Shootout of the 4K flagships - Canon 1D C versus Samsung NX1

[Andrew Reid]

Hollywood wanted a 4K DSLR so Canon saw an opportunity and enabled 1.3x 4K crop video mode on their 1D X. The 1D C was born and the £12,000 price tag made sure nobody bought it.

With the Samsung NX1, the consumer didn't want 4K H.265 but is getting it anyway, because Samsung wants them to buy that lovely 4K TV to view the footage with. This is called technological progress, where more powerful machines are thrust upon an unexpected public and everyone gets excited.

Now the two world collide in this shoutout. Expect fireworks!

The Samsung NX1 is currently on special offer for $1299 at B&H

Read the full article

[Volker Schmidt]

With the 1DC you be able to shoot a feature film on the highest aesthetic level!
Congratulatios and thanks for sharing!:)

[wolf33d]

Canon 5DC with this image quality for 3500$ - still waiting. 

[ricardo_sousa11]

Great little side by side, i'd love to see crops and a more detailed comparison. What lens did you use on both ?! Colors on the 1Dc are trully amazing, detail wise seems to be on-par (maybe sharper on the Nx1 ?!), and DR obviously the 1Dc is quite ahead. The Nx1, from what I hear, is closer to the look of RED than canon, i'd love to see how it would stand against a Red Epic or Dragon.

 

But basically you've said it all, for the price, the NX1 is unbeatable and quite a wonderfull machine (mine is still in the box, waiting for canon adapters the pain is real )

 

Edit : Forget my post, Im reading the full article right now -.-

[eleison]

The upcoming a7rii VS 1DC would be a much more interesting fight.  A $1.5k camera vs a $4K plus camera is like comparing a seasoned professional prize fighter to the local high school street brawler.  At the end of the day inside an official ring with official rules, the season fighter is going to knock out the newcomer every time :-)  Just being allowed to be in the ring is a "win" enough for the highschooler.

The new,  $3.2K sony A7rii prosumer camera with the latest bells and whistles  vs the "professional" camera of the past generation, the 1DC.  Now, that's a fight :-)  Can the upstart unseat one of the best professional cameras of the last generation @ almost twice it weight size (I think a new 1dc is like $6-8k)?  Live broadcast starts on August 5.  Get ready with the popcorn and enjoy the show :-)

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

What I have been waiting for a very long time. 

[hk908]

Hmm, can I get an opinion? So my brother is having his first kid and wants a camera. The kid is due in November and my mom and I will be going half in on one for him for the baby shower. He's used my nx1 and loves it, so I've thought of getting him one. 

So the question is do I bite on the 200 off on the nx1 by tomorrow or do I wait until the last minute (maybe the car ride to the hospital?)  for the chance that an even better camera is released or that the price is reduced. The nice thing is with an nx camera I could share my 16-50 lens with him for trips and get him a cheap nx prime for the inevitable 1000+ baby pics on Facebook. The draw back is the current h265 lack of support and the conversion from srw to dng to see the thumbnail outside of light room. 

Are there any shows before November that a new camera might be revealed at? Or rumors of a new Samsung body? Trying to see if it is worth waiting. 1299 is fine price by me but cameras get better all the time and my brother will likely not upgrade the body for a long long while. 

 

[Damphousse]

Canon 5DC with this image quality for 3500$ - still waiting. 

Ebay...  $4,000ish.  Be patient.  Put in a Best Offer and see what happens.

A $1.5k camera vs a $4K plus camera is like comparing a seasoned professional prize fighter to the local high school street brawler.  At the end of the day inside an official ring with official rules, the season fighter is going to knock out the newcomer every time :-)  Just being allowed to be in the ring is a "win" enough for the highschooler.

 

Except the Samsung wasn't "knocked out" in the first round.  It's a good side by side.  It shows why the 1DC is the king of the hill and why the NX1 is such an amazing accomplishment given its price point.

[richg101]

if the 1dc had an e mount and an evf it would be top of my priorities now both the price of the camera, and the media has come down drastically.  All that useless mirror space eats up valuable lens compatibility.  And now I've got used to the evf on the sony cams I'd never leave them.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

 

So the question is do I bite on the 200 off on the nx1 by tomorrow or do I wait until the last minute (maybe the car ride to the hospital?) 

of course get it now or a sufficient time before birth, so he'd learn the ins and outs of the camera shooting, cards, transcoding, menus, picture profiles and be able to shoot before, during and after the event properly.

There are no rumors of a new NX1 successor soon it's a new camera and is still getting fixed by firmware updates (rumors are rumors = nothing real). Never make the mistake of waiting for the next best thing as there will always be a next big thing and you'll just keep on waiting, forever. Even if a new NX1 is released it will not make your NX1 suddenly stop working.

