Kisaha

interesting, but I meant this one https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1261643-REG/ikan_dh5e_5_signal_support.html the one above seems like a 7" one. Honestly, I was looking for something at the 500$ segment most which could be very small and light, so a 5" and the difference in brightness is huge vs the Focus. You should check the Ikan thought, if it enough for you, that 299$ price is excellent; in Europe it is still around 500euros (so, it is a no brainer to go for the Focus). I can get an Ikan for 300euros slightly used (maybe used once or twice) and I am still thinking about it, but it seems to me the Focus is a better option. (I hate those Secced tripods by the way, I have seen a lot failing terribly through the years, and the sound man needs an indoors mic!)

I am buying a SmallHD Focus myself. I want a 5" small and light, but other monitors ain't very bright on sunny days (and we got a lot of those here!), so I assume this one for a very good company will be sufficient. Another good, cheaper one, is the Ikan 5" 1080p (Focus is 720p), that accepts 4K and has touch screen functionalities too, and is like 299$ in US, but it seems flimsy. I have mixed feelings about monitors/recorders. I would take the monitor for monitoring, but I am not very experienced with those. The Blackmagic 5" seems a worst option than the Focus, so I would get the SmallHD.

Haha! I just saw the "Rambo" knife Max uses to open his Saramonic box. I wouldn't trust anyone with such a knife for an audio review (just joking!)! Even the box of the Saramonics is a Sony rip off. I do not understand why they have to copy someone's else design (like Deity is trying to mimic 416). It would be much better if they had their own identity and not have to compare to other industry standards. I do not know anything about the Saramonic's. I read that the battery door is really awful (in the original Sony's, this is one of the main minuses so I can assume it is worst on the cheaper Saramonics), from the video I can see that Sony's are easier to AUTO SEARCH and PAIR (this is quite ok actually on the Sonys), the lav mic supplied ain't better than the Sony one (and the Sony isn't stellar in audio performance, but has limited handling/clothes scratching noise and it doesn't brake easily). If you can try and resend back, maybe they are good value, I do not know, and I am not going to try them any time soon! If you don't mind the size of the Rode system, is excellent for the price.

For a real true diversity 2 to 1 receiver you have to spend 2-4.000$, only for the receiver.

yep, usually they are in UHF, terrestrial TV stations, that cause the problem, walkie talkies maybe in the lower ones, and mobile phone companies in the higher ones. @Salim https://www.apwpt.org/downloads/handoutfrequencies2015.pdf this is the list. @IronFilm What frequencies do you guys use down there? I am about to buy 3 more Sony ones, and I am split between the lower 470.125 MHz to 541.875 MHz or the 566.125 MHz to 630.875 MHz. They are both 72MHz. The lower ones can be bought right now, the others have to be shipped. Is there any reason that I should afraid for the lower ones? Usually in waves, the lower the wave, the faster travels through air or concrete, is there any point on that here? or the difference in MHz is so minimal that they are travelling exactly the same (I guess that is the case, 72Mhz ain't a big deal, when you can have something as low as 20Hz, which it really transfers differently). Everything is so complicated with frequencies right now, the 470-700MHz that we use for mics here is the most popular band right now here in Europe -and elsewhere, everyone wants a piece of it (for 5G mobile networks, satellite signal, military purposes etc)

If you don't mind the size, the Rodes are excellent for the price. No need to go lower. But the aforementioned Sony are the starting point for me.

Man, if a new GH5 has a much better AF technology than the current GH5, I know a lot of people that will become very angry! I don't believe it will. What if it has the EVA sensor? As of the size and weight, the GH5 is almost like a dSLR, not at all a small and light mirrorless camera, so there is no problem to fit a bigger sensor there. and What if it isn't a Sony sensor? That TowerJazz company that the new Nikon sensor is out from, belongs 48% to Panasonic. What if isn't even a camera? Everything about it is suspicious. You have a killer video camera in the form of a dSLR/Mirrorless hybrid that in my country came in June, and the EVA arrived couple of weeks ago, I am not even sure if they have even sell one here. Plus, what else can you put on a more expensive GH5? and if indeed there is one coming, with a few more extra features, ain't it going to hurt EVA sales?

