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Just wanted to say I'm proud of everyone coming together to help out three members here get on their way to get their money back. It was an intense few days or so. But this really, in a dorky way, felt like a real community. A weird meta one, since none of us know each other in the real world, except for me and Mr. Coffee after a great skype interview session. Now I am crying. I am crying and crying and crying and sobbing and need to get a hankey. Okay got it. Anyway goodbye guys! Till the next hot-buttoned issue!

On the situiation between Ed adn ES: hopefully it will be resolved in that thread and not dominate the forum forever more! A lesson remains: never use western union to send money for private purchases. The risk is too high. I wasn't involved in banning Zach, and had plenty of decent chats with him, though he does come across as unstable. That meant that every single thread he waded into was derailed onto the T2i even when it was completely irrelevant. It started to negatively affect the forum as lots of threads went way off-topic and turned into arguments. I think there were enough fair warnings there TBH across a lot of topics and messages. He's actually not deleted but he is post-blocked for getting two warnings, so you can read messages. These blocks can be revoked too. As for the community here, I think it's excellent. I've known Andrew a long, time, though we don't see a huge amount of one another I do know he's kept his passion for being an advert-free independant voice. In fact I've been here since i had a T2i (first serious camera i had) and have learned a lot and taught some others. Compared to many communities, I feel we have a good balance and fair moderation standards. There's no atrocious ban-hammer, but there's a sensible limit set on bad behaviour. Here's to many more years of learning and lolz

I think Ehbrahim Saadawi and Ed David are the same person, like in fight club.

I didn't ruin ES's life and career. I threatened to. There is a difference. I wasn't asking for a pat on the back, anonymous person. And you know, I have been scammed before. I lost $2000 when I was younger. And back then, I would have died to have an older, crazier person whose been around the block a few times help me back then, get my $2000 back from a corrupt production company that prayed on young talent. I worked 10 friday nights from 6pm till 6am when I was early 22, and never got paid a dime. And then two years ago I was owned $6000 and fighting tooth and nail I got that money as the company was collasping from a Ponzi scheme. Again, I would have just loved to have someone older help me. And, what, the guys didn't ask for my help right? Well that's right. So why did I do it? Because one of the scammed victims was threatening violence, very early on. I was actually scared for ES. and because not everyone asks for help, but the guys came on the forum and thought it was a lost cause so they kind of opened the invitation to find out more, and a lot of other people helped too - we all backed each other up. And if that stupid rangefinder that doesn't even work that well actually makes it to the guys, that's something, I guess. That we got back and got organized and got a scam artist who was using his leverage and thinking he could play the crowd for what they were, seeing those yankees stripes and thinking nothing past it. But people were able to rise above it, just as everyone should always do.

Lumix 23-32mm + 45-150mm lenses + ND. Graded with Real-look LUT.

Be careful not to turn this into another Ebrahim thread, they are watching you....... When I got my first camera (Canon XHA1), I had no idea what I was doing, so I forced myself to read complex posts in forums like this until I "got it". This forum has a vibe that others don't. It's a good vibe.

MODERATOR INTERVENTION: Moderator Jonpais and myself as fellow Moderator have been talking and we are going to keep this thread open for now BUT THESE ARE THE CONDITIONS : the thread stays open for the four people involved in this crime to communicate, it stays open to keep Ebrahim Sadaawi honest and full fill his promise to refund everyone involved ......eveyone one else back off and let them resolve this issue . NO MORE POSTS on this thread from now on or we will delete them if you are not involued in this situation. Ebrahim Sadaawi you keep in contact with Tim , Thomas and James who you have stolen money from , you stick to the plan to refund them , you keep in regular contact with them and let them know exactly what is happening no excuses and no stalling . Tim, Thomas and James you keep in regular contact with Ebrahim Sadaawi and you can use this thread to keep us all informed how it is progressing . If Ebrahim Sadaawi goes back on his word and starts stalling post on here and keep us informed what is going on . Everyone else does not post anymore on this thread, yes that means you !! no more lynch mob and wolfpack tactics . lets get our fellow EOSHD members refunded - that is the priority now. let Ebrahim Sadaawi repay Tim, Thomas and James . If Ebrahim Sadaawi does not keep his promise to refund all three people he scammed , Andrew Reid will be taking this futher with the authorities - this is his forum. EOSHD MODERATORS

