FilmBrute

Shooting weddings on a BMPCC? I'd easily take a 5D for that... Better battery life, low light, easier workflow for quick turnaround, easier media storage, onboard mics that are functional (in case of emergency), more lens options w/ IS.

What kind of stuff do you plan on shooting (for stills)? I'd honestly just get the lens you need for stills and worry about your video needs afterwards. If you need 50mm or 150mm for video, you can find plenty of cheap solutions that will get the job done. Video is pretty forgiving, and the lens you use can easily get lost in all the variables of video (grading, camera movement, pacing, sound, DSLR performance, etc...). Where as with stills, a good lens can make or break you.

Thanks for that info Deejay.

These films I hope shape my filmmaking. If I can recreate 1% of what these films are I will be happy. 1. Come and See 2. 2001: A Space Odyssey 3. Wages of Fear 4. A Clockwork Orange 5. After Hours 6. Dodes'ka-den 7. La Dolce Vita 8. The Thing 9. Sansho the Bailiff 10. La Haine Many of these films are cold, and lonely. They are minimal and beautifully shot. No real heroes in any of these films. Wages of Fear, and Sansho the Bailiff tell great stories, while A Clockwork Orange, Dodes'ka-den and After Hours take us to magical worlds. It's not a definitive list. I love Ace in the Hole, Le Trou, Chungking Express, Grand Illusion, Contempt, In the Mood for Love. Too much stuff that makes wanna create art. Most of it is foreign. IDK why, but foreign films have soul. Come and See is just my flat out favorite. No Spielbergesue optimism in this film. I just brutal war that almost plays out like a dream.

Yeah its a bit extreme for my taste. The little GoPro version seems fair for the price though. I mean shooting with a GoPro is mainly for style/unique shots/fun and so if the already existent barrel distortion is increased further and you get a horizontal flair I don't think it's a huge deal. But correcting in post might defeat the 1.33x squeeze.

Yes I regret that Andrew, especially after seeing this thread and that you are struggling with maintaining quality level. It was a worthless post and I should have made my point differently.

Some common options are: moderators, and low content forums/threads. Many people just want to argue. It's become a form of socialization; arguing with ppl online. Well, on several forums I'm on we have low content threads that help contain the bickering. Closing off the forum will prevent any new knowledgeable people from joining, and people will not be able to interact with this site as well. It's a pretty niche site. Where else can people talk anamorphics like this?

If the prosumer camera footage I watch on vimeo is indicative, 99% of the people who will buy this camera won't rack focus, let alone pan the camera. I'm pretty sure non professionals who buy multi thousand dollar cameras just buy stuff to produce test footage. In other words the A7s will be just fine for filming bridges, people walking, and sunsets. :P

I downloaded the HD version of the clip 1MB, 1280x720 from vimeo. In my opinion the noise you see is normal for Canon 60D (I own a 60D too :lol:). The best thing you can do is: shoot at ISO 160, 320, 480, 640, etc.. not at ISO 100, 200... Then download software called: Neat Video to remove noise. I think the bigger problem on DSLRs is compression artifacts. When shooting dark or uniform colored stuff you get ugly blocks called macroblocking. And unfortunately you get even more compression when uploading to youtube or vimeo.

I am an american and I stand for capitalism. If you sell for xxx price and someone buys it, that means both parties are happy. It's not like Zack is forcing anyone to buy anything.

You'll get more help if you post a couple of frames from the footage so we can see it. Because this issue does not sound normal.

As an astrophotography hobbyist, we always laughed at high megapixel obsession. But that's because we work in low light, and large pixels are king. Anyway, I'm no PhD, but Mr. Clark has one in physics (from MIT) and he has great article about pixel size, in case anyone is obsessed with low noise footage: http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/does.pixel.size.matter/ part 2: http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/does.pixel.size.matter2/index.html

Only thing i notice drop in price is the panny ag la 7200. They used to go for 1k+ easy now they go for like $600 or so. that's probably the only lens that has been seriously affected by the slr magic. The dual focus projection lenses go for about the same as they did a few years ago. Don't know about the premium stuff since I don't follow those prices much. Stuff gets flooded randomly on ebay. So one month stuff might be a bit expensive, and another month it might be cheap.

Thanks for that lens footage. I was thinking of selling all my projection lenses to fund an anamorphot. But I am a pure hobbyist, and for me visuals >> everything. Take away the flares and it just looks like cropped footage tbh. And the flares... well... I'll let Tony carry on :P

This is nice. Did your mod affect the squeeze ratio or depth of field for dual focusing in any way?

noise is not really a big deal. macroblocking and loss of dynamic range is the big issue. upload a bunch of diff compression versions of your file and see what size Vimeo compresses it down to on average. Then you will have the bitrate you should aim for. When I did a test it was around 7,000 kbps for 720p iirc... So once you have your target bitrate, compress it to that size with whatever software you think is best, and then upload it to Vimeo, and vimeo won't ruin it by compressing further. if you want original quality its not gonna happen, so just bite the bullet.

Does helios 44 have swirly bokeh? If so, I would definately not want that lens as a taking lens.

I am very interested in lens rehousing/casing and simultaneous focus control. I can't wait to see!

Buying that Isco for $500 ain't much different than buying a Kowa or Sankor for $500. But yeah, rip off either way. 

That sounds weird. I have uploaded a few @ 3.56 (exported @ 1920 x 540) and they stayed at that aspect ratio on Vimeo.

Get an external recorder (Sony pcm m10, zoom h4n, etc..). If you get a recorder, make sure you understand how the power works. Some recorders won't have enough juice to power mics. In which case you would want to buy a powered mic (like a Rode NTg2) or you would need an additional power supply (like a juicedlink unit). Filmmakers go crazy over the Zoom H4n, but if you go on any audio forum, you will see that many people prefer other recorders to the H4n. Also, you will want to protect it from wind, even indoors. Personally, I think wiring the people with some lavs is the way to go. Lastly, shooting indoors can make shotguns sound unappealing, in which case you might want a less aggressive polar pattern.   If you want good audio for your projects, then I think spending 700 on a decent set up is a good thing to do. It will make your work stand out.    Also, I would want to have something wider than 40mm for interior work. Tough decision!

It really depends on what you want. I had a Singer 16D, which is similar to the Kowas afaik. It was pretty sharp, 2x, decent bokeh. I was shooting on a 1.6x crop and had to use lenses over 50mm b/c of vignetting. I settled on a 75mm taking lens (didn't have anything in between 50mm and 75mm). Easy to use as far as dual focusing goes.   I picked up one of those golden bricks (Schneider 2x) on ebay. Andy Lee is 100% correct about it being sharp. That thing is totally sharp. You wouldn't even know there was glass inside. And, it can take wider taking lenses. I haven't done a thorough test yet, but it easily takes my 50mm, I could probably go down to about 40mm with my 1.6 crop. There are three big downsides with this lens:   Heavy (about 600g) Focusing is a pain if you get the screw version Bokeh will not come out round depending on which version you get (you can fix this via DIY project)