iamoui

My settings:
Normal Gamma, 0-255, Standard picture mode (0.95x green, -10 sharpness)

(Do let me know if I'm posting too much NX stuff… but for those on the fence…)
Did a real-world shoot and a tough one - school for severely - and I mean severely - cognitively disabled kids. No lights, rooms were not very bright, mix of flos and skylights. So, nightmare. (I'll be doing interviews with the directors and parent testimonials that will be properly lit down the line). Shot with these lenses:
Old Nikkor 80-200 2.8 AF push-pull, wide open - bought it used maybe 18 years ago, pre-D version and mojo for days;
More modern Nikkor 28-70 2.8 (aperture ring lens), wide open;
The little 16-50 Samsung kit zoom - wanted to try this for handheld stuff and mimic a steadicam using the AF and OIS.
Other than the day being sort of emotionally devastating (can't recall how may times a kid would absently take my hand if was standing still - sweet, beautiful kids who are mostly non-verbal) I was really psyched - I've never shot sony DSLR, only Canon and Nikon, but this thing is by far the best DSLR I've used. Never stuck a loupe or monitor on it, and only used the EVF outside -  the OLED with peaking gave me great focus, even at 200 2.8 (I wore a pair of reading glasses when shooting). I was constantly hitting custom WB and looking for something white - very mixed lighting and it really came through, with the usual light casts to highlights that are the norm in those situations - yellow/pinks that clean up easily in post. Shot from 800 iso to 2200, mostly from 1200-2000, all day. I can't tell the shots apart today. Was not thinking of this as a low-light (or mid-light) beast, but I'll be damned - it is crazy clean up to 2200 at least ( I didn't have murky, black shadows to deal with, lighting was dim but even).
Images below - 
200mm 2.8 - really pretty character, yet sharp as hell where needed - just a touch of color correction in Photoshop;
70mm 2.8 - 100% detail crop, ungraded or sharpened;
The kit lens, wide open - cleaned the highs a bit in PS.

A note about that kit zoom - I really dug it for wide & stabilized stuff… wide open. We shot out in a playground and I didn't know we'd be outdoors, so shot at F16-F22. It is a weird-ass lens stopped down like that. The sharpness is simply bizarre (and I had sharpness dialed all the way down). It's a lovely piece of glass wide, the OIS isn't earth-shaking (or earth UN-shaking) but will give warp stabilizer a head start), but the AF is freakishly, crazy useful for that sort of shooting. I see these going for as low as $140. If you don't have the big S zoom (hell, even if you do) it's a useful lens. I need to research the wide 2.8 pancake primes for these sort of shots now.
Very impressed with the camera so far. Battery life was reasonable, and I was 2nd-nature, not really thinking about anything but the image, on my first gig. Damn it Samsung, don't give up on the NX!!!

Wow, the price for the NX1 just dropped again in Switzerland at my favorite vendor. Body only is 629 CHF (which is like 630 $) while it's still double the price in Germany. I'm really considering to go buy one even if the system might be soon announced dead, that price is so ridiculous. I'd probably adapt my Nikon glass and be happy.
 
Edit: Took me 44min of consideration and convincing the gf that there is massive reasons why I totally have to buy it. Now the 5 to 7 day wait for delivery starts... Monday I'll get my SmallHD 501 to play... looks like this year Christmas will be busy.

Samsung nx500, in its beta iteration, used to support 2.5k (with supposedly full sensor readout). That'd have been much better, imo, then the cropped 4K they implemented in the final version.
 
Unfortunately all the NX hackers have been MIA lately, otherwise they could have easily been able to turn that setting on again.

Yes definitely. Arri should be Leica's benchmark for the SL. Take it to the max!
Unfortunately they had feedback from some pro shooters in the US that 8bit was their preference and they didn't want to deal with 10bit file sizes.
In fact ProRes is much easier to edit than H.264, runs more fluidly. H.264 is not an editing codec. It's a consumer television / internet codec.
I think 10bit ProRes is a much better match for a camera of this calibre than 8bit H.264 personally!
Or at least the option for it internally, without having to add the recorder.
It's not just a Leica problem though, it is time Sony and Panasonic all stepped up their codecs in stills cameras. Why is it only Blackmagic giving 10bit ProRes for under $7k, indeed under $1k with the Pocket cam!

