mercer

8 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Panasonic 35mm f1.8 L Mount.

Frame extracts from 4K file on my Panasonic S5ii.

It isn't lacking in sharpness that's for sure.

 

My friend has that lens for his S5iiX. Steady with IBIS and the AF works well with it... and yes it is razor sharp and contrasty. He originally had the Sigma 24mm but when shooting vLog, at 640 iso on a bright, sunny day with a VND, there was some heavy vignetting. So he returned it and decided on the Panny 35mm. 

2 hours ago, bjohn said:

No worries...as I noted it was a still shot with Sony A7iii. I am foolish enough to attempt taking photos of dancers with manual lenses in dimly lit halls. To keep ISO down I use fast lenses wide open or close to it, which means I rarely nail focus. But the dancers love these photos, especially when focus is not spot on. On this one I used a Minolta Rokkor 58/1.2, probably wide open based on the shape of the OOF highlights.

It looks great. Love the motion you captured in the still. Still really like the color too. I've been so tempted to try out a Sony camera... eventually the FX30 probably.

3 minutes ago, mercer said:

That's a really nice image! Love the color work. Was that with the Micro? Nah, it's gotta be from a 4K, right?

Never mind... I didn't read your comment thoroughly enough. Or it would appear... at all. Haha. Still a nice shot, though!

23 minutes ago, bjohn said:

Like I said, maybe noise doesn't bother me as much as it should. Here's an example of a still shot on Sony A7iii (uncompressed raw, but only 24 megapixels); I have my ISO capped at 12,800 and that's what the EXIF shows but it was at least two stops underexposed so I had to bring it up. I did no denoising myself although Capture One applies a bit of denoising automatically (and adds a small amount of film grain) so maybe that's what's going on. The level of noise here doesn't bother me at all.

For video I'm using Blackmagic cameras, none of which apply any noise reduction in-camera; they leave that up to you in post so you can dial in as much or as little as you like. In low light those cameras are super-noisy and even if I crush the blacks I usually have to denoise every clip.
 

 

That's a really nice image! Love the color work. Was that with the Micro? Nah, it's gotta be from a 4K, right?

49 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

That camcorder is just so much fun and it has decent IBIS, something that the GX800 lacks. I'm going to take a mini tripod for it for that reason. To get out to 600mm equivalent, it would require the Olympus 75-300mm, which I also have. The problem is that it's the same weight as the VX-981 and it's near unusable on the GX800 unless on a tripod. The only thing that could "replace" the VX-981 is the 14-140mm or the 100-300mm due to their OIS. Also, I just love camcorders now because how versatile they are. I should also add that the audio on the GX80/85/800 are not great whereas the VX-981 has great audio.

The XA50 I've been messing around with for the past few weeks has brought a new joy to filming that I haven't experienced since I first started shooting with my 5D and an IS lens. The top handle and the hood with its flip switch lens cap makes carrying and shooting a pleasure. With other cams, in between locations, I'd take off my VND filter and then put the camera back into my bag. With the camcorder, it just sits in my lap until I'm ready to shoot again... which is such a quick process... flip open the lcd, flip the lens cap switch, check exposure, record... I can grab shots from standby mode to record in about 3 seconds or so.

Just to be clear, as long as you hold the button pushed in, the footage will be in slow motion, when you release it, it goes back to regular motion. Such a cool feature that no other camera has.

Here's a video I shot with the camera many moons ago. This video just demonstrates the camera in slow motion, not while using the push to slow function. Looking back, I'd probably make the grade a touch less brown, but it was kind of a cold, brown day...

6 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

And yet the FZ2000/2500 that is the camera for ticking every single one of these boxes can’t get arrested.

Same sensor size as the Super 16 film format that was used in classic BBC travel docs such as Palin’s Around The World In 80 Days but with an optically stabilised zoom with a huge range, internal ND and without the flightcases.

Cheaper than the iPhone as well.

 

We've discussed this a bunch of times. What an amazing camera. After my 5D, it's one of my favorite cameras I have ever owned. If they upgraded this camera with internal ProRes, I'd preorder it. I also wouldn't mind a smaller lens, even if I lost a touch from the long end. The ProRes 1080p out of the GH6 and S5iiX, I've tested, looks damn near as good as their 4K.

But even as is, most people do not need much more. I remember one of my favorite features is the touch to slow motion. I'm sure you remember but you can set a button for slow motion and while recording, push the button and it will ease into slow motion. That feature is right out of old Super 8 cameras.

10 minutes ago, Tim Sewell said:

Both are true. Just from my own limited experience - my EF-S 17-55 2.8 has worked well via adapters/focal length reducers, with functioning AF, on every Sony body I've used (FS700, FS5, A7R1, A6600) but is terrible compared to the inexpensive Sony 24-105 f4 - literally worlds apart. So if AF is important, it generally has to be native.

Personally I only use it for 'fun' shooting and for anything intentional use my Super Takumars, but even for the 'fun' stuff I want AF I can rely on.

