Oliver Daniel

One thing that others haven't picked up here is music videos. How many do you do? 
The 240fps 10bit on the FS5 is a huge feature that music video clients LOVE. Huge selling point. Plus the 10 bit is super useful for Chroma Key. 
The FS5 partners well to the A7S II for multi-cam. Canon doesn't really have an answer for a C-series b-cam, apart from the limited but lovely picture of the XC10. 
I've not used the C100, only the C300. That camera is the best camera I've used for docu-style by an absolute mile. 

My God, that Aurora website and logo is like a spoof of 80's/90's graphic design. 

I don't know why FCPX continues to be bashed. 
It's an absolutely incredible editing program, very intuitive, very fast and greatly supported by third party software (plugins etc). 
 

We all obviously live in different worlds. 
Having the best gear does NOT make you a professional. The thing that makes you a professional is getting the required job done to an excellent standard, always. 
I built my business is on DIY lighting, a few Canon FD lenses and a cheap DSLR.
I recently used a £5 "shitty" zoom lens on a decent budget music video shoot, because that lens was the best choice for the shot. The job was still professional, no matter what tools I used. I made the right decision, and that's what professionals do. 
I find on most sets that a lot of stuff is knocked together with duct tape, garbage bags and pieces of string. It doesn't matter what you use - the thing that matters is the final result. That's all people care about. 
An example... this particular shoot was shot with a GH3 and a few cheap vintage primes. The shot looking down over the cross shape was pulled off by sticking the GH3 on some rods, pulled against a pipe on the ceiling with a piece of string. The string was then tied to a suitcase on the ground with bricks in it, to keep the camera fixed and steady. No optical or electronic stabilisation used whatsoever. 
We had an idea and pulled it off by using whatever we could find. In the end, the solution was effective and the audience would never know. It doesn't make us any less of a professional when the end result doesn't say otherwise. 
 

This is one of those times when story doesn't matter. People just want to see how it'll look in a pro environment. Look's damn good in my opinion.

Well I think the footage looked superb.  Each shot was clearly thought out to show the cameras capabilities.  Surely the idea is to show the camera in its best light.  This ain't a toy, its a c-camera/drone camera for professionals who want to see what the camera will do when lit/shot and processed to the best it can be.  If the camera was m4/3 mount allowing use of a speed booster, as well as having the need and budget for such a camera I'd be ordering one straight away.  
well done to RED for getting this at the price point it is!  

This camera needs light. I mean, A LOT of light in Slog2. The RX10 II only does Slog well if it's very, very bright. And I AM CRAZY!!! 
I don't regret it at all.
I took a massive risk filming the video with a new, untested camera. The great thing was, we only had 6 hours to shoot it and the camera versatility really helped. 
On further projects, I got detached from the camera as I couldn't get the aesthetic I wanted (sterile lens and small sensor). Went back to the GH3 and the image + adapted FD lens is superior to the RX10 II (non-technical, just how it feels). 
Got rid of both my GH3's and RX10 II's and now have the A7S II. The A7R II is now on the way (multi-cam purposes). Not had enough time with the A7S II but impressed so far. 
All in all, you can make professional video quite easily with the RX10 II. It just comes down to what you want as an artist. Unfortunately, the camera was the wrong paintbrush for me. Although it will be right for some! 

Here is the first ever project I shot completely on the Sony RX10 II. 
It's a traditional low budget British Christmas video, quite the opposite of my usual stuff. 
Shot in Slog2. 
Slider is Edekrone SliderPLUS v2. 
Lighting is Kino Flo and Dedo. 
Edited and graded in FCPX.
Crew was me, Director, make up artist and a couple of assistants. 
(Unfortunately I have since sold both my RX10 II's as the sensor aesthetic wasn't right for me). 
 

This camera needs light. I mean, A LOT of light in Slog2. The RX10 II only does Slog well if it's very, very bright. And I AM CRAZY!!! 
I don't regret it at all.
I took a massive risk filming the video with a new, untested camera. The great thing was, we only had 6 hours to shoot it and the camera versatility really helped. 
On further projects, I got detached from the camera as I couldn't get the aesthetic I wanted (sterile lens and small sensor). Went back to the GH3 and the image + adapted FD lens is superior to the RX10 II (non-technical, just how it feels). 
Got rid of both my GH3's and RX10 II's and now have the A7S II. The A7R II is now on the way (multi-cam purposes). Not had enough time with the A7S II but impressed so far. 
All in all, you can make professional video quite easily with the RX10 II. It just comes down to what you want as an artist. Unfortunately, the camera was the wrong paintbrush for me. Although it will be right for some! 

