Jonesy Jones

I trust your judgement, but I have to ask, why would it vignette? If the lens is designed for F mount, and the speedbooster has a tendency to minimize vignetting, what would be the source of the vignette? Btw the E mount I'd be looking at would be the FS7. So S35. Has Rokinon made a zoom yet?

Been hearing about this lens all day. Let's just say I am extremely tempted. Seems like a lot of real cinema glass all in 1 $10k lens. Covers every focal range I use. And I typically shoot at F4 anyway. Other than cost, why wouldn't you buy this lens? Question, since this lens can be fitted with nearly any mount, is there a reason you couldn't fit it with the Nikon F mount, and then speedboost it to a Sony E mount and make it a T1.9 or whatever?

BM sells A LOT more cameras than Red fo shizzle. They also sell to a much less experienced user (including myself). BM cannot possibly produce the quality Red does, nor can it quality control like Red. And cannot R&D like Red. Put them all together and you have what we have.

Agreed. Some of the BM footage corner issues are drastic. Blatant. But much, maybe even most of the stuff posted I can barely see or would have missed if it hadn't been pointed out. Exactly like the Raven footage I posted. To me, the Raven footage is actually more obvious than some of the UM46 stuff that supposedly has magenta corners. My point is purely this, if some of the UM46 cameras suffer from a slight magenta vignetting that apparently also plagues some Ravens, yet BM is somehow the ONLY camera company that makes faulty cameras and delivers late. I just don't get it. Second, NOBODY on this planet denies that there are some UM46's with very problematic magenta corners, not even BM. Those cameras are RMA'd. BM responded with a firmware fix (that corrects this problem slightly) and has slowed down production I assume to improve quality control, but that is pure conjecture. And there seems to be an overall sense that the cameras coming out are improved in this regard. Also, BM has rocked an awesome 4.0 beta that will eventually be debugged. They do not make perfect cameras, but who does and at what price point? I love BM and cannot for the life of me understand why they take so much flak. NOBODY has helped the frugal filmmaker to create amazing images like BM has, nobody.

We're talking about two different issues. I guess Raven has multiple problems.

What everyone called magenta corners on the UM46 is clearly visible on the video I posted, it's even there in the cover thumbnail. Now if that's not magenta corners, then I'd say much fewer UM46 cameras have the issue than are claimed, and only suffer from whatever is happening in the Red Raven video.

Below is footage from a Red Raven. Magenta corners are there if you look with the same fine tooth comb as you do with UM46.

My understanding as I watched that test was that the magenta corners showed without IR and disappeared with IR. To me that is a pretty simple workaround. Thanks for sharing.

Saw someone posting footage from their brand new Raven or Scarlet W, I can't remember which. Clear and obvious magenta corners all over the place. I wondered if it was just me so I looked at comments, sure enough others and the filmmaker all noticed it and talked about it. But what was weird is they weren't freaking out about it.

Thank you JB. I always appreciate your insights and wonder where you find the time, but I am very grateful. I'm sure BM is as well, and thousands of BM users. I don't think all of the negative Nelly's out there realize what their options would become if Blackmagic dropped out of the camera making business. It was disheartening to not see any camera announcements from them this year at NAB, but if that is only because they are going to wait until they are closer to delivery then I think that is a very good thing. Regardless, even when a camera or spec or feature change doesn't meet my expectations I try to stay positive because I am thankful for companies that are truly trying to create a win/win relationship. We get great tools, they make money. When companies fall short trying to create great tools, it's a bummer but it happens, and I still support said company. I love the effort. However, when companies purposely handicap tools to make more money, that is frustrating and I prefer not to support that kind of company. BM seems to tow the line of win/win as good as any. Aputure is another one of those companies. These companies deserve, and need our support even though they are flawed at times. To the BM and Aputures of the industry I say thank you, as well as all the John Brawley's and positive thinkers. We have it really good. Really good. God bless.

To me the lower price is only aimed at one of the 2 fatal flaws in my opinion. The other huge issue is offloading, which as I understand it is not just as simple as dumping data. Don't you need to use their software to transcode or something? I don't even mind using their software but I don't want to have to do it on set. Just let me dump and transcode later. As I type this I had an idea, aren't there programs that allow you to clone a drive? Couldn't you just clone a full SSD, allowing you to dump the data, and then run that data through their software later as if it were on an SSD?

I just noticed this. Up until I last checked, the DJI proprietary SSD's were $1500 each. On their website, they are now $1000 each, and you can buy a bundle of 3 for $2500, making them just over $800. So now, 3 of their SSD's cost less than 2 of them did before. So, they are not cheap now, but not 'kick me in the balls' expensive either. http://store.dji.com/category/inspire-series

My understanding is that Red Helium is not 'full frame', it is Super 35. Red used a smaller pixel density to get 8K onto an S35 sensor.

