sevenstreets

I'm glad to see some push-back to Andrew's narrow definition of what makes a good camera. There are many of us out here that need every advantage we can get just to keep up with real life as it unfolds in front of the camera. We're trying to tell stories that require a particular kind of tool. And a camera like this is one of the better options. It's not perfect, but it certainly doesn't need a larger sensor, and it doesn't need its lens lopped off. These 'shortcomings' are some of its primary advantages.

I've always had this issue. VLC and Windows Media player are different. For me, WMP has more contrast and saturation. Watching youtube in different browsers (Chrome, IE, Firefox) also makes a difference. As far as I can tell it's just the way it is.

I use a Sennheiser MKE 600 - Shotgun Microphone as well as two Sennheiser ew 112-p G3 wireless mics. To record I have the Zoom H6. I like that this zoom has actual dials for level control. Phantom, etc. No problem with audio quality. The little screen on it is not fantastic, but okay. Great battery life when using expensive AA. I went with the H6 because it has 4 XLR inputs. When I am running two wireless mics (which I do for some documentary work) I like to still have the shotgun as another source. So I need more than 2 XLR in puts for that situation.

So one of my concerns with this camera is the AVCHD codec at 8bit 420. Are people actually using it for broadcast work?

Well I did this little test for myself, and (contrary to what I said above) thought I would share it. The link below is a Potoshop file that I used to compare my G6 to my x70. You can turn the layers on and off to compare. For each camera I have included a ungraded and graded image. I am not a colourist, so this is just a little experiment. I did the colour adjustments in photoshop - so results would be different if properly graded. Lighing conditions for this test were overcast/flat. Camera Setup: Both cameras were recording 24p AVCHD 28. (at the moment I don't have fast enough cards for XAVC in the x70). In general both cameras have sharpening turned down and saturation slightly reduced. G6 settings: Lens: Lumix G 12-35, f/14, 1/60, ISO 400, Daylight Photo Style: Portrait, Contrast -5, Sharpness -4, Saturation -3, NR -2 x70 settings: Lens: F/11, 180 degree shutter, 0dB, no ND, Daylight+1 Picture Profile: Black level: +10 Gama: ITU709 Black Gamma: no change - all 0 Knee: Manual point 75% slope 0 Color Mode: ITU709 Matrix Saturation -2 Color Phase 0 Color Depth: no change - all 0 Color Correction: off WB Shift: LB-CC all 0 Detail: Manual, V/H-0, B/W-Type3, Limit level 2, Cripening level 4, Hi-Light Detail level 2 Colour Correction in Photoshop: The corrected layers have a bit of sharpening added. Not sure if I value sharpness as much as some, but I wanted to see what would happen. Otherwise I just adjusted levels a bit, and added a bit of warming. The file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15090697/Panasonic_G6%20Sony_x70%20Compare.psd Hope this is useful.

One of my main reasons for wanting to go with this camera are its ergonomics and size. And I am willing to sacrifice a ittle on image for that. I have had a chance to play with it a bit now. I would say it's roughly on par with my G6, but only after working on tweaking for a while, and they are simply different images. I think it's major weakness is in how it handles highlights. On the default settings, blown out highlight areas look like crap. But after playing around with picture profile settings (which I do feel are a bit limited), I can bring them into a mostly acceptable range for myself. This won't be the case for some. There is nothing groundbreaking in terms of image. So if that is what you are looking for, keep looking. I am not going to post samples or go into detail because it's not my strength. I will post a couple of Alister Chapman's reviews below, where he goes into more detail, including addressing the highlight issue. Dynamic range is middle of the road. I have seen some aliasing and moire - maybe more than my G6. In addition to the links given above, you could look at: http://www.xdcam-user.com/reviews/cameras/sony-pxw-x70-review/ an earlier post with a bit more discussion: http://www.xdcam-user.com/2014/07/the-sony-pxw-x70-sometimes-good-things-come-in-small-packages/ Video review: http://www.sony.hr/pro/article/broadcast-products-videography-pxw-x70_video

