norliss

Excellent article, Andrew and I find myself agreeing with you rather than Tony Northrup. Then again, I'm not sure how much Tony Northrup really agrees with Tony Northrup: his video smacks of being one to pull in an audience with a headline-grabbing title...
Sure, I'm all for improving usability wherever possible but proper photography and "hey, look at my friends having lolz tonite" pictures on social media are two different things. There really is no point trying to make cameras operate exactly like mobile phones because for the vast majority of people, it wouldn't make any difference: they'd always opt for the phone and the phone-alone because it's 'good enough' and the extra performance of the dedicated camera just doesn't warrant the cost/size etc.
Ultimately, if people are genuinely interested in photography they'll move up to a 'proper camera' and learn to use it. I don't subscribe to this dumb-down/ race-to-the-bottom mindset that says we should gear everything toward the people that have grown up in the smartphone/iPad era.

Interesting vid from Dave Dugdale and Matt Scott. I have a feeling Matt's comments and conclusions will wind up a few people here 
 

Interesting vid from Dave Dugdale and Matt Scott. I have a feeling Matt's comments and conclusions will wind up a few people here 
 

I do a ton of corporate interviews, musing about some doc projects if I get some free time...
The #1, by-god awesome, holy-cow thing for me as an interview shooter and editor: freaking 4K. If you have a feel for narrative, human nature, drama, etc, you can guide and cut a great interview. But reframing has changed the game for me. You can hide cuts, and tighten up the shot for the most dramatic or impactful statements. When I come in tight, I can do subtle camera moves/pans which really just "work" subconsciously. I can shoot a little wider than usual for lower thirds or graphics and still have plenty of pixels for a wide range of shot changes, without moving the camera. That's my #1. I use the NX1 for all interviews now (the 4k footage is pretty astounding), with a Nikkor 28-70 2.8 zoom generally - that zoom looks fab and it allows me to adjust framing quickly, like I setup with a stand-in and then the subject is 7' tall. 
(#1-a? A morphing plugin for your NLE. When they work, they're lifesavers - get every f*cking UMM and pause and stutter OUT of your edit!!)(Unless those express the personality - for corporate stuff they're goners).
Other MASSIVE thing for interviews - if it's not "to the camera" (which I generally dislike) - who is the subject talking to? If it's me, I'm in a chair with a monitor on my lap, but I HATE looking down to check focus - people instantly feel like you've got something more important on your mind. So I have to go deeper with the DOF and if the subject is really active or excited - you'll lose focus. So I try to get someone to be an eye line. I QUIETLY whisper questions to that person - if you're behind the camera and you ask the question, even if you say "tell her...", their eyes will shift back and forth and it looks shifty. I'd much rather be riding focus behind the camera. With a follow focus and a 12" whip, so no jitters. I only wear headphones for initial setup and first roll with the subject, they are too "distancing" for me, unless I'm not the interviewer.
IF THE INTERVIEWER IS NOT IN THE EDIT - make sure they answer IN CONTEXT so the question is not needed. Most people understand this, and understand if you stop them and say "context, please" or lead them - "I'm sorry, could you start that with 'the reason I love what I do'..."
#3 major thing for a great interview - a third person with an eye for detail and grooming - most any lady or your gay buddy will do - (not trying to be sexist, just my hard experience) - even the receptionist - to keep an eye on hair, collars, lint, wrinkles, etc. There's too damn much to be focused on (for my tiny brain anyway) - most ladies like to be asked to be the grooming police and watch for that lock of hair that pops up halfway through, to watch for makeup issues on female subjects that guys don't even SEE. Have them look through the monitor for issues like shining skin, too. (I KNOW this sounds sexist and generalized, but I've found it to be true!!! If a lady looks decent in her clothes, she'll see what needs fixing.)
So for a doc, I'd think about your assistant - someone that can watch for those details, help setup and pack and carry, and either be an eyeline or can babysit focus.
