Thomas Hill

Even with the usual caveats about pre-pro firmware, video AF looks good in this one that @Django posted back on page 3
https://youtu.be/NpBN7-qGgWE

Yes, need more footage from people who know what they are doing.
For example, only one demonstration of the new 18-120 zoom specifically seems to show
parfocal zooming when in manual focus:
It needs to stay in focus with AF off, otherwise any AF camera with an AF zoom could be called "parfocal", (until the
AF jumps, and then it isn't.)
All the other Youtube demos I've seen obviously have the autofocus on, which shows occasional small vibrations in the image as the focus-by-wire motors are activated.
Same with the old exposure stepping. It is in all the other youtube demos except this one.
Need more reliable demos.
 

We absolutely don't know that these aren't better yet. 
 
Early footage has looked alright to me (there barely is any), but we only have to wait another month to actually see how those things really have or haven't improved instead of guessing

Yes that is the situation on YouTube. Sony and Canon are good at marketing. Way more of the “big time” YouTubers talk about, and hype up, Sony or canon gear. It’s to the point where if you are on a different system, like a Nikon Z9 or a Sigma FP L, you almost get a little lost because there just isn’t so much *mostly* helpful content on these cameras. I ran into that problem with my Nikon Z6, have had to figure out a lot of stuff through trial and error. For example there are oodles of “how to grade S-Log 3 S-CINETONE LUT PACK” videos, but can hardly find videos on good exposure practices for Nikon N-Log, for example. I had to play around with that myself. I suppose that makes me more disciplined, but still. 
 
Then there is the whole “I will teach you how to be a professional colorist just like me. Easy solution. Sell all your lighting gear and buy my S-LOG PROGRADE MATTI LUT PACK!!  USE PROMO CODE squarespace22 TO GET 2.3% off!”  And then they don’t even teach FUNDAMENTAL grading principles. It’s like they want to hide the info from the users so they will just buy the lut packs and purchase Sony gear through there Amazon Affiliate Link!!
Sorry for the little mini rant…

I bought a 2nd hand Oneplus 8 Pro (Android phone from 2020) to try shooting raw video with the motioncam app - the app is pretty stable overall with that phone. Below is a quick video I shot yesterday with it on the Emirates Air Line cable car in London. Worth watching on a large screen and set the video to 5K.
The phone has 3 lenses (ultrawide, wide, 3x tele). They all work fine at 4k up to 60fps (limited record time at that frame rate). This video was shot at a resolution of 4000x3000 (full sensor area) at 24fps using the RAW10 mode (which I guess means 10 bit raw?). The data rate is about 12.5gb per minute of footage. I exported it as cDNG uncompressed raw files, and edited it in Davinci Resolve.
The individual DNG photos from the video look very nice with lots of details. It's incredible what these phone sensors are capable of without any processing.
The rolling shutter is a bit of an issue - but I was on a cable car which was moving around quite a bit. I stabilised the footage in Resolve but that occasionally introduces some wobble in the image. The shutter speed was high on this as I didn't use an ND filter. 
I later found out you can record video straight to an external Samsung T5 SSD drive, which makes things much quicker since you can completely bypass the phone's internal memory. 
I made the music in the video on a Sequential Prophet 12 synthesizer.
 

I've posted the trailer & BTS here earlier, here is the official page: Short film "AION" Trailer by Giulio Meliani
Shot in ProRes HQ F-Log2 with the MK 18-55mm & Fujinon 19-90mm Cabrio Cinema Zoom.
 
A7S3/FX3 are solid all-rounders but the shooting experience still lacks. 
R5C has it all except IBIS with internal RAW, 8K and full video assist tools, shutter angle, LUT import etc.
XH2S is interesting as for $2500 you get 6K/4K120p, ProRes, Open Gate. Great DR & minimal RS.
I do wish the video mode would have proper exposure tools, shutter angle, LUT support.
That's still what a lot of these hybrids are missing. Only Panasonic & R5C seem to get it.

Well it’s 2022 now, and seems like I’m the only person using this camera for video. Everyone likes to use a Sony a7sIII or a Canon R5C. The Z6 provides an interesting feature set for those who cannot afford a more expensive option. At an affordable price it has what I call the “triple Goldilocks” featureset.  That is, this camera is full frame, has 10 bit 4k, and has very respectable phase-detect autofocus. 
 
