Getting started again.

[DanielVranic]

On 3/15/2021 at 7:29 PM, EphraimP said:

150 mins record time at HQ (ProRes I'm assuming). What size drive are you using? I can get nine and a half hours of record time on a 1TB ssd on the Ninja, and more than 14 hours with ProRes 422 regular.

Atomos own site says 150mins for a 1TB AtomX drive at HQ - 

too late, already bought option 2 and skipped the Ninja for the Shogun.

[EphraimP]

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Atomos own site says 150mins for a 1TB AtomX drive at HQ - 

too late, already bought option 2 and skipped the Ninja for the Shogun.

Happy shooting then! I'll be interested in how you like the little handheld rig you set up. I've been doing something a little similar with my T4, but skipping the usb battery and powering my camera off the monitor battery. If you use a smaller monitor battery, your system may balance a little better side to side.

[DanielVranic]

On 3/17/2021 at 12:43 PM, EphraimP said:

Happy shooting then! I'll be interested in how you like the little handheld rig you set up. I've been doing something a little similar with my T4, but skipping the usb battery and powering my camera off the monitor battery. If you use a smaller monitor battery, your system may balance a little better side to side.

How do you do that? Is that something the XT3 can do as well? 

[EphraimP]

5 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

How do you do that? Is that something the XT3 can do as well? 

You mean power my camera off the monitor battery? I thought I mentioned that earlier. I use these inexpensive Powerextra 48.8Wh batteries that have both USB and a DC outlets on them. On my T4, I've been using a USB to USB C cable to charge the camera. No reason you couldn't do it with your T3, in place of the batter bank. 

I might buy a DC dummy battery for my T4 and start running it that way instead.

[DanielVranic]

1 hour ago, EphraimP said:

You mean power my camera off the monitor battery? I thought I mentioned that earlier. I use these inexpensive Powerextra 48.8Wh batteries that have both USB and a DC outlets on them. On my T4, I've been using a USB to USB C cable to charge the camera. No reason you couldn't do it with your T3, in place of the batter bank. 

I might buy a DC dummy battery for my T4 and start running it that way instead.

Sorry if I missed that earlier! This is great. How long does one last ya?

[EphraimP]

10 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

Sorry if I missed that earlier! This is great. How long does one last ya?

No worries. I've never timed it out, but running the monitor and camera on the battery, plus having the internal X-T4 batteries usually gets me a few hours of start/stop recording time in the field. I'd guess definitely over an hour and a half straight run time. 

I've got my T4 all charged up in the office now. I'll set it up and do a run time test. Should be good for me to know. I'll post the results later.

[DanielVranic]

41 minutes ago, EphraimP said:

No worries. I've never timed it out, but running the monitor and camera on the battery, plus having the internal X-T4 batteries usually gets me a few hours of start/stop recording time in the field. I'd guess definitely over an hour and a half straight run time. 

I've got my T4 all charged up in the office now. I'll set it up and do a run time test. Should be good for me to know. I'll post the results later.

Thanks! Ill keep in mind the XT3 has a smaller battery.

[EphraimP]

So now I have a two hour and ten minute video of the ceiling in my office. I spent a few minutes in the settings after I turned everything on and turned off the recording after the Ninja's batter monitor started giving me the low battery warning. I'm not sure how much longer it would have gone on before cutting out, but we can safely say that the 48.8 Wh battery can power a 1000 nit recording monitor and the XT-4 for 2 hours 15 minutes. 

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Thanks! Ill keep in mind the XT3 has a smaller battery.

The T4's battery still had 3 bars left, so I'm guessing that the T3's battery would probably last for the full charge of the NP-F battery. If you really wanted to be sure, I could take my T3 out of its cine rig and pop out its dummy battery for the stock one. Let me know.

Btw, that 2 hours and ten minutes of footage is 400 gigs. So that's about 5 hours of 4K 23.976 footage in ProRes 422 on a 1T drive. Not too bad.

[DanielVranic]

On 3/18/2021 at 8:20 PM, EphraimP said:

So now I have a two hour and ten minute video of the ceiling in my office. I spent a few minutes in the settings after I turned everything on and turned off the recording after the Ninja's batter monitor started giving me the low battery warning. I'm not sure how much longer it would have gone on before cutting out, but we can safely say that the 48.8 Wh battery can power a 1000 nit recording monitor and the XT-4 for 2 hours 15 minutes. 

