Benjamin Hilton

I actually think this is pretty close, would you mind sharing your grading process for this?

So I've been watching this TV show recently, and I would love to figure out how to replicate this specific look. Kind of a muted, but still saturated look, with soft highlights and really rich creamy shadows, and the skin has kind of a brown cast but still looks natural. I've been trying and trying and still can't get anywhere close. Are any of you able to do it? I know it's partially lighting, lensing and such, but I feel like I should be able to get at least close. These three screenshots are from the show: And here's a sample frame I have been working on, just Panasonic V-log converted to C-log with the WB balanced: And this is the closest I have been able to get to that look, which still isn't very close...

I used the Canon L 24-105 with a speedboster

These are some stills from a recent GH5 doc project

Me too, honestly the S1 is really tempting at this point, although I can get really close to what I want with the GH5

Honestly if Panasonic created a camera with the following I would be completely sold, all I need for quite some time to come: 4k60p 10 bit S1H dynamic range and color Native duel ISO Super 35 or full frame sensor Built in NDs h.265 and prores codecs IBIS Duel pixal autofocus I could honestly care less about 6k or 8k, raw and the like unless it was a good compressed raw like r3d. A rich cinematic image, built in NDs and a reliable body would be top of my list. I currently shoot with GH5s and speedboosters and they are the closest things I have ever gotten to that list, really just add NDs, good auto focus, nail down the color science and low light a bit more like the GH5s but with IBIS and they would have the "perfect" camera in my book.

When are ND filters coming to their smaller camera bodies, this seems like an essential but is strangely being overlooked by all camera manufacturers. Variable NDs are a pain, period

Shane Hurlbut ASC is giving away his illumination experience for free right now, his stuff is like gold in the area of lighting, should answer a lot of your questions: https://www.hurlbutacademy.com/illumination-experience-workshop/?mc_cid=cc66b59990&mc_eid=d730f5a46a

I was with the founder of our organization one time and he wanted to grab a quick statement with a VIP he had with him. I swung up my camera and pushed record I thought and did the statement. When I pushed stop the record light came one...somehow I had missed it. It was quite embarrassing to ask him to do it again, had a technical difficulty;-)

I thought I would start this thread for anyone to share any crazy/embarrassing/funny stories they might have from film shoots, things we would all be interested in. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can all relate. I have quite a few, but I'll start with one. A couple of years ago, I was filming an interview with someone in a remote location. I had light stands holding diffusion and negative fill, and the light stands were weighted down with rocks. I was filming with a couple of GH5s and Leica lenses while another guy was conducting the interview. One of the stands started to sway a bit, so I quietly inched my way over to fix it before it fell over, trying not to distract from the interview. I moved one of the heavy rocks from one stand to another, and when I went to set it down, caught my finger between the rock and the stand. It crushed the fingernail, really badly. It was everything I could do to keep quiet and blood was dripping everywhere. I managed to kind of turn around to hide it, and make it back to the cameras, I then grabbed some leaves off of the tree behind me to hold on them as blood was dripping all over the ground. I didn't want to stop interrupt a good interview with, "excuse me, I just crushed my finger and blood is gushing everywhere." Somehow I managed to keep it from everyone else and the interview went flawlessly. The talent never knew...:-) It was so bad the fingernail ended up completely falling off a few days later, but the video turned out amazing! What are your stories?

This has happened to me quite a bit too, pretty annoying when you get in to edit and find out you have all the wrong shots

Here it is:

Leica photo primes and an nd filter for the interviews

From a promo I did recently with the GHA color on the interviews, you have to skip in a bit to see them: Funny thing, I was in a meeting a little while back with the Director of a really big TV station in the States and was showing him a video I did using the GHA color, while watching it he turning to me and asked under his breath, "you shoot on Red, right?" I took it as a really big compliment I must say😉

@Sage might have better info on this, but from my experience, the 1080 out of camera vs 4K downscaled to 1080 in post are nearly identical, something very rarely found. I shoot 4K for most projects still as I have the processing capabilities and want to future proof. But if you aren't concerned about it, 1080 is very wonderful out of the GH5. On the advantage side, 1080 out of the GH5 gives 60p in 10 bit, and a more bang for your buck bitrate. I've been using this GHAlex process for quite some time now, and couldn't be happier with it. I feel like it gave the GH5 the soul it was missing.

That's right, the bitrate will always determine your file size, no matter what codec you use. The codec just decides how efficient the bitrate you use is for the video, meaning 10mb/sec will look much better in h.265 as compared to h.264 as it is more efficient.

You should be able to set a maximum bit-rate and calculate the size based on the video length. Meaning a 500MB = 4000mb = 22mb/sec for a 3 minute video

This is really good to know

One feature I found really useful with Adobe Audition is the retime feature for music, where the software takes a look at the track and cuts it down to the desired length using AI I think. I've used it for years and had really good results with it. I'm in the process of switching our post over to Final Cut instead of Adobe and am wondering if anyone has found a feature like this in any other software that works usably? I don't think I can justify keeping a monthly subscription for Audition just for this one feature...

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried Handbrake and it is definitely slower than Media Encoder, but great final output! Might just work for me...

Hey all, I'm in the process of switching editing software for our company from Premiere Pro to FCPX. I really liked Premiere, it has the bases of our workflow for many years now. Our main issue was stability, just so many issues over and over again with no sign of improvement. I've cut two projects in FCPX over the last couple of weeks and really enjoyed it! I feel like my editing speed has gone up due to the flawless performance of the software and I really get this feeling like FCPX just gets out of the way of my editing...revolutionary I know. My main question is what conversion software do you guys use? I am used to the abundance of options available in Premiere Pro for rendering that are lacking in Final Cut. I could drop the $50 for compressor, but just wondering if that is the best option. Anything better/cheaper for encoding/conversion etc.?

Great work, this is such a fun idea. I wanted to enter so badly, just couldn't make it work time wise right now with my job. Hopefully if we do a round 2 at some point I can find the time to enter.

I think the score for the mk ii was less sharp than the original in official chart tests

That's a valid point. With having the GH5 as an A cam right now though, these lenses really don't do me much good without a speedbooster, meaning I'm really only interested in seeing how they perform in combo with a speedbooster and GH5. Lenses look very different depending on which sensor you pair them with.

So I've been curious recently. I've been shooting with the GH4/5 Canon L 24-105 Metabones speedbooster for a good couple of years now, and have been pretty happy with the usability, color etc. One problem though, I don't think my images are as detailed as they could be. Digital sharpness is there, kind of native to the GH processing, but the detail seems lacking. I've always put this down to the compression of my final render output, but I think there is something else going on. I assumed the 24-105 would be tack sharp, even at F4 as I've never seen anything amiss with DSLR photos and this lens combo. So, I did this quick test yesterday, comparing different focal lengths of the Canon to some Leica Primes, and also the Helios 56mm I believe it is. Nothing too scientific, just a quick cycle through apertures pointing at the same background. The focus point is the same double checked for each lens, and the exposure was just eyeballed using shutter speed to keep ND out of the equation. The Helios isn't too helpful for comparison as it couldn't focus far enough to match the other lenses, so take that one as you might. To add even more confusion, I labeled the Canon by the F number on the back of the GH5 screen (after the speed booster stop gain) and the Prime lenses are labeled by what was marked on the lens. So the F2.8 on the Leica would really be closer to a F1.9 after the speed booster, as compared to the Canon F2.5. Anyone have any experience with these lenses or thoughts on the test or sharpness in general?