maxotics

@fuzzynormal I'm shooting with an Olympus 17mm/1.8 prime. @Inazuma Thanks! Looking forward to trying your fixes! Will try today. TJ, what I've discovered is 4K GH4 files also have their workflow issues. For example, they don't import correctly into Vegas 12 Pro. It adds 3x the length of the last frame in the video portion. I need to run a script to fix. You will be tempted to shoot straight 1080, and then you have to decide if the smidgen on extra IQ is worth the 4K downscale workflow (and if that's the case, save some money and get a GX7/GM1). Of course, you may have NO PROBLEMS whatsoever. I haven't seen any rigorous tests, but there is some indication the NX1 may be better for skin tones ultimately (and other stuff). Still, would wait a year on that camera line for all kinds of reasons. Unless I was shooting documentaries, none of the Pannys touch any RAW source, in IQ, full-stop. (the BMPCC is an incredible camera) Might be helpful if we know what kind of stuff you shoot. I could raise my opinion to 3-cents Again, not bashing the GH4. If I wanted slow-mo I'd be in heaven. Maybe after Inazuma's techniques I'll swing all the way around! Here's a video I watched last night (BMPCC with 10mm). I hope I don't get flamed, but I can't see a non-RAW camera getting this kind of nuance. Even though he graded a lot of contrast (like H.264), the RAW preserved the skin tones and lighting. My conclusion: if you shoot a lot of people, think hard. If you don't, the GH4 can do a lot of stuff as Matt says.

Andrew would you take contributions to a fund for hiring a model for some of your testing, like the 1DC/A7S shoot-out? The more I do this the more I remain convinced that skin-tones are the easiest way to judge how the cameras handle color. I would imagine you could get some local actors/actresses or musicians to sit in a chair for an hour or two.

I don't have any experience with the C100. I don't do this professionally either. So this REALLY is a 2-cent opinion. If you shoot a lot of people you might want to consider a 5D3 shooting H.264 or ML RAW, to match the C100, or get a BMPCC. I just got a GH4 a few days ago. The crispness of the image is astounding. But I still can't get really nice skin tones. I love the 4K photo mode. It's a great camera, easy to use, lots of features, but the image is, I hate to say it, very plastic-y. Not a bad thing. Great if you like high contrast shooting and very sharp images. But something about the colors makes people look like mannequins. I'm still trying to figure it out. Still trying to find some sample videos on the Internet where someone else has my taste. I would borrow or rent one first. But if I had to choose I'd go with the LX100 because the lens is awesome and it would still make a good personal camera for bumming around.

​This is why you want to get Andrew's GH4 guide The simple answer is, if you're going to end up in showing in a 16:9 aspect ratio stick to UHD. And @Matt, look in your wallet, if it's empty you're running out of space on your SD card :)

Uh-oh, it's still 2014 and I have another big moment I saw a GH4 going down in price on CL and eventually bought it. Didn't expect to like it, but a lot of people I respect think it a great camera. The owner is putting all his money into an F7 for his documentary work (to simplify/improve audio). Anyway, FINALLY, a freaking video camera that shoots a flatter more pleasing image to me. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE CineD. It isn't RAW, but it's close to what I grade to anyway. Also, the 4K is great for photography. I take a frame grab in VLC and process normally in PS. 99% of all the photos people see of mine are on Flickr and for that, 4K is enough. Here's a photo of my daughter to give you an idea. GH4 / Olympus 17mm, I think was as 5.6, at 200 ISO. Cine-D. I now need to go back and learn more from Andrew's GH4 guide

DigitalEd, this happened to me too. I was able to fix it when I loaded the latest driver for my video card and the latest OpenCL, or whatever it's called.

Not sure I understand question. Lightroom takes a DNG file(s) and applies a "process" to the image data, which you can output as a TIFF, PNG, JPG, etc. From there you have to take those TIFFs say, and create a video stream. In short, you have two steps because you're using Lightroom which is meant for photography. With Resolve, it does a process straight to a video stream, which can be any quality you want. I would go with Quicktime MOV to start. Sorry Dan if I misunderstand the question.

