Zak Forsman

26 minutes ago, Jonesy Jones said:

Thank you for all the great intel. Very useful. I knew I could count on you guys.

Plenty of useful info here too... http://www.sagindie.org There's a little misinformation in this thread, like being able to defer payment under the Ultra Low Budget Agreement. that contract requires a minimum of $125/day plus $17.3% for pension and health and you must hire a payroll service. It's the New Media agreement that allows you to negotiate payment as low as $0.

We pay a day rate. And that rate depends on which SAG-Aftra contract we're shooting under. We usually only post to Breakdown Express/Actors Access.

A quick additional note about what i did above to correct the FPN. You also need to dial it in so that the inverted pattern you use to counter the vertical lines only applies to the shadows, otherwise, you add new lines to the mids and highlights. I used a qualifier to limit the offset to the shadows. Easy enough.

preliminary test is wiping out the lines 100%. 

1. Shot gray card out of focus at a light level that seemed to maximize the vertical lines.
2. Brought that clip into DaVinci and used Temporal NR to remove noise, leaving the lines intact. Raised it to 50 IRE. Removed all color. Then applied the inverted color LUT.
3. Exported that as a single frame 12bit dpx.
4. Re-imported and applied as a matte. Layer mixer set to Overlay blending mode.

and that's it. right now there is a slight shift in gain. which means I need to dial in how neutral the 50% gray is. it's a little too bright right now. I want to get it so it doesn't affect anything but the lines. Also wondering if I could use a luminance secondary to limit it just to the shadows.

6 hours ago, John Emery said:

Hi Zak! I think I'm getting mine this week, and I just wanted to ask a quick question (I can't find any clear info lying around)... Which "flavors" of Raw recording do you have @ 24 and 60fps? Is there 3:1 and 4:1 Raw for both frame rates? Which one do you like to use?

Thanks in advance!

No 4:1 on the Micro. Up to 30fps, you have the options of RAW and RAW 3:1. At 60fps, You only have RAW 3:1 available.

11 minutes ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

An interesting test would be to shoot something in Film mode & the in Video mode, then grade accordingly (e.g. make the Film mode look like Video mode & then some).

Then again, this could all be a conspiracy to force people to stop using milky blacks or just to light properly - but its most likely BM QC, since they're a small firm doing it all themselves & not out sourcing to China!

I'm hoping I can create a clip that's neutral other than the vertical lines, so i can use it to remove them. Because there are going to be setups where I can't avoid them. For example, if I were shooting a character and the night sky were in part of the background, I'd be out of luck. Although they'd probably go unnoticed if the shot were locked off. Or maybe the audience would think it was raining. That's production value! 

I received the replacement today. The FPN is nearly the same but definitely a touch better. I'm glad I sent the old one in. 

By "better" I'd say the vertical lines in this new one don't "reach" as high into the exposure range as the old one. The lines reside a little deeper in the shadows than the last one, if that makes sense.

Going to work on making a clip to counter the noise pattern in post next.

It's documented here...

http://www.bmcuser.com/showthread.php?16955-BMD-rep-tells-me-my-Micro-Cinema-Camera-has-FPN-Should-I-send-it-in

short version is, they acknowledged the FPN in the initial DNGs I sent them. did their own tests when I sent my camera in. said the camera was "normal". I sent more DNGs I had as well as a side by side comparison with my Pocket (same sensor, different hardware). said they could only replicate what i was seeing by boosting exposure in post two stops. however, which is confusing to me because my DNGs had zero post processing. Despite that, they offered to send me a replacement but didn't think it would make a difference. I agreed to roll the dice on a replacement, but I also doubt it will be any different. It should arrive today via Fedex.

