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So the GH5 is a great camera and is capable of great imagery etc etc etc but it is usd $2000 for body only while the GH2 was $900 for body only. I’d say the BMPCC is the modern successor of the GH2 for beginning filmmakers not the GH5. With the GH5A all the features are nice of course but they have the risk of encouraging ‘lazy’ shooting such as relying on IBIS and shooting handheld when a locked off shot might be better or using slow-mo for everything rather than learning how to use 24p to the max before adding in other frame rates. If you’re a seasoned pro then the features are great to speed up your production but for the ‘artistic’ non camera tech filmmaker, I’m not sure. In some ways the GH2 is like shooting stills with one focal length for a year and perhaps encouraged mastering the basics before being flooded by all the bells and whistles.

That's awesome! Id love to see your daily type of content. I started doing corporate same day edits last year and really loved it. The adrenaline rush from it is insane. You get that instant gratification and when they show the film at the end of the event with hundreds of people watching it on a big screen...it just doesn't get much more fulfilling than that. The last three shots of the STORY video were shot like 20 minutes before the people in the audience watched it. I heard people gasping in the crowd from it. You guys should try this type of thing. You can charge a ton of money for it and its really fulfilling.

I think you, like me, and others on here have become our own worse enemy. It was simpler times years ago, the camera didn't make much difference because it was sort of crap to what the big boys had, and we just ignored the camera and went on to write, I would say more fun stuff, then we do now. Willing to try anything because it was fun to experiment, to create, and hell that is what a movie Is suppose to be, Creative. Now that we have damn good cameras we spend 3/4 our money and energy on the camera, oh got to have the best camera thing, and I would argue less time being creative, having fun doing it. Getting the juice's going as they say. The story is King, and damn if it ain't! This B&W thread on here proves you can take a pretty ho hum camera and make magic with it. I think most people that have the GH5 spends more time on the Forums, YouTube complaining about AF, Colors, HDR on and on then going out and shooting. Hell they probably accomplished more, and better output on their old GH4! How long can you keep doing tests and not use it for its intended use, a short, a Movie, a Doc, on and on. Not 50 lens tests ,100 different LuTs. I think we all need to spend less time on the camera and more writing a story, a story board, dreaming what the outcome will look like, not how great the camera will make it look. There are lots of shorts, movies I never took my eyes off the actors, that I paid Zero attention how the Camera performed. That was the least of my thought used in the case of a great story. I am not saying go buy a 50 dollar camera and lens, I am saying put what you got to good use, the use it was intended for, to project your thoughts out to the world, good or bad. Shoot, shoot shoot.

The root problem, behind Andrew's article, is not YouTube's pushing of crass video content. Forty years ago TV and comics were similar scapegoats. Stepping back even further, none of the issues confronting us were alien to Dostoevsky, Henrik Ibsen, or even the author of the first modern novel, Miguel de Cervantes. How do we feel good, right, happy in a society that seems to have abandoned, or cannot adopt, to the right ideals? Are current affairs fundamentally different from the problems dealt with in the Old Testament, say? Societies always expand and contract. We're in an expansion phase. From the turn of the last century until WWII, the world was als in an expansion phase, technologies and populations increasing faster than they could be absorbed. I would call WWII "the great contraction". So Andrew starts EOSHD. It's in the beginning of a period where people can shoot near film/TV quality on consumer cameras. It's a heady time! As I've said here many times, one could barely afford to shoot 3 minutes of super-8 film in the 1970s-early 80s, when I was young. Okay, so I read about the 50D shooting RAW using Magic Lantern, buy Andrew's guide, and I finally feel I can realize my youthful dreams of making a movie! My only problem is I either never had anything to say in the first place, or it's not a good fit for my mode of thinking (which is very analytical, as if you didn't know ) Anyway, a burst of joy followed by depression. I imagine Andrew also had some dreams, or projects he wanted to do. Perhaps just as he got all the technology sorted out through EOSHD he looks at where his content might go and his head explodes. Or maybe he just sees all his advice misused and mangled. In any case, the ability to make professional video with a DSLR used to be something special. When I shot my 50D with ML it was a cool feeling. Now anyone can by a BMPCC and get that result easily. As for nice sharp video, the GH5 can match any broadcast TV camera, if I'm understanding the experience of many here. So where does EOSHD go with the world full of good cameras that don't need hacks and a completely glutted market for content? I feel there is as much a need for EOSHD as there ever was. Although, as you know, I am very cynical of HDR and LOG and other misunderstood techniques, the problems they try to solve are real and are a continual struggle. As nice as the GH5 is, it doesn't compete with the cameras used to shoot modern movies. So the need to optimization remains for the serious cash-strapped filmmaker. Last night I woke up at 5 and figured I'd look at Instagram for a minute. It auto-played someone's crappy iPhone video (which I feel is extremely rude) waking up my wife. I thought, "Andrew is right, f them all! I'm going to delete Instagram!" I then calmed down. I'm working on a new video about how RAW sensors work and their relation to LOG video. Yes, it's a stupid subject. Yes few people are interested in it. But I have a better chance of improving the understanding of myself, and a few people, than changing what people want to watch, or in the case of YouTube, shove down their throats. I have to contract back to the somewhat-feeling-isolated guy with dreams of being respected in my head. There's a lot to the saying, 'ignorance is bliss'.