Unfortunately, Ebrahim, when you chose to steal from other people, you risked ruining your reputation. I think this thread should remain on the forum, but locked, onced the matter is resolved. You are only refunding these people (if you actually do) because of the pressure brought upon you by this thread. If the OP had not started it, you might have been tempted to scam more people, given your previous success. You are a criminal because you have stolen from (at least) three people and you are a liar because you have lied repeatedly and continuously. These are not desirable characteristics for a Dentist starting out on his career and now future employers will be able to see how untrustworthy you are. You brought this upon yourself and risked a huge amount.

Shot this film in Botswana and I have to say that the BM cinema camera works perfectly for wildlife filming. You will need an external monitor because the screen on the back acts more as a mirror than as a display but other than that it has been great. It eats a lot of hard drive space so a few extra ssd's are needed. Let me know what you guys think.

Do you accept western union?

Nice sentiment Helsinki, but iamoui was in the thick of it, following the entire thread, and commenting accordingly. I agree with you though, Ed_David is "fucking nuts" and I'd rather have him with me than against me. Him and his Hipster Mafia gets shit done. Btw, I coined the phrase Hipster Mafia and I think it would be a hilarious short for Ed to make deep in the bowels of Williamsburg. I only ask for a "story by" credit.

Ah great, all this talk of sweet handheld, IBIS, 4K, c-log shooting goodness means I have to talk to the CFO again about why I really 'need' another video camera....

To quote from Game of Thrones “Shame! Shame! Shame!” How dare you recline in your sofa/ coffee shop/ bedsit and lambast Ed David for having a pair of balls. Not only is he rocking a heavy copper pair, he also gave you a lesson in storytelling. What is it you loved so much about Serial, or Making a Murder? Haven’t heard or seen those, ok, let’s spread the net… Why did you love the Sopranos, Orange is the New Black, the Wire? Ok, you’re still lost… Breaking Bad? It’s because in real life there are no good guys and bad guys. To try and bookend this episode with your own view of the world and how it should be will always make you a shitty storyteller. Yes you can make your money knowing everything about a camera spec and DP for someone, but you do not understand the complexity of emotions in real life drama that unfolded before your eyes. You went through the emotional roller-coaster, you just wanted to wait until the dust had settled before taking action. That's the difference between art and criticism. Where were you when you could have put your cards on the table many times during the episode? Where was your defense or attack? Michael Moore said that the most important thing a filmmaker can do is to find an opinion and fight for it, it doesn't matter what side its on. The honesty as you work through your honest emotions is what everything is about. Werner Herzog was a bit more enthusiastic - he said you must stare death in the face (I think he had the same general jist - be honest about your own humanity). Where were you when all of this humanity was unfolding? Anger, sadness, remorse, arrogance (defensiveness?) and full circles over and over again... Oh, youre here now, book-ending and categorizing the winners and losers. Those are the cheap seats. Ed went through so many stages of emotions, and at each stage he gave us such honesty that it is ridiculous that you sat at your desk for a week and still feel you have a right to pass judgement. he showed it all… ... in defense of YOUR community... our community. For that, I will always remember a one Mr. Ed David.. that filmmaker in New York who fucking loves this racket we are trying to make it in. ... and he will have your back if you get screwed... ... and he's fucking nuts. Go find someone like him on any other forum. I dare you.

Ah, the good old days...there's nothing like the smell of miniDV tape rolling at the end of a long day :-) I have been seriously thinking about the XC10 as well, in NZ I can get it for ~$1500 USD so very very tempting. While I love my lens collection, I think it would be refreshing to have something similar to a camcorder experience, that is 'self contained' and just works without various paraphernalia.

