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Some like the Olympus 12mm F2.0 have a mechanical mode, you pull back the focus ring to engage the gears. A linear focus travel is something mirrorless manufacturers really need to start giving us, as a menu option. And on future high end lenses they should also consider a switch which engages hard stops when in linear focus travel mode. The current non-linear fly by wire system that's become so common is total nonsense really. Should never have been designed that way.

Great piece of filmmaking Oliver. The girls' "porno" look detracted from the great comic ideas you put across. I mean, if it was shot with the cast of SNL, for example (and boy could they use your talent) it would have been a huge hit. As I have time, I will watch more! (and I encourage all readers here at EOSHD to check out Oliver's stuff!)

  Exactly! Real world shooting experience tells us a lot more!

Yes I did work on that video above. I was both the DOP and Editor for this piece - I went for a very comical, cartoony look with grunge and cheap effects to balance the tone. I shot on the FS700 with just a Canon 24-70L 2.8. Did the job! You are right - the shoot was hysterical in many ways. I never had a straight face. It's always like that on our sets, always really fun and humoured - none of this military shouty stuff. The FS7 is completely different to the FS700. The FS7 is a very serious tool, built to last for years. I'll miss the FS700 but times are changin'. ;)

This is the place to gather ideas for shooting. Gain inspiration here to go out and use all this great gear we have, and don't forget to post your results. General discussion of the filmmaking world is also allowed here - favourite directors, writers, etc.

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!

Hey guys! I just saw Andrew had posted a new article on the Samsung NX1 and briefly touched upon the SLR Magic 77mm Variable ND filter which is on sale: http://www.slrmagic.co.uk/slr-magic-77mm-04-18-variable-nd-filter.html I haven't had a chance to spend much time on forums/newsites related to photography/videography over the past few months, so it's possible I missed all discussions on it here and on the other forums.. I did a quick search on here which came up empty.. but I wondered if any of you had any experiences/reviews on this ND filter. And how it possibly compares to the Tiffen VND, Tiffen IRVND, and the more expensive ones like the Heliopan. Cheers!

https://vimeo.com/114978513 (review) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXMLjBR4lzI (music video: clean and lots of detail- A7S skintones need work (part of the solution is to use continuous spectrum lighting (tungsten (+ China ball), remote phosphor LED, broad-spectrum FL (kino), high PRI* LED, etc.)). * High CRI rating isn't a good indicator of color for photography.

I've read what you wrote down earlier, but it was during my break and had to get back to work. But let me toss my 2 cents in here for a sec. The FZ1000 is perfect for what you're talking about. Listen, the reason there's not so much 'chit-chat' about this camera is the fact that people here are mostly dealing with certain projects. Lets be honest here for a second, you know you're not going to use this to shoot tv broadcast commercials and feature films. If you're doing some kind of paid job, you probably have a location, talent (actors), make-up & wardrobe, a light setup, an audio kit and you probably had a certain look in mind for your shoot, so you pick out a lens that will give you that look, range and light sensitivity and get a camera with tons of control and features for video to record the image the lens projects. The GH4, G6, GX7, BMPCC, A7S, NX1, 5DmkIII... all cameras that can have the lenses exchanged; cameras that can be rigged and equipped with a follow focus. Cameras that allow for high quality output and have tons of features. Also cameras that feature a rather sizeable sensor which allows to quite easily get some creamy bokeh going on. It's a little less easier to get that shallow depth of field people like so much with the FZ1000. It has a 1" sensor, which is very respectable, certainly in its segment, but if you compare it to most stuff that comes across on EOSHD, yeah, not quite the same level of easy to get shallow depth of field. In low light it's even harder, you can of course zoom in on your subject, which will allow you to throw the background out of focus a little easier, but it drops from f/2.8 to f/4 pretty quickly. Get a Sigma ART 18-35mm f/1.8 with a speedbooster/lens turbo for your GH4 and it's bright, it's bokehlicious... but it's also apples VS oranges. The FZ1000 covers a sick range of lenses... if you want production quality stuff, get ready to take a A and B cam with you... a wide selection of lenses, a tripod is a must, you don't want to run out of batteries, so take some of those... don't forget filters, lights, audio stuff, I mean... does it start to dawn on you already? You'd take all of that with you to Yucatan? Either you'd almost need a roadie to help you out with your gear, or you're very uncomfortable carrying around lots of stuff (especially in hot and moist climates) and have your feet and back killing you, draining you from any energy to go party at night getting back to your hotel. I mean, I understand you desire to have the best of all worlds, who wouldn't like a pocketsized 6K RAW recording 18-600mm T0.95 IBIS camera with high quality audio capture and what not, but you're going to have to make some compromises. And again, for your purpose, this seems to be an ideal match. It's a nice allround camera that covers wide angle to tele, it shoots 4K video, has built-in stabilization, does have that EVF and tiltable screen, is excellent for pictures and is super convenient to take with you. I mean... what's not to like here? If you're complaining this is not really the best choice for more production/studio work... well yeah, that's maybe not really where it truelly excells, but it does so in other areas. Although still, if you're shooting an interview and have a nice setup with some lights and audio with lets say the main camera being a GH4, the FZ1000 will be very nice to get an alternative angle (same goes for the LX100). But I can also see you shooting a little documentary on this or it being used at companies to shoot videos for internal use. I mean, it's a flippin' good camera. But for ultimate creative control and high quality productions, people are going to want to use bigger sensors, interchange lenses and use more expensive cameras/more extensive gear along with it; myself included. If I've got something to shoot and the bulk of a tripod, the GH4, maybe the BMPCC, some zooms and primes, filters, batteries, lights, audio equipment, etc, isn't a burden... then why not? But as a hybrid camera for stills and video, throwing it in a backpack and not having to worry about gear and being a breeze to carry around when you're on-the-go/travelling. No question, the FZ1000 it is. But I'm using it 'as is'. I'm not gonna throw it on a rig, I'm not gonna use it with a Atomos anything, to me it just doesn't make that much sense. This is an all-in-one camera, not an add-everything-camera. Get a GH4 if you want to add stuff. One more thing... Andrew gives you solid information and his opinion. What you do with those is up to you, he's not forcing you to do anything. Also, I do hope you explore and research the w3bz a little bit beyond EOSHD before you make any decisions... make your decisions well informed and list the pros and cons that are applicable to your personal situation. What works for person A, might not be right for person B... although for the third time I believe I'll be saying this: it actually sounds like this camera will suit your needs just fine. So yeah, consider my 2 cents tossed.

