ntblowz

They say "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" and that describes exactly where I am with Virtual Production.
The reason for setting off on this journey ?
Curiosity in the process is one aspect - and is something I'm hoping will sustain when the expected big boulders block the route - but I also think VP is going to be a process that trickles down to lower budget projects faster than people might expect so it is something I'm keen to get involved in.
What aspects of VP am I looking to learn about and get involved with ?
In the first instance, it will be about simple static background replacement compositing but will move on to more "synthetic set" 3D territory both for narrative but also multi camera for virtual studio applications.
There will also be a side aspect of creating 3D assets for the sets but that won't be happening until some comfort level of how to actually use them is achieved !
And the ultimate objective ?
I'm not expecting to be producing The Mandalorian in my spare bedroom but I am hoping to end up in a position where a very low-fi version of the techniques used in it can be seen to be viable. I'm also hopeful that I can get a two camera virtual broadcast studio setup working for my upcoming YouTube crossover channel Shockface which is a vlog about a gangster who sells illicit thumbnails to haplessly addicted algorithm junkies.
I'm fully expecting this journey to make regular stops at "Bewilderment", "Fuck Up", "Disillusionment" and "Poverty" but if you'd like to be an observer then keep an eye on this thread as it unfolds.
Or more likely hurtles off the rails.
Oh and from my initial research about the current state of play, there may well be a product or two that I develop along the way to use with it too...

I've been using it for about 5 days now (should have gotten it over a week ago, but Fedex + snowstorm decided to spit on that idea).
In short, I preordered as soon as it Adorama last night. The autofocus is incredible, the handheld AI features are incredible, build quality is exceptional (I put it in my shower for ten minutes).
The new 40-150/4, which they loaned me too, is fantastic as well (wish it had a focus clutch, but not a big deal).
My full review will be coming later at Petapixel but paired with the grip and the Olympus 100-400 and this thing is a wildlife photographer's dream.
Image quality is certainly at least one step above the former 20MP sensor, though I have not spent much time messing with the files so far. Where I'd limit my E-M5 III to 1600, maybe 3200 in emergencies, I'm comfortable going to 6400 here. And with the even better IBIS (which is the best out there), rarely do I need to. The auto ISO options are still the same, which is to say that they suck.
Menu has been redesigned and is SO MUCH better, thank god. I love Olympus cameras but they always had the worst menus.

Almost all OM System videos are people on the outdoors, covered in snow to the waist, shooting under monsoons, base jumping inside an active volcano...their intended demographic for this camera is well defined.

(the last one is a joke, IP53 is not rated for volcano swimming)

Nikon Rumors has jumped in to the discussion with more posts coming. 
 
https://nikonrumors.com/2022/02/05/this-is-why-craig-quit-canonrumors.aspx/

Yeah, social media has become such a detriment to society at this point. I'm constantly blown away seeing adults, some in their 50s and 60s, acting like children and reveling in their ignorance. It's frustrating and depressing all at once. 

I got less time on S35 in 4K50P than FF 4K50p (20min vs 30min), FF 4K50p/60p is not oversampled.
 
4K Screengrab from R5, I think i can just grab stills from video.. much easier this way., rolling shutter is quite acceptable on R5.

Especially on focal length from 24mm and wider

🙂

"Nothing unique or special about the look"
"They are all equivalent... APS-C, full frame, medium format"
*Stops down GFX lens to F3.5...."Same look to DOF as APS-C at F1.8"
FUCK
When camera store salesman become an authority on photography and video...
You get this!
Widespread misinformation.
Sad to see how many people in the YouTube comments just accept it.
Stopping down a medium format camera and then complaining it can't do anything different to an APS-C model at F1.8????
Put a Minolta MD 58mm F1.2 on APS-C, full frame and medium format and tell me they all look equivalent!
With same lens, look would be completely different on all 3.
Equivalency is being taken to mean there is no difference in the look of different camera formats.
It completely ignores the fact that lenses are matched to sensor size.
If you take one designed for one format and apply it to another, it looks different!
I wouldn't be surprised if they punted this out just to generate the heat.
It is after all quite chilly in Canada.

Decided to pick one of these up for about 800 euros in Berlin off Amazon.
It's good!
Premium Apple-like build quality. 100% Display P3 gamut. HDMI input. Thin as a tablet. Two USB C inputs, powers over a single one, built in battery too. Adds touch screen capabilities to Mac OS, PC, etc. Bit like a Surface Pro but tethered to your desktop or laptop.
It is pretty unique on the market.
Of course the generic 1080p LCD models are much much cheaper at $200 but where's the fun in those?! 🙂

Well done everyone...  you inspired me to shoot a little test to show why Digital Stabilisation can't replace OIS / IBIS.
@Emanuel - this is the video that should end the debate.
Digital stabilisation can be great, but only if there is very little motion and only if you have short shutter speeds.
I'd encourage everyone to realise that Digital Stabilisation is just DIFFERENT to OIS or IBIS.  It's a different tool for a different job.
I often use digital stabilisation on my IBIS footage and it can work really well.  Hopefully this clears things up?

