Jump to content

mercer

Members
  • Posts

    7,651
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation Activity

  1. Like
    mercer reacted to TomTheDP in Adobe stopping Nikon N-RAW support   
    I really think Redraw is coming or at least a varient of it. I get market segmentation but Nikon already displayed its willingness to put internal RAW in their cameras with no caveats. REDraw is coming to Nikon mirrorless. 

    I don't think this will kill sales for any of the "RED" cameras. They are made for a traditional on set workflow. No one is going to want to use a Z8 with HDMI on a large production unless its a crash cam. 

    Plus the RED Komodo is priced the same as the Nikon Z9 to begin with. It's not like its ARRI where they don't sell any cameras lower than 50,000 usd. 

    RED never had the capacity to put out a mirrorless body and compete with the likes of Nikon or Canon, now they don't need to. 

    We shall see soon enough. 
  2. Like
    mercer reacted to kye in Is the GX85, G7 and G85 so skilled with dynamic range?   
    I'll chime in with my usual advice about colour grading.
    The simple fact is that colour grading has a much more significant role in getting great looking images than the camera does.  I'll also re-enforce the points above that what you point the camera at is more important than anything else.
    When we look at something shot on ARRI or RED or the high end Sony cameras, the reason they look great are 70% the scene, 25% the colour grading and 5% the camera.  I know this is a bold statement, but I stand by it.
    Colour grading is the elephant in the room of all online discussions about cameras.  Everyone is looking at sample videos and going "wow, this looks great - I want to get that look without doing any colour grading or work in post at all!" and it's just not true.
    If you need more convincing, here are a few things to look at:
    The BMPCC 4K can match the Alexa almost perfectly...   So, why don't all P4K videos look as good as Netflix shows?  It's not the camera! The image from the GX85 is more flexible in post than you think...  @John Matthews I haven't forgotten about doing a follow-up with skin-tones in it. Simple colour grading > Camera colour science...  I compare a few examples of the 709 version of some professional grade images with the final colour graded image, and it's pretty obvious that the 709 version looks quite plain - a lot like the images we get when us mere mortals shoot The best film-making advice I ever got was to do with colour grading, but it helped me improve my shooting, editing, sound design, etc etc, the whole lot. Here are a bunch of GX85 shots SOOC that I took in Korea last year..  this just goes to show you that not only is the GX85 a very capable camera, but that it's the subject that you put in front of it that really makes the difference.  Of course, colour grading will elevate these beyond that level. High-end TV shows and movies look nothing like the standard images out of a camera... In this thread I compare some standard images from ARRI with real images from TV shows and movies and it's pretty obvious that not only are the colours significantly changed, the real images aren't sharp and clean like the videos that camera YT seems to idolise.  The goal isn't technical purity, the goal is creativity, and this means taking your sharp and clean images and giving them some character.   I could go on (many will wholeheartedly agree on this!) but long story short...  the camera is a minor part of the journey that the image takes from finding / creating something cool to point it at, to all the work done in post.
    Also, learn to edit.  Well edited bad-quality clips are better than boring high-quality images every time.
  3. Like
    mercer reacted to Danyyyel in Nikon buys Red?   
    I thought the same, until I tested a bit the 4.1 K (pixel skipping) of my z9 as I calculated that it was about 350 mb/s bitrate  (I dont know if it is capital M or small m), compared to about 200 mb/s the h.265. Another surprise was that it played better using Resolve than H.265. For me this has been my defacto standard for higher end work.
    I must do some more test about DR etc. to know what loss compared to 8k. Which I think is just too much. If I could get a 4k or 6k raw camera, I would be super happy or with the likes of Redraw higher compression. 
  4. Like
    mercer reacted to eatstoomuchjam in Nikon buys Red?   
    I, for one, can say that I enjoy having internal raw available (even if I don't always use it) and that I have little or no use for 8kp120.  
    I'd also say "Nikon won't enforce their new patent" and "they'll probably license it" are completely incompatible statements.  If they don't enforce it, other companies would be stupid to pay for a license.  Even if Nikon fought to invalidate the patent in the past, now that they own it, there's a decent chance that their opinions on the validity of the patent have evolved.
  5. Thanks
    mercer reacted to JulioD in Nikon buys Red?   
    It’s just not how it works.  Sony semi sells and DESIGNS sensors.  They don’t hold back tech from any customer who is willing to pay.  They also do business with Sony direct competitors.
     
