AlexTrinder96

Bit of an update about new functionality to drive the app from a joystick.
As the joystick is also bluetooth, you can essentially just use the app as a bridge to control the camera from the joystick as well as use it in the way shown here as a single RC style integrated unit.
Other small thumbstick type joysticks will be supported for mounting on a gimbal arm.
 

I know of another unreleased project shot by an award-winning indie director that also used a bunch of A7S2's for principal photography.
They also used a camera per lens approach which allowed to shoot in multicam in order to get more authentic dynamic/energy on scenes & save on budget. 
A7S2 was chosen as the film was shot only using natural light and contains many night scenes. In that aspect A7S2 is pretty unique with it's still incredible low-light performance.
Overall i think they achieved what they wanted but the producer did share with me some horror stories of camera failures (they went through at least a dozen bodies).
They eventually had to pickup FS5/7's to complete the film (and FWIW their next project will be shot with 'camera per lens' but on C200's).
My feelings towards this topic is that yes, the latest hybrids are technically capable of giving beautiful big screen IQ and can even do tricks big cine cams can't, however the reliability, ergonomics, rigging etc of a lot of these consumer cams is still the biggest risk/limitation, especially for big productions or even pro events where failure isn't an option. The sub-$10K compact cine cams are imo where the real breakthrough has happened for pro video as they give ARRI/REDS/VARICAMS etc a run for their money. The latest mirrorless hybrids can be good B-cam solutions to those though, especially for drone/gimbal shots.

My experience with BMD has also been above average.  They swapped out my Pocket Camera when it had a sensor with a few stuck pixels, no questions asked.  As compared to the Panasonic service center when I sent my GH5 in for repair and they charged me while under warranty due to my GH5 having some minor cosmetic damage that had no effect on the issue I was having resolved.  Even if BMD was gaurded about the answers they gave on the NAB floor, I would rather have a company not make a promise they can’t keep then offer a 3-year warranty they won’t honor.
The GH5 is treated like a consumer product by Panasonic.  Blackmagic treats their customers as if they are professionals.

I tested the c300 mark ii with noise reduction and odyssey 7q raw recording vs the alexa.
The results may shock you!
 
Testing the Alexa Alexa Mini vs Canon C300 Mark II in terms of sharpness via the Odyssey RAW to Pro Res, with desharpen in post as well as in camera codec with noise reduction set to minus 1.  This is a new feature in a firmware update.  You have to go into other settings and turn on and to minus 1 - you can't just leave off.
Graded with my chart2 lut - 
link to that and stills here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u3qmjg7iysvxlsf/AABk1BLbSY1Yy9JoDSYjo1Qva?dl=0
also stills are there to see better
please email me any questions or if you want the source files - I can get them to you on a sd card if you want.

Wow! That does make the camera even more interesting 
Looked up the link for the curious:
 
 
 
https://suikui.myshopify.com/collections/monitor-on-camera-field/products/lh5-hdr-5-1500nit-4k-signal-support-touch-screen-1920-x-1080-hdmi-on-camera-monitor-with-hdr

Supports 3D LUTs, ones you can upload yourself? If so I'll be tempted to buy this monitor myself. 

Engineer on the FB group said they are talking to a 3rd party company about a monitor that can control the camera, then today they sent a link to buy the PortKeys LH5 HDR (which does have that ability)
$279
5 inch
1500NITS
1080p
Pinch to Zoom
3D LUTS, focus assist, false colors...
360 degree swivel arm
available Jan. 1st
Those two together would be a really great little package. I might buy both today. If the camera turns out to be a dud I can return it to B&H for 30 days. If it turns out to be incredible, then I'll sell my GH5 and get a 2nd for interview set ups.

