Oliver Daniel

Glad to hear that exercise is helping you I don't smoke (anything), but I think I'd be lost without coffee. Production set experience is a weekly thing to me, and coffee rather annoyingly is absolutely necessary. As is a nice gasp of fresh air or just a moment to actually put the camera down. Or taking a moment just to rant about the latest Hollywood films! Sometimes I get that sinking feeling that I've pushed myself too hard on a project that's not very good, and the following great project ends up not as good because my energy has disappeared into the realm of nothingness. I'm getting better at it, but sometimes that very demanding client really pushes you near the edge of questioning the entire benefit of doing the work. I've learnt to stand up to most of them though! (few are clinically insane, but they do bite every couple of years). I'm the guy who people tell to stop doing as many things. Thankfully, the women I work with are all hard grafters and carry gear around as if their carrying featherweight sandbags. I don't work with the people you describe, but I know for some that they have little control who they work with on set. Models in particular are an absolute nightmare, whereas the make up lady has just brought a box of Kino Flo 4-banks up 5 flights of stairs without any complaints!

Everyone has pretty much heard that term.... "suffer for your art", but when does this become a bit silly? We have been talking about this in the studio a bit because we are all run down, have some kind of seasonal illness and are frankly putting a lot of strain on ourselves, so videos can be delivered as promised and deadlines are met. Many shoots can be very very long, in tough locations, in tough circumstances. Sometimes if you really do feel unwell, you make yourself do the work anyway thus causing a potential downward spiral. Everybody needs to push themselves to do better things, but how often do you push it too much? I've "suffered for my art" many times. I remember when I was 18, I had eczema that bad I couldn't even bend my limbs as my skin was that dry. I also had insomnia and asthma and could barely do anything at all. Over that particular weekend, I set up some shoots I HAD to do to meet my project deadline. I wrote, produced, filmed & edited a trilogy of films over 3 weeks where I felt by far the most ill in my life. I'd produced by far my best work to date and passed the year, only having to return home soon after due to health reasons for an entire year. Now being in charge of myself, health & filming gets even more tricky. Some days, you may feel totally and utterly incapable of turning up to shoot due to total burn out - but the client & crew is on their way to the location having made payment of several thousand £££/$$$ - so you go against your need to rest and throw yourself in there, only to crash for the rest of the week and fall behind schedule. It's the vicious cycle many of us go through. I think it's a topic that nobody really discusses, but it's very important and health has a massive influence on the quality you're able to produce. Shooting in the cold (with a cold) for long, long hours, not sleeping much, editing for 14 hours straight without much of a break, doing anything to get the shot (even if that means lying in a puddle), not resting whatsoever, carrying heavy things for long periods of time after a sleepless night... is all of this familiar? What experiences and interventions do you have? Is health a big consideration with the rigours of the job? Do you go for certain jobs to work around any health issues you have? When does suffering for your art become significantly not enjoyable? Discuss.

I used a GH3 without a Speedbooster for nearly 3 years with no real issues from being used to a super 35 image. That said, it's good to have the option. The Raven crop might be a pain, but only actually using the camera will reveal how problematic it is for Super 35 shooters. This is my biggest beef with the Ursa Mini. HFR is vital for my type of work, so RED can really work out - as do Sony cameras (minus the "difficult" colour). I hope they can improve this with later firmware. I'm more curious how these lighter, smaller cameras can be rigged for one to two man operation. Tried it with the Epic and ouch!! Maybe last time it was overloaded. Probably.

This is probably the most overlooked camera of the year. Would love to have a play. The MFT mount on S35 sensor is genius! You're better off renting RED cams at first to see if it fits your shooting style. There's a lot to learn with them. Cameras don't come as serious as this! Your ideal cam sounds like the FS5, if you fancy waiting for that needed firmware update. Ergonomics are excellent!

I'd wait until the FS5 matures over the year as there are currently issues with the image. FS7 is working, ready and is great in XAVC-I. Also, keep an eye on Panasonic this year as they have a major gap in their camera lineup. Announcement soon on that front.

Nice one! I'm not thinking of major camera ownership just yet. Need to keep improving my content and seeing if it's a worthwhile proposition in future. I agree that it's a hindrance. It's an eye opener when you switch the A7SII full frame mode to the cropped 120fps. The image is almost completely different. I think the Scarlet-W will be the better option as a long term "investment". Looking forward to see how they grow and using them on some projects.

I'd love to see the impact the crop makes, see how significant it is. Scarlet-W has interchangeable lens mounts, however most of my lenses are EF mount. The most disappointing things out the URSA Mini is the extreme 120fps crop. Although I'm sure that camera will turn out marvellous. I love the thickness of the RED image. Looking forward to giving them a whirl again. Are you saving up for a RED package Aaron?