I keep wanting my "photo" cameras to suffice as video cameras (Nikon D600, Sony a7, etc.) but I'm with fuzzynormal and Oliver--The Panasonic GH3/GX7/GM1 cameras make shooting video easy and fun (I have the GM1). If everyone could afford it, I'm pretty sure the GM1 would be in every videographer's bag. I didn't think much of it as a sills camera until I acquired a Olympus 17mm/1.8. The way you can easily go from auto to manual focus with the Oly lens is brilliant. I wanted to move away from MFT in 2014, but it didn't happen. I gravitate more and more to the GM1 and I bought a BMPCC again. Here's a video I did in between taking photos with various still cameras around my neck. The GM1s are around $500 now. If you have money to burn, you will not be disappointed. The GM5 has stabilization I think. So if you have even more money to burn I've also enjoyed EOSHD even more this year. So thank you Andrew!!!! This video is the worst that the GM1 will do! Every shot was an afterthought to stills. I have an a6000, and as nice as it is, it is bigger and less video-friendly. Even though Panasonic didn't fix the mechanical shutter on my GM1, I can't get away from that camera!

Please let us know what happened. My experience with the Texas repair center was not positive. My advice, assume the lens is bricked and if they replace it, let it be totally unexpected. DO NOT give them any indication that it could have been your fault in any way. I'd probably say I took it out of the box and it NEVER worked. Otherwise, they'll probably blame you.

Vimeo search is also driving me crazy. For weeks I keep getting "Experiencing technical difficulties" when I search "Gh4+NX1+BM+5D3 in One Camera for $100" Seriously, something ain't right with Vimeo (search has definitely been barely functional for a while), or maybe the ISPs are screwing with it. From what I understand, China doesn't block Google outright, but throttles back bandwidth just enough, at random times, that people get frustrated with its slowness and use a Chinese search engine. To them it seems Google's problem. Anyway, skiphunt, believe Vimeo is having problems beyond Yosemite.

Phew! Glad I won't be sued today

Hi Daniel, sorry, I don't know that mount, or have it in front of me. It might not be a good idea, or is a screw mount and can't really be fixed. I spent 20 solid minutes looking at the adapter and figuring out what the problem was. In fact, I don't think the idea of how to fix it came to me until later, when I had an "in the shower" eureka moment Then I had to find the dremel! If you're not mechanical you might just want to send it back. I mean, I would have done that if it hadn't come from China. If your adapter came from China, then you or someone might want to look at it. Sorry I can't give an exact fix. But I can confirm that they don't always fit perfectly, in fact, most of them have some fit "issue." Like that adpater worked fine on Panny cameras but not the BMPCC.

Had similar problem. Used dremel to sand between the mount flanges to fix. You just want to make sure you don't get dust in lens or anywhere else. You could also try using your wife's/girlfriend's nail file. http://maxotics.com/?p=296

Sadly, I get most of my shooting ideas from used lenses/equipment I find at Goodwill on work breaks. If you have a "thrift" store nearby, or flea-market, take a quick tour. It's all about timing. If you find a lens, you can buy a $20 adapter and shoot with most any camera covered on EOSHD. Here are some of my finds over the past year. Nikon D80 and 18-105 VR zoom $17 (yep, I kid you not), Sekonic Spot Flash meter (first version, good enough for me!) $5, Vivatar 28mm lens $7, a few 50mms, around $10 each, various zooms, same price. A set of 4 Topcors for $95. Tripods for about $5 each. Various lights $5 to $10. Once I have a new/old anything I go out and shoot something with it--a fire hydrant or any family member I can trap Also, there are always very interesting people milling around thrift stores. I'm not a street shooter, but if I was, lots of material there.

Great piece of filmmaking Oliver. The girls' "porno" look detracted from the great comic ideas you put across. I mean, if it was shot with the cast of SNL, for example (and boy could they use your talent) it would have been a huge hit. As I have time, I will watch more! (and I encourage all readers here at EOSHD to check out Oliver's stuff!)

