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Depends on the job, and I would advise anyone to think beyond getting a day rate. The thing about day rates is they aren’t scalable. They are based on time, and with only so many days you can work in the week, you can’t incline your income steadily. You could charge more, but then, you’re going to have to be a master specialist to achieve that. If it’s not TV, film or music videos....I advise anyone to not position themselves as a “videographer” or “filmmaker”. Instead you frame yourself as a business solution. Instead of talking about what shots you want to do, you talk about how you will get them a business result. This differentiates you from the over saturated “videographer” role - which in fact a lot of the industry see as “low cost” and easy to negotiate your price down. You appear as a “problem solver” who can grow their business. Also, getting the client to think more about the business result allows you more freedom with the creative stuff!

Historical perspective also helps us appreciate just how very very good we have it now! For example, people might hate upon MFT for being "poor at low light" (ignoring that the GH5S is one of the very best there is!!), when honestly for most of your filmmaking career since 1996 you'd have given your kidney away to have had a camera even as "bad" at lowlight as say the Panasonic G7 is with some fast lenses! As that is miles and miles better in low light than the camcorders you were using. I expect that even in 2030, when we have a GH9 with lowlight performance that is double of what an a7Smk3 can do, and has 16 stops of dynamic range, with 8K 120fps , that we will still have people hating upon MFT because "oh it isn't as good in lowlight as this FF is" or "but it has half a stop less of dynamic range than Fuji does". No matter what the MFT system does, it won't be "good enough" for them.

The facts behind the panic: Corona virus death toll so far after two months of existence: 3000 persons Mortality rate is about 2-3% and old people are the most vulnerable, about 80% of deaths recorded were from those over the age of 60, and 75% had pre-existing health conditions including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. (source: WHO) What should really be a cause of concern: Nearly 1.35 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,698 deaths a day. Flu Kills 646,000 People Worldwide Each Year. 1769 per day average Stroke killed 5,000,000 people worldwide in 2016 Nearly 40,000 People Died From Guns in U.S. in 2017 Leading causes of death in the US in 2017: Heat disease: 647,457 deaths Cancer: 599,108 deaths Unintentional injuries / accidents: 169,936 deaths So we may want to take a huge chill pill. Eat healthy, double check left and right twice before crossing the street, put the seat-belt on and stop worrying about a small pandemic of a not so dangerous virus. That being said, the public safety measures and large gathering restrictions are totally justified to prevent the spread of the disease, Photokina or the Olympic Games are clearly not a priority at this point.

It's amazing to me how dismissive people are of the benefits of M43. To me the only "insurmountable" negative of the system, at least on the Panasonic side, is the auto focus but even that, in my opinion, is overblown. Everything else can be pretty much remedied. Poor in low light? Throw a little light on your subject/scene! Need shallow depth of field? Just use the right lens! I understand why people love full frame. I really do! But you don't NEED full frame, you just WANT full frame. There's nothing wrong with that either but are you incapable of creating your vision using a smaller sensor? I doubt it. Two weeks ago I filmed a pro wrestling event with my 3 camera set up. My buddy did stills using the A7iii with the Sony 70-200mm. I blew his mind when I showed him the GX85 with the 35-100mm f/2.8. The two side by side was comical. Cost of his set up, by the way? $4,600. I paid $250 for the GX85 and $400 for the 35-100mm on the used market. Even if I bought them new though it'd have been $1,500. I know it's not the best comparison, but my buddy could've easily done his job with a G9 instead. Price of that new? $1,200. I'm rambling, sorry, ha ha, but hopefully some of that makes sense!

Yes you’re on the hook. But like all things, to reach high levels of financial success you have to take big risks. You’re not quite right with the ROI thing. You can measure this stuff very precisely. To enlighten you further, imagine two meetings, where one guy is offering “a beautifully shot video”, and the other is offering a 300% sales increase for the business (using video). Who are they going to choose? Ive seen a huge shift in the way clients see myself by speaking to them in a way they can see how the video materials will be handled and distributed to get a result. Yes, you will need distribution and media buying knowledge. But it’s a great way of making you stand out from other video creators. Being the “dude with a camera” is fine for a lot of people, but if you’re after growth, it’s going to be very hard. Plus, if you can get the client a business result, the income is WAY better and gives you more freedom for passion projects.

