Kisaha

DR100 is the King of hand held recorders, I have the Petrol bag as well and I have accomplished a few hundred nationaly televised episodes from music to science documentaries to whatever. 

I do not own the 701 but it seems to me such a much biger improvement to the 70, which is more similar to the 60, than the 70 to the 701 and I am not sure about the XLR out, I mean, usually I do not need one.

The F4 ticks all the boxes, and 701 seems a bit overpriced, to be honest, the old 4ch Edirol was the best device I used to use and the old table Fostexes were just amazing, but seem to stayed behind in evolution. Even with digital Nagra and Sound Devices I had huge problems (mainly software with Nagra, hardware with Sound Devices) in between feature film's productions.

I just say that F4 is not a clear winner, until it is, and I buy one next year! It is very welcomed that they do produce specific video production devices.

Thanks for all the info and experience.

 I too getting so much interference with various Sennheisser kits, recently I am only monitoring my 416, as I am certain that I am getting interferences(hair/touching/clothes noises) with them.

I do too wonder how the Rode fares with intereferences, I do not mind the size.

Can one use the Aputure lav with phantom power on the DR100? This is my main issue with this recorder, I can't use mic/line and phantom power signals. Only one at the time. Does anyone have more comments about the Oscar and the Apeture lavs.

Thank you.

Why F4 is "the clear leading option" instead of the DR100mkIII or the DR-701D? Even though I love the F4 features, I wouldn't be 100% certain until I test one. It seems like the best Zoom video orientated product, but I will wait.

I used to use DR680 and I do not consider it as one of the best Tascam devices, mayne the II is better, but still 8ch are too much for carrying it around while you can have better pre amps in DR100 and/or others.

Soundmen do not constantly trim, or it would be a nightmare in post. They know when to trim and why, and that is why they are get paid. Do anyone of you adjust 58 times your exposure in a 5 minutes interview or a 20seconds scene?

My opinion is CanonC100mkII and 80D/the new M. 

I do not know about absolute DR numbers and the such, but this seems like a very convinient combo for someone with the OP's experience and line of work.

As of the sound, "ancient" Fostex/Marantz/Sound Devices are waaaay better than anything Zoom had in the near past. The Zoom' ssuccess, was a similar to 5Dii's "accident", doesn't mean that a Black n Decker is the only drill available, or a Hoover, the only..well..hoover!

I haven't tested F8(4) yet, but I wouldn't buy anything from them without. For me, Zoom is like the cheaper Sony solutions, everything looks good on paper, but real life ergonomics/usability/performance leaves a lot to desire. 

Having a dedicated video camera such as the C100 offers ergonomics, battery life, no overheating, ND filters, good audio (I am not sure if it is the best, definitely not, but a good start, or else you need a sound man) and you take it out of your bag and shoot. Having a 80D/latest M, is a good way for a B-Cam/photo machine with same lenses (saving money there too).

..and I do not own any Canon cameras at the moment, but I am sure that they will be there soon!

Soundman since 1999 Tip: just take your microphone further of your camera and closer to your sound source, a better sound placement can make a 500$ sound kit sound better than a 5000$ one, and I am pretty dogmatic about it!

I remember the Tascam 60 has a stepping gain adjustment, I would think that F4(8), been priced much higher won't. The thing is, that digital gain can have little "steps", unlike analog ones that you have access to the whole spectrum.

The older Zooms were working like this, and the cheaper Tascams, better devices (such the Sound ones!) not.

BlackMagic is 600€ in my home country and I was considering cheaper 5-5.5 inches monitoring options, such as the Ikan or Lilliput, the Ikan accepts 4K signal too and it has a touchscreen and can be found for 350€, while the Lilliput a bit higher but I guess it is considered a better monitor than the Ikan?

I would expect more, better and cheaper video recorders soo .

It is just a farce, but I can see some production value there. They did deliver a film, and if it is really a feature, then the money are not even enough for that. It deosn't seem like a documentary, a crowd funding Blair Witch Project of the 2016.

Really intrigued!

I was considering an external recorder (probably a BlackMagic video assist), mainly because some video partners want ProRes, but I wouldn't mind something between http://ikancorp.com/productdetail.php?id=1710 or http://www.lilliputuk.com/monitors/sdi/lilliput-q5/ just for monitoring purposes. Are these monitors better than BlackMagic? Do I have any true advantages using an external recorder (besides the FC friendly coded)? Do you have any other recommendations? Are all those working for both NX1 and NX500?

All these sell and wtb posts should be moved to the SALE topic, to keep this topic clean and clear, and keep us focused on the important stuff.

As Mattias already said, great pre amps for such a cheap device, the emergency battery is the best thing ever happened to an audio recorder. Also, more video orientated than other recorders and brands.

Great camera selection, a nightmare to match in the post. I guess you use one at a time.

