Andy Zou

On 5/27/2021 at 7:08 PM, Caleb Genheimer said:

I still don’t understand RED’s stranglehold on the RAW patent bs. Like, it’s a painfully obvious method for compressing RAW, based on already-existing open tech (even when they originally “invented” it.) 

I'm not super familiar with the conflict; what exactly did RED patent about raw compression that's so unassailable by other IP lawyers?

I got a GH4 when it came out and was pretty enamored with it; thought when it came time to upgrade I'd go with the EVA1.  Never got around to it, and it seems like not many others did either.  Did it just not compete well with the FS5s of the time?  So many cameras are out right now, it's been years since I've had to think about buying one.  In-between C200s and FS52s and FX6s... does Panasonic have something in that price range that's new?

I can't search without just getting endless calculators asking me for personal info, so I guess I wanted to poll the sort of rates people got.

Rolling Shutter?

I don't know what sort of metrics one can use to tell similarly spec'd batteries apart, but I hate that on-brand camera batteries are the only ones worth their weight.  Why is that?  Shouldn't a mAh be the same regardless if they are quoted as such?  Are some just lying?  Is there some sort of communication between battery and camera that makes the proprietary ones better?

I have a PIX-E5 (My tears when they discontinued the line...) but it comes with SDI.  Checking the B&H Site, it looks like its only video outputs are SDI tho.  Could do 4K Prores I suppose.  New pricing brings it competitive with the EVA1...not sure I could justify the weight and gear-bloat, I like to keep things light...

On 5/6/2019 at 7:56 PM, kye said:

Yes, HLG.  Too many advantages to remember all in one go!

Mine is also stuck in this mode.  C1 and C2 are both these settings except different pre-set focal lengths ???

This is better than using V-Log-L?

12 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

That said the GH5 captures more detail with its 6k sensor

So the downsampling on the GH5 from that sensor must be pretty alright then?

So, what was the consensus here re: GH5S?  Worth it over the GH5?

Owned Gh4 since launch, the focus button at this point has had all its ink rubbed off, and the micro-HDMI port has taken a few tugs... but it's still going strong!

I could probably get rid of it for ~4-500, used GH5 on ebay is around 1100.  GH5S are 1700ish.

Often record Prores to external PIX-E5.  Mostly do web content, but wondering if jumping up to EVA1 or that bracket is worthwhile as well...

They note the sensor as being a 14-bit sensor; was the GH5 sensor not?

4 hours ago, Brian Caldwell said:

Best done on an optical bench with a low-power microscope.  But a macro lens will work OK as long as you focus by moving the whole camera.  1)  stop lens under test (LUT) all the way down; 2)  Focus on the iris diaphragm; 3) move microscope or camera away from the LUT until the front lens surface is in focus - you may have to apply some dust or some Scotch tape in order to see the front surface.  The distance that the microscope or camera moves is the entrance pupil distance, e.g., the distance from the front surface of the LUT to the image of the iris diaphragm.

Huh!  Fascinating.  So I'd need to get another camera.  I assumed that the optics between the front element and the iris would've thrown off this measurement.

1 hour ago, Timotheus said:

Noob question I guess, but how exactly can you use this measurement? Cheers, Tim

I think I read somewhere here or otherwise that the distance between the rear element of the anamorphic adapter and the entrance pupil is inversely correlated with the quality of the pairing.

I recall somewhere reading that the distance from the adapter to the entrance pupil affects the quality of the combo.  How does one measure the entrance pupil?  Is this only visible in a lens' cross-section breakdown?

On 5/20/2016 at 1:00 PM, ken said:

Yes, a little bit.

Not really, reasonable. 
 

What would you consider reasonable for the Isco?  The same user has two more red Isco's for about 420 each, is that odd?

Is this overpriced?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Isco-Anamorphic-Ultra-Star-Red-Plus-2-1-2x-Cinemascope-TESTD-MFT-Full-Frame-5200-/111980460386?hash=item1a128e3962:g:nGQAAOSwCQNWdwmP

Is this suspiciously cheap?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Isco-Optics-Anamorphic-Lens-for-DSLR-GH4-Canon-Black-Magic-Red-TACK-SHARP-f-1-4-/282032228268?hash=item41aa6e47ac:g:F08AAOSwKfVXKVBr

Skin tones under orange lighting.  Too much red!

I have a 2TB RAID0 array for active project data, a 1TB for archive, a 100gbSSD for scratch/cache, anotehr 100GB SSD for OS/Programs, an old dying HD for torrenting and temp files.

The RAID0 array reads and writes faster than the single hard drive, but at the cost of doubling the catastrophic failure chance.  This can easily be measured with benchmark tests, I can't remember what I use but it literally measures the Mb/s of transferring a test file.

