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Hi all, This short vlog may be of interest as it's just a little chat about the dreaded Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and shot on S1H All natural light, VLOG 10-bit 4K 25fps full frame, I used a Tiffen Black Promist 1/4 and some stos of ND, Lens is the L mount Panasonic 50mm 1.4 Lighting is a window and a large silver reflector

A few stills from a shoot last night all on the Pocket 4K XL and CZ 35mm 2.8.

So many times I wish I were a photographer instead You can get a beautiful shot with a camera that looks the same whether moving or still... But movement always has to justify itself. If the frame floats or moves with IBIS, shot dead. Mood gone. It's such a fine art. Camera movement is such a fussy thing. It's like colour - There's no point it being there unless the movement is beautiful or has meaning. Otherwise, may as well be still - or black and white. With a photo you can just make a pretty shot and it's job done. It's about timing, framing. With video you have to sustain all that's nice and has meaning for 10x longer. Sometimes 1000x longer. With photos there's the one-man nature of it... with video, you have to rely on others a lot more - actors, writers, and so on. And that's before you've even started the shoot Sometimes I hate video. And think I'd be better off with a Fuji GFX 50R, just enjoying myself. Just one man and his camera. With video, you often have to lug around rigs, tripods and monitors. To anybody who sustains their filmmaking over the years at a high level I salute you. It must be incredibly stressful!

Ah, a little further elaboration... I use the 16-80 on one body with tripod, ie, static for ceremony & speeches only. The Sigma 18-35 is on another body and freestanding monopod for more considered work indoors. The Tamron 45 takes over outdoors and with both of the latter lenses, mostly shooting wide open ie f1.8. No client has ever mentioned blur, bokeh or any other technical/visual aspect. If they are ever going to want to talk about something, it will be music choices and can they have their Ed Sheeran first dance inserting somewhere 🤯

If you wanna do it properly for professional work, there's a dedicated plug-in for adding motion blur called ReelSmart Motion Blur: https://revisionfx.com/products/rsmb/premiere-pro/ It has a number of parameters for fine tuning and allows you to add precise amount of blur based on captured shutter angle and desired shutter angle.

Not sure whether this forum here is the right place for this video...

1/4000 would be typical in mid-day sun. I'll shoot some video tomorrow and apply the trial plug-in. See what happens. Usually have a bunch of ravens flying around....filming that should provide a decent stress test.

NEW BLOG POST https://www.eoshd.com/anamorphic/preview-of-coming-attractions-anamorphic-goes-medium-format-with-fuji-gfx-100-and-a-look-at-the-leica-sl2-5k-43-mode/

A lot of us can’t help it! It’s a human tendency to want the next best thing and never be happy with what we have. To be honest I had a itch to pull out my wallet and replace my GH5S...XT-4? S1H?... Then this global pandemic hit and quarantine happened. We also decided to move and sell our house so I naturally grabbed my camera and documented it. To be honest the more I was creative with my camera the more I enjoyed using it to create something. The image with V-LogL is quite fantastic. I decided to use Buttery LUTs in an attempt to just shoot and focus my attention on exposure and white balance and not mess around too much in post (Some screenshots below). We don't think about the specs of our hammer when we use it, we think about what we are making with it. So that's the mentality I'm going remind myself to use. Some other conclusions: I am 100% convinced I prefer glidecam/shoulder strap stabilization and locked-off tripod shots over a gimbal (so I'm selling my dusty Weebill S).

And all turned to mush with its 55Mbps bitrate 😞

Some shots from the Baby Hypergonar on GFX 100 The trick here is apparently to use a lens with a rear element as small as your thumb. On a sensor the size of the albert hall. Light works in mysterious ways.

Instructions unclear. Bought two more cameras using stimulus cheque.

Well this stopped me buying something. So mission accomplished sir. I thank you.

