Anyone Ordering The R5C?

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Anyone else considering?  The R5C was not the road I anticipated taking, but I'm tired of waiting and since this body doesn't overheat, I am more confident about it over the standard R5.      

Although I am a stills shooter, the Cinema EOS side of the body is intriguing.  Its so much smaller than a C70.  I'm not serious enough about video that I'd miss Clog2.  The body has 16 14 stops so plenty of DR for my use.  Its also not limited to Super35 or 16 (which isn't so much a limitation), but Canon has really stepped up here.  I don't care about ibis.  All of my lenses except 1 are IS and the body has digital IS built in.  I have purchased a bunch of accessories.  Control Ring Adapter, 2 512GB CF ExpressB, 2 128GB UHSII, 2x Watson batteries (Canon was out of stock), and I've not tried Manfrotto batteries yet.  

Going to try the AngelBird CFExpress cards and ProGrade for the XD Cards.  I've always used SanDisk so going to try something else.  Both are highly rated.

I also contacted EasyCover in the Netherlands and my contact there has said they do not plan to make a skin for the R5C.  Was hoping for this, but am more excited about a new body.  Haven't pulled the trigger quite yet.  I have a quick business trip and wanted to be back for the arrival.  Plan to wait a week.  If nothing glaring is reported, I will finally move to mirrorless.

[AtticusLake]

Sorry, I just found this... yes, you have complete control over the C70's audio inputs.  Well, almost.

The C70 always records 4 channels of audio, in two stereo pairs.  You can set each pair to be either the built-in mic, or the 3.5mm input, or the two XLR inputs.  With the XLR inputs, you can also set channel 2 to be a copy of channel 1, if you want.

[wobbleman99]

Hello,

Thank you for the reply.  The audio menus on the R5c are grayed out when no mic is attached, or when an external XLR mic is attached via adapter.  However, it appears that the internal mic is always active, and there does not seem to be any means of defeating it.  I've been wondering if the menus would become active if a mic were to be plugged directly into the camera's own input, but I do not have an appropriate mic.  The documentation is not helpful, and Canon support does not appear to have a clue as to why the menus are grayed out.  As this is not an isolated issue—many have encountered the same—I am hopeful that Canon will eventually address this in firmware.  For the time being, I simply delete the internally recorded tracks in post.

Regards,

Ron

[AtticusLake]

Thanks for the info!  That's different to the R5, which only records stereo.  I guess the R5c has more tracks because it has the multi-function hot shoe.

[shadowsports]

Hey Guys,

I've read and watched youtube and heard much of the same.  Indeed mp4 would not be my preferred codec as the file sizes and encoding is very taxing, even on the most robust of systems.  

I'd probably shoot in XF-AVC as well.  TBH and as I have always said.  Canon didn't need to go 8K, (with the R5 either) but I understand why they did.  They were trying to crush it.  I'll shoot primarily in 4K for all of the reasons mentioned.  File size and no need for proxies even on a nicely appointed, 1~5 yr old system.  The 8K down sampling is awesome in its own right.  4K will provide the fidelity I need.  I'm not a video first buff anyway, so this body is going to open new doors for me.    

We're heading to Hawaii without an R5C unfortunately.  If the rumors about the second batch becoming available (around) 5/28 are true I'll have it hopefully around my birthday.  I'm taking my 6D2, 24~70 and 70~300 on the trip. 

Gerald Undone recently had some great things to say about the R5C.  At this point its down to battery, ibis and AF on the cine side which are mostly non-issues for me.  I saw a guy who had put a smaller PD on his Black Rapid strap (my preferred carry) and he gets like 6hrs of shooting.  I'll take the lighter weight and smaller from factor of the R5C over the C70 any day, and I get a fantastic stills camera too.  I'm also fine with digital IS.  Ibis is a non-issue since I'm getting a cine camera with 90%+ of the R5's functionality.  Dual pixel AF (1) on the cine side, another one I can overlook.  All of Canon's cine cameras C70 and up are superb.

Starting to get hyped up again and excited if Canon does in fact release another batch of R5C's. 

