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Just uploaded some test shots to my blog taken with a Kowa B&H on a Voigtlander 28mm f/2.8. Check it out if you're interested :-) http://alexeymarfin.com/anamorphic-new-york-city/ Let me know what you think!

@araucaria - The grade is a custom one, from a short film I'm making now. I like the Impulz LUTs, I used them as reference, though I agree that they can be a bit strong. But yeah, I boosted the red gamma in the shadows ;-) @JohnBarlow - Yeah I'm interested, can you tell me more? How does the single focus modification work? I was actually planning to 3d-print a set of custom gear wheels to rack double-focus on both Kowa and taking lens (already measured + drawn up, just need to design an extra bracket arm to mount the gears on the follow focus)

Why'd you take the video down? =[ one of my favorites

The F5 shoots 2k internally. I shot on it yesterday at 100fps @ 2k. I regularly shoot Alexa @ 2k. I shoot 4k/5k on RED because I don't want to window my sensor. The commercial yesterday was for cinema release. I have no issue not shooting 4k. There are times when it is helpful, but it is rare that it is necessary, and also rare that you would shoot <4k simply because you couldn't afford a 4k camera - there's the 4K Blackmagic camera ready for you at 1/3rd the price, if that's the only thing you need. If 4k was the only thing people were worried about, no-one would have bought the F5 in favour of the Blackmagic Production Cam. The F55 contains other hardware improvements, which would be the main deciding factor for anyone deciding between the two - the global shutter, sensor circuitry, improved colour gamut etc. There's no way that F55 owners bought that camera over the F5 purely for 4k. 4k may have been one of the deciding factors in some cases, but Scarlets shoot 4k for the same price as an F5. So there are few circumstances where the price of an F55 is justified over a Scarlet purely for 4k capture. I think you'd find most F55 owners bought the camera based on more than just the ability to shoot 4k internally (especially considering you can shoot 4k raw with the addition of the external recorder - which is <1/2 the price difference between F5 and F55; if you really wanted 4k, just grab the recorder). A good majority of feature films are still released in 2k. If the quality of your Cinematography is based purely on the resolution of the camera you're shooting on, I've got bad news for you. That's exactly what Scarlets are. The difference being the release cycle. Sony's potential failing was releasing both cameras at the same time. With RED, the Epic was out and everyone saw the kinds of things it could do. Then, the Scarlet was released - an 'affordable epic' if you may. With Sony, releasing both at the same time meant that the F55 became an 'expensive F5' rather than the other way around (a la RED). Realistically, at least the F55 has improved colour, global shutter etc. to somewhat warrant the price difference. The difference between the Epic and Scarlet is 4k @ up to 48fps vs 5k @ up to 120fps, respectively. That's really it. We're not even talking 2k vs 4k - it's 4k vs 5k for the ~$15,000+ price difference. If you're happy shooting XAVC vs shooting ProRes and DNxHD, then be my guest. Personally, I'd take ProRes 2k over XAVC 4k any day (the Alexa only shoots 2k ProRes internally, btw), and I'd be surprised if there were many rental houses that would forego the ability to shoot ProRes/DNxHD to keep the 4k internal option (that you can't even playback). Also, it's rare for any rental house to send out 'hacked' cameras - and regardless of what this actually is, the fact that it may void a warranty will be enough for the majority of the rental houses to stay right away from it. This is exactly right. The only time you should invest in a camera is if you have enough work lined up in the following 18 months to be able to pay it off (and that you know you're going to be able to book your camera on). After that, it's not worth it. This is a dangerous comment. It entirely depends on your market. In some markets, those who early-adopted the Alexa have a camera that will still rent strong. In other markets, those who early adopted the Alexa went from renting their cameras out at top-dollar, to marking them down 30-40% to compete with the Alexa XT, Alexa Studio, Alexa Plus etc. rentals. Everyone did know that. That being said, the F5 and F55 do have minor hardware differences, but Sony never even pretended that the hardware was wildly different. Anyone who wasn't aware that the ability to shoot 4k internally on the F5 was simply a matter of software limitation hasn't hung around high-end cameras enough. The Alexa's high-speed license is a 37kb encrypted zip file that you pay ~$4,000 for and put on an SD card. It's purely software. But that's how these companies work. There's not one that doesn't work in a similar way. Really the only difference here is that Sony hasn't put as much effort into encrypting that part of the software. Arri's Amira pricing structure is practically identical as well, the only difference being that they're all called an Amira. Even Blackmagic pulled the same card with the Cinema Cam and Production Cam. And yet, Canon has sold so many C300s. You forget that SLRs have always been primarily about photography. Canon has always had a pro video line. It makes absolutely zero sense to cannabalize their pro video line in order to sell cheap, feature-rich SLRs. People are still buying 7Ds, they're still buying Rebels, they're still buying 5Ds. And they're buying C300s. Digital video cameras have had wild markups based on minor hardware and software difference for as long as I can remember.

On the E-M5 I use a custom picture mode (in order to save the settings) that uses picture mode natural, sharpness -2, saturation 0 (though this could be -2 if you really want it flat), contrast 0, with a custom curve of shadows +2, highlights -2. The idea is that the custom curve is more controllable than setting contrast to -2. Never use auto WB as rather than setting wb once at the start of the shoot (as most other cameras I've used do), it will continuously vary the wb throughout the shot. NR to off. You have to shoot with the mode dial on "movie", as it is the only way to lock exposure (yes, even in manual mode, exposure doesn't lock in video for some reason). Unfortunately movie mode is a kind of baby mode that gimps the best features of the u.i: 1. it removes the exposure meter from the display (why, Olympus why??). 2. it overrides your custom settings for the down button and right button. I have these set up for one touch access to ISO and WB, the same as on a Panasonic. This setting is only recognised in the photo modes. 3. it replaces the fantastic quick menu that the photo modes get with a stripped down menu that doesn't include, for instance, picture styles. So you have to jog the dial round to one of the PASM photography modes if you want to see the exposure meter, check which picture style you're using, have one touch access to wb ISO etc etc. For photos, the UI is absolutely perfect. For video, it's gimped, for no reason that I can fathom. There's nothing remotely deal-breaking of course, but it will come as a bit of a shock coming from a Panasonic, which has a wonderful UI for videographers. Of course, perhaps all these UI complaints were fixed on the E-M1. I'd be very interested to hear. To maintain 180 degree shutter, shoot at 1/60. This will make electric lighting flicker in 50hz environments though, so use 1/50. Honestly, I don't think you will be able to tell (did you watch my video on one of the OMD firmware threads that mixed 1/50 and 1/60 shutter? Could you see a difference?) If you retime 30p footage in a 24p timeline, you'll get a nice 80% slow motion effect. I'm not sure that you'd want to put it in a 25p timeline, but presumably it would be 83 and a third % slow mo.

Try Grainzilla Free Film Grain https://vimeo.com/81867556