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Look at the bright side, it's gonna be a great 'feature' when Christmas comes around.

Interesting article and thanks Andrew for these tests. I have had the GH4 about a year now, I had thought of selling it and getting one of the newer Sonys, but after quite a bit of reading and deliberation I decided to keep it and not go with the current flavors of the month. The thing is Panasonic are a bit like Canon, a bit more cutting edge and obviously geared towards the hobbiest and film maker with not a lot of money, but they basically have the same conservative approach as Canon, point being when they build a camera its pretty much reliable and works well without a lot of add ons and cluttered menus. The GH4 for example never overheats, doesnt chew up batteries, runs forever on a single battery, has decent rolling shutter performance, gives a great detailed image with room to color correct within reason and needs only a few lenses. I have even shot bands at night with just the Panasonic 12-35 2.8 (obviously no speed booster) and have obtained a very nice image even tho it was underexposed. I learnt a long time ago that the more hurdles you have to jump through in order to be creative and get something in the moment, the less you will be inclined to do so, because of the amount of work you have to do to set things up in the first place. And this is where I feel Sony may be over reaching and in too much of a rush, they have made a great camera the in the A7RII...but it overheats, has bad rolling shutter in S35 mode, and a more or less has a difficult Log to use, complex menu system etc...it seems to me that they have great techs, great sensors, but are in too much of a rush to capture the market, and that may work for a short time, but in the long term I dont feel it will. Now if the V-Log turns out to be as good as many of the testers say, then the poor old underdog GH4 may just be the hidden gem in the pack, (Some owners of Panny and Sony cameras are already saying that) but I guess we will see. I read an article on News Shooter that I totally agreed with from a pro News Camera Man that I totally agree with, its an interesting read...here http://www.newsshooter.com/2015/08/07/sky-news-cameraman-andy-portch-reviews-a-year-shooting-news-with-the-panasonic-gh4/ Cheers

Get it now I have just released a Setup Guide for the Samsung NX1. This guide makes the camera compatible with a range of LUTs so you can more easily apply stylistic moods to 4K footage in post. Along with the LOG conversion workflow, the guide explains the best settings for the NX1 and what you must know before using it for video work. The Samsung NX1 is one of my favourite cameras for video and the 4K image quality is simply the best you can get for the money right now. I have been hard at work on a guide for a while now. This is essentially a 'brain dump' of everything I know about the NX1. It is an all-in-one reference so you no longer have to search forums for the information and the 12 page arguments that goes with it. The LUT and workflow included with the book, I am particularly proud of. This converts footage shot with GammaDR on the NX1 to ultra-flat LOG in post. When used with a transcoding app like EditReady it creates 10bit ProRes with a Canon LOG style gamma curve and saturation. This allows you to then apply a LUT in your NLE such as the excellent DELUTS range from James Miller. The whole process is made easy to understand in the book and the camera becomes so much more fun for colour correction as a result. Introduction and general recommendations Firing up the NX1 for video and about the specFilmmaking Settings Optimal settings for 4K video and slow-moThe NX1 In Post The best way to transcode H.265, convert to LOG and apply a LUTRecommended lenses with character Lenses I recommend fitting to the NX1Get it now

So I decided to look at 1080p a bit since that question has come up. I shot a boring subject - the contents of a cabinet - because its raining outside. Everything was shot at ISO 6400, same shutter speeds, same aperture, STD profile 0,0,0 and AWB because this crap takes time and I didn't feel like messing with it. I have three images of combined screen caps. The first is 1080p from the A7rII in s35, FF and 1080p from the A5100 to compare. The second is 1080p quickly downsized from 4k on the A7rII in s35 and FF. The third is the full rez 4k frames. Note - all the 4k was shot at 60mbps because I took the day off and I left my U3 card at the office. I used the FE 70-200 to try and match framing as close as possible. I left it at f/8, despite the differences when moving between FF and crop modes. S35 is the cleanest in either 4k or 1080p, and downsized its clearly better than the others. Its a push between the s35 1080p on the A7rII and the A5100. FF is the worst at high ISO's, its much better at 1600 and below. 4k to 1080p really pops compared to 1080p in cam. Its not the best scenario, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like. I don't have anything else to test it against. Right now the A5100 and A7rII are all that's in the bag.

