mercer

Haha, I feel the exact opposite. I don't think there's a strong enough, or charismatic enough, actor or character that can deliver lines like... "Coral!" and sell it. And then they lost the other female character that could have done it. Also, I know they loosely follow the graphic novel but I think they are missing out on some really interesting storylines in doing so. When they introduced the Whisperers, their initial theory about "Walker evolution" was a much cooler angle than a bunch of weirdos wearing skin masks heralded by an annoying character that can't even sell her own ruthlessness. Haha... IMO. Well, it seems from this article... https://library.creativecow.net/article.php?author_folder=kaufman_debra&article_folder=Behind-the-Lens-David-Boyd&page=1 The first, 6 episode season, was shot on an Alexa with Panavision anamorphics, by one DP. The second season they brought the Alexa Mini into the mix and added two more DPs to handle the workload. I imagine that after awhile, between different directors and DPs, it's easy for the original concept and visual vision to get watered down. On a similar side note... I've been watching The Outsider, which is great by the way, and I noticed a distinct difference, for the worse, in the show when Jason Bateman stopped directing the episodes. But I digress, although the Alexa footage is good in the first few seasons, I'm still unsure if it's as good as the S16 from TWD. And where they took the Alexa footage with the stylized grades in the later seasons, it almost looks like it could have been shot on a DVX100 and isn't even remotely comparable to the S16 film from the original show.

FTWD was always shot on an Alexa. However, I agree about the difference of the first few seasons. In fact, in the first episode of Season 1, they filmed in the abandoned church, with the blown out stained glass windows and it is some of my favorite photography of both shows. It's funny you mentioned Z-Nation because I said the same thing last season to my GF. I still watch the show and although it isn't as good as TWD, TWD isn't that great anymore either.

Yes, Fear the Walking Dead definitely has a more stylistic look. In fact, in Season 2 (or maybe 3) they had a beautiful B&W color grade for some scenes/episodes. But the color grading adds to FTWD's budget and it doesn't lessen it. Although I am sure a good colorist can do wonders with a filmic grade, I think a side by side would be quite telling... Tarantino, Spielberg and others still shoot film for a reason. Listen, I know there is this new thought that digital is better than film and I suppose I am the dinosaur here, but in the end, it's all subjective. Besides, I love the look of the Alexa and I would choose to shoot a 2K Alexa ProRes movie over shooting film any and every day. But I still believe film has a superior IQ to digital. IMO.

By looks worse, I mean the image from the S16 film looks better with dynamic range, color tonality, texture, highlight and shadow detail, etc... Since the majority of both shows are exterior daylight scenes, I don't think the budget necessarily would effect the IQ as much as you're suggesting. I doubt they're skimping on reflectors or fill light on Fear the Walking Dead.

If you can afford it, I recommend getting the Mark III for full 1080p, the ability to keep the firmware constantly on an SD card while you record on CF cards, the OLPF Filter, etc...

Here's the trailer to Cosmos in case anyone is interested.

After seeing the trailer for that movie Cosmos and reading that it was shot on the original Pocket in ProResLT, I was very interested to shoot ProRes on the Micro. I bought another one (second one I had) but it truly broke my heart to rig that tiny camera up. So I ended up selling it to a member of this forum. However, I love the image from the original Ursa Micro 4K and when it gets below $1200, I may give it a go to shoot some ProRes. For me, it would be for a project mostly on sticks, with static shots, pans and dolly/slider moves.... so very controlled. At 12 stops of DR, it's plenty for a controlled set up.

I'm sure it's great for that weighted, handheld look that is popular now, but I was referring to the lightweight, handheld stability of IBIS. On a side note... what are your plans for all of these cameras? Originally, I thought you were more of a director that shoots your own films. But it seems you're more interested in cinematography now. So, with your cameras, how do you foresee these tools being used? I assume the Fuji will be your wedding camera and the Ursa and the F3 will be for docs, music videos and narratives? I've been watching some videos from the original Ursa Mini and although it has a stop less DR than the 4.6K... there is something very organic and beautiful about the 4K... and the price isn't too bad either.

Are we though? There's a reason why the majority of Hollywood cinematographers still choose the 2K image from the Alexa over 4K, 6K or even 8K from a Red. With the Mini LF's release, the rise in FF and anamorphic lenses, more DPs are shooting at higher resolutions, but for now, and the foreseeable future, 2K is the resolution choice for delivery and distribution. Since the beginning of digital acquisition, the goal was to create an image comparable to film. To this day, the Alexa is the only camera that comes even remotely close. And even that is a stretch. You can look to The Walking Dead as proof. The original show has always been shot on S16 film. The spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead, is shot on an Alexa. And although I love the look, the original S16 is a better image. Unfortunately, there is this YouTube craze where content creators claim that the image from this or that camera is as good as an Alexa. There are coloring tutorials and color space transforms to try and mimic the Alexa. And people can get it close, but it's never the same. As far as ergonomics go, I agree with you... I prefer using a DSLR/DSLM to a rigged out camera, but I assume the eventual goal of most filmmakers is to shoot at a professional level with professional equipment and unfortunately these consumer cameras won't ever be at the level of proper cinema cameras... in terms of features or image quality. The good news is that story is still king, so if you prefer the handheld dexterity of a smaller camera, or Brothers3 prefers the cinema construction and features of a cinema camera, the stories you produce will have a much larger impact than the cameras they were filmed on... If that's not the spirit of this site, I don't know what is?

