Nick Hughes

I think it's important for people to see that you're working and remind them that you're out there. I follow tons of local filmmakers and the ones who I see posting set-pictures or stills from a project are the ones that stay in the front of my brain. When I need to bring on an extra shooter, the first people I think of are likely to be the ones who I've most recently seen sharing their work. You can pimp yourself out however much you want (or not), but we as filmmakers shouldn't be afraid of sharing our work. 

18 hours ago, Kubrickian said:

Check out this guy's settings / workflow: 

 

Some nice looking shots in there, but there are some really awful artifacts going on. The shot at 1:20, going under the crane. Look at the letters on "Cape Town Cruise Terminal," look at the wires on the crane, look at the water, look at the ships - pretty much everything has this crazy dancing artifcating going on. The shots are beautiful enough to distract you, but once you start to look at pretty much any part of the image and the flaws become pretty obvious.

How far were the lights from the silk?

19 hours ago, Axel said:

Track-based NLEs have worked reliably for decades. Editing on computers had always been that way. And editors are used, trained, conditioned to the way of thinking which independant tracks demand, which is arranging ideas in time. You can place your first clip three minutes or hours into the future with FCP X too, but the program strongly discourages this. It gently forces you to compose your story linearly. Each clip you add seems to strengthen the magnetic pull, resulting in self-suggesting cuts. This can be a trap. You so early see the outline of your whole project that you rarely think twice. It has the efficiency of a mind map. A mind map, through visualizing the connections of your seemingly uncorrelated fancies on a certain topic, organizes these ideas. Happens almost without effort on your part. Vague thoughts are rendered concrete, they become storylines. The process is dramatically abbreviated, doubts about alternatives have no time to sink in. 

 

That's actually a really interesting point that I haven't considered as a FCPX user and I'll definitely keep it mind in future edits. One counterpoint is that Final Cut makes it so much easier to rearrange edits into completely new ones because of the magnetic timeline. You just drag the clips you want to move to the end, to the beginning, wherever, and the other clips shift around as needed and then your edit is ready. You may need to change some J or L cuts, but as long as your connected clips are set properly it should be very smooth. With track-based editing, if you decide you need to restructure, then you could be in for a very long process with many opportunities to make mistakes and misplace things.

Additionally, any good editor should be able to plan their story before putting a clip on the timeline. Pen and paper aren't going away. And I'd argue that using a gap to place a section three minutes in isn't necessarily working against the FCPX workflow. You place your gap, and then utilize the magnetic timeline from that point on. Then, you can place a group right above the gap and you've got a new 'magnetic timeline' to work with, that you can easily merge with the main timeline whenever you'd like. Yes, you've created a track. But it's a very powerful track.

Sure, FCPX does make it easier to be lazy with an edit, but why should that be an argument against it? Isn't that an effect of any new technology? Certainly the same arguments were made when Media Composer.

CDNG Recording on the inferno seems to have been delayed, meaning that for the time being only RAW>ProRes recording will be available. Not a huge killer for me personally, but something to consider.

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

Yeah it is a bit confusing... good news is they have opened up SSDs though to 3rd parties! But only very specific Samsung SSD.
As for buying licenses from Convergent Design, I'm not 100% sure if that was just a thing of the past and now new models come with it, or this is still true? Would need to look that up. 

You very much still need to buy the license from Convergent Design. Looks like it's on sale until mid August for $595, as opposed to the usual price of $995.

You're getting cameras for non-filmmakers to shoot with? That fact alone screams Canon over Sony.

Maybe get some intervalometers as well if you have guests that could stomach waiting around for a couple hours.

1 hour ago, Fritz Pierre said:

See footage thats tests rolling shutter when you have a chance...I already own an Inspire 1 and I'm contemplating the X5 for the file sizes and the ability to shoot on SD cards so I would be really curious about the file sizes you get out of the X5R...I think I read somewhere 1.5GB/S...probably I'm making a mistake...

