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sunyata

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  1. Like
    sunyata reacted to PhilK in Last chance to order your early 4K raw AXIOM Beta - a Linux based open source camera   
    Hi all,
     
    While I agree with almost all of the posts here - both positive and negative, the thing to bear in mind is this camera is a Beta, not a production model.
     
    I'm the person who's been described in other posts as a mythical creature - an amateur videographer who can afford the price and time to invest in this.  And I see that the potential this camera gives, especially with ML on-board, would be an opportunity wasted if I didn't commit to it. 
     
    I've a very long relationship with Linux and have tinkered with the ML code so for me a quick fiddle with the source code and a re-compile is no big deal.
     
    I know I'm in for a bumpy ride, but for me who has the luxury of not having to worry about screwing up paid gigs, and benefiting from a bleeding edge systems, is really exciting.
     
    So for all of you nay-sayer, sit back and just let this project pan out.  It may crash and burn, but it also may be the best thing ever (well, for raw video cameras that is).
     
    Just for the record I'm from a background similar to maxotics - been using ML for a few years, absolutely stoked when they developed Raw video, bought a 50D and really enjoyed the quality of the results - became frustrated somewhat with the core ML devs (but still an avid supported for what they've given me) jumped ship to BM and so enjoying my BMPCC because 'It just works' and enjoyed the rollercoaster of a ride with their firmware updates so much that I bought a seconds BMPCC (bugger still hasn't arrived yet though - effing BM and their Swiss distributers!)
     
    And while I've been reading EOSHD for years, this is the first post that I feel so passionate about that I've created an account to post with.
  2. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from Francisco Rios in Last chance to order your early 4K raw AXIOM Beta - a Linux based open source camera   
    yep i agree, but there is another possibility of end user; people that want to make or modify their own camera and would love all the info   :)
  3. Like
    sunyata reacted to mojo43 in Sony A7s Color channel clipping issues   
    There is a solution posted here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?329145-a7s-movie-high-iso-problem
     
    "I can reproduce the issue on a color ramp chart and it appears to be a significant discontinuity that only exists in the blue channel a few stops before clipping, right before the point where the highlight primary color shifting issue takes place. It is different from the highlight primary color shifting issue* which I have seen in nearly all Sony cameras. The issue seems to occur in all picture profiles with all gamma curves and all color modes even including Black & White. It also occurs in PP OFF if creative style is set to Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, and Night Scene. The issue does NOT seem to occur in CLEAR, DEEP, LIGHT, BLACK & WHITE, SEPIA, and AUTUMN LEAVES. Alternatively, the issue seems most greatly affected by white balance, where in my tests the issue was greatest around 2500K and quickly diminished as WB was adjusted upwards and the issue seemed nearly imperceptible by around 4700K.
    Currently I'd say if you are in situation with strong blue lights and are experiencing the issue first try increasing your whitebalance or switch to PP OFF and a creative style of CLEAR, DEEP, LIGHT, BLACK & WHITE, SEPIA, or AUTUMN LEAVES.

    *I also see the normal primary color highlight issues that Sony cameras have where blue highlights go cyan and red highlights go yellow etc. Interesting that particular issue seems to be solved by using REC709(800%) gamma, though it seems to fix the issue simply by clipping off all the highlights where such lights would be an issue... Oddly the issue is fixed in my FS700 by using slog2, but while Slog2 and Sgamut seem to minimize the issue on the A7s, it still exists.

    Also I would caution against using Color Depth B+7 to fix the issue as it doesn't seem to remove the crazy blues, only to bring the entire blue channel up to the clipped blue saturation level that occurs in the issue. It will likely make your colors look ridiculous like anything blue is a bright flat blue cutout. In my test, Color Depth just shifted where the issue seemed to appear in the luma and WB range."
  4. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from jgharding in Arri lighting workshop videos   
    Really more about light types and their characteristics. Lots of good info in the other talks too.
     
    Introduction to lighting:
     

  5. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from nahua in Arri lighting workshop videos   
    Really more about light types and their characteristics. Lots of good info in the other talks too.
     
    Introduction to lighting:
     

  6. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from Nikkor in Arri lighting workshop videos   
    Really more about light types and their characteristics. Lots of good info in the other talks too.
     
