Laurier

7 minutes ago, tupp said:

A simulation is not reality.  Furthermore, does this simulation take into account variables of diffraction and of the variable concerning general differences between lenses made for small formats and lenses made for larger formats (such as flatness of field)?

Well perspective compression is relative to your distance to your subject ( that why people speak about equivalence , a 42.5 on micro four third and a 85mm on full frame will produce the same compression at the same distance from the subject) 

The test you show simply say that the Leica are more corrected in term of distortion than the Cooke.

If you like distortion, get the Kippon, you will get a lot of it. But in term of compression and dof your 80mm f 2.8 will act like a 52mm f 2 .

The point of larger format is I guess that wide angle are a bit easier to manufacture.

I had one with a set of mamiya on a a7s, sold it quickly.

First the focal reducer add a fair amount of barrel distortion,
Second, as stated by others, focal reducer.... reduce focal so your 80mm 2.8 become a 56 mm f2.... It s not so exciting, you can t go super wide either .
The only good point for me was that the lenses where bigger with a good focus throw, so quite production friendly.

Due to the modern market full frame lenses got a lot of improvement compared to medium format, today you can get pin sharp lenses wide open at 1.4, so getting medium format glass with a speedbooster on full frame is not such a good idea IMO. 

Using it without can be decent as you only use the center of the image circle but you will be mostly stuck at F2.8.

Keep in mind that the alexa 65 sensor size is not far off full frame either.

If you want the medium format feel on smaller format, just use lenses a bit longer and faster than you are use to, something like the Nikon 105 f1.4 

6 minutes ago, Brother said:

Thanks to all of you for some great suggestions!

Should have mentioned this in the beginning but there's a project coming up where nothing else than image really matters, hence the ignore rest comment. Controlled environment, good lighting, everything is stationary except those in front of  the camera. 1-3 minute shoot, edit, send to client, repeat.

then you should definitely go for the blackmagic 4k.

Are you going to use it in controlled environment or not ? are you going to shoot all day long with it ?

If not nothing beat the versatility of a a7s/2 , you need to expose it properly and have decent skills to grade it , but for complex production the battery is a bit a pain in the butt.

Otherwise get a blackmagic pocket or the 2.5k one.

I had gh4/a7s/bmpcc and shoot a feature on the bmcc 4k.

Panasonic motion and image is not pleasing at all, the best images a I saw out of it, were when used with some lomo spherical to cut the sharpness. and still the colors/motion are so so...but a small versatile camera
Sony colors and rolling shutter suck on the a7s...but you can shoot everywhere anytime.
The pocket was way better in term of color/motion/look, but beware the moire.
The blackmagic 4k is unusable pass iso 400. otherwise pleasing image.

I personally now have a ursa mini 4.6k nothing to complain about....you get what you pay for.

What I wonder is why would anyone buy the leica SL if you are going to mainly use it for video.
For that price you can get a fully equipped ursa mini 4.6k or a scarlet mx , or even a epic mx brain.

Andrew Reid, I feel you have a severe gear acquisition syndrome .

Also I would really like to see what you actually do with your equipement, I mean I get that you are reviewing a lot of stuff ...but I always  wondered what you are actually shooting as I never saw anything beside test footage.

To be honest your forum was super instructive about the DIY anamorphic stuff and a lot of people around here are very nice, and I really enjoyed reading your articles.
But as I myself grow professionally, I started to have doubt about the depth of your reviews.

And this article IMO is really showing that, stating What do you upgrade to once you get bored of Sony and Panasonic? kinda make me sad, because it s seems like your motivation toward gear is not to produce work with it but just use them as a toy, and that really kill all the seriousness of it.

On 12/22/2016 at 4:16 AM, Geoff CB said:

Because the F35 is built like a tank compared to the easily broken Ursa, and has an incredible image without any magenta issues?

The magenta issue is a thing of the past, they fixed it with the last firmware , also the Ursa mini body is full magnesium, built quality is here , I was expecting something with more plastic but it s really not .

On 12/19/2016 at 3:52 AM, TheRenaissanceMan said:

People have definitely found ways to mount other glass on it. Besides, there's plenty of affordable PL lenses these days. It can shoot 48fps iirc, which is half speed, and I've talked to people on DVX User who use the camera completely solo. The F35 gives you a much better image then the RED One--just not better specs. Hollywood films are still being shot on F35, not RED One.

