Emanuel

HA!  I didn't notice that until you pointed it out, as I hadn't hit play on that shot yet.
I guess nothing is immune to moire, although this was worse than I would have thought.
The GH7 has no crop in its full resolution modes, and none in the 1080p modes, but the 4K modes do have slight crops - with the C4K having slightly less crop which is why I chose it, so I wonder why that is and what tom-foolery might be going on with that.  The bitrates for the native resolutions are pretty brutal without Prores LT, so I'll likely stick to the C4K mode unless it starts being an issue.
Thanks!
I didn't get the LogC upgrade.  I haven't seen any tests that were done properly so am assuming that it's not worth the cost unless proven otherwise.  I also figure that even if there is some magic in there, I'm taking a hammer to the image with the FLC anyway, so it's not like I'm precious about it.  The only thing I am precious about is getting images that have the right aesthetic to support the subject matter and get out of the way rather than being distracting.
When I saw Goodfellas and a bunch of film trailers projected on 35mm film, the two most stunning things about the images were:
1) how fundamentally flawed they were from a technical perspective
2) how quickly and completely those incredible flaws evaporated and you saw effortlessly through and into the scene
I'm still at the beginning of my FLC journey, but I'm convinced this pipeline is capable of removing the digital distractions from the image that bug me so much.

Part 2...  how did I get here?
I've written about this previously, but the summary is that I went through a sequence of trial and error, continually bumping up against the limits of the hardware, the software, my skill, and mindset.
Setup: GH5, fast manual-focus primes
I shot a bunch with the GH5 and a set of very fast MF primes.  I chose this setup as it had 10-bit LOG, IBIS, and the fast primes gave good low-light and some background blur.  I knowingly sacrificed AF, essentially swapping a fast / accurate / robotic AF for a slow / human / aesthetically-appropriate focusing mechanism.
The MF worked, but not always (especially for my kids, who wait for no-one), and took time and effort to operate the camera away from the things that literally every other crew member does on set.
The 10-bit LOG worked, but wasn't a properly supported LOG profile so didn't colour grade flawlessly in post.
The primes provided the low-light and shallow-DoF but the shots I missed because I couldn't change lenses fast enough were more valuable in the edit than having shallow-DoF.
The DR was lacking.
Setup: GX85 with 12-35/2.8
I owned the GX85 and 12-35mm zoom, so I did some testing.  
I loved the speed of AF-S, and the deeper DoF meant that the number of shots unusable due to missed focus dropped to almost zero.
I tested it with low-light and for well-lit night-time areas, like outdoor shopping malls, it was sufficient.  
The Dual IS (IBIS + lens OIS) was absolutely spectacular and a welcome addition, and having a zoom made me realise why doco and ENG shooters have them as standard issue.
The DR and 709 profile was a real limitation though, and I really felt it in the grade.
It was around this time I figured out proper colour management, and the Film Look Creator was released.  These made a huge boost to grading the GX85, despite its 709 profile.
The mindset shift
The fundamental pivot was in mindset.  As social media became faster and more showy, I noticed the gulf between it and 'real' film-making more and more.  I went minimalist, thinking more and more about the days before digital where the process was to shoot as best you could, cut it, do sound-design, and that was it.  The focus was on what was in-front of the camera, how the cuts made you feel, and sound design that supported that vision.  Even those shooting docs on 16mm film could make magic.
Without throwing away the baby with the bathwater, I decided to re-focus.  To shoot what I could shoot, to learn to cut with feeling, and to simulate a film-like colour grading process where the look was applied and only very basic adjustments were made.
Setup: OG BMMCC with 12-35/2.8
I owned these already, and on my last trip to South Korea I took these as well as the GX85.  My shooting moved from shooting people I knew to shooting more general scenes, giving me more time and taking the time pressure off.
The setup was large (comparatively!) and very slow to work with, but it validated my mindset shift.
The images were organic and rich, but in a way that drew you into their contents, rather than towards the medium.
The DR was finally sufficient, and the colours were delightful.
But the monitor wasn't bright enough, the lack of IBIS meant that the OIS stabilised tilt and pan but not roll, so the images all needed to be stabilised in post, but had roll motion blur due to the 180 shutter.
The low-light wasn't ideal either, even with fast lenses.
The moire from the 1080p sensor was real and ruined shots.
I also got a lot more comfortable shooting in public with a more visible camera setup.
New Setup: GH7 with 14-140 and 12-35.....
So what I wanted was the best of all worlds.  
Dynamic range.  
I knew the OG BMMCC and OG BMPCC were the same/similar sensor, and I knew the GH7 had more.  
What I didn't expect was how much more that would be in real life.  Here's a high DR scene from Monday.