This camera desperately needs an external recorder. Without one the camera seems pointless for video. You lose both 10 bit and log, a big smack in the face. The internal files lack dynamic range. I’ve gotten decent results with the neutral picture profile and the contrast dialed down a tad, but lighting needs to be optimal. Highlight rolloff is terrible and I’d honestly prefer Sony A7iii 8 bit because we at least have somewhat useable log. 
 
However, if you do hook up an external recorder, you are in for a treat. You get full frame 10 bit 4k. You get a really nice log profile with solid DR, great highlight retention, and a gentle rolloff. You can pick up a Ninja V plus a used Z6 body for sub $2000. This puts you in similar territory to the S5, but you get better autofocus that I think is very useable with the right lenses. 
 
N-log grades quite well in post. It responds well to overexposure. For interview shots I put middle gray at 50 IRE instead of the recommended 35 IRE. For run and gun I just look at my scopes and make sure the image is overexposed by a good amount without clipping. 
 
For grading, Nikon’s 3D LUT is horrendous. It’s better than nothing, but it seems to ruin the solid highlight rolloff of N-log. You also get a purple tint thrown in for free. It is much better to use the color space transfer in Davinci Resolve. This gets you clean, accurate color. If you overexpose the shot, a great way to bring things back is to use Resolve’s HDR panel by setting it’s color space and gamma to rec2020/N-log. Then use the “global” slider to bring your exposure down. You don’t have to use any other HDR wheels, just adjust your exposure here. Then go back to your primaries in a new node, and grade as normal. Voila!
 
There is a hidden feature of this camera. With an external recorder you can get beautiful over sampled 1080p. By default the 1080 is pixel binning trash. Looks like an EOS R. But set your record setting to 4k, and then in the HDMI settings select 1080p. Now it’s downsampling the full sensor readout further, to output a 1080 signal. This works with the Ninja V, giving you easier times in post and 1/4 file size. It also opens the option to use the lovely Atomos Ninja Star. I just bought that thing. Paired with the oversampled 1080 hack, this is a killer combo. You still get the full frame 10 bit log, good autofocus, and detailed image. But now you have a tiny external recorder that sips through battery and adds little weight to the camera. The camera feels more compact and is much lighter. For me I’m happy with a clean 1080p image, and slo mo is rare for my work. As such, this setup works well…if you can manage to find a ninja star. I could fit a whole day shooting onto a 256GB CFast card, no problem. I use the ninja star most often. When I need 4k or slow motion, I switch to the Ninja V. 
 
The camera landscape has changed since I got it. When I bought the camera, if I wanted the aforementioned features and internal 10 bit, I would have been forced to pick up the overheating Canon R6, which was out of my price range. I could have sacrificed autofocus and gotten the Panasonic S5. That camera is better in every way, except for the autofocus and it’s micro hdmi. The Z6 has a somewhat better mini HDMI. I could have also sacrificed sensor size to get a Fuji XT4. That honestly would have been a good option, I sometimes wish I went that route. 
 
Nowadays, if you can afford a Canon R6 or A7iv (and can get decent glass and lighting equipment so your stuff doesn’t look crappy) I would get it over the Z6. I’m not a fan of being tied to an external recorder, and the Ninja V adds too much weight for me. 
 
However, if you can’t seem to afford a R6 or an A7iv, and you want one of the best full frame images WITH GOOD AUTOFOCUS, a used Z6 and an external recorder is worth considering. 

