Jonesy Jones

Skin tones.

So for starters, you need a good spanking. Audio is just about the most important thing. 70% of what you see is what you hear. People will walk out on bad audio waaaay before bad video. Didn't monitor it? Good grief! Ok. Hopefully you learned your lesson. Moving on. Unfortunately audio is not as flexible as video. They really have created some good fixes lately, but it's no where near as flexible as video. That said here's what I'd do. Use a parametric EQ in audition. Turn the Q on one band all the way down and the gain all the way up so its just a thin spike. Now sweep the frequency until the trouble hum becomes super loud so you know right where it is, probably sub 500 hz. Then drop the gain nearly all the way down and maybe widen the Q a tad. This should help. Sometimes it'll magically all disappear, but typically it just helps. You can try a couple bands of this method. If that doesn't work and none of the other fixes work, try ADR. Re-record your actors audio having them mimic the performance as close as they can. Then bring the original audio and the new audio into Audition. Audition has a thing where it'll line up the new audio to match the old. It might not be perfectly spot on perfect, but it should get real close, perhaps even perfect. I forget what that's called in Audition though. You'll have to look it up. Next time, spend way more time recording good audio.

I'm just interested to hear your experience with this set up, the whole thing. Is it easy to set up and hit record? Any hiccups while filming? Is offloading as painful as I imagine it to be? How nice is the image compared to other cameras you have experience with? How well would it intercut with other cameras? Looking forward to hearing about your experience.

Irony...

Yes. I love the look and colors here. Nice. The most worrisome thing about the image with this camera seems to be noise in the darks/blacks. Apparently if you ETTR a bit with this camera, and crush the blacks in post, it greatly diminishes the noise. But this FS5 + RAW/ProRes is turning into an intriguing and amazing camera.

Very sorry to hear this. It doesn't sound like the guy I have read and learned so much from.... at all. Let's hope the real Ebrahim shows up soon and makes this right. Otherwise yes, his account should be flagged and banned.

This stuff looks great. Please post more if you find it.

One camera you did not include in the 3rd group, and the one that I use for those things, is a GoPro. I love this thing. It's possible the x1000 is better, but I only have experience with the GoPro, and I love it. I use the GoPro 4 2.7K. It's fun and easy and quick. Can easily take video or stills or time-lapse. I love photography and selfies and group shots with the super wide. So much fun. With my phone or any other camera the 3rd category is a pain for me. With the GoPro it's a pleasure.

Yes, higher even. And data storage costs would be at least equal. So no point in that. But thanks for the input R man.

Woah JFR. Let's not be nasty. I definitely don't want to argue about this. Hope you're having a great day. Everyone's been a huge help. Thanks for your input. I'm gonna run some tests. I just might learn something. If I can, I will post the results.

Have you seen this video? (Yes I know that this is the BMCC not BMPC. The point is that the GH4 keys nicely.) Honestly, pending tests, I'd prefer the BMPC. But if the difference is negligible, my client prefers the GH4 due to the price difference in the cameras and the cost of data storage (which is actually pretty massive in this case - roughly 48TB). We'll see how they stack up next to each other in tests that we'll be running soon.

Yes it does. Thank you. I agree, and that is why we are testing. The GH4 has the advantage of everything being easier and cheaper, except for possibly post, which would be a massive deal if it is noticeably more difficult. Renting is not an option. The amount of content we are creating would drive the cost waaaaaay up if we had to rent. Buying a less expensive camera like the GH4 or BMPC is far more cost effective. And btw, I used the BMPC for our first shoot yesterday and it keys like a dream. Like crazy easy. I can't even believe it. The GH4 has some big shoes to fill if it's going to take it's place.

Aaron, so the GH4 I ordered got stuck in the mail and I wasn't able to test it out over the weekend like I had hoped. I've just got it in and will be comparing it to the BMPC in the next couple days. It's just occurred to me though that there are a plethora of ways I can set this up, settings and what not. Would you give me your thoughts or best guess as to what settings would best yield the easiest image to key? I'm asking you since you have specific experience with this camera and green screen. Some specific questions are: Which PP? Contrast? Saturation? etc. Also, needs to be 4K. I guess the only options are 30p or 24p 100Mbps? Nothing higher or Intra-frame or whatever right? MP4 or MOV? Lastly, we will be shooting for hours at a time. Takes could be 30-60 minutes each. Do you foresee any problems with that? I had a GH3 for a while and when I would shoot long takes it would start a new file every 10-15 minutes or so. I feel like I would lose a couple frames when that happened. Would that happen with the GH4? Obviously some of this will come down to my own tests, but I don't have as much time as I'd like to run through every scenario. And I have NO experience with this camera at all. So any help you can provide would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

Have you seen much footage? This is all I can find. And it's not blowing me away.

Got it. Sounds like you know what you're getting into. I just didn't want this to be a nasty surprise. If you do go through with it please please please share your experiences.

Sounds good Oliver but I think you're missing my point. You CANNOT dump footage from this thing. You MUST use their proprietary software to view and then export footage from the card. Apparently it is very time consuming and a major pain. From what I've heard the software isn't bad, it's just a VERY time consuming process. You'll need those extra SSD's.

