Mark Romero 2

You raise some great points. The GH5 set a pretty high bar, and it took several years for full frame cameras to catch up. A GH6 would have to be as far ahead of today's competitors that the GH5 was when it was released.

So for a GH6, my wish list would be... Dual Gain Output sensor similar to that in the C70 (but in m43 sensor size) that expands the dynamic range. A better LOG codec that can handle that increased dynamic range. Ability to output Black Magic RAW (BRAW) 6K ??? 4K 120 ??? Oh, and one other thing: Add some phase-detect autofocus pixels. I mean, just get the cameras to focus as well as my 7-year-old Sony a6000, which has about the most rudimentary sony phase detect AF system and still blows my $2,500 S1 out of the water 😞

Yeah, that is weird because if I have an EF lens on a Sigma MC-21 on my S1, I get a message if I even put my camera in to AF-C that says, Change AF to AF-S (or something like that).

Hmmm... on my S1, if I pick any other white balance BESIDES AWB, then it will show the white balance in the upper left hand corner of the LCD (just to the left of the picture profile icon). If I choose AWB (auto white balance), then it does not display ANY icon for white balance. Also, you can toggle through different screens on the LCD by clicking the Display button. I think I realized that early on, and then forgot about it.

Captain Buzzkill here, reporting for duty... As a public service announcement, I guess I should mention that a good stills lens doesn't ALWAYS mean it will be a good video lens... and vice versa. On the aps-c size sensor of the BMPCC 6K, you would multiply the focal length by 1.6 to get the equivalent at 35mm. Also, for movie making, there is such a thing as a lens being "too sharp," a concept that is hard for us people who started out in photography to understand. Fortunately there are filters to help take care of that. With zoom lenses, you are going to want something that is parfocal (or close to parfocal) if you plan on zooming. Likewise, you would want a lens that has minimal focus breathing if you plan on pulling focus (or just using AF). And there will be times when you might want to pull focus manually, at which point you would probably appreciate a lens with a nice dampened focus ring. By all means, I agree that using your Canon lenses on a BMPCC6K would give you a very good head start, but you might find at some point that you end up wanting something a little more dedicated toward shooting video.

Yes, and we might have to move past "video" being synonymous with "bad." What if there is an "other" aesthetic that will become associated with quality? Neither traditional film look, nor traditional "video" look; some aesthetic that is created by either purely digital art, or by having an extreme reliance on artificial intelligence. I mean, looking at traditional photos. The earliest photos were what, silver (I guess they were called Daguerreotype). Then there was printing on glass (called Ambrotype). What if our debates about film vs video are just an echo of the Daguerreotype vs Ambrotype conversations of the 1860s and 1870s, where they couldn't even conceive of a "color" film, even though color was in the real word all around them?

True, I think the thing is that the main consumers that are being targeted with those things. By that, I mean if you count up the total number of hours that consumers ingest content (via all platforms, either on computer, tv, smart device, or in cinema,) their exposure to "the film aesthetic" has declined consistently over the years. Put it another way: Let's say that by some magic technology development, film were to become as easy to shoot / process / distribute as digital. Or, let's pretend that a digital sensor that gave "the film look" were to be developed and was available in consumer cameras. I don't think there would be a clamoring by the public to start consuming content that was shot on film (or with the film look). I think that while the "film look" ship might not have sailed yet, they have loaded the supplies and are getting ready to weigh anchor.

You know, it's kind of funny... and a bit depressing. Out of boredom, I started watching a gameplay of the popular game The Last of Us II, which incidentally is created by Sony. The CGI is really beautiful in it. It's not really film-like per se, but it is still nice. But then I worry that when sensor designers finally get around to being able to create the perfect film-like sensor, the majority of the consumers will have moved on. Especially with people being locked in doors, and even when things "get back to normal," they aren't going to be as normal as they were before. And so with the prevalence of gaming (higher frame rates), and tiktok (shot on phones), I just don't know how much longer the film aesthetic is going to matter to tomorrow's consumers of the world. My fifteen-year-old son is in to video (and photography) and he couldn't care about film-like sensor response.

Haven't been on facebook in a while, and i am primarily focused on real estate video, and there is a good Video for Real Estate group. I know there are a couple of groups for real estate video but only one of them was really worthwhile for me.

OK, first go in to preferences and change the color management / color settings. Set output color space to Rec.709 2.4 and disable any input LUTs / transforms. Then in either the media pool or the medial viewer of the edit page, change the Input Color Space to Panasonic V-LOG / V Gamut You should end up with a really good starting point even before grading. I disabled the nodes in my grade to show you the starting point. NOTE: For whatever reason, photoshop saturates my screen captures from the color page of resolve a lot, so the image is not as saturated as it looks in this screen shot. Note the HDR panel location next to the primary wheels / bars / log tab. If you see the levels in the center viewer, click the HDR icon a second time and it will display the HDR levels tool instead. HDR tool works EVEN IF YOU WILL BE DELIVERING IN SD INSTEAD OF HDR. big benefit is that adding contrast does not add saturation the way that it normally does when using primary wheels / bars / log tools. Hope this helps.

Will do. Give me about 10 minutes

The weird thing is that the most / best business information I find is on Facebook, and the whole facebook format is HORRIBLE at finding what you want, IMHO.