I think a big thing missing from a lot of these discussions is perspective. When I first started making videos I was 10 years old and was using a VHS-C camcorder. In 1996, at 12 years old, I bought a RCA camcorder (with my first flip out screen!) In 2000 I bought a Hi8 camcorder. In 2002 I bought a miniDV camcorder. In 2011 I started using Sony handy cams. Eventually I bought my GH3, my first interchangeable camera. I had to work with what I had, and figure out ways to get around the limitations all of those cameras had. Back then that was even harder to do, but we did it and made it work! Looking back most of it sucks, but that had less to do with the equipment and everything to do with our skill level. My friends and I just wanted to create stuff. Things like dynamic range and low light capabilities really never crossed our minds. When I see people obsessing over full frame, or knocking the M43 system, I chuckle and think about the old days and how I never let that stop me. I love creating. I'd still be using a VHS camcorder if it was all I had access to! Meanwhile people wanna act like M43 isn't adequate enough to create whatever it is you're trying to create.

Get him to loan you the twin Fuji cinema zooms! https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1388303-REG/fujinon_16580131_mk18_55mm_t2_9_lens_fuji.html https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1388315-REG/fujinon_16580155_mk50_135mm_t2_9_lens_fuji.html

Agree with what @OliKMIA said but wanted to be a little more cautious as well. While the flu kills a lot more people total, its mortality rate is on the order of 0.05% in the US. That's a difference of 40x. Those numbers are the US flu rate vs. the primarily China coronavirus, so it's not apples to apples, but the coronavirus is an order of magnitude more deadly. The flu is global, the coronavirus has really only hit a single city so far, with a few isolated cases escaping. The rate of spread is extraordinary. The SARS outbreak infected 8,000 people total over six months. This has hit 10x that in two months. And this is even with Wuhan being in complete lockdown with extraordinary measures undertaken to limit the spread. If a similar outbreak happens in New York, a similar lockdown could devastate the global economy.

To be honest, sounds like the “lowly” GX85 punched above it’s weight. There is much more to photography and videography than the fucking sensor size. “Oh, buts it’s not Full frame”. “Oh, it doesn’t have that FF look”. M43 isn’t trying to be Full frame. It’s a lovely system. It’s very capable and can punch above it’s weight in many categories. It’s a FUN system with lovely cameras. Ask anyone that goes out with their EM1 or G9. You get to pack a light pack and leave the tripod at home. The new EM1.3 can take 50MP handheld Astro photography. Think about that for a moment. Are they as good as a FF camera with a tripod and some expensive lens? Probably not. I bet it was still fun as hell for the M43 user. And that’s why people like Tony Northrop need to shut the fuck up when they don’t know what they are talking about. Like somehow M43 is inferior? It’s actually pretty amazing and flexible system! Take a look at Chris Eyre-Walker or James Popsys. Think they care that they aren’t using FF? Nah, they don’t give a fuck. They see the virtues and trade offs and then just create and capture some nice stuff, all most all of it handheld, with a small kit, in challenging conditions. They leverage the virtues of M43. But they aren’t using professional equipment because it doesn’t have a FF sensor in it? Phhftt. And as we can see fromTony Northrop the full frame look can be highly over-rated. Thanks tony for the great memes.

The containment was definitely justified. But it does put a worrying perspective on it: if we got this many cases with a locked down city, what would this be like if we took a more relaxed approach the way we do with the flu? And also, will Americans obey a lockdown the same way that the Chinese do? I think that we would have a more difficult time in many American cities convincing people to stop their lives for weeks in the interest of national health. We constantly tell people to stay home if they are sick, but people don't because they are scared of losing their job, or can't afford to lose a day of wages.

Actually, it was Aristotle in book 2 of The History of Animals. But for that (as famous ironical) quote is responsible B. Russel from the first/second page of his The Impact of Science on Society, But in defense of Aristotle, it has to be said that final inclination of Russel was not quite true - because Aristotle indeed study that "teeth problem" - so is not example of non-scientific or, better, non-observational philosopher - but in rush derived his conclusion from animal world that he actually very deeply studied. (Moreover, problem about this quote looks different with keeping in mind that in further original text Aristotle mentioned so called 'wisdom-teeth' and slight differences regarding period of its maturity in case of male and female, as some foundation for his claim... Sorry, that's some sort of second profession of mine :)

And before that, people got excited when there was film fast enough to close down the aperture to have deep DoF shots.... in full daylight! There was a deep DoF fad where everyone wanted to be able to create deep DoF shots. Many famous movie scenes were shot where action unfolded in the foreground, mid-ground and background simultaneously, and it was all in focus! Imagine the possibilities!! Perspective is great - it's just that we need so much more of it than we think we do. I like to do my own experiments and actually try things out, and probably the greatest thing I have learned during all my years of experimenting is that half the stuff that "everyone knows is true" is actually complete BS. Plato, who was (and still is) one of the greatest philosophers of all time, was the first book on biology printed on the printing press and distributed widely. One of the things he wrote was that women had less teeth than men. The interesting thing about this isn't that he was wrong, it was that it was so easy to check, but for whatever reason, it wasn't done. Moreso than that even, was that people never questioned it, despite being able to easily prove it within a few minutes of the question being posed. The volume of things we think we know but are wrong about is only eclipsed by the things that we don't know, and the things we don't even know to ask about.

