PAVP

IMO BM is our friend.  A company giving the public a product that is of high value and closer to the wishes and desires of the end user than many other companies have been producing.  I wish them well with their product line.  I personally just jumped on the Magic Lantern 50D bandwagon.  The low cost and overall value is extremely high IMO.  I was originally saving for a BM Pocket, but I thought about the Sensor size of the 50D and also the ability to record in 4:3 or 3:2 on the 50D for my Anamorphic needs and I went that way.  It's not a worry since the 50D was so cheap!  Now BM is making even their 2.5k BMC cheaper and I think it's moved into a nice spot below the 5Dmk3 which is now a clear competitor with ML Raw.  BM had to make a move IMO.  It's actually a sad thing that Magic Lantern is benefiting Canon who I feel doesn't deserve the boost.  Meanwhile BM is getting screwed when they are the ones who actually did the right thing by the user base. 

Apple isn't for everyone, but if you don't want to fuss around with things and just want something that works... this will do the job.  Of course barring any issues that are unforeseen, but really Apple has been extremely successful with their products, with only a few missteps along the way.  This system looks like a very serious turnkey solution for many users out there.  I've never understood the MacBashers out there myself, but that's their problem.  It took Apple some time to develop their new MacPro but it's as expected a serious product with a ton of thought put into it. 
 
People complain about Apple, but they don't respect what Apple has done from it's beginning to push personal computing over the years.  It seems like too many younger tech users don't know the history and so can't appreciate Apple for being the driving force for all the Desktop Publishing, Audio and Video editing we do today.   In fact a lot of the things we take for granted now in terms of use and design comes from Apple crafting better ideas and PROVING to the marketplace the validity of their philosophy.  This new MacPro is just another part of that process.  In time it will become clear that Apple was right with regard to OpenCL and the general direction they've set for how we handle media etc.  
 
This is a more modular approach and it makes sense for how most people tend to use their computer.  No need for the Bulk of the case if most people just connect peripherals rather than cram stuff inside anymore anyway.   Just a tuned up box of CPU/GPU processing and fast Ram and Storage.  Crazy thing is that it's darned near portable.  It's so small that there's no way I won't take this thing with me if the location makes sense.  It used to be just too much to drag my desktop around, but this thing... :D

The thing that frustrates me about Nikon is that they really have no reason to hold back when it comes to competing in the Cinema DLSR market.  Why are they stepping in so timidly when they can really just go all out with at least one of their cameras and tweak it for Cinema use.  Put in a robust codec, LOG Profile... You know just get serious and kick Canon in the teeth.  Even if they didn't go all out and do a 4K camera, why not a 2.5k D800 or D7100? 
 
The D5200 comes so close to giving people what they want in an affordable Hybrid camera and yet such basic flaws in the camera that don't seem to need to be there.  How much more would it cost them to ask Pros what they should deliver in Cinema Nikon?  As long as they price their cameras under Canon they'd likely be successful as heck.  Still the D5200 is a heck of a bargain.  I can't wait to see what the deal is with the D7100.

The thing that frustrates me about Nikon is that they really have no reason to hold back when it comes to competing in the Cinema DLSR market.  Why are they stepping in so timidly when they can really just go all out with at least one of their cameras and tweak it for Cinema use.  Put in a robust codec, LOG Profile... You know just get serious and kick Canon in the teeth.  Even if they didn't go all out and do a 4K camera, why not a 2.5k D800 or D7100? 
 
The D5200 comes so close to giving people what they want in an affordable Hybrid camera and yet such basic flaws in the camera that don't seem to need to be there.  How much more would it cost them to ask Pros what they should deliver in Cinema Nikon?  As long as they price their cameras under Canon they'd likely be successful as heck.  Still the D5200 is a heck of a bargain.  I can't wait to see what the deal is with the D7100.

I'm convinced that it's almost impossible to compete with Sony. They are on a roll that is impressive when you think about all the cameras they've produced all the way down to their Consumer Camcorders. They must have an enormous R&D department to have simultaneously developed so many cameras. It's unreal. They move faster than everyone else too.

Man people are really going overboard with this stuff. I can't see why we only want to focus on the images that look bad and ignore the ones where things look GREAT! How do we keep the camera in that sweat zone is what we need to be asking. What was the cause of the bad color casts and what were the conditions that lead to the great skin tones on other footage? I think this camera is gonna be great once we learn how to get the best out of it. I'm not seeing consistently bad image, just some freaky stuff that could be caused by any number of combination of factors. Could be lens correction, bad lights, settings needing tweaks, firmware issues...

Man people are really going overboard with this stuff. I can't see why we only want to focus on the images that look bad and ignore the ones where things look GREAT! How do we keep the camera in that sweat zone is what we need to be asking. What was the cause of the bad color casts and what were the conditions that lead to the great skin tones on other footage? I think this camera is gonna be great once we learn how to get the best out of it. I'm not seeing consistently bad image, just some freaky stuff that could be caused by any number of combination of factors. Could be lens correction, bad lights, settings needing tweaks, firmware issues...

I love each and every one of these Zacuto Shootout productions. It has educated me on a lot of things I didn't know. I don't take everything as if it's infallible but rather as part of my continuing education about the field. I'm coming from the Audio side of things as a life long 2nd generation Musician and Sound Engineer. The cameras I own are low cost. GH2, T2i, a couple of Canon Vixia's. So I'm always trying to figure out how to get the most out of my cameras. I'm shocked at how small the difference is between a low end DSLR and top end cameras.

I'm more interested in solutions to the limitations of these low end cameras and the Zacuto Shootout really did help me more clearly understand how to get my camera to give the best image. I now have more confidence in what my camera can achieve with the right lighting, file management and grading. This is EXTREMELY liberating for me and i'm sure many like me who are new to this arena. I would also like to applaud Zacuto, EOSHD and the many blogs and websites that are dedicated to educating film makers and videographers like me.

I had guessed that B was the GH2 simply based on the comments about how those guys lit the scene. I also think it was a bit too video looking, but still I would be more than happy with footage that looked that good overall and perhaps toned it down just a bit and had the scene with a bit more DR than it had. They kind of overdid it, but that is based on how it looked on my Vizio and not how it may have translated in the theater. I can imagine that it probably popped just right on a big screen and projector.

Regardless it gives me great confidence in the capabilities of the GH2 and that has value of it own. I now know that i'm not fooling myself when I think something I record looks good. It actually does look good and not just cuz i shot it on my camera and and deluding myself. That knowledge has value. I come from a Pro Audio background and I know all too well that many times we fool ourselves into thinking the work we did with low cost gear sounds better than it actually did. It was hard to have a frame of reference to make that judgment. However, with the GH2 we have a really telling frame of reference that is undeniable. Now I can just work and stop worrying so much.

Right now the exciting cameras in the sub 10K range are the FS 100/700, Nikon D800, Black Magic Design Cinema and GH2 IMO.