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X-Pro 2 4K - 80% said they don't need it, so Fuji didn't flick the switch in firmware. They ask a bunch of hardcore stills people if they want video and surprise surprise most of them don't. How are Fujifilm supposed to expand their customer base with new people if the keep asking their existing ones what they want? This is why camera companies keep serving up the same-old same-old every year... they never reach out new markets, because they only listen to the needs of their existing one.

Remember folks that LENS choice has a HUGE impact. The 4k cameras can very easily suffer from TOO sharp an image. That's one reason the NX1 usually dosn't look nearly as smooth as the 1DC or the BMPCC. The Samsung lenses can be extremely sharp. Motion cadence is unique to each camera maker usually. Some folks can see the difference, others can't. If you ask enough people, the Blackmagic Cinema and Pocket cameras frequently rank very high, as do the Canons if they are shooting an all I-Frame codec Having seen many test comparisons done, I can tell you this - you'd be shocked by how similar many cameras can look when you put the exact same lens on them and shoot the exact same scene.

Since i found those threads quite interesting, I would like do one on my own Here we go:

I don't have my 1DC anymore - I moved to a A7Rii for the weight, convenience and video features. But the other day I was working with some of my old 1DC footage and wow - there's so much information in the codec. It feels real, tangible. For me the codec is the key. It has such an influence over the feel of an image, it's robustness and 'crunchiness'. I feel like Sony's codecs smooth out the image somehow, making it technically great but somehow lacking a bit of soul. It feels like it's been denoised, with some of the reality taken out of it somehow. On the upside though the A7Rii colour is much improved from my A7s, and it's great for the one-man-band corporate work I do. I do like the image. I just don't LOVE it.

The main technical hurdle is that focal reducers reduce the physical length of a lens in addition to reducing the focal length. So if you simply build a focal reducer from cylinders you would wind up with many millimeters of astigmatism throughout the image. An even bigger concern, as valid points out, is that you don't get any of the desirable anamorphic artifacts with a rear anamorphic attachment.

I agree with everything stated above. Let me just elaborate on an aspect apparent in any Micro/Pocket-clip and particularly in the Training Day clip: sensor size vs. focus vs. aspect ratio. I think the cinematographer did a good job, considering it was handheld and focussed manually, but ... For 16x9 (or 17:9, cinema widescreen), S35 (or APS-C, let's not split hairs here) seems (to me) to be the ideal sensor size. Yes, I know, a lot of factors contribute to sDoF, bokeh (aperture with or without the need to compensate for light conditions, pixel size with circle of confusion, sensor dimensions), but generally S16 is an unfortunate choice. Like full frame in the other extreme. Full frame is best for 3:2 photography. When I look at my old Praktika 6x6 stills, how creamy everything flows into focus (but still is soft, you need good resolution for that), it looks threedimensional instantly, very sweet. For scope, however, there is little good in anything else but absolute DoF (exceptions prove the rule). Framing has to do with how the motif is accentuated and therefore it influences focussing. I totally dislike the artificial look of Sony cameras. Even without prominent artifacts or something I could nail down, the image looks processed. The Micro would have been the answer to everything, had it only a bigger sensor.

Exactly. My company produces clarinets of my unique acoustical design. I have over 100 videos sharing information that help clarinetists to make more informed analysis of an instrument's performance capabilities---I want the player to know more so he or she can get the best results possible with our products and better appreciate their virtues. It's crazy but the various video camera companies seem to do the very opposite. Shouldn't they want to do every thing they can to insure those who use their products can get the very best results from them? Yes, some effort is made, but it seems pretty inadequate verging on pathetic.

I'd check out more footage from the Digital Bolex. Like the BMPC, a lot of people wrote it off when they heard it wasn't good in low light, but that thing has some of the most gorgeous colors I've ever seen from a digital camera. Just beautiful. Global shutter (CCD) and great audio, too.

