Upgrading from a T2i

Mirman10

Mirman10

When filming one day, the winds were heavy and a gust blew over my tripod which detached my camera which went spiralling into the lake a few feet from where it had once stood mighty and proud! After the grieving period had passed I knew what I had to do...what I needed to do...I needed to move on. So that's what I'm doing :)

Thanks for getting through that tragic story now on the good stuff! I'm looking to upgrade to a better camera than a t2i. I'm looking to spend around max $900, I was maybe thinking about a GH3. I want a camera that preferably performs well in low light, good dynamic range. I don't take too many photos as I'm more of a video guy so video is the focus! Any suggestions would be great!
 
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Don't bother with GH3 future proof yourself and get GH4 save a bit more for it you won't regret it.

It's not that great in lowlight ISO 800 is safe at 1600 there's some risk of degrading image, I wouldn't go higher than 800 but never more than 1600.
 
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Wise move to step away from Canon. If your budget (including lenses, what do you have now?) can stretch to a G7 then get that. Definitely much further ahead than GH3. If your budget is smaller, go for G6 over GH3 in my opinion (though either are fine cameras, just I'd personally prefer a G6 over a GH3).

Others to consider is Sony A5100/A6000 and Samsung NX500 (is going for US$344 on eBay currently).
 
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Hi MirMan10 - sorry about your loss. That's a tough way to lose a camera!

In Canada, it's going to be a challenge to find even a used GH3 for less than $900CDN.

Instead, you might want to consider this $874.99CDN Panasonic G7 with the 14-42mm kit lens, on sale until August 5th at quickndone in Ontario.

This is a brand new camera with a one year Panasonic Canada warranty.

It has 4 times the video resolution of the GH3, plus focus peaking and an intervalometer for timelapse (features the GH3 lacks).

Here are a few examples of the video quality the G7 can produce:

Indianapolis 500 In 4k

Away From The City ~ Panasonic G7 [4K] 42.5mm F1.7

Panasonic Lumix G7 / G70 Launch - 4K - 4KPhoto Modes (shot in photo/video mode - each frame is an 8MP still photo)

And here is an example from YouTube (please watch at 2160p and your monitor's highest resolution):

LUMIX DMC-G7 Sample Video in 4K by Colin Witherill

It's a pretty good still camera too: https://www.flickr.com/groups/panasonic-lumix-g7/pool/

This is probably the best video-capable large sensor, interchangeable lens camera below $900CDN.

Hope this is helpful and good luck with your upgrade!

Best,

Bill
 
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I currently own a Canon 6D and this G7 looks hugely appealing (I hate my 6D, to be clear). Tiny little body though! Might have to dress it up with a mattebox and rails to "sell" clients on more expensive projects. Laypeople want cameras to look like big bulky things so they know they're "getting their money's worth".
 
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I've had a pretty good turn-out with some C-mount security camera lenses that I bought on ebay, from Fujinon I think. Each of them only cost $25, $35, and $45 for a 25mm, 35mm, and 50mm lens.

They're designed specifically to be used on Micro-4/3rds cameras, like the BMPC or the GH4. But the best part is that they have a 1.2, 1.4, and a 1.6 f-stop: so they are much faster than anything else in the cheaper range. Tiny little things too.

The 35 did prove to have a vastly smaller focus center than the others, which results in a very heavy blurring ring around the image if the lens is wide open: but if you close it down to where it's less noticeable, it's too dark to really be of use. So its best to use the 35 for only certain shots I've found. But you can stumble upon vintage and brand new C-mount lenses in various sizes. They'll usually be labeled by inches rather than millimeters though, which was weird at first.

Just something to keep in mind if you're looking at the GH3 or GH4. The GH4 would be the vastly better investment though. The 4k video is only about 15-20% smaller than the full-res images it takes, and the "snapshot from video" capabilities go a long long way.
 
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Might I humbly suggest the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera? Dynamic range will be the best you can get in that price range and the low light is decent (better than it gets credit for) especially if you get a speed booster down the line. I used to own a GH4, traded it in and got an a7s and still own a BMCC/pocket combo and imo the BMCC/pocket has the best image quality you can get under $10k. Just that fact that you can shoot prores and raw is a huge step up.

Just know that if you go that route, you'll have to get the fastest SD cards, figure out a workable power solution and figure out Resolve if you haven't already to get the most out of it...
 
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Bmpcc is going to take at least another $1,000 on top of its $1,000 body price tag just to get it up and running with a lens, batteries, specific memory cards and a speedy computer to edit RAW or prores. The user here is asking for $900 or less. Dynamic range isn't as important to most consumer videographers, in fact it's not even super important to prosumer videographers (although dynamic range becomes the essential trait you look for later down the line when you've pushed your existing gear to the limit).
 
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WhiteOpus said:
Bmpcc is going to take at least another $1,000 on top of its $1,000 body price tag just to get it up and running with a lens, batteries, specific memory cards and a speedy computer to edit RAW or prores. The user here is asking for $900 or less. Dynamic range isn't as important to most consumer videographers, in fact it's not even super important to prosumer videographers (although dynamic range becomes the essential trait you look for later down the line when you've pushed your existing gear to the limit).
Click to expand...

It doesn't take nearly $1000. At least not over the same Panasonic models mentioned.

Memory cards aren't that much anymore.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/824140-REG/SanDisk_SDSDXPA_032G_A75_Extreme_Pro_32_GB.html

Batteries are cheap if you are ok with carrying a bunch of small ones rather than going with a vmount-type solution.
Official:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...esign_bmpccass_batt_pocket_cinema_camera.html

Aftermarket:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...n_el20_battery_pack_for.html/pageID/accessory


And if the tiny batteries aren't good enough, for $200 you can go with a bescor solution that would power the camera for hours. Lenses are the same situation as the Panasonic models other have mentioned and unless he's going to stick with Canon will be an issue that needs dealing with. I don't know what kind of computer he's working with, but prores isn't all that heavy; my ancient 2006 Mac Pro deals with it just fine and who can view raw in realtime anyway? Even lowly prores LT is better than compressed Canon h264. The OP said specifically he wants wide DR and, well, you can't do better than 13 stops in this price range (and not much better in any price range really).

I think it's totally doable on his budget and worth considering as the image quality is so insane for the price.
 
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