AlexTrinder96

This film was posted on the P4k FB group earlier. WOW.
 
By DAVE HILL
https://vimeo.com/304999893?fbclid=IwAR2eii51lO2jPHV0mQj1JmhplQRhKhp0YYaO_FHc2jEpYXe8KicJKm53PYo

 

This film was posted on the P4k FB group earlier. WOW.
 
By DAVE HILL
https://vimeo.com/304999893?fbclid=IwAR2eii51lO2jPHV0mQj1JmhplQRhKhp0YYaO_FHc2jEpYXe8KicJKm53PYo

 

This film was posted on the P4k FB group earlier. WOW.
 
By DAVE HILL
https://vimeo.com/304999893?fbclid=IwAR2eii51lO2jPHV0mQj1JmhplQRhKhp0YYaO_FHc2jEpYXe8KicJKm53PYo

 

Don't drag me into it
99% of my time with this camera has been spent writing a controller for it rather than using it to make actual images so I can't really chime in with anything anywhere near authoritative on it as yet.
I'm watching this closely though, as if enough consensus builds then I might actually add an option to interactively lock the ranges so that if you go from ISO1000 on the camera or the app it automatically goes to ISO3200 instead of ISO1250 and the same on the way down from ISO3200 to ISO1000.

https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/BlackmagicPocketCinemaCamera4K/20181123-e9d5f0/BlackmagicPocketCinemaCamera4KManual.pdf page 29/30... 
I'm pretty sure you can assign it, but it's on the main screen for sure! Can defo toggle it on and off... 
@mercer
 
 

ETTR is just one among many exposure tools. It depends on the circumstances as to if it's the best tool. There are no scopes on the P4K and the zebras are not accurate and change with ISO so there is quite a bit of experience needed to get the best out of it in a contrasty lighting situation. As a result of some tests today I'd advise only using ISO 400-1000 and 3200-8000 in ProRes and be wary of what the zebras are telling you if you go off 400 or 3200 ISO.

I'd go 1 stop over for Caucasian and closer to middle grey for darker skin!
 
 

I asked the pro colourists if I should ETTR with the 10-bit footage on the GH5 and they said it wasn't necessary and it would be better to expose as normal.  I thought that people used ETTR to get better signal:noise in 8-bit, so anything 10-bit or more should be fine.
Although, the exposure video from Filmmaker IQ wasn't talking about ETTR as much as adjusting where the DR was around your middle-grey.
It would be interesting for someone to do some tests with setting skin-tone by exposure levels at the various ISOs and seeing how the different shots grade in Resolve.

So I've seen some derision about Pocket4K regarding it crashing or behaving erratically, as well as issues with the batteries. I thought I'd share my experiences with these.
 
Short version: The battery that comes with the Pocket is utter, utter shit. Use original Canons instead and you'll see way less issues.
 
Long version:
That battery really is shit. I really can't overemphasize how shit it is.
So, for me Pocket 4K was a no-brainer because I already had a lot of it's necessities lying around - Cfast2-cards, tons of compatible batteries. So, the latter has meant that I've been able to run the Pocket with not just the battery it comes with, but with a couple of relatively fresh (2-year old) OG Canon batteries as well as a few different off-brand ones (4-5 years old). So here's a short summary on how they have performed:
 
Original Canon LP-E6:
- No problems, can be charged in-camera or with my canon rechargers. Displays remaining battery accurately. No surprise shutoffs.
- Drains the slowest of all the batteries I've tested. Still pretty fast, but quite manageable. Usually end up using 1-2 batteries a shooting day (b-cam).
 
Off-brand LP-E6:
- Like Canon, can be charged anywhere.
- Depending on the off-brand battery, might or might not display the remaining charge accurately.
- Can go from 40% to empty in seconds. So the 0-40% range is a bit of a wild card. May be due to inaccurate charge display or these might just be plain old and tired.
- Drains faster than the Canon.
 
The Blackmagic... thing:
- Can't be charged with Canon chargers, causes them to enter fault mode (continuous blinking.) Occurs with both my chargers. Googling the issue has led me to find others with same experiences. Can only be charged through the camera.
- Charge display is just whatever. Can go from over half-full to camera shutdown in seconds.
- Sometimes works like an off-brand one. At worst, from full charge, lasted me around 3 minutes of recording before the first shutdown.
- And notice the above? "First shutdown"? That was today. So, apparently the blackmagic battery is prone to just dying momentarily when there's a large power drain present. So what happened was, I set the camera to record, with battery at around 75-80%, and after a few seconds the battery meter goes haywire and the camera shuts down. Then it boots up again, and the battery shows up at 75%. Guess what happens when I hit record? Rinse and repeat. That was the moment I chucked the battery. Switched to Canon originals and the rest of the day went without a hitch.
 