Yeah if there was a clearer path to education I'd definitely take it. From what I have seen film schools are often kind of a joke. At least that is my opinion after having worked with multiple students from these schools. I will also say everyone of these students have been very talented people. I just don't think the schools have taught them much. I learned more on my own from simply making my own films, working with other people, reading books, and articles/youtube. I did take the time to actually buy books on lighting, cinematography, and sound early on though. I feel like reading is unheard of these days unless its an online article haha. Interestingly I've found that a lot of online information especially mainstream stuff is really poor. It seems to often be written or produced by people who know very little about the actual subject but rather are just good at marketing themselves. Most filmmaking stuff on youtube is so basic and generic. Most experienced people are busy actually working and have no time for YouTube. So rather we get these wannabe filmmakers who are really just youtubers and there experience doesn't really go beyond that. There are exceptions to this of course. As to the "just do it" attitude I think its complicated. A lot of it comes from YouTube guru's, motivators and entrepreneurs. The big thing with YouTube is you just need to convince people you are an expert so they will buy your classes. I just saw a youtube ad the other day and it was a 15 year old kid talking about marketing! The kid was wearing braces haha. He was saying how he learned from the best and wants to tell you what to do with your money. It was completely ridiculous. At least someone like Tai Lopez took the time to get a lambo and huge Cali house to convince people he was a finance genius. Its the idea that to achieve something you just need to jump into it and fail until you succeed. There is of course truth to that but people take it to the extreme. Claiming to be something you are not professionally is fraudulent. I have worked wedding jobs being the sole videographer with very little experience. I feel bad as I often did a not so great job(at least in my opinion). That said my employers never told me I did anything wrong and continued to hire me. They also hired me in the first place despite my inexperience so I blame it on them and actually have since quit working with them. They did give me the opportunity to learn by failing and I think I am decent at doing weddings now. That said I'd much rather have learned under someone's wing rather than the way I went through it. A big thing now is these wedding companies that contract videographers to shoot their weddings. They claim to have award winning weddings(whatever that means?), yet they don't actually have a specific group of videographers. They contract random people from all over the place so the product they deliver has no consistency. Maybe some of their weddings are shot by an industry professional but others are shot by someone who's doing it for the first time. Their means of vetting who they hire is also a joke.

VIDEO IS EASY that is what they will tell you! Real life facts that I am thinking about a lot the last couple of weeks 1) friend wants to be a youtuber, she wants to learn everything about editing, equipment, lights, sound, and everything in between. Whatever I learned in 20+ experience and a few degrees, she wants in one afternoon. 2) we have a small team, doing internet videos, try to fit 15-20 small ones per day of shooting, the team is a DP with 30+ years of experience at the highest level, me with 20+ years, and our editor 15+ years at the highest level (for our country the highest level, don't get me wrong) and we have a young guy helping building his experience now. At one time, the 25 years old gal doing social media for the client, comes to see. She stayed for an hour, she walked all the time with high heels, played with her phone, and the first thing she said, "I want that to be like this", after half an hour trying to explain her that what she wanted wasn't applicable in this prouction, she left..we lost almost an hour because of her and we missed our brake because we didn't have time for the rest. 3) on another such video, same team, another girl supervising social media for the client, never present on set, send a text "maybe it is better for me to edit the videos, what program do you use so I can watch some tutorials today and do the videos in the weekend?", that was the actual text message... 4) the last, a lot, years, I have met a lot 22-25 year old kids introducing themselves as "DoP" or "director". I have never heard, "I am trying to do camera", or "I would like to be part of a production". 5) In the past, I had a director, that withouht being in the busniness, through social networking, connections, luck, and very low salary has become a director! Knowns nothing about anything, but through youtube videos and director's masterclasses believes he is one of the best in the business! Very proud that became a director without experience and no studies, really having no clue at all. I can't even explain how terrible is to become something you do not deserve, and there is no direction ever, mostly the shooting was happening because of some experienced actors, the DP and me. Crazy stuff..There are others like him coming. 6) wedding video and photography...what a joke..I have met policemen, DJs, wood cutters, military personel, and so many different people, that occasionally, or more professionally are doing weddings. So many of them, are bringing their wives/girlfriends (I have seen that in video mostly), and boyfriends/husbands ( I have seen that in photography mostly) to do second photo camera, or video, or second/third video. So many bad experiences on weddings, I should write a comedy book. 7) we were discussing with an old DoP about instagram recently ( I do not have, I am not familiar at all with it), and he was telling me that 8/10 photos on instagram have a crazy horizon at the back for no particular reason at all..Of course there is a reason, 101 in photography isn't needed anymore. So, video is easy, just press the RED button.

