manueldomes

Did some playing around with the pilotfly today and some impressions - rather than using one heavy zoom it's probably better to have 2 or 3 light primes handy that will cover your range. I can balance the olympus 12mm, kern 25/1.4 and olympus 45mm with minimally shifting the camera, as it's the center of gravity. Also, it can make sense to leave a mini tripod attached at the gimbal's foot, at least for some shots - I am using the cullmann cruiser and can use it for an additional left hand grip to balance weight on two arms, or to use it as a chest brace for added stabilization. Both should work towards minimizing vertical movement.

Didn't realize it's possible to embed and can't edit previous post anymore. There there.

Thanks! Appreciated. Gimbal shots were done with GH4 and Oly 12mm lens. My impression is that those pistol gimbals work best with small wide angles - a bigger combo would balance for sure, but takes longer to set up, drains batteries and muscles faster and you can't really do much in terms of focusing while using the gimbal anyway.

Almost all other shots were done with Sigma 30/1.4 with speedbooster xl, by the way.

It was a challenge indeed. Great learning experience. Now back to sleep. https://vimeo.com/groups/60hourfilmchallenge/videos/141379341 

Pretty happy with the Pilotfly H1+ . Definitely needs quite a bit of learning and setting up, but the upside is that their customer service seems to be really good. The guy from the German store set with me for about 2 hours for a remote desktop software setup, which in the end turned out to be mostly necessary due to user error. So far, it seems to be a good choice. Some shots with it in the short we just submitted to Colchester Film Festival's 60 Hour Challenge here: https://vimeo.com/groups/60hourfilmchallenge/videos/141379341 

Like I said, I guess there are other dedicated tools out there which might do better, but the multi-functionality really works for me. Can't compare it with other options though as this is my first stabilizer. Here are some shots from our school project last weekend https://vimeo.com/140178318 which were all with the Cullmann (all with Sigma 30/1.4 and metabones xl at maximum aperture and high ISO). 

The thing has a bunch of reviews on amazon, though not so much for the video functionality: http://www.amazon.com/Cullmann-50090-Cruiser-Digital-Release/dp/B0045HNKCO

I have only shot with it for 2 days so far, but grew quite fond of the Cullmann Cruiser ( https://www.cullmann.de/en/detail/id/cruiser.html )

For sure there are better options out there when it comes to pure shoulder/chest stabilizing rigs, but the combination of extremely compact package, dual use as chest brace/mini tripod, low weight and low price have made this a a very appealing (and strangely underreported) option for me.

From the info that has been shared here and in the article linked on the other page, shouldn't it be enough most of the time to ETTR using zebras at 75% (or 80% - need to test this) almost all the time and then pull down as needed? Shouldn't that do the trick as well or even better than the 18%/42 IRE/greycard/waveform with external recorder thingie majingie magic? Anyway it will be fun to figure this all out. Can't wait for the 2.4 firmware update with 4:2:2

Hi,

Just a quick clarification -- the process is that the code will be sent via snail mail (regardless of which outlet I order from), right? Then I download and install the update, export the serial thingie and activate by entering the key?

Is there any requirement to have the key physically with the camera (to scan a barcode or whatever)? I could have the key sent to my address in Germany and then communicated to me, but as the camera is with me here in the Philippines, it would be a big hassle if I had to get my hands on the hard copy.

Thanks!

Been doing A LOT of research today and have come to similar conclusions since my bold statement MattH... 

For what I would be putting down on the A7R II body I could get a GH2, a speedbooster XL, one of those nifty pistol grip gimbals for stabilization when needed (likely to do a better job than the A7R II IBIS) and a Blackmagic Micro with global shutter for color sensitive stuff and to get rid of rolling shutter when needed. Oh, technology...

Hi, new user here...

I've been waiting for about a year now to invest in video-focused gear now since my stuff got stolen in Paris... After being somewhat letdown by the GX8's lack of IBIS while filming (something I would really value for what I have in mind), I think I am ready to go for the A7R II rather than to wait for the A7S II or whatever else might come down the road, especially as I will need some decent gear rather sooner than later

Some remaining questions (I know the camera is not out yet, but I figure most of these can be answered already or very soon): 

1 - If I get the Speedbooster Ultra for e-mount and mount it on the 7RII, it will allow (or rather force) me to use the S35 4k mode (which I am planning to use anyway) in full coverage?
2 - When speedbooster is coupled with the Rokinon EF Cine primes 24mm and 35mm in S35 4k mode, which equivalent focal length in 35mm "full frame" photo terms would this yield? I can't seem to wrap my head around the math there
3 - I have a bunch of beautiful S16 C primes flying around, and I see there are C to E-mount adapters -- if I shoot S35 4k with these, would I be able to crop out the massive vignette and still arrive at 2K footage with no pixel binning? And would IBIS work? (I assume you can input the focal lengths manually for legacy and adapted lenses)
4 - Any updates on how the A7RII is handling rolling shutter in S35 mode?
5 - I saw some interesting discussions regarding upsampling 4k 8bit footage to 2k 10bit footage for additional latitude in post -- can this be simply achieved by working with the 4k files in the editor and then exporting at 2k 10bit? The posts I saw about this all talked about the GH4 but in principle I assume it should be possible with the A7R II, too? //edit: did some research on this and seems that it's not all as beautiful as it seemed So 4k to 2k for the extra perceived detail and options for post-cropping -- fine!

Sorry if some of these questions are a bit newbie-ish, just getting back into the game Thanks mucho in advance!