mercer

Thanks, Mike. I really appreciate that. I had nature on my side for most of those, but I couldn’t be more excited and pleased with this camera. I’ll definitely send you a link when I finish something. I was able to get 48p working in 2:35 but it wasn’t full hd. But it was kind of a pain changing all of the settings. Actually it was a major pain.

@sgreszcz that e-m5 Mark II Footage looks great. After shooting with the Oly, what made you choose the GH5 over the e-m1 Mark II?

I get that, but are web series that popular anymore? I don’t really know. I remember them being popular 2-3 years ago but I haven’t heard much about them lately. When I said short film, I meant a 3-5 minute short. I am in the same place as you. I don’t really have the answers, otherwise I’d have an agent and a deal, but I have done a little research and created some theories. In the end, you really just need to do what feels right to you. But I love this discussion. It’s probably the best thread in months.

Well if you’re just looking at making something to showcase your work, to help sell a bigger project, then why bother doing a web series? Just make a short film?

I meant what I wrote, with my lack of color correcting/grading skills I find it easier to make 1080p footage look “cinematic” than it is with 4K. Perhaps it’s the sharpness, either way I find it easier for me. I suppose, but I don’t really see the necessity of 4K when 1080p is often more than enough. I guess it’s an Alexa vs Red argument... Alexa usually wins.

“So... it’s a numbers game?” Extra points for anyone who can guess what movie that line is from. Anyway, thanks for the reply, great information. @kaylee after further thought, I really think that maybe you should write this out as a feature or motw. If you have 90 pages of material structured with “commercial” breaks, every 5 minutes, in mind you can get more episodes out of the story if it starts picking up steam. After an initial run of teasers, promos, BTS footage, banner ads at horror sites, etc... release an episode a week. I would probably have 3-5 episodes ready to release by the time you run the first episode. And then as the first few episodes run, continue to film and edit, while releasing a new episode every week. So, with that in mind, perhaps also have a logical conclusion to the story after 7-10 episodes, just in case you only have a few views... then why bother continuing to film it. If it does pick up viewership, then continue to pump them out. If it doesn’t, you will have a solid short web series and then a feature script you can try and sell or shoot yourself. Also remember you have a built in audience in other filmmakers. So plan on marketing the web series on sites like this with BTS videos you can post across the web. I would think a lot of your initial views could be from other filmmakers interested in how you made the web series and how it looks. Take a look at David Sandburg’s Vimeo page. If you don’t know, he is the filmmaker behind the viral short Light’s Out, the subsequent Hollywood feature of the same name, and the sequel/prequel to Annabelle. He is really good at creating content for other filmmakers... https://vimeo.com/ponysmasher

The OP’s point is hypothetical. Obviously tech will get better as well as IQ, but if it didn’t and this is what we have, then what would you choose based on what is available now? For me, with the budget I have now, I would choose the 5D3 with ML Raw, I already own. If I had a bigger budget, I would go with a C200... my only wish for the C200 is that they add... not a 10bit middle codec, but a 1080p Raw Lite version. So, I guess for the future I would love a 5DC that shoots Raw Lite in 2K or 2.5K full frame with a small, even single input, XLR handle accessory. If Canon would release that camera at below $4000, I’d buy it tomorrow.

So, if somebody, in this case @kaylee, wanted to get some exposure from a web series, then posting an episode a month would not put her episodes at the top of any searches? So, if she started posting a bunch of teasers promoting the web series, then how many and how often should she start posting them to get the most viewership for the actual web series?

Interesting... would love to see a screengrab if you have one?

Yeah, I’ve described the 5D3 as a point and shoot cinema camera... especially since I have been shooting handheld with it with my Canon IS lenses. I’ve been working on a project since April. It was originally intended as a short film designed to get my feet wet with ML Raw, but then I’ve been getting such good footage, it has grown into something more. Here are a few screengrabs from it... Since this project may just end up as an impromptu feature, I’m currently writing some micro short film scripts to shoot in between. I’m hoping to get 60p working and it will be the ultimate camera for my needs. Btw, I really enjoyed you Last Day of Summer short. You obviously have a firm grasp of cinema.

Yeah 67 seems slow. I was getting more that that with the 50D. With the same cards, from BH, I am getting between 85 and 98.

Yeah, I understand glass is jargon for lenses but I guess my confusion lies with phrases like the “Leica Look” and since their lenses are revered like Zeiss lenses are and since Zeiss makes their own glass, or made their own glass, I assumed that the Leica look was attributed to their own glass. It seems some of the higher end manufacturers use Schott Glass now and Schott may use some of the recipes that the client, in this case Leica, used to use. Interesting.