Cheers! 
Thanks for the feedback. 
Sadly I didn't have much time to work on the colour and Slog2 on this camera is a pain in the arse! Snow was a rush job. 
It was a nice simple shoot. Wouldn't put it anywhere near my "Best Of" but sometimes it's quite refreshing to do something a bit more straight forward. 
100fps is this cameras best feature. 
The worst feature is focusing. Manual focusing with this camera is bloody hard, especially on moving subjects. 

kino flo and dedo for such a cheap camera ??? ARE YOU THAT CRAZY ??? 
 
Pretty good. Not a great camera but here it makes it.

Oliver, that looks great! Nice job!!! It's very cool to see what that camera can do in a professional environment. Are you a touch regretful for selling it?

Here is the first ever project I shot completely on the Sony RX10 II. 
It's a traditional low budget British Christmas video, quite the opposite of my usual stuff. 
Shot in Slog2. 
Slider is Edekrone SliderPLUS v2. 
Lighting is Kino Flo and Dedo. 
Edited and graded in FCPX.
Crew was me, Director, make up artist and a couple of assistants. 
(Unfortunately I have since sold both my RX10 II's as the sensor aesthetic wasn't right for me). 
 

True story: new A7S user says: "I don't need to get any lighting gear now I have the A7S"...
The world's best cinematographers will make a much better film with a smartphone than the average joe would with a Red Dragon and Cooke primes. Now with the accessible price of the URSA Mini, there will be volumes of negative comments blaming the camera for poorer than expected quality. 

True story: new A7S user says: "I don't need to get any lighting gear now I have the A7S"...
The world's best cinematographers will make a much better film with a smartphone than the average joe would with a Red Dragon and Cooke primes. Now with the accessible price of the URSA Mini, there will be volumes of negative comments blaming the camera for poorer than expected quality. 

I've seen a steady interest in the 'soap bubble effect' growing on the vintage lens forums and on Flickr.  The regular suggestions I see to get this effect is a triplet design, and meyer seems to be mentioned before any other.  Leading to crazy prices being paid for rather poor lenses.  it should be considered that the effect is usually a result of the shooting techinque rather than the lens itself.  most of the subjects seem to be macro shots of bugs or toadstools with a dynamic background just after it has rained.  for example, the picture above wouldn't exhibit the bubble effect if the bug wasn;t infront of water.   I think even if someone were to buy the gold standard meyer bubble lens, they'd still only see this effect when shooting with lots of extension tubes at very high magnification.    
 
just about any medium tele lens from the 1960's will give this effect.  you want old lenses with coatings with little to no apparent colour to them.  my personal favourite for this effect is a late 1950's zeiss jena biotar 58mm - coatings are almost non existent so light source bokeh has a glow.

Hello!
I've got a project where the aesthetic of "soap bubble bokeh" is the way to go.
I'm very, very aware of the Trioplan 100mm and it's sharp rise in value. At this moment in time, I can't justify buying one of these on eBay for a single project (even though i want one for keeps).
Does anybody recommend a more "budget" alternative? 
 

True story: new A7S user says: "I don't need to get any lighting gear now I have the A7S"...
The world's best cinematographers will make a much better film with a smartphone than the average joe would with a Red Dragon and Cooke primes. Now with the accessible price of the URSA Mini, there will be volumes of negative comments blaming the camera for poorer than expected quality. 

Haha yea... After the long holy grail search for the cinematic look, we are finally reaching the moment people will go "ahh, it was good lighting all along".

Exactly. Hook's original 4.6K footage was outstanding. 2 of the shooters on the new stuff admitted they added too much sharpening, or diffusion etc which is causing strange highlight blooming.

With more time and care, the image from this camera will be outstanding. The test clips look very, very rushed and those testing haven't had much time with the camera yet. 
At first, the A7S was throwing out an awful image almost everywhere online. Cut to 18 months later, and I'm seeing fantastic looking footage shot with the camera, now users have got round the grading challenge. 

Got a Helios 40-2 coming!
Seen these - but what exactly are these cheap chinese helicoid things? I guess to mount the lens, because the Diaplan is a projector lens indeed. 
 

You can't go wrong with the Russians as they are full of "flaws" and they look great! Certainly not boring and clinical like a Panasonic lens. 
I was thinking of adding a Rokinon/Samyang 14mm and 85mm for my "clean" set. How are you finding them? 
Oddly, they don't sell the Cine DS line here. 

It sounds very similar to the Apertus Axiom pitch.
It would be really cool if these guys had a trick up their sleeves, I'm all for the small guys shaking up the industry!

What on earth is all this about then? 
http://comingsoon.craftcamera.com