Booking are kind of blowing up across the next few weeks so I took a shot at the NX1. Got the little power zoom for an extra $200 - $1299 seems like a good price, though it may plummet after the holidays. Waiting for a lens adapter, I have a sack of nice old Nikkors.
(This camera is filed under "I own it, lower budget no-rentals gig gear". As an aside, all the research I've done on video for the web and for ad landing pages suggests if you have a business, you're an idiot not to have a video. Leads and conversions jump from 80 - 300%. Really pushing one-man, corporate stuff for 2016 - I wouldn't mind filling my calendar with some small gigs, and I usually end up re-writing their copy, designing ad campaigns and landing pages, even redoing their site. I'm an agency with in-house video, man!)
First impressions - 
Menu system and custom controls were easy to setup and after an evening of playing around, it's feeling pretty second nature. I have yet to shoot a single still though… but have a nice custom setup, love having the mic volume on the wheel. (Could never remember where it was on my Nikon). (I use an external recorder, but wit several Nikon bodies, line-out from recorder to camera for a scratch track? Stage the gain properly and I often used the camera audio.Hhaven't tried that with the NX, we'll see).
Wonkiness: couldn't find a few things I've read about - realized it doesn't have the latest firmware. Guess these have been sitting in Amazon's warehouse...
Wonkiness 2: Sometimes the EVF (or the display) doesn't come on at powerup, it's one or the other, and the button doesn't work. Toggle the power and it's fine.
Wonkiness 3: No matter how I set things, the fast/slow settings only show "fast" -1080p, etc. I have 120 fps in the menu but I like that the camera will conform the footage. May be a firmware thing?
The AF - fack me, I can use the hell out of this. Not for narrative/editorial work but for events and steadicam - man, I can see using this fairly often. I'll want to test it a lot and see it on a big monitor, but… impressed. I expect to have non-native glass on this most of the time, but nice to have it. Probably get the 2-2.8 at some point.
The autofocus default when you leave video mode - already trained myself to hit delete key (set for AF) and toggle the AF off. Kind of a hassle but now second nature.
The lens stabilization - thumb's up. Again, events and steadicam, godsend. No DIS in this firmware, doubt I'd use it anyway.
LOVE the WB controls - I've got WB set to the down arrow, right by my hand. Easy to grab a custom, and I love the color matrix controls for every preset - unless I'm going pretty artsy, I really prefer most of my look in camera other than keeping the blacks detailed and open.
Really love the EVF. I tried my loupe on the panel, but (A) the evf detector gets confused by the hinge on the loupe and (B) this body is kind of small - my loupe won't slide down far enough without some drilling. I may just skip the loupe for shoulder mount work - it's a great EVF.
Ran some footage through editready, reasonably fast - not much different than converting H264 to Prores in Streamclip, unless I downscale which seems to double the time.
The native 1080 looks very good to me, I guess one of those firmware fixes really came through. I saw a bit of jaggy aliasing that was a bit cleaner with UHD downscaled.
Overall - pretty pleased, but with a touch of genuine sadness - if Samsung is really abandoning this part of the market, it's a shame. The NX1 is simply a remarkable first shot. I know plenty of folks here dismiss it, but man - you're talking about a $1k body. It's got bang for the buck like nobody's business.
 
 
 

They can see the difference, they just can't put there finger on what it is... Plus if it's newer it must be better... Right?

I'd take 1080 raw over 8K any day of the week

Everything I said is true and is backed up with hard evidence.  There's no magic here - just good optics.  Perhaps you might actually read the white paper I gave you a link to?
Eventually, conservative established lens makers in Japan and Germany will wake up and realize the true benefit of the Speed Booster approach for designing high-speed short BFL optics.  With any luck I'll be retiring on royalties when they do
There are numerous examples of Speed Booster/lens combinations that beat native lenses.  For instance, a Voigtlander 90mm/3.5 plus S.B. gives a 60mm f/2.5 that is better than the latest Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens:  http://***URL removed***/forums/post/51895542 .  A Sigma 35/1.4 plus S.B. gives a 25/1.0 that is much better than a Voigtlander 25/0.95:  http://***URL removed***/forums/post/55298481 .  And these examples use the old version of the Speed Booster.  The new ones referred to in my white paper are even better.  Finally, I defy you to find any f/1.0 lens with better image quality than a Zeiss Otus combined with a Speed Booster Ultra.

The add-on grip for the E-M5 II has the headphone jack in it. Perhaps you might do some research and mention that instead of just being trite.

"Investing in lenses" is a fairly common expression. No need to ridicule the man just because he thinks differently than you.

Well get a 7D then. Even cheaper. And crop will help telephoto reach for sports.
Problem solved.

Panasonic G7 is 599$ by now at B&H with a Rode Videomic for free on the package. It's 4k for cheap with a 100mbps codec and a good mic for run n gun. Black Friday deals ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LUTs as a starting point are great... Especially if you create a LUT/preset yourself that works for that camera, lighting, skintone etc...
I think people get a bit pissy about LUTs because, like effects and filters before hand... Some folk just drop any old LUT on footage and use it as their end point, not start point. This leads to certain looks getting overused and tired.