If you recording straight to your dSLRs, you are doing something really wrong, check the "Field recorder" post just under your post, and try to read and ask about sound, which is a very important aspect of your videos (in my film school we used to say "50% sight/50% sound").

Also, investing in 3 systems should be a very expensive hobby, probably concentrating on 1 good video camera with inter/able lenses with ND filters/xlr sound interface/amazing battery times/better form factor/etc would be a better option and maybe cheaper too.

That would be a deal breaker for any sound man around. If that is not the case, then for multiple chans Tascam DR-701D vs Zoom F4, and if you want smaller form factor and less ch them DR100mkIII or even the II are excellent options (now that III is out, the II is becoming a real good value for money option, with no such big differences). The DR100 preamps are the best among Tascams (and far better than any Zoom I have used, except F4/F8 which I haven't use, so I took the positive approach and trust them with better ones). I consider the 60 and 70 as lower tier options, good for cheap/very light/small dSLR rigs (where are the only true options around), but for something more, definitely the DR100ii/iii, and up.

Does anyone know if DR100markIII accepts line/mic in one ch and +48 in the other(for wireless+condenser mic), the II certainly doesn't (or does it?!)? This is a huge problem, for when want to use a kit like this.

+1 Emanuel!

Plus, just to conclude my thinking, when I started working, late 90's, everyone was concentraded on his trade, be it sound, be it camera, whatever, and we were investing accordingly. Today, things are getting cheaper, but the market requires, for even a very low budget production, a 800$ wedding let's say, or a 700$ small shop FB video, an interchangable lens camera, couple of lens, few OK led lights, whatever can do for sound, an action cam, a drone, a slider, a few more things (tripod/monopod/bags/batteries/cables/hard drives/computational power/editing amd pp software/memory cards/monitor/etch) and the budget is not adequate for another person to come help. Sorry for ranting, just some thoughts while preparing my bags for such a project!

All these action cameras are really bad comparing with even all these cheap mirrorless we are getting these days. They have to step up their game somehow (bigger sensor perhaps?). 

For amateurs, Mavic seems just fine (or amazing, depending one's perspective), for low budget semi-pro work, I guess GoPro offers better, and well tested image+a whole system to play with (gymbal, camera).

It seems that everyone has a drone for whatever production (weddings, to corporates, documentaries, hobbies, everything).

I am surely tempted to get one for the low budget jobs, but honestly, I would always prefer a specialist to come to do the job with an Inspire and a better than those cameras. Less money for me, but I am against the "do-it-all" approach of the 21st century (and the still going on financial crisis). I truly respect these kind of people, and I do the same to some degree, but sales-production-script-direction-camera-lighting-sound-editing-post production, is too much for one person to add to everything else. For not extremely low budget jobs I would prefer a 3 persons team, and probably drone/musician/After Effects small jobs.. and I am not a communist!

Does anyone know how the Sony X3000 compares to those in image quality? And is any other competitive drone around 1300$?

One of the early adaptors (quite literally!) should check video/sharpness settings. Even 0.35 and 1.1 is much better than -0.35 and 1.54! Probably Luca should borrow a working prototype to Marco, to do some tests with different lenses, or someone that Luca trusts, with EF lenses and some knowledge. Some Ultra Wide Zoom, or wide/extreme tele primes, or 24-70/70-200 L and the such.

It is an early try from just one person, trying to achieve what even established companies and engineers didn't. This is very impressive in my opinion, but everything can evolve and mature (or it is dead, but that's another story!), so I will be waiting to see some independent tests and videos, hopefully soon.

Jvc's LS300 is a super 35, native m4/3 camera. It is not rocket science, and JVC is very close to Panasonic, anyway. There are speedboosters already for that cam, also. A sensor like this, could have made the GH5 the ring to rule them all.

Panasonic have to realize that this is a video camera, with the form factor, and a little bit of a photo camera. Just the right count of megapixels for better low light capabilities would be a check mate.

It is too early for anything meaningful though, I don't see myself discussing X-Files theories for a camera that I am going to see, probably in a year.I just hope for Panasonic to take the right choices, until then.

Is this an NX1?! 

Do you care to share what's on/in/above/under the camera?!

I have a limited setup my self with the Varabond cage and a few other things, but this thing looks just amazing.

What's your tripod/tripod head? What bags do you use for the camera?

Do you have the "Bourne" Nikon lens? Do you have any comment about lenses? I am considering buying a great zoom lens, and I am split between the 16-50S lens or this Nikon.

Ttbek said it right! All I need is aperture control, if it is a speedboster, or not, that's second to me. I am not quite following the hype of the "full frame look", actually for video, I am just the opposite. 

On a second consideration though, NX lacks a very good fast ultra wide zoom, (a 3rd S lens 10-18, or even 12-24 with 4f or even better, 2.8f), and speedboster could be godsend for one of the excellent EF ones; add here the opposite angle of this, and people could use the excellent long tele zooms of the EF. That stands for Nikon glass too, just EF protocols are more well documented, and there is some work been done already by our Korean friend.

