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I love shooting stills, but I'm always shooting video instead so I never do. I'm not a photographer. The GH4 is a good enough stills camera for me - in fact I love shooting stills with it. It's so versatile, and stills quality (particularly RAW) is very good. Far, far better than my G6 for example. The Nikon would just sit on my shelf gathering dust, and I needed to sell it to pay for the GH4. As you say, the GH4 and BMPCC is a superb filmmaking combo. With my fast primes and speed booster low light isn't even really a problem. I'm literally in love with the GH4. There is just so much camera in that tiny GH3 body it's insane. It's such a pleasure to work with too. And it's amazingly futureproof - 10-bit 422 4K capable! The BMPCC's image isn't going to look silly for a very long time either. I'm so pleased to have two superb, professional video cameras that I know will be with me for a long time. I'm really looking forward to focussing on all the other aspects of filmmaking and not wondering whether or not I should upgrade. I can confidently say I would be happy with these two as my 'A-cameras' for at least another 2-3 years. Anyway, the D5300 has gone now (as has my G6) and I'm too besotted with the GH4 to care. :wub: I may pick up a GM1, GX7 or LX100 as a B-cam at some point if I find the BMPCC too frustrating for paid multi cam stuff.

Don't be expecting an Andrew Reid review here! These are my quick thoughts.... An FS7 landed on my desk yesterday for a music video shoot. The camera is built like a rock and the grip is very comfortable. Shoulder mounting was pretty nifty. I had a brief go of shooting things round the office - yep, got it! We set up the band performance scene in a derelict swimming baths inside a lunatic asylum estate. The roof had fallen in, so plenty of light. 2 inches of water was on the surface and it was slippy. Ideal day for a new camera! ;) I started shooting with Canon FD L Series lenses, the mount I had was shit as it didn't click into place on the mount but it stayed on solid. No gulpy moments! I came into an issue straight away. When I turned the camera on, it would just freeze when loading the image. It was set to 4k 50fps, so to unfreeze I had to set it back to 25fps then back to 50fps. This started to become a major issue as every time the camera was switched off I would have to do this over and over again. Needs a fix fast!!! Another issue was the responsiveness of the buttons. It felt like the buttons didn't work properly combined with slow software. This was tedious because the menus are ridiculously complicated. To change from 4k to 1080p 180fps feels like a lifetime!! They definitely need to work on this!!! I filmed in Slog3, dynamic range is superb. You can also view footage with a LUT. I did in 709. Images looked great on the monitor, very clear and sharp. Peaking is very good too. I held the camera for around 25 angles of a 3:30min song. All handheld for a frantic feel. My right arm was dead by the end of the shoot, and my back was punished. Expected really. Shooting felt right though. ;) To get the most out of this camera, you need a lot of hard drive space. A 64gb card lasts 15 minutes at 4k 50fps. I filled 6 cards and dumped them throughout the day. As an owner, you will definitely need to factor in hard drives into the cost. You will need many. I really loved this little feature with a light meter on the display to tell you if parts of the image were too high in exposure or too low. The function of a histogram but different. Quite nifty. The footage looks great, very impressive. Very low noise. Clear and sharp. Dynamic range is fabulous. I can't release any images or footage due to confidentiality yet, but very pleased with the results. Will share on release. My overall thoughts on first use is that the camera is a great piece of kit, but let down by some shoddy firmware which ruins the user experience. Sony really need to update it fast. This is a serious production camera and it covers so many bases. You can shoot in lower bit rates at 1080 if you wish, but to use the best features - you need a crapload of hard drives. Once Sony sort out the firmware, this will be an excellent camera!

This is a short fashion film that a few friends and I made recently for a graduate of the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, Ireland. It was a non-commercial gig that we did with no money by calling in some favors. We filmed in two different locations, one in Dublin and another in Tullamore over the course of one day. A lot of the shots are available light with diff or bounce. The opening sequence in the science lab was lit with a couple of redheads and daylight. Small LED lights were used in places. It was mainly shot on Samyang Cine lenses 35mm & 85mm and a Canon 50mm f1.4. Everything was shot raw either in 1080p 25fps or 50fps at a lower res. ProRes files were made in Resolve using the cinelog lut. The edit and grade was handled by the director. The original plan was to relink and for me to grade in Resolve but I moved to NYC recently so the director working from the ProRes files was the easiest solution. Thanks for watching, some other stuff shot on everything from 16mm film to Red can be seen on my site: www.richardtwomey.com

I actually have on my desk right now - the FS7. I've not even turned it on yet but this thing is incredible. It's built like a rock and the grip is the best thing about it. Shooting a music video with a RAAAR RAAAR band on FS7 + a GH4 on a drone in a mental asylum with no roof tomorrow. What was Shane on about again? :P

