Olympus EM1X

[Dolaris Films]

Dear Anthony,

I am doing a documentary under difficult political risk in a foreign environment, and need to use a highly ergonomic mirrorless form factor for a multi-camera walking interview of a political figure. The Olympus-EM1X best fits the bill, but I am concerned that the limit of 8-bit video output, even using an external recorder such as a Ninja V recording to ProRes could result in an image that has banding when projected on a large theatrical motion picture screen where 12-bit projectors are the norm.

Do you have any experience with the Olympus EM1X from the IQ standpoint in video.  Certainly the Canon 1-DC was used in a similar context with no problem for past documentaries, but that camera is no longer available.

I cannot attract attention with a gimbal and do require eloquent autofocus, so the EM1X is really the only option.

Your opinion would be valued, namely is 10-bit output required when contemplating a final output for theatrical motion picture production ?

Regards and Thanks,

R Hanwehr
Solaris Films 

[liork]

Are you going to heavy grade the output? If yes, than you will see some banding in Sky and so.

[Andrew Reid]

The codec quality is similar to the 1D C, actually a little less compressed per frame as 1D C is ALL-I, so needs a higher bitrate (as each frame is compressed separately).

As 8bit goes the E-M1X is one of the best.

Get exposure right in-camera and you'll be good to go.

[Kisaha]

Who is Antony?!

Is it Solaris - Polaris or Dolaris?!

[Dolaris Films]

Sorry, I meant Andrew, not Anthony, and he already kindly responded. Also it's Solaris, not Dolaris (typo)

[Dave Maze]

@Dolaris Films

Did you end up using the EM1X? Im curious to know your experience with it. I personally really love the camera. Shooting baked in the Natural or Flat profile.