C100 MkI Pricing? Buy now or wait?

[James Bass]

The Mark I is at $2500 (again) for the next two days and I'm just wondering what the general consensus is regarding pricing? Will it drop again? Will it drop even more? (it most certainly will if I buy another one now) I have to imagine that supplies are running low.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Noa Put]

You are asking a question where any answer is at best a good guess.

[James Bass]

I guess that I am looking more for "What would you do?".
Or maybe someone knows something that the rest might not.

[Noa Put]

No-one knows the pricing strategy of Canon and why or when that might change, I think the only person to answer your question is yourself. If you need the camera and know the price has gone down then buy it while the price reductions lasts, if it goes down even more in the following weeks, well, that's a gamble you just have to take.

[Jon Fairhurst]

I think the better question is whether you need one in the near future (and can make any money off it.) If so, buy. If not, wait. There are always newer/better cameras and unexpected good deals in the future. Let your projects make the decision for you.

[Josh Bass]

I'm pretty sure they're ALWAYS $2500 now. . .

Personally I would be surprised if any new 4K cam with the same feature set comes out for $2500 (that ISN'T fixed lens/smaller sensor) any time soon.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

Personally I would be surprised if any new 4K cam with the same feature set comes out for $2500 (that ISN'T fixed lens/smaller sensor) any time soon.

How about one with a larger sensor?

5D4? September?

Of course, it might not have all the video features, but I'd be surprised if it doesn't include non-aliasing 4K in an ASP-C-like window as well as DPAF. Probably HD in full frame as well. Likely just south of $3K.

DISCLAIMER: I have no inside information and don't want to start any rumors. The above guesstimate is my personal conjecture.

Of course, the DSLR form factor isn't right for everybody. And if you want exposure tools and peaking, you might need an external recorder, which would also provide the missing XLR inputs and remove the 30 minute limit...

[Gary Huff]

The 5D Mark IV won't have 4K or a log profile.

[Josh Bass]

I am always talking about a feature for feature match when I make statements like that. I'm sure all the various DSLRs are wonderful in their own way but I would want a proper camcorder with all the attendant audio/video/image monitoring/etc. controls that come with a camera intended solely for shooting video. That being the case, I don't think you will see a large sensor digital cinema body (i.e not fixed lens) that does 4k from one of the major manufacturers for anywhere close to that price any time in the near future. I'm not remotely any kind of expert; that's just based on price trends I've casually observed for years. All the fully featured mid-priced stuff seems to be $4000 plus when new.

[Dan Brockett]

I bought my C100 MKI in October of 2014 for $5,500.00 including the 18-135 STM IS lens. I immediately flew to Africa for two weeks of shooting BTS/EPK on a TV series, costing it out at $250.00 per day for ten days, making $2,500.00 on just the camera rental. Since then, I have costed it out on invoices for a total of $13,800.00 and it is still going strong. So for me, the C100 MKI (which I bought just weeks before the C100 MKII came out, mind you) has been an excellent investment.

At $2,500.00, I would jump on one, I agree with you, supplies have to be getting short and once they are gone, you are not going to find a $2,500.00 video camera in the same neighborhood of features and look. I don't think Canon will need to discount it much further to clear the stock out.

Luckily, none of my clients are clamoring for 4k yet. When they do, I will be renting the C300 MKII or F55 and will only buy one of those cameras if a client books me on a multi-week project and needs 4k. I only buy video cameras if I know I can pay them off and go into profit on them within a few months. After all, it's a business for me, not a creative endeavor.

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Gary Huff

The 5D Mark IV won't have 4K or a log profile.

My guess is that it will have 4K in order to compete with the A7S and to stay viable for the next few years. That said, you're probably right about log profile. Canon's DSLRs are obnoxiously shy on video tools, given what Magic Lantern has been able to do though black box development.

And Josh, I fully take your point. DSLRs and large sensor camcorders overlap, but do different things well. Which is why I always recommend letting the project define the need and the need to define the purchase. If one wants to shoot video efficiently with a minimum number of add-ons and complexities, the camcorder is the way to go. If one has the time to fiddle a bit on video and also wants great stills, a DSLR fits the bill.

So, yeah, feature for feature, DSLRs don't quite match up.

Back on 4K in the 5D4, I read a Canon executive publicly say that he was unhappy with the softness of 5D3 video. The nice thing about windowed 4K on a DSLR is that it can be pixel-for-pixel, so there's no aliasing or digital filtering involved. It can simply use the native, optical anti-aliasing filter. And when you render HD in post, the result, even with some cropping, will be sharp as can be. It's the most cost-effective way to make a 25-ish MP camera deliver sharp video. Anyway, that's the basis of my prediction.

[Jim Martin]

Make sure you get the C100 DAF.....you'll want the better auto focus available.....price drop? I don't think so but, you never know....I'm always pushing people out of DSLRs and into proper cinema cameras for very obvious reasons.

Jim Martin
EVSonline.com

[Jim Martin]

Well, now I can tell you....starting now, you can get another $500 off a C100 MK II......$3999....and $4 grand of the C300 MK II.......and $5 grand off the 17-120mm CineServo!.....Yahoo


Jim Martin
EVSonline.com

[Josh Bass]

I want to emphasize again I think it's been $2500 for a while, I don't know why they're pushing it as some special sale price. Unless it's been on sale for 9 months or something and is finally going to go up again?

[Josh Bass]

Yeah, here we go:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/889545-REG/Canon_EOS_C100_EF_Cinema.html