Jonny

For some reason, I seem to get the most excited about using the worst cameras I have.  I know I'm not alone......  @dreamplayhouse @PannySVHS @QuickHitRecord @mercer
I have some spectacular cameras..  the GH5, BMMCC and OG BMPCC.  The GX85, XC10, X3000, iPhone don't have 10-bit or RAW so aren't in my top tier, but definitely are no slouches....   and yet, it's the GF3 and SJ4000 action cameras that make me the most excited.  My eyes somehow skip over the nicest lenses and camera bodies but yet linger on those cameras and cause "what if" thoughts.  I have similar thoughts about some of my worst lenses too.
It's like there's a satisfaction from getting results that are better than they should be.  A thrill about 'cheating' perhaps?  It's not about image quality, otherwise it'd be the GH5 or BM cameras every time, but it's not.
I think there's something in here about limited dynamic range.  I've noticed that many people seem to be afraid of contrast these days too - maybe it's from staring too long at LOG footage and forgetting that film created rich contrasty images?  Sure, these lower-DR 8-bit 709 cameras clip pretty hard, but according to imaging-resource the GF3 has about 10 stops of dynamic range.  According to ARRI, colour negative film has 5.5 stops of DR between 2% and 90%.  Who knows what film they were talking about but it's a real measurement from a reliable source so it's in the ballpark and worth consideration.  According to Sony rec709 has about 5.2 stops - pretty similar to film.
This means that we can take the 10-stops from the GF3 and add contrast so that we compress a couple of stops into a highlight rolloff and a couple more into the shadow rolloff and we'll be in the right range of contrast.  This equates to 'stretching' the dynamic range of the middle stops.  Assuming that the in-camera profile hasn't compressed any highlights/shadows then we only have to stretch the middle stops by a factor of two, which is do-able - just, but in combination with poor quality compression it benefits from a little blurring to smooth over any jagged transitions.
I also think it might be the level of detail and sharpness.  Steve Yedlin showed that a developed 35mm film has about 2-3K resolving power and high levels of noise (Resolution Demo pt 2 ~19:00).  The sharpness is interesting too - film is resolution limited by how soft it is, whereas digital isn't.  However, on moderate bitrate cameras the codec tends to obscure fine detail (but not creating artefacts so bad they have overly sharp edges), so this is a comparable aspect too.  It's one reason I shoot 1080p on the GH5 - to control the fine detail to a more organic amount.
BUT, regardless of the above..  I just know that I get more excited by these 'lesser' cameras than the better ones.  I'm looking forward to getting better at grading with higher contrast looks, film emulation looks, and other nicer and stronger and more nostalgic image processing.

I agree. It's kind of sad how self destructive the camera industry and its pundits have become.
Hopefully this is just an ebb in inovation. It will be so interesting to reflect on this period some years down the track.

This is a creative art form we take on as filmmakers - I see nothing wrong with the approach by the filmmaker or the grade, if that was their vision.

Oddly enough, I'm currently sat on a train with my FZ2000 and not really getting why the hidden screen on the X-PRO3 is considered revolutionary


I do like the small info display they've included though.
Hopefully, used prices of X-PRO2 might get down to "oh go on then" in twleve months as I've always fancied one and this new one doesn't really give more for me for what I'd be using it for.

It's the most pretentious gimmick (wouldn't go as far as calling it a 'feature') I've seen in a while. Only the Leica M10-D which shares a similar mindset but hardly similar pricing trumps it. 
I'd rather have a digital camera be ahead of its time rather than stripped back as some kind of 'ode' to the good ol' days. If essence is what you're after... go shoot actual film, already? Really limit yourself to shooting without a screen, max. 36 consecutive shots, etc.
This?! I think it's bollocks, but hey, if people were waiting for this, good on them.

So true. My in-laws watch their favourite network channel in SD on their 65inch 4k tv and they don't even realise until i say something and switch it to HD for them. 

So true. My in-laws watch their favourite network channel in SD on their 65inch 4k tv and they don't even realise until i say something and switch it to HD for them. 

