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Thank you. I will look into it. The voice activated ones are great... when they work. I remember that in some scripts I would write in the word [PAUSE] to get the talent to pause for effect. So... sometimes the app wouldn't scroll anymore unless the talent actually said the word "pause."

I'm always glad to see people doing actual tests on these things! Thanks Andrew. I don't really see any difference in the pictures you posted. I did quickly grab some images with my Z Cam. I can't do the same format in 8 and 10 bit, so I compared 8 bit H.264 at 120 mbps vs. 10 bit H.265 at 60 mpbs. Big difference there... here's a 1:1 crop of the sky dropped 4 stops in post and no other color adjustment. 4 stops is a lot, but not unreasonable for exposing a Zlog2 image particularly with high dynamic range. Lots of very ugly colored bands on the H.264 and actually it looks worse with the full image. It might be worth comparing your highlights as well as shadows, especially in log footage. I don't see any banding in the shadows in my image when pushed, just in the highlights. So I will agree with @jghardingthat it will vary camera to camera, and encoder to encoder.

In 99% of cases there seems to be little benefit to using 10bit other than more difficult to edit, larger file sizes. 10bit is one of those easy to get excited about specs on paper. It’s a bit like the amount of memory in your PC or the speed of the CPU. The higher number, the better! What actually makes the difference when it comes to image quality? Well it’s a bit complicated. RAW is the ultimate codec, and the ultimate pain in the ass. LOG is great, no question. Lots of dynamic range, small file sizes, easy to edit and to apply a LUT. And for great LOG you need 10bit, right? Well it seems that on the A7S III the difference is much of the time impossible to even see. Not that this was not already proven by the Canon 1D C and that infamous MJPEG codec. The 8bit Canon LOG mode on that was incredibly nice. Fast forward nearly 10 years and there’s far less difference between 10bit 4:2:2 and 8bit 4:2:0 on the Sony A7S III than you might expect. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/sony-a7s-iii-10bit-image-quality-vs-same-camera-in-8bit-with-surprising-results/

Yeah, I am using the Teleprompter Pro. $6.49 one-time fee. It works with either the remote that Ikan supplies or a Bluetooth keyboard. It's not voice activated. For the older Samsung tablet I've been using, I have to copy and paste the script I want to use, because I can't change the directory the app looks in for a Word or Text doc. I don't think that's an issue for all OS systems. Other than that, it's met my needs.

Whether or not the glass is the same IS a question. I also think the build quality of the whole unit is part of it. Beyond the glass and shroud, there the mount for the tablet/screen, rod system and mounting system for the camera. The Ali one looks less flexible/adjustable than say the unit I bought, which uses a more convention 15mm rods like any other camera rig. Actually, I was thinking about buying longer rails for a rig, so it's nice that I can just use the ones from my prompter if necessary. Not that the rods alone justify the cost difference. I can see glass and build quality, plus the addition of a remote, differentiating a ~$300 and a ~$700 system. What's the selling point/justification for a ~$2,000 teleprompter rig? I have no idea.

Do you remember which app you guys used? I am looking for a decent android app. Ability to rewind would be nice. I had one app that would "listen" to what you said and would scroll automatically along with you. But they weren't perfect and they switched over from a flat initial price of like $20 to a subscription price with various levels, so I stopped using it.

Since the biggest share of Nikon users are shooting on F-Mount lenses and haven't made the switch to Z Cameras... Take a D750 body with F-Mount, use on-sensor PDAF, pull the mirror assembly out and put in variable ND filters instead. Give it 10-bit log, ability to record directly to SSDs, ProRes RAW out / BRAW out. And some decent IBIS, please. At least 4K 60fps with no crop (or just a minor crop). Better preamps (I don't think Nikon preamps were horrible, were they?).

I was just about to chime in with another ikan teleprompter recommendation. I recently picked up the Elite V2 Universal, which you can get with a remote that works with both iPad and Android-based teleprompters and probably some other tablet operating system. It is about $700, so way les than the $2K version but still out of your price range. If you could squeeze some more cash out of the budget, the Elite V2 does seem to be a nicely built unit. You do have to pay a couple bucks more for an prompter app for your tablet of choice that is compatible with remote. I think it's worth it. I used this on a shoot recently with talent that had never presented to camera before. Once she got the hang of using the remote, it was super helpful for her to control the speed of the prompter and rewind the script to the proper mark when redoing a take. I could stay behind the camera, so the shoot went pretty smooth. I like the image quality I got from the ikan. It matched up very well with my b-cam that wasn't using a prompter, so I don't think the glass degrades the image quality in any appreciable way. I only wish I'd gotten this thing sooner. I don't do a lot of stuff with direct-to-camera shots, but I can think of some I've recently done what would have turned out miles better with this thing. Whichever way you go with your prompter decision, good luck.

