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  1. Today
  2. Yes. Which is why the debate might best be framed on a personal level and a philosophical one. Therein lies a certain simplicity, sure; a simplicity that can be fair, or not, to an individual. With all this the genie bottle has been opened and that bottle has been chucked into the ocean. Hang out with the genie or go float with the bottle is how I look at it.
  3. To those like me, this is the most important day of the year, so my best wishes to everyone!
  4. (Cross-posted from reddit) I've been working on and off for a while now on a Leica M mount for the Ursa Cine 12K LF. I was having problems with minor flexing in the plastic - and the random Micro 4/3 to M mount adapter that I used as a donor turned out to be a bad choice for a few reasons. In the meantime, I found some ways to mitigate the plastic flexing and I disassembled a Fotodiox L mount to M mount adapter and found it a lot more suitable, plus with a larger diameter which also seems to help with stability. Because of shape of mount cavity on the camera, the lens also needs to be mounted upside-down with my mount. Unfortunately, there is some play in the adapter so any lens will need support if racking focus. This latest prototype still focuses just a little too much past infinity with the f/1 Noctilux so I have one or two more prototypes to dial it in just a little closer - and then I'll switch from the cheapest PLA in my house to PCCF and print what I hope will be the adapter that I actually use. Limitations? Every modern Leica M lens that I own (21, 24, 35mm) that is 35mm or wider cannot be used. They stick out past the rear of the mount and would impact the glass in front of the ND filters. Similarly, with my Simera-C set, However, my incredibly old 35mm/3.5 Elmar does not protrude and, as can be seen in the couple of snapshots I took from the last round of testing, works great (and is beautiful, as it is on any camera). That's the widest L mount lens that I own that can fit. HOWEVER While using my M mount glass is part of my goal in building this, the bigger bonus is that having a Leica M mount lets me adapt a bunch of other vintage SLR glass that is not otherwise usable (without mount conversion) on the UC12K LF. And since those lenses were designed for SLR's, the wide angles don't protrude. This will address one of the few things that I've found to be a bummer - I really love my FD mount and Minolta SR mount glass! With an FD to M mount adapter, they will all be 100% usable now. In this round of testing, I checked the 50/1 Noctilux and the 35/3.5 screw mount Elmar - both are gorgeous lenses on any camera that I've put them on and this is no exception. Did some 3:2 frame grabs from Resolve with no grading done beyond slapping on a BMD film to rec.709 lut. I also seem to have done the math wrong for a 3:2 ratio in Resolve, but I'm also not going to bother going back to fix the slight letterboxing.
  5. I don’t advocate the use of technology — whether AI or anything else — without human intervention, obviously. The same here. It’s useless to debate this on its own, I guess : ) No doubts. Man, I am the guy who hates those bloody camera menus, let's not forget it! LOL Moreover, this oversimplifies the whole story. Not fair to anyone, AI included : D
  6. Yesterday
  7. I've been using it extensively with my Canon R6! Really cool device. Definitely one of the best gyro loggers I have used. It substantially reduces the inconvenience of using an external gyro logger; on supported cameras it will read lens info and focal length from the metadata, eliminating the need for you to make custom lens profiles or be at super specific focal lengths. You create two sync files, then you let the Niyien A1 record continuously. You then can just record as normal on your camera. The Niyien tool will auto sync everything! I ran into a few issues at first, but they were eliminated by making sure I was using a fast enough micro SD card and adding a 1.0 sec sync offset to the gyro data in Niyien tool; seems without that the gyro data will slowly drift. I think it's just a timing thing with the R6. But yeah, it works great. I personally have a very solid heel-toe walk and handheld technique, so for me with careful walking I can use the Niyien A1 and reduce the sensitivity down to 2-4%. This has two advantages; #1, I can drop my shutter speed as low as 1/60. This looks very close to 1/50 or 1/48 for 24p footage, effectively giving me natural motion blur in camera. With careful movements and low sensitivity, there is not too much motion blur artifacts, so it lets me have a near 180 degree shutter! 1/125 shutter for 4k60 stuff works great. Again, I have a very very solid handheld walk so this works for me. #2, when keeping the smoothness at around 2-4%, the crop is very minimal, around 1.2-1.3x. That's not bad at all. Almost all of the video below was filmed on my Canon R6 using the Niyien A1. The final sequence was actually all 24p footage with a 1/60 shutter!
  8. There is also Chinese camera manufacturers like DJI,Insta360 and Z-cam capturing specialised market share
  9. They could learn with Blackmagic. They could learn with Red.
  10. Same. As for the machines, an AI generating things just won't ever be legitimate craft to me, regardless of perceived value by those that end up engaging with it. This doesn't mean it can't be employed to make art. There's a ton of nuance and philosophy as to why there's a line here, at least in my mind. That is my hill to die on. I fully expect I will be in a shrinking minority in this regard. As for "A Gift For All Ages," here's a relevant anecdote: I thought about replacing the puppet with an AI generated cartoon. It's something like 6 shots. Pretty easy. To a layperson this would certainly elevate the perceived craft of the final film. They'd be, like, "A composite cartoon is in this goofy movie!?? Neat!" AI generated, or not, wouldn't enter into their consideration as long as it looked good. Doing AI for this wouldn't sit right with me, however, as it wouldn't be a human creating the images. Now, this cartoon idea absolutely would be derivative -- as it would be an homage to the classic MGM stuff Hanna Barbara did in "Anchors Away." So, a wholly unoriginal concept. But, for me, the respect I have for that craft just won't let me take the easy AI route. If I ever do replace the puppet with a cartoon it will be me learning how to mimic the look using Blender or hiring a true 2D animator to do it. That's a philosophical choice. Because ain't no one, really, outside of me, that would ultimately care. Or, hell, would probably even see the film, if I'm being honest. But I just can't do it. Can't use AI. Humans are inherently attracted to quality. And that quality needs to be a human creation to matter to me.
