tosvus

@jnorman34
 
This is a filmmaking website.

Is this really an appreciable percentage of the market? Professional photographers/videographers who need a sub-$800 camera with which they can reliably shoot stock quality stills and video?

I think most modern camera's with a big sensor can look cinematic, in the right hands.
 
I don't think a GH3 is less cinematic than a 5D or D600 at all. It can be, but that would be because of the cinematography.
 
Give whatever camera the correct exposure, a cinematic framing and especially grading, that is what is going to make the difference. And then, I would rather 'start off' with a camera with a high resolution, non aliasing, low contrast 'base-image'. And I tell you the GH3 can do that.

the second item has been answered by multiple reviews I have seen. For "ntsc", there is no recording limit. If you switch to pal/25/50, 30 min limit due to EU restrictions.

The external add-on isn't a "4K add-on" it is a HD-SDI and XLR add-on, you don't need the external add-on or a external recorder for 4K on the GH4 it does it internally. You know that right?! Surely you do. So are you just trying to make things look worse than they actually are with your list? If so I think that's a bit unfair.
 
Hopefully available by the end of the year? Try April at the latest (TBC)!
 
As for form factor, clunky is not a word I'd use to describe the GH4. Incidentally the Blackmagic is a lot heavier, the wrong shape, has no articulated screen, and a very cut down feature set in comparison. Still love Blackmagic but you've gotta state the facts!
 
My view of it is as follows...
 
BMPC 4K
1.5x crop Super 35mm sensor (1.0x crop in cinematography terms)
EF mount (good if you have lots of nice Canon EF lenses, not so good if you have Micro Four Thirds or lenses requiring a mirrorless mount)
Global shutter - nice - but comes at expense of dynamic range and low light
10bit ProRes - very nice
Raw - great for heavy grading and VFX work
 
GH4
2.17x crop in 4096x2160 mode, 1.7x crop with Speed Booster in 4K mode (1.2x crop in cinematography terms)
Mirrorless mount
Better low light performance (goes up to ISO 6400 in 4K mode)
8bit 4:2:0 internal recording may lead to some artefacts and won't grade as well as ProRes, but it will still look stunning
Better audio support and quality, with optional XLR box
Articulated screen
16MP stills
Built in EVF
10bit 4:2:2 available to external recorder
Larger feature set
 
The Blackmagic Production Camera has enough unique features to be considered for certain jobs. The GH4 is the better all rounder.
 
If you need global shutter, EF mount, 10bit ProRes internal and raw, but don't mind the very basic feature set overall, basic ergonomics, heavier weight overall, need for external battery and poor low light performance go Blackmagic.
 
If you need mirrorless mount, better ergonomics, likely better 1080p especially via HDMI, better audio, more features, smaller form factor and internal battery go GH4.
 
Dynamic range probably quite similar on the pair.
 
And on price, the GH4 is a lot cheaper. You don't NEED the external box. You can shoot with it like you can the GH3. The Blackmagic puts more demands on storage space and processing power, and needs an external battery plus SSDs.

Great review, interesting discussion!

The Micro Four Thirds system makes the most sense to me as a stills + video shooter. Small, well built bodies, good first-party primes, the ability to adapt nearly any** lens, cool features like IBIS, and a much better implementation of video all the way through the range. I have the option of Panasonic, Olympus, and Blackmagic bodies, and can buy at the top of the price bracket for significantly cheaper than I can Canon or Sony or Nikon. 

In terms of stills image quality, I think sites like guesstheformat.com are pretty telling - people do little better than chance trying to distinguish between M4/3 and Full Frame (when presented with a FF image and given the choice between FF and M4/3, people only correctly identify it 58% of the time - less for APS-C vs. M4/3). Yes, image quality from a D800 is better in absolute terms than E-M1 image quality, but is it two times the price better? I don't think so. The E-M1 is 90% there - probably closer if you don't make massive prints.

I really like what Fuji's doing, but their camera's aren't nearly fully featured enough compared to what you can get out of M4/3 for the same price or less. If the new X-T1 had single shot AF on par with the E-M1, a 36 or 50Mpbs 24/5p codec, and a faster flash sync speed, it'd be a much tougher decision (unless you want IBIS, of course). Fuji has made it pretty clear that they're a stills company through-and-through. Shame. Lovely colors.

I'm a street photographer, a casual video shooter, a frequent traveler and a guy who doesn't like to hassle a lot with his gear. For that, for me, M4/3 makes the most sense.

Hey guys,
 
Been following EOSHD for ages, and sometimes get to implement things I've learnt on here, at work (for a small DLSR based production company). I wanted to share a recent experience we had in the office when testing out the DitoGear OmniSlider which we saw the review for on the main EOSHD blog. 
 
We were playing around with the "repeat movement" programming we stumbled across a pretty cool technique - something we then went on to use on a paid client job! Check it out:
 

I think the best 30p to 24-25p conversion you can do is to use Twixtor to increase the framerate by 2.5x to 75p.  It computer generates an interpolated frame that's not there, and it does a remarkable job for the most part.  If you look at a single frame digital videos shot at 24p, you see 2 trailing frames.  The sound of computer generated frames might sound like something you might not want, but since you are blending it together with real frames, any artifacts are really not noticeable unless you are specifically pausing frames and trying to find them.
 
