HelsinkiZim

Very cool, no visible artifacts on 1080p mobile. Nice! Thx!

One last thought before much needed rest, after a brutal week (filming sat so 2mrw sleep late, binge ALL of Sunday's shows and family time) - ... eh, who cares. And people obsessed with liquorice should be watched like a hawk. ... but that wasn't the thought. Gotcha talking..

You missed last call....

I give up with this typepad... iphone, here I retirn... you Satan of a mistress

And what is newbie and pro these days? Pros 'quote' are asking.me for my input Based on dslr knowlrdfe from here. That iis an actial.fact and not.fake. Edit - bloody cheap phone, c i rses3 4 7! (Curses)

Just wanted to say thanks. Im verbose. Nothing more, nothing less.

Edit: appreciates your gh4 guide! Not wouldnt.... Tried to change it but too many edits.

I am going to go out on a limb here and direct a post to you. Lemme explain... I first popped my head inside this circus around the summer of 2015 after moving to Europe from Africa. You have to understand, at that point, even in an industrialised city like Johannesburg, we had only heard rumours about the wonders of the Canon 5d series, and only some fortunate few in my school or in the industry had ever used a dslr on a project. Our lecturer made reference to getting one for the graduate school, but I dont know if they did eventually. Knowing Africa, probably not. Your forum blew my mind. I read almost every post for about 6 months before I jumped in the water and got a GH4. From AaronChicago's v log tests and advice)and partly the reason I went for the ursa based on his dng post a while back) to the Ibrahim scandal, and lest we forget the exile of a few (well, one I know of) more exurberant contributors. We speak your name.(starts with a Z__, or am I wrong?) I was a believer. I write this now because my URSA 4.6K arrived yesterday and somehow it made me sad. What happened is that I realised the frustration of running a small video business based on dslr's is not for me. I wanted a camcorder back. The cameras I grew up on in order - canon xl1 - i was a PA to a then semi-famous ad director, now LA based straight-to-streaming dierector, who lent me his camera to film weddings on weekends circa 2006 in london... btw, there is a huge market for straight to streaming aparently... if you know what your doing budget-wise and leverage torrenting and bootleg streaming sites. I think they even advertise as popular downloads/ streams there to create a buzz - hoping to go viral. sony z1 - used for 5 years on weddings... it turned into a business - number 4 in UK google search at my peak. Funny story, I had a freelance camera lady work for me and she came back with the most beautiful skintomes I had ever seen. Only until joining this community did I realise she just knew how to white balance and expose the cera properly. I thought she was a magician. And before I left graduate school they had just got an hvx200 (no more capturing! Do people even remember that nightmare?). I digress... The Ursa was simply a choice that allowed me to stay in the community, but get the form factor and operation I needed in order to forget about the camera and concentrate on the buisness. I could have just as easily got a fixed lens panasonic (emotiinally) or something, but they are roughly the same price (if you have the v mount batts,ef lenses etc. Which I did.) and thought what the hell. At least the Ursa is only hell in the edit... Truth be told, I felt almost imprisoned by the quirks and adaptations that I had to do to get the image and functionality I wanted out of the GH4. Some suggested getting an assistant, but I felt I could put their energy elsewhere than monitoring camera reability on set and putting out fires. It was also depressing to watch how fast the landscape is changing at this prosummer (and pro tbh) level, where you begin to feel stupid and ripped off when a manufacturer releases a better version or paid upgrade to fix something (you know) they knew was faulty or simply lacking. I went with Blackmagic because, admidst all the changes, they seem the most honest about truly disrupting this industry. Yes, Panasonic too - but if I see another speed-booster or cage I am going to hurt something or someone. Anyways, enough rambling.. my question is- I know your thoughts on individual cameras and software... ... but what are your thoughts about the DSLR community as a whole? Where do you think its going? What have you learnt so far about technology and, being the wizard behind the curtain, us? If you cant be bothered to answer its all good, but I will say this - Thank you. Its been a blast and I look forward to where this journey takes us all! Always remember there is an idiot in Helsink that wouldn't appreciate s your gh4 step up guide, straight talk, posts, aryicles and commitment. Nuff respect. Especially because this site is probably a commitment with minimal rewards. Jeez, even phillip bloom threw in the towel... thanks for hanging in there! We all don't say that often enough. Ps... I do still have an a6500, but that is for mostly auto setting home videos and super low budget promos. I will be getting procolor soon!

