Mat Mayer

What a great thread. Easily going to win thread of the year award for 2016. Might even be thread of the decade. Hopefully when its all over someone makes a little film about it. Maybe with the Purge (new movie) theme but stopping before ES makes it all right. Would be cool to get a short in some festivals about EOSHD forum drama ?

iMacs are a joy to use. The screens are so amazing and everything works very slickly. You can pay a third for a Windows machine but that $4k iMac's specs sound fine, maybe just add some extra RAM yourself if it is a bit slow and read up on the benefits of switching the 2TB fusion drive for a 500GB SSD. If I wasn't a nomad I would 100% invest in the best iMac immediatley. I used to love using mine so much that I got far more work done compared to using a Windows machine. 

Maybe look at the Canon FD 28mm f/2 S.S.C.? With the cheap Zhongyi focal reducer making it 20mm f1.4.

Not stabalised but very cheap (around £200/$300). Sounds like you are happy to spend the spare change on a separate stabalizer anyway. 

On 26/05/2016 at 0:49 PM, Michal Gajdoš said:

John Wick! That was just pure action. A unique movie these days. 

Just tried that based on your vote. Had to switch it off halfway through. Its just a witless, soulless version of the amazing Equalizer (i.e. a revenge film). Keanu Reeves is the most boring actor of all time. Sorry.

Midnight Run (my most watched movie ever: filled with action and humour)

Battle Royale (unique, brutal and very cool)

Crank (the most fun film ever, not stop action and amuzement)

Spy (had a room of 8 in tears of laughter all the way through the other day)

I like action movies with wit.

Same for lenses.

I just got one yesterday (GEAR VR). Really cool and so many uses e.g. they are using it for random stuff like to teach rock climbing. One animated video in the Shorts section won something at Sundance. On the 2550 x 1440 S6 screen the resolution is not good, but it is certainly worth buying for only £80 if you hve the right phone. I will probably use it for the occasional movie and certainly 3D movies. Might have to get a 360 degree camera too and film some aquariums and scenery.

Just wanted to share that I have found an acceptable (for me) way to get a 9.5mm wide lens on MFT cheaply. It cost me £135 total for a Panasonic 12-32mm, Ricoh DW6 0.79 wide angle lens converter and 37mm to 43mm step up ring. All brand new, although I got a great deal it seems on the Ricoh for £25 on eBay, so maybe not 100% new. The lens is f3.5 at 12mm.

Below is a screen grab from VLC with and without the converter at the lens' widest 12mm. This is in Cinematic 4K, so the slightly mushy edges will be less in UHD. I know these are poor images but they should give some idea. There isn't a filter thread so I would apreciate any advice on the best way to attach a filter? Edit: my polarizing filter fits on the lens before screwing in the step up ring: problem solved and saves carrying 2 sized filters.

The converter doesn't feel too heavy for the lens, but I won't be moving it fast or leaving it attached. Edges and corners are better than I exected for photos too; someone has posted examples on DPReview, which is where I got the idea from.

10 hours ago, DevonChris said:

Check out the snipping tool in Windows 10. Pretty neat as it works better than the Mac screenshot functionality

Thank you. I was just using a Chrome extension before which was too limited, or the one where you do a screenshot then paste it in Paint. This is much better and I have now set it to open with CTRL + ALT + 4 so that it is as easy as with OS X. I think I can live without seeing the pixel size.

9 hours ago, joema said:

This free image resizer tool works great on Windows: https://imageresizer.codeplex.com/

Awesome thanks. This is so easy to use. Think I am going to be able to fully disconnect from my Mac now, which I will be delighted to do.

6 hours ago, Axel said:

...With Affinity Photo (Mac only), you can save the Photoshop fee. It was $39 last year when I bought it (you pay once & get all updates free). Now it's $49. At first glance, you think it's just an overly simplified PS clone that offers much less functionality. After you got used to the "persona" workflow you realize it lets you do the same things, and sometimes more easily and logically...

Thanks but I want to get away from Apple, I really despise them despite loving the experience of using a Macbook or iMac. It has given me the idea to look for something similar for Windows though. Adobe wouldn't let me add Photoshop onto my CC subscription as I signed up abroad, I think my current subscription may double in cost as I am back in the UK now, which would make Photoshop twice the price. Something like this would be more cost effective as I rarely use Photoshop type tools anyway- just for creating occasional graphics once every 2-3 months or so.

The main reason I still use my Macbook is to use Preview and screenshots. It is really easy to resize images. Doesn't seem to be an easy way on Windows. If Apple can make it standard to take a screenshot of a part of the screen and show the pixel size, plus allow to easily cut an image up and past it, surely Windows can do similar. Instead I am probably going to order Photoshop just to do this a couple of times a month on Windows, which seems like overkill (unless I discover a Chrome extension). The only other reason to use it is when out and want lightweight laptop with long battery. Want to ditch it for a Chromebook one day; Apple are too "premium"and awkward with things like transferring files.