I also use the NX for steadicam b-roll, I just stick the cheap little 16-50 OIS kit lens on it, very small and light on a Came steadicam, and I use the same QR on everything so I can be on the steadicam in seconds. From there, b-roll, establishing shots, whatever you need... lenses, tripod, jib, sliders, shoulder mount, etc. Have an ND solution if you'll be moving in and outdoors.
Good audio is a must, the DR60 is a great piece of gear, and the camera-out with its own level control means you can use it as a preamp and not need to synch (I use the NX1 and when gain is staged properly, no difference between the DR card or the camera). But you have the recorder files as a safety if you get an over (and the DR records a 2nd track at -6DB which can save your ass). Get some closed-back headphones (even cheap ones). You need a great mic, or at least a good one - Oktava, AT 4053, or at the least a Rode, but get a hyper, not a shotgun. For about $200 you can get one of the OST lav mics AND the XLR barrel converter, which converts phantom power to mic power. So you can use a lav and not mess with wireless and be all-XLR, no monkey-business 1/8 crap in the chain. There's a small OST that hides great in a tie knot.
LIGHTING - for a big window office where you want to hold the exterior, you generally need a 575 or 1.2k HMI par. And with many angles, your diffusion frame will reflect in the window, so you need strategies for that. Often a polarizer will knock down lesser reflections. Or you can ND the whole window if you have all day.
I keep a 575 in the truck, but I have a "one-rock-n-roller-cart" setup to make one trip in for most gigs. I TRY to use a quad biax - they're usually under $200, and I clip diffusion across the barn doors, instant softbox that's the right size for faces, small and easy to move, no cold-start issues, etc. I also bring an Aputure 672 LED for rim/hair, or background (probably will get another sometime)... usually a small 300 fresnel if I want warm BG light... I also have a 400 HID setup that works with all the photoflex softboxes, but that's a DIY grow light thing (it kicks ass and looks legit, about 1200 watts of nice daylight). I also have a 2" daylight fresnel with a 150 HID globe and ballast, again DIY but looks like actual gear, about 500 watt equivalent) handy little problem solver. And a bunch of CTB and CTO gels cut to size and ready in a big ziplock. Usually doesn't take many lights to get a nice looking interview setup. In a pinch I can be setup and ready to roll in 20 minutes, though that's kinda stressy!
For overhead mic, I use a steel roller stand - it's heavy enough to not need sandbags but easy to tweak the position. Those are pricey, $180 or so, but worth it. I don't bring c-stands to most interview gigs, too hard to pack, too heavy. Use good quality folding stands though, the Matthews steel kit stands are good. Find a good solution to pack all your stands in.
I generally bring the steel roller w/ arm - decent stands for key, LED, fresnel - I bring a couple black flags (18x24) for spill or if the hair light is hitting the lens as a flag; a cookie and grip stuff; a couple extra boom arms and heads. Usually 5-7 stands in a bag. An 18" and 22" popup reflector/diffusor, gaff tape, spring clamps, and A LINT ROLLER!!!
There are LEDs that would make a suitable key (the Aperture doesn't have the kick except for very dark setups), but they're a grand and up, the biax quad is still a trouper for me.
All of that on one cart - I use two motorcycle tie-down ratchets to hold it on the cart.
That's my business interview setup, but I'd likely use the same for a doc interview.
Last week, basic setup:
 
 

This is going to raise the blood pressure of a few people, I bet...

Someone really needs to do a "Hitler reacts to yet another Hitler reacts" video...

1/50th will give you a smoother look.  People tend to blurt out the 180 degree shutter rule, but that rule was invented for use when the playback speed was always between 24 and 30 fps.  Really it should be called the 1/48th to 1/60th rule.   If you shoot 1/50th at 50p you are still going to get the same amount of motion blur per frame as you do shooting 1/50th at 25p just with more frames.  I have to say I haven't done a lot of research on this myself, but basically any 50 or 60p video I see I HATE it because of its staccato look.  Which seems counter productive because you would think it would be smoother.  Perhaps it is just the look of high frame rate, but I suspect it is strongly related to the fast shutter speeds people are using when they follow a silly catch phrase 'rule' like lemmings.  I would do a few tests.  Shoot the same scene, maybe a person walking or a car going past, using both 1/50th ant 1/100th and see which one looks smoothest.