Thank for the 48 fps, I didn t know it .

I think the camera is still overpriced when you compare to what you can get for the same price today.
 I mean for the price, why bother, you can get a ursa mini 4.6k.

On 12/17/2016 at 9:14 PM, ade towell said:

Sony F35 if you want to emulate film with super 35 size sensor, not 4k but as sharp a 1080 as you can get and uprez's very nicely

That camera is gigantic and heavy , you also need an external recorder, and pl glass only . 
Sure it as global shutter but no slow mo at all .

This camera is still overpriced as it s very hard to use if you don t have a full crew with you , they should go for 2k not 4/6k , I d rather for for a red one if I had to pick one of the two.

My overall personal experience after having a Bmpcc , GH4, a7s + recorder and some production with them are that ... I m done with dslr style camera .

Either the codec or the battery or the colors are issues (or rolling shutter ect)...

So I decided to move to something more professional and also considered a red one , a kinefinity terra and a Ursa mini

( I m doing creative work so I need a bit of slow mo, so no canon)

At the end of the day I went with the ursa mini 4.6k .

The red one is just too heavy, won t have warranty and the accessories are not transferable with the more modern red cameras,  it s fine if you have small crew around you , but as the solo operator it s too hard to manage IMO ( and no 4k 60fps ) But the image is great and the workflow too.

I actually pre ordered the terra 5k, but canceled it after so many delays, also one of my a7s died on shooting and made me realize how important it is to be able to send your camera for repair easily, with Kinefinity you have to send your camera back to china ...so also a no go.

Red mx brains (either scarlet or epic ) prices are dropping but the accessories are still quite expensive .

You should reconsider the ursa mini you can get a second hand one for cheaper , get faster glass or some extra light with the money saved.

A red mx won t be better in low light, and other than a F55/F65, sony colors....sucks period , panasonic is barely better outside of the varicam range.

Personally I  find external recorders to be a pain to use . More battery to carry , more potential issues , ect....

A ursa mini will be all in one .

SOLD

Hello everyone,

I m selling a rectilux core DNA, as new , used only in studio for a day an half

Come with a brand new set of diopters.

Asking 680 euro shipping included for europe / usa . ( normal price with shipping is 720 euro for the rectilux)

Thank you.

If you have the budget go for Sony PZ 28-135mm, It s all you need , it don t look as  glamorous as some vintage lenses but if you are a single operator that the most convenient lenses you can get . IF it s too sharp you can always diffuse it.

It s stabilized , parfocal , constant aperture , good manual/autofocus and it s have a servo zoom .

If you work with a crew and have a remote focus puller then you can go for rokinon .

Otherwise everything else is 4k+ in term of professional equipment .

Adapted lenses are always compromising.

3 minutes ago, Hans Punk said:

Yes, reworked internals and more durable matte paint finish on exterior.

I m about to do the same thing , what did you reworked ? there a bit of play on mine , I m getting better screws .

1 hour ago, Hans Punk said:

Yes I have one. It's optically great, mechanically poor IMO. But It's probably the best solution out there at the moment for use with the Kowa Inflight 35, You will probably need some modification to make it work at its best. DM me if you need specific pointers (it can be a lengthy process).

Here it is on my Inflight PA-35, with configured rail mount and custom clamps.

Is that a black painted rectilux core dna ?

I don t think any modern lenses will be more worthy in the future than they are now. 

Even vintage ones cost at best what there where new when you consider the inflation.

The market for pro video equipement is growing and price are getting lower .

If you want something that will keep a lot of value buy a 32mm and a 70mm modern cooke panchro or anamorphic if you can afford it .

Or, as said, go for leica R and  maybe also Zeiss otus.

Also modern lenses are more fragile and subject to failure than vintage full metal construction.

4 hours ago, enny said:

Tera 5K with soeedbooster i know what speedbooster does but what is the purpose on terra and did you purchase basic kit? and how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking

 

Hi guys thanks for all the info and posts. Did some hard thinking and decide not to go with MX because of weight and age. But decided to jump in to terra 5k just the options alone and anamorphic 4:3 slow mo in 4k at 100 and 200 at 2k is dam tempting plus i hear they have dam good support and regular update. I will just wait till Jan next year not in a hurry and see all the tests and reviews when it comes out. Plus red camera price should go down a bit when terra comes out.

