TheRenaissanceMan

Right. To clarify, seeing as how Brian is here, the Speed Booster does not degrade the quality of the lens. The problem is that the 85mm f/1.2 is a terrible performer to begin with until you stop it down to f/2-2.8. It's more of a special-purpose portrait lens than an all-purpose short tele.

If they can release a mirrorless camera with XC10/C100-level image quality in 1080p without Sony's RS and overheating issues, I'd be a happy camper.

I think the idea was that physical distribution would make it harder to hack/distribute/reverse engineer.

Ooh man...you're trickier to guess, too, because you've owned so many different cameras. Impossible to judge from the color pallette--the LUT's destroyed most of the original color response--but the detail, tonal smoothness, and the way the sky clips reminds me of Canon footage. I'm going to guess XC10.

Wow! Awesome work, midloch! Can you share your camera settings and some info on how you graded this? And what lenses did you use? I guess this confirms the old budget filmmaker addage of "buy something cheap and functional, master it completely, then go out and learn to not suck with it."

The Speedbooster combo, again, will give you more light and therefore less noise. It does, however, cost way more, have much lower image quality (until stopped down to as the same or smaller aperture than the Nocticron), and is much, much heavier. Another factor to consider: The Speed Booster combo will have a stop more light/less noise than the Nocticron, but because the Nocti is so much sharper wide open, you could use noise reduction in something like Neat Video and still end up with crisper results.

I would disagree with that claim. It's more about where your priorities lie. If you want a hybrid camera for super hi-res stills and decent video, the A7R II is a great choice. If you're more of a videographer who occasionally shoots stills and want the best possible performance in FF video, the A7S II's S-LOG3, SGamut3.cine, and video-optimized sensor will be more up your alley. Horses for courses.

To the people seeing tons of noise: I haven't had a chance to work with V-LOG yet. Are these noise problems at ISO 400? Or are you seeing them at 800/1600?

If it's been working the way you want, why bother? Make cool stuff with it.

Won't the processor run cooler with less pixels to process and downsize?

I think V-LOG really needs an external recorder to shine. 8-bit 4:2:0 just doesn't cut it. I wonder if the camera has enough horsepower to do internal 10-bit with another firmware upgrade.

Really? Even in 10-bit? And is this mainly at higher ISOs, or are you seeing it at all sensitivities?

It's better than any of the other 4K hybrids. By a mile. Looks like the GH4 still shows those weird blobby artifacts around point light sources at high ISO. I really hope they work on that for the GH5. It's so wacky-looking and impossible to correct in post. Otherwise, great vid! Even though it's a throwaway test, your skill shines through in the editing, atmosphere, and music choice. Speaking of which...anyone who's played a Valve game should find the music familiar. It's from Half-Life, but now plays over Valve's studio logo when loading any of their titles.

"A new firmware V2.4 will be available starting Sept 17th. Use of the V-Log L workaround associated with firmware Version 2.3 runs the risk of the Zebra Function not working and the Histogram reading improperly." That might explain why people using the workaround are having so many problems with exposure and noise.

*weeps*

...so using it will show banding or won't show banding? We used double negatives and now I'm confused...hahaha.

So applying the Cineon 3D LUT in Resolve may not show banding?

They should have it back up within a day or two.

These look terrific! How did you grade?

1, because it provides you with an effective f/1 of light. However, the Nocticron will be sharper, have IS, and autofocus. f/1 and f/1.2 are pretty close, too. I'd base the decision less on total light-gathering(which will be very close) and more on convenience, versatility, and whichever gives you the look you prefer.

Or you can just grade in DaVinci Resolve.

It should be the exact same sensor as the Blackmagic Production Camera, but with a better cooling system and a beefier processor (for higher frame rates).

How are you exposing the camera? What's the dynamic range of your scene? And how are you handling the camera in post? Are you using the V-LOG LUT, or something else? Properly exposing and grading a LOG image is tricky, so I wouldn't get too down on first impressions. 10-bit out should definitely help, though. I'm not sure the internal codec is up to encoding a LOG curve this aggressive.

I don't understand. You think that contributed to the moire?

I torrent movies all the time, but I only do it after I've already bought the Blu-Ray. Why? Because those Ultraviolet digital downloads are a ton of work to redeem and transfer to other devices. I feel like I've already done my part and supported the movie, so I'm not doing anything wrong by putting it on my computer in a different form. Likewise, I wouldn't feel bad for downloading V-LOG L this way if I already paid my $99. If I just used this method to avoid all the hassle of the official upgrade procedure, no one gets a raw deal: Panasonic has their $99, I have what I paid for. But Tugela is right: Panasonic is going out on a limb with this upgrade. Manufacturers generally wait until the next product iteration to add new features, and Panasonic certainly could have. If we want to reward them for this strategy, the only way to vote is with our wallets. Otherwise, we're not going to get a deal this good next time.