Adept

Nice, I recently shot a similar scene with a cheap Neewer LED (blue gelled) bounced off the ceiling and an LED stick inside the window. Face was just lit with the phone! Loving the GH5S, this was shot at 5000 ISO. Grading started with GHAlex and then a bunch of other adjustments as you can see. ?

I found this video online as I was researching Samyang/Rokinon lenses. According to the description, it was shot on an FS7 and the Samyang 24mm 1.5 cinema lens.
So obviously this look or quality isn’t all about the lens but I think it’s pretty obvious that the 24mm holds its own. 

Shot this video using GHaV3 Lut on GH5s. 
Followed the guides in the documentations, just drop the LUT in the timeline and tweak the mid-tones, shadow and highlights as suggested.
I'm loving the colors!
 

I own the SLR Magic 8mm F4 and the Voigtlander 17.5 F0.95, but don't own the Tokina so can't compare.
The SLR Magic is a drone lens, so it's tiny and not designed for use on a normal camera. Here it is on the GH5 with microphone.

What this means is that the focus and aperture rings aren't really that usable during a shot.  The difficulty of use for the aperture ring isn't really a big deal as f4 isn't that shallow DOF unless you're focussing really close, so it's almost like a softness control - f4 is a little soft, f8 is sharper, and f16 is softer again.  The focus ring has a locking pin so when you mount it to your drone the focus stays where you set it, but when you loosen that screw the ring has no friction at all.  Also, the ring itself is only a few mm wide so you can't grip it and that's why there is a pin attached to it which you kind of use as a little handle.  It also has only a quarter turn between 10cm and infinity, with only a tiny distance between 1m and infinity, so getting accurate focus isn't that easy, but as it's f4 it's less of a problem than you'd think.  It's really a very fancy version of a fixed lens.  
Having said all that, mine has taken some lovely shots and it's the cheapest non-fisheye around:


I'm contemplating replacing it with the (more expensive) Laowa 7.5mm F2 to get more light.  I only use this lens for wide shots that need that WOW, so the ergonomics don't bother me that much.  I was also planning to try vlogging style of filming myself but it turns out that's harder than it looks and I need lots more practice.  It's easier to focus closer to you, so I think the focus would be fine for that.
The Voigtlander is the exact opposite of the SLR.  It is large, heavy, fast, and an absolute pleasure to use.  This is my main lens on my GH5 at a 35mm FF equivalent length.  The aperture ring can be de-clicked (you just rotate the ring next to the aperture ring on the lens) and is lovely to use.  The focus ring is huge, easy to find by feel and is so smooth it's hard to imagine that anything could be smoother than it in the whole world.  It feels great in the hand, and looks spectacular through the viewfinder.
It is two lenses in one, at f0.95 it's quite soft, but (just like most super-fast lenses) by the time you stop it down a couple of stops it hits full sharpness.  
Pretty sure this is wide-open:

There is a great comparison of the entire MFT lens lineups from Panasonic vs Olympus vs Voigtlander here:
Part 1: https://www.thehurlblog.com/cinematography-online-micro-four-thirds-lenses/ Part 2: https://www.thehurlblog.com/cinematography-micro-43-lenses/ Part 3: https://www.thehurlblog.com/film-school-online-micro-43-lenses-3/ Each lens set was tested in sequence, so if you want the comparisons of the three then you want part 3.
I think they did a dis-service to the Voigtlander in these tests because they tested them at F5.6, F2.8, and wide-open.  The Voigtlander is softer at 0.95 than the Panasonic at 1.7, but what they don't show you is that the Voigt at f1.7 would have killed the Panasonic at 1.7.  The Olympus just looks strange in those tests to me - not 3D at all, so I eliminated it instantly.
Hope this helps.

