Do you think the 1D C will hold it's value long term in the face of all this bullshit?

[Andrew Reid]

Whether to sell my 1D C... the question keeps haunting me. I love this camera. However it is one of the most expensive pieces of equipment I own and the MJPEG codec makes for some tricky file sizes. It also has a LOT of competition now and I have the A7S II.

I simply love the image though. Better than the Sony FS5 especially in low light. Lovely film like fine noise grain and fantastic colour.

As a stills camera obviously it is the ultimate Canon on the market and very similar in capabilities to the new model even though it is now a 4 year old camera.

The more pro cinema cameras I shoot with (C500, FS5) the more I miss something that does video AND stills in one small body.

Now the bullshit aspect comes into play -

Bullshit 1 - Canon keep murdering the price. Down to $5k new now.
Bullshit 2 - Canon can't seem to give us a replacement.
Bullshit 3 - Dual Pixel AF, what a tempting carrot! Oh... No Canon LOG, same old MJPEG and $6k for a new body. Hmm no thanks!
Bullshit 4 - So much competition to this camera... everything and everyone is shooting 4k these days... even Philip Bloom's cats! When the 1D C came out it was the only one. 2 years before even the GH4.
Bullshit 5 - If I sell it, what the heck do I use my Canon glass on for stills!? A7S II AF is pathetic!

[IronFilm]

Pick up a 5Dmk3 soon ish for stills on the cheap? And ML raw with it would be fun to play around with.

I think sell the 1D C for as much as you can, but don't be in a rush, be happy to hold out a month or two for the buyer with the best price to come along.

[noone]

AF with Canon lenses on M4/3 can be quite quick depending on the adapter/lens/camera.

I use AF with my A7s and a couple of Canon AF lenses and while slow can have its uses (AFS only for me).      The same lenses (18-55 IS ii kit lens and 40 2.8 STM currently but have had others too) work nicely for fast AF (again, AFS only) on my GX7 and Kipon adapter.      My Sigma 150 2.8 in Canon EF, I use for MF only on the A7s but is nice for fast AF (AFS) on my GX7.

Very different angle of view but that is partly why I have both.  

For video, my main used lenses with my A7s are the manual focus anyway 17 f4 L TS-E and native Sony Zeiss 55 1.8 and 28-70 FE kit lens.     AFC is surprisingly good (for video- not stills) with the two native Sony's for my uses but I really just shoot bands where the subject doesn't move far very often or too fast.

[AaronChicago]

Why sell it if you love it? I think Canon struck gold with that camera. I'd hang on to it.

[OliKMIA]

Unless you need cash quick I would say keep it since you love it so much.

Bullshit 1 - Canon keep murdering the price. Down to $5k new now.

> This item is very unique, I don t think Canon will lower the price much more or it could hurt the 1DxMk2. Heck it's a still a beast for photo (FPS, low iso, etc). There are very few camera available on ebay. It can surely retains its value for 6-12 more months. Time to think and see the GH5 coming (perhaps the next A7R/S as well).

Bullshit 2 - Canon can't seem to give us a replacement.

> Even if they do, it will cost $6-10k. A used 1DC at $3500-4000 will still be appealing for many, especially here.

Bullshit 3 - Dual Pixel AF, what a tempting carrot! Oh... No Canon LOG, same old MJPEG and $6k for a new body. Hmm no thanks!

> Talking about the 1Dxmk2 ? Yeah, not thanks indeed. 800mbps in 4k60... Utterly retarded.

Bullshit 4 - So much competition to this camera... everything and everyone is shooting 4k these days... even Philip Bloom's cats! When the 1D C came out it was the only one. 2 years before even the GH4.

> As you said earlier, what are the options for 4k video in FF ? Sure an iphone does 4k now, the GH5 might do 10bits in 1080 and bring 4k60 but low ISO will be bad. Maybe Sony will do it right this time but you still have a large market of EF users. And again, on the photo side there is not much competition. At 1DC on ebay at $3500-4000 is still a good deal for someone who doesn't care about video but want a pro build body with low ISO, fast FPS and EF mount.

