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NEW BLOG POST!

The V4 email should be out to everyone; if you haven't received it please let me know. A month ago, my father was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer at the same time that the virus situation was taking off, and life was thrown into disarray. March is colon cancer awareness month, and we are aware now (get screened every 10 years, starting at 50)
The GH5S is, at last, supported. V4:
 
Emotive Color Component ('EC709')
- Remade in 'HDR', preserving intense values (exceeding 0.0-1.0), that are incorporated into final Rec709 envelope
- Using the new engine, Arri Rec709 primaries are recreated at lower saturation, while 'projecting' this primary behavior to HDR gamut extents (beyond Arri Rec709 gamut clipping)
- Raised highlight ceiling for Main (average between Soft and Linear)
- Significantly refined saturation envelope for Main and Linear (& Soft, to a lesser extent)
 
Core LogC
- Remade with new engine (Incorporates initial baseline HSL conform)
- Fixed chart scan error that added 1/18th incorrect neighboring sample value to each sample average (hidden mistake in my very earliest code)
   (Corrects for persistent slight inaccuracies despite multipass, such as magenta bias of shadow skin tone in Tungsten)
- Fully linearized highlight rolloff (true to LogC) with maximal detail retention (effective highlight DR increase)
- New smoothing algorithm (incorporated into engine) - 12 passes, combining two hue-aware algorithms for new smoothness standard while preserving hue lines
- Most extreme gamut is now directly measured and preserved (i.e. colored Leds in night environments)
 
Misc.
- Added Exposure Compensation [PRE]s - actual exposure color conversions for use ahead of the conversion (interpolated from sample data, incorporating rolloff)
- Added Auto Black Level POSTs - for use following the conversion; quickly conform black level in any NLE 
   (No accompanying relative hue/saturation distortion whatsoever, unlike standard luma tools)
- Remade all PREs with new engine, taking new NLE measurements to accommodate NLE profile rendition shifts since original release
- Direct monitoring variations included for HLG and Cine-D, and VLog external monitoring variation (includes levels fix)
- Rewrite of Pdf (for Gen.4)
- Direct FCPX support added (with distinct PREs and Pdf)
- Significantly more efficient file sizes
- 16 bit Gradient Chart included to test smoothness of theoretical & far gamut, and reveal pipeline banding issues
- Each file is now unique to its owner at coordinate level

 

Then, I got the Macro #1 tube.
Low window light, 110/2.8, ISO 50, 4 sec.:
 

PS. As video shows method 3 is usable only if you shoot with Log profile or RAW. Only is this case Davinci Resolve will know how to interpret correctly the colors. For Panasonic cameras those would be V-Log and HLG and for Sony S-Log2, S-Log3(to avoid) and HLG (best). If your Sony camera doesn't support HLG, then only option would be standard S-Log2/S.Gammut Picture Profile. Or some kind of hybrid profile where Color Mode is S.Gammut and gamma is Cine2 or Cine4. But you'll have to experiment. Have no idea how footage will look and in Resolve there is no value that corresponds to Cine2 or Cine4 gamma. You'll have to try several options for input Gamma. Not sure how this will work. 
For Panasonic Color Space transform for GH5 with HLG will look like these in Resolve
Input Color Space: Rec2020
Input Gamma: Rec.2100 HLG
Output Color Space: REC709
Output Gamma: REC709
Tone Mapping : Luminance Mapping

For Sony S-Log2 picture profile it would be:
Input Color Space: Sony S.Gammut
Input Gamma: Sony S-Log2
Output Color Space: REC709
Output Gamma: REC709
Tone Mapping : Luminance Mapping
Sometimes I play with output gamma. Can use Gamma 2.2 or Gamma 2.0 instead of REC709. Default for Resolve is Gamma 2.4
If you can use X-Rite Color Chart during the shoots you will be golden. Color matching footage from the 2 cameras will be really easy.