I'm a bit confused about your use of the phrase 'cine'.... The things that separate cine lenses from other lenses are that cine lenses have things like: same weight across whole set (so that you don't need to re-balance rigs when changing lenses) same size front filter size across whole set (so that you don't need to adjust filter setups when changing lenses) aperture / focus gears so these can be connected to a follow-focus same location of manual control rings across whole set (so that you don't need to adjust follow-focus controls when changing lenses) de-clicked apertures parfocal same coatings across whole set (so that shots and flares aren't visually very different when changing lenses) same resolution across whole set (so that shots aren't visually very different when changing lenses) etc Which of these are you interested in? You don't seem to be interested in all of them.

Wedding videographers are not just underpaid for the work they do, but there is less demand for them too! For every wedding with a photographer, only some will have a wedding videographer too. Yet how many weddings with a videographer don't have a photographer? Practically none would ever dream of doing it the other way round!

Yes, video is very hard. The difference between, for instance, wedding video and photography is almost ridicilous. I have seen photographers literally just burst firing away at the wedding cake whilst moving the camera. One of those 30 pics should be alright, not? And if not, you just crop and enhance the 30 MP 14-bit raw image until it looks good, with a bunch of downloaded Lightroom presets. Also, the shooting is done on auto iso, auto focus, auto shutter speed, etc. The difference couldnt be greater. No audio, no capturing complete stories or scenes, no camera movement, no keeping the focus, no 'shit people might move in front of my camera soon', just recompose and burst away. And yet they earn the same or more. And girls drool over them. The last one was a joke. But not really. But then, lets talk about actual film making. I just finished my first feature film script. Jesus christ, i have a lot of respect for writers now. What a task, to do it properly. And it's never finished. There is always room for improvement. Of course I wrote something that needs a big production budget and a lot of visual effects... Impossible to pull of without major funding or a production company. But then, i will probably not be given the chance to direct. Difficult. But working on proper film productions is the only way forward. No more messing around with cheap and soap like short films. Or test video's. Cat video's. Travel video's. They were interesting when i started out, but also because camera's were just getting better and content was interesting just because it was shot with a certain camera. Those days are over. Every modern camera looks good. Its a done deal. Also, there a literally millions and millions of video's online now who do the same thing. Everyone seems to do the same. Billions of GB's of test video's, flowers with shallow dof, their girlfriend in slowmo in the park, their last holiday with a cheese voice over to make it look like there is a narrative, city shots without meaning, etc. I cannot look at it anymore. It's the 'easy' version of film making. You point your expensive big sensor camera at random stuff and expect that people will want to watch your 'film'. There is no story, no narrative. Also not when you add a voice over in post. Or music you ripped from another youtube video. Yes i am very harsh. Also on myself. I want to make real films. I am talented, but i'm not sure i have enough of it. And i will ever make the high end narrative stuff that i appreciate from selective other people. And... If i will ever fully enjoy it. Because film making is indeed hard. Long, exhausting days on the set. The stress. The constant 'will this even work'. But, when you finally do create something which has story, performance and production value and it all comes together and actually does work, it is the most beatiful form of art that exists. When you blow the audience or your clients away, in retrospect it was all worth it. Or was it?

First full frame camera that's Netflix Approved, with 6K and ProRes RAW on deck? Don't hold your breath buddy!

