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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/10/2015 in all areas

  1. So for anyone who does not have the newest Premiere I have made available the LUT pack. (shhhh) .cube: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2see09x4a5s16c/GH4alexa.cube?dl=0 .3DL: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3a0bbek7p5qmki/GH4alexa.3dl?dl=0 Instructions for GH4 profile: Portrait Contrast -5 everything else 0 0-255 Master Pedistal: 0 Shadows: 0 Highlights: -3
    4 points
  2. Yeah, that Alexa LUT does make for a nice look. It's little more contrasty than I'd like to go, personally. But an excellent starting point overall. Here's some more clips shot in the Natural profile (0, -5, -5, -2, 0) that I've applied my own custom LUT to.
    3 points
  3. Thought I'd write down a few thoughts about having bought a 1DC as a A7s user. Before that I started off working on SVHS, PD150s, Canon DSLRs and then a GH2, a Blackmagic Pocket and a GX7 as my personal cameras. I've worked in TV, sports and events and now do mostly corporate stuff largely as a one-man-band. I love my A7s, I really do. And I still haven't gotten the nerve to sell it as I was planning to when I bought the 1DC second hand. The reason I was looking to move on was that I was had experienced difficulty on jobs getting the colour of skin right. I do a lot of work indoors, and in mixed lighting. I also do a lot of work outside in bright sunlight. In both conditions I had difficulties, although in natural light I also had times when the A7s just nailed it. However the times when it didn't quite work because of artificial light, or a wonky white balance or just some strange bad voodoo just got to me in the end and I decided I wanted a camera that could give me colours that just felt right - that felt real. Hence the 1DC. First of all, it's a bit of a shock going back to a DSLR form after the tiny, light, inconspicuous and technologically packed A7s. Even the feel of the mirror flipping up just to see a live preview is quite jarring, also not having an EVF, peaking, zebras or any other modern conveniences. On the other hand the 1DC feels like a solid professional piece of high end kit, which is a nice feeling and I like to think causes me to be a little more deliberate in my use of it and even in my framing. The picture, despite what I've been reading lately, isn't perfect. I haven't used an external monitor with it yet so I've been exposing by eye and by judgement, and when you get it wrong and underexpose it can be noisy. Likewise if you're not shooting in C-Log then the highlights are alarmingly easy to blow compared ot the A7s cine profiles. If you're shooting in 1080p modes too it has that slightly brittle quality to the colour and to the noise that I'd forgotten with the Sony. Whatever you say about the Sony colour, the picture is silky smooth even if you push it. I've rarely had the A7s image break up on me, even if I'm correcting exposure up or down a bit. With the Canon I feel I have to be a little careful again. It's a beautiful image in 4k, but just doesn't feel as elastic and silky as the Sony in 1080p. However that silky smooth quality was also something that bugged me in the Sony sometimes. It can have a slightly unreal plasticy feel to it, as if you're watching waxworks instead of real living people. That's where the 1DC comes in. Shooting Log and scrading with a lut and some simple curves - or even without the LUT - I can get beautiful natural looking tones from the Canon if it's lit and exposed well. It almost looks like Red Dragon raw in some cases. The highlight retention is also beautiful. I'm still working out how I feel about it, but the 1DC has given me a renewed appreciation for just how easy to use the Sony is. I hear a lot of people bashing it for it's ergonomics but really we're spoiled, the camera is a little marvel. I'm still not sure which camera I'd choose to take out with me on a trip or a long job yet. I've been using the Canon to get used to it and in some ways I'm amazed and impressed by it, and in others I pine for the A7s. Sometimes it's a good thing to appreciate the strengths of what you have rather than expecting more expensive kit to be better in every way. At the moment I feel like the Sony will give you good results in about 80% of situations, and only fall down in certain situations. I feel like the 1DC will give me breathtaking results in about 40% of situations, good results in about 30 pecent of situations, and disappointing results in 30% of situations. That's not based on evidence yet, just on a feeling. I hope that changes as I get used to it more. Initially I had a sinking feeling when I saw the reviews coming in from the A7RII, and regret that I hadn't used the 1DC money to buy one of those. But now I'm starting to appreciate the magic this camera is capable of, and looking forward to digging out it's secrets. Conclusion of the story - yes the 1DC is a beautiful beast, but the A7s is still a very capable and loveable little thing. I just wish I could have cracked how to make it sing in more cases. If anyone's interested, here'a a little test film I shot on an afternoon out. Shallow DOP shots of grass, sun through tree leaves - you know the sort of thing. Also there's a girl in it too.
