Ben Prater

Great article Andrew. I was especially curious about the sensor technology in this new camera -- especially how they were getting closer to a non-rolling shutting without an actual shutter. Is it possible that this technology will become more popular than rolling shutter, which includes light loss because of electronics -- ala Blackmagic 4k global?

Consider a GH3. It's a really good little camera. Get a Speedbooster if you want the APS-C look. Alternatively, if you are experienced, a BMPCC is a solid option. Good color science and dynamic range in a tiny package. Either way, you need to work out your costs for lenses, batteries and rigging. If you are really on a tight budget, get a Canon T3i (APS-C!) and a 35mm lens -- a powerful, but cheap, little movie-making combo.

>> Seriously though, did/do the Canon geeks really expect the 7D Mk2 to come with 4K? When the 7D first came out, it was glorious to hold in the hands. Beautiful APS-C images in 1080p. If you couldn't afford a 5D2, the 7D was damn close. So 5 years later, what did the stork bring us? Well, with the rumored specs on the 7D2, it is headed to the party with a cheap bottle of wine. I didn't expect 4k on the 7D2, but I thought something cool like 120fps/1080p -- or digital ND -- or an XLR breakout -- or in-camera LUTs -- or even stellar 2k video images like the BMCC. If companies like Canon can't wrap a thought around the exhaustively fast nature of technology now, they will quickly become the Microsoft and IBM of camera systems.

>> There goes Canon's biggest launch of the year... Agreed. The 7D2 could have really been Canon's defining moment in this new era of 4k. 5 years to develop the spiritual successor and all they did was pull out the playbook for the t2i/t3i/t4i/t5i game. Was Canon designing an upgraded still's camera? Seems like it. And with Sony's new FS7 -- even Canon's Cinema line of cameras is starting to look a little rusty. It's been a good run Canon -- but it seems like you just stopped caring. Have fun stills shooters -- us video guys are headed to greener pasture.

The rumor mill is in full roar ahead of PhotoKina. Here is the unofficial spec list: Rugged magnesium alloy body Dust proof 20.2 MP CMOS sensor Dual-pixel CMOS AF New 65-point AF, all points cross-type ITR EOS AF Continuous shooting: 10 frames per second Dual DIGIC6 Max ISO: 16,000. RGB+IR new 150,000-pixel metering sensor Video full HD 60 p Built-in GPS Interval timer Bulb timer (From PhotoRumors.com: http://photorumors.com/2014/09/11/canon-7d-mark-ii-leaked-picture-and-specs/#ixzz3D34JM018)

I'm a full-time software engineer -- and this is what you guys are missing: That one line of magic code that turns the F5 into a 4k beast -- probably took thousands of man-hours of engineering to get it working properly. Sony has the right to make a ROI on the costs of hundreds of engineers hours.

All signs point to the A7s killing the GH4 in terms of dynamic range. If it can truly nail 15 stops in video mode, it'll rail the GH4 which looks closer to 11.5 stops. Low light is insane on the A7s. Full-frame opens up lots of creative possibilities. Why didn't Sony include 4k on the A7s body? Who knows? But 4k is there is if you want to jack into the HDMI. If you are shooting for style, like a music video or indy film, all signs point to the A7s as the current king bee. If you are shooting for function, like corporate film, nothing is rockin' the house quite like the GH4. As soon as we get more footage of the A7s, we'll know exactly what we are looking at.

I am going to steal this line! :wub:

The BMCC still has one of the most beautiful images available short of an Alexa. The 13-stops of DR is gorgeous, the oversampling results in a crisp image, you have RAW when you want loads of flexibility. If I'm on a budget: indy films or music vidz, I would want a BMCC. If I am doing corporate video on a budget, I'd want the GH4.

AHA! Good point! The plot thickens.

Just to add to the on-going theory: If the adapter had OIS, why was Andrew using stabilized lenses? I do like the idea of OIS on speedbooster! Holy god primes!

The BMPCC does 13-stops with RAW. The GH4 is doing 12-stops. At the end of the day, unless you are shooting outside and can't control the light, 1 stop of light isn't going to make-or-break a camera system.

>> I prefermirrorless and looking to spend up to max ~800 euro for camera and lens. Not sure why the RX100 III isn't in the running here. It includes the lens and the images it produces is fantastic. Small and portable, great for travel.