Here it is without the FLC, which I set to add contrast.

Now with the shot raised by 3 stops.  Notice the detail in the railings and under the eves on the right.

Now with the shot lowered by 3 stops.  Notice that the roof, and even the body of the car are still not clipped, with the only clipping being the sun reflecting off the car window.

In grading, there is more DR than you can fit in the DR of the final shot - assuming you haven't developed Stockholm Syndrome for your LOG footage that is.
Low light.  
I had previously established that the GX85 and 12-35mm F2.8 were good enough for well-lit night locations.  I also knew that the BMMCC at ISO800 and the 12-35mm F2.8 set to a 360 shutter was good enough for semi-well-lit night locations.  I also knew that the BMMCC with my 50mm F1.2 lens was passable at the darkest scenes I shot in Korea - which were from the hotel window at night.
I've compared the GH7 vs the GX85 and BMMCC and the noise profiles are all very different, but I concluded that the GH7 had probably 2-4 stops of advantage over those.  This means that I might be able to shoot well-lit night locations with the 14-140mm lens, and might be able to shoot from the hotel window at night with the 12-35mm lens.  
I'm still contemplating if I should take my F1.2-1.4 primes on my up-coming trip, but if I don't I'll still be able to shoot 99% of what I want to with the zooms.
Camera size.
Perhaps the only drawback when compared to my previous setups.  
I'll be taking the GX85 and 14mm F2.5 pancake lens as the pocketable tiny camera.  This combo is no slouch by itself, so although it lacks some of the specs from more serious cameras, it is easily in the capable category, especially when helped by Resolve+FLC and from a shoot-cut-sound-publish mindset.
Absolute speed.
When it comes to absolute speed, nothing beats a smartphone, which is always in your pocket, can be pulled out and rolling in seconds.  This is also a serious tool when combined with Resolve+FLC and a shoot-cut-sound-publish mindset.

I have a new setup and pipeline and I'm really happy with it.
GH7 shooting V-Log in C4K Prores 422 internally, at around 500Mbps 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 lens for daytime, 12-35mm F2.8 for night-time K&F True Colour 1-5 stop vND Pipeline in Resolve: CST to DWG as working colour space Plugin for basic shot adjustments Film Look Creator for overall look (and for taking the digititis out of the image) ARRI709 LUT to get to 709 output I went on a walk on Monday to test the full setup, and it was a crazy hot day (37C/99F) and direct midday sun, so seriously challenging conditions.  Here are a few grabs (be sure to click-through rather than viewing the preview files embedded in the post).










My notes and impressions - while shooting:
Setup was GH7, 14-140mm lens, vND, and a wrist-strap and that's it I used the integrated screen, showing histogram, zebras, and focus-peaking to monitor I used back-button focus to AF before hitting record, so no AF-C going on while shooting (and randomly changing its mind about what to focus on) All shots were 14-140mm at F5.6 for constant exposure The K&F 1-5 stop vND had enough range, when combined with the DR of the GH7, so I never needed to change settings, despite going in and out of shadow (and even inside, which isn't included in the above images) The vND had a much more consistent sky and colour render than my old (crappy) vND, so I'm really happy with it I did ETTR and bring images down in post, but my tests indicated that V-LOG is very linear so there are a good few stops of latitude there The "tripod mode" of IBIS, which locks the frame completely, was very effective (despite me being hot and not having eaten for hours) and I could hand-hold past 70mm without it needing to drift, and even at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) the shots will be fine with a bit of stabilisation in post (C4K on 1080p timeline) I shot about 18mins of footage in about 1.5 hours, camera was on most of the time with screen at full brightness, and didn't get any notifications about the battery, and didn't look to see how much was left since I have a spare My notes and impressions - in post:
I chose a Film Look Creator preset and then just messed with it for maybe 10 mins, while scrolling back and forth through the footage, and I deliberately pushed the contrast to create a really strong sense of the contrast between the beating sun and the deep shadows Shots had exposure adjusted (obviously, due to ETTR) and some had contrast lowered and a few had slight WB tweaks, but that's it I never felt like I was fighting with the footage, and it didn't feel like work when creating the look..  I've shot with a lot of cheap cameras with tiny sensors and you always feel like you're trying to make gold out of lead, but playing in the FLC was more like choosing between a large range of high-quality options I used another copy of the FLC to adjust exposure etc per shot, with it set to not impart and 'look'.  The advantage of that is that in Resolve there is a mode (Shift-F) that maximises the preview image and gets rid of the GUI except for the vertical toolbar on the right-hand-side where the DCTL and OFX plugins are, so it's a way of getting almost a full-screen view but keeping the controls visible..  very useful if you don't have a control surface or a second monitor handy. I'll talk more about my thought process and how I got to this setup in a later post, and also go into some of the technical stuff (DR, high-ISO, etc) but more importantly than that, I finally feel like the tech has come of age.
What I mean by that is that I now have a setup where:
I can shoot with a conveniently sized setup that doesn't need a rig and is ergonomic to use It has the right usability features, such as histograms, zebras, focus-peaking etc internally The monitor is bright enough The GH7 plus lenses (14-140mm F3.5-5.6 and 12-35mm F2.8) are long enough and fast enough to shoot what I see, without being too large, heavy, or prohibitively expensive It has enough spec that it can deal with almost all the situations that I actually shoot in, with enough DR for the sun, enough ISO for night-time, and fans so it doesn't overheat before I do, etc It shoots internally using a colour space and codec that don't look cheap/amateurish and make me think about upgrading It doesn't fight with me in the colour grade Resolve and the Film Look Creator are able to easily give me the flexibility in post to match images and correct any weaknesses from shooting (e.g. if there's a bit of movement when shooting hand-held at 140mm) Resolve and the Film Look Creator are able to remove the 'digital/video' look and instead give me a range of options that don't look artificial and most importantly, contribute a feeling to the footage without distracting from the content of the images (this is, after all, the entire purpose of what we're doing here.....) For the first time it feels like I'm getting the results I want because of the equipment I have, rather than in spite of it.

