TomTheDP

It's got a lot of nice features it's just not the same as when the GH5 came out and it was the only hybrid camera doing 4k 10 bit.

I misread the GH6 price as $2700, $2000 isn't as bad. The S1 has all the things you mentioned besides prores though, it's not unique to M43 anymore.

It is almost $3000, I'd be close to getting an A7S3 for just a bit more used. The BM pocket is $1000 and has internal RAW and prores. I get the Pana is a hybrid camera but why no internal RAW or auto focus? If I need IBIS I can just use the S1 which is almost half the price of the GH6 used, only thing really missing is prores and 4k 120p. You are right full frame has pretty much caught up but M43 isn't pushing enough to stay ahead IMO. I bought the GH5 for that exact reason and its the same reasons I am not getting a GH6, combined with the price tag of course. Everyone will get that camera that works for them but Panasonic has not been pleasing me with their offerings aside from the S1. I am excited to see what their next full frame offering will be.

Camera sales are tanking in general. M43 has it's place but will it become so niche that it's not even worth investing in, for camera companies? Sony hasn't done any M43 cameras, they could probably have an edge over Panasonic with their auto focus. But they probably think the market is too small or dying in general. If companies making M43 cameras had their shit together more I don't think there would be as much of an issue. Panasonic would kill the vlogging market with state of the art auto focus and their IBIS but time and time again they miss the opportunity. The M43 P4K is still very relevant. But Blackmagic almost perfectly catered to their audience at the lowest price point possible. I really like the GH6 but the Sigma FP is smaller, has internal RAW and a much larger sensor. Same reason I didn't buy a Fuji. The XT3 was cutting edge but they haven't improved since. No RAW, no 4k 120p, no full HDMI. It's a smaller sensor shouldn't it be more featured than full frame counterparts? I feel the innovation is really lacking with M43 Panasonic and Fuji, also Sony has put no effort into their S35 line up, while their cutting edge full frame stuff has gotten really expensive.

Anyone got any suggestions for tiny travel lenses? Looking for something I can put on my Sigma FP that doesn't make it not "pocketable". I was looking at the helios 33 which is 35mm f2 (good focal length imo) but it only covers S35 🥲

Meant to say I have not seen it. Though I confusing streaking with noise banding which aren't the same thing. The worst camera I have noticed streaking on is the C300 MK2, to the point where I probably wouldn't use it. I shot a window situation like shown in that video above with the Sigma FP and didn't see any streaking though.

Oddly I have seen streaking with RAW on the S1 / S1h

Here is the test I did. I can't remember which was 8 and which was 10 bit as they look almost identical. The 12 bit file is very apparent though, leagues better. This was 100 ISO raised 5 stops in the resolve RAW panel. I used the BM color space.

I suspected that. 8 bit and 10 bit have banding in the shadows where that isn't present with 12 bit. I'd use 10 bit only for more controlled situations. In the test I did 8 bit and 10 bit looked about the same in terms of banding. It was a rather extreme test however.

I have always preferred seeing over/under tests. Highlight retention is pretty easy to judge but when it comes to shadows its very subject IMO.

Did some pretty heavy dynamic range tests today. Shooting into the sun. The Sigma FP handled it like a champ. I am honestly slightly surprised how close it is the the Alexa with a bit of work. The reality is you don't actually need the Alexa's dynamic range that often. I had a scene recently where I exposed for the subject and there was a bright window in a portion of the shot. The Alexa retained the info in the window but in post you have to choose between keeping that window detail or keeping the subject nicely exposed. At the end of the day you have to light your scene. That said there is something great about ARRI footage and how it just looks nice as soon as you throw on the 709 lut. I can also underexpose or overexpose the ARRI to hell and back and it still is usable. I shot both cams at native ISO and F8 indoors during the day. The ARRI was very noisy and had a a green tint, the Sigma completely fell about ugliest looking image you could imagine with no hope of NR repair. The Alexa footage might have been able to be cleaned up with NR but at the worst it looks like it could be a stylistic choice, not the same with the FP. That is dealing in extremes though. But one thing you can't ignore is that if you are in a dark situation you can just bump up to 3200 iso or beyond with the Sigma FP and get a cleaner image than you could off the Alexa. Only thing missing on the FP is 4k 48p, but hard to complain for the price. Also I hope that Micro hdmi holds up, using the onboard LCD in sunlight is close to impossible.