Well, hopefully now that Saudi Arabia realizes that women, over 30, are capable of driving in the daylight, they will influence Nikon to have a woman photographer in their group photo at a camera event #FStop #TheFisForFemale

Strangely, I just started watching some of your shorts on Vimeo a few days ago. Really nice work. As a new 5D3 ML Raw user, your work is definitely inspiring and makes me want to shoot more short films. In fact, that has been the biggest thing I’ve noticed since getting the 5D3... I just want to keep working on projects. I care a lot less about overthinking gear choices since I bought it.

Leica doesn’t make their own glass for their lenses?

Yeah I get it, I just believe that conversations sometime evolve and great information can be had from that evolution... so I guess I just don’t see the big deal if a side conversation occurs. But it’s not my forum, just my opinion.

Did reading that reply confuse you and leave you unable to follow the rest of the thread? ?

There may not be that much of a difference and certainly if you cannot tell the difference, then why bother with the data heavy 400Mbps. Honestly, this is the reason I got away from 4K in general. I would always transcode and downscale any 4K Footage I shot to 1080p in EditReady before I ever brought it into FCPX, so I was losing a lot of the benefits of 4K with my workflow. I didn’t want to edit with proxies as I am not that organized and my computer cannot cleanly play back 4K files. Once I started shooting with good HD, I rarely noticed any major difference between the two. And since I am not a good colorist, I found it a lot easier to get a “cinematic” (I know that can be a bad word around here) image with 1080p footage. YMMV.

I’m sure you can sell them on this board and recoup 3/4 of that money. But did you test it with True 24p and not 23.976? The combination of All-I and 24p could make a discernible difference. @jonpais Also MOV or MP4? Also @jonpais since you already have the Veydras and a Voigtlander or two and the Video Assist... goddamnit... just go and buy a BMMCC and shoot some Raw video. Raw 60p is some serious video. Sorry to the OP for the OT.

Gotcha. If you’re worried about the contrast, I’m sure a simple hood would be plenty good enough. I did notice some sway in the shots, good to know that was due to the IS lock setting. And yeah, external ProRes vs internal 200mbps 10bit 1080 would be awesome. As hard as I’ve been on the GH5, obviously I have a brain, so I am intrigued. I also think with your pairing of the Video Assist with the GH5 for Focus reasons, it may really behoove you to export to ProRes anyway. I guess the next question would be... export 4K to ProRes, or just the good old fashioned 1080p? I wonder how much of a quality difference there would be?

Between this comment and your decision to shoot with the Long GOP, it may make more sense for you to just record ProRes on your Video Assist. I believe the GH5 does an internal downscale of 4K to 1080p like the GH4 did. That way you can get the higher bitrate, easily editable ProRes on cheaper media?

Looking nice Jon... unsure if a matte box would have made that much of a difference. If you get a few minutes can you do a side by side between the G85 and the GH5 with a Veydra lens? And if you’re feeling really generous, I would love to see a side by side of the external ProRes on the G85 vs the internal GH5 video.

@kidzrevil please update with how you like it. I was quite fond of the camera when I had it. And I would have kept it if I didn’t get the overheating warning in 40-45 degree weather after shooting a half a dozen 20 second clips. It never shut down, but it scared the crap out of me. I loved sLog3 and sgamut3cinema (or whatever it’s called) I felt that it had the closest look to Raw from any compressed video footage I had seen or used prior to it.

Ain’t that the truth. I am in no place to tell someone how to spend their money, god knows I’ve spent a small fortune of my own but as a hobbyist that is also interested in the conveniences of cinema cameras, I cannot rightly say that I could ever justify a $4500 price tag just to have 4K, when the majority of viewers will never see the benefits. In my opinion, if Arri hasn’t felt the need to release a 4K camera, then I don’t see why anybody on here really NEEDS one. So with that being said I feel the OP should get whatever he wants for whatever reason he wants, but I would still suggest either an F3, a C100ii or C300 or I guess an LS300 or FS5 if he really wants a 4K camera. And if he wants one on the cheap then get an LS300 but he should be fully aware of the build quality before just hitting buy it now.

Well, now that you have added 4K to your list and $4500 cap, then it seems an Ursa 4.6 or FS5 may be the way to go. But you will need a little more accessories for the Ursa. What are you shooting with now? And what are you planning to shoot with the cinema camera?