C300: Used C300 or new FS5?

U

ultramaze

Active member
I'm having a real struggle here. I have $6,000 or so to spend on new camera. I'm primarily a doc shooter but sometimes shoot narrative. I love the skin tones on canon and build quality... But the tech in the fs5 is so much more current. Help.
 
do you already own lenses ? that is an important point.

I've used FS7 & FS5 for a doc recently. Nice ergonomics. Still prefer the canon color though.
But FS5 is really lightweight and sits well on the shoulder.

Hated the fact for the FS5 that, when in SLOG3, you have to go in the picture profile menu to change white balance ; and also you can't go down of 3200 ISO
Found SLOG3 much noisier in FS5 that FS7 also
 
coutard said:
do you already own lenses ? that is an important point.

I've used FS7 & FS5 for a doc recently. Nice ergonomics. Still prefer the canon color though.
But FS5 is really lightweight and sits well on the shoulder.

Hated the fact for the FS5 that, when in SLOG3, you have to go in the picture profile menu to change white balance ; and also you can't go down of 3200 ISO
Found SLOG3 much noisier in FS5 that FS7 also
Click to expand...
I've got 18-35 and a set of CONTAX Zeiss lenses. I've shot a ton on c300 and most my friends still shoot on it. Being on Sony won't match as well as if I was on canon
 
The C300 MKI produces a very nice image but I can't get past its lack of 1080p60 and the Mpeg-2 8 bit codec. It is still fine but as we march forward it will be antiquated. Just know that whatever you buy the C300 for, future resale will be a fraction. I might be interested at $3,000 but not at $6,000. You could make a case for many other cameras on price/image $3,000 and below.
 
First you need to ask yourself is how soon you can make money out of your new camera purchase. If you can recover the 6000 that you will pay for the C300, then you shouldn't think about what will happen in future. The fact is there will be many projects that will be shot on the C300 Mark I even next year. Editing with the C300 is a breeze because you don't need to spend a ton of time to get the colours right. For a doc shooter with tons of footage from long form documentaries, C300 helps a lot.
 
i agree with what IndiaWilds said above. Last time I bought an F55 i got a free FS5, and sold it. I had a few lenses for it too, since i own the A7 cameras, but the FS5 felt flimsy and not pro. You have to remember that the C300 was a 16k camera. the fact that now they sell new for 7k is a killer deal, especially when you can do 24mo for 0%. I had two C300 cameras before, they were my daily work cameras (I shoot news/interviews) but sold them (got lucky and sold them before the price dropped, for about 11k each) when i moved up to two Sony F55 (FiveFive, not Five S). Just recently i went out and bought the C300 new again, because really, at 7k, you can't beat that. And for when I need to travel light, or when i'm a second camera with another C300 shooter, it's a no brainer. I know not one network cameraman shooting with FS5, but I know many that still use C300. I'm one of them. Worry about 4k when it's here. The day Arri goes 4k, then we can start to worry.

BTW, that 18-35 is a jewel. it's my go to lens for b-roll. i just bought the 50-100 1.8 too, haven't had a chance to use it yet.

I say get a C300. and save your $6,000, buy a decent tripod with that. do the lease, it's 0%, and you get a warranty!
 
Last edited:
I have a friend with an FS5 and I wasn't overly impressed.

Like lenny above, I have a C300 and an F55. The 55(and Sonys in general) has the advantage on LOTS of levels, but if it tells you anything, I still prefer the look I get out of camera with my C300. There have been many times I've had single cam interviews(no b-roll, etc) and had my choice of which camera to use and most of the time I have always chosen the 300, because of the image I can get out of it almost effortlessly. With the Sony Cine cams, I feel like I have to work way too hard and I'm still not satisfied in the end. You're almost always going to have to do some level of grading in post.
 
