herein2020

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

Happy New Year, dear friends! My year was ambivalent and full of lessons. Film bizz in Germany is very rough and ungrateful if you are trying to enter the field of large narrative projects. I had an accident, a branch falling on my head. They immediately looked for a substitute for the rest of the whole gig and they still have not paid me yet due to some mushy accounting routines. Canceled jobs due to reasons intransparent to me. Got taken advantage by an upcoming director, working for free in advance of a contract. 😂 But I am happy about the things I learned and my passion for video and film is bigger than ever.

There were a lot of ups and downs.
I launched my own pro-wrestling company in May. It has been very successful so far.
I've continued my freelance video work and it has gone well.
I'm pretty content where I'm at gear wise. I'll probably upgrade my B and C cams to S5IIs but overall I'm quite happy with the L-mount and feel pretty good about its future.
I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Had my right kidney removed. No more cancer. If my scans look good in April I'll be officially considered cured. 
Flooding ravaged my community twice. It is still recovering.
So 2023 brought some real big highs and some real low lows. If it weren't for the election I'd almost be looking forward to 2024!
Happy New Year to all of you!

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

With long form content they kind of expect it, I also added Tentacle Sync to my multi-cam workflow because Davinci Resolve isn't very good at aligning tracks based on audio waveform. In this regards I feel like Premier did a better job. TC is awesome though, one click and perfect alignment across dozens of clips instantly. It makes multi-cam so easy that I have been thinking about picking up another R7 for a locked down mid shot but then I would have to rig it, more batteries, another tripod, etc.....not worth it.
 
 
That's the exact reason why I feel comfortable pairing it with the C70, no overheating concerns. I also use that same Sigma 18-35 1.8 religiously. Before the R7 came along I literally forgot I owned it and discovered that I already had it when I was re-arranging my camera gear. Now it lives on my R7 for any lowlight hybrid event work. For daylight hybrid work I typically use the Canon EF 24-105mm and the Meike vND RF adapter.  That combination is perfect for daylight hybrid work.
I have also changed my workflow so that my images are all shot at ISO800 even in the daylight when shooting hybrid. It was just too much hassle to fiddle with the ND filter and ISO for fast events since ISO800 is native for CLOG3. The R7's images are clean at ISO800 day or night so it lives at that ISO. Also the Meike vND does not have numbered markings so you have to watch the histogram each time to properly expose....way too much fiddling in the middle of an event.
I've had to run the R7 for 3hrs straight with one 30s battery change and it had no problems. I will caveat that with the fact that it will start to overheat after about an hour in 4k Fine (7K oversampled) mode, so it needs to be line skipped but my clients can't tell the difference.

With long form content they kind of expect it, I also added Tentacle Sync to my multi-cam workflow because Davinci Resolve isn't very good at aligning tracks based on audio waveform. In this regards I feel like Premier did a better job. TC is awesome though, one click and perfect alignment across dozens of clips instantly. It makes multi-cam so easy that I have been thinking about picking up another R7 for a locked down mid shot but then I would have to rig it, more batteries, another tripod, etc.....not worth it.
 
 
That's the exact reason why I feel comfortable pairing it with the C70, no overheating concerns. I also use that same Sigma 18-35 1.8 religiously. Before the R7 came along I literally forgot I owned it and discovered that I already had it when I was re-arranging my camera gear. Now it lives on my R7 for any lowlight hybrid event work. For daylight hybrid work I typically use the Canon EF 24-105mm and the Meike vND RF adapter.  That combination is perfect for daylight hybrid work.
I have also changed my workflow so that my images are all shot at ISO800 even in the daylight when shooting hybrid. It was just too much hassle to fiddle with the ND filter and ISO for fast events since ISO800 is native for CLOG3. The R7's images are clean at ISO800 day or night so it lives at that ISO. Also the Meike vND does not have numbered markings so you have to watch the histogram each time to properly expose....way too much fiddling in the middle of an event.
I've had to run the R7 for 3hrs straight with one 30s battery change and it had no problems. I will caveat that with the fact that it will start to overheat after about an hour in 4k Fine (7K oversampled) mode, so it needs to be line skipped but my clients can't tell the difference.

R7 is the underappreciated camera of the year.
I sold my R7 earlier then bought it back again cause it is the only one in the price range that offer long 4k recording without worrying about overheating and offer 32MP stills which is perfect for hybrid setup, when paired with Sigma 18-35 1.8 the image is quite nice.
 