Sure, but how is it measured, or what technical aspect creates better motion cadence? For example, I can immediately tell the difference between 24P and 30P, and we can identify a technical difference between the two. And I can tell the difference between rolling shutter and global shutter, and we can identify a technical difference between the two. But with motion cadence, I couldn't say that I can always spot good or bad cadence, and even if I could, I couldn't tell you from a technical standpoint why one is better than the other. Still, I love the motion from the BMPC, and I attribute that to global shutter, though it could also be influenced by magical cadence sprites for all I know.

The URSA and URSA mini 4K both have the 4000x2160 sensor, the Mini is the same price as the BMPC. The Mini gives you 60P, and the Major 80P. And to my knowledge, the Major has the added benefit of very little noise. I know a lot of people dog on the Major, but you'll find that people who have used it find it very nice to work with, all those screens and particularly the large one. I got to play with one at NAB and I loved it. Other than brief hands on at NAB, I have never used an URSA, but I did have the BMPC for a while and I can say that there was definitely something special about the motion. I still don't really know what motion cadence is, but I can say that the global shutter on the BMPC produced the most cinematic motion that I have ever worked with.

Do you guys do storyboarding or previz before production? What do you use - stick figures, software, hire an artist? If you don't, why? Is it too time consuming? Too costly? Or perhaps the payoff is not worth the time spent? If you are aware of any awesome tools that many filmmakers use I'd love to hear about them. Thanks in advance. Jonesy

Both Alex Buono and Shane Hurlbut have demonstrated how to get top notch lighting for $30 from the hardware store. Shane actually regularly uses his homemade lights on features because he can inexpensively mount a bunch of them at various places on set and just flip them on anytime he needs to. He just mounts like 10 sockets to a 1x3 board and wires them all to a switch. He just uses incandescents. You can also just use a long vanity light. A $10 shower curtain from Bed, Bath & Beyond will do an excellent job as a diffuser. Clamp lights are great. I think Film Riot has an episode that has most of this in there.

Thank you JCS for that great breakdown. Within the next year I foresee myself buying a higher end camera and it is bewildering all the considerations for such a significant purchase. I have only shot with a Red just the once, and I am not a big fan of the colors or look of MX. Good to hear that Dragon is better. I've never really been a big fan of Canon colors (I know that's heresy around here, but just my opinion). C300 ii at its new price is more attractive, but I just haven't seen anything from it that really catches my eye. I luv me some Blackmagic. I am absolutely in love with the image from the 4.6K. It's my favorite image below Alexa. It would be a done deal for me if it wasn't for the form factor and quirks. Blackmagic also offers UHD prores an easy peasy codec, something that Red doesn't provide. The FS5/7 cameras are great too. But loading them up with external recorders to get the image you want negates some of their charm.

Just out of curiosity, are you a Red owner? i think you'd be surprised by how many pro filmmakers are here. I am a filmmaker for a living, but I've only used Red once, just recently. It was MX. Skin tones are very plasticy and now that I've worked with it, I see it more in other productions. I've heard better and worse about Dragon. Some of the above has that same plastic look. Even the ones that don't, still have a Red look. It's not bad. Just looks like Red. It's almost like Red footage commands attention. Whereas Alexa footage gets out of ten way.

You know this because.... An assertion needs evidence to add validity. Btw, i believe he is a filmmaker and not in politics himself. Have you seen the movie? Me neither.

Haven't seen it yet but I've heard its very good. Just haven't had the chance to see it myself yet.

Skin tones still look kinda plasticy to me. I wouldn't have noticed as much, but I just recently shot Red for the first time and I totally get what everyone has said about skin tones. It's like a tanning salon tan.

After looking through the B&H website and Atamos' site it appears as though the Inferno will do everything the 7Q+ (with firmware) will do. But I thought I read somewhere the 7Q+ will do 120 4K at 4 sec bursts, if so, the Atamos won't do that. I'd also say the Inferno is by far the superior monitor on many levels. I got to see it in person at NAB. It's gorgeous. Personally, I lean toward the Inferno for several reasons. One of them being that I try to avoid companies, Convergent, that obfuscate the costs of their products, which tells me their hiding other things too.

You may be interested in this thread. The sample images may look a tag green. This is not the lights fault. They actually display a very nice light.

What is the real price of the 7Q+? Seems very confusing... SSD's, firmware, 4K?