jonpais

Right. On the Sony, you've also got to hit record, then press play to begin recording. Not sure how important phantom power and a tripod socket are, since I've never found the need for either. Will you be using an external microphone, or just the recorder? I always use mine in conjunction with Rode microphones and a boompole. If you've never done this before, remember that inches count. Get that microphone as close to the source as is humanly possible and make sure that you set the recorder on manual, NOT auto. The level should be adjusted so that the green lights flash at -12 dB. Always monitor the sound with headphones. PluralEyes is an excellent solution to synching the audio and video, but Final Cut, and I'm guessing other editing software, will do the same. Here is a sample from a sort-of mini-doc I'm currently working on, using the Sony PCM-M10 along with a Rode VideoMic Pro atop a Rode Mini Boompole. My assistant had never handled sound equipment before. Listening to it again, perhaps I should have used the low-pass filter to cut out some of the traffic noise. Sorry, it's in Vietnamese - a co-worker is in the process of translating it for me! http://jonpais.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/impressions-of-saigon/

Is your budget capped at $100? Are you just using the recorder for this one occasion? I can highly recommend the excellent Sony PCM-M10, which I think is very reasonably priced and should give years of good service.

@Andy Lee It is and it isn't... music is totally subjective... beauty is totally subjective... filmmaking is totally subjective... are there really any absolutes when it comes to filmmaking? Does that mean there aren't any criteria by which we can judge whether a particular look is effective or interferes with the mood we are trying to create? With all due respect, if grading was completely subjective, we'd have nothing to learn by watching and listening to the guys at Colorista, or watching tutorials by fellows as gifted as Matt Scott, who show us how they achieved the looks they were after, the reasoning behind their decisions, the most efficient way to arrive at the desired result, or to get aspiring filmmakers to think about the different possibilities... I really don't think it's just about technique, as important as technique is - it's learning about the thought processes that were behind the decisions that I think we can all learn something from. Anyhow, color grading is one of the most fascinating aspects about filmmaking for me (even more than storage solutions, believe it or not!) :) /edit/ sad that these craftsmen are often listed in the credits behind the caterers and so forth, when they are the ones responsible for the look of the film

Yeah, I was concerned about the same thing... I ordered an iMac without thinking about trackpad vs. mouse, and now it looks like I'll be shelling out some extra dough for the trackpad... while I see some editors appear to use tablets with styluses (is that the plural of stylus??) It definitely helps to learn the shortcut keys, too, I guess!

+1

ND filters

A viewer mentioned seeing moire (I assume they were referring to the aliasing on the books but I could be mistaken) and Johnnie replied that when they projected the original, it was virtually free of moire.

At first I thought Johnnie Behiri was using some fantastically expensive cine lenses or something, but it turns out he used the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 and 7-14mm f/4 lenses. Some viewers commented on the Vimeo website about rolling shutter, underexposure and how the clip looks like video, not film, which I think just goes to show how insane some of these pixel peepers have become. I never would have guessed footage like this would be possible on a camera costing less than $2,000. I think the skin tones are beautiful, detail in the outdoor shots is wonderful, and close ups have bokeh that is satisfying enough for my eyes. And I was viewing this at 2.5K, with all of the problems associated with compression. Again, I guess you don't need to have umpteen zillion lenses to do good work.

@64mulford If you've got the money, I'm sure you can't go wrong with a lens that has been praised by the most demanding photographers as the best in the line. I haven't used the Nocticron, but I have lots of experience with the Vario 35-100mm and it also produces beautiful results. OIS isn't great though, some sort of shoulder rig is necessary.

I first saw this video over at 43 rumors.

@Christina - Rokinon/Samyang lenses may be 'cheap', but Matt Scott obviously likes them a lot, and has posted some beautiful clips made with them. From examining his test shots, I don't think you could call them 'meh'.

@iag01 Don't you mean the best camera in the universe? :)

@maxotics The OP has already shared some examples of his work here: > @Ebrahim Saadawi I've only heard great things about the Speedbooster, and hope to pick one up myself someday, but in this line of work (architectural archival footage), it seems that edge sharpness might be a problem. Also, I'm not even sure it's necessary since the OP usually shoots at f/8, and a 7-14mm f/4 should be plenty wide and fast enough. Can anyone weigh in here? /edit/ duh... I see, so he doesn't have to invest in a new lens. sorry, I didn't read carefully enough! @Quirky The RX10 sounds like a very interesting option. @jrnorman34 I'm just wondering exactly why it is you want to retire your Nikon... I've watched your videos, and even though it was through the fog of YouTube, I can't see anything horribly wrong... I'm almost inclined to suggest a camcorder solution rather than the GH4 if you're looking for great stabilization, deep DOF and built-in ND filters. Although there have been many wonderful GH4 videos posted, what really blew me away were some of the copter shots, where details in trees and distant buildings was unbelievable, even when viewed at 2.5K. Which is why I thought you had ordered the camera in the first place. /edit 2/ Looking at your videos again, there does seem to be a great deal of aliasing/moire, especially in the brick buildings; and it looks like there is haloing in overhead wires and between the buildings and the sky (the result of in-camera over-sharpening?); and in a few shots, for example, in the one in which there are white cars parked out front, they are completely blown out. In some shots, the colors are so bright, they look radioactive (like the green grass). And I'm wondering if you sometimes shoot with the lens stopped down completely, which could be why nothing is truly sharp... Also, is it a requirement that you always shoot at high noon? I realize you're not after a cinematic image, but I think there is a lot you could do to improve the quality of the videos you are already making with the Nikon. I would definitely turn the in-camera sharpening, saturation and contrast down a bit.

