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Shooting weddings, events, or Broll for an organization with people in it, I must say, I get more and more tired of people's fear and dislike for cameras. You're an adult, get over it already. Getting the stink eye gets old after a while. Just because cameras reveal and remind you of how stupid you look and how dumb you sound, please don't take it out on me.

From my blog, eddavid.tumblr.com On a recent thread on an unnamed camera nerd user-board, a user, I will call "Johnny-Five," wrote a beautiful little message about how brand loyalty doesn't work in the world of cinematography. At the end of the day, you have a camera, lenses, and accessories, and grip and lighting and sound and they all come from different companies, from different countries. Your lights can be German, American, French - all different brands and you mix them together and they work great just as you can mix HMI with fluorescent with tungsten fresnels. Same with your lenses or monitors - on some jobs I use English lenses and on some German or Japanese lenses. I don't look at brands, I look at how good something is. "Johnny-five" got flogged on the board. "What? How can you say that? I love my company - it's my family." This is because these nerds have spent thousands of dollars and hours of time on their camera toys. Thousands of dollars investing in products. And they don't want to hear this. Imagine if someone told you that your car or your house could have been made differently. You don't want to hear it. You just spent a lot of money so don't tell me the windows can be switched out with better windows. No thank you. But it's important to hear. And hence why rental houses are so important in cinematography. Because not every camera or light or lens is the right one for each job. These companies own a variety - and they are prepared for how it all changes. Ten years ago Zeiss Standard speed lenses and other uncoated vintage glass were not as desired, but now with super sharp sensors, they rent like hot-cakes. Who would have known back then? Now part two. Everyone is drooling about two new cameras - one is named a "weapon" - the other a "mini". Both cameras don't exist. Well the mini is a prototype. But why drool until that camera exists? The same thing happened a few years ago with a few screengrabs of a camera named after a fictional mythic creature - which I will call the "Lockness Monster." It was promised to have 16 stops of dynamic range and beautiful new color and make it the greatest camera ever made. I drooled. "This is it," I mumbled to myself as I typed on internet camera nerd forums. But it wasn't. It had low light issues and the color isn't that much different than the original camera. But the biggest problem with the Lockness Monster is the same thing that plagued that camera company since they switched to a smaller body - the fan. It's loud - it's on really loudly when you rehearse takes. This is when you need intense concentration to think - to light, to block, to work with actors. You don't need a giant fan on. When you shoot a long beautiful interview at minute 20 it gets loud - really loud - and it's over - the moment. And you can't focus and concentrate because it's blowing in your ears. Who would thought the thing that makes me the most upset is a minor issue that probably could have somehow been solved? The Lockness Monster's fan may be better once the Weapon comes out - but for me, I don't care right now because it doesn't exist. I rather just keep my money and buy an older camera on ebay and figure out how to make it good. It's a lot cheaper to not be an early adopter. To let other people figure out the quirks. Because at the end of the day, any camera that can shoot log - you can make it look good with the right composition, angles, creativity, and grading. Some will look better, but at the end of the day, it's not how good something looks - it's whether there is a good story, good acting, and if you have something to say. Cinematography is always secondary to story. So please weapon, fix that fan noise.

Two words: liquid nitrogen. No more noise, cool & sexy 'fog', and they can sell their own brand in a can (dewar). For super high frame rates you can switch to liquid helium, to get the sensor down near absolute zero. Liquid helium gets the sensor so cold it can then actually hit 16 stops of DR. This is achieved by running the sensor in Quantum qubit mode .

http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/ It's a form of Relativity Theory. We each have different cameras for eyes, we see color differently, and our life experience colors our perceptions differently. This generalizes to all of our senses, all of our experiences, and all of our perceptions about what is true reality. In the dress example, some people truly see the colors one way and some the other. Without any objective analysis, of course people are going to argue, as they don't understand what is going on. In essence, we are all the same in that we perceive reality differently. People who haven't learned this yet rely on ego to defend what they perceive to be truth, and leads to heated arguments. Once everyone realizes this we can use math, tools, etc., to objectively agree on what reality really is, with the understanding that everyone will perceive everything differently. On internet forums, the worst that might happen is perhaps someone spilling their drink on their keyboard. In the real world, this leads to oppression and war, and is the root cause, sometimes intentionally as an exploit for power, of the major conflicts going on in the world today.

I think if you don't get the lens and the name, or it upsets you or whatever, you're probably not in the target market. Move on. There are plenty of "serious" companies with inoffensive names that produce technically perfect lenses. The branding is perfect and I love my Dog Schidt!!!!!!

​Zach, you're one of the rare few who see it. Just ask any Canon shooters and they think their 5DIIIs and 6Ds are great. Not that they're bad, but if they did what you did, they'll probably not hold the Canons up in so high esteem, and probably not go through the nerd-rage to do things like rate this thread with a 1-star rating.

  Read the full article - http://www.eoshd.com/2015/02/dog-schidt-optiks-ff58-flare-factory-58-pl-mount-review/

Excellent point. ​This is why there will always be noise on the internet with many people and their gear. Those that have "something to say" actually go out, spend their time doing it, and don't really worry too much about online forums. However, those of us, like me, that get by doing decent but somewhat unimaginative work (I'm a corporate video guy) like to chat about their stuff because we're invested into it as a way to inflate our capabilities. For example: If I win the lottery then go out and purchase an Alexa... Well, I can then be superior to my peers because I've suddenly acquired a bit of kit that allows me to be 1 or 2 steps of dynamic range better than you! Haha! I'm better! I have the best thing! Hooray! Of course, that viewpoint is mostly nonsense. But, I do have a device that potentially increases my ability. Will I, with my limited abilities, exploit that in an effective way? I'd like to think so, but I would not. Not really. But, man, I'd be emotionally invested into that potential. It would affect my perception of my capability --of my value to my profession. And that value defines my self-worth as a person. It's not just cameras, it's kind of anything materialistic, really. The thing that comes to my mind is car enthusiasts that build hot rods with all the materials they can afford, but couldn't drive around a race track to save their lives.

