Oliver Daniel

1. Show us a picture of your current most used camera and lens EVA1 and Sigma 18-35mm. 2. Tell us a few facts about yourself! As a child, I was haunted by a ghost called Linford Pickle. 😂 I come from a family of artists and musicians. I was forced to go to church then realised it was all bollocks. My first ever video was called "Demon Boy". It was shite. I'm scared of baked beans and peas. I've starred in 2 televised music videos, once as the lead. I've got eczema and I hate it. I have 2 daughters. 3. What's your favourite music, favourite sport / team, other hobbies Manchester United - although I've got very disinterested in sport for the past few years. Music - As a teen was obsessed with Radiohead and Muse. Now I'll listen form anything from jazz to classical to synth-pop. Other hobbies - nothing. Filming and being a Dad takes up EVERYTHING. 4. What your hopes are for the future of EOSHD, what would you like me to cover - and the camera you are looking forward to most? Do more episodic video stuff. Do less on cameras and more on lighting! More interesting. Cover vintage lenses and weird shit that they do. Modified lenses. RED Komodo looks neat. Canon R5 and 6 I hope will live up to hype. 5. Tell me what you miss about your country and home town when you are not there Seeing people. Working with artists. My family. Having a pint and a laugh. Making shit. 6. The year you first started reading EOSHD I knew barely anything. Got a Canon 60d DSLR and started reading all this "complex" stuff people said like "10 bit 422". Read it over and over until I understood. Liked the way EOSHD focused on experimental stuff, cheap cameras and weird as fuck lenses. Think it was GH2 time.

In the commercial world, filmmaking is first and foremost a marketing tool. It is for music videos too, but that market see it differently and you have to treat it as such. You don't have to where all the hats. I don't want to wear all the hats either. *overwhelm* You'd do better financially if you had that system in place, however if you're able to talk both strategically and creative, plus integrate seamlessly with other marketing skillsets - people take you much more seriously. They don't see you as just as video guy. That's my experience anyway. p.s learning stuff away from filmmaking is confronting, stressful and uncomfortable. Does my head in but it's getting easier. Also video in my local area is massively oversaturated. Over the past I've had to move ahead and differentiate. Just having an attractive style isn't enough.

You can see this yourself without asking a sales department, but you will need access to their page / ad account management. For example, your videos might be sequenced in a series of FB Ads for an e-commerce brand. At the first stage, you show an awareness video to a cold audience. Secondly, segment the audience that has watched 50% + of the first video and show them product focused videos for website traffic. During their research they’ll see promos, explainers, how-to’s etc around the web. Some will convert to a sale, others won’t. Those who don’t convert need a reminder or incentive, based on their online behaviour. So you use content re-marketing like testimonial videos to nudge them back to the basket. Whatever the objectives are, you can measure the ad spend behind the videos against a tracker event that will show you the sales conversion amount. I have someone else to manage the distribution aspect, but I have to understand it so my creative approach is also strategic. This is also how I speak to a client. They feel they are being served by someone who knows how to make video work specifically for their business need. At the end of the day, I just love shooting and editing stuff really!

Yes you’re on the hook. But like all things, to reach high levels of financial success you have to take big risks. You’re not quite right with the ROI thing. You can measure this stuff very precisely. To enlighten you further, imagine two meetings, where one guy is offering “a beautifully shot video”, and the other is offering a 300% sales increase for the business (using video). Who are they going to choose? Ive seen a huge shift in the way clients see myself by speaking to them in a way they can see how the video materials will be handled and distributed to get a result. Yes, you will need distribution and media buying knowledge. But it’s a great way of making you stand out from other video creators. Being the “dude with a camera” is fine for a lot of people, but if you’re after growth, it’s going to be very hard. Plus, if you can get the client a business result, the income is WAY better and gives you more freedom for passion projects.

Thanks!

So my Fujifilm contact is going to provide a loan unit to use on a commercial production. What Fuji lenses are the most appropriate for video? Read that a lot of them aren’t so smooth for manual focus.

Depends on the job, and I would advise anyone to think beyond getting a day rate. The thing about day rates is they aren’t scalable. They are based on time, and with only so many days you can work in the week, you can’t incline your income steadily. You could charge more, but then, you’re going to have to be a master specialist to achieve that. If it’s not TV, film or music videos....I advise anyone to not position themselves as a “videographer” or “filmmaker”. Instead you frame yourself as a business solution. Instead of talking about what shots you want to do, you talk about how you will get them a business result. This differentiates you from the over saturated “videographer” role - which in fact a lot of the industry see as “low cost” and easy to negotiate your price down. You appear as a “problem solver” who can grow their business. Also, getting the client to think more about the business result allows you more freedom with the creative stuff!