Thanks! Will have a look-see...

Lets look at theme - Blade Runner got us feeling because the droids were relatable and not totally alien. Ex Machina tackled this theme beautifully. Prometheus did too. So did 2001, which probably inspired them all. Scott has to transcend the drone as relatable (but ultimately ruthless) genre before he gets my attenion. The AI as thriller genre lost its bubble since the abstract 'ghost in the machine' film Her. Which I see as peak. Someone needs to reinvent it. Speaking of douches (damn auto type!) in machines, I loved Johansson in, yea, Ghost in a Shell. Remineded me of The Departed (remake). Dunno why....

Dont u wish 'getting to know your dslr' was a college course credit! Lol - we would all pass with flying colors (of shit). I sometimes think if we applied the same resolve as you have just demonstrated to an actual money making industry you would easily pass an LSAT or Series 7! God, what have we become. I blame Spielberg and Rodriguez. Tarantino too. Much explaining thrm folks need to do... to us.

I think you miss my point. I would like to forget aboutwhat is 'wrong' or 'right'. It is a feeling. Trusting your gear. Going to war. You want a sniper or an automatic. Sometimes both. Question is 'when'. An automatic is useful (fot murderous bastards in ex. Nigeria), but sometimes control means a lot - and Clint Eastwood will make a film about you.

Would love to see this... Maybe we could get to Mythbusters slo-mo standards?!? Even just send a 180fps shot to dropbox and lets have fun with it. Remember, Twixtor works like a rotoscope track key - so film your subject against a plain background like the sky, or a wall... If you don't have Twixtor - dropbox it and I will work it...

nuff said Will a combo work for extreme slomo? Test anyone...? would love to see that!

For me - autofocus is a tool, like digital crop (not even n the level of zebra, histogram and peaking - definately not false color). I use it, but watch it like a hawk, and turn it off as soon as my a6500 leaves a tripod. Its a bit 'less' worry in this regard, and quite helpful (with only native lenses and settings set precisely for the situation). It is useful . like Siri...

I think it is about time we talk about autofocus. Rather, have a debate. I think that autofucus is at its incubator stage, much like automatic driving cars, where some people hold the best patents - but even then, it is not a 100% working technology. I truly believe it is the futre, as much as Siri and Alexa do wonders for not needing to type normal search queries, but if you are serious about your video - it is not for you. This riles people up, something of a Pro vs Amateur war, but I want to look at the word "serious" - forget the word "pro". Buying a video camera for more than 500 bucks makes you 'serious' - or stupid. Take yourself back 5 years ago and talk about spending 2 grand on a camera (with lenses) - it would only make sense if you were serious. Why is it different now? What more are you achieving? Why get higher specs if your focus makes your shots unusable (if serious)? If you care about DR, ISO, zebras, histograms, false color, law of 3rds, luts, audio, minus *blah, saturation and plus detail or whatever... why the fuck would you pass on focus to a computer still attempting to make sense? It takes a few minutes to get used to having to manually focus and eventually it becomes second nature. Tools like focus peaking and lenses where you can zoom in and get focus (parfocal?) are the best. On a gimbal you may need to have a calculation for distance vs focal plane (via f/t-stop), but jesus, that is not that hard - especially on a wide angle lens, which is where a gimbal works best. How much more convincing does Telsla need to do to get you to climb in the back seat, take a nap, and arrive at your destination? Auto focus is the same - I need a lot more convincing before I trust my shots with an algorithm... no matter the reviews and hype. Especially when being paid. If you care - you will manually focus. But I know - caring is subjective. For me, I am a perfectionist (in "my empire of dirt" - org. Trent Reznor) - For you, you may be happy to see what suprises you get in the edit. Home video or not...

