mercer

The 35mm f/2 was one of the lenses I regret selling. I had a great copy I only paid 70 bucks for. I had it for a year, sold it and nearly tripled my money. Of course now it’s hard to find a good copy for less than $200. I had sold it in favor of the 35mm 1.4, but since realized I should have kept the f/2 instead. The 1.4 is special but my copy had a weird color shift wide open... blues looked brown. Obviously I could correct for it, or stop down, but at that point I should have just kept the f/2 because my copy was pretty sharp wide open. Oh well, you live, you learn. Since I last replied, a half hour ago, I started looking at some of the original SMC Pentax lenses. I think they’re referred to as the K Versions in Pentax circles. What I find interesting about them is they’re supposed to be the same optical formula as the Takumars with better coatings, and they didn’t use Thorium, so there is no risk of the common yellowing that some Takumars have. I briefly had the 50mm 1.4 and 35mm 3.5 a few years back and they were pretty amazing. As I said in a previous comment, I only have a couple Series E lenses and some old non-ai’s, so I’m not really invested in Nikkors right now... My other option that kinda intrigues me is slowly collecting some old Canon FD L lenses and then getting the Ed Mika conversions done to them. I had a Canon 50mm 1.4 that was converted and I really liked how they easily rendered a vintage look with similar color characteristics as their modern EF siblings. I don’t know... just thinking out loud. My GF could not care less, so luckily for you, you’re stuck reading my musings... lol. And yeah, the Sigma looks good. And you’re right it could act as a fast modern 55 or 58mm lens. Are you definitely getting a Pocket 4K... I’m kinda undecided now. I’m definitely not going to be an early adopter, so for now, I am going to continue to enjoy my 5D3. What happens next year, when I’d be ready to buy one, who knows? It’s insane to think about what could be available. Although unlikely, for all I know, a Canon FF mirrorless could have 1080p RawLite with DPAF... that would become a no brainer for me. For my style of shooting, I’m really interested in getting a camera with DPAF, but for the money, the P2 is pretty special. But then I’ll be pondering a new lens quagmire. Ugh. Lol. Anyway...

I’ve always had a soft spot for Sony and the FS line, and that video is proof why... really nice. I love how you didn’t use any LUTS. I struggle with post color, and I’ve recently stopped using LUTS all together and started watching a bunch of tutorials. It seems in the long run, it will pay off, even if it’s a more difficult process.

@BTM_Pix they both look nice... but damn that Nikkor! I’ve been exploring all of my lenses and lens options over the past few months. For financial reasons, I’ve sold some I wish I could have kept and tested some I wish I never bought. And in the end, for my manual lenses, I’m gonna end up going full circle back to ai-s Nikkors. The price/quality ratio really is unmatched on the used market. I hope to keep everything in the f/2 range and that 105mm looks brilliant.

So just because the sensor is capable of Dual ISO, if they don’t implement a circuit, there would be no trace of it embedded in the hardware of the sensor? Which leads me to ask... is the implementation of Dual ISO hardware or software related?

Even without the Dual ISO implementation I would suspect that there may be a bump in DR somewhere in the higher ISOs.

Good to know thanks. I had the 12-35mm with the OG Pocket and it seemed okay. Most likely I’ll use c-mounts or maybe I’ll get a Voigt. I saw a few videos and the Panny 14mm f/2.5 looked pretty good on the original Pocket as well.

It is pretty amazing what can be done with this camera. I still have mine. I paid $175 for it during the original fire sale. No real reason to sell it, so I figure I may start messing with Magic Lantern on it. I did try Raw on it a few years ago but I really couldn’t get rid of the pink dots without chroma smoothing and the IQ took a hit. With the new leaps of SD cards and ML Raw, it sounds like some interesting things for the future. But the crazy thing I’ve noticed is that even the simple 3x Bitrate bump does wonders for this camera. @Matt Kieley has some great samples. Sure it isn’t Raw but for small, fun little videos why put up with the added workflow?

I was having a discussion in another thread and like I usually do, it got off topic. So rather than step on the other OP’s toes, I decided to make a new thread. About once a year, usually when a new camera is announced, I become nostalgic about the cameras of yesteryear and I realize how many great cameras have been on the market the past ten years... WOW... has it been almost 10 YEARS since the beginning of the DSLR Revolution or as Andrew Reid likes to call it... “the democratization of filmmaking?” I’ve been lucky to test out a few of those cameras, but there are a bunch that have eluded me. Maybe I am feeling nostalgic as I watch footage from my 5-6 year old camera but it seems there are some gems that are still available both new and used on the marketplace. Part of me wants to test them all before the new models make those fossils extinct. So I figured I’d love to hear some of people’s favorite cameras over the past 10 years and maybe some videos to show those cameras at their best. I posted this in the other thread but I can’t stop watching the first and last couple minutes of it. It was shot on the original C100 and to me looks as cinematic as they come... And here are a couple from the GH2 that makes me smile every time I watch them... Please share some of your favorites and if you were forced to shoot with an older camera... which one would you choose?

