Leaderboard

Can someone give me some info on the current state of RAW in the 7D? I need a B-cam for my BMCC and while the obvious choice seems like the BMPCC I'd be really happy if the 7D was also an option.. But what's it like for practical use (specifically compared to the BMPCC)?   Does it have continuous recording? Is it reliable? What are the main cons? 

it's photography but could be in topic anyway: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesyeung/     look at exif, bye! :)

  It's not about doing 70's style kung fu zip-zooms, it's about following focus.  Cinema lenses have longer focus throw than stills photography lenses, typically.   If you don't have a single focus or focus through system you're cutting yourself off from being able to do all kinds of shots with moving talent.  It's like having to write a paper and being told you can't use adverbs or pronouns or any word with more than three syllables.  It's doable but it's far from ideal, especially when you have a choice.     Actors will be able to move only within the plane of focus.  Or not move.  Forget about dolly or tracking shots that also aren't also very restrictive.  Prepare to eat a lot of blown takes.  Less experienced actors tend to over-animate, because they're not acutely aware of how small moves can be read quite well on camera, or they don't hit their marks.  A good 1st AC can save what would otherwise be a lost take by being able to judge how far off the mark talent is and adjust focus accordingly.      It's not a matter of obsession, it's one of necessity for certain kinds of content.  I really could care less what someone did in their short film or music video to somehow "prove" that this wasn't necessary.   No follow focus isn't a "dogma" that I can get behind and would sooner just shoot spherical.  Dual focus and anamorphics that force you to use telephoto lenses work great for demos and test videos though.

Check out Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, it has a bunch of tracking telephoto shots.    

Folks have already been intercutting compressed DSLR footage with film and non-compressed digital for years so two raw cameras will, with care, be easier to intercut between.     The crop factor issue can be made practically invisible with lens choice and exposure (ie. Nokton/Noktor lens + heavy ND).   Crop factor has "tells" the same as anamorphic has "tells".  Most people only look for the most easily recognizable effects with both types of photography and in both cases it's academic to fool these people.   Were someone shooting Terence Malick style, wide angle, deep focus, the difference between a scene shot on a 5DIII and a BMCC becomes one of relative focal length and given that focal length is variable anyway in any film the issue of shooting 135-size or Super-16 size is not a big deal.  A more relevant issue will be sticking to exposures that don't emphasize the 5D's lack of reach into highlights and the BMCC's lack of reach into shadows.     Still, these issues aren't actually relevant beyond pixel fuckers in places like this.  It's a non-issue for audiences who already aren't aware of such subtleties.  Otherwise they might be wondering why Sony 4K projectors make footage shot on their highend cameras look like video.