FHDcrew

As many of you know I have a Nikon Z6 and am looking for a fast wide angle for video. Viltrox has a 24mm 1.8 FF lens, affordable. Though N-log crops in 1.1x on the camera so I’m worried I’d lose some FOV. I’ve contemplated the viltrox 13mm 1.4 APSC lens instead, as it’s closer to 20mm FF equiv. I would have to shoot in DX crop mode, but I honestly feel like I’d just lose an inconsequential level of detail (no longer doing 6k over sampling) and would have degraded high ISO performance (I don’t usually need great performance). Your thoughts? Is 20mm vs 24mm a huge difference?

It’s a super versatile minimal *not-wallet-breaking* setup

Wow. You guys have read my mind. I’ve got a 50mm (actually 45mm) and in order to keep things somewhat affordable I’m thinking of a 20-24mm fast prime, and then just juggling back and forth between the two primes, for the exact reasoning you mentioned.

Update time. I have the 5 in 1 reflector, using that as negative fill, combined with some tweaks to my key light angle results in pleasing contrast and depth in the face. So I’m very pleased! I’m still doing the technique of moving the already large key light visibly into the frame, then masking it out in post. I noticed a discernible discernible difference in softness between using this workflow, and having the key light just out of frame.

Interesting comment on the video. I share these feelings.

Exactly. It just isn’t possible. But the internet wants to sell you that. Motion graphics templates. Lut packs. Lightroom presets. It’s all annoying.

https://youtu.be/huMGyDnq0bk

Yes!! And on the other end of the spectrum you have videos like this. Literally withholding information on color grading. An ad in disguise, they make it seem like you can just buy the lut and not have to learn much. https://youtu.be/huMGyDnq0bk&t=446

Canon XC10, RX10 II, Panasonic fz2500, all AMAZING as camcorder alternatives. For my personal work I prefer full frame mirrorless, with bridge cameras I just can’t replicate that look of even a nifty fifty, with that 1.8 shallow DOF and high DR.

These bridge cameras are underrated though. High-end camcorder quality but WAY cheaper than comparable camcorder options. And in a live setting where you can’t just move the camera around like crazy, you need that flexibility to have a wide 25mm shot but then zoom in to like 400mm for the ultra/closeup of someone on stage, clear at the end of the room.

Well I have used 2 Panasonic FZ1000 bridge cameras in a live setting. You desperately need a cage and hdmi clamp, but the image is good compared to cameras in this price range. Featureset is identical to a Panasonic g7, so you still get zebras, cinelike d, peaking, etc. Plus you get that flexible camcorder-level zoom, but with a bigger sensor than $600 camcorders. And if the subject is far away from a wall and you are zoomed in substantially, you do get shallow DOF. Clean HDMI output, 4k 24, 30, or 1080 60. You just can’t simultaneously record internally.

Wow what an amazing channel. I just watched one of his videos, the “sun sandwich” one. Was so good! He just explains it all in a way I rarely see on YouTube! Also another good channel is meet the gaffer.

An interesting thing I have played with is moving the key light so it is visibly in frame, nearly touching the subject at times. Then I shoot a clean plate with the light out of frame, and use it to mask out the light. Gives softer light for free. Any tips on how to improve this technique? Usually if the light is super close, the mask needs to be feathered a lot. But the feathering then bleeds on the subject. The mask never perfectly matched as is.

Those look really good! I guess it really just comes down to practice and developing a real-world eye.

Yes I agree depth is great! I’m hoping the neg fill will help me in areas where I don’t have that much depth, or the most pleasing background in the room doesn’t necessarily have the most depth (so using a fast lens to compensate)

See YouTube tutorials never seem to cover this stuff. I mean yeah some do, but most YouTube tutorials just point an aputure light dome at a 45 degree angle and it magically looks great. They never seem to talk about all of these subtleties that I’m beginning to see a glimpse of.

Yes, I imagine the 5 in 1 will have that role for me. Gonna serve so many use cases.

Appreciate the advice everyone! I decided to keep it simple and affordable; I purchased a large 5-in-1 reflector to use. The thought is I only have 1 c stand which is in use by my key light. So my remaining stands are cheap Amazon basics light stands. Which the reflector can mount with. So no need to buy extra stands, just the reflector and a mounting clip. I’m very excited to play around with it and add that negative fill that lots of my shots have been missing! It finally makes sense to me, that is why my shots have lacked depth so often. I have also tried your run of the mill “eggcrate” that Velcros onto a parabolic softbox. Fixed the spill problem but I find it adversely affects the softness of the light! It introduces hot spots to my skin which I can’t stand! So I feel no eggcrate, plus this negative fill will give me the best of both worlds when I don’t have the luxury to shoot in a big space away from walls.

Super cool. Definitely a company I want to stand behind, except for the dumb politics /Atomos feud which resulted in no Prores raw for Davinci.

Is this worthwhile vs N-log on the Z6? Has anyone tried running Prores raw from the Z6 through the CinemaDNG converter, then processing in resolve? Is the line skipping that big of a deal? How is the FOV compared to N-log? I know n-log has a 1.1x crop.

Agreed. I’ve loved focusing on things like lighting and color grading. Composition. Things that actually make a difference to your image. So much on YT is gear reviews of expensive cameras, as I’ve said before we are at an image quality threshold, so all we can do is get better ourselves. I find there is a great mixture on this forum; we can all have fun geeking out about the next new camera or RAW codec, but then we will all turn around, reminisce about an old Gh1 or F3, and talk about lighting/color grading practice, with a dose of anamorphic lenses thrown in. Great forum, I wish it had as much traction as it used to get. I also miss Andrew’s constant articles of the past.

So now if you buy a used Z6 from Adorama, for for $1559 (including Ninja V) you get 10 bit full frame and phase detect AF. Quite a bit cheaper than an a7iv or Canon R6! Stands by the fact that it’s the cheapest way to get that featureset.

If you don’t mind some fungus lol, 14 bit raw for $75 https://www.adorama.com/us1489020.html

I saw a Canon 50d for sub $100 on adorama a while ago. And you can shoot 14 bit raw video on it! This stuff really is cheap!

Well I confirmed it, I desperately need negative fill. I set up a different angle in the small room. But the shadow side of my face is farther away from a wall. Boom. Now my face has texture again. I’m shocked at how sensitive light spill is! Now, any recommendations for super cheap negative fill? But effective enough even in very small spaces?