The T4's battery still had 3 bars left, so I'm guessing that the T3's battery would probably last for the full charge of the NP-F battery. If you really wanted to be sure, I could take my T3 out of its cine rig and pop out its dummy battery for the stock one. Let me know.

Btw, that 2 hours and ten minutes of footage is 400 gigs. So that's about 5 hours of 4K 23.976 footage in ProRes 422 on a 1T drive. Not too bad.

Great test! Thanks for letting me know.

So, I had a thought pop up. I could probably get 1100$ish for my XT3 used. Is it worth the upgrade to go to the XT4 for IBIS and the larger battery? 

Also with the same amount of $$$ I could get 2-3 new lights, or an XF lens or two. Also with my new RSC2 I can see my handheld use shrinking a bit. The gimbal is so small yet the footage looks like a dolly shot. 12/10 impressed with that little guy.

[DanielVranic]

2 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

Great test! Thanks for letting me know.

So, I had a thought pop up. I could probably get 1100$ish for my XT3 used. Is it worth the upgrade to go to the XT4 for IBIS and the larger battery? 

Also with the same amount of $$$ I could get 2-3 new lights, or an XF lens or two. Also with my new RSC2 I can see my handheld use shrinking a bit. The gimbal is so small yet the footage looks like a dolly shot. 12/10 impressed with that little guy.

Also, in that same price bracket I could entirely build out my audio wireless rig. 

[EphraimP]

4 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Great test! Thanks for letting me know.

So, I had a thought pop up. I could probably get 1100$ish for my XT3 used. Is it worth the upgrade to go to the XT4 for IBIS and the larger battery? 

Also with the same amount of $$$ I could get 2-3 new lights, or an XF lens or two. Also with my new RSC2 I can see my handheld use shrinking a bit. The gimbal is so small yet the footage looks like a dolly shot. 12/10 impressed with that little guy.

Because they have updated the T3 firmware supposedly to T4 level (I haven't done a side-by-side comparison myself), the only major difference between the two is IBIS. So it really depends on how much you shoot completely handheld, since you are enjoying your gimbal shooting as is. I definitely wouldn't shoot handheld on my T3 with just a monitor and side handle; I feel there is too much shake and micro jitter. On the other hand, that's the main setup I use with my T4 for b-roll and walk and talk interviews.

[DanielVranic]

2 hours ago, EphraimP said:

Because they have updated the T3 firmware supposedly to T4 level (I haven't done a side-by-side comparison myself), the only major difference between the two is IBIS. So it really depends on how much you shoot completely handheld, since you are enjoying your gimbal shooting as is. I definitely wouldn't shoot handheld on my T3 with just a monitor and side handle; I feel there is too much shake and micro jitter. On the other hand, that's the main setup I use with my T4 for b-roll and walk and talk interviews.

Ahhh i am definetely struggling with it haha.

I would honestly say I do 50% gimbal work 25/25 sticks and handheld. 

[EphraimP]

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Ahhh i am definetely struggling with it haha.

I would honestly say I do 50% gimbal work 25/25 sticks and handheld. 

Because you already have your new gimbal and your handheld setup, practice with the handheld setup and see if you can get acceptable shots. If not, then maybe think about upgrading the camera. Or, if you want a two-camera setup, sell some other gear for the T4, and set that up for handheld/sticks shooting and leave the T3 on the gimbal.

I don't know if you still have your Pocket 4K (if that's the BM camera you had). I'd definitely ditch that for a T4, because it has the IBIS and better autofocus you seem to want. And working with two cameras with the same color science is nice. Even with different brand lenses that handle color differently, I can correct my T3 and 4 very easily. Love that.

[IronFilm]

20 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Also, in that same price bracket I could entirely build out my audio wireless rig. 

You could get these two:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1469797-REG/deity_microphones_deity_connect_2_4ghz_wireless.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1503004-REG/sound_devices_mixpre_3_ii_3_channel.html

[DanielVranic]

15 hours ago, EphraimP said:

Because you already have your new gimbal and your handheld setup, practice with the handheld setup and see if you can get acceptable shots. If not, then maybe think about upgrading the camera. Or, if you want a two-camera setup, sell some other gear for the T4, and set that up for handheld/sticks shooting and leave the T3 on the gimbal.

I don't know if you still have your Pocket 4K (if that's the BM camera you had). I'd definitely ditch that for a T4, because it has the IBIS and better autofocus you seem to want. And working with two cameras with the same color science is nice. Even with different brand lenses that handle color differently, I can correct my T3 and 4 very easily. Love that.

