Canon 1D C used price slips under £5000 - and why I decided to take the gamble and get one

[Andrew Reid]

Andrew , you own the best camera there is! i think you will fall in love with it, both for stills and video,its a winner.

well done! and all your beautiful lenses are going to shine in there

love and merry xmass

​Yeah for all the niceties and bargain prices we have on cameras like the GH4, if I can't focus them, or if the sensor is small, or other basics aren't right, then no point having a mirrorless mount or EVF and the other innovative stuff.

AF for stills on the D750 with Sigma 50mm F1.4 is phenomenal wide open and I'm expecting the same or better on the 1D C with that lens and others like it. Every time I point my Fuji X-T1 or A7S at something moving the AF goes batshit crazy and can't lock on.

For video the 1D C has the internal 4K and the flat profile, something the NX1 and GH4 doesn't. Plus the sensor is larger. So it's kind of unique. Always wanted one. Just couldn't bring myself to pay £10,000 for a camera without peaking

[noa]

 All in all a frustrating day.

​You said before that the 1D C with so many missing video features make it a pain to use while the A7S is much better. Does this mean you are changing your mind then?  When you made your 1dc vs a7s list I believe it was only based on specifications, not on real life use, unless you allready had the a7s back then, it only shows that specification don't say much until you start using it in the field. I guess you need to be updating your 25 point list article soon. 

An interesting article on user experience is from stillmotion where canon was so nice to lend them the prototype 1DC to shoot a commercial: http://stillmotionblog.com/canon-1dc/

[Andrew Reid]

always looking for that little b-cam that can go seamlessly with an alexa, epic or f65...

Have you checked out Shane Hurlbut's 1D C stuff on Need For Speed. Nice in-car POV camera work and rigging. Film not my cup of tea but he knows his stuff when it comes to the production mechanics and the footage ended up lovely from it. 15mm Leica crash-cam

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2014/03/need-for-speed-innovation-gear/

and andrew, one more thing, can`t you do a post about hdmi cables? i`ve been searching my ass off for decent ones, even bought the atomos cables (that don`t fit into the a7s cable safety, nor the movcam cage!) plus i never seem to find cables that have the right angle etc.. for the shogun for example the best cable for me would come with a 90 degree angle to the right and then go down directly to the camera.

 

best,

 

wondo

​I'm using Lindy cables at the moment. Not tried them in the A7S cable protected yet though, but they are about as thin and light as they come.

http://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters-c1/audio-video-c107/hdmi-c109/0-5m-cromo-slim-high-speed-hdmi-to-micro-hdmi-cable-with-ethernet-p7228

[Andrew Reid]

​You said before that the 1D C with so many missing video features make it a pain to use while the A7S is much better. Does this mean you are changing your mind then?  When you made your 1dc vs a7s list I believe it was only based on specifications, not on real life use, unless you allready had the a7s back then, it only shows that specification don't say much until you start using it in the field. I guess you need to be updating your 25 point list article soon. 

An interesting article on user experience is from stillmotion where canon was so nice to lend them the prototype 1DC to shoot a commercial: http://stillmotionblog.com/canon-1dc/

​The A7S bare bones has an EVF and articulated screen which help a lot. But you can't have the lens mount and 4K recorder hassling you all day with bugs or deficiencies. This invisible screen in daylight thing with the Shogun has really spoilt my enjoyment of it. Ended up using the A7S screen! The EVF is disabled whilst 4K HDMI is active so couldn't use that. Good job it wasn't really sunny.

1D C more reliable and simple but yeah the ergonomics are very much of a stills camera and not a hybrid like the GH4. But then if the image is so much better, which it is, then that has to be balanced against it.

[Leica50mm]

It may be a pain in the neck, but the results are worth it. Good choice. Nothing in the price range looks better in my opinion.  Everyone loves to bash canon, but when its all over and done, they look really, really good. 

And, for me, that's what it's all about.  Just wish it had good HFR. 

[Kristoferman]

I wonder if Magic Lantern will start taking a look at the 1DC now

[Taranis]

I wonder if Magic Lantern will start taking a look at the 1DC now

​They don't want to risk it. There was a rumor that Canon will not remain silent if someone attempts to modify the software of the EOS-1 body.

