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When I worked for them I had my suspicions they would try and suppress the strident tone of my reviews when it came to Canon's shortcomings in video. Now it's plain for all to see what is going on there - https://***URL removed***/articles/9717214609/filmmaker-scott-dw-trades-his-pro-video-gear-for-canon-eos-80d-watch-the-results I will be sure to get my fix of Canon PR marketing there from now on and of Ebrahim's latest forum frauds.

My production company produced this microbudget feature, shot on the GH4. Only have the :30 teaser available right now. But the feature will be released next year.

A sub-forum for low/zero budget filmmaking as a whole would be nice with the cheapest options in every filmmaking area, and this type of stuff too. I often feel a little dorky asking for the dirt cheap gear here, when it's such a broad range of people, and I don't want to clutter the forum. I'll have to google those. Tangerine was surprisingly good

Micro Four Thirds is increasingly going up-market and into pro territory, but unfortunately new Panasonic and Olympus cameras are getting more and more expensive by the day. Thankfully the G85 is a pro camera without a pro price - it represents a genuine advance over the Panasonic GH4 with cleaner low light performance and better automatic white balance. Read the full review!

How about a thread of resources pointing to "frugal" films. Finished pieces made with smartphones, consumer camcorders, you get the picture. Not tests. Films. Because that what excites me most at the moment. Here's a few pointers from me. You know how the internet works, I don't have to baby you with links ;-) Google : Ruslan Pelykh Leica, Boat Magazine iPhone, BFM TV Paris iPhone, Filmic Pro's video portfolio (Dark Waves especially), Tangerine (but everybody must have seen that by now), #mojo. My intuition says it's time to look at whats getting finished, broadcast, shared, simply but beautifully and take inspiration from that. Thoughts? Because 72 pages on how to get the best out of the GX80 / 85 just isn't right ;-)

Thanks for posting. I am safe. My thoughts are with the victims of this atrocity and the similar one in Nice, France earlier this year. Was at the same Christmas market just a few days ago and it's near my girlfriend's place. I just hope that all of my friends here in Berlin are ok. The market where it happened is right in the middle of the busiest shopping area of Berlin, in the west side of the city. The Christmas market would have been packed at this time of year with families and friends after work. There's a children's merry-go-round there, crafts stores and food, pancakes and mulled wine, German bratwurst, it's a very good natured place full of nice people and my heart goes out to the people killed and injured tonight.

Thanks for the support. If people don't agree with me on this, then I will at some point also cave in and do a run of big advertisements splashed on the site and regular sponsored articles. But if my readers say they're NOT fine with this, I won't. Simple as that. So speak up for the indies... not many advertising-free places left now on the internet. It wasn't supposed to be this way online.

Well now you mention it, I have made up my mind - after fully reviewing the purchase - I WON'T be getting the 1DX mk II. For these reasons: 1. The wi-fi module which should be built in, is very expensive for what it is. 2. The touch screen isn't tilted or articulated. Also with no exposure aids whatsoever, an additional monitor is essential. These are pricey and I imagine it would be awkward trying to use DPAF and an external monitor at the same time. 3. Memory Cards + File Sizes. Turnover is important. Sometimes shoots are so thick and fast, you need more memory cards in case you don't have time to dump the footage and format the cards. These Cfast 2 cards are bloody pricey! 4. CLOG. Like austinchimp said, I find dynamic range very important. Having looked at examples of the pretend CLOGs available, I see very little dynamic range benefit. A little more leeway in the shadows and a smoother knee, but not enough really. The roll-off is still pretty steep. I'm much more used to SLOG. 5. Stills. Nothing to moan about however the body as a stills camera is overkill for me, now I've held it. It's cool, but it's a chunky picture taker! 6. Target market. It IS a journalists camera - fast action and ready for anything. Great! But I'm not the right market for this product, the community around the camera is slim. Plus very little movement on third party accessories for video shooters. What I am doing: I have an investment in the FS5 which can be stripped down and bulked up as necessary. I've decided to pump my cash into this system and make it the best tool it can be, so I can get on and not want/need another camera for years. The FS5 can be stripped down for gimbal use and motion control sliders, and souped up into a 4k120fps monster. Using a quick release system and an assistant, I can change from tool to tool pretty swiftly. Autofocus? It's not critical, just very nice to have. But I think I'll be selling all my EF glass and buy Sony glass instead, so they work natively at the highest performance without issues. I'd be "stuck" in the Sony system however I don't really care, I'll have everything I need to shoot video. I'll grab an A6300/A6500 for stills or something. I think it's really beneficial to stick to a single camera system. You can really get to learn it and master it. All this chopping and changing can slow down progress and take your eye off the whole point: creating great content.