I can feel a lens test coming on...  I'm only waiting on three more lenses and then I'll do it and share with everyone.
I haven't completely worked out how I should do it, any specific advice?  I'll shoot RAW stills on my GH5 with each lens at a few apertures - probably wide open, f2.8, and f8.  I find that the most useful lens test is at an identical aperture at least a stop from wide-open for any lens as the differences aren't to do with aperture settings or how sharp they are wide open, and f16 is getting into diffraction territory.
The goal of the test for me is to compare the look of modern budget lenses vs modern high quality lenses vs vintage lenses to find the aesthetic that works for me, and work out which lenses I want to keep.
Lenses:
8/4 SLR Magic 14/2.5 Panasonic (focus-by-wire) 14-42/3.5-5.6 Panasonic (focus-by-wire) 17.5/0.95 Voigtlander 28/2.8 Yashica 35/3.5 Takumar 37/2.8 Mir 40/1.8 Konica Hexanon (x2 - not shown - still in transit) 40/4 Lomo (lens from popular non-ILC Russian pocket film camera) 55/1.8 Takumar 58/2 Helios (x2) 135/2.8 Minolta 135/3.5 Petri (not shown - still in transit) 135/3.5 Takumar 150/4 Takumar 200/4 Takumar 200/3.5 Minolta And yes, I know I'm not winning any Instagram-worthy-photo competitions ???

Yes, that's why I didn't even consider filters for so long. Its not specific to Firecrest, those are the reference Full Spectum NDs for EC though (how the Day conversion was made). It needs a minimum of a 2 stop ND to fully cancel out the reflection; the glass also needs to be parallel to the sensor plane, as one ND I have is slightly off axis, resulting in a diverging reflection.
Interestingly, the Alexa doesn't even have this problem, despite having CMOS, as best I can tell. The falloff is silk and there are no ghost reflections, as I believe the filter is 'integrated', and not a stack (that causes 'stair-stepping' falloff):
GH5

GH5 (1/4 LC, DD1, Contrast matched)

Alexa

Seriously this is great for them. I love Puerto Rico, a beautiful underrated island. Unlike many Caribbean places, the island is quite big with a lot of diversity. Not much tourism beyond San Juan and a few stupid places. You can totally find beautiful pristine beaches with 3 people standing there. There are jungle, coast, mountain, lakes, surf spots, rivers, etc. The food is delicious and the criminality is not bad for the region.

As a US territory, it has the best of both world: the relative good infrastructure and service of a developed country (highway, stores, emergency services) and the exoticism of a tropical island. No need to deal with customs, immigration and shipping tax. The island is very well connected by airlines with plenty of cheap flights that deserved many cities in the east coast (Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, NYC, etc.).

Hell, I would go there to if could. They got plenty of tax incentive for their business and they probably got this mansion on the beach for the price of a 2 bedrooms in a major US city.

I did this short video showing the island lat time I visited, super cool place
 

Looks good Chris; Did you end up monitoring with the .vlt, or 709?
Here are some stills from the weekend:

Just got a GH5 to go with my Alexa and purchased the LUTS. Pretty impressed so far. With some tweaks, they work very well. 
VLOG

GHa 

Final Look:

I only sort of like the nikkor 50 1.2 at night. I wish I had the money to buy the noct 58 1.2

Thanks, the lens was wide-open, you can notice this looking at the booked balls not showing aperture blades and spherical aberration making everything soft.
The other shots are medium format pentax 105 2.4mm

As some of you may know, I've been on a lookout for a 75mm lens.
I almost bought Voigtalnder 75/1.8 Classic, when I thought: hey, if you already use anamorphic adapter that was not meant for cameras at all, why not try to adapt a projection lens, as well?
So I did some research and concluded that some modern German optics (Schneider Kreuznach / ISCO) would be the best choice for me.
Fortunately, there was a Schneider Kreuznach 75/2 Super listed on eBay. I pulled the trigger and bought it.
Here is the funny thing: normally these are attached to the backs of anamorphics. Mine copy was detached from Schneider Cinelux ES 2x
With help of my soon-to-be enginneer friend we adapted it to Sony E mount using M42 macro extension tube, M42→NEX Fotasy Helicoid, 3D printed part and a bit of glue.
I'm really happy with the results.
The image is detailed, bokeh is smooth and pleasing to look at. It needs some contrast and saturation boost in post, though.
Thanks to the helicoid, focusing is really smooth and precise.
(Bought it from RainbowImaging on eBay, really recommend them, since I got my order just in 2 working days, which is unbelievable, considering they had to ship it from NY to Poland)
It covers full frame without any additional crop.
With red ISCO Ultra Star I get some soft vignetting in the corners in photo mode (you can judge it by yourself looking at the images; no cropping involved), but I normally add vignetting in post, so it doesn't bother me.
The only downside is the fact that there is no aperture. It's fixed at f/2, so the depth of field is a little narrow.
 
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.
 
Cheers!
 
