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I have owned 4 GVM lights. Sent 2 back and sold the other two. The problem with all their RGB panels is that the bi colour mode is useless. Anything except 5600k is so far off it's ridiculous. You can see a few videos on YT that highlight the problem. Unfortunately you almost always get what you pay for... The 50rs does have a decent output and the RGB is pretty good... Not as saturated as more expensive lights or using gels, but it gets the job done. Again tho, the fact it is unusable in bi colour mode really takes away from the other capabilities. Neweer also have very similar rgb lights. With slightly higher output... cheaper on Amazon too

I ended up going with reflectors (in my case I got Dedo Lightstream, but there are several competitors including CRLS/Lightbridge and Kflect. What I like about this system is that for a small setup like interviews you only need one actual light; the rest of the lighting can be provided by reflectors. That means only one light to plug in or to power by V-mount battery. The reflectors come in various levels of diffusion so you don't need diffusion for your lights either. You shine your iight to one reflector that serves as your key light and bounce that light to other reflectors to provide fill light and rim/backlight. My entire lighting kit, including light, reflectors, mounts, and magic arms, fits into a Pelican 1510; the only extra stuff to lug apart from that is the C-stands. The whole system isn't very cheap, but you can get a starter kit for not much money and use it with an inexpensive light (although the Dedolight system really works best if you use their parallel beam attachment, which greatly increases the effective output of the light). The light looks more natural because it's traveling a greater distance from the source, plus you can control its direction precisely simply by mounting the reflectors on magic arms.

I was removed from the Facebook group because I argued that the footage should be critiqued and analyzed like any other footage. It’s a very weird vibe over there. Either you bow down to Jared or you get the boot. They also preach maturity, but can’t take any criticism. When the whole Red SSD fiasco happened, the amount of people defending Red on their forums were crazy. I don’t even dislike their cameras, but man it feels like you have to constantly walk on eggshells.

A simple talking head setup - check! Only 1 bulb (out of 4) used and - okay, I admit it - it was a bit too bright to my liking in this scenario. Don't ignore inverse square law, lads and guys! The key light was ~ 50 cm away from me. f/1.4 , 1/160 s, ISO 1000, WB - 4000K BTS:

Many, must confess. Here are (only) a couple of suggestions: What about you?

Almost from the beginning of cinema history there were established rules / conventions / approaches that were simultaneously being used to commercial effect and also being rallied against by innovators who felt stifled by the mainstream and were looking to innovate and push things forward. Bringing that logic to the current day, what does that look like? What are the 'rules' and who is breaking them? Are the rules so broad now that breaking them can remain watchable? Experimental art is always possible, but often it is so far from the mainstream that it's not applicable in a more widely consumable context. For example, the French New Wave managed to break the rules in a way that was still palatable to audiences, thus having a lasting impact on cinema more broadly. Is that possible today?

IMHO, nothing beats the Godox SL60W if you want a cheap light with good light quality/color rendition, and one that works like a proper film light (with optional fresnel lens, beauty dish, soft box) which can be used as both a hard and a soft light. So far, it has completely been in a budget-vs-quality league of its own, like only few other pieces of video gear. (Others would, for example, be the Canon EOS-M with MagicLantern RAW, the Rode Video Micro and the Sigma 17-50mm/2.8 zoom lens).

Interesting article, thanks! I can definitely say that I've had to manually shim, rebuild, or otherwise adjust a number of vintage lenses. This becomes problematic depending how many different bodies and adapters you want to use the lens on, though. If the adapter has optics (speedboosters), they often can be adjusted. Since I'm dealing with dramatically smaller volumes of gear than Lens Rentals, I'm doing all of this purely by hand and by eye, so I really don't know any of the measurements or which piece of gear is out of spec - I'm just making it all focus correctly (hard-stop manual focus lenses stop at infinity), starting with one setup that works as a reference and just matching everything to it.

