Oliver Daniel

I may get a maxed out Mac Mini M1 for my company. I’m looking at 27-32” monitors and the amount of options is staggering. It’s confusing to say the least. It will be used for editing and grading for brand and music video work. Budget is up to £1k or maybe a bit more if it’s worth it. What do you recommend?

I’ve got 2 jobs right now with hundreds of shots in H265 and it doesn’t playback or scrub whatsoever. I have to transcode to ProRes and takes a whole day to transcode, not to mention takes up all my processing power so I can’t do any other task! I do have a Ninja V, but I can’t record 4k 100fps in ProRes - and record a lot of it. Plus when data is an issue, I want the option of using it and not having to worry about transcoding. So lots of pain points to fix. Seen a few videos now with faultless H265 playback and scrubbing, but nothing using layers, grading, audio, effects and graphics on one timeline. Tempted to get a 16gb for now but need to see more real world cases without the obvious “salesman” Youtuber tactic.

Enjoyed your review and the humour, where all other reviews seem the same. My own opinion is if you’re steadily working on productions and you fancy a step up, this camera would do very nicely. Certainly the market I provide. Not everyone is out of work. It would make a good companion to the A7SIII. As an A7SIII owner, it certainly has appeal. The Alpha is an absolutely exceptional piece of kit so I have no doubt the FX6 produces great images. I also have a C70 - and this is where I have reservations. The C70 body just makes sense, it’s a new kind of form factor that works very well and can easily get on a gimbal. I would have liked to see the same direction for this FX6. Will I get an FX6? Depends how I do with the C70. The A7SIII has already “qualified” as a workhorse I’ll keep for a long time. Even if I end up favouring the Canon.

Thanks for the article. Do you know how the maxed out 2020 iMac handles H265 video? Can't find any info anywhere!

Cool! How do you feel about the 16GB? It seems Apple is making out their RAM performs better than a standard 16GB configuration.

I have absolutely no idea what this guy is saying.

I use FCP for everything. I rarely use anything else. I do a lot of colour grading, titles and basic graphics. On a few projects I may have quite a bit of layers going on. It looks solid, it's said to seamlessly play H265 files and it's also very portable, but I'm concerned about the RAM, hence why I'm looking to understand what this unified RAM is all about. Guess we have to wait for some reports from early adopters.

I use FCP and have done for 13 years. I'm not using a PC, ever. Sorry.

Yep, I need one now really. My 2015 iMac is acting like an old, withered dinosaur with these new 10bit files.

I need a new Mac now (sorry, I won't be using a PC, so don't suggest it). I don't have enough interest in computer hardware to be a geek about it. I just want to be able to edit, grade and render fast without a hiccup. These H265 and new 10bit H264 files are impossible to edit natively on my iMac and I've heard these new Mac's solve the problem. When shooting in Prores there isn't a problem! But it's not always possible. I've nearly pulled the trigger on the new top spec iMac before, but unsure how it handles those stubborn codecs. The MAc Mini also maxes out at 16gb RAM - but Apple says: "The M1 chip brings up to 16GB of superfast unified memory. This single pool of high-bandwidth, low-latency memory allows apps to share data between the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine efficiently — so everything you do is fast and fluid." Haven't got a clue how this is different or if it matches or exceed performance from Intel Mac's with higher RAM. Any insight would be very appreciated.

There’s something wrong with this example you’ve shared. There’s some weird sharpening or bad compression severely affecting the image. Also the exposure for many of the shots is significantly off.

