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I’ll admit it, I use camera forums a lot. Too much, probably. I use them to check out the latest cameras and lenses and lights and accessories. I waste about two hours a day on them. Time I could spend watching “the View.” When I started out shooting part-time in 2005, I got a DVX100 because a juggler who was a featured extra on a tv show called “Sons of Saddam” told me to. “Cause it does 24p.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I plunked down $3,000 - all the money I had in savings on this camera. The camera could have been a bust. But I did it because a juggler who played one of Saddam’s sons goons said so. That’s how easily influenced I am. Then I bought a HVX200, not even testing it first. “Cause it can do HD.” I bought the Redrock micro adapter because I watched the work of MacGreggor and some other DPs back then do stuff on a Gorilla 35 lens adapter that hadn’t even come out. I hadn’t even tried it first. Just sent in my credit card info. Rinse and repeat. All these periods of time I bought things just based on videos I saw shot on them. No tests - I didn’t understand tests. Just videos shot with them and the opinions of people I respected. I could look at screen grabs but just scroll down to their opinions. Well finally 11 years later, I am seeing what I was doing - buying based on people’s emotions. Based on the emotions of people whose work I liked. This is fine to do, but it’s not always the smartest thing to do. There are several, maybe twenty influential figures online in the cinematography world. David Mullen, Shane Hurlbut, John Brawley, Art Adams, Geoff Boyle, and of course Andrew Reid, come to mind as leaders who people follow and listen to. Even the opinions of the above people and the other influencers are, in the end, just their opinions. When someone says, “this to me screams filmic” or “this looks digital” - again, that’s all an opinion. If they say, “that grade is terrible” or “man you nailed the skin tones” - again, that’s all opinion. Even looking at test charts and camera tests, the results are subjective. Aesthetic is subjective. There are scientific tests, but they lead to opinions. This isn’t pure math - this is an art form. There is no such thing as filmic. Everything is digital. Film emulsions see the world differently, but they go through a digital intermediate. They become digital . And I think that’s probably about 99.9% of all films shot on celluloid. Maybe a few hipsters shoot film and use a steinbeck, but they still upload their results to vimeo, which converts this to a h.264 file. I have very strong opinions, and a lot of people have very strong opinions. That’s why we work in film. It’s an art form that is full of passionate people. But I also have low self-esteem. My whole nature of existence is based on others approval. I’m getting better at trusting my own self, but this is my basis. I think maybe most artists have low self-esteem or why would they want to share their art? Is it ego? Or the attempt for others to connect? Yes that’s part of it. But whether you want to admit it or not, we love when people love our work. We live off the feedback, or why would we check vimeo 5 times a day to see if someone commented? Why else would we have awards? Especially in an art field where awards are just based on opinions of a community who may or may not get your work? Something is beautiful if you think it is. You don’t need an oscar in cinematography to be happy with your lighting or camera movement or angle, or have your opinion mean anything less if you aren’t in the ASC. Everyone brings something unique to the art form. Everyone brings a new perspective that is needed, especially now, when everything feels pretty much the same.

