Cinegain

Maybe his 1DC didn't get stolen. Maybe he only just now returned it!

Lovely stuff indeed! That's why I like DigitalREV's Pro Photographer Cheap Camera Challenge. If you've got what it takes, you don't really have to nitpick the gear you're shooting with. You just do it. You're not using a RED/ARRI? Who cares? A camera in itself isn't going to get the job done anyways. But of course, you do need that shear talent, vision and drive. But then again, as the Baldessarini slogan would have it, that's what 'separates the men from the boys'. Respect.

There wasn't a 'download now' availlable. But register give in some quick fake info ugh and the download link appears. Seems to work fine. No problems via https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion . Both the Lite and the Studio version (which I need anyways, I snapped myself a dongle a while back which ended up being rather the bargain, post office lost it in limbo for a couple of months, refunding the seller and me (once it was done vactioning in the Bermuda triangle and showed up however, customs wanted their piece of the pie; still though)).

Don't think the RAW update changes anything about that, you're probably best off checking that with a Sony representative/customer service though. The single 3G-SDI-output is supposed to do HD only at 10-bit 4:2:2 before any upgrades? Thereafter from what I've gathered:

I hope they do an end of summer sale on the micro, then I might get one too.

You assume many things yourself, mate. No 14-bit RAW with the GH4 is not possible. You do realize the 5DmkII uses the CompactFlash as a storage format, right? That's exactly what I've addressed. You need to be able to write this stuff away! Plus, they had no idea the 5DmkII's video was going to make such big waves, yet had built it to professional standards, including the right heat dissipation and pipeworks in a spacious body, making sure users would be able to shoot their RAW pictures from the 14-bit capable sensor without flunking. It's the hardware to fit the job, so sure that's possible. Surely Canon had no intentions however to provide this sorta video mode, also because the workflow is somewhat challenging and you want to provide your customers an easy going experience. Plus, entering that unexplored terrain and pushing the boundaries does leave you with questions about overheating and overall lifespan of the device. It's just easier to not bother with it and have people tinkering around with it do it at own risk. Or even then, up the line you make sure to protect your cameras against these kind of exploits. With however a willing company like Panasonic, they've faced the challenge of making it work with hardware that wouldn't cope with it. That has more to do with sensor specifications, bus transfer speeds and write slot speeds than anything else. And the sensor is only capable of 12-bit to begin with. But of course, these are things they could address with a new iteration of the GH-line... Overheating? It's a Panasonic, not a Sony. That's just the thing. Panasonics don't get pushed over their limits. So you get what's possible, but still assures realibility and ease of use. So, no, there's no overheating issues, but because the already thin amount of information is thinly spread, the footage breaks up easily. That's why I'm saying it has to be shot at the largest bit depth and highest bitrate possible. If you want to improve on that, you've got to up the infrastructure to support it. But if you don't think that's the case. Fine by me.

1. What are you saying? All they need to do is write a better algorithm and release new firmware but they're withholding from doing so because you've 'only' paid 99 USD for V-Log Lite, and not for the full Varicam know-how? Everything is more efficient if you do it in advance. Like, building a car with a bigger engine in the first place, rather than tuning it with little bits and pieces afterwards to squeeze out more. Allocating the right things in advance, makes sure the infrastructure is laid out for optimized results after. The GH4 is relatively old, it struggles with V-Log, I'm having to go 10-bit 1080p externally (BMD Video Assist). A GH5 could have internal 10-bit and upped bitrate with perhaps even a newly chosen data storage format to cope with it. That makes all the difference and is not a software thing at all. 2. Don't take that too literally, please. I'm talking about the videocentric features, that's the closest thing in the line-up, for shooting cinema-style stuff. Things like V-Log L, CineLike profiles, uncompressed HMDI output, anamorphic mode, Timecode, dedicated brick interface (YAGH), etc. That only applies to the GH-range. People wanted to use the LX100 for aerial stuff, but there's no live-output over HDMI. Some might be missing mic-input and a headphone jack. Things like this and not including certain other features force you to go for the GH-range (Japanese heads of the brand's strategy, as I mentioned I think is happening here earlier). Which is the cinematic equivalent range I was hinting at (EOS has EOS Cinema, Lumix G has the GH).

