Leaderboard

Thats so sad.. I spent a lot of time on vimeo a few years ago. You can still access your Watch Later List, Favorites and Collections but not even being able to go to the page of people you're following sucks.

Definitely useful. The big lesson I keep relearning is that it's more important to get the shot than to have optimal image quality; of course if you can do both that's ideal, but in my case I find that I rarely shoot video because my cameras are so cumbersome to set up and operate. For Halloween evening I got asked to make a short video of the trick-or-treaters in our neighbourhood and first I set out to do it with my OG Pocket, handheld (with three points of stabilization) but it all took so long and I kept having to adjust focus etc. that I quickly switched to my iPhone and got much better video for much less effort. "Better" in this case means I grabbed shots I would have missed with the Pocket; the Pocket video looked better but I was able to achieve much more with auto exposure and autofocus on the phone. The GH7 seems like a good idea, since the only autofocus lens I own is a Panasonic (the 12-35 zoom) and I have some nice manual MFT lenses I could use on it. But I use Sony for photography and have a huge collection of lenses that I use on E-mount with adapters (I have no Sony lenses and only two native e-mount lenses, which I rarely use). So I have to decide whether to go the GH7 route or the FX-30 route as a more practical video camera with built-in stabilization, autofocus, etc.

Update.. I've booked another trip for next year, and have been doing the post-trip analysis and working out what I'll do for next time. We all know the BMMCC sits in a very narrow niche of size, performance, and features, so I won't rehash that, but I figured my analysis on alternatives might be useful to anyone else still interested in this camera. Options Keep the same setup as I used previously Big camera: BMMCC with 12-35mm F2.8 Small tourist camera: GX85 with 14-140mm Tiny stealth camera: GX85 with 14/2.5 Extreme low light: GX85 with 7.5/2 + 17/1.4 + 50/1.2 Buy: nothing Pros: no cost, known setup Cons: no AF - manually focusing took time but wasn't a huge deal some moire - only a few shots had moire dim monitor - only a problem when in bright sunlight limited low-light when hand-holding - native ISO with 12-35/2.8 lens is 'enough' for ok lit places but not for dim places, and my fast primes don't have OIS so aren't usable with a tiny hand-held rig limited focal range when on tripod in low-light - I like to shoot little scenes at night from out the hotel window and the 50mm is the longest fast lens roll not stabilised - OIS can't stabilise roll so footage does have roll jitters from hand-holding in a smallish percentage of the shots Same setup but minor upgrades Buy a brighter monitor to get visible screen in bright conditions Buy OLPF to ensure no moire Buy 85mm F1.4 to get fast tele for low-light Use my OG BMPCC As cool as the OG BMPCC is, is still suffers from most of the issues of the BMMCC as well as introducing new ones. The monitor doesn't articulate at all, is useless in almost all daylight situations, and is the wrong polarisation for my sunglasses so is black, so I'd still need an external monitor and therefore I'd need a rig for it to protect the notoriously fragile tiny-HDMI connector on the side. It also needs an external power solution. All to give me one of the slowest AF mechanisms ever invented. Use the GX85 only This really simplifies the setup with one camera, but severely limits the dynamic range. This is important for any time the sun is low, which is a lot when you're on holiday, but is also (surprisingly) more of a problem at night when you want to be able to see the people walking in the streets but don't want to blow out the people inside the shops and bars and restaurants eating etc. I've done a bunch of side-by-side tests recently and have (finally) managed to get the GX85 files to have some of the mojo of the BMMCC, so I'm less obsessed with the filmic and organic look of the BMMCC that I was. It's really about DR, which just isn't enough to consider this a good alternative to the BMMCC, and is a recurring weakness for other options. Use my GH5 as the main camera DR is still poor compared to BMMCC (almost two stops less?) Flippy screen is a PITA because to tilt it (I like to shoot from the hip and high