Parker

@Kisaha Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to enjoy my US-based prices, the European VAT tax alone would drive me insane and seems unjustly high, on top of already higher prices. But my experience with my Audio Technica system has been great, actually. It has been just fine for talking heads, as well as mic'ing up grooms at weddings. The range is impressive, and I've never had any of the dreaded blips and audio bugs of the Sennheisers. Initially I worried there might be some kind of interference with things like wifi and that, since the 2.4 ghz band is pretty crowded, but I have had it for... at least two or three years now... and never had any problems. Like @IronFilm said, it's a minor drawback that the receiver doesn't have user-replaceable batteries, but it lasts a long time and I always have USB battery packs with my gear just in case. The transmitter just runs on standard double AA batteries, so I just keep some eneloops charged all the time and throw them in when I go shoot. The receiver also has a little display with battery, channel and signal strength information, so you can see the battery levels of both at a glance, which is pretty cool. I would say the build quality is not as robust as mics like the G3's. No metal to speak of, the transmitter is a touch bigger, and pretty plasticky, but still easy enough to hide. The receiver is also larger than the competition with the dual antennas attached. But like I said, I got it for a song, and haven't had any issues.

Yeah I'm not in love with the grade either to be honest, but I had very little turnaround time for this project, and part of the problem I think was all of the very warm/reddish colored wood of the stage, floor and walls in front of him catching reflections and coloring the environment. I do wish the skin tones especially were a bit cooler in hindsight though. But I know exactly what you mean about sensor sizes and lens preferences; on aps-c, for example, I love the look of 85mm, I like how tight it is and the distance at which people fill the frame and I got very used to that field of view, but on full frame, it's just not the same and I rarely use it. Quite the opposite case with the 50mm though. It's annoyingly tight on aps-c, but I really dig the ease of framing and "normal look" it has on FF.

Ah, I'm sorry I missed such a good deal then! The price shows up as $529 for me, bummer. $399 seems great! @IronFilmthanks for your insight! I actually own one set of the Audio Technica system 10 already, I got it on a killer Christmas deal a few years back for like $250 so it was a no-brainer at the time. The receiver's internal battery lasts up to 12 hours and can run on USB power in a pinch so it hasn't bugged me too much for my needs, but like I said I'm looking for an additional setup soon. I've been looking at different options, debating on just buying the System 10 again so I can mix and match gear. When it comes to Sennheiser I definitely don't want any G3's, that's what I use at work and keep having more and more problems with them, annoying interference issues and wierd distortion blips in the recordings all the time. But I'll definitely keep the Sony's on my radar! Hopefully another deal like that comes around again!

@IronFilm So I've been investigating getting a new wireless mic setup lately myself. I was wondering, as an audio guy, what is your opinion of the 2.4 ghz style setups, such as the Rode link or the Audio Technica System 10, in comparison to the older radio/frequency style tech of the Sennheisers and Sony's you mentioned?

Hey @mercer The Rokinon 50mm Cine DS lens has been my main go-to for the last year or so, used on virtually all my projects. I wouldn't say it is "super modern," it is very sharp across the frame but not quite as contrasty as say the Sigma art series lenses, which are kind of my benchmark for that ultra-contrasty/modern look. I used to really love my Rokinon 85 (and I still do) but the minimum focus distance on the 50 is so much easier to work with that's it has been pretty much bolted onto my camera since I bought it. Here's a project I just finished up last week that is shot primarily with the 50mm (the wider interview shot and some of the B-Roll is on the Sigma 18-35, so you can see the 50 cuts well with it). Password is usu2018

For me, "mojo" is that certain je ne sais quoi present only in certain images, or with certain lenses. I agree with Matthias, it's more easily seen in stills than it is in motion. In my own images, I remember the first time I really felt its presence was after I got the Sigma 18-35, especially with stills. There was just this... gloss... to the images: how the glass rendered things, the focus fall-off, the quality of the light — that I found to be simply incredible. Even the most mundane, ordinary object — like an empty chair, sitting in the sun — can take on this transformative, seemingly magical quality when you're staring at it through the right lens. I have seen this same indefinable image magic with the aforementioned Sigma 18-35, the Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AIS, and most especially the Contax Zeiss 50mm 1.7, regardless of which cameras I have paired them with (70D, EOS M, NX500, NX1, A7SII, GH4, GH5) so glass definitely matters. It's not about sharpness, either. There's just something there that I think we're all familiar with, that gives some soul to an image. Obviously lighting is important. White balance is important. Color is important. Composition is crucial. But I don't think you can really pin down in black and white, pure terms what you can or can't do that necessarily makes one image seem transcendental and special and another one mundane and disappointingly ordinary. I have my own personal recipe for what makes an image appealing and I'm sure the rest of you do as well. The fact that all of these recipes probably have different ingredients is what makes playing with cameras so fun, I mean how boring would it be if every movie looked exactly the same?!

