fuzzynormal

I'm just talking from my own POV, obviously. You don't have to apply this to your own reality. Everything I'm writing is conditional to my anecdotal experience, but I'll add this: In my opinion there's nothing special about great IQ. You may like it. You may want it. You may value it... but it's become something of a commodity now. Great IQ is now everywhere and only getting better. Being part of film fests on and off for 15 years illustrates this to me all the time; wandering the inter webs even more. I just think if you're running on the IQ track, you're in a race that everybody is going to win. You, the guy doing this for decades --and you, the middle-school school newbie. You're all pretty much at the same pace with a huge crowd. The guy with a T2i is really only a few paces behind the guy with a Black Magic cam who's only a step or two behind Alexa dude. And more people join that crowd of racers everyday. Now, if you chase composition, cinematography, editing... motion picture storytelling --and learn how to do it better than most, you might be able to put some distance between yourself and the competition. You're by yourself, ahead of the pack. People are more likely to pay attention to you; if, for no other reason, it's because they can see you better. None of that means you shouldn't pursue an awesome new imaging tool. Heck no, having great gear is awesome! But (if you're in this career at a non-specialized level) covet gear above skill at your own peril. And it's so easy to focus on gear. It's tangible, factual, logical. No problem. 1+1=2. Easy math. Easy is fun too. Difficult and rewarding artistic endeavors are typically not. They're ethereal, metaphorical, ideological, messy, frustrating. Again, just my perspective/experience. And I'm not terribly artistic, honestly...just wish I would have had the sense to try and develop that skill/craft/art earlier in my career rather than concentrating on acquiring cameras.

​I still gotta learn how to play my scales by rote, memorize some melodies, and then understand how to artistically improvise. I feel I can learn that on a cheap upright; don't need a Steinway. Nor, I think, should I really attempt to acquire one if I can't even play effectively. Put one of those in front of me and I might be able to scratch out a rendition of Chopsticks on it, but that's about it. Sure it would be nice to have a grand concert piano, but I feel like I should concentrate on other things. Once those are taken care of, then I'll consider a superior instrument.

Since you're integrating it into a live switching I'd recommend Panasonic or Sony broadcast capable cams. You'l get something engineered for that situation. However, Black Magic also has a studio camera with a S35 mount. Might fit your needs.

​Absolutely! And my concentration has strayed from or ignored those two absolute fundamentals. For me, I feel like I haven't developed this enough to be satisfied or proud enough in my abilities.

To be sure a lot of imaging is needed where creative artistic storytelling isn't required, just getting the shot in a pragmatic way. "ENG" style if you will. So I do think there will always be a market for improving IQ cameras that handle extreme situation with impressive resolution and low-light capabilities. Plus, the upper echelon of the motion picture industry will continue to be cutting edge, and I'll always be curious about that gear. For my career arc, such as it is, chasing ownership of that stuff just isn't going to yield me much reward and, if one is not on a specialized industry track, I don't really see how it's going to benefit most future imaging careerists either. Everything is gear-related is getting highly democratized. I know for a fact that I have 5 consumer cameras on my shelf right now that far exceeds the image quality technology Kurosawa had. I also know for a fact that I'll never do anything remotely as impressive in motion pictures that he did. The best I can hope for is to be derivative in a creative way. So ultimately, yes, one camera or lens package will be better for a particular shoot, but is it "better-enough," if you knowatimean? My personal "ah-ha" moment really hit home recently as I slogged through my documentary film edit. Shot on a GM1 and a GX7 with Olympus primes, the IQ just kept exceeding my expectations and was beyond good enough for that project. Keep in mind it's just 8 bit h.264. Even so, I feel like I can push and pull it enough in the grade to keep me happy and maintain a nice high IQ standard.