OK, an update: If you want to experiment with your device but don't want to be constantly reinserting the SD card - here's the solution. First, unfortunately, NX500/NX1 do not use busybox but toybox that does not contain telnetd. However, there is nothing stopping you from extracting it from NX300 open source packages (available at Samsung Open Source repo) and copying it to SD card (and naming it "telnetd") and runnig it from there. Just remember that you need to give yourself some time to turn the wifi on after powering the camera. Login is "root" and there is no password. So, after the camera boots and telnetd starts, you do telnet 192.168.1.44 Trying 192.168.1.44... Connected to 192.168.1.44. Escape character is '^]'. ************************************************************ * SAMSUNG LINUX PLATFORM * ************************************************************ drime5 login: root [root@drime5 ~]# ps aux USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND root 1 0.4 0.2 4684 1452 ? Ss 23:15 0:01 /sbin/init root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 23:15 0:00 [kthreadd] root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 23:15 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0] ... root 363 0.1 0.0 0 0 ? S 23:15 0:00 [ksdioirqd/mmc1] root 399 0.0 0.0 4696 380 ? S<s 23:16 0:00 /mnt/mmc/telnetd root 402 0.0 0.2 2704 1352 pts/0 S<s 23:16 0:00 -sh root 469 3.0 0.1 2664 904 pts/0 R<+ 23:20 0:00 ps aux Yippie - we have remote root! The fun stuff is the command st. It's swiss army knife - it contains everything. For example, you want to take a "smart" shot? st cap capt smart Work with aperture? st cap capt iris drive 7.1 Shoot in RAW? st cap capt quality raw Help works in most things, just add help (e.g. st cap capt help). You want to push an OK button? st key click ok You can also push/release it in two steps. How about jog dials? st key jog jog1_cw or jog1_ccw You want to touch the screen in exact coordinates? st key touch push/release/click 400 300 There is so many things available, just explore st app nx capture (for stills) or st app nx record (for video)...

Hopefully China's upturn in cinema attendance and this new film to top the box office will spur more of it's own talent to shine through. But it seems to be commonplace now that the biggest Hollywood blockbusters are literally writing themselves to be more palatable to the chinese market, or at least for their government to approve....and for a sh*t load of money to be made to all parties concerned. Rouge Nation was the first time Alibaba invested in a Hollywood movie (with Paramount). Alibaba and it's ecosystem of sister companies handled the online games, merchandising in the c̶o̶r̶r̶u̶p̶t̶ exclusive deal. But China only allow a limited number of foreign releases into the country each year, and a desire for preferable release dates and wider openings has led studios to court distributors by filming on location in China (highlighting only favorable chinese locations), spotlighting Chinese talent, and accepting government censorship. Hooray for Hollywood. Iron Man 3 cast Chinese screen icon Wang Xueqi as Dr. Wu — who is on screen for 10 seconds in the international version and several minutes in the Chinese version...along with some awkward product placement. When movies, no matter how big and stupid start to bow to censorship, state controlled filming and editorial conditions and all for the box office returns from a single country - you have to ask yourself who are these movies actually made for? But fear not, Trump will no doubt work wonders for Chinese/ Hollywood relations if he is elected. I wonder if he'll build a wall with Blu-ray cases to keep American movies from leaving and appealing to the chinese market...making Hollywood great again™

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.

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!

If anyone wants a chance on a cheap Zeiss or Voigtlander Prime, they can also do Gunpowder a solid. They all cover full frame Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, Blackmagic or Samsung with a cheap adapter. For eoshd members I will of course post extra pictures, answer comments etc if askes More stuff will be for sale soon, but in the regular Gear Sale Thread. Zeiss Jena 35mm f2.4 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252301417245 Zeiss Jena 135mm f3.5 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252301430295 Voigtlander 50mm f1.8 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252301420627 Super-Takumar 55mm f1.8 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252301412835 Jupiter-9 85mm f2.0 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252301427311 Chinon 28mm f2.8 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252301424599

