M Carter

If you're going to go DSLR, you probably need to get something external for focus, unless you go mirrorless with a peaking VF, etc. Supposedly the NX1 has a really nice EVF. For Nikon and Canon, I've relied on loupes and small monitors for years now. Too many times the focus looks crisp on the LCD but soft on a desktop monitor. My strategies: I keep a pair of reading glasses (magnifiers) in my pocket. That alone is a big boost in dealing with an LCD and they're a few bucks at any drug store. they're in all my camera bags. Really handy when you have to tighten some tiny screw or something, too. Even a cheap loupe helps. Find one that doesn't block controls, can come off easily when you want, etc. I've never had focus issues with a loupe, even though you're really seeing the screen pixels. Since the T2i I've managed good focus with only a loupe. I prefer a loop to an articulating screen in fact and never owned a DSLR with a movable screen. I usually use a 5" Marshall HDMI on set - they go for as low as $200 used. If it's a planned, locked-down shot, I use the DSLR monitor for framing and the Marshall at 1:1 pixels with peaking. You'll get good focus that way and still be able to watch framing and color. Really necessary for a lot of specialty shots, like straight overheads, floor level looking up, etc. AND I CAN TUNE THE MONITOR WITH ANY SOURCE OF BARS… it's more accurate than the camera screen by far. In studio settings, I often use a powered HDMI splitter and stick a 20"+ HDTV on a rolling stand, too. Generally for clients, makeup, crew, etc. Only expense was a VESA mount and a $10 splitter (and a soft case for the TV which cost more than the TV, but that's not absolutely necessary). I use the TV in my edit bay so it was already purchased. I got one of those chinese HDMI viewfinders for like $270?? Really, really greatness for out in the sun, esp. with a crane or oddball rig or positioning.

Just a note on the OP's desire for XLRs but wanting to stay with a DSLR - I use the Tascam DR-60D as an external recorder, and feed the line out into my Nikon for synch. But what I've found: use the camera's meter and stage the gain properly (mic in, line out level, and camera recording level) so nothing peaks, and keep the Nikon on the low side - under the center of the gain control scale (use the Tascam for your primary gain) and… you don't need to synch footage. Basically use the Tascam as a preamp. My interview audio has sounded great this way (generally with an AT4053a or a Senn G3 w/ OST 801). Very surprised at this, and I do record to the Tascam as a backup (since the tascam records a safety track at -6DB so I'm covered for unexpected peaks). I'm fairly picky about interview voices and usually run my final edit through Pro Tools to reduce any room noise/reverberance and do a pass with nice EQ and comp plugins - I really like a crisp high end with lots of presence (vintage EQ and Massey CT-5 kind of sings with the AT mic) and I've been surprised, but happy. The Tascam ships with PluralEyes so synch is pretty smooth if you use the tascam tracks.

What's the transcoding time like with rocky mountain?

I got a great Nikon super 8, manual or auto, metering and glass are excellent, shoots up to 48fps, built in tungsten filter, etc. Still haven't done a damn thing with it but test a roll. And I get those emails from pro8 with film and scanning packages - I think they have a 4K scanner now. One of these days...

I think a lot of what we think of as the super-8 look is due to 2 big factors - amateur shooters and that most of those films have faded with age. Amateur gives you really blown highlights and jerky motion - and the aged film has reduced saturation but a lot of reds since those dyes last the longest.

I did some testing using color charts and shooting raw stills with a 5500k light. My tiffen (glass) and Lee (resin) were fine for sharpness and color. My Formatt HiTech has some green shift. All three had no sharpness hit that I could see zoomed in. Nothing huge, if you're manually white balancing or shooting raw video you can just re-balance. When I color test filters or lights, I check a gray card against photoshop-generated grays. So if you eyedropper a gray patch and it's, say, 127R 121G 120B, you'll have a slightly warm cast. Put a box of pure photoshop-generated gray that's close to the patch reading but pure gray (all the same values for r,g and b - in this case 121-121-121 would do) and you'll get a good visual look at how it differs. The best thing to do - even if you have some so-so filters - is check eBay continually for the filters you need and try to get a deal on a good brand. You'll occasionally snap up a deal. last week a guy sold a Tiffen 4x4 812 for $37... just missed that one. And test your cheap filters, you may have some that are as good as a Tiffen.

