Old new member... Hi!

[Charles Teton]

Hi,

Used to be a member many, many moons ago.

Bit about me:

I've been a pro photographer and feature film maker for over thirty years. I started out in fashion and worked with some of the top photographers in Milan, Paris, New York and London. I got a break in the film industry and went on to make two cinema feature films, distributed by Mel Gibson's company Icon, as writer, producer, director and cinematographer.

Equipment used: Arri 16mm BL/ST/SR, Arri 35mm BL/2c, Sony and Ikegami ENG, Canon XF DV, C300 MK I and MK II, C700 FF and most Canon DSLR, from 10D to 1D and 5D series. Currently using: Canon C700 FF and Canon 5D MK IV.

Always liked the forum, which I used to pick peoples brains regarding kit and better myself. Nice to be back!

Regards, Charles

 

[Alex H.]

Welcome (back), Charles!

 

[DustinSchmidt]

Hi,

Used to be a member many, many moons ago.

Bit about me:

I've been a pro photographer and feature film maker for over thirty years. I started out in fashion and worked with some of the top photographers in Milan, Paris, New York and London. I got a break in the film industry and went on to make two cinema feature films, distributed by Mel Gibson's company Icon, as writer, producer, director and cinematographer.

Equipment used: Arri 16mm BL/ST/SR, Arri 35mm BL/2c, Sony and Ikegami ENG, Canon XF DV, C300 MK I and MK II, C700 FF and most Canon DSLR, from 10D to 1D and 5D series. Currently using: Canon C700 FF and Canon 5D MK IV.

Always liked the forum, which I used to pick peoples brains regarding kit and better myself. Nice to be back!

Regards, Charles

Hey Charles! Nice to see you here!

I'm actually quite interested in your current use of the C700 FF. I have a C500 II myself and it was my understanding that the C500 II has the same sensor as the C700. The C700 was kind of under appreciated a bit once they released the smaller C500 II, so I haven't seen or heard of many C700 owners.

How are you currently using your C700 and do you have any insights on it vs. the C500 II? Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Charles Teton]

Hey Charles! Nice to see you here!

I'm actually quite interested in your current use of the C700 FF. I have a C500 II myself and it was my understanding that the C500 II has the same sensor as the C700. The C700 was kind of under appreciated a bit once they released the smaller C500 II, so I haven't seen or heard of many C700 owners.

How are you currently using your C700 and do you have any insights on it vs. the C500 II? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Hi Dustin,

Thanks for Hi!

Yes, the C700 and C700 FF were not popular at all! The up side of this is that was outrageously expensive is now extremely cheap. The C700 FF, body only, had a RRP $34,000 but I bought my for £2,800 UKP with a 12 month warranty in mid 2025. The EVF-V70, was originally $6,000 but I got one for £600, the SG-1 Shoulder-Style Grip Unit was $2500, I got it for £200, Codex CDX-36150 RAW Recorder was $6K, I got one for £200 and the Canon C700 Arri Pro Set Kit, which includes top helmet, VCT shoulder baseplate, EVF mount and top handle, I picked up for £120! Just putting Canon C700 before the name seems to crash the prices. So crazy really!!! In the end, after selling my C300 MK II, Zacuto EVF and shoulder rig, I think I made a profit.

I come from film cameras and ENG originally, so the size and weight is no problem. I hated all the rigging and unrigging with the C300 MK II, the C700 is permanently ready to go. It's fantastically balanced on the shoulder, great for low shots with its weight and, with a strap, is easy at waist height. It has all the I/O you could ever want and does not seem to guzzle batteries. One of the reasons I bought it was, like yourself I would imagine, for the downsampling from 5.9K to 4K/UHD 2K/HD in Full Frame and ability to shoot in FF/Super35/Super16, like your C500 MK II. Yes I think C500 MK II has an identical sensor, apart from the RAW is recorded to a Codex CDX-36150 in full RAW, not Cinema RAW Light, on mine. I think you also have slightly better AF, Diffraction correction and Electronic Image Stabilization of course.

It only gets silly long, think German sausage, with the Codex recorder, without it it's well balanced. I have only just got the Codex CDX-36150 and waiting to source the drives and media dock, both of which are still used for Arri 65 amongst others, so still pricey. I can't wait to run some RAW tests. PS I also can not get 5.9K without the CODEX recorder, only 5.9K downsampled to 4K internally.

It is definitely sharp and the latitude is great in the real world, with Canon's new Canon 709 & CMT 709 LUTS, I have it down to WYSIWYG on exposure and colour. The EVF-V70 really helps there as the colour is smack on and very sharp. I have not found any faults as of yet, the 'so called banding' is not on mine. Of course it helps to run the Black Balance, like other cameras. I have not seen any difference between the ProRes and XF-AVC recorded files, except the doubling of data rate and 10W more power used!

I really bought the C700 FF for my third feature film, my first feature was filmed on an Arri 2c in 35mm SuperScope with a 60lbs blimp, which I solo operated often, the second on an Ikagami ENG camera, so I'm not really bothered about the latest and greatest tech! As far as clients go, they don't really specify what I use.

Regards, Charles