Bullshit 5 - If I sell it, what the heck do I use my Canon glass on for stills!? A7S II AF is pathetic!

> 6D is great, can find it brand new on Ebay for $1000 now and there are a lot of used one for less. Great camera, better DR and ISO than the 5D3. I love it for stills. It's also "small"

In the end the question is "Can I get rid of my beloved 1DC right now or keep it for one more year and loose $1000-$1500 on the resale value" ?

[DBounce]

The 1DC is a great camera. If I were in your place I would keep it and get my monies worth by using the heck out of it. But that said the 1DX Mkii is also great. Granted, the file sizes are nuts for 2016. But there aren't any other cameras in this format that can deliver the colors and dependability of the Canons. These things are tanks! Honestly, if they do not fit the bill you might need to look into a dedicated cinema camera. Blackmagic, Red or the long shot Kinefinity (still on my radar... cautiously). In any case, you have a great camera, shoot something. It will get you excited about it again. 

[independent]

You're one generation away from the 1dc losing competitiveness. Even the c100 ii I think is done, or they'll have to rebadge the c300 ii and shift the entire line. 1080 is over. 4K has come to the mainstream consumer pipeline; now the next step is the quality of that 4k and other feature like autofocus, low light, stabilization, etc. Next, we'll see the new sonys, blackmagics, Panasonic, etc. - even new canons, but in the c-line or xc-line.

$5k next year will buy you a lot. The 1dc is a great camera, but the rest of the market is catching up with image quality, while surpassing it with features. There's no sacred cow in tech - everything gets left behind eventually. Always invest more in talent-

 

 

 

[Mattias Burling]

It should hold value as a stills camera for quite some time.
I bought my 1DC for less than the cost of an A7sii and sold it for pretty much the same cost (think I added €200).
When I bought it, it was sitting at the very last spot on a market site. It was their oldest ad and looked unsellable. But when I sold it I had no problem moving it fast.
I simply called it "Canon 1DC/1DX for sale". When people called and asked I explained the differences and they thought "wow a 1DX for this price and it does some video thing as well!"
A 1DX is still much more expensive around my parts. 

[Jimmy]

I'd keep it... I'm still annoyed at myself for selling my 5Diii (with ML) in order to get the better spec'd A7s.

When you find a camera/image you love... better to stay with it.

[kaylee]

5 hours ago, AaronChicago said:

Why sell it if you love it? I think Canon struck gold with that camera. I'd hang on to it.

agree

2 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

I'd keep it... I'm still annoyed at myself for selling my 5Diii (with ML) in order to get the better spec'd A7s.

When you find a camera/image you love... better to stay with it.

agree

[squig]

I don't factor resale value into my camera selling or buying decisions. It's all about the image and which camera can consistently deliver, or which camera delivers for a particular project. If the A7sII consistently delivers and the 1Dc is just gathering dust, then there's not much point holding on to it. It sounds more like a case of whether or not you should abandon the EOS system and invest in E-Mount glass. 2 things to consider: 1) There may be a 1DcII in the pipeline. 2) If Magic Lantern happens on the 5DMk4, it might make it something worth getting. It won't be 4k raw, but it may produce a 2k raw image better than everything short of the Alexa (the 5DMK3 arguably already does that) I'm thinking mostly in terms of a potential dynamic range boost and lower high ISO noise, two things we have no data on at this point which may or may not happen. I just don't get this 4k obsession; my dream camera is an Alexa Mini spitting out 2k raw. It really shits me that every DSLR manufacturer went for 4k 8bit instead of 2k raw. Photographers shoot raw, as do most professional filmmakers who want the IQ only 14bit raw can capture. Something like a D750 with 2k raw video would be awesome. I haven't worked withe the 1Dc, but if I couldn't shoot raw I'd prefer to work with 422 MJPEG in post than that Sony 420 XAVCS rubbish I've been getting from the A7s. MJPEG is still the next best thing to ProRes when it comes to 8bit compressed codecs.

Best to put time into writing scripts and shooting instead of obsessing about cameras. On that not my feature script just made the quarter finals at Shreikfest