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I decided to take another look at the Canon 1D X Mark III - giving it a second chance in the post EOS R5 and R6 world. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/canon-1d-x-mark-iii-revisited/

If it's putting money in my bank account, it's not redundant.

If you're doing this creatively or as a hobby it's very daunting to be faced with the best of the world's output. I faced this problem recently when I was starting to post some creative photography on Instagram. One negative thought that I had was, indeed, "what's the point of making and posting work when thousands of others are doing the same thing, only better than me?" The answer for me, in this context, was that there is still a local audience. And while the pics I was posting were nothing spectacular in a global arena, they were pretty good compared to what others were doing in my local area. I built up a respectable following after a while, 99% of which were genuine local followers. Similarly, I used to do a bit of documentary film making, but haven't for a while. But when I was it was fairly easy to get a screening at a local or national film festival, and quite a bit less likely for me to be screened internationally. The local festivals were lots of fun. I met great people and had a great time. The slightly more prestigious international festivals (when I was able to travel to them) were like a special treat in comparison, all the better for being a little bit more rare. So I would say: find your audience. You don't need to be broadcasting to millions or even thousands on YouTube. If you make a video about your granny's cat she'll absolutely love it, and you'll feel good too!

I couldn't agree more...I used this period to finally ditch Premier and truly embrace Resolve.....best decision I've made in a long time. It also gave me time to properly build my kit for the S5 and transition from the GH5.....now I just need paying clients again and I'll be all set. If I could just get rid of Photoshop and Lightroom I'll have eliminated nearly all recurring costs.

It is getting more difficult. A few factors at play: - More homogenous globalised world, with cultures coming closer together under the umbrella of capitalism and internet - Global pool of talent and art, yes that's what you have to stand out against now. Before, you only had to be unique within your sphere of influence or country So the internet has changed what it means to be unique or new.

Hello all! For various reasons, I put down the rigs at the end of 2019 and in the last few weeks I have picked them back up for some short films and small events here in town and I got the itch again. One of the reasons I put down my cameras was I felt I was limited in mobility. When I used an a6500 on a DJI Ronin S I felt I could go anywhere and film anything because of the size/weight and the AF. I upgraded to XT3's and a BMPCC4K to gain a PQ upgrade, but my functionality of what I was able to do really went down and I actually lost gigs over it, especially with the P4K, when it was a dolly or sticks it was perfect but SO MUCH of the work I was called for was on a gimbal or handheld and it just doesn't fit that bill for me. Felt like a total idiot too!! Huge gear upgrade that actually made it harder to get gigs and thus pay off the gear! So If I am going to do this again, I want to do it right. When I worked my best and my gear became a creative extension of me, was with my small Sony's and gimbal, but the PQ wasn't there. I am sure in the last year or so there have been some major upgrades in this industry but going on Youtube to find some honest reviews is tough. Is there a modern equivalent that offers similar PQ to the P4K, only small enough to be flown with reliable AF so I can just focus on the story and not gear? Thank you everyone...

Because I shoot for nonprofit agencies mostly (that's NGOs for you non-American types 😉), the videos I shoot are pretty issue specific and not at all redundant. Just yesterday I was up in a wetlands restoration project that had been burned out in a major forest fire. The Forest Service and our local land trust are replanting it. The clips I got from it will go into a three-part series of social media shorts about how the land trust and its partners are helping the community and the ecosystem rebound from this devastating event. And I maybe be able to use it in a longer term documentary about the fire and its aftermath in context of climate change and the increase of severe wildfires in our region. That's definitely not redundant content and I'm really excited/motivated to tell these important stories. Maybe the answer to feeling like you're creating redundant content is to find unique stories that feel like they have value to you and shoot them!

For the past two years, I had 20-25 videos I shot and edited (not films, really) posted to various social media platforms. And last year I edited another 30 short videos for social media with assets provided to me by others. This was as a part-time professional. This year I went full-time, so I should see an increase in volume of output. I definitely have learned a ton from watching tutorials online and also agree that practice makes perfect, especially on the shooting side of things. Familiarity with gear is huge.

As an XT3 owner I must chime in and say while I do think the AF is slightly behind Sony, you definitely should give the update a go. It has really great eye af in video now with the update. I love shooting with the Fuji mainly for the awesome stock film profiles which I think just make it easy to shoot quick. If I was doing pro work i would probably play with FLog more but I mainly shoot eterna

Of course you're going to get better at something if you're actually out there doing it, rather than examining endless resolution/DR tests or arguing about film theory or which camera has better colours science online. Rinse & repeat. Rinse & repeat. That said, the jobs I learn the most from are the ones where I'm the 1AC. It's much easier/quicker/less painful to learn when there's someone better than you to learn from (of course this means checking your own ego in at the door).

How do you define "you publish"?? Do you have to direct it? Do I have to produce it? Do I have to edit it? As I do none of those. Thus my answer should be "zero"?! And yet, I'm one of the busiest filmmakers there are here. However, I just stick almost exclusively to my roles in the sound department.

Once you get into the Adobe Ecosystem, it's hard to leave. Whether it's for application specific plug-ins, like noise reduction or it's seamless integration with Audition and After Effects, switching is a bitch. At least I don't have the ability to do it, without a large time investment which runs against said productivity gains.