LUTs have value for sure. That said, getting a good look out of camera is the best place to be. A log gamma for recording is good, along with a nice LUT while previewing/shooting if possible. In post, a simple curve which puts the shadows, midtones (skin), and highlights (filmic) in the right place is all that should be needed to get a great look. This is where Canon and ARRI shine- the colors tend to remain true when adjusting levels in post (by whatever means). After shooting with mostly Sony and Panasonic for a few years, I'm happy to be back shooting with Canon (C300II). Sony has gotten better (the A7SII is decent), and Panasonic isn't too shabby either (GH4). However Canon and ARRI (and perhaps now also Red/Dragon (haven't shot with it yet, but it appears their color science is vastly improved)) take far less time in post to get looking good, specifically skintones. LUTs, especially 3D LUTs, can do surprising things (good and bad) and care must be taken to avoid burning time in post.
You used to shoot soft-core for Playboy?

One possibility is DIS.
 
If you have DIS enabled, you can not select the 120fps mode.
 
You need to make sure DIS is turned off or else it will be grayed out in the menu like you're talking about

The innovation in the camera world that needs to happen is in the multi device communication.
why can't you use an iPad to apply meta data to the clips in the camera? you can use an ipad to change setting.
why can't wireless mics talk directly to the cameras? 
why can't cameras talk to each other?
We have more and more recording devices on each set and its the editors job to sort them and figure it out but the cameras and the other devices could be doing a huge amount of the labeling, sync data, notes, circle takes, etc...
 
I think there is a huge opportunity in an adhock wireless mesh networking in production. No one seems to want to bother.  

 

I don't agree with this blog entry.  Canon for example has all the technology to build perfect and modern cameras.  The only thing you can criticize is that they limit the specs of their products to make people buy 2-4 different instead of 1 cameras, and try to set the prices as high as possible.  This is exactly what Apple is doing!!!  It's all capitalism and strategies of big companies with decision makers that are not complete idiots. 
I don't think camera companies have problems to sell their product because of a lack innovation, more likely it's the competition of smartphones and the consumer's old exisiting DLSR's that are still enough for them for years to come!
In hindsight, even Apple had only detail innovations in all their product series over the years.  They don't give you an open file system in an iPad (which makes no sense at all) and won't do that until they lose significant market share.  I will not upgrade my iPad2 until they do that.
If you look back from the year 2020, then probably Canon and Nikon came out with a GH4 and A7R2 competitor probably 3 years later than Pansonic and Sony.  But so what?  Mercedes just did release a competitor to the BMW X6 more than 7 years later.   In former decades it wasn't like Nikon came out with an answer to a Canon innovation 3 months later, it took years.  People are just too impatient now.  
Other than that of course I am also happy if the perfect camera is out tomorrow for little money.  But a wish doesnt always become reality.

I don't know how new this is, but I came across a post on the NX1 facebook user page that someone said Divx has a new hevc codec plugin for their player that plays NX1 footage smoothly. I downloaded and tested it out with the Divx player and works great for me, it's nice to be able to watch back the footage without having to transcode right away just to view the files. It does seem to playback in the 16-235 luminance color space so if you shot in 0-255 your footage will appear darker/more contrasty.
http://www.divx.com/en/software/hevc-plugin

Yes, and I hear that Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus and Panasonic collectively sighed,  in huge relief.   :-)    So if you use a NX1 suddenly your work becomes "imaginary"?  lol

As said elsewhere, they should partner with samsung, rebrand the nx1 as nikon, and they would sell millions (and be praised as the best apsc in the world). While nx1 sells poorly because it's a samsung.

Andrew mentions it...
When every hipster in the world has awesome image IQ and steady shots, what will you be doing that makes your work more impressive than that trust fund kid standing in the same spots as you?
Creating interesting stories is what's gonna matter.
Tell a better story.  Be a better editor.  Those skills are your future currency.

Started with some colour curves to balance the NX1 shot more towards blue, getting rid of the green cast. Then I just shifted the cool end of the blue spectrum further toward blue with a hue shift, and the warmer end of the green spectrum I shifted towards red with the same method. There were a few other tweaks to the saturation of different hues, but that was pretty much it. Could probably get it closer if I had access to the original files, but it's not bad.
 
I guess it would be possible to make a '1D C' colour profile preset that could be applied to NX1 (or any other camera) if you wanted that particular look. Will post a sony vegas preset if there's demand.

i dont think its possible to make one for the nx1 because of the flange distance.

Convert the files to ProRes instead of H.264 and you will be fine.
Samsung's own software is limited and slow, this is better: http://sourceforge.net/projects/rockymountainsmovieconverter/