C100mkII is my favorite camera, and most used, of the last few years. Definitely the II, you can do amazing things with the Dual Pixel AF. I do not use it all the time, but in specific circumstances it had worked marvelously for me. The price is a steal. Can not believe it. It is also a low light monster, but a real camera the same time. I mean, what other professional camera are you getting with those money? Only JVC LS300, and while the LS300 has vastly superior specs on paper, in real life the C100 is a much better camera (I have used both extensively). No way I was getting a A7s before a C100. That would be crazy, C100 is a real workhorse of a camera and A7s is a Gameboy Advance with a great low light sensor inside.

There is an app doing that. You have a photo, and then you can adjust some of these stuff. It is interesting for a while. This is like video with minimal movement, in various scenes in animation, or other, there are moments and scenes that seem like these. I do not have specific examples right now -there are in most animation films anyway, but I remember this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear(s)_of_the_Dark to have a more minimal sketches.

That was very deep, especially for a focusing system! I believe they do not have the funds to compete with everyone and everything; companies/people have to make decisions, they do not have infinite funds. Sony seems to play all in, but they have an advantage as they are controlling the sensor market (I am guessing they take a heavy discount on acquiring their sensors), so they have the luxury to invest on other things heavily - especially AF, but you can see they are not perfect either, if you compare their latest crop body a6500 with the 2014 NX1 it has worst monitors, more heat inside the camera, worst high speed and 1080p quality, worst battery life, no touch screen menu and operating system, no such protection from elements etc They are going around the same, not very good in my opinion, amateurish body for half a decade already, they just invested on different things. Also, 3 new top tier cameras on a year cycle?! That, is, no, good.

@Cinegain and 100 years ago we had no sound at all, and look at us now! AF is the big thing right now, Canon played it right, when others invested on other exotic features, bitrates and other stuff, Canon invested on color science and AF capabilities. I am not big on IBIS (that is written on other posts here), I am just trying to understand what such a camera should have to make it a worthy upgrade to a rather new and full of features video orientated camera (GH5) from the same company and a similar form factor. GH5 "does it all", and probably more, but it ain't dual pixel, if anyone has worked with Canon's technology knows what I am talking about. I do not believe that a new Panasonic camera of 3000$ could render the Reds and the Arris of this world useless, but Blackmagic? Yes, the cheaper models at least, I am not sure why BM is in the same sentence with Red and Arri. GH5 is a mini Sony/Canon C already, but Canon has amazing, usable, touch focus. It is a game changer, no one is close, really. Everything is welcomed though, Panasonic seriously pushes the envelope, this is only good for the industry and us. I am so curious about this "BIG" announcement, didn't see it coming, and I am not sure what is the point now that GH5 could sold a few thousands Christmas cameras. That is an announcement for next year, but I will be waiting for it eagerly.

@DaveAltizer no you can't Dave! It seems like it isn't for this generation of Pana cameras. So in their line up, they will have a video centric camera, and then a more video centric camera?! Too much fragmentation. The new GH5s, or whatever that is, must be a lot better than the GH5 to make any sense, and that is a 3000$ price point, probably e-ND or something similar, external RAW, probably IBIS and maybe a variable sensor. I am with the guys above, Dual Pixel AF is too great and too modern, for not to have on a camera that will take you to the next decade.