    Introduction to lighting:
     

  7. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from Daniel Acuña in Compulsory viewing for EOSHD readers!   
    thanks for posting this, it's what i've been feeling/saying here since my first post. with digital pro-sumer cameras, i believe we need more usable dynamic range, not resolution. personally, 2k at 24p seems to work fine for me: if it isn't broke, why fix it? i think LDR 4k is really a ploy to sell more tv's.
  8. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from nahua in How safe is it to give a potential distributor a copy of your film?   
    watermark it with the person who signed the NDA's name on it and give it to them low resolution? that's how i get screener material that hasn't been released yet. if it gets out, someone gets sued, heads roll, people jump off balconies etc. 
  9. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from leeys in How safe is it to give a potential distributor a copy of your film?   
    watermark it with the person who signed the NDA's name on it and give it to them low resolution? that's how i get screener material that hasn't been released yet. if it gets out, someone gets sued, heads roll, people jump off balconies etc. 
  10. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from Xavier Plagaro Mussard in How safe is it to give a potential distributor a copy of your film?   
    watermark it with the person who signed the NDA's name on it and give it to them low resolution? that's how i get screener material that hasn't been released yet. if it gets out, someone gets sued, heads roll, people jump off balconies etc. 
  11. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from Jonesy Jones in How safe is it to give a potential distributor a copy of your film?   
    watermark it with the person who signed the NDA's name on it and give it to them low resolution? that's how i get screener material that hasn't been released yet. if it gets out, someone gets sued, heads roll, people jump off balconies etc. 
  12. Like
    sunyata reacted in Compulsory viewing for EOSHD readers!   
    Can we let this go? What you're saying is all common knowledge.
     
    You are basically reinforcing my point, which is 'get 2K right before jumping to 4K'. Yes the GH4's 4K gives great 2K, but why not just give us great 2K straight out the camera? Why not put all that bitrate into colour and DR? Consumers don't need 4K!
    OK the A7S does some of that, but the codec is horribly thin - S-LOG on the A7S is as daft as Cinestyle.
     
    And I have a BMPCC. That's part of the reason I'm saying what I am. Why don't the big manufacturers focus on image quality like that? Because it doesn't fit with their overall marketing strategy.
  13. Like
    sunyata reacted in Compulsory viewing for EOSHD readers!   
    Superb debate on the future of camera tech and the cinematic image (from newsshooter.com):
     

     
     
  14. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from nahua in Grading   
    hey nahua-
     
    i didn't bother to adjust levels of the bottom layer, but of course you could do that to match the black diffusion filter. also the blur is exaggerated, you'd probably want to drop the gain a little to make the glows less opaque. this is really more of a glow effect than a blur when you build it manually.
     

  15. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from JazzBox in "Cinematic": your point of view on this word   
    I'm gonna go with a more general statement because I think once you define something too clearly, you start to lose your creativity, but in general, I think a viewer's state of mind is what defines "cinematic": If you know you're being told a story and your mental state is that of understanding you are watching a facsimile of reality, then I think it could be considered cinematic.
  16. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from Geoff CB in Sony F5 hack unlocks 4K XAVC recording   
    guys, this applies to engines, whiskey, amplifiers, blu-ray players, vfx, lenses, monitor panels.. it's your job as DIY'ers, to find these imbalances, take the labels off, solder off the capacitors, hack the firmware, de-restrict the exhaust, snap the aperture rings... and keep it a secret: it's a good thing.
  17. Like
    sunyata reacted to Andrew Reid in $60 Pentax that's actually a $800 Zeiss with optics by designer of Stanley Kubrick's NASA glass   

    The Contax Zeiss Distagon 'Hollywood' 28mm F2.0 is a classic fast wide for full frame and is incredible on Super 35mm as well. Wide open it's one of the sharpest F2.0 wide angle lenses available and it has very little distortion.

    The Contax Zeiss version fetches $800 on eBay but there's a $60 wolf in sheep's clothing called the Pentax PK 28mm F2.0 which has a fascinating story behind it.

    [url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/10730/60-pentax-thats-actually-a-800-zeiss-with-optics-by-designer-of-stanley-kubricks-nasa-glass]Read the full article here[/url]
  18. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from jonpais in What hardware do I need exactly for editing?   
    CPU speed and video card aside, heed my advice... you need to think about backups! I'd go with a used / tested LTO-4 or 5, on ebay. If you're serious about editing, you're gonna need a searchable library of footage to keep offline, not just a stack of firewire drives and dead computers. Just my 2 cents. 
  19. Like
    sunyata reacted to SleepyWill in Sony A7S saturation test and skin tone test - with film convert   
    No, it's not - I made it! I just simply googled "tree", took the top 1000 images and combined them together. I wrote a simple little program to automate the process but haven't done anything meaningful with it yet, but "tomato slice" works particularly well, as does "banana" and "cucumber slice" (I had a food blog and used those three as the header). "Apple" is interesting as it is half apple logo's and half fruit: 

  20. Like
    sunyata reacted to richg101 in Sony A7S saturation test and skin tone test - with film convert   
    colour science is a myth.  just another thing for people to talk about on forums.  Tweek the wb or do slight curves, problem solved!
  21. Like
    sunyata reacted to plochmann in Sony A7S 120fps slow-mo at ISO 12,800   
    Remember film guys, do you.  You just shot things underexposed and it still looked great.  Remember how all the colours and exposure smoothly bled into each other when you shot 5217.  Blacks were blacks, whites were not overexposed but just a part of the image.  
     