Hi, A nice breakthrough in hacking NX500 (and possibly NX1 - could someone try and report back?). So, TLDR version first: I'm able to run a shell script off the SD card without hacking the firmware (and some other stuff). This is just a very modest start, now we need to do everything else. That said, this is a useful start as we can now play around without bricking cameras. That was the moderately good news, the moderately bad news is that I'm absolutely swamped by work related stuff next few weeks. Now for longer version: First a small "hack": If you want to take a screenshot of your camera screen put a file named save_screen_enable.txt in the SD card root and every time you press EV+OK a file named OSD####.jpg will be saved to SD card root. save_screen_enable.txt will contain the integer of next image id (as bytes, not text). Another small "hack": If you want to see how all the popups and notices look in all the languages (for any reson) put a file named qa.txt in the root of the SD card. When you power the camera on you will see a popup menu that enables you to access all the popups, etc, in camera (press up and down to change them, left and right to change the language). It's meant for quality assurance staff, but here it is. If you like scrolling through the popups - that's fine. Even better is that the camera app crashes on popup 188 (of 189, go figure) and produces a lot of detailed logs on the SD card. These logs are named timestamp_{log,a7_log,a9_crash,a9_dlog,a9_dmesg}.info If you take your sweet time analyzing these logs you will find that NX500 does not boot all that often - it hibernates and then wakes up when you power the camera on - cute - that's how it starts up in one second Also, some RAM information: Total RAM is 512MB, reserved (buffer?) is 380MB. It fits nicely with known buffer limitations. It also means it's very very difficult to extend it to anything larger (maybe by eliminating allshare app or similar but that would give us a frame or two in RAW at best - hardly worth it). How to run a shell script file: 1. Put file named "info.tg" on the SD card root with contents "nx_cs.adj" and a newline 2. Put file named "nx_cs.adj" (can use something else really) on the SD card root and put "shell script /mnt/mmc/test.sh" and a newline in it 3. Put file named "test.sh" (or whatever you put up there) on SD card root and put whatever bash shell commands you want to in it. Word of caution - it's easy to make a mistake - start small and work carefully 4. Put SD card in camera 5. Camera to AUTO mode (IIRC it works in any mode but whatever, it's in AUTO in the Service Manual) 6. Power on the camera and wait a bit (or a lot, it seems it's quite lazy with closing files and syncing, might do it for it by calling "sync" at the end) 7. Power the camera off (and wait for blinking light to stop blinking if it's blinking) For example, if you put following in test.sh st > /mnt/mmc/test This is what you get on the output: usage: st [command] [param] Supported bult-in commands help readl writel dump gpio hdmi log lcd cap pmu clk thread key firmware util app leak devman stlcd bat rtc tbm micom misc oic dvfs adc I put a "ls -laR / > /mnt/mmc/test" and it did list the whole filesystem including /proc /sys /dev etc. And /etc tar also works. I can see for example that every time process id 247 is given to /usr/apps/com.samsung.di-camera-app/bin/di-camera-app and it runs under root (almost everything does), dfmsd (that's the deamon that interprets commands in nx_cs.adj file that are read and sent by dfmstool - I will have to see what else I can do with it), /usr/apps/com.samsung.ap-setting-app/bin/ap-setting-app running with some access keys or hashed caller PIDs, etc, the works. Only two modules are loaded (exfat_fs and exfat_core) but I guess we could compile anything we need and enable it in the future (usb audio anybody?). That's it for now (and some time). Oh, yeah, the touch screen does not work with info.tg or info.tgw present on the SD card. Cheers, Otto

I would love to purchase Sony. They are a powerful brand who always have something on the horizon. The only thing holding me back is just the color science. If they can do something with that I'd be a sony whore. A dirty little sony whore.

During the summer draught I stand on the bridge and bite my nails. Hoping nobody notices the bags in the shallow water of the Rhine containing those who disliked my favorite movies.

Yeah, somehow the 1D C has got it down and got it down good. It might not compete well in the numbers game (well, maybe launch price, ey), but delivers you something that, and I hate myself for saying this, because it's stupid, just looks filmic. It's less robot... less clinical, less emotionless, less efficient, yet sooo efficient... it's more like a living creature that breathes, has soft skin, with some freckles perhaps and when you look the creature into its eyes, it's not pitch dark and empty, but there's something expressive, a spark, a flame. There's emotion. Confidence, richness. I don't like the camera one bit. I'm really all about mirrorless and practical things, lots of digital aids, love specwars and getting the latest and greatest. But I just have to admit... there's something about that 1D C... the footage I've seen that comes out of this is hard to touch and it makes it look so effortless. Maybe everything else there is just trying too hard...

I lens that would be high on the list for this is the 35mm f1.8 OSS. I had it for the FS100 and liked it. Sharp and the stabilisation was good. Its almost a pancake, so a sweet companion to the small pz zoom. Couple those with a set of vintage primes and you're golden.

