Four Fantastic Cine Cameras for £1500 or less! 

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A colleague of mine is still producing documentaries for National Geographic that are shot on a C100 mark II. Make of that as you will. Luc Forsyth did a piece on this recently, explaining how his most recent netflix documentary, involving over 120 hours of time in the field to capture footage, was all shot and delivered in 1080. I'd quite happily shoot without 4K, even today. Definitely watch Luc Forsyth's most recent RU-vid upload though, I think it's called "camera companies are lying to you".

@@RugbyPass81 Thanks for the encouragement. The C100 is just such a great camera it's hard not to like even being almost 10 years old. It will always have a place in my heart for reliability and solid image quality!

@@Sutterjack Anytime mate, always happy to offer encouragement. A mentor of mine, years ago now, at a time where I was seriously obsessing over gear, told me that the cameras used to film 'Gone With The Wind' and the original British classic, 'Scrooge' featuring Alastair Sim from 1951, well, those cameras are all long gone now and the images are soft, yet the films themselves will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come because the stories they tell are so compelling. I think that's the key take away he wanted me to pick up; focus on telling a story - whether documentary or narrative, or both - and the things that really do add production value to your work; lighting, locations, talent (I'm thinking actors or subject matter for documentary), scripting/story, composition and all the important fundamentals. Do all of those things and people will take notice, whether it's 1080, 4k or whatever. Good luck and enjoy it, don't forget why we do what we do. Enjoy

I also have the Canon C100 Mark I with the Atomos Ninja V and it is wonderful! The Ninja shows what I am capturing with an anamorphic lens unsqueezed. I also love that the Ninja records in ProRes 4.2.2 HQ 24fps. Goes right into my Final Cut Pro 6 editor on the G5 Mac to make editing easy.

@@barefootuptomysoul Cool.

I went from the c100 to the c200 and the c70. Although my workflow improved along the way I’m not sure the jumps in image quality are all that noticeable to the client.

Agreed. Plus, they're pushing cameras in the under £1,500 bracket, right? Well, you can get a used, like new Panasonic GH6 for £1,149 on MPB and that thing is mind-blowing. I had one and it was brilliant.

Production Camera 4K is a great option for some @~£500, with global shutter @ Super35 sensor size, and RAW. It just has some compromises (one of them major). As for compromises: It's heavy, has a weird form factor, screen is invisible in daylight (and contains most of the controls), huge file sizes (getting more manageable these days, but with raw a 500GB SSD gives you 30 mins of record time) since it gives you folders full of DNGs as its raw format (which you need to use to get normal colours - see below), if you push the image too far there's fixed pattern red stripes of noise in the deepest shadows, the life of the built-in battery is terrible now that 10 years have passed (though I am about to test a new method of powering it - using one of those new 100w USBC laptop power banks, which should be far cheaper/longer lasting than v-mount r sony npf batteries other suggest), a maximum frame rate of 30 even if you drop down to 1080p, autofocus is one-shot only, single native ISO @400, with max @800 (with RAW, you can choose 200-800 in post), plus another compromise I shall call THE BIG ONE. THE BIG ONE: There is only one way to get sane-looking images from this camera, as far as I can tell. There are tutorials out there, but for some reason none of them (including any documentation by BlackMagic themselves) show the one method that actually conforms footage to Rec709 correctly without any weird shifts in levels or oversaturated greens: 1. Set the resolve project to YRGB color managed, with the input set to "bypass" (setting it to what should be correct for this camera seems to me to apply the wrong transform, so we need to do it somewhere else!), the timeline and output to Rec709 2.4. 2. Import the RAW clip, then set the gamma/colour space to Rec709 in the "Camera Raw" tab of the clip in Resolve's color tab. Note: it is imperative that this is done in the Camera Raw tab, not as a clip property, or input; For this to work, you have to set the properties dropdown to "clip", not project. You may have to change the raw import setting in the project settings for this to not be greyed out.) Using this method, if I have exposed a shot correctly, I usually only have to adjust WB & lift for it to be nigh-on perfect in contrast and colour straight out of the gate! Doing all that is a faff (especially if you have to work it out by trial and error like I did!), but once you have, the colours and definition are absolutely astounding for the price. (In fact I think it's so good, I have also been using it as a stills camera! I do it by setting the timelapse mode to 10 minutes, then pressing the record button twice.) Add to that the global shutter gifting you the ability to record mostly usable handheld footage with lenses of ridiculous focal length for the job (I used a helios 44-2 as a test - 95mm equivalent - and it was basically okay if I held it steady enough!), and you have one beast of a camera. Even if the footage is a bit shaky, the lack of jelly in the image means you can usually stabilise it to something approaching rock solid in post!

Good choice but it's not a cine camera. The BGH1 is, though.

​@@Mr007jamster BGH1 is a nice boxy cam, but it lacks one important thing, which is the internal ND filter

Yeah, not a cine camera. Maybe for RU-vid World, yes

The 1080p looks like 720p imo

You got me curious now. What did your client do?

