Zach Ashcraft

Download the original file at Vimeo

Note: This is an early-days test I did quickly before a shoot today. A larger one encompassing more cameras (GH3, D5200, 5D Mark III, Blackmagic Pocket Camera) and scenes will be on EOSHD during the coming week.

The Sony RX10 appears to play in the same ballpark as the Sony FS100. Is this the new budget king for semi-pro videographers?

Read the full article here

Wow thanks Zach! The ding effect at the end might not have been necesarry indeed, but I'm sure there are some people who would miss it if it wasn't there and that would ruin the whole film. So I thought, better to be safe than sorry :)
 
Thanks for the nice reply.

Not a huge amount of discussion on gear/techniques used to record audio on this forum, though its not totally neglected.
 
I have a background in classical music recording, and am used to a laptop audio interface rig with great preamps and nice mics. Needless to say, I'm not happy with the preamp on the H4N and the rode videomic type shotguns. 
 
Anyone have any experience with the Roland R26? I've heard good things, but is the noise floor really lower than something like a zoom? If so I'd be interested in picking one up. If not, I feel like I'm going to need to invest in something like a sound devices mix pre to feed my NTG2 and NT4

Not a huge amount of discussion on gear/techniques used to record audio on this forum, though its not totally neglected.
 
I have a background in classical music recording, and am used to a laptop audio interface rig with great preamps and nice mics. Needless to say, I'm not happy with the preamp on the H4N and the rode videomic type shotguns. 
 
Anyone have any experience with the Roland R26? I've heard good things, but is the noise floor really lower than something like a zoom? If so I'd be interested in picking one up. If not, I feel like I'm going to need to invest in something like a sound devices mix pre to feed my NTG2 and NT4

Your hopes are far too high. Would it be reasonable and possible for Canon to put these things into a new body? Of course. But i've learned in the last 4 years they are just going to disappoint once again.
 
Andrew I think standard DSLR video is still very much a need for people like me who shoot stills at least as much as they do video. I've borrowed a friends GH3 for a week and just can't bring myself to like an EVF. Maybe soon, though. I really want to love the OMD

Seems legit.

Canon's answer is "Magic Lantern."
 
Sony's answer is, "We don't believe in magic"
 
NIkon's answer is "No mas, por favor."

No way?! I used to read that section all the time! I always desperately hoped they would continue to create content as I could never quite get enough out of it, and the folks over at the gearsluts forums weren't too knowledgeable when it came to cameras. 
 
May seem like a small thing but just wanted to say thank you - those articles where very helpful to me when I first picked up a camera about 2 years ago. 

The Zoom H4N was awful & the Tascam DR100 was a little better (did have quite a low recording volume).
I eventually went for the Marantz PMD661 - it was a little overboard, as i had a proper mic & a field mixer, but as a back up its excellent.
The problem is that al lot of these recorders just don't have great onboard mics etc.., so they're noisy crap.
 
However, if you get a secondhand mic & plug that in, then they can turn an H4N or DR100 into a butterfly!
XLR inputs essential, as is Phantom Power, on a recorder.
 
Sennheiser K3-U/ME-80 - an old, low budget film mic, which sometimes comes with all 3 mic extensions (ME-80, ME-40 & ME20) & can run off a battery or phantom - under £100.
 
This was the best review site i found when i was looking for a recorder:
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-reviews.html
 
But as with all things you can go really nuts or just slowly build up.
 
If you're budget minded - you can pick up a small used 2 channel mixer, an old mic & plug it all into a small recorder - will all fit into a small bag which you have over your shoulder & the mic can be shotgun handheld or fixed to your camera. The quality will be sooo much better than onboard mics. All said & done £500 or less - if you're careful/patient looking for a bargin.

Awesome! :D Here's the section i ran (now sadly dead) http://www.soundonsound.com/videomedia
 
It's a great mag, though I'm not so much into studio production now, so only read occasionally, but I'm still in touch with all those there, they're a fountain of knowledge
 
I also wrote two opinion pieces that apply to video as well, one about gear lust, and one about whether things are better than one another or just different...
 
