Almost pulled trigger on 5D M2

[J. P. Sendall]

Ok, sweating a bit here over choices. Considering the delay I decided on buying a 5D to use until Scarlet came out (got a budget of around 6K USD). Now of course the end of the year is the estimate on fixed Scarlet delivery to market. Well that's great news but I still want to shoot now. So my question is would you still buy or hold off?

My question is weighted by the fact that I'll be also purchasing a couple of Zeiss ZF's and perhaps a Duclos adapted Nikkor so those will stay in my bag whatever. I am thinking of using those lenses on the Scarlet FF and S35 down the line somewhat. Wise choice? All I need is to sell the 5D body BUT of course if things go well financially I may just keep it.

Other concerns for me are possible timelapse capabilities and the fact that in moving timelapse with the 5D I can look around a very large frame when in post. This is important as I plan some architectural shoots this year and into next.

Would you still pull the trigger now on the 5D with these thoughts in mind?

 

[Steve Das]

Would you still pull the trigger now on the 5D with these thoughts in mind?

Why not...Scarlet may be little expensive for HDSLR shooters/students.
The 5D will keep it's full resale value untill Canon comes out with
something better...which may be quite awhile.

 

[Jim Retar]

One piece of advice I can give you. I have just sold my 5DII on ebay and every question I got was about shutter usage. These cameras hold ALOT of resale value as the are top notch still cameras. The fact that I didn't use the shutter much added extra resale value.

I ended up making about 90% of my outlay back. So if you do buy a 5DII and want to sell once the Scarlet is out, you should recoup alot of your cash back. (you need to keep an eye on new models coming out though).

Going from FF to 2/3" might kill you a little though

As for timelapse, it is absolutely beautiful on the 5DII. 4k perfection.

 

[J. P. Sendall]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I will get the 5D M2 (bet Canon comes out with an improvement pretty soon) and see if can hold on to it when the Scarlet arrives but boy am I looking forward to the FF Scarlet.

 

[Leo Ticheli]

The 5D2 is a pretty good camera at a good price. It makes very nice stills and video that is acceptable for certain jobs, although it takes a lot of extras to make it truly functional for video. If you are a stills shooter as well, you can't go too far wrong.

It's probably a good bet that the other parts of the system will have much longer life, although that's certainly not guaranteed. What if the manufacturer and third-party manufacturers decide to rehouse their lenses with good markings, gears, and enough turns to allow proper follow focus? What does that do to your investment in expensive (relatively) L series lenses? What if they change the video outputs to SDI? What if they introduce an entirely new recording medium?

These thing are still likely to be cheap in terms of motion picture equipment costs, but could obsolete the 5D2 and most if not all of it's accessories.

Bottom line; if you're a stills guy as well, buy the 5D2 and be happy. If you are not shooting stills, don't buy unless you can make money on it before it's kicked to the curb by future cameras, which are sure to improve at an accelerating rate.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

 

[Scott Crawley]

Sentiment on the street seems to be that a new Canon isn't far off. As previously stated, your 5D value will drop a lot when a replacement comes out, half isn't uncommon, and more with higher shutter counts. These are consumer electronic devices. Don't expect them to hold value long.

If I had the need I would grab one, but I'ce been holding off. The $2600 isn't the problem. It will do still work, but I know if I have one I'll have to shoot video with it, and I'm not really interested in laying out the cash to trim out a video kit when I'd rather spend that money on a pro kit.

 

[J. P. Sendall]

Sentiment on the street seems to be that a new Canon isn't far off. As previously stated, your 5D value will drop a lot when a replacement comes out, half isn't uncommon, and more with higher shutter counts. These are consumer electronic devices. Don't expect them to hold value long.

If I had the need I would grab one, but I'ce been holding off. The $2600 isn't the problem. It will do still work, but I know if I have one I'll have to shoot video with it, and I'm not really interested in laying out the cash to trim out a video kit when I'd rather spend that money on a pro kit.

But that's half the problem, looking to buy pro kit video means spending more than I can if I want similar DOF etc. Sure I could go the EX1-3 route, DOF adapter and so on but they are probably (DOF adapters that is) going to fall in value as much if not more than the 5D M2 body. There still seems to be a DOF adapter market but I wonder for how much longer. I am not in the main a stills guy but I have a business opportunity on the timelapse front and some unusual rigging possibilities that could be very niche.

Also the outlay for cage, follow focus etc is not prohibitive for reasonably solid trim. I already have some sound gear and can record dual if needed. I guess I'm just saying I need to roll soon or do the decent thing with a service revolver.

Also the glass I'm thinking of getting are pretty good and will hold value longer than any electro body, so that will always be good investment.

 

[chrislancaster]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I will get the 5D M2 (bet Canon comes out with an improvement pretty soon) and see if can hold on to it when the Scarlet arrives but boy am I looking forward to the FF Scarlet.

Canon is suppose to have announcements in the 2nd and third weeks of July

so IF you do decide to buy a dslr i would wait just a few days see what comes out

ive heard announcements in july and august but nothing coming out till September

all speculation tho

 

[Scott Crawley]

If you can shoot the look you need with the 5D, do it. With the money you don't spend on an EX-1, you can certainly trim out the 5D and maybe have some left for your pocket. The DOF adapters are useable, but each has their trade offs and it's a nuisance. You'll be able to get the same depth with a fraction of the light with the 5D. I'm sure you know this.