Yup! 'better processing now for example would allow for these more or less experimental features like an anamorphic mode, to be used to its fullest'. Same goes for V-Log. They didn't bring out the GH4 anticipating they were going to release V-Log for it. The platform wasn't ready for it, but they gave it a shot. Building a camera from the ground up knowing it should be able to handle V-Log, that must turn into a huge improvement. And indeed it would be nice to see V-Log and CineLike-profiles on the rest of the range. But I think it's a deliberate choice not to give it to the lower range, call it 'Canon segmentation' if you will... you want cinematic range features? You buy the cinematic range cameras.

According to this Sony page 'Outboard 4K (3849 x 2160) recording via HDMI output (8-bit sampling, 4:2:2 color)'. Speaking of which, interesting article about Sonys shooting the all new format: X-OCN (eXtended tonal range Original Camera Negative). A 'RAW' format that's good for lower filesizes and easier operation. http://www.fdtimes.com/2016/08/05/sony-axs-r7-x-ocn-original-camera-negative-recording/

Being Canon, they've must've done something to cripple video on that thing (quality not being there, weird crop, moiré galore, you name it)...

A tiny sensor benefits from small lenses. That make 'em a compact and lightweight solution. Depth of field is also greater. This makes them an ideal match for aerial videography. And shooting aerial stuff, you'll probably won't even touch ISO6400 and the sorts. Being compact additionally makes them great to cram into tight spots. Furthermore, just for people who'd like to travel light and literally don't want their gear to weigh them down, you can travel around with your camera and a bunch of lenses and you'll hardly notice it's with you. Try that with a 5DmkIII and some lenses. Plus, the battery life on the GH4 is genius (and did we mention it doesn't overheat?). You might consider something else... actual cinema cameras are actually no real good in lowlight either. Prime example of course as well the Blackmagic range, that coincidentally sport cameras using the same MFT mount. You're basically using stuff at ISO800 and light for it. It's when you can't, or don't want to (maybe you're just lazy) light your scene, that you just pick-up something out of the A7-line up for example. Which comes as no surpise, as people have been doing that since the first A7s (which I also think people go for because they're secretly bokehwhores and fullframe makes it easier to creme the hell out of that background). You buy an A7SII or A7RII? Good for you. Now you're buying a multithousands costing set-up and having to feed it a 35mm image circle, those lenses are going to be huge compared to the M43 stuff. The entry into M43, even flagship models, is much more doable and lenses are compact and overall quite affordable. Plus, the flexibility to adapt a multitude of different lenses, including C-mount. Sure you can use an A7-series body in S35 mode. But where's the sense in that? APS-C wise... the A6300 has been mentioned tons of times, but need to get a grip on their reliability. I'll buy one as soon as they're as good to shoot with as they seem on paper. But I just can't be bothered with the hassle that's involved right now. Samsung NX1 is cool, but isn't exactly better in lowlight than the GH4. Canon has yet to come out with something attractive APS-C wise, what I'm concerned and Nikon has the cool D5300 and D5500, but then you're restricted to 1080p60 max and that flippin' mirror annoys the hell out of me. Also, you're missing out on all the treats associated with mirrorless cameras like focus peaking and the sorts. In the range currently the X-T2 is your best bet right now, if you can dig their system and philosophy. About not bringing out the GH5? People know the 4/3" limitations already, they've possibly been shooting one since the GH2 and have collected quite the range of glass for the system in meanwhile. Yet, with every new generation there's increased performance, but also improved ergonomics, better processing now for example would allow for these more or less experimental features like an anamorphic mode, to be used to its fullest with de-stretching and everything. I think the G7 and GX80/GX85 have significantly improved on noise levels and general quality video, yet, as we've established, there's nothing really as production friendly like the GH4, that has all the pro-level features. Not bringing out a GH5 yet, thát is what would drive people away, the frustation that a G7/GX85/80 is performing better, but isn't as much as a production tool like the GH4. Plus, it's all good and fun that they're collaborating on making organic sensors a thing. But I bet that's far from being ready for prime time. And with everything new, it will have child diseases that need to be worked out for the launch. Unlike Sony, they're actually trying to give you something you can rely on... M43 not your thing? You should've come up with that a long time ago. There's things it is and there's things it isn't (and won't be).

