mercer

Canon 24-70mm f/4 on the 5D Mark III. Processed through Resolve using its basic Rec709 conversion in the Raw Tab and then some curve adjustments...

Great work! The set up and payoff worked, so not much more to say. Excellent use of light and shadow to hide the gags... even better that it was a construct of the story. Your actor did a good job. He seemed natural in his ambivalence to intrigue to fear. I felt the sound was fine. You illuminated the important sounds that helped to tell the story. If I had to make a critique, I’d say that the antagonist’s walk by was too slow and projected the ending, but that’s just me nitpicking. Thanks for sharing. I love watching short films on here. Being a gear site, not enough people share their work because we tend to argue about which camera is better. In this instance, I was engrossed with the story, so you really achieved the ultimate goal... getting a filmmaker not to worry about the technical. With that being said... what camera did you use, because those shadows were clean! Also, did you only use the practical lighting? Anyway, again... great job!!!

I’d do that! I prefer the most ghetto, roundabout ways possible. Lol. Do you use Resolve? I had heard that ACR has better color than Resolve, so I am curious. Thanks, I’ve heard good things but I use a Mac... mlvproducer is for Windows only, right?

Well, some FF cameras have a better crop mode than FF mode in video, so one could shoot in crop mode and then gain back the FF FOV and an extra stop by using a speedbooster.

@kaylee I only use Resolve as an intermediary to process my footage to ProRes. Well that’s not entirely true... I’ll trim some fat in the editor, make WB corrections, tweak the exposure if needed, turn it into BMDFilm (or sometimes I’ll just leave it in Rec709) and then I’ll transcode it to ProRes. I’m pretty settled with FCPX and don’t really have the time to learn Resolve. So I do any final color work in Final Cut. But I’m really just doing test grades at this point. But I haven’t really settled on a final workflow yet because I am just testing methods as I shoot the film. How do you process your footage in Premiere if you aren’t using ACR?

So, I’ve been shooting ML Raw with my 5D3 for over a year and a half now and I’m still as happy with the camera and the image as the day I bought it. I’m even thinking of buying a used one as a backup and to have set up for 48p/60p. I’ve been using a 2014 MacBook Air to process, edit and temporarily grade the footage so far but I really need an upgrade. I’d like to say with a Mac. So I was wondering what bate minimum requirements are to edit 1080p ML Raw? What I have actually works pretty good but the screen is killing me. Any recommendations? Can an iMac or MacBook screen be calibrated with a Spyder or similar product? Also I’d like to know more about the ACR workflow. I was thinking of picking up a pre-subscription copy of Premiere or After Effects if I can find one. Thanks

I did... twice. The first time didn’t work out so well, although I really liked the camera, the second time I used it for B&W.

and HIS professor might have told him... what the fuck’s a photograph?!?!

Sorry, I’ve been meaning to reply to this for a while, but haven’t had the chance to get into it. So yes, there is no chance of me buying an F4. I am sure it is way better than the cheaper handheld models but for what I need, and the way I shoot, the F4 is just not possible. Not to mention, that $500 can go to so many other things. I don’t know if I can stress how no budget my film is. I would bet most people would laugh at me and not even bother making a movie if they knew how I was shooting. I’ve always been involved with DIY productions, so for me, it’s just another day. I intentionally designed my film to have the least amount of dialogue as humanly possible just due to audio disabilities. So, I need to be very thrifty with where I spend my money and time. From last experiences, I’ve realize that close to 90% of the dialogue used will be captured with the bodypak recorders and lavaliers... so the field recorder and boom will mostly be back up/scratch audio. Hell, if I could ADR 50% as well as Hollywood does, then I wouldn’t even bother with on location sound other than an on camera shotgun mic. So yeah... the F4 is just a bit much for my needs. One of my next films will be a contained thriller, with all static shots, so I will definitely look into an F4 or a MixPre3 for that film. With that being said, since I will be buying an F4 sometime next year, would it make sense to get an H5 or H6 for this film, instead of the DR40, to better match the F4 for my next film?

And in some ways the iPhone makes more sense than a low end or middle of the ground camera. I was working an event this weekend and the local Fox affiliate had a news crew there with their heavy hitters from the morning show and the event was shot with a small iPhone rig. Well, it’s a commercial for internet ads... who even listens to them?

Yup, in the $1000 ad, there was a whole scene where the actor gets in the shot of the other guy sitting on the sofa while filming the other commercial. Plus his office was within the larger office. I don’t think that location was the production companies’ office building.