That being said, it'll only help if your editing is being bottlenecked by the HDDs.  What's the bitrate of your footage?  Are you multi-camming?  How much data does the system need to be able to randomly access?  And what bitrates are you writing?  You should have it reading from one drive and writing to another to keep those lanes open, so to say.  

I recall reading somewhere that anamorphics work best the closer they are to the entrance pupil of the lens.  Is there any easy resource to research good candidates for taking lenses?

It's a 5" HD screen, which I find just fine for focusing.  It comes with peaking which can be dialed in percentagewise 0-100% (i.e. contrast sensitivity), but I don't really use the peaking. I instead use the touchscreen tapZoom functionality, meaning I can tap and instantly be 2x or 4x where I tapped, while also being able to drag the zoomed area around.  Depends on how fast you like to work. 

SoundDevices, and consequently VideoDevices, are built so rugged they'll last you a long time.  Also plenty of hard buttons and functions.  SmallHD makes nice looking products, but they aren't as durable.  Also recording functions, etc.  I own a PIX-E5.

On 4/20/2016 at 8:48 PM, outerbeat said:

So, according to two documents of this product released on BM site, here the deal. It can capture 38 minutes of 4K ProRes 10bit 2160p24 to 256 Gb sd-card (main page of product). In additional spec pdf "Compatible SD Cards" there is only two sd-cards, which can perform such bandwidth for 4K, and both of them only 64 Gb. So, basically you get like 7.5 min 2160p30 files on each card, and they are need to be replaced by anothers. Of course there is growing market of cards but you can't get good option yet, and to be clear - sd cards vendors never release crucial and particular info about this matter, so in most cases we spend our money playing charades with exact performance of SD cards,

I have particular problem with this on my NX1 with bitrate hack (up to 320Mbps), it's very detectable and recurrent. Long story short that Write Speed, UHS-II, Speed Class 10 and so on means nothing in terms of capabilities in real applications, you just need to test this yourself. It's also indirectly confirmed by the "Product Manual" (page 20) on BM site, where you can see that top-speed sd-cards can't perform 4K, but only 1080p or even only 1080i but that cards have all the logos like UHS-II and so on.

So for me it might be good but right now it's very dependable of unknown performance and capabilities of sd-cards. I think that it's easier to rely on SSD-based recorders, which didn't so limited on space, file lenght, bandwidth and also fine ssds cheaper of superfast sd-cards

I was onsite for NoFilmSchool and actually talked to the SoundDevices guy about this specifically!  I asked him whether he felt threatened by the development of a sub1k 4k monitor-recorder, since they have the Pix-E series, which I own.  He says no, because he was wondering about the feasability of Prores 4K being recorded to SD cards reliably.  Also, the PIX-E is fully kitted out with scopes et al and is super rugged.

On 4/19/2016 at 9:59 AM, IronFilm said:

When you have over 12 stops of dynamic range you're going to have issues squeezing all that info into only 12 bits of linear raw.

How many bit values do you need?

Assuming 12 stops...

8bits: (2^8)/12 = 21.3 values per stop. RGB is then 64 shades per stop.

10bits: (2^10)/12 = 85.3 values per stop.  RGB is then 256 shades per stop.

12bits: (2^12)/12 = 341.3 values per stop  RGB is then 1024 shades per stop.

I mean, ARRIRAW is 12 bits.  If it's good enough for them, probably good enough for the rest of us, but I don't do enough grading to know what will band and when.  Don't know off the top of my head what video does more; I think 5D Magic lantern allows 14-bit raw.

I've been thinking about this as well since the lens stacking makes it rather inconvenient.

Obviously it depends on focal length, you're just going to have more trouble with wider lenses.

But you could also try stacking threaded filters BEFORE the rangefinder somewhere.  Obviously a nightmare to swap out, but if you are desperate to avoid vignetting on certain shots it may be your only option short of enormous square filters or 82mm filters.

I shoot 16:9 4k.
 

Gh4 anamorphic 4:3 cannot be transmitted over HDMI while recording, meaning you can only record the 4:3 internally.  The h264 4:2:0 100mbps may be a dealbreaker for some.

But, it outputs the 16:9 4k over hdmi while recording just fine.  So with a monitor that has desqueeze built in, you can just crop off the sides and get usable external recordings of anamorphic footage.

Not sure what sort of workaround you would have around desqueezing besides using a monitor or a desqueeze diopter, which I don't think they'd even build as a loupe for the GH4.  

Any updates on good pairings with the 2x anamorphot?  I'm using it with the 50mm Zeiss 1.4 right now and I'm ambivalent about it...using it with the rangefinder as well!  Thinking maybe the 40mm 2.8 might be good!

Really?  I got the 2x anamorphic on their early bird sale because of the bonus diopter, I'll be quite annoyed if they decide to update it so soon...