If I keep arguing about camera specs, I'll never have to create something memorable 
 

Audiences also decide they want 40 showings a day of Marvel tripe at the cinema.
"The individual doesn't get to decide?" That is pure nonsense and is like saying I shouldn't have an opinion because he's popular.
He is basically a marketing guy. If you want to look to a marketeer product salesman as the ultimate authority on filmmaking tools that's your choice. I think it is a slap in the face to all the better qualified people who actually shoot, when the audience is obsessed with social media influencers.
I also can't stand the way Philip Bloom comments on every video, and Gerald pins it. The cynicism of that. It's a big circle jerk and the sheep love it. I want no part of it. If you enjoy his creatively non-informed non-shooting non-real world reviews I don't mind but it is a shame large audiences can't reward people with more principals and more talent. Kubrick used a culinary analogy as well. The best restaurant in town rarely has the biggest queue outside.
Is the most popular music the best? Is the most popular food the healthiest? Best quality? McDonalds??
Bloom shouldn't be anywhere near being an idol, especially knowing what I know about him.
Popularity on social media only means someone is good at communication, presentation and marketing. Gerald isn't creative, he can't even be bothered to shoot a single still let alone video. Either he has no interest in using all these cameras he has, or he is embarrassingly bad behind the camera and embarrassed to show his work. Therefore I won't be taking my advice from him simple as that because it's just pixel peeping and specs sheet pimping, without any real life usage of the tools.

RAW files from the Fp-L that I've seen look very good, you can dig about 6 stops into the shadows and it still maintains loads of nice colour information.
This is the basis of a really cinematic image. Not just high dynamic range but high dynamic range without killing colour and skin tones.
*Cough cough* Sony
Also with the crop modes Sigma seems to have implemented full pixel readout from about 7K down!
I wouldn't mind trying 1.3x crop to see what that looks like in RAW rather than the pixel binned FF.

Here's a chunk from a lengthy blog post by Kirk Tuck. If you don't follow him, he's a long-time photographer who does some video and this post is photo-focused:
https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-real-reason-to-use-one-camera-over.html

Here's a chunk from a lengthy blog post by Kirk Tuck. If you don't follow him, he's a long-time photographer who does some video and this post is photo-focused:
https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-real-reason-to-use-one-camera-over.html

The only real thing holding Panasonic back is the autofocus. It's what the market demands, whether us Panny users care about it or not. If they had comparable autofocus to Sony or Canon I think they'd have lured a lot of people away. They are superior video cameras in every other way.

So does the R10 with its internal 422 10bit. No Sony A6xxx even does 422/10 externally.
AND the R10 is less than $1k (US).

So does the R10 with its internal 422 10bit. No Sony A6xxx even does 422/10 externally.
AND the R10 is less than $1k (US).

So does the R10 with its internal 422 10bit. No Sony A6xxx even does 422/10 externally.
AND the R10 is less than $1k (US).

If you want to get great at shooting Photos start out by doing nothing but B&W. To get a great look in black and white you have to nail the exposure. And that teaches you to take your time, use a light meter and a white balance card. Great photos are rare just snapping a shot you have to take your time look at different angles and think, think a lot. Maybe even come back at a different time, different day.
Once you get a good eye for it apply the same for video. Shoot a lot of short stuff and stich it all together and try to make some sense of it in editing. Then try to match each sequence color wise, exposure wise. Doing all of it over and over is the only way to learn anything, your camera and the editing tools.
Slow things down and think that is the secret to all of it.

Lomo anamorphic on a Red Dragon. Well, that´s a Tarkovksian Hollywood image. Cannot wait. Comparison with the GH6 woud be a great article to enjoy on a Sunday morning with coffee, and scrambled eggs with grilled tomatoes. 🙂

I love how you tell us what you're going to eat when you read articles. It's as if a certain food goes well with a certain camera... with fava beans and a nice chianti. 

Probably drinking too much of that strong Berlin beer.

https://www.videohelp.com/software/The-Levelator
This is a great free bit of software that I always run my final audio mix through - don't know exactly what it does but it comes out sounding better every time

Had to let y'all know about this great deal that Adorama emailed me. Better jump on it before they change their mind
 
 

I may be completely wrong here, but it seems like a lot of people are overthinking the workflow of this camera... from exposure to color... I don't know if it should be this problematic. Perhaps I am so used to workarounds with my 5D3 and ML Raw, so I don't understand the issues. But it shouldn't be this difficult. 

That looks pretty close to reality I think, maybe a Little bit on the lighter side but I think that is the best so far. But keep in mind I think everyone sees color a bit different and some people are just plain color blind.
They say women see color different than men do. They distinguish pastels better for one thing. Sure aren't going to argue with them that is for sure.

Had to let y'all know about this great deal that Adorama emailed me. Better jump on it before they change their mind