 

[J. P. Sendall]

It's probably a good bet that the other parts of the system will have much longer life, although that's certainly not guaranteed. What if the manufacturer and third-party manufacturers decide to rehouse their lenses with good markings, gears, and enough turns to allow proper follow focus? What does that do to your investment in expensive (relatively) L series lenses? What if they change the video outputs to SDI? What if they introduce an entirely new recording medium?

That's the problem Leo. Too many what if's have made me pause for far too long. Sure the lenses could be rehoused but the actual glass is still pretty good. Also the Duclos mods are solid and dependable so I have no problem paying for that.

 

[J. P. Sendall]

Canon is suppose to have announcements in the 2nd and third weeks of July

so IF you do decide to buy a dslr i would wait just a few days see what comes out

ive heard announcements in july and august but nothing coming out till September

all speculation tho

Hmmm, thanks for that one. I will indeed wait a little longer.

 

[Scott Miller]

For cost and temporary hold-over camera, why not the 55od/T2i? Most reviews seem to indicate the video is no/very little diference on it vs. the 7D/5D MkII. $820 and shoot away. Buy glass you can use on your Scarlet later.

YMMV.

I LOVE my Red, just to be clear Best/wisest purchase I ever made!

 

[Leo Ticheli]

That's the problem Leo. Too many what if's have made me pause for far too long. Sure the lenses could be rehoused but the actual glass is still pretty good. Also the Duclos mods are solid and dependable so I have no problem paying for that.

I'm certainly not trying to talk you out of it, however, with all the rumors of an improved model to be announced this month, it might well be better to wait just a bit. You can always just rent the body for a month or so and buy the rest of the stuff to make a working system.

I do hope you're right about the lenses, and you are quite likely so. The professional video-only use of the lenses may be much smaller and not worth it. I recall that the "cine-style" lenses for 2/3" video cameras did not sell all that well.

We do live in exciting times!

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

 

[Erich Roland]

I'm certainly not trying to talk you out of it, however, with all the rumors of an improved model to be announced this month, it might well be better to wait just a bit. You can always just rent the body for a month or so and buy the rest of the stuff to make a working system.

I do hope you're right about the lenses, and you are quite likely so. The professional video-only use of the lenses may be much smaller and not worth it. I recall that the "cine-style" lenses for 2/3" video cameras did not sell all that well.

We do live in exciting times!

Good shooting and best regards,


Leo

true that... interesting times indeed!

I keep thinking Canon would be nuts NOT to take full advantage of whats going on these days including re-housing a set of they're own lenses into full focus rotation, manual iris, and geared "cine" lens sets. Heck the optics could be the same, just cut some new metal parts.

They could offer the L set of (6) primes (14-135) and could probably get away with at least 3 to 3.5k a lens.... under-cut the Compact Primes, and be way under other traditional Cine lens prices. They would sell a ton of them to both DSLR shooters and Red owners.

The (3) popular L series 2.8 zooms (16-35, 24-70, 70-200) would also be an amazing possibility but more work would be needed to turn them into real zooms and not variable primes (they are not designed to hold focus). Imagine these 2.8 zooms re-housed, re-designed and released into the cine world for 6-7k.... would that not make some waves in the market place?

Maybe a PL option (like CP.2 has done).... all hell would break loose!

Why wouldn't Canon do this?
Could they be blind to the demand, and opportunity?

 

[Jeffrey T. Morgan]

Video wise, especially as a hold over, I would get the t2i (550d) I have this, and have used it a lot side by side with 7d and 5dmk2 and in video world they are equal. (when I say equal, I mean that each has a few moments they would outshine the others, but they all did, so it balanced out. And was all SUPER close and subjective)

So saving almost 2k on the camera body should ease your dilemma?

Jeff

 

[Scott Crawley]

Why wouldn't Canon do this?

The market just isn't big enough for them.

 

[chrislancaster]

Video wise, especially as a hold over, I would get the t2i (550d) I have this, and have used it a lot side by side with 7d and 5dmk2 and in video world they are equal. (when I say equal, I mean that each has a few moments they would outshine the others, but they all did, so it balanced out. And was all SUPER close and subjective)

So saving almost 2k on the camera body should ease your dilemma?

Jeff

i would go with the gh1 with the hack over a 550d any day (and price is very comparable)

but not a 5d mark ii because of full frame

7d is great to because it seems to be made for video but there are choices for a reason .. the 550 d would be the last thing id buy

less options all around compared to 7d and the build quality is nowhere near the same





if you are going to do a specific project RED 1 mx Rental hands down

 

[Michael Hammar]

I would just go ahead and buy it. Canon will hold resale value very well even after Scarlett comes out. All the photo folks would want our cameras especially since the shutter isn't used that much..!

 

[R.ChilD]

wait for the announcement and if u still want to purchase a dlsr, go the panasonic gh13 instead of the canons 5d/7d

 

[Mark Weatherbe]

You want to shoot? One word solution.

RENT!

Exactly like Steven Sodergurg, Michael Mann and the rest of us.