mercer

Yeah, if BM dropped the price to $500, I would buy my 3rd Pocket and keep it this time. Or maybe a Micro summer price drop would be nice.

Yeah, unfortunately and probably stupidly, I will go for smaller and discrete every day of the week over large and cumbersome, but I am shooting literal no budget films, where I don't have a sound guy. It needs to be simple and small, something I can attach to an L-Bracket with a small shotgun but can also do double duty as a pocket recorder for a lav. I started with an H1, but found it to be poorly built and not really that small, so I ended up with 2 Olympus LS7 field recorders. I'm sure they aren't the best but for what I need they work pretty well and the onboard mic is actually pretty good for foley and ambient sound... probably because they are marketed towards nature recordings. I am interested in the Tascam 10L recorders... they seems to be a great size with decent specs... how are they rated on the Ironfilm scale? But this is a great article and something to think about as I grow equipment... thanks for posting it.

Yeah the look he gets is very subtle, but very organic. I only watched his 5D3 videos, but now I have to watch his GH4 videos as well.

I just started following him a couple weeks ago. He has some great 5D3 footage and this one looks great as well. He really captures a late 70s/early 80s NYC film look with his videos. I love the slow dolly in he does in that video. Are you still using a GH3, or have you upgraded to a GH4 or GH5 now? It seems like the GH4 could be a great deal as the prices drop.

At the time I had the Minolta MD 28mm f2 and the Nikkor ai-s 28mm f2. Since going with the 5D3, I sold the Minolta. It was a heart wrenching sale, but I lack a camera to use it with so it helped to offset the cost of the Canon EF 35mm f2.

I had that lens for a second or two. I liked it, but I already had two 28mm f2 lenses so it seemed kinda redundant.

I recently used the 14-45mm with the BMPCC and it worked fairly well for an inexpensive lens, but it is more like a 40-130mm. Here's a quick test I did with this lens handheld. It's boring and the color work is... meh... but it should give you an idea of how stable the OIS is. There's also the 14-42mm PZ lens which is interesting because when used with a small LANC controller, you can get a power zoom with the BMPCC, for smooth zooms, if that interests you.

I think this is very interesting and thankfully there are filmmakers like you willing to figure out the intricacies for other filmmakers to benefit from. The term rabbit hole has been used on a few occasions in this thread and I would think at every turn or discovery, you will go further down it. Since you're a Sony user, obviously sLog is the choice of Log you are using for this experiment, but with all of the customizations available with sLog, to be truly accurate, you will have to go further and further down that hole. @Geoff CB came upon excellent settings for sLog2 with his GFilm and then there's the sLog2 Flaat settings that are also very good, so there are already tweaked sLog2 settings that help to deliver both maximum DR and color fidelity. To test every single variation against Rec709 seems like a daunting task. Perhaps discovering the best, possible out of camera settings for dynamic range and color information in 8bit sLog2 would be a great place to start, before comparing it to Rec709?

To add, from reading Max's posts over they years, I have a sneaking suspicion, Max has developed an app that will inform the filmmaker exactly when to use either sLog2/3 or Rec709 for maximum gain with any given shot.

Okay, I find this post extremely fascinating, mostly because I am not the most technically knowledgeable person around, so if I am to understand what is being discussed here I would conclude this. By using Log, a filmmaker can open the dynamic range of a shot more so than using a Rec709 profile. By doing so, the filmmaker is risking losing color information because the image data is stretched so thin due to the Log curve. But by using Log, the filmmaker gets to choose in post what details they would like that information to be used for, where as with a Rec709 profile, your dynamic range choice will be more limited, but you will have more color information within the available stops of dynamic range? Max is trying to conclude what is lost where with dynamic range and color information, with Log compared to Rec709, to decide how to go forward with a Rec709 color space to get the maximum dynamic range and color information visible on a Rec709 monitor. Assuming I am following this correctly, it would seem, from reading this post, Max has already concluded his thesis and has put into consideration all of the variables discussed and decided which are relevant to his findings. But still has questions regarding the color information gain with Rec709 vs the Dynamic Range gain with Log. Am I following this correctly? And if so, isn't it nearly impossible to empirically quantify that information without taking into account the endless variables that may be present in a specific shot that's vital to a specific scene?

Gotcha, yeah I tested the 48fps before. It looks nice. Pain to change the settings on the fly.

That's about how long I had mine. I was planning on keeping it but on the same day I found a bunch of 5D3 Raw videos, I got an overheating warning on the a6500 on a 40 degree, Fahrenheit day after shooting two 15 second clips in the shade. I knew my next project was going to be in the Summer and I didn't want to risk it. But for winter shooting, in B&W, the a6500 could be a beast of a camera for handheld, run and gun... especially if the price drops a little over the next few months. Thanks, for checking your files.

Honestly, when I went with the 5D3, I deleted a lot of my test footage from most of my past cameras for the storage space on my drives, but I'll check to see what I have. Good idea. For some reason I thought it would have to occur in camera to have a positive effect. Thanks.