@zerocool22 Which version of resolve are you using? If you have version 17, I highly recommend using the DaVinci Wide Gamut (you have to go in to DaVinci Managed Color in the project settings and then choose DaVinci Wide Gamut), then make sure the input color space for your clips is set to Panasonic V-LOG, and it looks really good, IMHO. Be sure to NOT use any CST or LUT nodes when you try it out. Also, with Resolve 17, Panasonic V-LOG and DaVinci Wide Gamut, try using the HDR panel for your primary grading instead of using the LOG / Primary wheels / Primary Bars. Hope this helps. ASIDE: Personally, I was never completely satisfied with the V-LOG image in Resolve 16 when using either CST or with the Default LUT, nor with ACES transform. Of course, could be 100% operator error. I liked using some of the Varicam LUTs that are available on the Panasonic site, namely the Fashion Lo Contrast and Nicest LUT.

Well... I have actually used a couple of stills from video for some of my real estate clients, simply because on the day that had me shoot stills the skies were overcast / dreary, and on the day they had me come back and shoot video, the sky was a lot nicer. Also another client had re-planted flowers in the backyard and they didn't tell me to take a new shot of the backyard, but I was able to grab a frame or two from video for the agent.

Yeah, Sony GM glass (or the Zeiss 55mm f/1.8, or Sigma Art Glass) on an a7R II would be pretty spectacular.

Just mentioning that the S1 (and I think S5) has a kind of obscure 6K photo mode, where you are actually shooting a video and it lets you "extract" a still from the video (at least as far as I can tell). I think it works with all the various picture profiles, but the video file ends up being recorded as an h.265 instead of h.264 file... Also I am not sure the aspect ratio is still kept at 16:9 or whether it is changed to 3:2 Anyway, I think it gives a slight bump in resolution compared to shooting in 4K. The downside is that it is limited to 10 minutes (in the S1... don't know about other cameras), and again, not sure on the aspect ratio. Also, although it is called 6K photo mode, I have heard that it is actually only 5K. My math is too bad to confirm either way about this.

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. I think my Weebill s is not as strong as the Ronin s. I kind of dread using my S1 on a gimbal due to the weight and the length of the lens plus adapter (canon EF 16-35 f/4 L + MC-21)

It's kind of funny, isn't it??? I mean, if you were a Wedding shooter, the 12MP Nikon D700 was THE Wedding Photography camera for several years, and a D300 12MP aps-c crop sensor camera would be a back up cam. Personally 24MP is kind of the sweet spot since it allows me to crop in when I need to. Since I shoot 90% buildings, I can step back a bit to avoid keystoning and then zoom in post.

Is anyone using their S5 on a gimbal a lot??? (Heck, or even hand held a lot???) I still keep thinking of getting one (as a B cam / gimbal cam to my S1), since the weight of the S1 plus Lumix 24-105 f/4 (or my Canon EF 16-35 f/4 L) makes it such a beast on the Weebill S that my hands get tired real quickly. I guess my concern would be about how much having a flip-out screen affects the performance on a gimbal, and whether the smaller, lower LCD makes having an HDMI monitor that much more necessary. Darn... lighter weight and smaller size vs 6K internal and timecode (in future firmware updates) makes choosing between an S5 and another S1 for a B Cam pretty tough.

If you are determined to get one of the FULL FRAME cameras you listed in your first post, then the only real viable option is the a7R II, since it will have significantly better autofocus than the other cameras you listed and at least has internal 4K. However, the full frame 4K is pixel binned, so you will need to shoot in super 35 mode anyway for the best 4K image. You most likely will want to shoot in 4K, so the older a7 and a7 II cameras (that only shoot in 1080p) would probably best be avoided. (Sony 1080p is generally pretty bad with lots of aliasing and moire, unless you get an a7 S, which only has 12MP for stills). However... Since FS5 is aps-c (super 35), and since it seems like you are on a tight budget, it probably makes more sense to get a sony aps-c camera so you can share lenses between them (instead of having aps-c glass for the fs5 and full frame glass for the a7 camera). I would suggest looking at a used a6500 or a6600 if you want IBIS, or something like an a6400 / a6600 for HLG profile (the a6500 doesn't have HLG, but has 8-bit slog 2 and slog 3). 4K on Sony cameras is nice and detailed, although the issues are overheating (more so on the a6300 / a6500) and a dim screen, and again, only 8-bit for SLOG.

I have to admit the R6 is very tempting (would be coming over from a Panasonic S1 and my numerous Sony aps-c cameras). But for corporate work or small business commercials, I just don't know about the recording time limits (either hard-coded time limits or limits caused by overheating). Plus it seems like at this time the dynamic range still lags behind the Pansaonic S1 by about a stop or more. Not important for many, but since the bulk of my work is real estate, I need as much DR as possible. Kind of a shame for me cause it would be nice to get that great AF, and I am curious as to the IBIS of the R6 since (according to Jordan Drake) it doesn't "fight" you while panning.

Ask four videographers, get six opinions 🙂

When you say that "Sony is on fire..." I assume you are referring to this:

I don't know much about high-end phones (the most expensive phone I have ever bought cost me $200), but don't phones basically become "obsolete" after about two years since the OS developers (or handset manufacturers) refuse to allow for OS updates for phones older than two years???

Yeah, too my eyes, that looks like low frame rate and high shutter speed.