    Point being, people complain because digital still don't do it right!  I downloaded the original file, and I just won't be buying any camera.  To my eye, I could get these results with GH2 at a lower ISO and by adding more light.  Sure, there would be more banding and noise, but when it is at this level I find it distracting and why not add more of it.  If you want to know what irks me most about the image, it's the undulating banding on her finger tips, possibly from the light of a flame swaying in the faintest breeze.  Sure, it's great to capture this detail, but the codec just kinda hands it back to us in a distracting way.  
     
    Some of the later shots look great.  They remind me of something from the 70s, maybe Altman using pre-flashed film.  This is the real crime, that some results make me forget it's digital, and then other shots make me wonder if it is an i-phone?  This is the newest challenge to being a DP, so many different cameras and each with their niche.  I think this camera has a vast potential for some projects, but you need to know that limit.  It's scary now getting called in for a job and they say they are using yadda yadda whatever camera and you haven't used it and you don't really know the limits.  You know of course, 8 or 10 bit, what codec, the workflow, but you can't say for sure how she'll ride.  If it's a real job they let you take her out and play, but most jobs aren't this professional and the whole shoot will put you in the hot seat.  
     
    Some people have commented that this is a better demo video for the camera.  This is true, I am sick of landscape camera tests.  How many times are we working for any kind of job and the shot came down to a landscape and the dynamic range.  I don't think hardly any audience anywhere gave a flip about the dynamic range in the films landscape shot.  What, maybe the shot in NO Country for Old Men needed that range for artistic flare, but seriously, most videos I shoot it's about the actors face or clarity of image during events.  Test videos need to shoot real light situations (including what you would pull from your grip truck) and people's faces.  PEOPLE!!!  Cameras do more than landscapes and if you are going to buy a camera, that's why you need to pick the most flexible one. 
  22. Like
    sunyata reacted to Daniel Acuña in Movie Film, at Death's Door, Gets a Reprieve   
    Yep you are right, I still believe film is the best thing out there to shoot a movie, and I hope it's still going to survive the digital era, because film is how cinema was born!
  23. Like
    sunyata reacted to dafreaking in Movie Film, at Death's Door, Gets a Reprieve   
    The funny thing is...if everyone was still shooting film, this blog wouldn't exist.
  24. Like
    sunyata got a reaction from pablogrollan in Canon's color science is wrong in the right way / Matching Alexa Color   
    Turns out a lot of stuff I have was shot on an Alexa, so I thought I'd post two very different shows, 3 examples, to show how a wide range of final skin tone grades is typical. I think the main thing with the Alexa is it's flexibility, due in large part to how close they've come to a 2k film master in dynamic range, log-c profile, motion blur, sensor noise etc. In some cases all the stuff about pleasing skin tones is gone in favor of a dark, colder and often noisy look. In #1 you can see the softness of the 2k image - not just color science - helps with softening skin, concealing lines and make-up. In #2 you can see how grainy and dark the image can look - the cold fill light - the camera sensor isn't too dense. #3 almost no skin tone left in final grade. The motion blur overall looks like a film shutter. I have lots of examples of chase scenes, fights or explosions where this is really apparent. It's the opposite of the high density and sharp, but smaller sensor of the GH4, or the 4k with low bit depth, more compression of the A7s. Making an "Alexa-ish" LUT for the A7s couldn't hurt, but the image is still going to be totally different, especially with motion. But it doesn't really matter because soon we're all gonna be dead from Ebola, was just informed, have not yet verified. 
     

     

     
    look at how blown out the neon sign is.. and no banding in the shadows.

  25. Like
    sunyata reacted to leeys in Desktop for Editing: Hackintosh?   
    Well, more CPU speed never hurt, if you ask me. With 4K workflows it's definitely good to have more, along with faster GPUs, the latter of which is underpowered in comparison in an iMac.
     
    If you're just using it for backups, a USB 3.0 drive is plenty fast.
     
    I hate hate hate hate using any OS from Apple. It always does my head in; I'm guessing there will be people who are on the opposite end.
     
    There's always that one Linux guy... :P
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