[Michael Ma]

Shot for shot, the Canon is better.  Better color accuracy, dynamic range, no distracting oversharpening.  Even how the subjects move...more pleasing motion blur.  With that said, NX1 is a very capable piece of hardware that I'm sure most can do lots with.  Samsung keeps improving a big way.  I can't wait to see what's next.  I'd love to see them incorporate Samsung's SSD technology into next versions of these cameras.  $10,000 Sony proprietary memory cards perform about the same as a $400 Samsung SSD for the computer.  They require almost no power these days.  If storage bitrate was the bottleneck, they got that area covered.  NX1 II with raw video, 4:4:4, highspeed...would be easy for them.

[Oliver Daniel]

If we had to judge by this comparison, the Canon 1DC annihilates the NX1 in every aspect. That said, I hope Samsung have the confidence to make a cinematic camera. 

[AaronChicago]

The 1DC renders better color than the C300 mark I.

Check out this side by side and notice the 1DC displaying warm and cool, while the C300 is mostly warm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6s5VDABzj0

[hk908]

of course get it now or a sufficient time before birth, so he'd learn the ins and outs of the camera shooting, cards, transcoding, menus, picture profiles and be able to shoot before, during and after the event properly.

There are no rumors of a new NX1 successor soon it's a new camera and is still getting fixed by firmware updates (rumors are rumors = nothing real). Never make the mistake of waiting for the next best thing as there will always be a next big thing and you'll just keep on waiting, forever. Even if a new NX1 is released it will not make your NX1 suddenly stop working.

Thank you for the advice. I definitely do chase the next great thing haha 

[deezid]

The 1DC footage looks incredible, Better than anything else Canon has ever produced! 

[Ed_David]

Great shoot-out Andrew.  I think the 1dc is a great find - and further proof that last generation's king can deliver images on par or better than the new generation, and with less waiting for firmware updates.

I also notice a magneta shift in my NX1 photos and video - but still for $1300 to 1500, it's an amazing deal.  That sharpness doesn't feel digitally enhanced on the nx1.

 

Also I rate the NX1 at ASA 800 at around 12 stops - it's good to use test charts to test what you like in shadows and highlights - it has a harsh highlight roll off - but what I like abut the NX1 is its natural sharpness and really nice skin tones out of the bat.  Excited to see what the canon c300 mark II can do as well as the URSA MIni 4.6k -

and the digital bolex, with my test of it - I would rate as a 200 ASA camera.  Past 400 ASA it gets noisy.  The king still for beautiful RGB CCD images is the Sony F35 which you can buy on ebay for cheaper than a digital bolex - here's the test I did. - https://vimeo.com/128483083

 

 

[photographer-at-large]

Canon 5DC with this image quality for 3500$ - still waiting. 

Is it realistic to expect 5Dc in the Fall as rumored?

if the 1dc had an e mount and an evf it would be top of my priorities now both the price of the camera, and the media has come down drastically.  All that useless mirror space eats up valuable lens compatibility.

It would be great if Canon surprises with 5Dc as their first full-frame mirror-less.

[Sekhar]

If we had to judge by this comparison, the Canon 1DC annihilates the NX1 in every aspect. That said, I hope Samsung have the confidence to make a cinematic camera. 

You can't be serious. Did you watch the original 4K download? NX1 stood its ground beautifully and even topped 1Dc in resolution (not sharpness) in several spots. To say 1Dc annihilates NX1 is serious hyperbole. The only place I thought NX1 looked cheap in comparison was the garden (trees and bushes) shot.

[BrooklynDan]

This article makes me kinda sad. Sad over the fact that Canon cameras clearly have so much potential, and yet much of it has been left in the dust thanks to their ultra-conservative marketing tactics. Shit, for all the beef Andrew has with Canon, even he can't deny when they produce something magic like the 1DC. And Magic Lantern proved that if you unlock the power of Canon's sensors, they can stand toe to toe with cameras costing hundreds of times more. Why do people continue to use 5Ds and 7Ds despite the fact that Sony and Panasonic have them absolutely creamed on specs? It's that mojo, that warmth, that friendliness to the human face that the competition just can't seem to nail. I have used both the A7S and GH4 in recent weeks, and while each camera has its charms, I wasn't really feeling the image that much. Too digital, too plastic-y, not enough soul. And while much of this can be rectified by recording externally and doing color-grading, Canons are much more pleasing straight from the camera.

And this is by no means recent. I remember when I was in school, working on prosumer cameras. We had Panasonic HPX170s and Sony EX3s recording HD on solid state memory cards. Variable frame rates and everything. Real futuristic shit. And yet I always skipped 'em and went straight for the ancient Canon XL2, shooting standard def to DV tapes. Why? 'Cuz I thought it looked more cinematic. Had more character. Made me look like a better filmmaker than I really was. Would I do it again? Fuck yeah.

[Mattias Burling]

The king still for beautiful RGB CCD images is the Sony F35 which you can buy on ebay for cheaper than a digital bolex.

 

I can buy an F35 with 5h battery and 90min worth of media for less than $2500!?? 

SOLD! I'm totally in, do you accept PayPal?