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squig

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Posts posted by squig

  1. 12 hours ago, IronFilm said:

    Still feel that Nikon doesn't need to make a mirrorless D5/D500 just yet, and should concentrate instead on bringing out the core mirrorless models first (something like a D850/D750/D7500 equivalent). However Nikon needs to get these first mirrorless models out soon as there will be a time not far away (I suspect within 5yrs) when that need to have a response to Sony's mirrorless attack on their sports/birding/wildlife market will mean that Nikon must put out a mirrorless response rather than keep on relying upon their D5/D6 top tier DSLRs. 

    Size matters. I'd never take a DSLR on a backcountry snowboarding trip, I only carry what I need to stay alive. On overseas work trips I want all my gear to fit into an overhead locker. A mate of mine asked what he should get to replace his D600 and Nikkor primes for his regular Japan pilgrimage. I told him to get a Fuji X-T2.

  2. 6 hours ago, mercer said:

    So even after using ML for over a year now, I am still a rank amateur on a lot of the features. I started shooting 14bit 1080p (well in 2:35...) and haven’t done much experimenting with it. Just recently, I decided to test the 3x zoom and realized that I only really need 2 lenses... a 28mm and a 50mm and then with the 3x zoom, I’ll get an 85mm and a 150mm. Obviously, I am forced to shoot in a stuttery greyscale... but are there any other draw backs?

    More rolling shutter.

  3. 13 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

    oh wow, holy cr*p, that link reminded me that the D750 came out in 2014??? Now I'm feeling very old! I still want a D750 one day. 

    And my D5200 is from 2012, I'm such an old fart.

    We'll be the only guys in 2028 with mirror boxes.

    The evolution of digital cameras reminds me of the evolution of digital synthesizers. In the 70's synths were fat sounding analog beasts (I still have my Roland Jupiter 8), covered in knobs and sliders, built to create. In the 80's digital synths lost the fatness and the knobs, you spent more time reading the manual than you did creating. Now 30 years later the big synth manufacturers have finally figured out what people want and it's all analog or analog modelling covered with knobs.

    The same thing happened with digital cameras, aperture rings and ISO dials disappeared, and you had to study the manual just to do what used to be simple things, cameras stopped being fun. Fuji figured this out, and alas Fuji cameras have ISO dials, aperture rings, very analog flim-like profiles, and short flange distance so you can adapt lots of vintage glass.

    Corporate marketing people are clueless.

  4. I don't come to this discussion as a hater, quite the opposite: my first SLR was a Nikon FM2. My first DSLR was a D90, I tested a D5200, and I had a full set of ai primes, still have a 180, 105, 300, and 16mm fisheye. If the Nikonhacker raw hack succeeded I would've dumped the 5D Mk3 for a D750.

    "Nikon, we made a lens for NASA once, buy our shit" just won't cut it anymore.

  5. 49 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

    Wow I don't see all that happening with either Nikon or Canon on their first tries in FF Mirrorless territory. I see both trying to be more safe than ballsy. But you have a good point, why buy them if all they are is pretty much the same old shit in a new form factor!

    Nikon did market a D850 filmmakers kit, so they're not completely comatose. But throwing together a few accessories because your competitors are kicking your arse is lame. How's playing it safe working out for ya Nikon?

    5 minutes ago, kye said:

    On the negative side we have:

    Complacency

  6. 55 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

    I agree with your thoughts. But I don't see Nikon coming up with nothing new that will be amazing. I see them at best have a Mirrorless replacement for the time being for the D750, and the D850.

    The rumor certainly suggests they'll be the mirrorless equivalent of the D750 and D850, and Nikon knows (finally) they have to counter the A7 S and R line. But just ripping out the mirror boxes and hacking off the mount won't cut it, they have to bring something more to the table, especially with the A7sIII looming. They're gonna need something like DPAF, global shutter, raw or lossless 10bit log recording, and the kind of professional menu options Magic Lantern and Panasonic have been doing for years like: anamorphic mode. Stellar dynamic range and low light performance won't be enough alone to increase market share. What's the bet they do something dumb like 8k video because it sounds impressive to Joe six pack.

  7. Diehard loyalists die, companies that don't innovate die with them. Sony made their intention to be number 2 public years ago, Nikon did NOTHING to prevent it. Nikon has the expertise to build an awesome mirrorless video spec'd camera. Nikon DSLRs have been used as B cams with Alexas for a reason, mostly for their high DR and color science. I'm still shooting with a hacked camera I bought in 2012 because no stock camera under $10,000 is any better for my requirements. If Nikon hasn't consulted with cutting edge creatives on the mirrorless design, the chances are they're screwed. Nikon has to blow our minds or it will wither and die.

