2013 - 10 things which have impressed me - and some that haven't!

[Andrew Reid]

Psst… I'm having an end of year clear out

Where would we be without the end of the year and the impending doom that is Christmas? Enjoying summer? Revelling in the most fruitful year for filmmakers and camera geeks on record? I'd much rather 2013 just carried on!

Alas the year is starting to wind down now for the Holidays and this seems like a good moment to look back at the most amazing (and not so amazing) events of 2013...

Read the full article here

[Zach Ashcraft]

Best of luck on ebay...hope you have better luck with buyers than I have recently! 

[maxotics]

I spent a ton of time on ML this year, and though I agree the 5D3 with ML is fantastic (and even the EOS-M, which I know too well), my # 1 is the BMPCC.  Everything you tell Canon, NIkon and Panasonic to do, Blackmagic did.  I can understand how the manufacturing delays soured many people on the BMPCC, but now that it's here--WOW!  I ask, what's here today from Canikon or Panny that comes close to what you can get from the BMPCC?  I don't want to sound like a fan-boy, so I'll stop right here.  Just wanted to give my 2-cents.  The BMPCC is a true artist's film/video camera and under $1,000. Of all the 10 things on your list, what would you take to a desert island ;)  It wasn't any easy $1k for me to spend, but now that I have, I haven't regretted it for a second.

[Ergo Zjeci]

For me Great things of 2013

 

-Finally sold the GH3 and left the mft for good (maybe ill change back in 2015 when GH4K is out)

-bought Canon 5D mk3 yay!!

-Explore with fantastic ML

-Learn a lot from EoSHD (Andrew +  other members)

-Komputerbay CF 1000x cards 

-Starting to post with RAW video

-Got a vintage L Series 17-35 f2.8 + 28-70 f2.8mm Lenses

-New beast computer

-ordered 2x LP-E6 canon battery pack from ebay for 24 eur http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-LP-E6-Batteries-fr-Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-II-III-7D-6D-60D-60Da-BG-E6-Camera-Grip-/121213659140?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

 

Waiting for 

-  L Canon 85mm F1.2L Mark I   (if i get one ) :D

- to get warmer that i can start some projects 

- samyang VDSLR KIT

- MOVI (chinese version for bargain) :D

 

Cheers

[VanWeddings]

agree with Olympus being a letdown. really would love to buy one of their cameras because of the 5 axis stabilization, but why in the world wouldn't they bother to put in 24fps? it can't be that difficult or expensive to do. such a waste of a beautiful system

 

and the same with Nikon's attitude of "we don't really see the point of video"

[Christina Ava]

 (I advised a 2x stretch ratio)

 

On the slr magic : 2x is not commercial enough, when i tried to explain to a friend the beauty of 2x his reaction was "what am i going to do with this strip?" 

my reply was its like taking you to listen Maria Kallas and telling me "what is she yelling about"

i think they opted for something that would appeal to more people, and its the bussiness thing to do. 

I am waiting for my first anamorphic and its 2X.. :wub:

[Julian]

Nice list Andrew. Couldn't agree more. It weren't the camera's that stole the show this year, it was everything happening around them. From the amazing Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 to the revolutionary Speed Booster and the best free camera upgrade, that nobody ever dared dreaming of: Magic Lantern Raw.

 

It's hard to imagine 2014 will bring the same ammount of surprises.

[andy lee]

for me the ONE great thing of 2013 was ............the Pansonic G6 - suprise suprise !! 

I do like this camera it packs a huge punch in a very small light weight body with alot of features the gh2 never had....

.........roll on Pansonic 4k camera next year

[Gonzalo Ezcurra]

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[Nikkor]

Gonzalo ,a ver si te acuerdas de responderme por facebook a la pregunta acerca de usar objetivos de formato medio en una reflex con un reductor focal :p

 

Has intentado ponerle el Magic Lantern y grabar en Raw con la 5d Mkii? Creo que se vería bastante mejor tu invento.

[Andrew Reid]

On the slr magic : 2x is not commercial enough, when i tried to explain to a friend the beauty of 2x his reaction was "what am i going to do with this strip?" 

my reply was its like taking you to listen Maria Kallas and telling me "what is she yelling about"

i think they opted for something that would appeal to more people, and its the bussiness thing to do. 

I am waiting for my first anamorphic and its 2X.. :wub:

 

Yeah the 2.39:1 certainly appeals to more people than 3.55:1 but if you can shoot 4:3 using full 1280p sensor vertical res on the 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern raw, 2x looks amazing. It's like turning the anamorphic amp up to 11!

[Nikkor]

Recording 3:2 with 2x anamorphic is also a nice aspect ratio for web sites which are going fullscreen size lately with extreme wide sliders which don't fill the complete height.

[Sean Cunningham]

Yeah the 2.39:1 certainly appeals to more people than 3.55:1 but if you can shoot 4:3 using full 1280p sensor vertical res on the 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern raw, 2x looks amazing. It's like turning the anamorphic amp up to 11!

 

Hopefully we'll see both more options for 4:3 shooting as well as new adapters that make 2X shooting more viable.  We really need both for 2X at the enthusiast/prosumer level to not be pure novelty.

 

You could, for instance, shoot that Pharell Williams "24hrs of Happy" using the SLR Magic adapter.  Sure, it wouldn't be quite as impressive looking as the Panavision C-Series, but you could, in all those locations, as they made that video.  But you could.  You just flat couldn't with an ML-Raw 5D and any of these 2X projector door stops or the popular and available 8mm and 16mm lenses.

[Nikkor]

I might be mistaken but I think andrew has a 2x iscorama single focus lens.

[Sean Cunningham]

Yes, a few lucky people with $5000 Iscorama and LOMO lenses.  What is your point?  Also, that'd be a 1.5x most likely though the point is the same.  

[Nikkor]

Not trying to make a big point. Just to point out that you can do it for a reasonable price, if you want to shoot a movie you could always sell the thing afterwards, also 5000$ is pretty cheap when compared to everything else you need to shoot one.

[Sean Cunningham]

I'd just rent a cine lens.  Having the cash in hand is barely even half the battle.  If I was making a movie and had $5K to spend on a lens I would rent an even better lens that I had immediate access to with guaranteed quality.

 

A new lens would change that equation.  But there's a bit of a Chicken-and-Egg scenario with any new 1.5x/2x lens showing up, besides $40,000 cine lenses that you can rent.

[Andrew Reid]

I might be mistaken but I think andrew has a 2x iscorama single focus lens.

 

It's true, 2x Isco with single focus, like a 2x version of the Iscorama 42.

 

https://vimeo.com/13004933

 

And yes very lucky to get it back in 2009 for £100 before anyone knew what it was worth. At the time I didn't even value it that much myself and wanted an Iscorama!!

[Nikkor]

And you wouldn't show up with a 5d mkiii with ML RAW, but rent an Alexa.

 

Lucky bastard, one day I'm gonna assault you on Prenzlauer Berg or wherever you stay :p

[Andrew Reid]

You will have to get past the armed Iscorama Communist Red Guard first!