Having a tough time deciding between BMCC vs 5D Mark III

H

Hamreet

New member
I'm looking for a new camera to invest after spending two years with T2i. I wanted to purchase my new camera before I travel to India next month. I'm looking for a video camera because that is what I mainly want to record while I'm there. I have a t2i for still. But I'm wondering which camera would better for video.

Right now I'm thinking either Black Magic Cinema Camera or 5d Mark III. I was going for mainly BMCC but the thing, while traveling I won't have access to lighting. So if circumstances call for it, I don't know BMCC will perform under low light. I know 5d is good with low light. Also I'm sure I would need a rig, batteries and hard drives. How much would I be looking to spend for all of that? To me the 5D seems better option with full sensor, ML Raw 14 bit etc. But on the other hand I really love the BMCC and its affordable. Again I'm looking to invest in a camera for video mainly.

What do you guys think will be a better option? Obviously this is not just for the trip but future as well for shorts and music videos. So would I be better off with BMCC?

Appreciate any help!
 
I tried installing ML last night and it was extremely unstable, I was getting all kinds of errors. Not going to be doing ML at all myself. The blackmagic at least is designed to shoot RAW, I would go with that .
 
Why not actually go for a video camera? As much as I dislike Canon, why not try the C100 if your invested in EF glass? I would take that over a BMCC any day, and I'm a Canon hater :smile:
 
JackCarter said:
Why not actually go for a video camera? As much as I dislike Canon, why not try the C100 if your invested in EF glass? I would take that over a BMCC any day, and I'm a Canon hater :smile:
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If he's coming from a DSLR then cost might be a big factor especially since he used the term "affordable,". So the C100 might be totally out of the question.

Personally I would go for the BMCC,
 
If you haven't played with or gotten used to the ML RAW stuff, then I'd advise against learning it on a trip. Get familiar with it before you go. The workflow is more involved. Not terrible, just different and slightly more time consuming. The other thing to consider is that you'll need fast CF cards to shoot ML RAW on the 5D mkIII. The good ones aren't cheap. And you'll also need to at least double your estimate for HDD space for offloading at the end of each shoot. And finally, you haven't mentioned anything about glass. The 5D is pretty good in low light situations (especially when hacked), but not without good glass. I haven't personally shot with the BMCC or the pocket version. So can't comment there. Although you might to consider wider glass and a speedbooster if you go that route.
 
The ML firmware was unstable on my 5D III and was throwing errors on my camera when trying to load the modules. Very risky, it works for most people but it is a risk you are taking installing the firmware.
 
I highly doubt you'll want to be dealing with the hassle of ML raw while travelling, so for that reason I'd stay far far away from selecting a 5DmkIII.

Even using ProRes with a BMPCC or BMCC MFT doesn't seem sensible for a holiday cam.

Get instead a Panasonic G6, or a Nikon D5300. The Nikon can match and even beat the stock 5DmkIII in many areas, such as low light.

http://www.eoshd.com/content/tag/nikon-d5200

(he hasn't posted up a review of the D5300 just yet, but he has purchased one and commented on his forums at EOSHD that it is performing even better than the D5200)

Either of a Panasonic G6 or a Nikon D5300 would be a *huge* leap up in quality from your old Canon T2i, and it would give you this extra performance without any of the extra hassle over your current workflow that ML raw or ProRes would mean for you.
 
From what I read by Philip Bloom and others, you may have a hard time shooting with a C100 or even a pro level camcorder in India. They are out after "pros" that come without the proper paperwork for pro work. Apparently the police will actually stop you from shooting. The C100 will likely stand out too much, unless you strip it down without it's handle/mic. I'd be tempted to do that with mine. But I'd likely go with a standard DSLR (which Bloom did, check out his blog, it was a while back). I agree that the BMCC is a great camera, but likely to be too labor intensive in that super hot, high intensity atmosphere of India, let alone the sun on the viewfinder, unless you were planning on shooting very slow and taking a lot of add ons (again, drawing attention to yourself). Have a great trip! A few friends have just come back, blown away by the sensory overload. Sights, smells, sounds..all of it.
 
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