  8. 1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

    Thus Nikon has to pull off this mirrorless launch, otherwise they will become the Pentax of the new mirrorless era. Or even worse, Nikon might just disappear. 

    Nikon has been the architect of its own demise. Nikon sat on its arse when Sony was feeding on its brain. Its arrogance has been almost fatal. If the Nikon mirrorless isn't amazingly good, it's gonna be corporate Seppuku for Nikon. Nikon had an opportunity to pwn Canon with the successor to the D90. Nikon has no video division to cannibalise yet video has always been an afterthought with crappy low bitrate inter frame codecs, aliasing, huge crops, etc, etc. Give us 10bit, give us raw, or give us Seppuku.

  9. 9 hours ago, kidzrevil said:

    Does anyone use mlv_dmp ? I for the life of me cant get it to work ! I know you need it to take advantage of the 4K features ? is there an alternative ?

    https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=20025.0

    14 hours ago, mercer said:

    So you’re using the May 1st build? I was looking into the experimental builds a little and it seems they said some of the features would be included in the nightly builds eventually... but I guess they’re not there yet?

    I still would like to stay with 14bit when possible but I am really looking for some slow motion. I don’t even care that much about higher resolution... the 2:39 1920x810 still blows my mind every time I bring the footage into the computer... so for me... someone more interested in cameras as storytelling tools... what more do I really need?!

    What do the Isco 36s go for now? If I do get into anamorphic, I’d like to easily end up at 2:39/2:35... so I guess a 1.33 or 1.5 anamorphic is the way to go with 14bit? Also I don’t think I’m ready for double focus. Any inexpensive options you can think of with that criteria?

    Jun 27 build. Isco 36s are going for between $3000 and $5000. Considering how good they are and how much new anamorphics cost they're worth the money I suppose. I just wish they were 2x instead of 1.5x. Andrew put together a guide to anamorphics, you might find some cheap options in there (I haven't read it). I don't like the Kowas. I think the Isco Ultra Star with a single focus adapter are probably the next best thing to the Isco 36, they're more like 1.8x. Most of the cheaper anamorphics are pretty crappy, very soft, probably OK for 4k on a GH5s.

  10. 3 hours ago, mercer said:

    Stupid question... when I update a build, do I just load a new build onto an SD card and then run the firmware update? Or do I have to bring it back to the regular Canon firmware and then do it?

    Btw, is the Iscorama a newer addition to your arsenal? And are you using a focus module or doing double focus? 

    I am tempted to pick up a Sankor or something and try some anamorphic...

    Just copy the new files onto the card and write over the old ones. I've been playing with the latest build, seems good so far. I'm shooting some tests for a short over the next few weeks so if there's any new bugs y'all will be hearing about it.

    I bought two single focus Isco 36's in like 2012 before they went bitcoin.

    The Isco Ultra Stars are quite good, double focus though.

  11. When I was a mod at cinema5D, banning members was quite rare and taken very seriously with a lot of internal deliberation amongst the mods. Ultimately the good of the community won out over the personal issues of the disruptive individual. I reported jon's defamatory post, it was really ugly stuff. I think that's the first time I've reported a post on this forum. You cross a line when you distort the truth in such a way that it may damage someone's reputation. Malice should never be tolerated.

  12. 8 hours ago, mercer said:

    I think @squig shoots 2.8K with his but I don’t even know if it’s 10/12 bit or MLV Lite. I haven’t been keeping up with the ML progress in a while, but a 2.8K downscale to 2K sounds pretty perfect to me... I think another company makes cameras that are similar to that process.

    But I assume there’s a crop involved, which I am not completely sure I want to get into yet... I just got used to FF FOV... but I guess with the crop, some more lens options open up.

    I'm actually shooting 1920x1280 14bit lossless with the Iscorama, it's a 1.5x stretch which ends up as 2.8k 2.39:1. That's a 50% horizontal line boost over cropped 1080p. It's then either a 1.5x 4k upscale or downscale to 2k. I could shoot 3.3k 12bit lossless anamorphic but I'd lose the full res real-time preview and there's a huge 2.6x crop. I'm happy with the resolution I'm getting out of it now.

  13. 2 hours ago, jpfilmz said:

    I liked it mostly but I thought the footage looked incredibly soft for 4k.  Almost like 5DMK3 h264 upscaled to 4k.  I know the c200 is soft so it's probably a combination of that and shooting anamorphic. 

    It's the 1080p youtube compression, they should've uploaded 4k. I don't know how soft SLRmagic anamorphics are, but I shoot 5D Mk3 raw 2.8k with Iscorama anamorphics and it looks as sharp as you could ever want it to be for 2k DCP.

