dahlfors

I have the red Isco Ultrastar, where the anamorphic element is detachable: '>

I took these stills when I wanted to find out the performance of the Ultrastar. I was waiting for my preorder of the D800, so I had to shoot it on my APS-C Nikon D200. Mostly shot at f/5.6 to f/11 in APS-C to see how sharp the Ultrastar was. Most shots, probably all of these shots were with the Nikkor AI-S 105mm f/2.5. I've found that the Ultrastar performs nicely with that one, both in APS-C & full frame. For APS-C you can go as wide as 50mm f/1.4 on the Ultrastars, which is pretty wide. But I prefer using the Ultrastar with the AI-S 85mm f/2 or AI-S 105mm f/2.5 as taking lenses, be it on full frame or APS-C.

Damn... Getting very tempted into ordering one. If those rail mount rings are included, it would also ease up the setup of the Isco Ultrastar. It can be a pain to get it aligned properly with clamps when you want to switch taking lenses. My main issue with the Ultrastar has always been the hassle with the mounting and the double focusing. Seems like this FM lens would solve both my pet peeves with it! I've heard people not liking the look of the Ultrastars (maybe due to lack of flares), but I must say I kinda like the look myself: http://imgur.com/a/p2tz0

For us with Nikon equipment who like using Nikons for stills, it's good news with better video options. Just hope they'll implement H.265 when they go 4k. Preferably with some kind of LOG format and 10-bit 422 too. Great dynamic range and color is what I lack from the current Nikon video image - not 4k resolution.

Global shutter 12.4 Mpixel full frame sensor: http://photorumors.com/2014/09/24/is-this-a-new-sony-full-frame-sensor-with-an-electronic-global-shutter/ If this rumor is the real deal, it's going to be interesting to see upcoming Sony releases...

Found on Nikonrumors: Similar to the answer Nikon executives gave to AP in an interview last week, Toshiaki Akagi (Department Manager in Nikon's 1Designing Department) told dpreview that a new large sensor mirrorless cameras is a possibility in the future: "We know that there is a certain body of demand for larger sensors in mirrorless products. Although we already have the 1 inch sensor in the 1 System, we don't want to deny the possibility of future large-sensor mirrorless cameras. So maybe if there is enough demand we may be able to provide another type of mirrorless camera with larger sensors. This is one of the solutions." Few other points from the interview: - 4k video is coming to the Nikon DSLR lineup Source: http://nikonrumors.com/2014/09/23/nikon-large-sensor-mirrorless-camera-is-a-possibility.aspx/

Exciting. A single-focusing 2x anamorphic is great news! About bent images: any anamorphic will look like that if misaligned. I guess Andrew only had a short time for testing and didn't get the alignment spot on.

Having a nice single focusing 2x anamorphic would surely be a dream. All the shots so far really look good.

As a coincidence, this week I just looked at some of my older shots with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF-D used as taking lens for Iscorama. A bit of vignetting for sure, but very beautiful performance nonetheless.

I doubt it's illegal in any country to discuss someone's possibly patent infringing product in a forum - and hence that it could possibly reflect badly on the forum reputation. I for one am interested in hearing more about this product. Also, all I have personally read is that ISCO used a patented technique for single focusing anamorphics, but does anyone even know if this patent is still valid? What I find on wikipedia about EU patents is the following: "The European Patent Convention requires all jurisdictions to give a European patent a term of 20 years from the actual date of filing an application for a European patent or the actual date of filing an international application under the PCT designating the EPO.[2] The actual date of filing can be up to a year after the earliest priority date. The term of a granted European patent may be extended under national law if national law provides term extension to compensate for pre-marketing regulatory approval." If the Iscorama lenses used a technique patented back in the 60s, it could very well have expired by now. I found some more sources in this thread, but I'm not sure about the legal implications in EU if this is the Iscorama patent: '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Also, discussing optical performance is quite another thing than endorsing people to buy the product in my humble opinion.

Probably feedback they need to hear to get going. Make sure to mention SLOG, 10-bit color... :)

H.265 is coming, first encoding chips are already out there. I hope Nikon jumps the H.265 train and implement at least: 1) 422 10-bit 2) something similar to Sony's SLOG2 3) 4k - With H.265, this could probably be done in a fairly compact bitrate while providing good grading quality. What Nikon is currently doing is aiming full on at their core market of stills photographers. They add good enough video features to satisfy journalists who might need to capture video for web use. They are ok about not being at the higher end with video, as long as they can satisfy that little extra need a still photographer can have. But boy, would it be interesting if they'd at least give a shot at *one* camera that'd be a hybrid video camera (Nikon is too much of a still photo company to make a camera not at least being 50% focused on stills in my opinion). With more cameras capable of full sensor readouts, with H.265, I find it hard to think that this would need to be such a huge task and a large gamble for them as a company. If they price it around the price of the higher end Nikon 1 systems, it'd probably interest consumers too. Considering that even Olympus seems to be adding 4k to EM-1, I can only find the only reason for Nikon going their way is either management being convinced that they must keep on making *only* still photo cameras - or that they got some specific deals with Sony prohibiting them from catching up too much with Sony on the video side... Finally, from a company that actually has a lineup with FIVE full frame sensor models, I would think they could at least give one video-centered model a try...

Seems very interesting indeed!

I agree. Nonetheless - For someone into stills, who wants a 36 Mpixel camera as well, D810 seemed to handle aliasing/moiré better than what I've seen from A7R and D800/D800E at least. Not really any other options with that combination. But yes, Nikon has work to do if they want to catch up with the video features of GH4 and A7S. I doubt they will catch up with GH4 / A7S quality in less than 2 years... Before that, I expect (hope?) there will be an updated A5xx/A6xx model with S-LOG2 which would be more interesting for me as a portable & very affordable camera.

