zlfan

depends on codec, the behavior is different. for mpeg2 50 mbps, which is a standard for broadcast news, the panning artifact is blurring. once panning or tilting starts, the image is not clear. once the camera movement stops, it is clear. for xavc (Sony's mp4 implementation), the artifact is jumpy or choppy. for prores, similar to xavc. actually, theoretic discussion of the reasons of panning artifacts is not useful to me. as I am a practical man, the only way I find out that can solve this problem is using uncompressed or true lossless raw cameras if want to stay at 24p, or go 60p if the camera can do 60p and does not have a thick codec. I have seen blurred or choppy panning or tilting all the time, even on famous camera reviewers' footage. there is no deny that this kind of artifacts exist. I doubt that there is a practical way to prevent this happening on a camera that does thin codec 24p. most of time, experienced dps avoid camera movements at 24p if they use thin codec cameras, as you see from their demo reels.

from my use on Nikon v1, I doubt the notion that bigger sensor has better dr, as v1's dr is better than many apsc sensors. smaller sensor will have worse low light, that is for sure. bokur wise, I think m43/43 is good enough for most cases, maybe not enough for portrait and fashion. maybe a long lens at 200mm on m43/43 is fine. I use 43 55-200mm hg at 200 mm f3.5, out of focus is actually very nice, and you don't need to worry about half face is out of focus. I think 43/m43 for shallow depth of field seems an optimal format if background still needs to keep some information.

on my YouTube channel, I did a rough statistical analysis on the upvotes, 80% from go pro 12, 15% from magic lantern cams, 5% from f3 and red m-x cams. when I use go pro 12, my style is very different, as I know the camera movements will not reduce the image quality. in almost every shot, I do panning, tilting, walking, etc. also the camera is so small, I can go closer as people accept this as a toy cam. many times I attend events that I will not bring bigger cameras at all, I bring go pro 12 in my pocket, and can get some shots. the end results actually are very compelling. magic lantern cameras are very good for color. f3 is also very good for color, just ergonomically not easy to handle. red m-x cameras may have film like rendering so that please people's eyes. in general, I think a small action camera with m43/43 sensor, so that the low light is borderline usable, with gh7's ibis and af, with a pancake lens at f2.8, I doubt people will have other cameras. at least this camera will be used much more frequently than other cameras.

the same. either 29.97p or 59.94i. there is a difference of the loss of quality, though. 59.94i footage rendered in 29.97p has horizontal line skipping artifacts when moving the cam. 29.97p has jumpy movements. just did a 23.98p prores hq 4k from c500 og sdi out. jumpy or choppy panning. from my experience, only uncompressed or low compression raw holds up at 24p.

for a scene to look really good, actually the lighting needs to be controlled to be within 10 stops. otherwise, the results will be like in this video, even the camera is the legendary 15-stop usable Alexa 35.

for big budget production, camera is not a concern and a small part of the budget. for indie film makers, camera still is a big part of the budget. it is safe to say that big budget production still want to differentiate itself from indie shorts. this includes camera and the style only high end cinema cameras can provide. shooting a long take of the main character walking though a narrow street packed with group actors lighted with hundreds of meters of led tubes and reflectors is another differentiator. I have seen so many such scenes that do not matter much to the story line. also, large scale of green screen and heavy time consuming vfx, like dune 1/2. on the other hand, for the last ten years, tv series are getting so good, that its cinematography is better than that of most of the movies in the 1970s and earlier times. indie short films are also very good now. Denis Villeneuve spent his earlier and mid career in indie film making, then breaks through into the block bluster making. this is very rare case almost impossible 30 years ago.

it seems to me that the camera is not a differentiator like it was 20 years before, no matter what kind of style. intensive camera movements also can be mimicked by indie makers using s1h with good ibis, or gh7, or gimbals, or digital reframing and power window if shot in 8k or 12k. I think right now that hiring many actors and applying large scale green screen are the key differentiators, although these will make dps less essential to the whole product process.

totally agree. "It's high level art dear, you don't understand". lol I guess the true reason behind this trend is that low budget cameras are so good, like black magic bmpcc ff, Lumix s1h, etc, that Alexa users, i.e., big production dps, have to use dr as the differentiator, just like bokeh, etc, to separate themselves from low end indie makers. the problem is that they can not control the viewers' environments, like the black levels on viewers' monitors, the ambient light in the viewing environment, etc. nowadays, I like news, sports, and commercial shots more, as they just look normal, the colors are rich, the contrast is fine, and the exposure just looks all right.