  14. 26 minutes ago, jonpais said:

    @Ed_David You are the one who, because you had a grudge against Blackmagic, started a topic here in which you fabricated a story about seeing a scratched Ursa at your favorite retailer; alleged that their cameras were flimsily constructed and that they were finished as a company; and went on to disseminate lies that Blackmagic Design was intentionally selling defective products to the public: a smear campaign expressly calculated to hurt BMD’s sales, you sideshow freak.

    This statement is offensive, defamatory, and a distortion of the facts. Ed's owned  an Ursa, have you? Or are you just talking out of your arse as usual. This is the second time you've attacked a professional cinematographer on this forum in as many weeks. Keep it up mate, tick tock.

  15. I bought a $50 hammer to build a cabin. It didn't make my hammering any better, I still managed to hammer my thumb just as much as I did with a $10 hammer. It is a nice hammer though, people see it and they stop and say "that's a great hammer you've got there". Do you think anyone who stays at the cabin gives a shit whether I built it with the $50 hammer or a $10 hammer?

  16. 1 hour ago, mercer said:

    I decided to test some 48fps with the regular 14bit ML build. I processed it as Alexa LogC 24fps through the MLV App.

    As suspected... since it’s less than HD... it’s soft, but for short close ups... it could work in a pinch.

    Any updates on the slow motion capabilities with the experimental 10/12 bit modes?

    Looks fine to me, I don't have any problem with the softness. It's not like the whole film's gonna be 48fps. Just shoot with a sharp lens at its optimal f stop.

    What ISO was that?

  17. 28 minutes ago, Savannah Miller said:

    BMCC, Micro, BMPCC are basically the same sensor and color science.  The pocket and micro is a smaller cut, but it's pretty much identical

    Too many bloody acronyms. It's interesting what you said about the BMCC having more latitude in the grade than the 5D Mk3 raw. Did you ETTR with the 5D?

    I found the BMMCC to be a bit too noisy for my liking, and it didn't like tungstens: yellow turned to orange. I expect the Pocket 4k will be much improved in both areas.

  18. 8 hours ago, John Brawley said:

    How do you measure stops on a "backyard" test ?

    I don't. I look at real stuff like highlight roll-off and shadow noise.

    8 hours ago, John Brawley said:

    Again the only meaningful way to measure in my view is to shoot side by side in the same situation.  Then you can say categorically one is better than the other.

    Which is exactly what I did/do. Not just the backyard: tungstens, low light, etc.

    8 hours ago, John Brawley said:

    I think all camera manufacturer claims are kind of meaningless.  They're almost ALWAYS derived by calculating a theoretical dynamic range from the sensor SNR and not from actually photographing anything. They don't sit their with charts in a lab.  The do it with maths from a spec sheet.   Arri are the only company that have actively UNDERSTATED their claims of DR.

    Mos def.

    8 hours ago, John Brawley said:

    The actual photographable DR is pretty much impossible to measure anyway because none of us can agree on how much noise is too much.  What you think is acceptable I may not. So who is right ?

    Noise is subjective. Everyone feels differently about how much is acceptable.  That's why oyu can post a picture of a 20 wedge chart and say hey it's got 20 stops !

    Exactly. And different cameras have different noise characteristics like fixed pattern, blotchy, chroma... some noise is better/more tolerable than the rest.

    8 hours ago, John Brawley said:

    And by the way that article trying to make use of the word "latitude" is also highly subjective.  It's some individual person's SUBJECTIVE view about what's USEABLE DR. So what is useable DR ?  What does that mean in a SCIENTIFIC repeatable way ?   Latitude is another meaningless phrase like "useable dynamic range"

    What does useable mean to that one individual ?

    In what scenarios does that change ?  Low light / low contrast over daylight high contrast ?

    Hence the need to do your own tests rather than just buying on spec.

    8 hours ago, John Brawley said:

    The only time I see the phrase "useable dynamic range" being useful is when you're in log encoded video and you're trying top re-position a tone that's been recorded near clipping and when you try that it can look pallid and weak.

    So you have a skin tone that isn't technically clipped but when you put it from 90% and put it at 30% it looks crappy and weird.

    Pasty?

  19. 2 hours ago, Savannah Miller said:

    Latitude might be due to your skill and using Adobe camera raw.  BMCC has more latitude in the grade than the 5d mark III, you just have to know how to work it.  Adobe camera raw is a bit weird and not ideal for the camera.

    I'm talking about the Micro Cinema Camera, not the BMCC. I graded both in Resolve.

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