and with the money you save, you can pick up a mic, boompole and digital sound recorder :)

@richg101 Sounds like an overreaction to me. I found the video very informative and comprehensive.

@yellow Tone it down a bit

I think I might have asked this before, sorry if I'm repeating myself (I'm not so young anymore!), but all of you using these primes for video, you're using some kind of external monitor, am I right? because focus assist doesn't work while shooting with the GH3, so I only end up using manual focus when the subject isn't moving. It's impossible for me to judge whether the subject is in focus without some kind of aid. So investing in primes means investing in a monitor as well for me... Since I'm only concerned about focus right now, do you think a cheap 7" tablet and Wifi would work? Sorry for derailing the topic, or if it's been answered in another thread...

No need to be mean.

I've been seriously contemplating taking a filmmaking course for a while now. Filmmaking isn't like FCPX, where you can get started right away with online tutorials! I had actually tried once to get in touch with a talented young filmmaker in Saigon whose work I saw on YouTube, in the hope of assisting, but unsurprisingly, I never heard back from him. The Expat Learning Center in Shanghai offers a 6-week course that covers quite a lot of territory given the time constraints. I really enjoy some of the work posted on Vimeo by one of the instructors there, Franc Peret. Here's a sample: There is a lot of filmmaking going on here in Vietnam, but I don't know anyone with a similar sensibility. Short of that, maybe I should just watch some budget films (Vimeo) and try to recreate the shots on my own? BTW, Andrew, you're always welcome to visit Ho Chi Minh City. Concerning a video posted earlier with some different LUTs applied, a few readers have compared them to Instagram, which I don't think is fair. mLooks, which is new to me, offers the possibility of changing dozens of parameters to achieve whatever mood you're after. Several colorists favor Kodak 2393 film emulation LUTs, but having tried them with several of my clips, it doesn't really work for me. Of course, none of the colorists I'm thinking of just drop a LUT on the timeline, render and export.

@Julian Wholeheartedly agree with the first point :) Actually, when I was shopping for drives in Bangkok last weekend, I was amazed at just how luscious some of them looked. I think all they had were outdated HDD RAIDS though :)

My very first video camera was a Panasonic TMC-900 camcorder. When playing back the 60p files, the picture would stutter on my old 2011 13" MacBook Pro. So I installed a Samsung 840 SSD. The ability to watch smooth playback of my clips was certainly worth the relatively small investment. When running Clipwrap to convert the AVCHD files, I often had to wait as long as an hour for processing to complete, during which time the memory would be completely depleted. So I upgraded to 8GB RAM from 4GB. With each upgrade, I saw a dramatic improvement in performance, and editing, which used to be a time-consuming chore, became more endurable. Recently, I purchased a rMBP 15" with 8GB RAM, which, while a lightning fast machine, is barely sufficient for FCPX. If I run any other apps at the same time, I'm running on virtual memory. And once I discovered DaVinci Resolve and plug-ins like LUT Utility (and more recently, the fabulous mLooks), suddenly 8GB RAM and the Iris Pro graphics card were grossly insufficient. And so on and so on... If I were to search for an analogy, what if the SD card in your camera took 30 seconds to buffer between every shot (assuming it doesn't already!)? Even if all you were doing was still life work in a studio, it would make your life miserable. I feel the same way about slow computers and storage. Sure, if you're happy doing rendering overnight and dropped frames are just a minor nuisance, it's good enough I suppose. But since I discovered the joys of color grading and I intend to spend much more time at the computer, a fast one is not only desirable but absolutely necessary. As for USB 3, it sure beats the hell out of USB 2! And I'm quite happy with my new Seagate Backup Plus Fast 4TB bus powered portable drive. But as soon as I can, I'm going to pick up the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 for its speeds of 1,380 MB/s (compared to 230 or so for the Seagate). If all someone is going to do is 1080p with little grading, no LUTs, no NEAT video, no intention of ever using Resolve, or getting into 4K, almost any computer today is fine for HD video. But if you are looking to expand and grow, you need a powerful machine. And as I learned the hard way, it's much cheaper to purchase the best you can afford than to keep selling and upgrading.

Very inspirational stuff indeed. Maybe I'll just hold on to my GH3 until I learn to shoot!

I only realized this afternoon that the cards I got aren't UHS-I. I found a dealer here at the SanDisk website. Going there tomorrow to buy a new card!