Which Camera Today for Indie Feature?

[BenEricson]

15 hours ago, IronFilm said:

But you were saying the Odyssey with the F3? & in that combo it is overkill.

As BMD VA & Samurai Blade already have SDI.

And F3 can't do raw or 240fps.

Overkill unless you need/want dual output SDI/60p. I'm shooting a ton of 60p and the 7Q is easier than paying much more for the 444 enabled F3.

The 7Q is also a very very nice monitor. If size is an issue, obviously go for the BMD VA. The 7Q is only like 1000-1200 used at this point. 

 

[dhessel]

If the F3 doesn't have the paid slog upgrade you will need the 7Q to get 444 or 60P. If I am not mistaken with out the upgrade dual link is required for either of these options and the 7Q is one of the only recorder that supports it. This is the main reason whe the 7Q is so popular for the F35 since it only has HD-SDI and outputs in PsF. I believe with the paid slog upgrade the F3 gained 3G over single link allowing many other recorders to work it. 

[fuzzynormal]

On July 20, 2016 at 11:37 PM, Hanriverprod said:

I am wasting way too much time researching gear when I need to be editing the script and storyboarding! I know there is a lot of good knowledge in this forum, so I thought maybe some of you guys could point me in the right direction.

Yes.  Seems like you have a handle on things.  

When it comes to small productions, unless you have a good reason (story) to actually use a camera and film something interesting I really don't see a reason to put the cart before the horse.  When you're finally really excited about what's on the page, then take time to worry about the tech.

If your film was on a budget wherein you were the DP and your main concern was the camera, then you could burrow into the rabbit hole.  Otherwise, just get what you can with that 8K and you'll be fine.  

Personally, I sometimes wonder if too many production people feel like the subjective issue of skin tone/color is something that'll make or break a movie.  I mean, I care about it too, but it's waaaaay down on the priority list.  That's me though.  I tend to do work wherein I'm the beginning and end of everything, so my priorities need to take into account much more than just camera... The first one being, would a viewer even find this story interesting?

[Goose]

On 26/07/2016 at 9:13 PM, IronFilm said:

 

 

One of my favourite films!

 

[IronFilm]

9 hours ago, BenEricson said:

Overkill unless you need/want dual output SDI/60p. I'm shooting a ton of 60p and the 7Q is easier than paying much more for the 444 enabled F3.

 

I'm not seeing any real price difference on the secondhand market between ones with and without the paid s-log upgrade. And the BMD VA is heaps cheaper than the 7Q. 

Anyway, I can disagree but still respect a person could go either way on this

[andy lee]

Im going to throw Panasonic into the equation, I just shot a Feature film with 6 Panasonic G7 cameras with Nikon Glass and Metabones XL speedboosters and Gini Rigs cages

 

G7 in 4k is an amazing camera I tested it at length against a RED Epic and Arri Alexa and we all prefered the image fom the Panasonic especialy in low light it out performed the Epic , so much cleaner image off the Panasonic no noise or fizz in the blacks like the Epic had.

I shot the movie with these lenses

Nikon 80-200 f2.8 'Bourne Lens'

Nikon 28-70mm f2.8 'Bourne Lens'

Nikon 20-35mm f2.8

all on Metabones speedbooster XLs to give a Super 35mm field of view on the G7 it also made the f1.7 contant apperture zoom .

The Nikon Glass with the Metabones XL gives a look very similar to Zeiss Master Prime lnes its that sharp and good.

with those 3 lenses you can shoot your entire movie

 

 

 

 

 

see pic

[JazzBox]

43 minutes ago, andy lee said:

Im going to throw Panasonic into the equation, I just shot a Feature film with 6 Panasonic G7 cameras with Nikon Glass and Metabones XL speedboosters and Gini Rigs cages

 

G7 in 4k is an amazing camera I tested it at length against a RED Epic and Arri Alexa and we all prefered the image fom the Panasonic especialy in low light it out performed the Epic , so much cleaner image off the Panasonic no noise or fizz in the blacks like the Epic had.

I shot the movie with these lenses

Nikon 80-200 f2.8 'Bourne Lens'

Nikon 28-70mm f2.8 'Bourne Lens'

Nikon 20-35mm f2.8

all on Metabones speedbooster XLs to give a Super 35mm field of view on the G7 it also made the f1.7 contant apperture zoom .

The Nikon Glass with the Metabones XL gives a look very similar to Zeiss Master Prime lnes its that sharp and good.

with those 3 lenses you can shoot your entire movie

Yesterday I had my first real gig with both G7 and GH4. Cleanest image (in 4K) then GH4 in low light and at 800 ISO. Great awesome camera! 
Thank you very much fro the advice! 
 

[squig]

My choice for my indie feature is the 5D MkIII raw. Other options I tested were the A7s and the BMMCC. Other options I seriously considered were the F3, the C100 MKII (with external prores recorder), and the C300. I didn't give the GH4 or G7 a lot of consideration because dynamic range is more important to me than crispness, but honestly I think any one of these cameras can look amazing in the right hands.

[JazzBox]

The BM Pocket and the Micro are also great, but I find them great when you have time to set them. When you are in rush (run & gun) they are slower, especially outdoor and the battery's life is poor compared to Panasonic. 
I think Panasonic in "natural" Andy' setting, after a good color correction are almost indistinguishable from real cinema camera. I mean: I do love my BM Micro, but I'm faster with Panasonic and the internal codec is really good. 
 

[jax_rox]

10 hours ago, andy lee said:

G7 in 4k is an amazing camera I tested it at length against a RED Epic and Arri Alexa and we all prefered the image fom the Panasonic especialy in low light it out performed the Epic , so much cleaner image off the Panasonic no noise or fizz in the blacks like the Epic had.

Well, if you're comparing a camera with in-camera noise reduction to one that doesn't have it, then it probably will be cleaner. The question is what does it look like blown up on a cinema screen? 

What did you rate the Epic at? I never liked going too high on the ISO on it, despite the 'claimed' native ISO of 800.

Of course, you're testing a camera shooting raw with no NR applied in camera, to one that shoots highly compressed, with significantly reduced colour on a sensor <1/2 the size of an Epic, with in camera NR... 

I mean, shoot on whatever you want, but make sure you know the pitfalls of each, and that you're able to compare apples to apples.

[JazzBox]

19 hours ago, andy lee said:

Andy, which tripod with fluid head do you suggest without spending too much for G7 / GH4  rigged as yours?
Thank you very much!  
 

[andy lee]

Libec tripods

[JazzBox]

Thank you very much!  

[jcs]

For low budget indie, get something with high quality focus tracking and manual focus assist such as the C100 Mark II (we use the C300 II and 1DX II). While the A7S II is great for low light, and we can make skintones look decent, Canon color is still much better for skintones and requires less time in post, which is very valuable. Getting your shots in focus, especially moving shots will save time and money. If you have an experienced focus puller available, this is less of an issue, however your camera rig will be much more complex, and some shots such as gimbal/steadycam benefit greatly from solid autofocus. The C100 II is razor sharp 1080p- the soft wide comment must have been the lens or focus. The files are also very small and easy to edit. Sony is getting better with skintones with each new camera release, and their autofocus is improving as well. I would expect their next release to be very competitive. Until then, the C100 II is a great sweet spot camera for bang-for-buck, reliability, autofocus, low light, and skintones.