I disagree somewhat with your conclusion. The reason is simple: because PEOPLE matter more than the camera. So what are those PEOPLE doing now? Many of them have moved on/up to other cameras. (many likely still have a GH5, but it is their B or C Cam, thus when they produce a highly polished piece they're not going to shout at from the roof tops that "THIS WAS SHOT ON A GH5!!!!111") Back when the GH2/GH1 came out, the other strong options were very thin on the ground. Such as a Sony F3 / FS100 / FS700, Canon C300, or Panasonic AF100, or RED ONE So you have many people choosing the GH2/GH1, but today they have an explosion of other options to consider. With the entire Blackmagic Design range, plus FS5/FS7, C100/C200/C300/C500, Panasonic EVA1, JVC LS300, and Kinefinity, etc etc etc... plus those I mentioned beforehand (F3/FS700/FS100/R1/C300, which have become much more affordable!). So the people who choose a GH5 as their #1 A Cam are largely young inexperienced people, or some amateur filmmakers on a very tight budget, which is much smaller pool of talent to pick people from. I did come up with the theory that perhaps the extra time which the GH2 forced them to do with lighting is why on the Zacuto Shootout many people thought it looked "better", because literally greater care had to be taken care with shooting with it. But I'm skeptical as to what degree this really is a factor in your typical quality vimeo video with a GH2 (or even if it is a factor at all of note).

It is over a whole hour into the 8th here in NZ, I'm getting impatient!! :-D

Only true if you buy into the BS spin that it is all about sensor size! It is not about size, but how you use it ;-)

Olympus 17.5mm f/1.2 These darn sweetspot range lenses. * that would've been the Voigt, the Olympus is just 17 (where they have the f/1.8 as well)

Hey cats! It´s been a maginificient bunch of years, maybe eight or so, of the wizardry of DSLR/M image crafters and creative cinematography as part of true and truthful arts, of what is accomplishable through an image rather than by putting and shoving and screaming and FXing and bloatingly slomoing into peoples faces. Good enough until the end of times and plenty to research for, to learn from and to build new filmic work upon. One of the search terms is.. GH2. That´s what the magic of the GH2 and a Canon 550D still is. Past of tech but nevertheless a basement for an aesthetic future. In spirit and magic GH5 has not become a successor of the GH2 yet. Eoshd search and Vimeo search are our friends. Research time, creation time! Thanks to the magic of the GH2 I throw some magical digitized S16 Kodak stock into the mix for viewing pleasure. Wish you all a beautiful Sunday evening!

While I mostly agree with you Andrew, this race to the bottom is not specific to Youtube or FB. It started long before that with trash people magazines, reality TV and 24h news channels. There is an interesting scene in the movie "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" where the main character, a TV producer in the 70s conducts casting of people who want to sing in his TV shows. Most of the contenders are bad singers and the TV producer gets very bored during the casting. He dreams of trashing them. Then he realize that the show should actually be about trashing people live. He changes the concept of his show and pick the worst possible singers to make fun of them during the show. It works great! Unfortunately, Youtube, FB, news channels and reality TV rely on the human perversion and basic instincts to success: voyeurism, sexuality, violence, sadism, narcissism, jealousy, etc. As you know, the Germans have a word for this "Schadenfreude"

Idk, I’m pretty sure every person has stated that the GH5 is a better camera... hell... it’s not even the point of the discussion. And no, obviously I don’t have the time, or the inclination to do that, I’m in the middle of doing final polishes on 3 screenplays before I send them out into the world at the end of the month. Idk, maybe @IronFilm is right. Those guys who started with the GH2 in the golden age of DSLR filmmaking have moved onto better cameras and although the GH5 is an amazing camera and capable of way more than the GH2 could do, those really talented operators are operating much higher end equipment and the next generation of filmmakers will now sow their oats with the GH5. But just to be clear, as not to offend you... the GH5 is the best filmmaking tool on the market and anyone who doesn’t use it to shoot any and every video project is a moron. And no camera before it, and since it, is worth discussing or admiring the great work that was/is produced with it. ?

