Need input on deciding on which Camera to buy (GH3, 6D, 5dmkIII, or BMCC?)

[Depri]

I'm in a tricky situation.

 

I have been saving for the last 6 months to buy a camera (about 3k) and am troubled about which one I really should pull the trigger on.

 

I have been using purely Canon DSLR's for the past year by working for a friend filming and editing "cinematic" weddings as well as our first commercial work. For the past 4 months it has been enough for me to work full time on. We have used 5DmkII's and 60d's mostly with a full set up of L glass--all his.

 

Now I want to own something for myself. I'm used to Canons but not terribly excited about their new tech out. I can borrow glass from him to start but plan to purchase some of my own later in 2013. 

 

I want to use this on small documentary work and some narrative shorts that I have been writing. Something I could use for work though is important. Can't justify 3k on just a hobby.

 

My initial thoughts on cameras:

 

-Need to be versatile and adaptable to different situations for Event Videography

-Form factor is important. Less rigging the better. I shoot mostly on a monopod and try to get my subject to feel very comfortable. I don't like hiding behind a wall of cords and knobs. Also the more rigging the less creative I tend to be with shot angles as I feel too worn down by weight.

-Unique. My one complaint with Canon and L glass is it just feels so sterile. Not much character in flares and things.

-Stills are not important.

-Needs to last me 2 years.

 

Which camera fits my need? GH3, 6D, 5DmkIII, or BMCC? To me they each have a lot of ups and downs.

 

Thanks

[andy lee]

A Hacked Panasonic GH2 is still King

it produces stunning images for the money !!

 

there is a thread very similar to this here have a read

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1655-help-in-choosing-the-right-camera/#entry22942"]http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1655-help-in-choosing-the-right-camera/#entry22942[/url]

[Depri]

Do you think the GH3 will get a hack? That might make it more tempting.

[andy lee]

Nick Driftwood and Vitaliy are they guys to ask about that !

[url="http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/5344/official-panasonic-gh3-topic-series-3"]http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/5344/official-panasonic-gh3-topic-series-3[/url]

[Bruno]

If you can afford it, the BMCC is definitely the best video/cinema camera for the price, by a huge margin.

You can shoot prores for events and raw for narrative pieces if you decide you need the extra dynamic range.

Personally, I think the MFT version has a better mount considering the sensor size, but if you intend on sticking to Canon lenses then you might as well get the EF mount version.

Even though it's extremely cheap for what it is, it's still a considerable investment for someone to make on his own, so I would recommend you rent it out for a week first, have some lenses ready, and see what you think. You're already familiar with the Canons, so it will be easier to reach a verdict.

[Kraemer]

The BMCC looks great, but depending on what your doing, it may not be the camera for you.   I make commercials and do photography.  The BMCC will not really work for me unless I get a still camera as well. I'm looking at the 5D3 or 1DX.  Nikon totally missed the boat- sure they have uncompressed HDMI, but who cares when the image has moire and aliasing.  It's coming for the Canon line up in april anyway.

 

About the BMCC and rigging- the BMCC is all about rigging.  Doesn't seem to be the camera for you.  If you're only doing video you might want to look at a dedicated video camera; just sayin.  For event folks and wedding videographers you really need something that has a motorized zoom and XLR audio in.  there are a billion of them out there, stick with sony.  The BMCC is more like a go pro.  you're paying for a chip in a box, no lens, no audio, no grips, etc.  You will spend excess of 3k on BMCC to make it a viable option.

[Zach]

For weddings...I dont think the BMCC would be much fun to use, or edit with unless you're shooting pro res. I'd so go with the 5d3 in your situation

[Depri]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It's getting me thinking.

 

@Kraemer and Bruno -  The BMCC sounds like an awesome camera for comercial and narrative use but for weddings it would take more work and money. I start with my clients practically when they get up in the morning and are at their side till the end of the reception. I burn through about 5-6 16G CF cards in a day on a wedding shoot (and I am just one of three shooters). I couldn't imagine how many SSD's I would need even if I was shooting in ProRes not Raw.

 

I could try to get a BMCC and just use it for what its good at (docs and narrative) and continue to use the MkII's for weddings. 

 

The price is a bit much with SSDs and Batteries for me at the moment but then again I probably have another 4-6 months to save till it becomes available.

 

@Zach -  3k seems a lot to pay for (what I see as) minor upgrades from the MKII for video. No aliasing or Moire. Better Low light. Pretty close to the same image as the MkII. I feel like I am paying 3k for an awesome AF system and other photo related features I wont use. If only the 6D had no moire and better ISO but it looks exactly the same as the MkII.