To me it almost seems like the XC10 is a bridge camera... but it's a bridge between a camcorder and a cinema camera. I think it is cool how far these camcorders have matured, especially since I haven't even looked at them for 5 years, but I am not really a buyer. If I could get an insane deal on the G40 refurbished or something, I might pick it up as a B-cam to my XC10, but let me see how I get along with that first. It was kinda hard pushing "purchase" on the XC10 due to my small but adored lens collection. I still have the BMMCC. but I am probably going to sell it and pick up a small mirrorless or dslr, just to get my lens fix. The BMMCC is an amazing cam, with an absolutely beautiful image, I just couldn't stand the form factor. If anybody reads this, I may be selling it soon if anyone is interested. Actually, Aaron I have a question for you... you had a c100, so I'm sure you're familiar with the profiles, I am working on a short that has a section that is supposed to be POV camcorder footage. I am planning on shooting the regular narrative in c-log, and then maybe using one of the other profiles for the "camcorder" look? I was going to use Wide DR, since I have noticed that a lot of found footage movies, that Hollywood makes, usually film it with a high end camera and then dumb down the image to give it a more camcorder look. Does that make sense to you, or should I keep it simple and shoot in standard or cinema eos, instead? This reminds me, last year I had to use some footage I shot 15 years ago on a little ZR60. It was so weird getting out the firewire and rewinding the tapes... I almost forgot how to work it... but I do remember how fun and simple it was to shoot with it. Throw her in Shutter Priority mode, +/- your exposure a few notches and hit record... hell even the audio I was getting back then with my cheap Azden microphone was better than I was getting when I got my t2i... Simpler days.

I really like the images from the XC10. It's crazy how some cameras look like a misfire on paper but fully deliver with the image.

Just the other day, I stumbled upon my mini-DV Panasonic GS400 in the cupboard, which was my first video camera, and man nothing that has followed has come close to the ease of use/focal length range in a small handheld form factor. I thought the G40 looked pretty sweet, if you aren't fixated on shallow DOF.

Internal Prism design

Early setup experience.... My early setup experience has been quite mixed. Good Things This thing is very, very slick. With all the features, the app, the sleek black design... it looks and feels super cool. It smells like a new car. It's light and easy to handle. The controls seem very nice and responsive. Viewing the image on a smartphone is awesome.... (why don't other cameras fully do this?). Shallow DOF is very achievable. Could do with the wireless follow focus but that costs $100,000,000. Autofocus beep makes me laugh. Selfie mode makes me laugh. Battery extender thingy is a cool idea!! Very useful. Bad Things Firstly, the firmware came up as "unknown" and the preview image would be horizontally inverted, until you hit record. WHYYYY?? (edit: fixed after firmware update!!). Upgrading the firmware has been frustrating. The firmware instructions for the X5R aren't very clear as it behaves differently to the other models. DJI should say this really in their guides/tutorials. (you have to wait until the green/red light will flash for about 3 mins before firmware starts uploading. At first you think it's broke). Autofocus is either good or awful, they need to improve that. The fan is loud. Sounds like next door have got a crap, wimpy hoover on. This is not a device for dialogue! Also, on the Osmo, the fan and ventilator are facing up. Don't shoot if there's a chance of rain. Dust? Hmmmm. May need a regular clean. It feels a bit flimsy. It will very likely break if you drop it or crash. Battery extender adapter fits very flimsy on the Inspire TB48 battery. LAZY. I've ordered a custom 3D printer adapter to hold it in place. --------------------------------- Usually, the bad things get reduced overtime as with anything. Looking forward to what it can do in the field!

That's the camera I ultimately went with... am sitting here attempting to write while I wait for it to arrive. But I didn't mention that one because I think the XC10 has enough features to be considered high end prosumer/low end pro. Whereas these cams seem to be more high end consumer/low end prosumer. So, probably more in line with a young filmmaker who has no interest in lenses or tech and just wants to record an image with a tad bit more flexibility.