Friday 7am London time sees the release of a firmware update for the Sony FS5 which optimises the performance of internal recording, fixing the issues spotted by early adopters of the camera including myself (Andrew Reid) and Paul Antico. Read the full article

Agreed! The pocket was really something, especially when you picked it up in the summersale way back when it was 495 USD and there were rumors it was because they wanted to clear stock before the successor came out... and then none came! That's just insane power for the value. Of course, it's not without its shortcomings... but if your primary target is ending up with gorgeous footage... it sure delivers that! I've been keeping my eye on the BMD Micro Cinema Camera as well, but unfortunately it's very BMD to have to wait for ages and we're not even sure if they pulled off the global shutter... maybe it's something they've said out to do as a goal and never quite reached it. The cameras they announce are more like predictions it seems... 'we think we'll be able to do this in due time, so just bear with us'. Well... NAB 2016 is just around the corner now... what's up B-M-to-da-Deeds!? Perhaps they did a complete redesign of the sensor and infrastructure, enabling finally both rolling and global shutter operation, the thing they were fighting with... as well as giving it a higher than FHD sensor now (2.5K/4K?). Maybe they'll even add a little screen, or a sweet accessory that will work together with the Video Assist like a charm, making it an ideal set-up... I've said it before, but oh how I would love to use it something like this: which wouldn't be far off from shooting a caged GH4... You're right, the footage out of these 1000 bucks Blackmagics are as well very organic looking. The Pocket wouldn't win the numbers game either, it is mirrorless, but doesn't really show all those crazy features we've come to expect from having had Panasonics, Sonys and even Samsung around. Again... maybe this is another testament that others out there are just trying too hard (perhaps even Blackmagic themselves with the URSA Mini?). Focusing on all the numbers and features, upping it with every release and here we have something that just basically has one standing out feature: rich meaty files with loads of embeded character. The benefit of the Pocket and the Micro is... they are great for the mirrorless shooters that now shoot GH3, GH4, G6, G7, GX7, E-M5II, NX1, A7S, A7SII & A7RII. A key benefit of me as Micro Four Thirds shooter is... I already have figured the mount out, so I have tons of native glass and ways to adapt other lenses as well! It's still small and light! And it doesn't break the bank! Maybe you shoot an interview that has to go online as soon as possible and you get things right in-camera and use on-board audio, well, it's great to use something like the GH4. Quick color adjustment here and there, 4K gives you some interesting editting options and bam! If you're a hybrid shooter, shoot some stills as well. But... for those times that you shoot moody stuff, where looks are a key factor and the image has to look, here I go again: filmic, dang, those ProRes or DNG RAW files will get you places! It's a nice addition for a mirrorless shooter. Currently the typical combo would be GH4 and BMPCC. I can imagine in the next months that will turn to the A6300 and BMMCC. One for the thick moody stuff, the other for all other things including some sweet slowmo! But first it needs to come out!

I've used the A7S II extensively at the moment, and I'm finding that a lot of these colour issues might come down to white balance. It just doesn't work properly. You light a scene with 5600k top end lamps for a daylight scene, yet when setting the 5600k on the A7SII, skin looks green-ish. When lighting an indoor scene with only 3200k lamps, and setting 3200k on the camera, skin is blue-ish. Auto white balance works, but the colour shifts to red in tungsten and magenta in daylight. The most accurate I've found for white that is white, is Underwater Auto! However this makes everything that isn't white into purple. This is across all picture profiles. FS7 and F55 don't do this at all. I'd do a proper in-house test but after this post I'm busy for the day! It seems a similar thing happens with the FS5. Maybe Andrew can feed this through to his contacts?

Well, this kind of material can get a little "dry"... So I try to keep it entertaining for folks.