It's a very interesting question. There are 3 methods how to approach the task and those 3 methods are actually different ways to structure your color correcting/grading workflow in Resolve. 
Color matching two different cameras has 2 steps:
    1. Correctly interpret colors in Resolve for each camera.
    2. Color match them if there are differences.
Hint. If the first step is done correctly you will have very little to no work on the second one. There are plenty of videos on youtube but all they go straight to the second one missing the crucial first step. One or more cameras most people don't know how to do correctly step one. That was my case until recently. 
Method 1: LUTs and more specifically Leeming LUTs PRO. 
If you shoot with each camera with the settings given by the author and then apply the corrective LUTs in Resolve for each camera you will get correct colors from both cameras. They should look the same. Panasonic GH5 and Sony A7 series are supported. 
Tried this on BMPCC 4K and Sony A7 III and it works reasonably well. But not always and setting the cameras each time correctly require some work and attention. 
https://www.leeminglutpro.com/ 
Few professional colorists publishing tutorials on youtube advise against LUTs for color correction. 
Method 2: ACES 
 
Used ACES method in the past to work with Sony S-Log 2 video and results were great. 
Method 3 - Color Space Transform effect in Resolve. This one was game changer for me and the method currently use as a first step for color grading/correction. Including when footage is from different cameras. My productivity in Resolve jumped at least two times and results are great. Wish I new this before ! The best video which explains the method and probably the most important part of color correction in Resolve is unfortunately in Russian. But you still will be able to pick up the principles and settings for both cameras. This guy is a ex professional colorist. Never seen anybody with tutorials on youtube explain the theory and practice so logically and simply. 
Apart of the color space transform values for input and output color space and gamma, you should also set Tone Mapping to Luminance Mapping.  That's very important. 
Once the color space transform is done on one clip do a stills grab and then apply it on all clips from the camera with few clicks. Same process for the clips of the other camera(s)
All 3 methods require to be well aware what picture profile you used during the shoot. For Sony Cameras this colorist advise to use HLG. If you don't have HLG then you should use color profiles or create your own color profiles having Color Mode setting = SGammut. Because it is not clear what color space are Sony PP with Color Mode = Cinema, Pro, Movie. 
Hope this helps. 
 

Hey Cats, Shane Hurlbut, the DOP and lecturer, is giving away a free 8 hour lighting course. Source, the beautiful German site slashcam.de, friends of Andrew and Eoshd.
https://www.hurlbutacademy.com/illumination-experience-workshop/

Advanced DFD doesnt sound very optimistic. I wish they would just add PDAF everyone is asking for the past 4 years.

The GH5 is one of the best cameras released in the last 20 years? It's auto focus is leaps ahead of GH4 and has improved even more in firmware updates. 

Bringing the topic back from the dead.
This is what you get, if you are advised to stay home and have some time at your hands.
Some people fix broken cabinets, some paint walls, I opted for completing the rig and making it more handy.
X-T3, Helios 44-4 via dumb adapter, Tiffen Variable ND, Isco Ultra Star (1st Gen), myFM from Eugene Myreev.
And at the back: 10,000mAh power bank plus NP-F750 battery, both acting as a counterweight and supplying power to the camera and external monitor (Fotga A50TL).
The coiled cable is responsible for triggering recording remotely, so that I don't have to touch the camera buttons, at all.
I was lucky enough to get the majority of parts from SmallRig, and at discounted prices (I paid 8$ for the cage, 15$ for the baseplate, 10$ for the top handle).
The strap acts like a cheap-o alternative to easyRig, I just hang it off my neck.


 
And it fits into my backpack!

My humble rig many years ago on the beach, STILL works great!
GH5, Metabones 0.64XL Speedbooster, Minolta Rokkor 58/1.2, Rapido V2 clamp, B&H for Kowa 2X, Rapido front clamp, SLR Magic variable ND.

A peek for you of the first shot from the GFX 100 shoot with @BTM_Pix
Edit is ongoing!
This isn't "perfectly" in focus but it'll give you an idea of the kind of creamy 10bit tones from this "medium format Alexa".
The dynamic range is extreme.
This was shot in classic chrome. I shot a lot of F-LOG and the files are deeper than Oscar Wilde.