I'm going to predict the GH6 will have 4k 120fps and a new AF system.

This is the problem we have with Slog2, VLOG etc. The internet says it's crap but they don't know how to use it properly. Very compelled by the X-T4 to use as a general all round purpose cam, but then again, it maybe worth waiting to see how that R5 stacks up. Or a new GH6 for that matter.

Haha. The GH5 is still a monster. Still going strong. Use it all the time. A micro Arri Alexia with @Sage’s conversion. Best camera I’ve ever bought. I miss having the PDAF from Sony for gimbal use though. My GH5 gimbal work is half as good. X-T4 is intriguing. Probably the best all round camera you can buy, in terms of value. I know a guy from Fujifilm who has agreed to give me a loaner. Maybe I’ll fall in love. Canon R5 and A7SIII due. Expecting a GH6 to poke around at some point. Big battle for mirrorless this year. I expect all of them to be awesome. Lucky us. The only limit these days is the imagination.

What's the crop in 4k 60p? Can't seem to find out anywhere.

I recently enquired to some Make Up Artist Youtubers to feature in a small brand campaign. All of them had agents. On the lower end at around 100k subscribers , they were on average around £18k to hire for just a 4 hour shoot. On the higher end at around 18 million subscribers, average £100,000 for the same. On top of that, you’re limited to £1k worth of ad spend per campaign and only usage of the video for a month. Never knew YouTubing was that lucrative, and stringent.

No chance. There's no way Sony would let this be better than the cheaper version of the FX9. I predicted a while ago it would be something like: - 4k 10 bit up to 30p. - 4k 8 bit 60p (10 bit external) - Updated with PDAF. - Bigger battery. - Maybe S-Cinetone profile to match with FX9. - One little surprise, like 4k 120fps cropped with buffer. - Announcement NAB 2020. It's 5 years in the making, so I hope to see something groundbreaking from Sony - but I wouldn't bet on it being "revolutionary". The camera to watch out for this year looks to be the XT4. Do we have a blockbuster on our hands?

Honestly, probably not. I think the days of me spending that kinda money on cameras is gone, unless it made absolute sense. I still want the right kinda Canon but every single time, they omit something very important. Saying that, it’s still a strong video acquisition tool that I would try. I can’t help think the omission of DPAF in 4k60 is what most users of this video camera would want. Sports journalists? Wildlife? Absolutely. Big error.

Not bothered about raw. Plus it’s 2020. When you don’t have a focus puller and you want shallow DOF on a gimbal in 4k60, and Canon obviously deliberately turn off DPAF in their blockbuster 10 bit video setting..... it’s typical typical Canon. Why oh why?

If true, what an absolute load of horse shit. I knew this camera would have a cripple in there somewhere. They just can’t help themselves can they? Dealbreaker.

I did say “wild predictions”.....

I’m at home, got beer, kids asleep. Fancy some fun, wild speculation? Death of the Gimbal They will always have their place in high end TV and cinema, however for nearly everything else, I think we’ll see them replaced with insanely improved IBIS and a boat load of sorts gimbal-ish “fluid movement” remote type pistol grips. Every man and his dog will have them. Return of Canon With video rising to such a compulsory level, Canon will crack the cripple and deliver what we’ve all wanted for such a long, long time. Eventually. Or it’s 60fps Canon Log in exciting 720p. The Fall of RED The Chinese will knock them out like a weapon in the nuts and force out a RED army of affordable cameras named after mystical creatures. RAW video everywhere Nearly every decent camera will have it internally within years. Masses of terribly noisy Vimeo videos to follow. Smartphone Domination They will become “cinema grade” and will be the No.1 choice for Vloggers at least. Computational DOF, crazy AF, all sorts of crazy software. Completely trackable VFX filters. Boobs and penis’s on everything. Computational Focus and DOF Already exists but will mature into an essential feature for most cameras for a very different post experience. “Fix it in post” said after every shot. Video AF Will get so insane that only the high end will use manual. Us forum geeks will still be buying $20 f***d up Helios though ? Video Essential It will become absolutely compulsory for every business and person and hamster and pig for everyday communication. Like the internet is now. Video will become the internet. And your very soul. and finally..... Cameras and gear will be so commonly incredible but so second nature in operation , getting something technically correct will be as hard as passing wind after a curry. Even your 90 year old Grandma will be able to lock focus at f0.95 and orbit round her cat’s face in 10bit 8k. The tools will be so commonly reliable that they will hardly matter. We’ll see an epidemic of terrible content with perfect focus and stability. Although this will unearth some under privileged gems, the little fishes will barely be seen in a sea of waste - unless it rises above it. As creators, we are not just fighting for quality. You will be fighting to the death for people’s time and attention. The “competition“ will be everyone and everything. Fun times.

