21 ways the Canon 1D C trumps the Sony A7S

[Mattias Burling]

Sounds like your loosing DR when moving away from the native iso. Makes sense to me.

 

[sanveer]

 

i guess this should have probably been posted in the topic "Why Canon is Still Top Dog".

i kind of agree with quite a bit of what has been written about the issues with the A7S. But, a lot of those have been dealth with by the A7R ii. 

The Canon, though, is still a $8000 camera (new). The A7R ii is a $3198 cameras, which is still less than 1/2 the price for the Canon, and it does a lot than the canon does't. 

I guess battery may still be as issue along with a few other things. 

 

[jax_rox]

The Alexa is woefully underspecced/overpriced compared to the latest RED dragon, even the FS7 in many repescts... but the end image quality is still considered better for alot of DP/Directors... So they pay the price. (Obviously not suggesting the 1DC is comparable to the Alexa).

The Alexa has a 3.2k sensor that gets up-ressed to 4k and many DPs still prefer it to the RED, which ends up downscaling 6+k to 4k!

But then there are DPs who prefer the RED. Or the F65. Okay, maybe not the F65, but you get my drift. Camera choice is pretty subjective as each different person has their different needs and wants from a camera - and most importantly, each different project has different needs. THere's no point arguing over which camera is objectively better, because you'll never really get an objective answer. Some people still like to use their T2i's because they're cheap and they prefer the colours. Others will buy an A7s because it's better specced and gives them a sharper, better image than a 5D.

But we all know Canon glass is far superior than Nikon or Sony.  Where's the 24-70 / 70-200 2.8 for the E-Mount?  Where's the 50/85 1.2?  135/2?  The fastest short lens they have is a 35/2.8 (which I owned) and it's ok.  No 24/35/50/85 1.4 or 1.2.  No good 2.8 ultra-wides.  Please do not compare Canon glass with what's available on the Sony FE mount.  I'd certainly say that's a plus.

Do we? Personally, and I've said it before, I prefer the Sony/Zeiss glass to any Canon L glass I've used. And I've used the 50/1.2, the 85/1.2, the 24-70/2.8 etc. etc.

Again, it's personal preference. You may like Canon glass and you may think it's superior to both Nikon and Sony. I disagree, and I personally think anyone who honestly thinks that the Canon glass is that much (i.e. significantly) better than the combined collection of Sony and Nikon glass probably hasn't actually used either Nikon or Sony glass.

They may not have an 85/1.2, but they do have a Batis 85 1.8, and I know I'd rather shoot with that than any Canon L lens...

The Sony flash system is horrific.  Overheating, lenses falling off mounts, the whole Minolta/standard hot shoe switch.  Even the most die-hard Sony fanbois hate Sony/Minolta flashes.

Really? I've used my Sony pretty consistently since I bought it and not once have I had a lens fall off its mount (though I have had a Canon lens fall off a RED EF mount, but I won't hold that against Canon, because the RED EF mount isn't made by Canon). Never had an issue with my flash... Plus, I use my XLRK2M with my A7s and the hot-shoe. Love to see you do that with a Canon. Love to see you bypass the sh*t internal preamps on the Canon....

How many FE mount lenses go to 1.4?  1.2?  Right, none.  One single fast lens - a 55 1.8.  That's all you have natively.

Natively? There's also a 25mm f/2.0 and an 85mmf/1.8. And plenty of others around that speed. Now, I'll accede that there's no f/1.2 or f/1.4 native E mount lenses, you're right. Honestly, though - I often use Zeiss Ultra Primes when I'm shooting F5 or Arri Alexa and they only open up to T/1.9. Maybe you think your 50mmF/1.2 is better than a Zeiss Ultra Prime 50mm T/1.9, but personally I beg to differ.

The speed of a lens is not the only factor that affects performance, and in fact considering I've found many Canon lenses to be quite darker wide open than their advertised f stop, as well as the breathing when changing focus on lenses like the 85mm, I can quite honestly say I prefer a lot of other glass to Canon glass. I'd rather shoot on Zeiss Superspeeds from the 80s than Canon glass. At least when you get breathing on vintage lenses, it kind adds to the vintage characteristic...

Plus, I can still adapt pretty much any lens that ever existed to my A7s (assuming it covers full frame) so..

The Canon's good glass - don't get me wrong. But it's far from the best glass in the world.

4k internally

Sure, but I haven't seen any 4k 1Dc footage that really impresses me. You can shoot 6k internally on the RED, but I (generally) prefer to shoot Alexa... PLus I can use my 4k recorder/monitor for any camera I shoot on... But okay I'll concede this one.

12FPS

I don't shoot sport, so I don't particularly care (again this is your personal preference) - the Blackmagic URSA can't shoot photos! Does that make it worse than the 1Dc?

better colors

Again, the personal preference of someone who is used to shooting Canon... I have zero issues with the colours out of my A7s, and much prefer them to what I got out the Canon DSLRs I used to use..

3 different crop modes

And the A7s has two official ones, plus Clearview zoom. I can shoot 4k in full frame without cropping. But if you prefer the way your 1Dc works - that's also fine. It just doesn't mean it's objectively better.

I know you love your 1Dc - and so you should, you spent a lot of money on it. But just because you own it doesn't make it the best camera in the world. It might in your eyes but I'm not attacking you personally just because I prefer my A7s. Would be great if people remembered that from time to time...

 

[gelaxstudio]

Canon trumps everything ！ Case is closed！

[fuzzynormal]

Congratulations on buying a camera. It was obviously the right one for you to purchase. You made the right decision for you. Go and do stuff with it. Or not. 

[Evolvnyc]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, but as a newly minted 1dc owner, I wanted to revive the thread. The price has dropped dramatically, making this camera far more accessible to the masses. No 2 people will have the same 2 opinions about what is "best," but at evey class, every seminar, every phone call with a friend asking "what camera should I buy?" I have the same reply: the camera doesn't matter, learn lighting, composition and psychology to take good photos, the rest you can catch up on. Obviously as pros, the details matter to us, but choose the cam that works the best for what you need - the a7s and 1dc are like a banana and a pickle. In the dark maybe they resemble one another, but not really. They both have strengths, and they're both great at those strengths, so decide what you need and get that one. But 1dc ownership is surging And I would love to start resources for these new owners to get the best and most out of this unique Frankenstein-dslr. I LOVE the image out of the box, not "better," just beautiful. So let's start talking about how to maximize that and leave the comparisons to the aspiring amateurs on Amazon!!!

[Evolvnyc]

Some of the worst movies I have seen were shot on Alexa and Red - and I have seen some incredibly moving shorts shot on an iPhone 5 / so step back and think about what really matters... Your skills.