I really have no plans for 2024, this year has been a steady stream of a wide variety of jobs, possibly one of my busiest yet as repeat customers keep repeating and new customers keep showing up. 
As far as gear goes, I never thought I would like a crop sensor so much but every camera that I own other than the R7 is gathering dust right now. I would say 80% of the jobs this year were hybrid photo video jobs and nothing in my kit is better at that than the R7. Social media is really prioritizing video these days and my setup is perfect for social media content as well as editorial and some light commercial work.
I still love the C70 but its useless for hybrid jobs and so is the R5. I did pick up two Tascam DR-10L Pros for 32 bit float audio recording and a new tripod with a Sachtler head because I shot a lot of dual camera projects and needed a better video head for tracking the talent but that's it.
So for next year I plan on no new kit whatsoever and really just keep focusing on keeping my current customers happy while occasionally taking on new work where it makes sense. 

Yes, I typically have the C70 as my A camera locked down with XLR input from the mixer and the Canon EF 24-105mm on it with a speed booster and the R7 is my B camera with the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on it. I track the peak action with the R7 and discovered none of my current tripod heads are smooth enough when punched in at 300mm+ to smoothly track moving objects so I had to get a better fluid head. The Sachtler Ace XL Fluid Head did the trick after buying and sending back two other brands. I have shot everything from opera performances to music videos to dance recitals this year with that setup. 

I really have no plans for 2024, this year has been a steady stream of a wide variety of jobs, possibly one of my busiest yet as repeat customers keep repeating and new customers keep showing up. 
As far as gear goes, I never thought I would like a crop sensor so much but every camera that I own other than the R7 is gathering dust right now. I would say 80% of the jobs this year were hybrid photo video jobs and nothing in my kit is better at that than the R7. Social media is really prioritizing video these days and my setup is perfect for social media content as well as editorial and some light commercial work.
I still love the C70 but its useless for hybrid jobs and so is the R5. I did pick up two Tascam DR-10L Pros for 32 bit float audio recording and a new tripod with a Sachtler head because I shot a lot of dual camera projects and needed a better video head for tracking the talent but that's it.
So for next year I plan on no new kit whatsoever and really just keep focusing on keeping my current customers happy while occasionally taking on new work where it makes sense. 

Yes, I typically have the C70 as my A camera locked down with XLR input from the mixer and the Canon EF 24-105mm on it with a speed booster and the R7 is my B camera with the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on it. I track the peak action with the R7 and discovered none of my current tripod heads are smooth enough when punched in at 300mm+ to smoothly track moving objects so I had to get a better fluid head. The Sachtler Ace XL Fluid Head did the trick after buying and sending back two other brands. I have shot everything from opera performances to music videos to dance recitals this year with that setup. 

I really have no plans for 2024, this year has been a steady stream of a wide variety of jobs, possibly one of my busiest yet as repeat customers keep repeating and new customers keep showing up. 
As far as gear goes, I never thought I would like a crop sensor so much but every camera that I own other than the R7 is gathering dust right now. I would say 80% of the jobs this year were hybrid photo video jobs and nothing in my kit is better at that than the R7. Social media is really prioritizing video these days and my setup is perfect for social media content as well as editorial and some light commercial work.
I still love the C70 but its useless for hybrid jobs and so is the R5. I did pick up two Tascam DR-10L Pros for 32 bit float audio recording and a new tripod with a Sachtler head because I shot a lot of dual camera projects and needed a better video head for tracking the talent but that's it.
So for next year I plan on no new kit whatsoever and really just keep focusing on keeping my current customers happy while occasionally taking on new work where it makes sense. 

Yes, I typically have the C70 as my A camera locked down with XLR input from the mixer and the Canon EF 24-105mm on it with a speed booster and the R7 is my B camera with the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on it. I track the peak action with the R7 and discovered none of my current tripod heads are smooth enough when punched in at 300mm+ to smoothly track moving objects so I had to get a better fluid head. The Sachtler Ace XL Fluid Head did the trick after buying and sending back two other brands. I have shot everything from opera performances to music videos to dance recitals this year with that setup. 

I really have no plans for 2024, this year has been a steady stream of a wide variety of jobs, possibly one of my busiest yet as repeat customers keep repeating and new customers keep showing up. 
As far as gear goes, I never thought I would like a crop sensor so much but every camera that I own other than the R7 is gathering dust right now. I would say 80% of the jobs this year were hybrid photo video jobs and nothing in my kit is better at that than the R7. Social media is really prioritizing video these days and my setup is perfect for social media content as well as editorial and some light commercial work.
I still love the C70 but its useless for hybrid jobs and so is the R5. I did pick up two Tascam DR-10L Pros for 32 bit float audio recording and a new tripod with a Sachtler head because I shot a lot of dual camera projects and needed a better video head for tracking the talent but that's it.
So for next year I plan on no new kit whatsoever and really just keep focusing on keeping my current customers happy while occasionally taking on new work where it makes sense. 