A bit off topic again, but matches the previous conversation.
"The camera is only a small part of any production, and any camera, even an α7S II, can produce good results in controlled conditions in the right hands. To me, it looks like they just ended up making more work for themselves by having to build out enormous rigs to make the a7SII usable and functional on a movie set.
It’s slightly ironic that the production said they were interested in shooting with a very lightweight camera, yet they built it out to a size that makes it no smaller than what an ARRI ALEXA MINI or RED package would end up being. There is no doubt that the camera is capable of producing good results in the right hands, but this whole thing feels a little like it’s a publicity stunt to attract attention to a movie that hasn’t exactly received great reviews from film critics. It’s a bit of a pity that all the publicity surrounding this film is based on what camera they used and not that making a movie is a collaborative effort that depends on so many people and departments."
From the newshooter article about that A7Sii film, which by the way had an - almost - 10.000.000$ budget and is a Sony made and distributed film.
The article and comments are very interesting.
https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/12/05/the-possession-of-hannah-grace-a-feature-film-shot-entirely-on-the-sony-a7sii/

WDR test, looks decent!
 
 

WDR test, looks decent!
 
 

Yes you are right about that. But I don't see how they are going to keep up with development as fast as the rest of the industry is going. And it is going crazy fast. Non of this open source stuff goes very fast. Linux is a great example of that. Sure it gets better, but not as some rapid pace. Sony seems to be pumping out Sensors faster and faster.

Pleased to announce that my Pocket4K app for Android is now complete and is with beta testers so barring any calamties will be available from the Play store on the 21st of December.

Here is a screen shot with a quick run through of the features from top to bottom :

Across the top we have the controls for Aperture, ISO and shutter angle.
Next up we have the colour temperature and tint controls, the preset white balance selectors, the Auto White Balance button and, of course, the Record button.
Beneath that we have the 8 snapshot memories which you can use to store and instantly recall 8 different custom settings of ISO, Aperture, Shutter Angle and White Balance. To store the preset you long press on the memory slot that you want to use and to recall it just short press. Haptic feedback is given to indicate that the preset has been written and the currently loaded preset is denoted in orange (M1 in the shot above). Presets are stored in non volatile memory so are always available in any session.
Next is the focus controller, which is operated using the slider and/or the fine tune buttons. A long press of the button moves instantly to closest focus and infinity respectively. The AF button in ths row activates the single shot auto focus.
To accompany the focus controls, you then have 6 memory slots (A to F) to store focus points and you can switch instantly between them by simply pressing the required one. In addition, next to these are the controls for A-B-A focus transition and the speed control. Again, all focus points are stored in non volatile memory for use in any session.
Finally we have the controls for applicable MFT power zoom lenses with the same interface as the focus controls (including long press for instant minimum/maximum zoom) and 4 non volatile memory positions for later recall.
There is another function that it can do that I'll let you know about closer to release date and I will put up a little demo video of it in action late next week.
 

That is some truly gorgeous footage! And apparently he shot that all with a Lumix 12-35mm f2.8? 

Some nice stuff from Lewis McGregor
 

I am not really surprised. It took me years and years of shooting photos to come to the conclusion that the average person could give a rats ass of the pictures I took of trees, bridges, railroad tracks, mountains on and on. They wanted to see pictures of people, even of people they didn't know. Now if people were in the above photos I stated they were happy and spent time Really looking at it, or commenting on it. Just a lone beautiful tree in a picturesque setting with no person in it hell it got passed to the next person about as fast as you can push it LoL..

Interesting!

https://***URL not allowed***/swit-cm55-affordable-lutenabled-55-monitor/
Looks really promising!