There's always going to be an enormous amount of junk out there and there's no point censoring it. I think some people think this is what I was getting at in the article... nope. Leave the junk out there. But take some responsibility for it. Give kids some other way of venting, letting off stream and entertaining themselves. Stop promoting it on trending lists and YouTube home page. Stop cross-linking to it from other videos. Have some editorial direction as YouTube. Don't promote it, don't give it a platform for it to thrive on... and above all, hope the next generation are smart enough to not watch it. This one's fucked. Too late for them. This is their culture now, they own it and are doomed to repeat it... the culture of vanity, insensitivity, selfishness and above all MONEY and LOOKS.

My daughter was born 2 years ago, and although “time” is certainly strained, she’s been a massive inspiration for me to push harder on my work but also save time for her. In my line of work - I’m the DP, the camera operator, the editor, the writer, the colorist, the marketer, the development manager, the finance manager, the almost everything. This amount of responsibility does starve my creativity and sometimes takes it over completely. At the moment, I’m doing more “freelance” type work to reduce the strain of these responsibilities on my own business, so I can re-focus some passion into the more personal creative stuff. The GH5 has been a great device for this strategy so far. Sold off a camera system I wanted for years to use it. Looking forward to the GH5S, but these Rumors of no IBIS are concerning. Should we be concerned?

Well, everything is based on a general misconception about society. I would not want to sound elitist, but hey... Most of the people are stupid (or dumb, you pick it up) and they rather choose Gangnam Style over Macbeth. Nothing new over here, seeing people butchered alive required huge coliseums across the roman empire. Theatres were rather small, as they are today confronted to football stadiums. That's why Vimeo will always have less views and viewers than Youtube. "Eh, sexy lady Op, op, op, op"

Yeah, even with the old ancient Panasonic GH1 sensor and "slow" f2.8 primes, you can easily expose well with that so long as you work with it (not against!). I'd probably throw in just one 35mm f1.7 C mount lens (which are CHEAP! Was one of my first lenses for my GH1) into that lens kit, just to help out in a tricky spot when you really need that extra stop or more of light. Important point to remember is the GH2 took a lot more time to light with, than say an Arri Alexa does. Thus the Arri Alexa "saves money"! (however I half wonder... if taking that extra time which the GH2 needed, is what helped make the image "better"? Maybe that is what we should all just do instead, take the time to slow down and really think about what we're shooting) Yes. Like sound! ;-) (ok ok, and lighting! And make up! Oh and I guess the actors and story matter too :-P )

I'd love to take credit, but that was @EthanAlexander killer line!

Disappointed with you. This has already been mentioned in the appropriate topic days ago.

Yeah, I'm attracted to its simplicity of operating, but I have to agree the actual performance wasn't all that great. But then again, Olympus cams now include a video feature called 'Old film effect' to dirty up your footage, because it's the flaws that ultimately gives it some character. Unfortunately for Olympus, that's a thing you can't really go and fake. Part of flaws and personality is that it's authentic. Maybe that's the thing about GH2 footage. Sort how CCD gives you its own vibe as well. Bit of a roughed up nose from fighting VS cosmetic rhinoplasty (intent as well)... or aged wine versus grapejuice.

GH2 has poor dyn range, much noise, ugly greenish color science, aliasing and unreliable hacks. The only good thing is the wider sensor. It was very good in 2012 but not today.