Wasn't looking at it that way. Whenever I think of adaptable lenses, recent electronic AF lenses never come to mind. I'm always thinking about M42, like your Tak, or PL mount, or c-mount or old S16 Zeiss lenses.

Love Super Takumar lenses by the way, I was planning on selling off my small and rather basic collection but then after using the 50mm 1.4, even wide open, on my FP, I remember why I bought them in the first place.

If I remember correctly, didn't you used to have the Zeiss Flektogon 35mm 2.4? Or am I thinking of someone else?

That said... it's kinda moot because other than Pentax, nobody really makes DSLRs anymore... or better said... they don't release new models.

For me, other than IBIS, the 1DXiii is close to my perfect camera. I guess the R3 would be the comparable mirrorless.

It's cool that you are figuring out your perfect kit, but after reading the reasons why, I am brought to the conclusion that mirrorless cameras, when you add lens design, offers little advantage over DSLRs for size.

I understand that this may not affect you, but for a lot of folks, you can get a better balanced camera with a DSLR and a smaller lens. With mirrorless, it seems that the script is just flipped.

Obviously, that doesn't pertain to everything. There are plenty of small prime lenses that work perfectly for these small, mirrorless cameras, but once you bring fast(ish) zooms into the equation, which are very attractive, the benefits of mirrorless become minimal... especially when you consider the cost for these zoom lenses.

I often read that you can also adapt almost any lens to these mirrorless cameras, but it seems that a lot of folks that say that, usually only shoot with native lenses.

I haven't shot ProRes Raw, but with raw cDNG files you can correct WB in post via the Raw Tab on the Color page in Resolve. You should try to set your Kelvin Temperature as close in camera as possible or use the presets. And then once in Resolve you can change the temperature and tint on the raw tab. As long as you know what type of lighting equals what Kelvin temperature you should be able to get it close in camera, or change it in post pretty easily.

In FCPX, there are a few options... you can change the temp/tint with the color wheels tool, you can use the Balance Color tool which is an automated process in FCPX, or you can follow some of Larry Jordan's suggestions... search for his channel on YouTube, he is pretty much the go to guy for FCPX questions and more than likely will have the answer for you.

On a side note, which could be useful... with the GH7, I think you can have your WB set to auto and then customize one of your buttons to toggle on/off AWB Lock. Toggle off the lock for a couple seconds while the camera figures out the WB and then toggle on the AWB Lock. The S5iiX could do it and I found it to be pretty reliable with the ProRes files I was recording. That said, certain situations... like sunsets, AWB may not get the dramatic orange and pink tones perfectly and will adjust it more conservatively and you may have to tweak it to taste in post.

Speaking of camcorders... here's a video I found shot with an XA10 in "cinema" mode with a monochrome filter applied...

29 minutes ago, Clark Nikolai said:

Ah, yes, The HV20 (and HDV) revolution. I did some great stuff with my two matching HV20s. The image still holds up. (Some of the tapes haven't though. They're starting to develop drop outs.)

Especially in controlled areas that you can light a little and don't need a lot of dynamic range. The HD out of it is gorgeous. I've even seen a couple videos where people have been experimenting with its full hdmi and clean hdmi out to a ninja star to bypass the miniDV and get ProRes files... pretty cool idea.

I miss camcorders, but I don't miss tapes. 

23 minutes ago, Clark Nikolai said:

I read that the dark lighting on film noir films was for budget reasons initially. To cover up gaps in the budget in the sets by just not lighting some areas.

That makes sense! Form and function working together creating a new visual style.

You can grab shots from two different locations and match them in an edit.

You can even shoot one side of a conversation if you only have one actor available and get the other angle another day.

With shallow DOF, I can shoot inside a coffee house, on a crowded ferry and grab shots while I look like a tourist with a camera and nobody will come back and say that blurry counter is my coffee shop.

So as much as I understand that it can be overused, there's also a very practical reason to use it for me.

Just another tool. 

6 minutes ago, zlfan said:

motion jpeg codec is compression within the frame, like I-frame, all-i, etc, not like long gop that compresses among similar frames. the former has higher bit rates and larger files, but better quality, especially at higher bit rates, especially for movements. 

Well, that much I knew. But there has been plenty of all-i codecs since and although they look better than their IPB counterparts, they still don't look quite as cool as mjpeg used to look... I don't know... maybe it's a nostalgic thing. 

When I bought my first DSLR... the t2i... the exciting part was the ability to use shallow depth of field to help hide our lack of production and art design on DIY films. Those original Canon DSLRs lacked detail on wide angle, infinity focused shots but close ups with shallow depth of field looked great. Unfortunately, wide angle shots became very popular due to skateboarding videos and people's desire to go handheld, so people wanted sharper, more detailed images.

With IBIS and AF in FF cameras, it makes sense why shallow DOF has become popular again. Like anything else, it's just another tool. I kinda miss tripod and slider shots if I'm being honest... I imagine they work great now with the great AF and motorized sliders that are available.

