Django

..or Gareth Edwrds who shot the Creator on an FX3. But I agree the cinema world is super conservative with ARRI sitting firmly on top. TV, docu & indie is a more crowded market but there are big players: RED, BM, Canon C & Sony FX. I'm not sure who the target of this Fuji Eterna will be, its gotta be super niche. It's kind of the camera nobody asked for. Medium format sounds great but if you're going to have poor rolling shutter with razor thin DoF plus huge lenses, I don't see many applications where this would warrant such an investment. I've said this a while ago, but my dream for Fuji is that they revive their old school Fujica system with hand grip a la Bolex. Modernise it with pro I/O and an EVF/flip screen but keep the form factor and essence. Place the XH2S sensor with built-in cooling and an E-ND. It could even be vertical sensor default and it would switch if you rotate 90 degrees. That might make people cringe but the camera would be a hit in wide segments (think X100 craze). And if anyone can go quirky/retro/legacy its Fuji X:

What a useless interview, guy said nothing other than its the same IQ as GFX100II. I noticed a Japanese spec sheet on a monitor towards the end of the video that specifies ProRes HQ, ProRes 422 & ProRes LT so there's that. Anyways yeah I don't see much purpose in this cam versus a GFX 100 II. I'm betting it will be +$10K too. Page me when they stick the XH2S sensor in an affordable cine body. Speaking of rigged GFX 100 II Fuji USA posted this yesterday:

Looks expensive.. are Fuji not releasing specs yet?? Hopefully this paves the way for a more budget S35 cine cam with something like the XH2S sensor. Exciting to have a new player in the market, Fuji nonetheless !

Everybody's different and is going to cite their own camera choices. I'm brand agonistic even though I have my own subjective preferences. I love Canon for the simplicity, reliability, skin tones & lenses. R5ii, R3, R1, C70/C80 form a good eco system. The Vari-ND adapter paired with the extensive EF lens market is also a unique edge. What I don't like is the third-party RF blockade. Sony, although dominating the video market has ironically fallen behind imo. The Alpha and even FX line still don't have proper +4K resolution, open-gate or built-in RAW, ProRes etc. I also find the alpha bodies very consumerish and uninspiring. That being said the FX30 is definitely a great deal and now that it has shutter angle it makes for good compact solution. For S35 though I prefer Fuji. XH2S is very slept on with 6.2K, Open-gate, ProRes plus its a true hybrid. I don't use Panasonic and they seem to be asleep this year so I won't comment. This brings me to my favourite cam manufacturer this year: Nikon. Z8, Z9, Z6iii. Fantastic cameras at aggressive pricing. Z-mount is also the most adaptable mount. Z9 is still my number one camera with pro build, long battery life, grip, stacked sensor, 8K60p, ProRes etc. Z8 is right behind it. And now with the RED acquisition it's only going to get better for cine users. In fact the first collaboration was done a couple weeks ago with the free release of RED technical and creative LUTs for the system. I've seen a test where they match very closely to RED cameras. Exciting stuff!

I remember an R5C review from a guy doing commercials that said he always used this one unusual frame rate for very slight slow-mo. I forget maybe it was 48fps? The result was more subtle than your typical 50/60fps. I have the files somewhere on my hard drive, going to try and figure that one out. I just seem to remember it was in Q&S. I love having shutter angle, because even in custom modes for HFR it sometimes happens you accidentally change the shutter speed. It also alleviates the math for creative shutter angle shots like 45/90/360 degrees. But yeah no custom banks on cine OS is a bummer. It seems like they're sleeping a bit on that side of things. What about the crop modes on R5C, you can do S35/S16. That's pretty cool if not too many hoops in the menu?

@gt3rs Nice summary, thanks! I would just add in R5C's favour shutter angle (a big plus), custom LUT support and Q&S. Also I think there may be more crop modes on R5C and even anamorphic modes?

