My name is Alexander, a creative based in Richmond, Virginia. Welcome to my channel. Here you can find videos exploring the creative process, gear I use, and my journey as a full time photographer and videographer. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for one of the first C400 on site reviews. Since you asked - I shoot C70 and R6MKIIs - live theater Multicam. All h.265 HEVC 10-bit. Much smaller file sizes and all the quality needed for most workflows. Check out Griffin Conways Canon videos and he says the same. Speed and practicality is more important to me than the negligible benefits of shooting RAW - unless you're shooting narrative and have a robust color correction post workflow. Also, Final Cut, for me, having used many NLEs (original Final Cut, Premiere Pro, Sonic Foundry, then Sony Vegas, dabbled with Resolve, back to current Final Cut) the last 20 years, is everything needed, and much faster, than anything else out there, including Resolve. If you know Final Cut, and it's serving your needs, don't overcomplicate things and think that Resolve, or another piece of software is going to make a huge difference in the quality of your work. My 2 cents.
@@MarkD3P sounds like you got a nice set up and gig! And thanks for that insight! I appreciate it. A lot of the comments seem to agree with yours about not over complicating the editing process.
Yeah - it's an interesting situation. I shoot C70 and R6MKIIs and often prefer the less sharp image of the C70 - it's much more pleasing for interviews - the softer look is more complementary to people's skin tones and softening of facial detail. The C70 makes people look prettier, basically. I'm looking forward to comparisons between the C80 and C70 when the C80 is out. Sharper isn't always better - an Arri Alexa isn't as sharp as a C400 or an R6MKII - but there's a reason it's the film industry standard. I just wish I could get the C70 dual gain image with the R6MKII autofocus 🙂
@@MarkD3P very true. Sharp is good for ads, and products which I film but not so much for people or cinema. However I have noticed improved visuals on social media which compress, the sharpness helps make up for that. You can add softness/grain in post to achieve a desired look as well.
Great video, I was a Canon user for many years and my last set of cameras were the C70 and R5, which frustrated me to the point of switching to Sony FX3s and I couldn't be happier, but there's something about Canon that I do miss and that is the great image straight out of the camera. And actually working with Canon LT Raw files is not as bad as dealing with PreRes Raw. This C400 sure looks beefy, thanks for your perspective.
@@JaimeAndresMedia I love the R5. But I get ya the c70 had me questioning Canon. On set with other cameras such as the fx6 the c70 felt out performed as a primary camera.
@@AlexanderJawfox I feel like thats it tho, outside of the color grading, Da Vinci's UI is way harder to learn than FCPX. I know a lot of guys that just use Da Vinci for the color and the rest of the editing they do in Premiere or FCPX. That just seems like a lot of work to me.
From what I’ve gathered based on other C400 videos on RU-vid is that you want to turn Auto Base ISO off and set it manually. When using 3200 Base ISO setting, roll back the actual ISO to 1600. When using 12800 ISO Base setting, roll back the actual ISO to 6400. This should clean up the noise better with a small sacrifice to dynamic range (dynamic range not as important in low light situations anyway). Might be worth testing this out!
@@alexmainwaring I heard that too. I have not tried that out yet though. Makes sense. In the video, I’m filming at a base iso 800 at iso 800. The canon LUT I refer too cleaned it up very nicely.
@@movimox that I could only afford one. But in all seriousness, the issues with the MXF files with Apple (fcpx) right now is a regret (let down). I am forced to film in raw until they are fixed. Now may be a good time to learn new software.
Just got my C400 too. Final Cut Pro X crashes when it tries to import the XF-AVC from C400. Resolve and Premiere have no problem reading the XF-AVC files though. Frustrating! RAW does work though. I suppose now we wait for Apple to update. That aside --- the files look great. Worlds better than C70 and similar in some ways to R3 (which i loved). I'm loving this camera and it's only Day 2!
@@imagesbyrina ah thanks! I couldn’t find any forums on that bc the c400 is so new. But yeah hopefully Apple gets that update out soon. It’s an amazing camera so far. I’m glad you’re having a positive experience with it.
Nice setup. I did a double-take when I saw the camera mounted to the tripod via the lens foot though! That's a 3lb lens, with almost 8lbs of camera hanging off the back. Highly don't recommend doing that. You can pop the foot off or rotate it out of the way and then mount to the base of the camera. Glad to see the camera is producing great images for you.