Luckily I chose to wait instead of throwing my money at this project, despite how perfect it seemed for my needs. But I really wish he would at least release the Android version, which was working perfectly. Apparently it was the iOS version that really caused him problems and setbacks and redesigns and so forth. But something would be better than nothing. This is exactly why I never crowdfund though. Always better to wait.

The NVIDIA Shield TV is awesome, definitely the best type of streaming box device you can buy right now, especially for 4k streaming. It direct plays h.265, including 10-bit 4k HDR, all without breaking a sweat. I bought one to replace my Amazon Fire TV and it has been worth every penny. Runs Kodi, Plex, you can connect external storage devices, this thing can pretty much do it all.

I like this game.

Well there are products like this one: NP-F Battery to V-Mount Battery Converter Adapter: https://www.amazon.com/ILEDGear-Battery-V-Mount-Converter-Adapter/dp/B00E0CEDIE But a word of caution, when I first bought my Pixapro, not owning any v-mounts, I bought a similar converter hoping for an easy, affordable solution, but the F-type batteries unfortunately did not provide enough current to power the light. But I suspect for a smaller LED than mine, something like that might work.

I'll upload some pictures when it's fully complete and ready.

@Stab my personally preferred method of working with cinema 4k files is on a 1920x817 timeline for 2.35:1, that way I can take advantage of the extra width and downscale the footage by a little bit extra, 48% instead of the 50% downscale of regular UHD. Its not a huge difference of course, but does give me just a little extra room for recomposition when necessary.

@IronFilm yeah I dig that dude's videos! After his first big Yuji LED diy project caught my eye, I ended up buing one of those 100W 95+ CRI chips (it really does have perfect, even color that is indistinguible from daylight) and then I put a good friend of mine to the task of designng and putting together a light for me, he's into that sort of thing. We decided to basically copy the pixapro design, just smaller. We mounted it to an old laptop heat sink and fan, then 3d printed a case with venting. He added a remote functionality too, which is sweet. I bought a Bowens speed ring adapter and we're currently in the process of figuring out the best way to mount it to the front. Such projects are obviously a lot more work than just buying a professional product, but if you enjoy the DIY process, a $100 super high-CRI light is tough to pass up.

@Gregormannschaft @IronFilm @markr041 https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-led100d-mkii-daylight-balanced-led-studio-light/ They ship worldwide! Free shipping too. I'm in the US, so I got it even cheaper than the listed price, since that already includes VIT for you European folks.

I can second the recommendation from @Teemu for the Pixapro 100D mkii. Fantastic light, I've really enjoyed mine. The Godox is a great budget option, but considering that you're after a key light, if you compare the brightness at 1 meter, the Pixapro is more than twice as powerful, putting out 11,000 lux with the included reflector, compared to just 4,100 from the Godox (and 4,600 from the more expensive Aputure 120D) and adding a fresnel attachment can take that brightness up even higher to around 16,000 lux, which is a pretty serious amount of light.

I second the Artlist recommendation. I've been using it for the past year or so, and for $199 a year, unlimited tracks, unlimited use, it's a no brainer. We've since started using it at work as well, and they actually have very usable, nice-sounding tracks. By far the best bang for buck, especially when you're churning out a lot of projects.

@ReinisK Actually, my guess is that the new Aputure DEC-based NX-L adapter/speedbooster that @lucabutera has created would definitely support image stabilization, at least from Canon lenses.

I'm after more of an Elven drone myself.

I was really hoping for a 1-inch Mavic as well, bummer. But I wonder how much the the newly increased bitrate will translate into better IQ? Becuase 100 mbps is a pretty good step up from 60 mbps on the regular Mavic. Kind of tempting, to be honest.

I wonder if, along with that bigger sensor, it has an adjustable aperture like the p4p as well, that'd be sweet. I'm also assuming that if they're giving us the IQ-jump with the sensor size increase, then they've also thrown in a decent codec with a suitably high bitrate as well. Definitely keeping my eye on this one.