What?
No way, I'll take my GH5 for video over this everytime.  I use anamorphic and 6k all the time.
I don't see how this is an upgrade from my GH5.
Though, I do have an X-T2 for stills, now maybe for that...

What?
No way, I'll take my GH5 for video over this everytime.  I use anamorphic and 6k all the time.
I don't see how this is an upgrade from my GH5.
Though, I do have an X-T2 for stills, now maybe for that...

Wondering about the meanings of boost modes: boost AF - boost Res

Hopefully Sigma will read all of this before putting a firmware update out. I'll send them an email with all the annoyances and bugs in it.

The great thing is, Speed Booster GH5S outperforms the 6K EF Pocket in low light as well.
Unless you can get one of Luca's rather nice Magic Boosters.
Who's for a GH5/GH5S Shooter's Guide?

Since I found the YouTube comparison between the Sigma fp and the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K so worthless, I did a comparison test of my own.
I wanted to compare the cameras in two respects: 
(1) dynamic range when shooting a high-contrast subject under optimal light/with optimal exposure + robustness in grading the resulting image;
(2) low light/extreme high ISO image.
My setup was as follows:
Completely dark room; Both cameras with the same lens, Tokina 28-70mm/2.8 (Nikon mount adapted to L-mount and MFT respectively) at the same aperture setting (f4) on both cameras, but at 35mm focal length on the Pocket 4K and at 70mm on the Sigma fp to compensate for the different sensor sizes; Record settings: UHD 23.98p on both cameras, full frame CinemaDNG 12bit on the Sigma fp and BRAW Q0 on the Pocket 4K (= best quality codec settings on both cameras);  For the high-contrast test: daylight-temperature LED fresnel with maximum focus/spotlight on a plastic appliance reflecting some of the light to create high contrast; both cameras at minimum/native ISOs exposed ETTR/to the right. Both cameras set to 11.25 degrees shutter angle (in lieu of an ND filter, since motion rendering is irrelevant in this test).
(Note: Lowest, respectively native, ISOs on the two cameras are ISO 100 on the Sigma fp and ISO 400 on the Pocket 4K. Never mind that nominal difference, both cameras have almost identical clipping behavior at these settings, i.e. ISO 100 on the Sigma fp behaves like ISO 400 on the Pocket 4K. On both cameras, the zebras turned out to be reliable indicators for sensor clipping: To go absolutely sure that I would optimally expose the sensor, I also shot the scene at larger shutter angles - 22.5, 45, 90 and 172.5 degrees -, with zebras popping up as early as at 22.5 on both cameras. When looking at the material in Resolve, this was indeed where clipping had occurred and waveforms remained clipped in the RGB parade even when lowering exposure in Resolve's Raw control tab.)  For the low-light test: same 'scene' as above, but with the LED fresnel turned off and only a practical light in the background turned on. Both cameras set to maximum ISO (256.000), at f4 and 172.5 degrees shutter angle. Treatment in Resolve:
Basic image adjustments only in the Raw tab, interpretation in P3 color space with Rec. 709 gamma: adjustment of white balance/tint and exposure to make the Sigma fp and Pocket 4K footage match. (The raw material of the Blackmagic Pocket 4K was much warmer than that of the Sigma fp with the same Kelvin settings...) No highlight recovery. (Wasn't necessary anyway since there was no clipping in the images.) No noise filtering or sharpening, although the Pocket 4K's BRAW codec already has some baked-in temporal noise filtering. For the extreme grade, only a solarization-like custom curve was applied that pushed the shadows to the maximum and was meant to provoke banding in the material by pushing contrasts:
I exported 16bit TIFF screengrabs which can be downloaded here (6 TIFF files in a zip archive, 133 MB).
Here's how the well-exposed high-contrast scene looks like (25% downscaled images):

Sigma fp

Pocket 4K

- Note that the difference in sharpness may be my user error, and is also influenced by the different depth-of-field between 35mm/f4 on MFT and 70mm/f4 on full frame. The manual focus aides on the Pocket 4K are much better with latest firmware, so nailing focus without an external monitor was easier.