What do you want to shoot? And what is your budget? Music videos? Get a BMPCC, it's magic. Corporate videos? The C100 is a small beast that won't let you down. Travelogue? The RX100 III is insanely awesome for it's size. Want to shoot a movie on a budget? Then you want the BMCC and it's killer image. Really want to save a bunch of cash? Get a Rebel, like a T2i or T3i. You get a magically beautiful APS-C sensor (near 35mm) for under $500, including lens. Want the best camera money can buy today? Get a GH4. A $2k camera that will run all day on one battery and pump 4k to an SD card.

Pietz -- what camera are you using? I can't imagine wanting to be stuck shooting wide open all the time. If you are using a "dumb" adapter, you'll be forced to remove the lens to reset the aperture. The advantage of the MFT Speedboosters is that they are a using "smart" mount, so aperture signals make it from the body to the lens. The reason to get a Nikon-mounted Sigma 18-35 is so that you can use a "dumb" (cheap) adapter and still be able to set your aperture manually without removing the lens. You can still use the lens on a EF camera with a simple Nikon-EF adapter.

The bottom-line is, no, for normal footage, there isn't a tool just like the one you we have in Lightroom (which is great, btw!) Short of using a plugin like Colorista or Filmconvert, you'll have to use Premiere's 'Fast Color Corrector' along with other plugins like 'Sharpen' and 'RGB curves' to get the resulting image you want.

Great comparison video Andrew. The 5d3 and GH4 match surprisingly closely. I didn't expect the GH4 to keep up in dynamic range. (Question: did the 5d3 have additional range that you clipped to get the shots to match?) The GH4 has a nice advantage in that 4k gives you reframing options, and with the compact and easy-to-manage 100Mb codec being used on the GH4, the camera seems like a real production workhorse. Based on this, I'm guessing that the GH4 matches pretty closely to the BMCC. Anyone seem comparison footage yet?

I think it's safe to assume that they are putting dedicated pre-amps in the base unit. At $2k, the pre-amps better be dead quiet!

Agreed. Panasonic is hitting all the right notes for a tool that many video guys are going to love in their arsenal. Shutter angle/DB, peaking, better low-light performance, 10-bit 4k out of HDMI (no external recorder can even do this yet!). The base unit is less appealing, though, especially when it isn't needed to get to the 10-bit 4:2:2 data. Short of needing the BNC output, paying $2k for XLR might be tough pill to swallow. You can get some sweet dedicated audio recorders for that kind of dough. When Canon launches the 7d2 at NAB, they are going to really have to knock it out of the park to compete with the juicy features they are giving us with the GH4.

Found this video, lots of interesting details about the camera directly from Panasonic. One bit that jumped out at me: the new Venus engine is powerful enough to bump up the usable ISO range of the camera (by effectively de-noising, in real time). Can't wait to see if it can match 5D3 in low-light.

So for $3300, we get a camera + base that is comparable to a C100. At around half the price. Plus we get 4k. Not too shabby.

If you need a portable slider, go with the Edelkrone series. They do a cool trick that keeps them very compact. https://www.edelkrone.com/us/p/287/sliderplus-pro >> I assume to get the best effect, you want to place something in the foreground to provide perspective for the sliding action, correct? Correct. Even small subtle foreground elements can really help to sell the effect. You don't want to use a slider on every shot. But if it adds to the narrative, go for it!

Get a couple SmartLavs for your iPhones for $60 each. Easy mode while you figure everything out.

The 5d3 with RAW isn't setup for serious production. It's a hack, it can be unreliable -- and yes, the video it produces is glorious. The Gh3 and soon-to-be big sister, the Gh4, are production-grade cameras. You take them to a shoot, hit record, know they are getting the shot, take it the edit suite -- drop the video on the timeline, edit, render, upload and get paid by the client. All in a day's work. No muss, no fuss. I own a production company. If I want to spend a weekend making music videos with my friends, I'll grab 5d3 and do RAW. Mmm... I love grading RAW. But during the week, when I have a paying client that needs video crafted for their website or products -- and wants it done yesterday, I need tools that can move video through the production pipeline quickly and efficiently. The GH-series rocks for this.