I shoot with GH5's every day at work while all of my personal and side projects are shot on the NX1 and NX500. Obviously the 4k 60p on the GH5 is fantastic. And I quite like V-Log as well, it's far easier to grade than Sony's log profiles, and nicely preserves the dynamic range without destroying colors. I haven't really shot/graded 10-bit footage that much, as it is just overkill for the kind of work I have been doing, and the 8-bit is fine. I like how big the EVF is, and how you can switch between viewfinder and LCD screen easily while recording. There are lots of great and easily re-mappable function buttons, and you can program and save shooting modes in the custom profiles dial much easier and more effectively than you can on the NX cameras, which don't even save the video data at all. Of course, you can also move the zoomed-in focus checking area, unlike NX, and the tilty/flippy screen is preferable to the tilt-only screen. And you can't forget about the IBIS, which is just fantastic for handheld shooting, truly a game-changer for my kind of work, I need a monopod for my NX1 at all times. That being said... I far prefer the NX cameras' photo/video implementation; it is still the simplest, best camera I have ever used for switching quickly between stills and video. No specific mode dials needed. Tap the shutter button to take a picture, hit the record button to record. The NX1 seems to have quite a bit better battery life than the GH5 in my experience as well. It is also lighter and feels better in the hands- the NX1 is an insanely comfortable camera, in the fact still the best I have ever used ergonomically, while the GH5 is surprisingly heavy and a bit bulky. The GH5 also has this very annoying tendency to hesitate for just a split-second or two when you hit the record button, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but it hesitates just long enough that I have double-pumped many, many times, while the NX seems immediately responsive. I do prefer the the menu system on the NX cameras as well. As far as out-and-out IQ comparison, I have one of Luca's speedboosters on my NX1 pretty much all the time, so I have actually gotten quite used to the full frame look, especially DOF-wise, so it almost feels limiting sometimes to only have a super-35 equivalent with a Speedbooster on the GH5. Color-science wise, I can't say I prefer the one over the other - - in good light, I think both cameras look fantastic, with great skin tones and malleable colors -- basically you'll be able to get the look you're going for in post with either camera. The autofocus on the NX cameras is far, far better than the GH5, if that's important to you. And the NX1's internal 6.5k to 4k downscale is still unbeaten, detail-wise. The image is always just unbelievably sharp and detailed. The GH5 doesn't quite match that. And while the low-light and noise on the GH5 is probably preferable (clean at 1600, useable at 3200) I rarely, if ever, need these ISOs anyway, especially with the speedbooster and some fast glass to boot. Of course, I'm not mentioning stills quality at all, I haven't shot many stills on the GH5, but obviously the NX is going to win that competition hands-down, it is still, even several years later, one of the best APS-C sensors ever made, with insanely good dynamic range, especially when pulling shadows. So, bottom line, should you switch? I think that depends. If you're pure run-and-gun, then yes, the IBIS (and the 4k 60p, if you need high-res slo-mo, with the benefit of a good log profile) is a pretty unbeatable combo for video right now. Throw in the 10-bit, and it's future-proofed for quite some time. The low-light IQ is more than enough. I think the GH5 is easily the best bang-for-the-buck camera around right now, and will remain so for quite some time. But if you're already invested in the NX system, which has its own fantastic native lenses (16-50S, wow), IQ wise I really don't think you're gaining that much. Not enough to go through the hassle of trying to sell and offload all my Samsung gear. I quite enjoy the GH5. But I still love shooting with my NX cameras, and don't feel like I'm losing out of for most of the kind of work that I do. So take that as you will.

I always use the hack. Big improvement, especially in 120p. I feel like it holds fine detail in the shadow areas a lot better, but where I really notice it is on a gimbal, with a wide angle and deep focus... I mainly shoot weddings, so that means lots of trees, fountains, small, detailed and busy backgrounds with lots of movement. At the much lower stock bitrate (especially on the NX500, which only offered 60mbps as opposed to the nx1's 80mbps pro setting) there is a huge, noticeable difference for me. I always shoot my b-roll without sound anyway, since it's all 60p or 120p and I know I'll slow it down, so I usually shoot at 200mbps, and drop down to 180 or 160 with sound when I shoot interviews and talking heads. The files still aren't that big. Why not use the best image quality possible, all the time? That's my advice though. If you really want to see the difference, point the camera at a fountain, or run down a road with big, leafy trees gently blowing in the wind, and I'm sure you'll notice a difference.

I didn't see anybody on the forum talking about this amazing-looking new camera from DJI. 4.6k at 60p, records to C-Fast cards. Poorly translated page suggests 16 stops of dynamic range. More specs and info here: http://dronereviewsandnews.com/dji-october-11th-reflections-guess-1-zenmuse-x7/ Supposedly this thing is supposed to be announced on October 11, but somebody got a hold of the details early. 4k sample footage here: What do you guys think? With an Inspire 2, as well as paired with an Osmo, this could be a pretty formidable combo.

An Edelkrone Quick Release One might help, makes the camera sit an inch or so higher up on the plate. I've had the same problem with some of my smaller cameras, plus it's a convenient product. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1210400-REG

It wouldn't be too bad to jerry rig a wireless charger to the back of the phone, connected to a power bank, if your phone supports that kind of technology (which mine does! )