mercer

Actually, the first film camera I bought, about a month ago, was a NOS N6006, too. But I haven't used it yet. Although I have a bunch of old Nikkor lenses, I don't have anything with AF. Shortly after, I picked up a Nikon P&S that was kinda fun, but the process was a bit too simple. Anyway, like most things I get interested in, I get pretty obsessed with it, so I do a ton of research. If you're looking for something with AF, there were some pretty spectacular cameras made in the 90s by Nikon, Contax and even Konica, but they can be a bit pricey. I really had no idea what I would like, so I wanted to try a few different cameras. In the end, I'll probably keep two or three, since they're so cheap. I'm more concerned with the cost of film/processing than I am with the cameras, though. I guess that's why I'm excited to use this Fuji Half Frame camera... 72 shots from a 36 roll... yes please.

With so few opportunities to shoot video, I decided it was time to mess around with stills to keep me sane. Well, I enjoy a little bit of crazy, so I decided to start shooting film. I've never been a stills shooter, so I decided to look at some old film cameras. After some research, I'm really drawn to the 60s/70s fixed lens rangefinders and half frame cameras. So, I threw an offer on a Fujica Half, half frame camera. The seller didn't offer a lot of information, but I figured it was worth a shot. They accepted the $25 offer and it arrived yesterday and I was thrilled to find out it's in near mint condition and the old selenium light meter seems to function perfectly... Does anyone else shoot film? If so, what are your favorite cameras and film stocks?

Is it? I've never heard that. The sample the OP provided was classic videography. A decent camcorder would lock onto that and hold it. More than likely, the video was shot on a small sensor Canon... probably a G7X Mark II. That camera doesn't even have DPAF yet it was still a favorite of the YT crowd because it held focus well and had a fast lens. Slightly OT but there seems to be a weird mix of "AF sucks" and "I NEED AF" on this site, when the truth is that AF is great for certain jobs. If I was a wedding videographer, Canon DPAF would be locked onto the bride. No question. But for a short film, there's a bunch of other features that are needed before AF. Right tool for the job, I suppose.

Good luck with the project. Please share your experience, and the film, when you're done. My friend has the E-M10iii too... I don't know why I wrote mark ii. Either way it's a nice little camera to shoot from the hip. The focus peaking kinda sucks, but it's better through the EVF. The GH5 is and will be a very good camera for years to come. I've been pretty obsessed with B&W lately and the Panny L-Monochrome is damn near perfect. The only "better" B&W is probably the Fuji Acros.

Yes, I think you could definitely get a Voigtlander for that money, but then you have a m4/3 lens that is fairly pricey with an unknown as to how long the mount will be used. Full frame lenses can always be adapted. I don't really have an approach. I mostly just tinker. I really need to get a new computer or monitor. I've been using my MacBook Air which does not have a 178 degree viewing angle so depending upon how I look at the screen, the image could look different. It's very annoying. I figure once I have something... anything... completed I'll take that stuff more seriously. For those shots I used a Log to Rec709 LUT, made a couple exposure adjustments to open up the waveform and then desaturated the image. So nothing fancy.

That's awesome. I love those lenses. They were such a perfect size when I used to shoot on the eos-m. I still have a NOS 50mm 2.8 in its box in my closet. Are you shooting the short for someone else, or is this a personal project? You're shooting with an E-M10ii now, right? I started shooting stills on film recently and have a fondness for old rangefinders, especially the ones from the 70s with the built in lenses... Minolta Hi-Matic, Canonet, Olympus XA. Inevitably I'll want to move onto a hybrid stills/video camera. Size is more important to me than anything else, so I am looking at Olympus and Fuji. My friend has an E-M10ii and a GH5, and he did a shoot a couple months ago using both cameras and I went back and forth between the two and surprisingly, or not, the Olympus just looked better. So right now it's between the E-M5iii and the X-T4. Anyway, the point is that there is something special about these small cameras. The GX85 was a ton of fun to shoot with. The Samyang 12mm t/2.2 balanced perfectly on that camera and due to the 4K crop I was able to use some of my c-mount lenses. I love Full Frame and someone will have to pry my 5D3 from my cold, dead hands, but it is big and not particularly stealthy. So it's cool to see that some people are still shooting on small cameras.