IBIS has really allowed the use of tiny handheld cameras to get smooth looking footage. Looks like you are carrying a big ass camera, well somewhat. There are always caveats to these shortcuts but they can be incredibly useful. I don't think a good shoulder mounted camera can be replaced for certain applications. It is nice having something that you can throw up on the shoulder super easily without rigging it to high heaven. That said with the amount of steady movements directors tend to demand slider, dolly, gimbal, steadicam, or just straight up handheld(which looks different than shoulder, its lower angle) a lighter camera comes in clutch and is almost essential to at least have around as a B-cam. I really hate rigging but its the way of now. I gotta build a rig for the tiny Sigma I just got. The one thing that truly needs to be a no 1 feature on every cameras is internal ND.

This guy's channel is interesting. Always cool to hear a perspective from someone who is directing the biggest of films but also does micro indie projects.

8lbs isn't bad, when 8lbs is the starting point before rigging then you have a problem 🤣

Shooting at 100 iso I have found there to be an incredible amount of detail in the shadows. I did find banding and posterization to show up in 10 bit and 8 bit recordings. The shadow control in the RAW tab on davinci can bring up banding posterization sometimes so I found it's best to avoid that. I found using the exposure control in the raw tab to make major adjustments and then using curves to make minor adjustments works well. In terms of resolution and crop modes I found full frame 4k is noticeably cleaner than all the other modes. 4k crop mode, HD full frame and HD cropped all had more noise. HD is very noticeably softer. It isn't unusable but it's definitely not the golden standard for HD.

Sounds like a very competent kit. I am also cool doing away with gimbals for weddings. IBIS gives you enough creativity and you can actually get quicker more precise shots than on a gimbal. Of course you lose the ability to do those super smooth tracking shots but who really needs that. I definitely got some of my best wedding work shot on the S1 plus a 35mm or 50mm.

Yes I did go PL. Locking EF mounts are kind of weird. Surprisingly they are both priced the same so it was a no brainer for me. I think if I had a bit more cash lying around I would have went with the IRIX. But once the 18mm and 100mm come out it will be a really nice set and all with an F2 aperture. Do you like the longer focus throw?

It actually covers full frame as does the 75mm. There is a vignette on the 35mm but I feel its very usable even without cropping in. This is a shot with the Meike 25mm on full frame, definitely needs a crop to be usable, wouldn't use with a client.

Hmm all Z-cam besides the very first have prores internal.

I don't think he disliked the R5 but it had overheating issues and a weird lack of dynamic range considering both cameras have the same log profiles.

It is kind of up to you. Do you want to deal with ignorant clients that you have to put on a show for? You could also just educate the client and hope they are receptive. Honesty always depends on how much you need the money lol. Showbiz is inevitably a pretty showy industry although it's a little more justified on the higher end of things. One of the simplest ways to make more money is simply to own more elaborate and more expensive gear, but it's not always the way and capturing good content can make up for any lack of "professional" gear. I did a short about a month back and pulled out all the big stuff. I actually think we may have been able to do a better job with a small DLSR as we just didn't have the time do be using a lot of the heavy duty stuff we were using. It looked great on set though.

oops I am not sure why I thought you were in AU Yeah I am waiting on that new ARRI, should be very interesting.

Interesting. I was on a short and they opted to rent the Mini LF over the mini that the DP owned. I am guessing it was a good deal more expensive. Australia might be a bit different though. I would be content with the OG mini, but I feel like it doesn't carry the weight it used to anymore in the US.

Those are the standard these days IMO. If you look at films the old mini and older S35 alexas are barely used or mostly as B-Cam. The LF is the king these days and the Venice isn't far behind. People love full frame so much that they'd buy something as unpractical as the Sigma FP to get full frame and RAW. The URSA body size is great though. You can shoot much more stable handheld with something in the 5 pound body size. You lose that with the Komodo or FX6. XLR and ND's are also really nice, at least for the type of thing I do. The nice thing about the URSA is the crop is like 1.4x, so its actually not far off from full frame compared to like APSC 1.6 crop or micro 4/3 1.9 I am getting by with the 14 pound Classic, with an 80w power draw and no internal ND's though, definitely worth it. 🤣🤣

I have yet to test it out. I imagine the rolling shutter is less in crop mode, so that could actually be a good idea. I always shot in regular VLOG 422 H254, not HEVC. Maybe it would work better in Resolve though.