mkabi

5 hours ago, IronFilm said:

This is a handy tool for automating that:
https://logger.ambient.de/

 

 

Now this - is something I want now. Kickstarter though.... 

13 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Interesting...and I appreciate this is a slight digression, but for me 8-12 hours filming = about the same in the office.

Commercial or wedding, within 1 working day, I have started, finished, exported and uploaded a typical (for weddings anyway) 9-12 minute wedding film plus second full ceremony & speeches production.

I will however typically spread that workload over 2 days just because I can and won’t deliver to clients for at least 7 days if not longer because I tell them it’s about a week’s work to give my worth more ‘value’.

This could be because I am a very efficient person by nature, do not procrastinate and work to my own brief and no one else’s.
Yes, even commercial. 

 

Yes. Please share your workflow. Do you label the clips in camera? Do you jot down which clips look the best on a clipboard or something? What about retakes? Bloopers and mistakes? 
 

Flat earthers!!! Erk....

I will add one last point from my end.

In the video business - if you are doing it all alone -> There isn't enough talk about editing (well not much talk about it here) - and I'm not talking about editing equipment (monitor, cpu, software, speakers etc. - although that does matter to a degree) - just sitting there, reviewing the footage, transcoding, bringing it on the timeline, stitching it together, adding sound and/or music, adding effects, etc. <- fucken time consuming shit.

Your 1 day shoot, ends up being weeks of editing - nobody talks about that...

I know there are ads on kijiji/craiglist - wedding videographer - $500/$1000 - may be if you're a beginner and you want to build a portfolio to show future clients. But that quickly becomes a nightmare.  

Ask yourself, "What is my worth?" Are you worth $15/hr, $25/hr, $50/hr or more? Then add it all up.

8 to 12 hours of being on set filming.

Then 2 weeks of editing (average of 8 to 10 hours of sitting in front of a computer editing the video per day) <- practice your ass off to get your wedding videos down to 2 weeks of editing. Excluding weekends, we have about 80 to 100 hours. 

So, total time spent its about 88 hours to 112hours - at $15/hr - $1320 to $1680; at $25/hr - $2200 to $2800, and at $50/hr - $4400 to $5600. 

Again - keep in mind - your experience level, who is willing to pay those amounts for your experience level and you are doing this all alone (consider getting help - adding to your crew and the mark up in price). This is just for your labour. I'm not talking about equipment cost, etc.

4 hours ago, Lenscamera said:

Who knew it was gonna be this hard in 2020 for manufactures to deliver a "halfway" decent hybrid camera. 

Lets be honest, its not that there aren't "halfway" decent or perfect cameras - its that our expectations are growing. The benchmark is moved slightly or completely every 3 months.

If we look back to 2008 - Canon 5D Mark 2 or even back to 2012 with the Canon 1DC, now if we threw the Fuji X-S10 into the past - imagine the uproar - imagine the type of monkey wrench that would have placed on the industry - for example, if we pulled that out - just 1 day before Canon announced the 1DC, with the same price it is today. I'm just using Fuji X-S10 as opposed to S1H, A7S3 or R5, because it is really a master of none for today's standards, but throw it back..... people would go crazy.

And, from what I understand is that this guy wants to start in Wedding videos and move to doc and commercial work.

Blowing it all on just a body.... doesn’t make sense.

Equipment cost < Business Profit

Look at high end equipment later. Start getting customers first... start charging a rate that covers your hours put into it + equipment rental rate (estimate).

If you get enough customers then invest in equipment.

Don’t waste it on a system. 

You’ll only be mad with yourself later on for choosing that system.

Buy a body with 1 native lens (that way when it is time to ditch and move on to another system it isn’t hard to let go...)

Invest in PL lenses and learn to manual focus. You won’t regret it!!! Trust me.

My current suggestions:

Either get two Panasonic S5s or two Fuji X-T4s. With a workhorse lens for both cameras.

Go for the Ironglass 3 lens set. 

Bonus: Get a Blackmagic 2.5K camera with mft mount from EBay.

Also, buy a bunch of LED lights. Six 900 LED would be pretty decent. 

You might want to get cages, matte box, external monitor, tripods, slider, gimbal.... anything I’m missing?

Unbiased. And, I've used a few different media boxes. Sony, IPTV box, even the Samsung TVs internally built system - they even have apple TV built into the TV (but I still resort to the standalone box).

Now.... I've used Sony before moving to Apple TV Box - its just easy to use, hassle free - intuitive. Funny thing is, even if the apple TV is built into the Samsung TVs that I have.... I don't use it simply because the remote (Samsung Remote vs. Apple TV remote) isn't there.... 