Sorry to jump in the mix here, but I have a somewhat relevant question that I've been curious about for a while... I had the a6500 last year and was thoroughly impressed with its 4K IQ, using sLog3. It is the closest I've seen to Raw with an 8bit, consumer camera. Obviously, the major issue with using sLog3 is the potential for banding and artifacts, but if one chooses monochrome for the color gamma, will the 4 luma values in its 4:20 codec help to combat the banding and artifacts, or since the gamma is down the pipeline, there can still be an issue? And if there is a benefit with monochrome, does the 4 luma values have a positive IQ effect with all 8bit cameras when shooting, in camera, B&W or would it need to be a monochrome specific sensor like the one from Leica or Digital Bolex?

Are you getting 60fps at 10bit or 12bit? Is it continuous? And finally, do you know if there is any way to set shutter to 180 degree shutter angle instead of shutter speed? Or is there a way to save multiple settings?

Yup, Nikon is one of the most fun little cameras to shoot with, but not a lot of people realize it. It has its quirks, but you get used to them fairly quickly. If you're content, then maybe a new lens is in order instead of a new camera? I've posted this before, but this was all handheld with my D5500, a 28mm f/2 lens and I just used my Benro Monopod with the ball loose and the feet pressed against my shoulder. I think a simple shoulder pod or something would work better but having that extra point of contact was helpful. I think Edelkrone makes a Pocket Rig that is real small that has a chest/shoulder pad. It's kinda long and boring, so you can just scrub through it in a few spots to see the steadiness... of course it helps that I shot it in 60p as well.

Looks cool! Gotta love those Nikon colors. Btw, I didn't forget about the GX85 vs D5500 video... honestly I was bored by it. Simply put, the IBIS is good with the GX85, way better than I was able to get handheld with D5500. The GX85 has a more perceived sharpness by downscaling the 4K to 1080p ProRes before I brought it into FCPX but I also converted the Nikon footage to ProRes as well and it took the same amount of time to convert 45-50 Nikon h.264 files to ProRes as it did to downscale 4 4K GX85 to 1080p ProRes. Also, the Nikon files were easier to get a pleasing, simple correction/grade with and in the end, the colors looked better. So, if you want IBIS and 4K, get a GX85... if you want better colors and small files and really good 1080p... keep your Nikon, or upgrade to the D5500 for the Flat Profile. If you want the best of both worlds... minus the 4K... maybe look at the Olympus e-m5 mk ii.

Kaylee, thanks for the link. Jon, it should be there.

I'd like to try ACR. I only recently bought a 5D3 and went right into shooting a film with it. So I have only been using one method/settings for most of my footage, which comincides with the workflow from that WW2 reenactment video I posted earlier. I use the same method he used in that video. Just do a search of ML Raw Footage App and you should find it on the ML Forum.

I use Raw Magic and Resolve mostly. I also like MLRawViewer and process them to ProRes as pseudo Arri LogC but it doesn't always work with Sierra. The new Footage App is pretty good too and with it you can go right from MLV to ProRes with it.

I've never used the e-m1mk2 but I have enjoyed the videos I have seen from it more than I enjoy most of the GH5 videos. The Olympus records DCI 4K at a higher bitrate than the G85, plus you can shoot 4K Raw video at 60fps with short bursts... that's a pretty cool feature albeit maybe not all that practical... To add, I think the colors are better with a more organic look. But I guess that is subjective as anything else.

I thought the same thing after using the GX85 and before using the em5 Mark ii. But it different level better and the EM1 Mark ii is supposed to be even better than the em5 Mark ii. I have heard of people walking around with it like a steadicam. But yeah, even with the prices coming down, there is a significant jump in price but there are also more features you would get with the jump other than better IBIS, headphone input, higher bitrate, etc... Either way, good luck with your choice.

It seems the G85 makes the most economical sense, but if that isn't necessarily an issue, have you considered the Olympus E-M1 Mark ii? The price is starting to drop on them and they seem to have better IBIS than Panasonic's variant. It does Cinema 4K at a higher bitrate than any of the current Panasonic's as well. You can use your current lenses and I feel Olympus has a better out the box color science than Panasonic. It also has a high bitrate, all-i 1080p if that is appealing to you. If you don't need the 4K, the em5 Mark ii is a nice choice as well. However I will add that although the a6500 does have its issues, the 4K really is pretty remarkable... but I understand why you wouldn't want one... the same reasons I returned mine.

Yeah, even take Vimeo Staff Picks for example... how many of the comments relate to the production of the video... what camera was used, what lens, what was your post workflow, etc...? Filmmakers love films, so that will be a built in audience in any DIY filmmaking endeavor... be it a short film, feature, or more specific to what you're interested in... self-distributed no/low/micro-budget films. Of course, this is just a theory that I have never put into practice, but I would think it would be something to consider when designing and marketing your projects.

Sorry this is slightly off topic, but not really... I am, or will be, in the market for a second camera for casual shooting. I've narrowed it down to a few choices, some 1080p, some 4K, and some things I've been noticing while watching a bunch of videos on Vimeo, is that cameras with 12mp sensors have some serious, for lack of better word, mojo to them. I've noticed it with the a7s, the LX100, the AF100, and most recently with my slight interest in the A7ii. So, is there something technically relevant to this anecdotal mojo I'm noticing?