For those of you who want to look at beautiful footage--don't look!!! :) For those, like me, who will watch even the worst camera tests, then there may be something here for you. I adore the BMPCC, but the GM1 is very close, almost perfect, when you don't require subtle color and wide DR. I have the Sony 10-18mm lens on the a7 (which it isn't made for). Casual shooting with the Sony a7 and 10-18mm as long shot. Max is shooting with a Panasonic GM1 and an old Panasonic 14-45 lens with external OIS button (useful for BMPCC). Frank is shooting with a BMPCC and Olympus 17mm/1.8 lens (ProRes HQ). I meant to use the sound from the BMPCC but we still need to work on levels. So I'm using the A7's camera audio track. As you can see, the BMPCC is so sharp, that the 17mm is quite jittery. Beautiful lens though! Don't jump to hard conclusions from this video. I hardly spent any time on the footage. The a7 probably wasn't set up well and the clip probably needed more sharpening. The a7 and a6000 shoot very nice video. I'll put that stuff on Vimeo later. I edited this in Sony Vegas Pro 12. I'm new to the multi-camera feature. Again, haven't had a lot of time. Was fun. Love all three cameras.

Sounds like the FS7 may have caught a bug from their consumer cameras. My a7 and a6000 are very slow to start-up sometimes and do hiccup. You might check to see if the FS7 has wireless, or apps that can be deleted. Wireless and apss slow down the a7/a6000. Oliver, did you work on this video, and if so, how did you, or the editor, get all the way through it without laughing yourself into a coma?

delete

Thanks for the report! Sometimes in firmware the manufacturer has to make a tough choice. Allow the user to "forget" he changed a critical setting and shoot in something that may be unusable to him/her, or remember every setting. For example, I've been shooting with the Ricoh GR. It remembers if I have it set to "crop" but NOT where I set my focus point. So a friend set it to crop and I ended up with a bunch of low-res images. Though I sensed something was wrong, while shooting, it never reached consciousness until I was processing them. Then on the focus point, it means I can't set up my focus in a cafe say, turn the camera off, then turn it on when my subject was in the exact position I wanted to shoot them in. I feel Ricoh should have set the defaults the other way around. Forget crop mode, but remember focus point. Again, thanks for the update! Next time take some photos with your phone, of you and camera in dirty-water, so we can see you how you got hepatitis ;)

Just my opinion, Inazuma, from my experience with the GM1, which has a similar sensor to the GH4. I've done all kinds of tests with camera equipment, and though not rigorous, my conclusion is the larger the sensor the better dynamic range and the lesser the noise. "Canon" colors are nice, but technically speaking, the Nikon sensors + Nikon firmware should not be dismissed by anyone who has not shot Nikon in any real way--for stills, of course! Tests, aside, I've shot with a lot of different cameras and the Nikon 600 I owned for a while produced stunning results. It all depends on what you're shooting. I have to admit that my opinion of the GM1, for stills, has risen after acquiring an Olympus 17mm/1.8 However, I still find the Panasonic sensors, as great as they are for video, leave something to be desired for photography. As johnnymossville says above, the GH4 is a perfectly good camera below 800 ISO (a great camera when you factor in 24fps 4k stills! and silent shutter) Above 800 ISO, very nice black and white, but I wouldn't shoot indoors with it, professionally. Recent shot with GM1 I wouldn't have taken with Nikon >

I would keep it. As a stills camera it is far superior to the GH4 (though I don't own one). Of course, if you don't shoot stills, that would be academic. The GH4 and BMPCC are a perfect combination for most video needs.

Interesting video, but out in the bright sunlight it's not easy for me to see the difference between RAW and H.264. Late in the day, cloudy, or indoors, is where I gravitate to the RAW look. Anyway, so you think you can get better skintones with 5D3 H.264 than a good grading of s-log from the A7S? Also, might it not be that you, and others, are just more used to working with Canon video? That in a year or so the Sony will be on par, maybe better?