Yeah RF lenses definitely feel plasticky and cheap. I think its mostly because Canon was trying to adjust the weight for small mirrorless bodies but I agree it doesn't feel like quality, especially for the expensive price you pay for L series. However optically they are far superior to EF. I've A/B'd them on shoots and its almost night & day, especially on 45MP sensors. That said, EF lenses are so widely available and affordable on the second hand market and some do have a certain mojo. Very good point about the vND adapter, I kinda forgot about that. Body wise, yeah they feel kinda cheap and plasticky as well. I shot on a 5D4 recently and was shocked how sturdy it felt (I had forgotten after so many years on mirrorless). The R3 though feels great. Z9 is still the benchmark for me. Sony is the worst, feels so consumerish.

If you're doing video only sure but most of us are hybrid shooters. FF is also important if you're using RF lenses and IBIS if you shoot handheld. The R5 series are great A/B cams to a C70 though. Its nice to have that ecosystem. Personally I'm still thinking of switching to Nikon Z9 (would have already purchased one this summer if it weren't for a major financial setback) but the Canon ecosystem still has my attention. And now with Clog2 on board the DR finally competes and IQ looks so much more natural. The compressed RAW is also interesting. WFM is maybe the biggest win, always hated the histogram that disappeared when you hit record.

@herein2020 Thanks for the detailed feedback, always appreciated! Yeah I dunno why 4K60p is line skipped when the R5C and Z8/Z9 can do it downsampled with the same MP count. As for the DR tests have shown that it’s actually slightly lower than R5. That is of course expected from a stacked sensor. But the upside is CLOG2 is now available so you win in DR vs CLOg3. And of course the faster readout means less RS. There is definitely some great improvements (full HDMi finally!) but it somehow still feels incremental and catching up to Nikon Z8, which actually still has the edge in a few areas. I guess what I’d really like is an R5C mk2. Give it the sensor and speed of R5II but put it in an R3 body with the big battery and lockable IBIS. Actually that might be an R3C. I really like the dual OS of R5C. Having all the cine options like shutter angle, LUT support, Q&S etc. Sorry I’m derailing this thread with wishful thinking. Back to R5 mk2. Jave you guys tried the eye control AF? Some say it’s a total game changer others can’t get it to work correctly. Stills only I think but that’s definitely something unique to Canon.

@gt3rs Thanks for the info, so wait you need the new batteries for 4K fine and such? I thought it was mainly for 8K60p. I'm kinda bummed out about the line-skipped 4K60p. I use that a lot. Do the new batteries give you much more run time than R5C in 4Kfine/8k modes?

Hey folks, bugs aside how are you finding the camera improvements over R5/R5C? How is the overheat? Are you using the cooling grip? Really good deals on R5C at the moment so I'm curious about your feedback, thanks!

I was waiting on this release to see if I'd go for it over the Z8/Z9. At the euro price its just not worth it to me. Very solid release nonetheless. ProRes HQ really seals the deal for me on the Nikon platform. My iMac Pro just can't deal with h265 in +4K resolution. That and the fact that I can smart adapt all my EF, E-mount, Nikon F/AIS & Leica lenses. Probably going to pull the trigger on a used Z8/Z9. Z6iii would be a dope B-cam body down the line when price comes down a bit.

Tamron is also putting out an RF-S (APS-C) zoom lens (11-20mm F2.8). Makes sense as Canon have barely developed any RF-S lenses (not a single prime or fixed aperture lens). So this will surely help sell crop bodies. So yeah while this is great news for APS-C Canon owners, I really don’t see this as a solid indicator Canon will open third party FF RF lenses although one can hope!

That seems most likely. Canon cine lenses have PL options and thats Nikons historical competitor..