Maybe so. Yet... they did jeopardize the A6300's reliability. Even if you're doing some small production, there's going to be a time and patience/willingness constraint. If you're working with people at some point they're going to be sick of your 'ow, wait, there goes the camera again, great performance you guys, but we'll have to reshoot this'. And some moments are exactly that: 'moments', and you might not get a 2nd chance to relive it. That's why you probably can't have your camera fail on you all of a sudden, prompting warnings or just shut down. Add the rolling shutter and Sony colors you'll have to struggle with... even with the solid 4K and respectable lowlight performance, are you really so easy to forgive it? Are you going out of your way, by flipping out the screen, opening the battery compartment and even mounting a fan to make it work for you? Why would you do that to yourself? That borders masochism. Does the end justify the means? For me, I like to be in control. I like to shoot at my chosen focal length, focus distance, f-stop, shutterspeed, ISO and white balance. I certainly don't let the camera decide when to start and when to call it a day. When it's critical to get the shot, you gotta be able to trust your camera to handle it. If it can quit on you at any given time, that's just no bueno. But that's just my two cents. I wanted to love and get the A6300, but ultimately I just couldn't.

There are some contradicting reports on the 'hack' that puts PAL systems into NTSC system default with 30p and 60p modes as well as no region 30m limit. That might work... I also mentioned a site of which I'm not sure, eglobalcentral, that sells imported cameras in the GX85/80 thread. But mainly the site of which I know people have good experiences with... they don't have the GX85, but they do have the G7: http://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=192&sl=en&currency=USD . Just be aware that depending on the country you need to ship it to, you might have to keep in mind the import charges/custom duties that apply (One Stop Digital policy: 'VAT Free guarantee only applies to orders shipped to Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States'). I guess this weekend I'll figure out the 'hack' and try it on my GX80 and G7, see what's the deal, what works and what does not.

It just makes for a great 2nd shooter camera. No need for it to replace the GH4 or anything. You shoot your main things with the GH4, then you'd like some B roll in between. A cam shooting an interview with dialog? Great, keep the dialog running and put some visuals on the screen. Wedding? Good chance you've got a music track underneath. You don't need sound all the time, continuous AF on M43 isn't going to be stellar anytime soon I suppose, so you'll use MF (or get a Canon with dualpixel AF)... It does have the BIS, it's smaller and less conspicuous. The GH4 might be the productivity tool here, but the GX85/80 is the fun one that opens up some new possibilities. It's priced attractively to serve as an addition to the GH4. And then you might replace the GH4 at a later stage, but it wouldn't really warrant to let go of the GX85/80. I'd say, keep it around! And for the budget conscious, if you manage to handle the audio externally, you still get a great deal with the GX85/80 even as a main cam. At that price, what's a better pick? Just need one camera to do it all, like the GH4 and you can wait? Sure, wait for the GH5. You just have to realize what it is and what it isn't. The GX85/80 is not a GH4 replacement. But it is a great deal and an overall interesting package altogether and for now there's nothing quite like it out there. For me personally it makes the ultimate addition to the GH4.

Love the footage I've seen! But I do think it's an aerial platform first. If you're mainly shooting studio stuff, it's nice that it suits the OSMO, but I think other set-ups probably make a little, or actually a lot more sense. I think this is really its forte:

Quite the abundance indeed. So much nicer than all of the other noise, though. Like Canon's. It's got character. In B&W anyways (in color that has so many puke green and magenta blotches that it would make you throw up). What they do these days with Panasonics is suppressing the noise from the darkest darks. Yet, now they're lurking in the midrange shadows. Even dark blue skies. Still the noise is of finer quality, sorta say. I wished though, they'd be able to manage up to and including ISO6400 without much hint of any noise anywhere at all. They'll get there eventually. I think with the right infrastructure/wiring and processing they're able to get a purer and higher quality signal out of the sensor. -- Btw, I think it's super cool ambassador Andy is shooting a whole project with speedboosted G7s and is getting awesome results. We've sure went in the right direction with the Panasonic cameras. The amount of tools and accessibility to them is greater than ever and it only seems to be getting even better and better. Although that also means that you'll have to set yourself apart with your vision and talent, more so than your technical know-how and capabilities, which is not neccessarily a bad thing. You can put more focus to the things that really matter, like creative choices, but also other technical sides of filmmaking outside of the camera itself. Like proper audio, lighting and post production. As well as the less technical things, like how to tell better stories and getting the right people on board on your projects.