Still on doubt actually, if just mere another non-sense ('movies looked better before "color grading" was invented' : D I've only paid attention to the talking marks... LOL ; ) or makes us to think better about that... 
Not a simple equation as much as film isn't either -- post in the previous century or after, is surely part of it (from the keyboard of someone with editing/post as his primary film background* exactly in the late 90s/turn of the century ; ) while digital is doubtlessly also this:
 
No matter how many LUTs, TikTokers & suchlike with their bloody vertical aspect ratio pop up... 
Lang protested against snakes & funerals as their proper format to shoot them when 2.35:1 cinemascope arrived despite MOONFLEET had been shot by him, go figure! : P 
While we can only dream in 2.39:1 ratio but on screen and in B&W or Colour out of there too, one doesn't exclude the other ;- )

The director playing himself on JLG's masterpiece LE MÉPRIS... : D 
 
[*] Moreover, currently in charge of a large 16mm/8mm inventory in EU, UK and U.S., as well their variations aka Super 16/Super 8 to be digitally transferred with the resource/use of the most advanced colour grading technology and techniques of today... just for the sake of memories preservation shot on film.

I don't understand whether this is a provocative post or a serious one.
Now, I am also somewhat ignorant of the topic but some of the statements seem 'exaggerated' to me to be good.
In general, digital has greatly democratised cinema and its art. But every art has its era and its crafts and this constant 'it was better before' is largely pissing me off. It describes good old times that never existed. There were horse carriages and the farrier lobby, then came the railway and goodbye farriers. 
The truth is that today any artist can produce a film with cinematic quality at home and at a negligible cost. Unless you regret the old Super 8 home movies.
Anyway, back to the data. It's hard to talk about resolution as we understand it today in the digital world, but I have my doubts that a good film will not solve 8K, quite the contrary.
Here a document for nerds: http://www.tmax100.com/photo/pdf/film.pdf
But here there's a video that explains it more simply.
 
 
Regarding the immediacy of film.... are we talking cinema or home-made Super 8s? Because if you mention Clint Eastwood and Kodak Vision (Vision is cited also in the YT video above) then it's much more complex with intermediate and print stocks:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_stock
Ah and color grading existed on film stock too. It was called color timing:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading
Finally, am I saying that digital is better than film stock? NO, they are two different medium.