    2 points
  4. Finally I could spend some (very limited) time outside and also some time to hack it together: Not the best that I could do but gives some additional impression over the capabilities of the XC10 in bright daylight. Here's a photo of my XC10 ENG configuration that has been tested and hopefully soon will see some real action for a report: Cheers!
    2 points
  5. The Nx1 has amazing video quality, heres 2 frame grabs from a 4k video from the NX1 (taken from facebook, cuz I lost the original files). Ungraded, straight from the camera (once again, taken from Facebook, so its compressed by facebook). I was using the Canon 50mm f1.8 at the time, camera settings were Normal Gamma, -10 sat. -10 sharpenning. You really cant get any better, specially for the price...I had a Canon 600D, and its just another league, even comparing to the D800 video mode, the only thing I'd love would be a Speedbooster to make it "Full-Frame", that would make these cameras sell like hot buns !
    2 points
  6. Did some testing today and yesterday at a state park near my home. Mainly video as I'm trying to learn how to grade the slog2 into something I like. I did take some pictures and at some point I took a shot that for whatever reason (I believe I had left the ND filter turned on ) it turned out way underexposed. I took this shot not for it's artistic value but more for a look at detail rendered. Well, thinking the shot was ruined I figured I might as well crank up some exposure in lightroom via the shadow recovery and exposure sliders. Wow. It's like someone turned the lights on and with almost no noise penalty. No color banding. Nothing. Just plenty of detail and my respect for this one inch sensore genius of a camera! As for a stills camera, this RX10 2 reminds me a lot more of my D800E than the gh4 ever did as far as the look and dynamic range of the image produced. This might not blow you away the way it did me, but I just didn't expect such a clean photo from something so drastically underexposed. Especially from such a small sensor camera. Have a look... I could have boosted this much further but I was going for natural.
    2 points
  7. If the mainboard and main CPU backs straight onto the rear (likely) then it is indeed the heatsink being covered by the LCD. Also I notice when 4K is enabled, you can't enable Sunny Weather mode which makes the LCD backlight go crazy bright, thus generating more heat. It gets greyed out in the menus. Worth testing this I reckon... ---- How often do you record continuous takes one after the other of 30 min+ Live events and interviews... that is about it. For everything else including the long hikes in the sun, you should be less worried than you guys seem...
    2 points
  8. Went to a race track. Only had about two hours, no tripod, no credentials to get closer to the track or a decent microphone. But I still wanted some video from it. Thank god for the camcorder Would be really fun to bring a good mic next time, get credentials and do some reporting as well. Simply didn't have the time for preparation or at the track. Oh well maybe by winter I have time for my hobby again
    2 points
  9. Details on the blog - http://www.eoshd.com/2015/08/panasonic-gh4-vs-sony-a7r-ii-in-low-light-the-speed-booster-shootout
    1 point
  10. As some may know, I have been messing around with the settings while I test out the NX500. Some of my tests have been moderately successful, and some have been disastrous. A couple people wanted to see some lowlight examples, so I took a few shots in a dark room, lit only by the window, with a Minolta MD 24-50mm f/3.5 zoom lens. Obviously, these shots, especially the middle shot is too dark, as I am entirely silhouetted, but it may give you an idea how this camera performs in such lighting conditions. As always I shot in Cinema 4K at 24p, and used a Custom Profile with the Sharpness at -5, Saturation at -5, and Contrast at -5. From my tests thus far, this is the best straight from camera set up for my tastes. Though this test is straight from camera with zero post, I have been attempting to grade some NX500 footage a little, so in the future I may try even lower settings in the Custom Profile. Thanks for your patience, suggestions, and interest as I figure out the best set up for this camera... for my taste. Like others, I have come from a Canon DSLR background, which is pretty simple to get a decent image with a dialed down Neutral, but the NX500 has thrown my amateur skill set for a loop. So, in no way should my videos be a testament to what this camera is capable of... I'm sure in other hands, one could achieve stunning results... because I am blown away when I receive moderately okay results.
    1 point
  11. How do you know it has no meaning? Where you there? How do you know it wasn't a learning experience? How do you know it wasn't shots that captures and rememinds the shooter of the best summer ever? How do you know that place doesn't hold sentimental value to the shooter? Why do you care? If you do, why not ask?
