C300: Critique my shopping cart

[rob norton]

Zig when everyone else is zagging?

For what it's worth I had lost all interest in gear for the last 6 months, but mentally I'm coming out of the covid mindset/slump and am looking to the future. Might not be the best time to buy for a lot of people, but I'm looking forward to using this down time to know the camera inside and out, practice my operating techniques, and be ready to rock when (not if) production picks back up. Plus this camera at this price seems like a very safe bet for me - I highly doubt anything like this camera will come out in this price range for a while (Sony & Canon have already shot their shot this year) so I could either buy it now or buy it 6-months or a year from now - price will probably be the same. Might as well get it now and start practicing.

I've had a fairly rough last 6 months (got covid, a lot of jobs dried up, had all of my cameras stolen just to name a few), but I've decided to make plans for an optimistic future instead of dwelling on the past.

But you're also sort of replacing more than buying? It'd be a different story if you were buying a c300 iii with no work on the horizon and simply waiting for things to come good.

I've almost completley pumped the brakes on equipment. I modified my rock n roller with existing materials and bought a small cinebags bag, my current equivalent of splashing out.

 

[Clermond]

Zig when everyone else is zagging?
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.
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I've had a fairly rough last 6 months (got covid, a lot of jobs dried up, had all of my cameras stolen just to name a few), but I've decided to make plans for an optimistic future instead of dwelling on the past.

I ordered the C300iii at the beginning of the lockdown
received it and paid cash after two months of idle jobs
Things started to get better when all the "we are here for you"
stories have been told. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[JPNola]

Zig when everyone else is zagging?

For what it's worth I had lost all interest in gear for the last 6 months, but mentally I'm coming out of the covid mindset/slump and am looking to the future. Might not be the best time to buy for a lot of people, but I'm looking forward to using this down time to know the camera inside and out, practice my operating techniques, and be ready to rock when (not if) production picks back up. Plus this camera at this price seems like a very safe bet for me - I highly doubt anything like this camera will come out in this price range for a while (Sony & Canon have already shot their shot this year) so I could either buy it now or buy it 6-months or a year from now - price will probably be the same. Might as well get it now and start practicing.

I've had a fairly rough last 6 months (got covid, a lot of jobs dried up, had all of my cameras stolen just to name a few), but I've decided to make plans for an optimistic future instead of dwelling on the past.

Apology if the inquiry was inappropriate. But these are extraordinary times. And I was curious as to the state of the market for others. In no manner did I mean to suggest it unwise, because I don't know your situation. This COVID-caused downtime is opportunity to learn a camera, perform continuing education, and sharpen skills.

It'll get better, I know. But, gawd I miss being on film sets. I've lost weight being without the gourmet catering.

 

[digitalinnovations]

...gawd I miss being on film sets. I've lost weight being without the gourmet catering.

I’ll trade you! I’ve done nothing but gain weight...all the cheap, fast food. Yuck.

 

[JPNola]

I ordered the C300iii at the beginning of the lockdown
received it and paid cash after two months of idle jobs
Things started to get better when all the "we are here for you"
stories have been told. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm gonna steal that! "We are here for you."-work.

"Got another 'we are here for you' job on Tuesday."

 

[Clermond]

I'm gonna steal that! "We are here for you."-work.

"Got another 'we are here for you' job on Tuesday."

I am glad for everyone who has work. No matter how you name it!

 

[puredrifting]

Congrats on your choice. In your situation, I think I might buy the same camera.

 

[Barry G]

..... And then for shoots in raw that would still leave me with 2TB total since you can only record raw to one slot .....

Hey sorry...just tuning into this convo. Congrats on your new baby...and thanks for turning me onto the 2tb Delkin cards. Please report back regarding any reliability/performance experience when you get some. I'm about to dive into an interview heavy piece, and currently only have 2-512gb sandisk, which has been fine...but it will be nice not to have to shuttle cards during the day.

So...you mention here that you can't record raw to both slots...I don't think that's true. At least there's no mention of it in the manual I can find and looking at my camera (C500II) it seems to not have any restriction. Am I missing something on this?

Also, I've never felt a need to dual slot with any of my C series cameras. While I've had a number of SD (and microSD) fail on other cameras, and maybe 2 compact flash cards gone belly-up in 20+ years, I've never had a failure with CFast or these newer CFExpress cards. Just curious if anyone has had actual problems with these newer generation cards, or is dual slot just an abundance of caution/peace of mind thing.

 

[digitalinnovations]

I’m curious as well but it seems like most people have had good luck with the more robust cards (CFast 2.0, CFexpress, etc.). That said, I was just on a shoot this morning where the SD proxy card had some sort of “buffer warning” pop up on my C500 MkII...so there’s that.

As of now, the solution to my project next week (which is also interview heavy) was to go with the Delkin 2TB cards (I was torn on the 1TB or 2TB cards but for the price difference it was just too tempting). For backup I’ll be recording the proxies as well but I’m switching out the SD cards from Lexar; perhaps Angelbird or SanDisk.

 

[NorBro]

That buffer warning happened in the 5D Mark IV with my Lexar cards. They just weren't fast enough to sustain the writing speed over time even if marketing said so.

Currently, there are no approved Lexar cards for the C500 II. At least according to Canon Signapore. (Couldn't find a USA one, but sometimes their resources/charts all over various official Canon country sites.)

https://sg.canon/en/support/8204754100#3

 

[digitalinnovations]

That buffer warning happened in the 5D Mark IV with my Lexar cards. They just weren't fast enough to sustain the writing speed over time even if marketing said so.

Currently, there are no approved Lexar cards for the C500 II. At least according to Canon Signapore. (Couldn't find a USA one, but sometimes their resources/charts all over various official Canon country sites.)

https://sg.canon/en/support/8204754100#3

Thank you very much!!

 

[chris f]

So...you mention here that you can't record raw to both slots...I don't think that's true. At least there's no mention of it in the manual I can find and looking at my camera (C500II) it seems to not have any restriction. Am I missing something on this?

I did a test today and you are correct, you can in fact record dual slots in raw AND record a proxy to the SD card all at the same time up to 60p (which is pretty nuts i think!). I just assumed with the amount of processing going on that the camera wouldn't be able to do all of the above at the same time. I also wonder how that might affect battery life....

I guess it depends on the shoot day, but if I was shooting a ton of raw in a day (short film shoot, interview heavy day) I'd probably only record one slot and just record a 2K proxy to the SD card, but if I was shooting a commercial shoot or something like that maybe I would shoot dual slot just for safety and record proxies as a double backup.

When shooting AVC I'll continue to always dual slot record. #safetyfirst.

When getting a C300MKIII was just an idea I imagined that I'd rarely shoot raw again. I'll have to do some side by side tests and really stress test both raw and AVC to see where the real world advantages lie, BUT since the raw of the C300MKIII will produce the exact same file sizes as the C200 raw I may end up using it more than I originally thought. The AVC will be great for client work where I'm dumping cards at the end of the day and just handing over the footage, but I'm speculating that I'll still use raw on all the shoots I'm producing.