Eagerly awaiting your Pocket Cinema Camera? You already have a micro for thirds camera and some C-mount lenses? Want to know if they will cover the sensor of the Pocket? Lets find out! I hope you will add your results, so we can make this list growing. I will only add lenses to the lists when you have proof, in other words: images. How? Because we know the active sensor area of the BMPCC measures 12,48 x 7,02 mm, it is fairly easy to check if our C-mount lenses will cover the full sensor. Calculate this by taking a picture with a lens on your micro four thirds camera, and crop out the image area of theBMPCC. In Photoshop: Open the image. Go to Edit > Image Size, uncheck resample image. Change Image width to 19 centimeters, press ok Go to Image > Canvas Size, change dimensions to 12,48 x 7,02cm, press OK to crop the image to BMPCC size. Resize to 1920x1080 pixels Post your results! Note: If you shoot on the GH3 or other MFT camera's, the sensor size is 17 x 13mm, so change the width in step 3 to 17 cm! To lazy to do it yourself or you can't work it out? Upload the full resolution files and I'll do it. List terms explained: Yes = covers the full sensor of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera No = doesn't cover the sensor Needs modification = Doesn't fit on C-mount to M43-adapter without modifications Equivalent = The focal length and depth equivalent on a fullframe camera (5D Mark III for example) Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Compatibility list Primes Apollo 25mm f/0.85 - Yes = 72mm f/2.4 equivalent [link to proof] Angenieux 10mm f/1.8 Retrofocus (Fixed Focus) - Yes (dark corners) = 28,8mm f/5.2 equivalent [link to proof] [more info] Carl Zeiss Jena Tevidon 10mm f/2 - Yes - Needs modification = 28,8mm f/5.8 equivalent [link to proof] [more info] Carl Zeiss Jena Tevidon 35mm f/1.9 - Yes - Needs modification = 101mm f/5.6 equivalent [link to proof] Century 9mm f/1.8 - YES (poor quality) [link to proof] Computar 8mm f/1.3 - NO [link to proof] Computar 16mm f/1.4 - NO [link to proof] Computar TV Lens 25mm f/1.8 - YES = 72mm f/5,2 equivalent [link to proof] Cosmicar 8,5mm f/1.5 - NO [link to proof] Cosmicar 12.5mm f/1.8 - YES - Needs modification = 36mm f/5.2 equivalent [link to proof] Cosmicar 25mm f/1.8 - YES - 72mm f/5.2 equivalent [link to proof] Ernitec 6.5mm f/1.8 - YES (heavy distortion) [link to proof] Ernitec/Navitar 17mm f/0.95 - YES (v. blurry corners & distortion) [link to proof] Fujinon TV 12.5mm f/1.4 - Yes (blurry corners) - Mod.? (unknown) = 36mm f/4 equivalent [link to proof] Fujinon TV 16mm f/1.4 - NO [link to proof] Fujinon TV 35mm f/1.7 - YES - Needs modification = 101mm f/4.9 equivalent [link to proof] Leitz Macro Cinegon 10mm f/1.8 - Yes (dark corners) = 28,8mm f/5.2 equivalent [link to proof] Kern Switar 10mm f/1.6 - Yes (slight vignette & blurry corners) [link to proof] Nikon Cine Nikkor 13mm f/1.8 - Yes = 37,5mm f/5.2 [link to proof] Nikon Cine Nikkor 25mm f/1.8 - Yes = 72mm f/5.2 equivalent [link to proof] Pentax 25mm f/1.4 - YES - 72mm f/4 equivalent [link to proof] Schneider 10mm f/1.8 (silver version) - No (almost) [link to proof] Schneider-Kreuznach Cinegon 11.5mm f/1.9 - No (almost) = 33mm f/5.6 equivalent [link to proof] Schneider-Kreuznach Cine-Xenon 16mm f/2 - Yes = 46mm f/5.8 equivalent [link to proof] [link to proof (2)] Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 25mm f/0.95 - Yes = 72mm f/2.7 equivalent [link to proof] Schneider Xenoplan 17mm f/1.7 - Yes (blurry corners) - [link to proof] SLR Magic 11mm F1.4 - Yes - [link to proof] (added by EOSHD) Tokina TV Lens 8mm f/1.3 - NO [link to proof] Tokina TV Lens 16mm f/1.6 - NO [link to proof] Taylor-Hobson Cooke Kinic 25mm f/1.3 - Yes = 72mm f/3.7 equivalent [link to proof] Taylor-Hobson 25mm f/1.9 - Yes - 72mm f/5.6 equivalent [link to proof] Wesley 25mm f/1.4 - YES = 72mm f/4 equivalent [link to proof] Wollensak Cine Raptar 12.5mm f/1.5 - Yes = 36mm f/4.3 equivalent [link to proof] Wollensak Cine Raptar 25mm f/1.9 - Yes = 72mm f/5.6 equivalent [link to proof] $ 25 noname 25mm f/1.2 CCTV - YES = 72mm f/3.5 equivalent [link to proof] Zooms Ernitec 6-12mm f/1.4 - NO [link to proof] Kowa TV Zoom 12.5-75mm f/1.8 - NO [link to proof]