Lens cap tests. quadruple facepalm. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/15706935630_58fe998d2c_o.jpg This image had about 50 dead pixels in it. from the a7rmk1. I could have left them in - the resolution is so high that the dead pixels are almost invisible and people are looking at the image rather than searching for the dead pixels, but i felt the 2mins effort processing and removing them was worth it. I'm pretty sure Sony would have just stuck the same sensor into the mk2 if there wasnt an advantage from the new sensor they've spent millions developing. I suggest people look on flickr for samples of landscapes from the a7rm2 before taking unskilled people's opinions seriously. Plenty of talented photographers showing what this camera does with lenses on, rather than with lens caps on!

Vaga, the image came from a raw file so I don't suppose we'll see quite that much dynamic range from the xvacs files. So far though, I've been extremely impressed with the slog2's ability to expose the entire scene well in high contrast situations. I haven't as yet used the camera for low light and I don't expect it to be A7s quality but for the way I intend to use the camera it should work perfectly. It seems to me that where the A7s can be overexposed 2 stops or even a little more, the RX10 tends to clip a lot sooner. I've been exposing to protect the highlights and have found plenty of room to lift the mids and shadows. What I need is a good plug in for Davinci to handle the bit of noise I'm seeing in the shadows. I do look forward to Andrew's review to gain some knowledge from him on exposure. PannySVHS, yes I agree that this camera will be at it's best in good light. I will be interested to see what more advanced users will be able to do in dark conditions with optimal exposure and professional post work. I'm betting this camera will get the job done. As far as the high frame rates, I haven't tried using them yet. I'm mainly interested in the slog2 at this point but I'll get around to the fancy stuff in due time. I do know the 120fps is supposed to be 1080p so it should look pretty good. TheRennaissanceMan, I think you make some great points and they are in line with what I'm seeing. Great shadow recovery but the highlights need to be guarded at least somewhat. When I said the files remind me of the D800E, I did not intend to say they rival them. The just seem to have great elasticity and excellent rendering of fine detail. Last year, I owned the D800E, the GH4 and the RX100m2. I purchased the GH4 in hopes that I could get rid of the very heavy D800 kit I take when backpacking. I wanted a lighter substitute that I could use for both stills and video. The video was outstanding but (and this is a subjective opinion) the stills just weren't what I hoped. They looked nice. They didn't however rival the D800 in any way. Looking at similar images in lightroom, I actually found that I preferred the RX100 images to those of the gh4. Perhaps the familiarity of the files and the way they behave in post reminded me of the D800 files. With familiarity comes a certain comfort factor. I just couldn't get the gh4 files to my liking. All that being said, I still don't think the stills from the RX10 will be enough to make me leave the D800 at home. They're very good and will do in most situations. They're not D800E good for that once in a lifetime shot you often get in the big wilderness. This is where the A7rII starts to look really interesting...

When recording for long, turning the lcd brightness all the way down help ALOT, on my nex 7 i can only get around 4 min in hot sunlight until it overheates. When i have screen all the way down i get 15min

I would live with compression issue as I have seen nice work with A7R. Even though colors and contrast are bad (see my article here: Fun story A7R / 5D III ) But this long exposure DR and noise problem... I had a D5500 during my trip in the rockies where I filmed this video featured in the huffington: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/08/10/canadian-rockies-video_n_7967942.html Also, I did these pictures with it: https://500px.com/photo/116472669/false-creek-by-loup-fsr https://500px.com/photo/116251089/star-over-assiniboine-by-loup-fsr https://500px.com/photo/116327471/reflection-pool-by-loup-fsr The D5500 grades easy and well compared to GoPro and Phantom 3, I was amazed actually. So I am thinking more and more getting Nikon for video & photo, and RX100 for 4K/slowmo/portability. Looks like a great combo. Only thing is that I don't know why I have always preferred Canon to Nikon. Let's see the 5DIV I am 98% sure it will be 4K. Cheers.

Yeah, people are doing "great" tests these days... you have to download it first, then use Twixtor and then watch it

You know what guys, either I am going mad or I am starting to see why Canon held off on significant improvements to video like 4K on their consumer DSLRs so far. If landscape photography with a long exposure suffered due to heat, Canon would lose half their customers.

Love the commentary, you should consider producing meditational audio tapes.

The 120 fps is unrivaled in its price range, a lot better than the NX1 even.