Just picked my x70 up a couple days ago. I have not had a chance to shoot much yet. But my initial impressions: - It's heavier that you might expect from it's size. I don't totally mind that. The build quality feels very good. - focus peaking seems very precise! much more accurate than what I have been using on my G6 with Pany 12-35mm lens - focus magnifier works while rolling, which is very cool. Button for it is in a good place. - Sony recommends UHS-I Class 10 U3 cards, which I don't have yet. The cards I have only allow me to shoot AVCHD. Will have new cards soon to take advantage of XAVC. I think these are the recommended cards: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1071443-REG/sony_sf64uz_tqn_64gb_sdhs_uhs_1_u3.html - I do miss having a zoom ring, but it's a sacrifice I am going to try to make. - focus ring needs a lot of turning to get from a near focus to far focus. and given that it is quite small, this feels clumsy to me. it would be nice if there was some sort of speed-proportionality to it, so turning it faster would cause accelerated travel - I think there is a term for this but it's not coming to me right now. I can update here once I've done a bit more with it.

Can someone confirm my math as I am not sure I have this right. Say I pick up the sigma 18-200mm for Canon APS-C to use with the Metabones MFT speedboster: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/827697-REG/Sigma_882101_18_200mm_f_3_5_6_3_DC_OS.html Shooting HD 1920x1080 to equivalent 35mm zoom range of this lens would be: 21.7 - 241mm (18*1.7*0.71 = 21.7) etc. B&H suggest this is Canon EF-S mount but it seems from the above discussion that is not the case. It is Canon EF?

Thanks for the suggestions. I've upgraded ram to 32GB. Actually downgraded graphics slightly to GTX 760 as I don't know how much use I would really get out of the extra cores on the 780 (other than in Resolve which is not a primary tool for me). config: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/sevenstreets/saved/hCWfrH

Hey thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts! I decided to go Ivy Bridge rather than Haswell so that I could get the monster 6core i7-4930K. It sits above any Haswell options on PassMark but is still (somewhat) affordable: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html Plus Asus came out with their X79 Deluxe motherboard not that long ago which supports Quad channel RAM and all that good stuff, including SLI if I go that way at some point. Also going with Nvidia GTX 780 3GB. So a good amount of power there. You can check out the build here if you like: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kqsgQ7 This should be all the power I need for a long time I hope. I have also selected components that I hope will be fairly quiet. I can report back on that once it's in and built. I can't stand a noisy computer! The GTX is the mostly likely candidate for noise, so we'll see... I think the only thing I regret is that it will consume more electricity and create more heat than I wish it did. But working in Avid, After Effects, Premiere and Resolve, it should excel - hopefully. I do this for a living so I hope it's a justified investment. Still hurts though!

I'm working on a new build. A year ago most people seemed to be going with a combo like: i7-4930K on Asus P9X79. Main advantages: 6 cores, 4 channel memory Dave Dugdale's lastest build is along these line (he went Sandy Bridge 3930K). Also recommended by Blackmagic. These systems benchmark very high. Now I see video guys and others suggesting the Haswell i7-4770K on Z87. Main advantages: most current chips, Thunderbolt 2. But you lose 2 cores, which shows in benchmarks. Will be running Resolve Lite, Premiere, and maybe Avid Media Composer. Editing GH4 4K footage Any recommendations?

CineD is great. Not as worried about evaluating image quality as I am about just playing with the footage. But if you can pass on setting details, that would be nice. Thanks!

Hey GH4 owners, could one of you upload some 4K (24p) footage straight out of the camera? Or point me to some online? So far I haven't found a reliable source where it hasn't been processed in some way. Does the 4K come in mp4 and AVCHD options? I would like to test the work flow on my editing system a bit before deciding on the camera. Thanks in advance.

I have a G6 as well. If you need stabilization, Panasonic lenses are the only game in town--which is too bad. They have flaws in terms of video work. Maybe one day we'll get an active metabones that will support Nikon or Canon stabilized lenses. Or maybe with the growth of m43 there will be new options. In any case, I've used the 14-140 and the 12-35 (2.8). Here is where I posted my frustration with them (which may not frustrate you at all!) : '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

This is where I'm at too. Amazing specs and probably a camera I will buy. But seems like big steps forward while forgetting some fundamentals. Though it's true that it depends so much on what you are doing, and what's most important to you.