I've been working with Canon EF zoom lenses for some years but I wanna buy a prime lens kit. I'm no longer using Canon cameras, so I don't mind using other mounts. I'll keep my zoom lenses anyway. Currently I'm working with Red One MX, Sony a7S and BMPCC cameras. This is what I'm looking for: - Manual apperture and manual focus - Wide apperture (around f1.4 is enough) - Maximum 2000€ for the kit I was thinking about buying the Rokinon/Samyang cine lens bundle with a 16mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm (it costs around 2000€) but I have also worked with some old Nikkor and Carl Zeiss Planar and Sonnar (I have a Nikkor 55mm f2.8 and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm f2.8) and I liked it. Do you think I should go with the rokinons?

Above shot on the new micro camera. Loving this look. And the camera, hopefully has a better form factor and battery life than the original BMPCC. Sorry this link is from Cinema5d but anyway: It seems like there is a smoothness to the image in the Canon 1D C - and has meatiness to the image. I saw some clips from the Ursa Mini and it again has that blocky, FS7 or F55 feel. Just doesn't feel as good to me, nor does clips from the C300 ii - just blocky motion: Here's another beautiful quick clip with the 1D C - t feels organic, smooth, and pretty. I gotta start messing around with this guy. Thank you Andrew. Is it the inherient resolution in the 1D C? How it interpolates the frames? From the little I've seen - I think the blackmagic new pocket camera has nice motion too - who knows what's going on with all this - Maybe I need to see more test videos.

This is a bunch of basic information about affordable camera support gear. A lot of people who are new to all this Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera stuff (or DSLR sized cameras), and folks who don't have much money to spend have been asking me about all this lately. I don't have a lot of time to do gear reviews, so I decided to try to cram as much information as I could into this one video hoping to answer as many questions as I can all in one place. Items covered in this video: BMPCC Cages Rail Systems Shoulder Rigs External Batteries Follow Focus Devices Matte Boxes Cats and Dogs Living Together Tripods Jibs Gimbal Carry Case *Note: The "one size fits all" cage I show here costs $149. I forgot to mention that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqzJlgPjL_c Some of the links I've been able to locate: "One size fits all" Cage - $149 Movcam BMPCC Cage - $323 Fotga Follow Focus - $170 Follow Focus Speed Crank - $13 Giottos Quick Release Adapter - $38 Offset Riser Clamp - $18 Cavision Matte Box - $99

I find this stuff fascinating: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mermaid-stephen-chow-comedy-about-human-impact-earth-becomes-chinas-biggest-film-ever-1545558 As is pretty obvious, filmmaking is a global biz. Sony and Disney are trying hard to figure it out. Ultimately, I think that the system will continually fracture a bit. Smaller more niche stuff will thrive to fill the gap as studios continue to try and prop up their tent-pole franchises. And, by necessity of having to strive for broad appeal, ignore the more artistic and narratively challenging side of cinema. Those smaller/better ideas are migrating to prestige TV and the internet. Which is perfectly fine for an aspiring-late-career-documentarian like me. It's hopeful. In the meantime, that goofy Chinese flick is outperforming (per screen) Deadpool by double.

