so I had to record it live during the band performances. The venue was actually a junkyard with a rehearsal stage in one of the buildings, so definitely challenging all around. Below are the first two videos, I haven't released the 3rd video yet. The stationary A camera was the Canon C70 shooting 12bit Cinema Raw LT at 30FPS with the Canon EF 24mm F2.8 lens because there was no room to get the camera further back from the stage (very small venue). The B-cam was the Canon R7 with the Canon EF 24-70 F2.8 lens and lens adapter; all shots with the R7 were handheld with IBIS enabled and digital IS disabled. The cover photos were taken with the Canon R7. Both cameras were set at ISO800, CLOG3 Cinema Gamut. The audio was captured by the C70 using an Azden SGM-250MX shotgun mic. Everything was edited in post with DR and managed color. A light creative LUT was placed over the top at the end. The lighting was all over the place, I did not bring lighting because I thought we were shooting outdoors so I just had to make do with what the venue provided. Fun fact; the venue was about 90F during the recording so blazing hot and we had to turn the fans off to capture the audio; definitely would not have trusted a camera that overheats for this shoot.

Awesome production, it truly had all the feel of the start of a Hollywood Christmas movie. Even more impressive considering the crew you were working with. @kaylee that is pretty incredible, I've never even heard of something like that, I had to reread your post just to figure out what I was looking at. It sounds like this is the Christmas thread so here is my contribution; much less exciting than both of yours but it fits with the Christmas spirit 😀 For the following video I used the Canon C70 as the A cam (wide shot) and the Canon R7 for the closeups. The C70 was shooting 12bit raw, with the Canon EF 24-105mm and the speedbooster. The Canon R7 was set to compressed IPB, 4KFine with the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8. Both cameras were set to CLOG3 Cinema Gamut, post processed in DR and color graded using DR's managed color. The opening detail shots were shot with the Canon R5 since I had already set up the R7 and C70 on their tripods.

Wow, $160 for a single release plate?? I wouldn't have to worry about camera gear there would be nothing left over to buy any after buying those. Between multiple cameras, tripods, sliders, gimbals, etc......I probably have over 20 release plates mounted to various things. I personally am a big fan of Smallrig, anything they make I buy without hesitation. I use their Manfrotto plates for all of my gear. Big, bulky, uncomfortable to hold, but rock solid.

That is pretty surprising, I think the difference is so minor though that only a side-by-side comparison would reveal it like the one done in this video. I do wonder though if the R6II has dual native ISO. I understand that at the R7's price point it is unrealistic to expect it, but I would think the R6II would have it.

I shot 8K30FPS once with the R5 for a few seconds, just to see if my editing workstation could edit the files. Since they were raw files it was actually easier to edit than any of the compressed formats. Haven't shot at that resolution since. 4K60FPS is plenty for me.

Haha, it really sounds like you've already made up your mind for the R5C, none of us talking about what we don't like about it will change your mind 😀. I ended up feeling that way about the C70 and R7 and ended up with both of them....and they are both perfect for what I need so I think only you can answer if the R5C is a good fit for you.

The R5C has to reboot to go from photo mode to video mode, the whole process takes about 8-10s. It doesn't sound like a big deal, and I didn't think it was when I read about it, but now that I am shooting with the R7 for both photo and video at events its a bigger deal than I thought. Its hard enough getting people to stand still or redo a pose long enough to get their pics taken, let alone waiting for a camera to reboot to start filming video or vice versa. Try shooting with a camera with a fan on a windy day on a sandy beach a few times and you will quickly find out exactly why those fans are a problem. The dust and sand might not get onto the actual sensor but they certainly aren't weather sealed and fans get louder as they get dirtier which is clearly audible when recording audio. If enough sand gets in there you need to send it in to get professionally cleaned or even to get the fan replaced. There is no way I would shoot with my C70 on the beach, TBH I don't like shooting with any camera on the beach due to the sand. I think your post is the first time I've seen any feedback on this forum from someone who actually owns one. Canon definitely built a monstrocity with the R5C, I wonder how well they are selling.