If you don't have a super-butt-kicking pile of computing horsepower - it's often smart to do the most render-heavy stuff up front and pre-render those clips. For instance, I'll do a neat video pass if noise is an issue, or do my re-timing, stabilizing, and scaling down, and render that stuff out. Usually just to ProRes HQ if it'll go back into AE. Lossless is fine too, just bigger files. If I have motion graphics backgrounds with layers of trapcode particular or any advanced lens flare plugins, and so on - I pre render that stuff too. For camera tracking, I often make a sharpened prerender that's optimized for the most track points (open the shadows way up, denoise, etc), use that to get a track and then switch to the normal footage (which still has the same motion, just hasn't been tweaked for the best camera track). I wouldn't worry about prores generation loss. It's a very robust codec and very edit friendly. I use regular prores (not HQ or proxy) for my final renders and then assemble edits in FCP. You really won't see any compression issues. And unless you're projecting this stuff in a digital cinema theater, you'll be compressing down for your final delivery anyway.

DVX user - been around forever. Odd mix of experienced guys and newbie-kids posting about how to screw more junk onto their "rigs". There are guys in the audio forum that really, really know their stuff and are very helpful. Key & Peele's DP posts long, detailed breakdowns of how many of those skits are shot, immense amount of ideas for doing quality work very quickly. And then a zillion posts about "should I get this amazon 3-light 100 watt flo setup to shoot my zombie feature film". So, kind of the usual. I've posted my DIY HMI projects there and gotten into some good discussions; there's a ton of stuff there going back for years if you search.

You can get a great lens setup if you can live without AF. I'm thinking of getting the NX1 and a Samsung wide for steadicam and seeing how AF does; but for everything else, I'm really happy with my Nikkor primes, some of them I've shot with for 15 years. Favorites for a budget setup: 85mm 1.8 Af is gorgeous, under $300; Series E 100mm 2.8, under $100 and really really nice budget lens… 28mm AIS is legendary, under $300 and a great "normal" lens on APS-C/super 35. Add any version of the 50mm 1.8 for next to nothing and maybe a Rokinon wide if you need something in the 12-14mm range. I use the 28-70 2.8 often when I need a zoom for tight spaces or fast gigs, that's more in the $700 and up range though. And you can get an old beater push-pull 80-200 2.8 for a couple hundred these days - I skip it when I can use the 85 or 100, but for really long shots on APS-C, it's got a sexy look, but having rails and a lens support is mandatory. The 180mm 2.8 AF is also a superb lens and affordable if you really need a long lens and don't want to use the giant zoom. The 300mm F4 AF is a killer and usually well under a grand if you need to go crazy long, too.

I've had a lot of trouble with focus peaking on DSLRs… maybe it's the aliasing or something, but the peaking on my external monitor says "everything's in focus" when it's not (I use a Marshall 5") I know that some of the SmallHD models have more advanced peaking which can be adjusted though. I've gotten used to using the camera LCD for framing and set the external to pixel-to-pixel (zoomed in) and also sometimes add peaking. Much more reliable for me, and the little monitor doesn't add a lot of weight to the setup. When I have the time on set, I usually use, say a 21" HDTV on a wheeled stand as another monitor source. That will really show you what's going on focus wise.

On a budget? The Nikon Series E 100mm 2.8 is a nice interview lens. Here it is wide open:

On paper, it could be the last camera you'll need for a few years unless you need 1000fps or something. In the reality of a working set, who the hell knows yet? BMC has a great track record when it comes down to the actual image. I think the big Ursa was a learning experience for them. I predict I'll own a mini in a year, and that will be the end of renting cameras for me. I hope it works out that way at least.

I asked about something on the BM forum - if you have an SDI input, can you get a converted output from the HDMI of the Assist? The answer was yes - good news to those who have a lot of HDMI gear but want to shoot with, say, one of the BM SDI-only cameras. If that answer is correct, anyway. I have an HDMI viewfinder, a marshall monitor and a big HDTV on a roller stand for clients and whatnot. I also have a semi-regular muppets-type gig where we have HDMI splitters all over the set for puppeteers to see their moves (they bring their own HDMI TVs or monitors), so this is good news to me.

Thanks guys. I could see the NX1 replacing a lot of my stills work if the pro zooms are good enough. The Af with a native lens seems like it could be useful for the steadicam as well. I'm in the midst of upgrading my film darkroom to 4x5 to do very large analog prints (amongst other things) so I'm spending cash left & right… else I'd just get an Ursa Mini and call it a day for the next few years.