    1 point
  12. I just picked up the Samsung NX1 last weekend. I think it was the best video/photography combo and had i think it was a good deal (€1999,00 with 16-50S lens). I made some video tests and i'm really impressed, very cinematic image. I was a bit scared for converting time, but converting to Prores with Rocky Mountains converter actually goes quite fast. Good choice till so far and i'll be testing around this week.
    1 point
  13. I was about to write the exact same thing, but then you said it all and saved me the trouble of typing. I don't dread the ML workflow, it's elaborate, yeah, but if you got someone on set to download the cards, extracting the dngs and playing them in premiere takes very little time. But, yeah, I know clients, and I'm not sure if I'd choose that either.
    1 point
  14. That 20MP sensor has a lot more latitude in the shadows than the highlights, so it actually responds fairly well to underexposing (to avoid blown highlights) and bringing it up in post. This is a lot like the D800e, which also has a lot of dynamic range in the shadows. This can be nice for recovering botched exposures, but it requires a fair bit of tonal work to get it looking natural. Also, all that shadow DR on a small sensor means that once you get to ISO 1600 or so, you're losing a ton of that to noise. The newer M4/3 sensors, on the other hand, have a much more pleasing, well-balanced DR distribution. They do pretty well in the highlights with a very nice roll off, but can also be recovered quite well (at low ISOs). I prefer this, because there's less I need to do to make it look good out of the camera. Plus, in low light, I can crush the blacks a little and still have that nice dynamic range in the highlights to keep things looking realistic. I've been shooting the GH3 and the RX10 side by side for a few months now, so I have a ton of experience trying to get them to match well in post. They require VERY different treatment to look their best. Both are quite capable, but if I had to choose, I'd stick with M4/3 in a heartbeat. EDIT: This is all in regards to stills. For video, my findings are similar, which puts the RX10 (even with the XAVC-S codec update) at a distinct disadvantage, because all that shadow DR is heavily compressed and doesn't always respond well to being raised. Compounding the issue is that the most accurate Sony Picture Profile (Deep) is very contrasty and crushes the blacks. Portrait is probably the second best, but it's so oversaturated you can easily clip a color channel, even at -3 saturation. The GH3 in Natural or Standard blows it out of the water for out of the box color and ease of CC/grading. The only points I'd put in the RX10's favor are that lens (an amazing piece of engineering) and the internal ND.
    1 point
  15. Definitely a little flat in the skintones, luma-wise. It needs a little more contrast in post or the internal profile dropped to -2. Tests show that cranking the contrast lower than that just flattens the image without providing any extra DR. I don't know if people just don't test their cameras these days or what, but...Natural IS one of the normal profiles. Just because one of them has "Cine" in the name doesn't mean you have to use it. Natural for low-contrast and Standard for high-contrast have been my go-to GH3 profiles for years and provide excellent results in all kinds of shooting environments. All this "bad GH4 colors" and "lousy skintones" nonsense is 100% operator error. Glad to see people are finally digging into the camera properly.
    1 point
  16. Hallo Greg, the sensor seems almost on par with the newer m43 sensors. Looks like you pushed your photo 1.5 to 2 EV in Lightroom. Something I could do with a Panasonic G6 as well. Regarding to Dxomark, RX100 III sensor is a little bit better than G6 sensor in the low iso department, higher isos it´s the other way around. So for daylight RX10 II seems like a great camera on par with GH4 and G7 in the photo department! Would really love to see some more 120fps footage, if it has Full HD resolution like 24p or 30p. Not just on paper but in reality. What is your impression on that? cheers and best regards, Marty
    1 point
  17. vaga

    RX10 II Dynamic Range

    Now to see if that holds up in video!
    1 point
  18. it's worth a shot. The amount of contrast added by the Alexa LUT is nearly perfect for -5 in camera, but maybe shooting 0 and taking out a bit of contrast in post would work.
    1 point
  19. Hey again, maybe giving it a little bit more contrast on the shooting profile could get rid of the tiny amount of greyish cast? Picking -2 or -3 like it has been suggested a lot of times for shooting with the G6 on Natural profile. Did that and in Resolve picked an input LUT like this one: http://juanmelara.com.au/downloads/video2log_lut.zip. Got it from this friendly fellow man: http://juanmelara.com.au/print-film-emulation-luts-for-download So maybe in camera a little less flat and "flatening" via Input Lut in post, then your beautiful Arri LUT on top. Maybe that could cure the greyish cast?