The other thing I saw which is very cool was the Meike  Variable ND filter.  Dial adjustable ND and 100% functionality for less than 50% of Canon's version.  Only caveat, the dial doesn't have click so you don't have a way to know how much +/- EV you are actually getting.  Not sure if Canon's does this either.    

These types of things further enhance and solidify the R5C's value proposition.  I haven't been excited about anything mirrorless from Canon for years.  I briefly considered the R3 and if it had 33~36 MP's probably would have gone that route, but its hard to go back to less resolution once you've had more.  Granted it not all about MP's, but the detail is addictive.

[AtticusLake]

Have a great time in Hawaii!

Re 8k, my opinion is that the 8k on the R5 is great.  And you basically get all the benefit of it by shooting 4kHQ.  Like you say, the file size is way more manageable; but with the 8k sensor and oversampling, you get a true 4k pixel resolution, which you won't get on a 4k camera (like the C70).  I've been comparing the two, and the difference in detail is pretty strong.

Of course detail isn't everything in picture quality... but it is a thing.

[wobbleman99]

Hi Rick,

Too bad you will not have your R5c for the Hawaii trip, but as an aside, some of the smaller retailers seem to have one or two in stock, so you might want to make some phone calls. 

The Canon EF-RF variable ND adapter does not have click stops either, it is continuously variable, so the Meike sounds interesting.

I have been enjoying the R5c, and recently have spent more time with it than my C300 MK III.  B&H has come through and has sent me 2 Canon LP-E6NH batteries, so I suspect that Canon's supply chain is improving.

I'm fairly certain that you will love the camera—have a great trip.

Regards,

Ron

[wobbleman99]

I have seen a difference between 4k out of the R5c and the 4k output from my C300 Mk III, but I get the feeling that the C300 output is more 'cinematic'.  What does that mean? I'm not sure that I can put it into words, other than to  say is that it is less clinical.  But, in the end, I can put both on the same timeline without issue, and I doubt that anyone would notice that there are two different cameras in the mix.

[AtticusLake]

That's interesting... I have -- not always but sometimes -- been getting the same feeling about the R5 versus the C70; the C70 seems "richer", I guess, and the R5 more "video-ey" (though more detailed).  But only sometimes.  When I go and shoot something to prove it to myself, the R5 looks just as good!

Like you say, the difference seems subtle in any case.  But I still think of my R5 as the B cam.  So really, detail isn't everything in picture quality -- not by quite a way.  (I'm also thinking of the recent video by CVP about the Alexa.)

[wobbleman99]

Hello,

I haven't seen the Alexa video you've referenced but, I agree, that detail is not the end all for picture quality.  The difference between the R5c 4k and that from the C300 becomes most visible when performing the equivalent of pixel peeping, but at normal viewing magnification the difference is less obvious. But, in the end, they are all—C70, C300, R5c—great video cameras, with each serving perhaps a different purpose for different videographers.  Like you, the R5c is the 'B' cam for my MK III.

[shadowsports]

Thanks Guys.  I have $5,700 earmarked for the R5C acquisition.  $1K in at the moment.  Have cards, batteries, adapter.  Going to buy the body from B&H.  Have always purchased from Canon, B&H or Digital Goja (in FL).  Always stellar experiences. 

I know I'm going to love it.  I'm bothered I can't provide my own experience to these conversations yet, but I will.  Do watch this vid if you get a chance.  It has some decent under the hood commentary.  He also went deeper into the camera's DR in comparison to the R5.

I also agree with both of your opinions regarding the overall cinematic experience you get with a dedicated cine camera over mirrorless.  It's true, there are no real words to describe it.  Visually or perception.  Again, I spent more time watching footage from several Canon body's and also the RED Komodo.  Each has a feature set of strengths and weaknesses.  I also confirmed what Ron had said about XF-AVC only being available in 4K modes.               

G Undone

Next up for me.  DaVinci Resolve.  I have a lot of reading to do on color grading.  The in body stuff included on the R5C is amazing.  Will also be taking an inventory of gear I plan to part with and researching which RF lens I'll go with first.  I suspect it might be the same as Ron since it offers a high degree of versatility in so many shooting scenarios

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