Neumann Films

Very nice dude. I had a 4 perf 435 for a while but I just couldn’t rationalize it. That is the ultimate client pleaser though, like, it doesn’t make any sense to use it for a lot of projects but if you can you should! Love it.

To rationalize charging more 🙂

Always looking to top the previous video! The challenge is actually doing it, lol.

We are shooting a car commercial and then a tutorial that’s like “How to Land a Major Car Commercial” or something. Will be using Cooke SF Anamorphics and shooting out in the elements. It’s a fantasy car commercial plot, so lots of cinematic lighting. Unfortunately we have to wait for it to snow so it might be a month before we film. Outside of that I’ve been using it on a project that I can’t share yet, which is a bummer as I wanted to post something fairly soon after getting it. And no, I don’t own Zeiss anamorphics, lol. That was a direct order from Panasonic as they weren’t happy with the IQ of the Anamorphot that was used for a previous video.

You can shoot 4K without cropping in. I haven’t really done any 12K with this camera, I’ve only been shooting 8K, which is also un-cropped.

Nice interview @Dave Maze and @Andrew Reid!

Not to self promote but I think this is an underrated video on the quality standpoint. For whatever reason it didn't get many views for us. The Inspire 2/Zenmuse X7 with the 50mm lens combo is just...crazy. The parralax creates a look that's closing in on full size helicopter stuff. This was for a company to see how Inspire 2 footage upscales to 8K using AI for both resolution and framerates.

Is amazing. I love it. Never going back to RED unless I’m forced to by a client. Just thought I would share. The IQ is pristine, colors are great and it’s just a breeze to use. Will post a few stills here in a day or two.

Follow up: I was extremely rude to what seems to be a really nice person in Matti...and I feel bad. I have nothing against him personally but I have some (obviously) strong thoughts about the type of content he uploads. More often than not I side with Andrew on this stuff. If you have built an audience and a name for yourself the LEAST you could do is be authentic and try something unique. To just pander and make 10 B-Roll videos with fake surprise face thumbnails is almost non sensical. It shows your sense of priorities. That you care more about fame/numbers/likes than you do anything artistic or creative. And that is a massive turn off.

Matti Hoopla uploads content that is watched once on a phone and then forgotten. He’s not making narrative stuff. Things you put time/effort into require the best visual medium for longevity. This is why Nolan and Tarantino shoot on 70mm. If you don’t give a shit about your content then shoot it in whatever is easiest for your audience to slop down right now. If you care about it and want it to stand the test of time you go for the best. This is not a complex issue. If discount Peter McKinnon is your example then I think you need to pick a different hill to die on. These guys are not filmmakers.

My 12K URSA arrives in two days and I’m beyond stoked to play with this thing. Honestly it has a lot hype to live up to (for me personally)

I think this is a bit different. At least my interpretation of it is.

I love getting out and doing this. I have so many bits and pieces from over the years that don’t have a rhyme or reason. I think it’s super important to the creative part of your mind, to keep up on the craft for the love of the crafts sake. Otherwise it gets stale really fast. People do this with music all of the time, pick up your instrument and just play. We need to remember to do it with video too.

Correct, if we are talking past tense then it's 100% as it was actually discussed in my first meeting with them. Whether they are still here is more uncertain, but I'm guessing they at least browse the threads that pertain to them.

They 100% do.

Yes, right. We are in the same boat then. I think that all then comes down to what you're uploading, what the intent is, who the audience is etc. It's like making a video game that takes full advantage of the latest tech but is horribly optimized for mid/lower level machines. For me, 8K on YouTube is where it's at. Chrome plays it easily with the most average of internet speeds, regardless of your display resolution. So, I just view it as the best end quality for a video (as of right now).

I think they are too, that's more or less my point. If you took a 1 minute video and exported a 400MB 8K file and a 400MB 1080p file, I would imagine you would end up with a 200MB 8K YouTube encode and a 50MB or so 1080p upload. Therefore, the 8K (in essence) is the key to getting the highest data rates. The tradeoff seems to be that you get worse 4K/1080p flavors?

I just re read your comment and I do think I know what you're saying now (and that you're correct...I think). I'm pretty sure I'm trying to make a different/alternate point. My point has more to do with 8K vs. 4K. vs. 1080p, not 8K (1080p setting) vs. 4K (1080p setting) vs. 1080p Original. Does that make sense? I'm more concerned with the 100MB file that the 4K at 225Mbps gives you vs. what the 1080p re encode of that file gives you. It is odd that YouTube encodes a 1080p proxy from a 4K file more strictly than it does a 1080p direct upload. It also makes sense though, the more proxies they have to make the more data required for each video. An 8K upload requires a whopping NINE proxies. 8K/4K/1440p/1080p/720p/480/360/240/144. From a storage/bandwith point of view it makes sense to give encoding priority to the highest/native resolution and then choke the lower ones.