Yes it has those options on the mode dial.
 
Actually, I think the R7 is better for hybrid shooting at least for events. The R7 impresses me more and more as I work with it. The R7 has no record limits, hybrid hotshoe, uses identical memory card types in both slots, hasn't once overheated on me using the original FW even in 100F degree heat, battery life is way better, and the button layout has really grown on me during fast moving hybrid shoots at events. 
Due to the R7 I have changed my whole shooting style at events. I have the R7 in a cage with a side handle for hand-held shots for both photo and video along with a hotshoe flash on top and can flick from photos to video and back without ever lowering the camera. I also added a strap mount to the cage which is another first for me for a video camera.
So, 3 months in below are some of my findings with the R7 so far. This is from my perspective when shooting with it for both photos and videos at events:
Best Hybrid Lens: Canon EF 24-70 F2.8 L. This was a surprising one for me, I tested out the Sigma EF-S 18-35 F1.8 which many people rave about but it did not seem sharp to me, especially at F1.8. Also, the lens AF motors were some of the loudest I have ever heard; definitely not acceptable with a camera mounted shotgun mic. It also was wider than I needed it at the wide end and not long enough at the long end. When I tested the Canon EF 24-70 F2.8L the R7 was suddenly razor sharp, focusing noise was greatly reduced and the FF sensor focal length of approximately 38-112mm was perfect for both pictures and video. This lens also works very well with the R7 on the Ronin RS2; it balances perfectly. A final plus for the Canon 24-70 F2.8 is the lock switch which locks the barrel so I would engage that whenever it was on a gimbal to keep the balance. Ergonomics - This is the first camera I have ever owned that I feel equally comfortable shooting both photos and video. When shooting a fast-moving event, the ergonomics of this camera really start to shine as a hybrid. I can flip the power switch from off/on/video then adjust the aperture using the ring around the joystick all within seconds and without moving my hand from the grip. For events I literally just hand hold and use the back screen for images then flip to video get a few clips without lowering the camera then back to photos. A hotshoe mounted flash gets me down to ISO 100 for photos and video starts at ISO800 so once it is all set up I can shoot the optimal ISO for both formats without touching the settings.  Photo / Video Separation - None of the photo and video settings are linked which is another pro and a slight con. It would be nice to be able to pick what to link like the S5 let me do. I would like to link the WB, and Aperture because they are typically the same between photos and video.  AF Separation - This is a subtle nuance that is also pretty nice with the R7, the AF settings in photo mode also do not affect the video mode. So for example you can set continuous AF with person tracking and eye detect in photo mode and continuous AF with tracking and eye detect off for video mode. You can also create a box on the screen and limit the AF features to just that box if you have time to set all of that up. Flash Sync Speed - I am totally confused on this one. The documented maximum flash sync speed is 1/250s but I went as high as 1/500s at times and my flash output did not drop nor was my flash in HSS mode so I have no idea what that's about. It was a very pleasant surprise though. Most cameras stop at their flash sync speed and won't let you go any higher until you set the flash to HSS at which point your output drops quite a bit or you have problems in your image due to exceeding the sync speed, but neither occurred when I exceeded the flash sync speed. The Bad - unfortunately the R7 is not perfect, I have found a few more annoyances after shooting with it for awhile
Flash Hotshoe Doesn't Fire - This is my main annoyance, the hotshoe has approximately a 5% failure rate when triggering the flash. Same flash I have had for years, never once had it not fire when attached directly to the camera, but with the R7 it fails to trigger sometimes. At first I thought it was just coming loose, but no matter how much I tightened it, it would still fail occasionally. For events that's a major annoyance when you are trying to capture peak action and relying on the flash for fill. Recording Doesn't Stop - Sometimes the recording would not stop after pressing the recording button. Holding the button doesn't help, pressing it repeatedly doesn't help, it will just not stop recording without additional fiddling. Sometimes I had to press the stop button on the screen itself to get it to stop. It never took more than a few seconds of fiddling to get it to stop, but annoying none the less. Horizon Leveling - This one is very minor, but I did discover that this has to be turned off when on a gimbal. The horizon leveling makes the image slowly rock from side to side on a gimbal. It took about an hour of fiddling to find that one. I thought sure it was my gimbal, but then I turned off the horizon leveling feature and the image was rock solid. I am not sure yet how useful this is when handholding since I don't have time to turn it off and on at events so I just leave it off. R7 or R6II? I know @Django asked me if both were available today which one would I pick? I think without having ever shot with the R7 then the R6II would be no contest. But now after shooting with the R7 I think the main technical drawback the R7 really has is line skipped 60FPS. The R6II has some really nice to have features (most could be added via a FW update to the R7 if Canon felt generous), but for event hybrid work the R7 is great. For events the line skipped quality is probably more than adequate, but for higher end work like commercial work or possibly mid budget weddings, it may not hold up.
The Verdict - The R7 has actually exceeded my expectations for a hybrid camera. Even the fact it is a crop sensor is actually helpful because it breathed new life into my Canon EF 24-70 lens with the change in focal lengths.  The IBIS is great, AF of course is perfect even though I still only use the cross hairs for AF, none of the fancy tracking features, but the part that I do use is rock solid reliable. I was looking at speedbooster options (and may still need one for lowlight situations), but so far the R7 is a perfect fit even with the crop sensor.
I need to practice with the more advanced AF options more to see if I can incorporate them into fast moving run and gun situations. I don't trust tracking or eye AF for video, but for photos it seems pretty solid.
Below is a recent event highlight video I shot with the R7. Approximately 90% was handheld, the entire event (photos and video), I shot with just the Canon EF 24-70 F2.8 lens.  I also used the 4K30FPS Fine option with compressed IPB and CLOG3 Cinema Gamut combined with Davinci Resolve Managed Color and a slight creative grade to finish it off. The colors straight out of camera were great to work with.
This shoot was particularly challenging because the event was half under massive really dark unlit tents and half in shade with midday sunlight all around so my focus was on properly exposing the subject matter with no regard to the background exposure. As a refence point, another videographer was there with a C300III running the live feed and he was also unable to keep the DR within the C300III's sensor so it was no fault of the camera that it couldn't handle the full DR of many of the scenes.
 
