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The phone app lags a bit. The Monitor+ app isn't as bad - its much better than Sony's and well worth the cash - it has great functionality. But a phone isn't bright enough outside and it overheats in direct sunlight pretty quick. I don't want to fry my overpriced iPhone LOL! I have a really bright monitor, its just more time consuming to setup and a lot more to carry with batteries, cables and such. I'm a one-man-band and for most shoots I lug all my gear in a carry-on size backpack, that's 2-3 bodies, 4 or 5 lenses, my drone, a monopod and all accessories including a gimbal at times. If its a slower paced project, I rig the camera out a little bit with cage, handle, Ninja and so on and just throw it in an old porta brace camcorder bag from my old FS100 days. As far as 500mm, I was shooting osprey's last spring with the a7sIII and the 200-600. I just tapped the LCD to lock onto one as it was sitting in its nest. When it took off I just followed it around as it swooped down to grab a fish. When it was eating back at the nest, nearly every time it looked my way I got the eye AF box on its eye. It just blows me away how good Real Time Tracking works. A guy next to me was shooting with the a1, which was even better. The capabilities are just amazing. Cheers Chris

The videos uploaded by L.A. cinematographer M. K. Rhodes are, in my opinion, utterly mesmerising. Shooting mainly on the Komodo, she captures the city at night in a truly beautiful way. This is my favourite, so far.

Hello to everyone on the forum! A Merry Christmas from me! I hope you're looking forward to having a good break over the holidays and are ready to welcome in 2022. Talking of holidays - I have been having a break from EOSHD for a few months. I went and sat on a hill and finally had time to reflect on my work which is this blog and the community around it. The last video had a lot of support, it's made me really appreciate what I have in a more positive light. I'm mega appreciative of the people who took the time to say how EOSHD has helped them over the years and that they want it to continue. So that's what we'll do! EOSHD is back. Read the full blog post here

I am ignorant of C-stand weight ratings, but I doubt that there is much difference in weight capacity between a plain C-stand and a C-stand with the typical "Rocky Mountain" leg. On the other hand, one should never get even close to loading stands to their rated capacity. Putting too much of a load on a C-stand might not end well (nor will it start well if the grip arm gets bent). If one is not sure the stand can take the load, use a bigger, stronger stand.

Now I actually think that Phil has a great eye, but I fully support the rest of your comment. I went out yesterday, inspired by MK, trying to find shots like hers - beautifully composed, inviting, rewarding of prolonged viewing - and it's really, really fucking hard. My admiration for her goes way beyond the technical - she strikes me as a true artist. And I'll take a moment to say that if I was shooting a scene in a city nightscape I would for sure let some of those LEDs flicker, because it immediately provokes an emotional reaction that says 'city'. Here's her latest and I'd be interested to see any work shot with the A7IV that comes anywhere close:

I disagree. Average for who? A experienced filmmaker? YouTuber? Give 100 people the same camera setup and have them shoot locked off shots, I promise you it won't look this good. At least half of those 100 would be shooting ducks in a park like Philip Bloom.

you referring to the scene with house of gucci and the very next scene which is even more noticeable ? i was thinking it was just me. overall i quite liked it except for the flickering. I liked the atmosphere kinda moody. Do you people think thats diffusion or foggy town perhaps ?

Yes, that's the kind of work I do and yes, I watch many many YT channels including StudioBinder. The real challenge is that film tends to attract people who are visually acute and can learn things by just watching other people's work. Unfortunately I am not at that level of understanding yet. When I watch something that I like I know I like it but I don't know why. I can't even break it down because for me to really notice a scene they must have done a bunch of things I like so it's not just one thing I can see and pay attention to. (I am aware of what it's like to be able to do that as I am able to do that in a different field, one that I have been doing for more than 25 years, so am a lot more developed and experienced in than film.) I've watched enough interviews with the best performing DoPs and Directors etc to know that they all just learned by watching, so I suspect that the information that I'm chasing may not actually be written down in any organised way - it might simply be that if you've got the eye then with practice you can do great things and if you don't have it then you'll learn over time but won't attain that level of performance. I also suspect that there is a reasonable amount of knowledge just floating around that isn't written down. After all, the people who know the most are probably out there doing it rather than trying to work out how to teach it. If I was more affluent then I'd probably just hire someone to mentor me.

