Django

The RF 35 lives on my R6 (as the EF adapter is back-ordered due to the Canon factory fire). I've come to really appreciate this lens as it is quite compact, versatile, sharp, aberration free and has macro & IS. For the price it's killer, I like it so much I'm thinking of adding the RF 85 1.8 Macro IS.

Putting the R6 through its paces during winter school break. Shot in 8-bit standard profile using a mix of 4K & (100FPS) FHD on a 2K timeline. Various AF modes were put to use (Face Priority, Face & Object tracking). Camera was set to Auto-ISO. Overall I'm pretty happy with this camera, given the sub $2.5K pricing. No fancy features just solid IQ, AF & IBIS. Zero overheat even at the beach today with 20 celsius. Of course I will keep testing but my confidence with Canon is somewhat restored, I will probably go with a C70 down the line for more pro work.

C70 is a real cine cam though with built-in ND's, TC, DCI 4K, shutter angle, waveform etc. Basically all the things people were expecting from FX3 and that are missing. That said yeah it's not a bad cam per se, pretty awesome even for a mirrorless, just not really worthy of the FX line imo.

Good to hear Stef. It seems Sony held back on some cine features we were all expecting on this FX3, probably to not cannibalise A7S3 too much. The S-Cinetone firmware "leak" for A7S3 seems to confirm this strategy. Typical from Sony, I just find it a little too sneaky..

According to Gerald the active cooling doesn't compromise the sealing. Personally I'd pick the FX3 over the A7S3. $400 isn't that much extra for all the ergonomic enhancements, active cooling & top handle. Still a lazy dick move from Sony, spitting all over those who just forked out for A7S3.

same everything spec wise. only the ergonomics, active cooling & accessories have changed. confirmed by GU:

So basically a rehoused A7SIII with tally lamps, active cooling, a top handle and S-Cinetone (which is coming to A7SIII in the next firmware). Such a lazy move from Sony and honestly not worthy of the "FX" moniker. That said, for $400 extra it kind of makes the A7SIII obsolete already no? I'd be heated (no pun intended) if I just got one. See ya in couple months for the FX4.

I had a sneaky suspicion it was going to be a rehoused A7SIII. The shutter release was an obvious tell. It's definitely a lazy move from Sony. That said, if I were in the market for an A7SIII I just might get the FX3 instead. I'll take a fan over an EVF as well as the mounting options. Hopefully they do give it at the very least S-cinetone..

Not really a fan of the design personally. Balance seems poor. No EVF, no IBIS. It better have a eND or I just don't see why you'd favour this over an A7S3. Is it even FF? I guess too many unknowns to really judge..

No 8-bit log option. The 10 bit is h265 so yeah I transcode it to ProRes. I don't think you need a state of the art computer anymore, apparently a $899 MacBook Air with the new M1 chip can cut it, but yeah that's still an investment. C-Log 3 is supposedly coming to the R5 this month, unfortunately I highly doubt the R6 will get it.

@plucas : Yes I use AWB, AF & maybe even Auto-ISO for run & gun shooting on mirrorless. For more narrative work or higher-end projects in controlled environments, I'll usually switch to a cine cam with all proper manual settings. So it's not so much about the year we're in but really what the budget/project requires. 😉 As for the Canon colours, in my humble opinion, the R5/R6 have the best IQ yet on a Canon. The oversampling,10-bit 4:2:2 and low-light capability on the R6 just gives an outstanding image and color. It definitely has the "Canon" colours but with every generation sensor, they are tweaked. The biggest gripe in my early tests was that warm yellow tint but since I have the AWB set to white priority I'm getting perfect colors. @ade towell The FHD IQ is the best I've seen on recent Canons. It almost feels supersampled. On my 5K iMac Prothe FHD looks so sharp I sometimes have to double check the resolution settings. So yeah, very impressed with the FHD which is definitely not Canon soft HD. I can also add that the R6 has really good low-light capabilities and the noise is fine grain like which gives it more filmic quality than the usual horrible banding of some Canon sensors.

@plucas: I found an easier method: hit info in AWB settings and switch from default ambient to white priority mode. this eliminates the warm tint under tungsten lighting. I picked up an R6 by the way, and so far so good! really impressed by the IQ.

It's an interesting video by a very respectful DP, but what I gather from his pixel peeping comparisons for the sake of analysis is that 35mm/70mm film, can be identified through various attributes & aberrations (namely inter pixel, spatial and temporal as he categories them). Now one could see these as technically inferior to their high-end (ARRI, RED) digital equivalents, or on the other hand simply as characteristics that gives film photography its analogue charm. That ever so elusive filmic look (grain, softness etc). Funny thing is the motion film vs digital film debate is pretty much the same as film photography vs digital photography debate going on for decades now. In the end it is down to personal taste which you may prefer. Reading parts of his written follow-up is just as interesting as he dives into the relevance of footage transformation as a crucial step pre-color grading in order to better understand another vital component of the 'film look' color science : ON COLOR SCIENCE FOR FILMMAKERS This brings us back to our little world of consumer brand camera equipment and/or sub-$10K cine cams. Color science is often talked about when leaning towards a certain brand or even a certain camera model (i.e Sony's with/without S-Cinetone). Its an often misunderstood, hard to quantify 'secret sauce' of manufacturers. With hybrid cameras getting closer and closer to cine cameras, we start to see color science shifting towards Alexa/Venice emulations and of course RAW options which allows further transformation and push/pull latitude. I think the hybrid/cine gap is really starting to close itself as far as sensors, DR, RS, codecs, resolution and CS with the latest flagship video oriented offerings from Canon, Sony & Panasonic. Over-sharpening & NR does still seem to be a PITA to battle with on some models though.