This looks great, I can’t wait to watch it! I’m going to make another post about older cameras and how they’re still viable today so I won’t step on this post’s toes anymore. Hopefully people will link to some samples like this. @sanveer sorry for the off topic.

It’s on my list of films to watch. In regards to your last statement... I can never tell if you’re poking fun or actually giving a compliment due to the language barrier but I tend to just accept the positive interpretation. Lol. With that being said, while I enjoy all of the benefits of new technology and cheap cameras discussed in posts like this, there are so many great cameras from yesteryear available for next to nothing now. And any one of them is capable of creating beautiful visual stories. In some ways, a $1500 C100 sounds more appealing than a $1300 P2. And in every way, the same story told on both cameras will have the exact same visual and emotional impact.

Keep at it Danilo, maybe write a one minute short film to propel your tests. When I got my 5D3 and started shooting ML Raw on it, I jumped into a short and I was forced to not only learn the ins and outs of the camera but also to think more about composition and light. In the end, I think it really helped. Good luck and please keep posting your progress... there aren’t many C200 owners on this site.

Hey Emanuel, I’ve seen the trailer before but not the film. However, I do love that look. Do you know which hack they used? Yeah, I know about Tangerine, but I think it was made by actual filmmakers. That statement really could have had... insert camera here... it was more a point about chasing every new camera that comes out. And no matter how hard or long you chase, somebody is going to put something amazing out with next to nothing. And the more I think about it... the next to nothing will end up getting more press and street cred in the end.

That’s the problem with every new camera, really... unless the P2 can finish my script, give me a shot list and get me some great performances... maybe those features are buried in the specs somewhere. The truth of the matter is that some kid with an iPhone will probably get a film in Sundance before I do with my hypothetical, future C200. In some ways, I almost wonder if an old school, C100 would be a better investment at this point for someone like me. I already have a camera that shoots Raw. And I already have EF lenses. And if I could get anywhere near as good an image as the video below, what’s the difference really... Or even this shot with a GH2... Or maybe I just have an affinity for cameras I couldn’t afford 5-6 years ago. Ha.

With my 5D adapters are so small and thin, they’re not a huge deal, but with mirrorless, I find their size messes up the balance. And with native M4/3 lenses, I have only really liked the Olympus 17mm and the Voigt 25mm. I didn’t like the build quality of the other lenses I tested. I assume the Leica lenses are great, but they’re a litttle out of my price range. So we’ll see. As much as I want a P2, I could see myself being one of the later adopters of it. If things go well in the next 6 months to a year, I may go to a bigger cinema camera and if they go not so well, I may be forced to go really cheap. I’m in the middle of a transitional phase with this hobby... a shit or get off the pot scenario.

Dang, those look pretty good. I preferred the look of the first one, but the Olympus Demo Video has some nice parts as well... particularly the gym workout sequence in the beginning (although I believe a can of haze or a fog machine may have helped there) and I liked the last snow sequence very much. Olympus’ 4K has a very organic look to it. Not too oversharpened and really nice colors.

Yeah, this is one of my issues with the Pocket 4K and may be why I don’t buy one right away. Until I bought my 5D and spent nearly nothing on native Canon lenses, I’ve always shot with vintage glass. Through the years, with all of the cameras I have purchased, I have grown tired of using adapters... especially the big adapters required for mirrorless cameras. So the thought of going back to those huge adapters is not really appealing at all. As of now my game plan is to use some 25mm c-mounts and maybe some cheap, funky native lenses from Meike, Fujian and the like. Since I have a strange feeling I’ll still prefer my 5D3 over the P2, I may force myself to only buy one lens for it... something fast in the 17-25mm range. If I really like the P2, I may get a Panny 20mm and 12-35mm to have a two lens set up. Otherwise my goal is to keep it simple. This camera does so much right out of the gate, that I want to keep it as small and close to handheld as possible... monopod at most... but maybe a chest pod of some sort. With it’s funky size and shape, any kind of large set up will draw too much unwanted attention. And this is why cameras like the GH5 are paramount to zero budget indie filmmaking. With the tiniest of set ups and a camera strap, one can blend in with the crowd and shoot a film unbeknownst to tourists, diners, and passers by.

