Fritz Pierre

Understood...I'm not a big fan of excessive camera movement but could see this used by someone getting pushed very slowly through a doorway in a wheelchair for a dolly shot or maybe an exterior car shot from another car...impressive how quickly the unit goes together though and to be honest after seeing your impromptu demo for that price I'm actually considering it...having used it, do you think with care and some mechanical advantage it could be used in a "dolly" shot or too much movement...great review by the way...

So totally non-scientific question...knowing you like to shoot handheld, and forgive my presumption here, like me, may not like the robotic smoothness of a stabilizer (does not visually feel like either a dolly or steadycam)...after using this once, can you see this as a part of your kit for the future? The gimbal itself seems very impressive in spite of my question...

The rear bayonet mount is the depth of several filter rings...you have to build up the rings and glue them together so they become a solid mount, so that the front element of your 20mm fd will clear the rear element of the .7 adapter...as front elements on wider lenses bulge outwards, only you can make the call for how high you have to go, relative to the lenses you would use this adapter with (buy enough filter rings to accomplish this)...you also need a rail system to take a lens support, as the adapter weighs at least a lb. if I remember correctly...you can check the specs with the seller...or if you don't like rails, you can use this from Amazon....http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-293-Telephoto-Lens-Support/dp/B001BX3ZXE?tag=battleforthew-20....either way the strain on your camera mount is too great, but if like me you are addicted to buying lenses, this is a great solution...and lastly...the fd 17mm is @ f4 and almost twice the price and I think maybe fisheye??...and the adapter gets your 20 to 14...on an fd speedbooster you're nice and wide now...and that's just one lens!

Taken in the context of image quality and comparing this lens to the cost of cine lenses, this lens is actually a bargain. As for the tired old FF/M4/3... John Mathieson/Alien/Blade Runner/Gladiator etc...shot everything on 200 ASA film and lit for F5.6 period!...that's because any larger aperture would be impossible for the focus puller on a feature/commercial/tv series/documentary. This lens finally fills the much needed niche for M4/3 users...a wide fast lens with very good optics...wide and fast equals pricey!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Century-0VS-07CV-HDS-0-7x-Wide-Angle-Converter-Sony-HDR-FX1-HVR-Z1U-W-O-Box-/351748782726?hash=item51e5dc7a86:g:2yQAAOSwiCRUfNMx You would have to write the seller...both mine are marked with a white sticky label that says for Z1U only...I believe it was a sony pro camcorder...on the wide end of the lens rim (outside) it's marked PRO SERIES HD 0.7X WIDE ANGLE CONVERTER CENTURY OPTICS U.S.A. A heavy optic...very high quality...these are new and a ridiculous price...changes every lens you put it on to 30% wider. I bought 5 or 6 cheap Chinese 77mm sky filters, removed the rear bayonet and used J&B Weld to glue the filter rings on after removing their glass....Buy more filters than you think you'll need..you have to build your mount up sufficiently to clear the rear elemant...Iuse it like this with my large Nikons and step up to 77mm with my FD's and Sigma 18-35 F1.8...hope this helps ...

Agree whole heartedly with Ebrahim on the Nikon, though a good one below a thousand may be a challenge...I also own the 80-200 and the 17-35, though I don't use them as zooms but as primes with infinite FOW's...they are as good as that on any point in the zoom range, but I paid more for mine than they are apparently available for as per discussion here... Edit....just glanced at EBay...several copies from Japan listed as very good to excellent in the $700 to $900 range...incredible value for that lens...

I have both the Tokina 28-70 and the Nikon 28-70 AF-s...Andy Lee spoke extensively in the 1st 15 pages of the lens thread at the top of the forum about these (and many other lenses) and I could not recommend his observations and advice more highly. He is a fountain of info, and I bought both lenses based on reading his views on these, and other glass...well worth the time spent on that thread...the Tokina is slightly softer...depending on your needs, neither will disappoint...the Nikon aperture operates manually with the adapters I use on my GH cameras, so of course dependent on your mount.

The Schneider adapter is 0.7 x...no distortion and 30 percent wider...don't know the full frame answer though... use S35 .

Andy mentions a wide angle adapter in the Lens thread that's made by Schneider....30 percent wider and zero distortion...a large optic with a bayonet mount you have to remove and modify...Andy gives detailed instructions in the thread...

Have you tried the Leeming One LUT for both CineD and Vlog...$23 for both and comes with settings for each profile and detailed explanation on exposure settings, zebras and ETTR...amazing difference and skin tones are the best out of the camera IMO...essentially rec709 Luts...gets you to a really good grading point...excellent value and you may seriously reconsider your upgrade!...GH4 with CineD and Leeming One...sorry...a bit off topic, but....

Agree with Bioskop.Inc...I have Premier but don't like it. I like that it in some digital way it mimics old film editors and film strips...a little rough in the beginning, and a lot of crashing...plus Apple pisses me off a lot...but it's evolving and improving fast and since grading tools like Color Finale have become available, for how I edit, it's great...