@kye, that seems to tell me that the way to get YouTube to encode and show the highest quality stream (ie. the largest file) is the 4K version, right? The 4K version was over 100MB while the largest 1080p was 35. For me, there are two things to consider. The file size and the viewport. The quality/resolution setting should be viewed more like a data rate setting. Your viewport is your viewport, 720p, 1080p, or 2160p. You can choose to view a 35MB file in said viewport, a 100MB file or a 200+MB file (with 8K). I'm not the most technically minded person so I very well could just be missing something super obvious. To me it seems like the larger the file size>more data rate>better stream/encode.

I think the highest possible resolution on the phone is dependent on the phone itself. Mine can do 1440p, for instance. You don’t necessarily have to do 8K, it’s just the best data rate. 4K is double the 1080p data rate so simply upscaling your 1080p timeline at the end will make for a better looking 1080p (assuming people choose to view in 4K). The “Auto” setting is based solely on connection speeds. My desktop has a really bad WiFi adapter, when I’m using WiFi and watching an 8K video “auto” will go to 1080p. If I plug in via Ethernet that same video will automatically go to 8K. Keep in mind that it will also cap based on your device. I’m happy that most TV YouTube apps finally support 4K so those videos now look amazing on my 4K HDR home display.

In my opinion, this is one of the reasons to upload in 8K with YouTube. It doesn't really matter what display you're viewing it on, phone/laptop/1080p display/4K display, setting the quality to 8K gives you the maximum data rates that YouTube can offer. An 8K upload on a 4K HDR TV looks incredible. Even if your source is 4K, I would use a custom H.265 Media Encoder preset to get an 8K file for YouTube. Again, it's not about the resolution it's about the data rate and a 1080p file gives you roughly 29% of the data rates that an 8K file does. 4K gives you about half. So just by uploading an 8K file you get double the data rates for your view port.

I guess that sums it up for me. There are three kinds of customer service: - The "Outsourced Human FAQ" where they pay pennies to some overseas company to basically regurgitate readily available information from their own website/forums. - The "Legitimate Access to Truly Knowledgeable Humans" where you might have to wait longer in the queue but once you talk to someone the problem is going to be solved...no matter what. - The "Indifferent and Understaffed Approach". The overwhelming feeling once you're done dealing with this form is that you feel like YOU have been a headache and have wasted THEIR time. The top one never makes me mad. I get it, I might not get the answer I want but at least I can get a swift RMA or return going. The bottom one (which Blackmagic seems to employ in my limited experience) is beyond frustrating because you get the sense that...they have your money and now they don't care. All I know is that the market for this camera is going to be small and the customer service WILL be a breaking point for some people...because RED's is heavenly in comparison. I have my RED reps number in my phone and I can text him when I need something. He responds within like...a minute. It's awesome. It's an awesome buying experience and they are good the whole way through. Almost like they are overstaffed with people that know the cameras well and seem to care about their job. Blackmagic was like calling a Hobby Store in your local town. That feeling when you're fully prepared for the person on the other end to say "no". Whatever the question is that you're going to ask, you just already know what their answer is going to be. You can sense the amount of help you're about to receive. I dunno, maybe the American branch is just that way? I can't say, it's just not ideal and NOT helpful at all. I wanted a simple answer, the simplest...when might the cameras start shipping? Her - "We don't have that information." Me - "Really? Like, not even a ballpark? Q3, Q2 2021?" Her - "I can't say." Me - "It IS going to ship at some point though, yes? You're allowed to say that the answer isn't "NEVER", right?" Her - "You'll have to email support." Me - "Your customer service is atrocious" Her - "Anything else?" Like...I'm exaggerating it a bit but that was about 90% of the gist. I was pretty upset since I just dropped $10K on their product and that's the best they can muster. My first reaction to hanging up the phone was like "Fuck this...I'm cancelling". If it's that bad for trying to get a simple answer of when the cameras might ship, what happens if I actually need something?

All good points, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt!

I mean, try calling and getting info on the 12K camera. There's a number, yes. It goes to a receptionist that asks where you want to forward the call to, you mention "12K URSA" and it gets shut down. To be fair, I don't have a ton of experience with them so if this is a weird situation or not representative of what it's usually like...then I'm relieved. It put a bad taste in my mouth though, I imagine other RED users that might be considering coming over would feel the same. When you purchase a RED or even want to inquire about one they send you an account rep. I have texted my account rep and gotten updates and tracking numbers. It's just...very personable. Calling Blackmagic felt like the exact opposite. More like "we don't want to talk to you...email us." 🤷‍♂️

I wanted to update this a bit. Blackmagic Design Support is some of the worst I have experienced. It’s down there with the old DJI days. When you hide your support team and limit their accessibility to email only...there’s something wrong. It’s understandable if we are talking about cheaper cameras like the Pocket series (understandable but not ideal) but with the URSA line and specifically with this new 12K camera, this level of after sales service/support simply won’t cut it. They will lose their desired share of REDs market faster than they realize. When people start dropping $10K on something they expect to talk to a person and to be able to figure things out quickly. DJI really turned theirs around in recent years so it CAN be changed. Blackmagic Design needs to start now though, they can’t wait.