I'm watching on a 27 inch 5K iMac, so maybe thats the difference because none of what I'm seeing looks remotely "fine." lol

Just did a small video on some shots I had lying around, still testing rendering, but rendering in 4k def. makes it a lot better, still highly compressed though. Anyway hope you guys like it, not much love was put into grading on this one, unfortunately.

that's really awesome. Stephen Chow deserves it

Talking about the Chinese film industry, I was surprised to see that the Alibaba Group, which I know very well for its ecommerce dealings (mainly AliExpress/Alibaba/Tmall & Taobao), has recently stepped up to be a major player in the film industry. It was brought to my attention when I recently watched the latest Mission Impossible... Dang China!

Well Hollywood needs to learn the lesson everyone else has - that America is not the world. China and India both turn out some great films, as does South Korea, and many European countries. Welcome to Earth, Hollywood.

They look really good. Great job!!! Davinici seems like an amazing program. My problem is that I am not that serious about grading. I am a screenwriter that also loves shooting, so I am looking for an outlet for my writing and a look for my films. For instance, here is a grab from a recent test shot with the same Tokina lens. CineLikeD with everything dialed down... Here it is with a minor curve adjustment and a little hue adjustment with red and yellow... And here's the next level adding the CineLook plug in. That last one also has a touch of gorilla grain.

You may be on to something, but in some degree I think it may be a red herring. I have noted discrepancies in WB from cam to cam in the Sony line. I owned an FS100 and EA50, and white balancing them gave significantly different readings. But the issue is more than colour (as in skin colour)--it's skin tone. I don't have the technical lingo to describe it in precise terms. I use Color Finale to do most of my colour correction. The vector tool feature in Color Finale isolates colours, enabling you to do fine adjustments of the six colours on the wheel. And no matter how I toggle between yellow and red I can't make the Sony's achieve the tone and colour in skin tone that comes virtually out of the camera on the Canon. I also note the X-rite Color checker goes haywire on the Sony cams, and doesn't work dependably. On the Canon it works like a champ. Equally as frustrating to me is how Sony, Canon, and most all the manufacturers provide the scantiest information on how to best use the features they provide to get the best results. This means countless hours of individuals trying to figure it out for themselves. Such time can't be avoided altogether, but surely it could be minimized with the proper information. But, this subject really is another post, isn't it?

I ended up using my CineD-to-Vlog setting in DaVinci. I think it is close to what Balazer is doing, but without going to an ACER-like colorspace. Gives a lot of control ...especially to Close-up shot was way easier to grade then using an inverted curve in AE. Attached the DaVinci setting for whio is interested. I don't think the .drx is needed ...but just in case. mercer_grade_1.3.1.dpx mercer_grade_1.3.1.drx If you are serious about grading drop anything you use now and go for DaVinci ....it's really that good. Cheers.

If I switch from Nikon the 18-105mm PZ G OSS and the 35mm f1.8 OSS seem an ideal combo with some vintage primes.

That looks horrendous. Terribly over sharpened, digital, and just plain yucky. Could be upload/export setting, but looks like they have in camera sharpening set way to high.

Both too small. You just don't know how many have no cinematic taste.

A german dexter would dispose his victims in his Schräbergarten or his Keller.

Now seeing the blackmagic micro camera in the "micro" spot - that looks really beautiful and smooth as well and sharp - for some reasons these cameras are getting it right. I think the blackmagic cinema pocket is better than the 1d c, cause of raw and higher frame rates. This may one amazing little $1k camera.

Updated LUT preference for S Log 2: Cineon to Kodak 2393 (FPE) at 75% opacity.