I'm not saying someone who is short can't be a boom op, but it is quite undeniable that extra height will be beneficial. It is like if you're a basketball player, it is undeniable that typically being taller would help! Sure, you can have players under 6ft who are in the NBA. But if you're 6' 9" instead then that would really help your chances of playing professionally! And yes, just like being 7ft won't automatically make you a 1st round draft pick for the NBA, likewise it won't make you the best boom op either. (One of my friends is basically the only guy I'll ever see on set on a repeated basis who is markedly taller than myself, and thus I've attempted to use him a couple of times as a boom op on no budget grade films, but sadly he lacks the motivation / desire / aptitude. He's better off in lighting / art / wherever else instead)

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, except on one small point... the BMPCC6K isn't available with a MFT mount option. (but it should be! Bad BMD)

I find these conversations to be hilarious.. I suspect that no-one in this thread, or on these forums perhaps, actually knows enough to compare FF to crop sensors. Comparing FF vs MFT at a given FOV and DoF and exposure value is a complex picture, and no-one here is actually including all the variables. There are lots of people on here that don't even understand that you have to apply the crop factor to the aperture value but not the exposure value! No-one has even mentioned the GH5S dual-ISO yet - can anyone here speak with any actual experience of the impacts on DR and low-light ability between the A7iii and the GH5S when partnered with equivalent lenses? What about the P4K or P6K? What about the difference between the dual-ISO P6K shooting RAW vs the A7iii shooting compressed video? What about now? What about the relative noise levels in the shadows once we downscale the 6K RAW images onto a 4K timeline? Still feeling confident in these broad sweeping statements are we? What about when we apply enough NR to the 4K downscale of the 6K RAW images from the P6K to match the smoothing effects of the A7iii compression? Still feeling like an authority on the subject? Take a reality pill and a big step back people....

People are never satisfied. Mostly that's because they want something that they're not willing to put the work into getting. I have the GHAlexa LUT from Sage and I'm still doing this. I think having a LUT doesn't actually help a persons film-making all that much unless they were doing everything really well except colour, in which case that will significantly improve their weakest link. Putting any LUT on uninspiring footage won't help at all, and buying a LUT without understanding what it's doing only gives you the choice of using it or not using it, which isn't actually that useful if you don't know how to colour grade yourself and can adjust shots to get the most out of the different lighting in each shot.

I will be much more panicked if I see a group of people wearing option 2 coming towards me.

There is minor panic here in Bangkok. Most people are wearing masks (despite the fact that they are effectively useless for preventing you catching Coronavirus). The schools have all been shut. My 6 year old son had to self-quarantine for 14 days when he returned from a holiday in Japan. I had dinner with a friend who has a birds nest business and in February sales were down over 90% compared to January. (In China, car sales are down 83% for the first two months (YOY)). And this is despite the fact that Thailand has only had 40 cases of Coronavirus so far (mostly Chinese tourists visiting during Chinese New Year.) I doubt a Coronavirus could spread here with temperatures in the mid 80s (possibly explains why there are virtually no cases in India or Africa.) But these worries/concerns/panics tend to be self-perpetuating - easy to stoke and slow to dissipate. The economic impact in Asia is going to be quite dramatic and I expect everyone of us is going to be impacted in one way or another.

You need to add a counter weight then.

Fuji's IBIS looks pretty amazing. But that video also shows just how good Panasonic is at IBIS (by not being included). The GH5 and G9 are crazy impressive, but the IBIS and stabilization boost modes on the S1H are nothing short of remarkable for a full-frame camera. Truly amazing. But, Fuji definitely wins between Sony and Nikon.

It's looking like a bit of my work this year is going to be effected by Coronavirus. One of my clients is an international sporting tour who normally give me about 2 months work a year (including travel to the events). They might be cancelling several of their competitions due to Coronavirus. I also know a lot of guys & girls who are working on the Olympics. If they get cancelled they'll be missing out on a huge chuck of work/income for the year.

