Andrew Reid

  The lenses chapters will certainly be useful for GM1 and G6 owners. My cinematography tips too hopefully!

The Quad core Mac Pro in the UK is £300 more than the top of the range Macbook Pro Retina 15" with raw / CUDA capable GPU...   http://store.apple.com/uk/buy-mac/mac-pro   But much more powerful of course.   No £2500 is not cheap for a dustbin but it will set you up for 5 years of 4K editing. So to some might be a good investment! Not for everyone, that's for certain.

Hackintosh it! :)

Are you using a NAS for the 2 HDDs?

Above, left: Shane Meadows shoots with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Shane Meadows (Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England) is in my view the best filmmaker since Danny Boyle to come out of the North of England. He's recently been shooting a Stone Roses documentary and met Jake Bugg at a recent gig. His Blackmagic shoot was a music video for the British singer-songwriter, for the track "Slumville Sunrise". Here's what Shane had to say about the shoot - Read the full article here

Good luck controlling the aperture of your Canon EF lenses on the BMPCC :)   The SLR Magic 12mm T1.6 is a nice one to go for wide angle but isn't as cheap as the 14mm F2.5. I rate it far more highly though. Then you need a fast 17mm or 25mm and it gets a bit more complicated because the good ones are $600+   Try a c-mount 25mm F1.4 and pray :)

It's true you can edit 4K on a laptop BUT you need either SSD or a RAID array, a bog standard HDD won't cut it. An SSD on its own is too small and a RAID array won't fit in a laptop. So you're attaching the RAID drives to the laptop via USB 3.0 I take it?

There are some more reviews of the SLR Magic and Noctilux...   So, the big question is; is this the "better Noctilux". Yes, in some ways it is, since it offers an advantage of features (for example a much shorter minimum focus distance) and outperforms the Leica lens for example in terms of MTF values and vignetting. In other regards, however, the Leica Noctilux ASPH still holds the crown. It distorts less and offers similar MTF performance in a noticeably smaller and lighter package. Nonetheless, the Hyperprime certainly gives the Noctilux a run for the money.   http://www.photozone.de/leicam/861-slrmagic50t095?start=1   Key is the MTF chart...   Tested on the M9, the SLR Magic is indeed sharper, especially in the corners. But the Leica has less distortion.   http://www.photozone.de/leicam/860-noctilux50asph?start=1

I wouldn't bother fixing the taking lens. The image from it with the anamorphic isn't as nice as you can achieve with other lenses. I am not sure of the value as never seen it for sale on it's own. I wouldn't say it was worth what it would cost to repair it that's for sure!   PS - my original taking lens from my pre36 Iscorama is also kaput… the focus is way off infinity!

G6 users give it a go and if you're not satisfied, email me. The chapters on lenses, post production and cinematography tips for example is 100% relevant for you.

You can shoot away fine with 24p, I did it for a while with a Japanese GH2 in Europe, just make sure the shutter is at 1/50 and you don't shoot at night with a high shutter speed as your lights will flicker and strobe.   As for 60p, you will need to set the shutter to 1/100 which isn't ideal.   My advice is to check the import tax!!

The first 4K images are rolling off the 4K production camera, shot by Grant Petty himself no less. I'm hugely impressed with the image. It breaks new ground for resolution for an accessibly priced movie camera. The download is absolutely huge at 9GB. If you just want a glance at what's on offer, you're in luck because I'm going to guide you through the images now and do a bit of grading... Read the full article here

I have the European version of them, so it is worth checking if the US versions are also PAL / NTSC switchable. No reason why they shouldn't be. The older models are not but with the newer ones, Sony have changed policy.

The RX1 is PAL / NTSC switchable so go ahead, there's nothing to worry about, apart from possibly very significant import tax and duties.

  OK, replying shortly :)

  Nothing planned for Blackmagic yet. What do you think guys? BMPCC guide next up?

I have been working on this all year and the results are worth the wait. Go here to get your copy for just $19.99   Highlights EOSHD’s recommended camera settings for filmmaking EOSHD’s 15 recommended lenses for the GH3 (with new tri-shot test gallery) Official foreword by Panasonic and exclusive interview Post production chapter and 10% off Film Convert Pro 2 with every book A Total Beginner’s Guide in the Appendix and filmmaking-lingo-buster Shooting tips from Andrew Reid Recommended accessories and audio gear 250 pages long 1 year in the making Read more and see the full chapter listing

Nice cat :)   Will you by trying it on the Blackamgic Pocket Cinema Camera? (The lens that is, not the cat)

Zero difference between the two, both sadly rather crap for video, though that's not to say you can't get some good results with them if handled a certain way!   Amazing stills cameras though.

I think these were tested on the Magic Lantern forum and came out similar to Komputer Bay, which I have no issues with but, still, are they worth the extra money?

  Good point.   By the way Rich I have been shooting with your FF58 this weekend. The golden cast light rope photos of Susanna are with the FF58 here  15aaefc88d960e08c33e20169cf1fac1   I had the 85mm F1.2L with me but the FF58 is the one that gave me the best feel.

  No, DO overlook it. GPU just isn't very good compared to Nvidia GTX series and CUDA.

  Indeed focus is very tricky! But I checked very careful for focus issues and took several shots. In each one I found the same and had to rub my eyes in disbelief.   The Leica is not back focussed because if it was off by a tiny amount to the back the strap lugs of the M5 bodies would be sharper than the strap lugs on the SLR Magic shot. Also as you can see, the camera on the back row far left is blurrier on the Leica shot than on the SLR Magic shot. I think they just handle roll off from the focus plane differently, maybe depending on the part of the frame.   Also I have seen MTF charts from a leading photo blog, who did the same test between the two lenses. These will be published soon. Those show the SLR Magic as being better resolving wide open. So the MTF chart actually backs up my own samples.   Click to enlarge -  

If I could take my time and it was a relatively straight forward shoot where I wouldn't expect to do a lot of re-takes, I'd choose the BMCC.   If it was any more complicated than that I'd go for the GM1 (or my FS100) because you can do as many takes as you like and not even think about data management.   Just make sure on either occasion to take plenty of batteries with you :)

  And only one of them anywhere near affordable ;-)