Oh this could be a movie, but adding a creepy note (no offence ;)). The script would be by Paul Schrader. It's this alienated projectionists that was living through the emotions in movies, but he starts to notice the emotion in his audience and gets kicks through it (emotional porn), after a while he needs bigger kicks and starts to follow people (for instance, someone he notices in the theater, who comes with his boyfriend, but then starts to come alone and cry,bla bla) on the streets and interfere with their lifes -directing/creating his own real life movies- ,etc... Sort of a taxi driver, nightcrawler, the following movie

The question is : do we have a body not well calibrated ? 5500°K on body, recorded like a 5900°K in real life ... This could be possible... Then a correspondance sheet could be created to move the right WB on the body corresponding to the WB in real life... I've got a color meter... How could i test the WB of the A7SII (that i got in my hands) ? I've got some X-rite color checkers. My mind says i could estimate the difference (in %) between the color chart seen by the A7SII, and the color chart in Resolve... Then compare it to what the colormeter says at the same moment on white card... Maybe a new post could be created together to try to estimate the calibration of our bodies ? Maybe someone has already done that ? What do you think guys ?

This. Noticed it when I did the comparison R II vs S II in the other thread. Both cameras interpret WB values very differently and are probably both pretty far off.

Yep. I bought ours from the Dell outlet during their recent Valentines sale when they offered 10% off their outlet prices. Our XPS15 cost £917 including three years next day warranty and I think thats a bargain for its quality. It was amazing to watch how fast the refurbs were selling during that sale. You had to be really quick to snap one up. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an Easter sale at the outlet too.

That's great! In fact I nearly pulled the trigger on the XPS15 when it came out, the Thunderbolt 3 connector is a killer, and the Razor external video card module is about to come out. But still I think Mac is more comfortable to work with.

I thought I'd give an update on the conundrum. I coaxed my Macbook Air back into life and will keep it for a while. Apple must be close to releasing updated Macbooks soon so it is worth waiting a few months to see what they release. They are falling badly behind in the specs race so their new specs must be good to be competitive. I did buy my wife a Dell XPS i5/8GB with1080 screen though and wow it is good. As gsenroc said, the screen is really good and very sharp. We're not using it for editing videos, but photos look really great on it. It is very fast and the improved wifi makes a real difference. Dell support has been great too, so it has been an excellent purchase so far. I think the version with a UHD monitor will be fantastic so I am very tempted.....

More evil comes from obeying than from doing ones own thing (as our countries' history illustrates). Emotions or thoughts expressed with genuine passion will also be appreciated by others. Doing what you think might be after everybody's fancy results in mediocrity. At best. And: I don't see we are on 'that route'. The current crises on so many levels can't be solved by accepting practical constraints. We need more people who trust their own judgment (made with minds, hearts and souls) and who contradict the so-called common sense of their society. Again, our country provides the challenge right now. How can we sleep while our beds are burning?

It's the 20mm f/3.5 "pancake" style. One of the smaller 20mm out there. Just as sharp as any other pretty much. Not the fastest lens in the world, but it IS sharp all the way open at f/3.5....which of course becomes about f/2.4 with the speedbooster. VERY well made lens. All the serious reviews gave it very good reports, so I figured that as mainly the Gimbal use lens it would be right on the money....IT IS. Not super cheap - $500 new. But It's a really solid lens that gives NO problems on single-handle gimbals. And with the Speedbooster the field of view is really great for most gimbal stuff. It pretty much stays on my DS1 all the time ready to go at a moment's notice. Expensive - but it completed my gimbal steady-shot setup perfectly so I'm glad I got it. I've looked around, but I don't think there's any other 20mm that can go on a Speedbooster that's any better.

Probably because Leica said... sorry Panasonic, we're going with someone who actually means something in today's smartphone market... by the looks of it! http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/leica-will-enter-the-smartphone-market/ / http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/136880-huawei-teams-up-with-leica-could-the-huawei-p9-be-the-first-to-benefit Atleast first and foremost it would be a top of the line smartphone, Huawei is blasting away. Same for ZTE and Xiaomi btw. But remember that name!