Had similar problem. Used dremel to sand between the mount flanges to fix. You just want to make sure you don't get dust in lens or anywhere else. You could also try using your wife's/girlfriend's nail file. http://maxotics.com/?p=296

Sadly, I get most of my shooting ideas from used lenses/equipment I find at Goodwill on work breaks. If you have a "thrift" store nearby, or flea-market, take a quick tour. It's all about timing. If you find a lens, you can buy a $20 adapter and shoot with most any camera covered on EOSHD. Here are some of my finds over the past year. Nikon D80 and 18-105 VR zoom $17 (yep, I kid you not), Sekonic Spot Flash meter (first version, good enough for me!) $5, Vivatar 28mm lens $7, a few 50mms, around $10 each, various zooms, same price. A set of 4 Topcors for $95. Tripods for about $5 each. Various lights $5 to $10. Once I have a new/old anything I go out and shoot something with it--a fire hydrant or any family member I can trap Also, there are always very interesting people milling around thrift stores. I'm not a street shooter, but if I was, lots of material there.

I've been playing with the GH4 today in RAW stills burst mode. My workflow needs some refinement to get the motion blur looking more regular, but I actually quite like the filmic staccato of 12fps. The image quality is insanely nice though: Note: Plus members can download the original Prores LT file on Vimeo. I REALLY RECOMMEND DOING THIS - motion looks much worse when streamed. Vimeo blurb below: First test of using GH4 in RAW stills burst mode to make video. RAW stills converted to ProRes 444HQ and slowed to 50% in 24p FCPX timeline. Graded in FCPX and some grain applied. Also used REVisionEffects' RSMB to add motion blur as most of this was shot with a very high shutter speed. This has caused some unpleasant motion artefacts here and there. The final shot in the video (of blowing leaves and cars) used a 180 degree shutter in-camera (1/25s) and looks better I think. I will try using that setting for my next attempt. Rolling shutter looks quite severe. The GH4 buffer can only do about 40 frames in raw burst mode, so you can't really get longer than a 3 second clip. My card is a Sandisk 95MB/s U1 - I don't know if a faster card would do better. I actually really like the 12fps look, particularly when used with film grain and the really bold colours you can get from raw. I like the excessive motion blur. I think if you avoid severe camera movement so as not to draw attention to the rolling shutter and low frame rate, it can look very filmic. Obviously this can't be used for everything but with some refinement I think I will be using it a fair bit. If you like the 12fps look (12fps is right on the border of human perception of individual frames - I think this makes it rather interesting) and can live with the short burst times, there are a lot of good reasons to try this out. Yet another great thing about the awesome GH4. Check our blog for further testing of this mode: lintelfilms.co.uk/blog/ Note: I tried using 'optical flow' (FCPX's version of Twixtor) to create 'real' 24fps, but it was a mess, with lots of the usual warping around movement (even though I used a very fast shutter speed). Music by Chris Zabriskie.

wonderful images. Personally I think just about any camera would deliver lush things with that 135mm f2 you used on some of the key shots in combination with your photographic skills. That oversampled sensor is capturing wonderful levels of detail and colour.

Sounds like the FS7 may have caught a bug from their consumer cameras. My a7 and a6000 are very slow to start-up sometimes and do hiccup. You might check to see if the FS7 has wireless, or apps that can be deleted. Wireless and apss slow down the a7/a6000. Oliver, did you work on this video, and if so, how did you, or the editor, get all the way through it without laughing yourself into a coma?