It's always nice to be nice - and I've got a week off lol Knowing the content he was shooting also is a no brainer to help if possible.

Lol, you turn away for a bit (you know, actual life and work happens) and all hell breaks loose. Someone pointed out the drama happening over at EOSHD, the disaster tourist that I am, I came to check it out. Sad to see this was happening right under our noses and it always sucks when you put trust somewhere where it gets abused. I felt like that when my locked bike got stolen out of our complex. It's usually inaccessible to just anyone (unless someone tricks their way in), so the thing is the very person next door could have taken it as well. That break of trust in a community just hurts. I guess this is sorta like it. But yeah, props for everyone jumping in for these folks that have been robbed of their money. And the moderators for monitoring and regulating. Tough situation, but indeed the priority needs to be to solve the problem... people have had their money stolen, so it has to be un-stolen first. Or the promised goods/service have to be delivered. With an hostile approach and climate, you however might not be able to construct a solution. So I think indeed it's a good idea to leave the involved amongst eachother now to sort it out. Forgiveness. Well, he thought he was untouchable, even gloated about there wasn't a damn thing anybody could do. That's the danger with this digital age, people just think they can get away with anything, because it's only the digital realm and you're safely behind your keyboard, thousands of miles away, possibly on another continent. Well. This just shows. Actions have consequences. As real in the digital as in the actual world we live in. The lies upon lies upon lies and playing victim doesn't convince me this guy is going to be on the right track anytime soon, especially him wanting forummembers to lie for him so he comes off as a saint. It's not having a statue that makes a Saint. It's the actions and road leading to him deserving one. It's: fess up and make amends. Rather than make excuses, work hard to become a better person. I don't know, I don't see much acknowledging of him really understanding what he did, he still wants to forget it ever happened and go back to the way things were. That doesn't make you a better person, that makes you the same person who likes the easy ways out of things. Looks like he feels sorry for himself (that his actions caught up to him, that he left room for error for that to happen), but not for the others involved. If you did something bad, you're supposed to feel shit and be held accountable for it. 'Ah, my bad, but all is forgiven, right?' is a fairytale world. You do the crime, you pay the time. There's no way to sugarcoat it. You gotta earn your way back. It's can't be all pat on the back and all is forgiven. You'd be sending out a message that this behaviour is tolerable as long as you're smart enough to get away with it. And easily forgiven if you don't, so why not everyone just give that a go! See, that doesn't work. And then there's still the question... was there ever a ES Sr.? I feel like there might've been, but that he has been inactive for over a year or so, leaving the most endorsed account (apart from the site's owner) in his prized possession to be used for worse. With all the lies... who knows. Oh well. Anyways. What else did I miss? Myself, I always like to discuss equipment (lenses, cameras, stabilizers, etc) and techniques (ETTR, shooting RAW, processing, lighting, colorcorrecting etc) that helps you tell stories more effectively/gives you more creative options, teaches you new things/helps you grow and ultimately gets you the best results. But I felt like shortly after NAB there wasn't really that much to discuss. Maybe now the X-T2 (but I sorta kinda don't like it all too much, but it's a nice step in the right direction for them; Olympus take note!). AF Samyang lenses sound interesting. Thanks to however pointed me back to EOSHD (who's 'blue' anyways?), I sorta got too sidetracked with actual life and work in order to check-in more regularly with you guys. -- Wait. Zach really got banned? I have an (in meanwhile old) inbox message from him. Can he read it/respond if I reply?

@Damphousse Your comments about the lens are true are why I bought the Sigma in the Nikon mount. I do, however, think it's funny that the "professionals" on here all knock the NX1 because the company closed their camera business. I can honestly say that since the day they closed their business, especially with the hacks, the camera footage has actually gotten better. Imagine that...people loving a camera so much they continually try to improve it Shooting videos of my kids, I, like most people in the world, don't need an Arri Alexa. If you only have $1200 to spend...you could do worse than the NX1...

