Camera selection for multipurpose portable system

Hi,

I recently had a chance to make some videos of a recent trip up to Scotland. It was the first time ever doing this and I had a blast though there is still a lot to learn....

I'm coming over from stills photography where I have 2 DSLR camera systems: a Pentax K1 mkII and a Nikon D500.
I use them for landscape, wildlife, macro, and astro (wide angle milkyway stuff but also deep space objects like galaxies and nebula etc).

Before the trip up to Scotland I bought a DJI Action 4, Pocket 3 and Air 3 drone and used them to create these 3 videos while up there


My intention is to create more "overlanding" videos like this and add other elements such as wildlife, macro, interviews, underwater footage (if I go scuba diving), and night sky captures, as well as whatever I encounter along the way.


I had a little look at a sequence on Youtube, which really impressed me. The camera used was a Micro 4k G2 Studio with older Nikon lenses....


As I would like something that can be put together fairly quickly (perhaps even in rig form kept in a vehicle then unloaded and put onto a tripod), I'm not sure if one would consider this "run and gun" type of shooting?
But I was considering the Blackmagic Pocket range of cameras... with my eye quite closely on the 4k version.

Would this be recommended for my use case? I guess the down side to it would be no articulating monitor so I would need to use an extra LCD in situations where you point the camera towards you in order to talk into it, or a vehicle where you are trying to get 2 people in the shot while facing the camera.... additionally I think the AF is just a single point rather then any type of face detection etc... - though to be fair the Pocket 3 will do this; how would using a gimbal work with it I wonder like a DJI one?


I did stumble across an article on the BM website too which showed the Pocket 6k and 4k being used for wildlife...


No idea about lenses either.... I just checked the MFT lenses and the "Pro" lenses from Olympus (OM Systems) seem to have constant aperture and focal lengths up to 500mm (for wildlife) when the 1.25x TC is engaged but how good are they for video is another question?
I did check out Canon and one other manufacturer but their long range telefoto lenses where up at price ranges beyond what I can afford at around $60k (US)


All in all what should I start thinking about?

I mean I could go for a Lumix GH6 VDSLR which seems popular but then I already have 2 dedicated photographic systems and don't need another one....
I would also like to shoot in RAW too for color grading.


Meanwhile I have purchased Davinci Resolve Studio and started playing around with it by reworking my content from Scotland (which was originally done in Shotcut) and I can see a massive improvement in some areas... especially the denoise AI which I didn't have before.
I still need to learn more as the Landrover scene (which was badly underexposed using the Action4) looks quite a bit plasticky after the denoise, even after sharpening - but that's another topic for another time. - just to clarify that this isn't in the video above as that is the original really noisy one done using Shotcut.


Any thoughts would be really appreciated

ps,. not sure if it's because I just signed up but the forum isn't allowing me post URL's even though there is a dedicated URL markup button in the control panel?

I'm just checking out the Nikon website right now and looks like the Z6III might be a suitable candidate....

Looks like it does RAW video as well as having AF and stabilization for non-gimbal based handheld stuff, and it's full frame....

However, which one would fair better?? Guess I'll take a look a Youtube to see if there are any comparisons in terms of low light performance and other bits.


This seems to be a tricky decision - or get both LOL

Lots of head scratching right now.... Pocket 4k or 6k Pro or Nikon Z6III or Lumix GH6?

Lucky I'm not impulsive

A little more digging here and reading....

I found a great thread on Reddit which has many people comparing the Pocket 6k Pro and the Canon C70....
Also found a forum posting here on the Cinematography side about the Canon C70.

It seems BM shooters love the color and output of BM cameras and the fact that they shoot RAW...

Just a quick glimpse and seems like the Canon has the XF-AVC codec - is that gradable?
...actually something that is confusing for me is that on the C80 product page it gives a comparison and shows CinemaRAW Lite codec for both C80 and C70 models??
Does that mean it *does* support RAW?


However, something being discussed in the Reddit thread from people who use both BMP6k and C70 is that the C70 is better for solo shooters over the Blackmagic offerings which really need a team of people and lots of setup time.
I'm also quite in favor of the fully articulating screen as it's good for vlogging purposes too.


Probably after everything I am kind of starting the lean towards the C70 at this moment....

Strange at how buying ones first camera is such a difficult experience, I remember how much research I had to do before I bought my Pentax K1_2 uh.....

“… Reddit thread from people who use both BMP6k and C70 is that the C70 is better for solo shooters over the Blackmagic offerings which really need a team of people and lots of setup time.”

Wow, so a Pocket Camera isn’t for solo shooters! No wonder BMD is dumping the BMPCC4K at $995 now. I have been shooting with the BMPCC4K for so many years alone; guess I was doing it all wrong. Thank goodness we have such expert guidance from Reddit.