Leaderboard

Keep things simple : get a Panasonic G6 + Nikon mount Sigma 18-35 1.8 + Nikon to M43 adapter with built in aperture. Use the sensor crop function on the G6 for a 3x zoom range. This will give you a 36-210 range, all at 1.8.

Okay Panasonic, I hereby officially request that you TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY!!! And since I don't have to spend $2K on the brick, I'll take 2 GH4s, thank you very much!! A 4K, two camera setup is in my very near future!

That's not rolling shutter. Those trains are actually bending the space-time continuum. ;)

The GM1 is a mini GH3 with some rather interesting new technology under the hood (a sensor that does a full pixel 4.5K readout in silent shutter mode) for just $749 (with 12-32mm lens) - but could the unthinkable be true and it actually shoots better video than the GH3? Read the full article here

I would like to give my platform to up and coming musicians around the world to showcase their music through my cinematography to an audience of around 250,000 people per month. This is the EOSHD Music Challenge. Readers act as DJ - they can pick music from up and coming singers and bands, with suggestions that might suit the mood of my cinematography and future camera tests. Cinematic music is really important to me but I haven't been satisfied with The Music Bed or similar resources so far. How does the challenge work? 1. Suggest a band or musician on this thread. They have to be up and coming not signed to a major label or already huge. 2. I investigate and do the contacting of those which I like and credit you for the find! 3. If they agree to let me use their music, they will find a new audience through my blog and hopefully sell some tracks on iTunes from a link on EOSHD. You will be designated as the discoverer of talent and winner of the challenge. 4. You can have fun with this challenge and play DJ - use your taste to select the right standard of music to fit EOSHD and in turn you might discover new music yourself which you really enjoy listening to. 5. My cinematography at EOSHD is purely an artistic endeavour and experimental, non commercial and does not make any money but for all videos featuring unsigned acts I will consider enabling the Vimeo Tip Jar and sharing the proceeds with the musician 50:50! This is a new idea and it will start off as a trial. If it works then great! If not then we will swap things around until it does, because I am determined to find new music and up and coming artists. Good soundtracks are really important for filmmakers and I believe in finding new talent. Perhaps you know some artists yourself? Perhaps you are one?

Pros are wondering what the benefit of 4K is to them in terms of overall image quality, when mastered and delivered for 2K / 1080p. A lot of work is still shot in 1080p and cameras like the Canon C300 are the workhorses of the moment. In the case of the GH4 it may appear from the specs that it's just an 8bit 4:2:0 camera internally. Actually the theory is 8bit 4:2:0 4K material from this camera can be taken through a workflow in post that converts it to 10bit 4:4:4 1080p - with all the smoother tonality, better colour and workflow advantages that format brings. This is a big leap for 1080p based on the much more expensive C300 which only does 8bit 4:2:2. I asked Go Pro's David Newman (Sr. Dir. Software) whether this theory was correct... Read the full article here

I have been working on this all year and the results are worth the wait. Go here to get your copy for just $19.99   Highlights EOSHD’s recommended camera settings for filmmaking EOSHD’s 15 recommended lenses for the GH3 (with new tri-shot test gallery) Official foreword by Panasonic and exclusive interview Post production chapter and 10% off Film Convert Pro 2 with every book A Total Beginner’s Guide in the Appendix and filmmaking-lingo-buster Shooting tips from Andrew Reid Recommended accessories and audio gear 250 pages long 1 year in the making Read more and see the full chapter listing

The Sony AX100 takes the relatively large 1" sensor from the RX10 and puts it in camcorder form factor with built in ND filter. However it appears that in reading out all the pixels on a 20MP sensor, Sony have created a skew-monster in rolling shutter teams. What's remarkable about this video is that the panning and trains aren't even moving very fast. This is some of the worst rolling shutter I've yet to see on any camera available on the market. Read the full article here

The KineMAX is a Super 35mm raw shooting 6K camera with 14 stops dynamic range, increasing to 16 stops in 3K mode, native ISO is 800. Impressive. I contacted Jihua of Kinefinity recently to talk about a few remaining questions I had on the recently announced KineMAX as well as the updated lower end model, now dubbed KineMINI. Read the full article here

These things are old and the grease gets hard over time, I had a 54 that was stuck on infinity due to this. The 54 and 36 are very similar design, I serviced the 54 my self and it was very easy to do - not that I am recommending that you do it yourself since they are expensive. The grease probably just needs to be cleaned of a re-applied. From what I have heard about Bernie I find that user's statement kind of hard to believe.

there is no such thing as "should" in filming. Fast movements are allowed also in 24p and so are train stations ;)

