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  1. Newsflash: Almost every large company is run like this. Once a company achieves a certain scale, old school management principles come into play. A strict hierarchy is established and innovative minds tend to get pushed to the bottom. Companies are run by MBAs, not by camera nerds. Small start-ups can run a bit leaner and display truly innovative and disruptive behavior. But that only lasts until it's sold off or becomes a key player in the industry. Then the dogs start chewing at each other. About Black Magic, I appreciate the image quality on both the Pocket 6k and the Ursa Mini. But the so-called "industrial design" is pretty atrocious and the build quality still leaves a lot to be desired. They would do well to charge a few thousand more and equip their camera with fully aluminum bodies, so that they stand up better to on-set use. And the Pocket has the worst form factor of any camera on the planet. No amount of cages, rigs or battery plates can turn it into a functional piece of cinema equipment. It's like a camera designed by an ancient Egyptian who'd only seen a camera in hieroglyphs.
    6 points
  2. noone

    Favorite lenses FD 24 1.4L

    I have had this lens for ages. Not something I have used a real lot but I do love it and think I am going to use it as the only lens I use for a few weeks. Mine does not have a build date mark (that I can find anyway) and is a battered old copy externally but nothing wrong with the glass. A small lens for the speed. Is actually usable in a pinch for landscape infinity shots though much better stopped down or close in. Has a large hand ground front aspheric element. On Sony it also works great as a super fast 2x zoom for jpegs and video. Well worth getting if you can get one at a decent price (there are some that are at collectors prices on Ebay). Just snaps walking around. wide open and 5.6 at distance. Close in at 1.4 and again at 2x clearzoom. I took a photo of a friend I met that i would love to post but do not think she would appreciate it. Will have to find a nice stranger to shoot and post as well as video from it.
    2 points
  3. Fuji made this X100V advert featuring an artist who breaks Japanese social norms. They pulled it due to adverse hysteria on the internet (not real world) His technique (filmed from 00:45 in the video above) produces very interesting art with the best intention... Documenting the normal in a cinematic way. If the subject sees the end result, they'd approve 9/10... But in the moment, it just seems intrusive and a bit weird. Poor them. Their poor feelies, big frowny face, boo hoo! What a violation of privacy, blah blah blah. Art is bigger than that I'm afraid. Dear Fujifilm. Put the ad back up and stand behind your artist! His work: https://www.tatsuosuzuki.com DPReview pixel peeper comments (gives me a fucking headache) https://***URL removed***/news/6165309898/fujifilm-pulls-controversial-x100v-promo-video-due-to-the-featured-photographer-method
    2 points
  4. Guess who just joined the BMMCC club.....
    2 points
  5. I can see both sides of this argument, but personally I'd feel very uncomfortable doing this, and when I see anyone taking a photo in my general direction, I always turn my back to them. In public spaces, you don't 'own' your face in this regard, there's no legal reason for someone to ask your permission for a photo, and they don't owe you anything from the profits they may make from it. That doesn't mean it isn't rude. I straight up disagree with your privacy statement Andrew, these days privacy is rare and if we don't hang onto every last shred of it, there won't be any left at all. Paparazi sitting in a bush taking photos through someones windows could be their art, but I whole heartedly think that is very wrong. In the UK, that's legally fine, so long as the photographer is standing on public property. Morally it's disgusting.
    2 points
  6. Zach Goodwin2

