Zak Forsman

I've been searching for Varicam vs C300 comparison videos to get a sample of how the EVA1 and C200 might compare. Will say this. *IF* Panasonic can pack the EVA1 with their Varicam color science, and maintain 14 or 15 stops of DR, I'd choose that over the C200. Like Mercer, I love shooting RAW, but I'm fortunate that I've got an Odyssey 7Q+ already and am sure that with Mitch Gross involved, Convergent Design is one of the first companies that will have an update to capture the EVA1's RAW output. But more important than that to me are color and dynamic range, and I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed that Panasonic will deliver.

That's good to hear. Definitely keeping an open mind. I've got a big four month job coming up that will finish in the fall, leaving me flush with cash for a new camera this fall. PS -- my very first camera, when I was a teenager, was a Panasonic SVHS camcorder.

I was pretty excited that the C200 was offering compressed RAW, 15 stops of DR, and solid color science. buuuut there are a lot of compelling specs in the EVA -- 240fps in 2K, even in short bursts, would be fun to have. If they can truly attain Varicam color and 14+ stops of DR, i might be tempted. But I worry that 400mbps won't be enough. That's half what 10 bit ProRes 422 HQ would be at DCI 4K. Anyone know the crop factor for the Varicam line? I know, I know, screw crop factor. I only ask because I want to calculate the widest taking lens I can use with my anamorphic set. Canon Super35 is 1.6x. Not sure about Panny. 1.5x maybe?

in an hour. 4:15pm pacific.

are audio crossfades working yet? i jumped ship the second I encountered that bug (and verified others were experiencing the same) in the initial v14 beta release.

yeah, i was a bit paranoid about that. I used a thin slice of double sided tape on the far left and right edge of the disc. People have also suggested Canadian Balsam to me for use in lenses.

I modded a set of Conax Zeiss lenses myself. Wasn't without its challenges as this was my first time tackling something like this, but 100% worth it. The set includes 28/2, 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 85/1.4, 135/2. Mods include: 1. seamless focus gears from Helicopter Sean 2. bolt on Canon mounts from Leitax 3. knurled step-up rings to 82mm from Breakthrough 4. 82mm push-on lens caps from Kaiser, Canon brand rear caps 5. and most importantly, I custom-made 2x fixed aperture cut from a .4mm thin sheet of stainless steel After sourcing all the lenses from ebay (all are mint or near-mint condition AEG or AEJ), I opened up each one and took measurements for the aperture discs. designed them in adobe illustrator (making alternates that were smaller, and smaller still). When I received the aperture discs I auditioned the different sizes, selected the one i was happiest with, and finally mounted them inside with a semi-permanent adhesive so i can remove them later if i want to re-sell the lenses. Haven't been able to shoot with them too much yet (busy at work). But I did take the 50mm pictured above for a spin. See below. Surprisingly, I've taken some flack when i mentioned this project in various facebook groups because these lenses are highly regarded (and pricey). I don't know, maybe they see me as either incredibly stupid, or reckless... maybe I'm both. But I can definitely say I'm also completely happy with the results.

The only work I've gotten via social media is making DCPs for indie filmmakers. But that doesn't exactly pay the bills. That's more for what my dad used to call "walkin' around money." My bread and butter is cutting featurettes and other marketing content for the major studios. And those jobs come from real life relationships. That being said, I've somehow put together 15,000+ film-industry related followers across FB, twitter and IG. Not a ton, but it has raised my profile enough that when I bring a film to a distributor, they already know who I am. And I think that helps curtail any lowball offers or shady practices, i assume because they know I have an audience -- not that I would wield my social media presence as a weapon, but you know. To me, this question boils down to "do you want a fighting chance to have people to see your work?" and I do. An active social media presence is not the only a powerful component to achieve that.

this looks great. wanted to share something I learned to do in resolve. see at the far left and right of your image the blue/red chromatic aberration along hard lines of dark and light? I get that with my Kowa B&H anamorphic too. but in resolve, if you split your image into red, blue and green channels, you can apply slightly different horizontal scaling to the red and blue channels to eliminate the aberration completely. it also sharpens things up a tad. and you'll get to experience the same, very satisfying, feeling I get everyone time I apply this fix.

yeah, exactly. Raw Magic and into Resolve. Although i did try that Footage app that guy is developing for mac users. Seems pretty good. And it can handle the new lossless raw from ML, unlike Raw Magic. No color grading on these. 4500K. BMD Film to BMPC v2 LUT.