Yep, I love using the C-series cameras although I see their usage ideally for documentary type projects/run n gun. I don't do a lot of that. This year, I've got quite a big change in work type. Got quite a chunk of commercial work coming in, as well as music videos. As we want to showreel our footage so both go hand in hand, we're looking for a consistent, juicy and cinematic image rendition to round-off our "brand" look of the imagery. I liked through a lot of my archived footage, and I loved the R3D footage far more than anything else. Quite obviously. Maybe. So I'm going to try out a few different beasts for different scenarios, and see how everything falls in place over the year. I expect the Scarlet-W will be my most rented camera of the year. The content quality must increase, not decrease. I found using the Epic at the time affected the quality of the content negatively due to the increased focus on camera operating, but things are much different now. I have a team and much more experience now. On paper, how do you think it compares to Raven? Scarlet-W worth the extra £££? p.s On another note, although entirely different... the JVC GY LS300 is overlooked as a cost effective "does the job" type of camera for bread and butter jobs.

Recently I've pulled out some of my R3D files to just have a play. It's reminded me just how meaty and juicy REDCode is. I've not shot RED for a while - my skill set at the time meant I had a very challenging time using the cameras. The results were OK, yet I was delighted at the overall image quality possible. I've only used the Epic MX, never the RED One, Scarlet, Dragon's or Weapon. These new models have caught my eye, the Raven and now the Scarlet-W. Been using the A7SII extensively lately. Great little cam for what it can do, although the feel of the image, battery life and rolling shutter sends me bonkers. What I love about it though is how it can be adapted to so many lenses, making creativity a more fulfilling experience. There's a lot of power I miss in those RED files though, and I'm probably going to rent out the Scarlet-W regularly this year (plus Ursa Mini, Arri Alexa Mini, C300 2) It's a compelling palette for greater creativity and quality. Those high frame rates! Compressed raw! Ideal for me. Any other forum users experienced with RED? Would you say the RED ecosystem is worth it's time and money? Share, debate, whatever. Cheers

Finally! Above the GH4, Panasonic have...what...the top end Varicam? That's in Red Epic/Alexa territory. Massive gap to fill.

The Ursa Mini 4.6k could be an absolute stormer of a camera. The pleasing colours and detail is not only a winner for narrative & music videos, but corporate clients will love it. They ALWAYS ask for "crisp" imagery with nice colours, something I find difficult on a Sony. I hope they improve the 120fps cropped mode, so far it doesn't look too great...but who knows eh?

Probably going to be the Ursa Pocket or something. Maybe an ND adapter/module for Ursa. Whatever market gap exists now, Blackmagic are on it now - shipping in July. To be honest, it would be more respectful to not release any cameras and make the Ursa Mini 4.6k the best thing ever in cameras ever made ever.

The only manual slider I know that doesn't do that is the Edelkrone Slider Plus. Those guys are probably my favourite accessory maker.

Welcome to the world of Zach. He has a way with words.

This. I've been regularly shooting on the A7S II and I am near absolutely certain that the white balance tech is off. My daylight lamps that I've used for years now look green when set to anything around 5600k on the A7SII. Tungsten seems to fit at about 4300k is. It makes lighting correctly an absolute pain. Canon C-series are just flat-out the most reliable cameras on the market, no issues whatsoever. That said, no classy features either! I really enjoy working with REDCode footage, it's very frequent. That stuff is another level. Sure the gap is closing together from top to bottom, but you will never get that true thickness in image quality with the consumer range.

I preliminary got myself in the "queue" for the BM Ursa 4.6k, the BMMCC and the Video Assist following promises that the product would ship "about latest September". If the cameras were available then, I would of had the money to buy them. Instead, I've had to spend the money elsewhere on other stuff based on the fact I need equipment that's working and ready today, and not "shipping in July or something". My interest in the cameras hasn't reduced, however their lack of transparent communication may have lost a few sales. I love what they do, but I'd just be up front and honest with your customers, and tell them when they are ready... even if they are embarrassed to say..."yes, shipping in July, but not in the same year!"

The shoot is actually far from anything Antonioni! (it's actually a rap music video). I used the shoot to try out the different PP's, a there were a lot of different conditions. Modified Slog2 profiles and Cine4 are my favourite so far.

I've been trying out this rather neat LUT called Prime Time: https://vimeo.com/146809144 I like what it's doing so far. The correction seems minor but in a huge way. The guy said it's designed for Cine4, but I've used it on a modified Slog2 profile and got decent results:

Looks very nice! I might have an extra tinker with Slog3 as i much prefer it to Slog2 (on the FS7). When i get a well lit, bright scene I'll give it a go! For those having difficulty with the back LCd, get a 5" inch monitor to clip on the top. Much better.