They're sensor specific but you can probably get by without one. If it's anything like the Micro/Pocket, moiré is a lot better in ProRes. If you're going to get one, though, look into the RawLite brand. I believe it has an IR Cut Filter built in, so that alone is worth the extra cost. They'll pop up on eBay once in a while.

I was referring to your comment about an a7s with Venice color. I actually kinda like the grungy, funky colors of the a7s... it reminds me of an older indie film look.

When you pull that much gain with such high ISOs, it's bound to affect the color fidelity a bit.

Nah... I'm pretty sure I invented it. 🤪 Haha... movies are not meant to be made by a one man crew. Lol. Thankfully, it's given me a lot of time to rework the script as needed. I've been watching a bunch of Amira videos on Vimeo and they look amazing!!! If I could own any camera, I'm pretty sure I'd pick an Amira.

I've read that article before and if you like flares, I know why you posted it. He has some beautiful examples. In his article, he seems to be using the EF version of the 50mm 1.2 L. I have the FD version. I haven't tested it for flares, but now I'm gonna. The filter thread on the FD 50mm 1.2 L is 52mm. I think the EF version might be 72mm, but that's just a guess from memory. Helios 58mm f/2 is kinda the King of Flares, so that may be another good lens for you.

Thanks, after 3 years shooting with just the 5D3 and ML Raw, I'm still as enamored with it as I was the first day and haven't really scratched the surface of what the image is capable of. Once I removed the need for 4K out of my brain, and accepted 1080p raw as a superior image to consumer level 4K, I stopped chasing rainbows. If you don't fall madly in love with the LF, then there's probably something wrong with you. Lol. My ultimate dream is to sell my film and make enough money to rent an Amira or Alexa Mini for an upcoming film. Leica Rs are beautiful lenses. They're a little out of my price range so I've never used one. I'd love to try the 50mm f/2 summicron or ultimately the 35mm f/2 one day. There are so many vintage lenses that add a little extra to an image, IMO. For instance, Pentax Takumar lenses, from the 60s, still impress the hell out of me. Nikkors lenses are great choices, though because there are plenty of options in their line up for every budget... as long as you don't mind the focus direction. The 35mm 1.4 was considered one of their "professional" lenses marketed to photojournalists and street photographers. It even has 9 aperture blades as opposed to the traditional 7 blades that most of their lenses have. But the 35mm f/2 can be had for less than half the price and is a great lens as well. My first ML Raw test was shot with the 35mm f/2 and that lens led me to the 1.4.

I have a Benro monopod already and they sell some inexpensive heads... nothing more to it really. As far as complex moves... maybe I overstated with the word complex... just basic crane movements. It's just I came up with the monopod/tape measure pouch idea out of need to have a quick, easy and cheap handheld-like solution. I never intended to do anything more than stay steady while being as mobile as possible. But with these belts, a monopod, and a tripod head, basic jib arm movements seem easily possible. No need to start another thread, I don't care if things go off topic. Conversations evolve naturally.

It's only a matter of time before one of these companies go this route and it would make a lot of sense for Fuji... DCI-2K in ProRes up to 120p, no crop, decent tracking AF... and IBIS... Umm... yes please... take my money.

Exactly why I see no point in upgrading my camera yet.

The MogoCrane belt looks like it will accept any tripod with a 1/4-20 thread on the bottom, so for the price of the belt, it may be worth a try to get some small and smooth jib shots.

Here's another product that's been around for awhile that works similarly. https://mogopod.com I may get a cheap Benro head for my monopod so I can do some more complex moves if I want to.

I was thinking the same thing. As it is, the tape measure pouch adds no weight to my bag, I use a carabiner to clip it to the bag's handle and if I don't want to use it, I have a monopod at my disposal as well. I figured this out because I hate carrying around tripods and since the monopod is attached to my center of gravity, it's actually less shaky than my monopod by itself.

Haha... smart phones are the great equalizers. It looked good. I wasn't following that contest too much but yours definitely had a cool look.

Some of the Magic Lantern Raw apps that process MLV files will also process cdng files to ProRes and they have a lot of features to repair issues with the raw files. I don't really need any of those features so I don't know if any of them will help this issue but they might. I know auto detect black levels is one of the things I tick off when I use Raw Magic... but I don't think that program processes cdng.

Haha. This looks pretty slick but a bit much for my needs. One day, something like this will be perfect for me, though.

So no 6K... then what's the biggest new feature... IBIS? Well, if they can keep the cost of the X-T4 very close to the X-T3 and include IBIS... IMO... that's an instant win. However, I would love for Fuji to do something out of left field like ProRes... I hate h.265.