Leaderboard

Here’s another shot from the Canon 28mm f/1.8 I bought a few months back for a song. I actually didn’t expect a lot from it when I bought it, but it’s been my goto lens for my short film... But I really need to start investing in some lights. I got a great recommendation from Jon, with the Fotodiox Flapjacks, but does anyone else have any good suggestions for on camera lights?

Hello. I recently purchased a pre-36 from a user on here, and used it for a project; a promo for an arts fair, held on the kubrick estate every year. Hope you like it !

For a second I thought you where going to brag about why Nikon or C-mount when you can go all-in Celestron for a Jupiter portrait.

Just shoot a clear sky in V-log using the 8 bit codecs. And you'll never do it again. Try using the codec instead and do colorgrading in Resove. In terms of actual visible quality the GH5 codecs behave like this: 400Mbit/s Intra and 150Mbit/s IPB 10bit both look visually the same in most situations and grade extremely well, even in extreme low light with lot's of noise and usually don't show any banding artifacts. I actually managed to create banding using these codecs only once since I've bought the camera (gray wall underexposed). 200 Mbit/s 10bit 4:2:0 H265 codec for 6K anamorphic has some slight banding issues and shows some macro blocking. 150Mbit/s 8bit codec doesn't like gradients at all. Workaround is to use CineLike D and the Cinelike D to V-log conversion by @Sage 72Mbit/s 10bit H265 codec shows some slight banding, macro blocking and even some blur. 100Mbit/s 8bit codec doesn't work with gradients nor noise. Comparable to the GH4 H264 implemenation. Don't ever use it. Some showcase of the terrible 150mbit/s 10 bit codec:

Downside of the C200B is that you lose the touch to focus (and if DPAF is important then the area selection should be too). Plus if you are using an external recorder as you've mentioned, you can't really have the display info on it, such as exposure settings etc on your clean feed external recorder. Honestly think the savings are so not worth it (unless you really want to use it remotely anyway).

It will be in the very near future after the camera is released as its the final one of the three protocol sets (Panasonic, Sony and BM) that my controller will launch with. I've actually just about finished a dedicated Leica version (in a different form factor) which will likely be available first depending on when I have access to the Pocket 4K No, its a bluetooth control. There are lots of cheapo 3.5" LCD HDMI USB powered screens that can be used if you want a DIY front facing selfie screen for basic framing like I've used here.

Despite the poor specs of the 150mbps LongGOP codec it does hold up very well in grading. Mainly I think due to it's 10bits which make the luma channel near immune to banding unless you apply insane curves or tonal shifts and bends. The main reason to avoid it is the stress it places on most editing rigs trying to decode it on teh fly for smooth playback. The 400mbps codec is better in this respect but still harder on the CPU and GPU than ProRes or DNxHD. Given that most people will expose and color balance near optimally and not treat it as RAW the inadequacies you describe are purely academic and do not translate into real world problems. Until other mainstream manufacturers adopt 10bit 4.2.2 internal codecs the GH5 is well ahead of the game at the moment and a joy to work with compared to ubiquitous 8 bit 4.2.0 codecs with often even more compression.

I've used a cinema camera in my latest project, the Canon C200 recorded in Raw 12bit and aswell as the NX1 which I've been using as my main camera for last 3 years. it continues to be so impressive that I prefer its image to that of the c200 but you're the judge. "the nx1 was whenever the video wasn't a fixed shot"

Depends what he wants to do with the photos. For online publishing and small prints 12MP is adequate, I think.

Yeah 98% of everyone on here would be better off with a BMPCC truth be known, and 2 or 3 cheap ass Nikon MF lens. Well, and a pocket full of batteries.

Your apps work on the camera, still have to try the HTML files but unlike all previous Pana camera's this one could be set to English

Not a technical comparison, but these guys saved me the time to do my own testing months ago. Haven't looked back since ?

that's just awesome, love the light

Hopefully it will have real WiFi rather than only Snapbridge https://www.diyphotography.net/give-us-back-wi-fi-open-letter-nikon/

FYI, There's a bluetooth app to control the camera, but no liveview or focusing options. They are open to people developing their own apps though, so maybe that's something we'll see in the future ( @BTM_Pix ?)

The big advantage of a high resolution sensor is that it gives you a lot of flexibility to crop. Essentially with an A7riii you have 42mp FF, 18mp APS-C and 11mp M43 all wrapped up in one. Makes your lenses very versatile.