@ markr041 Once it's crushed it's gone. A parachute has a reserve chute to deploy. You don't get it right the first time? Don't worry, there's wiggle room. Also, you might not have decided a look. Maybe afterwards you feel a certain look fits the piece much better. Once it's baked-in, it's done. But if you shoot with a bit more lattitude, you can flip it how you want. It's a philosophy thing. Same with photography. Some people think it's cheating if you use Lightroom/Photoshop and you should just shoot the picture in-camera. Well. To each their own. I think it's marvelous that we can shoot RAW pictures and develop them on the computer. And sure you can make additional adjustments to make it prettier. Girls put on many layers in front of the mirror each morning... some more than others. Who am I to say they can or can't. In the end you get a unique look from a unique point of view/perspective and to me that is what it is all about. Not all art is equal. But personally I like the approach to create part of the look in post, which ultimately gives you more creative freedom. But if you're of the mindset that creative freedom is the freedom not having to worry about the look in post and focusing on the moment itself (although I would argue that's exclusive to shooting as-is)... that's cool too. Btw, I'm with Vesku! Let's do a blast of the past! I love that piece.

According several comments it works, but it seems there's a slight difference in buttons to press. That might make it a little trickier to get back from system default NTSC to PAL. So I've been hesitant to try it out myself. That would be hard to balance I think anyways, since the 18-35mm f/1.8 makes the whole thing really front heavy. Not a lot of gimbals cope well with any combo and the 18-35mm, even if you'd use the Z Camera E1. Of which I btw still have to watch yesterday's video from Devin. Might do that right now, curious about his thoughts on it.

Yeah, the GH4 is definitly more production friendly. But the GX80 is just so sexy. I can pop up a compact prime, be it that 20mm pancake, Mitakon 25mm f/0.95 or a boosted Contax Zeiss and you can have a really low profile set-up for some run-n-gun handheld shooting. You can squeeze a bit more out of the sensor performance wise and it's all stabilized. I wouldn't say: 'get rid of your GH4 now, it's obsolete, all hail the almighty GX80!', since the GH4 is still the productivity master that offers up more functionality. But the GX80 does make a pretty mean addition to get some cool shots into your projects as it's just so convenient and well performing. Hopefully, indeed, the GH5 combines best of both and then some!

Maybe you don't have to... 'Setting Panasonic camera in system mode - PAL to NTSC, 25p to 30p, no 30 min. limit' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt-GX5BdcgU As seen on: Otherwise I know Vitaliy is good for it. Have done some deals there myself. I would recommmend http://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php of which I heard great things, just they don't seem to carry that model right now. They have a good import tax policy for some European countries. Google Shopping mentiones eglobalcentral . They're a little vague on how they ship 'em to ya. If it would come out of Hong Kong, or from Europe. They do say in the conditions that their price policy holds no surprises and is free of customs duties once delivered. So there's that. Great stuff in this topic while I was gone for a bit. Jan, great stuff man!

Yeah, from what I remember, the Kipon BAVEyes were no match against the Metabones Speedbooster and even R.J. Lens Turbo, ZY Optics/Zhongyi/Mitakon Lens Turbo II, with the worst soft corners and purple fringing. A little fresh up, BAV -> Bavaria, the folks at I/BE Optics in Bayern, Germany, who also brought us the Handevision brand with underperforming overpriced lenses... But you know, without competition, if you're the first, you're the best. - lol, just saw that B&H significantly dropped prices (as in saving 1000+ bucks) on the Ibelux: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=ibelux

If I'm going Hasselblad, I'm going all in! X1D. Leica S video looked pretty sweet too. They should throw those in if I rent a bunch of lenses for a fashion studio shoot with the A7RII.

T2i. There's not that much recovery going on. It's just filling in the blanks with slightly less blank. Although it looks to blend more well with the sky opposed to the curtain.