Are you looking at the non L version? Admittedly I've never used it but from all accounts it isn't that great of a lens. I'd go with the 1.4 for a 1/4 the price. As you may remember, I also have the 1.2 L that I had modified to EF mount, iris de-clicked, etc... and I think that is one of the best lenses I've ever used. However, with the prices the way they are, I am having a hard time justifying its existence in my bag. I've been looking at some footage lately between the two lenses and although the 1.2 L is definitively a better lens, the 1.4 gets you most of the way there. 1.4 1.2 L I have a few side by sides I'll post later when I'm on my computer.

These lenses continue to rise in price. I saw a 28mm f/2 listed for $2500! That lens was about $150 before the pandemic started. That K-35/FD-L video ruined the FD market for buyers. One of the FD lenses that hasn't drastically gone up is the nFD 50mm 1.4 and that lens is a damn good lens. I've had two or 3 copies over the years and never had a bad one. Weirdly, I found two copies that were modified to Nikon F mount. Here's a shot from the first copy I had...

Since her only requirement was AUTOFOCUS because, "she wants to do videos of herself," I'll suggest having a look at an EOS-M camera... the M50 Mark II should probably work in 1080p.

Good point about the DVX100. I shot with once, years ago, and it was a blast. I miss shooting with a camcorder sometimes, so much so, I recently looked to see what was available and I was a bit surprised to see how far they've come along. The Panasonic X1500/X2000 has internal 10bit 4K. It looks like a pretty slick little camera. With its 1/2in sensor, it's like a digital Super 8 with internal ND and XLR inputs for less than $2000.

Thanks for sharing these. Were they speedboosted or did you use a regular adapter? I've always been a fan of Samyang/Rokinon lenses. Sure they aren't SuperSpeeds, but for the money, they're hard to beat. Nice, they look really good. I have the 12.5 and the 25mm and I'm always surprised by how well they handle contrast for old CCTV lenses. That B&W really captured that Apollo era look and I think the dreaminess of those Canon TV-16 lenses helped accomplish that. I have a small set of old non-ai Nikkor lenses from that era (28mm f/2, 50mm 1.4 and 105mm 2.5) and as soon as I attach those lenses it is instant vintage. I also have this lens and the 1.4 version. The 1.4 is an oddball because it isn't the silver one but it's a zebra version like the f/1.9. There is just something about those Cosmicar lenses. As you may already know, they were made by Pentax, so they share some similarities to old Takumars with color and contrast. There are some old shots I took from my first BMMCC and it takes me a second to distinguish which were from the Sigma 19mm 2.8 and from the Cosmicar. Great lenses. Glad to see you're still shooting with the OG BM cameras. I think there is something special and unique about them. Are you working on any new personal projects?

Awesome work as always @Matt Kieley ! Do you remember which lenses you used?

Me too. I'd go C200 over the C70 for a crop sensor camera. That RawLite image is beautiful... I'm hoping the rumored XC20 with internal Raw is real. But then the cost of media is pretty pricey. I've never used a 1DC, so I couldn't really say, but from what I've seen online, it has one of my favorite 4K images. I considered an X-T4 a few months ago and I think it has a beautiful image. The h.265 codec is a bit of a bummer for me, but I'm used to transcoding footage so it isn't a big deal. In the end, I found myself too consistently pleased with the images I am getting from my 5D, so I decided against it. Although I would love to have IBIS and face tracking. Another option for you could be the Sigma FP. I don't shoot stills, so the electronic shutter could be problematic... I can't say. But it definitely has that nice, thick raw image... The price is right with the FP, but it seems to be a storage hog. Even the 8bit internal 4K raw... actually looks really good. This was shot by @markr041 But the file sizes are almost twice as heavy as 5D Mark III file sizes... even in 1080p. But the size of the camera is sooo appealing. Shooting handheld with the 5Diii and the 24-70mm f/4 L can get a bit heavy after a while. Noam Kroll gave the Canon M50 Mark II a pretty good review. I'd imagine it would be pretty good for travel and family videos/photos, but I don't know how great it would intercut with ML Raw from the 5Diii... and it has a near S16 crop. I think I'm in a similar situation. I wouldn't mind an upgrade, and although I only work on narratives, I'm still just a hobbyist, so any kind of change isn't really an upgrade in IQ... especially for YT/Vimeo uploads.