I love NAB, been more than a few times, but maybe it's my age and where I am in life, but the more stuff I see the more I'm starting to believe that the tech has maxed out for me. So I ask myself, when any semi-affluent middle-school kid has access to comparable IQ that I have, what's the point of chasing the best IQ? 12 stops of DR vs. 14 stops of DR. This color science vs. that color science. If not applied to a good story and a foundation of compelling shots, using the best isn't really much of an advantge. Love great new capabilities. It's exciting, but rarely do I leverage it in any similar exciting storytelling way. For far too long I've focused on playing with the cool toys in the sandbox. Ultimately, I'm thinking I would have been better off learning how to build a superior sandcastle. All one has to do is wander around Vimeo to see a bunch of decent looking IQ and lousy filmmaking. And god forbid you're on a film festival selection committee. So much stuff looks great these days, you're forced to sit through feeble storytelling until you realize the narrative isn;t going to say anything remotely interesting, is just a bunch of hoary tropes, and the story doesn't come close to matching the imaging. Dang near everybody has great IQ devices...and if they don't they will soon...even if they're not actively searching it out to acquire it. It will come with their phone, watch, eyeglasses, pocket drone, or whatever. For me it's time to ignore the camera and go back to the concentrating on ideas and story. That skill is truly where any advantage in this career will allow advancement.

​I agree. But I don't view that as pejorative. That 100 was a breeze to use. Then again, I've always wanted an all manual digital camera with identical controls and knobs as a Pentax K1000, so...

​If they made, say, a DVX200b and it was the exact same camera without the fixed lens --just a M43 mount... Well, that wouldn't be ridiculous. The Japanese camera companies are great and all, but they certainly have different perspectives than the indy cinema/enthusiast market.

I've learned to tolerate rigging up consumer cameras; mostly fretting around the audio side of things. It works for me after a fashion, but sometimes you just need to shoot fast and easy. Cameras like this are coveted for those reasons. When you're not striving for some sort of cinematic DOF and doing corporate, this type of gear is ideal...still, all they had to do would be to allow a mount. I think people would be freaking out (in a good way) right about now.

I had a few of the old 100's. Good workhorse cam. The shooting ergonomics were great and the buttons on this guy look similar. Flashback.

​I will. I helped out a colleague on a local video just for the excuse to play with the EM5II and cheap-stabilizer setup. She's using a few shots in the cut. When she's done with the edit I'll put up a link. My only compliant so far is that the cheap fly-cam rig does't have much mass, so you gotta be careful with the vertical motion. Honesty, the EM5II would work better on a Glidecam 2000 and some big wide Canon mount glass. Like my sigma 10-20mm. That extra weight would smooth out the moves. Here's a video where my job was to get her shots with the Glidecam, Sigma 10-20mm, and GX7. Nothing fancy but for basic corporate video it does the trick: https://vimeo.com/114590984

I should upload footage I've shot with a EM5II and a $30 stabilizer. It's pretty much on par, maybe a bit better, than these examples. How much is a Feiyu?

There's no "shoot without lens" type of toggle on/off in the menu?

​Haven't had that issue on my GX7, GM1, or EM5II. It's not my run 'n gun lens though. I usually use it for establishing shots and basic wides. I've done manual focus through both ring positions and it's been smooth for me.

I guess you need to learn more then. As for me, I have the Olympus 12mm f2.0. It's pretty great.

​What do you think? Any chance a smaller nimble company might set-up a modest factory to cater to the niche demand of shooters that want to keep doing film? Maybe a Hollywood studio creates a sub-division to do so? Somehow I believe film survives, just curious how it'll happen.

If you're aiming for 16mm, then I'm guessing resolution isn't a factor in your considerations to achieve your particular film-look?

Innovate? No, not calcified Kodak. They don't have the corporate culture for it. This has been inevitable for decades.

​Doesn't that make cinema as an art form and craft somewhat ironic?

I think Panasonic does a pretty good UI overall.

​Uh oh, better stay away from Olympus then!

As a corollary I've always been partial to minimizing my field equipment. I don't know why exactly. While many colleagues seem happy packing their van with portabrace bags upon portabrace bags I feel content with one leather satchel and a monopod. Finding the best naturalistic light seems more fun than building a grid in the field, but again that's just personal preference and obviously only works for certain productions...so those are the types of productions I tend to do. The limitations of moving forward with the lack of stuff in the field is something I like; been that way since my film 16mm and video tube cam days.

Once I got my hands on the FS700 you better believe I abused the slow-mo. Had fun doing it too.

Unfortunately, this is not the site for that. This is pretty much a gear-centric place. I think that people of my ilk congregate here because we're involved in production, but since we're all on a lower level of budget and skill it's a heck of a lot easier to talk about specs than ideas. I can testify that in my own case I have more gear than I have ideas. BTW, does anyone know of a website where talking about ideas and collaborations happens? When you consider it, does does that sort of online interaction even seem viable?

I sort of did.