Canon 1D X Mark III Review for Cinematography - can the Komodo out do this beast?

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I was recently loaned a 1DX Mark III by Canon India for 5 days; for a film for Grassroutes Journeys. I was expecting the camera to do well, but not as well as it did.

My review:

We should probably be done editing the film by April.

The only major flaw I could find was rolling shutter "skew". I thought I'd share my review and also wonder if the Red Komodo can out do the 1D X Mark III? I've read it has as much DR as the Helium, but the 1D X Mark III has dual pixel AF and good performance up to 6400 ISO - and no fan. And it can take stills.

On the workflow front Canon RAW Lite is supported by all major apps. Simply put, it has no peer, and I find that fascinating.

 

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I believe Red cameras have better dynamic range and highlight roll-off. There's no disputing that. Even the BMPCC6K has better highlight roll-off over the 1D X Mark III.

Even this solitary frame doesn't look as good as any of the Reds, going back to the RED ONE.

No, that's just fanboy talk. How many Red cameras could go beyond ISO 2000 and still hold it together? Purely from a color standpoint, this is true 12-bit RAW. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a blind test. Nor would I. The 5.5K RAW frame really is good, unlike anything from any DSLR or mirrorless camera I've seen.

Overall, I agree with you. If I really wanted to thump this camera on image quality alone, I'd pick the Dragon-X any day. That's what I was planning to shoot this on, until Canon came through on the loaner. The reason I posted this here is because I didn't foresee how useful AF could be when done right. I couldn't have pulled off half the shots with the Dragon-X.

The combination of features on the 1DX is what I'm talking about. Professional image quality with deadly AF and great low light ability. How many Red cameras can or could do two of these? Only the Komodo can do all three, but from what I've read so far on the Komodo thread the AF isn't going to be Canon-good.

My question was specifically regarding Komodo, and how it fits as an A-cam for solo shooters - even though that's not its intended purpose.

 

[Phil Holland]

Hi Sareesh,

I truly think the Canon 1DX III is a fairly revolutionary camera, but if you dig deeper as well as many of the points you reference, there are far better cameras to create a movie with. Even staying in the Canon ecosystem I would personally have a very hard time choosing the 1DX III over the C500 MK II (which I think is rather good).

To the big pros of the 1DX III however, it's pretty much the best autofocus I've ever seen in a still camera. It's going to take the sports world by storm. It's key features really are targeted towards that market as even the ability to roll video on the camera is for those "better get them moments" on the field or in the court.

Agrees, it's great for the price. But you'd have to twist my arm to shoot serious motion picture work with it. I would personally choose probably 8 other cameras on the market right now over it as a primary A-Cam tool.

The AF and Low Light points are certainly noted, but that really isn't the core feature set many are purely looking for when choosing a camera for a project. Low Light perhaps for some and certainly the desire for AF grows rapidly industry-wide. I've certainly shot ISO 2000-5000 without NR that's ended up on screens via RED, but RED also doesn't have any space age chips for internal noise reduction. Though more recently there is a pretty amazing new Chromatic Noise Reduction tick box in REDCINE-X Pro that's well worth exploring. It's a very nice algorithm if you are looking for minimized color noise while maintaining solid tonal and color detail. And better yet, doesn't seem to have a penalty on rendering clips either.

It's been mentioned elsewhere, but RED is indeed stepping up to the AF stage with the PDAF in Komodo. It's their first outing with this technology and will be far superior to purely contrast detect. But we'll have to wait and see.

Personally though I think for the features you highlight though, this equally should have been an opportunity to dive into the C500 MK II, but you've uncovered some of the pros and cons here. There's a few more in there too.

 

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Thank you for your thoughts, Phil.

Hi Sareesh,
But you'd have to twist my arm to shoot serious motion picture work with it.

Perish the thought. I wouldn't either.

Though more recently there is a pretty amazing new Chromatic Noise Reduction tick box in REDCINE-X Pro that's well worth exploring. It's a very nice algorithm if you are looking for minimized color noise while maintaining solid tonal and color detail. And better yet, doesn't seem to have a penalty on rendering clips either.

That's amazing. I will check it out for sure.

It's been mentioned elsewhere, but RED is indeed stepping up to the AF stage with the PDAF in Komodo. It's their first outing with this technology and will be far superior to purely contrast detect. But we'll have to wait and see.

I've been following the thread (all 9 million pages of it) with keen interest. The features of the Komodo really appeal to me.

The C500 MK II is next on my list (if Canon obliges). And now that I think about it, the same argument applies to the C500 II vs the Dragon-X!

Can't get Dragon colors out of my head, which makes the choice a lot harder.

 

[Jaime Vallés]

While I am sure that the C500 Mark II is better than the 1DX Mark III, it does cost around $10,000 more. I would hope the C500 II performs better, given the price difference.

The real question is what camera in the $6,500 range is better than the 1DX Mark III?

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

The real question is what camera in the $6,500 range is better than the 1DX Mark III?

I don't think it's meaningful to make very general statements like Camera X is better than Camera Y anymore. You can brake a camera down into features and compare more directly, but even if one camera ends up with a 12-8 victory over a 20 item list, it still doesn't matter to someone who needs 6 of the "8" features of the lesser camera.

If someone wanted to get into video/film and some post production I would be many, many times more likely to recommend the Pocket 6K, for example.

I generally like the Canon 1D bodies and am a 1Dc and 1Dx mkII owner, so I'm saying that with no particular brand loyalty.

The P6K probably comes out on top in terms of IQ between the two and has a close to perfect codec. The 1Dx mkIII has its ruggedness, AF and better power management. Plus the photo side of it (meaningful to me).

Price is not an issue for me in this range, but as a 1Dx mkII and a P6K owner, I have not been able to commit to a 1Dx mkIII—mostly due to either too large raw files or too heavy/cumbersome (10bit HEVC) on the post side.

 

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

The real question is what camera in the $6,500 range is better than the 1DX Mark III?

I don't think it's meaningful to make very general statements like Camera X is better than Camera Y anymore. You can brake a camera down into features and compare more directly, but even if one camera ends up with a 12-8 victory over a 20 item list, it still doesn't matter to someone who needs 6 of the "8" features of the lesser camera.

I've answered my own question, at least for now. It's a long read: Can the Canon 1DX Mark III go toe to toe with the Red Komodo as a serious filmmaking camera?

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

I've answered my own question, at least for now.

It's the only thing that matters—in the sense of that everyone needs to make up their own mind.

 

[AndreasOberg]

I always enjoy your reviews Sareesh.
The jello looks concerning.

We plan on upgrading our 1DX Mark 2 and use it for:
- Photography of wildlife! I love the 1DX Mark 2 for photography
- Behind the scenes
- C camera in case our Heliums break
- Possibly in low light situations

Andreas

 

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I always enjoy your reviews Sareesh.
The jello looks concerning.

We plan on upgrading our 1DX Mark 2 and use it for:
- Photography of wildlife! I love the 1DX Mark 2 for photography
- Behind the scenes
- C camera in case our Heliums break
- Possibly in low light situations

Andreas

Thank you. The Mark III can do a lot more heavy lifting and the video mode is...for lack of a better word...effortless.

 

[Chris McKechnie]

I'm guessing Komodo will slay the Mark III in terms of DR and LL. I think RED has listened to the market to deliver something customers probably thought they never would. Honestly, I think Komodo is a necessity and it'll be exciting to see what it all transpires to be.