    1 point
  20. Aaron, looking sweet. Kinda fleshy and rich. One thing though as with a lot footage done in Cine D+LUTs: it seems in some shots there is some greyish tone in the skin color, very lightly though. Am I wrong? Other than that, looks like a Canon color parade. Or am I wrong on that one too?:) Thanks for the LUT. Gonna check it out. cheers, Marty
    1 point
  21. Here is the full video with the Arri Alexa SL LUT applied. My camera settings are under the description.
    1 point
  22. Ha Ha, 'the dread' is an accurate term...ML is not great if you need to show a client or crew things like real-time playback or need to roll for really long takes. I kind of like that though, it reminds me of shooting film again and having to craft your shooting style more. ML does not touch anything to do with .h264 regarding aspect ratio, so that rules them out for your needs I expect. Shooting none 4:3 aspect in higher resolution - then center cropping is quite commonplace, True Detective does that and throws out a fair chunk of image either side to deliver 16x9, even though it's shot on Alexa XT Plus in 4:3 I believe. I guess if you were to find a non 4:3 camera within budget that has plenty of resolution, cropping will be more painless...but as Julian states, in monitor frame lines or taping your own guides will have to worked out to give an accurate guide to your frame.
    1 point
  23. @Julian @Hans Punk Thanks guys for your input. To be honest, after taking a trip over to the ML forums, it reminded me of when I I frequented there when I had a 7D and later 5D3 and to be honest, getting into that workflow again filled me with dread. Do you know if they offer the native h264 codec plus the 4:3 aspect ratio for something like the 50d/550d? If so I'd pick one up just to get used to shooting this way with anamorphic. I can't really bring along a 50d to a shoot and have to explain the complexities of alternative softwares to a client. Done it before and they weren't very impressed no matter how impressive it actually is. I'm really looking for a mirrorless camera that has this feature implemented so hoping that Sony or Samsung or whoever will offer it. There just doesn't seem to be a lot out there at this price point.
    1 point
  24. @Julian Great vid Ah yes, my mistake...looks like 50D is still the best crop sensor choice for the money. (£200-250 in a recent BIN ebay search) If 4k is not a deal breaker, and you would not mind a fairly clunky workflow...it seems like a no brainer, you get sooo much bang for your buck.
    1 point
  25. what a coincidence: that very same alexa lut in premiere is doin some magic on my slog2 rx10ii footage shot w a modified version of kholi's pro color settings. i just randomly tried it playing around with lumetri. im looking for a baseline of pleasing, naturalistic color and what i described is working really well
    1 point
  26. I'm definitely a fan of your looks. I prefer (like yours) a more stylized less saturated grade for most projects. The main reason I was testing color with GH4 Portrait was to get something close to Canon C100 colors. Focusing on the girls hair was a good indicator of how realistic I could make the red channel. When I added the Alexa LUT it looked spot on with how it looked in real life. I don't know how or why but it just takes the GH4 color and turns it into a more realistic looking image. 90% of the time I wouldn't finish a video with a "100% realistic" color look, but there are times when I do and it's nice to have that option.
    1 point
  27. BrorSvensson

    Lenses

    220 is still really good for me, that combined with the 21mm will for sure give me the 40 bucks i spent back
    1 point
  28. I'd say wait a bit more for some more long term reviews of the a7rII comes out and make your choice then.
    1 point
  29. I would just like to see less jitter while recording, it looks very choppy while using the LCD, even though while playing back doesnt look as bad. Considering this camera has an amazing processor, it would be great to have 4k/UHD @ 60p but idk how realistic expecting such a feature would be. I'd be glad if I could choose C1 for 4k and C2 for 1080p video dedicated modes on the dials.
    1 point
  30. It's true some of the M42 adapters short out the pins. Put some tape over the back of the M42 adapter, the bit that touches the pins is then covered. The tape doesn't interfere with the screw mount or infinity focus.