I agree. Sounds like the new Sony may be an equivalent body, but I don't see anyone catching up in the $1k market any time soon. And even when they do, the NX will still have every feature it had when you bought it. Ridiculously capable camera. Wish there were less RS, but I'm learning to deal with that, just really watch yourself when handheld and get out the steadicam more (and hell, I shot some gigs with a D7000 years ago - great camera for jello commercials). (Though the color was lovely.) BTW, the NX1 with the 16-50 kit zoom? Amazing budget steadicam setup - OIS and useable AF - and who shoots Steadicam at 2.8 anyway? At 3.5 or 4, that lens is really attractive. Not as gorgeous as a classic, vintage wide prime - but you could stick 5 of the kit zooms on your rig and still be lighter than some classic 18-20mm glass. Get a 55mm step-up ring and get some cheap ND and maybe a diffusion filter (ever see how cheap quality 52mm filters are??) I just leave the step-up on mine and use a 52mm cap. get a rubber collapsible hood for when you need it. Really really dig it.

all great points. But opinions are based on knowledge in art. There is no right or wrong. It's emotional. The dialogue is indeed in our heads, between doubt and belief in ourselves. I still think the concept of competitive awards giving out for art is bizarre. I can understand an award for a scientific project - but to say "Crash" was a better film than Lost in Translation, both competing for best picture - and being such different films is a bizarre fact of our modern "filmmaker" community. Apples and oranges. What people value at the time vs what people later value. For instance, Schenededty, NY, by Charlie Kaufman I think is a masterpiece. And look at the reviews of it at the time. They made it seem as if the film was total trash.

That's good to know, but when RAW output is released I'm hoping I don't have to sell my atomos assassin for an O7Q+ or Shogun. Maybe they will enable 4K HDMI like the FS7 with it's latest firmware V3, discussed at http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?344155-FS7-Firmware-v3-Format-Tests According to an FS7 user 4K HDMI yielded the best results versus 4K RAW. Maybe this will also reflect the FS5 when raw is enabled. Either way I'm hoping the Assassin can be utilized with the FS5, when the firmware updates are released soon.

It probably will so it pairs nicely with the new sigma aps-h camera.

I note that JVC is also pretty good at responding to customers. I purchased a JVC GY-LS300---wrote two rather extensive reviews on B&H about it, vociferously complaining about no histogram, among other things. Apparently, I wasn't alone. Within a few months JVC came out with a fantastic firmware upgrade (v. 2) with a number of great features not available of any cameras in that price range, along with terrific technological innovations. Unfortunately, JVC cannot fix the down right terrible EVF on the LS300. It is all but unusable, and no internal image stabilization belies their "run and gun" claims for the camera. But otherwise, price and feature wise, the GY-LS300 is a feature rich 4k camera that JVC continues to improve with firmware upgrades. Hope springs eternal. Let's hope that Sony continues to improve the FS5 and has abandoned the policy of abandoning cameras (and the customers who own them) in mid-stream. You post, Andrew, is very encouraging, and I'm personally glad to read your report. Definitely glad I've kept my FS5.

Now they must produce a Sony FS5 Andrew Reid Limited Edition!!!

Worth noting that Lightroom now allows you to shoot raw on most Android phones too now. http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/22/11075574/lightroom-android-update-shoot-raw-photos

Yup, waiting on an upgrade of this (1").

Blackmagic Design Cinema and Pocket Cameras. 1. Record in Film-log RAW at native ISO. (No other settings needed.) 2, Bring into DaVinci Resolve which automatically converts it to a normalized REC.709 output. (No other settings needed.) 3. Adjust color or exposure a little bit to suit each clip. (No other settings needed.) 4. Render to DNxHD or HR 10-bit as a master file to be uploaded anywhere or encoded to small compressed files for whatever. OKAY - I'm sort of joking...a little bit. But not really. All those other lengthy complicated steps others listed? Yeah, I have to do all that stuff with my cameras that shoot compressed codecs too, but not with BMD RAW. Once you go RAW it is very....VERY hard to go back.

Andrew, How do we get access to updated guide if we already purchased?

or get this...which is available now (around 1,000)..and with a roll of film no alexa post or rental required...