The whole experience of it being so simple - idiot proofing - is what draws me in...

Only complaints I have about the Apple remote - sometimes its overly sensitive (the touch portion of it) and its so small.... you can lose it often... 

Editted to add: I have a lot of non-tech savvy people in my household - I can take the time to learn a system, but I don't have patience to baby and/or teach every single person that is in my household nor those that visits my household and starts asking me how do you use this thing.... 

35 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Surely you meant HOURS not days? Otherwise CAD$3800 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay undercharging!

not a typo..... lol.... 20 min. short - we created like a 25 page scripted short. It was fun.... the guy was a perfectionist and several takes were required. But, I completely agree it was undercharging... nonetheless... imagine a $40K+ ROI.

3 minutes ago, ntblowz said:

2010 and 2020 is quite a lot of difference

the house price went from avg $440K to $950K here, but the wage didn't increase double. As result of that more people just do civil marriage or smaller weddings, and number of people getting married is down each year while more wedding videographer pop up each year.  So more people grabbing less pie.

 

We done jibs before too, album covers, poster etc, and even rent Red Helium.  Just the overall trend of wedding market is down in general. I stopped wedding as my main income around 2016, I  only do second shoots if my video friend need help, otherwise i just defer inquiry to my friends as it just not worth the hassle for me when I get better return elsewhere.

Red Helium is a touch overboard (in my opinion). And, I'm not disagreeing... there is going to be competition (no doubt) - but you need to figure out how to differentiate yourself. Rolls Royce has Bentley and a slew of other car companies... people are still buying those in a world where house prices have gone up from $440K to $950K, right???

 

Here is another tip..... at no point....  should you have an uncle come up to you and say.... "Hey, I own the same camera as you... you think you can do a better job than me?"

Do you know how to avoid that?

Gaffer tape the labels, and build the shit out of it.... put a cage, matte box, focus gear, external monitor, mic it up. Make it look like a $50,000 camera instead of a $3000 camera.... people need to physically see where the money is going.... small and deinty can be operated by small and non-professional people.

Going back to the camera jib - thats the difference... a gimbal... everyone seems to have a gimbal nowadays (even the regular joe - that ends up being an enthusiast) and its so friggin small.... its not obtrusive.... so everyone can bother with a gimbal. Nobody can bother with a jib... its too big to use on the regular.... but its in everyone's face <- people see value in that....

Whats the difference between a Toyota and a Rolls-Royce? Figure it out and show the people why you're a Rolls-Royce.

Those of you guys doing wedding videos... don’t take this the wrong way.... but you are doing something wrong. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know it’s not right.

There are venues that are going as high as $50 or $100 per person. The average cost of a wedding as per google search is $33,900... are you telling me that couples are willing to forego the cost properly capturing those moments? 

Your telling me that people are not willing to spend at least 10% of their budget on properly capturing the event itself???

May be they don’t see value in it.... at which point skip those people.... 

But, you need to lean in on those that do see value in video and lean in hard!!! Which means.... package it properly.... and throw in a crap load of marketing behind it.

Let me be honest here... I got married in 2010.... I hired pretty much a nobody... barely had a portfolio to show... he was fresh out of film school and he was recommended by the photographer. But, from the small portfolio that he did have, I was super impressed - my now wife... I had to convince. He charged $3800 (Canadian)... my mom complained stating exactly what you guys are saying.... “videography shouldn’t cost more than photography” - He made her eat her words by the end of it. BTW, photography cost $3200....this was at the cusp of the DSLR revolution.... he was running around with a 7D and 50mm.... But at the end of the day.... this guy came full guns blazing. He filmed with us for about 12 to 14 days... (that alone is going the extra mile) and created a 20 minute short for the wedding. At the wedding itself, he came with a 12 foot crane/jib (4 extra guys); had posters of the 20 minute short (all over the place) and a 2 minute trailer of the short (full video was shown at the reception). When he finished that day alone... FYI -there were 700+ people at my wedding (I’m Hindu)... 8 people signed up and he charged $5200 per person. Thereafter he signed way more by showing people the final cinematic cut of the wedding itself. And, he even packaged the tangible products properly - from the Blu-Ray/DVD menu to the cover and housing of the disc. I got the original disc in a leather case, and regular DVDs (however many I wanted) in a custom plastic case. 

Owning a camera and knowing how to edit the footage is not enough. Ask yourself how many steps ahead are you from the regular joe (owning the same or similar camera)??? It has to be visible differences though. If you’re going to talk about DR and noise reduction.... people don’t see that.... do you know why photography is more expensive??? And people are willing to spend money on it?? There are physical - tangible products at the end of it - a physical and custom album and custom framed pictures or canvas pictures <- people see that.... it’s visible... a DVD or USB stick.... sure it’s something... but it’s not framed on the wall or anything. 