Just had it powered up and walking round the house filming absolutely nothing. - Easy to use and setup. Menu’s are well organised. - The touch function to change settings like frame rates is incredible. I hated this on the EVA1. It felt like an eternity! This is super fast. - Digital IS is actually very impressive! On my Sigma 18-35 it was very steady. - DPAF works well with the standard EF adapter and my Sigma. Not quite as snappy as my Sony A7SIII does wish native glass but very, very usable. Only bad thing is it makes quite a bit of noise when changing focus. I can’t afford RF yet. - Sometimes like you get with IBIS, with DIS the image doesn’t feel robotic. Looks natural. - Some of the buttons are hard to reach with your right hand on the grip. Maybe I’ll loosen the strap more. - The joystick takes some getting used to. I keep making navigation mistakes. - With an EF lens like Sigma 18-35, somehow I felt the focus ring was too far for me to reach when hand holding. I think this is just that I’m used to other cameras, and this form factor is new so I just need to adjust. - More pleasurable time hold than the A7SIII, however I’m still stunned what that tiny body can do! - Camera doesn’t feel heavy at all with lens and battery. They’ve done a great job.

It’s arrived. Just charging batteries but first impressions of the body... - Great form factor, makes total sense although could be nice to have a compact EVF somewhere. - It’s much more lightweight than I thought. Doesn’t feel that much heavier than the A7SIII. - Body is solid, but the material is definitely a bit more budget than other C-series. - LCD is larger than I thought, although it’s on the flimsy side. - Button layout is great. Everything is there although the “media” button is almost impossible to press with your right hand on the grip. - The top handle is neat however the texture feels weird. Others might not mind, but I think I’ll have to wrap some extra material round it, haha. In conclusion, Canon have stripped back the premium feel a little to give us a camera with great features at a great price point. The form factor makes sense and they’ve done a great job of fusing these bodies together. Now, let’s see how it does on the field.

I said a few years ago my “perfect camera” for video would be an XC15 style camera with at least S35 and up to 4k120 10bit. Then they released it. I also have the A7SIII and looking forward to comparing. I predict I’ll keep hold of both. The A7SIII is a triumph.

Just had an email to say my C70 will be delivered by tomorrow!

Thanks for sharing Andrew. I just don’t agree with these people who say the A7SIII is safe, boring and not exciting. It’s baffling to be honest. I took it on a 6 day trip to Turkey to film a trilogy of music videos. I almost rather effortlessly acquired an immense amount of footage, beautifully exposed in the sun with crisp, detailed imagery. The experience was extremely liberating. Now I’ve got the 1st video in edit, the footage is such a joy to grade. It’s easy to get a great image with any look you want. The only downside being the non- All-I codecs being impossible to edit natively. So I got a Ninja V. Back to my point. This is not a boring or safe camera. This is a camera that’s been tuned to precision with absolutely no handicaps for 4k shooting. None whatsoever. No gimmicks. No cripple. Nothing. And no other camera on the market can claim this. To me it’s the most exciting camera I’ve used in a long time, because it sets me completely free. Interestingly, I did pre-order a C70 which also looks great. I’m now debating whether to get another A7SIII and be done with it.

Nothing wrong with using intentional natural light. It can sometimes produce amazing results. But in your reference to dynamic range, I do think it matters how those stops are utilised. For example, on an overcast grey day - using LOG on some cameras may spread the exposure too thinly - whereas one might prefer to use a standard gamma to accomplish a “juicier” looking image. The image will most certainly look thinner in poor lighting conditions as there’s less information captured by each pixel. Not in all situations but it’s certainly a big factor.