Interesting concept for a commercial with the funny part being that I understood the product the most from the $1000 video. The whole budget aspect is really irrelevant though since they were shooting the pieces at the same time, so the location budget was probably paid for by the highest budget production. In the end, the entire process is irrelevant because Wistia will save everybody from having to spend any budget on an internet ad. So while we as filmmakers argue which budget looked and sounded the best, Wistia is selling a product directly to our customers that show they don’t need us... well they don’t need you guys because I don’t make commercials. So in summation... Wistia paid $111,000 to make a commercial to show their potential customers that they can make commercials for next to nothing... oh the irony... the lesson here is that Wistia probably should have used their own product.

Another one from the Canon 28mm 1.8. Say cheese...

I am so tempted some days to order one. So many good videos out there with it. Hopefully it gets BRaw too.

He’s notoriously “fair” but only to the brands he wants to win. I stopped watching his videos when he performed his “...vs the C200 tests” last year.

Wow... what a lens! Great color too. Are you shooting a modified muted profile? Your walking shots look pretty damn good too... Olympus’ IBIS is so damn close to gimbal smooth... almost. Were you doing some kind of ministry of silly walks or ninja steps?

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the F4 is just little bit out out of my price range right now and a little big for my camera bag. I have designed my projects to have little dialogue, so most dialogue scenes, the camera will be on sticks and I will be booming and operating audio, so I really need something small. I’ll most likely use the bodypack recordings in the final edit, but I really want to have a boom recording as well. Honestly, I probably won’t get the H6 anyway, at close to $300 it’s a little too pricey for my budget right now. And I’m leaning toward the DR10Ls for the safety track... even though the F1s seem like a better fit for me with the cheaper price and the expansion modules... plus the build seems nicer? I have a $750 budget and I need 3 body pack recorders and a field recorder.

I recently bought a “like new” Tascam 1x2 for a great price to record ADR, narration and a few voice acting projects I’m working on. The 2x2 gets really good reviews so, for the price, I am hoping the 1x2 will meet my modest needs for the time being. Consequently, I’m also looking for a field recorder for my run and gun filmmaking. Some of the project’s audio will overlap, so does it make sense to look at Tascam recorders? Originally, I planned on getting a Zoom H5 or H6 and a couple Zoom F1s for body and plant mics. But now would it make sense to look at a DR40 or DR60 (although the portability factor of the DR40 makes more sense for my needs) and some DR10Ls for body and plant mics? I assume a lot of folks use different brands for audio, but if the similar preamps will help unify the overall sound, I will stay with a single brand to simplify my work. With that being said, if the Zoom H6 is way better than the DR40, I could always go the Zoom route and pick up a U-22 or U-24 USB Audio Interface... I’m not attached to the Tascam, I just liked the price.

That’s true, I can strongly assume that most of the people doing this kind of work are using an 80D. And that’s the camera I would use. For me, the DPAF would be the most valuable feature. I assume Timothy knows the actor’s cues, so he can set the face tracking accordingly, I think. With that being said, the G85 is a great camera with a nice output, so I’m sure it will work great for his needs. As they say, the best camera is the one you already own.

Well, he really wouldn’t be spending more money... well a little more. He’d get about $600 for his G85 and could find an a7s for around $700-800. The extra $200 spent will open opportunities that saves him money with other gear. He wouldn’t need lights. He’ll gain the FF FOV. He’ll gain dynamic range. I agree that you don’t want to put money into it if you don’t need to but in this instance, there is definitely a justification that can only help him do his job and in the end, he’ll save money in time.

@Vintage Jimothy look for a used LX100. It will match up well with your G85 and give you some quick reach, and a fast lens, for impromptu close ups... you’re basically buying a dirt cheap f/1.8-2.8 24-75mm lens that doesn’t need to be swapped out. I wouldn’t even worry about lights too much with the verite shooting you’re describing... maybe one or two cheap on camera LEDs to attach to an L-Bracket.

However I will say the E2 may just be the comeback camera of the year. It would be a lot nicer at a grand though.

Yup, I don’t like rigged out cameras, but that 3.5” Ikan wouldn’t be too unwieldy with the E2. H.265 sure does save space, I used to get hours of footage with a 32GB card on my NX500. But storage is cheap, processing power is expensive and it would take forever to transcode those h.265 files to ProRes LT.

I, actually, quite liked that. Interestingly, I think I may like that image better than another camera’s image that’s all the rage. Too bad it doesn’t have a screen and shoots h.265. Oh well, maybe next year BH will have them on sale for $200.

Yeah the lack of metering in manual mode is annoying but a quick tap of the ISO and you can see the meter for reference.