@mercer

Yeah, I was very interested in the all-i, tried it out but it seems you loose audio - and having that audio input was a big reason I got this little beast.. Just tried it again, it seems to be working ok with audio now at 3.0x bitrate, and all-I ..

why doesnt canon get this: ill buy both, BOTH an slr AND a cX00 cam, horses for courses, but i need the image to MATCH!!!!!??? thats the most obvious reason id buy into their "system" – i can pick up shots in clog with my 5d4 and match it to their actual video cams with plugs and grown up features AND the slr shoots stills~! imagine that!!! what a concept [edit:] addendum: "protecting" other cams doesnt make sense in the same way anymore with a 4k 5d4 and a 4k c100iii on the way. things change, 2016 is half over, lets move forward

I just bought mojo during the red giant 25% off sale. Neat little plug in, I just wish they used the correct words instead of "punch it," slam it, finger ram it... Wait that's a different program... But seriously, I always liked Prolost Flat. Since everybody had a rebel back then, if one of my friends showed up, you could just dial in the settings and you're good to go.

You can contact Movcam directly if you want to purchase the rig.

Depends what you call 'proper' colour correction Firstly, the F3 and F35 are very different beasts to the newer Sony cameras, with totally different sensors that behave differently. Secondly, having shot extensively with both the F5 and F55, I'll say they're both different cameras to say an FS7. Perhaps the difference between an FS7 and F5 isn't as pronounced as say the FS7 to F55, but it's still different. Realistically, an F55 kit should probably still sit within your budget, and the F55 is an great camera. As always, each has their quirks, but I'm very happy shooting with both the F5 and F55 if I can't rent anything else. Keep in mind the F55 has the same CFA as the F65, so the picture is closer to an F65, the F5 has a picture closer to an FS7. Either way, if you think you're going to get A7s-looking stuff from any of these cameras simply because of SLog2/3 then you are mistaken. It's sad that Slog has had it's name somewhat tarnished by people using it in 8-bit 4:2:0. I think more important is the glass you put on the front of it - it can transform the look of a camera. You may also want to see if your local rental house has the new VaricamLT or an Alexa Mini - you might be able to fit them in your budget.

...and more unstable than either of the standard options. I did this for awhile until an OSX update made my sound card stop working, with the only fix being a hardware update.

Awesome. Does that rig keep the camera from twisting inside the cage?

bunk: great cc. In my book, gx80 has, by far, the best color in the cheap video dept. hi sat... a test with substracted yellow cast

Zach is spot on. You didn't say what kind of product it is (I pray it's not a car, then you're probably way over your head) but usually what really counts for product photos is the lighting, you'll probably want to shoot with manually set strobes (at least 1 + reflector but probably more). Focus on that, camera isn't really important, you'll manually focus anyway so all the technical bells & whistles are pretty much useless. I'd shoot with the SIGMA 50-100mm on APS-C from a tripod with whatever has a nice flippy screen or you can also tether to a tablet or computer. Shoot RAW and edit in Lightroom. Done.

With those sigma lenses, Nikon all the way.

Why do you need a remote control for product photos? Seems like the Nikon D5200 is the obvious choice as you've got those Sigma lenses in a Nikon F mount already. D5200 has the latest 24 megapixel APS-C sensor in it, making it a rather terrific stills camera to start out on. A quite good video camera too for its price (which is almost nothing these days on eBay!): http://www.eoshd.com/2013/02/nikon-d5200-vs-canon-5d-mark-iii/ http://www.eoshd.com/2013/02/nikon-d5200-review/ I'm still using mine, as recently as yesterday on Sunday and Saturday too, covering a motorsport event. Together with my G6 and BMPCC.