The R5C had way too many downsides for me (bulky, terrible battery life, slow photo/video switching, fan that can pull in dust, no IBIS, same DR as R5, etc). The R7 so far is the only Canon hybrid to impress me. It is the closest thing to my Panasonic S5 that I've owned since the S5 except it adds great AF and effortless CLOG3 matching with the C70. On paper it really doesn't seem that impressive but it is one of the ones that far exceed its paper specs when you start using it in the real world.

After watching this video I am still thoroughly unconvinced that Canon has solved their overheating problem with the R6II. Yes it did better than the R6 but that's not saying much. The R6II overheated at 4K60FPS in 40min with ambient temps at only 70F. For the brief time I owned the R6 (3 days), it was shutting off around the 9min mark while just shooting a few video clips, scrolling through the menus, and taking a few pictures; and that wasn't even in direct sunlight or one of the hotter days here. I live in one of the hottest most humid states in the USA, no way would it last 40min at 98F and 100% humidity. I have managed to get an overheat warning with a C200 and the fan set on high while filming, so heat management is probably more important to me than to people who live in a colder climate. The R7 on the other hand has never gone past 3bars for me even when shooting in 105F degree temps with a mixture of 4K Fine, 4K 60FPS, and some photos/menu settings thrown in. The C70 also has never given me an overheating warning. So at the end of the day the R6II does have better specs in every area than the R7, but for where I live and the type of work I do, I will take a crop and line skipping any day vs a camera that overheats. I think the smaller sensor of the C70 and R7 really pay off when it comes to heat management. Interestingly enough, I have a diehard Sony shooter friend who lives nearby and she just got the A7IV and she said it overheated in the middle of a wedding within a month of her owning it; so its definitely not just Canon with this problem. BTW, that wasn't even the hottest month here, no idea what she is going to do for next summer.

Mine does not do that with digital IS on or off in XFAVC or RAW. I would open a ticket with Canon. Are you using native lenses, lens adapters, speedbooster, lens with IS? After seeing your video I tested my C70 on a tripod with the Canon speedbooster, Sigma EF mount 50mm F1.8 and with digital IS on and off. I also tested it in XFAVC and then switched to Cinema Raw LT......there was absolutely no movement in the image. If you are using a lens with IS I would try turning off the lens IS, also if you are using a 3rd party lens adapter maybe try using the native mount or a Canon adapter. When you turn off digital IS does it fix the issue? Are you sure there are no micro vibrations coming from somewhere like the floor that the tripod is sitting on?

I know there's tons of tests out there and each one will reach some conclusion; but I also know I personally own both cameras and for me and the type of content that I shoot and the temperatures that I shoot in, the R5 overheated for me while shooting mostly photos with a few video clips here and there when the ambient temps were around 86F and 70% humidity whereas the R7 has never given me the overheating warning even when shooting in ambient temps of around 100F and the humidity was around 10%. The R5 was on FW version 1.5 and I haven't shot any video clips after upgrading to FW 1.6 since the R7 is now my go to hybrid camera. Another annoying problem with the R5 is that it still has the 30min record limit. I have to believe that Canon will remove that limit soon, but until it happens, I will just remain in disbelief that they removed it from the R6II, R7, and R3 but have yet to do so (if they ever will) for the R6 and R5....and we are talking years after Panasonic and Sony removed theirs. As far as DR and IQ, I believe it would be very difficult to tell the difference between the R5, R6, R6II, and R7 in real world shooting (not pixel peeping). Even the R7's line skipped 4K60FPS is more than sufficient for social media content. I've also gained a new appreciation for crop sensors since owning the R7. The extra reach it gives me with the 24-105, 70-200, and even the 24-70 took a little getting used to but its a real treat to work with now. I think the two main limitations that the R7 has is the fact that it does not have a dual native ISO so it can't compete with the R5 for lowlight and that line skipped 4K60FPS is definitely noticeable in the pixel peeping comparisons.

