agolex

I'm loving the S II and the R II, going to get rid of the RX10 II because of obvious reasons (low light performance, sensor size). What I liked about it so much was the real easy run'n'gun option, but the new Alphas just do that with a much nicer image and package. The IBIS isn't really usable for video once you go above 135 mm, but up to that it's quite alright if you have a bit of practice with it. The S obviously is much better in low light and in my opinion in a few other scenarios, as well, but the R is at least decent all the time. There's a few downsides of course, the poor build quality of the display (really don't understand what they were thinking here, the cameras being so expensive). The Slo-Mo on the S is superb, even better than the RX10 II imho, if only for the full frame look. And you just can't produce bad video indoors with bad lighting with the S, much unlike the RX.
Lens-wise: the 90 macro is quite awesome, especially for video, with the added stabilization and the best ergonomics I've ever got to enjoy on a lens (you can switch between AF and MF just by clicking the focus ring up and down, plus you have a button to suspend AF while pushing it), also for close-ups it really does the trick, obviously. Image quality is flawless, too. The 55 1.8 is great as well, very light and small for the occasional ninja shot.
In terms of Auto Focus in video, the R is quite a bit better, but both aren't too reliable, especially in low light (here, the S is much better with native lenses as has been said before). All in all still quite alright, though.
I'm finally getting rid of my D800 and NX1, too, Sony all in, even though I don't like their philosophy, the cameras just pack so much punch. Stills of the R are so amazing and you can do pretty much everything handheld, the silent shooting is nice, too for certain situations (if you mind the shutter speed and other limitations).

I'm loving the S II and the R II, going to get rid of the RX10 II because of obvious reasons (low light performance, sensor size). What I liked about it so much was the real easy run'n'gun option, but the new Alphas just do that with a much nicer image and package. The IBIS isn't really usable for video once you go above 135 mm, but up to that it's quite alright if you have a bit of practice with it. The S obviously is much better in low light and in my opinion in a few other scenarios, as well, but the R is at least decent all the time. There's a few downsides of course, the poor build quality of the display (really don't understand what they were thinking here, the cameras being so expensive). The Slo-Mo on the S is superb, even better than the RX10 II imho, if only for the full frame look. And you just can't produce bad video indoors with bad lighting with the S, much unlike the RX.
Lens-wise: the 90 macro is quite awesome, especially for video, with the added stabilization and the best ergonomics I've ever got to enjoy on a lens (you can switch between AF and MF just by clicking the focus ring up and down, plus you have a button to suspend AF while pushing it), also for close-ups it really does the trick, obviously. Image quality is flawless, too. The 55 1.8 is great as well, very light and small for the occasional ninja shot.
In terms of Auto Focus in video, the R is quite a bit better, but both aren't too reliable, especially in low light (here, the S is much better with native lenses as has been said before). All in all still quite alright, though.
I'm finally getting rid of my D800 and NX1, too, Sony all in, even though I don't like their philosophy, the cameras just pack so much punch. Stills of the R are so amazing and you can do pretty much everything handheld, the silent shooting is nice, too for certain situations (if you mind the shutter speed and other limitations).

Anyone notice that the Neewer Battery Grip for the Mk IIs is a little bit better quality, has better grip, includes a wireless intervalometer and costs 80 € instead of 230+++? And it smells so much better!
Really, Sony should cut it with the Apple mentality or they'll get eaten by the chinese Supermen one day.  In general, the chinese products have become so good and other countries tend to lose their quality standards. Exciting future ahead.
Nevermind the fact that the Sony grip is produced in China, as well.

In case anyone is interested, I thought I'd share this Kickstarter project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2044759634/hercules-the-worlds-smallest-camera-motion-control?ref=email
 
 

This video is a pure goldmine of information regarding the proper use of Sony cameras and their features, but most of this can also apply to any other camera brand. I bow to the man for this kind of simple but thorough explanation of all the features, codecs, gamma curves, gamuts etc., when and how to use them, why not to use some of them in some scenarios...
I highly recommend watching this whole video, because even if some of you guys are already familiar with most of this stuff, I'm almost certain that you will get some new useful info.

Some temple scenes shot in 4K on a Samsung NX1. Handheld using the Samsung 16-50/2-28. Gamma DR, Contrast -5, Master Black Level +10. Film Convert (Red / Epic X / Redgamma 3 - Fuji Astia 100). FCPX. Music is "Shanghai Dream" by Christopher Ashmore.
Some of it turned out OK, but some spots I think I missed focus and other parts came out over exposed. 
4K version .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTV2EnP0YM0 

Newer civilisations know very little about Very Little, including about the universe. Copernicus discovered that the earth orbits the sun in the 16th century.
Eastern Scholars noted eclipses, astroids, comet movements etc etc many thousands of yeats before the west. 
Having said that, it's in mankind's best interest not to try and look for life on other planets or even in other galaxies. 
We're not too far away from the end of human life on earth. So, wth, maybe they should go ahead. 
 