@@blackburst1 it wasn’t an ideal situation. I had got the camera the night before I had to leave for that job and a day earlier than expected so not much time to prep. But yeah, I have a manfroto plate on the c400 now. I’ll move the touch and go plate I have on the c70 over to it this week when I get a chance to rig it up.
Great video. I usually shoot XF-AVC with my C70. Never tried RAW but that's also because like you mentioned the memory cards and running out of storage.
@@MrJayclas thanks. I agree, consumers need to be smart. I was mainly referring to people like me upgrading their video capabilities coming from a mirrorless or coming from an entry level cinema camera like the c70 and the r5c.
@@jarrellpeak3705 thank ya. Yeah, the only way to get 6k is to use raw lt, st, or hq. The only difference in those formats is the bit rate. Raw HQ being the highest bit rate.
@@AlexanderJawfox So I have the C70 and C500 II, I'm getting older so I'm looking to get a lighter setup for my wedding shoots. I could really use that C80 or R5 II to pair with the C70 but half of my income is live events and for that I could really use the C400 to pair with C500...Just crazy man
@@LonzosStudios out of the box the c400 is surprisingly light and doesn’t require any rig. Not quite as light as a r5 obviously but in a way more comfortable with the side and top handle. More secure handheld too.
This is better than most reviewers bro please keep it up. A lot of the times we have to parse through information on RU-vid that doesn’t help us practically. I prefer this to charts and graphs not that charts and graphs aren’t good too.
@@SamA-kl6pi thanks man! Yeah, there is what is on paper then there is what people can do with this camera. I feel like the people that get these cameras early to review them aren’t as invested in presenting them as they are in getting a video made. They review footage of some generic shot rather than a job. But nonetheless I still watch them lol. But I really appreciate the comment man!
Does it have "flicker detection" like the R3 or does it only have "clear scan" ? do you have to remove flicker afterwards ?? Raw vs codec. - I always shoot XF-AVC, All-intra, DCI 4K, 10-bit 4:2:2, highest bitrate. Because it has a little build in noise reduction. (sometimes longGOP to get 120 if its needed) Good video, really nice. You should have a look at the SIRUI SVS75 Rapid System - it uses the same system as the sachtler
@@baekmedier I haven’t used it yet but i did see in the menu flicker detection/reduction. I appreciate the compliment man! That’s probably the settings I’d use too for most of my jobs. I rarely use 120fps in my c70. I just stuck with 60fps since I could still stay in the xfavc codec. I’ll check that tripod out. Thanks for the suggestion.
@@AlexanderJawfox But is it The "clear scan mode" or is it called "auto flicker detection" :) The clear scan mode in the c70, R5C is not the same as the one in the R3 If it has that its a really really big deal for some of the jobs im shooting with lots of cheap LED lights on big construction sites. And you should try the tripod out at a store.. it has scary much in common with the sachtler tripods that they could get sued. :P
@@Jimmybeakble l had to look in my menu settings. I’m not too familiar with it because I always did anti flicker in post. But on the c400 in the second camera tab I see “Auto Clear Scan Settings” and I see another option for “Flicker Reduction”
just here to OOO and AWE and live vicariously thru you as you play with my current BUCKET LIST DREAM CAMERA! about to look around my house see what I can sell to get it lol
Yeah I don’t know man, if you are already invested in Final Cut Pro then why jump to Resolve, it will take a good year of consistent use of resolve if you’re really thinking about jumping ship. The footage looks great! These Canon colors will probably be more appealing to most clients then the Red. I think you made a good choice here if this is your first edit with this camera it will only get better from here, awesome
@@hawaiifreespeechnews thanks for the kind words. I’m on the fence. I dunno if I’m missing out on not using resolve but yeah that’s probably right…it would be a year long investment on time to learn the new software
@@AlexanderJawfox I disagree that it would take a year. Learning how to cut clips in resolve and get something exported that looks correct can take as little as a day. Resolve is super deep yes, but you can learn the basics very fast, especially if you have a foundation in another nle, learning how to edit, pace cuts, have good taste in music, etc, those are the real skills, the NLE is just a tool. Personally if you are already feeling that you have begun to hit some limitations in FCPX and you are seeing ways resolve can save you time in the finishing stages of an edit: do a cut in FCPX, and export and send it to resolve for finishing. It does have to be a cold turkey thing, you can learn in a continuum.