    They all co-operate a lot more than us consumers realise   
    Think of them as a seperate company to Sony cameras.  
  6. Haha
    mercer reacted to D Verco in Nikon buys Red?   
    why do you think sony owns autofocus, or that nikon licences it from them? 
  7. Thanks
    mercer reacted to Eric Calabros in Nikon buys Red?   
    I'm not sure pixel shield PDAF IP is totally owned by Sony, since Nikon has a lot of patents related to that technique. Of course many cross licencing is happening in this industry. Dual gain was invented by Aptina, now part of ONsemi, which doesn't provide sensor for any of Japanese ILC makers, but everybody is using the tech. However if they want to add AF capabilities to RED, I don't think they would use pixel shield technique, cause it degrades image quality a little bit (the shielded pixel has lower S/N ratio than the rest of the pixels). Dual pixel and quad pixel is the way to go. Nikon has some interesting patents about that too. People put too much emphasis on sensor license fees. The fees are not really a big deal. The fab costs is. 
  8. Haha
    mercer reacted to kye in Nikon buys Red?   
    Announcements like this are just wonderful...
    All it took was a pair of press-releases and all of a sudden dozens of people with no training or experience instantly turn into patent attorneys and corporate lawyers specialising in mergers and acquisitions and market strategists etc, and not only that, they also instantly gained insider knowledge about market caps, sales figures, product strategies, etc, and just when you'd think that it couldn't get any better they also become R&D experts in both hardware and software design!
    With a shift so radical in capability, even the hardened skeptic must believe there is a higher power involved.
  9. Haha
    mercer reacted to PannySVHS in Nikon buys Red?   
    I think I know the reason, why Nikon bought Red. I'm very sure they did it just to piss this guy off. He sounds like someone just cut his mullet off. 😊 I like Mike. But seeing and especially hearing him was hillarious. "I am pissed."😂 He just bought an Epic btw.
     
  10. Like
    mercer got a reaction from Davide DB in Nikon buys Red?   
    Here's an interesting video regarding the purchase...
    For those that don't have the time, or inclination, to watch, he basically says that this purchase was so Nikon could get into the high end cinema market. He also claims it has nothing to do with the patent, but then kinda contradicts himself. Either way, it's a breakdown of what probably occurred over the past 2 years between Red and Nikon...
    Trigger Warning: if you despise Red and believe their patent is complete BS, then you may want to skip this video.
  11. Like
    mercer got a reaction from kye in Nikon buys Red?   
    Well, I don't need any because I'm not a customer at any point in the near future, but if I was considering buying into the Red ecosystem, I'd like a bit more information from Nikon or "Red" before I made such a big purchase... another press release... a new Red camera with a Nikon badge on it... something to let me know that they're not just going to ingest the IP and scale back their new cinema division.
  12. Like
    mercer got a reaction from PannySVHS in Nikon buys Red?   
    Well, I don't need any because I'm not a customer at any point in the near future, but if I was considering buying into the Red ecosystem, I'd like a bit more information from Nikon or "Red" before I made such a big purchase... another press release... a new Red camera with a Nikon badge on it... something to let me know that they're not just going to ingest the IP and scale back their new cinema division.
  13. Haha
    mercer reacted to D Verco in Nikon buys Red?   
    Lol what. Only some of Nikon's sensors are Sony designed. Others like the z9 are designed by Nikon and then manufactured by Sony. 
  14. Haha
    mercer got a reaction from kye in Nikon buys Red?   
    There has been no mention of n-raw being ticoRAW since 2022, so I couldn't say with any certainty if the current version of n-raw is the same as was announced before the Z9 or Z8 was released.
    As far as Red's patents... I'm not a patent attorney or a patent judge but I do know that many companies, including Apple, could not convince a court that their patent was invalid.
    We do know that in May of 2022, Red filed a lawsuit against Nikon for patent infringement and less than a year later, in April of 2023, the case was dismissed at the request of both Red and Nikon and less than a year after that, it's announced that Nikon purchased Red.
    So it may be possible that Nikon wants to enter the high end cinema market, but based on the timeline of events, one can ascertain that Nikon's purchase of Red is about Redcode Raw... maybe... but I haven't sat in on any of the meetings between Nikon and Red for a while...
  15. Haha
    mercer got a reaction from IronFilm in Nikon buys Red?   
    Exactly. I don't even know what to think. I wasn't planning any upgrade anytime soon, so I can wait to see how things pan out, but how Canon responds will definitely sway me one way or the other.
    Hell, this was so out of left field, that for all I know, Canon could announce they bought Arriflex next week.
  16. Like
    mercer got a reaction from IronFilm in Nikon buys Red?   
    To add... this has been in the works for a while so I wouldn't be surprised if a cine camera pops up from Nikon/Red at this year's NAB, or if that new Nikon camera that's been rumored has RedCode built in.
  17. Like
    mercer reacted to PPNS in Nikon buys Red?   
    what else would you call it?
  18. Like
    mercer reacted to sanveer in Nikon buys Red?   
    Unless it had the original Cinema DNG ratios that Blackmagic Cameras had (3:1 5:1 8:1 12:1). Despite the huge compressions, those should still be superior to H.264 and H.265 based codecs. 
  19. Haha
    mercer reacted to PPNS in Nikon buys Red?   
    you don't have to, your value judgement is irrelevant. the fact is that nikon now gets to control red's patent, and now gets to decide who gets to use "compressed raw" on their terms: 
    either we get more more cameras with internal raw from other companies, where nikon will be profiting from the income of licenses (imo unlikely) or nothing changes. instead of red going after other companies in court, it's going to be nikon, and thus having another source of income by claiming damages (imo more likely) this was red's business model after all. nikon probably doesn't care all that much about making products or entering the cinema market. my prediction is that red as a brand, as well as their cameras will cease to exist in a few years. nikon will probably keep making hybrids with a focus on photography, and i doubt that any of the red tech will trickle down. why would it after all? Who's going to buy a nikon branded camcorder in a world where sony dominates the market? reds are kinda dead in the european high end rental market, why would nikon even start?
     