Hi all,
Very long time lurker, first time poster.  I’ve got my z6 in hands since the beginning of the week, and thought I could share some first impressions. Bought it in kit with 24-70s + ftz + a free XQD card, and a 50 1.8G. There was a good sale in a big French store, and I managed to buy it with almost a 550€ saving (regular price was 3099€ ; xqd reg price = around 180€ ; sale was a lense + a mirrorless = non negligible discount % ; 50€ cashback for the 50 1.8G).
Here are some first impressions, after a couple of short hands on tests:
        PROS:
Handling is great, especially the grip. Its feels like a “mirrorless dslr”. It’s build like a tank, and I’ll certainly feel more confident with it in the field, compared to my former fujis Button layout is OK: I can operate with only the right hand (“i” button, menu, iso etc.) The viewfinder is gorgeous, big and bright. Same for the rear lcd screen Touchscreen function seems well implemented, but I need to use it more The AF seems OK for my use, which implies landscape/nature and documentary photography. Manual focusing is really great, both in photo and video Video AF is great with the native 24-70s, but I did not explore it much, so I can’t tell more. It seems less effective with the 50 1.8G adapted with FTZ The dedicated video and photo modes that keep the settings in memory is just perfect ! The 24-70s kit lens is really a bargain! Very sharp, small form factor, convenient etc. For longer lenses, I believe the 300PF, the new 500 and zooms like the sigma 100-400 will pair wonderfully with Z serie cameras. Image quality in video surprised me in a good way. I quickly tweaked the picture profiles, and it appeared to be wonderful, even at high iso. I’m used to fuji gorgeous output right out of the camera, in video mode, but I think this one will be a step above. Really. The IBIS is quite effective, in fact more than I hoped for. With the 50 1.8G adapted, which is supposed to lead to only 3 axis, I manage to obtain a really steady image. Impressive in fact. I watched videos on youtube, with awful funky stuffs, like wobbles, kind of warp effects etc. and people in the comments moaning about how bad the ibis is compared to the sony a7iii. I've tried to replicate this... with success :  with the Electronic VR turned on ! With IBIS alone, it's perfect. And I don't know why, but in those videos I saw, they said the Electronic VR was turned off. I don't think so...         CONS:
The FTZ design is… questionable! The bottom with the tripod screw attachment is longer than the camera body. Thus, making the use of arca swiss plate on the camera with the FTZ attached complicated. A turn around seems to use a Peak Design “micro” plate, which appears to be just well sized. Anyway, I’ll attach my arca plate to the FTZ, and won’t bother much. In video mode, you can’t have both the histogram and the horizon level at the same time. I have to press the “disp” button to bring on the histogram, set my exposure, and press again until the level appears. I hope for a firmware update politic à la fuji ; a dpreview forum member explained that he talked with a Nikon Z development team member, during and event, and they are aware of the fuji successful firmware politic, and will try to offer the same. Fingers crossed! Another firmware-able fix problem (i hope): zebras only work in autofocus mode. If I switch the lens on manual focus, zebras disappear… I need to read the manual more, to check if it is setting relative or not. A lot of people are complaining about hot or white pixels on the sensor on brand new Z cameras. I got that too. An easy fix is to launch the sensor cleaning via the menu, two times in a row. It seems to trigger the pixels mapping stuff. Worked for me! Others are complaining (see the photographylife’s review of the Z7 and dpreview forum) about the coating of the grip peeling where the fingers are, close to the 2 function buttons. From what I understand, it affects people with large hands and long nails. Personally, my fingers don’t even reach this area… so, I hope it’ll be OK ! Video AF with the 50 1.8G attached, as I said before, is not really good. But, it’s a right out of the box test that I did, so maybe if I dive into the menu and the manual, I’ll find a way to make it better. Anyway, as a result, the 50 1.8G is always trying to focus, and seems to fail a lot, which leads to a lot of loud “buzzing” noises. That’s all! Before I choose the Z6, I was shooting with only a fuji X-T2. And, before that, with an X-T1 + a GH4 (and before that… only photography with a Nikon D610). I’ve been shooting  with my backup LX100 since the beginning of 2018. Not enough time and a will to spend my energy to learn more about editing, grading etc. leads me to be cameraless for months. I ditched my X-T2 because I was unhappy with the photo output (as a landscape photographer), not very fond of fuji colors (except for video… don’t know why, but love the colours of the video output, but hate the photo files). More important, I ruined a lot of video shots, because of crappy bug at that time (wobbles and “warp” effects due to the image distortion correction etc.). So, as I started again to think of buying a camera, helped a lot with all of your great contributions here, my choices were: a7iii, gh5, bmpcc4k and Z6. Gh5 and bmpcc4k were ruled out as a first “hybrid” camera (maybe next year, as a second cam), as photo is equally important as video to me (for the moment!). Then I choose Z over a7, because I operate mostly in the mountains (I live in the French Alps and spend a lot of time in northern Scandinavia), with cold, snow, bad weather, and I knew, because of my previous Nikon cameras, that  Nikon do not disappoints on the “toughness” side.  I’ve read too much stories of dead Sony A7’s during trip with similar conditions as what I operate in (and, to be fair, I've read the same with big 5dmiii and Nikon d810). I know, weather sealing is not such a big deal, but, still… a wide bottom opens on the sony would really scare me! And I’m no Chris Burckard, I do not have 200 sony a7 waiting to replace the ones you ruin during an arctic trip!
So, here I am with this little Z. Next step is to buy and Atomos ninka V, and some lenses. I’ll read posts from @Geoff CB and @IronFilm, I think I’ll find some great Nikkor lenses ideas
Sorry for this long and first post. Hope it’ll help some of you. I’ll be happy to answer questions or try things on the camera if you want. I’ll also share footages. But, for now, I’m taking the camera outside, because it’s sunny and the snow has arrived.
 