GB/s or Gb/s? Pretty big difference.

Shot with it for an outdoor concert where the band was under a dark stage and bright sunlight was everywhere else- behind the stage, on the fans, etc. We were renting and didn't want to install any picture profiles, so the dynamic range of the camera wasn't ideal for the situation. I made sure to preserve highlights whenever possible, so we'll see how much shadow detail the editor will be able to bring back.

Once thing I absolutely loved was how quick I was able to switch from 4K24 to HD120. Just set up two Custom modes with the correct shutter speed and shooting mode, and assign one of the CFN buttons to switch between custom modes and the transition is totally seamless, no waiting. So nice compared to Sony cams where it can take like 15 seconds to get up and running. 

45 minutes ago, HelsinkiZim said:

Maybe it is a great camera, I will try and look for some downloadable footage online.

After the initial outcry and subsequent fix, I haven't really heard any big complaints that aren't typical of any other Sony cam (related to questionable menus, etc). I certainly haven't had any issues. It gets noisy if you don't expose to the right, especially with HFR, but I haven't had any issues cleaning it up with Neat Video.

You can download these two videos of mine, but not sure how much you'll get of out playing with already graded footage. There's also no skin tones. Pretty flexible footage though.

https://vimeo.com/171630086

https://vimeo.com/171630097

This video features of a mix of FS5, BMPCC, and GH4 vlog, which seemed to cut together nicely. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7fBN4_NAqc

This video probably isn't helpful, but it features some nice 240fps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGg3jFAy_as

Anyways, back on topic. The c100 is still cool.

47 minutes ago, The Chris said:

I've never seen a FS7 or FS5 in the wild, lots of TV productions here in Florida from sports to reality TV to porn, and I've seen lots of C100/300's and Red's, a few Blackmagic cams and lots of DSLR's. Dual pixel AF, a great codec and painless audio makes them great run-and-gun/doc/ENG cameras.

The FS cameras really seem to be proving popular in doc-style shooting, which is where I've been seeing and using them. Also in concerts.

I'm always happy to get handed a C camera to shoot with, but boy do I love being able to flip on S&Q mode for some really nice 180fps. It really helps that cinematic-documentary format. They also seem to pair better with their DSLR-style counterparts than the canons. 

Exhibit A:

27 minutes ago, Inazuma said:

C100 and 300 are used a lot by the UFC and BBC, as well as internet shows like Vice news. Excellent cameras, though not for everyone.  

Many VICE productions are switching to the FS7, including a lot of their shows on their new channel VICELAND. 

13 minutes ago, silvertonesx24 said:

What do you think about the quality of the display?

I have a Video Assist HD, and while it's a decent device the monitor has a sickly green cast and a emits high-pitched whine when powered on.

My VAHD also has quite a strong green cast, and seems otherwise inaccurate. Doesn't seem too improbable for BM to have shipped a bunch of sub-par displays. A friend also had to send one back because of dead pixels.

5 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Great.  Now I can record the feature lecturer at the insurance adjusters conference next month without having to miss a single moment by pausing the recording and then restarting.

Seriously though...is non-stop recording (a feature that many people seem to go on about) not at all a big deal?  Legitimate question: does anyone here really need to record this long?  I'm actually curious.

Yes. I often shoot as a single operator running 3 or more cameras simultaneously. If I'm recording a full band set, or an orchestra, or a long lecture, I'm usually actively operating a camera that is far removed for several static cameras. If they only record for 30 mins at a time, then I'm missing a minute or more of potentially crucially coverage (an entire guitar solo, for example) from my main camera to walk around restarting cameras that are spread around the concert hall. 

For someone looking for an A cam, a recording limit probably isn't a big deal. To me, these small ~$1,000 cameras are useful as B, C, and D cams, which I often need to let run unsupervised for long stretches of time. 