1 hour ago, Phil A said:

@Zak Forsman Mind if I ask what happened so far with your RMA? I've seen on BMDuser there was a bit of a communication hick up but I'm really following your story because I like what you do with the camera and it might have impact/inspiration for my buying decision.

yeah, it's going to arrive today via fedex. looking forward to seeing how it compares to my first one.

i never understood the criticisms of an artist mastering the tools they use. 

i don't think so. it would mean carrying two kinds of batteries and two kinds of chargers. and considering I'm usually packing everything into a Think Tank International carry-on bag, I try to keep it simple. this way I have one pool of batts to draw from for everything i shoot with -- Pocket, Micro, SmallHD 502's.

I've bought 22 of the Wasabi brand and have only had one go bad. If you're wondering why so many, I use three at a time to power a Pocket (using an adapter plate) and SmallHD 502. And have found myself in situations where I needed to shoot all day. The ones Rich offered up look like a great option.

that new grain plugin in 12.5 is pretty great. nice tight structure in the 35mm options. lots of control to dial in a look. I get masters to a lot of Hollywood releases through my bay and was always envious of the grain I'd see in them. This rivals that. Better than Film Convert's, imo.

12 hours ago, Martin BetterFly said:

Battle-Tested (used) KineMINI 4K From $2,499  4K 12bit RAW

http://www.kinefinity.com/shop/kinemini-battle-tested/?lang=en

sadly those have been sold out for awhile.

I got very excited because I make DCPs and figured I'd be able to help, but sadly, I don't know anything about FCPX. If I had to guess, yes you should have room to spare. Any perceived loss of sharpness would only be from you losing the added benefit of downscaling from 1080px to 858px. Until you pass the 1:1 point, I would think you'd be okay.

more like 5 hours to go.

URSA Studio Viewfinder

DaVinci Resolve 12.5

looks great. is it the sharpening that makes the woman on the pier at the end look like she has an aura?

Blackmagic looked at everything I sent them and said it's fixed pattern noise. Their words. They are issuing an RMA so I can send it to them.

18 minutes ago, Nikkor said:

The heightful eight was film, but the panasonic lenses stuff could be the same. The low streching anamorphic lenses. 

I say so because the blur looks anamorphic.

correct. same lenses, but different camera setup, and possibly with a 2.39:1 center extraction (if the trailer is any indication). hateful eight was 2.76:1. this might be too.

1 minute ago, Nikkor said:

Same setup as The hateful eight?

no.

i've only shot in RAW and RAW 3:1 so far.

45 minutes ago, JazzBox said:

Zak, do you think it is something that needs to send the camera back to BM to be fixed?

I've sent DNGs to Blackmagic as of 5 minutes ago. Waiting to see what they say. They're not a dealkiller for me as they are pretty faint. Hard to see on a single frame. Motion is what really reveals them. But I can also confirm what Rich101 says. I have similarly exposed shots from the BMPCC that don't exhibit this at all. I went back to check and compare. Even given proper exposure, they reveal themselves in any part of the frame that dips into shadows which is going to be a part of most shots.

I'm optimistic that if BMD can fix the Ursa Mini 4K's "cold start" noise issue (and they have) then they can fix this. If they can't, then I'll likely go back to the Pocket as my A camera and use the Micro for slow motion and more precarious rigging (like car mounts, etc). 

I have both the BMPCC and BMMCC and I do not see the same vertical striations in the my Pocket footage. No trace of it. On the BMMCC it appears in shadow areas (but not in complete black). I rolled a few frames off with the lens cap on and it's not there. Only seems to appear in parts of the frame that register in the neighborhood of 5 to 30 IRE.

On April 2, 2016 at 0:23 PM, richg101 said:

I've hardly even had time to test the little camera.  It's soon to be fitted into forbes70, and I'm hoping global shutter gets enabled.  from some of the footage I've shot I have noticed more obvious fixed pattern shadow noise than I have seen from the pocket.  @Zak Forsman have you noticed this?

yes, i have. vertical striations in the shadows.

I've been shooting a lot with my BMMCC for a short, but it's not test footage or I would have happily shared a ton by now. Soon though...