Im hoping that you guys are seeing the visible products that pretty much acted as a marketing campaign for the guy that I hired. If you don’t see it, let me list it out: Camera jib (that’s something the regular guy doesn’t own), movie posters, trailer, 20-short, 45 minute cinematic cut (final product) and leather casing.

Sure that seems like a lot of work.... and it is... but then ask yourself again how many steps ahead are you from a regular joe who owns the same or similar equipment that can do it for free?

Also.... look up Magic Lantern for your 200D.

12 minutes ago, Nigel said:

Storage will add up quickly indeed. However storage isn't to expensive now a days. I don't have projects super often as a hobbyist as well.

My pc build below
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Wraith Boxed
MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX
Gigabyte geforce gtx 1650 super
Crucial Ballistix 32gb ram 3200 mhz
Corsair CX450M
Pny xlr8 250gb m2
Samsung 860 QVO 1TB

so I think 4k will work especially with proxies which are easy to make in PP.

I will try the upscale part but there is a rule like garbage in > garbage out right? The canon 200d 1080p footage is just super mushy 😞

Good point about renting one to see if it's worth the money and extra work in post.

Seriously though, don't use that crappy one on PP.

A.I. Upscaling or Artificial Intelligent Upscaling.

I did the google search for you - here: https://topazlabs.com/video-enhance-ai/

Visit that and watch the video. If you like it.... great.... if you hate it.... buy a 4K cam. Simple.

2 hours ago, Nigel said:

Oh yeah I know some techniques that can be used. It just seems like a major PITA in my workflow. I saw some videos about using preserve details in After effects and using dynamic link from Premiere pro. However if I need to do this on every clip on  the timeline thats far from ideal... Are there any quicker ways to do it with all clips at once? What about if the edit is done on a 1080 timeline and nest all the 1080 clips and upscale it this way to UHD? Is that possible at all? However than I would also need to scale all the fonts as well no? And then apply noise reduction and final sharpening on the UHD timeline? If I would start on a UHD timeline it would be annoying to browse through all the footage on the timeline which is 1080. Any input for a smooth as possible workflow on this?

Just edit the entire thing and then upscale the final product. Technically the upscale should apply to the font and everything else too. You don't need to apply noise reduction and sharpening if you did it already (before the upscale). You know what works? Try 1080/60p - upscale it to 4K/24.

Also, can I suggest that you rent a 4K camera and film something that is similar to a regular project for you.... then you can compare one PITA vs. the other PITA?

Look, I can tell you that the required storage space and computer power needed to edit 4K stuff will become a problem too.... so how smooth you want it, depends on you.... but I'd rather you find out yourself by seeing it for yourself without having to spend too much money.

3 hours ago, Nigel said:

The 1080p upscale to 4k is a very confusing topic to me.

If you can figure out how to use a DSLR, how to stitch together footage in a NLE/LE and upload it to YouTube.

Then you can figure out upscaling.

In my opinion, look up A.I. upscaling and find an editor that will do that.... then try it out.... if you like it then you don’t have to spend money. If you don’t like it and do spend money on a new camera + lenses... understand that there are other headaches that will accompany it.

On 9/26/2020 at 6:06 PM, Oliver Daniel said:

 

4. AF tracking is great. Feels like cheating. I’m not sure how I feel about it as part of the craft though. Feels less rewarding, if that makes sense? Lovely on a gimbal though. 

 

Hit that nail for sure. I felt that way with Touch AF since the 70D. 

I don’t know.... there is something to be said about those eureka moments that comes with setting it up (WB, ISO, Shutter, Aperture and yes manual focus, flags, reflectors and lights) - framing and composing - getting that perfect B-roll... sometimes takes patience and luck. But, when you do get it right... it’s like you did that.... not the camera... the camera just captured what you did.

If you leave it up to the camera.... feels like you don’t care anymore. Just my thoughts, but I understand for those that want AF like wedding guys. In my opinion.... charge enough for the gig to have multiple cameras (and operators) and angles... and if all fails then fake it. Missed the shot where the groom kisses the bride? Take them out later and ask them to do a mock kiss the bride, in the garden, under the twilight sun or something ... stitch it all together in post... 

I wish I can help you on this.... the biggest problems I’ve faced in the past is balancing.... you need to be next level passionate about it.... once you get it, you have to keep practicing with different lenses and stuff. I bought into one, used it once and it wasn’t even properly balanced (spent 4+ hours before I said fuck it.... it’s good enough) thereafter I started hiring other people who were good at gimbal work (time is money and if I can allocate my time elsewhere - where I’m not spending the time to balance). The guy that I hired often got it down to 5 to 10 min. any camera and any lens.

