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I had promised myself not to post any more screens without actually posting a video, but I couldnt resist start grading some new stuff. I promise Ill post this video this week :3

Since Mr. Jones brought it up - As a follow-up story to B&H Photo Video and Worker Abuses - they have unionized. And this is partly because of people like you and me: "The workers received additional support on Oct. 22, when a coalition of photography and video professionals launched an open letter to B&H management, calling on the company to end the hazardous working conditions and discriminatory practices. They also called on the company to negotiate a fair labor contract. Within a week more than 1,000 signatures from artists, journalists, gallerists, educators, students and photo technicians were obtained. “We welcome the workers at B&H to the USW and look forward to addressing their concerns with the company at the bargaining table,” said Shinn." http://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2015/bh-photo-warehouse-employees-vote-to-join-usw-union This is an example of social media activism being successful. The employees now have collective bargaining powers. Hooray!

Got a great deal on a new BMPCC during a Black Friday sale for nearly 50% off. It's my first Blackmagic camera (I have the Micro pre-ordered) and have been eager to pair it with the Trump lens set I ordered from Richard Gale. I took possession of the set a couple weeks ago and have started shooting a short film with it. I love the versatility in terms of contrast control (from standard to ultra-low) and the variety of aperture discs. The 2x and 3x ovals are my favorite. Made a quick comparison of the two here. But this week I finally started shooting a short I've wanted to do for some time. I work professionally as a freelance editor so this project is being done as schedules allow. Shooting RAW has been an eye-opener for me. For the last year I've been trying to wrestle a GH4 into being something it just wasn't capable of. And have come to the conclusion that I should have traded 4K for color science and dynamic range a long time ago.

wow man. great to see you;ve started putting the lenses to work! and also great that you;ve been able to do something with the limited wide options in the current focal length range with the smaller sensor, indoors. i definitely think the bmpcc is an incredible tool - particularly when used with the 0.58x speed booster. And once this damn 24mm/2 is ready i think it'll just about fulfil the wide end (even with the bmpcc). from those stills it definitely looks like aps-c/s35mm rather than a little s16mm sensor. feels 'proper' so to speak. i bet that 1.75 stops of light transmission gain is a godsend with the oval aperture inserts! Awaiting the moving images with baited breath!

One of the main problems with attempting uncoating of lenses is that the coatings are usually harder than the glass underneath. so what can sometimes happen is that you end up going through the coating in one place first then in that area you end up changing the surface flatness and 'quality' while you proceed to uncoat the remainder of the glass. MC coatings from the era when your lens was made will be very tough and will need a lot of work to take it to bare glass - and in this time you'll almost certainly not be able to ensure every part of the lens face receives the same amount of abrasion/polishing. also, becuase of the way the lens is made, you'll need to uncoat elements behind the two focusing elements. Going a professional route and having a bare glass face of the same quality of the lens as it currently stands will almost always require tooling (to hold the glass during a regrind/polish of the optical face you want decoated) as well as a grinding/polishing tool that suits the curvature of the lens. since these are cylinderical lenses the cost goes up even more. I have a specially made orbital polisher I designed for use on my lathe which works extremely well with spherical lenses but wouldn't work on cylinders. Personally I think it would be wise to play around with UV filters. a cheap 95mm uv filter up front and a 67mm filter on the back will promote some additional reflections and boost the flares quite drastically. also you might find that using moder taking lenses makes the flaring from your isco more obvious since it'll be less masked by the flaring from a vintage taking lens.

No offense, Ed, but if you aren't an expert in these matters, perhaps you shouldn't be passing judgment. Posting an opinion (what your gut tells you, as you put it) as fact is both unfair and dangerous. I don't doubt your sincerity at all and applaud you for the passion, but I'd hold back if I were you. Hit pieces like this aren't too different than posting publicly that you suspect someone's gay because he kind of looks gay to you.

This is probably the most overlooked camera of the year. Would love to have a play. The MFT mount on S35 sensor is genius! You're better off renting RED cams at first to see if it fits your shooting style. There's a lot to learn with them. Cameras don't come as serious as this! Your ideal cam sounds like the FS5, if you fancy waiting for that needed firmware update. Ergonomics are excellent!

I dont have the 16-50S, way out of my budget unfortunatelly, these were all with Samyang 24mm f1.4 and Samyang 14mm f2.8. All of them are videoframes, even though the last ones dont have the black bars, thats because I forgot to add them.

Well, I pre-ordered the Micro for its size and the additions of global shutter and 60p. Then in november a shop in Paris ran a sale on the Pocket for a little over $500 so i bought one knowing it would more or less match the Micro. But yeah, size and weight have been the main reason i chose it over the BMCC. I direct and serve as my own cinematographer and wanted something just heavy enough when rigged out that micro-jitters would be eliminated whenever operating it hand-held. Here's the rabbit hole for the Dog Schidt Optiks lenses. I have a Trump58, 38 & 88 attachments, and some other custom add-ons. i also had him completely remove the mechanical aperture to increase the effectiveness of the tinted aperture inserts. http://www.richardgaleoptics.uk

That eBay seller is a rip-off artist. Anything he's selling, you can find cheaper elsewhere.