Z CAM E2-M4 @USD1,499 - Basically same as Z CAM E2 but without sync feature. - Exterior design same as Z CAM E2 Flagship Series. - Interchangeable MFT lens mount in standard package. - Optional interchangeable EF, PL and M mount. - Shipment will start first week of June. Z CAM E2 - the only model that supports multi-cam sync feature. - Price USD1,999 remains unchanged. Z CAM E2-S6 - Price changed from USD2,995 to USD2,499 Z CAM E2-F6 - Price changed from USD4,995 to USD3,999 All Z CAM E2 series will soon support direct RTMP, RTMPS and SRT live streaming, including but not limited to Facebook and YouTube, without going through a computer. With that price drop, I think the Z Cam E2 M4 is now more appealing than the BMPCC4K which is now only marginally cheaper.

Sounds like you should look into Rokinon/Samyang lenses. The Nikon 20mm 2.8 and 85mm f/2 are both fantastic lenses, but are also both small, which you say you don't like. The samyang/rokinon lenses are all faster aperture and bigger in size. They're widely available in a ton of mounts, cover full frame, and are cheap/easily replacable.

I am just amazed they felt it necessary to release a 'cine' phone before they release the A7S III!

👉https://thinklucid.com/tech-briefs/sony-4th-generation-pregius-s/ This is a very well-written article with nicely made charts on the evolution of Sony Pregius S global shutter sensors. I highly recommend a read. FYI, ZCAM E2G uses the 2nd gen 1" IMX267, and from user feedback, the image quality is poor. Bear in mind that Pregius S sensors are intended for industrial use,👉 they are never optimised for pure photographic image quality. Across the four generations, their imaging performance (dynamic range, sensitivity etc.) remain largely unchanged, while increasing pixel count. However it's worth noting that 4th gen introduced dual ADC (Dual Conversion Gain) on-chip HDR mode which could potentially provide a more usable image for creative work. As this mode halves the maximum framerate, only the high speed version of the sensors can output video framerate at 30P in HDR mode, it's considerably more expensive than the standard speed variant therefore it's a another hurdle for consumer use.

Lol could literally be any camera. Are the screen grabs SOOC or graded? Lot more interested in the lens than body TBH. You seem to have quite the collection of epic vintage glass!

It's quite funny how a thread on the perils of G.A.S. has turned into another G.A.S. thread...

The Pro version (Gen 1) with the aperture ring. I have not yet figured out how to transfer control of the aperture to the camera body jog dials instead though. To be honest I'd prefer it there than on an aperture ring that is too close to the body and has no markings or hard stops. The other thing I like about the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 is the overall rendering. It is pretty spectacular for such an affordable zoom. Really nice bokeh and focus roll off. Amazing resolution and contrast in the middle. I have both the old and new versions of this lens... will see what the difference is.

Still very restricted here about how far we can go from home but managed to use some of our allotted exercise slot this evening to take a bit more footage with the FP/45mm/Anamorphot. And yes, that is a snake in the bottom left of the top picture. And yes, I did shit myself when I saw it.

Ah...so maybe breaking it and covering it in barrel grease is the secret. I need to do a YouTube video about it immediately with a thumbnail of me holding it at arms length in front of the camera whilst doing an open mouthed shocked face

Well, inspired by your post, I thought I might sort out a setup today. Nowhere on the same level as your ones but here is my very compact L mount full frame RAW anamorphic setup. Taking lens is the Sigma 45mm and the (currently) less than ideal anamorphic element is provided courtesy of a pretty fucked SLR Magic Anamorphot-40 1.33x Compact. I got the Anamorphot-40 very cheap used about 18 months ago and it literally fell apart like a clown car the second time I tried to use it and as you can see it hasn't fully been re-constructed as yet ! Obviously, when picking up the separate parts of it I managed to get barrel grease all over the elements (front and back of both of them no less) so it needs a proper clean as well as a few more screws. I think I might persevere with that though as I think it will be worth the effort as even in its current smeary condition its got some promise from the couple of quick tests I did.