I shot an interview last night with the Pocket 4K and GH5s in Film mode and HLG respectively. They match pretty well after only a few minutes in Premiere tweaking them. I'm excited to see the difference that Resolve will make. 

Interesting DR test over at Cinema5D.
 

http://yedlin.net/ResDemo/
I'll just leave this here. Going 6k before 10-bit is the worst single thing they could do.

Here's a couple screen grabs of things I filming today. I shot in ProRes LT, because it's for 1080i broadcast. I'm over the moon every time I look at the stuff I've filmed with this camera. It always looks fantastic. These are improv actors at Comicon, so I had no control over the lighting, or over the actors - just filmed them as I saw them. Viltrox booster with Sigma 18-35.

You don't really need a 16bit screen to reap the benefits though.

Some screens from my latest job. A7III 1080p120. Straight from camera, no post production. I still need to edit haha.
 
 

Some SOOC frame grabs from a few a73 shoots recently, including a brewery and a beer festival. Sometimes the job aligns with something you actually enjoy - everyone wanted to contribute to my library of pour video, and I couldn't let the beer go to waste. 
Profile is EOSHD Pro Color.
Lens is Tamron 28-75/2.8, my new go to run-and-gun lens.
Chris
 

I just picked one of these up to serve as a b-cam/gimbal cam alongside my Ursa Mini and ran the first tests with it.
First impressions; it's a beast. The ergonomics are spot on and as a former 5D2 user I feel right at home with it. The UI is essentially the same as in the Ursa Mini which is nice.
And coming from the Ursa, and BMCC2,5K before that, the low light capabilities... they're just like, damn. I just want to go all run 'n gun and shoot my next short with all natural light. I ran a test on how far I could push it  while still getting a clean image - ended up fitting it with a speedbooster and a Pentax SMC 50/1.2. I was able to ETTR at 50fps in city areas, and shoot comfortably in even extremely dim locations. In fact, I had to stop down/up the shutter speed on several occasions.  The image wasn't 100% clean though - I'm assuming it's like in the previous BMD products, in that noise reduction is only applied in prores. I shot RAW so I had to do some cleaning up in Resolve (a process I've accustomed to with previous BMD products mind you - but in ISO 800 in their case), but the image did clean up very nicely and retained all the detail.
It's probably the first time I'm seeing an actual cinema grade camera do low light this well. I felt that I could use a reflector to bounce the available light and the camera would actually pick it up.
Attached two snaps from my short walk with the camera. Not very cinematic - but rather tests on how much data I could get from available nightime light. Quite a bit, even in indirect light, as evidenced by the second picture.