To be honest I am not watching most of Max's videos, Caleb's though, I like this guy and has a more "scientific" approach to things (at least a self-taught-improvisation-scientific approach). He seems to spend more time in his videos than Max. Also, I am using those mics in NX1, GH5, so cameras with ok pre amps (NX is surprisingly quite ok for recordings). Another note, the Micro is a cardioid mic. I much prefer such kind of mic for camera placement than a directional one, for a lot of reasons. For once, there is no lobe at the back of the microphone, so it will record just in front of it. Second, if you have a wide lens hand held, and go in front of someone, or two people speaking, you can have the conversation easily, and that is what you should aim, when you have 2 people speaking, if you are outside a tattoo shop in Brooklyn, and you go 200mm with your L lens, directionality doesn't mean a thing. Go 35mm, and go close, have someone else do the B camera with a tele lens (usually directors with no real experience do a lot of such mistakes). The atmosphere sound is more natural. Highly directive mics should be on a boom, really, with someone experienced do the work. Now, where my second proposal stands, the MKE440. The 440 is a stereo mic, but unlike Rode's stereo mics, that gather sound from everywhere, and I wouldn't recommend those on a camera, the 440 makes a cone (a sound gathering one) in front of the 2 mics forming the V shape, so you have a much bigger area covered, but still, because you have 2 directional capsules, more directional than cardioid, you have a lot of rejection of unwanted territory, in my opinion, the best of both worlds. The 440's cone resembles a 35mm lens by the way (officially, by Sennheiser engineers). 1 test): Look how small is the difference in gain (first measurement) between Micro vs all the rest, until the Video MicroPro (0db), that seems that we are not gaining much, until the +20db option of the much more expensive Pro, that means that Micro circuitry and amplification is quite good for such a small, light and cheap mic (cheap goes with everything, it is a standard that everything measures on). 2 test): This is what I meant before that Max was a bit exaggerating about the Micro (and, that is only a spec, I was talking also about tonality, musicality and other sound characteristics that are not objectively measured). Self noise is the holy grail of microphones, a small difference can bring huge differences in price, especially in our line of work. Here it is like the sensor on cameras (not always the case though), bigger microphone capsules, usually have less self noise. That is very important if you have a "whispering" actor, or if you are trying to do some good "room tone", or ambient recording. This is where super expensive Sennheiser mics (in Europe, they are 20% more expensive than US, for some reason! damn Sennheiser!) such as the 80X0 and X0 series shine, or good/expensive stereo mics perform the best. The cheapest of that second category is another Rode, the Stereo Video Mic X https://www.amazon.com/Rode-SVMX-Videomic-Broadcast-grade-Microphone/dp/B00O5B3KCU/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511806267&sr=1-3&keywords=rode+mic+x with its half inch capsules (mind you, there are such mics with 1" capsules), and check that price please. Andrew here has a blog about this specific mic. Search on this site. 3 test): That doesn't say much, usually you cut the low end on the camera, or on a recorder. The most important thing is voice, and voice doesn't live down there, except if you are Nick Cave, but Nick Cave knows his s%^# about mics. Also, all the rumbling and low frequencies are more easily to ruin your sound than high ones (very low frequencies are transferred through materials, that is why you hear the train on the rails coming from miles away, or the low bass of racer boys, or a machine through a concrete building), that is usually we cut down low frequencies, especially if there is no sound man present, you just trying to survive sonically without a proper pro doing the job, you do not try to gather stellar sound, there is no way, just to stay on the surface. 4) Another reason old Canon sucks! My impression is Samsung has the best ones but I haven't test all the cameras, and when I do camera work, I am not that careful on sound, imagine people with not a lot of experience in sound, they do not even hear most of the times. I like Caleb, he is trying, effortlessly!

I do not know what it is, but I am guessing is brilliant! It would be amazing if it was a stand alone video creator, even though I do not know what we are talking about!

@Mark Romero 2 Do not get me wrong, Rode has very good and competitive products, but in most cases they are a notch under what I would like, and usually I found it in Sennheiser products. I have and own other brands too, but in certain market gaps that Sennheiser doesn't have a product, or they are more expensive that I would like, or have the budget for. A great mic is the NTG3, I used it a lot for a few documentary series (because most of the production companies over here own a couple of those), but every time I was going back to my 416, I knew which one was better (at least for me, the NTG3 is a more forgiving microphone). My impression right now, is that the best, cheap, mic(s) for dSLR and mirrorless, right now, is the Sennheiser MKH440, it does more sense in 95% of the uses it is intended to. When I want the absolute cheapest, smallest, lightest, with not a lot of drain in battery, then I go to the micro. It is just brilliant that they built something like this. A) Micro B) 440 C) independent sound recording with pro mics and recorders, those are my user cases. As Max said, it doesn't get in your way. You can see through your EVF, it doesn't really add to the weight, it ain't so "phallic" and aggressive as others, and it is dead cheap! You can find it for even less, including the fur, and the Rycote Lyre system. EDIT: also it has the best design among all this Rode video mic series, and it doesn't need to turn it on/off, I have seen myriad times other Rode video mics to be off, when they should be on, and off, when they should be off! The rest of them are notoriously badly ergonomically built. Especially before the Rode adopted the Rycote Lyre system, they were a disaster to work with. Very bad battery placement, the rubber bands were silly and very bad implemented. I do not agree with some of Max's opinions though, the micro AIN'T that good acoustically and musically, if you like, most of the other microphones were a good bit better than that, the price difference isn't unsubstantial but for all the aforementioned, and the price, it is the best.