+1 That's something I can wholeheartedly agree with. What really spoke to me and what I found truly mesmerizing in the couple of last weeks was the Qatsi trilogy, that consists of Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982), Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation (1988) and finally Naqoyqatsi: Life as War (2002). An audiovisual poetry. Lovin' it.

No idea really... I wouldn't say I was a sheep as such, but I don't think I have ever had an original thought myself. If anything, I take bits and pieces of things that I like from all kinds of places and merge them (try to) into my own thing. But that's my own stuff. For anything bigger, as most things are, I really don't know. What I do know is that the older I get, the less I like 'Hollywood' or 4k, 6k, 8k, 3D, etc (watched the movie 'Extraction' the other day and the body count was just ludicrous) and the more I appreciate good scripts, good acting and especially good cinematography. Also, slower paced stuff. I thought the Amazon Prime series 'Tales From The Loop' was excellent as just one recent example. I know MeTube is a massive sea of dross, but there and on Vimeo, are some very finely crafted productions on tiny tiny budgets that just showcase that for something to be good, it does not have to have 17 minutes of rolling credits at the end. I hope we see more smaller scale, lower budget, movies and think we probably will.

No less technical just from some other complementary side of same neighbourhood:

Some self-promotion:

Because sensorship is in place Any negative post will be deemed unprofessional and will be removed, only the glorious post remain.

I've been working on this. It's pretty tough. I have mounted an Oculus controller onto my camera and tried to simply record the movement and rotation. I think that it will take some sitting down and doing some math to figure out the exact X, Y, and Z axes of the controller because it doesn't line up quite right "out of the box". I think those "puck" things from the HTC Vive would be better suited, but the Rift is what I have so I'm trying to get it to work with that. I'm not even sure the tracking is accurate enough anyway. The Rift only samples movement at 30 FPS.

One of the many favorites of mine. Classy posts and even classy links.

nicer image in this second post, and you don't look like a deer caught in the headlights either, like those first photos

Now with a human subject. Everything done by myself - so those screen grabs may be slightly out of focus. Alright, here are the results: No key light, only Neewer CN 176 giving some background. Partially geled with an aqua foil. Power @10% f/1.4 , 1/60 s, ISO 1000 (can't get any lower when recording HLG video), WB - 3700K Next - adding a key light. Approximately 2.6 m (~8.5 feet) away from me. Yongnuo YN-300 III 5500K @1% power f/1.4 , 1/60 s, ISO 1000, WB - 3700K No light modifiers in front. I didn't point it straight at myself, it was rather feathering me. YN-300 @10% power f/1.4 , 1/60 s, ISO 1000, WB - 5700K And @100% f/1.4 , 1/125 s, ISO 1000, WB - 5700K I used an external monitor with false colors to match the exposure on my skin. All walls in my room are white and it's really showing here - the light is bouncing everywhere and the depth is gone. What's more, I think the colors are more yellow-ish? Finally - two of the four LED bulbs I teased you with earlier. Each rated @17W, though in reality they aren't as powerful as one would expect. Key feature: >95 CRI I put them in a reflective umbrella (95 cm diameter), pointing at the back of it, and then hung one layer of a diffusion cloth in front and a grid to make the light more directional. Just like this: Since there is no way to dim them (I can only turn them on or off), they were blasting at their full power. And once again - not pointed directly at me and around 2.5 m away. f/1.4 , 1/60 s, ISO 1000, WB - 3700K I like the color rendition and the quality of light here. I only wish these bulbs were more punchy.. Sure, I realize that the gridded umbrella may cause around 2 stops light loss (I haven't measured it) and that I used 2 bulbs out of 4, but still. Though, if I was a YouTuber, I think a setup like this would be sufficient. No need to overpower the sun when you record in your own room, right? Total costs of the final setup, if that interest you: Neewer CN-160 ~15$ An aqua gel ~2$ Light stand ~20$ Four socket bulb holder (~10$) and 2 bulbs (~4$ for each) 95cm umbrella softbox with grid ~35$ All in all: 90$ Not bad, I guess? Also: I need haircut.