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i've done it a bunch. not going to pretend these are amazing or anything, but it's absolutely justifiable to light boring shit this way

To elaborate a bit more on the lighting discussion, I heard about shooting on the shadow side from Wandering DP, who does excellent cinematography breakdowns on YT: https://www.youtube.com/@wanderingdp/videos I went through a phase of binging his videos and although I couldn't find a good self-contained example of him talking about it, just look at all the thumbnails on the videos of his channel and you'll see that in most of them you are looking at the shadow side of their face (just look at their nose). I highly highly recommend his stuff if you haven't seen it - he's obviously a working pro and his videos contain just as much talk about how to light so you can work faster and deal with the sun moving throughout the shoot day as he does talking about how to get things to look nice (they actually go together too rather than competing with each other).

Yes - this is an 'exploded' view of it all (the foam is a trimmed-down cheap vocal mic pop shield): ...and it all fitted on the TM-2x: I've bought a few windmuffs from 'windcutuk' on Ebay over the years- they seem decently well made and work OK, and they do one for the TM-2x - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165305982845?hash=item267d011f7d:g:7wIAAOSwks5ghLpY This is their windmuff on my Tascam DR-05 recorder:

...also, this for built in mics. https://rycote.com/microphone-windshield-shock-mount/micro-windjammers/

Normally I'd suggest X-H2S as the simply straight forward upgrade to do, but you've got almost no Fuji lenses, so it wouldn't be hard at all to jump onto another system. I'd suggest Sony FX30, unless you're doing more amateur / indy / hobbyist stuff with no higher aspirations of working with others, then that would push the Panasonic S5mk2 to the top of the list.

The X-H2S would be a good option if you don't want to have to sell and buy all new lenses. If you don't mind changing systems then the S5ii is, in my opinion, the most compelling camera in that price range for what you're looking to do. It has good autofocus and the best stabilization of the bunch. You can't beat Sony's lens selection though. L-mount is catching up but still is a bit behind.

I think these are really good too, but i think they would look even better if you had the darker side of the face towards the camera. You’re looking for natural contrast in light which is what it’s all about, but if you put the person from still 1 in the same position as the lady from still 2 with the same background and lighting condition as you had before, that would be something i would prefer myself. The same with still 2, if you just put her in the right side of the frame, and rotate her 180 degrees.

Check out this new music video shot on A74 24-104 and UV light.

Hello upgrading from xt3 and looking for a new tool. IQ, af,stabilization and htt more close to run and gun are the feature i look for. I am not going to to much color correction, si the best is out of the cam. If in that proce range would exists a camcorder with conparable.feature i would consider it. Thanks for suggestion

That's a bit of an old trope. Sony color science has made tons of progress and now with chunky 10-bit codecs you can get really nice IQ. As for overheating, not a problem on FX series which have active cooling. AF is definitely ahead of Fuji/Panny.

I'll just tell them the light is coming from the "business side" 😃

Hey sorry I just noticed this. I still have a few Minolta lenses. I can't use many with my 5D3, but there are a couple that can be easily modified. I believe the one you're referring to from the harbour is the 58mm 1.4. It's a great lens, especially what I paid for it. It's an older model so the coatings aren't as good as some of their MD lenses, but it has a specific look, like most Minolta lenses. I started shooting some film stills and got a great deal on an old XD11 that had a 35mm 1.8 attached to it. I recently used the lens with the Sigma FP and got some pretty good results. I think the older MC version may be a bit better but the MD versions are so tiny and light that they're hard to not like if you can find one for a good price. Another one I always liked, but don't own anymore was the 28mm f/2. I had the new MD version and it was excellent. I like a lot of the new MD version for their smaller size and more modern coatings. With that said, I have been building a set of Nikkors so my Minolta obsession has been put on hold. I also don't know how much longer I'll have a camera that can use my MDs. Here's a shot from the 35mm 1.8 MD on the FP...

An inner foam layer with a 'furry' that fits over it works quite well e.g. below is what Boya supply with the BY-PVM50: (In that case you have to put the foam inside the furry first, then slide the whole thing over the mic barrel - it's really hard to pull the furry over the foam when it's already on the barrel !)

Here are just a few of the projects I've created recently

Gorgeous

Yes, I see what you mean. That way the light is coming from the direction of the negative space, where the subject is looking to. I like that idea and hadn't really considered it before. I'm going to try to add that into the recipe. This particular day was a bit of a scramble with a bunch of interview subjects lining up for the their five minute piece to camera. Then I'm trying to quickly make decisions on how to vary the background, while keeping the lighting nice and alternating between left and right placement. But I should totally be able, as you suggest, to add this consideration into the mix - that light is coming from the side they're looking towards. LOL! Did you mean 90 degrees? I could ask her to do a 360 and walk away 😂 Well, I often joke that photography/videography is 90% moving furniture!