    Lenses

    Well, I may need to tidy up and organize my room. Here is a photograph of my cat in my dresser, taken on the Canon FD 35-105 F/3.5 on the Canon T2i.
    2 points
  7. Uh, most large, older companies are filled with this kind of crap...
    2 points
  8. Out of curiosity, I quickly looked up Nikon / Panasonic / Fujifilm / Olympus, they're all around 3 or 3.5 stars as well.
    2 points
  9. These staff comments give an insight into what it is like work for the camera companies and for those who stayed many years, how their career prospects fared. For Blackmagic and Canon around 40% of the reviews are very poor. Some real horror stories here... Blackmagic https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Blackmagic-Design-Reviews-E967090.htm "Not worth the free lunches" "The CEO boasts of running an efficient company thanks to its lack of middle-management, but from what I saw during my time there this is a lie. The department sits idle the majority of the time, paralysed due to the CEO's lack of time, and refusal to delegate any decision-making to the department heads. Projects are worked on in a completely linear, unconnected way due to his intractability, and inability of department heads to use their own experience to push work through. Despite having 30+ staff in the department, there is nothing on the walls, no brainstorming sessions, not even magazines or books to look through for inspiration. Competitor research is banned, and ideas are meant to just appear out of thin air. No market research, metrics or measuring of campaign effectiveness is done. Results are graded purely on the CEO's gut. Anyone with talent is marginalised in favour of the "old guard", which means nothing modernises or changes with regard to working practices or efficiencies. I saw this company repeatedly fire (sorry, "make redundant") their most productive and liked staff members without any explanation, plan or even apparent realisation of how integral they were to both the actual work and the working environment. God, the way they let them go was appalling too - so little respect or even understanding of what a redundancy process requires. Public floggings of reputations after staff have left the buildings are common, alongside grandstand speeches from the CEO which display his clear lack of knowledge of the departments day-to-day reality. They have no HR department, so mistreatment and inappropriate actions by senior staff are commonplace. Complaints cause much consternation within the management 'cabal' but really go nowhere as they aren't empowered are trained on how to deal with them. Promotions are really on the whim of the old guard, who will build a human shield around them that they can blame for their own failings. I know this sounds like the rantings of an incredibly bitter former employee, but I've waited a long time to write this review to ensure it wasn't written in the heat of the moment. If you're an Industrial Designer, then you'll be on a good wicket at BMD - that department is well resourced, well run and well respected within the company and by the CEO. But if you're unfortunate enough to be in the Marketing department, you will be the company whipping boys. Worked to the bone during tradeshows and product launches, and left to languish the rest of the time." Other reviews of Blackmagic follow similar lines: "Blackmagic Design has no HR department. Many young woman have been bullied to the point of quitting by their direct manager with no repercussions despite it being a known fact by other staff." ... On autocratic leadership: Very little opportunity to progress your career. You will sit at your desk and be given little chance to use your talents. Management motivated by self interest rather than shipping great products. Except for the CEO who is a talented product visionary but poor manager that rules with an iron fist. CEO can only concentrate on one thing at a time. If there is a problem somewhere, the rest of the company sits idle waiting to get decisions made. ... And complaints of a lads club culture: "Morale level of many people is rock bottom a lot of the time. If you're 'one of the lads' or 'one of the girls' then you stand a fighting chance. Definite lads club culture" ... And complaints from the sales office too: "Newer products not as innovative as they used to be. Wasteful of money. Sales offices being squeezed hard on margins. Most lower level employees complain of low salary." ... A member of staff in Singapore where Blackmagic manufactures the Pocket Cinema Cameras: "If you're younger and more capable the old vanguard will reduce your role and have you fired and ask you to quit... Good place to retire and leech money." ... A senior engineer in Melbourne complains: "I worked at Blackmagic Design full-time for more than 5 years... [Blackmagic has] a CEO who does not know how to manage a company and is a bit full of himself, now focused on solving "old" problems in media (albeit successfully.) There are a whole host of new problems upper management fails to see. Salaries are not competitive to industry standards (far low-end)." Canon https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Canon-Reviews-E3522_P6.htm Like Blackmagic, Canon has an overall review rating of 3/5 stars meaning that nearly half (40%) wouldn't recommend a job there to other people. A complaint that comes up at Canon time and time again is how slow the company runs, which perhaps explains their camera release strategy of the last few years. "If you don't want to get anything done in a hurry then this place is for you. There is a lot of red tape, unnecessary hoops to jump and inefficient meetings. HR don't protect employees so trust is a big issue here and need to be challenged... Pros - Working hours are good as you can leave at 5pm. ... Although the hours are typically 9-5 in the US at Canon, this review from the Melville, NY office complains of a lack of flexibility: "Working moms dropping off kids at daycare and need five minutes of flexibility? Forget it. Work from home ? Forget it? Take a late lunch so you can leave early? Nope. Ten minutes late due to a personal problem? You are on a LATE LIST subject to disciplinary action. Wanna take a coffee break? Nope---better be back in five minutes or less! Sandals in the