The recommendation is line of sight, but if you climb high enough the Inspire becomes hard to keep sight of...you have a small inset on your live view screen that shows your home point...the direction the aircraft is pointing...altitude and distance from home point...speed across the ground etc...and you see what it sees...Lightbridge (inspire and Phantom) also has a simulator in the App so you can start out flying simulations to develope your touch for flying without looking down...very different flying outside though...wind...birds....trees There's some footage shot on the phantom for by a guy/username Tron....gives you a sense of camera image and the drones motion....I think the 4 is excellent value, and a lot cheaper than an Inspire

I would go for the Inspire 1...the x5r is an expensive camera package to crash. I also think that if you actually set the Inspire 1 camera up manually, you'll be shocked at how usable the image actually is, in spite of multiple forum comments to the contrary. Although the Inspire is easy to fly, you have to put the time in with it and keep flying regularly to keep the muscle memory going. For me the reason to own instead of hire someone is perhaps a little less obvious...camera movement. On windless days you can get beautiful boom shots up the side of a building, or slow dolly shots through trees...cars etc...that is really my reason for owning one, and practically any feature I see at the theatre have certain shots that are soft or flawed but simply left in, as the audience hardly notices anyway...the Inspire 1 will surprise if you own one, and if not, upgrade to the x5r once you're comfortable with the aircraft. PS...last but not least, flying is a blast!!

Perhaps you can submit a clip of something that does blow you away so we have some frame of reference of the standards you find acceptable...

I like the surreal quality of the images you captured, that obviously the nimbelnous of the Osmo allows you, plus of course your shot choices and framing:)...how limiting was your battery life?... Was this one shoot?...amazing dreamlike quality!

What I like best about the M43 system is the lenses I've collected...I can get to S35 with a speedbooster xl and 1.3 stops on all my glass for that adapter, and for me S35 is all I'm looking for as I only really shoot video. SLRMagic also makes a lovely set of lenses for the M4/3 system and I'm confident I will never sell my GH2's, so to me they will always be relevant, but if you read the lens thread in the forum, Andy recommended some Nikon and Tokina zooms, (Nikon Mount in my case) that are so exceptional, they are really like owning, in the case of the Nikons, a set of primes ranging from 17 to 200 mm...heavy, but the image is so good....Then of course there's the Sigma 18-35, Anamorphic on the GH4...and old Russian glass you can often buy for higher shipping costs than the lenses themselves. So I find it to be a very flexible system, and in the end, your glass will go with you all the way...rarely the same cameras....

Hi Andrew...what picture profile did you use?

Yes I would!...PM me when you get a chance...would be greatly appreciated....I presume the 700 would work with a Shogun also...no almost nothing about it, except I just started looking at it on Ebay...still curious about the image when you have a chance....Cheers, Fritz

Although I use Panny cameras almost exclusively, I've been watching the FS700 for a while on eBay now...if not too heavy for you, and you're primarily dealing with landscapes, I think you can deal with the reputed skin tone issue...in fact I'm not even sure that skin tones is an issue on the 700...priced from slightly below $2000, to $4000 almost new...I'm thinking in the near future of getting one...perhaps it will work for you too...

If DOF is overused, and I think this is more typical of the small sensor camcorders like the HVX or shooting on DSLR's or M4/3 cams, in an effort to hit one of the several "Holy Grails" of the filmic look (hate that phrase), to my eye it starts looking ridiculous. The reality is, if you were to shoot a feature in this way, it would either be mostly out of focus, or cost a fortune!...Used to shift attention in small dosages it has its place, but when I'm watching anything, the human eye is still the standard to aspire to and too much of anything else feels forced...in the same way that I don't want to "see" the acting, I don't want to see the presence of the camera...only the story...does not mean I did not like the washed out bleached look of 3 Kings...it made me feel the blinding light and heat of the desert...it served a purpose... @Andrew M...great thread and important observation!!!

I think a really interesting experiment would be for people to watch various formats of the film and then to see who can tell them apart....in my day I was a bit of an audiophile and only vinyl , (preferably Deutche Grammophone) would do...now I happily listen to my IPod ...to the first issue I would say just make your film if you have one in you and a budget...to the issue of Tarantino, directors run out of ideas and then revert to jerking their cameras around...shooting narrative as if it's a documentary...etc....this is not innovation , but simply dragging old tech out of the closet...lovely yes, but like Rich 101 I have to say Nolan's Interstellar was absolutely beautiful...IMHO the film is what it's all about...

I think Vlog with the Atomos and XL Speedbooster gives amazing results, but I also really like it if I expose well to the right when recording internally...plenty of Vlog love here and I paid for it on 2 GH4's...actually answered a feedback request from Panasonic quite harshly, based on what I'd read from other forum members, but I have to say that after using it for a while, I would have given them a better review...

Agreed...shooting in log with the Inspire one grades surprisingly well...good to use for skin tones...getting used to the focus distance is a bit tricky when you fly near your subject, but log grades well...

I own the the Inspire and it's like having a tripod sitting in the sky...this will be another tool to add to your kit and used carefully could do amazing things in the right place...as with so much gear will it be perfect....no...but the story will really be, how good is your film, commercial, short narrative piece etc.....and if that is together, the audience will not give a hoot whether the Iphone footage looks better. All these clips were thrown together to make it appear like a chimp could use this, which is why it looks bad...but for someone taking the time...as with anything you shoot, you could get great results and at $269, for me this handle is a no-brainer...

I love my GH4's and although I've just relocated from the US to Ecuador (an enormous undertaking), the bit of Vlog I've played with internally looks great...I own a Shogun and have'nt even had the opportunity to try it...Natural looks great internally and Vlog just ads another dimension to this camera. Combined with the XL speedbooster for S35 sensor size, I've bought enough cameras to last me a while so a +++1 for Vlog from me!!