The crazy thing is that a couple years ago everybody was complaining that Canon wasn't giving its customers enough resolution. Now they give 8K and people still hate them.

I think the micro-HDMI is the worst cripple in my opinion. I honestly think realtime gyro enhanced digital stabilization will be the future. You sacrifice a slight crop and 1-axis of correction (the axis that causes the wobble anyway) for more stable footage without the need for a fast shutter.
Well do we know if that is straight out of camera or has it been seasoned to this guys particular tastes? What recording mode + profile did he use and compression ratio? Hard to be conclusive when we don't know what was done. And even so, if the 8K RAW LT holds up and retains the detail then there is a fix at cost of higher (but not deal breaking) storage requirements. Anglebird has +4TB CFX cards coming. I do think Canon has slipped a little bit with their color. Other brands have made huge leaps in consistency and quality.

Checking Gordon's preview of R5C it definitely fixed the annoy thing I had with R5 when shooting interior archiecture walk through, the oversampling 4K50/60P fixed the annoy aliasing issue on some details, and IBIS wobble when paired with UW lens.
 
Though handheld shoot R5 will still be better due to IBIS, but sadly most of my shoot is on gimbal 99% of the time so kinda make IBIS moot.
 
Anyway I got company to preorder one.. hopefully to get one in march, it should pair up nicely with the existing C300III/C70/R5.
 
My 20,000mAh 45A Powerbank should support 8K60P without problem.

Checking Gordon's preview of R5C it definitely fixed the annoy thing I had with R5 when shooting interior archiecture walk through, the oversampling 4K50/60P fixed the annoy aliasing issue on some details, and IBIS wobble when paired with UW lens.
 
Though handheld shoot R5 will still be better due to IBIS, but sadly most of my shoot is on gimbal 99% of the time so kinda make IBIS moot.
 
Anyway I got company to preorder one.. hopefully to get one in march, it should pair up nicely with the existing C300III/C70/R5.
 
My 20,000mAh 45A Powerbank should support 8K60P without problem.

Checking Gordon's preview of R5C it definitely fixed the annoy thing I had with R5 when shooting interior archiecture walk through, the oversampling 4K50/60P fixed the annoy aliasing issue on some details, and IBIS wobble when paired with UW lens.
 
Though handheld shoot R5 will still be better due to IBIS, but sadly most of my shoot is on gimbal 99% of the time so kinda make IBIS moot.
 
Anyway I got company to preorder one.. hopefully to get one in march, it should pair up nicely with the existing C300III/C70/R5.
 
My 20,000mAh 45A Powerbank should support 8K60P without problem.

Checking Gordon's preview of R5C it definitely fixed the annoy thing I had with R5 when shooting interior archiecture walk through, the oversampling 4K50/60P fixed the annoy aliasing issue on some details, and IBIS wobble when paired with UW lens.
 
Though handheld shoot R5 will still be better due to IBIS, but sadly most of my shoot is on gimbal 99% of the time so kinda make IBIS moot.
 
Anyway I got company to preorder one.. hopefully to get one in march, it should pair up nicely with the existing C300III/C70/R5.
 
My 20,000mAh 45A Powerbank should support 8K60P without problem.

Continuous 4k120 with Audio is a game changer for us. The R5 shoots gorgeous footage with a few well known issues. But even with the limitations, we still prefer them over all our other cameras in the office (much love for our BMPCC6kPro and Ursa G2, but they too have their fair share of issues). Jumped to pre-order an R5C today.
Here's a sample of how we use the footage in the first few seconds of one of my recent videos. No need for IBIS, the EVF is critical (and why we didn't buy a C70 before this) and this one pretty much hit all my wishes outside of built-in NDs. 
 

We use the r6 and r5 as b cams for video at work. If you’d shot with them for any amount of time you know the ibis is not up to the task for professional work. The amount of times we got back to see weird warps on our footage is simply too high to trust it.

The lack of 8K 240fps RAW makes it a no go for me. I need to future proof my work.

Dolla dolla bills y'aaalllll
 

I hope they didn't pay someone a ton of money to design that webpage! They probably did. 😬

Simplistic tough talk and hyperbole fill this apparent announcement page.  No doubt the marketing person who wrote this is a thoroughly experienced shooter.

Well it is quite disappointing, only using 60% of the actual sensor size so it is actually 1/1.31" equivalent, and more pricy than A7C doesnt help.

Shot this video in Prores Raw 12-bit the other day with my Lumix S5:
-Filmed on Panasonic Lumix S5 in 5.9k 12-bit ProRes Raw (recorded externally on Atomos Ninja V)
-Camera mounted to DJI RSC2 Gimbal
-Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX-II 11-16mm F-2.8 (wide-angle lens) attached to camera via Vizelex Fusion ND Throttle Smart Adapter (EF - L mount)
-Shot with V-log picture profile (original footage resolution was 5.9k 24p, and 4.1k 60p footage slowed down to 24fps) 
-ProRes Raw Files converted to ProRes 4:4:4 and some minor color grading and final editing was done in Davinci Resolve 17 (Final export was 4.1k 24ps)
-Exported and uploaded to Ytube using 10-bit H.265 codec