One chapter at a time, I'm translating to english my graduation work which is 90% focused on anamorphics. I hope it brings some light onto common questions as well as works as a good follow-up read after the original EOSHD Anamorphic's Shooter Guide. I'll keep updating the links to each chapter on this post, please feel free to comment and correct me along the way. There are 22 chapters/topics and roughly a hundred pages. WHO AM I AND WHAT IS THIS ABOUT? http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7166 INTRODUCTIONhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7174 LENS RESEARCHhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7195 a ) FOCUS THROUGH (1.33x)http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7204b ) ISCORAMAS (1.5x)http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7225c ) DOUBLE FOCUS (2x)http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7235d ) CINE LENSES (2x)http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7260e ) DAMAGE AND SERVICINGhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7278f ) DIOPTERS AND CLOSE UPShttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7282g ) LENS-YCLOPEDIAhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7280h ) FAKING THE LOOKhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7283 MAGICLANTERN RAWhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7304 a ) CUSTOM CROPMARKShttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7305 ZONA SSPhttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7310 a ) LOMO: EPISODE 01http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7311b ) ISCORAMAS: EPISODE 02http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7317 THE PROCESShttp://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7318 a ) CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7319b ) ON SET PREVIEW http://www.tferradans.com/blog/?p=7320c ) WORKFLOW CONCLUSIONBIBLIOGRAPHY

Return of the living dead. ;) Details here: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=12796

Haha not really sure what's the best term for something like this. 'Lookbook' seems to get used a lot in the world of fashion. My friend (the director) and I met up one day to discuss shooting something together. He knew a graduate designer who wanted some good shots of her stuff and the rest fell into place from there. Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the kind words.

I've never even heard of a "Fashion Film" Very cool concept and exceptionally beautiful work.

4k the future? The viewing distance of a computer monitor is not much more than an arm's length. So sure 4k is noticeable. It's 9 feet in a living room. I leave the math up to you. Not sure how much doc work you do or testing of variable ND's you've done but variable ND's have considerable issues in terms color cast, IR contamination, as well background flaring / contrast issues and then usability (have fun using it with a sun shade). Compare the IQ of any variable to a straight ND. You'll see background contrast especially in the bokeh is muddier as well as color distortions. If continuity figures into your shooting, the latter can be a big problem. Even with Heliopans. Regarding EF lenses on super 35mm as a waste, how can you justify that? Loads of shoots, professional and amateur alike use them to great effect. Virtually every paying doc job uses a 70-200 at some point. In super 35 you get considerably less fall off towards the corners. Concerning the Fs7, I think it's a great concept on paper. Until I've used it or seen some good tests/footage from it, it's just specs. And if specs were everything, the Alexa would be a waste and the industry would be dominated by f5/55's. Have you had a chance to shoot / grade Fs7? Love to know what you think, flawed opinion or not. Hurlbut's review of course is tainted by his biases like all of our opinions. For you, 4k seems to a be a priority. For many, like me, it's not. The consistency with Hurlbut that I share as well is that he leans towards cameras that produce rich but natural flesh tones and low noise. All of his tests use faces and color charts (not trees, buildings, cars, bridges, etc). He's trying to discern the camera's accuracy and ability to re-produce that which he thinks is most important, flesh tone. Based on this, I thought the IQ overall from his C100 II tests looked outstanding (except bad clipping in one shot). Hopefully, he does a proper A/B with Fs7.

Will look into it guys. Just me here, so bear with me!

Ah fair enough Maxotics :) I too owned a d5200 last year and the question of if it was noticeably better for stills than my GX7 has been on my mind for this whole time. I almost want to buy the camera again just to compare.

Could you let me know if you ever receive yours? It's been two weeks since I ordered mine, and I have yet to have received it.

Just my opinion, Inazuma, from my experience with the GM1, which has a similar sensor to the GH4. I've done all kinds of tests with camera equipment, and though not rigorous, my conclusion is the larger the sensor the better dynamic range and the lesser the noise. "Canon" colors are nice, but technically speaking, the Nikon sensors + Nikon firmware should not be dismissed by anyone who has not shot Nikon in any real way--for stills, of course! Tests, aside, I've shot with a lot of different cameras and the Nikon 600 I owned for a while produced stunning results. It all depends on what you're shooting. I have to admit that my opinion of the GM1, for stills, has risen after acquiring an Olympus 17mm/1.8 However, I still find the Panasonic sensors, as great as they are for video, leave something to be desired for photography. As johnnymossville says above, the GH4 is a perfectly good camera below 800 ISO (a great camera when you factor in 24fps 4k stills! and silent shutter) Above 800 ISO, very nice black and white, but I wouldn't shoot indoors with it, professionally. Recent shot with GM1 I wouldn't have taken with Nikon >

not sure it will look all that great without a lens though :)

Love the colors of the interior portions - the blue wall against the flesh tones looks great.

How can you possibly compare and draw conclusion from Slog to 709 footage with a colour chart? A good colourist could make the colours look as good as/better than the NX1 (or the apparently holy grail 5D). Grading Slog is more than just boosting saturation and contrast a bit..