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul11/articles/sounding-off-0711.htm
 
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb12/articles/sounding-off-0212.htm

I LOVE sound on sound. Used to go to barnes and noble monthly in college just to read it. 
 
I do like those roland recorders though they are a bit pricey. I definitely have no interest in the tascam units being mentioned. They are just as bad in my experience, especially the dr40. 
 
Never thought about running a mixpre into an ipad. That seems like a great solution. I would be a little worried about software though

yongnuo is the standard cheap chinese alternative most people buy.

I found this little gem today:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-joFyUcBIqk
 
Get on it Blackmagic! 

The Mix Pre-D connected to an iPad looks like a great option. 

They look overexposed

words cannot express how bad those videos look

this guy is a beginner and a 4 2 0 camera is fine for what he whats to do - Ive had alot of pop vidoes broadcast across the world on MTV and all the major music chanels shot on a 4 2 0 camera - you dont need to go spending a fortune on a camera just to do blue screen or green screen - there is alot of smoke and mirrors on this forum of people who read spec sheets and and believe myths
Get your lighting right thats the important bit first.

I really hope there will be a new wave of influental independant films that deserve this name. Even worse than being dependant on the politics of major production companies is the situation in my country. It has the "FFA", an acronym for film promotion association, founded in 1968, and it effectively finances german theatrical films with tax money, but approving the standards, which can only be described as uncinematic and boring. It's a federal association that decides if scripts are worth the investment, and you can easily imagine what that means for creativity and originality. 
 
I particularly hope, that indie filmmakers will stop to think retro. If they want to reinvent cinema, there is no frigging 'cinematic look' to be followed, no grain filters, no exaggerated DoF-gimmicks, no oange-teal-'blockbuster'-grading, that would be embarrassing. There has to be a good and revolutionary story that dictates it's own aestethics, preferably clean and straight.
 
Don't dream about fancy imagery, you've got a camera with sufficient color depth to look good on a big screen. Now it's time to tell something!

guys, he said he wants to shoot industrial videos.. the 70d is definitely a capable all rounder camera if youre not looking to shoot a cinematic masterpiece, it has the best Autofocus capability which he said hes looking for, 3x digital zoom is also a much underrated function for run n gun

People complain about EXTRA pro features? Amazing...

Agreed - RX100 or the RX100 mk2 seem like a perfect choice to me. I've used this at concerts, airports, etc. where my dslr would otherwise not be allowed. Image quality is great, and plenty of functionality. Right in your price range

I've shot with the A7 for a full day, you can see the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnvgceTEV3c
Looking at the image afterwards though, I'm not as excited as I initially was.  I loved the process of shooting with the camera, but the image quality is pretty wanting.  As you can see on the video above, the image is quite soft, and moire is visible in many shots.  Hopefully, this can be chalked up to pre-release firmware, but we permitted to judge the video quality based on the models we had, and I'm not delighted with the results.  Once the production cameras come out, I'll post a follow up to the above video with my revised opinions.

I might suggest the Sony RX100 compact. It's very geurilla, stabilised and easy.

If they are doing on the new full frame sensors the same as on the RX10's new 1" sensor then video is going to be amazing.
 
The RX10 does a FULL READOUT producing 20MP 6K raw stream at 60fps.
 
The new Bionz X as featured in the A7 and A7R is powerful enough to then subsample that 6K down to 1080p before writing it to the card.
 
That means no moire or aliasing, no line skipping on the sensor, no great loss of dynamic range from a poorly subsampled sensor output.
 
If your credit card is not ruined by now it may well be when the RX10 sample videos start trickling out.

"Sony are offering a battery grip style add-on which gives the camera professional XLR audio jacks. Like the one rumoured for the GH3 but never materialising. I haven’t seen any images of this grip in the press releases though, nor any specs."
 
I think they are just talking about the XLR-K1M adapter already available for the Sony dslrs ect...