That video was interesting. Surely seems like they've managed to suppress most of the aliasing & moiré out of D810!

Nope. I'll be keeping my D800. I see no major reason to replace that one with a D750/D810 with the current price differences vs features. What I'd like to see from Nikon would be a bold mirrorless APS-C hybrid video + photo camera. Something in between Sony A6000 and Panasonic GH4 in price level. 4k, 1080p - and most of all - a good solid compressed codec similar to Sony's XAVC-S SLOG2 that grades alright considered the fairly low bitrate. Or, maybe similar kind of photo/video hybrid built out of Nikon 1 system (which I find more likely than Nikon making a new mirrorless mount). I recently shot nature stills with D800 and my NEX-5R, both at ISO100. Considering both cameras use Sony sensors, what shocked me when I was postprocessing in Lightroom, having shot the same landscapes in same light - was how much better the colors could be processed out of the D800 than the NEX-5R. Whatever I did while tweaking in Lightroom, I could just not get as good colors out of the NEX files. I really wish Nikon would find a way to get those lovely colors into a video aimed camera with a great codec...

My interpretation of "cinematic image" is that it means different things to different people. All the things you listed could be considered a part of cinematic image for some. My own take on it: Watch different films from all kinds of different styles. Try to analyze and find out what parts you like in different films: composition, lighting, color grading, camera movements etc. Then you can focus on the part of the image that is important to you yourself. Myself - I love the different framing you can get at 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and the look of anamorphic lenses. I like color grades that are not too extreme. Having grown up with television being PAL at 25 fps, and seeing films at 24fps - I only have one association that springs to mind when I see 30 fps footage - and that is cheesy soap operas like The Bold and The Beautiful - so yeah, frame rate and shutter angle are important :) Other than that it's all composition that gets me going.

Could not for some reason upload the screenshots here, got some server error after upload. Here are screenshots of the 1680x1050 MBP display, before and after my css modifications: '> (on the right one, the header is only shown when scrolling all the way up to the top, which I prefer) I try to keep my browser window a bit smaller than max on my computer, to better be able to design for the common resolutions people use. Hence my window isn't full height. I keep the os x dock hidden to the left - but a lot of users keep it at the bottom where it obstructs people from getting a larger browser vertically. Yes, I'm afraid that such a plugin would need some custom development. Personally I just can't find time for other web projects than my full time job.

It's rare to see an implementation of discussing articles on a forum like on EOSHD. Facebook comments / Disqus etc are pretty much the norm these days. But the way it is now on EOSHD is what makes the discussions so much more saner than in other forums in my opinion. I was surprised to see an implementation like this when I started lurking around here many years ago - but I've really grown to like the format of reading blog article, go to forum section to see what other people chime in. I guess you want more people to join in if you are considering this. I'd say - if you want people to be more active, I'd rather suggest looking into a solution that picks up amount of comments, maybe a sample of the first/most liked comment and presents it near the "Comment on article" link at the bottom of the blog post. Something to get attention for people to go see the discussion and join in.

Well. I work with web design & frontend, so no need to upgrade - I just override things in-browser when I find I like things in another way ;) You could try my override in your theme yourself and see if you like it or not: #ipbwrapper, body.hasScrolled #ipbwrapper { margin-top: 0px !important; } #ipbWrapperTop { position: relative; /* instead of fixed */ } I think it'd be a navigation improvement for people who surf in using smaller laptops on the go.

Using a 15" 1680x1050 MBP. I usually see two posts in the forum at the same time will scrolling. Tough to get a quick overview over threads.

What I find to be an obstruction (on displays that are lower res than full 1080p) is the fixed forum header. With such a high header, you get a very small area for reading content. Fixed header would be ok if it'd be a 20-33% as high as the current header.

I'm with you: 1) Smaller & more portable can be a great feature. I was just up hiking in the mountains in Sweden. I brought with me my phone, my NEX-5R and the Nikon D800. Due to size, the D800 was most of the time in the backpack. The NEX-5R and my phone was easy enough to constantly keep around the neck and in my pocket - giving me the opportunity to get the shots that would have been a pain to get with the D800 (either by having extra weight on neck or by having to constantly stop the hiking to get the shots I wanted). 2) Whatever filmmaker / photographer (or even painter) that has ever been out there, they have always had some kind of limitations by the tools they've used. What's important to learn - is how far you can push your tools before unwanted side effects happen. When you know that, you know the boundaries you have to work within, and can try to be as creative as possible within those boundaries. A RED Epic or Arri Alexa will have more possibilities with both capture and post work than a little mirrorless camera. But those cameras have boundaries too - there are sure situations where I'd rather keep along a lightly equipped GH4 than a big setup - maybe capturing street scenes without people minding, carrying the camera to tough locations for documentaries etc. So, different projects, different people will have different needs and boundaries. I see myself as a far bigger limitation than the boundaries my cameras give me. I just need to keep on pushing, learning the tools and the storytelling.

For landscape still photography all the more dynamic range you get at ISO100-ISO400 will matter a lot, and that's where Canon sensors are lagging behind. Here's a comparison between the Sony A6000, Nikon D5300 and Canon 70D sensors: http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-A6000-versus-Nikon-D5300-versus-Canon-EOS-70D___942_919_895 I've shot landscape photos on Nikon D200 at around 11.5 EV stops of dynamic range, Sony NEX-5R at 13 EV stops, and the Nikon D800 at 14.1 EV stops. I can tell you that the difference from 11.5 EV to 13.1/13.5 EV stops (as for A6000 / D5300) is a major one. I wouldn't ever go back into shooting landscapes with less than 13 EV steps of DR.

If a5100 it has S-LOG I guess I'll have to ditch my old trusty NEX-5 :)