I have both now. It really just boils down to the handling I think when deciding which one to buy however there are differences. I doubt there is any difference in IQ for stills or video with these two cameras though. The G85 is amazing value for money IMO. The G85 IMO is a nicer camera to use and work with because of it's form factor, but they both have their place in my life I'll keep both for sure. I like the G85 with the 12-35/2.8 and the 35-100/2.8 but the GX85 is just such great fun when used with the 15/1.7. The G85 is nicer to hold and use. It's very solid feeling but very light at the same time ... I think there's only 70gm difference between the two bodies. The grip is just great on the G85 also (not talking about the optional grip ... just the grip on the actual cam). Weather sealing on the G85 is a plus for me as I enjoy shooting in the rain. You also don't need to program the memory functions with the G85. When shooting around the streets or on vacation, I often quickly change between stills & video and also change between different types of stills shooting (static objects in Aperture priority with AF-S as well as moving people with Shutter priority, AF-S and burst mode & auto ISO. With the G85 I find I can make these adjustments VERY quickly with the dials on the cam as I'm approaching the subject ... I love this aspect of the G85 ... all it's dials. I only briefly used Cinelike D and it seemed a lot flatter than standard profiles, but have no idea how it compares to -5 contrast on Natural. Haven't tried using FilmConvert over the CineD profile but I'm sure it's good. The EVF is nicer on the G85. Haven't used the G85 that much, but it feels like the internal IBIS is better on the G85 when used with the 12-35/2.8. Even the 35-100/2.8 was super stable when filming all the way out to 100mm. Maybe it's just the larger form factor of the G85 that makes it feel more stable ... not sure. If I had to choose one I'd take the G85 though ... excellent handling, nice EVF and a flippy screen with dials everywhere in a tough but small package !! The G85 feels very goldilocks to me ... very much reminds me of using my most goldilocks of all AF film cameras ... the Nikon F80 Only thing missing is min shutter speed with auto iso but thats missing in every freaken pana camera !!!!!!!! MAYBE the GH5 will have this but probably not. .... And ... why can't we have a paid VLOG option for the G85 !!! Here's a nice comparison between the two cams for you ... http://mirrorlesscomparison.com/panasonic-vs-panasonic/lumix-g85-vs-gx85-g80-vs-gx80/ Good luck.

That looks absolutely great! Me too. And I'm convinced that the only lasting skills you can acquire - composition, narration, editing - can be developed without needing expensive kit. I'm particularly interested at the moment in how smartphones are being used by TV stations for news and documentary work. Not just "citizen" images of breaking events but fully structured pieces. I forgot to put this in my quick list, by the way : Oh, and there's a lot to be learned from looking at the videos on Instagram. Like just how much of a story you can tell in 15 seconds or so...

It's troubling for sure but DPR also needs a source of revenue, no one works for free. They have full time people, in depth reviews take time and hosting a website with thousand of visitors cost money. The question is about the business model and I'll move the subject to us, the readers. We always want things for free but bitch against advertising. Are we not the problem ? How many people here would pay $5 or $10 per month to get access to a sponsor/ads free DPR ? If we are not ready to pay for their independence, we must endure the plague of advertorials and sponsorship. As simple as that.