@DPStewart Hey man, great post and video. I may be speaking out of line here as I'm primarily a run-and gun DSLR shooter, but I'm curious why you didn't touch on monopods. I actually just wrote a post about this today on my blog because I find myself using my monopod about 90% of the time for my style of shooting. It's super versatile and allows me to quickly reframe shots, much quicker than a tripod. Like I said, I may have been speaking out of line because I'm not sure of your style of shooting, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ed - re. the question of your character thing, I don't think anyone questions your character at all, you come across as a motivated force for good in the world, an all too rare person in this world, and while I believe humanity is fundamentally comprised of good people, we have built a society which rewards selfishness and punishes altruism, which is why I personally admire you greatly. However, I discussed on this board the Philip Bloom thing last year with you and while I don't and would never queston your character, the thing you did to me and others from what I have observed is that you tend to present your opinion as fact, whilst not only telling others that their opinion is wrong, you go so far as to judge people for their opinion and further, devalue their existance as a human being because they don't agree with you on a subjective matter. That's what it felt like you did to me, telling me I was an unpleasent human being for not judging a man when I had no evidence one way or the other - paraphrased. You refused to accept that it was valid to not be be obnoxious to a man who had been accused of something - where would Craig Charles be now if all of humanity had taken the girls side with no evidence? Serving a prison sentance for a crime he did not comitt, that is where. Remember the irony that only weeks earlier, I had a blazing row with Philip Bloom himself on this board over the Clarkson punch, with me refusing to judge JC on the basis of an accusation alone so I was hardly a PB fan either It's not a threat to your belief if people express a disagreement to it, one day, you will understand that, and hopefully, produce yet another excellent film about it Anyway, onto the actual subject of this post - I think it's great that the workers have a union myself, I'm a European and I come from a culture where workers have strong rights that are gradually being eroded. In the US, it seems, from an outsiders perspective that workers have very weak rights yet are battling away step by step to improve their rights. That is a drastic oversimplification I know, but if there's one thing I've learnt from many years of involvement with the unions, yes, they can be corrupt, yes they can protect the guilty - but because society is a conglomerate of complex individuals, even the guilty deserve representation, just in case, they are not actually guilty. Someone mentioned the idea that a union can protect a lazy person drawing a pay packet while doing nothing, well, I do not deny the existance of those people, freeloaders exist at all levels in society, including the guy who accused the worker of being lazy, the manager who needed a scapegoat, the complex individual capable of falsifying reports, lying etc. That is why that worker deserves representation, yes it does introduce beaurocracy which can delay the removal of that freeloader from the company, but in exchange, it protects the vulnerable from corruption - from freeloaders further up the food chain. It's a balancing act, of course - I've seen a nurse who was caught red handed stealing from patients, who stayed on the payroll for a year after thanks to a clever union rep, but at the same time, I've had to visit a good friend in hospital after a manager let his tyres down in the staff carpark because my friend comforted his ex after they broke up. The unions eventually had that man fired and got him the compensation he was due, although he had to wait 5 years before he got it. We are closing in on a better balance, and while cherrypicked individual cases can smack of unfairness and inefficiency, on a society level across Western/Northern Europe - US and Canada, we're leading the world in that balance and can be rightly proud of companies like bh being made to tow the line and stopping them from bucking the trend.

Yup, this year the cherry blossom wave on youtube will be s35 4k.

It doesn't actually make a difference, you can still shoot 16:9 and crop the sides. What ML is doing is discarding this right from the start, but no other benefits added (I'm not discussing h264 vs raw, just the crop).

I think you have this backwards. It's not that sony cameras can look artificial. Quite the opposite... they tend to look too real. I liken it to the difference of watching a movie on set as opposed to watching the finished production in a movie theater. Clearly the behind the scenes view is the more accurate representaction of what really transpired. The fact is you prefer surreal to real.

I hope that color improvement will find its way to the A6300 as well! Though, it's like Erik Naso said somewhere around here: 'I don't get the Sony skin tone argrument really. I like most of you shot in LOG modes and grade the image to what you want it to look like. I shoot with a lot of cameras. C100, C300, A7s, GH4, FS7 and they all get graded to look the way I want'. It probably just depends on the effort that has to go into it. That's why I mentioned Canon just makes it seems so effortless, which is something people keep on saying... you pick one up, there's no fuzz, it just works. A slight curve adjustment would probably suffice in a lot of conditions. That's pretty neat and saves you a lot of time in post because with Sony, if something just still looks a little off and you've looked at the footage for way too long already you need to take a break and come back later with fresh eyes. And then it can have all the features in the world, but then you gotta hand it to Canon... for what it is, it's really good. Perhaps the 5D4K... but until that time, there's no denying the rich featuresets of these mirrorless cameras that anno 2016 can give you new creative possibilities... which could be the only way to go in some situations and all the digital aids does make things a whole lot easier on you during shooting. There's no best of both worlds yet. Well, I guess maybe Blackmagic's schtuff is pretty darn close.