JCS I don't have near you experience with this stuff, but have a strong opinion nonetheless ;) I believe the answer to Inazuma's question is that ANY image that has been debayered from RAW sensor data (like the ARRI and RED I assume) has applied algorithms that permanently set the color malleability of the image. What Inazuma may not understand is that RAW sensor data is "RAW" in more ways than one. That is, it isn't a simple matter of, say, combining 3 adjacent color values into one (R,G, B). First, there are multiple types of debayering algorithms, as you pointed out, but it's more than that. Each sensel is not equally sensitive to all brightness levels of light. That is, the analog to digital converter "curves" the data to fit an expected range of values. At each wavelength of light, it may make different adjustments. There are matrixes of constants that are applies to different ranges of values depending on ISO expectations, etc. One can get an idea of complexity involved in interpreting RAW data into a usable image here: http://lclevy.free.fr/cr2/#interpol The in-camera settings discussed above, is child's play to what you need to make really good images from RAW data. Or what kinds of adjustments must be built into a camera to deliver good skin tones. 5D3 RAW gives you data before any assumptions are made. That's why it can deliver an image to match the ARRI with the right expertise. "The right expertise" is easier wanted than got ;) As you say, this expertise if baked into the firmware of the ARRI, which is why that camera is preferable to the Sony. Why the RED would be preferable to the SONY. But again, with 5D3 RAW, you have all the data you need to create exactly the image you want!

That you want to "leave clients out of this" is the very reason Ebrahim's advice is SO important, and which, the sooner you begin to appreciate, the more "camera angle" issues you'll get hired to deal with. When I hire a DP say (though in my business that person would be in the software/data business) I trust him to do whatever camera angle he/she thinks good. Assuming the DP is basically competent, the camera angle will be good enough for what I need. If it's a special camera angle, called for in the script, I might not even know the right questions to ask. This gets to the equipment issue. Richg is right that you want good equipment, but ONLY because the client trusts you to do what's necessary. There is no disconnect between Rich and Ebrahim. Anyway, if my DP thinks we need a specialist I will let him hire someone. If I want to use a $6,000 lens, the client will let me if I have his/her interests at heart. All productions are the sum of many people, each which have ideas that would go ten times over their budget. A lot of time and energy is spent, politically, collectively figuring who should get the budgeted time, money, etc. When I was younger (like you?) I spent a lot of time reading/learning techniques (I still do) and felt getting to a certain level of expertise would be the key to success. Unfortunately, what I discovered is that EVERY project is different in some small but significant way. Every project depends on my finding a solution to a problem I didn't have before. Styles and tastes change. So no matter how well I might perfect a "camera angle" say, it would eventually go out of favor so I'd have to figure out something that fit the new projects. In short, 90% of my clients use me because they trust me. The skill they need from me I find trivial!!!! Of course, I use the $9,000 lenses when I can, because it's important to me, and I do believe they see it, BUT ONLY AFTER I've done the 90% of the blocking and tackling. Another way I might say what Ebrahim is saying is that getting the 20 minutes "in the can" with consistent quality, that meets the client's needs (which they will never be able to fully articulate) always requires a million compromises which CANNOT be saved by all the most expensive cameras and lenses on Earth! It's not that the client won't appreciate a good lens over a bad lens, it's that the "story/message" is 90% of what they're looking at. A $10,000 lens in the wrong lighting will NOT beat a $200 lens with the right lighting. Like everyone else, I admire anyone who uses $10,000 lenses in the right lighting, but there is no real technique to that because lighting, as Ebrahim says IS A FUNCTION of what mood the client wants. TRUST, TRUST between you and the client is everything! So it's more important you WORK WITH PEOPLE, than learn techniques by yourself. Get any job you can. Work with young people on school projects. Finally, if you want to know tips and tricks, then you need to look at that person's work and ask them how they solved a certain problem. Or you need to ask what kind of look you want and what the person does. There are no tricks that apply to everything...except the learn to work with people for a COMMON goal that, as jax_rox says, may not be your own.

I don't believe any of those cameras have audio in. So for Panasonic you might try the G6/GH3 In Canon, you can get an EOS-M for a song! Magic Lantern runs on it so you can boost bit-rate (not that it makes much of a difference). You shouldn't dismiss camcorders either, especially since some can be purchased cheaply. A sony Nex7 might be good too. For ease of use and crisp image I'd go with a Panny, either MFT or camcorder. My 2 cents!