Time for me to upgrade my "I own it" camera for non-rental projects. Thinking the NX1, but I don't know much about the current Sony lineup. I have the big broadcast video-style camera covered for events, etc. But looking for my "pretty camera" for planned & lit setups. I currently use a Nikon D7100, which has suddenly developed bad banding and pattern noise in the shadows - but only "every now and then". And it's limited to 30p @1080. I'm intrigued by the little Sony Mkii for $1200, but the wide DOF makes it not-great (but I may get one anyway for some uses at that price…) Here's my list of specs: $1500 or so. Don't care about audio quality - meters and a mic-in would be nice for synch. (And my preamped synch signal to the D7100 is usually clean enough to use in the edit if all the gain is staged well - very spoiled in that regard). APS-C / super-35 sensor - that's the sweet spot for me and my glass, don't need or want full frame. Would rather not deal with a speedbooster. 4K, pref. 60p @ 4k. 120FPS or thereabouts at 1080. (I often do projects where I'll shoot effect plates in the studio and like to do this non-rental, take my time, experiment, etc…) Lens mount & sensor that can be adapted to my big collection of vintage Nikkors. Not concerned with AF or auto-exposure. Would love a wired trigger for crane work. Why not just grab the NX1? Dynamic range and transcoding time issues. How is dynamic range working out for people using the Log setup? Seems like the third party transcoding solutions are imperfect - gamma shifts, color shifts, etc. What's the latest and greatest? My editing setup is (til winter or so) a 2009 mac pro, internal raid, ram, fast video card (smokes pretty well for 1080 prores work) - so I don't know if switching to premiere for native H265 will be feasible. But will Premiere give me high-end batch transcoding to prores? (Never used it - in fact, I still edit with FCP7, most of my time is spent in after effects). I'm kind of spoiled by the D7100 - pull the card, throw into streamclip, beautiful Prores in minutes. But I do want 4K, for effects/motion graphics and reframing - reframing for dialogue edits would be huge for me. If someone is a real stuttery speaker or unfocused, I often deliver in 720 (for web video clients anyway) to hide all the damn cuts with closeups. NX1 users chime in, others - what cameras am I missing out there? Thanks all.

RX10-II users - can anyone give me a rundown of codecs? Are these common formats that can be dragged from the card clip-by-clip (like H264, etc)? Or more like the AVCHD style, where the entire card has to be read and translated vs. a folder full of accessible shots? Any issues along the lines of Samsung/H265 encoding, or is this footage easier to access? (I shoot a lot of Nikon DSLR and I can open clips right from the card to preview in QT player, and drag my favorites to an MPEG Streamclip batch, very easy. My "event" cameras are Panasonics, where I have to go through log & transfer in FCP to get prores clips, similar to C300 footage, etc. Those are my two transcoding paths I use daily).

Not true at all. You can shoot raw, "film" (which is a flatter look) or a standard video look. Even when shooting "film" mode, my experience has been that you can dial in a look with a regular old 2-way corrector plugin, which you can probably use in your sleep if you're done any editing. And the BMCs shoot ProRes, so you can jump straight into editing if you want. Regarding your original post - there just isn't a "perfect" camera for many people. I'd say the Ursa Mini (the 4.6 with high frame rates) could be the last camera many professionals would need for a few years (4K at up to 60p, slow motion, raw) … but kitting one out to be useable would be the financial equivalent of buying 6 or 8 or 10 of the little Sonys. Not really apples to apples. The only thing that gives me pause with the Sony is that small-sensor look. There are workarounds, but they're huge compromises for things like sit-down interviews in limited space. I often find my camera 5 feet away from a subject with a busy wall 3 feet behind the subject. 70-85 mm, f 2.8 - f4 and It's pretty. Not going to happen with the little sonys.

My understanding was Samsung and ML talks were limited to control and display functions; but with the NX1 SDK out (which, again "as I understand" as I'm not a developer) is just for camera control functions, that may not be of much interest to ML who has focused a lot on improving bit rates and adding things like zebras. Wondering when we'll start seeing the end products from that SDK.

I guess what I'm getting at isn't so much about GAS, but the constant improvement creep in the market. The mini seems (potentially) to me to have about everything you'd need, short of the insanely high ISOs and insanely high frame rates. I have plenty of GAS for old film cameras and darkroom gear, paper, chemistry… for my commercial gear, I balance market improvements vs. cost and payback time - I don't like upgrading when the systems I own are completely second-nature to me. I love love LOVE the original BMC image. But I often need (at least) 60p in my work. I pull a lot of keys and still need to settle on a 4K camera with good color space for that work. But I'd like the DR and look of a BMC in those gigs. So I own a broadcast-style 1080 camera, a Nikon DSLR, thus I have run & gun and "pretty" covered, and I rent when those are outclassed. I've never needed crazy frame rates (but some 100-ish FPS would be great in many situations, even corporate stuff, tech stuff, fashion-beauty, etc) and I've never needed to get useful footage at 3200iso. To me, the mini doesn't seem like a crazy price point - it seems like it covers every base for general commercial video work, whether broadcast, corporate, web, narrative, docs, whatever. I think for a big slice of the market, this would be a wise "no more renting, don't need to upgrade for 5 years" solution that would pay off pretty quickly.