They have unionized because they voted to do so last November. The vote was conducted under the supervision of the NLRB whcih found no evidence of any interference up to or during the vote by any B&H employee. I'm sure you understand and appreciate that we value our company-employee relationship as much as our company-customer relationship. We cannot have one without the other. They are intertwined and both must be in balance for us to continue our uninterrupted 40+ year history of success. I am only sorry you were exposed to an innuendo-filled campaign of inaccuracy on the part of those who wished to "persuade" our employees the union is in their best interest and who are willing to misrepresent facts about our employees and their work conditions to unsuspecting customers like yourself. Our workers have the right to vote on whether or not a union will represent them. We would not and did not do anything to impede their right to this vote which was held during November. Regarding the allegations of health and safety conditions, perhaps this will offer a different perspective: http://on.fb.me/1N5rsWI There is no asbestos, no lung-searing clouds of dust, no flakes of fiberglass peeling off the ceiling. The restrooms are as clean as those in my house. There are no "substandard conditions." The employees are not, as has been widely reported, “undocumented.” Our warehouses have been inspected by OSHA several times recently, each unannounced and unscheduled. We received no fines or warnings or recommendations to make any changes at all. Other than take-home pay, every B&H employee, including the warehouse workers, me and my boss, get the EXACT same benefits. There was a fire near, not in, our warehouse. At the time the NYFD specifically asked us NOT to evacuate our workers for two reasons – there was no need to do so as there was no danger at all from smoke or fire, and the evacuation of several hundred workers into a relatively small and confined space would have severely impeded the NYFD’s ability to deal with the situation safely, effectively and efficiently. What you read was hyperbole and fiction designed to cast negative aspersions on us.

My opinion? Keep the NX1 and buy a used A7s for those heavy low light situations. Will save you money compared to selling the NX1 and buying the new A7s II or A7r II. If you have nikon glass I recommend checking out a D750. Excellent low light even at 60 fps an a great image. Why do you need 4K? Do your clients demand it? Are they going to know that you upscale the lowlight footage? Or is it that you just prefer it? If your doing event work no one is going to care about the resolution, just getting a good image. Also, get a simple shoulder rig. IBIS will not solve all your problems and switching to a body with a smaller grip isn't going to make handholding any easier.

  Ferrari have a DNA. Cinema cameras have a DNA. You have to go back decades to see it evolve into the force it is today. For Ferrari it is the very specific engine sound and the looks. Arri are that spirit to cinema cameras. The DNA of the Sony FS7 is a compromise. Half EX1 and half cinema camera, the ergonomics of the buttons, dials and menus need a complete overhaul in my opinion. So Sony haven’t got it all right yet but what they have done is put a Ferrari engine inside. The FS7 for £5199+VAT is an absolute bargain, with an ‘engine’ almost on par with a £18,000 F55 (though without global shutter). It’s a much more capable camera than the Canon C300 or Panasonic GH4. See the full blog post

Thank you! (we use the same mini-gimbal from Jacopo I think!)

I am not head of PR in any department. I am not head of PR at all. I have almost nothing to do with PR. I am not now nor have I ever been part of the audio department. This is ludicrously inaccurate. I already commented on the fire, saying this: There was a fire near, not in, our warehouse. At the time the NYFD specifically asked us NOT to evacuate our workers for two reasons – there was no need to do so as there was no danger at all from smoke or fire, and the evacuation of several hundred workers into a relatively small and confined space would have severely impeded the NYFD’s ability to deal with the situation safely, effectively and efficiently. I also commented on the ridiculously false allegations about fiberglass and asbestos. There was none; there is none. Had there ever been any our managers and supervisors would have been exposed to the same conditions as our workers. As "tugela" was kind enough to note, a warehouse full of electronics, cameras and lenses etc is the last place any retailer would want fiberglass and asbestos. You quoted a report which said, "The men, many of whom are undocumented..." A lie, plain and simple. We do everything the law requires to document our employees. Is it possible a clever employee who is or knows a master forger could fool us? I suppose. But, we are in compliance with all local, state and federal laws and regulations regarding soliciting, hiring and employing our workers. To the best of our knowledge, none is undocumented. You wrote, "I'm not an expert in union/company relationships..." Indeed. When we settled the EEOC matter, the EEOC said this: “We commend B & H for working cooperatively with us to resolve this matter without protracted litigation,” said EEOC New York Trial Attorney Lou Graziano. “We encourage other employers to follow B & H’s example of resolving discrimination cases expeditiously and in good faith.” There is a reason we were given this unsolicited praise. Here's what happened, briefly. We were advised we were not in compliance with one or more EEOC rules. We were also advised it was possible a current or former employee could file a complaint and if so the EEOC wanted to be sure money was set aside to cover any judgement. We funded that, hence the $4.3 million. It went into what was in effect an escrow account. We did so willingly and voluntarily in part because doing so avoided protracted litigation, which might have been an unnecessary expense. You wrote, "Yes, it's possible the worker's lied, but I just don't see why they would?" Because the union and those in league with the union wanted and needed a victory and were willing to be elastic with facts to get it. We are not the only NYC retailer in our industry to be treated this way: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/02/workers_at_elizabeth_warehouse_claim_they_were_fir.html Ultimately the Adorama workers’ vote went against the union so apparently they redoubled their efforts to avoid a second embarrassing failure. Sekhar said, "Posting an opinion (what your gut tells you, as you put it) as fact is both unfair and dangerous." No danger from me, certainly but repeating untrue, unsubstantiated, unverified, unverifiable allegations like those you quoted is unfair and unfortunate. FWIW the union vote was Nov 4th. PS The medical scam. Wasn't us. Maybe these guys? :-)