Thanks for your contribution and knowledge sharing. Personally I like FCP with MotionVFX templates better than Resolve. Unless you’re a colorist, FCP’s grading tools should more than enough and you won’t get bogged down overthinking the grading process. Check out Final Cut Bro, Dylan John, Eric Lenz, to take FCP to the next levelb
@@avdcam I’ve been transitioning to resolve for the last year and it’s very time consuming. I always find myself going back to FCPX because it’s quicker and easier to get a project done and export it out. A lot of people switched over to resolve during the global lockdown plandemic because they had time to burn but when you’re doing productions on a weekly basis you have no time learning and running into hurdles with resolve. I realized that FCPX is good enough especially with the last big update with more AI features to speed up your workflow
Congratulations you are officially the first to put out a real world review on the C400 with an actual production model 👏🏽 thank you so much for your effort and good work on this!
@@hawaiifreespeechnews thank you! I got lucky with the contract for the bride and groom allowing me to use the footage. I learned a lot making this video and hoped it helped contribute to the community 📸🎥
Just got my C400 today. Blown away. We'll see if the new gear buzz fades. Doubt it. So far smokin!!! My instinct to build it up is gone. Right atta the box works real well. Just can't figure out the new "leveling and vertical" options? Can't find them. Also the back of head AF is not a thing like on the C70? I'm just scratching the surface to what this brings. I don't have the balls to bring it on a paid gig you did?? Props. It's a horse. The new WORK horse.
@@scottievee7467 it’s definitely a learning curve but I learn best when I put some stress fact in there 😅 Yeah I don’t want to customize it too much. Not to mention the cages are crazy expensive for this one. I haven’t tested this out vertically yet. There are some vertical mounting points though. The monitor comes with mirror modes for different orientations. The AF is impressive. It’ll be interesting to see what firmware can do in the future. Glad you got it! Success with all your future shoots!
Great summary. I’m on the c300III and C70, personally I goto Raw when I’m doing landscapes or commercial work when I need to really push colour. The 12 bit codec just lets you push the image a lot more. If you have a desire to really bring down the blues in the skies or push yellow and greens in foliage, raw just lets you push it so much more. For weddings and event coverage XFAVC won’t burn a whole in your post storage needs, so I tend to lean on in for that, especially docs, and corporate. The XFAVC mode will add slight denoise in camera and the downscaling will also clean up noise too. Barring that, it essentially has the same dynamic range as raw, rsw just being much better for white balance and heavy colour shifts, if you are just recovering highlights and shadows you don’t need Raw truly. IMO. On my c300 I almost never run an external monitor, it has a slightly bigger screen than the c400 from what I see in the manual, but with the luminance setting upped to +2 or I guess 5-6 on the c400, it’s plenty bright for outdoors, it’s lightweight, and it means you can run your c400 without vlocks. That being said it’s nice having the extra runtime, but it’s not needed for a larger monitor most of the time in my experience. I moved from Premiere to FCPX to Resolve, so if you need a hand learning the ropes hit me up, I’d be glad to give you a crash course.
@@avdcam wow, thanks for that. Very helpful. Makes great sense. A time and a place to choose your codec. I may take you up on your offer. I am not the best at learning new software once I get set on something. Thanks for your insight.
@@AlexanderJawfox Please do! FCPX is, honestly an excellent tool, and very performant and if you stack your colour effects in the right order you can get access to all the dynamic range Canon & Sony provide. I still miss the design of the magnetic timeline a lot while editing in Resolve and Premiere (mostly Resolve these days if I have a choice). If you find yourself not using the magnetic timeline much, nearly every other feature can be replicated and improved upon in current versions of Resolve. (Not to mention it can read XFAVC files correctly and span clips properly, I think FCPX still has issues with spanned XF clips to this day). And since you are already familar with project "libraries" you will be right at home with them in Resolve too. Resolve won't hold you hand, but it also won't hold you back; so when you want or need to push a grade further or do a more comprehensive mix Resolve has the depth of tools for just that. Really no other NLE comes close.
@@castielvargastv7931 it has a some overlap, but with frame base clip connections it’s fundamentally missing a lot of the advanced power of fcpx’s timeline.
