Used DSMC2 Helium or the following...

[mattbatt]

Hi All,
I've been using an original BMCC 2.5k since 2013 that Blackmagic ended up giving me because it never turned off, did not recognize my Canon lenses AND the internal battery was worthless. But I liked the image when it was not aliasing like my Canon 5dMKII (no OLPF) or having FPN. HAHA!

I shoot for my YT channel, have done some corporate work, a few music videos (doing slow motion in post with horrible quality!), some shorts and run and gun. I'm used to the awkwardness of that camera, no focus, no battery life, no ND's and no ability to delete previous shots (though they may have updated that...)

What brings me here is that my friend may sell me his DSMC2 Helium kitted out.

If you were in my shoes, never being part of the RED family, for a budget of $5k to $6k, which camera would you end up going with. For me, I weight image quality very high and also reliability and set up.​

Pyxis 12k
Pros

• New with warranty
• High Resolution
• High frame rates
• Image quality
• No crop at less resolution
• Weight

Cons

• Low light
• No ND
• FF (this may seem weird, but some of my f1.2 glass is too shallow on FF. I've shot FF since 2008 with my 5dMKII and it never was 'exciting' like many said it would be), so sometimes I want to crop to S35
• Size (length)
• Side monitor
• Need handle, extra monitor or EV or both
• No prores
• No auto focus
• Slower sensor read out, 25ms for open gate FF
• Slapped with $600 tariff

C80
Pros

• New with warranty
• Triple-base ISO, low light
• ND
• Size
• Compressed formats
• Run and gun ready
• Auto focus
• Fast sensor read out (under 7 ms)
• Good battery life

Cons

• Crippled frame rates at FF 6k
• Image quality more video-y
• Rather expensive
• Expensive media

DSMC2 Helium
Pros

• Image Quality is superb (prefer it above the rest)
• High frame rates
• Size
• Light weight
• Good build quality
• Good price for a package deal
• Compressed RAW
• ProRes

Cons

• No warranty, used
• Other resolutions than 8k crop in further than desired S35
• Loud fan noise at 8k
• No ND
• No focus
• Rolling shutter
• Eats batteries for lunch
• Proprietary recording media
• Slow start up

Komodo
Pros

• New with warranty
• Size
• Weight
• Global Shutter
• Cheaper Recording Media
• Price - cheapest

Cons

• Frame rates
• Image Quality is not as good as Helium
• I'd prefer the KX but the price is too high

 

[mattbatt]

I bought the Red Helium!

 

[Zack Birlew]

I would have said the Helium or Komodo since you weren't too into Full Frame and factoring in your intended use case. The Pyxis shouldn't be too bad of an option either as you can drop down resolution and BRAW is very flexible but compressed options sounded like a big deal so it's all workflow choice at the end of the day. Glad you got an offer for a nice Helium kit from someone you know, that's the best way to get a new camera!

 

[mattbatt]

Thank you so much! I'm glad to be part of the community!