I want to play. Cameras: FS700 - still perfectly capable in 2019. A legend of a camera. GH5 - still irreplaceable and way ahead of its time on launch. BMPCC - the toddler who is really annoying but just adorable at the same time. GoPro - a rocky patch here and there, but just an amazing achievement. Lenses: Sigma ART - doesn’t need explaining. Lighting: Anything by Aputure - owning fantastic modern lights now far easier! Stabilisation: Movi - gave birth to a new way of shooting. Flowtech 75 Tripod - at last, the tripod redesigned that isn’t a clunk. Edelkrone products - very clever, exciting. DJI Inspire - ridiculous results in a small package. Big copters looking dusty. Software: FCPX - f**k the critics, as a “concept” at first, way way ahead of its time. Now matured into a modern beast and revolutionised my editing. DaVinci - will explode in the 20’s. iOS - crazy apps and camera functions give us a glimpse of the future.

I’ve seen most superhero movies as I enjoy them (they are really fun to watch) and I do somewhat agree. Most of them have the same plot too: - A character in peril realises they are powerful and uses it to do good like save a cat. - A bad guy wants to blow up a city or similar because that’s a great plan. - The hero wins but someone close to them dies, because y’know, emotion. There are exceptions to the trend that I highly recommend: - Logan - Daredevil (Netflix) - The Boys (Amazon) - Super - Dark Knight Trilogy

Who knows. Just the most logical reason is that Apple wants ProRes RAW recorded internally in lots of pro cameras as part of their current aggressive pro market strategy. Sounds good to me.

I think Apple are more likely to create their own cinema camera, and it will have the form factor of an iPhone. ?

Yes it will be, and I think we’re likely on the right track with our guesswork. Komodo looks super interesting, and is an answer to Zcam, Kinefinity and BM. Gotta say I’m curious. I hated using the Epic and Scarlet-W bit liked the images in REDcode. The size and features of Komodo make it seem very accessible. Don’t get me wrong, RAW is great. I remember my jaw dropping to ML RAW on 5D and on a Kinemini 4K film. Just when like me, I’ve got overheads and expenses coming out my ears and not much time between projects, RAW is a very close no-go. I’ve used both REDcode and ProRes RAW in FCPX. ProRes RAW is especially fast but it needs more integrated control. It’s a huge step forward. BUT, 10bit gives me everything I need at a much lower overall cost.

This is my speculation: Apple is aggressively targeting the professional market with the new Mac Pro, and they want to sell a ton of them. It has been designed for optimum performance in FCPX and ProRes RAW. They want high level creators to adopt and have easy access to ProRes RAW, but the RED patent is getting in the way. Hence, question it and invalidate it. There’s also no denying that RED has been dishonest, but there’s no denying they’ve created unique products that create amazing images. And you’re right that barely anyone uses any kind of RAW in the professional world. RAW costs a hell of a lot of money to use (I know this having done it) and 10bit or even 8 bit codecs are 99.9% more than enough to produce high grade projects. What I want is the juiciest, most beautiful, yet economical 10bit codec in full readout up to 4K 100fps in full frame under $5000 - then we’re done ✅

Panasonic S1H in a dream world where it has 4k100fps and PDAF. Ronin S whatever. Edelkrone HeadPlus kit. An even more compact Flowtech 75. A bag of compact but powerful RGBW lights. All Sigma ARTs. All the Richard Gale (Dog Schidt stuff) lenses. Haze machine. I actually own half of the above. I’m incredibly intrigued at the idea of getting a full cinematography kit in just one rolling, portable case. Inc lights, gimbals, everything. Can it be done?