Hi Emanuel, nice to meet you and sorry for being so late, I posted this and then just closed everything, only now I'm coming back to this forum.
Thank you, yeah I was just looking for work in film industry, I know that many of you here are doing films or documentaries and I hope to meet someone who need my old music or new original music to write.
Plus I did some piano covers on youtube (with very bad camera and lights) and I'm passionate about video production even if I understand very little about that.  I like video editing and color correction (I used Davinci Resolve for a while), and of course I always loved films...
By the way music is my first thing.
I'm in Abruzzo, center of Italy, on the opposite side of Rome 🙂

A most enjoyable watch.  
Much more engaging that the overly repetitive swill that many US cable outlets are pumping out these days.  Distribution should be well within reach, and they should be lucky if you don't charge them too much for the privilege.
There is definitely a market beyond your immediate community.  
I think the key to unlocking it is about perspective.  Which of the following is true?
- it's a community film about this Hawk Watch
- it's a science communication film about conservation told through this Hawk Watch
- it's a human interest film about the main guy
- it's a social commentary film about volunteer work and the challenges to maintain efforts across generational divides
- it's a motivational film about community during a time when loneliness is an epidemic
Answer: it's all of these and more.  I'm sure you have sound bites that would tell each of these stories directly.  Weaving these threads together into a more nuanced view could be a way to get a tighter edit by putting more layers into it rather than cutting run-time out of it.
I definitely agree with @mercer that a YT channel could easily be built around this, by providing snippets of the doc, behind the scenes instalments, equipment talk, bird talk, etc etc.

Ciao Daniele, nice to meet you too! Good initiative and kudos to you BTW, be welcome! : ) 
Maybe this may help some other ones here to look for cooperation with other users and make this forum to always have in mind that film making is essentially a colective work... and not some lonely activity behind a distant keyboard ; ) I will write you through DM... where are you exactly based in Italy?
- EAG

Anyone here specialize or enjoy documentaries?  My wife and I made a doc for our small community and were wondering if it had any viability beyond in-town screenings at the local film fest.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gorqbss1yxq6lufl81x44/HAWK_WATCH_SCREEN_DRAFT.mp4?rlkey=x5d8vcd4igr3bix0cdsgajq0b&st=mt1xzunz&dl=0
The 1st draft here is still loosey-goosey, but if you're so inclined, take a look and see if the story intrigues you enough to say, "Yeah, you might be able to get this out there other places."
We feel it's such niche topic that distribution isn't much of a reality, but maybe being niche is a positive in a certain way --and with a significant cut down it could have opportunities?  Not sure.  As one work on these things one gets rather myopic.  As you might imagine, feedback from folks in our local community is too biased.  They're just happy to see themselves, colleagues, and friends in a film.  
Any advice is welcome if you have time to watch. 

It's Sirui the 5th brand to join the L-mount alliance, after all... just announced:
https://www.newsshooter.com/2025/03/20/sirui-joins-the-l-mount-alliance/

And a fast lightweight tele is the 1st one to arrive...
https://store.sirui.com/products/sirui-aurora-series-85mm-full-frame-autofocus-lens
 

I’m an Italian composer with background in pop-rock music and orchestra (I was keyboardist/songwriter in groups and I played tuba in marching bands.)
MUSIC I WRITE:  both classic orchestral (or with pop-rock instruments), and modern hybrid electronic (ambient soundscapes, synths, textures..)   I personally play and record piano, guitars, bass, keyboards (this makes the music “alive” even with a vst orchestra).
FAVORITE FILMS:  almost everything but porn and scary horrors 😄   My favorites are drama, adventure, comedy, action, sci-fi, animation, kolossal.  I’d also write for monster horrors like Tremors anyway! 🙂
 
MY MUSIC (& concerts/covers):  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqwrFAHE2GMU8jXz-ghliobGXuYHH99ht
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielenasuti/
If the budget is limited I can write music that gives the emotions you need anyway, maybe with a simpler arrangement.  If you want something specific I can do a little Demo (the quality of my music has improved lately, now I can produce things I haven’t released yet).

For me it's the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. That camera, and all the wacky c-mount lenses I used with it, was just so much fun to use and everything I got out of it looked so much better than it should have, at least to my eyes. I FELT like an artist using it, as opposed to a videographer. That was such a special sensor, and to this day I still don't understand why every camera manufacturer hasn't switched to a menu system like it (and the other BMD cameras.)
 

I thought at the time and still do, that the S1Rii was and is a 50:50 hybrid in every sense of the word.
Not the absolute cutting edge for video and nor is it for stills, but one of the best to date for both.
I will be interested of course in what this new more video-centric thing may be, plus anything/everything else and shall talk about it as so many of us do, but as there is nothing I am especially looking for...

https://www.l-rumors.com/hot-panasonic-will-announce-a-new-lumix-l-mount-cine-compact-camera-in-april/
 
Maybe now everyone will leave the poor S1Rii alone…

I've put three chat sticky threads up to talk about 3 quite different subjects.
This is for when we just want to chat and talk general things.
 