Haha great stuff. Liked the video a lot @jgharding It's true, you reach a point where you have so many tools you don't use any of them. The EOSHD blog adds an even more warped motivation for me. I have no choice but to keep buying cameras and lenses!!! I enjoy it like a crack addict enjoys coke. I never wanted to become an obsolete camera collector or lens museum though, and even less want to become a shop. So the things just kind of sit there like the void staring back at me. Buying fancy stuff is only part of what inspired me to start shooting. I do enjoy it, but I enjoy a good shoot even more. It is something that doesn't just apply to creatives.... much of how we've organised our civilisations all boils down to this constant cycle of acquisitions and never settling with what we have or pausing progress long enough to taste it. The other paradox of this syndrome is that it instantly devalues what you already have. You can spend a fortune and lots of time on effort researching a tool, only to get it, love it, use it for a week, and then feel the urge for the NEXT adventure straight after before you've even scratched the surface of the creative possibilities that just opened up before you. A prime example of this for me was when I got the Fuji X-H1. The A7 III came along on the same first proper shoot as that, so half the time was spent wondering which shot to do with which camera. Very distracting. Then after the A7 III up pops the Panasonic S1 and Fuji X-T3. By this point the X-H1 was sat on the shelf for weeks on end while I dabbled with 4K/60p, and the A7 III wasn't coming out on any shoots at all. So why did I bother spending all that money on either of them only to upstage both of them within months? This constant churn of gear is basically one long syndrome of addiction, brief enlightenment and disappointment. I don't know how to stop it. I liked it best when everything was either rubbish or expensive, apart from a GH2. I stuck with that for ages and actually created something.

there are a lot of stories about "Initializing" staying there for minutes. Very slow start up time. Restart the camera after a glitch, usually when one uses the pre-roll function. tha fans hit so hard that are soundmen nightmare e.t.c It is well know in the industry that is a "special" breed of cameras, and some cameramen call them "producers choice", not DPs or cameramen.

BMD's 12bit log encoded RAW is simply a container format, the sensor readout on the Pocket 6K is 12bit linear, it does not become thicker when put into a different container. While ARRI's 12bit log encoded RAW is derived from 14bit linear readout, now that's real thick.

Also the image - especially after the update - blows the competition out of the water. Codecs are improved now - so is the color gamut/mapping and (temporal) NR can be turned off now.

The thing about actually finishing things got a nod and a laugh from me, I can't count how many things I've started and then left in limbo, meaning to come back later but never do. I think I am easily bored. Always looking for next idea. Nucleus nano sounds like a good idea. The S1H is a great cinema camera. It's never going to be a camcorder with AF or an effortless run & gun shot grabber. X-T4 with an 18-135 is better at that. I'd like to settle on one camera too. Would be nice 😂

Another great addition coming from Nigel. This time: affordable vintage glass: Canon FD 50/1.8 and FD 24/2.8 coupled with a Pixco speedbooster.

So the Alexa isn't a proper camera?

Yep we posted in another thread about adding motion back using Resolve..... I did experiment more so it depends a lot on the scene and background as just a tad of blur does not add too many artifacts in case of complex bg like a metallic fence can cause bad artifacts. My test was a show jumping horse in a parkour the goal is to pull picture at 1/250 or 1/500 and have a usable video. So to an untrained eye you can fool them but for real pro work not sure I would use it. But in case where photo has priority I will definitely use it.

Resolve offers something like this. It's quite good, actually. Did you give it a whirl?

"The business has changed ever since Jim Jannard announced the RED One camera in April 2006" You can read all the interviews in FDTimes here [PDF] NEW BLOG POST

Last one for now.... Same camera... 4K frame grab from Premiere, exported as PNG. Be sure to give it a download and a good pixel peep.

Yes. The irony. The time has come to face up to it. We're addicts!