    here's a value judgement from me: lol
  20. Haha
    mercer got a reaction from kye in Nikon buys Red?   
    I feel very confident being a reader of this former for the past decade to fully understand every aspect of this acquisition. 
  21. Like
    mercer reacted to kye in Smallest MFT camera with usable AF-S, decent DR, and dual-ISO?   
    Yeah, but remember, our situations have almost nothing in common.  You're shooting dreamy images for someone else to pay you money and doing so in a situation where you're expected to be taking up space and using as impressive a camera setup as possible.  I am shooting environmental images for myself in situations where I'm discouraged from taking up space and where having the smallest possible setup is to my advantage.
    As far as my understanding goes, if I was doing what you do then I'd also have the same thoughts as you.  I imagine that if you were doing what I do then you'd also understand why I have the priorities that I do.
    It's easy to look in at a situation from a distance and see enough of it to have a good overview, but to be far enough from the details that the subtleties aren't apparent. 
    The FF user telling the MFT user who wants small cameras that FF is just as good as MFT is like the cinematographer telling the wedding shooter that an FX9 is just as good for shooting wedding videos as a mirrorless, and completely missing that the price, size, weight, workflow, and a dozen small details make the proposition impractical at best.  The comparison probably isn't bulletproof and you could probably find weaknesses in it, but I've had enough issues in the field with the size of my XC10 and GH5 that I can pretty confidently say that the considerations involved are real, even if they aren't obvious to outsiders.  I mean, the other recent thread from @John Matthews was about cameras substantially smaller than the GX85!
  22. Like
    mercer got a reaction from kye in Smallest MFT camera with usable AF-S, decent DR, and dual-ISO?   
    @kye we've discussed this a bit in the past regarding selling everything and moving to a new system and normally I would be against it... I still consider my 5D3 with ML Raw as my main camera... but if my main camera was a m4/3, I might consider it.
    Unfortunately, m4/3 as a small camera system is a thing of the past. Any new cameras will be as big as Panasonic's FF offerings, so if you want any of the upgrades you mentioned, the only option is to change systems or deal with the bigger m4/3 bodies. Sony could be a great option, as @BTM_Pix mentioned because you can use some of your current manual focus m4/3 lenses with a simple adapter while you decide what lenses you'd like to invest in. Also, eventually there will be no m4/3... it may not be for a few years, but the writing is on the wall... so your Voigtlander lenses will become VERY expensive paper weights. Sell them while you still can.
    Then again, if you are happy with the images you are getting with what you already own, then there's no reason to upgrade.
    But if you want some of the features you mentioned, the only options are a change in systems... hell you can have a lot, if not all including size, by going full frame. In the end, after selling off/trading what you have, you could probably end up with more money. 
  23. Like
    mercer reacted to BTM_Pix in Smallest MFT camera with usable AF-S, decent DR, and dual-ISO?   
    I think I droned out these exact same thoughts in the G9ii or some similar thread about MFT but I'll repeat them anyway 🙂 
    In terms of a new camera, I honestly think its time to give up on Panasonic producing that specced up GX85 that everybody knows they could make if they wanted to.
    In the absence of the "new" Olympus not doing anything to move the MFT story along either in terms of a compact then something like the A6700 is that camera now.
    As well as being a larger sensor, it ticks every box of what is being asked for in terms of being dual native ISO, 10bit 4:2:2 internal, IBIS, class leading AF, LOG and a very good out of the box profile in S-Cinetone.
    Very flexible mount in that it can even take your MFT manual focus lenses and has very good options like the Meike EF>E which will give you full AF of Canon lenses with the bonus of variable ND.
    In terms of native lenses, there are a lot more E mount options now compared to when, say, the GX85 launched and it is seeing more releases every month unlike MFT which is slowing now.
    The writing was on the wall when Sigma expanded their compact f1.4 prime lineup with the 56mm and didn't release an MFT version. 
    Their two compact contemporary f2.8 zoom lenses are also not available in MFT of course.
    Size wise there isn't anything in it from the front and the GX85 is actually a fraction bigger.