summer? Better not show your toes! Wanna take a walk to stretch your legs? Nope. Considered AWAY FROM YOUR DESK and SUSPECT. Ridiculous rules from the 1950s." ... And there are complaints of a stubborn, risk averse culture: "Too conservative and stubborn. Unwilling to take risk, afraid of taking new challenges." ... But it gets far worse: "No core values. Fire you if you report sexual harassment. No loyalty from Company and you are treated as just a number." "Boys club at the top. A company that believes it's logo deserves respect." "Extremely cold environment and I’m not just talking about the air-conditioning. Stifling environment." "Worst company I have ever worked for!" "Pros: Good quality product in the camera division! Cons: - Poor senior leaders! - Poor Culture! - Very poor employee engagement! - Top Heavy! - Stuck in the past and still think they are market leaders! "Terrible creative thinking environment. Extreme hierarchy." "Camera company should be more creative and flexible to think about the next gen of photography market. The equipment itself is not important at all because more than 80% of people already have a camera on their hands in this era. To be survived, Canon should transformed more to be a photography and platform service company, not just a camera maker." ... But perhaps the most revealing review of Canon comes from their main US headquarters in Lake Success, New York: "Remember in college when the white kids and the black kids and asian kids all sat at different tables in the cafeteria? Well, here at Canon it's exactly like that. The Top Management Japanese congregate together, speaking Japanese. They are imported from Japan (expats) and get better benefits, pay, etc. They even have a separate benefits package. They email each other in Japanese and are even sat in the same cubicle areas together. "There is a Japanese side and American side. "All the lower employees are American, thus creating an atmosphere of gossip, backstabbing and jockeying for recognition from the Japanese. Middle Management try to secure their positions by limiting your access to upper management. Management tries to encourage an atmosphere of cooperation, all new employees are subjected to a week long brainwashing orientation, encouraging kyosei, teamwork and team spirit. Great philosphy, but you find that once you get back to your small cubicle, that other employees are not buying it. "Work load is tremendous and at the same time HR sends out numerous mandated online course requirements, with deadlines and even encourages you to complete them on your off time at home. In fact, certain courses are not allowed to be completed during work hours!!!! and you are not paid for this. Also, imagine working for a camera company and not being able to buy one for a discounted price? "They run "camera" sales for only certain models at only 1 -2 times a year for 2 weeks. However, the Spring sale was cancelled unexplained.... I needed a camera and bought a Nikon. 🤣😂 "How stupid of management not to promote their camera through their employees. Big lost opportunity. Also Japanese renegs on the "rewards". About 100 people given rewards for outstanding performance with a trip to Japan, but after a month, half were told that they couldn't go and perhaps they would go next year.... huh? What if you're not here next year! Bogus. Cafeteria closes sharply at 9am! and 2pm to encourage you to go back to your desk. Arcane software that was written by Canon for their operations in 1982 and is still being used. Original programmers from Japan was called back 2008 to "retool" the software because of its bugs, redundancies and basic uselessness. Advice to Management: Stop importing your top management with Japanese expats. They don't know the culture, speak the language well enough. New expats rotate every 2-3 years so you have lower management training top management all the time, causing resentment and ineffectiveness. Of course not all the reviews are poor for Blackmagic and Canon...But the figure of 40% very poor reviews doesn't reflect well at all. When spending such a large amount of money regularly on these brands, I want to know it is going to support an ethical workplace where staff are treated with respect. A LOT of room for improvement, I think.
    1 point
  10. I thought I would put together some of the things that we have learned about working with non actors or inexperienced actors. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any feedback or questions..
    1 point
  11. By the way my (final) Setup for about 200$. Heavy but OK for the First try. Any recommendations for 86mm stepdown Rings to add macro lenses at the Front? - i didn't find any. I'm searching as well for a lifting plate or something like that to get the camera on the exact hight of the projector lens.
    1 point
  12. My mounting way for 58mm filter thread (Canon 85mm f1.8) taking lens is here. BTW, this lens is easy to add(glue a step up ring) non-rotating filter thread for CPL
    1 point
  13. Hmmm.... street photography is a topic where I get a little rant-y. I will however resist this urge and simply offer my one frustration, which is that there is a double standard in place. If you are a private citizen and want to take photographs of people in public then you get all kinds of reactions about privacy and related concerns, but large corporations are not subject to the same scrutiny. Walk down an average out-door shopping mall and see how many security cameras you can see that cover the street. Think about the CCTV systems that governments put in place for logging vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and also consider the number-plate and facial recognition that they are running on these 24/7. I can understand the government ones are for our safety, and the private ones aren't positioned to take eye-level portraits, but the "right to privacy" argument should also extend to them. To say nothing of the various forms of universally applied but highly targeted electronic surveillance that have been exposed in recent years. His technique was interesting, and the end results were definitely impressive artistically. ...and for anyone that hasn't done it themselves, it's actually more uncomfortable to do in real life than it appears!
    1 point
  14. Cinegain