My Pocket4K is defective unfortunately, cost more to fix than its worth used. But you are 100% correct. I shouldn't be replacing my XT3 with an XT4. I should be adding it in.

[DanielVranic]

4 hours ago, IronFilm said:

You could get these two:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1469797-REG/deity_microphones_deity_connect_2_4ghz_wireless.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1503004-REG/sound_devices_mixpre_3_ii_3_channel.html

I actually have a Mixpre on loan from SD right now. Its so good! 

[EphraimP]

2 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

My Pocket4K is defective unfortunately, cost more to fix than its worth used. But you are 100% correct. I shouldn't be replacing my XT3 with an XT4. I should be adding it in.

That's a bummer, man. The quality control issues with BM cameras is a major reason I won't go near a Pocket 6k Pro, even though it's go like 80-90 percent of what I want in a mini cine-style body for about half of the C70 or FX6. 

Good to hear to you have a MixPre, though I wouldn't imagine you use it much on music video shoots. The only issue I've had with mine is configuring sound out so I can send it directly to camera. The manual settings are confusing and I've screwed it up in high-pressure settings. So I have it set to basic, but it outputs line-level signal that my T3 can't take. Luckily the T4 can be set to line or mic level, so I can use it with the 4. 

[DanielVranic]

4 hours ago, EphraimP said:

That's a bummer, man. The quality control issues with BM cameras is a major reason I won't go near a Pocket 6k Pro, even though it's go like 80-90 percent of what I want in a mini cine-style body for about half of the C70 or FX6. 

Good to hear to you have a MixPre, though I wouldn't imagine you use it much on music video shoots. The only issue I've had with mine is configuring sound out so I can send it directly to camera. The manual settings are confusing and I've screwed it up in high-pressure settings. So I have it set to basic, but it outputs line-level signal that my T3 can't take. Luckily the T4 can be set to line or mic level, so I can use it with the 4. 

Huge bummer. It still works, just the ports are fried. So if I keep to SD cards we are good! 

My new major focus is glass. My ONE and only Fuji lens is my new 18-55 and tbh I really love it. I plan on getting some kind of mist filter for it, but what I really need is something FAST with good AF. Apparently those two things are hard when searching for native Fuji glass.

Tbh these new Viltrox lenses are looking good. 

 

[TomTheDP]

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Huge bummer. It still works, just the ports are fried. So if I keep to SD cards we are good! 

My new major focus is glass. My ONE and only Fuji lens is my new 18-55 and tbh I really love it. I plan on getting some kind of mist filter for it, but what I really need is something FAST with good AF. Apparently those two things are hard when searching for native Fuji glass.

Tbh these new Viltrox lenses are looking good. 

 

From reviews I've seen the Viltrox lenses actually focus better than Fuji's native ones, though if you are doing a dramatic focus change they are jumpy. I got the Fuji F2 primes for AF but found they just didn't work that well. They'd completely lose focus for no reason. The 18-55 is amazing though great lens. Almost didn't miss IBIS when I had it. 

[EphraimP]

Plus one on the 18-55. It's not super fast but it's a workhorse. It pretty much lives on the T4. Actually, it's the only Fuji lens I have as well. Since I already had the 17-40 F4, 70-200 F2.8 and 180 F3.5 macro EF-L lenses, I went the route of getting adapters to Fuji and the cheap F1.8 EF nifty fifty for the rare times I need fast glass. I'm very happy with the look of the Metabones X-Mount speedbooster, though I haven't paid much attention to its autofocus ability because I usually manual focus that one.

I also picked up the Meike 25 T2.2 mini cine when it came out. I really like that lens, if it's in a matte box to control flairs. Now that Meike has more choices, I'll probably get more of them, though manual primes really aren't the best choice for run-and-gun doc work. The big question is whether to get the EF mount to go with the speedbooster or stick with X-mount, seeing as my next camera may be a C70 or C200 mark II if I don't hold out to see what the XH-2 has to offer next year.

Oh, and btw, @DanielVranic, I just tested the run/record time for the T3 with the Atomos powered by a  48.8 Wh Powerextra battery. I got 2 hours 12 minutes with a bit of dinking around. That's pretty much equal to what I got on the T4. The T3's internal battery was empty at the end of recording, where the T4 still had a few bars. With two power extras and 2 Powerextra batteries, you could record for almost 4.5 hours. Unless you're recording some long live events curtain to curtain, that's probably enough juice for a day's work.