Very interesting. I would like to test this, could you please upload telnetd since the samsung site takes forever to download?

I see what you mean by this. I did a lot of shooting on the GH3, and I had to do it with a rig for hands and shoulder because barebones, the motion of the footage looked bloody terrible. Jolty and wobbly, not in the "independent film" good way. With the FS7, I find that handheld/shoulder mounted operation isn't very inventive. There isn't much motion at all as you need to keep relatively still and the shots are quite static, "normal", not cinematic but great for framing a shot on foot. The F55 is different. It has a global shutter and a proper EVF on the side. I shoulder rigged this camera, and found that moving around a bit actually produced some very pleasing motion. The A7SII is a lot of fun to work with, as you can change shot quickly and use it barebones with the IBIS. I'm able to pull off some minor steadicam, slider type moves with this - and if you have a slow, fluid handling of the camera, it can have a decent cinematic "feeling". HOWEVER the IBIS can be a bit robotic (stay still an watch the image slowly shift) and moving the A7SII with a lens above 50mm falls into jello insanity (not cinematic at all). I think part of it is psychological. I used the BMPCC with a loupe and support rig. I really felt I was within the image, just seeing nothing else but the content with one eye. You don't get the same connection with a regular LCD screen. I think the emotional connection subconsciously helps you to film better. So i think the variables the cinematic motion comes down to is (not including your camera settings and lenses): Ergonomic handling on the camera (fluidity of the camera movement/motion). Fast rolling shutter readout or global shutter. Connection the operator has with the footage (seeing the action through a large viewfinder, being in the image). Codec (huge and understated reason). There's probably more but i'm procrastinating and have work to do!

All well said. I also think motion cadence is related to true frames captured vs compressed motion. My nx1 and fs7 tests with sharpness on minus 10 or as off as it could be w leica r lenses still has that digital feel. But yes always w digital sharpening off. The f35 has a beautiful buttery feel but the pocket camera has more dynamic range. I would be curious to do a test. Also pocket camera vs 1d c. Digital bolex....my issue w it is native oso feels like 200 asa and only 12 stops dynamic range plus just a fischer price like build. No offense to those who own it. Same poor build found in the original pocket camera. That lcd was hvx200 bad. Robert bressom shot an entire film on the 35mm lens. What was the film called. And chivo...did children of men with just wides. No need for any type of lens. There are no rules. Just make the film look good to support the story.

I recently had to travel around Europe on a job documenting Study Abroad classes. The XC10 made it easy and pleasurable. This was shot in all 1080 c-log, not 4k if you'd like to check it out.

I actually think the motion aspect of the camera 'look' is probably down to the ergonomics of the cameras. for instance the 1dc needs to be used with an external vf or a loupe. if someone has invested in the 1dc they will also not skimp on a good and solid loupe. the weight and the ability to shoot with 3 or more points of contact without even having to think about it - the link between the eye and the camera by holding a dslr and a loupe is way different to how an fs7, fs5, f55, c100 can be rigged and handled. all of which are generally handled as you would a documentary type camera. they're turn key systems that work on their own - much like a eng camera. none of the viewfinders on the video cameras have the same ability for the shooter to lock the arms, chest and head into a solid shooting stance like you can with a dslr held to the eye. - the number of points of contact with a 1dc and a loupe provides reduction in rotational wobble, up/down wobble and side to side wobble. the shooters head is directly in control of the movement. shoulder rigs don;t provide such a optimised shooting stance. the bmpcc also needs to be handled differently, with novel techniques used to rig it in order to make it ergonomic. Since it's a blank canvas those using the bmpcc in real situations are taking the time to rig it, adjust, and get it running perfect for their style of shooting.