    Lenses

    New special stuff: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lomography/petzval-80-slr-art-lens/description Petzval 80.5mm f/1.9 II (Bokeh control, filmmaker friendly focus/clickless aperture rings): IGA VLEV HELIOS 'Stormtrooper' white: https://ironglassadapters.com/product/helios-44-2-58mm-f2-ironglass-vlfv-cine-edition-white-version/
    1 point
  15. Simon Young

    Fuji X-T4

    If this camera doesn't overheat and doesn't perform worse in the rolling shutter department than the X-T3, I will give Fujifilm my money instantly. I haven't been this excited since I bought my first X100-series camera.
    1 point
  16. when i joined the forum all the talk was about the p4k. Stylish was not a word that came up often, but that didn't bother me. i came from dslr's so the p4k design didn't seem to dissimilar from a dslr . Imagine that, a cinema camera that looked a bit like a dslr, something i could relate to. I would speculate that bm pitched it like that to sell a few more to mum and dads and other potential new users. must of worked, i preordered 😁 if your relying on hieroglyphs then your in luck, probably the easiest ui to interpret would be the p4k. 😉 Can you point my to a link where industrial design is specified ? I have reread the box and all the brochures i can find but it seems bm made no claims of industrial design apart from carbon fibre in the body ? if it were $2000 more, a whole bunch of us wouldn't have bought it, myself included. I personally think that it fulfills a niche and so far its done all i have asked of it . i can't claim it on tax so i personally prefer to treat it like a camera rather than a football. my precious !!! muuArh haha.... cough, cough. edit : it should come as no surprise how some companies behave been my experience the bigger they are the more refined they are generally, smaller ones, the boss tends to have a misplaced god complex. if you haven't experienced this then be very very grateful.
    1 point
  17. Trankilstef

    Fuji X-T4

    If these are the actual specs, it's really a little S1h(even better I'd say). Good codecs, good resolutions and framerates, let's see how good is IBIS and ergonomics but for now it's really exciting.
    1 point
  18. Trankilstef

    Fuji X-T4

    Thanks, this will be a pocket video monster !! I don't know how you have access to all those informations but anyway, thanks !
    1 point
  19. This is such a grey topic. On one hand it is art, on the other art isn't a justification to being a bit of a prick and invading peoples privacy. I don't mind him doing this but I understand why Fujifilm pulled the ad back.
    1 point
  20. Exactly. Have you guys ever worked in a company? Jealousy, self-protection, courting the directors, powerless HR, burnt employee and tyrannic managers, division between services, regions and department, etc. That's business as usual for most company. And the more competition, less revenue there is, the worst it gets.
    1 point
  21. Don't buy a S1 then, buy 2x secondhand GH5 instead. As it sounds like you don't have the budget for a new S1. And the GH5 is still one of the best there is. Spend a hundred bucks more and get the Panasonic G85 instead.
    1 point
  22. Facts I have both an FS5 and A7iii, even though I believe the A7iii makes better looking video, the FS5 while having really bad lowlight performance and autofocus it is easier to use for video due to the ergos + SDI + variable ND+ SDI. I'm more interested in seeing what the FX6 has in store over the A7siii.
    1 point
  23. It sounds like something you're doing wrong in your post work flow.
    1 point
  24. Andrew Reid