You will find that most cameras that support raw files can be used pretty successfully for product shots with careful management of lighting and white balance - use a grey card or white balance preset to fine-tune this either during the shoot (latter) or in post (former). AF is not a particular issue with product photography in general because manual focus will be preferable in most cases. However, if the camera is remote then AF might be of assistance. Given your stills requirement and lens selection, I'd suggest a Nikon with wireless control capability and so you can use the qDslrDashboard app (http://dslrdashboard.info/introduction/).This app also works with Canon cameras. I've used qDslrDashboard successfully on a mac for taking product shots and for stills of transparencies and artwork with a D750. It provides a live screen preview which is useful for managing framing and focus and a number of controls. It is touted to work on Android mobiles as well. The nikon wireless control app can also be used but it is rather rudimentary. You can also trigger these cameras with a cheap remote trigger (e.g. Nikon ML-L3), but this is simply an infrared shutter release, which in many cases may be sufficient. As for camera, I'd probably consider something like the D5300 as its stills image quality is good but it is relatively inexpensive if you get one second hand. If you want the Nikon flat profile for video as well, step up to the D5500. My Sigma 18-35 works fine with AF on my D5300, and I believe the Sigma USB dock can be used to upgrade the sigma ART line to work with newer cameras, but I'd do some double checking with camera and lens combinations other than the D5300/18-35.

Honestly for product photos, lighting is everything. Lens choice is a close second. If I were in your shoes I'd probably lean towards Nikon - something like the D3300 is more than sufficient even as basic as it is. Combined with that Sigma glass and you should get great results. that being said - GX85 will more than get the job done as well, especially with that 12-35 you have. You might get more use out of this with video work too as stated by Mercer

I think the GX85 would probably be a good choice for product photos, and you would have 4K video and 5-Axis IBIS if your work ever calls for it. On the other hand, Nikon makes great stills cameras and their video capabilities are supposed to be some of the best h.264 1080p up to 60p around, plus the Nikon's flat profile is supposed to a pleasure to grade. The sigmas should be really nice with the Nikon as well. If you're looking for autofocus just make sure you get the right model of Nikon... Some lenses won't autofocus with the D5500, so you will need the D7200. Good luck.

I made a grade for the 5550 version In DaVinci and next applied the same grade to the 5555 version. All I did to make up for the difference was adding an extra node to the left of the grade with saturation set to 75. Everything looks slightly more blue to me, as in hardly noticeable. The 5550 version without saturation adjustment. The 5550 version with saturation adjustment (from 50 to 35)

Based on your guys highly valuable comments, here is another series. This time i compared STD -5/-5/-5/-5 with STD -5/-5/-5/0 to see how the image looks like with a "neutral" saturation. Lets start with the OOC shots (4K 25p): STD -5/-5/-5/-5 STD -5/-5/-5/0 And here is my grade: STD -5/-5/-5/-5 STD -5/-5/-5/0 My conclusions: I had to lower the saturation by 25% for STD -5/-5/-5/0 to avoid turning my skin orange. After that, both shots look pretty similar. The -5/-5/-5/-5 is a tad darker and the -5/-5/-5/0 offers more detail in the shadows, yet has a bit more noise (although not unpleasing). If wanted i can supply the video files as well.

My respect and admiration for Saadawi Senior has only gone up from his reply he just made. Is understandable if you feel like you need to take a break for a little while, but please do come back! Biggest lesson here: don't use weak passwords! And keep them different. And change them. Don't leave yourself logged in unnecessarily.

While it's such a bane of modern day life, this shows how using weak/simple/convenient passwords can quickly undo a stellar reputation in record time. Possibly a reminder to us all about how we go about accessing our online lives.

Ebrahim, wrote a massive article on here which he let me edit and re-publish on my site for free, so this is certainly a very weird situation. If what Ebrahim says is true, we should at least try to investigate it and try to remove the blame from him as best we can. Wouldn't it be wrong not to? 1. Andrew, is there a way to determine the IP Addresses that logged in to Ebrahim's account during those replies to those transactions? 2. As a challenge to Ebrahim, this person had access to your physical gear and 3 of your accounts (EOSHD, DVXUser, and Facebook). That sounds like someone very close to you.

