mercer

From researching the history of ML Raw, the workflow does seem to be getting easier, if I could just get rid of the pink dots and get the damn audio to record more than one consecutive shot before the dreaded "threads failed to start" message. With mlv, the workflow is really quite quick, it just requires the time to sit and go through all the clips. The specs of ML Raw Viewer states you can put clips into a queue, but I have not been successful with it. I used Raw Magic yesterday instead of MLV Mystic to make my dngs and that worked fairly well... So we'll see. Luckily I'm a glutton for punishment and will tirelessly waste hours of my life until I figure this out.

Did he ever tell you, before you bought it, that it would work on your t2i?

And therein lies the problem. Almost every step along the way from shooting to getting the footage in the NLE is frustrating, but then you see the footage...

Yeah, after closer evaluation, the pink dot remover program is not working. Am not sure if I am doing something wrong, probably, or if the program is confused because there are two options that pertain to my clips... Eos-m and crop mode.

It's my understanding that .mlv files are the newest version of raw that is compressed. But, as I said, I am a beginner so I could be completely wrong here. Either way, I would think regular raw would be better as you suggested. Ugh, more tests. Thanks again for your help. Oh yeah, I did find the PDR, and yes, I already noticed a higher quality running the clips through that as opposed to chroma smoothing. And the program is so fast... The added step is inconsequential. Thanks again. If you have any other tips you can think of... They'd be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, I had read one of your posts where you were explaining how you were synching sound with the raw, but I can't seem to find it again... Were you using an LED key light?

Thanks Max. I am a narrative filmmaker, so I agree about the look of Raw footage for storytelling. Even with my lack of experience and bad workflow, I could see a major difference in roll off shooting with the raw. I see on my cam, there's the option to use version 1 raw. Is it any better since it's uncompressed? Or does the added workflow make the benefit negligible?

Right, that makes sense. I have been selling a lot of my lenses... I have been know to suffer from LBA. I use specific lenses with specific cameras. I have a set of non-ai Nikkors... A 50mm f2, a 35mm f2 and a 24mm 2.8. I loved them with the eos-m but now that I am shooting with the 3x crop, the focal lengths just don't fit with my shooting style. To make a long story short I am looking for a reason to keep them because I paid next to nothing for the set. I'll look into the all i-frame mode and test them with that. Thanks for the reply and the great info.

Raw on the eos-m works in apsc as well. It just excited me to use it with old c-mount lenses. Thanks Max, I have been reading a lot of your posts over at the ml forum. Yeah, I figured the chroma smoothing was the culprit and now that you explain the process of how it works, it makes perfect sense. I do have a Mac, using FCPX. So, with your experience, what is the best workflow from capture to edit? I have been researching it, but I found there are so many different schools of thought and updates, it honestly gets confusing keeping it all straight. Is mlvmystic an okay program to convert the mlv files to dngs and then pink dot remover and then mlvrawviewer to convert to prores?

I can't tell you how happy I am that Bror posted about ML Raw on the eos-m because I have recently started using it but I figured nobody would be interested in discussing something so out dated. The reason I started using it was because I recently learned I could use my vintage c-mount lenses with it in crop mode. Which is great. I was getting ready to sell them off when I realized it. Anyway, I am getting some mixed results, and I am wondering if it is due to my workflow? I am recording in .mlv and then using mlmystic to ingest and convert the clips to's .dng. I click on the chroma smoothing option, at 2x2 to remove the pink dots then open those files in mlrawviewer where I fix the wb and convert to prores444. Is the chroma smoothing softening the image, or is that how the pink dot remover program works? I also stopped recording sound because it seemed to cause the dreaded threads failed to start issue. Now I read that it is okay to have in camera sharpening up a notch when shooting raw, but if the camera doesn't acknowledge the picture profile, then how do you use in camera sharpening? Now I have seen other people's footage online, Max and a kid named Ryan Moorman, and they both were getting amazing, sharp results with raw, and I am just not sure what I am doing wrong? Are the c-mounts the problem... Can they not resolve properly for the raw footage. I also am only using the 64gb Transcend card that writes at 60MB, could that be the issue? Bror, I saw that focal reducer and was wondering the same thing. With just the 3x crop on, the camera is insanely better than the original canon specs, so I was wondering what the image would look like with the Nikon focal reducer shot in 3x crop... Would it bring it back to apsc sized without the aliasing? Here's a jpeg grab from a raw clip I took last week using a 12.5 to 75mm Cosmicar c-mount zoom. I really love the look and the colors.

