jgharding

I apologise if I seem rather negative about these cameras here.   I have a lot of respect for the attitude: push the limit of what's possible at low cost,   but I feel it would have worked far better if one model had been fully completed, in terms of firmware and hardware, rather than many incomplete beta cameras announced and released late and buggy.   I have no doubt things will work long run.... but that isn't the point.   BMD have/had a close relationship with Apple, though this appears to have relaxed a little.   Apple's key point at the beginning, with iPhone and iPod and iPad was lack of segmentation.   Providing one product that beat the rest on balance.   So far BMD have failed to emulate this.   Focusing all effort on an S35 model at the start, not even 4k... just standard sensor size and functional pro features, and continuing to do so until it was complete and ready to ship truthfully and on announcement, would have seen them wipe out the competition.   As it is they now have obsolescence within their own range, and that range hasn't even been shipped in great quantity yet!   Focus god dammit. One functioning, deliverable product at a time, with rounded firmware and working out of the box.   Then you'll be unbeatable.... as it is the name is being dragged through the mud

  Quite, it can't be "fine to shoot the grandkids" and copy a useless feature from high end. These are just excuses. It isn't finished, it's not a complete product.  You can't delete clips or format because the firmware isn't finished. It lacks some basic functions, and from what I've seen, the image is 'alright', not spectacular. Yes it's good for the money, but a camera is not just its image when you're under pressure.   Another couple of years yet I reckon til they're solid kit.   It's a tool, if it doesn't work right, then it doesn't work right. No one here owes it any abstract, philosophical leeway. Pure abstract 'image quality' is not everything, and it doesn't even kick arse at that. There's moire, it ain't so sharp, the highlights clip super hard, and some sensors are calibrated wrongly.   May sound harsh, but combined with all the glitches and shipping issues, there are a lot of negatives.   "it can be fixed in a firmware update"... yes so could many dream features. C100 could become a C500 and so on... but we've yet to even see decent functionality updates for the first bmd camera, let alone the 'pocket'. People wait for years with a tool they dislike, praying for updates only to be disappointed. It's just no way to live, guys  :blink:   Buying a tool because it might work properly later seems mad to me.   If you're dropping a lot of cash, you shouldn't have to 'work around' your gear. It should work for you.    This is, in it's current state, far less convenient to shoot on than an RX100, a pure consumer camera!   Also, all this extra 'quality' and 'grading room' is only any use for those who are able to take advantage of it, quite frankly. 90% of films I've seen made with these cameras haven't benefited in any meaningful way from high bitrate. They could have been shot on camcorders. The extra creative leeway simply hasn't been used by the shooters. It's the great power/great responsibility thing.   When it comes to judgement, if this were 4K or very compressed RAW or S35 prores, actually had a real standout feature (though of course the usefulness of each in context is debatable) that was fully functional... it'd deserve the easy ride it's getting in some parts...   but it's a box of compromises, and a bunch of the early bodies even need to be sent back for adjustment.   Imagine the amount of media you'd get through in raw? It won't even be slightly useful til cards are much bigger and faster cheaper, by which time it'll be obsolete. Moore's law is a bitch, she hits both ways...   I give them their due: it is an attempt at innovation. That in itself is good and we need more of it. But most of what is happening in the hands of a few pros and a lot of eager hobbyists, should have happened in a lab. I don't want to pay that much to be a beta tester.   In most of the shoots I've done recently, all of the pocket's 'niggles' would have resulted in me getting far fewer shots which would have impacted the creativity of the piece negatively. That's my number one concern TBH.  And that's the thing the client (in the pro world) or audience care about most, not a few more lines of resolution or a bit more grading room.   Though extended dynamic range or resolution is nice to have, it means nothing if you can't even capture the content in a given environment due to a high number of workarounds.   The OP's example of the director's dis-satisfaction is illustrative. As a director I wouldn't mind the whole thing being shot well on GH3 (granted, this is greenscreen, but for most shoots), but to have to pick up a few shots on a remarkably different camera at short notice because A-cam didn't work, would be annoying and a bit of a negative mark... you expect people to know their gear. how many people want to expose themselves to the possibility of looking foolish when their livelihood depends on it?   It's too glitchy for pros and it's needless 'quality' and excessive extra equipment for amateurs... I just don't think it's ready for either market.

Last pro shoot on 600D I used three batteries and a single 32GB card, that's with increased bitrate.   That's a lot more convenient! Far less fooling around and more shooting time.   I'm sure the image has some advantages, but it sounds like a beta camera to me. I'm glad i removed all my preorders.

Who's betting the next announcement is a 4K version of the pocket camera... before any of the rest are actually shipped...

That's very short sighted, he's quite wrong.   Simply allowing one or two more frame rates in the options menu wouldn't mislead consumers or harm anything.   No one looking for a still camera will look at the specs and say "This has 30p AND 25p, IT'S A CAMCORDER! I WON'T BUY IT"   However, someone looking for a video camera will not purchase because it's 30p only.   Even using the most basic "gamblers argument" Olympus have made the wrong decision and reduced their sales for no good reason.

Just as a note, I regret selling it.   I wasn't particularly enamoured of the video image or the slow lens, but the convenience and the stabilisation.... top notch.   May have to re-buy...   Get the pal version though.

