jonpais

Olympus 75mm f/1.8. Music by Eric Matyas www.soundimage.org

@cantsin Cantsin already started a topic with this. It's aimed primarily at shooting for theatrical release, as well as home theater. Things Yedlin does not discuss are consumer cameras like the a6500s, X-T2s and GH5s, where shooting in 1080p might not be such a great idea, since there might be unsightly aliasing and moire, or the image won't be as clean and crisp as one shot in 4K. Nor does he discuss issues with horrible compression on video hosting sites, which makes shooting and delivering 4K preferable for those of us who will never walk the aisles at Cannes.

@gethin I'm not disagreeing at all with @Orangenz, but is it the GX85 that is holding you back from making that feature film or whatever it is you're working on? Because for two grand, you could get yourself a whole lot of gear: a nice motorized slider, a single handed brushless gimbal stabilizer, a decent microphone, and an HD monitor, as well as some LED lights - equipment that you could use for years to come and which will increase your production value far more than the latest and greatest camera, which you'll probably upgrade in a couple of years down the road anyhow. Out of curiosity, what are the issues you're having with grading footage from the camera you already own?

@gethin - if you're happy with the GX85, why not just hold onto your money? There's a lot of other things you could spend that money on.

Sigma patents 12mm f/1.4 MFT lens.

not really!

I said I wouldn't be doing any more testing, but here's what the same clip (in 4K) looks like when uploaded to YT in 4K. Far from pristine, but better than uploading 1080p.

I sold my Leica DG Summilux 12mm and ordered the SLR Magic, too. ?

Could be. But remember, it's in a natural light environment, I tried to select the same point on both clips for comparison, but they aren't identical. The reason being, I always trigger the camera first, the BMD VA second. The only comparison I've ever bothered watching was Hugh Brownstone's review of the 4K Video Assist, and the difference between the camera he was using (a Sony?) and the 4K ProRes was negligible. Don't worry, I'm not about to do any more testing ?- even if at home on my computer both files look almost identical, I share all my work on YT, so 4K is a must for me. If an affordable 5" 4K monitor/recorder were available here, I'd probably get that. Anyhow, the main reason I got the Video Assist was for the monitor. And if that's all you need. there are plenty of inexpensive options.

Calibration is not usually necessary with the Crane.

Thanks, Grimor. The screen grab above is from the BMD Video Assist, 1080p, ProRes 4:2:2. I shot at ISO 400, SOOC. I was shooting with the Olympus 75mm f/1.8. Below is a comparison between the 4K from the G85 (top) and the 1080p file from the Video Assist (bottom). Again, ISO 400, SOOC. Incidentally, I just made a split screen clip of the two files below on a 1080p timeline, exported it and uploaded it to YouTube. YT compression just kills 1080p, so if you're planning on using a video sharing website, I'd go with 4K. Edit: I send 4K to the Video Assist. Sorry, I didn't understand the question at first.

I wasn't even aware of it till you mentioned it, Grimor, but apparently the G80/85 does indeed output 8 bit 4:2:2. I've been using the BMD Video Assist 5" to capture ProRes 1080p and the clips look awesome on my outdated 2K iMac (2013). AFAIK, the best recorder/monitor for the price would be a Ninja Blade for something like USD 350.00. I really won't know what the difference is between internal 4K and 1080p via my recorder is until I get my new 5K iMac in a few weeks, but I'm sure there must be plenty of video comparisons online. On my current iMac, the 1080p files look just as tasty as the 4K ones. ProRes is supposed to be easier to edit. I don't own a Windows machine, so I can't really answer your question, but I'm sure someone else here can.

I appreciate where you're coming from, but if you're working with a camera with no headphone jack to monitor audio (if even for a scratch track); no dual SD card slots in case one card fails; lousy focus peaking, and no way to check focus during playback, apart from the first frame of a clip, and on a tiny, low res screen at that - a monitor/recorder sure comes in handy. Nobody is talking about rigging anything out like crazy - there are many lightweight, affordable monitors and cages for small mirrorless cameras. To those who say, why not use a dedicated cinema camera, well, there's a world of difference in cost between something like an Ursa Mini or Canon C200 and a Sony a6500 or Panasonic Lumix GX85/G85. And even with a cage, monitor, microphone and follow focus, my G85 is ten times smaller than something like the Ursa Mini, and can always be broken down when I absolutely need discrete (though I find there's no truth whatsoever to the statement that a camera and cage is any less discrete than even a Sony RX10, in fact, I've already found that it's easier to shoot people on the street with a rigged out camera). BTW, if a paying client asked me to throw some rails and a matte box on, I'd do it in a flash, no questions asked.

