All of the nominated documentaries at the Oscars were shot on Canon cameras.

[transpo1]

The point is that FF 4K is not an impediment to creating great art, anymore than Ansel Adams' gear was to him. It is fair to say, "FF 4K is technically possible, gee it would be great if Canon offered this in their SLRs". But it is clearly NOT fair to say "These cameras suck because they don't have FF 4k/feature xyz". There is more to the quality of a video camera than how many pixels it can record, clearly - workflow, ergonomics, serviceability, etc. etc. could be many of the reasons why a camera with less capability in the area of resolution might be superior overall.

Certainly is...but resolution is also a marker for how a manufacturer’s camera technology keeps pace with the times...and with its competitors.

Kudos for all the docs being shot on Canon, but— documentaries of this sort are typically not resolution conscious. The usage of Canon cameras is indicative of the company making very reliable and easy to use products, not an indication that resolution doesn’t matter. If I shot longform docs, I wouldn’t reach for a RED, I’d reach for a Canon Cinema EOS. They’re reliable and easy to use. But the format begats using them, not on having the most advanced resolutions and formats.

So, suffice to say, this is also not a magic bullet to ward off customers complaining about the crippled video features— including resolution— of prosumer stills cameras.

 

[Antono Refa]

I don't want to be the advocate of the devil but I guess, to be fair, we need to listen to what people are saying.
I shoot on 1DX II and it is fantastic. That has never been the problem with Canon. The problem with them is that they do everything to protect their higher end market.

Canon is in the business to make money, and contrary to what some capitalists thinks, sometimes there's more money in disappointing some of the customers.

And most people would consider the 1DX II higher end.

If you were a filmmaker of that budget, renting few C300 II and a servo 50-1000 wouldn't be an issue. You can afford to put a 5D III or IV hanging all over the place without worrying if they are going to be destroyed in the process or not.

Your point being 5D mark IV is cheap enough to destroy, but Sony's & Nikon's isn't?

 

[Besisika]

Canon is in the business to make money, and contrary to what some capitalists thinks, sometimes there's more money in disappointing some of the customers.

And most people would consider the 1DX II higher end.



Your point being 5D mark IV is cheap enough to destroy, but Sony's & Nikon's isn't?

Not at all. According to my budget, destroying a 5D IV is too expensive, compared to RP. If I were at their budget level, 5D IV would be. Yes, you would be afford to use Sony or Nikon but what would be the advantage, if all of your footage is already with Canon?

 

[Besisika]

Anyone else wanna tell me that 24p doesn't matter? I'm all freaking ears.....

"Certain things are meant to be for you and for you alone". Sorry if I misquoted Morpheus, he said something along those lines.
Do you really need the approval of the whole planet when you know that you are right? 24p is your choice. Good for you. Just live and let die.
30p is mine.

 

[slclick]

Which forum pundits are established documentarians?

 

[Don Haines]

Which forum pundits are established documentarians?

I have documented my cat chasing a laser pointer
Seriously though, I have a couple of shorts done for work..... With the quality required and the target audience they could have been shot on just about any camera. I am most definitely not an expert at shooting video, but my impression is that the editing software is more important than the camera choice.

 

[Trey T]

What!?!? I heard often that Canon video sucks....

The Rebel/##D segment you're talking about?

 

[slclick]

I have documented my cat chasing a laser pointer
Seriously though, I have a couple of shorts done for work..... With the quality required and the target audience they could have been shot on just about any camera. I am most definitely not an expert at shooting video, but my impression is that the editing software is more important than the camera choice.

I will reach out to a couple friends in the industry, they worked on 'The Price of Everything', might give me some insight into gear choices of their peers.

 

[ethanz]

I have documented my cat chasing a laser pointer
Seriously though, I have a couple of shorts done for work..... With the quality required and the target audience they could have been shot on just about any camera. I am most definitely not an expert at shooting video, but my impression is that the editing software is more important than the camera choice.

And knowing how to use the editing software. I learn new things about Premiere all the time that make my videos better. (I also learn about all the bugs it has and why I have to keep two different year versions of it...)

 

[RunAndGun]

Just throwing this out there... Canon ‘sponsored’ Free Solo.

 

[ethanz]

Just throwing this out there... Canon ‘sponsored’ Free Solo.

Do you have an article for that?

 

[Adelino]

On the other hand, congratulations to Jimmy Chen's Oscar winning film documenting Alex Honnald's amazing achievement!

 

[LDS]

Do you have an article for that?

So what should we think about Sony owning a whole movie company?

 

[justaCanonuser]

What!?!? I heard often that Canon video sucks....

The makers of those definitely did not read DPReview...

 

[justaCanonuser]

The problem with them is that they do everything to protect their higher end market.

Agree, that's the fate of Canon users during past years, and that made not only a few of videographers to change to Sony, Panasonic etc. The nice thing about modern ML cameras is that you don't need to stick with a manufacturer's camera so much than before, if you have invested a lot in his lenses, but are not happy with his cameras. This enhanced volatility in the market could force Canon to finally introduce a more competitive video technology in their non-professional cameras.

 

[justaCanonuser]

It really surprised me that even the old 5D3 was used, for "Hale County This Morning, This Evening". Should be a cure against GAS. In fact, I like my old battered mirror slapping war horse of 5D3. Still doing well with about 150.000 shutter actuations, being (ab-)used in rugged environments. I know exactly what it can do and where it's limits are, and I always can be sure that it simply will work, even if it's raining cats and dogs (and our Nikon DLSRs already need to be carefully covered to work w/o failures).

 

[justaCanonuser]

I saw Canon really push this on their instagram. They are very proud of it.

Interestingly, DPR did NOT mention it, despite the fact that they seem to recycle every PR material they can grab from the industry during the past years, to feed their line.

 

[justaCanonuser]

I don't get this. So now that award winning films were shot on Canon, people are not allowed anymore to complain about Canon products and their video capabilities or they are considered idiots?

No, I am definitely for free speech here, as long as it does not insult anyone or is just trolling. Critical postings help us all, because if they have a critical mass , the industry can't ignore them anymore, I am sure.

 

[Aaron D]

...people are not allowed anymore to complain about Canon products and their video capabilities or they are considered idiots? wtf?

Really, "not allowed"? Say what ever you want, but when you make reactionary blanket statements, be prepared for pushback.

 

[privatebydesign]

I don't get this. So now that award winning films were shot on Canon, people are not allowed anymore to complain about Canon products and their video capabilities or they are considered idiots? wtf? I guess we are not even allowed to wish for a camera which is in league with 5d2 in it's time.
After reading this news I don't even want 5d4 to shoot FF 4K anymore...I was stupid to want it in the first place and Sony a7r is just another crap giving people unwanted features. I get it.

No everyboidies input and opinion is welcome, however the corollary of your comment would appear to be that every videographer nominated for an Oscar in the documentaries category doesn't know anything about video.

It comes back to the age old issue, those that can do, those that can't pontificate on forums and lecture everybody on how nobody could with the limitations imposed on us by big bad doomed Canon, and how if they did just have one or two more features we'd all be able to shoot Oscar worthy video...