My hard drives stopped working when I updated to El Capitan. Apple stopped supporting a certain format. Would not update again if I could go back in time. I got them working again but it took a while to figure out.

http://www.premiumbeat.com

That is great to hear. I would love a Surface Pro or Book. Assumed it would be far too weak. I like the way you dont need to plug anything in to them. Instead I believe you plug the whole thing into a dock for a desktop solution wth storage and extra monitor?

Deleted A7 suggestion as it is unsuitable. Get a pretty GF-7 in brown and silver.

Maybe consider the Panasonic GF-7. I havent used one but it is compact, attractive and comes with a nice lens and has a selfie tilting screen. 

I looked at it recently (and the Commlite) and the few reviews were poor/mixed. A couple of people seemed happy, but there were more reviews of them not working at all or working on and off, which should be even worse. I scoured the net for reviews, got confirmation the 10-18mm lens would work (with the Commlite I think), but backed out when I realised even if it did work, the chances of it failing were very high.

15 hours ago, kidzrevil said:

Is h.265 compatible with vimeo or youtube ?

Not checked.

By the way we have been testing a 20 minute H.265 video. It was 3.5GB in H.264, now it is 1.2GB and seems to be the same quality. It was exported from PP at 8 bitrate. Hundreds of people have had it and no complaints yet. Seems nearly all big name new UHD SMART TVs can handle it as MP4. Less likely with cheap brands like Vizio. Maybe the experts were being conservative when then said it is only a third or half more efficient in size.

Will be gutted if the 960M doesnt work wth H.265 too. Not got around to trying it yet but was assuming it would be fine. We are re-doing all our 4K videos in H.265 and will switch soon. It is just a bit bigger in size than our 1080p, which were usually 1.1GB.

My fault for being cheap. Lesson learned. Seller was clearing a house. I already emailed her and said keep an eye out for it if you ever sell another. "No fungus" was not claimed. Not asking for refund, return or leaving bad feedback. Seems many of the sales of lenses with cameras are clueless people just selling a relative's stuff. 

Just received a lens from eBay with fungus. It only cost £20. Straight in the trash?

I have no idea how to dissasemble a lens and clean. Don't have the time to learn either. It sounds like a pro would charge more that it cost to clean.

Thanks , great advice.

I just got a cheap 12mm zoom (for the short term) and the difference between that and 14mm is amazing. I assume 10mm will be similarly impressive. But right now 12mm feels enough. I would already have the 10mm Samyang if it wasn't 640g or something.

I will check out the others mentioned now ☺

9 hours ago, Cinegain said:

I first think of what I am planning to go and shoot, then I pick the one that's most suitable. ... Want some smooth 'n chill bokehliciousness and/or lowlight? The SLR Magic will get you a long way. More serious stuff with rigging? The Veydras (yeah, I know they are overkill, but I jumped on their Kickstarter campaign as I figured these would be a great investment and asset to me in the future). They're especially nice for consistent results. Contax Zeiss if you want more of a look straight out of the lens, but also with some serious quality to 'em...

Would you then say the Contax Zeiss would be best for landscape videos? Where you want to capture a variety of situations/light in the best possible quality. I am starting to wonder whether I would be better off looking for a clinical lens rather than one with charater. I have been coveting the 10mm SLR Magic for my next (first) non bargain lens, but now I am thinking maybe something like the M.Zuiko 12mm would be more sensible and a 50mm ish Contax Zeiss, after hearing what you said and watching some B&H landscape photography lectures.

Only just started watching the B&H lectures last night. Feel like I ow them a few hundred dollars now. Will have to try buying from them from the UK if the lenses don't get taxed at customs. The most valauble lesson I got so far is avoid normal lenses (20-30mm ish on M43 for landscape). Then the first place you put your tripod is always wrong. 

How do you like the Zonlai? I missed picking one up abroad the other day, but it should start showing up in the UK soon. I grabbed an itsy bitsy Pentax Cosmicar 1" 1.4 instead today which is great, but need a 25mm with better edges and less distortion too. With the Zonlai being new I am assuming it will be more consistent.

If you want small enough for jeans pockets RX100.

If jacket pocketable and interchangeable lenses is acceptable, a Nex 3 with a pancake lens. Much bigger sensor: 2.85 times more sensor area than an RX100. I have seen some ridiculous photos taken with the Nex, there is no way I would go back to an RX100 now.

I just got the tiny 12-32mm Panasonic and will be keeping an eye out for a used GM1 to go with it for stills. You should be able to buy both as a kit for a reasonable price. Sensor size in between the above two.

2 hours ago, Juan Anselmo said:

I'm in love with the Panasonic g7, the headphone hasn't been an issue since I use an external recorder with a shotgun mic.

been using the kit lens and the new 25mm 1.8 that I got for 50$ on b&h, just got the 12-35 2.8 and I'm ready to take it to the next level.

What is the brand of the 25mm 1.8? I cannot see it on b&H. Thanks