Andrew Reid

Motion JPEG was perhaps under appreciated, but more so Canon's colour science I think peaked with the 1D C. It's actually gone a bit more clinical since.

I still don't miss 500Mbit/s huge files but nowadays it feels a little bit more manageable than it did in 2014!

Somebody should buy 20 1D Cs and take the internals out, put them in their own cinema camera with an E-mount and sell it for $6k each!

It could just be the R7 is cripple hammered.

But I have a hard clip on almost every camera I own because the OS or NLE doesn't interpret full range H.265 / H.264 properly.

If you'd like to try the fix DM me 😃

2 hours ago, MrSMW said:

A pair of them are my current workhorses for hybrid work. 
Along with an S1H and a currently disabled S5.

I shoot both 8 bit 4K 50p and 10 bit 5k 25p with them and personally think that the 5k SOOC (flat profile) is some of the nicest footage I have seen.

Ah yes remember you had some. Is the 5K full frame or a crop?

And it’s 4:3 only?

2 hours ago, MrSMW said:

The AF is more than pretty decent other than a lack of reliability in forward tracking unless using f4-8 where it gets quite reliable, especially with native lenses, but these don’t have that much over Sigma.

Two weaknesses for me:

I wish the 5k was 50/60p

15 min recording limit

I am sure I am not imagining it but there does seem to be something a bit more special coming from this sensor, especially in 5k mode and that must have something to do with it not being Sony?

No Vlog but yes it does HLG, but as I’m more than happy with the Flat profile, not tried it.

Tried the new L.neo colour profiles?

basically Panasonic film styles

Not seen colour this nice since the Digital Bolex!

Think I may need to pick one up

Thee camera that shall not be spoken about.

It got a HUGE firmware update.

Now does 5K and is basically a Leica SL2 for half price.

I seem to remember AF works a lot better on S1R especially in 4K/60p full frame than in 4K on the S1 and S1H. Anyone tested this?

I don't think it can do V-LOG?

But it has HLG now.

And it is one of the very few full frame 4K/60p cams for under $1500 used.

So maybe it should be more on our radar than it was?

Highlight roll off is a common problem at the moment.

Try this with it, I'll give you a free copy

https://www.eoshd.com/dynamic-range-enhancer-H264-H265/

Cheers for posting, very detailed.

Did you notice anything like a crop mode, for 2x or Super 16mm lenses in 4K?

5 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Ulanzi (and a few others if I remember) did an old school ground glass DOF adapter that let you put EF lenses on your phone.

Yeah I have the Beastgrip one.

Problem is it needs an extremely close minimum focus distance and doesn't work well with larger smartphone sensors, especially in the corners where it looks like it's gone ten rounds with a cat loving workshop host.

5 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Bit of a unwieldy monstrosity when you put the EF lens on and the ground glass didn't spin either but it did the job in terms of providing an approximation of "the look" that had us all buying Canon NV20s and the like and mounting them upside down on even more unwieldily rigs before the 5DMarkII et al handed everyone the keys to that kingdom !

So, whilst not the same as a native mount, a C-Mount version of something like that should be feasible and obviously smaller.

Yes everything would be smaller. Ground glass could be smaller, lens is certainly smaller.

5 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

And usable on multiple phones as well and whilst I know the EU keep changing warranty terms in favour of the consumer, I think even they'd draw the line at not seeing ripping the camera out and fitting a new mount as "problematic" in terms of a refund so it solves that problem too 😉

I can't see how it would be beyond the bounds of possibility to make the ground glass at least vibrate or even spin considering how companies like TechArt make the MF to AF adapters with motors that are absolutely tiny.

World has definitely moved on the 12 years or whatever since the DOF adapter movement in terms of doing this sort of thing DIY so a 3D printed prototype would be easy and cheap.

Minimum focus distance could be an issue on some smartphones for the ground glass so there will always be a certain amount of bulkiness to it. 

But thats just all the more space to put the variable electronic ND in isn't it ?

I would ideally like to go crazy and dismantle a smartphone, take all the gubbins out and put it in a GH2!!

Or at least as follows...

Detach lens from main sensor.

3D print holder for the sensor and mainboard, put it behind the hollowed out GH2's mount

Detach the screen of course and have that on a hinge at the back.

It is definitely not easy but surely doable with a few precision tools!!

Thanks for the latest, good stuff.

Since 2014 you have been giving us these so that is commitment to say the least!

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

If it was Royal Mail then its probably worth asking them if its still there so you can do a re-shoot 😉

It's ok they are already re-shooting with it themselves!

As I said OM-1 went in cardboard box at post office after so it was a bit difficult to reshoot

Might be a couple of things.

Strong AA filter in the camera.

Thicker filter stack glass.

Does it only look this soft at fast apertures or at F5.6 as well?

14 minutes ago, FHDcrew said:

How is the EM1X vs OM1 comparison fairing out?

Scrapped it.

Just a thought...

It would be great to modify a smartphone so that it has only a sensor with no lens over it, and on the back cover a screw mount for C-mount lenses.

Then it really would play in the same league as the Digital Bolex in RAW.

It would need a lot of machining and new metal parts on the back to make it work and hope your OS doesn't notice that AF is missing!

But not beyond the realms of possibility is it?

Proof that 10bit is almost pointless 🙂

I know it gets you more shots and freedom but it doesn't look as good does it.