Here's my simple rant: Everything's good now-a-days. This kind of stuff is truly getting to be an "angels-on-the-head-of-pins" debate. Sure there's always some new thing that might solve a particular problem, but how serious is that problem, really? Worry more about how to interpret light in a productive creative way and you'll be fine whatever you choose. A good cinematographer with an iPhone will always outshoot an amateur with an Alexa. What's more important? A long zoom lens or knowing how to capture a compelling image? I'd rather learn the latter and then utilize the former. Until you have some advanced skill at creating images you're not going to run into serious limitations with gear. You will be the limitation. In fact, by not compromising your desires you're the one limiting your own potential. Obstructions can create actual paths to creativity. Best documentary shoot of my life was when I said, "the hell with carrying all that crap" and I hit the road for a month with one 50mm lens. Had to make do, so I did. As for cameras, seriously, when it comes to imaging equipment, we're all driving Lamborghinis. Learn how to shift and steer the damn thing before you fret about the camber of the rear suspension and the downforce of the spoiler. I know all the stuff out there can be overwhelming...but believe me, there are no bad choices for imaging gear in the upper end of the consumer market. The bad choices happen when you start shooting with ignorance or complacency. Solve those problems and it'll all be good regardless.

Perfect for babies, kids, puppies, kittens: the target mass market & youtube :) Plus a nice $2k way to create very crisp, 444 8.67-bit 1080p. XAVC-S looks to be a decent codec. 120fps, ND's, Zeiss lens, good low-light (per Sony), good image stabilizer, might be a nice camera for the price. The camera has a very good image stabilizer- that also 'helps' make the rolling shutter more visible: (1080p60 much less RS).

Would help if they were actually available in Europe/USA, and if they did some marketing/support in those regions. Right now if you want to know something about those camera's you have to read it on EOSHD, instead of finding it on their own website. Right now I can't even reach the website. This kinda makes me feel they aren't really interested in those markets, probably they can sell enough in China for now anyway. They seem to have the product to make a big worldwide boom, maybe not the manpower/production capability. Anyway, 6K raw must be hell to work with. Even at 2:1 compression, what kinda datarates are we talking here? At least 225MB/s = 13GB/minute I suppose?

Wow that is bad. Not fit for purpose. Why do Sony think people will accept such severe rolling shutter?

@Orangenz the rolling shutter on that video made me seasick. I wouldn't touch that camera.

As far as I've understood, the BMPCC is using a peltier cooling system, which uses a lot of battery power, but the heat is dissipated into the camera body via the cooling element, it's not the battery that generates the heat. So the body getting pretty warm at times is normal. In theory a component breaking inside that cooling system could possibly cause problems. But it's pointless to speculate, as we really don't know anything. It could still be a number of reasons. It's the 2010's, and the whole mainstream media has become brain dead. Click baiting and copy&paste journalism are the new normal. Oh come on, don't join yet another internet lynch mob, and help propagating yet another pointless (and often purposeful) internet meme. Let's not be played by yet another silly distraction for all the wrong reasons. This isn't worth it. There are at least two sides to this story, too, and we don't really know either of them. All we know that a camera started (apparently) overheating for some unknown reason, that's all. What BM will or won't do as a consequence is none of our worries. Some (now viral) online video won't make it our business. People were criticising the uploading of that video without all the facts, and the way the controversial video now gets promoted online as "news." It has nothing to do with BM per se. So let's move along, shall we.

As Matt has said before, I think your best bet is to get a Nikon D5300. Very good all-rounder with no moire aliasing, best DR and low light in the dslr cameras. It might only loose in terms of resolution but only a little. For example the amount of brick wall in your video could turn into a mess for most dslr and the blackmagic cameras. In terms of DR, I don't think that even the 12 stop of the Nikon or 13 of the blackmagic would suffice. You should either light and Nd the window (movie style) or change your shooting hours when the contrast is much less. The latter is better because using light for example you would need hollywood style budget (many thousand watt of HMI ) to be able to counter the sun. Now blowing out the window in itself is not bad aesthetic. A little better rolloff would be nicer, so you can get a little promist filter (not too much) and the higher DR of the d5300 could be good. In aesthetic, sometime less is good, like resolution is overstated, like you don't want too see every pores of the skin of a beautiful woman.

