fuzzynormal

Vintage lenses just look great on people. I'm down with the old school on that one.

This is definitely a 'put up or shut up' kind of thread. Challenges are non stop making a narrative. I just finished a rough cut of a short shot in the Imperial desert as well, and some things just end up half baked...excuse the pun. I haven't had enough nerve to post it here as I still want to fix a few things, but it's admirable for anyone that is willing to create something and release it into the wild. You gotta start somewhere.

I'm going to go out and check on the 100 this morning @Bic Camera. I'm not entirely enamored with the camera being a fixed lens and all, but I've been looking to sell some of my old redband canon glass, and that would give me enough to buy the LX. For what I do, small fits my style and it's cheap, so why not? I don't expect it to be perfect and won't worry too much about a bit of moiré in a 4k image. For what it's worth, I'm shooting a doc on a Gx7 and a Gm1 while here in Japan, so I'm used to working with smaller consumer gear; prefer it, actually.

Pentax a110 lenses. Fun, good, and cheap. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_Auto_110

Nothing different than before. You need positive examples to learn and build your craft. Right now it looks like you're just shooting and editing without informed consideration. You could develop your craft at a university I suppose, but the most pragmatic way is by working with folks that already know how to do what you want to do...and do it well. I mean, I could tell you to go off and study Sergi Eisenstein for some useable theory on how to create effective montage, but why do that? The school of hard knocks and hands on is the fastest route to practical learning. If you can't find a crew to join, then I suggest you straight up copy an awesome production shot for shot. Doing another wedding soon? Find the best wedding video you know and do the exact same shots and the exact same editing. Gotta hone your craft someway. It's like becoming a musician. You start by covering your favorite songs, learn the techniques, and then grow from there. Good luck

So, it begs the question...what the heck did you do to it?

I'm on my 6th Pany cam at the moment. Haven't got the GH4 yet 'kuz I went with the GM1 and GX7 for a string of documentaries that began before the GH4 was released, but the reliability of their gear (even the consumer stuff) has been decent; can't complain.

Here's a cheap method and one way to skin this cat: Ultimately, the easiest way is to get good at it without any gear. Lots of practice.

For a lot of handheld I found one just has to "glide" as much as possible. I think this is easier for shorter people. The squat walk. The smoother you are, the smoother the shot is, is that's what you want. You just kind of learn to hand-hold to the best of your ability. Other things influence it a lot. Rig, mass, etc. Bigger cameras off-the-shoulder are actually better for handheld shots, IMHO. Maybe that's my broadcasting background bias. But, for instance, I mounted a lead pipe with a bottom weight to a DSLR camera --and used that mass as a steadying device for a lot of walking sequences. I wanted the shots to look like they were half way between hand-held and steady cam. Again, just depends what you're going for. The cinematography in a film like Dallas Buyers Club, or say Bourne Identity, is way more involved than just being handheld, obviously. It's disciplined movement of the lens in relation to the light and character...even if it's deliberately visually chaotic.

I'd just re-encode it to ProRes422 and then use it. An extra step, but it'll make your editing app happy.

Well, you could shoot 30p on the Olympus and conform it to 25p if that works. Not sure what you're shooting and if you're sync-ing sound, but I've shot the EM5 with a GM1 and GX7 on a 24p project and handled the frame rate mix in such a way. It was a project that didn't require audio though. I've dropped 30p footage straight into a 24p edit/sequence in the past as well. It's useable depending on your standards. Can the Euro cams accept the Americas firmware so the GM1 will shoot 30p? I don't know how that works. Is it hardware or software controlled?

Shoot 30p on both.

It does look good. Think they might be using the low setting on the iDynamic function as well? Also, the dude looks to have a bigger lens than native m43 on the cam judging by that reflection shot where we see the camera op... Might have vintage glass on it too.

This pretty much nails it. From my experience, you work in the market you deserve to work. If you're running in the segment that wants to see pretty gear, that's fine if it's where you want to be. If you aspire to be judged on your creative capabilities, then you do stuff that proves your ability, you get hired because you impress, and the rest falls into place. I've seen really talented people pass through my work-tier and it's always easy to recognize those that are bound to move onward and upward. The bulk of my jobs are in the corporate world and there's some limited experience in the higher end film production. That's the path I've taken. The compromise in corporate is that there's more than a bit of hand holding for the client...which might be impressing them in ways that don't show up on the product. Plus, with corporate gigs the stakes aren't as high. It's a blessing and a curse. Anyway, like I said, I've built up a DSLR rig for clients before. No big deal, pardon the pun.

Ugh, I've done that. I always travel with 2 backup cams now. Places like Borneo and Cambodia typically have a short supply of electronics...

In general, don't use auto focus while recording video; any cam, any brand.

Confirmed from my GX7 experience too. The EFV is not color accurate. Odd, but there ya go...

When I get back to my home office I'll send a pic of a DSLR rig I built a few years ago to make a client feel better...and never used it for anything really practical, just some studio stuff. It was highly entertaining to put it all together, but shooting with all those attachments was just kind of silly and just isn't my style.

Stick a big ol shotgun mic on the top too. That always looks good. Interesting to hear perspectives from Egypt. This particular issue is familiar to me with some corporate clients...it's always a weird balance within those guys. They want to know that they're spending money on something special, and it's hard to quantify an intangible such as "creativity." My sentiment is with Richg101, but reality seems to get in the way. So, in those situations, big things impress. That part of the business is the same everywhere. Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. Let me know when you're in the market for crew. Lots of my assignments have been in south east Asia, Europe and the Pacific rim, but yet, frustratingly, I've never been to Africa. Would love to go to work on something cool. Look me up if you need any help.

Rig it up. If it just needs to be big to make an insecure client feel better, why not? Slap a huge matte box on there while you're at it. Never use it, it won't matter, it'll just look cool. Pander to lucrative clients...to a point.

Cameron? Really? He can stage some action, but were's the originality?

Make a silent film and tell a story where two characters are always in sillohette. Seriously. Make THAT happen. Forget the technical. It doesn't matter. Work the craft. Force yourself to consider silhouette and learn to look at light. Start with unusual, fun, circumstances and work backwards from there. Limitations are a weirdly ironic avenue for creativity. Obstructionism is a common exercise for artists.

Dancing Taco? Have you seen my reel from 98? It also had a dancing popcorn shrimp on it. Upper or lower fields?

Hang out and pay attention with people that are incredibly better than you. That's the best education right there. Nothing better. Always work with/for talented people and you'll pick things up quickly.

Even when I agree with it, or am impressed by it, I tend to understand marketers are just creating a motivator for my own purchase rationalizations...as they also understand, btw.