 
 
Below are a few sample images from the event. These were shot with a hotshoe mounted flash handheld and the same Canon EF 24-70 F2.8 lens. All images were shot raw and post processed in LR. Colors are straight out of camera, nothing was added to the colors.
 

 

 

 

Even the R3 is micro HDMI, hard to believe but its true.

Yes it can, I been doing in camera recording multi cam livestream with Canon many times on R7, R5 and now R8 beside C70 and R5C.
 
Don't choose the camera +hdmi option period if u need recording in camera 
 
 

Canon Cripple hammer Strikes Again!

i was waiting for nearly 10 years to replace my OLD 5DmkIII (with the MagicLantern hack) as a camera that can run REC on continously nonstop while outputting clean HDMI out for livestreaming jobs.

every camera that came after stops recording after 29:59min including my beloved EOS-R that cannot be used for continuous video. everybody knows that this limitation is completely invented. and it was only after Sony and Nikon removed it that Canon followed suit in their latest models, (including the entry level R10 & R50).

this limitation is why i never got the R5 or R6. because I find it Rediculous that a 5000$ Camera that came out post 2020 is crippled by what is clearly an invented technicality. (and yes i heard the Taxation difference crap. give me a break! i would pay to remove it if they let us. as would everyone else) and if you were hoping for a firmware fix - tough luck! because... Canon!

out comes the R6 MK2! my next camera!

no 4k crop, no (fake) overheat crap, no Record limit. FINALLY! (2023 it's about time!)

well here is the BIG Catch that no raving (and mostly biased or outright bribed) youtuber mentions in their happy positive reviews. nor is it mentioned on any of the Forums i have looked in.

NO CARD RECORDING WITH CLEAN HDMI OUT CONNNECTED!

(it works only with camera settings and focus squares visible in the stream)

i guess im the only one stupid enough to be Livestreaming with Canon cameras.

as you can probably tell i am VERRRRY dissapoineted. all my Sony shooting friends are jointly chanting "I told you So" to which i can clearly add "I should have known".

my trust in the Canon brand is completely broken. i am really considering putting my 6 Canon bodies and 15 lenses on sale and starting a new chapter with a camera brand that i wont be dissapointed with EVERY TIME!

i havnt checked the R7 R10 R50 R3 R8 yet, but i have the feeling that this is the case on most if not all new, continuously recording canon hyrid cameras.

i just shelled out 3000eu on this camera and all i feel now is anger and frustration and most of all... Bewilderment.