If you aren't going to grade it, I would use neutral -1 +1 -1 or -1 0 -1.
The sharpness variable depends a bit on the lens. With the 16-50 E kit lens, I've to turn the sharpness down to -3 to avoid halos when sharpening in post. It seems that the radius of the in-camera sharpening is too large. It's a shame you can't adjust it. But with some careful sharpening in post, most of the halo problems can be 'repaired'. It also depends on the scene: if there's a lot of detail I prefer not to turn down the in-camera sharpening too much (so I use -1) as otherwise the detail gets lost in the codec. But I think simple edges and details get best resolved (without halos) with sharpness -3 and then a lot of deconvolution sharpening afterwards. But this also sharpens all the codec artifacts/damage... so not perfect for scenes with movement.
In general the neutral -3 -1 -1 (aka Philip Bloom?) setting tens to work very well but it indeed looks a bit dull ungraded. However in most occasions I don't (yet) do too much hocus pocus with the colors so I set the saturation to 0 (or +1). This gives slightly less colored codec artifacts in post. Sometimes I set DRO to +5. This retains a lot of DR in the shadows!
For higher ISOs, you might want to use a higher sharpness value as the noise reduction can't be turned off and blurs the footage.
The sharpness value can be easily set by first bumping contrast, saturation and sharpness to +3 and then zooming in to 1:1 in video mode. If there are too much halos, decrease the sharpness value and check again.
During daylight neutral -3 +1 -1 looks very flat (at least, the luma channel) but for a theater recording or other scenes with a lot of DR it may look great even ungraded (at least, on a screen with a high contrast ratio :)).
You can also try neutral 0 +1 -1 with DRO 2 or so.
If you want to try achieve a 'special' look, you might want to try the 'portrait' or 'autumn leaves' settings. For the rest, make sure you get the WB just right (AWB messes it up sometimes). For slightly warmer, a bit Nikon-like colors you can put the color square (WB fine tuning) one or two steps to magenta and then set the kelvin value.
Take this with a grain of salt, I'm also still learning :).
 

There definitely is a race to the bottom and a generally dumbing down of content on the internet -if the trend keeps up then we will all need to be taking ritalin to keep our attention spans long enough to read anything longer than paragraph.
But there was a time where well researched, comprehensive, and balanced content was popular and attracted a number of readers, enough to make a number of sites sustainable. Have all of these people being assimilated by the short attention span masses or are they still out there, lamenting at the fact that the resources they once enjoyed are a shadow of there former selfs (not saying that eosHD is this)?  If these people are still out there (which I think they are), then surely there is a niche for good long-format content? These 'traditional' high quality blogs aren't going to see the kind of views that you might get on clickbait sites, Facebook and Instagram, but does that matter if the views are from the 'right' people?
I think we might end up seeing a bit of a reversal of the mobile OS craze, once more people start waking up to the fact that it is difficult to be productive on a mobile device (and even a maxi-pad screen isn't going to help).  As a parent, I could see my son becoming very familiar with iOS, but apart from drawing and reading (which he could do with paper/pencils/books) he was just consuming content.  Now there is nothing wrong with this but I want him to also be able to be productive, to create and contribute to society, and to understand how a computer, networks, html etc works rather than just being able to push a icon with his finger. So he is starting to learn how to use a laptop (with Linux to boot).  I saw recently that a school district in the US has canceled their order for iPads and replaced them with laptops for their older students after surveying what teachers and students actually wanted -so maybe its starting already.
I think for some of us, gear is a way to reenergise our creative mojo.  We might live somewhere that isn't very inspiring, or have family/job commitments that limit what we can realistically achieve when filming.  A new camera or lens, is a way to get excited about filming again, a new way to look at familiar scenes and activities, a reason to put the time and effort in, a new challenge to extract the best IQ possible.  At the moment there is a lull in new gear -we may have hit 'peak IQ' for current tech and we are only seeing smaller incremental improvements but have been used to the ground breaking announcements (just look at this years NAB compared to previous years).  We are like gear junkies, who are being weaned from the frequent highs to a more sustainable state, and it may be a bit of a downer for some.  On the bright side, it is a relief that the camera you brought 6-12 months ago is not obsolete yet and a chance to look at our true motivations for filming.
If Andrew is looking for inspiration for a post -I would suggest a part 2 review of the digital bolex -it has come a long way since the original post and no other blog or site has formally looked at again, and I think fits in perfectly to the ethos of this site.
Oh and by the way, thanks Andrew for all of the excellent work.