You get 1 stop of transmission extra , you also get wider field of view , on the terra you get almost full frame on a super 35 sensor.

I get the TERRA Basic Pack with the focal reducer canon mount  and it going to cost me between 5500/6000 usd , because I did the pre order /  pay in Chinese currency and have it delivered in china it s a bit cheaper .  Otherwise the same package is close to 7000 usd I think.

I think the slow mo on the old red are crop of the sensor , and the mx is a fairly soft sensor , that nice at 4k but at 2k it might be too soft for your taste . And not very future proof .

With the red mx sensor you have a nice look/colors out of the camera , redcode is fantastic in term of data management honestly .

The red one can have a m42/nikon mount for cheap and you can get cheap glass. 

Consumer product are consumer product , today you have a lot for the money, but you still usually have poor codec / dynamic range / colors compared to even older equipement .

For still, is use a mamiya ZD , it s a 22 megapixel medium format camera , it s native iso 50, it s slower than any new dslr and it s 10 years old .

But it was more than 15k when released and and paid 2k for it couple of month ago, but in term of highlight handling / image quality / look it s just way better than any sub 3/4k usd camera on the market today.

But that thing is made to be use in pro environment , with flash/lighting equipment ect.

If you want something easy to use / fast and your clients are low budget , go with the consumer grade stuff , then upgrade regularly.

If you want to get higher clients invest in entry pro stuff, or second hand high end .

If you plan to shoot fashion / music video I would avoid the red mx and the scarlet because of the lack of 4k slow mo.

Personally I pre ordered a kinefinity terra 5k , with the speedbooster you get T2 zoom and the vistavision look on a native iso 800 camera . raw/pro res and 4k 100 fps .

12 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Do a better job for you.

If had to carry a camera over a glacier, would I prefer the RED One and huge tripod? Or a weather sealed 1DX-II?

Yeah , but If you had the budget to go do a shooting on a glacier, you should probably rent/buy something like a c300 mk2 that is weather sealed with pro camera functions and internal ND. Because I don t think you want to go shoot a space where everything is white without zebra and peaking and on a 8 bits codec.

Honestly I don t really see the point of still trying to shoot good video with a expensive dslr, I mean, now you can get a used red one MX or blackmagic/sony for less than 3k , or even canon pro camera .

Few years ago we didn t had choices.

But today  there are so many camera on the second hand market that will do the job better than any DSLR .

During the last 3 years I got a GX7/BMPCC/GH4/A7S, and I got tired of doing compromises, and only the BMPCC  felt like a proper video camera, the GH4 was overly complex for nothing and the VLOG is buggy slow mo was so.so , and the A7s+recorder is just a pain to move around + no slow mo + very bad rolling shutter.

I m getting a kinefinity Terra  because hopefully it can do everything and , ok it s more than 3k , but at least I feel like it something I can keep for years , with DSLR you always hope that the next generation will fix the compromise you accepted when you got it.
 

On 4/24/2016 at 11:16 PM, MattH said:

Wow, Is there anything more pretentious someone trying to elevate their own importance by issuing awards.    If it does have to win an award, it should be "most promising camera" As we haven't seen it working or seen footage from it.

They did test the 6k camera a little bit them self , they posted sample frame from the camera on their website .

Also the camera was running and plugged on a monitor on their booth .

I agree that some fancy footage would help to sell the camera but simple footage is enough to see what the highlight and the skin tones look like .

1 minute ago, SR said:

The Sony BP-U30? That's insane. I thought I saw them rig up a v-mount size battery in the videos.

It s both , the body take the sony one, but with the extra rear module you can use V-mount.

49 minutes ago, SR said:

I love the size of the Terra. But I was wondering what kind of portable power solutions do users of such camera utilize for long day shoots without electricity nearby? Just carry a lot of V-mount batteries?

The camera use the same batteries as the sony FS apparently , and each run for one to two hours from what they say. They are quite small and 150 usd each .