    1 point
  31. Not perfect, but actually good news here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?339161-Newsshooter-Sony-A7RII-overheats-and-shutdown-after-recording-4K-for-a-while&p=1986567078&viewfull=1#post1986567078 "Follow up And I apologize if I posted this already I've been very busy. I tested this again multiple times last night but instead of triggering recording on the camera I triggered recording on the shogun. And the result was that I could record continuously until one of the batteries ran out, usually the cameras, sometimes the shoguns. At most I got about an hour and a half with no overhear warnings; when it shut down is because the battery was exhausted ( as per the message on the screen). I did not test on external power. If I triggered the recording in the camera, making sure that internal recording was off, it would overheat in 30 minutes. I don't know what's going on here and have passed my thoughts to Atomos. My theory is that processing is kicking in when you click record even though it's not dumping to the card but if you just let it roll without hitting the record button on the camera you get the output right from the sensor. I tested the same theory with the RX 100 Mark four. I got the same result. That camera records for less than five minutes before overheating if you record it on camera but if you just roll from The HDMI you can get an hour out of it before the battery dies. Again, with no overheating. Weird."
    1 point
  32. okay, here is the LUT I made for clips that I shoot in the GH4's Natural profile, applied to the "Portrait" camera original that Aaron sent me this morning. From here I would normally continue to tweak based on the needs of the scene or shot. But this gets me closer to the look I like by cooling things off a bit, especially the shadows, pulling the yellow out of the skin and balancing the skintones, and making the highlights a little creamier than straight white. this isn't meant to challenge the look of the Alexa LUT that Aaron used earlier. it's just an ever-evolving starting point. I see things in it I would nudge here and there already. EDIT: took some of the intensity of the blue in her outfit away.
    1 point
  33. Get a 50D instead of a 550D. The 550D is seriously bottlenecked by the SD card, the 50D can handle higher resolutions. The 50D doesn't record audio though, so you have to do that externally. 7D is also a good option, but not as cheap as the 50D. 5D Mark II is even better, and pretty great combined with a VAF anti moire filter. Gets you close to 5D3 performance/resolutions. My Canon EOS 50D is for sale by the way Here you can see al the Canon cameras and their ML raw capabilities (it doesn't list 4:3 modes though): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgQ2MOkAZTFHdFFIcFp1d0R5TzVPTVJXOEVyUndteGc#gid=5 I shot this in 1280x960 24 fps, but I think you can get a bit higher. I don't know what are the 4:3 options in the recent ML builds.
    1 point
  34. Before I upgraded to 5D3, I had a 7D. I removed the mirror and mounted a PL converted OCT-18 Lomo Squarefront. That was necessary to allow that larger lens to seat further into the camera body. I believe Tito on this forum did the same to his 550d for his Lomo foton + square front. If you can pick up a decently priced 550d or 7D, this is something that may be worth doing (depending on lens type you plan on using) - or just have a s35 raw camera that plays nice with more lenses. The 550d/7D has lower resolutions than 5D3 when running ML raw, but can still produce great results for a low price. Again, if it's for short-form projects and experiments it is really great - if you need a camera that you can roll for a long time or has embedded audio in a small video file, not so much. Current specs on ML enabled cameras can be found in the ML forum: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum
    1 point
  35. I think I would rather shoot HD
    1 point
  36. I would love to see someone fall on their face on this thing. Or rather, I would love to see them topple over with their expensive camera, smashing the camera into the floor and smashing their face into the camera, which is what will happen. How can you possibly concentrate on operating the camrea. The example has terrible framing and non existent focusing, It's like trying to stand on top of a ball. A really stupid idea. But dont let me stop you doing it, just make sure you have somebody else to film it at the same time. I could do with a laugh.
    1 point
  37. Not to mention prices on cameras. The latest and greatest people are talking about is $3000. If one instead where to keep the current camera. That $3000 would give a K3 plus 40 rolls of bought, developed and scanned 16mm Kodak Vision. IF you buy them 4 at a time. Buy 40 at once and you get it much cheaper. Then one can use the "old" camera for youtube, gigs and what not. And shoot that special project, short film, sisters wedding or what have you on actual film. That was atleast my thinking when the a7rii was announced. I thought "man $3000, I might as well start to shoot film". That also helped me to decide when needing a camcorder. No need for it to be cinematic or "film look". The film has plenty of that I'm waiting on the first batch from the labb. After that there will be some videos including a guide on how to shot film for free, yes free.
    1 point
  38. Here is a nice example of using the 4K format for zooming, cropping, etc. The large 4K size helps to add dynamism.
    1 point
  39. People! This is my first post to the group but i have been a lurker for some time. Last weekend we shot a short "The guy with the bow tie" in 48 hours for a competition. We now just need people to watch it and give us a vote by clicking like on youtube - Easy! Please could you watch the film (written, shot and edited in 48 hours) and give us a like please. All feedback is welcome! Richard
    1 point
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