I might be wrong, but I believe you can record indefinitely with an external recorder/monitor, additional benefits being focus peaking you can actually see, a backup SD card in case one is corrupted, a headphone jack for monitoring audio, better magnification for critical focus, and the ability to monitor with LUTs. I can't see anyone doing paid work with this camera without the benefits an external recorder/monitor provides.

Beautiful family, crisp 1080p, outstanding image quality, no nasty aliasing or moire, nice skin tones - too bad it's nearly impossible to shoot handheld without jitters. I'd still pick up a GX80/G85 over this camera for that very reason. Oh, and still no zebras on the X-T2, so pretty difficult to gauge exposure for video with a tiny histogram the size of a fingernail clipping.

But it only has one input for my VideoMic Go!

Allow mine to be the sole dissenting voice. Seb Farges's video is far too harsh and blurry to my eyes, and Colby Moore's, even though sharpening has been turned all the way down in camera, appears to have had quite a bit of sharpening added in post. The one still from Flickr is pretty soft to my eyes as well. It could not fill my 27" monitor without being a blurry mess. But opinions are what makes the world go 'round, I guess. The difference in crop factor between the videos shot with the SLR Magic 10mm T2.1on the GH4 (2.3X crop factor) and say, the Leica 12mm f/1.4 on the GH5 (no additional crop in 4K) would be negligible, and the quality of the Leica is far superior to that of the SLR Magic. If a cine lens is what you need, I'd check out the Veydra 12mm T2.2. Unlike SLR Magic, the Veydra lenses all have matching T-stops, same size filter threads and identical outer diameter for easy switching between lenses when using a follow focus. @jase I prefer the look and style of your videos.

I believe I'm hearing distortion.

I can't seem to find any SLR Magic 10mm videos online that don't look like crap. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I'll be posting another video showcasing one of my favorite micro four thirds lenses, the Olympus 75mm f/1.8, in just a couple of weeks.

I'd recommend you shoot a video of the problem with your smartphone and send it to Zhiyun Tech.

This fellow is good! I think he says it performed better in BruceX than the top iMac with the best GPU, which surprised me a little.

Just like my 100-page ETTR rant, I encourage everyone to experiment and find out what works for them. The stereo mic in the picture is just for capturing ambient sound: you can always throw in a mixer and record with a lav mic or shotgun. In addition to the advantages I mentioned above, I'd add that you've got peace of mind knowing you've got backup media - the in-camera SD card as well as the one in the recorder/monitor. And when you want to go discrete, there's a quick release plate as well. And I swear I'm more invisible when shooting with a crazy big rig than with the camera alone.

Gotcha! Will watch when I get home. ?

Even to those who prefer shooting with DSLRs or mirrorless, I'd still recommend rigging your camera out - I mean, get yourself a cage and a monitor, not a hunking 7" one, but a 5" screen. You'll be able to compose better, the color and contrast will be much more accurate than the lousy 3" LCD on your camera, you can throw in a LUT so you can preview how your work will look in post, the audio level meter will be a whole lot more usable than the toy one provided in your camera, and it'll allow you to monitor audio. That's right - if you're not monitoring your audio, you're just leaving everything up to chance. If you're not convinced, just have a look at any one of forum member @Boygetslost's short films and tell me that audio isn't important! If you're struggling with focus like I was with my Panasonic, well, with the BMD Video Assist, the focus peaking lights up like a Christmas tree, even when for the life of me, I can't see any peaking on the G85. And while I'm not yet at the point where I don't need any exposure aids like Andrew Reid, it's a whole lot easier gauging exposure with a larger screen. You say you want discrete? Well, I've been able to walk right up to subjects shooting with the Zhiyun Crane without anyone suspecting I was shooting them, and with six pounds of magnesium alloy, plastic, glass and faux fur sitting in my lap, I've been able to capture people without them having a clue what I was up to.

I forgot I owned the Fuji X-T2 till I read your post.