David W. Jones said:
Not knocking the C300 as it's a great little workhorse. But start to worry...... http://nofilmschool.com/2015/03/arri-alexa-sxt-camera-prores-4k-uhd
Click to expand...

i don't think this is really relevant. Arri has not been doing 4K until now (and still, only alexa mini offers it) on purpose.
they prefer to offer less pixels but better color rendition, because they believe (and I agree) that resolution is less important -in opposition to RED's thinking.
that is why Arri still has the best color rendition among all brands (still, in my opinion, but some pretty talented DOPs -say, Roger Deakins among others- thinks the same).
A lot of great movies were made with 2.8K or 3.2K alexa pictures, and they look just gorgeous.
Its not all about the amount of pixels.
That is why a 24mbps codec camera like C100 gives a much better image than higher bitrates cameras.
That is also why i'm keeping my C100 MKII instead of switching for FS5. I prefer better codec with a "poor" HD codec than bad 4K.
 
Oh come on Lenny, You know you want one. :cheesy:

Can you hear me laughing? You know I'm playing with you.

I had an Alexa on lease for a long while and when it came time I ended up buying a used F65. As a matter of fact, I used your old Kino Flo Kamio ring light mounted to it last week for a music video spoof dream sequence shot that came out real well.
 
hey David. that's why your name rang a bell. i bought a new F65 back in the day. wish i had it now, finally being appreciated.
 
I faced this same "used C300mk1 vs new FS5" choice last month. I ended up buying a used C300 from someone who sometimes hangs out here, iirc. I paid $4,000 with four batteries, charger, and not too many hours (and including PayPal fees, shipping, shipping insurance)... so it was less expensive by, um $1500 or so... It was a tradeoff, of course. But for me, the easy & nice C300 color had played a part in my decision. The FS5, based on my little time with it and some friends' longer time with it, seems to take a bit more work to get as nice a picture (note this is partly taste; I don't love the "traditional" Sony look...though I'm not a hater). And we can kinda get the C300 to match an Amira without tearing our hair out. The FS5 4K felt a little thin (though I haven't looked at the now-possible RAW=>Odyssey/Atomos images). I can live without built-in high frame rates...most of the time... I'm not a DP, but I am a competent operator and the C300 fits my needs for now. The C300 has crappy TC and mediocre built-in audio, but I'm used to that by now, and prefer double-system sound anyway.

On the flip side, some experienced people I know who've bought FS5 cameras are happy with them. And the electronic ND is pretty cool...so are some other features. Note that the FS5 appears to be getting harder to find. If at all possible, see if you can rent or at least demo one at a good dealer... See what you think, how the XAVC L files run on your computer & NLE, etc.

There's more but bottom line: I saved a bit of money and I figure I'll need to buy another camera in a year anyway... There are several cameras close to what I want (the FS5 and FS7 are two of them), but none quite delivers quite what I want. Well, none under $10,000. Maybe I've watched Annie too many times... I'm hoping to see something way closer to perfect by the end of 2017.

Seems like either choice can be great. Hope this helps a little. Let us know what you decide to do.

Jim
 
Thanks man for your input. Im still leaning towards canon because of color science and preferred ergonomics for doc style stuff
 
1) All Sony cameras - and many non-Sony too - are in short supply now due to the earthquake and the subsequent sensor plant closure. The plant won't get to full production until August, so by the time all is said and done, they may be three months behind in deliveries.

2) As to ARRI - they're following the old and true business strategy - sell what you can make. They're not making a reasonably priced 4K camera, so they're selling a 2.9/3.2K camera. With most of the deliverables still in 2K, they ain't suffering much yet. And, by this year's IBC, they might have a surprise also.
 
DLD said:
1) All Sony cameras - and many non-Sony too - are in short supply now due to the earthquake ...

Good point. AbelCine appears to still have the FS5 in stock and they're a great dealer to work with. But if you're going to go that route, you might want to hurry...
Click to expand...
 
Now that the C300mk2 came down in price, you need to consider that one too. You get Canon's look, plus 4k. But yes, the camera costs twice as much and so do the batteries. The cards 4 times as much. But if you are buying used, then the Mk1 is an even better choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top