Maybe he needs raw for certain shots during the day because that’s the only way the camera shoots 6K. I do weddings too. And having certain key shots in 6K would help me a lot if you want to create vertical content for social media afterwards. This is one of the reasons I also pre-order this camera: The flexibility it offers being able to solo shoot or in a team. Waiting for my shipping.
Personally, with the full frame sensor, I would just shoot 16x9 with vertical guides. You can always just pan and scan in post, but with 4k or 6k resolution a vertical slice will look excellent on social, and you won't encounter version nightmares.
Like the C70 you will about 35% better battery life over the C400 since the C400 is spending more amps sending feeds to multiple ports, hdmi and sdi. The C400 will also allow for 6K60p because of the CF Express B card slot and I/O speeds. Well worth the small jump in price imo. If you have to get one, get the bigger brother. It will be balance on a gimbal well and be lighter too. But Invest in the Acam first, the C400 will get you more work. Get the C80 later when you are busy and need a camera permanently setup on a gimbal.
@@avdcam definitely agree with ya. B cam comes later. The c70 can still be relevant for several more years. It’s just a matter of finding that sweet spot of when to sell to upgrade.
I'm really interested in hearing about if the weight was an issue to lug that setup around for several hours shooting a wedding as well as if it was doable to hand hold that unit versus put it on a gimbal for the image stability
Out of the box it’s lighter than my c70 with a 3/4 cage one it which is necessary to mount an external monitor bc the c70 built in display is inadequate. The c400 was very comfortable over the course of the day compared to the c70.
I did a similar move a couple months ago. I was waiting for the R1 and R5 II but after the specs leaked I didn't think either was big enough improvement over my R3 and R5 so I traded the R5 in on the Fuji 100 II. I picked up the 45-100 and 500mm lenses for the Fuji. I have a project I wanted the medium format for but with the 500 it will all be a second wildlife set up for me for those larger slower animals.
@@AlexanderJawfox Honestly the image quality isn't that much better than my R3 I think. I haven't really pushed the camera yet have a trip in November when I will. It wouldn't surprise me if by February I trade it in on an R5 original and put the rest of the money away for a R1 II maybe.
@@kilohotel6750 interesting. I’m blown away by the resolution upgrade and some of the video features of the camera. However ive already encountered some glitches. Like I can’t play back the footage on camera. Apparently I have to reinstall the recent firmware to fix it.
Correct me if I'm wrong but, the engines fail because people don't do the items below. I bet the previous owner didn't regularly check oil levels in the R! A) Regularly check oil levels! It's a race engine. Race engines burn oil! A quart every 500-1k miles is normal! Takes seconds to check and add oil. B) People don't let the engine warm up to at least 180 degrees before hammering it. C) Change oil every 3k miles.
@@sdlausen1 I had owned it for two weeks. I had checked the oil and I do let the engine warm up. Dealer confirmed, this gen 1 engine had a fault from factory. Either way the warranty covered a replacement with gen 2. Not a single issue afterwards.
Good afternoon, tell me what is the full name of the microphone for the Canon C400 that you installed on the camera in this video, and the second question, I currently have a Canon C300 Mark III camera, does it make sense to change it and switch to a Canon C400? Is it possible to compare the XF-AVC format in the Canon C70 camera and in the Canon C400 camera? Since the C70 has the same sensor as the Canon C300 Mark III. And the last question, There are two screws on the back of the Canon C400, can they be removed and see if it is possible to connect a viewfinder like the Canon C300 Mark iii? Canon EVF-V50 OLED Viewfinder is the name of the viewfinder. Thanks in advance for your answers, I'm waiting!
@@Felix19622 hey thanks for question. The microphone is an audio-technica AT875R with a mini xlr adapter. It’s great for directional audio. I can try in the next video to directly compare the xf avc files. Spec wise the c400 I think would win but in terms of if you should upgrade that may be a close call. I haven’t used the c300ii to compare. Lastly you can mount an EVF ✅
@@AlexanderJawfox Thank you very much, we are waiting for a video comparison of Canon C70 and Canon C400 in different locations, I didn’t quite understand about the viewfinder, Canon EVF-V50 OLED Viewfinder is this model that can be installed on the Canon C400? or not?