Kudos to Mike Lee (http://www.mike-lee.org/scripts/camera/main.htm) whose articles inspired me and resolved many of my doubts.








Normally, this little feller looks like this:

There are many professional DOPs out there and I believe there is much we can learn from studying their work.
However, it can be difficult to gain insights if you can only study their work when each project has been created in partnership with a different team of people each time - lighting, shot design, camera and lens choices, grading, etc are all aspects that the DOP doesn't have full control over and makes it hard to 'see through' to the commonalities that the DOP provides.
There is one notable exception to this, and that is Philip Bloom, who regularly creates videos as a one-man operation and shares them on YouTube.  I'm not suggesting that he's the best DOP in the world, or that we should copy him, or anything like that, but he is a career professional, and I'm not afraid to admit that he knows more about this stuff than I will ever know, so I believe there is a lot we can learn.  He recently published his annual Best Camera Gear video, and I made a number of interesting observations from watching it.  
Here are a bunch of frame-grabs from the video.
A7RIII with SLR Magic


A7III with Sony 55mm

Parrot Anafi drone

DJI Magic Pro



Fuji X-H1


EOS-R (ungraded)

Insta360 One X

Osmo Pocket (ungraded)


Kinefinity Terra 4K


BMPCC4K


Kinefinity Mavo LF

Here are some observations from the above shots:
There is a look that is relatively consistent across the shots.  It's not applied so heavily that every shot looks the same, but people familiar with his work would have a good chance of recognising that these were shot by him.  
Something that is worth noting is that he's managed to get this consistency from a hugely varied selection of equipment, including different brands, different focal-lengths, different apertures, hugely different price ranges, and from different levels of image quality and codecs, across different locations within different countries, at different times of day, in different seasons, and shooting different things.   He's not able to get that look in all cases.  One notable exception is the Insta One X that doesn't seem to fit the look, everyone has limits on what they can achieve.  Equipment doesn't matter as much as the skill of the operator, but it still matters to a certain degree, and especially if the equipment is below a certain level of quality or capability. The look that he's creating is quite pleasing.  It won't be liked by everyone (no looks are universal) but on the whole he manages to get good looking results from whatever equipment he's using.  Anyone who has picked up an even half-decent camera and not been able to get good results from it knows that this is not something that just happens - you have to know what you're doing. So, what are the ingredients of this look? (note that not every shot includes every ingredient, but the more you can include the more consistent your results will be)
The images have a warm colour balance.
There are two main contributors to this that I see, the first is the grading he does which often warms the images overall, pushing greens towards yellow, pushing blues towards aquas.  The second is that he's very often shooting into the sun in golden hour.  The shots also tend to have fewer hues in each shot - making them more likely to be harmonious and pleasing. The images have a kind of controlled level of contrast to them.  You don't look at them and find them flat looking, but they don't look super contrasty either.  This look probably comes from paying attention to the blacks and almost blacks, which are slightly lifted and don't ever appear to hit absolute black, let alone crushed.  This look seems to come from shooting directly into the light and having camera flare lift the blacks, but is also controlled in grading. His images have a kind of controlled level of saturation to them.  Colours are bold but not electric, skin tones are very well controlled looking soft but not desaturated and are neither too yellow nor too pink.  Considering all the talk about colour science and skin tones, this is noteworthy. His compositions are strong.  I chose nice frames for these frame-grabs but there were no shortage of frames to choose from.  Composition is hugely important and is free with every camera - even with the Insta360 which struggles in most other ways. He uses great lenses.
This is perhaps something that people easily mis-interpret.  Great lenses is a relative term, and is about the combination of the lens, the subject, the conditions, and the desired end result.  It's tempting to think that you'll get great results from super expensive cinema lenses that he often uses, but the smooth rendering and polished look of these lenses is a terrible choice if you want to shoot something that needs a more realistic / edgy / gritty image, and besides, if it was all about cost, then how do we account for the image that he gets out of the Osmo Pocket with its fixed budget lens, or the Parrot and DJI drone shots?  The answer is that he uses high quality glass when he can, and when the glass has limitations he adjusts the subject and the conditions to get the best out of that lens. 
In a sense, these videos are cheating.  He is able to shoot whatever will look good and not include the shots that don't.  If you don't believe me then go have a look at the lovely images he got from the iPhone 5s at 120fps and notice that he only shot images looking straight into the sun near sunset, this is because a camera with bad ISO performance, a small sensor, in HFR modes needs a huge amount of light to get good results, then see that he tended to shoot with things very close to the camera which is the only way to give some defocussing and depth, and shooting into the warm setting sun also makes sure that the colours will be nice and the colour range will be simpler.
He uses great glass by making sure that he only shoots what the available glass is great at. Not visible in the frame-grabs, but he also shoots a lot of slow-motion.  It is totally cheating and is completely over-used, but these shots are about making nice images, so why not. Im sure there is lots more, but this is what stands out to me.  Let me know what I missed.
As there is a graded shot of the BMPCC4K in the video and he posted the RAW file from the same shot earlier in the year, it gives a unique opportunity to try and copy the grade and see what is actually going on, so if I get time I might try and reverse-engineer the grade.  If so, I'll share the results.
Thanks to Philip Bloom for continuing to share with us.

