Canon 1D X Mark III Review // Filmmaking, video and cinema camera. Get the Fuji X-T4 instead?

[Django]

Yeah thats what I suspected, A9’s ultra low stills RS performance does not carry over to video.. and androidlad details why.

15 hours ago, docmoore said:

Yes ... gotta say that if it is hot enough to shut down the camera ... I would have gone home well before.

Honestly ... new battery ... more efficient sensor and processor ... seems to work ... yes PP will hopefully arrive in the A7SIII(?)

Or I will add a cinecam ....

The silly thing is PP’s are present in pretty much every alpha camera model except it’s flagship A9 series.. 

[docmoore]

Yes a rather perverse stand on Sony's part ... not like it protects any of the other cameras.

The RS was much worse in 4K 24p than I imagined but since I do not shoot action or music videos ... have never noticed it.

[Andrew Reid]

When you enable electronic shutter on an A7 III picture profiles are disabled

So that could be why they didn't get implemented on A9 where the electronic shutter is such a big part of the deal.

Still very much a glaring oversight. I know a lot of A7 III users who'd happily upgrade to an A9 or A9 II if they got the same features but a few extras and the better AF / e-shutter / burst rates.

[docmoore]

Just a note of caution ... after looking at the RS on the A9II and Sony's glacial release of an A7SII replacement ... add to that a catastrophic fail of an Atomos HDMI mini cable ...

I moved to the 1DX III ... robust ... internal recording of great codecs ... lose a HDMI cable and you can still record internally with something more that the marginal 8bit 4:2:0 of the

Sony.

However ... may be a case of the Emporer's new clothes ... BM Resolve 16.2.3 cannot render the files without error ... Canon Raw Plugin 1.4 for FCPX does not work ... and the Canon Raw Developer 2.5.0

has a 40% failure rate with files from ... Sony G Tough 512 CFEXpress ... Sandisk 512 CF Express  cards ... so raw on the camera is not something you can use ... Imagine the following ... OK shot the scenes but

now lets do it a couple of more times ... maybe one of these will stick ...

Only camera I have had that has been so good ... and so crippled by the inability of Canon to provide a coherent post development workflow.

When it works ... great stuff ... but God ... even the BMP6K can deliver files that work.

And the amazing thing is that no bloody review on camera called them out ...

So schade ....

[currensheldon]

Get an S1 or S1H.

I've gone back and forth so many times. I love Fuji. Very much like Canon when it comes to the Cinema EOS line (especially the new ones) and love their IQ/color, but hate the EOS R lineup so far. Perhaps the R5 and R6 will change that.

But the cameras that keep working and have the best IQ in the range of mirrorless/DSLR are the Panasonics, especially the S1 or S1H, but even GH5 and GH5s with correct lens choice. They never overheat. Battery life is fantastic. Timecode(!). Internal codecs galore. Will have 6k ProRres Raw soon if you want to have those data rates. But the internal codecs are fantastic. Panasonic's IBIS is leaps and bounds ahead of the others (I guess Canon's will be good too once it's released - god knows they're 5 years behind on it, so let's hope). Dual XLR adapter is fantastic. Lenses are amazing.

They are a bit big, yes and the AF isn't great for video (photos it is fine), but I have had AF fail me on cameras like EOS R, C200, and Sony so many times that if I am getting paid for a shoot, I'm not using it.

In my opinion, it's really not even close in terms of IQ, usage, ergonomics, features, etc etc - Panasonic makes the best cameras. And all of their files play friendly with others.

[docmoore]

Glad you are pleased with a camera that relies on DFD ... and cannot focus worth a damn.

Almost bought a Varicam LT last year ... but the need to restart the camera and the poor implementation of software drove me away.

The DR on the S1(H) is great ... but relying on LUTS from a different sensor (Varicam ... ) beggars belief ... do they really assume we cannot

see a difference. Again ... ProRes Raw is dependent upon a dodgy HDMI connection ... give me SDI and I might buy in.

IBIS ?  99% of my stuff is locked down on a video head/tripod ... not an issue ... and I rely on ... at present a MIX PRE-10 II ... sound and video are

two markedly different issues that may be combined ... but best done in post .... Oh Lenses ... focus by wire ... guess I am showing my age ... not

something that is repeatable and no hard stops .... better pray your AF is beyond reproach ... which is not the case with the Panasonics at present.

Sorry for the irritated tone ... just a bit chaffed at the marginal kit that they are all telling us is beyond belief ... not the case and buyer beware.

[docmoore]

I feel that I came across as a bit negative in my previous post ... no personal slight intended and my apologies if so taken ... just find that so much of the

hype for the recent crop of super cameras is undeserved ... they are all flawed and one has to pick his poison. At my age ... AF

for quick situations is a necessity ... like most I can frame compose and focus a slow set ... but not any movement at this point ... so

the better the AF the more likely I can make it work ... Hence theA9II ... poor video codec and minimal support led me to move ... hope that with

time the 1DX III issues will be resolved ... if not ... I will dance with the next best thang ...

[Andrew Reid]

It sounds like you'd be better looking at Nikon Z6 with Fringer EF adapter. It's practically an EOS R6 for autofocus and 4K recording... But dead cheap.

