jonpais

I guess storage isn't as sexy a topic as I thought it was :(

Quite clever!

I believe the 2012 iMac 21" was handicapped by not allowing more than 8GB RAM but this is no longer the case. I also ordered a configured iMac which should arrive in a few weeks. The only thing I regret is the lack of Thunderbolt 2, which my MacBook Pro has, and which I imagine will be standard on the next refresh (this fall?).

Apart from the number of city lights on the GH4 side of the frame, I'm not really seeing much difference here...

After watching this video, I'm going to have to check out mLooks!

Having watched your video, I was about to do a turnaround and say the Razer Blade might suffice after all... if you're really not adding any effects, not even dissolves; not using any LUTs or DaVinci Resolve or running several apps at the same time; or bothering with noise reduction or any heavy grading - why not? I guess the reason I would never buy it is because pretty much every single reviewer says the LCD is awful. I would still stick with the GH4 (forget the Sony!) and try to find a fast notebook (if you absolutely don't want a desktop) with at least a screen that isn't washed out and has good blacks. Or you could choose from among 27 refurbished iMacs with full 1-year warranty, starting at $1,050. :)

Andrew, you might want to also consider this drive. It's $40 cheaper, has double the capacity, is faster, etc. I picked one up while I was in Bangkok over the weekend. It also houses two spinning disks by our favorite vendor, Samsung :) It does get HOT though - as much as 50 C when doing a lot of transfers. Maybe the color grading and storage solutions then... 4K news might not be such a great topic.

Very nice work. I'm guessing since he's working with wides and fisheye lenses, he could just set the lens at hyperfocal distance, and everything from a few inches to a couple feet to infinity would remain in focus.

Since jrnorman34 is doing archival footage of historical buildings, I think 4K is an excellent choice: especially as even when viewed at 1080p, the advantages are evident. I would, however, discourage using Panasonic's 7-14mm lens, for the same reasons Huuow advanced - no ND filter means stopping down, resulting in degraded performance. The only reason I can think of for purchasing a Panasonic zoom is the OIS, a feature that is probably unnecessary in your line of work. I am curious how you use sound while shooting, since I'm not familiar with this specialized branch of video. Any chance you could explain how you use sound, or could you post a sample of your work?

Temperatures here are always in the upper 30s (80-90 degrees Fahrenheit) and humidity around 75%+ is normal... but I don't think that's why the camera is freezing... Actually, I called my dealer in HK to complain about the cards he gave me, but he insists they are genuine. I ran another speed test, and while the card's write speeds were about 25% lower than tests I'd seen of the very same card online, they were still well above minimum Class 10 requirements. Before I ship the camera abroad for repair, I might try contacting SanDisk for the name of a reputable dealer/distributor in HCMC.

At the momemt, I'm just interested in doing handheld work, but I wouldn't rule out 'copter shots in the future. Off topic a bit, but ever since purchasing the GM1 in HK around 5-6 months ago, the camera will suddenly freeze in the middle of recording or playback and I have to remove the battery to get it functioning again. I suspected the two Transcend class 10 cards they threw in must have been counterfeit or rejects, so I downloaded an app that measures SD card read/write speeds. Sure enough, one of the cards I measured last night was performing 5MB/s slower than the manufacturer's stated speeds (and verified by independent reviews online). So today's mission is to try to find an SD card in Saigon that isn't fake - mission impossible!

I tried to justify my purchase of the GM1, reasoning that it could be flown on a much smaller and less expensive handheld gimbal than the GH3: several manufacturers had promised to come out with one months ago for under $700; and unless I'm mistaken, BMPCC owners are waiting too.

It goes without saying that with the BMPCC, you've got to be prepared to do some grading: anyone who purchases one of Black Magic's cameras already knows that; most of their users enjoy color grading, or they would have picked up a point-and-shoot. As for the Panasonic G cameras, you can get wonderful results without a lot of fuss if you like - or you can shoot flat and have more control over your final image. Since picking up Denver Riddle's LUT Utility and watching color grading breakdowns like those over at iseehue and DaVinci Resolve tutorials by Matthew Scott and others, I think half the joy of filmmaking would be gone without post, and I feel bad for anyone who considers it a chore. But my background is in historical printing processes and printmaking, where for every hour I spent shooting, I spent ten in the darkroom.

As you probably already know, Panasonic isn't interested in the Vietnam market, so I've been waiting for a Hong Kong or Malaysia release. DigitalRev is taking preorders but I think they're asking US $2,500? Maybe a mistake? Having it shipped here is out of the question, as customs will charge me an additional 20-25%. Maybe YL Camera in Kuala Lumpur, where I got my GH3, for the same price as in the States. No hurry anyhow: still gotta save up

excellent basic tutorial!