​@@EAlonzox22 really long story so I'll give you the TLDR; version. Guy advertises looking for someone to shoot some talking heads ... turns out he wanted someone for a documentary on ww2 with re-enactements INCLUDING A NIGHT BOMBING RAID IN A BIPLANE ... in the end he also turned out to be an ex convict who had gone to jail for defrauding the Candian government in a kickback scheme AND when he got out of jail tried to extort money from someone who had testified against him and so went back to jail. I didn;t know that at the time but to protect myself, the original contract I had written kept all copyright with me (since I was shooting and editing and doing sound design) until paid in full. He was adamant to change that one clause ... that should have been a clue that things were not right. The shoot and editing was a clustertruck ... having me use obviously stolen footage from other documentaries, music he obviously had just ripped offline, no idea how to direct but he was director/producer/writter ... he was dictating edits to the second making me just a button pusher but his edits were often just insane or time fillers with no tought or meaning. He sent me some naration he had someone record ... it was so badly recorded it sounded like it had been recorded on a phone while inside an empty metal shipping conatiner (I'm only SLIGTHLY exagerating) and he couldn't understand why I could do nothing with that naration. In the end, after about 2 months of work, I hand everything over with a payment schedule ... 3 days later he contacts me saying he is refusing to pay and I did a horrible job choosing locations (he's the director and producer ... I made suggestions) and I would pay to re-shoot and have someone re-edit (remember he was dictating the edits to the second). So he never had any intention to pay me from the start. I discovered his ex-con status when trying to serve him for breach of contract. And yes, this was the SHORT version, lol.

@@EricLefebvrePhotography i hate people lol please tell me you’re able to get paid somehow

@@EAlonzox22 nope ... I was getting paid during but in the end he still owed my over 5k.

Eva 01 has great image quality and really good colors. As an owner of one tho I'll tell you it's a pain in the ass camera to use. But once you learn it's quirks and get a better monitor/viewfinder you can build it out into a really nice rig.

It's not a cine camera...the subject of this video.

You gotta use ND filters with video. It's the only way to control exposure while getting the most out of a fast lens. Built-in ND filters are a really nice feature.

@@georgesealy4706 screw on ND's are pretty affordable and there's decent variable ND's for not that much money. I use a A7ii myself and it's perfectly manageable really.

@@SyntheticFuture Sure, I use regular NDs too. I use them with my X-T4 and GFX100. It's just nice to be able to have them built-in for use with any lens.

Did I miss something? What Sony a6700?

@@getfmlr camera announced in 2021. 4k 60fps, 10 bit, if I'm not mistaken 1080p 120fps. Only obvious downside is crop sensor but considering how good crop lenses are these days that's hardly a downside. For some reason delayed a lot. The A6600 honestly isn't a bad choice as well although 4k 30 is maybe not the best for everyone =)

I'd definitely get one at that price, but the cheapest I could find was around 2400

No they don't. And probably won't.

Canon made it clear to the Magic Lantern crew that their cinema line was off limits...don't touch or you will pay the price if you do

Do you live in Ohio?

@@TheGirlSkateBoardCo Actually not such a stupid question I suppose. Those of us who deal directly with end clients probably never get any technical questions. But if your client is a production house that deals with the end client (read big city) they probably want to know all about what kit you use and it's perceived image quality.

Agree. You can upscale with AI programs anyway and no one will be any the wiser. The real bottleneck with these cameras is the color depth, 4:2:0 8-bit does not react well with the kind of color grading clients want these days

you should get it. the camera is amazing!

There is no C200mark2 only mark1

Yup..true...of all of these the EVA doesn't cost anywhere near that....the others I have seen at that price point barely.

most videos are watched on a 50'' 4k tv, aren't they?

I always wanted a 1DC, but I could never spend the money versus the features it had. The darn things are still expensive. It was a groundbreaking camera, but there are other better alternatives now.

I have an Fx30 and an old FS7. Every time I think I'll dump the FS7, I think and say "no." FX30 - great pictures, but no internal ND filters. Totally stuffed if filming outside in sunlight and don't want to work at f16, so I have 5 variable nd front filters to cover all my lenses - total pain. FX30 has only a stereo 3.5mm audio input unless you shell out hundreds more for the xlr adapter. FS7 sits on your shoulder like a video camera should do, making it so easy to use all day and has an eyepiece dioptre on the lcd screen and a brilliant pistol grip for smooth zooming and focus magnification and lots more. Lovely HD and 4k and sdi out as well as HDMI. Granted the autofocus sucks - if you rely on that and doesn't have IBIS, but 2nd hand is half the price of an fx30 with an XLR adapter and years after it came out still does the business and still totally respected in the broadcast world, where I work.

what matters is how the finished film comes out. and it doesn't matter whether it's with an old or a new camera. if you can't tell a story, you don't need the best camera.

Hey Marcel, Generally I agree with that, however if you are a professional and need a workhorse camera it's smarter to invest a newer camera with a modern sensor, modern resolution and latitude and frame rates, which clients will demand, such as 4K, which is a minimum in alot of work these days. Investing in good gear will pay itself back in spades. However if you are merely making independent films, absolutely go with whatever camera you can afford.

London.

I have one and why wouldn't you? It come with a strap that you can put around your neck and with the 50mm they are using in the video, it's pretty light.

I had the 24-105 maybe that didnt help. But i can assure you, fx3 is better for the neck/back muscles

@@ceesh5311 Yeah but the title of this video is "...for £1500 or less..." Can't compare a decade old camera to a current model in that regard...the price difference is massive.

yeah I know

CinemaDNG🙏

You are automatically disqualified as a “cinema camera” if you don’t have built in ND’s imo

​@@nikolasmokalis3425 You mean consumer cine cameras right?

@@nikolasmokalis3425 and you as a filmmaker when saying that.

No raw compression either, files too large