tupp

Exactly.

Okay, but real tungsten has a smoother spectral curve than fake tungsten. I seem to recall hearing that some folks were buying off-brand replacement bulbs and double-ended bulbs for hardware store, quartz work lights. They were putting these sub par bulbs into production fixtures with double-ended sockets (Totas, Nook lights, various zip lights, Colortran Multis, etc.), and the bulbs were slightly shorter than the standard bulbs. Perhaps someone in your organization purchased a batch of such bulbs, and that is what caused the buzzing/arcing on multiple fixtures. I have never seen such problems, but I have always used brand-name bulbs in my fixtures. What? No. As I said above, a popped quartz bulb has nothing to do with the fixture -- someone likely touched the bulb without cleaning it, or the bulb could have been defective. Don't blame the Totas. No. If anything, it's another strike against the relatively pathetic output and power density of LED fixtures. The tungsten Totas are fine. Actually, the LED Tota is probably also fine -- it just gives less output (and is undoubtedly more expensive) than a tungsten Tota.

Yes. Always use protective screens with open-faced tungsten fixtures, regardless of the level of the crew's experience. Most manufacturers will give you a protective screen for free if you don't have one. Well, you definitely do not want students (nor inexperienced crew) handling your cheap, delicate, re-branded LED fixtures -- they will break something on such fixtures at some point. In general, non-pros handling professional equipment should be very careful, and you have to clearly and emphatically warn such folks of any potential hazards or equipment vulnerability. I never had a problem with students ruining bulbs by touching them -- I simply don't let them install nor handle bulbs. Well, LEDs generally don't provide the punch nor control nor clean color that tungsten fixtures give -- so there is a trade-off. Also, LEDs generally have more weight-per-footcandle (especially if one is toting batteries) Furthermore, on cold sets or on locations with plenty of AC, any heat from the lights is often not a problem (sometimes it's a benefit). Oh. Well, you wrote, "totas," a plural tense indicating that someone inexperienced installed multiple bulbs. If several bulbs pop, it's probably because a clueless person used their bare hands to lamp the fixtures -- popping bulbs have nothing to do with the fixtures themselves. Really? 2-3? I have never had one Tota (nor any other tungsten fixture) "buzz," "spark" nor "short." I have experienced sockets go bad from someone who didn't fully seat the bulb. If there is contact arcing on a Tota double ended bulb, it is easy to see merely by removing the bulb. It looked like it had the output of a 300w tungsten bulb.

Are you shooting your interviews in outhouses? With tungsten, you also get a smoother color spectrum, greater beam control and a higher power density. I saw it at NAB. I doesn't look as bright as Tota with a 750w bulb. Here's a tip: never touch the glass part of a quartz bulb, because the oils from your skin will cause it to eventually pop (explode). Always use a clean paper towel to hold the bulb when lamping a fixture. Don't use a facial tissue -- it can be impregnated with moisturizing oils. If you accidentally touch the glass part of a quartz bulb, do not turn it on until you have first cleaned it with a new paper towel and isopropyl alcohol.

Here's a used tungsten kit with a decent sized Rifa and a small Pro light for US$425. It also comes with a 40-degree egg crate for the Rifa. This kit is a good deal and that Rifa with the egg crate is great for interviews. It would would probably be a good idea to add a "medium-sized" focus-able light, such as an Omni (here's a beat-up one for US$32). An extra stand for this light will probably run US$30-US$100.

Let's hope that the big tube structure on the front is removable and can be replaced with sane (much shallower) mounts.

It was available in GIMP years before it appeared in Photoshop.

If he were trying to rip-off people, why would he put so much effort into a working prototype and why would he still pursue a review from Bloom? Perhaps he has some sort of psychosis. It's too bad, because they seemed to have made significant progress with the camera. On the other hand, choosing Windows for a camera OS doesn't make much sense. Any embedded version of Linux/Tizen would be simpler and more solid. Linux would make it much easier to get a more appealing GUI up and running. It certainly would have been nice to see the how the camera performs in the hands of someone who has some review skills.