I don't know if this will work with your workflow because it is all for big budgets and well planned out sets and lighting, but I find Studio Binder to be good at explaining different looks, from the cinematography to lighting to sound design to blocking, to costumes, to set design and I think also to the script / dialogue. They have a lot of videos, so it might be a bit overwhelming deciding where to begin. Maybe just look for a video covering your favorite director first In particular, maybe start with the series of "The Directing Style of ..." videos at this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEzQZpmbzckUl3P1gqpM5Awa9U-CxdhVy However... If I understand a lot of the shooting you are doing, it is mostly run and gun / one man band / capture the moment / document the place, right? Or am I misunderstanding what you are mostly shooting? If it is the former, I wonder if maybe trying to learn from event videographers (like wedding videographers) might not be helpful? They usually have to work in scenes that look nice but they can't control, with lighting they can't control. Maybe some documentary filmmakers as well? (I think wedding photographers might be chasing a lot of the latest trends in their shooting as well, so maybe not a good fit for you.) Anyway, I love White in Revery , although they haven't released much lately. The other thing I would recommend are look at classic street photographers, as they will give you an eye for working in environments they can't control as well. A lot of them just made the best of whatever opportunity presented itself. Hope this helps.

Thank you for all the excellent info. Really appreciate it. One more quick question if I may... I know there are C-Stands with sliding big legs (to deal with things like stairs or uneven ground) and then stands without a sliding leg. Is either one "stronger"? Meaning, if someone gets a C-Stand with a sliding leg, will it be rated for less weight than a stand with a non-sliding big leg? Thanks in advance.

We've been in touch through private messaging during this pandemic period but we haven't seen his posts so much over this family more recently ; ) However seems he's restarting to make our days better with his thoughts available to all once again : ) Love this guy! @webrunner5

Gee I don't know what to say. Well certainly thanks is in order. Yeah i missed you guys also. I went though some scary ass medical problems, actually died for a bit, but I guess too mean to die too long so hey here I am. Sepsis shock just about did me in. It knocks you down in just about every organ you have so at my age, nearly 75 now, hard to crawl back, well I never will make it back to what I was, and I have just aged the more since, happens you know. But actually right now I am really not doing too bad. My mother died a few months ago, my one daughter just had double mastectomy with breast cancer, well not much fun not counting this God Damn Pandemic. Just what the hell I needed lol. So I have been sort of out of it for a bit, literally, bummed out for a bit and working my way back. I am reorganizing my camera, video gear for less heft, and a little more creativity. Nobody knows how long you will live but I know I am running out of time so I just want to have a bit of fun while I can. So I came back here to be re educated and reunite with some of my old friends, which I have had very few of in my life. I hope I can contribute a little past knowledge, screw ups and all, plenty of those, and have a few good forward thinking threads evolve. And maybe a few fireworks to add to the fire. Hey I am still Don you know. But yeah I have mellowed a bit trust me. I went out though the tunnel and saw what few have seen and felt, and for the limited time was super peaceful and intriguing. I think I was going up and not down like a lot of people thought would happen. 😬

over here we have a small goods manufacturer named don i'm just going to leave the slogan right here. by the way you need to enunciate that with the proper Italian accent.... and welcome back don 😀

Welcome back Don and a happy new year from us!

Depends on what kind of filmmaker you want to be. Most advice from these places will suggest technical skills development. If your deposition is to play with the tools and make great images, then that's perfectly fine and fun. But, FWIW, I help run a small film festival. Almost every indy film I see now-a-days looks half way decent. Getting the tech to do it's thing is pretty easy. I honestly don't know what sort of advantage an IQ specialist is going to have moving forward in the business when literally everyone can make decent IQ. "All hat, no cowboy." (Love that expression) OTOH, only about 10% of the films I have to watch/endure throughout the submission season have the ability to hold my attention. Story is key... Can you write? Failing that, can you recognize a good story when you see it? Can you develop the skill to elevate the words on a page? It's freakin' tough. Being a person that can do that is really remarkable. I've taken to watching successful films that are 50-100 years old. If the story works without the spectacle of modern tech, then all you gotta do is pay attention to those sort of storytelling and acting fundamentals ...and figure out if you can develop the skills to facilitate them as well. I find myself re-watching David Lean's early work at the moment. That sort of inspiration is very valuable.

My GH5 says....

I know it's an impossible thing to really quantify to other people, especially pros, but it's been true in my experience as well. I've just ended up preferring using Oly cams for some reason. Ergonomics I think. And it doesn't make sense because Oly's menu system is a bit of a jumble, but I guess once I learned it, it's been productive. I don't do a lot of high end stuff, and what I do (still) do is almost always hand-held run-n-gun. I get by easily with 8-bit. My cheap EM10iii with a variable ND does the job. Here's a recent thing I was hired for; half day shoot and half day editing with a script they recorded. Basic basic basic, but got the product delivered to the client as they requested. I'm not sure if I even used a high end camera for a gig like this it would've turned out much different. So, you know, for me, the rather simple tool is appropriate.