Thanks everyone. I think I've got what I need to make a decision. I live in Tokyo, but am going back to the States this summer. When I'm there, *if* the Blackmagic is available, I might go for that depending on how much money I have and how impulsive I am. But probably, it'd be more reasonable for me to buy a used C100 since I notice that you can get one for not too much more than $2500. If I find a great deal on eBay before I go back, I might just go with that. I do understand some people have suggested the GH4 and the a7s, and I've considered these, I think it's important for me to use a professional level camera so I can start adopting a more professional minded workflow. Thanks again everyone for the input.

And, I forgot to mention, if I do decide the extra expense of batteries, CFast cards, and whatever other necessary pieces of kit might be lurking unknown in the darkness is worth the expense, if Blackmagic doesn't release the camera before the middle of August, then it's all moot because I don't want to wait longer than that. If there is a big delay in releasng the camera, I think I'll go with the C100 as Tobias suggests. Though, I really don't want to give money to Canon. I'm really hoping innovative companies like Blackmagic pummel Canon in the future. Companies like Canon (and Nikon) are just irritating when they slowly roll out new models whose new features could be enabled in older models through firmware updates just to get people to spend thousands on upgrading.

Thanks for the insight and opinions everyone.

If I bought the camera, I had planned on buying the top handle/shoulder rig as well as the URSA viewfinder, which would raise the cost of the camera up to about $4900.

I was planning on selling my D800 plus a bit of gear and lenses to subsidize the purchase. I was ideally hoping for the purchase to result in no more than a $3000 deficit when it was all said and done.

However, as I read more about the camera, I understand that it takes CFast cards (only one of among about four or five other cameras that use them so far?) which are really spendy at the moment. This plus the camera takes V mount batteries, which I do not have any of, and are also pretty expensive since they're the industry standard. This might add another $1-2k to the cost. To be honest, I know far far far more about still photo than video, and with video, I'm still an amateur, and I have a lot to learn yet. I'm just wondering what else I'm missing when considering getting this camera. What should I expect to spend, all in, for a setup?

Thanks for all the comments/advice everyone. Much appreciated.

I've been spending FAR too much time in the past few weeks doing research, and agonizing over which camera I should buy. I'm looking into transitioning into doing photo/video work professionally over the next few years. I understand it's fairly pointless to spend heaps of money on a camera considering how quickly one model is replaced with another, scheduled obsolescence (especially from Nikon and Canon, grrrr...), depreciation, etc... and that long term, the best money is invested in lenses. However, I also don't want to be limited by a piece of kit because some key feature is missing from my camera, or there is something about it that causes me a lot of frustration every time I go out to shoot. Anyways, I had my choices narrowed down to: Canon 5D m3, Canon C100, Sony a7s, and the Panasonic GH4. Then, after all this, I discover the soon-to-be-released Blackmagic URSA Mini: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicursamini

It does all that and has a pre-order price at B&H of $2995 USD!

How did I miss this with all my resarch? Of course, it's not out yet, so there aren't any reviews, but, let's imagine that even though it lacks internal ND filters, and it may not perform in low light as well as the Canons or the Sony... is there any reason why I wouldn't get this above all other contenders? Do the other ones even rate at all as contenders?

Also, I had written my question on the train using my phone and just noticed the typeos. Apologies. - Eric

No, I'm not familiar with an Erasmus program, but I'll Google it now, thanks!