You are 100% right that even if the compromise is subtle, integrity is undermined. I can't say for sure what is motivating them - greed or just a business decision to survive? But it's tacky and actually not even so subtle in many ways... Plastering sponsored content into your blog roll feed is not subtle. Too right. I will NEVER turn this site into either of those just to take it to a mainstream audience. Nofilmschool is all clickbate. The headlines and the way it is presented, it's knocked up so quickly there and it's always somebody else's content they are selling their ads around. Cinema5D is a corporate platform and not representative of the passion enthusiasts have for making personal work and learning cameras. I have taken to watching Dave Dugdale on YouTube and The Camera Store TV for fun, the rest of it is just boring, DPReview included, sadly. It's a shame there are not more people putting good content out there.

I see some people - bigfoot, mercer, viet bach, don't understand what's at stake This isn't me being a communist and bemoaning another site making money from advertising. Viet Bach, you say "as long as their reviews remain honest"... Well honesty is as much about what you DON'T SAY as what you do. Read my article, and what it has to say about self-censoring and PR jaunts. Looking at this purely from a business perspective now, it's bad for business too as readers get sick of it and leave. The watery opinions don't do anyone any good. The sponsored content is only the tip of the iceberg. From a business perspective, in my opinion it is better to to have very high quality premium paid content like books alongside the free articles and standard affiliate links than to compromise the creditability of your entire core business and your reputation with a ton of tacky advertising. Like if you agree.

There are many reasons to favour an FS5. 1. It can be stripped down to a palm sized box or into a 4K 120fps monster (with upgrade and recorder). 2. Ergonomics are brilliant. 3. Electronic ND filter - just awesome. 4. Internal 10bit. 5. Internal super slow motion. 6. Audio controls and XLRs. 7. Super 35 sensor. Use more lenses. 8. More wow factor to clients I'm unsure on the future of stabilisation in the FS-Series, however it's well controlled using a Sony lens with OSS and a steady hand. It's perfect for gimbal and sliders too, being so compact.

On a recent project, where I shot interviews in New York, London, Mumbai, and Barcelona, I filmed interviews in the following configurations: - with an additional shooter and sound person (me on the b-camera so I could concentrate on asking questions, and the shooter on the A) - with additional shooter, no sound person (me on b-cam, set-and-forget sound levels with a lav and boom mic feeding into Zoom recorder) - one-man-band: lav mic on the interviewee, and boom mic on a chair or stand feeding into Zoom H4N recorder. Maybe my Westcott Flex light. A-cam was Canon DSLR (or c300 mk1 for a couple interviews), B-cam was Canon DSLR or GX85, Zoom H4N (boom and lav mics), Leica R lenses, and usually one light. There are tradeoffs in every scenario. With a crew of three there are less worries about gear. Everything is taken care of and you can really focus on the questions you're asking, how you respond, and ensuring a strong connection with the subject. This is by far the best. There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a powerful interview where someone may be bursting into tears, or relating the heart of their professional work, and you're sitting there nodding to keep them talking while wondering if your audio levels are too hot. With just one additional shooter, I find that there's a nice balance between finding the perfect shot and covering your bases on the technical level. That said, something goes wrong on the audio side in these types of setups at least 10% of the time. I've had nice results working as a one-man-band and keeping the camera setup minimal (sometimes with the GX85 on a table as a second camera). But again, the stress of someone leaning out of focus, the audio levels not being right, camera drifting, or the dreaded 12-minute limit on the DSLR can be intense. On the one hand these interviews are very intimate - it's just you talking to the subject with maybe one light, so sometimes they may feel more comfortable. The conversation can be very free-flowing. On the other hand, on the technical side there is invariably some nagging issue with exposure, focus, audio, or framing. Picking crew size is like picking the camera, lens, and setup for any shoot. Not every setup is right for every situation. It is important to consider what you'll be shooting and how you'd like to capture it. That is the simplicity you're looking for. The choices about gear and crew size should flow from there.

