[Craig Alan]

Thanks Tod. Of course I’m not comparing the Sony Alpha a7S Mirrorless Digital Camera to a camcorder other than the quality of the sensor. the comparison is the Sony PXW-FS7M2 XDCAM Super 35 Camera System or one of the other variations of this cam kit (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?sts=ma&Ns=p_PRICE_2%7c1&setNs=p_PRICE_2%7c1&N=0&srtclk=sort&Ntt=sony+fs7) to the Canon C300 Mark II. Yours is the first recommendation for the Canon over the Sony line I’ve gotten.
I know the Canon c300 (before 4k became the standard) was highly recommended but pricey.

And Yes I understand that I can’t afford a cinema quality zoom. I just want an ENG quality zoom for general purpose.

I’ll do a search for reviews on the c300 mark ll and see what comes up. I’ve gotten so many recommendations on the FS7 including seeing some really beautiful footage.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

get a video recorder like
Atomos Shogun Inferno (disclaimer: I’m in the market for one but don’t know the best model for my needs yet)
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1247728-REG/atomos_atonfi001_shogun_inferno_7_4k.html

it will bypass the internal compression giving you better quality, record in pro res though FCP X can handle either codec, it will transcode it upon input and this will save you time.
Can replace expensive media cards.
gives you a very nice monitor with features which helps you record.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

You could create a partition or use an external drive and clone your system on to that drive. Then update your FC drive to the latest OS and stay current. But better check if the latest FC works with a dated After Effects?

This EOL MO for apps people rely on is really trying.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

If you get EF lenses and stay with Canon (or any cam that uses EF lenses) in the future it makes huge difference. If you are shooting indoors then invest in studio lights and separate your subject from your b.g.

Copy a portrait you like and post it in the lighting forum and ask them how to get that look. Or experiment until you start getting there. Have a quick way to monitor your shot after taking it. Have the photo app and interconnect on your computer and look at the results while shooting. If on location then use a laptop.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

in case u haven’t spent all your budget yet.

try this
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens B&H # CA5018EFSTM MFR # 0570C002.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1143787-REG/canon_0575c001_es_68_lens_hood.html/pageID/accessory
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/756810-REG/B_W_66_1066103_49mm_XS_Pro_NANO_Clear.html/pageID/accessory

Its not an L series but its a great lens for the price. EF lenses on a canon is a step up in image quality. If you only care about video and not stills listen to the others – the sony
Sony Alpha a7R II Mirrorless Digital Camera (Body Only) B&H # SOA7R2 MFR # ILCE7RM2/B
is a huge step up for film. Its designed for it and gets a LOT of BUZ even more than the black magic cinema at the moment.
Hell moving to FCP X 10.3 is a learning curve and worth it.

if you love Canon DSLRs for photos then get the

Metabones T Smart Adapter Mark IV for Canon EF or Canon EF-S Mount Lens to Sony E-Mount Camera B&H # MEEFEBT4 MFR # MB_EF-E-BT4

and get the EF series lenses – and in the future when possible get an L series lens.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

back em up first.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Yeah I know I’m not alone on this rebooting issue and some of the descriptions of what happens varies. Since Apple can’t consistently reproduce it its hard to solve. Its really unnerving when using connected raids/media/libraries which can become corrupted. Though mostly they don’t.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

And Photos has (according to Apple but not pros) replaced iPhoto AND Aperture. I was thinking at the time that Apple would get rid of iMovie and Photos would evolve into a true Aperture replacement like FCP X has NOW for FCP 7. Rough transition but better late than never. I’m hoping Photos will get there. $300 is a bit steep for a consumer app and with free updates incredible price for pros, well off kids, hobbyists, schools.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thank you John. And after posting, I was about to comment, I did a search and this time around there are some tutorials. However a truly clean install is not using migration but manually moving just the docs and apps you want into the new system. For example, copy pasting all your document into the new document folder on the new OS. Most apps can be downloaded from the app store into the clean system. Read mixed reviews if office 2008 will work. Some say yes some say no.
Mail boxes and bookmarks I guess can be exported from El Cap and imported into Sierra.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks John and Jeff. Apple is getting more insistent on the change. Instead of just advertising it, the notification is saying ‘now’ or ‘ tomorrow’.

Since the last couple of updates I have just updated. In the past, I would always do a clean install. Would take me a couple of days to get things back as they were but always worth the effort. I’d end up with not just the update but cleaner and faster. And less problems with pro apps than other end users that took the simple route.

But a couple of OSes ago I could not find a tutorial or anything to help me do this including apple care. Specifically getting my library type stuff (not FC which is on an external raid) like mail and links and so forth. Would use the option-view or go menus to open up the old libraries to move over these hidden data containers. I’d also copy over my documents and keep check on each app to see if it worked on the new OS, keeping clone of my old system on an external bare drive. Is this doable? I have updated the last couple of updates and currently on El Captain.

My iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) 4 GHz Intel Core i7 AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096 MB has frequent crashes that I saw at work on the previous gen of iMacs. Weird type of crash that I had never experienced before.

The Mac will freeze with neither the mouse or keyboard responding. After a minute or so it will turn itself off and reboot and act like I choose restart in the apple menu. Rarely will this show a kernel panic when rebooted or any error message at all. For the most part i would not loose any data. Sometimes the last couple of edits in some app. And it would happen often when importing large media files into the finder or FCP X. So nothing would be lost except time and effort. It mostly seemed to be related to the thunderbolt connection. But the behavior would repeat on different Macs different raids and different interconnect. So nothing obviously wrong with the hardware.

I started using CCC to do the copy from media card to finder first so that if it crashed I could start again where I left off. Many times it was in the last stages of a copy. I worked with a techie sending him log notes from the computer crash reports as well as from software monitoring from a program called softraid (it also formats soft raids and comes bundled with OWC Thunderbays). I was finally told that a certain percentage of Macs have this problem and Apple knows about it but won’t cop to it.

That said it seems weird that a hardware issue would be so intermittent. Just wondering if a clean install might solve the problem. And even if not seems like a good practice . Is there info on getting the email and links back on a clean new system?

Aside from that my only concern is Microsoft Office 2008. Have no need or desire to buy an update. I know these programs and don’t want a learning curve for something i rely on for tedious everyday stuff. Or messed up formatting with old docs.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.