Chris, having recently done very thorough research for a similar scenario to yours: As others above have pointed out, you need to think about dynamic range as well as low noise to reduce ugly blown-out windows. The only way to do this "properly" is to use Magic Lantern RAW on the 5DMk3 or buy a Blackmagic Pocket Camera. But I don't think that's the right choice for you. If you don't already know that you need the above, then you don't need the above ;) In your situation I would definitely go for a Nikon D5300. It has by far the best video quality of any Nikon DSLR (superior to all of the cameras you mentioned, even the 5DMk3 without Magic Lantern RAW). It has the best dynamic range potential of any non-RAW DSLR in video mode. You can use a flat profile (such as Flaat_11) and get a good amount of detail through windows etc. It also has very low noise at high ISO's - as good as the 5DMk3. It's a completely different sensor to the D5100 by the way, so don't think of it as an incremental upgrade. It has no moire/aliasing (the jagged edges on straight lines in your videos will be gone). The setup will also be familiar to you, which is a bonus. You can also use your current lenses. If you're not happy with the Sigma, the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 is your best option for a wide angle. It is much sharper and faster than your Sigma. It is a little soft in the corners but I have not had any problems with this (something you might want to look into though). I have the Mk1 - I believe the Mk2 trades centre sharpness for more uniform sharpness. As I said, for window shots I would use Flaat_11 or a neutral profile with contrast right down. This will allow you to expose for the highlights (windows) and because the D5300 has low noise, the shadows will have detail and won't look too noisy. But you need to learn how to grade the footage properly in your editing software (perhaps even use Neat Video). If you do use lights this will also help (interior and exterior exposure will be closer, so less DR needed). This is a dynamic range test I did with the D5300 and the Flaat_11 profile installed (I now just use the in-camera Neutral profile with contrast right down, which gives similar results). It's a bit of a mess (I'm still learning how to shoot and grade video to a decent standard), but you can get an idea of the dynamic range potential for interiors from the last few shots - shot in the National Railway Museum in York, which is pretty dimly lit. By the way, I added film grain and poor stabilisation (it was all handheld) so ignore the noise and jello:

Adobe used to have Pixel Bender (but never for Premiere), now Red Giant is releasing what could be a very cool technology: a fast and relatively easy way for developers (and crafty end users) to write GPU accelerated effects: http://www.redgiant.com/store/universe/ Maybe this will motivate Adobe to open up a GLSL/OpenCL API for Premiere ;)

Hello, i wil buy a camera next month. I like the 5d since i am also a photographer. To be honest i am getting a bit dizzy with all the raw workflows. I am using the latest version of Adobe Premierre. I would not mind having to go trough 1 conversion proces before an edit. But in the edit i like to have a workable file which i can use for speed changes, color correction, blend modes, etc. Once i am in the edit room i like to concentrate on the edit proces. Is there an easy proces with the raw video like converting it to a prores file? Can Premierre edit the raw files natively? If it works natively how does it work, sludgy or fast enough? Converting from raw to DNG and edit the DNG in premierre, a good option or outdated workflow? Or should i seriously consider a GH4 if i like a simple work flow? A use a mac pro, will upgrade this year to a new macpro. Thanks for all the help, i need to get some advise. THOUSAND THANKS FOR HELPING ON THESE ISSUES. Ronald

Here's a "low-res-for-web" video I did as a quick favor for a friend a few years back. Shot on a Rebel Ti, no lights. It's far from perfect, but shows how available light can be utilized with some shooting strategy and concessions:

You won't get full resolution without good lighting as Maxonics pointed out. In low light, the camera goes into noise reduction mode, and there goes your resolution. For stills, a full frame would work the best, both from a low light performance perspective, and from the standpoint of getting wide shots with less degradation in the image, including less of a fish eye look. There are some good quality, modestly priced, fast full frame lenses, but you would have to watch your depth of field. In movie mode, the full frames still do fairly well in low light, although the difference isn't as great compared to crop lenses, since they throw away some of the light with sensor line skipping. If you want the ultimate in sharpness, I would be looking at the new Panasonic GH4 when it comes out next month, with its 4K resolution. You would get full 1080 if downres'd in post, too, something I have yet to see with any 1080 camera output (yes, the file is 1080, but the image is not). Michael

PS. IF you do decide to go for another brand camera system, anyway, and your goal is to shoot mostly real estate stills and video with just one camera, you might wish to consider a mirrorless camera with a decent EVF. It would make your life easier. Something like a Panasonic G6, GH3 (or even GH4), or a Sony RX10, for example, especially with an Atomos Ninja 2 recorder. All those cameras are capable of delivering decent looking results. Better video than your current Nikon, and the stills would be good enough, too. Besides, as long as your photos and video clips are being viewed mostly online in a web browser window, you wouldn't really get much benefit from the most expensive, top of the line camera gear, anyway. As long as we're talking about regular dSLR type cameras for both stills and video. PPS. I just jumped to post a reply without reading the already existing ones, and looks like some similar thoughts have been posted already, so sorry about the repetition.