I'm 56. I went to public schools in NYC in the late 70s. They had large populations of blacks, Puerto Ricans, and other minorities who had few opportunities in the white-collar world. Today, on YouTube, Marques Brownlee makes a living doing tech content, on his terms, in a way that was probably unthinkable to his parents when he was born. You also have Dagogo Altraide, of "ColdFusion" who has 1.5 million happy subscribers (like me). Or how about Olufemii? My guess is that 30 years ago there were few opportunities for @Oliver Daniel to do anything creative on his own in Manchester. If you were born 30 years ago what would you be doing then? I can get as upset about this stuff as you, like "Game of Thrones" which is on your quality list We all have different tastes. You haven't been on your forum much. You are EXCEPTIONALLY lucky that you have a platform/business in which you have some freedom of choice, freedom that is still not available to billions on this planet. If what you say is correct, and the World has totally lost it, then what hope for anyone? Do you think some young person, who finds his way to Berlin with dreams of making films, wants to read this stuff on EOSHD? That person is who you want to keep in the back of your head. Live and let live, Andrew. I strongly urge you to go watch the film "Sullivan's Travels" again to find your way back.

Just change your computer time & date!

I think your frustration is misplaced, Andrew. I fail to see how it is up to google and FB to kill their own platforms by curating (censoring) content. If they did that then they would be overtaken overnight. Period. I work full time in marketing at a company that sells 90% online and I can tell you that YT and FB are perfectly oiled machines that serve consumers exactly what they want to see. That's why they are worth billions. What you've overlooked is that if consumers truly wanted different content, then YT and FB, using the exact same algorithms, would serve up that different content. It's that simple. My own YT and FB feeds don't show me the crap you're upset with because I never interact with it. It shows me camera stuff, exercise stuff, and puppy videos lol . That's it. If you really want content that's curated (again, censored), it already exists: It's called TV and nobody wants it.

I didn't. I'm very happy with EVA1. so happy i bought a 3 year warranty and am selling off my other cameras.

Good overall point, I think, Andrew. I used to get really dissapointed in my fellow man/woman over their behavior and decisions until I finally came to accept the fact that a solid percentage of people simpy have below average intelligence - both intellectual and emotional. Walk into a room with a random group of 100 people and maybe 30 or so will have a difficult time with basic logic, reasoning and emotional judgement. And while accepting this basic math helps me remember that most people are reasonable and decent, it's pretty important, as a culture, that we encourage and promote higher thinking and ethical behavior. Unfortunately, too many corporations have become the biggest douchebags of all with no obligation to anyone but their shareholders. And thanks to them we have a big chunk of the general population that stares at little screens all day sending and receiving vacuous content and prattle. This guy is just another mindless douchebag who enthralls a lot of other douchebags, to the delight of media whores around the world. Idiocracy is looking more like a documentary by the day.

This video proves that GH5 "S" is not only a low light camera, but a lowlight sea MONSTER. It also works underwater, as the scene gives us obvious clues to this feature. Also the use of boats suggest that it will be shipping soon.

DJI really made something smart here. By off setting the camera you still have access to the battery which has always been a pain with these handheld gimbals. https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/07/dji-ronin-s-slr-mirrorless-stabilizer/

Yes sorry, I misspoke... there is no color science per se but the RGB filters on the sensor will affect the overall color of a Raw image. Take the same exact image shot with a Pocket cam with the same exact image from an ML Raw camera and with the same exact post workflow, the colors will look different.

I don't know of any other M43 chips that fit that size that has been touted and since we already know the GH5 uses a Sony sensor, it seems logical unless the Daleks are behind all of this. Starvis for the restofus!

Ain't want to wait 22 hours no more dude

In 22 hours and 32 minutes, Panasonic will spill the beans

Bloom breaks it down nicely in his review and confirms what other reports have been saying: EVA1 is a solid effort from Panny capable of gorgeous imagery and some cool features but that is let down by some odd choices (EF mount), questionable build quality issues & severely lacking in departments like AF & LCD/EVF. It's kind of a mystery to me how these companies can get things so right yet drop the ball so hard in other fields. I guess he's right that we'll never get that perfect camera that combines everything (at least not under $10K). Personally, I'd still probably put the C200 in front of the bunch just because of RAW & DPAF. FS7 is a workhorse but having used one recently for an entire project I did find it slow & clunky to operate. Feels dated. FS5 + Inferno is probably the best deal right now at current prices, but you have to wonder if Sony isn't about to pull out a MkII.. That being said, EVA1 IQ really has a bit of that varicam mojo, if you can get past it's shortcomings i'm sure the files are a pleasure to work with. Honestly it's a tough call right now in that mid-range video cam market!