1 hour ago, Emanuel said:

 

 

Bwahahaha.... what is the point of this.....?

Thats amazing 10,000 MB/s.... it beat out all those other cameras in MB/s.... 

Who even wants 10,000 MB/s???

Why are they boasting about 10,000 MB/s???

On 8/20/2020 at 2:35 PM, Cliff Totten said:

I'm just tired of everybody saying

"Panasonic is stupid"

"Panasonic is arrogant"

"Panasonic doesnt understand how PDAF works and why is great"

"Panasonic thinks DfD is better than PDAF"

Ugg....Panasonuc being stuck without PDAF has NOTHING to do with that crap.

People also make this RIDUCULAS statement"

"Sony imaging and Sony Semiconductor are two SEPERATE companies.....and Semiconductor has ZERO concerns with the heath or competition if imaging'

I mean, this one guy told me "Semiconductor just wants to sell sensors, they don't care at all if Imaging dies or not"

Who believes that??? 

Whoever is saying that... ask them which camera they specifically like... then ask if that camera is on Netflix's approved list. Then if they dont know.... point it out that the Panasonic S1H is.... who is stupid now?

Not defending Canon, but suppose they created the same camera without 8K and 4K/120p....

Everything else will be available with longer record times and no overheating.

Then they secretly passed on the code to MagicLantern to unlock 8K & 4K/120... would that have been better....???? Obviously, Magic Lantern would unlock all the secrets including the overheating issue.

If you are considering an all around workhorse to replace the 28-135 - I strongly recommend the Canon 24-70 f.4 L - obviously its not 18mm like @IronFilm has mentioned, and it is only a small improvement from your current 28mm. But consider the other benefits - its an L lens so it is weather sealed, constant f-stop of 4.0 and even though it is not as long as your current 135 - it has a Macro function at 70mm so you can really close-in when you want to (great for B-roll stuff). 

Also consider replacing the 50mm with a 85mm if you are replacing the 28-135.

On 7/31/2020 at 9:46 AM, SteveV4D said:

Build a new model, an R5s for example.  Panasonic did something similar as their S1H differed from the S1 body, and put video centre.  Canon need a body that puts video first.  With the R5, the video specs features heavily in their marketing, but the R5 doesn't match what they say on their website-

"The EOS R5 uncompromising performance will revolutionise your photography and filmmaking."

No it doesn't.... 

I get where you are going with this.... and just to be clear if any big brand company is actually reading this.... We don't need a video-centric camera.... and I'm sure everyone here will agree... most of us want a camera that does both photography and video equally as well (why carry around 2 cameras??? If you're on vacation and can only carry around 1 camera and 2 lenses... you would understand this). The S1H is near perfect solution - the size and auto-focus is the only things that are missing - a lot of the times, I tell myself.... if I get the S1H and start producing something for fun that may end up at a festival - cool.... but on those other times where I hand it over to my wife to take some birthday pics.... all them pictures may end up fucked up.

The only camera that does that right now.... is the XT-4 but is it bringing the absolute best for what the sensor resolution has.... ???

Most of us don't need 8K.... This is very true..... and even if we absolutely need it, we can upscale. But, dare I say.... just for some future-proofing.... if a company comes out with 6K/60p on a 24MP camera (AF, Eye-AF, DR, all there in both video and photography)..... plus obviously 4K/120p..... throw in that 10 bit log and RAW and I'm golden. Lets hope Fuji is listening and the X-H2 is that!!!
 

15 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Petapixel have pulled together both Canon Rumors and my remarks at EOSHD in their piece on the shipments delay.

https://petapixel.com/2020/07/30/canon-is-delaying-eos-r5-shipments-due-to-overheating-concerns-report/

I did not read the Canon Rumors post before writing my article so it is interesting that two separate sources are both effectively saying the same thing.

Adorama in particular seems to be saying the same thing as the stores I asked in Berlin!

I think thats great.... Canon is taking accountability for their machines.

Too bad people have to wait... but come on.... why even order straight out the gate.... whatever....

26 minutes ago, wolf33d said:

So what I am gonna do is I’ll keep my R5 order, test it in my real world usage and if it’s unusable I’ll return it and if it ends up being fine I’ll happily keep it. It’s perfect cause it’s summer now. If I can shoot pictures and small 20 seconds 4K120p clips for 3H straight outside then it’s a go. If not then I guess it’s gonna be another 5 years before I get my dream camera lol. 

Please tell us your findings afterwards.