Did you try shaking it and cursing at it?

Maybe with @John Brawley ‘s input, Olympus could be another contender for Raw video at a sub $2000 price point... Olympus’ superior IBIS and Raw does sound pretty amazing.

Yeah, I am searching for a 100mm. And then eventually I may pick up another 35mm f/2.5. I’ve had two of them but neither were in stellar condition, so I’ve sold them. I really need a 70-200mm (or some variant of those focal lengths) I’d rarely use it... until I need it and I have been in a few situations recently where I really could have used one... that Series E seems like a no brainer at that price.

That makes sense. I have my 5D3 for now and the stuff I am working on doesn’t require more than 1080p Raw. I’ll comfortably use this camera for the next 1-2 years. But next summer I may put together a short film with a little more meat to it and a C200 rental could be a logical choice for that project. Right now I do run and gun guerilla filmmaking, the C200 wouldn’t even be an option for me, but that project will be very controlled with a short schedule, so it could work. I’ve said in the past about the C200... you don’t buy a Ford Fiesta if you drive on the AutoBahn every day. So if your work requires a lot of footage, it’s probably not the right camera... even though there are reports that the 8bit 4K Footage has more latitude than the GH5 10bit 400mb footage... I think it was in Max Yuryev’s review.

I can agree with your first point. I am the hobbyist market that would love to shoot with one but can not afford it. But I also think Canon is segmenting their line up so much, that there is a camera for everybody’s needs. The C200, in my opinion, is solely for micro budget narrative, documentary and music video work. This is a camera to use when you have a small budget and a tight schedule... When you’ve scheduled for a 3:1 shot ratio and you’re trying to compete with short films or features that are shot on Alexas. Obviously, it’s not as good as an Alexa, but it will get you nearly halfway there. That was obviously a lost in translation title. We all knew what he meant. On a side note... A few years ago I was driving through an urban area and there was a billboard with a McDonalds ad. The ad showed a huge Big Mac and Ronald McDonald eyeballing it with crazy eyes. The caption read... “I’d hit that.” Hahahahaha. Obviously, nobody in the McDonald’s ad approval department realized that “I’d hit that” was a sexual slang phrase. So instead of proclaiming how much Ronald wanted to eat that Big Mac, in actuality their advertisement proclaimed that Ronald McDonald wanted to have sex with the Big Mac.

Oh I know and I even agree it’s unlikely... but I get surprised/disappointed by Canon all the time... so I just wouldn’t be shocked. But also the P2 is a cinema camera, just shaped like a pregnant DSLM and just a very well specced cheap one. It’s doubtful we’ll see Raw video in any consumer camera under $2500 from any major brand... they’ll never risk the backlash from consumers. Honestly, I don’t know if any of them will ever do it. Maybe whatever the GH5s turns into in its next generation, but I think it will be under a different moniker at a higher price point. But at under $2000, I don’t know if there is enough of a market demand for it.

Did you read BMCuser after the C200 was announced... I think there may have been some laces dangling from their mouths.

I agree, I shoot ML Raw now and have shot ProRes HQ from both the Micro and the Pocket, in the past, for the textures... skin, buildings, trees... it really is mind blowing to see the almost 3D detail effect Raw and ProRes have on textures in footage. I tried going back to consumer cameras but I just couldn’t. With P2, I am mostly excited for it FHD capabilities, and really interested to see how the baked in LUTS work with LT footage. For certain run and gun narrative ideas I have... this could be a game changer. However exposure could be a little more tricky than just setting the zebras to 90... false color should be great for this I guess... expose for skin tones or close. And then a slight correction in post and done. That sounds about right. None of them will do it at the P2 price point anyway. If any of them integrate it internally, it won’t be in a camera lower than the GH5... and I doubt Panasonic would do it with the GH5 either, this will be a $2500 camera feature. The major camera manufacturers won’t risk pissing off consumers with huge file sizes and time consuming post.

I’ll probably get shunned for this, but I think Canon will be the first to do it. I believe they’re the only major that has an in camera Raw recording. So I think a future XC20, or 5D5 or 7D3 may have, at least, 1080p RawLite. I doubt the P2 is really on their radar except for the competition the C200 is getting from the Ursa Pro. Now the Ursa Pro has a B-Cam with the P2. Obviously, this will probably never happen, but I never thought Canon would release any camera that shot Raw, so who knows.