I have never had an original idea in my life that I am aware of. Instead, I take an amalgamation of inspiration from all manner of sources (should be sauces) and stir them in a big pot. I then focus on producing a result 100% for me despite the clients paying. I am somewhat ‘fortunate’ in that regard that I do not work to client briefs but instead produce something in my style specifically why they choose me, ie, they don’t want any input. I have tried to reinvent the wheel several times, but it has never worked for me so I spend my effort on polishing my wheel instead and making it as shiny as possible.

On another subject, holy crap, 6k 10 bit 4:2:2 internal all-I. How did I not know about this before?! How come so few are talking about it?! Well it’s not quite what it could be though I have just started a series of tests and it’s looking quite promising for certain use cases. First of all though, it’s not 6k, but 5.2k in a 3:2 crop. Great to the latter because I’d like to pull stills from it and 3:2 is best for me so box ticked. Also, the more pixels the better and 5200 long edge beats 4000. Another box ticked. Is it all-I though? Very difficult to find info, but I read that it is and something to do with the fact it’s always and only 30 fps. And that’s the next thing, 30 fps. Is that a good or bad thing? Most seem to want 24 or 25. I’d prefer 25 myself, but 50 would be better and you can get 50, but have to drop back to 4k. The real eye-opener for me was that it could be shot for 15 minutes and in vlog. I have only tested with Natural and Cinelike V so far so may test vlog but depends on whether the onboard LUT works with it or it’s a definite no no. No dealbreaker anyway as I prefer to work with a baked in look and minimal grading in post. I did some quick tests yesterday against FF 25p and APSC crop FF and it looked better. Harder to edit though as it does not run smoothly in Premiere, probably due to being 4:2:2 rather than 4:2:0? I am not the techiest of people but assume that is it? No dealbreaker here either as next year I am going only laptop and M1 chip thingy. The bottom line is I’m trying to discover whether an S1H will suit my needs (highest quality baked in video at a reasonable price that I can lift the best quality stills from) or whether the S5 is enough in either 4K 25p or 5.2k 30p. Yesterday I got quite close to Jpeg from raw quality in 4K 25p and 5.2k 30p with the still image being the best, the 5.2k second best and anything 4K third best with 4K 25p beating 4K 50p. Ie, as you would expect. The S1H I suspect at 5.4K 25p is not going to have much of an edge or even any noticeable difference over the S5 in ‘6k’ mode?

For my YouTube channel I produce 60+ a year. But when you add in client work, that easily goes up to about 200+ per year as we do promotional videos for some chains that have 300+ retail locations and each one gets a video. Of course our YouTube show is much more involved involving multiple shoots and locations for every video. I find when doing high-volume (it comes and goes based on client projects) there is very little time to stop and really think about what is being done, so growth can be limited simply doe to a lack of bandwidth. I've also done this for close to 20 years.

Just a quick update on batteries. In a very unscientific test I compared the Patona 3500 mah against the Blackmagic branded ones. Recording to CFast at 50% screen brightness I got 65 minutes out of the Patona vs 70 minutes from the Blackmagic ones. At less than a third of the price thats good enough for me. Both being over a solid hour is the real story here for me, love that BMD finally got this right.

Fuji's 10bit is 4:2:0 vs 4:2:2 on the S5. This means better color information in the S5's files. Although 4k50p is 4:2:0 on the S5 also. Ibis on S5 is significantly better. I don't know if intra vs long gop makes a big difference in this case.

You definitely understand my stuggle right now! I do have the XT3, its my main photo camera and I love it. I have never updated it so I will give that a good scouts try today. After reading through, it seems like if there was a S5 that existed that had RAW output and a significantly improved AF that would be my ticket. Maybe a MK2.

There's always that contrast between mainstream and niche. Boring is subjective and relative, across culture and throughout time. As a child, you found cartoons interesting and the news boring; the inverse is (generally) true as an adult. The difference is that the internet has just exponentially increased the amount of media to a wider audience. Of course, the resulting popular media that emerges is quite vanilla--but many people like vanilla. If you're looking for the meaning of life in TikTok videos—that's a you problem. You're looking in the wrong place. The number of innovative or experimental movies has increased as well. It just takes work to discover them. As it should. As it always has. Some remember what it was like reach into the unexplored shelves of independent video stores. That was sometimes the best part.

I would love for Rode to add 32bit Float if possible in a firmware update. 32bit float would make the system pretty much perfect. The catch is, that due to the non expandable internal memory, the record times would be impacted. Deity are releasing/ have released body pack transceivers that have internal recording and Timecode support so for semi pro use, these might be a far better option and the price seems great. I bought the Wireless Go on a whim as I have a job in a few days that requires me to solo shoot and record interviews. I really didn't want to buy G3's or G4's as I've never really liked them and don't like the form factor of having two G3 receivers mounted to the camera. Saw the wireless Go was released with internal recording and though 'perfect!' My quick test left me pleasantly surprised. They will do just fine for this job recording interviews and I like the idea of being able to use the internal mic without lav attached and just place them near my talent when shooting B-Roll to get much better audio than a top mic. So much easier to hide than a G3 and much less clunky than trying to do the same by wrapping the lav mic cord around the pack.