Full Nikon/RED rumour list: Future Nikon sensors will be co-developed with RED and mass-produced for lower prices. Nikon will start making cinema lenses for Z mount with T stops – I assume the next RED camera will be with Z-mount. Nikon will slowly introduce new RED formats and video recording options to Nikon cameras. The Nikon Z6III camera announcement may have something to do with the RED acquisition. We should expect some kind of a Nikon/RED announcement at the 2024 NAB show next month (maybe the Z6III?). Nikon N-RAW will become RED RAW. Adobe just mentioned online that they will no longer make upgrades to Nikon N-RAW because it will be replaced (see the Ado\be developer’s pinned post – click for larger view) Pretty exciting stuff if above is true!

I think if we look at the Komodo which is around the price of a C70, uses RF mount and has AF, it gives us basis to speculate that future entry level RED cams with Nikon tech and Asian manufacturing could venture out of the high-end cine market and compete with Canon & Sony C/FX line. And reverse wise Nikon high-end cams will benefit from Redcode and other ciné savoir-faire like color science, anamorphic support, open gate etc.. it also finally gives Nikon users an upgrade path to a cine line and creates a more viable ecosystem. That is great news for consumers and further increases my desire to switch to Nikon.

Saw the movie on pay per view the other day, much better film than I was expecting. Think Blade Runner meets Terminator 2 meets Rogue One (also by Edwards/Fraser). Loved the visuals. Mostly filmed on location in remote parts of South Asia and it shows. Very different approach than most sci-fi blockbusters like Rebel Moon and such that make extensive use of green screen , virtual production, the volume etc. I still think shooting on the FX3 was a buzz/challenge/marketing decision but hey they pulled it off. Goes to show how mirrorless sensors are so good these days its really everything else in the pipeline (lenses, grading, post etc) that determines "cinematic" image quality.

Yeah I don't think they'll cripple much aside from sub stacked sensor performances but the prices will be higher than previous gen with the new bigger body, faster cpu, specs etc. I'd guess around $2500 for z6iii & $3500 for z7iii.

Actually his test reveals very similar DR between the two with R5C having way better highlight latitude and FX3 cleaner shadow info. But its worth noting FX3 uses high amount of internal NR whereas you can dial it down on R5C. You can also access Clog2 if you shoot in RAW. So unless you need that 12,500 ISO for like extreme low-light situations, R5C is imo way better than FX3 in almost all categories. The fact FX3 still doesn't even have shutter angle is blasphemy.

90% of my Canon glass are EF primes and none of them have lens IS. IBIS is just great for getting rid of micro jitters and what not. Its a solid feature. Digital IS not only crops but can also introduce other issues. And of course IBIS isn't immune to that either with infamous wobble issues on wide angle lenses. The beautiful thing about Z8/Z9 is that you can actually lock the IBIS. So it can be on or off depending on lens/situation. Having options is always better than not having them! That said, within Canon ecosystem, I would definitely choose the R5C over the R5 even though it doesn't have IBIS.

Right well all Canons have pretty much the same look, its really resolution, codec, log curve, rolling shutter & DR that's going to differentiate the files. And while I wouldn't really call the Canon look vanilla, I kinda see what you mean. It's a familiar look. Z8 footage I've taken really blew my socks off, it does feel next level. the colors, the detail, latitude. IQ is so rich and clean. Its not really a very filmic image, but its high-end.. feels modern. On my 27" 6K monitor the 8K image just pops, its almost like a window into the real-world! I just watched a thorough review of Z8 with some real-world pro video applications, its non English so pointless to share it here but it did show some pretty big concerns on the overheating. Apparently hot card warning will start to appear within minutes if you shoot in 8K. The guy was doing an all day interview shoot with Z8 & Z9 and it sounded like Z8 simply didn't make it through while zero hiccups with Z9. So for me Z9 is really the only option in Nikon land. That's not a bad thing as the vertical grip and added battery life are essential bonuses. I really need to try one ASAP though to see how I gel with the ergos, size/weight. The more I think of it the lack of IBIS on R5C is kind of a deal breaker. I shoot a lot of handheld so going back to a non IBIS camera feels like a step back to DSLR days and I hate gimbals. I feel that at this budget there shouldn't be any big compromises like that so it looks like I'm leaning back into the Nikon camp with Z9 in sight. Sorry for all the back & forth, I know it sounds like I change my mind every day but good news is I will probably commit very soon as I plan on making the purchase on my upcoming trip to NYC. Getting pumped!