 

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed I've been taking over a month off from EOSHD. Here are my views on what happened whilst I was away.
I am selling up...
After over 5 years of EOSHD I must admit to needing a break from gear. I'm going to completely wipe the slate clean later this month. I will clean out my studio and move. I am selling almost everything I have, but rather than putting it on eBay I will be offering it to EOSHD readers first. Almost everything is going including my Sony A7R II and Canon 1D C. Email me now if you're interested.
EOSHD will continue, but more like in the earlier days. A focus on an artistic approach to cheap gear and lenses. What is the point of me buying a $8k camera and as a result never being interested in the next GH5 or cheap $600 killer camera that kicks way above its station?
So although I won't be buying a Raven or Sony FS5 then, I will continue to offer my views on the higher end kit at EOSHD...
Read the full article

For my upcoming zero dollar horror short. I learned that making trailers is really hard! What do I add, what do I not add etc.
Let me know what you guys think. 
Also, color is not final, it's not even started! And if someone has some good tips on how to save the footage while she's jogging from being so extremely shaky (as you can see warp stabilizer is really fucking up the image) please let me know! 
 
Thanks y'all!

Here's a video I made of this week's lunar eclipse. Shot on NX500 with Canon 70-200. I also composed/created the music BTW. If you also shot the eclipse, please post here.
 

I find the out-of-focus Vlog parts pretty stressful to watch. Just keep going, you'll get there, learning to use the NLE doesn't exactly boost creativity. And I find there's always something that doesn't work or crashed on me so I lose motivation to keep going.

Here is an impromptu short film a friend and I made on an eos-m. It really was just a scene for something else that never materialized, so I used the footage to create a short and to learn the basics of FCPX. 
 

Probably it's a mixture of both.

Hum...
Probably shot on something like this:

it matters a lot in situations where there is only one of the basic colours: for example under water, where only blue is left, (green and red gone)
you only have 8 bit blue left, and this give clear banding
10 bit is much better in this case

Rolling shutter in 4K has to be reeeally nasty -> shot at 40 seconds.

I have no idea.  Couple of entries about the audio, video and stuff. Possibly time code related, too?

Premiere handles it nicely, Resolve (at least 12 and for me) is a PITA. No audio unless you rewrap into .mov and after that I'm having major issues as well (might be Windows 10 or the beta release, though). Sony uses some non-standard audio encoding and XML metadata files. Nothing major, though.

Will try, thanks for the input!

Nice that updating QT helped you.
You can optimize your media with Resolve 12, this video helped me with long files (1 hour and more)
 

So I've really been falling in love with Resolve during the last few weeks in terms of ease and smoothness of the edit, but I'm now experiencing grave issues that have are pushing me to the brink of despair. Shot an event on Sunday, started the edit, realized I had to do something to the files in order to be able to use the audio, rewrapped them to .mov with ffmpeg, started editing (extremely slow in 4K, tried to tweak settings, and it got better), then moved the files from my RAID to an SSD, because the HDs were just too slow. Relink seemed to work, but with the expansive timeline of around 20 mins worth of clips, I can now hardly work with it. At times is fine and speed is OK, too, but more often than not Resolve starts to put in a preview frame in the timeline here and there, gets stuck on one frame in the preview window and then does nothing. No playback editing possible, the playhead just doesn't do anything if I move it and press play. If I quit Resolve, QTDecoder keeps lingering. After relaunch, sometimes, it starts to work, but more often than not it doesn't. Here and there I get a green frame or red exclamation mark on a clip preview or two. Never had that before. Does anyone have suggestions for a fix? I've already put in quite a few hours trimming the clips, so it would be great if I didn't have to start from scratch.
Have read about Resolve having issues with .mov clips in Windows, but I have no idea how to get it around it and have sound. Also I don't know whether, if I transcode to ProRes now and try to put the new clips in, I'm losing my timeline and progress.
I've messed around with playback settings a bit, tried to change the pre-allocated RAM size and whathaveyou, but the issues keep coming back, even if I revert to default settings.
My rig:
Core i7-4930K @ 4.1GHz, 64G RAM, GeForce GTX 970, newest drivers, Windows 10
Any input is appreciated! Mattias, maybe you have a clue?

Oh, I'm just retarded, I always use the newest stuff because I'm not happy with the old and hope for fixes and improvements in performance. To be honest, this is the first time in my life I find my PC sufficiently stable and fast to do any serious work on it (except writing, gaming or whatever). I wasn't content with Resolve 11 and I wouldn't have wanted to get into filming before because the image quality I could have afforded wouldn't have done it for me. Same goes for Windows. Before 10 I always felt it had too many bugs, was too slow, too many issues with USB and so on. I'm a strange person.

Sweet, lovin the shots and grade!

I had a great / weird trip to Croatia last month. I was psyched to get out and film and capture some of the beautiful scenery there, but when I arrived I was kind of devoid of ideas and inspiration. I guess work, the bad kind of work, can do that to you. When I got back I had a bunch of footage, didn't really know what to do with it, how to tie it all together and decided (after watching a few Brandon Li videos on holiday with my girlfriend) to try and capture some of his energy that he creates so wonderfully with camera movement and sound design put together in post. And this arose.

http://www.vimeo.com/138451703

I kind of like the finished result. It's not my favourite travel thing I've ever done though. Or, who knows. Probably now just need some distance. Any feedback is welcome as always.

Oh, and Sony A7s + Cine 4 modified by Kholi (sorry Mr Reid) + 24-105mm L + a couple shots from my new Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm lens which for some reason I only used at night in slow motion. Wish i'd used it during the day.
 

I recently filmed the Northern Lights just outside Elk Island Park in Western Canada. It was a truly magical evening--I've never seen them so bright or full of energy before. Not sure if it because of the recent solar flares interacting with the atmosphere or what.
http://dcbrandonproductions.com/elk-island-northern-lights/