Just my opinion, from my experience, but if you like the ML Raw image from the 5Diii and don't mind the workflow, I think you'll have to spend a lot more money to be happy. @TomTheDP was absolutely correct when he wrote, "5D MK3 with magic lantern is about as nice of an image as you can get..." With what is on the market now, I really think I'd need a C200 or 1DX Mark III to warrant an upgrade. YMMV

I just wanted to let you guys know that Color Finale released a plug-in for FCPX called Transcoder which processes CDNG, BRaw and Arriraw files. It also works with CDNG files transcoded from Magic Lantern Raw .mlv files and it will even recognize MLVFS. It's on sale for $38 today until midnight. I haven't seen it mentioned here before, so I figured I'd share. The controls are fairly rudimentary, but they've already updated the plug-in a couple times, so who knows how extensive it will become. Just to give you an idea, here are a couple sample shots I came up with after processing ML Raw files. I had to do a slight contrast and saturation adjustment in the Color Board... otherwise they're processed completely in Color Finale Transcoder... Zeiss ZF 50mm 1.4... Sigma 50mm 1.4 (older version)

She's pretty smart, by the 3rd or 4th month, she'd probably catch on... I wonder how long it would take for her to realize her car isn't parked out front. That could get me halfway there.

Is sensor envy a thing? What struck me the most about the 100c video was the depth in the frame... for a two-dimensional image, it feels like you can walk into the frame in some of those shots. It's pretty wild. When you add the texture from the raw image, the 16bit color and the advertised "15 stops of DR" I don't know if there are many cameras that can top that look. I'm sure my 2014 MB Air would cut right through those files... haha.

BH has one for $18k... I'm trying to figure out how long I can convince the GF that the supermarket was out of food.

A Hasselblad H6D-100C? It's way above my pay grade, but man that image looks incredible...

I think I like the idea of all those Fuji dials more than I'd like them in real life. An ISO and WB button is more exciting to me in practice. The GH2 was amazing... you could see that something special was happening on the screen when you hit record. I even enjoyed my brief stint with the GH3. That all-i codec was really nice and the ergonomics felt a little more refined. I've never owned a 4K camera that I really enjoyed using. The GX85/G85 were okay and kinda fun to shoot with, but I went from the G7 to a D5500 and was ecstatic... until I tried ML Raw on a 50D and got hooked. I still want to give a 1DC a try one day though.

Go back to basics. I've watched a few of your older videos recently, the ones you've had on your banner, and your old reel... ... is simply gorgeous and holds up very well! Even your hacked GH1 videos look amazing. I assume you don't want to go back to a GH1, but if you're not gelling with the newer cameras, pull out your 1DC. Or go back to your roots and shoot with a couple of the newer budget cameras... the X-S10 seems really good. The E-M5 Mark III has all-i 200mbps 1080p. Even the GX9/G95's 4K crop offer some interesting opportunities to shoot handheld with some funky, old S16 lenses. Or go the opposite direction and rent/buy a Komodo or C500 Mark II. I've been considering an FP, an S5 or an X-T4; and although they are all great cameras... I am more inspired when I pick up my 5D3. It doesn't have IBIS or AF... or even 4K... but that raw image just makes me smile and the camera is an extension of my arm at this point.

I was thinking about that. The footage from the 1DX3 looks fantastic. I'm kinda hoping the R3 will either be cheaper, or drive the price of the IDX3 down.

Now that's a rig. I'd love to see some footage from that lens. Which SuperSpeeds do you have? I think that French short with the kid in car was shot with SuperSpeeds.

Are there any, current or former, 5D3 ML Raw users shooting with the FP now? In some ways, the FP feels like a sidestep, but there are some features... shutter angle, waveform monitor, dual gain iso, the smaller size, etc... that makes it very appealing. However, I still feel like the FP would be an intermediary, or side camera, for me until there's a true 5D3/ML Raw equivalent camera upgrade released. The R3 sounds very promising... but also very expensive.

I've been thinking about buying an FP or S5 for the dual gain option. Have you tested it with the FP? I'm mostly interested in the internal recording modes, so I'm curious how well it works with the 8bit CDNGs? I understand it's part of the architecture of the sensor, just not sure if the bit depth would have any effect on the color information even with a dual gain sensor camera?