It's the implementation of a codec. Sometimes steps are cut to speed encoding because of hardware/power consumption issues. This is also the endless confusion that photographers and videographers fight over because most camera's use different readouts (12-bit vs 14-bit for stills) for different modes. I wish I had 14-bit RAW on the R5 it would be amazing. Well, I do, it's just at 12fps and in photo mode only.

In my opinion, it's wishful thinking to hope for a cinema line from Nikon. Not that I wouldn't welcome it, I just don't think it'll happen. And if it does, it might just be too late. 2018 Aug - Nikon's Z6 2019 Mar - Panasonic S1 (FF 10 bit internal) 2019 Sept - Z Cam S6/F6 (affordable box-style cine cams) 2020 Nov - Canon C70 (cine cam in hybrid-style body, NDs, 1st party focal reducer) 2.5 years ago, Nikon had a chance to make a big splash for filmmakers by adding the basic features we want. If the Z6 had beaten Panasonic to 10 bit log internally, it would have solidified Nikon's standing as a hybrid video leader. If they'd made a modular camera like Z Cam in early 2019, or if they'd made a C70 before Canon, it would have filled a spec and ergonomic gap that has now been filled. What is there left for them? We're not all clamoring for 8k now that 4k in mainstream. Very few people are looking for 12 bit internal now that we have 10 bit. We're not clamoring for a second set of internal NDs. The basic features we want haven't changed now that they are starting to be filled. And yes, I know there are still places to innovate. Internal ND's on a hybrid hasn't been done yet. We'd all like less RS and more DR -- but Nikon isn't producing its own sensors. And then the other side of the issue is lenses. I am very skeptical of investing in Z lenses as it would vendor lock me into Nikon cameras. EF, L, PL, and F lenses are much more flexible, and E mount has a nice long catalog of cine cams. We can be reasonably certain Nikon will continue to produce excellent photo cameras, but with no track record, investing in their lenses for cinema seems unwise. There is a lot of room for technical innovation for cine lenses, though. If there is a glimmer of hope for a Nikon cine line, I think that's it.

It look like GH5ii and GH6 will be announced (maybe development for GH6) as it mentioned multiple GH cameras LUMIX Live : New GH Series Cameras are Coming We are pleased to announce that we will present new LUMIX GH series cameras at an online launch event. The event will be held on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at 10:00am EDT.

The 14 bit RAW of the Canon 5d2 and 5d3 in Magic Lantern remain the best image quality I've seen outside of Alexa and RED. As in your test with the still photo, this is because Magic Lantern just made the cameras quickly shoot raw photos. In my real world shoots Andrew's Z-Log picture profile in 8-bit holds up extremely well against 10-bit N-Log on the Nikon z6. I like having the Atomos Ninja V monitor for the LUT preview and other monitoring features, but the extra bitrate really doesn't seem to add much.

It isn't the RAW that is a problem. It is the 10-bit HEVC 4:2:2 you get from using 4K HQ + Canon Log that crushes any computer without hardware support for that codec (almost all of them). AFAIK that pretty much limits you to late-model iPad Pros and m1 Macs. It edits smooth AF on an inexpensive M1 Mac. My 2019 3rd-gen iPad Pro won't even try to open them, though

Sony sensors use linear 12bit ADC readout in video mode.

What the specs never say is the bit depth used to scan the sensor. When stills are taken one might expect the full bit-depth is used (14-bit?). But in video mode, to reduce rolling shutter, a read-out mode with reduced bit-depth may be used. For 8-bit log or gamma-corrected recordings a 10 bit (lineair) read mode might be used. If that same 10-bit linear mode is used to create a 10-bit log, the quality wouldn't be much better than with an 8-bit log except for reduction of round-off errors.

