FS7: Why are so many selling their FS7 packages?

puredrifting

puredrifting

Major Contributor
Just curious if anyone has any conjecture or theories on why so many seem to be putting up their FS7 packages for sale lately? I have seen half a dozen in the For Sale Board here recently and many, many more lately at the usual spots. Are these people trading up to the FS7 II or switching to other cameras or ? I've only rented it twice, it's a nice camera. I have been looking for a used C300 MKII and it seems as those are very difficult to find and when you do find them, they are often overpriced, whereas the FS7 packages I have been seeing, for the most part, are priced pretty temptingly. Ideas why?
 
Personally, I can't hold onto a camera for more than a year. And I think there are a lot of people like that.

You get a lot of use out of the thing - paying it off almost instantly with your work - and then you move on to something else.

I don't see any other reason to sell it. (I guess if you really love it then the FS7II might be the next logical step.)

You might not see a lot of used C300s because losing $4000 on your resale value is tough and it might just make more sense to keep it.
 
P.S. I guess you could have bought the C300 for $12K, which would then make the above irrelevant...maybe people just love that DPAF!
 
Sony has sold tens of thousands of FS7 cameras, so if a few go up for sale, that is just a tiny drop in the bucket percentage-wise.
 
Sony also happens to be offering 24 month zero interest on the FS7 which I believe is a first. Thus, it's pretty easy to go for it without a whole lot of risk.
 
I think part of the reason you see many for sale is that they were relatively cheap to purchase, less expensive than the C300. Because of the relatively low price a lot of guys purchased an Fs7 thinking they would make a go of being a full time videographer or make a low-budget indie film that would launch a career. In short order their idea did not pan out for them. Either they struggle to find work as a videographer or they shot their indie and it went nowhere. Some make the mistake of thinking that just because they have the camera the work will come to them even though they do not have years of experience, even though they have no client base that was built up over years.

An inexact science, but I just entered "Canon C300" into the eBay search engine and added the filter "used". The result domestically was a total of 6 cameras for sale. Doing the same with "Sony Fs7", the result was 3 cameras for sale domestically.
 
He's obviously talking about the c300 mk2.
It is something I noticed too, has been just in the last few weeks and influx of fs7 on sale. Am also being tempted as their used prices are going down slightly - just curious why the sudden increase in numbers?
 
Thanks for the answers guys, they all make sense. The C300 MKII answers make sense too, especially for those who paid $16k. I am with ade4all, it seems a month or two ago, I had not seen a used FS7 package on DVXUser for quite a while and there are now four of five of them all listed within the same week. I just wondered if I had missed some big event or promotion that was causing so many to bail on their FS7 packages? I think it will be interesting to see how the FS7 MKII sells now that Sony has upped the price considerably over its predecessor and Canon has lowered the C300 MKII price.
 
One of the reasons you see many fs7's on sale and very few C300II's is that a lot of people bought an FS7 in the last 2(3?) years and very few people bought a c300II.
From all the DP's I know almost everyone including me had a c300 Mark1 3 years ago Im talking at least 10 people I know in DC and New York almost all of them switched to the FS7 and are still working with them, the ones that didn't went to the Amira or mini Alexa, I think I only know one person who has the c300II.
I think the dilemma for owner/operators like me is the following:

1. The Arris have a superior color, highlights and workflow- not enough clients will pay more for that. Only The very high end ones but they only want to shoot with the hot new camera which means you have a year to recoup your investment. Right now on the High end everyone wants the mini Alexa (I know a lot of frustrated amira owners)

2.The advantage of the c300II over the FS7 is the ability to produce nice color straight out of camera making inexperienced clients happy. Problem is I don't want these clients.

3. If everyone pulls in the same direction in production and post you can get a ton out of this camera and its not really hard (if people listen).

Its really hard to beat.
 
I am mostly with Doug.

With an addendum - maybe these people know something we don't.
 
icarusfilm said:
One of the reasons you see many fs7's on sale and very few C300II's is that a lot of people bought an FS7 in the last 2(3?) years and very few people bought a c300II.
2.The advantage of the c300II over the FS7 is the ability to produce nice color straight out of camera making inexperienced clients happy. Problem is I don't want these clients.
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I really want to love the FS7, but the color is not good. Inexperienced clients? The color on the Canon looks pro.

