Ed_David

Dynamic range unfortuately is in the shadows - which is a region I usually just throw out in post.  I care about how it handles highlights - I am curious to see if it's an improvement in that front.  Very curious about this camera.

Shot on the Sony F55 W Zeiss Ultraprime Lenses and Angeniux 25-250 lens

Filmworks was the local production company - shot in Dubai.
An amazing experience.

Why the F55? Because it's light - it can handle insane heat - it has a global shutter and native ISO is 1250 - good for overcranking at night! And I had it on a steadicam for a lot of the shoot - and did I mention it was 120 degree days and it weighs about 6 lbs?

Amazing production and team - this was a blast!

This is a much better camera than the fs7.

The C300 mark II is announced and on paper it seems like like this may be a camera to rival the Arri Alexa Mini and the Sony F55 and the Red Dragon - 12 bit 444 internal codec - 15 stops dynamic range - high iso - lightweight - great sensitivity - and at a low price of 16k vs prices double that.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to start seeing images out of this camera.  The canon skintone look is beautiful - and it’s light and efficient camera - I am super excited about the possibilities of this camera.

Of course, until we do tests or see tests - for now we don’t know how it compares to the Arri Alexa Mini or the Red Weapon - but the C300 had a beautiful skintone to it - it had other issues with it - limited dynamic range and highlight handling - but this seems to alleviate all the problems.  

I am curious how Sony responds - if they do.  If only they go retro, and just put that Sony F35 magical chip in some new lightweight bodies or the F65 chip.  I wonder if they have any of those CCD chips lying around.  

Let’s see what Sony has up their sleeves.

And let’s of course see how these cameras actually work.  Because until it’s in our hands, it’s just data on paper.

​Yea those videos weren't really that impressive to me.  Andrew's flim and his articles convinced me.  Josephe Gordon Levitt is an amazing person and filmmaker - Don John is a great film - but yea, his little hit record short didn't really move me.

​I am not fine - I am out of my mind looney.  I want firmware updates every day, damn it.  Come on samsung, come on please.

You know what else isn't logical- life.  It's completely irrational and illogical.  Just like my other favorite thing - love.  I cannot say unsilly things to people - I am sorry Spock, I am.

Next time I will try harder with my forum reply.

wow that is sharp and pristine - amazing job!

​throw the nx1 into the trash and get another camera!  that's what I would do if I was upset like you.

​I disagree.  Interstellar had tons of DI work and that looks simply incredible.  if that was shot on the alexa it would have felt different.

​that's why i bought 2 of them.  also they are built like tanks.  yes that's the risk.  but waiting for the next great thing at NAB - it takes about 2 years after NAB for that said camera to get it's firmware fixes out of the way.

let's look at the stars from last 2014 NAB- the AJA Cion and the Blackmagic URSA - both are barely mentioned nowadays.  The Cion is a heavy brick with 9 stops it seems of dynamic range and 350 ASA - the URSA another giant brick.

so just buy old and proven tech.

​they are releasing firmware updates like twice a month - it takes sony 6 months to release one.  I think they are working very hard.  

​I have heard that one so many times.

It was the Red Epic.

then the red dragon.

then the blackmagic cinema camera.

once a camera is announced, then it takes about 12 months for the firmware to get the camera up to to speed - so it's about a 2 year process.

so why not just own an older camera that has all its problems figured out.  and then get that brand new camera one year later, used, for cheaper, with its problems figured out.  Not just be a beta tester for something that isn't perfect.

​well american new wave and french new wave were amazing - I give you that!  yes those were the glory days of film - but also how much crappy stuff came out back then?  I wasn't alive back then so I am not a good person to ask - maybe we should interview film critics who were around back then and do a film on that - has film gotten better or worse with the democractization of filmmaking?  

that would be a cool mini doc

who wants to make it?

this looks beautiful - it looks so sharp and nice - and damn it looks good - it doesn't feel "inferior" at any way to any modern expensive camera like the red epic - well maybe a little less dynamic range and the shutter a tiny bit "shuttier" - but overall this looks crisp and the color looks lovely.

Andrew Reid, broke the ground on this little odd camera from Samsung, and now look at where we are.

Hell yea Andrew!  That's the beauty of word of mouth and the internet.  Anyone out of anywhere can make something and if it's good, it becomes popular.  It's no longer based on marketing and all that!!  It's a beautiful thing!!

​Wait until - no don't wait.  The Sony F35 has amazing color and motion and you can get it for around $8k on ebay.

F65 I love what I say of it in the theatre.

But I also love the red look in the theathre.

and I love the look of the red one mx - so you can already get amazing results.

Stop waiting for the next and greatest - it's already there - buy used.

​I am the king of off topic!
 

Just f35, v mount adapter in the back, d tap to 4 pix xlr to hook up to interface box and the odyssey 7q - and you are good to go

2 hd-sdi cables into the odyssey 7q and boom you are done.

so it's about 10 lbs - you have an amazing monitor and recorder and just a top handle on it

if you are serious email me at ed.david@gmail.com I can help you find the camera on ebay and boom go for it.