This looks much better than the other clips being thrown around. Most of he beta testers don't seem to be doing the camera any favours though.... I don't think you can judge the camera on this short. I thought the jittery, raw, soft style made image quality hard to judge.

Cool. I recommend getting a 5" monitor as the Sony back screen isn't he best for critical work. I find that the ergonomics are fine with a monitor of this size attached. Any interesting settings for your Cine 4 profile? PP Off default settings seems to be ok. SLOG is a bit of a bugger for white balance, but I'm also finding this to be the case with the Cine profiles too. There are colour shifts between them, even slightly, it's enough in 8-bit to make your footage a bit wonky and your lights as though they have a filter on them. I'm starting to think that the A7SII sensor has indeed had a "kick in the balls" when ultra-sensitivity shows it's bright, pale, murky face. I don't know the science behind it, or if there is a relation/knock-on effect concerning colour and very sensitive sensors. Maybe I'm just being crap, and need to scratch my head more! It would be great to find a special formula to get the PP settings in the Sony close to Canon. It will always behave very differently, but worth a try eh? Next time I get my hands on a C300 I'll give it a go if I have time. I wish to get all this technical Sony stuff aside so I don't have to think about it much on a shoot. Damn you Sony and your IBIS, your 120fps, 4k log shooting cocktail of chaos!! ;-D P.s Dear Canon, please bring out a 5D C-series camera that actually has decent video features.

I've been using the A7SII for about a month now on serious projects, so just looking to catch up with other users to see how they find the camera. I've always used the camera with the Sony CLM-FHD5 (which I got new for cheap). It's a pretty simple monitor with a lovely display. It's inclusion with the A7SII is something I'd never go without (or any other decent 5" monitor for that matter). I feel the camera does many things very well, however it's probably the hardest learning curve on any Sony camera I've used, more so than the F55! It's too early to decide if I like it, but I certainly enjoy using every lens I have on the E-mount. (e.g Helios 40-2 85mm + full frame = wow!). These are the challenges I'm working round on the camera: 1. Battery Life - The battery life is absolutely dire on the camera. If there is no power source to charge batteries, I need about 6-7 for the day. The battery grip adds unnecessary bulk for me, as I'm using an Edelkrone PocketRig2 to keep the camera stable during focusing. Looking for a USB power pack I can bolt on somewhere, when needed. 2. Rolling Shutter - It's never ever bothered me much...but this really is a thing with the A7SII. Really bad above 50mm in 4k mode. I'd recommend not using a lens above 50mm if you plan on moving the camera often! 3. White Balance - I've not done enough tests yet, but there's something weird going on with manual white balance. I don't know if this is because the "colour science" is a bit odd, but the camera does seem to struggle balancing this accurately. Other cameras in same conditions and Kelvin are fine. No solution yet, just more tests! 4. Slog2 - The factory settings are crap, so I've been experimenting with Still, Movie and Pro with a bit of a boost in saturation, dialled down detail and fiddling with yellow and magenta. These colours are a bit of an "issue" with the colour palette. Seems biased. Don't use Slog3. 5. Cine Profiles - Cine4 is a decent alternative, but the superior dynamic range from Slog2 is hard to ignore. If you get Slog2 right, it looks miles better. Cine4 in S.Gamut/Cine is pretty good with a bit more tinkering, although I'm not satisfied with my tinkers yet. My general overall feeling is that the "off" colour science is definitely a thing. When having used a C300 recently, the difference is staggering (much better on C300). True, you can get there wit the A7SII but it's bloody hard. If you are filming something gloomy and weird then it's perfect! Beauty video? Forget it! How's everyone else finding things? Anything to share?

Now that I've had over a years use of 4k 8 bit 4:2:0, I find very little benefit to overall image quality compared with true 1080p. Images seem to be getting more and more digital, artificial, brittle. Lacking in soul. Even TV's are set by default to take out the magic with those horrible "True Motion" settings. Point is, what on earth happened to 1080p? The camera companies can't be finished with it yet. 4k is still very much an infant, screaming at customers for market share. Canon and Nikon have the most "pleasing" images, but progress in video features is slow. Oh well. If Nikon had released: - 2.5k compressed raw video and 10 bit ProRes, full readout. - 120fps HD on an 8 second buffer (decent bitrate). - Articulating LCD. - Peaking, zebras, log (standard video stuff) ..... it would be very very very very popular. Probably. Likely. I'd get one.

Yes indeed! I've said it before and I'll say it again. XAVC-L is a bag of crap (sometimes, not always, but enough to annoy the hell out of you).

I understand why you buy so many cameras. It's blindingly obvious. This is more aimed at non-camera bloggers. Tools should be second nature, ideally, if you can. I don't want to have to think about what button to press. That Haskell Weller quote is spot on.