the new tv series warrior has so many dark scenes. it is understandable that this series is about ganster, crime, etc. but still too dark for the whole series. the John wick series is the same. cannot find the camera info for warrior. John wick was shot in Alexa cameras. so Alexa cameras also want to explore deep Into the darkness to maintain its highlight rolling off legacy. everyone is doing this dr rat race. the new landmark of the current era cinematography style. lol.

seems to me, in theory, this mid grey shifting approach makes many cameras' useful dr very close to alexa. very clever detour. the achillie's heel is that the end viewers' monitors have to have very good black levels. in other words, the end monitors need to have dr distribution similar to these cameras that have more dr stops under the 18% mid grey. if this kind of monitors get popular, the advantage of alexa cameras will diminish.

possibly this workflow is trying to take advantage of the more dr stops under the 18% mid grey in most cameras. basically, the "new mid grey" shifts to the darker side, to maintain the high dr and keep the highlight rolling off, and to keep certain levels of contrast and saturation to please ordinary human eyes.

i know now why so many latest movies have so many dark scenes. my current understanding is that the camera is operated at the highest level of dr possible, mostly using log, so most dps use 60% to 70% ire for high light protection. then colorists may increase black level in post too to add the contrast. the final results are contrasty, color-rich, and, have high dr (high dr is normally not associated with high contrast high saturation style), at the expense of looking dark.

just did another shoot out with c300 og at 29.97 fps with the camera set at 59.94i using the in camera codec 50 mbps mpeg2. in resolve it recognizes as 29.97p. when the scene is static, it is great. when there is camera movement like panning and tilting, or even when there is subject walking in the static scene, on 4k monitor, the loss of image quality is very apparent. on laptop, it is not as apparent as on the 4k large monitor, but still visible. so this confirms again my previous observation. when the codec is weak, at 24p or 30p, either the camera movement is to be avoided, or use 60p. at 24p uncompressed raw or low compression raw, slow camera movements seem ok. faster movements may have issue. but I normally don't do whip panning. also, rolling shutter may kick in, so it is hard to define the effects of the 24p, the codec, the rolling shutter.

Lumix GH7 + Sigma 18-35 | Kraków Cinematic - YouTube seems working on gh7

rebel moon seems very organic and cinematic although by red 8k cameras. seems 8k is different depending on different cameras.

in no good legend, I can guess which are gh7 shots. the ones with the old bar tender look sharper than other takes, almost different look or style, it might be taken by gh7. in other words, in order for gh7 to work with Alexa, not only arri log c lut is needed, filters are needed too. on the other hand, for news and sports, gh7 is perfectly fine, no less than any other cameras.

r5ii 8k is too sharp to my eyes, like news. I feel a little uncomfortable. no good legend looks much more cinematic. not sure which takes were done with gh7. not sure if they did filtration.

s series and gh7 are really leading the Japanese companies.

yes, ettr is really depending on different sensors. interestingly, i have no issue on r1mx and epic-x mx for ettr up to 3 stops, but they can not do ettl. underexposure more than 1 stops, then pull up in post, will cause much noise, and render the footage useless. magic lantern raw cameras can do ettr (but with the increase of the iso, less dr), no ettl. similar to red ones.

Over 30 Lighting Diffusions Tested

Hollywood Gaffer explains Lighting Filters and Diffusion || Julian White

leitz lenses are great, no doubt about it. just style is kind of different from the movie itself. not sure why.

They shot on raw. Typically shooting raw uses ettr to suppress shadow noise. Why did they elevate the shadow? Also if final look was intentionally high contrast, the shadow should be crashed further?

Basically, they used Sony Venice 2 and Venice OG with AXS R7 for 6k raw or XOCN, Leitz M ff cine lenses. The look is extremely sharp, very much like looking through the window. Why did they choose the leitz lenses, not the zeiss lenses? Probably the latter is more suitable for this style? Also they used the aspect ratio of 1.78:1, not the typical cinema 2.40:1. why? Technical specifications The Zone of Interest Edit Runtime 1h 45m(105 min) Sound mix Dolby Digital Color Color Aspect ratio 1.78 : 1 Camera FLIR X8500(American Cinematographer December 2023) Sony CineAlta Venice Rialto, Leitz M 0.8 Lenses Sony CineAlta Venice, Leitz M 0.8 Lenses Negative Format AXS-R7 Cinematographic Process Digital Intermediate(4K, master format) Spherical(source format) X-OCN ST(6K, source format) Printed Film Format 35 mm(Kodak Vision 2383) D-Cinema DCP Digital Cinema Package