For the record PayPal is accepted in Egypt... Here's a list of the 202 countries where PayPal is accepted. So someone claiming it is not accepted where it clearly is should raise a red flag.

Yeah, I also feel that I need more info. I'm not saying he is innocent, but nor do I have enough to say guilty. Even that message posted earlier is just one side and out of context. Philip Bloom looked a whole lot guiltier than this but was still defended by the forum under the "innocent until proven guilty" principle. I will hold on to my stone for a while. (BTW, if it was a planed scam, where are all the others that also bought it?It sounds to me like a deal gone wrong. Ecatly who is to blame is the question. But it doesn't seem to be a big planned scam on any large scale. Again, not defending anyone, just thinking out loud.)

As bad as this is, in my opinion you should hold a bit back @Ed_David. I get the feeling we get back to medieval age when I read that we should "embarass him" and "destroy his reputation", especially since I get this dejavu with Philip Bloom.

@Liam ive been meaning to repsond to this thread ive just been busy. its awesome to hear what youre working on. you clearly have a lot of fighting spirit – making films is really hard! dont give up. keep doing it question: are you able to say in a word what your film is like, or what its about...? my thought is that any kind of cross-promotional marketing you can do might be really helpful. example: the film is about a pro wrestler, so you flyer an indie wrestling show. you get them to post on their facebook. your film is about a skateboarder, so you send the short to famous skateboarders on twitter, and one of them puts it over to his 3.7 million followers a lot of wise comments above about film festivals and the reality of all that. depends on your goals i guess, as well as your tolerance for paying hundreds of dollars to be ignored lol anyway, it sounds like you have an accurate, sober view of whats going on, which is more than a lot of people. go get em!!

Having a decent script is awesome. It's always a challenge to make a great movie, regardless of a strong written foundation. Hope you can pull it off! Regarding Vimeo: my wife and I made a very very modest documentary that we put on Vimeo, and we see a trickle of income from it. We've never bothered to promote it, but it's a topic that has a niche so orders keep floating in. If you hook into a supporting community, they will prop you up a little bit, which is certainly nice. If you think your film is good enough for the upper echelon film festivals, then yeah, give it a shot. As an active member of a small SoCal film fest I can tell you, we're desperate for films with a creative POV, from filmmakers that have an actual voice. There's plenty of decently crafted films that we see, (because of the democratization of production gear) but not a heck of a lot that are truly accomplished with compelling and creative cinematic storytelling. I'll be completely honest here (so don't tell anyone I wrote this) --it's personally a bit frustrating to screen some of the films we screen. But ultimately that's cool. That's all part of it. My tastes in film doesn't exactly jibe with the rest of our selection committee's POV. To put it diplomatically: We're "diverse." To state it realistically: We put average films in the festival. 1. because we need the programming. 2. particular topics, rather than cinematic creativity, will appeal to our selection committee. (This is not necessarily a bad thing, I'm just acknowledging a typical situation of film fests) As it happens, almost all good films that get submitted to our festival will get into our festival. (there's some ideological politics involved as well that go into the submission decisions --that's the nature of a committee) But, be that as it may, we're a film festival that's incredibly embraced by our community. Every single screening during our 5 day festival sees attendance of 150-200 people...and this is in a proper theatre venue that officially seats 185. So, if you ever get accepted to film festival be wise and do your research regarding what sort of event they present. It's a bit much to travel across the nation to attend, go to your screening, and then it's you the filmmaker and only 4 other people in a sunlit conference room with a LCD projector... Experience that firsthand and you'll get a rude awakening of the sad state of some so-called film "festivals" these days. This doesn't even take into account the festivals that exist solely to generate submission income and then dole out laurels and empty awards, while never even holding physical screenings. Our festival may be small, but at least it's legit. At any rate, PM if you're interested. I'd like to hear what you got going. Also: Good luck in general!

yes with everything set to infinity, the Rectilux will focus closer. but both can focus very close if you adjust the scope and taking lens to something other than infinity.