Pairing the Pocket 4K with some good vintage glass is pretty blissful. There's been a lot of talk about how it looks more digital and modern than the previous BMD cameras - and yeah sure, I guess it's not as organic and grainy as the 2,5K. But throw on some c-mount glass or a speedbooster and old Pentax stuff and the camera sings. Haven't used it with this kind of setup on a production yet, (it's playing second fiddle to the Ursa Mini and been on a gimbal on about half a dozen shoots now) but I'm just having a lot of fun taking it on a walk and just taking some throwaway nature shots. It's something I used to do back when I used the 5DMK2 regularly, and I'm happy it has revitalized that habit again.

This was taken with the speedbooster and a Pentax 35/2.3 M42 lens on a cool winter afternoon. One of my favourites due to the very distinctive, oil painting-kinda way it renders out of focus areas and the transition between them and in-focus areas.

Funny the thumbs down with no comments. Truth must hurt? Some idiot actually tried to get that video removed from YouTube with a phony copyright violation claim. Unfortunately for them, it was cleared by YouTube.... but hey, nice try. 
Honestly, I wanted to love the Nikon for video, but in practice it’s AF is weak, in both stills and video. The competition has improved... the X-T3 beats the Z6. The Sony performs better than the Z6 under most conditions... but nothing comes close to the 1DXMK2; it can actually hold focus better than is humanly possible.

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.

Didn't see too many GH5s examples in here. I went back to an old project and used the Cine-D to V-Log pre and then applied the GHa Daylight V3 in DaVinci Resolve. It worked out better than I thought it would. I'll be shooting more V-Log L in the future with this LUT in mind to test it out. Shot in 4K UHD with Contax Zeiss lenses and a Zhongyi Lens Turbo 2.
 

Great work Sage! I have been using you're luts the last couple of weeks, and it just works perfectly. Im currently shooting on a gh5 with atomos ninja V 
 
Here are some stills. The video can be seen here 
 

 

I haven't seen it discussed much for video (maybe it was and I missed it) but lots of people have looked at it for photos.  It was the widest non-fisheye lens that I could find for a reasonable price.   It looks hilarious on the GH5 because it's so small and thin!
My strategy has been to get a 17.5mm lens for generic people / environment shots, and the 8mm for those wider "wow" scenery shots where you want the grand look of a wide angle, and it's been great for that.  Today was my third day in India and it hasn't come off the camera yet as everything here seems to lend itself to that "wow" aesthetic - look at that building - look at how many people there are - look at this amazing chaos...  
Basic grade and crop....


 
I'm still making friends with the GH5 so these might not be sharp, but they certainly suit the geometric nature of the architecture

My Pocket4K was suitably attired for his day out today.
Leica R by Leica SL at Leica HQ

That looks great @deathly_twig, I had a similar idea recently. It turns out you can "hack" the GX85 to enable Cine-D which was hidden in the firmware. I originally wanted one as a backup camera for photography, but the video on this thing ain't too bad, albeit 8-bit. So I picked up a used one for 300 bucks. The 16mp sensor may give it an edge in low light too?
This is at 800 ISO. 8-bit PRE + Cine-D to V-Log PRE + GHa Main + luma adjustments:
 

So I just got my Mavic 2 Pro today, and decided to try the GHA conversion on it, in 10 bit mode of course, to see what would happen. I used the Cine-D pre, and then Linear. I still have to dial in my Mavic settings a bit more, but the lut seemed to work! Obviously not perfectly, but not bad. Now to get some better footage and more practice with this drone!