35mm motion-picture film doesn't struggle to match 4K. It can resolve up to 8K. 70mm can resolve up to 18K. It's part of why top Hollywood filmmakers like Nolan & Tarantino still use it. Even 16mm can resolve 4K fine which is why The Last Dance looks so good even though the footage come from the 90s. Same with pre-digital NFL Films. While there are certainly a lot of constraints with shooting film, scan resolution is no problem by todays digital standards.

@herein2020 so it seems your main gripe with the R6 was overheating. you do mention in that thread you are in a warm/humid environment. it does seem climate affects the issue in combination with the artificial timers. But yeah overheating seems like a serious potential setback on this camera, especially for a hybrid shooter like myself. @gt3rs Yes those are my conclusions as well. (Canon) RAW is just not my thing, I have only used it once on the C200 and that is Canon RAW light. I can't fathom dealing with 8K RAW file sizes. But of course, it is there on R5 as well as 8K and those are nice future proofing features. The upcoming firmware with Clog3 & RAW Light is also promising. Now 4K120p, that is definitely something nice. I love super slo-mo shots (who doesn't?). Also having a 4K (LQ) fallback option is indeed surely a BIG advantage on cameras prone to overheating. I guess R5 is worth the asking price even though I could do away fine with an R6 (considering I'm upgrading from an EOS R).

Those are some good points, especially 4K120p which I forgot to mention. Still not sure I'm willing to pay close to $2k extra though, rather spend that on glass but food for thought!

I'd assume so but who knows with goofy Canon. Regardless the (10-bit) oversampled 4K is what I'm after in the R6.. By the way, here is a review that sorta made me consider the R6:

The R6 can shoot oversampled 4K longer (40mn) than the R5 4K HQ (30mn) and I heard the overheating is much better since the last update but yeah once you do overheat the R6 you are locked out of video mode unlike the R5. Also I think the R5 "date hack" doesn't work on the R6 right? My thinking is I won't be using the R6 for long interviews or anything, mostly short clips and B-cam stuff. But yeah it is hard to know if I will run into being locked out of video mode and when/if that happens it will definitely suck! You're right about the custom movie modes, that will be missed for sure but not really a deal breaker either. Oh another thing the R6 has over the R5 I believe is lowlight.

Long time no post. I've been riding this one out. After some comparative testing I'm leaning towards the R6 as an upgrade to my sold EOS R. Why? First the obvious, it's 2K cheaper and I can't really justify the R5 at this point in time. Second, after some testing the R6 4K (supersampled from 5.5K) footage really isn't that much worse than R5 4K HQ and is much better than R5 4K LQ. Third, I don't need 8K or Raw. Too heavy files, too much editing processing power needed. Fourth, although 45MP could be useful, 20MP will do just fine. The only real downside I see for my needs is the poor RS and a warmer yellow tint on the R6. Anyone else agree/disagree? Oh and yes I know about the overheating & the A7S3 😅

Agreed.

I saw that earlier today.. is the switch from intel to ARM processor good news for h265 editing? I seem to remember iPad Pros could edit h265 no sweat..

for some reason I can't read or even open the h265 files in FCPX they are greyed out?

So I finally got a chance to test drive the R5. The 8K & 4K HQ image quality is just stunning imo. I'm now planning on acquiring the camera, despite the overheat issues (defeatable with the hack). That said the 10-bit h265 log footage doesn't run on my 13" MBP, only on my iMac Pro. Kind of a major bummer when I'm editing/grading on the go. What's the workaround? Any software to transcode h265 into h264?

In defense of the C200, it also introduced 4K60p, internal RAW recording, and Touch DPAF... amongst a host of other features, IO, media and ergonomic enhancements . It was a lot more than just a C100 with 4K. Aside from 10-bit codec, it actually did more than the at the time flagship C300 mk2! And that’s the funny thing with Canon. Lower end models often have better features than flagship models but always have the infamous cripple hammer on some crucial aspect..

As a Canon EOS Cinema owner since the C100 (which I still own alongside C200) this is my dream Canon cine cam. Scratch that, it's my dream cine cam period. I will be selling off my C100/C200 for the C70. Of course perfect it is not, I will be missing Canon RAW Lite, EVF, SDI & custom LUTs. I'll be keeping my FS7 for gigs where EVF, SDI & LUTs are mandatory. I think I might also upgrade EOS R to R5 for RAW/8K B-cam shots. If anyone in EU is looking for a good deal on a mint boxed C200 with CFast media, HMU!