Here is my recent test. I used a custom profile with saturation at -8, sharpness at -10, and contrast at -8. I then used the free trial of Color Finale to apply the Alexa to Rec709 LUT and the other tools to further grade the shots. Don't expect much, this is the first footage I have ever graded. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Autumn Leaves Creative Style -3 Contrast, 0 Saturation, -3 Sharpness Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 Rokinon 14mm T3.1 Cine Metabones EF-E Adapter mkIV Edited in FCP X

Hello, My name is Daniel Kharlak. I'm a long time reader and lurker and I've decided to join the forum and share some of my work. This is a film I shot in my senior year of film school for my friend John. We were looking for a look that was reminiscent of intimate 70s photography and wanted to avoid the crisp, shiny look of modern DSLRs and large-sensor cameras, and go for something grittier and all-together more old-school. So in a fit of monstrous insanity, we fitted an Eiki 16mm anamorphic adapter to a Panasonic HPX already wearing a Letus Depth-of-Field adapter. It was a Frankenstein-esque contraption that required calibration at the top of every day. It's a procedure and a look that I don't think anyone else has tried before. I hope that you guys enjoy! And try to spot the one single shot that we actually pulled focus on!

Got some fun stuff in the mail today. Among other things a new on camera mic for ambient sound. Will be fun to test it out on the XC10 and other cameras. Besides the good price to performance and features the form factor was a deciding factor. I like using my "EVF" flipped up so it couldn't protrude backwards to much. I also took the opportunity to test the XC10 as a camera for product reviews/demos. The reach and parfocal lens is a nice feature for it. A bit limiting with a small sensor for that type of video but totally usable.

Just a word up to say the cameras are being shipped from Hong Kong and will arrive in a week. From what I know, RX10's from Hong Kong have no recording limits.

Shot my last 3 projects on the NX1 and have gotten beautiful results. Excited to try Andrew's approach and see how they will blend with my own. Purchased. Thanks AR!

Next up!

What about the release of RX100 review? ^^

Thats what I would call a crappy, poorly exposed, poorly processed image with a giant crop on the darkest part of the frame. Its like you want the camera to be bad!

I have been messing around with the Color Finale trial and the Alexa to rec709 LUT works nicely on ultra flat nx500 footage and pretty good on a5100 footage as well. You have to lower the opacity a bit, but it seems to be a great starting point.

Yeah the second video is more of a stylized look rather than true color, but I agree. If I spent time on it I'd use a secondary qualifier on their skin and bring down the yellow. What do you guys keep the saturation at in camera?

I agree. Ive been busy and have only just begun my tests with the camera but i can say with confidence that the 120fps is legitimately sharp at 1080p as others have mentioned. ive only shot 100mbs so far. gradability (is that a word? lol) has exceeded my expectations also the dynamic range slog2 is capable of when exposed properly is astounding with this camera, and using it at 120fps makes me feel like this lil guy cost a lot more than $1300 most of all its fun

yeah, I tend to keep contrast at 0 in camera because there are things that the GH4 does to the colors in the image when you try to flatten things out that are permanent and kinda ugly and better handled in post. I like a low contrast image and have better results dropping contrast in post than i do in camera. with the GH4, that is.

When you increase contrast, you have to dial back saturation in response. This will also help mask any minor color sins in your grade. Otherwise, it's a big improvement. You'll get even better results with contrast at -2 in camera, before compression.

Keep in mind this is one single persons experience on the internet. And for the record, its published on a website that has a pretty proven track record of posting large amounts of BS at least once a week. Give the camera a rental. Get it in your hands and see how it actually performs.

I think my best bet may be Panasonic's new G7 and its 4K photo mode with choosable aspect ratios, 4:3 in this case. I've read it's equal in quality to the GH4 yet a third less in price. Very tempting indeed.

Gees, almost forgot to reply after seeing Rogue Nation last week. I thought the movie was good. Same recipe. Enjoyed the Opera scene and the motorcycle chase scene. Perhaps Cruise likes to be shot on film due to the film grain hiding any facial blemishes and aging? Just kidding. Being shot on film does instill a certain feel to the whole movie. Cruise did earn his money hanging on the side of a plane. Would I hang on the side of a plane for his paycheck? Definitely... if the plane was on the ground. I'd do the CGI green screen rather than be strapped in and hanging on for my dear life. My luck a seagull would either excrete on me or ram into me. If a bird did ram into Cruise, his goose would have been cooked. KFC tonight? Cheers. http://www.cinemablend.com/new/How-Tom-Cruise-Did-Insane-Plane-Stunt-Mission-Impossible-Rogue-Nation-70462.html

Are you watching on a 60hz monitor? Most of my monitors can switch back and forth but one of them at work is stuck in NTSC and does that to all my 25p videos.