What sort of cams/shoots are you observing? You don't see them often in broadcast TV or sit-coms which are often shot multi-cam as-live, but on most other stuff they're pretty common. When shooting drama or commercials, I'd say most guys are using an easyrig more than a tripod or dolly these days, given the handheld look is very in vogue (this is coming from a 1st AC perspective). I worked with a lot of DP's who only own 2 bits of gear - an easyrig, and a SmallHD monitor. Everything else is rented but those two are the constants that they use on every shoot. Relating it to the thread at large, I think the Cx00 series are about the heaviest cams that aren't regularly used with an easyrig or shoulder-mount. Though the C300mkII was horrendous to hand-hold as the weight was high up and far forward. Hopefully that's something they fix on all the cameras moving forward.

M4/3

oh God, Max looked like to me the reincarnation of Leonardo's Mona Lisa for a fraction of second! LOL : ) Now go figure if some producer will need to hire him for the role! :- D

Max with a X-T4 vs A7III vs Z6 - IBIS & Video Quality Comparison

For native lenses probably the older primes the 35mm 1.4, 23mm 1.4, 16mm 1.4 and the 56mm 1.2, for the longer focus throw. The 16-55 2.8 is probably nice too for that. The newer F2 lenses have faster Auto Focus if you'll be using AF you might want to go with those. The auto focus on the older lenses is also kind of jumpy or steppy/mechanical looking sometimes. Going into the last settings(marked with a wrench) and switching focus from nonlinear to linear helps a lot to with manual focusing. If you want to go all out see if you can get ahold of the 18-55 2.8 cine lens.

So my Fujifilm contact is going to provide a loan unit to use on a commercial production. What Fuji lenses are the most appropriate for video? Read that a lot of them aren’t so smooth for manual focus.

He was doing photography, so I was speaking from that perspective when saying he could've gotten the same results with a G9. He probably could've done great with the GX85 too, though! He certainly probably wouldn't have complained about a sore arm half way through the event if he had! From a video stand point, Sony Mirrorless cameras have a number of flaws that make them poor fits for my work, chief among them the rolling shutter, the recording limits / overheating risks, and poor stabilization. My job is to film an event from start to finish, on multiple cameras, and then produce that event for streaming and home video. So I'm not looking for most of the things you've listed while filming the event, only when I'm getting b-roll for promotional material and most of that is filmed before the event starts. When I need slow motion though I go for 4K 60p. I prefer the resolution, personally, and it looks stunning. When I chose a system to buy into I had two things that were most important: size and versatility. When I'm doing handheld for 6 hours, almost non stop, I want a light camera. At that last wrestling event I walked over 14,000 steps. Carrying a GH5 and the 12-35 is a dream on days like that! And when it comes to versatility, well M43 can record until the card is full or the battery dies (whichever is first) so it's prefect for events, and it can just as easily be used for interview, narrative, and commercial work. And for the record, A7iii's stabilization is laughable compared to the GX85. My 3rd shooter was able to get incredible handheld footage with it zoomed in to 100mm. You simply couldn't accomplish that the A7iii, and the only full frame I've used that is better is the S1. For reference, my set up is a GH5, G85 and GX85. Generally I use 12-35mm lenses on two cameras and the 35-100mm on the third.

I have something similar and yep it’s pretty great. 18-200mm focal range with a mix of 1.7 and 2.8 apertures. I’m definitely made up my mind to get an EM1.3 with the 24-100 f/4 as a landscape/wildlife combo for those days I just want to relax and have fun shooting. Can carry all I need in one hand. Don’t need a tripod. Don’t need a gimbal. Can do landscape or wildlife on a whim, maybe even Astro. Don’t need to worry about weather or rain as the EM1.3 is probably the best weather sealed camera out there besides the EM1X. When or if we get a GH6 with GH5S lowlight ability and G9 or better stabilization then I’ll be extremely happy. In my humble opinion f/1.2 on MFT is all I need for shallow DoF. I think FF f/2 is the limit for me, anything shallower just looks like shite for video. And people use it as a crutch. Dont get me wrong. The GFX photos Andrew posted where really nice and creamy, but I consider that a special case for portrait photography. If that was a video, I’m sorry but it would be a party trick. It’s what I like to call “the FF fish bowl”. Great when you want to film in the toilet and not let the audience know where you are!

I usually take a GH5, GH5S, 10-25 1.7, 12-35 2.8, 35-100 2.8, sound gear, monitor, maybe even a LED or 2 in a Lowepro 400 flipside backpack with a tripod strapped on the side. It's be difficult to take a similar 2 camera set up with FF. The more I think about it what I really want from a GH6 would be GH5S performance with IBIS, some kind of ND, punch in to check focus whilst recording (don't think they can do that though), G9 evf, S1H lcd screen and slightly better ergonomics. The GH5 pair are already 2 great cameras. A 35-85mm 1.7 to go with the other 1.7 zoom would be great. And maybe a double battery attachment thingy (instead of 1 extra battery).