So, taking from this, I think some of the reported erratic behavior can be traced to the completely all over the place quality of the original battery. Having the camera reboot itself during recording is something that could be blamed on the camera if you have no way to troubleshoot and find the real culprit - which was the blackmagic battery. Maybe there are good ones too, but to stay on the safe side, I'd recommend just using it as a last resort backup at most, and sticking to Canon originals or maybe some higher-quality off-brand ones.

Well we're talking about the pocket 4k, I have not seen any evidence to suggest a better way to expose? ETTR doesn't seem to be necessary in this camera.
 

Cage for the DJI OSMO!
 
http://www.taipancinema.com/exo/?fbclid=IwAR25Sc-_H-l5anqSaDc76-kXxgzVk2dvRakbWSpZdHHkx-dlLDtREr7xn1o
 
 

Looking good! Is that one of the red primes? 

A quick look at it in action from the final testing this week.
This is it being used in the reduced interface mode (selectable on startup) which gives you the option to run without focus or zoom individually.
The reduced mode is particularly useful for running on really small devices such as the Pixi 4 phone here whose reduced footprint makes them ideal for rail mounting for hands off side operation/monitoring of the camera settings.

Cage for the DJI OSMO!
 
http://www.taipancinema.com/exo/?fbclid=IwAR25Sc-_H-l5anqSaDc76-kXxgzVk2dvRakbWSpZdHHkx-dlLDtREr7xn1o
 
 

Brilliant stuff! I think Blackmagic should include this video with every camera they sell. Seriously. 
 
Cheers @kye

@mercer and anyone else, I couldn't get to some woods, but I shot some high contrast spots. As I said before, I don't shoot RAW, so I exposed as I normally would. I hope you can get the info you wanted from this.
Total size 1.72gb - https://mega.nz/#F!3Fs0mSSS!0gMCbZYRQ47KKrmY8WN_YQ
All shot with Sigma 18-35 f1.8 (set to f4) on the Viltrox booster. All handheld, so excuse the shakiness. 
The RAW files are 4:1 and the others are ProRes HQ. The last 2 clips are the same shot, from the same position to show the crop when you shoot 1080p RAW. I believe its a 4x crop in RAW and 1.9x in ProRes - With the booster, those crop factors change, but maths isn't my strong suit, so I'll leave it to someone else to work that out.
 

Brilliant stuff! I think Blackmagic should include this video with every camera they sell. Seriously. 
 
Cheers @kye

Just saw this video and thought it would be useful for those with Dual ISO cameras like BMPCC4K, GH5S, etc..
Includes how Dual ISO works, impacts on DR, and how to expose - really great content from John Hess.
 

There is some interesting bits of information contained within the (lengthy) share offer prospectus for Atomos from a few months ago.
Aside from them licensing an SoC to JVC for upcoming video cameras (which may mean hello LS300 MKii ?), four new products for 2019 described as 'next generation' and some interesting data about how big the market is for external recorders, which is bigger than I thought.
One other thing, though, which crops up several times throughout the prospectus as a risk factor is a dispute with RED.

Elsewhere in the document it states that RED are in the same dispute with another party and, whilst it might not necessarily mean its to do with ProRes RAW and REDCODE it does seem a coincidence that the date of the dispute coincides with the announcement from NAB.
Hopefully it will get resolved and if it is about ProRes RAW that it won't put the brakes on the development of it and expanding it to other camera brands and models.
Full document here 
http://downloads.atomos.com/investor/IPO Prospectus.pdf

"My $1500 camera's screen isn't as good as my $6,000 camera's, or even my $3,400 camera's! What gives?"

I just wanted to share with you my latest music video shot on Ursa and Pocket 4k + Zeiss Cp3 + Black ProMist (how Can i embed a video here : ) ? )
https://vimeo.com/309293561

My first short movie 'Winter Efteling 2018-2019'. Filmed with anamorphic lens Bolex Moller 16/32/1.5x. HLG and Eterna in post 
 
 

Yeah, +1 for the c100. It really is (still) a fantastic camera. It may not sound as appealing as some of the newer cameras on specs alone but it's one of the easiest you'll ever use. 
 
Blue Ruin (2013) was shot on the c300, which shares the same sensor as the c100... and it looks great!