What's the day-rate for an assistant over there? Going by your setup, I don't think you need more gear or even different gear. Better to invest in fellow humans than peripheral gear that gets replaced every 9 months and that you already regret immediately after buying. That assistant of yours might actually grow with you and your business, take away your stress of trying to manage a million little technical details, provide a different creative view outside of your own echo chamber and let you step back a bit from worrying about nuts and bolts and concentrate on direction and vision. I mean think about it, instead of monitoring levels on your audio, you can actually listen to the content! Instead of pulling focus you can really direct the talent and assemble the frame you want quicker. The better your work the higher you can request for your budget too no? Oh and hey, everyone on set (including yourself) might actually enjoy some keen, eager, not yet jaded energy around!

couldn't agree more. my C100 is most often found sitting on it's shelf, until i get a call like a couple weeks ago to shoot a corporate docu, and in 2 days of use it already paid for itself. no way would i have been able to do the things i did with the XT2. Canon Log, Zebras, ND filters, the insane battery life (a full day of shoot with ONE charge) and yes the killer feature: dual pixel AF. Not to mention the ergonomics and confidence you get by having such pro equipment. that being said if you're an amateur/enthusiast, maybe C100ii is overkill. certainly not the camera i'd bring on the street, on vacation or kids soccer game..

Andrew I know you often use the Christmas markets when shooting tests so just hoping you and yours have not been affected by whats happened there tonight. I have been a frequent visitor myself to Breitscheidtplatz, particularly at this time of year, and my thoughts go out to everyone involved in this horrendous incident.

Today I decided to say "fuck it" and invest completely into my FS5 and be gone with my other cameras. So I'll be "stuck" with Sony, as I want to get rid of all my EF lenses for native lenses for peak performance. I only have 1 E-mount lens: the 18-105 f4. It's alrite. I'm looking at only a handful (it would need to be an oversized, mutant hand) lenses on this criteria: 1. F2.8 aperture minimum, constant. 2. Covering wide to telephoto. 3. Electronic with autofocus (for stills too on the A6300500700900). 4. Ideally OSS. 5. Nice enough manual focus ring (not that 24-70 f4 style fly by wire awfulness). Hit me! (appreciated).

I totally agree with Andrew: as guitar player I worked for 10 years in one of the best selling guitar magazine from Italy, AXE Magazine. Our Editor always wanted the truth about the guitar's and gear's performance. No space for sponsored articles or "nice" reviews. We had advertising but clearly visible like 1 page or half page or 1/4 page. No matter if Gibson or Fender could be offended by a sentence. People and companies trusted us because we always try to test the guitars in their price tag and for the performances. Rarely we had problems, because if you separate the "professional" opinion from the relationship - that should be good exactly for that reason- it is always better for all.

Yep, I just use Prores as RAW produces more artifacts (the dreaded M&A is worse in RAW) & quite frankley ProResHQ is flexible enough to be able to push grading quite a fair bit - if you're coming from H264, then you'll be in heaven! As far as I'm concerned, I never ETTR whilst using ProRes (in fact I never ETTR full stop, with RAW it can help but too much hassle) - so I set Zebras to about 90%, so extra sure nothing clips & expose properly! The whole ETTR thing was only meant for RAW & if you have to push anything over the top, then you're not filming properly - if you do things properly, you never have to worry. The wisdom amongst BM users for a while is just get it right, so you only have to make minor adjustments. If you are shooting with minimal additions (available light or minimal lighting, practicals etc...) then ProRes will give you enough wiggle room to achieve a good image. If you get noise outside during the day, you're doing something wrong. Indoors in low light, well show me a camera that doesn't & the Pocket's noise is not distracting - you can even push the ASA to 1600 and get very good images. The obsession with prestine images just annoys me, as there are so many good films that aren't perfect - too much noise reduction & you get that plastic looking image, then you add grain back in......pointless. With BM cameras minimal noise is really pleasing to my eyes - nearly on a par with ARRI cameras. Too many people out there using these cameras without any grounding/experience in filming - I've shot film, so know what to expect & what's acceptable. Testing a camera to its limits, so you know what you like, is the first thing anyone should do when getting a new camera, but don't do stupid tests, do practical realistic tests - a candle in a blacked out room doesn't reveal anything apart from you can't film like that. When you find the limits to your taste, that's when you know when/how to add extra lighting, reflectors etc... Practice, practice, practice & test, test, test. Once you know your camera, you'll do things through instinct & filming will become second nature. Finally, use an IR Cut filter & NDs.