...this is GH5S, but wanted to point out it would be great if there’s s gimbal which also comes with a strap in mind. Some harness like there is for dual cameras would be a great addon for heavier setups.

Regarding Pocket 4k, I bet there’ll be rather soona gimbal built around it.

Just so readers can decide themselves how the cameras match together I'll give you a breakdown of the setups:
Shot 1 - invitation - Blackmagic Pocket 4K with Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 (ordinarily shot at f/1.4-2.0);
Shot 2 - dress zipping - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 3 - engagement ring macro - Canon C200 with Canon 100mm f/2.8L with a Rotolight;
Shot 4 - bride putting on ring -  - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95 shot wide open;
Shot 5 - bride reflection - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 6 - groom tie (close up) - Canon C200 with Canon 85mm f1.4L IS;
Shot 7 - bride and groom against vines - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 8 - bride getting out of car - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 9 - dance shot - Fuji XT-3 with Fuji 18-55mm f/2.8-4.0 OIS (shot close to 18mm and wide open at f/2.8);
Shot 10 - silhouette - Canon C200 with Canon 35mm f/2.0 IS;
Shot 11 - bridesmaids - Blackmagic Pocket 4K with Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 12 - dance shot - All dance shots are as per shot 9;
Shot 13 - groom kissing bride in field - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 14 - walking - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 15 - dance shot - see shot 9;
Shot 16 - groomsman doing Toyota - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 17 - silhouette - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95 shot wide open;
Shot 18 - bride and groom close up - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 19 - aerial - DJI Phantom 4;
Shot 20 - bride and groom in field from low angle - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 21 - bride and groom and veil - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 22 - bridal party confetti bang - C200 & 85mm f/1.4L IS wide open;
Shot 23 - bride and groom walking towards camera - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 24 - bride and groom leaving ceremony with confetti - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 25 - bride staring over groom's shoulder at camera - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 26 - bride and groom walking through long grass - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 27 - bride and groom resting against vineyard post - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 28 - ditto
Shot 29 - ceremony kiss - Canon 5D mkIV with Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II;
Shot 30 - veil shot - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 31 - dance shot - see shot 9;
Shot 32 - bride and groom walking between vines - C200 & 85mm f/1.4L IS wide open;
Shot 33 - bride and groom dancing on hill - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 34 - dance shot - see shot 9;
Shot 35 - bride holding veil - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 36 - bride doing gladiator - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 37 - bride glancing down at window - BMPCC 4K & V 25mm f/0.95;
Shot 38 - hand holding - C200 & 85mm f/1.4L IS wide open;
Shot 39 - groom swinging bride - XT-3 & 18-55mm;
Shot 40 - sparkler exit - XT-3 & 18-55mm shot at 2000 ISO;
Shot 41 - dip - XT-3 & 18-55mm; and
Shot 42 - final - XT-3 & 18-55mm.
Basically all of them had on Southall which is a Delut by James Miller (https://sellfy.com/p/KUuV/).

The mystery of why Aputure were selling the Lens Regain products off cheap looks to have been solved as they have now released a Version 2 model.
From what I can see, the only difference is you can control it from the interface unit as well as the grip and it is now back up to €682  
I guess this means that the original won't be coming back in stock in the EU store but its still available in the US store if you want to grab one.
As an FYI for anyone looking to shoot handheld with the Pocket 4K who can get hold of a Lens Regain, I have used a cheap DJI Osmo cold shoe adapter bar to mount the Aputure control grip to the camera.
(Ignore the small tripod in the shot obviously as it was just used to stand it up for the picture)
It makes it a very nice stable little setup and makes holding it at the distance you need to because of the screen far more comfortable. 
Ergonomically, it works very well too having all the lens control (including the focus memories) in your left hand and the camera control in your right.
It is a good halfway house, for me at least, of having more stability and control without having to start rigging it with rails and a follow focus.
Incidentally, the lens that is on it is a Tamron 17-50 f2.8, a very underrated and quite lightweight lens which I've had for years and you can pick up used for about £150.
On the Lens Regain it becomes f1.8 with more or less a FF equivalent FOV of 24-70mm so it is ideal as general purpose lens anyway but the icing, of course, is the image stabilisation which makes this whole rig really effective for handheld shooting.
The only downside is that it isn't exactly silent when it is being focused...