I think Panasonic and Olympus both shot themselves in the foot with the pricing of the GH5, GH5s , and Oly with the EM1 mk II. That is crazy money for a m4/3 camera. Especially with the Sony A7 mk III now and the BM PK4 coming out. They have done screwed up as they say. The Genie is out of the bottle and no way to put it back in. And now Canon and Nikon both are going to have to have a FF mirrorless in the 2000 dollar range, and not some piece of crap one either. There really isn't a whole lot the A7 mk III can't do that even Nikon or Canon will have on their top end ones. What the hell is left out that the average person needs other than high MP for photos. And that is really over rated in this day and age anyways. Nobody prints anymore anyways. From Imaging - Resource "Sony A7 III Print Quality Excellent, high-quality prints up to at least 30 x 40 inches up to ISO 800; Very good prints up to 13 x 19 inches at ISO 6400; Usable 5 x 7 inch print at ISO 51,200." Hell that is a print as big as most peoples LCD TV!

@Sage good to know, thanks! I’ve heard that an upressed file exported as ProRes does help to trick Vimeo and YouTube. Good luck with your film projects by the way!

I dunno, I am pretty happy with the 10 bit I get internally... You're welcome for my deep analysis!

That looks great! That 2K really adds some depth to skin texture that is lacking in most other cameras... that’s one of the reasons I went with the 5D3 to begin with. Do you put your 1080p footage on a 2K timeline to bump it up, or do you transcode before you bring it into the NLE? I’ve always transcoded all footage (even back in my t2i days) to ProRes before bringing it into FCPX. I had a FZ2500 a couple years ago and loved the all-i 1080p... and that was just 8bit, so I can only imagine how good the 10bit is. I didn’t know it is downscaled in camera on the GH5. Is the 60p as well? Honestly, the only reason I am even contemplating a second camera is for slow motion with 180 degree shutter and IBIS. I was adamantly against the GH5 until I saw your profile, deezid’s and wildranger’s work. I’m hoping the price will drop a bit for the holidays and if it does, I think I will probably pick one up. I have a small collection of c-mount lenses that needs some exercise and there’s no better way to exercise old c-mounts than with IBIS. But I have to get some lights and audio equipment before I even think about another camera... ugh... and I need to replace a lens I was forced to sell last year. And even if I don’t end up getting one, I commend you on a job well done and I enjoy looking at everyone’s progress.

I guess the D760 will be the 2000 dollar A7 mk III competition in Nikon's mirrorless body style. I doubt it will be a DSLR version?? I am not sure about the D500, could go either way. I think Only the D850, D5 will survive as DSLRs for a few more years? Same with Canon, 5D mk IV, 1Dx mkII only DSLR's left. I would surely think the 6D mkII and the 80D will be Mirrorless or just go away completely, especially the 6D mk II. I don't see a market for ANY APSC cameras down the road years from now. Why bother? With the crop mode on the A7's it is a waste of time to make a dedicated camera that Only does that. I thnk Fuji might have to change, but I think m4/3, 1" is safe for awhile. Not everyone wants or can afford FF stuff.

Nice analysis. I'm glad you actually delve into the numbers and explain the different types of encoding! However, it would be better if you included files straight out of camera and ran analysis on them, both qualitative and quantitative. Since Prores and AVC intra use different algorithms, simply comparing data rates is not an accurate representation of their fidelity. I suggest encoding an uncompressed video into Prores, and also into AVC intra, and then running a script to compare the compressed images to the original and get an exact number on how much scene data is lost. Also, your title is meaningless unless you specify what the 10 bit internal is not good enough for. Is the 10 bit theoretically as good as Prores? Maybe--let's run some tests and see. Is the GH5's specific implementation inferior to external recording to Prores HQ? We need real world tests again. Are the GH5's 10 bit codecs better than any other photo/video hybrid's codecs? Almost certainly. Is it good enough for anything that we used to use GH3 and GH4's for? Of course!