It would only be worth it if you were all in on Canon like I am. It still needs Canon lenses which add up to more than the body itself.

I agree 100% if it weren't for Sony all we would have right now is the 1DXIII and a 5DV from Canon. I will be surprised if they release a C50 at least anytime soon. They already released an R5C, there are rumors the R7 might get the same treatment next year, haven't really heard anything about the R6 and haven't heard anything about a C50 in awhile. I think if they were going to release a C50 they would not have released the R5C. If anything, the R6II is already a C50 except it has IBIS, an electronic level, better AF, and can take pictures as well. The only thing it is missing is some of the video tools from the Cinema OS, XFAVC, internal Cinema Raw LT, and of course a fan.

That is really strange, I only use mechanical shutter, have never even tried electronic shutter and my R7 doesn't have that problem. If it is not too late to return it I would try that route vs dealing with a repair.

Very nice, the AF definitely feels light years behind the R7 and R5. Of course, I use adapted EF lenses and a speedbooster so it remains to be seen how well the eye AF works in that situation. None of the other new features interests me, I always use CLOG2 or CLOG3 so I don't care about the new color profile and I have never cared about ALL-I. ALL-I has always seemed like a massive increase in storage requirements without any visible increase in quality. The C70 has the custom aspect ratio framing guides but it has a bug in the FW that prevents you from setting custom aspect ratios that aren't built in. You can pick from the preset ones, but none of the presets include the 4:5 ratio. The R5, R7, and my drones don't have it either so I've gotten pretty used to just keeping the main subject near the center of the screen for video. For photos though, the aspect ratio guides are far more useful because with photography if you want to shoot landscape but also ensure it will work for both social media the original composition it's guesswork when it comes to how much will be cropped for social media which is why I hope they add this feature to the R5 and R7.

@gt3rs @Django @kye I am cautiously optimistic that I might have found a fix for my problem. Version 1.5 of the FW added a new option: "Suppress lower frame rate" to the display performance menu. This Reddit thread was the first time I had seen that mentioned. I dug through all of the menus when I first set up the camera but did not know they had added this option with FW 1.5. Of course, this thread says it affects AF so I guess I will need to wait and see which is worse. When I am using flashes for runway shows and studio work it is low light until the flashes go off. It is possible that the issue described in the referenced Reddit thread was my problem. The lag was so significant that I just didn't see how I would be able to estimate movement that far in advance, but now it makes sense why it is affecting me so much; the times I need the most precision are with flashes and specifically in lowlight which happens to be the exact same time the R5's EVF is performing the worst. I checked the R7 and it has this option even with its current FW 1.0. The R6 probably also has this option and the R6II will probably ship with this on day one like the R7 did. This option seems to come with a lot of caveats as per Canon's website. I can definitely now say without a doubt that my 5DIV was better in this situation than the R5 has been so far. So basically, until you combine low light (EVF slows down), with flashes (no burst mode options due to flash recycle speeds), with a need for precision (fashion shows, ballerina), you won't see this issue. Ironically that's exactly the scenario I shoot quite often.

That's an incredible shot and even more interesting backstory. 4200hrs and 720K photos. I am definitely not shooting anything that requires that kind of dedication or precision. For me its really just a matter of being my own worst critic, even though it is for a client shoot, I still know when I am not getting the shots I was getting with an OVF. Now these are definitely great examples of where timing was key and where you couldn't use burst mode to create the shot due to the flash recycle limitations. Maybe it is like you and @kye are saying; I only have a few thousand images with the R5 so far and most of them don't require precision or timing so it might just be a matter of getting used to it. Shutter lag didn't even cross my mind, it could be a combination of EVF and shutter lag for my R5. Or it is still possible my R5 simply has more lag than it is supposed to; my brief R7 tests show a big improvement. CPS didn't seem to have an official test for this, in the ticket notes all they said was that they compared it to another R5.....no help at all if the second R5 they compared it to had the same problem. I definitely don't need a 1DXIII for the things I shoot, my 5DIV was more than adequate for everything I threw at it.