DVX200 is an option too, doesn't seem to get much chat on here, but seems pretty cool, on paper. FS700 + O7Q+ might be an option too.... FS700 for small(ish) shooting kit... then the full kit for the money shots. Is 4K a must? If not, maybe an F3 or C100 mk II?

That's the dilemma with cameras under 10k. You have to compromise on something. Used Scarlet is pretty much the only one that checks all of those boxes.

This looks great! A beautiful, gritty weight to the image. I am still kicking myself that I didn't buy one during the fire sale. I'm hoping once the micro comes out that they drop the price of the pocket. Otherwise, if I decide to save up for one, I may as well just go with the micro.

I have seen quite a lot of RED Scarlet packages for around the budget you have, if you don't mind second hand gear.

I'd wait until the FS5 matures over the year as there are currently issues with the image. FS7 is working, ready and is great in XAVC-I. Also, keep an eye on Panasonic this year as they have a major gap in their camera lineup. Announcement soon on that front.

Are you still in Germany? Thomann.de have them in stock and I swear I found a transmitter only link yesterday, might be worth just emailing them and asking. I recently bought a mic from them and they were super helpful.

Yes, you just have to "conform", so every 24p frame will end in a 25p (and play a little faster)

here are two scenes at 60p normal gamma, -5 contrast, -10 sharpness. 16-50S lens clean (no filters) first detail (detail on bush, as well as how the out-of-focus bit looks i.e banding) int: ext: int 200% crop: ext 200% crop: as a still image, the full res images appear pretty similar, with the ext appearing to be slightly sharper. go to the cropped images, and we can see why. blocks of pixels around the edges of the bush are a bit larger/more noticable, and make the bush appear just a bit softer, and give the out-of-focus area a bit of banding. here is a shot that can give us a good idea of the macro blocking that tens to occur in shadows: int: ext: int 200% crop: ext 200% crop: externally and internally results are similar to before, you can notice more macro blocking in the shadows on the internally recorded image, and there is a very, very slight edge to the external image in highlight recovery (again the jpeg would suggest different, and i'm not sure why the export crushes the highlights like that, but check the original files). *HOWEVER* look at the external image crop... in the shadows... there appears to be a very fine fixed grid pattern (when they're bumped up significantly). it is very odd. now, you probably shouldn't expect to use any detail that's this heavy in the shadows (+150 via lumetri), but even so I'm not sure this grid pattern is much preferable to the heavy macroblocking of the internal image. as a still image, i'd actually prefer the internal image, however with motion the macro blocking becomes very noticeable and the external seems more like noise. ultimately, in motion, i find the external image to be a bit better, but if it's better enough to warrant an extra 1200-2000 (depending on recorder) is up to you. full files: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwO55ILG1OL-YnNqbGJDejhIcjQ&usp=sharing

Also did a quick test with the SLR Magic 1,33x Anamorphot on the Trump38, with a 3x aperture disc installed. The desqueeze effectively renders the ovals to 2.66x. When those electric blue horizontal flares are called for, this is a pretty solid solution.

Interesting comparo... A7Rii looks to be better than A7Sii at 3200iso: http://***URL removed***/reviews/image-comparison/fullscreen?attr18=daylight&attr13_0=sony_a7rii&attr13_1=sony_a7sii&attr15_0=raw&attr15_1=raw&attr16_0=3200&attr16_1=3200&attr171_0=off&attr171_1=off&normalization=compare&widget=13&x=-0.7114353680119314&y=-0.5467697883462821

I've just come back from cinema... Seen this film in 4K on big 11 x 4m screen. It was breathtaking. Every scene was thoroughly made. Composition, colour grading, dynamic range, even lens flares was pleasant to watch. Long one shot scenes, slow cut, stunning performance... Finally, I'm glad for visiting cinema!

Good news all round.