Would love to hear your settings for the GX85 as well. Figure it would be similar to the G85 minus the cine like profiles obviously.

Well... 1. Your Sigma will be more balanced on the G80. 2. You have a few more video options. 3. You already mentioned an external microphone port. 4. I assume since the G80 is a bigger, heavier camera, the 5-axis must be tuned more to its size and weight, so the jump in weight you want to add, the G80, theoretically, will handle better.

Pros: "Very much improved image quality compared to the GH4...." GH4 has better dynamic range, less moire and less rolling shutter. I think the the only real improvement is less noise in high iso and that is partly made by softening details.

Ah I haven't tried the Stereo Mic, only the X so can't answer that yet. Perhaps someone else can chime in?

Yep, I got the hunch that my FS5, or a new 1DX II wouldn't be able to breathe together, given the sheer cost and differences. I'm going to keep my EF lenses and do bits of photography on the 80d. Don't need more than that for stills. I could get an A6300/500 - not overly keen on Sony for stills though. Selling my DJI X5R and Osmo if anyone wants it btw!

I upgraded from the GX85 to G85 and don't regret it... it's like a 4K Olympus body with better screen. Practically an E-M1 II without the price tag. GX85 was good to begin with and a total bargain... This is even better. Watch this space Video Mic Pro is a mono shotgun mic so you point it in a certain direction and it captures what's in front of it, but little else. The Rode Mic X is stereo X/Y to broadcast performance levels, very impressed with the build quality too, the main purpose for me is capturing immersive stereo ambience. Dialogue on a boom mic and everything else on the X. As well as the 3.5mm output it has two mini XLR jacks as well with phantom power!

In that case, I'm afraid Sony lenses won't do... though there are focus-by-wire lenses that almost replicate mechanical behaviour, most of them are awful in that regard -the 28-135 f4 PZ is sooo horrible!!!-. I haven't tried it myself but I understand the new 18-110 f4 has a great manual focus feel, it's a pity the lens itself is big, expensive and slow making it as unattractive as it gets. The 16mm f2.8 is ok as a gimbal lens, decent enough autofocus and minimal footprint (it's a pancake lens). Other than that, I stick to adapted lenses for the FS7 and FS5, mostly Zeiss CP with a PL adapter -controlled shoots- and Canon zooms with metabones speedboosters.

In these days of diminishing journalistic integrity, it's refreshing to read this article. Kudos, Andrew, for practicing journalism as it was intended, and for the reminder of why this is one of my most visited sites. Happy Holidays!

I don't see a problem with sponsored/paid content (even here at eoshd), as long as it is clearly labelled as such and not being propped up by the host. The real problem is reviewers giving dishonest opinions to gain or retain benefits from the companies, so as long as their reviews remain honest, what's wrong with them getting side income for a service that you're getting for free?

Thanks Andrew for speaking up. It is very sad in deed. I was doing my daily walk-around, EOSHD – slashcam – dpreview… and as I saw this, my first thoughts were also: OK, sponsored with orange, but what does this content doing here, among real articles? And I got angry, as I read: “Filmmaker ScottDW trades his pro video gear for Canon EOS 80D…. and the results surprised him” In the camera PR and marketing, the words “pro” and “gamechanger” are probably the most devaluated ones. For me, they have a rather negative meaning, as these words are often used, when they have nothing better to say. So when a pro trades his pro gear for an 80D, and gets surprised…. I think, either - he isn’t a pro, or - it wasn’t an 80D, or - he was not really surprised at all :-) Then I thought, I would write a comment about it, but there is no place for comments there. So I comment it here :-)

some first tests with a6500 + kit lens , for skin tones...