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a perfect match. Now, maybe at the end of your pipeline, could you put another curve and check if alterations look the same on both cameras? cheers

Is the A7III any better than a GH5s with an f0.95 or f1.2 at slow motion? I doubt it (unless you consider crazy lenses like the Sony FE 400mm F2.8) I am extremely happy with my GH5 and Olympus f1.2 lenses. Sure, it's not perfect, but I don't see any better options for my use available.

I'll take my chances

If he got what he needed at the show then any advantage the A73 has wasn't needed.

Some don’t show symptoms, so why take the chance? Don’t shake hands with anybody. Or make out with them. Definitely none of the old in-out.

Maybe i missed that part but why dont you shoot in vlog-l? Vlog to bmdfilm color space transform is a much easier starting point

Especially as a vintage 18mm which is fast, is really expensive to buy and tough to find.

I bet the C100 isn't selling as well today as it was a few years ago. Don't know anybody who purchased a C100 recently, have a friend who purchased the C100mk2 but that was three years ago? And he's moved onto the UMP now. As why buy a C100mk2 when the FS5mk2 is only another grand and half?

I got a big laugh out of that one

West coast Canada. I keep thinking about going back and getting a "real" job due to how business savvy you need to be to be "successful".

M4/3

Where abouts do you live? I agree on the word of mouth thing. Every job I get is from making a friend/connection. You could also be like me and have no health insureance, no vacation money, no retirement money and live with 10 other people so you pay little to no rent 🤣🤣😥

@Django If we’re doing the whole anecdotal thing I can safely say I would prefer the Made in China Fuji’s. I had two X-T2s, both brand new, and both wonky, one had the screen misaligned and the other had the faux leather on the grip out of place. They both had a weird smell as well. I also bought a brand new X100F, made in Japan of course, and the screen in the viewfinder got permanently stuck so I had to get a new copy. Owned two different X-T3s as well, both felt really well put together and I had zero problems with their functionality, never had them lock up not even once, and they never overheated. My current made in Japan Nikon Z6 has the card door all out of place with at least two millimeters of play from the body. And I never buy gray market products, always from a reputable retailer in Sweden.

That's not the only reason easyrigs are used. They're used to redistribute the weight of the camera rig from the shoulder/back to your hips. They're also great for having fine control over height! You're not just stuck with whatever the height of your camera op's shoulder is. Makes for a very good tool indeed if you're abnormal! (too tall / too short) Canon C100mk2, Sony FS5, Panasonic EVA1 (only just!), UMP G2, JVC LS300 are all priced under the C200 The C100 and FS5 have been massive massive big sellers. I don't think that market should be ignored. (we all hope that Fujifilm won't ignore that market! Add XLR / NDs / SDI / TC to a X-T4 and add another grand or two to the price and we'd all be very happy!) If a C200 without raw (maybe with another feature or two removed, to further cripple it. Such as removing the C200's ethernet port. Maybe remove the 120fps HD option, cap it at 60fps even in HD. Even the 4K, limit it to 30fps rather than the C200's 60fps) was released at US$3K (the current C100mk2 price) then I can be certain such a camera would be a massive massive hit with all the canon fanboys!

Just arrived... Mk III.

A C100 mk3 that’s essentially a C200 without RAW and with 10 bit out would be killer.

You're probably too young to have seen some of the work of the classic British photographers of the 1960s Zach but some of them reached such a level of mastery of the maths that they didn't even have to point the camera at the subject. This guy is a good example and its worth digging out the longer form of this documentary about him to see where you could go with these techniques yourself.

What do you know about what I know or don't know? C'mon... No rocket science here, literally... LOL ; ) it's just to read the news. Politically motivated? It's completely nonsense what you're just writing. No, there's no political motivation at all from my part. I only find all this story an absolute misfortune. Painful to see. That's all. First off if you haven't noticed yet, I am one of the oldest members here. This is one of my fav places I choose to discuss daily life with other fellows in this Andrew's home. People trade messages on private, there are connections beyond the curtains and so on, you know? This is merely our public window. On the other hand, the guy wanted to photograph the earth to prove his idea. This has everything about the main scope of this forum, no more no less. As fair conclusion though, pictures are not only made of gear and talking around for geeks. The way news, marketing, media exposure, innovation are made and are mirror of our time, even the society itself or what it is political motivation realm, once you mention it, make them... Our contemporary counterpart. It is impossible to dissociate the pictures or how we living them from there. Count on it ; -)