[galenb]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It's getting me thinking.

 

@Kraemer and Bruno -  The BMCC sounds like an awesome camera for comercial and narrative use but for weddings it would take more work and money. I start with my clients practically when they get up in the morning and are at their side till the end of the reception. I burn through about 5-6 16G CF cards in a day on a wedding shoot (and I am just one of three shooters). I couldn't imagine how many SSD's I would need even if I was shooting in ProRes not Raw.

 

There is a trade-off SSDs. They are actually about the same cost as SD cards per GB but you wind up burning more GB in the end. Would be useful to know what the MB per minute is with ProRes is in this situation.

 

 

I could try to get a BMCC and just use it for what its good at (docs and narrative) and continue to use the MkII's for weddings. 

 

The price is a bit much with SSDs and Batteries for me at the moment but then again I probably have another 4-6 months to save till it becomes available.

 

Yeah, this whole extra cost of ownership might not be worth it with weddings. Hard to tell though. Factor in some kind of large tarabyte drive for archiving your work and another large, fast array for editing on.

 

Its a tough one because the image that comes from the BMCC is soooo good. It's hard to turn down. And it uses the Canon glass you already use (albeit with a pretty sizable crop). And I think, other then an external battery, you won't need that much more rigging then a 5D.  

 

But there are obviously drawbacks specific to your work that I see. I've never shot weddings so mybe I'm totally off about this but It seems to me that they are a lot like fashion or food photography. You really have to make the subject look as dreamy and sexy as possible and that usually means a lot of shallow depth of field. For that kind of work, the 5D really shines with it's full frame sensor. I really believe that there is no single camera that will work in all situations. You should use the camera that best suites your kind of work. In my opinion, that's the 5D mkIII. Sure the image is less detailed and there is less latitude but you won't have to work as hard to get that dreaminess. 

 

Can you make things look as sexy with a BMCC? I'm sure you get pretty damn close but I feel like it will take some very expensive lenses to make that happen. In this specific situation, it all come down to lenses in my opinion. Sure you can find lenses to use on the BMCC that will give you that nice dreamy look. If you were to opt for the MFT version, there's the hyper primes out there. But they will cost you. On the other hand, with the 5D you're not as restricted by aperture as you are on the smaller sensor of the BMCC so you can get away with using slower and thus cheaper lenses. Also, don't forget that you can still get adaptors for older vintage lenses like Pentax, Minolta, Olympus, Nikon etc. to use on the 5D.  

 

And there's still yet another advantage that the 5D has over the BMCC in this situation: Lowlight. I would imagine that since you are shooting well into the night, there is going to be some difficult low light shots that would be hard to get with the BMCC. Not imposable but again, the 5D just makes it easer.

 

If it wasn't for the weddings, I'd say sure, go for the BMCC. The image a amazing, much more flexible in post, ProRes just drops into your editing app, etc. There's a lot of reasons to choose it over most other cameras. But in your specific situation, I think the 5D is better suited. 

 

 

@Zach -  3k seems a lot to pay for (what I see as) minor upgrades from the MKII for video. No aliasing or Moire. Better Low light. Pretty close to the same image as the MkII. I feel like I am paying 3k for an awesome AF system and other photo related features I wont use. If only the 6D had no moire and better ISO but it looks exactly the same as the MkII.

 

Yeah that's really the rub though. I mean, that's exactly why you wouldn't buy a 5D mkII or 6D. Yeah it's pretty close to the 5DII/6D image wise... except for aliasing! That's a pretty big deal I think. Right now it's the only full frame camera that doesn't suffer from that in it's price range. 

 

I don't know. Like you said, it's a tricky situation. But I would still go with the 5D mkIII for the reasons I listed above.

 

The GH3 is a close second but it would suffer from the some of the same issues the BMCC would in this situation. But, maybe since you will have some money left over, you could put that towards a voigtlander or SLR magic.

[ScreensPro]

If your current clients are liking the Canon look, i'd stay with them.

 

From what i've seen of the Gh3, the DR still doesn't seem to be of the levels of the 5DIII and Canon colour seems to get a nice response from the general public. It might lack a bit in resolution, but it still has something special about it.

 

BMCC will need a decent rig and, regardless of what some people will have you believe... will limit your shots due to the lack of wide and fast glass.

 

The wedding stuff i've shot, people just react well to shallower DOF... Maybe because it matches well with alot of their still shots and it has a more magical look to it.

 

Shallow DOF is being talked about around here as if it is something bad..... It is just another creative choice and fits perfectly with some wedding shots.