I would love something like @mercer suggests, and I am complaining about a lack of entry level "cine" (on quotes) cameras for a while now. The only thing I would be missing then, would be Dual Pixel touch AF, but for 3500euros I could easily forget about it!

Wow! I can see 2 NX1 cameras there, I thought they had vanished from this dimension (the Trump one, where the world goes to hell!) My favorite is the Micro, it is the only Rode mic I ever owned! All the rest, I would rather use something else.

a6500 has clean 6400, easily. I would like to see those 1 and a half stops better low light performance on GH5 already. What I am saying is that Ibis is not a tripod - the image still moves, and not a gimbal, the IBIS system trying to compensate the movement usually fails miserably, just my 2 cents after a few days shooting entirely on GH5 with IBIS. Very curious about the announcement though. Good stuff NF!

I am the only one not getting crazy with IBIS? Obviously is good to have, than have not, but I do occasionally camera (GH5s) for a cars TV show, and when I ask time to set a tripod, everyone is looking at me strange, and they have the GH5s for not even 6 months, and already everything else is out of the question! My impression is that IBIS is something between a classic tripod/monopod and a stabilizer (Crane, or Ronin style), so for me it falls in "no MY land" territory. How much high ISO performance you can pull out of a small m43 sensor, I am wondering?

@Dimitris Stasinos NTG3 is a great choice, Imhave extensively use it for years, 416 ain't that far away in price though, and I prefer its sound a lot better. NTG3 is more forgiving to not very experienced with sound people though, maybe that worthy a thing. Until recently, and the F4 series, Zoom was less appropriate for video productions. Tascam was more specialized towards video, I, and a lot of people, use Tascam for years and years, especially now that they had a mkII version on most of their classic designs, with even better mic pre amps. Good luck!

@Dimitris Stasinos I am not being harsh, but what you suggest is the lower of the low, not a middle solution. A middle solution would be a Zoom F4/8 and a 416 or a Sound Devices MixPre 6/10 with a 416. Good shotguns are above 1500€ (I assume you are living in EU?), and good recorders are to the thousands (a lot of them!). Then you have to add a whole lot of accessories (a good boom pole is essential, Ambient is amazing for the price), and if you start with wireless, that is a nightmare, I still haven't managed to make a worthy wireless kit. Also, you would need a whole set of microphones for different occasions and uses. Dynamics, Omni, cardioid maybe, stereo, recording atmospheres etc They do not have to be exceptional, all of them, but you would need some sort of "arrows in your quiver", as the more experienced sound men like to say! IronFilm has some suggestions in his blog/site, and already mentioned and discussed in this forum. Do a little search, but H5 is a no go for me (better get the Tascam 100mkIII), and MKE600 is just so basic, I do not know what to say about it. 14 year old kids doing their blogs with the 600!

@jonpais+1 for the cinephile references, I do not know many that have seen Lilya 4-ever! also, + another 1 for the content.

Really interesting. Looks terrible on youtube. I am not sure we can judge anything from there, and not in 1080p. 1440p seems a bit better usually in my 1440p monitors. Panasonic "invading" Olympus space, I would like Olympus to do the same with video! I much prefer Olympus lenses than Pana ones though, I worked a bit with the 12-60 Pana and the 12-100 Olympus and it was a completely different experience!

@IronFilm I do care about the sound aspect! and the EIS, if it is possible. Also, the monitor (touch screen functions, monitoring capabilities). Cheers!

@Dimitris Stasinos 416, but I am a professional sound man, and going to an even more expensive one (the MKH60 probably, or biting the bullet and going Schoeps or DPA) is on my future plans. I would take the NTG3 before the Deity. As I said, most peoples ears and mindset are not set for pro sound, so whatever you take is going to be good enough, the 600 is just fine for 90% of the people, and for 3% of the circumstances (on a camera).