Why does the Pocket & Micro footage look so much nicer? Simple, it has to be the S16 sized sensor! Personally, my favourite lens combo with the pocket is the Nikon 24mm f2.8 & Iscorama 54 (no speedbooster or lesser clone). Anyone thinking that S16 is a format or sensor size that isn't used, then you must be kidding yourself - its everywhere simply because it has that something... DSLRs & the introduction of FF for filming has created a snobbery towards S16, which is completely unfounded. I'd take S16 over FF any day of the week, it just has such a pleasing look to my eye - S35 is the standard (obviously).

I'm with you man. I'm loving the BMMCC footage way more than the Ursa 4.6K. A good analogy of how I feel: You're driving down a highway looking for an exit with a good place to eat. You pass 3 or 4 exits thinking you'll find something better soon. Suddenly you're at the edge of a town and realized you passed up the best option. You turn the car around and go back an exit to the best choice. For camera tech we've been chasing the perfect camera and I believe we've hit the point where it's passed "the sweet spot" and we're taking back a notch to find the best images. EDIT: Image quality is subjective, but I'm speaking for the people who want something similar to 16/35mm film. The classic look.

For sure. New Nikons do it.

We're doing FullHD 12bit raw with the old UHS1 95MB/s Sandisk Extreme pro. So 4K 10bit ProRes/DNxHD should not be a problem on the current UHS2 284MB/s cards.

It is a CR2 rumor. Or in other words: slightly more reliable than the one I pulled out of my arse about unicorns delivering my next Ultra Ultra UHD 32K camera.

Lexar uhsII 2000x sd card,has write speed about 270MB/s..

Otto, I guess that's a first way to have focus bracketing. Isn't there a command to change focus of a +delta? It would be enough to routinely do that and shoot.

The problem with the magenta wasnt in camera. It was the NLEs not interpreting the DNGs correctly. Before the latest firmware it was easily fixed by switching to BMD film in Resolve or AE.

uhmm this is only slightly off topic lol.... if this is true http://www.canonrumors.com/there-will-be-a-4k-5d-camera-cr2 – that theres a 5d4ish 4k slr coming soon, would you all expect it to shoot motion jpeg for 4k like the 1dxii and 1dc? theres definitely something about the motion of the 1dc... it just feels like solid, independent frames to me, like film frames in that sense... hard to explain but i know what you guys mean

240fps iz just a value in a table describing parameters, there is no guarantee it can actually work on nx500 (for example, I tried enabling external audio - via USB - but all I'm getting are app crashes).

My big concerns with any Sony camera is the overheating and the LCD screen protector than tend to degraded on some cameras.

It is my favourite run and gun E mount lens!

Hey, I wanted to thank you for giving me the link to that tutorial. I had watched the first part of it about 6 months ago when I first got the Color Finale demo, then when I upgraded to the full version, I forgot to go back to it. I just watched the first 20 minutes of it and I swear I have gotten better in the last 20 minutes than I have tinkering with Color Finale for the past 5 months.

Well, Andy. - now you made me spend more money on glass :-). I already have a C/Y > MFT speedbooster to go with my Yashica ML collection and bought the Zeiss in C/Y mount on eBay 5 minutes ago. Excited to see the results from this lens, especially on the 150-200mm range. ...and sorry. I just realized I didn't posted this in the right forum. I thought I had written in Lens-forum.

For rig parts, rods, risers etc I can recommend www.smallrig.com They've moved more into cages now that look like very good value (but not tried personally), I've noticed their quality getting better and better...yet prices are pretty low. I've interchanged smallrig components with my wooden camera cage, and they match almost identically (build quality and finish), but at a fraction of the cost.

Excellent work there, I was going to have a look myself if it was any close to Linux coding. Still waiting for that SDK tool from Samsung.

I love it - a non-sequel non-action movie franchaise about the environment is the number one movie in China. There is hope for the world.

that's really awesome. Stephen Chow deserves it

That's the biggest problem of all. Not only they create pages and pages of menus, they don't even explain well how you should use all those options!

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

Sweet

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.

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!

Likely because of the lens. And because it gets mucked up in your pocket...

I use Samsung 85 mm f/1.4 for 95% of the time.

These cams do look pretty nice and I'll probably get the 24-85, but I'd still love to see an update to the LX100. That could be the ultimate compact if done right.