Oliver Daniel

Portkeys LH5H

There’s a lot of people like that. But to be fair, some people get a lot of freelance work being the RED guy or the C500 II guy. Depends what you do. Like with the Titan Tubes, they are £6k for the kit and the customisation is deep. So if you own them, you’d master them and be the Titan Tube guy. Depends on how you want to earn and the problem you solve for others.

I do a heavy investment every 5 years, but rotate camera bodies around every 3 years (unless I’m unhappy with the camera). I always put lighting is the priority, followed by lenses. You can always rent your lighting but you really get to improve your craft by owning them and having a play regularly. I rent Titan Tubes and they are INSANE but you’d really get the most out of them by owning, as the app and customisations are deep.

It really is. Doesn’t matter what you shoot on, it’s lighting that will dramatically change a shot, but a lot of the internet think it’s cameras. This seems so obvious but we have to talk about it still.

Yep, absolutely ridiculous the “workarounds” people are considering to record video properly on a $4000 camera, and the excuses being made. If this was on a Panasonic nobody would bother. Andrews intentions are correct. The marketing sold this as a revolutionary pro video tool yet Canon have decided it “overheats”. Good work!

Never used that type of kit but it sounds interesting for low key subjects. On the broader topic, it can be a shame to see so many creators neglecting lighting in favour of constant camera body upgrades. Or using the ISO as a light source 😂. Then complaining the image isn’t good enough. Laziness? Just off a tangent a little, my daughter was watching Detective Pikachu - the lighting in that film is incredible! Great use of contrast and colour.

Apart from the artificial crippling, the consensus is the camera doesn’t actually overheat? What voodoo is in there that the S1H doesn’t have? (which needs a huge vent). Thing is, if Canon didn’t do this I would of been a customer of 2 bodies and a bunch of RF lenses. Plus I would of likely picked up an RF cine cam in the future. Just doesn’t make much business sense to me.

Love the Godox S30, it's an absolute steal. Makes the Dedolight alternative look like a rip-off. Get the projection attachment. Use it all the time!

I've not used the older Falcon Eyes, all I know are the new versions are waterproof, have built-in effects (which are pretty good!), have a new better ballast which can mount to a light stand, better colors and build quality. I love it, it's an essential part of my kit now. The Taiko is probably the best light I have ever used. I've never used the Aputure Nova, and I was honestly put off by the weight with the hard case. It's like 50+ pounds, whereas the Taiko is around 20 pounds with the case. I can compare to the Arri Skypanel which is more similar to the Nova, and the Arri is an absolute chore to transport. Overall I think the Taiko is better than the Skypanel for 1/3rd price. The Taiko is just about lightweight enough, very good for a 2:1 light. The Taiko has better colour accuracy and has better punch. The RGB brightness is hugely impressive!! The app is also absolutely fantastic. It comes with different diffuser strengths or you can make the light hard with no diffuser.

It’s actually darkly hilarious that we all though the Cripple Hammer had gone, but just when the penny dropped, Canon unleash their deadliest cripple of all.

Seems like for anyone looking to pick between this and the R5 for video, the Sony easily wins. As well as managing overheating, it has better DR, better lowlight, better codec options, better file sizes, better external recording, better audio, better price and more affordable lenses. I can see it being really beneficial for my shooting style. 2 pre-ordered.

Whatever works! On last weeks music video - I had practical house lamps and wanted to dim and make them flash. I picked up some very cheap smart LED bulbs, and they did the job! (So cheap that “strobe” was called “fade”). 😂 I once had to resort to using a torchlight light reflected against tin foil / foil wrap. Worked ok! If you like the M9 check out the Falcon Eyes F7! That light is insane for the money.

The 120D II is very popular, however like you say there are many other competitive models, like the Forza 60, Godox VL150 and Falcon Eyes P120. Not tried the Pavotubes, but love the Titan Tubes. I actually backed a Kickstarter recently for “Lumin8” 4” tubes. See what the crack is.