Sorry, I meant in FF fov and with the 4K crop. Forgot that you use 1080p and the XL version. So it's basically 23-45mm in 1080p and a little narrower in 4K. The 20mm is a great lens as well, I'm on my second copy but I don't use it often. It's just that for me the 15mm hits the sweet spot if both the subject and background is equally important, like in travel photography.

I'm amazed to read this as I've been using the 100-400 since July and not experienced anything like the zoom problems some report, particularly the user who has to zoom with two hands (!) and found the zoom better on the frustratingly bad 100-300. I've shot a fair bit of footage while zooming without issue- my copy has a decent amount of resistance (the lock is definitely superfluous) but it is definitely smooth. Stabilisation seems fine too, but I'm not one of these users who expects to handhold at these focal lengths. I'd describe myself as having a healthy cynicism toward camera gear (and I'm still paying for my 100-400, so I do appreciate the cost...) but every time I've got this lens out of the bag thinking "here it is- the least worst option for my system at this focal length" I've been thinking "this is actually a bit of a technological marvel" while shooting. For the record my dislikes about the lens are the odd hood attachment system (little clampy knob rather than bayonet, just like the Nocticron but incongrously made from plastic), the single mounting hole on the tripod foot and the unecessary, hard-to-tell-if-it's-working lock.

If you get a cage, I would get a lens support as well to take some of the stress off the mounts. But... if you're gonna go and do all that... you may want to consider selling the GX80 and getting the G85.

No, this is more like a 11,5 - 22,5 f1.1 - or less wide, once you go for 4K or enable electronic stabilization. I think i will get the smallrig cage and another handle that mounts on the cage, so that I can sleep better at night About 15mm vs. 20mm - i totally agree with you. 15mm is about the same as the iPhones do - and they work pretty well. However, i dont really know why, but i just love the Pana 20mm - so small and yet a linear focus, although the throw is a bit long for my taste. The second version feels way better than the first version.

Got a 42" Viera Free yesterday from a woman that bought a new LED panel who was going to throw it away. Plasma is still unmatched in image quality except for high-end OLED. Also closest you'll get to theater look in my opinion. Next panel I buy is going to have to meet Dolby Vision specifications. Don't see the point of buying something half-way there.

Never denoise, never add grain on the Pocket footage - just looks so nice just as it is. Now DSLR footage - always add grain in an adjustment layer. If you are going to buy a denoiser then Neat Video is the best that i've used & it does a great job in the sharpening department too.

I'm sticking with plasma until OLED reachs more affordability. I feel not too great about spending $$$ on a latest-and-greatest 65" LCD that actually has worse image quality than my Panasonic Viera from forever ago. I also feel like HDR/10bit needs maybe 1 or 2 years more to maturity, the main reason I postponed spending on a new TV this year.

Blacks are crushed.

i love that video - hahah great to see both personalities out there and the littles dogs too! (For me a bigfoot is only the inner fear, never let it outgrow your love) Keep on shinning guys !

Not that it's important or that anyone's counting, but this thread has just passed the threshold of becoming the most popular thread on EOSHD in terms of posts (over 1400) and views (over 142,000 and climbing) just overtaking the previous top dog "Surprise! Sony Alpha A6000 video mode huge improvement."

I filmed this video with the a7s (original) with the EOSHD V2 a6500 color settings.

Looks like you've found the reference image Sony's engineers used for skintones. Maybe Magic Lantern can hack the pizza and reverse engineer the cheese to make it look more appetising? Then Sony can take delivery from the pizza boy and start all over again.