Wow. The bokeh looked frosty in the forest sequences 0:32-0:42. Which lens was that? Last sequence 1:31 on was fantastic. Like a moving baroque oil painting. That's an awesome location. Congrats on a fantastic piece, especially on the grading.

for me..a 35mm film camera..is cheaper than the alexa rental post etc..and I wouldn't buy any high end digital camera unless you can rent it.. when you have smaller projects a cp 2 zeiss lens on the 5d m3...(fast and light and a great b cam)

I've seen Showscan (60fps film) and it looks amazing: just like the front of the theater is a giant window, or like watching a live play of actors on stage. 60fps on TVs at home doesn't look the same: I always turn off the various flavors of motion upsampling (it does work better for sports, however). Showscan, like 3D, works very well in amusement parks AKA Location Based Entertainment (LBE).

I think the most important thing coming out of this test is that if you have good actors in front of the camera it really helps draw attention away from any technical inconsistencies. Also if someone decided to make a Philip Bloom biopic - the male actor would have to get cast as the lead. :D

Andy, your posts about lenses, look, how they are used in movies were eye opening for me ! Lots of useful info. Thanks a lot for sharing. Ordered New Cinematographers book too :) Following you recommendations about Yashica lenses, got locally a set of 28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/2 and 135mm f/2.8 + 35mm f/2.8 + 50mm f/1.7 from other sellers. Total price for the 5 lenses - 200 Euro. They were hanging for months and nobody wanted them even for low price. Except me :) To complete the set would need 24mm f/2.8 and something in the 80ths range where Yashica has no prime lenses. The only option seems to be Carl Zeiss Plannar 85mm f2.8 in same Contax / Yashica mount or Rollei mount (cheaper). Would go for C/Y version, just to be sure that colors and look would match. 85mm is not prohibitively expensive despite costing more than all other 5 lenses currently in the set. Yashica ML 24mm f/2.8 is expensive too and goes for something like 350$ on ebay. Don't know why. 28mm is cheap and optically 24mm should not be better but goes for 5-6 times more money. Can buy the 42-75mm also locally for something like 20 Euro but it's f/4.5 at the long end. You have this zoom. 35mm and 50mm primes are covering most of the focal range and have bright f-stops (2-2.8). What good is 42-75mm for at f/3.5-4.5 ?

Thanks Andy! I have been checking out the Distadons and the Yashica. Wish you still had that second set to sell!

Glad you got the FS7.   The more people keep buying the old 1080p stuff from Canon the more they are going to keep the 4K stuff in the vault and coast along. They can sell us a $5k 1080p camera and then also a $8k 4K camera at some point in 2015. Such profit. Please people stop buying dated equipment and reward the innovators like Sony...

Sure and while you're at it, drop some videos from a GH2 here as well. Remember this post earlier this year? http://www.eoshd.com/2014/05/kendy-ty-t2i-one-guy-amazing-things-5-year-old-dslr/ Nobody says last generation cameras immediately suck as soon as something newer comes out. They've been used to great extent for a reason. But does it really make sense to put your money down and get that kind of camera, when there's so much else out there that's affordable and has 2014-tech? Not so sure...

It's really hard to take him seriously after what he said about 5D Mark II trashing GH4.

This'll sound snarky, but it's written with honest sincerity: Go ahead and place your order. What exactly are you waiting for? Are you scared to actually start making videos or something? Again, not trying to be rude, just curious why you seem to be here asking for affirmation to spend your own money? I'm always curious about that.

The Gx7. If you already have the M43 glass, why not? It's under $500 in the u.s..

you should also really consider Samsung NX1 - great color - 15fps 8k - fantastic autofocus - best slow mo next to fs700

Why are you worried about Matching with ART lenses with anything else? You have so much different glass does it even matter? Do you plan to only use the ART glass with the new lenses you buy to match them and never use them with your other lenses? To answer your question >Zeiss Otus

(Almost) any camera! 5 years ago, there were very few excuses to just go and make it happen. Today, there are none. My own experiences let me recommend a Lumix as a first camera. Just because they teach you how to work manually, without being too complicated to handle (and lightweight as well, compared to DSLRs). Price-wise, quality-wise and with all your described expectations in mind, they probably offer the best compromise. The said 5d Mark III with raw is definitely not the ideal beginner's choice, and without raw the quality is not worth mentioning anymore.

A bit more extensive. Shot on the Helios 44 full frame with 1.2x digital zoom enabled. Cropped to 2.66.

Still waiting for Panasonic to surprise us with AF100 successor.

I don't know if this has been posted before, but here's Mauri Galiano's very nice test which compares the GH4's various aspect ratios in 4k "Photo" mode using a Bolex 16/32 1.5x, an Isco 1.7x and a 2x Proskar. This sealed my decision to finally pull the trigger on a GH4. The only limitation I see right now is it's only in 30p and 25p. Apparently someone within Panasonic is pushing hard for 24p. Otherwise the GH4 (except low light) is an embarrsment of riches. eris