Even on the best systems it still does weird stuff like slowly rotating the frame for no reason, or panning carries on when you don't want it to, just knocks your framing off by a slight amount but enough to be distracting.

Did you buy the OM-1 or the E-M1X?

20 minutes ago, Benjamin Hilton said:

I guess all that to say that all of of these tools are amazing in and of themselves if used at their full potential.

I agree with you, I think these are all very useful tools, makes shooting faster, easier and gets you a shot you might otherwise miss.

The point I am making however is that none of these tools seem to look as good as the techniques they're making obsolete!

AF looks worse than a human focus puller / manual focus.

IBIS looks worse than a tripod.

And 10bit looks about the same as 8bit most of the time.

As for LOG it does often look very good but it all depends how good you are at grading it. I remember when it first came into the mainstream (with SLOG on A7S) and 90% of what was shot this way looked worse than a standard rec.709 profile, but I guess that's not LOG's fault!

I do like the E-M1X's image overall, has a bit more mojo, more reliable WB and bit more detail in 4K.

It is only 8bit but at a much higher bitrate than OM1.

Perhaps more interesting comparison would be between E-M1X and the GH6.

Maybe throw in the A7 IV which I have, Sigma Fp-L and EOS R5.

Micro Four Thirds can't compete at high ISOs but the rest is fair game.

I hear Trump is a huge fan of IBIS especially on his gun sight when the FBI come knocking.

I colossally messed up my OM-1 vs E-M1 X comparison which is bad because I put the OM-1 in a cardboard box at the end of it and took it to the post office. So don't think I'll be reshooting that one any time soon.

The OM-1 was somehow set to digital stabiliser mode and so all the images are a bit cropped and a bit soft. Also although I checked several times it was in OM LOG 400 the resulting files don't look anything like LOG, so there's that.

I don't really regret my decision to keep the E-M1 X instead and save some pounds. As where pounds are, shillings follow! Yes another case of overhyped new camera by the usual shills again.

Not to say it isn't a great little camera (although it can't really do ISO 3200/6400)

Not to say I didn't like certain aspects of it like the new EVF which is very good.

But I think Panasonic S1 and Sigma Fp trounce it for overall image quality to be honest.

LOG

For me there is no substitute to What You See Is What You Get. Whenever I shoot LOG I tend to forget to look at tonality and contrast. Sometimes even a limit on dynamic range is useful because it forces you to prioritise which part of the frame to expose for. Whenever I shoot LOG I tend to get lazy and forget this. I do use a view assist when available or load a LUT onto the camera, but then you are postponing the judgement of what works for a scene to post. And what a fucking nightmare it is choosing LUTs and grading every shot differently in post, when you could have got it all right in camera, in the moment of the shoot! So LOG is overrated and a hinderance. RAW on the other hand, that's much nicer. You don't even need to grade RAW, you can just let the meta data handle it. If there is a white balance change that needs doing, you can do it without weird results. RAW is all about ultimate image quality so give me that over LOG any day.

IBIS

IBIS is king of ALL the lazy unmotivated camera movement we see today. It's a huge convenience doing away with a tripod, as well as the biggest single loss of the last 10 years! There is simply no substitute. Floaty, warpy, too smooth, too robotic, IBIS has it all in equal measure. The least cinematic camera feature you can choose beyond shooting it all in 30fps! Also when you are sticking something on a tripod that doesn't have IBIS like the Sigma Fp you are actually locked down into one frame. That really makes you think about the composition and refine it, because you're stuck with it! All my early stuff was shot on a tripod. I never recaptured that shooting style with IBIS. Even the slightest small movement detracts from the calmness of a locked down shot. With IBIS you can only fake a locked down shot and everyone knows you couldn't really be arsed to do it properly!

10bit

It is hailed as the biggest new feature of modern times and everybody shits on 8bit, but whenever I put the final images side by side from a decent 8bit codec and a modern 10bit one, why do they always look the fucking same?

AF

A bit like IBIS autofocus is a great shot getter when you're rushing and making a hack of it. I used to use a single S-AF to grab focus before locking it on the GH2 and recording the unfolding scene with the focus not moving. Short of hiring a professional Hollywood focus puller that is the best any of us can do, because as soon as you hand things over to the camera you may as well call it a home movie and be done with it. Oops it's shifted to the background. Oops it's wobbling. Oops the subject has moved but the focus hasn't. Ooops that's not what I meant. Autofocus is an affront to filmmaking. The best AF is too perfect. Nails the subject in focus with no human intention behind the focus pull. If I see another gimbal shot with autofocus I will kill myself.

So just to sum up...

Maybe we could have an EOSHD challenge...

No LOG, no 10bit, no IBIS, no AF, just a tripod, you, a manual focus lens and a camera like the Sigma Fp or Samsung NX1?

Let's see how the results look compared to the next day when we all go back to the usual modern style of shooting!

And pick the best!

1 hour ago, FHDcrew said:

EM1 X also does Prores RAW via the Ninja V if you want more color info. Excited to read the article!

Internal codec good enough for me. Don't like the Ninja V.

Talking of 10bit, it is a very low bitrate in 4K/24p, something like 77 mbit.

I did a comparison with the E-M1 X if anyone is interested it will be on blog tonight.

The spoiler is I sold the OM-1.

And the AF was better on E-M1 X as well which is big surprise.

Maybe they are going to get the most of the new hardware with an OM-1 X instead for more pricey sums.