WHY CANON?!?

sorry for the ranting but maybe this will help someone make a better informed buying decision before getting this otherwise amazing Camera for particularly what i use it for.

Thank you and Good Luck!

A.

I sometimes use time lapses or hyper lapses to help tell the story. I mainly only use hyperlapses with drone work and occasionally timelapses to show a setup, or for dramatic effect such as to show the sky rolling across the horizon.
I have a dedicated Canon Rebel T6s that I use just for timelapses, it has incredible battery life with the dual grip handle (over 2,000 images in one timelapse once and it still had over 50% battery life remaining), plus I don't want that high shutter count on one of my more expensive cameras, additionally I like to set up my timelapse camera somewhere and leave it while I go shoot other content so there's the theft concern as well. Lastly, it is blazing hot here in the summer and it has never once overheated during a timelapse so its a great little timelapse camera.
Many times I have lugged the timelapse camera with me planning on setting up a quick 15min timelapse to use as the opening or closing for the video and many times it's just a not a good fit, either there's no place I feel is safe enough to leave it while I do other things, or the sky is completely cloudless so it would be a wasted effort, etc. 
As far as where in the edit I tend to find them the most useful, for me its usually the very beginning opening sequence or the closing i.e. a timelapsed sunset is a nice closing shot especially in places where I cannot use the drone. But without the right conditions (cloudy skies, progressive changes, etc.) timelapses aren't worth the time or effort to me.
When editing 60FPS on a 30FPS timeline I do occasionally only slow down say the last few seconds of a longer 5 or 10s clip, just enough to stretch it to the jump point which keeps the rest of the clip real time while getting it to the logical jump point, also sometimes I combine 60FPS with optical flow to drop all the way down to 25% to simulate 120FPS without actually shooting 120FPS if I want truly slow motion; this effect followed by a speedramp can be quite dramatic.  I know purists may say optical flow isn't "pure" enough slow motion, but in DR with the right settings it does a really good job depending on the content being slowed down.
 
I decided years ago to stick to 30FPS and 60FPS for all of my work unless the client specified 24FPS, or PAL....for me it eliminates all of the conformance issues and reduces the problems with pans, eliminates the jittery look, etc. etc. I figured out long ago I will never be a Hollywood feature film videographer so the 30FPS delivery framerate looks the best with the least amount of work to me.

I sometimes use time lapses or hyper lapses to help tell the story. I mainly only use hyperlapses with drone work and occasionally timelapses to show a setup, or for dramatic effect such as to show the sky rolling across the horizon.
I have a dedicated Canon Rebel T6s that I use just for timelapses, it has incredible battery life with the dual grip handle (over 2,000 images in one timelapse once and it still had over 50% battery life remaining), plus I don't want that high shutter count on one of my more expensive cameras, additionally I like to set up my timelapse camera somewhere and leave it while I go shoot other content so there's the theft concern as well. Lastly, it is blazing hot here in the summer and it has never once overheated during a timelapse so its a great little timelapse camera.
Many times I have lugged the timelapse camera with me planning on setting up a quick 15min timelapse to use as the opening or closing for the video and many times it's just a not a good fit, either there's no place I feel is safe enough to leave it while I do other things, or the sky is completely cloudless so it would be a wasted effort, etc. 
As far as where in the edit I tend to find them the most useful, for me its usually the very beginning opening sequence or the closing i.e. a timelapsed sunset is a nice closing shot especially in places where I cannot use the drone. But without the right conditions (cloudy skies, progressive changes, etc.) timelapses aren't worth the time or effort to me.
When editing 60FPS on a 30FPS timeline I do occasionally only slow down say the last few seconds of a longer 5 or 10s clip, just enough to stretch it to the jump point which keeps the rest of the clip real time while getting it to the logical jump point, also sometimes I combine 60FPS with optical flow to drop all the way down to 25% to simulate 120FPS without actually shooting 120FPS if I want truly slow motion; this effect followed by a speedramp can be quite dramatic.  I know purists may say optical flow isn't "pure" enough slow motion, but in DR with the right settings it does a really good job depending on the content being slowed down.
 
I decided years ago to stick to 30FPS and 60FPS for all of my work unless the client specified 24FPS, or PAL....for me it eliminates all of the conformance issues and reduces the problems with pans, eliminates the jittery look, etc. etc. I figured out long ago I will never be a Hollywood feature film videographer so the 30FPS delivery framerate looks the best with the least amount of work to me.