This is definitely a thing, and I feel a lot of this is actually to do with exposure and post colour management. The trouble is, a lot of those using cheaper mirrorless cameras shoot stuff in really poor lighting conditions, which obviously stretches the information captured into obscene brittleness. It matters to pump up those pixels with a high quality of light - ensuring you have juicer, healthier pixels to play with. I’ve even seen some people “light” with their A7S ISO. Great feature for certain needs, but it’s not a light and the image will certainly feel thinner. Image processing will have an impact. RAW for example, is a higher data acquisition and expectedly looks “thicker” as a result - but again, poor lighting conditions will kill that data. The EVA1 ProRes RAW in 2k120 when “exposed correctly” looks absolutely horrendous, worse than cheap 8bit. A disaster. But 3 stops overexposed and reduced to normal in post, it looks incredible. And very “thick”. Also, I think “the emulsion” of your lens matters a great deal to how smooth the image renders on the sensor. For example, an electronic fly by wire 50mm Sony lens feels much more “electronic” then say, a Helios 44-2. It’s as though the Helios is smoothing out the digital characteristics. Then lastly, the appearance of very low rolling shutter and using the correct shutter speed for the frame rate and scene provides that optimum quality pleasing motion. I’m no imaging scientist, but at a more accessible level, I think we can use this understanding to create work with “thicker” images. It’s all down to your own practical choices, and harder to achieve on a low budget.

Another first impression..... I need to test in several conditions, but I’m sure the WB seems slightly off. I balance on a grey card, but then the skin looks too cool etc. This was a problem in previous Sony cameras, so I hope this is user error. There is definitely a tint of yellow in SLOG3. Also, all the codecs besides All-I are uneditable with proxies on my iMac. I’m going to update my Mac to the latest anyway, and I’ll be recording into ProRes on the Ninja besides 4k100. But for the time being, it’s very sluggish with the native H264 / H265 codecs.

It could possibly sit on the hot shoe of a hand grip on the right of a cage, like Smallrig and Tilta do. I get what you mean, when I shoot audio it’s normally locked off so the adapter position isn’t a huge concern. But would like to see how it could look on a cage with the Ninja V

Yes thank you. I can see your rig is entirely different how I have my cameras (off the sticks, compact and simple), I'm just concerned the adapter will get in the way of the Ninja V or make it cumbersome handheld.

I couldn’t help myself. I’ve pre-ordered one. It looks absolutely perfect for my usage case. Image looks stunning. A7SIII isn’t going anywhere though. It will be a key asset for a lot of shoots.

Do you have the XLR-KM3 thingy? Bloody expensive add-on. Also wondering if it looks daft on a mirrorless camera. I’m fine with Ninja V bigger, but not much more than that. Defeats the purpose.

Cheers. No I haven’t I’m afraid, I don’t know anyone with those cameras. I can assure you this EVF is ridiculous. That’s something the C70 doesn’t have, although from what I can see the C70 has a better feel to the image. Canon have given me a brain tumour caused by camera choice psychosis with its XLR’s and ND filters. Thank you Canon.

More first impressions... - The 4k100fps is excellent. To have this feature in 10bit, in 1.1x full frame, in a camera this small is fantastic. Makes the EVA1’s downsampled 2k100fps look like mush. - The extended ISO at 100 in SLOG3 certainly limits the DR, certainly in the highlights. I wouldn’t recommend it, only if you are desperate. - Active Stabilisation works a treat. Tried a “gimbal shot” and did a fair job with stabilisation. - Footage doesn’t look overly sharp with a ProMist 1/4. Recommended. As the image itself is really very clinical. - Colour is definitely better. Don’t care what the naysayers say. Don’t know how good we can get it yet. - But, the skin definitely has a tinge of yellow in SLOG3. Dialling it out is fairly easy. Bit annoying but not a huge issue. - The 4k 10bit files in XAVC-S aren’t playing back on my Mac too well. Will try again as FCPX may have needed a reboot. Maybe not. - XAVC-I seems the tiniest tiniest tiniest bit sharper. You can barely tell though. - The colours with Gamma Assist On looks like classic Sony zombie look on LCD. I wouldn’t use the standard Rec709 LUT ever on SLOG3 in post. - I definitely need to play with Ninja V. Screen is too small to really get into the image. This early experience is just me filming cats, trees, kids, babies... whatever I can see. I’ll be putting it in the deep end soon. I’m impressed so far but I think the Canon C70 reveal hurt it’s thunder. The crafty buggers released the camera that I once described as my perfect camera. Read my mind. I’m suing.