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Thomas Hill

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Posts posted by Thomas Hill

  1. 7 hours ago, jonpais said:

    Well, yes and no. Obviously whatever issues there are aren't keeping people like @Thomas Hill from telling great stories. I'd like to shoot with the X-T2 again someday. 

    Thanks @jonpais!

    If the firmware update makes the X-T2 autofocus work as well as it does on the new X-E3, it will be much better.

    On the two shorts up above, the X-T2's autofocus worked pretty well with the 18-55 kit lens on "Hide" but went haywire on a couple shots. You can see it in the video. I didn't sweat it too much when I got it into the editor and saw the breathing because of the esthetic I was going for. On "Memories," it was locked down and she was stationary so the 35/1.4 worked great. When I tried a handheld take with that combo, the lack of IBIS played havoc, warping, totally unusable.  

  2. CAD makes some surprisingly good mics for the money. I've used their GXL1200 as a boom mic. It has cardioid pickup pattern, low self-noise and a pretty hot signal so less gain is needed than other more expensive mics that I've used. I've also used the GXL2200 for close, voice-over type recordings. You can usually find them for $50-70 each or in a package with one of each for around $130. I know the package comes  with a decent pop filter, not sure if it's included with the 2200 by itself or not.

  3. 14 hours ago, markr041 said:

    Here's a video (not typical of those usually posted here) that could NOT be shot with the GH5, at all - AF and vari-speed power parfocal zoom were essential to capture the unpredictable and constantly moving subjects, which are the hallmark of the event. No Panasonic has sufficient AF capability to quickly lock on to subjects and maintain focus, and no Panasonic zoom lenses are both powered and parfocal (I have a very complete set of Panasonic mirrorless cameras and lenses). Zooming while shooting is, again, essential for sports or any moving action, and zooms must be smooth and not lose focus. The PDAF of the A6500 is very effective. Now, I would have loved to have 4K 60P...

    The lens: the Sony 18-105mm G.

    Oh, I completely agree about the AF. But I'm more interested in narrative than event or sports video. When I shoot sports, it's 1) rare and 2) photos like below (shot with an NX500 and a rented 50-150mm 2.8). Also, buying a GH5 now doesn't rule out having a Sony in a year or so or less. You see, I'm a camera serial monogamist who has been known to dabble in camera polyamory. I have shot with every mirrorless brand at some point or other, except Pentax and Leica., plus several 1 inch point and shoots. I've even used both the Nikon V1 and J1 (at the time that they came out, they had the best video AF). My longest camera relationship was with my very first camera which was a Canon Elan II and the runner up...a Sony Nex-5n. Every camera has it's pluses and minuses but I'm always hoping to find "The One." Sounds a lot like my relationships with women minus the dabbles in polyamory.

    Even though I now have a Panny, I'll continue to enjoy all the great Sony footage and look for tips and tricks (black mist filters!) that I might be able to experiment with. In other words, we can still be friends, right? ;-)

    BostonBoston

     

     

     

     

  4. On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 5:52 PM, kidzrevil said:

    Man that GH5 tempts me everytime with their 1080 performance

    You and markr041 have been tempting me toward the a6500 with all this gorgeous footage but I just snagged an OB GH5 w/12-60 f2.8-4 from Adorama for $1999. Planning to sell the lens and have the body for about the price of the a6500 body (unless I'm totally disappointed and send it back). It feels really good and solid in my hand, controls and menu are intuitive. I'll be taking it for a spin while I'm off work the next few days...pretty excited.

  5. 15 hours ago, jonpais said:

    @Thomas Hill That's one way to bring a thread back to life! Excellent work, nice color, wonderful acting.

    Thanks, Jon. Heidi nailed it. On the second take, she performed the entire seven minute monologue. We did eight takes total just trying different angles and working on the nuances of her performance. As for the look of it, I'm much more writer/director than cinematographer/editor and I'm sure that most on here could have done more with it. I barely touched the colors. It's classic chrome with a smidge of brightness and contrast adjustment, top is before:

     

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  6. On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 3:13 PM, PepperJay said:

    I have two theaters, both local ones,

    my favorite:

    VistaTheater_MichaelLocke_0.JPG.f2ccf19157c705e88a108948353dc39c.JPG

    (great little doc on it here, albeit missing Victor the Super Manager...):

    https://la.curbed.com/2015/5/26/9956894/watch-a-brief-history-of-the-1923-vista-theatre-in-los-feliz

     

     

    Off topic, but I'm 99% certain that that is the theatre where I saw The Good Thief with a post-screening Q&A with Nick Nolte the first time I visited LA. That was awesome. Ah, memories.

    On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 9:07 AM, Bioskop.Inc said:

    I thought the best concept in the film was the interaction between the K & Joi - 2 AI's trying to communicate/interact with one another.

    This, absolutely.

     

     

  7. 29 minutes ago, kaylee said:

    help 911 i need u guys again

    i wrote a first 4 1/2 page episode and ive gotten some good feedback. a friend keeps saying that a total of, say 9 episodes is way too long, too hard, and itd prolly be just as effective and way easier boiled down to say 15 min. (lights out is 2:42 and it seemed to work out p well)

    SOUNDS LIKE IT MAKES SENSE TO ME??? idek anymore lol

    hmmm...

    It all depends on the story. Once you have it as tight as possible, is it a 30-40 minute story or is it a 15 minute story?

  8. 20 hours ago, ricardo_sousa11 said:

    I cant remember why I stopped using it, but I remember commenting something about it around here on the NX1 thread. 

    I wouldnt recommend the DIS, it might be usefull for some occasions, but more often than not it would ruin the image.

     

    Heres some NX1 footage if you're interested, almost everything in my channel is from the NX1.

     

    That is stunning.

  9. This is my first short in too long and I definitely feel out of practice. We had this great location for a few hours, so it was a quick shoot with the X-T2 handheld (except for the wide shot of the house) and using the 18-55mm kit lens in auto-focus with OIS. The auto-focus worked great but did take a couple breaths, which you'll spot. The location was awesome visually but terrible for audio. The road just on the other side of the house had surprisingly constant traffic (I guess everyone in Zip City, AL wanted to be somewhere else on a Saturday) plus the wind was rough, too. We did our best.

    I am even more of a novice when it comes to editing and would really appreciate feedback, especially on the look of it and the audio, before I lock it down.

    On the audio, I have it peaking about -12 with the ambient and music tracks in stereo, one track panned 50% left and the other 50% right.

    For video, I shot in classic chrome with sharpening turned down then applied an "80s film" filter and tweaked the curves and brightness/contrast. I love the Fuji SOOC colors but I was going for a 70s slasher film look. The screengrabs are first SOOC, then 80s filter only, then filter + curves/b&c.

    The short is password protected because it's not finished, password is hide12

     

     

     

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  10. Andrew, in one of your posts that I can't find, you mentioned tweaking the NX1 to match Fuji's velvia. If I'm not imagining that you wrote such a thing, can you share those settings?  Thanks

  11. On 4/2/2016 at 4:32 PM, Oliver Daniel said:

    White balance on the A7 series does not work properly. I have an A7SII and I'm forever tinkering with white balance on set. It's never quite right and is what I believe many users are getting very wrong, hence all the very poor "sickly" footage out there with "bad" colour science.

    I had a Sony A65 for a bit and it's AWB was very inconsistent. Back to back stills shots looked noticeably different.

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