angles) you have to flip it out to the side first AF is solved (I only use AF-S so no worries there) Moire is solved Dim monitor is solved Low-light when hand-holding is solved - I can use the 12-35/2.8 with a higher ISO or use the primes with IBIS Focal range when on tripod in low-light is partly solved - I can use the 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 with higher ISOs Roll stabilisation is also solved by IBIS Buy GH5ii Same as above, but DR is only around one stop less and instead of being free it's AUD1500. Not worth it compared to other options. Buy BMMSC 4K G2 Same as current BMMCC setup, but.. No AF without having that stupid handle that's larger than the entire rest of the rig Moire is fixed Dim monitor still an issue Low-light when hand-holding is fixed due to dual-ISO (400 and 3200) which means 12-35mm f2.8 lens on this becomes equivalent of a T1.4 lens on BMMCC Focal range when on tripod in low-light is also partially fixed as 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 becomes equivalent to T1.8-2.8 on BMMCC Roll still not stabilised Additional issues including: Large file sizes from 4K BRAW, must buy SSD, must buy mount and cable protectors for SSD, cost around AUD1500 plus SSD plus cage Buy GH6 DR is better to BMMCC AF is fixed Moire is fixed Dim monitor is fixed Low-light when hand-holding is fixed - native ISO for V-Log in DR Boost mode is ISO 2000(!) Focal range when on tripod in low-light is also fixed by high native ISO 2000 so the 14-140mm lens is good enough Low light becomes so good that I don't even need to take the fast primes on the trip (I'd still take the 14/2.5 pancake lens for use with the GX85) Roll is stabilised High-DR scenes had streaking issues that I'm pretty sure I'd encounter, considering I am shooting scenes where I am simultaneously clipping the white and black points of the BMMCC which has 11.2/12.5 stops of DR AUD2500+(!!) Buy GH7 This fixes all the issues with the BMMCC. DR is much better than the BMMCC AF is PDAF Moire is fixed Dim monitor is fixed Low-light when hand-holding and focal range when on tripod in low-light are both fixed, and I don't need to bring the fast primes Roll is stabilised by IBIS Also doesn't have the issues that other options have: Screen tilts as well as flips Can record internal Prores (not Prores RAW, although it does that too) at various resolutions (down to 1080p) and in various flavours No streaking or image issues The only downside is the cost - AUD3400 or so currently. Non-MFT cameras This is pretty simple, there are no good options currently available that are equivalent prices. Any non-MFT option currently suffers from at least one of the following issues: Variable aperture 10x zoom lens options don't exist or are large or heavy or both Faster 3x zoom lenses are typically large / heavy I have to buy a new body as well as at least two new lenses, which simply can't compete with the price of just an MFT body I also suck at selling things, so that's a whole hurdle I'd rather not have to deal with. I also seem to keep finding uses for old gear, so there's a reluctance there too. Conclusion My conclusions were pretty simple: The reduction in DR from the free options (using the GX85 or GH5 only) weren't worth the benefits, especially as things like the dim screen / moire / roll shake weren't bad enough in practice The cost of the GH5ii, BMMSC 4K G2 (plus SSD), and GH6 weren't worth it considering how many issues they didn't solve (or new issues they introduced) Therefore the GH7 was the only worthwhile option currently around So, my decision is that unless I'm buying a GH7, I shouldn't invest in anything that doesn't align with that direction. Considering I don't want to casually spend AUD3500 right now, this means I'll be keeping the current setup, perhaps with a few minor things if they're not that expensive. The advantage of this do-almost-nothing approach is that when I get around to looking to upgrade, I won't have locked myself further into the MFT ecosystem than I am now, so if I decide to change systems later on I still can. I also looked at the RED Komodo and found even a minimal rig was about 3x the weight of the BMMCC rig, so would be too heavy even if I could afford it. So that eliminates all cinema cameras too, making things like buying a fancy external monitor a waste when my next camera is likely a MILC. Hope this is useful 🙂