Few days ago I saw this video on Richard's Vimeo channel and I must say that this FF58 Quasi 1.5 ultra low contrast looks beautiful on A7S. The image has enough detail but still has that very soft and organic feel. The other great thing is that this is a rare occasion when even if the image looks almost washed out, to me it feels great just like it is and I wouldn't change it much in post. Great job Richard is all I can say, both filming and enginering.

oh - and another thing. I would like smoother (slower ?) transitions between iso shifts when using auto iso. As things are now iso shifts are not very smooth and somewhat distracting. I hope that Andrew (and others) with the right connections at Samsung, will pass this blog post on. Thanks.

​I'm glad there's some people shooting on the lovely Penelope still out there. Penelope's probably my favourite camera to shoot on; it's too bad they could never get the whole Delta/interchangeable mags thing happening. The battery life on the Alexa is frustratingly poor - especially when compared to film. You could easily shoot a week or more on four batteries - you'd struggle to get four hours in some cases with four batteries on an Alexa. It's a totally different look to digital - IMO it gets silly comparing them anymore, they're totally different looks. I personally love the look of film, and don't believe there is anything in the digital realm that really matches it. Sure, there are cameras that come close in terms of colour, or dynamic range, or both - but they don't look the same and realistically it's a totally different process - you're not going to get even similar images when using a single bayer sensor.

​If objective truth or an objective fact is something we need to agree on, I'd say it's a delusion. An artificial frame, the more abstract the more it forces people to confess to it. A human disease. Literally much ado about nothing, but the ado includes wars and genocides. Think about it. Can there be anything more negligible than, say, the question which NLE or OS is best? Apply this to any dissensions between individuals, groups or societies. Apply it to your own inner conflicts. Don't worry about things, so-called 'facts', notions. Understand that others are influenced by alien forces . Do the right thing. Use The Force, Luke!

That would suck for taking photos with a on camera flash it would be just off center to give a shadow on walls behind the subject that is the point of having the flash right over the lens to stop any shadows. With this set up even someones own hair would show a shadow then on their own face.

When ARRI makes a still camera, then I might switch from Canon for stills .

Again depends on the filmmaker and their intentions. It's a valid form of filmmaking in my book and if we went by what your post implies Rudolf we wouldn't have masterpieces like this... Koyaanisqatsi (trailer): http://youtu.be/PirH8PADDgQ

Great! Looks very good and not offbeat. These lenses are definintely worth considering - I think especially for a camera like the GH4 to add something special

I think photographers are starting to see the light as well. While I love video and this site is my favorite video resource, I am primarily a photographer. In the last 6 months i've sold my entire Canon Setup (5d3, several L lenses) and switched to Nikon. The difference in image quality and versatility to me is not even close. Nikon is ahead by a mile. I had a brief pitstop with the sony A7r and A7s and while I love the images theyre capable of, they just aren't usable in a high speed environment like a wedding. AF speed is the main drawback for me. My two cents

Jimmy you have 94 posts worth of self expression to your record on this site, and I have 5 years of experience and thousands of blog posts. So if you're going to criticise me for lacking research, at least do so from a position of strength, otherwise you just look like another Canon fan boy. Very few Canon users I know are satisfied with how little they have brought to the plate in DSLR video or for stills in the last 2 years.

Let's discuss what's really important..and I mean RIGHT NOW!!! We need to pull ALL our money together - $$$$$ - and get - MAXOTICS - laid right now!!!! There must be a chick somewhere that will fuck this guys head on correctly!! Some girls really do like DOG SHIT!!! ( i hear ER likes these crazy bitches) Ive seen it on the German Tele!! HURRY!! - before he finds EOSHD and assassinates him!!! PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chinese New Years! Footage shot with FM Module + Cinelux 2x + GH4 4K + Tokina 28-70mm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFPkn1IF74Q

Central hotspots are a ghost image of the aperture stop. They are caused by a pair of reflections between two surfaces located between the aperture stop and the image plane. Often this is a first reflection from the sensor followed by a reflection from one of the lens surfaces on the image-side of the aperture stop. However, it can also be caused by pair of lens surface reflections. Because its a ghost image of the aperture stop it gets smaller as you stop down. If the ghost image is well focused and has low aberrations then it is possible to clearly make out the individual iris blades in the ghost image. The surface brightness of the spot remains constant during stop-down, only the size changes. But of course, as you stop down the overall image gets dimmer, so the relative brightness of the ghost image increases. So, hotspots are much more problematic at small apertures because they are smaller and better-defined and also because they are bright relative to the image content. Hotspots are typically blue because the anti-reflective coatings of the lens are less efficient in the blue portion of the spectrum. Hotspots are also prominent in IR photography because coating performance is generally very poor in the IR. Improving the lens coatings can minimize hotspotting, but can't eliminate it. The best approach to avoiding hotspots is to design the lens in such a way that the pupil ghosts are very large and diffuse, and also to use the best possible lens coatings. Hotspots were well known years before the Speed Booster first went on sale in 2013, and many lenses are well known to have hotspot problems.

You could color correct this pretty easily with a circular mask and a wide feather. It's very subtle as is (in this shot at least)- pulling out the slightest amount of blue should do the trick. Obviously, this isn't a permanent solution, but it'll work if you need these shots.

This is a nifty idea for when you're brainstorming or if you hit writer's block: http://filmflap.blogspot.co.nz/2015/02/write-your-script-with-short-film-idea.html