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.

[wobbleman99]

Hi Rick,

I don't think that the audio issue is related to multitrack recording, since the C300 allows for multitrack recording as well as the defeat of its internal mic.  I've been rattling Canon Support's chains about the issue, and yesterday had a lengthy back and forth with a tech once again.  They are now aware that the internal mic cannot be defeated. This is something that has to be addressed—assuming that Canon is interested—in firmware.  But all they really have to do is replicate the menu structure of the C300 or C70.  However, since the always on internal mic is consumerish, the issue may have been by design/intentional, so as not to infringe upon the territory owned by their more costly cine cameras.  If that is the case, we may have to live with the inconvenience and simply delete those tracks in post.

BTW, the Canon OEM batteries are still in short supply.  I happened to have received 2 from B&H a week ago, after having ordered them quite sometime ago.  But in the interim I had been using the Watson equivalents and found them to be quite good.  Some have said that they do not hold their charge as long as the OEM batteries, but that has not been my experience.

Regards,

Ron

[wobbleman99]

I received my final reply from Tech Support, and it appears that the only way to defeat the internal mic—at the current time—is to use to the Tascam XLR adapter with a mic attached,  and plug a consumer mic into the camera's 3.5mm jack at the same time.  IMO, that is a most unprofessional approach for a camera marketed as a professional tool. it was suggested that we barrage the Canon developers—on this site's feedback page—with complaints and requests for a fix.  Personally, I find this predicament absurd for a camera that is being market to a professional crowd.  The 3.5mm jack and Tascam approach is a no-go, so I will stick with my current method of deleting tracks 3&4 until which time Canon sees fit to fix the problem.

[shadowsports]

Hi Ron,

Thanks again.  The R5C is listed as being part of their "Pro Line" so fingers are crossed.  It seems to be something they could easily fix.

I own more watson batteries than OEM now.  All work perfectly.  The cost difference is negligible in the grand scheme of things.   

But the bigger better news!!   My R5C has shipped

Will arrive a few days before my birthday.  Super stoked!

[wobbleman99]

Hi Rick,

Congrats and happy birthday.

Despite the audio issue I'm sure that you will love it and, like you, I suspect it is something that will be favorably addressed in the future.

Regards,

Ron

Addendum: Technical support seems to have implied that, in re the audio page, it is what it is, unless they receive a lot of complaints.  I plugged a Shure dynamic mic into the camera's 3.5mm jack and it engaged a few menu items on the first page, but it isn't worth the effort.  I'm still not clear why the remaining menu items remained grayed out, but I am not going to lose any sleep over it.  The Tascam adapter controls my external mic's input gain whose magnitude can be seen on the audio status page.  Anything that gets recorded via the internal mic will be deleted in post ... end of story.

[shadowsports]

Hi Ron,

Wondering about the following.  In Cine Mode when idle (fan running), do you hear any type of abnormal fan noise when the when the body is rotated or rocked back and forth?  Not violently, just during normal use.  2 people have mentioned this phenomenon in videos.  Also did you purchase a warranty for your body?  I don't normally, but did in this case due to the potential cost of repair or replacement.  I also believe manufacturers should include deterrents such as a biometric sensor for security on more expensive body's. Like needing to scan in once every so often for the camera to operate.  Months ago I saw a video which was referenced by by Tony and Chelsea Northrup.  It was about a photographer friend that was shooting images of the Golden Gate Bridge here in SF.  Any time you see pics of the bridge, they are often taken from the Marin Headlands.  I have visited this location many times since I've lived in the bay area almost 50 yrs.  Anyway theives followed these guys home and robbed them in their driveway by smashing their back window and grabbing their gear.  All captured on their home security camera.  Brazen.  Then this guy tried to ram them with his Tesla, but had problems since its collision avoidance system wouldn't allow him to T-Bone them.  He stopped once they pulled out a gun.  He did get their rear bumper and the cops eventually caught them, but the video is brutal.  It was a rare and extreme case.  I feel it demonstrates the benefit of anti-theft technology.  I hope we will see this in the future.

[wobbleman99]

Hi Rick,

No, I have not heard any unusual noise with camera movement, and the fan is just barely audible if you put the camera to your ear.  As for extended warranties, I typically do not purchase them and did not in this instance either, but I do insure all of my camera equipment.  I assume that you are suggesting biometrics in the event the camera is lost or stolen?  Insurance is a better idea, and it covers replacement.  And biometrics, like any other high-tech implementation, is guaranteed to fail at the most critical moment.

Regards,

Ron  

[shadowsports]

Ron,

Thanks.  Indeed.  I'm going to contact my homeowners ins to add the camera.

[wobbleman99]

Hi Rick,

You're welcome.

Regards,

Ron

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

Remember I'm weeks behind on this.  Have you seen the electronic level?  Has tilt, roll and Tilt and Roll.

These display on the HDMI out (OSD) as well.  Cool for keeping your horizon in perspective.

[wobbleman99]

Hi Rick,

The electronic level is a nice carryover from stills cameras, but I have found them—in other cameras—to be unreliable, and had switched a longtime ago to using a grid overlay that presents no variability in accuracy.

I'm sure that you've seen my post about the audio menus.  It seems that we are pretty much on our own, unless enough of us chime in with complaints on this site's 'feedback' option. That said, Canon does have an external microphone—DM-E1D Directional Stereo Microphone—listed, but which is currently unavailable anywhere I'd searched.  I wonder if the R5c's audio menus are tied to this mic, since the mic attaches to the multifunction shoe?  We'll have to wait until it starts shipping to answer that question. But no matter whether it does or does not bring the menus to life, there still is no option to defeat the internal mic in the menus.

Regards,

Ron