Because they want to do everything well and appeal to consumers, they don't want to add fluff and invest resources in something that would sell better if it was more generic and priced cheaper. The Blackmagic range is not really something for mass market, so they can focus on making it excel at one particular area. Their area of expertise is video production. You wouldn't pick a BMD camera to go and shoot stills however. But yeah, that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see Panasonic do something like that. Talked about that before, I think they should bring out a prosumer up from the GH-range. Like a tiny little VariCam. So... you'll get the GH5 and up from that, say the VC5 that's roughly the same idea, but just a little crazier (and more expensive). Sort of a AF100 follow-up, but then again, not really. Still more like a GH5, compact and capable, somewhat reasonably priced, just a little more with a prosumer videographer in mind, rather than a hybrid shooter. So yeah, then it would be nice to see some sort of RAW and ProRes and some proper data and audio handling. But as a mass market camera division, you can't bring out your top of the line camera for hybrid stills and video with overkill on features driving up the price. That's why I suggest to put a VariCam-label on there and drive up the price for the folks that do need those extra features. Nikon seriously needs to do a mirrorless APS-C line-up. They've got great sensor know-how what extraction/processing concerned and I know they can deliver lenses that are on point, but I just don't care about fuzzy DSLRs. D5500 as a mirrorless camera, or perhaps even something like the D750... that would be golden (but would need to include 4K). But I guess they are scared of the competition in that segment and are afraid that losing the mirror will also mean people won't see Nikon as a solid AF performing brand anymore... I think they'll be sticking to a pro-stills strategy. Olympus. Here's what I think the thing is... they had the E-M1, people found it decent, people liked to have image stabilization, they saw a use for video and would like more. So... they were like, well, now that we have the E-M10-range as the mini-E-M1, let's just make the E-M5-range the new video-centric model. BAWHAMMO. E-M5II. No mention of 'video' in the press release, remember? It was all 'professional film', 'cinema movies' and all that stuff. Boy, it didn't exactly live up to the raised expectations... The E-M1? It's the Olympus pride and joy... on stills level. They don't want you to go and shoot awesome video with it. They want to carry the tradition that they're the classy stills camera brand. In the successor of the E-M1? The 4K will just be the feature that they 'have' to add. 2160 is a bigger number than 1080 after all. Sex sells, more/bigger numbers too. And if a flagship has to be relevant for atleast the next 2 to 3 years, people will be bummed to learn it's going to be outdated soon, which could potentially harm sales. So yeah, I don't suppose it's more than the obligatory 4K (not that Canon cares). But hey, Fujifilm didn't have to step it up that much with the XT-2, but they seem to have done quite well for themselves, so who knows? Sony man. Just about everyone and their neighbour's dog is using Sony sensors these days, yet they all seem to do a better job of extracting/processing what's coming out of it. Rolling shutter issues. Overheating. I'd honestly almost rather shoot a Canon, because they might be underwhelming, but atleast they do what's expected of them. They should just buy up the laid-off folks over at the Samsung camera division already. They need to work on color and reliability/performance. They need to be as good for actual shooting as they seem on paper. I think there's room for improvement everywhere. Bitrates, datahandling, processing, color, codec, dynamic range and pushability, noise levels, rolling shutter. Still would like to see intermediate resolutions. 1080p to 2160p is somewhat of a leap. There's room in between to allow for 1080p projects to still have a little wiggleroom up for framing correction and/or stabilization, but for that you don't need the full 2160p. Which most notably means as well that you can shoot at higher than 1080p res, but do not have to drop your framerate as hard as when you'd go 2160p. Anyways, I'm good with the options we have for the time... next up is Photokina, around that time (fall) Craft Camera is supposed to be doing rounds showing off their system... we'll just have to see about that... then it's CES and NAB already. That's about 6 months of sitting back and looking what happens and just keep shooting with what you have. That's doable.

Probably been shot wide... Maybe a 12mm of some sorts (Veydra T2.2 perhaps). Probably just mounted it almost as-is, as they wanted to keep it small and light. Especially mounted to a vehicle (where you can see part of the vehicle itself) any shake will be pretty manageable I'd say. As for the upscale... probably.