Canon 5D mark 3 vs 80D or something else

[yaha]

I purchased my first "adult" camera about 2 years and prior to that had had very little experience filming or dealing with cameras. At the time, I did my best learning what I could, projecting my use-cases and decided to go with 80D.

Overall, it was a pretty good choice. I film myself by myself a lot, so a flip screen and great autofocus helped me a lot. Having developed my skills and understanding of the equipment, I realized that I would like to do a couple of things that I currently cannot.

In particular,

1. Film raw, preferably in full-HD, continuously, and with 10+ bit depth of color.
2. Be able to use the camera as a webcam for streaming with a resolution that is full-HD or close to it. (I would especially like it if ended up being able to do so via USB and not HDMI because I am on Linux)

My understanding is that there is no ML port for 80D yet and on is not even in the works. Hence, it may be wise to acquire an additional camera or swap mine altogether. The obvious candidate is a 5D mark 3. It would solve the first use-case. However, I could not find any info about the second use-case and that model.

My questions are

1.  Does it seem wise to acquire a 5d mark 3 in this case?
2.  Despite being a full-sensor camera, would 5d be a downgrade compared to 80D on some other fronts?
3.  Are there any other ways to approach this situation? Perhaps other (cheaper) models, software, etc?
4.  What is the current situation with ML for 80D? I do have various programming skills and could join an effort, if needed :-)

[IDA_ML]

The 5D3 is the best and most reliable ML capable camera at the moment.  Go for it, learn how to use it and you will never regret!

[Walter Schulz]

If you want to stream in Full-HD you cannot use USB. All ML supported cameras are limited to 576p: https://phototacopodcast.com/what-is-the-streaming-resolution-of-the-canon-eos-webcam-utility/

"I would especially like it if ended up being able to do so via USB and not HDMI because I am on Linux" doesn't make any sense to me. I just installed OBS on Mint and connected my < 15 € HDMI-USB capture device. Done. All EOS cameras are able to stream via HDMI.

Those cheapo grabbers are (almost exclusive) based on MacroSilicon MS2109 and are compatible with USB Video Class (UVC) -> No additional driver needed.
If you have troubles with OBS and low frame rates: Linux may have troubles to access MJPEG-compressed stream and may use uncompressed stream. You may have to switch to V4L2 "emulated" formats in OBS.

1: Depends. There are cheaper options like EOS M, 700D.
2: Sure, AF in photo and video mode is indeed worse. I take the liberty to say that AF in video mode for 5D3 is unusable for dynamic scenes.
3: See 1 (or go for a used BlackMagic cam).
4: Nobody is working on it or any other Digic 6 device.
Do you have experience with C, assembler for ARM architecture and reverse engineering embedded devices? And do you have several hundred hours to make it work?

[yaha]

The 5D3 is the best and most reliable ML capable camera at the moment.  Go for it, learn how to use it and you will never regret!

Thanks! That is what I have gathered! Could you be a little more specific to the issue and requirements at hand?

[IDA_ML]

Thanks! That is what I have gathered! Could you be a little more specific to the issue and requirements at hand?

I don"t know what you mean by "a little more specific to the issue and requirements at hand".  Please google Zeek's video tutorials on how to use ML on the EOS-M.  They apply to the 5D3 too.  Once you watch them, you will learn how to use ML and also about optimum settings.  Everything else is up to you.

Good luck!