I've done this for footage shot in good lighting with sharp edges around subjects and objects, and it looks very convincing.  May not work as well in lower night or shallow DOF shots.  It might, but I've never tried.

I want to share my experience with GH3 as a photography tool.
 
Coming from a canon prosumer series, I was very disappointed with the GH3.  The midtones are flat, so you end up with pasty saturated complexions on people's faces.  At least in Adobe Camera Raw.
 
So I bit the bullet and bought PS Kiss' GH3 lens profiles which lets me force different camera profiles that are calibrated for the GH3.  And when I apply the 5D Mark 3 profile and bump the exposure by 1/3 stop, the image quality is superb.  Whereas the standard Adobe Camera Raw profile that which is your only option in Adobe Camera Raw, for my standards, makes unusable pictures when it comes to pictures with people's faces being the subject.
 
So the problem is that Panasonic is not working with Adobe to create calibrated lens profiles, not that the camera is not capable.  But you can work around it for now.  It's just one extra step in the workflow.  Sure the raw files in MFT cameras are supposed to magically work in Adobe camera raw, but they only fix distortion.  Colors, which may be fine for people looking for a different color profile than what you normally get from Nikon or Canon, but are not good when you are looking for accurate color.
 
With that said, I feel good about shooting photos with the GH3 now that I know how to get the most out of it.

Another couple of clips I put together over the weekend. All hand held ... of course  :)
 
I enjoy shooting stills on the E-M1 but I'm totally addicted to shooting video with it. Ergonomically, when set up to your liking, it's so easy to use and the controls, settings and dials just get out of your way.
 
In the second clip, I resisted throwing all sorts of colour effects over the top and left it as is out of the cam on vivid setting with contrast at -2 as Andrew suggested in a post ... all else at default. No PP at all.
 
Both shot with the Pana 25/1.4. In the scene at the 24sec mark of the 1st clip I used the inbuilt 2x convertor. There is a drop in resolution but the feature is handy.
 
I hope it is OK posting videos here but I did not see another thread that has E-M1 videos.
 

 

Shot with a Panasonic G6. "Natural" Profile with everything dialed down to -5.
Steadicam shots with a Pana 14 2.5, all other footage with Canon FD's.
 

I hope many BMPCCs will pop up on ebay. Cheap, useless, obsolete BMPCCs.

Hey, it'd be good if it looks exactly like the GH3. Then my wife may not notice it if I get one ;)

Well depends on how you view things. Compared to 35mm full frame used for photography, the gh2 has a crop factor of 2x. But since we are in the world of filmmaking, the standard is super 35mm which is smaller than full frame 35mm, s35 has a crop factor of 1.5x, thus this is my "full frame" Hence I consider this my 1x, and full frame to be less than 1x.If you are trying to match a 5d then you do the 2x crop if you are trying to match, s35 or aps-c, then you do a 1.25x crop.

Find a great song that you feel is relevant to Mexico or the mood you wish to convey, and think about what you would like to capture to make great music video for it.

sorry, no experience with neatvideo..

Find a great song that you feel is relevant to Mexico or the mood you wish to convey, and think about what you would like to capture to make great music video for it.

sorry, no experience with neatvideo..

GH3 can also take your Nikon lenses.
 
I wouldn't buy a Blackmagic, since the rolling shutter is pretty bad, and inappropriate for documentary type shooting.

Andrew, thanks for all your work this year, and the fashion you run this site, compared to some others ;)

I wouldn't have thought some simple contrast overlay would be impossible to implement in firmware but I am certainly not an engineer in that area :) well, maybe they could open up the bitrates more even though they ate already industry-leading. Too bad we don't have a magic lantern equivalent.. There has been no progress on Nex or GH3, so the current unofficial "support" is iffy at best..

I do have an external monitor but partly why I chose m43 was to have a more compact setup, especially when used for taking pictures.

GH3-- Here's a look at what it can do with the proper lighting...
https://vimeo.com/72737956

I put a lot of time into reading this forum daily.
 
If I am reading the same crap from peederj again and again, it reduces the enjoyment I have in running a blog like EOSHD.
 
I've tolerated it for months, provocative and annoying comments.
 
High quality posts from now on will be promoted and low quality posts will only be tolerated a few times before the members gets their posting permissions removed.
 
That starts now with a 7 day holiday for peederj.

I think peederj is like one of those boys in kindergarten that has a crush on a girl and shows it by teasing her. I bet he is secretly a bmcc fan! :-D

Far better executed than the Laforet ad for Movi.

Wow, that is some detective work :) Thanks!

The guy from this video -
- mentions a B+W +0.25 67mm, so I think the +0.5 was made in this same batch, to a very specific lens. Maybe they weren't sold separately, and that's why you can't find them on B+W website, but that's only a wild guess. :)

Got an interesting diopter. It is a B+W 0.5, 67mm. Found it on ebay, looks brand new (from a camera store), but quite old. I cannot find any documentation of it's existence, even on the B+W website. Maybe some of you know about it, but new to me. Now I just have to get the anamorphic lens to test it out, but I am hoping it should be good, considering the brand.