    Canon EOS R6

    If it is a 10bit Canon 1D C RAW doesn't matter. The 1D C had a talent for nailing the Hollywood look in any light. Bullet proof white balance. Cinematic colour science with silky warm tones and dramatic cool tones in one shot when asked of it. No weirdness. And this was in 8bit! It takes years of experience, not to mention talent to grade like this but 1D C did it in-cam in real-time. Imagine how good it's going to look in 10bit. Sony you are finished
    1 point
  25. barefoot_dp

    Canon EOS R6

    Canon are not doing anything special. They just don't compress beyond 5:1 or whatever the limit for the Red patent is. That's why Canon C200 files are still massive compared to BRAW or Prores Raw options.
    1 point
  26. Makes sense considering that we have corroborating evidence of camera company dysfunction thanks to hidden camera footage brought to us by this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwxgo62w72LxZDA1fTibdYg
    1 point
  27. None of this is surprising. This is what you get when you have narrow minds at the top. Hope the employees are not suffering too much. It's obvious that BM's CEO has one of those typical personalities that adores "ID" -- which means that he has a pedestrian view of design and that his company puts stylishness/form over function. That attitude shows in their cameras, as almost every model has at least one major functional design blunder. We've seen this malady in other organizations, such as Apple. Stylishness can certainly sell products regardless of functionality (or regardless of the lack of functionality), but sometimes stylishness isn't enough (AJA Cion). Of course, the fact that BM's cameras are priced lower than their competition doesn't hurt their sales. There's no question that, performance-wise, BM cameras are one of the best values in the market. The BM CEO (and other manufacturers) need to realize that function should rule completely over stylishness in the professional camera market. Is the Alexa Mini stylish? ... how about the Sony F35? ... the Panavision Millennium? None of these cameras would be highlights at fashion shows, yet they all function well and can produce exquisite images. Let's say that BM offered a second version of the BMPCC6K with a non-stylish, blocky, but more streamlined form -- like the Kini-Mini. Both versions have the same capabilities, except that the second, blocky version also featured a shallow, interchangeable lens mount (with EF lenses performing just as well as on the original BMPCC6K). Both cameras have the same price. Now, which would you prefer: the original stylish BMPCC6K; or the second, blocky but more streamlined and versatile version? By the way, the BM CEO boasted that his company produced the BMCC because none of the camera companies would listen to their requests in camera features. Ironically, BM exhibits more hubris and "NIH" syndrome than any other camera company that I have encountered. They are dismissive and condescending regarding outside suggestions, and they don't take criticism very well. In regards to Canon, who would have thought they were steeped in corporate BS? /s Go to the Canon booth at a trade show and see how one of their sales people react to the mention of MagicLantern promoting their brand by unlocking amazing features in their cameras. I have heard nothing but hostility from Canon regarding ML.
    1 point
  28. MeanRevert

    Fuji X-T4

    Fuji better hurry up and announce the specs before the battery grows even larger
    1 point
  29. The S1 to the GH4 is too big of a jump IMO. Panasonic has tweaked their color science substantially since 2014 and pairing the two would be more of a headache than it's worth. The G85 will get you much closer, but really I would try to spring for a GH5. The 10 bit will be a huge help for you. If that's too much, then consider a used original Blackmagic Pocket. HD only, but it's great HD. Remember, when matching cameras you often have to match the best image to the inferior one. Don't cripple your S1 - get something that can almost replicate it. Just my $0.02.
    1 point
  30. Alex Uzan