I found a couple of original 1080p30 files that I've lost now.    Though the stabilisation was good, the codec is mushy and the 30p is very video like.   Let's hope this 5-axis technology appears in a better body.   It's just such a dumb waste. Up the bit rate and offer better frame rates, and they'd get a hell of a lot more sales, and lose none.   Oh well, what does the market know, right?  :blink:

Indeed, Nikon mount sucks for adapting glass to it.   You can fit these on Canon EF though, or any mirrorless of course.

I think it's only sports and other real life events people want to feel they're really watching that benefit. 120fps 4K sport or historical political speech is probably great! Or a concert maybe or theatre.   Not so much a film drama...   Because with a film you'll feel like you're really on set rather  than in the world of the movie. Which sucks...   As long as it's divisible by standard frame-rates and we can can turn off the frame-smoothing interpolation stuff it's all good!   Last time I used a giant Samsung plasma in an office to play back a film, I went through and turned off so many things! Frame smoothing, automatic dynamic contrast, ridiculous over saturation, some strange colour correction, a weird sharpening mode.   So as long as you can turn it off, all is good...

  It's possible to master using earbuds as part of the toolkit, but I'd use them as a reference not main playback.   You can't accurately analyse phase relationships on something like that.   I reference on this, to find out what it sounds like on shit speakers,      but if i mixed or mastered on it I'd miss all kinds of glaring things that would affect playback on other systems.   Working in a flat environment allows you to minimise the effect that the idiosyncrasies on any given playback system will have on your vision, whether it's for the eyes, or the ears... ;)

The U2711 is a great monitor, good prices now too, I use one on one system.   Grading monitors are better sure but extremely expensive.   I'm using an older slightly worn out one of these: http://www.expandore.com/product/JVC/Monitor/JVC_Monitor11.htm   not even full HD specs wise BUT the specs alone don't tell the story.   You can see more fine detail on this than you can using the U2410 that's next to it.   The cheapo U2410 is "1080p" but has nowhere the resolution of the 1680*1050 JVC, which has to scale the footage to display 16:9, and still shows more fine detail.    This is analogous to many electronics.   In audio, your in ear buds may say "17Hz-25kHz" as do a nice set of PMC BB5 XBD-A speakers (look em up ;) ) but the experience is far from the same...   If I hadn't plugged the JVC in I might've written it off (found as it was in the back of a cupboard) and would've been missing out!   I digress though, the U2711 is great, for a good price.

Here we go again! The labs are telling us we do and don't like!   I remember this before with stereoscopic 3D. Cos everyone's got a 3D TV now haven't they. :huh: :blink:  And everyone loved how high frame rates made the hobbit look cheap...    *facepalm*

I'd like a 1.5x one...

I've used cheap ebay panels and LitePanels alike.    Both have a magenta or green hue. The more expensive ones tend to be more consistent, think Komputerbay cards, the cheap ones are a gamble.   That said I mixed cheap and expensive on a recent shoot and it's fine. I think the cheap ones are great to start with. Also daylight is yur friend.

  Perhaps, but you don't pick the camera to suit the tripod, that's the wrong way round!   The stabilisation is so good in the RX100, you'll only need a handle screwed into the bottom ;)

Though to be honest, looking at budget etc, and the fact you're only getting a kit lens, maybe the Sony RX100 is better for you than the rest.

Personally, I think if you want RAW in a Canon get the 5D MKiii cos that does it without all the caveats (aside from huge storage requirements). If H264 is fine the 600D and VAF filter is awesome. The 7D is an old camera with a shit screen, no crop video mode and so on so I'm not a fan of it.   If you're up for fooling around to get aliased raw or non-alisaed raw with a tiny sensor crop (kinda defeating the point of shooting with a large sensor slr in the first place) then go crazy with the 7D! Stick a VAF 7D in it and perhaps it's better though! But that's more expense...   You can do a lot without raw, remember 5Dii footage is still all over the place. Don't kill yourself for it ;)

A bit of magic bullet Cosmo would've sorted Mr Ive out there...   Unfortunately the creepy rehearsal and dubbing from the iO7 video is back again!

A few lines of code... a hell of a lot fewer sales...   That bloody stabilisation... it's like sticking a Ferrari engine in a box. All that potential wasted on a poor codec and too high a frame rate! ARG!

So that's a grand they've lost from me, and from pretty much everyone else who uses SLRs primarily for video.    That stablisation is unique  in IL cameras, yet they hold the camera back by not allowing a lower frame rate....   Totally, bizarre decision!

If you don't like the ghosting try sticking a Zeiss T* filter on the front... should kill it...

Ah yes i forget, with anamorphic the view is a lot wider so it's useful again!!!

Of course if you use a photographic full frame (5D size) sensor it'll be wider, like a 85mm on super 35. So it's more useful on full frame i think than S35/APSC

It's a bit of a "no-mans land" focal length. Short telephoto...   I tend to go for 85 or 180/200 either side of it. I suppose if I were using a zoom to frame a shot I may end up using that length, but I'd probably stop short of owning a 135mm prime.   Everyone has different tastes though...

Knockoffs breaking is fair enough in electronics, but an aluminium tube is just that really. I've had my aluminium rig (similar to Zacuto) from ebay) since 2010 or 2009. It's rock solid and still gets used.   Also the LCDVF is great, a friend had a cheaper version! No different! We swapped and I didn't realise...   The LED panels are inferior though, electronics is hit and miss cos cheap usually means QC fail from the same factory as brand stuff... Like Komputerbay cards.