I just got back from a five-day trip to Bangkok: it's hot as hell this time of year! I thought I'd pick up a cheap drive while I was there, so I went to the Fortune IT Mall (it's supposed to be more relaxed than the notorious Pantip Plaza). The mall has four floors devoted to everything in electronic goods, including cameras, computers and peripherals. Although I'd been planning to pick up a WD My Passport Pro 4TB drive (after watching Blunty's effusive video), I since learned that the Seagate Backup Plus Fast 4TB has faster performance at a price somewhere between 35-40% cheaper. It turns out that the drive is actually more expensive in Thailand than in the States, but it's still a great value. I am currently copying the contents of one of my Buffalo Mini Station Extreme drives: the Seagate is around the same size, only thicker and quite a bit heavier. It also gets quite toasty when in action (50 degrees!) - but it is silent, and I can't feel any vibration. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for speedy, inexpensive, bus powered storage. Anyhow, I was wondering how many readers would be interested in a sticky topic about the following (pursuant to Andrew's approval) 1. Storage solutions Now that you're shooting 4K, you probably realize you'll need faster and larger drives. While I was at the mall in Bangkok, I discovered that storage can be sexy! I also learned that RAID isn't just for professionals (sorry, I'm a novice). One drive I'm especially interested in, which hasn't been released yet, is LaCie's Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 - it can achieve read speeds of over 1375MB/s, so when hooked up to my rMBP, it would be twice as fast as the internal drive. Of course, it will cost half as much as the laptop! 2. Color grading So many readers talk about a cinematic look and how to achieve it. This sticky could be where readers post their grading breakdowns or ask for advice, talk about LUTs, etc. Reader ruanlotter contributed an excellent basic >tutorial that could be the start of more tutorials as well. 3. 4K News I just learned that South Korea has supposedly created the first dedicated 4K channel, called UMAX. Would a sticky with discussion about 4K news and events, along with analysis interest readers?

I think black-and-white, monophonic sound and a squarish 1.33:1 aspect ratio will be around for a long time. There's just no demand for color, stereo and 16:9. :) Unlike Panasonic's camera division, Sony has a strong presence here in Vietnam. Unbelievably, they are selling RX1s, A7s and RX10s. They are also incidentally in the television business, and 4K figures prominently in their advertising, both in print and broadcast media - and this in a developing country, where most content is still in standard definition. Because SD televisions are no longer made, everyone watches their SD content on HD screens, preferably Samsung. And not a few homes in my neighborhood have 50" screens. Of course, cable stations offering HD are there, but I don't know how many subscribers they have: the amount and quality of HD programming they offer is meagre (80-90% of their content is still SD). As I sat in an air-conditioned Sony showroom this afternoon (temperatures reached 36 degrees Celsius today) watching a demonstration of 4K on one of their exquisite sets, I was of two minds: clearly, it had more resolution than HD: but the experience wasn't as dramatic as comparing say, a DVD to a Blu Ray movie on a home theater system. I turned to a sales representative, and in my poor Vietnamese, asked if many customers were buying these sets and he said yes. I asked what content they were watching, since obviously there isn't any 4K here in any form, let alone 1080p. He walked up to the set, opened a cabinet beneath the TV and showed me a box with the letters HDD on the front. Maybe the rich consumers here, who have to drive Mercedes automobiles and Hummers to flaunt their wealth, think that if they play 1080p content on their set, it will magically become 4K? Or, they could be mostly corporate clients who have to arrive to work in chauffeured BMWs. http://jonpais.wordpress.com

I've had buyer's remorse too many times in the past to cut corners now. I fail to understand why so many filmmakers would spend thousands of dollars for camera bodies, lenses and accessories, only to skimp on their computer and storage. I'm just a hobbyist, but these are professionals, whose very livelihood depends on a fast and efficient workflow. Only they know the answer to that question. As Lloyd Chambers writes in his Mac Performance Guide, I was 100% certain that I would NEVER use the 3D ability that was built into my first camcorder, and I never did. But I could never purchase the GH4 and promise not to use the exceptional 4K resolution it is capable of. Especially since Andrew has already stated that downscaling from 4K to 1080p will yield better results than shooting in HD. Come to think of it, it seems like only yesterday that I SWORE I'd never shoot with anything but a film camera. Note: Sorry for abusing the caps rule^^ http://jonpais.wordpress.com

Talk about putting the cart before the horse - even here in Vietnam, where no national networks broadcast HD (to the best of my knowledge, since I don't watch television here) and where Blu Rays are all but unheard of (and where all DVDs are pirated editions), 4K TV sets are heavily advertised, especially by Sony. I think I even saw one of their ads gracing a box of beer at a convenience store this evening. Yet projections had it that nationwide HD wouldn't be available here for another 20 years! As for content, Sony has made numerous titles in their vast catalogue available in 4K (though probably not in Southeastern Asia); YouTube (say what you will - I don't love them either!) has already enabled 4K uploads; and Netflix's popular House of Cards is going to stream in 4K. Apparently online distribution faces fewer hurdles than TV networks - but many here watch programming on their iPads and laptops, not on flatscreen TVs. It's my opinion that 4K will take off much sooner than expected. And while we would have preferred to see improvements in dynamic range and bit-depth first, 4K seems to be an easier sell to the general public. At the same time, NONE of my Western colleagues has ever heard of 4K - I have to explain it to them - after which they respond that HD is good enough for them. http://jonpais.wordpress.com