Do you think this would work with an eos-m using magic lantern 3x crop?

As you know, h.265 is highly compressed, I'm not sure the codec will hold up too well to native editing... Or at least grading and correcting. Transcoding to prores, or similar, is pretty painless.

Jonesy, OT question, but how is your feature you shot on the Canon doing? Any festival luck?

I guess you key frame the masks?

Yeah, there is an insane amount of work going on there. To be honest, I'd be happy with his second or third layer. At that point there's a nice, calm, muted color to the shot and the skin tones look good. Then when he dives deeper, the skin tones get mucked up, but the rest of the shot gets more dramatic. Then, wait for it... he fixes the skin tones near the end... Very nice. I feel inadequate now... Thanks for that.

I think it looks good, but at times I wasn't sure what I was watching. What's the story behind this event? Also, cut away from the person who walks in front of your camera. But honestly the quality of video is excellent and I like your color balance. The DIS looks great!!!

I definitely think the heart of this post is the truth. Story is king, it always will be, but... Some stories can only be told due to the technology or equipment... A sweeping epic without the ability to record wide panoramics and your story isn't given the justice it deserves. In micro budget filmmaking, the story is predicated upon the location and production elements you have access to and you build the story around them. You can't exercise your craft, if you don't own the proper tools for the job, luckily in this age, you can get a suitable camera and some lenses for less than 500 bucks... So ignore everything I just wrote...

Ebrahim, do you know what the dynamic range of the D5500 would be if using the Ninja 2?

That makes sense, do you know if cleaning and relubricating focus rings are difficult? On my 35mm zeiss, the focus is a little rough... Specifically in one spot it hangs up. I know you said you never worked on these lenses, but I'd imagine cleaning focus helicoids are similar, no matter the make of lens?

There is something special about the colors coming out of this camera... That I have seen. I have an eos-m, which I still love, an a5100, which I thought was amazing when I bought it, but like you said about the a6000, there is just something not right about it, and an nx500, which I have a love/hate relationship with. The 4K is amazing, but the colors are strange. It will probably be my black and white camera, which looks awesome. I am selling off a lot of lenses and equipment and I would like to get either a BMPCC or a D5500, with a Ninja... Obviously for different reasons. I am leaning towards the latter because of the flexibility of its hybrid options and I have a good set of manual, non ai primes that I paid next to nothing for. Of course I have some cool, vintage c-mount lenses that would go great with the BMPCC as well... Too many options. Anyway... Thanks for your help!

Thanks, yeah that is how I fixed the aperture on the older model, just fixing the lever in place. I think I had to take out a part that was used for the auto/manual functioning of the lens. The newer all black models are an entirely different design, instead of a spring, it uses a switch. The older models were actually a more complicated design. The zebra model is an in between version, hopefully it's the easier one. I am a mechanically inclined person, but I always get a little nervous opening up a lens. Anyway... Thanks again.

This is probably a dumb question, but I am pretty ignorant when it comes to external recorders... If I were to use a D5500 with the Ninja, can you still utilize the flat profile of the D5500, or is every camera setting bypassed by the Ninja? Also, how is the audio recording in the Ninja, is it usable at all?

I was going to suggest he speak with you, but I didn't want to volunteer you for something. Quick question though, I recently declicked a zeiss Jena 50mm, the newer black version and it was pretty straightforward. After that success, I attempted to declick an older version that had a spring system. I was able to fix the aperture but not declick it. I recently picked up the zebra 20mm f4 for a steal, but the aperture doesn't work. I don't want to take the mount off and have the spring pop, if there is one, do you know?

No conspiracy, just common union tactics.

I'm sorry but, to me, that seemed extremely staged. One guy looked like he was reading from cue cards. The fact remains that workers have the right to unionize, I just feel the timing of the expose' and the union organization is a little too convenient. I hope it works out for all parties. But to be honest, there is not enough evidence yet that will keep me from shopping there.

Taking the easy route to what?