I'd still recommend XH2S if you're on Fuji system. It has the best (stacked) sensor out of those cams. 6.2K Open Gate with very low rolling shutter and ProRes. The AF & IQ will be a major upgrade from XT3. Film simulations should take care of you since you don't wanna color grade. FX30 features might not be that useful to you if you're not into grading or don't need TC etc. In that case you'll probably benefit more from the XH2S sensor, resolution & codecs. That said, you can't really go wrong with any of those 3 cameras, definitely top choices in that $2.5K budget range.

Keep in mind A7IV has very poor RS (26.8ms) so not really ideal for sports/action. 4K60p also has a 1.5x crop so it basically becomes APS-C & 4K120 is absent. If you add to that the overheating that makes A7IV a rather poor choice if you're planning on shooting beyond 4K30p..

Smallrig 450d light is on sale for $699 today at B&H. That's a great deal https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1729862-REG/smallrig_3970_rc350b_cob_bi_color_led.html

I'm also wondering this. I plan on doing some tests to work out what the best solution is, but I haven't done it yet so can't speak to results. I do think, however, that the dead cat style is likely hard to beat because it's sort of got two 'modes' - when there's no wind the fur is sticking up in random directions and letting sound in without much resistance, but when there's a gust of wind then it pushes the fur flat and that forms a barrier against letting the gusts of wind through. Unless something has that kind of behaviour then it's likely to block more sound when there's no wind and block the gusts of wind less when they happen. However if you are looking for a smaller solution with good performance, I suspect that some sort of hybrid with multiple layers of different materials might be a good solution as the manufacturers are likely to have just gone with size rather than trying to engineer a more complex and higher-performing compact solution.

I have the Sennheseir and I believe is the best all around dSLR solution. You can have beautiful stereo ambient sound if you go ultra wide, and if you go closer you can beautifully follow a nice 2 person's conversation, and with a wider lens, is alright to go closer. It has 2 mini shotgun mics! Stereo, but with a reach..just brilliant idea.. If I want more reach (for videocentric cameras) I go here https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1404643-REG/sanken_cs_m1_super_cardioid_short.html Paired with this amazing masterpiece of "softie" https://www.gothamsound.com/product/cosi-cs-m1-windshield-kit This set is just amazingly brilliant and easily pro territory (and price). I actually use it for drama on a boom pole and I just did a trailer for a very popular game show a few hours ago.. If I don't care at all, just the simplest of them all and the cheapest of them all. no battery, no much directionality, extremely small and light https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1183909-REG/rode_videomicro_compact_on_camera.html

The FS7 really is a legendary camera. IMO it deserves to have its own chapter in camera history. I maybe biased though, as an owner of two, the FS7 and the FS7M2. 😄 The image quality of the FS7 sensor still holds up, especially with good lighting. No client has ever complained about the images I produced with it. Not to mention other profesional features like SDI. Both of my FS7 are easily some of the best pruchase I have made ever.

I can only comment on Sony cameras. I have very little experience with modern cameras from other brands. TBH, basically any newer Sony camera(within 2-3 years) is going to be great at lowlight. I would recommend A7M4 because it is also a terrific stills camera, and in terms of image quality or high iso performance, quite similar to the A7S3. You don't need a high base of ISO 12800 to shoot in darker condition. For the most part, the high iso performance of the A7M4 is more than enough. It is FF too. I personally use the FX30. Despite it being Super 35 and "only" ISO 2500, I can still shoot night scenes with it with only street lights and the results are at least acceptable. As long as there is some kind of light source, any capable modern Sony camera can give good result in lowlight. My other even older camera, FS7M2, does decent in lowlight too. And that sensor is anicent, comparing to the A7M4. Also, you can always clean up some of the noise in post. I really like the denoise in Davinci Resolve.

Also the small/cheap recorders in general (I own several) don't make much attempt at isolating the mic capsules from the recorder body, so are terrible for handling noise (and pick up wind noise via body vibration, so you almost have to completely enclose them in a wind muff).

Whenever I'm doing interviews I check to see what direction the light is going in and therefor what directions the camera might point. Then I find a background I like and frame that up with the camera at the height of the interviewee's head and at around 70-135mm full frame equivalent. Then I place the person within the frame, moving them forward or back, left and right until I get the composition I want. If it's an off-centre framing then I'll get them to angle their hips and shoulders towards the other side of the frame slightly. And I always try to shoot people standing as I think it looks better - they're less likely to slump or slouch than when sitting. This works well until I get someone who hops and jumps about and gradually crawls closer to the camera. One thing I've learned is that there's no perfect interview location. But good enough is good enough! Available light, S5II, EF 70-200 f4.

@mercer since I haven't seen you / been on here for a while: How is it going with your minolta lens journey? 🙂 I am contemplating buying a 100mm 2.5 minolta to complete my minolta set. If I remember correctly you and your friend on the harbour sold me on some of the minolta lenses couple years back.