Andrew Reid

Sigma 18-35mm on the GH3 is fine. It only vignettes on the oversized mutli-aspect sensor on the GH2. That's a 1.86x crop. It is right at the limit on the GH3 but holds up well even at 18mm.   Yes I agree on 30p to 24p - it doesn't quite work :)   However I must admit to not hating 30p quite so much as I used to. The reason is not HFR in cinemas, or having watched too much 60p and got used to it, or something! The reason is that 30p suits the stabiliser on the E-M1, it makes handheld work look buttery smooth. On a tripod I still prefer 24p.

Indeed. Consumers are price sensitive, but the people the Amira is for - aren't really. If you need to invest $39,000 in a camera, and can do so, it's obvious you have a way of earning that back. $5k or $10k here or there won't be the main point. It will stop the C300 crowd going for it maybe, but it will replace the C300 in the sense that the high end of the community would probably prefer the benefits of the Amira. I know the high end of the rental market certainly well. It's more robust.

You do have a point actually, because most cinema lenses are used stopped down to T5.6!   With 4K I will be stopping down more often than not because if your focus is off even by a small amount, people will notice with that kind of resolution on screen.   But the T2.0 aperture of the bigger S4s is another option, because the look of a fast aperture is quite different still - it's not all about low light. With the Cooke stuff and Hollywood, price doesn't really come into the equation so much as outright performance. Even the most expensive lenses and camera equipment are small change for the film industry as a whole compared to other costs. The T2.0 aperture is the important bit for them. Don't forget in the days of film (still with us) cinematographers didn't have the sensitivity they do with digital either!

  Between the A7R and GH3. The image isn't a huge strength of the RX10 but it's respectable, the main reason I liked the RX10 was the general usability and features it offered, especially the Zeiss lens, which there's nothing else similar to on a DSLR. Built in ND filter, step less aperture ring, huge zoom range, fast constant F2.8 aperture, like I say - find a DSLR lens like that with the built in ND and long zoom range yet fast constant aperture. There's not one :)

  Well the same goes for DSLRs in general. A bunch of disappointments punctuated by a few flukes like good video on the D5200 and Magic Lantern raw video on Canon DSLRs. And of course Blackmagic but they are not making DSLRs.   2014 this will all change because of the push to 4K. There's also a trend towards the new HDMI spec and 10bit over that. So finally a reason to actually use it. The photographic CMOS sensors are perfectly placed to offer 4K video and the huge leap in image quality this entails.   So we're back on track, but yes, the 1080p stuff did not pan out as I had hoped and the A7R just carries on with a very mediocre trend.   There also seems to be a major disconnect between the video-savvy marketing department at Sony and what their actual engineers deliver...

  Stop being a twit!   The legal disclaimer was put up after Jim Jannard tried to sue me / silence me over the negative Scarlet articles.   The inconsistencies - i.e. covering expensive gear like the Amira and Cooke lenses or judging a Sony aspiring filmmaker competition - are inconsistent with what exactly? EOSHD is not all 100% coverage of consumer cameras. I have at least 10% reserved for dreaming!!

  £1250 per lens :) I was just extremely lucky. They are $8k each new. I'd never pay that much for gear. Never.

  How hard is it to click Films, and browse the last 3 years of my Vimeo uploads? FFS

Above: A7R with the new SLR Magic "Anamorphot 50" anamorphic lens Micro Four Thirds vs full frame. America has answered this question pretty resoundingly - mirrorless sales are apparently down 47%. I don't think this will be a lasting trend because mirrorless is moving forwards in terms of image quality and features far faster than DSLRs are. The Sony A7R is the highest spec of all of them, at least in terms of the sensor and EVF. But does it have what it takes for Sony to erode the dominance of Canon and Nikon? Read the full article here

With priced to compete with C500 thing I had in mind the 25,000 original C500 price in Europe. This I believe has now gone down slightly, but it's still £20,000 inc. VAT at CVP, so not too different to the Amira, especially when you begin adding the necessary recorder for 4K video and 2K ProRes, better EVF and monitor, shoulder rig, etc., otherwise what is the point? You may as well get a C300! The ProRes, better codecs, very high quality EVF and shoulder rig is stuff which the Amira is designed to do pretty much out of the box without Zacuto's help.   So in my view, yes it the Amira price is competitive with most C500's out there, unless you were lucky and got one used or something, and haven't added much rigging to it.   In the US at the time of writing this article the USD pricing wasn't announced and it still isn't clear today exactly what the packages and prices are in the States.

Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love, Hero), Stefan Ciupek (Slumdog Millionaire) and Franz Lustig (How I Live Now) will be at the Berlinale Film Festival in February with a Canon sponsored workshop for aspiring filmmakers. Read the full article here

I don't think Arri clients mind about the price that much, be it $39k or $59k or $69k and 99 cents, they will use the damn camera.   On Twitter some people who hadn't read the article properly, insisted I was saying the Amira competes against the C300 in the low and mid-end of the production market!!   Nah - it's an all high end affair, but it still competes against the C300 and C500 because these were being used at the high end of the production market, due to smaller size than Alexa, run & gun ergonomics, etc. The Amira is designed to do that job and it will be the Amira which gets the job, over the Cinema EOS stuff at the high end from now on. Canon just lost some lustre.

  I have heard good things about the Zeiss zoom too, a '3D' look to it and lots of cinematic stuff going on.

  I remember seeing some older Cooke lenses from the 60's and 70's on eBay in Arriflex mount for £250 a-piece. The T2.0 stuff.   Worth investigating eBay for the older lenses, as the image is sublime.

  Man, one article on Cooke, one on the Amira. And I'm changing direction completely away from DSLRS!? I have D5300, E-M1, A7R reviews coming in a few days. Also with greatest respect Matt you are someone who has joined the forum quite late (and begun reading EOSHD even later?) so you're not in the greatest position to tell me what direction to take with my filmmaking and the site. Would you turn down high end stuff if you had the chance to buy it for a bargain price?   Back on topic and no more reverse snobbery!!

What is it that makes Cooke cinema lenses so special? Read the full article here

Good design costs nothing :)

  No 4:3 mode. Arri have angered the anamorphic gods.   It's such a simple feature to add, don't know why more cameras don't do it considering the competition consists of one camera, and some hacked DSLRs.   Anamorphic is IN!   When you have got your AMIRA on your shoulder JG come to Berlin and you can use my Cooke PL lenses on it :)

Full information on the AMIRA can be seen at CVP Looking at the Oscar nominations recently at EOSHD, with not a Red camera in sight, it's clear Arri are a run-away success in the filmmaking industry. Now Arri are gunning for the Canon C300 and C500 with a camera which could seriously erode the market for Cinema EOS cameras at the high end of the broadcast and single-operator videographer market. The Amira's pricing starts at 25,980 euros which puts it in the Sony F55 and Canon C500 range. What's the secret to Arri's success? Read the full article here

OK Belinda I will send it now. Cheers!

Thanks. Nikon mount.

  Didn't realise it was his test. "Crap" was a bit rude in that light. But alas, there's the problem with the internet in a nutshell :)

Are you setting focus then stopping the lens down?   Back focus / front focus issues can only happen when you change the aperture.

Facebook and Twitter logins can be used again.   I've sorted out a spam filter.

Crap test, focus point is way off. The Sigma is focussed on the red cushion and the Voigtlander on the yellow ribbons almost 30cm further forwards. Totally clueless and therefore - Null and void :)   The Sigma 18-35mm is the sharper lens, especially if you're gonna be combining it with a decent adapter - like Speed Booster.   I will do a test showing that it is as sharp as the very best primes, even wide open.