@JordanWright I had that lens back in September. I didn’t have a great copy of it though and found I liked the image from my Tokina 24-40mm better and it’s much smaller. However if I can find one at a good price I may give it another try eventually. Here are a couple I shot with it on the 5D3... And here’s one I shot on the 24-40mm... With all three of those, I was testing some different looks rather than just normalizing the clips, but all in all Tokina has some great vintage lenses... even their old RMC prime lenses have some interesting character.

JIm, you get it. And that others on this thread are comparing Logan Paul to Shakespeare, just proves your point

From experience with them, anything rated E or higher would pass for good as new on ebay. E- might have a little scratch or something. I probably wouldn't go below their V rating which is very good.

you and Philip Bloom I would pick of the ones you suggested. Daniel Peters has moved on from great test footage to rather quick shots of some sorts. James Miller too focused on just LUTs. RedShark I do not know, Harv having a nice way of presenting but not the content I am looking for at the moment. Awesome kid on the block, one of the most talented and inspirational is DSLRguide. Entertaining and highly informative. Has been around for a while and still kicking it like Andrew.

The casual acceptance that there's so much shit out there is part of the problem, part of the western mentality that I find so submissive. I think people are resigned to live out their lives surrounded by junk videos, junk food, junk advertising and bring their kids up on all the same junk too. The 4 big quality online camera blogs remaining in the UK are... Me! Red Shark News http://www.redsharknews.com James Miller and Philip Bloom's content I can't even remember the 4th big one but they're out there Plus there are of course good guys putting helpful stuff out there like like Harv's stuff on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8YXmNHJ-JS0dd7z4Z9ChXA And Daniel Peters https://twitter.com/danielpetersdop But when I was recently invited to Panasonic, they said there was a shortage of people to invite. Dan Chung has sold up at newsshooter now as well...and gone to work for Atomos. The internet it just so full of tat, it's unreal.

I own both the GH5 and GH2...the GH2 is, even today, a fantastic image producer...but it's not remotely in the league of the GH5....the GH5 is a professional tool and is probably used more as such, than by hobbyists....as for the Vimeo or YouTube lack of GH5 footage...our very own Jonpais has posted clips of the GH5 that are amazing in every way...if someone needs more "proof" of what the GH5 can do, probably not the camera for them...and lastly, I would venture that probably the vast amount of camera posts on YouTube and Vimeo are done by hobbyists, as they are free publishing media outlets...professionals have their work on a reel, and usually link it to someone they are interested in working with. (I could be dating myself badly here, as I don't even have a website) all the same...I never post publicly....interpret that as you wish....it matters little to me....as does the camera I use for that matter...I only care about the results I get in my work....period....again...I know this is off topic...I urge anyone in doubt of the GH5's capability to view Jon's work with it!

I do mind our PM

@Neumann Films less than four hours to go... ;-) Or at least that is true for Orangenz and I!

Probably the last day of March!

Just thought I’d point out that Facebook has invested over $1billion on new original content for their new Facebook Watch platform. We’re all capable of looking for what we want to see. It’s true that there’s a lot of trash on YouTube & co, but there’s trash absolutely everywhere. Always. Ignore.

I definitely see why you are angry. Andrew. And i think it is our duty to look and see and point out the problems we see in our society. Like you have. To create discussion. Words (typing) are powerful, and when people come together things get done. The "everything sucks so F**k it, i dont care, nothing matters" attitude, is so 6 grade. I wouldn't say Youtube is the greatest but i have to say there are some amazing talented people that produce great work on the platform. There is also the opposite. Some of the worst people and crap has been produced for youtube but also some of the best. In a way its the price of free speech. Our freedoms are being challenged everyday. Youtube is one of the few places someone with no money can succeed for good or bad. TV channels are censored and controlled by multiple agendas. Try sway your opinion in the direction they like. I feel it is more the peoples job to change how things are. On the web and on youtube. But NOT censorship. Youtube doesn't care, but they do if we make them care. Corporation don't care, but they care if we make them care. You created EOSHD and you do with it want you like. May people thank you for it! i do. Just like the EOSHD forum I'm glad that geniuses, idiots, asshole, artist, awesome people and everyone in-between can say what they want.