Well, partially yes, sort of, but for the most part, no. Let me be the first to point out the obvious but unpopular proverb; "it's not about the gear, but how you use it." By which I am by no means questioning your skills. My point, however, is that your primary problem may not be the camera. Sure, from those cameras you mentioned, a Canon 5Dmk3 might be a noticeable, albeit incremental improvement, but it wouldn't remove the problem you're referring to. Even in many (most) high production value advertisements, TV episodes and even in Hollywood productions the teams sometimes need to, and they will work around the shortcomings of the gear, whichever that may be, and control the variables on the set, like lighting. I'd say lighting is the key here, too, not the (brand of) gear you're using. The rest is scripting and post-processing - the way you're delivering the story. Picture a high production value commercial with actors in an interior set, for example. In many cases the light you see coming from the windows is a carefully metered and colour balanced light put outside the window, made to look like daylight, and/or the problematic shadow areas are being lit with additional lights, reflectors and so on. Often just barely outside the view. They do not let the sun (or the lack of it) dictate the look of the footage. They can't afford to. Unless they're after some dramatic mood to begin with. In commercial uses like yours that's usually not the case, though. The rest of the magic happens at the editing and grading stage with software. In other words, yes, you might get a minuscule improvement by investing in certain more expensive camera models or in a whole new set of gear. But an easier and more cost-effective way to improve your current footage would be to invest in some lighting gear, post-production tools and, time. Try to plan your shoots in advance as much as you can, giving the weather and time of day some consideration, too. In your case, investing more time on the location would probably increase the quality of the footage significantly. In most cases I've been frustrated with my own footage it has been more about the way I've done it, rather than what gear I've done it with. In many cases I'd been be better off with just some thinking outside the box kind of thing. Adapting, and making the most of the stuff I have. But I, too, tend to blame the gear, anyway. Oh and one more thing, put the perfectionist on a vacation when doing those shoots. On a non-negotiable one. ;)

I've been working on house photography lately. You can might find some of this interesting http://maxotics.com/?p=199 Here are my suggestions. 1. Almost no house looks good in direct sunlight. Shoot either early morning, golden hour or when cloudy. If you must shoot in direct sunlight, as Pascal says, don't let all your shadows go to black. 2. I used to shoot some house videos. Used with an EOS-M or Nex7 (both worked great). I bought some used Smith Vector quartz lights for about $100. I just shone them mostly at the ceiling and let bounce light fill the room. The windows will usually all blow out, but at least the interior will have less noise. 3. Mind your lines! Picasso said if you want someone to look at your painting hang it crooked. However, I think he meant just a pinch ;) In any case, make sure everything you shoot, photo or video, has good lines. (I've been working on this and feel it is something I'll be working on for the rest of my life.) in any case, you want the viewer to feel the house is "striaght". 4. If you have the money, get a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera and an 8mm lens. That will give you about 24mm. With lights and a fluid head tripod you will get amazing quality. Just shoot in prores and do the auto thingJ in Resolve. Extra work, but NO ONE will touch your videos in quality. Will the difference show in youtube? Yes (because h.264 cameras are shadow/detail killers--unless you're lit perfectly within a few stops). JCS is my God lately, so I don't want to disagree, but I think any sort of speed-booster will have limited use because, except for those cool shallow depth of field shots of a flower pot on the window-sill, you want depth. For that you need LIGHTS. Maybe I didn't say that enough. If you had to get anything I'd get a bunch of small and large flat-panel lights. Batteries wouldn't be bad. My biggest problem was running wire from outlets. I guess that's enough of my silly advice for now. My favorite quote, "Amateurs talk bodies, professionals talk glass and photographers talk light." LIGHT, LIGHT, LIGHT!

Sounds like a GH3/GH4 will give you the detail and quality you are looking for straight from the camera. I currently shoot with a 5D3 (RAW mostly lately) and FS700 + Speedbooster (when I need autofocus, pro audio, or slomo). RAW looks great, but is a lot of work, time, and disk space. The 24Mbit/s files from the FS700 are a bit over compressed (have a Nanoflash external recorder- that's extra weight and complexity). The GH3 has a decent bitrate, and the GH4 does as well (including 4K support, which will make very detailed 1080p in post). A GH3/GH4 with a Speedbooster and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 would make a nice combo for what you are shooting.

My goodness - your sample frame grab looks INCREDIBLE! All this news is overwhelming. Magic Lantern for the effing win! I've donated two times in the past already, but will be making it three times right quick!

My results for the mentioned lenses: Computar 8mm f/1.3 Computar 25mm f/1.8 Picture @ F/5.6 Cosmicar 8.5mm f/1.5 Cosmicar 12.5mm f/1.8 Fujinon TV Lens 16mm f/1.4 Fujinon TV Lens 35mm f/1.7