Andrew Reid

Sony A7 what again? :)

I just got banned from BMCUser, so can't defend myself against what people are saying on this thread -

 

http://www.bmcuser.com/showthread.php?8830-Firmware-Updates-for-Existing-BM-Cameras/page8

 

In light of the email and what I have explained, would any EOSHD supporter be brave enough to step in here and tell the truth?

 

I'd be eternally grateful for it!

Also the highly anticipated Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM ART now has a price - this will be an exceptional piece of glass to use on the GH4 with Speed Booster pre-order the Nikon mount version at B&H for $995 or the Canon mount version

This shot by EOSHD forum member Julian confirms that Panasonic have now completed the final production firmware for the GH4 (version 1.0). The unit pictured above was loaned to Julian but it is a good sign the camera will be shipping on time from stores - possibly by the end of this month in less than 2 weeks.

Read the full article here

Version 1.0? Very nice.

Bit cheeky if you ask me.  Grab the early adopters kit, take away the two most important components of the setup (the diopters), add a huge markup, stir it up and you have a fine anamorphic mess.

 

I agree with Rich here.

 

But it takes two to drive up prices... a buyer and a seller.

 

How about buyers exercise a bit more restraint as well...

 

To avoid further arguing I'm locking the thread.

Amazing - like turning night into day - unfortunately the day part just looks like a normal cloudy day with bad light :)

 

Anyone else think this is an absurd way of presenting a test anyway?

 

It's so compressed that ISO 1600 looks noisier and blockier than ISO 25600.

 

Cannot get a proper impression of anything from YouTube.

 

This is why I put my camera tests on Vimeo instead.

 

Get the original file up somewhere!

I don't feel abandoned by a new release but I do think the panasonic GH3 has still a few bugs which they should repair. I'm just afraid they won't concentrate anymore on solving these because of the early release of the GH4. Bye the way I turned off my eye sensor and still the monitor tends to shut off in a certain angle.

 

The monitor issue sounds like a hardware problem and perhaps you should return the unit to the store.

 

As for firmware some of the features like peaking aren't supported by the hardware so cannot be implemented.

 

Panasonic still have an incentive to support the GH3 and they don't stop updating firmware just because the new one has been released.

 

My advice is even if you don't need 4K resolution, 4K makes for much better 1080p so maybe time to upgrade if you are a GH3 user. For the price the GH4 gives you much more bang for buck.

No, I mean that it's a design oversight. I understand that as they had the cameras working before release, the ability to format/delete media might have caused fragmentation. But to then just say, "okay, forget it!"? That's pretty crazy.

 

I don't understand it either, I very rarely format my SSDs and usually delete the clips, sometimes individual ones, before putting the media back in the Blackmagic and it records just fine. Yes fragmentation does hit performance but does it really hit it to such a degree to impact a shoot? I've not see that. Are write speeds really so close to the limits of the drive for this even to be an issue? You just have to take Blackmagic's word for it that this is the case. I am sure on faster media with write speeds in excess of 550Mb/s even with a fragmented file system a continuous chunk of data should still be able to written at fast enough speeds to support 2K raw. Also on SDs and CFs with the Pocket camera and 5D Mark III in raw I have not had fragmentation impact any of my recordings yet.

Thanks for the clarification Andrew. As i said it did seem pretty suspect to present the article in such a way.

 

Why don't you trust me after 3 years of giving you solid info and news for free?

GH3 firmware discussion is completely off topic. Deleted. If you want to discuss that then feel free to open a new thread.

Yes, i'm talking about the Cinema Camera not the Pocket, because the last year they announced a Active M4/3 mount on the Cinema Camera but this has been banished on the time; to me was the perfect version for this camera i never understand why they release this camera with a passive mount and few moths later release the Pocket with the Active one.

 

It is likely that the unified firmware is needed first before that can happen. No point modding the hardware when the firmware to support active mount on the 2.5K isn't ready yet.

Here is the proof.

 

 

Maybe I should not be so vocal about defending the interests of people who, in fact, absolutely hate my guts like a small minority of Blackmagic forum users.

Dude as 2 posters have pointed out.. This news was already posted to the official forums long before. By Kristian himself. Why are you literally copy and pasting his words and representing it as an interview you did? Did you actually interview him? Seems extremely suspect. Im hoping for your sake you did actually interview him.

 

Seems I need to clear up some bullshit with a big broom... yet again after leaping to the defence of Blackmagic.