The whole Samsung NX (& lenses) story is another cautionary tale: a really great product is not in of itself a guaranteed success. Sadly, marketing, brand recognition etc are arguably more important - you only need look at the continuing success of Canon DSLRs for that...

The whole Samsung NX (& lenses) story is another cautionary tale: a really great product is not in of itself a guaranteed success. Sadly, marketing, brand recognition etc are arguably more important - you only need look at the continuing success of Canon DSLRs for that...

The whole Samsung NX (& lenses) story is another cautionary tale: a really great product is not in of itself a guaranteed success. Sadly, marketing, brand recognition etc are arguably more important - you only need look at the continuing success of Canon DSLRs for that...

In all seriousness, there are a lot of very enthusiastic people here that really understand (or strive to understand) the strengths and weaknesses of all the cameras out there and I think you need to do that to get the absolute best out of them, in addition to a great grasp of lighting, of course.
It would be cool to collaborate with some guys from this forum on this (or another) project, for sure.

Hey Mattias,
I'm afraid I'm not in the market for any of those lenses but I hope you get good prices for them. Gunpowder looks like a lovely dog and I always enjoy seeing her in your videos

Looks like a very interesting proposition.
Still wondering how Sony can justify the price disparity between US and Europe, though.

Looks like a very interesting proposition.
Still wondering how Sony can justify the price disparity between US and Europe, though.

Really enjoyed that. I'm going to take a look at some of your other YouTube uploads.
Thanks, Mattias.

Disclaimer: This is just for fun. Not meant to be fair, well lit, perfectly graded, scientific or anything else. Just a few shots while I had the two film cameras loaded.
IMO Film still kicks the ass of digital in looking what I consider "Good" and in dynamic range and color. But this is not suposed to be proof of that concept.
If you want an example of that I say watch "The Hateful Eight", "The Hurtlocker" or any other well shot movie on film.
In this video I compare some footage from a BMPCC, Digital Bolex and A7ii to a 16mm Bolex H16 and a Krasnogorsk-3.
I did it just for fun so don't read to much into it
The BMPCC was shot in Prores and the D16 in Raw. Both where graded with a 7207 LUT.
The H16 was shooting actual ISO 250 Kodak 7207.
The Krasnogorsk was shooting ISO 50 Kodak 7203 so thats the LUT the A7ii received.
 

Ah, I remember the days when this thread was about, you know... the Canon 1D C's price drop. I miss those days.

​I'm about to list a Novoflex C/Y > M4/3 adapter on ebay. Of all the adapters I've seen (including Metabones) Novoflex are the best: it fits both camera and lens perfectly. If you're looking to get Contax Zeiss glass for your GH2, you'll do no better!

I'm about to sell my Speedbooster for Contax/Yashica Mount > M43 so if you're interested in going the Contax Zeiss glass route and would be interested, let me know

​Agreed and why I decided to build a set. I currently have the 21, 28 (2.8), 35 (2.8), 50 (1.4), 28-85 Zoom and am awaiting the arrival of the 85 (1.4).
I'm looking forward to shooting my next film with them

@nahua & @Rudolf quite surprised to hear your comments re the C/Y mount Zeiss lenses as I've only ever heard glowing comments about them. Indeed, there's a 259 page (and growing) thread all about them on the Red User's forum in which there's nothing but love for them.
Still, it's all personal preference at the end of the day!