Plus, you gain some light to try to stay under 1600..

I just haven't seen one in the field. If can do 3200 with a cleaner output than m4/3, then it can be a winner. Plus, some ergonomical things have to change to make it truly "professional".

It is definitely a very interesting little cam, maybe a bit too early. How much ISO does it really stand, and can anyone compare the ISO capabilities with any other dSLR or S35 camera?

Not even a speedbooster! I used it with the 18-105 4f, and the lens stabilizer was incredible! 6400ISO with confidence. Really impressed and jealous of the low light performance.

I had other issues though.

Very bad ergonomics, in that form factor I really prefer the NX500, and - as it wasn't my camera - I got lost in the menus and took me a while to figure most things out, in between work, and I am still not sure about most things anyway! 2 NX1 batteries - 5 a6300 = that was incredible annoying, and thankfully I had the a6300 as a second camera, because NX1 was full armored with cage and everything, similar a6300 setup would have need more steps to insert battery. I would never trust this camera with the hot Greek weather, it didn't stop recording to me, but the guy given it to me told me that he had problems recently, and he just got it, while the Greek summer is finished, probably New York is much colder though.. anyway, I was super careful and did use it as a second camera and stopped recording, while NX1 was writing 1 hour segments.

All in all, Sony is not there yet, if you shoot small segments and have some control of what is going on, then a6xxx and A7 cameras are alright, for harder use, not at all.

The system is brilliant, but it starting to show it's age.

 I am considering 2 options (yeah, well, 3). Use everything until melt, or sell everything until Xmas, and start with the m4/3. 

16 and 20 megapixles m4/3 are not very tempting, but as I am more interested in video, and  above 800 ISO is unusable in NX, then, what's the point keeping it? Plus there are unlimited m4/3 options, not only in lenses, but in bodies and companies (add to all these Zenmuse DJI).

The first option (until everything melts) holds a secret wish, that in a couple (or 3) of years the Canon M series will be near the top of its segment, and m4/3 will be between a rock (Sony) and a hard place (Canon). Seriously, where this sensor can go from here? 24megapixels? 28? How much ISO can you gain, when the GH5 is announced to have 1 stop (which will be highly debatable until then) and, in almost a year from now (I know that it will be announced until June, but more times than not, the actual cameras come into our hands a few months later).

Also (well.. option #3), the A99markII is an indication that an A9 (or A7sIII) and later on a a9000 (or 7000, whatever) is imminent. I mean, just look at the specs. They just can put out a A99 mirrorless in Xmass, and make everyone of us switch to Sony. Immediately.

These are my thoughts after the recent announcements. Unfortunately, keeping on a dead system is a cause of anxiety if you want to keep up with the technology, and/or you are a working professional with limited budget.

I guess Dean was just accurate. Sold once, re-bought cheap, re-sold twice! 

2 hours ago, Dean said:

Sold my NX1 kit and lenses. Thanks for everyone here for all their advise and postings ... very helpful. It's an amazing cam and I like a lot about it but my NX1 & 16-50S will be out of warranty soon and someone offered me a great deal so I decided to take them up on it. Going to try MFT for video for a while. Liking the GX85 and the G85 looks good as well. Still have Nikon for stills. Cheers all

Wow! that was fast Dean!

Please come back to discuss your experience. I do too been tempted with all the new Panasonic announcements, getting a G85 with the 12-60 for starts (replacing the NX500), a Yi for low budget - whatever- like I have the NX3000 now, and the GH5 eventually, it would be sufficient. Plus, maybe, the JVC LS300, or whatever similar video camera, Panasonic put out in the near future. Very low budget, multi cam 4K solution, best in industry.

After all these announcements NX prices will drop vastly though, and buying a couple of S lenses for cheap, would be good too.

C100markII or C300(I or II) seem like a safe bet, very easy to use, the C100 is rather small as well (not M1 territory, but still), but you have to be specific with your codecs, C100 par example has a much lower bitrate than the afforementioned one.

You have to ask specifically what cameras do they accept, it will be a petty to create technical obstacles for no reason, and M1/2 are rather bad video cameras, you can easily surpass them and got better results.

Do you have a site? Your story sounds really optimistic and worthfollowing.

Goodluck!

Lilliput Q5 seems to tick most boxes for the right price. The afforementioned Ikan DH5e as a lower cost option, and the pretty similar 5" Neway monitor (there is also a better, more expensive 5.5 one, not accepting 4K though, reaching Q5 territory, which Q5 is preferable I guess).

There are a bunch of 7" 1920x1200 Kolletron/noname/generic/probably Feelworld/ ones on ebay, for less than 200$, very tempting indeed, for such a low price, some of them accept 4K signal.