Oliver, you are thinking what I've been thinking. I wrote about this in my NAB 2016 write up, and in another thread about drones. I think the idea of one camera that can be used in a ton of ways quickly and easily could be a massive game changer for some. I hovered around this camera at NAB and online for quite a while. However, I didn't go through with it for the following reasons (not necessarily in this order): Price - for a camera/gimbal/drone set up that shoots 4K RAW it's actually not bad at all. But as an unexperienced drone operator, 1 wrong move and it's all over. It appears price may be coming down, though, so this may change things. A reduction in price would make this far more tempting. Media cost - the proprietary SSD's are like $1500 or something. These need to come way down as I'd prefer a couple spares. Even at $1k they'd be pretty pricey... and proprietary... why? Offloading - last I checked you needed their proprietary software and this was quite a painful process. If at least you could just dump it onto a hard drive, that would be one thing, but apparently you can't. What a pain. Gimbal issues - these may get worked out, but to my knowledge there were issues with the gimbal connecting with the smartphone/monitor. I observed this issue at NAB. But again, perhaps this will be solved. Batteries - they do not last long and you'd need a few. I don't remember them being ultra costly, but adds yet another cost. These are not deal breakers, but would be welcomed improvements: C-fast - the SSD drive is bulkier than everything else, it definitely adds some weight and size, more than you'd think. C-fast is coming down in price and would make the whole card/drive way smaller and could handle the data. Prores - as someone already mentioned this would be awesome. I think the system already records a prores reference file, but your choice of 4k prores flavors instead of RAW would be awesome. Tripod shooting - I would love some way to put this on a tripod without the motors having to be active, and to power with an external battery. One camera that could easily/quickly go from tripod to gimbal to drone would be amazing. It's almost there already. Seems like this would be an easy thing. Adding non-motorized tripod support would also open it to a ton of lenses that don't care about size and balance. External monitor - if I could use it on a tripod, then I'd like to monitor it with an external monitor. I don't know how hard this is, but it would really add to the overall value of the whole system. Shoots missiles - lots of governments would be interested, and would be super fun.

That's pretty ambitious but if it works for you please share. Phone seems too small. Even iPad mini is too small for me.

Thanks guys for the input, I was kind of leaning toward buying both and testing them against each other. The slight eBay fee or return shipping cost is worth it. I guess I was just hoping someone could point me in the right direction without me having to do work. Btw, once I've run the tests I plan on posting the results. Even though these are older cameras this is still a valuable test.

Need your help real quick guys. I've got a pretty large project this summer. I'll be shooting 40 dvd's worth of curriculum, all green screen. I had already thought about using the BMPC 4K for this. The 10 bit UHD prores HQ files seem like a dream to key. Most of the negative aspects of this camera vanish in a well lit studio green screen scenario. And this is the only projected use for this camera. However... I've been hearing a bunch about how good a key can be pulled from the GH4. Even though this is somewhat counterintuitive to the 8 bit file coming from this camera. The other pros to the GH4 is that the camera can be had for half the cost of the BMPC, and I assume data storage ends up significantly less too (I'm guessing 1/4 the data). Now, we have the budget for either, but if the result is nearly the same, it makes no sense to buy the bulkier BMPC. Here's a quick summary of my thoughts for each. BMPC - I've heard this sensor produces one of the best images for keying. Awesome Prores HQ files. Beautiful color and skin tones. Great camera for a studio environment. More costly than GH4 and more costly data storage. GH4 - I've heard this keys very well too. Concerning 8 bit files. I don't like GHx colors. But half the price of BMPC and 1/4 the cost for data storage. Please remember that punching in to the 4K image is essential. I don't know which would get softer faster, especially with a key. Your thoughts are very welcome. Thanks in advance.

Looks beautiful. I don't use Resolve enough to remember all the terms but there is a field in the Color page that you switch from Rec709 to BMD Film. Then you can add luts and stuff.

Definitely going to wait a couple/few weeks, and thanks for the iPad tip. I think right now that's my first choice for an external monitor. I actually already have the 7506's, if I end with this as my audio monitoring setup it'll save me some money and space for sure. Those look really cool. A bit power hungry I'm sure but an interesting solution. hmmm...

Hey guys, I could really use your help. Within the next month or so my living and working arrangements are going to change drastically. In the past/present, I've always used a bedroom or closet as my workspace and that has always worked for me, but that is not going to be an option soon and I need to become super mobile. Like, one day working from a hotel room, next day my truck, next day a coffee shop... you get the idea. Right now I'm doing most of my work on an iMac and I love it, but I just can't see a way to make that as mobile as I need it to be, I'll be going to a MacBook Pro most likely. That part's easy. But there are some peripherals that, I don't necessarily need day to day, but that I use enough that I need to work them into the plan - like audio/speakers, external monitor, etc. As mentioned, the system will probably be built around a MacBook Pro and my favorite idea right now is to get a Pelican case that can house the laptop and peripherals. Obviously the laptop is ultra portable on it's own, but I'd also like a system where I can open the Pelican case and go to work. What I need are your thoughts and ideas, any of them, but also specifically with audio/speakers, an external monitor, and possibly a small power solution. Audio/speakers - obviously I can use headphones, but I know from experience these are not good enough for a final mix. Right now I'm using 5" KRK's, but those are way too big. I've had them for years and haven't looked anytime recently, maybe you know of something with awesome sound and super portable, and maybe even bus powered. External monitor - it might seem like this is something I can do without, and maybe I can, but I am thinking this is something I need for some scenarios. Even if it's small. Just something I can use in addition to the laptop screen. I've got a 7" Lilliput, would that be weird? Any other ideas would be welcome. Power - I think that much of the time I'll be able to plug in, but is there a cool little power pack of some sort that can run a laptop and accessories for an hour or two? Thanks in advance guys.

Is Heat an action, if so then I love that too. Matrix (the original) is the only other action film that I'd really watch.

Man. That is gorgeous.