  11. I wish they could fix their Japanese design menus. The same for the other companies BTW. Not proper for cinema acquisition. Period. They could learn with Blackmagic.
  12. LOL You're right, Matt : ) But his art goes beyond that anyway, as much as AI can. Without mentioning that cinema is also a written form, since writing is art too. (People of the image have always made the terrible mistake of minimizing it... BTW I’m here 'cause of Andrew’s writing style as well JFYI) With this technology, you can transform your pictures/shooting. So, craft stands. [No less for creation] Of course, with its pros and cons. A bit like 'A Gift for All Ages' film. Without all the earlier art made by Capra, for instance, it would have been something else, or perhaps it would not even have existed. :- )
  13. The 0.71 speedbooster to Mamiya 645 is around Aus $700 so not on the XMas list.I am quite happy with my present rig
  14. sorry about the confusion the adaptor and cross section with dimensions posted on Thursday is for a camera with a PL mount and the adaptor will therefore take the older standard lenses.Adapting the other way is more difficult
  15. Speed boosting a 45mm f/2.8 lens onto a smaller sensor with a 0.71x converter gives you a 32mm f/2 lens. That's it. If you like the character of the medium format lens, that's great and it's a worthwhile endeavor. But aside from the character unique to that model of lens, it won't look appreciably different from a 32mm f/2 lens that was made to cover the format you're adapting to. That said, I've been thinking about building graflok DOF adapters that I could stick on some of my medium and large format cameras - not because there is an intrinsic medium or large format look, but because I have some really interesting older lenses and when I adapt them to smaller formats, I'm just using the pretty good/well-corrected centers of the image circle and not the cool outer edges where things get interesting/cool/weird. I think a medium format one might be my next project after I finish the M mount for the UC12K (which is looking like it will be tomorrow sometime?). I have a kind of beat up, but otherwise unmarked 6x9cm ground glass handy. It'll at least be good enough for a proof of concept. Most of my 4x5 stuff has either a fresnel (visible lines!) or grids on the GG, but I also have at least one spare 4x5 GG lying around that I could use for a proof of concept. Oh, and now that I think of it, I have an old Seroco 4x5 which has clean GG and I think it's from the 1920's or so - maybe I have a project for tomorrow while I wait for another iteration of my UC12K mount to finish printing (now that I'm near the end and printing the entire part, the prints are taking about 3 1/2 hours each).
  16. here is a hard front conversion for Nikon F
  17. Yes it was done in the past called a "PL hard front conversion" but for the amount of film you intend standard mount lens hire would be easier.
  18. My buddy has a prime lens set for lend. Would this be possible:
  19. I've been told it's a decent camera for indy films.
  20. Last week
  21. Mamiya 45mm f2.8 645 and 2 soviet lenses for 6x6 Pentacon six or Kiev-88
  22. I watched that video and instantly didn't regret unsubscribing from the PetaPixel YouTube channel. I think I lost 3 IQ points watching the dumb infotainment of two adult humans whining about cameras that someone let them use for free, especially about some of the petty shit they cite as an example. That one Olympus was too big? Who cares? They also make/made smaller cameras if that's what you want. Plus they didn't even get creative when picking "worst designed" cameras - would have been more interesting to go with potentially revolutionary cameras that couldn't live up to the hype - throw out stuff like the Lytro and the Light L16. It'd still be a dumb video, but at least there's some interest in it.
  23. The colors from DJI and/or Insta360 also look fantastic, I'm sure, after a professional colorist spends some quality time with them. It's still best to wait until the cameras are in the hands of normal users before starting to evaluate. Otherwise, if GP wants to release some footage that looks like that and they will certify that it's straight out of camera, I'll place a preorder right now.
  24. Let's keep the debate goin' ...Can't wait for the next great prompt artist to really bring their vision to the screen. No one prompts as well as that Vogel dude. That guy prompts. Why try to create a golden hour scene when you can just ask for it? Nothing says artistic cinema like a computer deriving and stealing other's hard work. :-| Should we go to an art museum to look at some lesser talent's paint-by-numbers? The creation matters. Now let's do motion pictures. Cinema has always been craft as well as the art. Minimize the craft, minimize the art.
  25. Expeed 8 release must be getting close. Expeed 7-October 2021 in Z9 Expeed 6-August 2018 in Z7 Expeed 5 in January 2016
  26. Here you have straight from Mr. Vogel, Mike Vogel, Milady: Love this one BTW... Addressed to all naysayers : X
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