I want to see Facebook groups die a death.
Let's get the good folk on those groups to come here instead.

So the forum is pretty good at the moment thanks to some spicy discussions, it would be boring if we all agreed all the time, but I also think we should encourage people to come back - big names from before like Mattias Burling , Dave Maze, they are missed. Maybe we could occasionally drop them a note to say so. I can't promote the forum myself, it just looks like I am spamming people with my blog.
Maybe that's where you all come in 🙂
Would some of you be willing to post a few links here and there in popular Reddit groups, on DPReview and on social media groups?
It would supercharge the place and get us noticed more... Then we'd have some great discussions with new people, and regain some control over the camera community in an independent way, rather than everything being hoovered up by the big US social media giants who are opening supporting a fascist regime at the moment.
Never been a better moment to get our independence back from social media.
Mark Zuckenberg and those like him are pure evil.
The forum way is a better way.
It offers everyone here a higher profile and higher involvement.
The better our content, the better the discussions, the more people will come...
I know a lot of forum posts have to reference other people's talking point or content, so a topic can devolve into lots and lots of URLs to social media, or YouTube video embeds.
But rather than have rules around this, which I don't want to do, it would be great if we could encourage people to join who will use the forum a bit like having their own blog - Posting original hands-on opinions and content about cameras and shooting... Our own insight is better than constantly referring to that of others - It would be good for the community.
Just some thoughts and open to more ideas too about how to grow this rather nice place that we've got.

None of the  ^above^ just no harm/enjoyment in considering alternative options.
Same as if I owned a Porsche, - wouldn't stop me looking at the latest Aston on-line, at a car show or simply parked up in the street and then wishing I had a bigger garage. And bank balance.
I sometimes look at multi-million currency yachts and houses I will never own, plus more affordable ones I could if I wished.
Call it an 'enthusiasm for the industry as a whole'.

This is more or less a similar dilemma to me... In love with that piece made of glass, Z8 (vs S1RII) becomes an alternative for using it along E-mount... A strong minus for L-mount ecosystem without adapters to be compatible with.

In fact, same here : ) And seems 6K 50p or 60p can be an interesting route to justify it ; ) I second what you say, mate, so it's under my radar these days...
This customary specs list is always a pain for lacking what FF and crop (thinking about those new anamorphic AF releases, OK I confess! LOL ; ) is, respectively, from there:

 
EDIT -- OK, here is then:

source
 
As Andrew has defended, that massive ProRes bitrate is a source of concern no doubt... I wonder (and following their video tradition and customer care) if not possible to overcome it along next firmware updates?

I am typing you right now from Portugal for family reasons but Rome is where I mostly intend and like to be as much as possible : )
UK (from London to Belfast) is my official residence and Malta will follow at same time for soon, very likely. With a few productions a bit spread all over EU and East Europe to include Moscow and Kyiv as well all ex-YU as supplier from 2005 until the beginning of the current war. Brazil for this last decade. U.S. (NJ and Florida) where I run two warehouses of gear and film business altogether. Asia is one of my preferred markets (Japan and China but not only ; ) and I've also produced a couple of feature films in NZ. I prep some feature to come soon I hope in Australia, a country that I fairly appreciate to work with : ) I've never lived there but I have assets distributed in one of the most reliable locations this market is, without mention I love Aussies! :- )

Same here for those f/2... Totally agree, but you're still able to find them for $100 :- )

I have the 35mm f/1.9 as well. Both of ours are probably made by Komine for Vivitar. Does your serial number start with 28XXX? Great lens. I also have the 24mm f/2 and the 28mm f/2 from the same time period both made by Kiron for Vivitar: Series 1 I only have the Bokina and the 135mm f/2.3. I think these will start to be creeping up in price soon due to people finally finding them. : )

This new video from Connor is helpful to me. Nice little rundown of a lot of the main crop modes. He was nice enough to include a link to download all the files so if anyone wants to play, check out the link below.
A couple of things if noticed while reviewing footage and doing more research about the S1Rii, the color fidelity really does look good, I’m really liking this sensor so far. Kind of crazy how good the 4.2.0 files look compared to the 4.2.2 and Prores. Also there is mention a few places that the new IBIS is so good that it might be helping to counteract the slower readout speeds. Would be quite the development if that ended up being why the 24ms doesn’t look bad to most people…

 
 

I've written that having any camera is "good enough" and video creatives should just go to work and make stuff?
That wasn't really possible with the D90.  Lord knows I tried.  Totally f'ed up a shoot with Stan Lee trying to make that thing work. Ooops.