 

I wonder why I am not on a beach somewhere and instead bothering to provide a free source of info about their cameras.

 

First off.... Kristian posted the update yesterday not 2-3 days ago as Olly P suggested.

 

http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21179

 

Look at the date and time stamp.

 

I believe Olly has in mind the very first update about the 4 fixes in the firmware, none of the other details were in that first update last week.

 

I did not report on that first update like nofilmschool - instead I pushed Blackmagic for more details by email all during NAB because I wasn't satisfied that the original update had enough info in it.

 

This discussion by email with Blackmagic started a few hours after the new camera announcements at NAB. Yesterday the reply this article was based on came to me as a personal reply from Patrick at Blackmagic directly, fitting like a glove to all the points I'd raised.

 

I am not trying to take credit for anything I didn't initiate... that's the way it happened and there were other emails following up to it. I am putting the info I had in the email out there. I'm not cutting and pasting it from their forum. To hear some people speak about me with minimal respect is very saddening. To hear them you'd think I was a PR hungry prick grandstanding like Tony Abbott tweeting pictures of himself on the phone to air force commanders or something.

 

I had not seen that they'd also posted it on their forum. I don't follow nofilmschool either. I really don't care who should take the credit for the update or whether Patrick was emailing me a cut and paste job.

 

Important thing is I got put the info in your hands and it came to me direct from the source.

"The admin" haha as if like there's anybody else here. Amusing. I'll call the guys behind EOSHD and ask them if they can change my title from admin to filmmaker.

If the blackmagic production camera does get all the things they said it would, how would you compare it to the gh4. The gh4 has a more complete package but if they actually update them how far closer would it close the gap?

 

I loved the image from the Production Camera, though it was limiting to have ISO 400 native and the fixed pattern noise above that when the image is lifted.

 

For my kind of work, the form factor of the Production Camera isn't as suitable as the GH4, because it's just a sensor in a box. It really needed a lot of extra bits adding, which is why Blackmagic noticed everyone rigging their Pocket and Cinema cameras up, and responded by bringing out the URSA.

 

I don't need to rig up the GH4. It already has everything I need built in. I really cannot be bothered with rigging stuff up crazily. Gets in the way.

 

I also prefer the lens mount to the EF mount on the Production Camera. More versatile. The smaller sensor doesn't bother me because when I want the Super 35mm look, I get it out of my bag and attach it. Speed Booster.

The a7s looks more cinematic to my eye and the gh4 more video camera, either byproduct of m43 or panasonic codec.  What is everyone's thoughts on that?

 

Though a bit of a sidestep...how do you all feel about the 4k footage in these cameras compared to 5d3 Raw?

 

Tell us why you think the A7S looks more cinematic then we'll address the specifics, A7S vs GH4 ok?

We are a sensible bunch here, I don't think we need patronising with warnings not to 'get caught up in hype' and I certainly don't think you should be calling my positive evaluations of a camera 'hype' either!

By studio camera do you actually mean Cinema Camera (2.5K)?

Above: Prospect, a short film shot on the 2.5k Blackmagic Cinema Camera

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera was the first foray for the company into the camera market and was announced 2 years ago this month. I know many users were expecting more from firmware updates in the meantime to add basic features and also features promised by Blackmagic themselves. Many were expecting these to be announced this week at NAB. Instead Blackmagic revealed new cameras, one in particular the URSA being packed with new features.

So I asked Blackmagic some tough questions and here are the answers...

Read the full article here

I would agree with you canon has failed to innovate.. and it bothers me a lot. However I wouldnt call the  "C" cameras a failure they are many advantages to them and a lot of people swear by them..In all honesty i think they are great cameras just overpriced. I think you also seemed to dismiss what i said about running my lenses through adapters.. i just dont want to do that. At some point 5d type cam will shoot 4k the a7s almost had me if it would have shot 4k...so this doesnt it mean it cant happen, lets not forget that the 1dc was the first dslr to shoot 4k and you cant deny the footage is beautiful but it is deff overpriced.. with that said I think these cameras are great in terms of pushing the markets. It will push canon to come along and do their game, i guess they are just not ready for it right now and thats a shame, they could have owned the market. I think my main message is dont get caught up on these cameras hype right now and sell all your current lenses for m43 lenses.. I think you will kick yourself later on if canon or sony comes around another camera that isnt m43 that shoots 4k and it is affordable. I dont know if you noticed or not but theres even rumors that this is the last m43 cam from panasonic.. so yeah.   

