FHDcrew

I filmed recently on a Sony a7iii with modified slog2. Color mode set to ITU709. Graded with. Resolve CST. Nail your white balance and your skin tone is honestly really solid. Sony 8 bit does have legs in 2024.

“Flexible Options for Diverse Expression Based on Your Imagination.” Finally, now I can use my imagination when filming. Didn’t know I could do that.

Will do. I always hated the older Nikon rec709 LUT, opting to do a CST in davinci instead.

I will be playing with these and will report back results!

https://www.nikonusa.com/content/red-luts Excited to try these. RED color (or maybe RED-ish color) for Nikon is a win in my book. The fact that these work on my 6 year old OG Z6 is awesome. That camera truly has aged like fine wine.

Man Panasonic must have utterly insane IBIS. I used a canon r5 this summer and consistently filmed with IBIS + EIS on. I found if I heel-toe walked and then applied warp stabilizer it consistently looked like I filmed with a gimbal or used gyro stabilization. If the Canok R5 is that good I can only imagine how impressed I would be if I held an s5 II or a gh7 right now. Thinking of switching to an s5 II or a g9ii paired with very fast glass for that very reason.

And it has SDI out 😉

Biggest caveat is I find them to be rather cheaply built. Micro HDMI sucks too.

Can confirm these are awesome. My church has 3 fz1000s being used in a multicam live-stream setup I built. Great image quality, awesome zoom range and clean HDMI out that is good except it doesn’t have the lowest latency out there. The lens so good especially on the long end.

I tried using just pure gyro logging on my iPhone mounted to my Z6, but easily got lost trying to find matching gyro files, especially if I forgot to log for a take or whatnot which would throw off my sequential order of gyro clips. Having a visual reference is way better. Of course, in a perfect world we would get internal gyro like on new Sony bodies, blackmagic cams and reds, but this is a solid workaround. I also have played with both After Effect’s Pixel Motion Blur and Davinci Resolve Studio’s motion blur. Both are good; AE might be a bit more accurate, Davinci’s faster, but both work well. I will say for very fast moving stuff though it’s very hit or miss. And I am starting to realize the tediousness of the post-production workflow.

Yep. I find the most efficient workflow for those who need external gyro loggers is to use either a phone with the GyroCam app or an action camera. This is because they record video as well as the gyro data. Then when you come across a clip from your mirrorless camera you want to stabilize, just find the corresponding video clip where the same action is occurring; then you just sync up the gyro.

I need to actually film an example that I post online, but gyroflow is quite impressive at least if you film wide. Easy to get a steadicam look or a gimbal look, if you are going for more of a steadicam/stable handheld look you don’t have to crop in much. Only annoyance is with my Nikon Z6 there is no internal gyro recording so I have to use an external device (my phone). Cameras like the Sony fx30 look so tempting because they record internal gyro; seems like such an easy workflow.

Mixture of 8 bit and external 10 bit. The first location is definitely 8 bit.

So cool to have this thread created. Hope everyone is well; haven’t been active in a while. Still love my Z6. Super nice 8 bit image and if you nail your WB grades very nicely. Neutral with I-dynamic on high or Nikon flat with I-dynamic (for very extreme scenes) provides nice colors, decent flexibility and range in post. Grades nicely in Davinci. Autofocus is usable, nowhere near what the latest Canons and Sonys can do but still really solid. If you can get an Atomos Ninja Star you can record oversampled 6k>1080p 10 bit 422 prores which gives a beautiful image and grades just as well as anything out there. One of the best 1080p cams for the money in that regard. 4k 10 bit out of the HDMI to something like a Ninja V looks great; the image holds up with really anything else (Canon R6 II, Sony FX30, etc) but it’s not my favorite setup in terms of ergonomics, weight or battery management. Nice to have as an option but I’d much rather have internal 10 bit log. That being said, the internal 8 bit is great most of the time.

A-Roll is completely 8-bit

Half of the shots in this video I shot are in 8-bit rec709 but graded in post. Learn your gear and 8 bit is just fine.

Glad I stayed in the Nikon system 😂

You could go gyro stabilization? Get a cheap action cam and hotshoe mount it. Use it to log the data.

Would love to see skin tones! I need to learn how to work with them given 8-bit limitations. That indeed always tends to be the trickiest for me to work on.

Love this! I am coming to the same conclusion as I shoot in 8-bit rec709 more and more. And I find that having a color managed workflow helps a lot; the image is quite flexible when conformed to Davinci Wide Gamut; responds a lot like LOG does. And if my exposure and white balance aren't too off, the grading experience is great.

@PannySVHSdid you shoot with your Sony F3 at all? 🤣

Yeah I probably should focus on improving one thing at a time. Good advice!

As far as 2024 Gear Upgrades, here is what I am considering: 1. Invest in more grip gear. This will be good as I can start playing with new lighting techniques and do more. 2. Possibly upgrade to the Sony A6700. Not sure about this yet, but I like the camera. For what I shoot the overheating is a non-issue. 3. If I do not get the Sony A6700, I may pick up a second Nikon Z6 used to use as a b-camera. 4. Get a new 50mm prime. Thinking of going for the super cheap Nikon 50mm 1.8g. The Tamron 45mm 1.8 is nice optically, but does not have the most consistent autofocus. I get much better results with first-party Nikon F-Mount lenses, let alone native Z lenses. Also, this lens has built in image stabilization, but because it is used in tandem with my Z6 IBIS, I find that with this particular lens the image stabilization is extremely inconsistent.

Good year! Gear: I snagged an older Nikon 17-35 2.8 F-Mount lens for $350. Works very well, stabilization and autofocus both work surprisingly well for its age, and it has been a welcome addition to my kit. I also bought an Amaran 60d and snagged a Neewer RGB light for 1/3 its retail price from an auction. No new camera upgrades; 2024 is the beginning of my 3rd year with my Nikon Z6. Work: Started to get some good pay opportunities and get some nice consistent work. Started working for a nonprofit with a great working environment, producing a lot of promotional material. Enjoying this experience. Second-half of 2023 I focused a lot more on broadcast than on cinematography. Crewed some D2 College Football games and even did a basketball game recently. Also tried to learn my way around a 4 M/E switcher. I built a custom video switcher solution using OBS, Central Control, a Newtek Tricaster Control Surface, and a bunch of plugins. I use a cheap Blackmagic Decklink Quad in the mix and it works great given how little I spent on the whole thing. Skills: I feel that my style as a cinematographer became more established; when running and gunning I began to figure out what types of camera moves and whatnot I enjoyed the most and observed a level of consistency with my work which is always nice to see. That being said, I need to push myself more. I don't feel that I grew exponentially especially within the past 6-months. My favorite work of 2023: This one is a Baptism Recap Video I made, shot on my Z6 with the Tamron 45mm 1.8 and Nikon 17-35. All 10 bit prores to my Atomos Ninja Star. Graded in Resolve. I feel that this was the one I pushed myself the most in recently, both in terms of effects but also in learning to get better at sound design. A worship night hype video I made. Funny story: was planning to use my Ninja Star and shoot 10 bit. Accidentally formatted the CFAST Card in the Ninja Star (the ninja star itself formatted the card). I had a lot of files on this card as its 256gb. So refused to use it for the shoot because I had hoped to recover the data from it. In addition, the memory from my XQD Card was almost full, and it was a lot of files I needed to hang onto (dumb me didn't transfer them yet) so I had to resort to 8-bit 1080p 28mbps from my Z6. Video turned out fine, but I don't love the 1080p from my Z6. Does not grade as well as even the 8-bit 4k, let alone the external 10 bit. I will say I was happy with the final output.