Remember that with the Ursa, you'll need a battery solution and (unless you already have an SDI VF) their $1500 EVF looks like a must-have. Throw in the shoulder kit and realistically you're around $8k for ready-to-run - still an impressive value though. The 4.6 camera really looks like your next 5 to 8 years worth of camera. Hard to say that for anything else on the market, but what else is coming that will be a must-have feature? 6k? 8k? 6k 3D? 18 stops of DR? 1000 fps at 6k becomes a staple of corporate videos and TV spots? Am I missing something or is it viable to think the 4.6k mini would get one out of the yearly "do I upgrade??" agonizing… I think I'd even stop reading reviews for at least three years.

There's a whole world of clients out there that don't know the first thing about cameras. On rare occasions, there will be someone involved who's played with DSLRs for video and asks tons of questions. Maybe people shooting national TV spots get into these issues, but for small corporations, startups, entrepreneurs doing web marketing, email blasts, Facebook video campaigns and internal communications/training - they pretty much want to see your reel or examples of stuff that is in line with what I'm proposing or what they envision. If an agency I work with gets the gig, I don't even show a thing - the end client trusts the agency. That said - if I shoot with a kitted-out DSLR - matte box, follow focus, rails, monitor, loupe, a big geared prime or zoom and an audio recorder - it does look pretty cool on the tripod. Now the total costs of all that may be well under $2k, but I've had clients squeeze through a tight set in terror of bumping the camera and, literally, they've said "I bet that cost more than my house!" It doesn't hurt for a client to perceive that you're using very high-end gear. But you could be shooting a national TV spot for Revlon and tests showed the BMC pocket with a super-16 lens from the 70's gives the exact look, and the director wouldn't blink an eye - whereas one of my clients would be "hey, you just stuck a lens on a iPhone, right??" For the size of clients I mention above (and in a big city, you can make a good living at that level) setting up an $800 Kessler crane makes them feel like they're getting a lot of bang for their buck. Don't disregard this sort of perception from people without knowledge of the tech side, who are writing the checks.

ISO is really down to the sweet-spot range of a given camera/sensor... and for more range, testing with something like Neat Video to see how far you can push things and get natural cleaned-up footage. But you mentioned shooting at 29.97 - I've never been happy with that look, though it's a YMMV thing. I've never seen a tint from any CPL I've owned, even Tiffens, etc - lately it's those cheap-ish Marumis, which are great. The red-brown sounds more like IR contamination, though I haven't heard of that being an issue with the GH4. Trying to gain a half stop with shutter speed has always burned me... I really see the extra blur and would rather push ISO when needed. But I have quite a pile of lighting and haven't messed with that for years. For slowmo, increasing your shutter speed will help keep motion blur consistent. I know there are tables on line with suggested shutter speeds for various frame rates, to date I only own cameras that do 60p - on a 24p timeline, I tend to use 100th to 120th for 60p.

For time lapse, there are plenty of forums (such as this one) that are time-lapse centric with way more specialized knowledge. The best TL work I've done, I've shot manually - auto exposure just doesn't seem to be exact on each frame and I've gotten flicker that way. Also, when your lens is stopped down, it's a mechanical process to go from wide open (between shots) to stopped down (shutter open). The shutter - in every system I have ever owned - doesn't quite close the exact same amount for a given exposure. So again, flicker, and lots of it unless you shoot wide open. With an aperture-ring Nikon lens on a Nikon body, you can stop the lens down to the f-stop you will use, unlock the lens, and twist it towards removal - just enough that you hear the aperture click down to the stop it's set for. This locks the aperture in place, and no more flicker. This may work on other camera systems, but there are probably aperture workarounds on the timelapse sites. You do have to take care when you're done with the shot, since the lens will be loose and can (theoretically anyway) fall off.

You can put all kinds of glass on an NX1 with adapters.

When I shot Canon for video, I just got cheap adapters and Canon rear caps for all my Nikkors. Before a video day, I'd stick the adapters on beforehand - they're fiddly things to get on and off and it sped up things on set. My first was a Fotodiox, like 70 bucks, very good adapter. I later got several cheap $20 ebay chinese adapters and they all worked fine, but did seem cheaper. Sold them all with my Canons around the Nikon D7000 era. (All my glass has aperture rings though, don't know if adapters with aperture control are going to be more fiddly).