Why and why not? Just wondering...

Nice! Ha ha

Just some tests I was doing after researching settings and figuring out the 'menu' (random lists) :/ Testing ETTR with slog3 with modified PP8 profile for skintones. I think they came out looking good at times, let me know what you think. Also tested focus responsiveness settings, slo motion, noise, etc... Not really a story in here or anything fancy just freestyle shots and edit! Doubt I will be going back to Panasonic - not having to fight against the GH4's pull to 'just ok' footage was liberating!

I would be horrified if my legacy was being good at 'blocking'. Literally, being the best at telling an actor how not to trip over their counterpart. I would imagine this would be a 2nd AD role at Spielberg's level. If we are, in fact, talking about the theatrical genesis of the term.

In laymans term: People are freaking out right now about many emotional issues. It is a great time for a up-and-coming director to try and explore different opinions on a variety of hot topics. We are seeing loyalty on measures unknown to even Facebook. Niche thought leaders have more power than they ever have had. It is a good time to build a following. By doing so, filmmakers may form an style of their own - by which they can proceed to pay da bills. I cannot simplify any further. Im on his side - if his response was doing what he is doing now, then that is a lesson for all of us in resilience.

I would wager that in 10 years time Shane will have a comfortable living with a loving famiyl and Bale will be in all sorts of actor forgotten-ness. But its still funny. It hurts, but its funny. I trained under directors who said similar to me. It is not uncommon and tht is why he guy leaked. He wanted to show what it is really like - sometimes, not all the times, when you are working with millionaires/ assholes. Directors, producers, actors - the lot.

I'll go one step further.. we all know about having a 'social footprint' and how important it is to be on Instagram, Facebook, Linkdin, Twitter - with BTS, marketing etc... ... but I think we are in an age of 'emotional footprint's', whereby someone hires you/ watches you for your values and your connection to a like-minded group. Less everything will mean more - but those things that are - are fully committed - and will fight for you, your work and pay top dollar to get it. We should start acknowledging this shift in buyer mentality.

I love Shane Hurlbut's contribution to the digital community - and especially admire his buisness model - which is ahead of its time. But I cannot, lest I try, forget his bollocking on set by Christian Bale. Has he ever talked about that incident? Talk about a meltdown....

Another thing... I truly believe that filmmaking is no different to painting, woodwork or sculpting - you only get better by actually buying the tools and materials, and doing it. Books, forums, Youtube videos... are mainly useful for supplementing and encouraging the act of actually doing something. There is no book that will stop you from falling on your ass in the beginning. In fact, you will repeatedly fail, but books will help ease your mind that many others have made the same mistakes and offer some solutions for how to avoid them again. Unfortunately, the minute you feel you need to stop learning is the minute you need to quit this game and get a real job - because we are never better than our last film/ promo/ music video/ recommendation. That is even a tougher standard than medical personnel live by. Well, maybe. I flatter myself (us). But truthfully - reading about film, current affairs, fiction, non-fiction, scripts... are just founding blocks for finding your own unique voice (however, writers just need to read 24/7 - no practical). The reason someone will hire you or watch your film is because you are different. And if everyone has the same camera and knows the same skills, you are only different because of the stories you choose to tell. There are so many fractured societies right now, that finding a niche in this day and age is easier than it probably ever has been. Just do what you love to do, talk about what you like to talk about, film what you want to film... BUT understand the conventions in your niche... and then break them! You learn those conventions from books. You find your voice from looking at (reading about) the world around you - and then re-presenting it in your body of work. I am still looking for my voice - and fuck if I won't die trying.