Seeking recommendations to upgrade from 5D mark iv camera

[Neil Orman]

Many thanks Cliff, really appreciate you breaking down the R6 and R series options so well. Honestly, I’ve only worked with the Mark III or IV for the last 8 years. May I ask another one please, if you or others have thoughts on this aspect? Another big motivation for buying (or asking my nonprofit employer to buy) the camera is I do a lot of 2-camera shoots, for interviews or teleprompter-based tapings. So I wanted to ask about that area, if anything else occurs from you or others. For such set-ups, right now I use our Mark IV as the primary camera, and my old, personal Mark III for a second camera angle. So this camera is also meant to complement our Mark IV, in such 2-camera tapings. Does that change your calculus or recommendation at all? My employer said I should present a few options, at various prices, so was planning to include the C70 at the high end, and possibly the R5 or 6, and finally another Mark IV, since I’m familiar with them (and there would be a 1-to-1 match of the footage, in 2-camera set-ups). I suspect you’ll say that either the C70 or R series options would be better than another Mark IV (as long as the footage wouldn’t look weird juxtaposed in 2-camera tapings of interviews and the like). Another challenge with both the Mark IV (we got it in late 2018) and Mark III is recording time limits, which can be annoying and limiting. Since 2018, I hear the Mark IV may have fixed that issue with firmware updates? Anyway, I’d still use the camera for other uses besides 2-camera interview or scripted speaker set-ups, like capturing b-roll. But just wondering if the 2-camera aspect (combining whatever new camera we get with our existing Mark IV, so I don’t have to use my old Mark III anymore) changes anything for you or others. That is a big area of my job.

Many thanks again,

Neil

[Neil Orman]

Hi,

Many thanks again to Cliff, Eric and Ryan for your responses on this a couple of weeks back. Just circling back one last time, as I’m about to present the different options to my employers. Based on the helpful feedback so far, I’m planning to suggest 3 options: the C70 (the preferred alternative), the R5 and the R6. But just wanted to make sure those options sounded sensible, based on what I’d use the camera for, especially since I failed to mention one important detail earlier – although I’ve only used the 5D Mark III or IV for years, I hardly ever need to take still photos.

I’ve used 5Ds almost exclusively (along with a Zoom H4N recorder and wired lav) for video interviews in the studio, scripted tapings using an ipad-based teleprompter on a lightstand, video broll, and the occasional slow motion footage. So just wondering if the fact I don’t take stills affect things at all, and the R5 and R6 are still great as less expensive options to the best-case C70 purchase. Or if anyone recommends different options to the C70, than the R5 or R6? In terms of my current usage, the only still-based exception is the occasional time lapse, for which I do take stills on the 5D, using an external intervalometer. But the interviews, scripted tapings and b-roll are much more important for my job.

With that additional detail (on not needing stills), which I apologize for not mentioning, my last questions are below. But just to recap, the original spur for this purchase – I currently use (as the video producer for a nonprofit) the 5D Mark IV that my employer owns, along with my own personal Mark III for 2-camera set-ups. So I’m recommending this proposed camera purchase replace my personal Mark III in such set-ups, as well as provide a better, newer camera for video functions. I believe it still makes sense to stay in the Canon family, for color matching and the like, as well as familiarity with their basic functions. Another goal, if possible, is to minimize the expense by re-using some of the same camera accessories I already have in good supply, like batteries and memory cards. One aspect I like with all these proposed options is they all sound like they don’t feature the video ‘noise’ I sometimes experience with my 5Ds (the Mark III especially) when I have to turn the ISO up at all, which I often have to do.

So with that additional context, my last questions are:

• Just to confirm, since I didn’t share all that relevant info before (sorry), do these 3 options (the C70, R5 and R6) sound like a good group of different-priced options for uses like I’ve described? Are the R5 and R6 are still great as less expensive options to the best-case C70 purchase, for uses like I’ve described? (just trying to present 3 options to them)

• An important cost factor, in selling this to my employer, is trying to minimize the # of accessories that have to be purchased. For example, I have a lot of LP-E6 batteries already, as well as the memory cards the 5D cameras use. Just wanted to ask if the R5 and R6 use the same batteries and memory cards? My understanding is, for the C70, I’d need to ask them to purchase entirely new batteries and memory cards (than ones the 5D camera use), which is making that combined C70 purchase sound like it may push $8K when you factor everything in. So I believe the R5 or R6 using the same batteries and memory cards as the 5D helps keep the cost down too, which I just wanted to confirm?

• An important accessory I believe I’d need for all 3 cameras is a lens. The one I use now, for which I’d still a second lens due to the 2-camera set-ups, is the Canon zoom EF 24-105 mm. Just wondering if all these cameras, including the C70, can use that lens. Even though we’ll have to buy a second lens for sure, I like that Zoom even though it costs an extra $1,300 for the typical uses I mentioned?

Grateful for any feedback on these last points, particularly whether the R5 and 6 still make sense for options # 2 and 3, and that should do it for me!

Many thanks,

Neil