Other than that, C200, C500 II, might be options?

13 hours ago, docmoore said:

1D X III

has a 40% failure rate with files from ... Sony G Tough 512 CFEXpress ... Sandisk 512 CF Express  cards ... so raw on the camera is not something you can use ... Imagine the following ... OK shot the scenes but

now lets do it a couple of more times ... maybe one of these will stick ...

Only camera I have had that has been so good ... and so crippled by the inability of Canon to provide a coherent post development workflow.

When it works ... great stuff ... but God ... even the BMP6K can deliver files that work.

And the amazing thing is that no bloody review on camera called them out ...

So schade ....

I did

It's just that nobody watched or read it

Most Canon users live in a state of constant denial.

[docmoore]

Hopefully Canon will address the issues you raised ... but the whole thing makes me wonder just how

sorted the R5 will be on launch.

Almost bought a C200 as the prices are so low ... but honestly to have one camera that will do stills and video is best for me.

I have decided to play with conversion to CineDNG and do a proxy recording 10 Bit HEVC for the files that cannot convert ... not

ideal but if this issue is resolved I have few other issues with the camera ... external recorder helps when I dont mind the added

bulk ... and I assume that a decent Zacuto EVF is a future addition.

Have to say that I love grading the PR 4444 from the camera raw.

[gt3rs]

17 hours ago, docmoore said:

Just a note of caution ... after looking at the RS on the A9II and Sony's glacial release of an A7SII replacement ... add to that a catastrophic fail of an Atomos HDMI mini cable ...

I moved to the 1DX III ... robust ... internal recording of great codecs ... lose a HDMI cable and you can still record internally with something more that the marginal 8bit 4:2:0 of the

Sony.

However ... may be a case of the Emporer's new clothes ... BM Resolve 16.2.3 cannot render the files without error ... Canon Raw Plugin 1.4 for FCPX does not work ... and the Canon Raw Developer 2.5.0

has a 40% failure rate with files from ... Sony G Tough 512 CFEXpress ... Sandisk 512 CF Express  cards ... so raw on the camera is not something you can use ... Imagine the following ... OK shot the scenes but

now lets do it a couple of more times ... maybe one of these will stick ...

Only camera I have had that has been so good ... and so crippled by the inability of Canon to provide a coherent post development workflow.

When it works ... great stuff ... but God ... even the BMP6K can deliver files that work.

And the amazing thing is that no bloody review on camera called them out ...

So schade ....

Canon recommend and list sandisk cfexpress and for 5.5k only above 128 GB due to speed.

Nobody seems to be using the sony cfexpress so it could be your card has issue with the camera or it cannot sustain the speed.

I have  2 512gb and 1 256gb sandisk no problem at all so far.

I shoot 90% in RAW and I don’t have any issue with stability in Resolve other than gpu out of memory if I have a 5.5k timeline with many nodes( 8 gb vram). I’ editing on a 3 years old gaming notebook. I shoot and edit weekly....

What machine do you have?

[gt3rs]

I only use card recommended and tested by the manufacturer as I had bad experience in the past for example lexar cfast 3400 were really problematic. No gambling on media

[docmoore]

The two Sandisk 512 CF Express cards show intermittent errors as does the Sony G Tough 512 which supposedly has a slightly faster write speed than the Sandisk.

I use a Mac Pro 5.1 upgraded to 12 core 3.46 Xeon (Dual 6 core) and 96 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory ... PCIe 2 Tb Samsung 860 Pro SSD for initial rendering.

The older Mac Pro has USB 2 native ... have added a PCI USB 3 board ... thought that might be a problem but even with the native USB ... or trying to convert directly from the CFExpress I

still see intermittent errors. And never had an error using the USB 3 with BRAW 3:1 ....

[gt3rs]

2 hours ago, docmoore said:

The two Sandisk 512 CF Express cards show intermittent errors as does the Sony G Tough 512 which supposedly has a slightly faster write speed than the Sandisk.

I use a Mac Pro 5.1 upgraded to 12 core 3.46 Xeon (Dual 6 core) and 96 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory ... PCIe 2 Tb Samsung 860 Pro SSD for initial rendering.

The older Mac Pro has USB 2 native ... have added a PCI USB 3 board ... thought that might be a problem but even with the native USB ... or trying to convert directly from the CFExpress I

still see intermittent errors. And never had an error using the USB 3 with BRAW 3:1 ....

As I’m on windows it could be that Resolve on Mac has issues that are not on Windows.  

Do you take long takes or short? Mine are normally between 2 min and 10min max per take.

Did you try to low level format the cards and then format on the camera. But first do a low level formatting not sure how to do it on Mac...

Ps I don’t use the sandisk cfexpress usb card reader as mine was not working as many others have reported....

[docmoore]

Interesting ... I assumed that my Sandisk reader would be dodgy but it loads the cards and reads without issues ... unless the dropped files are related ... however the Angelbird reader does not rectify the

bad recordings. Longs are done with an external recorder over HDMI to PR 422HQ and are flawless ... no issues.

I will try to format the cards with the Mac OS then re-format with the camera ... hope that makes a difference ...

Thanks!