For video only: lowlight, sharpness, focus & post grading?

Seeing that comparison video again I say you could go with the D800, you're going to apply noise reduction anyway, might as well apply it to the sharper picture for less money. But again, out of the box the 5D is amazing in low light.

thanks Philip bloom does best review I've seen: 30min but worth sitting thru.. http://philipbloom.net/2012/05/13/fullframeshootout/ both 5D & D800 have strong and weak points leaving me stuck in the middle.

If i could find a good PORTABLE PRO video cam that handles low light i would prob take it - the canon XF100 was amazing in every-way except low light :(

There are alias issues on D800 too but you can put a filter in (See P.B. review link i sent :) sorry it didnt make a link... http://philipbloom.net/2012/05/13/fullframeshootout/

off to shooot on A77 now will check back in in AM thank you all xx

If you were just someone who shoots a video and immediately posts it on the internet, I would have no problem telling you to get the 5D, since for your work it seems better fitting. But you seem to know your stuff, so I think the D800 gives you more potential, you do need to tweak it though, just like you need to tweak the 5D. It basically comes down to this: You can reduce noise in the D800 (which is very evident in the comparison video I posted), but you can't add sharpness to the 5D. Ask yourself, do you do post work. Because with treatment, the D800 wins, untreated the 5D wins. I haven't seen the Bloom comparison, I'll check it out, thanks for that.

Philip recons all the 5D MKIII footage needs sharpening in post and then it comes to life will check your link out on its and the de noiser ive moved to FCPX and there are no de noisers that are compatible - funny enough i shoot a lot of stuff thet ends u on utube for clients although i woud like to expand

have u seen the following new cams: Black Magic Cinema Camera SONY PMW-100 also like to give the Canon XF100 another go and Sony HXR-NX5 to see which offers bestportability/specs and low loight

yep this was the 1st vid i saw got really exited for the D800 thing is they using some serious kit with the cams :)

the 1st clip was very insightful thank u kindly let me know your take on the PB one

I'm going with the D800 when I upgrade. Canon's high noise ceiling is due to the in camera noise reduction. This can be beneficial depending upon your workflow. On the positive side, you don't need to denoise footage over 1600iso, it's clean looking, and not demanding in post. Downside is that the blacks get crushed as a way to disguise noise, and the overall image will always be softer than the D800's. Also, the uncompressed HDMI out is fantastic if you need a cinema-level image and can afford the $1000 for the Ninja 2 and a HDD. Better latitude, color correction, less artifacts. Although I do hear good things of the Canon All-I compression. Again, it depends on HOW you want to shoot. I've seen great work with a D800 where at high ISO (6400), with Neat Video denoising and some color correction, you can get a sharper, more detailed image than a 5DmkIII. So here's my perspective: If you just want to run, gun, and have that quick, high-throughput, versatile workflow, grab the 5dmkIII. You can shove Nikon and Canon glass on it with adapters. If you want a sharper image with more depth in shadows and the opportunity to capture higher quality video with an external recorder, grab the D800.

Thank you so much - great advice, it affirms a lot of what i have researched too. It looks like i am going to be going for the Black Magic Cinema Camera and be a test subject for the new technology and learn along the way. Many thanks mate :)

Good luck! Let us all know how it fares.

Will do! rather exited to be getting one of the 1st cams.

agreed but the video is softer and needs more treatment in post, Nikon sharper but low light not as great :(

I have a sony A77 so the D800 should be quite a big leap - sony only lets you go up to 1600 iso on video and its pretty noisy at 1600