[Kristoferman]

damn that's some bullshit

[Leica50mm]

The canon 1DC has no need to be hacked . Why do people keep asking about it. 

You know that they now sell monitors with peaking and false colors ? 

 

What would you suggest that the Magic Lantern  hack would do?

[Andrew Reid]

What would you suggest that the Magic Lantern  hack would do?

Raw 1080p for starters!

[Leica50mm]

i think you find no need for it . Use a 5diii. 

[Kristoferman]

Don't forget anamorphic aspect ratios!

[noa]

The canon 1DC has no need to be hacked .

​Indeed it doesn't, the price of a 1dc is so high it's only used by professionals who make a living out of it and they have more demanding clients, they don't need a hacked camera that can be unreliable on a shoot. The only camera's that are being hacked are the ones hobbyists and semi-professionals can afford, they don't mind to serve as testpersons to try out each new free hack version, even if it damages their camera, rather then coughing up 10K+ for something that has it all.

[Andrew Reid]

SO, getting back to more artist subjects. Artists want anamorphic, they want raw, they want a lot of nice stuff in their palette and they're entitled to it. It may be nothing but a business to some people but there should always be room for artistic expression and Canon should listen to us.

Big Magic Lantern supporter here so be careful when you belittle them.

[noa]

You have to be a bit realistic, you are talking about a camera only a very small percentage of "artists" can afford, do you really think Canon is going to provide them a service? Canon is in the game to make money and their strategy is simple, if you want to play with the big boys you better pay up. 

Big Magic Lantern supporter here so be careful when you belittle them.

​Careful for who? you? I"m not belittling the ML group, I applaud them for giving people that don't have the cash to buy the big toys a way to use their camera's in a way they are intended to, but once you start talking about 10k+ camera you enter a group of buyers that don't need hacks, why would the ML team hack such camera's, spend months of coding work for a very limited group that has the budget to buy these camera's. Their time is much better spend on those thousand of other buyers of cheaper camera's. 

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

I"m not belittling the ML group, I applaud them for giving people that don't have the cash to buy the big toys a way to use their camera's in a way they are intended to, but once you start talking about 10k+ camera you enter a group of buyers that don't need hacks, why would the ML team hack such camera's, spend months of coding work for a very limited group that has the budget to buy these camera's.

​Fair enough! And sure, most 1D C owners don't need the hack or the reliability headaches.

But the 1D C should be hacked because it can be. Magic Lantern would be able to do some amazing things with it.

I say go for it.

[jcs]

It looks like the last Magic Lantern for 5D3 (1.1.3 firmware) update was October 7th 2014. It would appear the developers are focusing on the Apertus Open Source camera project and/or there's nothing needing fixing for 5D3 RAW. Getting RAW out of the 5D3 was a very rare event. Moving forward, hacking cameras won't be as much of a priority as cameras are now providing most of the features wanted by customers. More camera systems will become open source, with people building more and more custom cameras out of modular components and custom software. A replication of what happened with PC computers. The big players will use advanced tech in miniaturization to stay competitive: cameras that fit in your palm with 'eagle eye' liquid optics, super high frame rates, advanced IS, ultra high quality beyond HDR, and massive compression-to-quality ratios. 

[Leica50mm]

If you can't get a decent image out of the 1DC then forget about it . Get a DP4 and just shoot and forget about cameras!

 

[noa]

Raw 1080p for starters!

​Why would you limit yourself to 1080p raw when you can have 4K raw out of a c500, who in their right mind would ever go back to 1080p raw? Canon has it all, you just need to pick up the right (second hand) model.

Ever since the 5D II has set the path for larg(er) sensor videocamera's cameracompanies have been screwing us over and Canon has been the leader of the pack, it used to be simple back in the dv and hdv day's, the difference between camera's was almost always in functionality and for that you paid extra, image quality was not crippled in any way. Large sensor camera's have been a goldmine for videocamera manufacturers.  

I think we have no reason to complain though, so many choices, never perfect but good enough for most of us, I don't need the ML team to express myself artistically in a better way, 

 

[Leica50mm]

I'm trying to find a used C500 ! I'm waiting until they are half price .