Hey guess what - let me make

1.  a test video

2. make it in slo motion!!!

http://vimeo.com/123435623

thanks to convergent design - now you can go 60 FPS into their odyssey 7q - and plus - this makes it such a small camera to do this - no giant recorder anymore

this is amazing news....for the 6 people who own the f35!!!  so it can do 12 bit dpx files RGB and 60 FPS in 1080p - do you need much more than that out of a camera - with CCD, global shutter, and all this for under 8k!!!

well the lighting is crap - but hey, it's the sony f35 via dual link into the odyssey 7q in 60 FPS!! HOW ABOUT THAT??? 50mm sony lens.

look at that noise - that's the f35 - not adding film grain - noisy - 
so everyone please expose your footage correctly!

there never were good old days - youtube and vimeo started in 2007/ 2008.  We are in the infancy of online video sharing.

daniel in slo motion is amazing - thanks for sharing!

​Nope digitial is not.  Just watched Corpo Celeste shot on 35mm film - I still don't think any digital camera has gotten it there yet.  Defects are sometimes strengths.  Perfect, digital, is not always good.  Soon it will get there maybe.  But having texture and movement, how each frame dances is truly lovely.

Case in point, Spike Jonze's work on film - Being John Malkavich, Adaptation - compared to Her.

Same with Roger Deakin's work - Fargo vs Skyfall.

There is something magical about film that these great filmmakers haven't nailed.  And Deakins is one of the greatest Dps of all time.  I have faith that digital will get there, but it's going to take a while.

and in the meantime, why not keep what works - keep that alive.

Longest title ever for a video! This is a test to see if I can make these cameras feel like film - which one gets closest?

So SHOOT OUT!

CAM A - Sony F35 recording 444 GRB 12 bit DPX files into the Oydssey 7Q+. Slog - gamma. DCI P3+ as Gamut. 180 shutter. 
CAM B - Red One MX recording 4k 16x9. Red DragonColor 2 as gamut and Red Log Cine as Gamma.

Same 50 mm Sony PL lens. 180 shutter on both. Applied same lut to both! Visioncolor impulz Kodak 50.FPE with red log gamma setting to it.

Added gorilla grain.

First leg - normal color correct
2nd leg - pushing color to extreme

My Results:
1. Red One and F35 can match pretty easily - shutter on f35 was less staccato at 180 shutter - maybe at a 144 degree shutter motion can match perfectly
2. F35 can be pushed a heck lot more color wise
3. F35 has better highlight rolloff - very organic. Red one mx looks like how the panasonic hvx200 handles highlights - very video-e
4. Red One has more resolution - shot some test charts to show that

Overall F35 I think matches film a lot more because of how it handles highlights - the motion on it, maybe I need to shoot at 144 degrees to give it a little more choppiness, maybe that would help - anyway it's all personal taste at this point.

And there is super 16mm film shot by Hunter Hampton as the baseline - this is what I want my stuff to look like -I love film.

Let me know thoughts.

Arri was in the same mess - they made film cameras and lenses.  And now look at them - they adapted and I think are thriving.  Kodak had the first digital camera patent - if they knew what they were doing, they would have be at the forefront of the digital photography movement.  It was their game to lose and they lost big.

So did Sony and Panasonic and Microsoft.

Microsoft was number one for so long, Apple was about to go out of business.  

Then the iphone revolution happened.

And now look at Apple.

It's sad to watch film die, but it was inevitable.  Whatever is cheapest and most convenient always wins. And shooting film for stills - you just don't get that much of an advantage for the cost - film is clearly better, but how much is it worth it?

Knowing all this, dare I say, but how hard would it be to make a video social-media site that does what Vimeo can't do?

How much start up capital would it take?  Especially since anyone can buy server space on Amazon?  If Vimeo pulls about 30 million a year doing it, do you think someone would be interested in this concept?

And if its a video site made by filmmakers, for filmmakers?

Isn't that how Facebook started?  As a way to improve on the shortsighting of Myspace?

from http://www.eddavid.tumblr.com

Vimeo basically help me with my career- through a small camera test I did called, “Sexy S Log” where I tested s log on the f3 (new at the time) - an influential director and friend found me and got me into higher end commercial work.  And so did so many other films I worked on.  It is literally the best thing that helps me able to have a career.

With that said, I have watched it since 2008 - and since then, I have noticed more and more, that there are many things it can improve.  The biggest thing too is that it needs to improve, because right now, the video quality and playback is superior on youtube.  Vimeo was started as an alternative to youtube in that it gave higher resolution and less compression than youtube.  But youtube caught up.  So now more than ever there is less reason to use vimeo than youtube, except for the community that exists there.  Basically it’s a social network for filmmakers.

And I think they get that - with their “Staff” people always checking out videos and commenting - I love that.  You feel like you know them personally.  It’s so nice.

