Charles Maring
Photographer / Filmmaker
I am photographer and filmmaker making a living with a camera in NYC.
This is a shift in thinking about what a camera should be in this oversaturated content creation world. I had to have it the moment I saw it though along with all of the accessories and the X5 as well. Hoping it is an ideal compliment to our GH4's for specialty shots. Since I have the Phantom 3 Pro and Ronin M, and have had great luck, I expect it will be. Planning to use it on our web series OUR REEL LIFE over at http://www.togetherinstyle.com for BTS and on the go footage. Looks promising!
I've been working with VLog and it is definitely the real deal, and at $99 a no brainer. It's a gorgeous flat profile that can be pushed around in grading. This is the first post I've done with VLog. It's a glamour film I shot a day ago with my wife for our style blog. http://www.togetherinstyle.com/stories/sequens-a-fashion-film
ISO's range from 800-1600 with very harsh lighting in a dark room. Also it's at 96fps so there is compression, but still beautiful none the less.
Color wise it's like having a mini Alexa now. I simply used the Alexa Log C LUT in Color Finale and faded it to my taste. Nothing else was thrown at it in terms of grading. The two stops dynamic range increase is very real.
I'll be doing a lot of work with VLOG from here forward and sharing in content and posts on Together In Style.
Agreed... I had two C100's, and loved them for what they were. This is a nice upgrade, but for me it comes down to "a camera I will carry everywhere". I actually adore the 96fps slow motion of the GH4. It's not as sharp as I would like, but it beats not having it as an option. 4K works for me because I also build interactive iPad apps. Having 4K allows me to screen grab and tell interactive stories on Retina displays. 1080p was OK, but is a big stretch to pull an image for iPad displays. The color of the GH4 in my opinion is on par or better than Canon color, and I am a fan of Canon's color. I also do a lot of gimbal work, and the C100 is too heavy to really work it all day. I would love the C100 or other cinema cameras if they were so damn big. Why build a camera that is heavy and huge, when you have an option to build something that is small, light, and nimble. Canon is just headed in a different direction that a lot of us.
The C100 is definitely a workhorse, but who wants to carry around a big, bulky, heavy cinema camera when you still need other cameras to fill the gap? A solid upgrade, but it doesn't make me want to run out and get one. Where is the built in time lapse, stills shooting, 4K, and 120fps slow motion, etc... At this point a GH4 rivals the C100, in every way but low light, which is why I sold my C100's and 5D's in the first place. Too bad I own a fortune in Canon glass, but I get much more accomplished being lighter, stealthier, and with these key storytelling features at my fingertips. This update just solidified my switch.
If I were a beginning filmmaker I would recommend looking at Lumix first and foremost. It's nice to see that Canon shows signs of life, but it will be years before we see a proper mirrorless that is cutting edge. Today, I would choose Lumix if I were thinking about a mirrorless system for professional stills or filmmaking. Sony is nice as well, but I personally know some of their users starting to migrate over as the Panasonic color/skin tone is so beautiful, and the lens options are so vast, and smaller to boot. Full frame is overrated with all the 4K cropping jive, and extreme ISO isn't how most professionals shoot in the real world. Having spent a great deal of time with Canon, Sony, and Lumix systems... Lumix gets my vote with ergonomics, sharpness, and professional / cutting edge features we expect for both stills and video in a hybrid system.