Just like you’re saying that it is possible ? How do you know ? The pocket 4k, like every Blackmagic camera uses a custom thermoelectric cooling system. The only other camera platform that uses this approach is made by Arri. In fact this means it draws more power in hotter weather and less power in colder weather. It’s got a larger screen and has custom made hardware boards made internally by BMD themselves. They make the boards. The place the components. They don’t outsource. I beleive they tend to use FPGAs because they’re faster to prototype and totally re-program, but they use more power than ASICs which is what the big guys tend to use. ASICS use less power but are limited to their original design / specs and take longer to develop. They draw more power than consumer cameras that are more purpose built and have longer development cycles, therefore have more time to optimise their power consumption . Feel free to keep droning on about it and reminding everyone how bad it is but it’s not going to change the fact that they use more power than other consumer cameras. JB It’s an automatic process. Just like you can’t do it on Alexa. JB

Yeah, I think the thing is for the a7R III it is downsampling and doing some line skipping / binning / electric voodoo. The a6500 is downsampling from 6K similar to the a7 III The GH5 is downsampling from around 5K (???) instead of 6K. BTW: No one is going to ever mistake me for an electrical engineer.

You can't expect this camera, with it's advanced color science, codecs, 5" 1080 screen, phantom power, etc. to draw power like a GH5 or any other small camera. For all that it's delivering, I would consider an average 45min run time on an LP-E6 to be great power management on BMs part. I really don't get the contention. This is going to be a breakthrough camera by any standard. It's designed to be small with a compact battery solution that most people will use. Even running around in the field with a battery in the camera and 4 tiny replacements in your pocket you can shoot all day. If you do events or long format work with it, then there will be countless battery solutions to add if you feel the need. It's all good.

Hope that massive screen area is not wasted by massive bezels.

So from latest rumor, as I predicted it has a much bigger screen that traditional cameras. It would be at least 4 inch or even bigger which bodes well for video and touch screen use. Since they showed the first video and that it was obvious it had that gigantic mount, I knew they were going completely out of the box. https://nikonrumors.com/2018/08/12/this-is-how-the-back-of-the-nikon-mirrorless-camera-looks.aspx/#more-124550

LP-E6 canon battery is almost the same size as Panasonic batteries, but not sure if it has the same juice. Blackmagic cameras use FGPA which is a less optimized board compared to an ASIC and requires more power. It has an advantage of shorter production cycles especially in lower volume cameras because you can easily make last-minute adjustments if you want to add more features. ASICs is very locked in as they are expensive to manufacture. They use solid state peltier cooling to handle the heat distribution and that uses a lot of power. I don't know if other cameras use that but it does make a difference. I don't think type of compression plays a big part in heat, it's mainly the sensor. Blackmagic is not very experienced in building DSLR form-factor cameras yet, in what is only their second attempt they produced a camera at half the price of the GH5s that will likely be a serious rival in image quality. I think Blackmagic made the right compromises to get it at the price it is.

Frustrating that this issue is so prevalent, and yet there isn't one solution anywhere on the entire forum? You would expect someone to acknowledge that there is an issue: "we're working on it" or "this is what you do to fix it"

My recent trip to Guilin China, shot on gh5s and color graded using the latest Verde version with overlay of ImpulZ film lut ? loving the colors.

Yeah and they have one of the best OOC 1080p going. 750 bucks is about as cheap as I see them on average. Which is damn cheap for what they can do.

A7S original - plenty of bargains around on those these days.

Where'd you get such a good price? $6k US is about my cutoff so I would have jumped on that, too. And Jeez... I might switch to FCPX. How good is its integration with After Effects and Resolve? I don't use dynamic link (I export to After Effects manually) so dynamic link isn't an advantage to me, but I'd want to be able to render out/export 4k 444 ProRes in Canon Log 2 without a LUT and then ingest that into a timeline that's otherwise raw light and edit online in raw light. Amazed to hear it's real time on an older machine... maybe I won't need to upgrade after all. Then again I don't even really need 4k, but the extra highlight dynamic range on this and 60p seem nice... Or how is the online/offline workflow in FCPX? I've used the 18-35mm on a C100 and a C300 and I noticed that, compared with the 17-55mm f2.8 IS (of which I think I had two copies) the image is shakier when using the viewfinder, and significantly. But if you rig up a shoulder rig (I love the Shape offset rig, not the standard one, but the offset one, though you need a loupe for the viewfinder imo) and balance it okay.... I think the 18-35mm is great handheld and even lenses up to 135mm are fine without IS. Most ops I know prefer not to use any IS at all and instead rely on shoulder rigs, but I have to admit the 55-250mm STM for instance is magic and rarely glitches out or misbehaves enough to ruin a shot, while being stable enough to use without any rig at all (not the case without IS).

Great finds!

The B&H mod in action. Hope you all had an anamorphic July 4th! (or July 1st, for my neighbors to the north)

Voigtlander 40mm with Formatt Hitech Supermist Black 1/2