In my opinion the Sigma Fp was a great camera milestone for creative shooting. As the first Sigma camera to shoot cinema quality 4K and the first full frame stills camera to record 4K RAW internally to SD card, Sigma have gained the attention of filmmakers and set a tone for a very bright future.
I am having problems with the jog wheel on my 1D X Mark III popping every full 360 degree rotation, so there is a mechanical problem there and my body will be returned for a refund and so this is only a short review.
This review also marks a milestone for EOSHD! After 10 years of blog posts, I am going to be doing YouTube now as well! Looking forward to doing MANY a video and growing the channel in a big way. If you’d like to be interviewed, or featured on the channel, do let me know.
So the 1D X Mark III then…
When I began shooting with my own Leica SL2 earlier this year, I found a lot to like about the high-spec mirrorless camera for filmmaking, and of course the SL2 is superb for photography. However, the battery power management has prevented shooting in 4K and 5K reliably, varying depending on the type of lenses used. After making Leica aware of this issue, Leica’s Head of Product Management, Professional Photo System and co-designer of the SL2 Stephan Schulz has been on my case and I have been on his!
The good news is that Leica are investigating the possibility of a firmware update to alleviate the problem and I will be carrying out testing duties for Leica on the video side going forward.
The Leica SL2 battery grip is on the way from Wetzlar and could offer an instant solution, but this needs to be tested. Here we hear directly from Stephan at Leica Camera AG, in this exclusive interview on EOSHD…
Read moreInterview with Stephan Schulz, Leica Camera on the SL2 and filmmaking
Does Sony plan to be stone dead last for video specs much longer? Yes, stone dead last. The Canon EOS R5, Nikon Z6, Panasonic S1H, Fuji X-T3, Leica SL2 and of course Fuji GFX 100 all ace the ageing Sony A7S II and flagship A7R IV for video features and image quality. The only companies that don’t are struggling Olympus and stills-orientated Pentax.
Legend has it there is a camera called the A7S III. They say it’s going to “exceed expectations” and put Sony back on top for video. But will it? It’s 2020 and hell has frozen over. A certain Canon EOS R5 has cutting edge video specs nobody saw coming. This means only one thing – the A7S III has no choice but to be very special indeed and may even have to go back to the drawing board.
If EOSHD were a record player, there would be one particular groove it just couldn’t get over. It’d be the part of the record where she sings “why are Canon’s video specs so rubbish and where is the Canon full frame 4K high end mirrorless camera?”, and admittedly this isn’t the stuff of a number 1 hit single. I for one am very grateful the fat lady has finally shut up. I cannot put into words how relieved I am to no longer have to complain about Canon! Even the site name now makes sense! That gamble I made 10 years ago in believing Canon would run away with the DSLR video scene may yet pay off! It’s just that I’ve spent the first 10 years shooting mostly Panasonic and Sony. Canon seriously dropped the ball and for the longest time just didn’t seem to listen.
Speculative reasons for this have been legion – some say Canon lacked the technological capability to compete. Some say Canon wanted to avoid cannibalising Cinema EOS sales, or that Canon simply didn’t see a market for full frame 4K after the relative failure of the 1D C. Some say their sales had an unassailable lead with just 8bit 1080p (especially C300 and 5D Mark III) so why bother trying harder?
Now there’s another interesting theory, that Canon R&D works on a 10-year cycle with a big leap ready to storm the market at the end of each cycle, building on the initial success (reusing sensors in multiple bodies) with incremental improvements for 8-9 years before the next big leap. Let’s go all the way back to 2000 with the genesis of the Canon DSLR and CMOS sensor technology, fast forward 10 years and the cycle has resulted in a 5D Mark II taking the world by storm, a big leap on everything that went before and ahead of every other competitor at the time.
Fast forward another 10 years to 2020 and Canon looks to be doing a similar thing with the EOS R5. Could it be that Canon are just conservative, slow to make major moves, very calculated and taking the long term picture into account?
Read moreWhat REALLY prompted Canon suddenly to get their act together with video?
Above you can see an advert for RAW on the S1H shot in my home town of Manchester. Coincidentally these streets were where I shot with the Panasonic GH1 for the first time. I have fond memories of 10 years ago in the months leading up to EOSHD’s first blog post, taking my GH1 out on the same streets as featured in the Atomos video. Always great to see how cinematic the city is.
Now at the start of yet another decade, Panasonic is upping image quality again with HDMI RAW on the S1H. What makes this implementation of RAW unique is that it has an anamorphic RAW mode. The Canon EOS R5, 1D Mk III, Sigma Fp and Nikon Z6 aren’t anamorphic enabled in RAW mode.
Read morePanasonic S1H gets anamorphic RAW and 6K RAW via HDMI to Atomos Ninja V
The Sigma Fp will get 120fps Cinema DNG RAW recording at 1080p in a forthcoming firmware update, along with several other new features such as an HDR Video mode and ability to record video in the Director’s Viewfinder mode, at various aspect ratios and crop factors.
Read moreSigma Fp to get 120fps RAW recording and more coming in firmware update
Yesterday all sorts of rumours started flying around about an EOS R5 with unbelievable video specs. A dream camera. I didn’t believe it. However, further digging by users of the EOSHD Forum, reveal Canon are officially on the record – an 8K EOS R is coming. As well as this, there are some interesting technical aspects in the alleged “leak” which – despite the unbelievably high specs – do actually add-up.
Read moreCanon officially confirms – 8K EOS R is in our roadmap