That said, I was recently watching footage from my friend's old HV20 and was floored by how great it looked in that old Canon "cinema" mode. What it lacked in DR, it made up for in color and atmosphere... and no color grading needed.

4 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Yup, the GH1 was hacked, it had some very high bit rate options with a hack. 

Was the original firmware mjpeg and the high bitrate was added, or was the mjpeg hidden in the original FW and turned on via the hack? I had an old Panasonic point and shoot that had a CCD sensor and used the mjpeg codec and I just loved the image out of that thing. 

There was also something nice about the use of the high bitrate mjpeg codec in those earlier Panasonic cameras... I think the GH1 had it, or it was added in the hack? I am not technical enough to say why, but there was something about the motion that just looked a little more cooler. It worked in the 1DC as well, I think. 

1 hour ago, John Matthews said:

I just had a look at my GH6 footage that I took before selling it and I must say it looked great! It has a super organic feel to it and loved the colors in just Standard profile. I also tried shooting in Vlog quite a bit, but Standard really did it for me. I took it to the French Alps last summer and it performed so well for photos and video. Sure, it didn't have PDAF, but when you learn to work around it, it's really no big deal. Honestly, I hope to have a similar opportunity with the GH7.

B&H had a remarkable deal on Open Box GH6 starting last spring and it lasted until late this winter. I bought one last spring for $1299 and it was brand new. B&H does that some times... I guess they're clearing out inventory. Stupid me, I returned it. I was going to buy it again if it dropped to $1099. Over the holidays it went down to $1199 but I didn't bite.

I really liked the CineLikeD and the monochrome profiles. VLOG was good, but I was trying to lean on the DR Boost which created some pretty harsh chroma noise in the shadows. At first, I hadn't noticed it until @BTM_Pixpointed it out to me and then I couldn't unsee it. I was so stoked about the DR Boost concept of the camera that I stupidly got annoyed with the cam as a whole. Now I am regretting it big time because although the GH7 is vastly better, I don't really want to pay the extra money for it. BTM also recommended the cheap Meike 25mm lens and it was a treat to use with that cam and I've always wanted to test out the Pan/Leica 15mm 1.7. If I can find a deal on a GH6, I may bite. Great camera otherwise! If not, I'll wait to see if the GH7 drops a little by the holidays.

To add, in this instance, the GH7, a smaller sensor camera, has a few major advantages over any larger sensor camera in its price range... internal ProRes Raw and ProRes HQ, 32bit float audio, a LogC curve, probably the best IBIS, and the best tilting/articulating LCD mechanism that I have ever used.

So... the GH7... yeah... a pretty cool camera...

2 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Granted the title of the thread is "Panasonic GH7". However, invariably with any camera release that is not full frame, the discussion goes only to sensor size and how inferior the sensor is because it's not FF. It's quite ludicrous.

Obviously, I must take the blame for this since it was my comment that started this off topic discussion. But my original comment wasn't meant to say that smaller sensors were inferior, just that larger sensors have some advantages.

Sometimes those advantages can make comparisons slightly unfair. As I have already stated, my original comment was intended to give the GH7 some leeway in a video where it didn't fare so well.

Everything I stated after that was probably an exercise in futility where I didn't speak eloquently enough or I was full of shit...

Probably a little of both.

But there's still a medium format look.

16 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

100 megapixels is more than 61 megapixels.  That's an advantage.  The 110/2 is my favorite portrait lens for any system.  In fact, every lens made for the GF system is excellent.

All part of the look.

18 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

It's possible to like a thing without inventing imaginary characteristics to apply to it.

Can you prove it doesn't exist?

Perhaps your style of photography doesn't lend to the look, so you haven't been able to adequately capture it?

17 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Also, because I like the ergonomics and I like any number of other things about the system.  It's possible to like a thing without inventing imaginary characteristics to apply to it.

With film, I like my large format gear especially because I enjoy the contemplative experience of shooting with it.  I like using gear that by its very nature demands slow and deliberative composition/shooting.  It's a great contrast to gear that invites me to shoot hundreds of photos and end up with only a handful of keepers.

Valid point.

Then why spend tens of thousands of dollars, and hours, on a format that doesn't offer any advantage, if it doesn't exist?

Anyway, the GH7 seems like a very capable camera. One thing I learned from that video, in the comments section, is that Panasonic changed their color science recently, is that true?

It does make sense, when I used the GH6, it did seem to lean toward green a bit but then the S5iiX definitely had more of a magenta look to it and it seems that the magenta has carried over to the GH7. So the LogC profile could possibly work better with the GH6 since the Alexa is known to have a green bias straight out of camera.

4 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

It's no problem.  Your comments are already more than dumb enough.  No need to dumb them down further.

I know you are but what am I? Hahaha.

I should probably be offended but like me, you're just some guy on the internet.

Actually... I feel kinda bad for you. Everything is so binary. You don't believe in a medium format or large format look, yet you own a MF camera. I can only assume you don't believe in movie magic or how a cinematic image can transport an audience into another world.

You seem like the type that probably rooted for the government in E.T.