Clog2 inside R5/R5C would be awesome and I'm not sure why its not present there. There is always the RAW workaround. In any case matching Canon footage has never been too problematic I find, again R5C allows you the really dial-in the gamma and the color space for log which I find is pretty key to match footage in cam. WB & color check as Ty Harper mentions and you really shouldn't struggle much. I find it lot harder on Sony cams to be consistent since they keep changing color science every gen. Nikon doesn't even have a cine line and I've really struggled getting decent DR out of N-log. So in the end its almost reluctantly that I'm leaning towards Canon (R5C) as I do think Nikon has the better sensor, mount and specs but having that active cooling is such a relief, shooting / editing and grading is a breeze and the Canon mirrorless/cine ecosystem does allow for expansion so those are the main reasons I'm probably headed back there. In a sense it sucks because I want the latest and greatest which is Z8/Z9 but a couple things are holding me back. If that rumoured firmware with 8K120p burst and open-gate gets confirmed I think that may sway me to switch but even that's a long shot..

Despite using the same sensor Canon did a lot of tweaks on R5C resulting in much better noise performance and DR than R5. It isn't marginal, again the noise pattern is entirely different. Something a chart won't show you. R5C has dual ISO so at ISO3200 its going to be cleaner than C70. At C70's base ISO 800 it will have better DR. Different sensors (DGO vs Dual ISO) different results. There are plenty of comparison tests online, some scientific, some real world. Overall the image is pretty comparable as far as DR imo. I guess if you're pixel peeping or lifting shadows at ISO800 C70 would be better but in the end I don't think you're going the C70 route mainly for that. Battery life, XLR, built-in NDs, ergonomics is what you are paying for. YMMV.

Yeah if you're not planning on doing advanced grading or setting up CST nodes in Davinci then I'd probably avoid shooting N-log altogether. Fortunately Nikon has nice usable picture profiles like Flat & Neutral that with few manual adjustments can give you a very pleasing image. So Nikons can be practical for SOOC shooting. But I much prefer Canon especially with the Cine line options for grading log footage. YMMV.

Yes the Z8/Z9 IQ is top notch I agree. However, R5C IQ is actually improved quite a bit from R5 even though the same sensor. The image has less noise and much more pleasing noise pattern, unlike R5 that has nasty digital chroma noise. I think the active cooling helps in that regard. As for DR there have been tests that show R5C has very similar DR to C70. Shadow recovery is cleaner on C70 thanks to DGO sensor. The real shame is no Clog2 on R5C so you have to shoot RAW if you want max DR. What I do like about Clog3 on R5C is you can change color space internally. You can switch Clog3 to cine gamut, wide DR, BT2020 etc. This is superb for grading in post. Makes everything clear, flexible and easy. Nikon's N-log is still confusing and tricky to grade to me. Really tough to get great cinematic grade results. The official LUTs are even more terrible. Most of the time I end up giving up and using the flat profile. Yeah its true the f1.8 Nikon primes have more silent AF motors than the Canons equivalent, however once you put them in manual, the fly by wire system sucks with a lag and non linear throw. Nikons overall AF for video is imo sub-par compared to Canons cine AF. It jumps, it hunts, back-focuses etc. So what good are silent lenses when the AF isn't stable? I still really like the Z8/Z9, mainly the SOOC IQ but deciding between both systems isn't so clear cut and simple as it may seem on the surface or just by looking at paper specs. I've now used both extensively and start to identify pros/cons in their workflow and usability in the field that may tilt me one way or the other.