I've been a production partner on Youtube since 2006, back when they had human content curators and we had to sign paper docs to be part of the program. The problem is that an algorithm can't see "quality" it can only see data. Since Google is all about the algorithms they are unequipped to help viewers find the quality content that is/was being posted to their service. The human curators were great. I could tell them that we had an exclusive review of a new car (one that might not even have a lot of search requests yet) and they would put it front and center. Most of our videos trended on the platform as a result. Once they were replaced, that ended and I stopped seeing YouTube as a reliable platform for distribution. Ideally, YouTube would incorporate a mix of content; Some, algorithm based, with section editors that could curate key sections: automotive, film, drama, comedy, etc. However, that is directly against the Google-way, which is unfortunate.

Why do you think there needs to be quality and expensive content on Youtube? It sounds like you are trying to turn a generic video blogging platform designed for one kind of content into something it wasn't designed to be.

@kidzrevil well said! Unfortunately, consumers are impressed and motivated by bigger specs. For instance, 10bit video... although great for a lot of users who want to bend and shape their color in post, for most users, 10bit video is overkill and the benefits are minimalistic at best. To be clear, the footage I’ve seen from members of this forum looks great but Panny is right, if you scour YouTube and Vimeo, the overwhelming majority of footage shot in 4K 10bit, should be more visually compelling. And the majority of those folks’ videos would look just as good if they shot it in 8bit. Hell, I’ve asked almost a dozen times on the various GH5 forums about the 10bit 200mbps all-i 1080 up to 60p and all I get are crickets. To me that is the most interesting spec on the GH5. Actually, I just found some casual 1080p footage from the GH4 that is as good as a lot of the casual GH5 videos floating around... Now I’m sure that guy would make great GH5 videos as well, because obviously the GH5 is an amazing camera, but I can’t wait until more of it starts popping up. For now, I’ll continue to check out old videos from forgotten cameras.

EVA1 is winner here with more modern codec, lowlight with much less chroma noise and artefacts, higher resolution, fatter additional 400mbps codec and Varicam color science. It´s a true indy cinema camera whereas FS7 is an ENG workhorse. The test above is not showing significant footage, it´s like the cat shooting game from the DSLR days, not revealing anything about the quality of the camera. It´s wordy but not showing its assumptions. FS5 codec is has been proved to be crappy a lot of times. FS7 240mbit codec is old and full of artefacts in lowlight. IT´s still the top choice for every day ENG work, because for that it offer great ergos, approaved broadcast quality and most of all workflow. For indy cinema EVA is an awesome choice for the reasons I gave above about cinematic image with Varicam colors and filmic noise structure and high resultion with superior codecs. The GH5 is such a hit, that zillions of beginners shooting with this powerhouse. It´s been so popular for every videoshooter, so many beginners shooting with it. Thatfore vimeo gives us dozens and zillions of beginner level footage. Believe me, GH5 in 8bit HD REC709 is already giving cinema experience quality color within three nodes of a quick grade. That´s why it´s a megaseller, because of it´s potential and technical prowess. Buyers just don´t know how to take advantage of it and shoot everyting in LOG without having an idea about the workflow. You guys know what I mean Footage please Why did you sell it?

GH5 is killer for the price, Panny will sell tons of them.

Hey guys, great posts in this thread. One thing, I actually DID put the shooter in the center of my piece, just in an overly calm way of wording. My own words from my original post: "With the GH5 a whole new crowd of videofans are doing their short seqences of slowmotion and IBIS demonstration..." Oh, how I love to cite myself:) @Sage nice lensing and framing and great color out of your GH2. I like your emotion 2 montage, links into some great GH5 color moments here, awesome montage as well. I do think that too, that GH2 with the right lens choices and profile and WB has really nice color. One thing, GH2 shooters always lead me to the most interesting material of pure camerawork: framing, lensing, color contrast- palette- and composition, composition of objects, subject/object choice, camera movement and speed and point of view and distance, lighting. That is so to say what the GH5 lacks the most, this kind of library. By the way, maybe a bit unexpected, a guess the camera game. I suggest without browsing his materail for an easy solution. I expect @mercer to fall for some temptation of purchase again:)

in those evenly dimly lit restaurants/bars, if i dont have, atleast, an f1.4, i leave the camera in my bag and enjoy the company.    :D

I still think the best value zoom lens for video is the Tokina 28-70 f2.6-2.8. If any of you guys have never heard/used it I really recommend giving it a go. Apart from range and aperture, other good factors include manual aperture ring (nikon mount only), near parfocal, non-rotating or extending front element (good for matte boxes). And although the prices are inflated due to DSLR video trend, it's still good value ($300-$400). It's been my fastest zoom and workhorse lens.