I've done one or two car rigs. Which camera are you using? You probably don't wan't to use a gimbal if you are mounting the camera on the picture car -- the car will bounce and turn while the gimbal will have a tendency to remain still. There was a thread about car rigging last year. Hood mounting can be easy, using just a board with some padding/thick fabric underneath and a motorcycle strap or ratchet strap. You can use a bracket mounted to the board that receives a tripod head or use some sort of tilting/panning mechanism with 1/4"-20 threads. Don't forget to "safety" the camera with a separate tag line/strap. If you want to mount a camera on the side of the car there is a special bracket called a "hostess tray" -- a term derived from the American drive-in diner food trays that the skating hostesses would hook to the customer's car door. Don't forget to "safety" the camera with a separate tag line/strap. Suction cups can wobble and should always be used with an additional safety strap (which can also help stabilize the suction cup rig). There are a few tricks to keep reflections off of the windows. If you are shooting a car in which an actor is actually driving, avoid busy streets! An actor is constantly trying to be the character, which can significantly distract him/her from noticing other cars, pedestrians and road hazards. Having a "spotter" car ahead of the picture car can provide extra safety and can govern the speed. Slow speeds often look faster in the footage.

You have to set the focal length for each manual lens you use. I think that the GH5 asks you about the focal length when you turn on the camera.

Possibly relevant links: Complaint that Panasonic requires customer to pay repair shipping; Lower heating element replacement; Comment on how to replace lower heating element.

Very interesting to see the Kipon MF focal reducer combined with the Mavo LF! Is there any footage available? As nice as it is to see the Kipon-MF/Mavo-LF combo, I must say that the car mount rig shown Instagram link is "ugly" (in grip parlance) and that the motorcycle/ratchet strap stretched on the edge of the car window is alarming, as is the lack of a lens support for the MF lens with the Kipon focal reducer and the Kinefinity E-mount adapter. I hope that they at least attached a lens support for that rig before they drove over any bumps.

What are the dimensions on the sensor of the 4k and 2k crops?

It's not going to do any good if both of us to keep repeating ourselves. I'll try a different explanation. In the first place, dynamic rage was originally a property of analog systems to indicate the useful amplitude range rated in decibels (not "stops"). It is similar to the property of signal-to-noise ratio in that it gives some idea of the useful amplitude range above the noise floor. DR now applies both to analog and digital systems. Bit depth on the other hand is strictly a digital property that simply gives the number digital level increments mapped to an amplitude range (usually including the noise floor). So, the useful amplitude range (analog or digital) and the number of digital increments mapped to the entire amplitude range are two very different, independent properties. The noise floor of the sensor and/or ADC determines the actual dynamic range at that point in a camera's signal pipeline -- not the number digital level increments mapped (log, linear, whatever) to the signal's amplitude range. Or perhaps we are confusing usable capture contrast range with dynamic range.

There are a zillion different 12-bit capable ADCs/cameras, but they all don't have the same dynamic range. You can map 12-bits (linear, log or whatever) to 200 "stops" of dynamic range or map 12-bits to 3 "stops" of dynamic range. Dynamic range and bit depth are two different completely independent properties. The E2's low noise mode may take advantage of the 14-bit depth (I would say that the E2's 14-bit depth takes advantage of it's low noise mode), but, nevertheless, ZCAM could have just as easily mapped 8-bit, 10-bit or 12-bit to that low noise mode. Bit depth and DR are independent properties. Okay. I haven't kept up with the progress (doesn't sound like there has been much 16-bit progress in the last ten years).

No, it doesn't. Dynamic range and bit depth are completely independent properties. Now, an ADC might be part of the signal pipeline that constricts DR, but that has nothing to do with bit depth. Again, the bit depth of those ADCs don't have anything to do with the DR. Those ADCs could just as well be 4-bit with the same DR. By the way, 16-bit ADCs exist.

Folks, just a friendly reminder: Dynamic range and bit depth are two different and completely independent properties. A change in dynamic range does not affect bit depth, and vice versa. Bit depth and dynamic range do not correlate -- period. They are completely different properties. Exactly. You can also make a 16-bit camera that has 2 "stops" of DR. In addition, you can make a camera with a given dynamic range that allows one to choose 8-bit, 10-bit or 12-bit depths (many such cameras actually exist). I can think of a few scenarios in which an 8-bit encoding would be more desirable than a 10-bit encoding of the same image -- if the 10-bit encoding has a lower resolution than the 8-bit encoding, the 8-bit image could exhibit more detail. Furthermore, if the resolution of the 8-bit version has over four times the resolution of the 10-bit version, the 8-bit version will have more color depth than the 10-bit version. Keep in mind that color depth and bit depth are not the same: color depth = bit depth x resolution Also, an uncompressed 8-bit version could very well have an advantage over a highly compressed 10-bit version.