I went ahead and updated the orginal video. Added some contrast throughout the whole thing. Shooting at -2 in camera seems like it is the answer. Thanks

Ok so I pushed up contrast what would normally make (I believe) up to a -2 in camera. Check them out: Before/After

Hey, would love to see some more GH3 stuff on Natural profile. On the G6 train and a happy traveller:) Will post a video soon done with the G6. Would you consider showing one or two videos of yours? Also, I dropped you a line on the lens topic. Seb Farges did a video with the 10mm SLR Magic. Looks great. He states it´s sharp wide open. regards, Marty

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.

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 !

Yes I was playing that game till recently. I have had a change of heart. Making short films with old gear that you pretend is new gear also can get you that amount of views. I did that with my werner herzog review of the ursa mini 4.6k and had a great run.

I don't know if I would put Red and Arri in the same category. The Red Dragon had quite a few issues and still does - having to pick between a optical filter that allows for highlight handing but effectively makes it a 320 ASA camera without seeing noise in the shadows or a low-light camer at 1000 ASA with very similar limited highlight control and orbing issues is something that in the states made many people turn away from using the camera on shoots. Plus of course the awkward HD-sdi placement, fan noise, etc - and pretty much all of the world is shooting high-end digital on Arri camera. But with that said, I own two red one mx - and I love the image I get out of them. It's so good, in fact, I never replaced them with red epic mx cameras. I'm very happy with them. I think no one should preorder and BMC does release sometimes too early - I really believe in waiting a year or two to jump and then you can get a camera at 50% off, and in the meatime, first just rent it out and test it. The Sony F3 seems to be a much better value than the a7r II based on Andrew's review and right now they are selling new for $4k - or used for $2k - less moire, rolling shutter. And still has s log and nice color and skintones. I really don't quite get the rush to have cameras that don't exist yet.

my advice is to never buy such a card. If it fails on you the whole day is gone. 30min is about maximum I want on any media. Spread the eggs.

I don't think price is an issue for what you get with the URSA Mini. Some people are complaining about the price and forget that you get a 4.6k sensor, high frame rates, 15 stops DR, internal raw, ProRes codecs, strong ergonomic body, large 1080p screen, 1080p OLED viewfinder and other things. (all above and beyond in features to other systems in this price range). Then consider the Mini doesn't use proprietary media and accessories. Invest into RED or the F55 and you are stuck with the £££$$$€€€€ spent on those items, like REDMags and SxS cards. That's a worthy benefit too. Also consider the full version of Resolve 12 you get for free, which does have some significant benefits over the free downloaded version. Blackmagic have nothing on the history and reliability of Canon, Sony, Panasonic. But to achieve what they have done in just 3 years is fantastic for this industry.

I've owned a total of 8 BM cameras. Zero issues. No hiccups. Worked every time. And not only have they worked like advertised, they have been improved via Firmware. And I dont mean bug fixes, I mean real useful features added. So if I wanted or needed an Ursa Mini I would have no problems pre-ordering. Also Im having a realy tough time not jumping on the brand new URSA 4k in an unbroken box that goes for $3200 on a classified here

Or maybe they just like their products? Seriously, why are people acting like BM cameras are so unstable? They have some quirks, but as sensors in boxes, they deliver. Not to mention that they have led the charge on providing features via firmware--features which were never promised and they had no obligation to provide. They don't crash like Magic Lantern, the more aggressive GH2 hacks, or even the newer RED cameras. And overheating? Their cameras have some of the best internal cooling of any camera out there. In terms of low-light, I'm not sure why people have so much trouble. I can easily push the BMPCC two stops (to 3200) without objectionable noise, and the Ursa Mini is reported to have a stop more latitude in the lows. Combine that with a downsample to 2K from 4.6K and you should be able to get a decent 6400 out of it. If you need more than ISO 6400 and an F/2 lens, your light probably sucks anyway.