    The A6700 is deeper but most of that is attributable to the chunky grip which, to me, is no bad thing as the GX85 is not chunky enough for me and the A6700's incorporates a dial too.

    Price wise, it is a lot more expensive than the GX85 was on launch but so is everything else now and it is significantly cheaper than Panasonic's latest MFT camera, the G9ii.
    The virtual shark jumping price of the G9ii makes me suspect that even if Panasonic did produce a new specced up GX85 that it would likely be at least as expensive as the A6700.
    If you want to be closer spiritually to a combo of the GX85 and OG Pocket then, if you embrace the quirks, the Sigma Fp is well worth a consideration particularly as the used prices are dropping.

    Personally, I'd add the EVF-11 as it is so much nicer to shoot with whilst at the same time you can remover it and leave it in your pocket if you need to go smaller. The tilt action of the EVF enables you to press the camera to your chest to offer a lot more stability when handholding.
    That is important because you lose IBIS of course but you gain RAW and, as with the AF of the Fp, the internal 8 bit 4K is far more serviceable than people give it credit for and if you only need HD then its 12 bit internal. 
    As with the EVF, the modularity means that if you want more capability in terms of bit depth then you can add it easily and discreetly.
    The Fp has largely been forgotten/written off by an awful lot of people around the world but in Japan, in particular, there is some absolutely lovely imagery being uploaded to YouTube every week from it.
     
  24. Like
    mercer got a reaction from John Matthews in Let's bring back the good, old-fashioned camcorder of the 1990-2000s, but with modern specs.   
    I have a lot more to say about this... but only have a few minutes to reply. I think I wrote a similar post years ago and one of my arguments for a camcorder is that when you are shooting a zero budget, guerrilla style film, you need to look as inconspicuous as possible and nothing says dorky dad more than a camcorder... nobody would pay you any mind whatsoever.
    Now I could be content with ProRes HQ but being a raw video only shooter, I would much rather have raw.
    I love the form factor of camcorders... but I also still prefer DSLRs to mirrorless so I'm basically a dinosaur in today's market.
  25. Like
    mercer reacted to Clark Nikolai in Let's bring back the good, old-fashioned camcorder of the 1990-2000s, but with modern specs.   
    Oh, I'm dreaming of even more. I'm thinking of internal raw recording in a camcorder. (It would likely have to be uncompressed raw because of Red's patent but if I'm dreaming here it would be ProResRaw and/or BRaw.)
    I'm thinking of the type of narrative filmmaking where you have actors and all but the filming situation is such that you don't have much control over the setting (or much time with the location). You need to set up fast and get the shots and move on. A camcorder is perfect for that. It would need some type of timecode jam sync for any external audio recorder(s). 
     
×
×
  • Create New...