TomTheDP

The Venice 2 has 3 different RAW compression options. X-OCN XT which is 965mbps X-OCN ST which is 660mbps X-OCN LT which is 389 mbps The RAW LT is even smaller than 4k prores 422. I am not sure if the older Venice has the same RAW options or not. I have been shooting 2k 422 a lot on my Alexa Classic. I still get the amazing highlight retention and I am not usually pushing the footage too far. It is nice to have 444 as an option though. Arri Raw in 2.8k wouldn't be terrible but it edits terribly. By far the most choppy footage I have ever encountered.

In terms of vintage glass I love the Pentax 50mm 1.2 Shooting at 1.2 isn't super practical but it definitely gives a crazy interesting look. The Pentax 50mm 1.2 is the sharpest lens at that speed I have ever used at least of the vintage variety. I love the Minolta 35mm f1.8. It's my favorite 35mm vintage lens I have used. Very sharp and really nice lens flares and color. I wish it was adaptable to EF mount but alas your L mount will have no issue. In terms of super cheap 50s the Nikon pancake 1.8 is really nice. Very sharp and super cheap. I do love the helios 58mm as well. The Pentax 20mm 2.8 is the sharpest wide angle vintage lens I have ever used. Not super cheap but not super expensive. The Canon FD 85mm 1.8 is really nice. Low contrast but sharp, just super lovely.

Have you used the FX9, Venice or FX30? I personally have never used a camera with dual native ISO that had the same noise performance at the higher base ISO. I just tested the sigma FP in broad daylight at its base iso of 100 and second base of 3200. There was more noise in the shadows at 3200. When I used to own the Panasonic S1 I always would over expose by 1-2 stops to reduce noise when shooting at 4000 iso in dimmer light. Maybe Sigma and Panasonic are different than Sony, although they both use Sony sensors.

The magic of L mount is you can literally mount any kind of lens to it with a cheap adapter. That said it really depends what kind of stuff you'll be shooting. The Lumix lenses for the S1 line are solid if you need AF.

Yeah that is probably true in regards to sensors. The motion cadence thing is definitely confusing. I am not sure how the DGO would affect it, as the Alexa does the same thing. But I guess it's more processing hence more room for issues.

I think it has more to do with processing than the codec itself. Of course motion will generally look better with ALL-I vs Long GOP due to the nature of the compression. But everything else comes down to processing. I would think aside from the manufactures choice in processing that H264 ALL-I at 200mbps in HD would match Prores 422 HQ at HD which is around 200mbps.

I mean it isn't terribly hard to throw on an ND especially with the FX6 where its built in. Easier to take away light than to add it.

The computing time made it a lot less attractive for me. Definitely works a treat though.

Guessing you are getting the two mixed up. The FX3 has the second native iso of 12,800. I have never used a dual iso camera that isn't noisier at the second native ISO. Of course this is often exaggerated as people usually use the second native ISO in very dim situations where they are underexposing half the things in the shot.

I personally have found 10 bit H265 and H264 to be a pain to edit even on my M1 chip 16gb ram Mac. RAW is definitely a huge upgrade on the S1. I found when you set the log footage to vlog it looks different than the internal codec, but maybe that was my imagination.

That is true, its technically not RAW. You might like BRAW off the Panasonic S1.

What about BRAW? 12:1 is pretty light.

Tough question. I love shooting higher bitrates with lower resolution. The Alexa Classic 2k lets me shoot in 444 without massive files and super smooth NLE experience. Sometimes I do crave 4k recording. With the relatively cheap costs of SSDs shooting 12bit 4k on the Sigma FP is doable. Still long term storage becomes a pain the more data you rack up. Maybe I just need a better archiving system. I'd say when shooting 4k its nice to have 5:1 compression option, really saves you a lot of space with no noticeable loss in IQ. Prores 422 seems to look nice and isn't too big. Of course with 8k its pretty massive, 4k or 2.8k things aren't so bad. Prores LT is a little brittle for me. But maybe shooting 8k kind of makes up for it. I just can't buy into the 6k-8k hype. 4k is a sweet spot for me and I don't mind shooting HD either.

Plenty of Star Wars BTS to see what camera they were using. I doubt they need to do trickery when you have Star Wars money. I imagine they went digital for certain VFX shots though.

Oh shit, I thought It had heard it had 32bit internal recording. Sadly it looks like I am wrong. After watching Top Gun 2 I remember looking at the spec list on IMDB and seeing 35mm film listed, but looking at it again I only see the Venice. I don't know what I have been smoking lol. It makes sense as it looked pretty digital aside from the film grain, which was added in post it seems. The last Jurassic World film was shot on film. Obviously Nolan and Tarantino always shoot on film. But yeah you're right it's pretty uncommon over all. Although I feel it's made somewhat of a comeback. The last Star Wars trilogy was shot on film. I guess for faster turn around stuff like most streaming films/shows it really isn't an option.

I assume you could get a zero distortion fast 24mm lens that would look about the same. Not many lenses that can do faster than 1.4 without compromising the image though. In my price bracket I just prefer 35mm vintage still lenses over cheaper S35 cine lens options.