 

Stop comparing everything to Canon.

 

"Rumours that the GH4 is the last m43 cam from Panasonic". This is manna from heaven for Canon fans like yourself and non-Panasonic people, who have zero answer to video on the GH4. Nikon loved this rumour. People who want Panasonic to fail got a real kick of out this. This thing I have seen swirl around the internet for days like there is substance to it. Actually it was a shitty april fools joke at 43rumors and Personal-View (Vitaliy Kiselev), one that is actually damaging the business. Panasonic's people, some of them anyway, are angst at it. Even though it was a joke it harms the brand to put negative bullshit out there into the rumour mill and as we now see, trolls and possibly even Canon affiliates or sales people keep the whispering going on forums, because it is in their interest to harm the GH4 and the Micro Four Thirds brand as it is a rival system.

I thought this would be an article on the 4K capabilities of the Leica S.....

 

No it's a news article.

 

The 4K capabilities of the Leica S are completely unknown at this moment. You're expecting me to write about something which is a complete unknown. Where's the logic in this?

Andrew  gives me a strong impression that he just want to push people to just get the gh4. His comments  always gives the vibe of  "as compared to the gh4". The thing is that the gh4 just doesnt work for everyone. Yes it is awesome, yes is amazingly priced, yes it gives amazing images.. etc.  but the problem is people have heavly invested on the canon lenses and some people dont want to sell their canon lenses to buy m43 lenses because m43 are less of a standard in case you want to upgrade later on. I could use my canon lenses on almost any camera but with m43 we simply cant. And yes the speedbooster exsist but we dont want to run through adapters and other quirky work arounds. There are just many things like this one i pointed out that are just too many problems...The thing is that i just want people to realize is that the gh4 is not perfect and you shouldnt just jump ship because of the hipe... and i know andrew is not puting a gun on anyones head to buy any one camera, hes just giving his opinion which is very valuable, I just feel like these articles are not as objective as they could be because of the hype. Just my two cents. 

 

This comment put me in a bad mood so the reply is going to be pretty harsh I'm afraid.

 

You are not offending me so much as offending logic itself.

 

"Compared to the GH4" - fact is that since the GH2, this series of cameras has been THE benchmark for performance and all-round features for 90% of my readership, at the affordable price level. It is and continues to be the benchmark I compare stuff to. In the case of the medium format stuff, even though they are completely different price points, you'd still want to know if the video feature set lived up to the benchmark, wouldn't you? Or perhaps I should start comparing everything to the 1D C instead? A camera only a few people can afford and one that doesn't even feature 1/5th of the stuff that the GH4 does. Not even peaking.

 

Not a very good benchmark is it?

 

For 4K the GH4 is the current most promising solution. Everything else either has an extremely high price tag (1D C) or a potential deal breaker (A7S rolling shutter and no internal codec). Also I write EOSHD from my own perspective, it is a mixture of subjectiveness and objectivness. You have to be really thick not to be able to tell them apart. Thick people come to me all the time and say "hey andrew, stop stating your opinion as fact". I say to them... "hey learn to fucking read".

 

And if you have a lot of Canon lenses and want a 4K solution, you know what to do. 1D C or C500. Get your wallet out and good luck!

Here's a GUI I quickly put together:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/s9wyyfw9qvh8cfl/GH444_GUI.dmg

 

You still need to download the original gh444 file.  Let me know if it's broken.  It's super basic.  It doesn't provide any info on progress, but it'll let you know when it's done.

 

Great stuff!! Thanks a million James.

Because full frame is just too small, Sony are supplying a 4K video capable sensor to Leica and Pentax in the region of 40 to 50MP. According to a Leica rep at NAB the company is planning 4K video for their implementation of the sensor in the Leica S. Indeed Pentax have already announced that their 645Z will record 4K video.

Read the full article here

"Luminance is more important than chrominance, so that's not so bad. So best case, we have 10-bits of information in Y and 8-bits for U and V"

 

I think Thomas did indeed mention 10bit luma in his original post.

 

The luma data alone is enough for a nice true 10bit black and white image. U and V contain the colour information. So luma (i.e. the bit important for smooth gradation and high dynamic range) goes 10bit and colour remains at 8bit. Am I correct here or talking out of my arse? :)