Cfast are coming down. I just bought a Lexar 64gb for less than I payed for the 32GB a month or so ago. And it's the same price as my first time buying the Sandisk Extreme 95mb/s 64gb that most of us now have a fist full of.

And it'll take a year for them to fix it. By the time they do, everyone will have built elaborate rigs for upside-down shooting.

Thanks and sure. : ) Camera settings: Kholi's A7s Cine2/Pro PicPro (PP6) Black Level: -11 Gamma Slog: Cine2 Black Gamma > Range: Wide , Level: +7 Knee > Mode: Manual , Auto Set > Max Point: 95 , Sensitivity: Mid, Manual Set > Point: 105%, Slope: 0 Colore Mode: Pro Saturation: +6 Color Phase -3 Color Depth > R+3, G-3, B+1,, C-3, M-2, Y-5 Detail > Level, -5 Adjust > Mode; Manual, V/H Balance: -2, B/W Balance Type3, Limit: 0, Crispening:0, hi_light Detail: 0 White balance > Manual > Grid setting B 1 (one to the left) -- Software: Premiere Pro, filmconvert (Arri Alexa DCIP3), bit of Lumetri (really loving the new PP).

This is at a T/2.8 on a GH4 using a Kowa Bell & Howell with the Rectilux, followed by the SLR Magic Rangefinder. For each, I am seated as close as focus would allow. Forgive the sloppy alignment issues, I rushed this. Must get back to writing so i actually have a movie to use this stuff for... also, if you're wondering which one looks more like the Kowa on it's own, it's the Rectilux. The Rangefinder adds warmth, blue flares/haze. Preference for either is left up to individual taste, I suppose.

Hello everyone! I'm a french film school student (however we don't practice often it's just mainly theoretical courses and film analysis) and we had recently to create a short fiction (we were to do around 7 shots). We had the plan with my teammate to explore an old abandoned coal washing facility and decided to make something with it, so here it is! Sound is important so play it loud Now some explanation. I don't have a lot of money, and our school doesn't have any gear to loan, so we made it a 0$ budget short ahah (well the only thing we paid for was the gas mask). For the prep we had only a few days, so we thought of a story, and we only did the storyboard for the first half of the short (until he enters the factory), as we didn't know what it looked like inside, and we had to improvise on set. It was really run'n'gunning as we only had 9h on location, and some shots are quite rushed... I shot it with a sony a6000 in AVCHD, with for the most part in exterior the sony 18-105G F4, then in interior the Sony 35mm F1.8 OSS and a Leica Summicron 90mm F2 (pre-asph, which I found in my dad's old camera gear). For the lighting setup we used an outdoor LED floodlight (which is what the actor is holding inside the factory) and a 200*160 5in1 reflector to bounce some light back. I edited everything and made the soundtrack on Sony Vegas, then graded everything on DaVinci Resolve Lite. I'm kinda in a love-hate relationship with it haha, during the edit and post-prod there was some moment I just wanted to delete everything, and I was noticing every little mistake or imperfections, but considering the time limitation, budget the result is fairly ok, and initial feedback was good so I wanted to share it more with people working in this field! I'd love any advice or feedback from you!

I filed this rumor with the A99II, curved sensor RX2 and the A9 "pro A7" unicorns SAR has been trumpeting for the last year or so. SAR had nothing on any of the upcoming releases - he was way off with the A7RII, had nothing on the RX10II or RX100IV. He also had nothing on the A7II at the end of last year. All the announcements were a complete surprise. It appears all his insider info evaporated after the hack and hes now just making stuff up. Well, he did get the A7RII about 20 minutes before the embargo was lifted. I'm sure we'll start seeing "SR3 - A7sII to have IBIS, 399pt AF, 4k internal and BSI - will be released later this year or early next year" rumors soon. Followed by "SR3 - A7III getting 399pt AF, 4k internal and BSI - will be released later this year or early next year". You can probably add high resolution sensor shift mode like Olympus has to the rumor mill as well - I would because it will get clicks. He did great work, but most of that's in the past. I still visit the site daily - its just a great resource for samples and tests of all things E-mount.

In any case it will be a sw trick and not a new capability of the sensor. The real revolution would be 15.5 stops of dr natively from sensor in any exposure!

From time to time I make these "What I Think I Look Like" series videos. Here's the newest one. Shot on C100 Mark II. The intro shots were done by Empire Media Works. Music by Jack White.