I am not sure what you are trying to say. All the Alexa cameras before the 35 share the same sensor, the sensor just gets bigger and hence more resolution. Finer grain equals the appearance of less noise. Again the Alexa 35 changes this as it isn't the ALEV3 sensor. It's the cleanest and highest dynamic range Arri camera so far. This is what I find interesting. Will people choose the full frame LF which has worse high ISO performance, worse dynamic range, less color depth, and less accurate color reproduction just to get the FF FOV? My point was this is the first time where the best sensor on the market is a S35 sensor with no sign of ARRI putting out a new FF sensor. We'll see what the big boys go with, time will tell.

To be fair the full frame craze may just be because the best sensors have been full frame. The RED Monstro was superior to the helium, helium had a green cast in the shadows. The Alexa LF sensor was superior to the S35 variant being higher resolution, smaller pixels, finer grain, better high iso performance. There was no S35 variant of the Venice, well you could shoot cropped in 4k, but again you get better performance with full sensor in 6k. The Alexa 35 is now the best sensor on the market and is also S35. Interesting. Back to the FX30, the C70 kicks it's butt in everyway, but the AF on the C70 is subpar, I have seen it first hand. Would be nice if Sony was actually innovative and gave us an affordable S35 mini Cine Camera with ND's. Could be a lot worse though.

I don't really consider any of those cameras cinema cameras but maybe I am being snobby. If it can make it into a theater I guess you can't say it is not cinema though.

I think it's just relating to the S35 sensors and the Alexa 35. I have noticed Classics sitting for a long time, but it's the same with the XT or Amiras. The market for these types of cameras is a lot more niche. Of course the Classic is at the bottom of the barrel for ARRI cameras being the oldest and first one. In terms of projects where you use actual cinema cameras most of the rigs end up being pretty big and bulky. The Venice or Amira are pretty similar in size. I do use my classic for corporate stuff, I have even shot a wedding with it, albeit a short one. In terms of the FX30 though I do think the recent Fuji releases are more interesting and better in almost everyway. But for auto focus nothing beats Sony and if you need a B-cam for any of the Sony cine cameras again this is a great option. In terms of glass too it makes sense to stick to a single system unless you are just using all manual glass. Sony is kind of killing it if you look at their entire line up. From the A7S3 to the FX6 to the Venice. If I had to just rock with a single camera it would probably be the XH2S, though I do like my Sigma FP a lot.

The PLUS does 4:3, the classic sensor is 16:9 unless they were doing upgrades at some point. You can get Classics fitted with the XR module, which gives you 2.8k RAW, but no 4:3 or 3.2k. The classic in my opinion is not a bad choice for small budget features. I just used one on a short 7 day feature and didn't find it getting in the way. I don't think people realize that the OG classic sensor is basically the same as the Alexa mini. I do plan on getting the Amira at some point, it is defiantly the best run and gun ARRI camera besides the 35. Although I think the Amira would still be better for shoulder rig setups. Yeah Netflix doesn't shoot film as far as I know of, but for big Hollywood it's the LF or Film usually. The Venice gets some use but even on Top Gun 2 it was only used for cockpit shots, the rest was film. I honestly think we'll see way less RED usage now that Arri has both the LF and 35 as 4k options, for higher end stuff that is. I am really just talking really high end Hollywood. Yes you get a lot of big indie films that win festivals shooting on the OG mini or RED. I am still very interested to see where the Alexa 35 puts everything. It is a way better choice than both the mini LF or S35 mini, just in terms of handling. It's basically better in every way. For low budget you get higher ISO options that aren't as noisy, for bigger productions you have a camera that is suited way better for AC's, 32bit float internal recording. I suppose the price is still going to put it outside of a large amount of productions. That said the Venice is actually similar to the Alexa 35 in terms of body design and you get compressed RAW and high iso options. It is a bit heavier, but with the benefit of full frame 6k or 4k S35 options. The Alexa 35 dynamic range kicks the Venice's butt though. ARRI is still the golden standard and I have to say I'd rather shoot with the mini or Amira than the Venice despite the downsides. I am kind of loopy though.

Oscars aren't but movies that you see in theater or big TV/netflix type stuff are almost always the LF or Film. You see Amiras at 14 grand but they have like 7000+ hours. You can find a classic for 2k hours for 4500 for the entire kit. XT's are staying a bit higher though probably because 3.2k raw at 120fps is still more commercially viable than HD even though the difference is next to nothing as downsampling retains almost all the detail.

I think it depends on the tier you are working in. For like bigger theatrical releases it all seems to be the LF. I mean I definitely work a lot with S35 but I am not Hollywood. I am probably sounding pretty arrogant right now as Hollywood isn't the only place in the world making films, especially nowadays.

They also did do a lot of green screen, one of the main actors was completely removed from the film and replaced later with someone else lol. In regards to the Sony it would be nice if it was priced even a bit cheaper $1500 territory. Why didn't they just go all out and give us open gate?

I almost feel full frame is the standard now for digital. The Alexa LF pretty much dominates, if not that the Sony Venice or RED monstro both of which are full frame. Of course we still see film being used quite a bit which is S35, larger than APSC tho. It'll be interesting to see how the Alexa 35 might change this. That said it's so easy to throw on a speed booster and get the FF look that the FX30 isn't suffering much from being S35 imo. My main appeal with FF is being able to use vintage still glass to its full potential.