Anyway here’s a quick list of ways they could improve the interface to make it more successful as a film social network.

1.  have a “like” buttons.  so people can like comments.  or upvote or downvote a comment.  a la Reddit.  so there are also less, “thank you” short unnessicary comments

2.  the homepage should have a feed of all the videos of the people you are following.  like a news streams like twitter or facebook.  and allow you to hide or mute people you don’t want to follow

3.  allow users to quickly create “film festivals”  - playlists of content that inspires them.  like how spotify does it.  and feature the most popular ones.  Lilke curation - feature the most popular ones - the people with the most followers.  Or have famous filmmakers go on vimeo and find their favorite films, like spotify.

4.  improve the search function - it’s still very hard to search for filmmakers

5.  update the user page experience - so it’s more customized to the artist.  maybe more like imdb.  where you can quickly list films you worked on - resume style

6.  show location and other things that users have - what cameras, where are they located - do they want to meet up?

7. allow meet up events - film screenings, event invites - to build community - get a bunch of people together to watch films and talk about them.  maybe help create a film community in smaller areas.  connect people more globally

8.  vimeo pro - feature more vimeo pro films - it seems like vimeo pro is where a lot of the effort is going - monitization is always a good thing - but still - for non vimeo pro - maybe still create ads on the page, so that vimeo can focus on the free content as well.  

9. mobile friendly - still make it more social network like on the mobile browser.  

10. notifications - allow people to know when someone commented easier and your comment is responded to - like eoshd - this helps build community and discussions

11.  have a section just for discussion - have more forums - just for talking about filmmaking - again with minor banner ads, whats the harm, right?

12.  allow tags to work more efficiently - like twitter.  live and die by the hashtags - to quickly allow people to find similar videos

13.  like netflix - have other videos if you like this, you might love - to keep people on the site, to discover new videos.

the rest of my ideas is hardware based - having faster loading of videos - those are harder issues because that costs a lot of money. 

the ideas above is expensive too, but maybe a little less.

anyway let me know what you think of all this.  And I will continue of course to support vimeo - I love how there

yes unfortuately one has to spend money to submit to meaningful festivals - most are pretty lackluster and I think a lot of people now more than ever can claim they have a festival - but it's all just a grab for publicity.  one has to be more selective with them.

with that said, watching bad films is useful - you can learn a lot from a bad film, probably as much as a good film.

film that killed me was called "Rumi's Rumba"

from http://www.eddavid.tumblr.com

There is some kind of loneliness about super small film festivals - so many of them now because now there are so many films made.  No one really shows up to them besides the filmmaker and maybe a few friends, and no one really leaves loving the films they saw.

Same can be said of course with writing - anyone can quickly write something and upload it or self-publish.  My wife’s dad calls them “vanity presses.”  Everyone is a published author! And now everyone is a filmmaker with film festival laurels!

Last night at a small short film event, a person had a film - where he had a big crew, and it was about a high school professor who has sex with a student, then later the principal gets involved and then the principal seems to try to have sex with her, and then later it is inferred in the film that the student is “asking for it.”  It was like a porn without the sex scenes.  Actually the main actor, with his chin strap beard and bald head looked like he may have just come off the set of one of these films.

At the Q&A my friend said something and then left in disgust.  “This is the most misogynistic film I ever saw” - and the filmmaker responded, “a lot of women say that but this is the first time a man said that” - and as my friend later said while we were getting pizza nearby, “even saying that was misogynistic.”

Anyway this man had a pretty large crew - about 5 principle actors and 9 background talent (mostly young pretty women who probably signed up for the gig on mandy.com, just trying to get their name out there), and a crew of about 10 people - and it’s kind of fascinating that this person was able to get this film made and shown at a festival. 

And I had a nightmare about the film, in which I was in it  - so in essence, his film hurt my sleep pattern and was a negative experience for me and maybe questioned my only little short film I just made - and my own ego and arrogance to make it - (was what I made good - or was I just wasting people’s time and cosmic energy?).

Should everyone be allowed to make their films?  Of course they should - I am not Stalin - I have no ability to say to anyone “hey man, no don’t do that” even if it does offend me and my friends.  It’s definitely interesting how anyone on a pretty large scale now can do something like this - there are less failsafes in place to prevent crap from entering the film world.

But then the reverse of this argument is simple.  Sony Pictures, and a whole team of middlemen and “Hollywood” still allowed “the Interview” to happen.  No one stood up and said, “hey maybe this film where we kill a living world leader isn’t the best idea”   - and look how much pain that caused the company and its employees. 

But still, now new beautiful things and movements can rise organically.  I am personally so thankful for the vimeo “filmschool in a box” series such as Tony Zhou’s work and Jacob T. Swinney’s work, that I will decide in the future to be more selective when I go to an event where you can’t just click off a video - where you do have to sit thru it, like that scene in a Clockwork Orange where Alex has his eyes forced open as he watches government propaganda.