I tested with the R7 after you mentioned it and it does seem to be much better than the R5 but until a challenging shoot I won't really know for sure. To see the latency, you would need to specifically test for it. A good test would be to attempt to film someone throwing a ball in the air directly in front of them with the lens set to around 50mm while standing close enough to frame just their chest and their chin and try to capture the ball right as it leaves their hand and is midway in their chest but before it is out of frame. Or if you are filming a kid running around specifically try to capture when their right or left foot just touches the ground but before the heel of their foot touches the ground. In the ball scenario the ball will probably be out of the frame in real life but still show in the EVF and in the kid scenario the ball of their foot will probably be on the ground while the EVF still shows their heel in the air. Both of these would be easy to do with an OVF. Even a jumping horse with strobes would be easy enough with my current R5 or R7. It is when you are focusing on something very specific; a specific detail that you know is there in the EVF but does not show up in the final image that is gets frustrating. I notice it most at runway shows, where I miss the peak of a hair toss, a split second over the shoulder look, a heel that hasn't lifted back off the ground yet, etc. The ballerina was a great example. In the EVF her legs would be perfectly straight, the hair would be at the perfect angle, she would be at the peak of the jump with perfect form; but in the captured image the hair would have fallen a bit, the knees are bent, she is already starting her descent back to the ground. With an OVF capturing those moments would have been effortless. Like I mentioned, only I will know what I wanted to capture vs what ended up on the memory card, but to me that's enough to matter.

For something that simple you are probably going to want to look at phone bluetooth lav mics. I don't know anything about them but that's where I would start then read the reviews and watch a few YT videos to pick the best one.

I have one of these and I only use it as a secondary mic for weddings. I mic the groom and use a Sennheiser wireless transmitter to the XLR input on my A cam, then I wire a second mic using this Tascam. If the wireless signal drops for some reason I still have a safety track, and the Tascam is set to record a primary track and safety track at -6dB below the first track. I then add a 3rd recorder to the DJ's or venue mic via an elastic band. Long story short, as @IronFilm stated, there's no way I would trust this or any other setup where I had no way to monitor the audio. However, if you are filming something like a wedding where you only get one chance, then the Tascam is a good backup plan if and only if you also have a primary that you can monitor. I have heard good things about the Rode Wireless Go II, a friend of mine uses them for all of her weddings, but I don't have any first hand experience with them. I personally went with the Sennheiser Pro body packs and they have been rock solid. All I do is add the batteries and turn them on, haven't changed a thing since I first bought them. In fact, its been so long since I've been in the menu system I probably at this point shouldn't change anything. They just work....every single time with no interference or drops.

I know a lot of buyers of the EOS R really complained about the lag. They had one on display in a store once and I picked it up and just panned from side to side while looking through the viewfinder; the lag was so bad it was the final nail in the coffin for the EOS R for me. I was truly in disbelief that anyone was willing to put up with it. I think at the end of the day I am probably the only one that notices the shots I missed or didn't get perfect while knowing the lag caused it. The only time when the client noticed as well was the ballerina shoot. She was giving me looks that made it clear she didn't know why I wasn't nailing her leg and arm placement mid leap. Honestly, I am probably just making it more than it is. If I did not rely on flash so heavily or shoot so many specific situations that require both flash lighting as well as precision then the lag wouldn't bother me as much. With sports you can just hold down the shutter so mirrorless is definitely capable of capturing peak action even with the lag. At events people are used to redos over someone blinking so that's not a big deal either. For 99% of my work, only I will know when I missed the exact moment I wanted due to the EVF lag so I can live with that.