1:1 crops of the above two images:
 
Sigma fp (left) - Pocket 4K (right).
 
Extreme grade, with the same curve (as posted above) applied to the two above images:


Sigma fp

Pocket 4K
1:1 crops of the above:

Sigma fp

Pocket 4K
 
Low light, with both cameras at maximum (256,000) ISO, 172.5 degrees shutter and f4:

Sigma fp

Pocket 4K
1:1 crops of the above:

Sigma fp

Pocket 4K
So, to summarize, I think it's fair to say that the full-frame 12bit CinemaDNG material of the Sigma fp simply shows the benefit of a larger sensor and its lower image noise (even at base ISO if you compare the full-size TIFFs). It's thus only logical that it holds up better in extreme grades and in low light.
My likely user error in nailing the focus of Sigma fp also shows the strengths of the Pocket 4K, namely better camera assist functions and overally a better user interface/more practical user experience for video shooting. - But it's also nice to see that the Sigma fp has some genuine advantages over the Pocket 4K, especially for my own type of videomaking which revolves around event videos (concerts at indie/DIY venues) shot in extreme low light conditions.
 

I have the Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 LM as taking lens mounted with dumb LM-FX adapter on the X-T3. After that the Anamorphot Bolex 16/32/1.5x and Rectilux HCDNA for focussing. I filmed this during a photoshoot, not really intend to make a short commercial like film. The Voigtlander 40mm/f1.2 works pretty well. All shots filmed wide open, mixed light and with variable ND filter.
 
 

So i said i'd post some stills, these are basically ungraded.
This frame is in a sequence with car lights, i like the tonality of this very subdued moment. Shot 12bit to manage shadow tonality.

From a different point above. All shot on a 50mm M Summicron probably wide open.

I think i hit the saturation slider here in Resolve. But this had car rolling over camera. It's a 21mm CV lens and i see some CA aberrations from the lens that i would deal with in post. But i'd never let a car run over a Red!

shot on an 85mm APO off a monopod. Nice tonality again and it's day light from windows with some small panel lights bouncing and filling in

A reverse of the above.

Some fun shots.
I think the true benefit of something like the fp is the speed at which you can see something and grab it. Using it just with an SSD plugged in and manual M lenses gives a more spontaneous feel. Now most of the film will be shot on Red, in controlled conditions with a crew and that's the right approach for multiple dialogue scenes and careful blocking. But the fp has it's place and i may hand it too someone and just say grab stuff.

 
cheers
Paul

Seems people like pairing their S1H with Leica-R lenses... and I'm one of them! I'm shooting a short doc on my brother about his comic book, "I Am Not Okay With This", as it's currently being adapted into a series for Netflix. This will be the second time he's had a comic book adapted into a series. The first was "The End of the F*cking World" which did well, however, he told me that people would see him signing copies of the original comic at cons, and accuse him of "ripping off the show". So this time, i wanted to help raise his profile a bit when "I Am Not Okay With This" is released, and it gives me something to flex my creative muscles on. Anyway, some sample stills... Panasonic S1H, Leica Summicron-R 35mm, 50mm, & 90mm. Not a final grade -- just wanted to get some images out.

https://indieshooter.com/atomos-ninja-inferno-enables-first-time-filmmakers-to-produce-epic-docudrama-born-for-the-sabre-for-the-history-channel/?fbclid=IwAR2_QN4WtciFjULhRrp6dRjnhLD487VTj7_y5zepFPvSJIoiIPs3s82td8A

Government official: “But wait doesn’t that defeat the point...?” 
Kubrick: “Do you want quality or not.”

Merry Christmas to all!
I visited Malaga, Torremolinos, and Barcelona in the '80s, was fabulous!

Merry Christmas to all!
I visited Malaga, Torremolinos, and Barcelona in the '80s, was fabulous!