What is your budget? Free option: telepropmter app that uses your ipad, phone, or webcam. For teleprompters there are many designs that fit different sized display devices. Some only fit certain dimensions, so if you decide to use a larger screen one day you won't be able to use them anymore. This is dependent on the size of the beam splitter glass and the layout of the screen holder. There are many cheap designs that work perfectly well with a phone as the screen for under $60USD on AE. Also the ones that clip onto the top of a laptop to use with the webcam. For larger screens I suggest this one (planning on buying it, no experience with it yet): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002245363941.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.5dd65146zh21oo&algo_pvid=2600be7e-7c46-4087-8591-13af97eb5a15&algo_expid=2600be7e-7c46-4087-8591-13af97eb5a15-0&btsid=0bb0624716214288223917590e8833&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ It fits larger screens, is cheap, and folds down. It's cheaper than the GlideGear TMP500 I bought, which only fits less than ipad pros and was more expensive, and at the time had worse build quality. I also have the recently released Neewer 12 inch teleprompter. It really only fits 10'' screens because of the glass size, if you want to use larger screens you have to tilt it up more and get the star wars scrolling text effect. If you want to see yourself you will need to use an external monitor, but to my knowledge there are no good programs that overlay the teleprompter on top of the video. There is one app on PC that does it using the webcam, but the developer was quite rude so I don't recommend it (not only because of the rudeness, but because it's wonky for dual screens). For the software, there are some good free options, but the best one's I've found are nanoteleprompter (android, paid), promptsmart pro (crossplatform, paid, demo available. really only good for voice recognition, for normal teleprompting it's very annoying to use). You can try https://telepromptermirror.com/voice-activated-teleprompter/ for free as well. Teleprompt.me is no longer free. Pixaero isn't bad either and it's free. On android, those all work with bluetooth controllers and have margin control. For controllers, the black one that comes free with many cheap teleprompters works very well for scrolling because it's very quiet. Some other controllers are very clicky and loud. If you are using a PC app, the paid joy2key program (only $7 or something) can remap controllers so you can use it with PC software.

I tried this with the X-T4 and found that 10bit was more noticeably better when there was more different colours in the frame. So, blue skies, green grass, orange/pink people etc.

Managed to fly this C70 + Sigma 18-35 + RS2 combo all day today, not as heavy as I thought it will. Ronin was chewing lots of battery vs when I fly my R5, down to like 25% at end of the day vs ~50% when i fly R5 + 24-70 2.8.

The more I learn about each aspect of the image pipeline, the more I realise that everything matters. If you have a camera like the A7S3 where it's a good sensor, good image processor, and good codec, then the fact that it's 8-bit isn't too bad because the other things are fine. I've run into issues shooting 8-bit C-Log with the Canon XC10. This should be a reasonable example of 8-bit done well as it's a Canon cine/video camera with 4K 300Mbps 8-bit codec, but alas.... Here's this shot, which I will admit is underexposed: which gives us this when we convert the colour space: but unfortunately, if we zoom into the seat in the bottom left: Is this an 8-bit issue? Is this a poor codec issue? I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. Let's take another example: Which after a transform gives this: and look at the noise! Now, is that ISO noise? 8-bit quantisation? a "poor" 300Mbps codec on a Canon cine camera? This is the vector scope, which clearly shows the 8-bit quantisation: Yes, this is an extreme example with a low-contrast scene, a flat log profile, and 8-bit codec, but this was a $2K Canon cine camera with a 300Mbps codec. So, I replaced it with a GH5, with the decisive factor being the internal 10-bit. Let's take this image here, a 10-bit HLG frame with almost zero contrast: and actually try to break it by applying more contrast than you would ever use in real life: and it holds together. Is that the 10-bit? Is that the 150Mbps 422 codec? Is that the fact it's a downsampled 5K image? Who knows, but it's a night and day difference where with an 8-bit example I struggle to get a good image from a real world shot and a 10-bit image where I can't break it even if I tried. I like to think about it like this - 8-bit can be good enough if you have a good enough implementation of it (unlike the XC10) but a good 10-bit implementation will give you security that you're not going to run into bit depth issues, so for me it's a safety thing.

it seems to vary camera to camera, the whole 8-bit vs 10-bit thing, Like Panasonic S1H the 8-bit in vlog has the weird banded magenta thing and can render it unusable, Sometimes even in non-vlog profiles, but the 10-bit is great. But the 12-bit BRAW for the Video Assist is just excellent! Such a huge jump up if you're going to do keying and heavy grading and so on.

I agree that weight is nice, but this camera does not have enough. I added a cage and monitor with a battery and it feels a bit better. I still think IS lenses are clutch. My C70 with the cage (no monitor) is only 10 ounces less than a stripped down C300 Mkii. Kind of interesting. The C70 is still a better gimbal camera and easier to pack around, but it's not exactly a light weight DSLR. The big bummer is the lack of EVF. You lose that point of contact. It was on purpose so people would be forced to buy a C300iii for a true documentary camera.