Shot some this evening. 5D mk3, Contax Zeiss 50mm with oval aperture mod.

I shot the full 1920x1080 frame, used my SmallHD monitor with a 2.39:1 overlay to compose with. this way I can tweak the framing higher or lower in post before cropping the final 2.39:1 frame. I prefer 5D + ML Raw overall -- things I like better than the BMD sensors are (1) full frame, full frame, full frame, and (2) the BMD sensors in the Pocket, Micro & BMCC all struggle to maintain good color rendition under tungsten light. While the Canon still looks fantastic. Now, if I could just get 48 or 60fps working...

I'm losing anywhere from 1 to 1.3 stops on a set that contains f/1.4 and f/2 lenses.

other than the lens, the biggest expense was having the aperture discs cut from a .4mm sheet of stainless steel. that was $180 USD. to install them, I was quoted $400 USD per lens, but ended up rolling the dice and doing it myself. $35 for the seamless focus gear and another $35 for the breakthrough photography step-up ring to get all the lenses uniformly to 82mm.

Finally got a chance to fool around with my secondhand 5D mkIII. I also recently (last night, actually) modded a set of Contax-Zeiss lenses with fixed 2x oval apertures. These were shot with a 28mm. oval bokeh and a full frame sensor is a great combo for faux anamorphic. not only do you get the unique defocus characteristics from the oval aperture, but full frame gives you the increased field of view you'd expect from using a real anamorphic lens.

Question, if I want to try one of the high frame rates, do I need to set the Canon menu to 60/720p and then the ML FPS to 48 or 60 depending on the mode I've selected?

well, what can I say... shooting full frame raw has ruined me for other cameras. and mercer, you're right. the blackmagic LUTs for their 4k sensor are looking pretty good at first blush. I like v2 in particular.

no, i asked him first but he's too busy.

yeah, keeping it all. bought this 5D3 for $1600 from a woman in venice ca that says she bought it to vlog with, but barely used it since purchasing it 4 months ago. came with 3 canon batts. not a mark on it. still *smells* new. today, I need to downgrade the firmware. CF card arrives tomorrow. primarily wanted this to go with a set of Contax Zeiss lenses I'm having modded with fixed 2x oval apertures because full frame mimics the field of view once would expect shooting actual 2x anamorphic.

bought one.

might be joining you folks in a bit.

it's kinda both, but it's the SmallHD that should have the controls to monitor it properly. you're seeing black on the sides because the GH5 is 4x3 for anamorphic. but through HDMI it has to send a 16x9 signal so it pillarboxes the 4x3 image within a 16x9 frame. so when you monitor for 2x anamorphic on the 502 it squashes the height by 50%, which includes the black on the sides. what it *should* do is also push in to a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. if you shot anamorphic in a normal 16x9 frame on the GH5, that black area on the side would be filled with active picture, and you'd see it on your 502, but your full aspect ratio would be 3.56:1.

I feel your pain monitoring anamorphic on the 502. I've asked them repeatedly to implement custom scaling so we can use the full width of the screen. One halfway solution is to put the monitor into scaling for the Canon 5D. It punches in a bit, which helps, but it's not perfect. My Odyssey on the otherhand handles anamorphic monitoring perfectly.

anyone know if it's a 1080 screen like the 502? or is it 720 maybe?

I've been waiting for the NAB announcements before purchasing a 4K camera for my anamorphic needs. My BMCC and BMMCC are great but need to be able to scale 4K down to 2K to avoid sacrificing resolution. And personally, I'm not entirely convinced the GH5 is for me. I want ProRes HQ at a minimum. So if BMD doesn't offer up a new compact 4K cinema camera at their press conference tomorrow, I'll likely pick up the old BMPC 4K on ebay. I see them going for as little as $1200. and its 1.7x crop would let me use my Leica 35mm Summicron as a taking lens. damn, now I'm really considering it. Why didn't I think of this sooner?