Looks like a nicely performing cinema/broadcast camera. The F-mount is interesting. The B4 mount suggests a crop sensor mode (but there might also be magnification optics in their B4 mount). Perhaps, in regards to S35, Blackmagic is starting to think a little outside of the EF/PL box. However, from the photo it appears that the internal NDs are permanent and this is yet another S35 camera from Blackmagic with an interchangeable lens mount that will not accept lenses and adapters requiring shallow mounts. So, there are countless nice, interesting lenses that cannot be used with this camera, nor will interchangeable FF-to-S35 focal reducers work with this camera and nor will special adapters (such as tilt/swing/shift, continuously variable ND, etc.) work. If this camera has a crop sensor mode, it would be great if it could accept M4/3 and C-mount lenses. On the other hand, @lucabutera's internal Magicbooster insert might work inside the camera's EF mount, even with the camera's internal NDs.

The TechArt E-mount adapter with a speed booster (as suggested by @BTM_Pix) is one way to go. Or you could simply go FF-to-FF and just use the Kipon MD-to-NZ adapter. Which MF Minolta lenses do you have?

Just use one of the Kipon Baveyes MF-to-FF focal reducers made for the Nikon Z-mount. As an added benefit over straight MF, you get an extra stop of brightness.

Use a matte for your establishing shot with walls painted the same/similar color as the walls in your live shooting space. Stay tight for most of the other shots and only show the running water partially in a corner of one of the shots. Here are some underground mattes. Here is a tutorial.

Kipon has it, without the ND: Looks like they have made a few additional Z-mount adapters, including some tilt/shift models. Also, they seem to have made four focal reducers for medium format lenses on the Nikon Z (they appear to offer the same models for the EOS R). Has anyone tried the Kipon "Elegant" lenses on the Nikon Z?

I wonder which one of you is correct... ? Actually, if the camera does get released, I would imagine that it would happen sometime in between your two projected times. It probably won't happen "soon," as the guy in the video announcement didn't give any prices, and also note that the images of some of the camera models are CAD renderings. Two more camera models? That's even more ambitious than two guys producing a single camera. Somebody needs to go to the Ximea site and see if they are offering additional cameras with similar features to these two additional models. The footage looks pretty good to me, especially the properly exposed shots showing sunlit areas juxtaposed to deep shadow areas. However, the only way to get an accurate assessment of the DR is to conduct a proper test with proper charts. I don't see any indication of "trolling." They appear to actually be making progress. On the other hand, this recent announcement is probably premature.

In addition, the Ikonoskop camera and the original EOSM can shoot with 16mm and/or S16mm lenses, plus there are many 2/3" cameras that can use 16mm lenses. Also, I seem to recall seeing an Aaton S16mm digital camera at NAB awhile back.

Not really. In the first place, the development of this camera is in the beginning stages. They achieved first light just five months ago, and, apparently, there are only two guys working on it. This haphazard test footage is not meant to be a final demo of the camera -- it's way too early for that. These clips just show that the camera works and that some properties might have been improved. Secondly, although I do not think that 8K is necessary nor desirable for 99.999% of filmmaking, no conclusions can be drawn from this footage. A controlled, side-by-side test is the way to discern and advantages/disadvantages of one format/camera over another. Keep in mind that digital color depth (the first property that you mention) is primarily determined by two equally weighted factors -- resolution and bit depth. In other words, resolution has the same influence on color depth as does bit depth. The higher the resolution, the higher the color depth. So, an 8K image has more color depth than a 4K image. Of the three properties that you mention, dynamic range (capture dynamic range) is most important to me. An unwanted camera-induced color tint can usually be fixed by merely white balancing or by moving a slider in grading software. Not sure exactly what is meant by "color science." It seems to be exceedingly subjective how each of us define that term and how we individually perceive desirable/undesirable color. Again, it's way too early to conclude anything about the image quality of this camera, and they don't have John Toll on staff to shoot their test clips.