I have to disagree. Sending a client beautiful looking footage will make any client happy. Why does my 6 year old F3 produce better looking color than the 10k FS7?

You really just have to shoot in LOG2 or LOG3 on the C300ii to really understand how good it is. That camera is a dream to work with and the footage is beautiful.

I will say that as a freelancer, the FS7 makes the most sense. It seems to be the standard, but don't tell me the FS7 footage comes close to the C300ii in color. It is on a different level.
 
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You are probably right. I don't think there are "fans" of Sony color science. But in slog3 with some tweaking in post you can get it to shine. Canon simply fell asleep st the wheel when they rolled out the c3002 late and at 18000 just too expensive enough to not buy. Right now everybody is used to handling fs7 footage so owning it makes sense: if you are "shooting into" a series 9 times out of 10 these days it's an fs7 gimbals a7s etc. if it was up to me it would be the Varicam lt probably the best camera out there that nobody is buying.

Ben_Ericson said:
I really want to love the FS7, but the color is not good. Inexperienced clients? The color on the Canon looks pro.

I have to disagree. Sending a client beautiful looking footage will make any client happy. Why does my 6 year old F3 produce better looking color than the 10k FS7?

You really just have to shoot in LOG2 or LOG3 on the C300ii to really understand how good it is. That camera is a dream to work with and the footage is beautiful.

I will say that as a freelancer, the FS7 makes the most sense. It seems to be the standard, but don't tell me the FS7 footage comes close to the C300ii in color. It is on a different level.
Click to expand...
 
Ben_Ericson said:
I really want to love the FS7, but the color is not good. Inexperienced clients? The color on the Canon looks pro.

I have to disagree. Sending a client beautiful looking footage will make any client happy. Why does my 6 year old F3 produce better looking color than the 10k FS7?

You really just have to shoot in LOG2 or LOG3 on the C300ii to really understand how good it is. That camera is a dream to work with and the footage is beautiful.

I will say that as a freelancer, the FS7 makes the most sense. It seems to be the standard, but don't tell me the FS7 footage comes close to the C300ii in color. It is on a different level.
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I think it going overboard to suggest that the color on the Fs7 does not look professional, to suggest that the Fs7 doesn't produce a professional product. That is taking a personal preference too far, imo.

Consider that an ARRI Alexa owner could say that the "look" of the C300 isn't anywhere as good as that of the Alexa and as a result the Alexa "looks pro" but the C300 does not. But it would likewise be silly to say that the product produced by the C300 doesn't "look pro". Much of what makes acquisition "look pro" has absolutely nothing to do with the color science of the camera. Users are able to crank out complete crap that doesn't look "pro" on a C300 and it is done everyday.

Maybe I am just a defensive Fs7 owner. Or anti-Canonfanboy. Or both. :D


I am a snob in the opposite direction. There are times when I am shooting with my Fs7 and I encounter someone with a gangly C300 franken-rig, DSLR-like setup lacking a real VF and using those dinky lil' prosumer batteries and I am tempted to joke "when are you going to get a real camera?".
 
JPNola said:
I think it going overboard to suggest that the color on the Fs7 does not look professional, to suggest that the Fs7 doesn't produce a professional product. That is taking a personal preference too far, imo.

Consider that an ARRI Alexa owner could say that the "look" of the C300 isn't anywhere as good as that of the Alexa and as a result the Alexa "looks pro" but the C300 does not. But it would likewise be silly to say that the product produced by the C300 doesn't "look pro". Much of what makes acquisition "look pro" has absolutely nothing to do with the color science of the camera. Users are able to crank out complete crap that doesn't look "pro" on a C300 and it is done everyday.

Maybe I am just a defensive Fs7 owner. Or anti-Canonfanboy. Or both. :D


I am a snob in the opposite direction. There are times when I am shooting with my Fs7 and I encounter someone with a gangly C300 franken-rig, DSLR-like setup lacking a real VF and using those dinky lil' prosumer batteries and I am tempted to joke "when are you going to get a real camera?".
Click to expand...


Getting my feature past the gatekeepers at AMC and into a theater on Times Square in NYC (and others across the country) last February made me realize just how unimportant it is which camera you use these days. If the FS7 can take me there , it can take me anywhere. Start shooting another feature tomorrow, guess what I'm shooting with?
 
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