15 minutes ago, Jonatan said:

I'm exited to hear qualifications needed to be a music video. And the other thing was so obvious that I just left it out.

Your criticism is boring. 

I for one enjoy hearing people try to assign what is and isn't art. Makes it easy to weed out whose opinion I should care about.

Fringing on the 35 is apparently much less problematic than on the 45 (Dustin Abbott did some nice reviews). The VC actually seems to be a nice compromise (from the various video snippets I've seen online)- it doesn't correct motion too much so as to get that robotic jerkiness that Canon IS can have, but it does seem to smooth out the micro-jitters quite nicely. Good operating technique and/or a bigger camera may pair very well with these lenses. Definitely looking forward to Geoff's tests.

I own an FS5 and love it. I upgraded for many of the same reasons you did - I do all kinds of work and wanted a proper video camera. I love my GH4, but I absolutely hate rigging audio and monitors to DSLR-style cameras. I still use a 5-inch monitor (and v-mounts occasionally), but it fits the camera much better.

I'm usually shooting the FS5 in 1080 for the 10-bit 422, but very happy to have the 4k available. Clear-image zoom is amazing, especially in 1080 where you can use the zoom rocker to smoothly punch in. Turns my 18-35 into an 18-70.

The codec is a good and bad thing as I'm sure you've read. Of course I'd love an all-i option, but it's also incredible to only need two 128gb SD cards for a FULL day of shooting.

Vari-ND is amazing. That is all.

Low-light is not going to blow an A7s user away, but I've shot at ISO8000 in slog 2 and 3 with usable results after NR. The noise isn't ugly, sometimes I don't notice it's there until I look for it. It does get worse in slo-mo, but still manageable if you shoot right.

Raw option is coming. I know it's another $2.2k (Shogun Flame route), but it's great that it will be available.

There's also the typical Sony annoyances, like no ECS shutter (so so useful for dialing out LED banding), and limited shutter options otherwise. Pressing 'menu' will take you out of S&Q mode. Audio input 1 can't record to both channels, but input 2 can. No Hypergammas. No IBIS. Monitor and EVF are just OK. 

It's definitely not the camera for everyone, but it hits a very nice sweet spot for versatile shooters who lean towards the doco/corporate side.

The new Pelican Air cases have an option for Trekpak inserts. 

2 hours ago, richg101 said:

A bad workman always blames his tools...  inproper wb settings and poor exposure.  get them right and you wouldn;t have had a problem

So should we refrain from criticizing tools with flaws?

Are you on the newest firmware? That looks somewhat similar to the artifacting that was happening before the fix. 

Regardless of the FW, there's definitely going to be aliasing happening at 240, especially on vehicles and buildings. 120 seems better. Bummer there's no middle ground.

6 hours ago, BrorSvensson said:

it really depends what features you need, the fs5 does 240fps and bursts, fs7 does 180fps contionous. The fs5 has an internal variable nd, the fs7 has 4k 60fps. 
 

With the upgrade it will be 240 continuous. 

With the FS5 + upgrades, you have a greater flexibility of shooting styles, from super slimmed down and discrete, to fully kitted-out RAW beauty.

With the FS7, you don't have quite the same versatility, but the baseline IQ in any shooting configuration is going to be higher.

I've personally been greatly enjoying using the FS5 in all kinds of situations and look forward to getting the upgrade paired with a Shogun Flame.

Besides the hassle, are there any reasons to spend $499 on the plug as opposed to $129 on the standalone? Render times?

4 hours ago, Axel said:

Well, for me there is one answer: Tiffen Dfx!

I've actually got a project coming up that could use this, thanks! Do you find it best to apply before or after CC?

It would be nice if there was some competition in the raw recorder field. I'd love to be able to use a 5" monitor/recorder for FSRAW (though I understand why it would be technically tricky to build such a product).

Use it all the time, it's so incredibly helpful for doc-style work where you can't always choose your lighting.