    Canon EOS R6

    It’s supposed to be announced next week, still no reliable leaks. I don’t really know what to expect. From the current EOS R, I’d like Nocrop 4k up to 60p, 10bit 422internal, 1080p120, IBIS, and dual slot. Of course, Dual pixel in every mode. Less that 2500€ and released in april. It’s not that much, and it will hurt Sony who gave us nothing interesting for two years, Come on Canon, you can do it 😁
    1 point
  31. Sony: Please buy the FX9 instead And we'll bundle a free copy of Half Life 3 (by redemption only in 2035) Also FX9 now comes with Sony Club voucher. For just £500 per month, you get free camera upgrades for life* (firmware upgrades only). * May be shortened due to coronavirus
    1 point
  32. Let's face it folks, the a7S mk3 is NEVER coming out!
    1 point
  33. Here's another one from the native land this time... No idea if any of you knows Portuguese comes from Galician-Portuguese aka Old Portuguese or Medieval Galician. Spoken in the area of the kingdoms of Galicia and León around the 10th century, before the separation of the Galician and Portuguese languages. Also with influence from Celtic and Germanian tribes such as the Goths and Suebi as well other Suebian people who arrived coming from the north of Europe when the Roman empire fell down. Before pop had popped up itself some centuries after... : D Here's a Galician-Portuguese version made more than twenty years ago (my generation...) but still a cult song with many people nowadays claiming in this digital days for the return back of this band's hit success, today remastered... love the edit BTW (who knows if there isn't something new coming from this one, in this day and age, one of these days... born in these same pages ; )
    1 point
  34. Hey @mercer This might seem like a sledgehammer to crack a nut but bear with me. This is the Acsoon CIneEye HDMI that enables you to transmit the HDMI camera output to your Android or iOS device over wifi up to a range of about 100 metres. For just over £200, it does seem slightly overkill to spend that amount when you are only going to be transmitting about 2% of that range and a cynical view would be that used in the way I've got it here makes it is a very, very expensive virtual HDMI cable . And you'd probably be right in that cynicism or perhaps wrong depending on how you work. Starting with the practicals, here is how I have it mounted to the cage. Initially I was finding it slightly awkward to find a good position to mount it because its tripod mount is on the base so I used the cheap mini ball mount to effectively change it to a 90 degree angle. One happy accident of this is that having the adjustable ball head means that when it comes to changing batteries, the ball head can be loosened and the CineEye can be swung away. The phone is mounted with a SmallRig monitor mount and a cheap adjustable phone holder. This combination means that it can be oriented in every direction so you can have standard rear facing, tilted side view or of course front facing. The mount also means that you can just fold it flat when in front facing mode to make it compact to go in a bag. So once its mounted, what can you do with it ? In short, a lot. It offers a range of selectable monitoring options including Grey Scale Monochrome Focus Peaking Zebras Safe Mark Center Mark Histogram LUT loading And of course a false colour mode There are also options to punch in and also some anamorphic de-squeeze mode but I haven't tested those. The big question of course with these wireless solutions is latency and the figures quoted by Acsoon are 140ms for iOS and 200ms for Android and whilst I've only tested it on Android and wouldn't really challenge their figure. In practical terms, I'm OK with that sort of latency that I'm getting with it in use and bear in mind that my Samsung phone (and possibly yours) needs a build of their app that uses software decoding so is likely a worst case scenario. I haven't used this combo in a heavily saturated WiFi area (though to be fair, the amount of different routers in my house probably does replicate a small town ) so I can't give any idea about performance impact but the CineEye does actually seek out the clearest WiFi channel to use when it boots up so at least there is some method to try and counteract it and the channel can also be set manually. What else can it do that a monitor can't to justify getting one? Well for one thing, as its wireless you can just unclip the phone and go and monitor from anywhere around the set which is a boon for anyone working on their own who is positioning lights or altering a mic boom etc to not have to go back to the camera to confirm the changes. The signal can also be shared by up to four different devices so if you are working in a larger crew then they can have their own feed or you can have it on a bigger tablet on a stand etc Another aspect that can also be beneficial using phones to monitor on is that a lot of them have very high brightness levels. The overall form factor is also helped by how much slimmer a phone is compared to a monitor. As both the phone and CineEye have internal power (the CineEye run time is about 4 1/2 hours) then there is an additional big saving in not having to use additional power. Does all this mean that its better than a dedicated wired monitor ? On a technical level in terms of resolution and latency then thats a firm No. However, its certainly more flexible and far less hassle to power and depending on how you work that might make it more appropriate. More product info here https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1485196-REG/accsoon_cineeye_wifi_full_hd_5g.html
    1 point
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