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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/14/2014 in all areas

  1. I only shoot "manual." Being a good editor is what sets you apart. Knowing how to work with clients, solve their problems, and answer their questions gets you hired again and again. In my (admittedly low-end) world gear doesn't matter so much anymore. All IQ from modern cameras is good enough now. EDIT: It's just as important to know which clients you should stay away from. Hard to explain that one. You just kinda figure that out through wisdom.
    3 points
  2. a personal favourite for dslr's with live view through a built in evf is to use a battery grip and bring the evf to exactly the right eye level when the base of the battery grip rests against my shoulder. it adds a very solid point of contact, and since the shoulder is all bone you get no heartbeat/micro shakes. this technique has 4 points of contact- the eyebrow, the shoulder and both hands. added to this, the elbows can be kept close to the chest forming a very solid shooting position. pans are also easy since you can lock your upper body and just rotate your hips/waist for a smooth 180degree pan.
    2 points
  3. Effective planning goes miles when making any video content. Sure you can pick up whatever camera and shoot something, but if you are looking to make a statement - pre-planning is key to making sure you have done your research and covered all bases. On many very low budget productions, I admit I do "wing it" for lack of time. This is fine as the budget covers this approach. The bigger projects are a different kettle of fish, planning is key to success! Always remember that you don't ever get hired because of your brand spanking new flashy camera, you get hired on your ideas, creativity, skill and personality. Your equipment choice is a part of that personality and creativity. Get it wrong and your project suffers. Good luck!
    2 points
  4. Thank you~ you are both very kind. I think its a bit like painting, where sometimes when I see my old work, I want to rip it off the wall but can't because I've already sold it to someone lol. Really good point about the actors actually. I think at that time I was guilty of working with an age group that I could feel comfortable in.
    1 point
  5. Ebrahim- there are lots of 5D3 RAW (5D3R) vs. <insert camera here> tests out there. Here's a pretty good one comparing 5D3R to Kodak film and Red Dragon: 5D3R has fantastic skintones and a very filmic look. Skintones look better than Red Dragon (at the time of the test- Red is constantly improving their color science: skintones look better now). Keep in mind ARRI and Canon colors aren't necessarily chart accurate (though ARRI is both more accurate and produces nicer skintones). Part of the secret to good looking people/skintones results in making other scene colors off a bit. Here Shane Hurlbut prefer's Canon's C500 'golden color bias' over Alexa's color (to my eye Alexa is more accurate and could easily be made to have the 'golden' look of the C500 if desired):
    1 point
  6. There's a whole theory of philosophical thought that acknowledges people process "quality" regardless if they're illiterate with the medium. I tend to agree. There will always be anecdotal examples of people acting foolish and making bad choices, but overall folks appreciate something done well even if they can't articulate the how and why of it.
    1 point
  7. though in 90% of cases things like the difference between a canon nifty fifity on a 550d / t2i vs a c300 + a zeiss 50 is overlooked, it should be noted that if you want the really good clients, they'll be used to seeing the results from proper cameras and proper lenses. Personally I don;t aspire to service clients who can;t tell the difference since then the hard work also gets overlooked in the same way.
    1 point
  8. Tim Naylor

    Best ND for Sony A7s

    IR VARI ND or Normal VARI ND. Try this white balance to a grey card without filter, shoot face. Then add filter without white balance, shoot face and gray card so we can see the amount of shift. Then white balance with grey card/filter and shoot face and see how it compares to the first. We'll get an idea of the amount shift and how correctable it is.
    1 point
  9. I've got ready access to the FZ1000 and have used it a few times. My take: There are a lot of things to like - 4k, decent lens etc. Image stabilisation is superb. I never normally use autofocus, but the face detection on the FZ1000 was so good I ended up letting it do the legwork on that front with no errors at all. There are some drawbacks I've discovered for shooting video though: 1 - using the wifi link seems nice as your iPad turns into a director's monitor very easily BUT the screen on the camera switches off after 30 seconds of recording when wi-fi is on, so you end up having to use the iPad / phone to monitor - also, the iPad will display everything on the screen except the audio levels for some reason, so a fail on that front. 2 - Using a monitor via the HDMI works very well until you hit record and the monitor feed switches off (like the 5D used to), so no good there. However you can have a clean feed, so I think this camera would work very well with a ninja or similar. 3 - No headphone jack. Why??? Another reason to use a ninja. 4- I shot on Cinelike D and found it to be more noisy than I'd hoped. Not terrible, but not great. Back to Cinelike V for me. 5 - No ND as Andrew says - you could use vari NDs, but I'm not a fan of them as you have to unscrew them to get clear. I use Cokin adaptors, which work brilliantly with the FZ1000's fixed lens as you can leave the adaptor on the whole time, which allows you to drop in filters within 5 seconds and of course gives you lots of options for polarisers, grad NDs etc (and also gives you a little bit of flare protection). 6 - 1" sensor takes me back to old school ENG shooting a bit - it's harder to get shallow DoF but it can be done if you frame at the right focal length and separate your subject, etc. That lens gets to F4 fairly quickly (around the 50mm mark if memory serves) so you'll never use it as your primary shot, but it's fantastic as a wide angle 2nd cam on an interview for instance. All in all I'd say this is a really good semi-pro camera that can be used to get away with pro shoots if speed and simplicity are needed, but don't rig it up like other DSLRs - this is a camera that works best on it's own. I'll definitely pull it out for handheld GVs and the occasional vox pop.
    1 point
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