There's a slight but noticeable quality drop in 4K in 1.29 crop mode in terms of sharpness and moire, because it's oversampling from 4.8K, compared to 6.2K in normal mode (up to 30P).

Darn! Great light. Great captures! Thanks for showing. No 2 and 3 are especially beautiful.

If I only had to keep one camera at the moment... Let's see. I like grading LOG but don't like monitoring with it. Needs a good view assist. Or a really good standard picture profile. I am addicted to Classic Negative at the moment on the X-T4 and the Teal & Orange on Fp for something even more stylised. But doesn't suite everything like Classic Negative. Let's say X-T4 makes a good case for itself here and the Pana S1 with it's in-camera LUT support. Next, only having one lens is a challenge, because I've jettisoned the rest into the skip and can only keep one. If it's the X-T4, it'll have to be the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 C (newest one) or Fuji 18-135mm. These do everything. Think I'd choose the Sigma for the macro and faster aperture. If it's the Panasonic S1, I'd go with a prime and forget about the terrible AF. A good 35mm F2 so at least you have wide angle and 50mm in Super 35mm mode. F2 to keep the size down. Let's call it Voigtlander 35mm F1.8 Ultron or Zeiss ZM 35mm F2. Unless close focus is needed, then it'd have to be the small Minolta AF 35mm F2.0, lovely rendering and simple to manually focus. If I am truly going to box myself in, I'd have to choose between S1 with the prime and X-T4 now. Tricky one. Don't think I'd pick either actually. Sigma Fp with Canon 28-70mm F2.8 EF (old version). It's parfocal. Good manual focus. Full frame. S35 crop gives you more reach. Can shoot RAW internal. No IBIS stops you being lazy and getting nicer shots on a tripod instead. Great colour and codec options. Just no EVF or articulated screen, which could be tricky sometimes. Nope having just one camera is impossible. I'd keep all 3 and then turn the internet off and use the GFX 100 instead.

I played with Xtal Express and Technovision Cookes at my previous job. They have nothing in common with the new Cooke Anamorphics. The Cookes have pin-cushion distortion. The vertical lines bend inward. The older lenses have classic barrel distortion. Also, they were converted from spherical lenses, whereas the modern Cooke Anamorphics are purpose-built. And some of the cylinders are rotated 90 degrees which stretches the image out vertically, in addition to it being squeezed horizontally. They are also fairly consistent from focal length to focal length and color matched. JDCs were notoriously inconsistent. Top one is Zeiss SS. Bottom one is Speed Panchro.

It's not bright at all in RGB mode and huge in footprint. Do not recommend. I went with Vijim V-2 which is 50$ on Ali, 200 gramm, compact, has 3 hour fast charge battery inside, various effects and freakishly bright for its size. And yeah, you can stick it to metal as it has a magnet back. I do recommend this one

Expecting the worst shooting into a light source after some of the ( few) posts about this lens around the internet, I was pleasantly surprised and it seems no worse than most lenses in that regard (and if i am shooting right into a very bright light up close, it is not going to be pretty regardless of the lens). It also seems ok as a general purpose lens at longer distances. For close in at 2.8, it does seem to have some magic and much more than i expected. A couple at 60mm at a distance 2.8 and f8 and a couple into a light at 2.8 and f22 (another surprise, this lens produces pretty much ZERO sun stars). I really can not wait to use this for both video and stills at a gig (indoor pub or outdoor concert) though with the current climate that might be a while. Portraits hopefully will be a lot earlier.

A video from a professional DP. He also reports "some weird IBIS issues".

Hello. Here is the official answer from Sigma about 0.1 second shutter lag: ”We are so sorry that your fp is showing a lag between the moment of release and the actual picture. We are aware of this, and unfortunately, this is how fp works at this point. This is a display lag happening between the sensor and LCD. I will forward your message to our engineer team, and they will check if there is something they can do to fix this. However, at this moment, we have to ask you to accept that this is how fp works.” So maybe they will come up with something...