I'm waiting to hear from DigitalRev when the camera will be available in Hong Kong, since it'll never be released in Vietnam :(

More re: editing 4K from Andrew's production diary, The soon-to-be released LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 is capable of reaching read speeds of 880MB/s over the iMac's first gen Thunderbolt interface, which is faster than the iMac's internal drive, and would certainly yield an increase in performance. A drawback of using the computer's internal drive for editing is that, as Larry Jordan has written, When the new iMacs come equipped with Thunderbolt 2, they will be able to take full advantage of LaCie's stupendous read speeds of 1,300MB/s: double that of Apple's current 1TB Fusion Drive; and it should churn through 4K files like nobody's business. The downside is that the LaCie only holds 1TB (remember, 1 hour of GH4 4K footage takes up 45GB of space, and that's with no transcoding to ProRes) and will retail for a whopping $1,299, or half the cost of a configured 27" iMac. Just the same, at the moment, it's the only DAS I would consider for desktop 4K editing. Which brings up another point: that of machines whose fastest interface is USB 3. At the moment, to the best of my knowledge, no spinning disk drives can saturate Thunderbolt, let alone USB 3, for that matter. As costs drop, SSDs, or hybrid drives like Apple's Fusion Drive, could be the way of the future. The way I see it, the only way to future-proof your investment is to go with a Thunderbolt equipped machine that can handle the bandwidth required by 4K. Meanwhile, USB 3.1, which is said to match 1st gen Thunderbolt speeds, is expected to hit the streets toward the end of the year. http://jonpais.wordpress.com

I'm not familiar at all with computer networking. So maybe someone else here can answer the first question. It looks like the Razer is a speed demon (the SSD's write speeds aren't spectacular, but the read speeds - the ones I'm given to understand are the important ones for editing - are perfectly respectable). The sluggish write speeds will, however, impact import and rendering times. My points of reference are a Samsung 840 SSD that I installed in my last Mac, which cost $250 and had more than double the write speeds of the Razer; and my current rMBP, which has write speeds of 650MB/s and read speeds of 725MB/s. Again, I don't know whether the RAM is upgradeable - perhaps someone here who is familiar with Razer can chime in. The Premiere Elements software you've been working with only requires 2GB RAM, but it doesn't support 4K, which you are already aware of, so you'll have to decide on an NLE as well. Adobe Premiere Pro, which does support 4K, recommends 8GB RAM. Concerning RAM, I just checked my remaining memory - and all I've been doing is using the internet this morning - and according to my MemoryFree2 app, I've only got around 3GB of free memory remaining out of 8GB on my rMBP. Just opening Final Cut reduces it to 2.5GB. So obviously, if you have more than one app open at a time, you'll need more memory than the minimum system requirements listed in the NLE's spec sheet. And if later on you see someone's work you just love and decide to try out some plug-ins they used to achieve those looks, you'll need still more. So whatever you purchase, don't skimp out on the RAM unless you can upgrade later on.

No laptop under $2,000 is adequate for editing 4K. Period. You will have to work with proxies. The 13" rMBP is underspec even for HD editing. If you were going Mac, you'd be better off with the 15" rMBP with NVIDIA graphics. Even so, for the same money, a 27" iMac is MUCH better value. For serious editing, you need to go with a minimum of 16GB RAM, not 8. Is there a reason you must go laptop? Are you editing in the field? /edit/ I already anticipate some disagreement here, so let me clarify: you CAN put your media in the timeline using almost any machine on the market today, edit, do dissolves, etc. But performance will not necessarily be optimal. Even working with 1080p, 8GB is insufficient for DaVinci and FCPX, and a good graphics card is a must.

@Quirky I love finding out what the people here are planning to do with their equipment... While everyone else is offering advice, I'm wracking my brains why they've chosen to purchase this or that... It kind of reminds me of the television show 'What's My Line?' from my youth. Speaking of which, back then there were several places to go for young photographers with little money for suppliies: you could rent darkrooms by the hour (this was in the Detroit area); or, if you were a student or recent graduate, you could use the school's labs for free. There must be facilities like that in larger cities now for digital work; but I've been living in Asia for 7 years, so I'm out of touch with what's going on... Even so, they'd probably be out of reach unless you were getting amply paid for your time.

@Quirky You're making me feel so guilty ;) Andrew's solution should work, but adding 4GB RAM wouldn't hurt, if the Lenovo is upgradeable.