I’m pretty sure Neewer stuff is a re-branded collection of gear from several manufacturers, including some Godox stuff, like the SL-60. Or they are just total copies.

My only missing light is a bright 300w COB. Intrigued to check this out.

At the other end of the stick, direct sunlight can be a massive pain in the ass. You can’t put a grid on it. You can rarely use it indoors. Saying that, Golden Hour is like magic. GVM are mega cheap yet highly rated for their value. Glad they are working for you.

Godox is your friend.

Lighting is pretty much the most important thing for what we do. It’s what makes your images sing. Here’s a bunch of lights I highly recommend: 1. Falcon Eyes F7 Ridiculously awesome light for the price. Everyone should have at least one. Super bright for a small light. Very useful. Essential. Possibly my favourite right now. 2. Falcon Eyes 24TDX II Flex lights are expensive. Not this. Build quality is great. Super useful. Waterproof. Put anywhere! 3. Luxli Taiko In my opinion, better than the Arri Skypanel which is 3-4 times the price. Best colour accuracy I’ve ever seen and very easy to use. Only downside is the power unit. Feels a bit cheap and not long enough. 4. Godox S30 I think this makes the $3k Dedolight equivalent almost obsolete. For 10% of the price? Super optics for the projection attachment. Downsides are the power goes down to 10w from 30w when using batteries. 5. Colorspike The light pattern customisation is immense and looks way more organic than preset effects from other lights. An incredible tool. Only downsides is the carry case is a bit “meh” and diffuser is fiddly. 6. Astera Titan Tubes These are way more expensive than other mentioned lights. They share some ideas with the Colorspike’s but on a much higher level. These things are insane and worth every penny. I don’t own them but what they can do.... wow!! Downsides... 8 tube case is very very heavy. They are expensive. What are your current favourite lights?

Nice. The footage definitely has a slight green / yellow tint but it can get easily corrected.

I think the colours and overall image quality is much, much improved from the previous cameras. Did a quick log to rec 709 and CC on a couple of shots. note after posting: the gamma has shifted massively with these uploads and look more magenta compared to my exports. How weird!

It’s insane to see so many people figuring out cooling solutions and even resorting to portable freezers. What’s going on here? People celebrating that they got through a shoot without the cam having a tantrum. Madness. With this most serious of all cripple hammers, this camera isn’t even adequate as a reliable B-cam. It’s a shame, it sucks a bit, but there’s a crap load of other tools that will do just fine. I do however applaud the detective work, interesting. Well done.

This will further ruin everyone’s lives and your entire filmmaking career.

Funny how the camera buying internet has gone from "what are the most sick cinematic camera movements?" to "will my camera melt and burn my hands, and shall i buy a self generating ice pack to get 2 mins 8k recording on my year long trip to Africa?" FWIW, the A7SIII looks like the better video tool. I live in Manchester UK. Sunlight doesn't exist. Only rain. (besides today!)

Your comments I completely agree with. Healthy discussion around cameras is only part of the process. There are segments of people who take these discussions off the rails, as if the R5 overheating has ruined their life. I was disappointed as it’s features fulfil a creative need, and likewise I sold my FS5 2 years back as I was spending too much time “fixing” the colour - so I got the EVA1. I’m doing lot of fast paced sports and fashion stuff right now, as well as music videos. I want to do certain shots on a gimbal and as I’m operating solo, what I want is insanely hard to pull off with MF. Plus I’m finding the 2k100fps on the EVA1 little too soft. Likewise, I won’t use the DSMC2 RED form factor as it’s a pain, or the Ursa Mini Pro as it’s too heavy for handheld without an Easyrig - even though I adore the image capabilities more than anything else out there. So yes, it does matter. But I’m not losing sleep or being toxic about cameras that don’t do what I want when there’s so much more to prioritise.

I would rent them both and see what works for me. That’s exactly what I’m going to do, even though I’m don’t have much confidence in the R5 in the higher quality modes. I’ll allow my A7S III pre-order to hold until I’ve tried it. If I’m unsatisfied, oh well. Still got cameras I can use.