There were two highlights of IBC 2019 for me. The Sigma Fp, and the Z-CAM range. From the ground-up the Sigma Fp seems to be aimed at us, at artists. A small and incredibly light camera that hits the big full frame notes, some of the niche features like the digital director's viewfinder would be unheard of in a consumer full frame camera from a major manufacturer.
This is clever and will get the camera a lot of use by top-flight talent. Most exciting for me is the focus on the video recording features - which are big leap for Sigma and indeed push the boundaries of whet we expect from a "prosumer" camera.
Cinema DNG RAW 4K 12bit to USB C SSD media
Internal 1080p 12bit internal RAW Cinema DNG uncompressed
Internal 4K RAW uncompressed (bit-depth drops to 8bit at the moment)
Read the full article

Yes, the camera got kicked on internet for it's lesser level AF compared to the competition. But, still, I am probably going to buy one, cause it almost ticks all other boxes for me. I was looking at everything else : canon eos R, nikon Z6 again, Sony a7iii, 5D iii raw, fuji xt3, bmpcc4k... The S1, for my use, could be the best balance. For that, I am ready to sacrifice a bit of af, as I do not shoot high speed sports stills or critical one man band videos, weddings or vlogs.
I played with a G9 a month ago and, whoa, what an experience. Only the joystick is poorly placed if you have little to average size hands. Otherwise, everything feels great, I felt like a happy carpenter with the right tools !

https://www.apnews.com/599839f1493c486186e1e9b9494029cf
https://variety.com/2019/biz/asia/japan-animation-firm-deadly-arson-attack-1203271434/
https://www.foxnews.com/world/at-least-12-presumed-dead-35-injured-in-arson-at-japanese-film-studio
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/world/asia/japan-fire-animation-studio.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49027178
https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/18/death-toll-of-suspected-arson-at-japanese-animation-studio-jumps-to-at-least-24-people
 
https://www.gofundme.com/help-kyoani-heal
 
 

This lens is very impressive. I was thinking about purchasing the 50mm Canon 1.2 as I've had a few of them in the past and really miss it. It would have to be adapted to for my Sony A7III as would the Voigtlander but this rendering and bonus sharpness has got me thinking!
We really are spoilt for choice these days, so many great cameras at reasonable prices. Basically just pick one that suits your style and off you go. No excuses for not going out and creating good art.
 Look forward to seeing the review Andrew.

There are lots of tiny cameras that can deliver professional or semi-professional images, but they still stop short of being an all-in-one solution that offers acceptable image quality, stabilisation, and audio quality.  For this we still need a rig of some kind.
This thread is about creating hand-held rigs that deliver:
Good to very good image quality Sufficient stabilisation for hand-holding (movement is fine, but it can't be too jittery)  Good to very good sound quality that is directional (or at least separates the subject from the background) Fits in a pocket Minimal time to start recording (have little to no setup time) I'm building a rig around my new Sony X3000, but this thread could easily apply to anyone using a GoPro, DJI Osmo Action, or RX0, would also extend to point-and-shoot cameras, and even the smallest mirrorless cameras if the lens they choose is small enough (lots of pancake lenses would be borderline pocketable).
These might be an A-cam rig for vloggers, travel film-makers, backpackers, minimalists, or (like me) a B-cam setup for use in conjunction with a larger more complicated rig.
We've touched on these topics before, @Don Kotlos shared this great (borderline pocketable) example:

 I mucked around with my GF3 (which lacks the required audio quality, or image quality):

and people are out there taking tiny cameras and making rigs that are 10x the size of the camera:


I'm still waiting for items to arrive, but I'm starting with the X3000, Rode Videomicro, an ebay microphone windsock which will help with wind noise but will also be a shock-mount, but have more bits on order, so updates to follow.

Who else here is pushing the limits of quality vs size?

I'm cutting an entire DPRTV episode shot on the S1 with 10 Bit 4:2:0 HLG. Not doing anything overly demanding, but I'm finding it has a really nice, organic look. You can all let me know what you think when it goes up this weekend.

nice... and no slowmo ! Bravo ?
 

More from JB..
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Models Walking at Night’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dv4iSzhMjA

Thought to myself, "I'll go to the X-H1 thread and talk about some of the assumptions about Fuji AF being substandard versus my contrary experience of of the AF using the X-T2 for some very demanding tasks and also my tests of the Face Detect AF on it last year and....."
Well, then I opened the thread....
 
 

Pretty sure I'm the first person outside of China who has the new Kinefinity TERRA 4k. I've been a bit of a ghost on this forum since going all-in on the Kine pre-order, but here's an unboxing video by way of saying hello again:
 

Here's a sort of uber-imaging setup with a 9.25" aperture/2350mm f/10 Schmidt-Cassegraine compound scope with an afocal imaging setup about 15 years ago: Sony TRV-900 3-CCD VHF camcorder with full man. controls, SS down to 1/2 sec connected to a telescope eyepiece (this is the "afocal" setup) which is connected to a 3X TC (Barlow lens in astro lingo). The Jupiter images filled about 2/3 frame height with the Sony at about 10X zoom. This method makes finding the object pretty easy zoomed out, works well in spite of the huge # of optical elements involved, and zoomed-in gives enormous mag. - maybe ~ 20-25 meters EFL @ f/100?
The film clips were processed in Registax, which selected the sharpest (due to brief reductions in atmospheric turbulence), stacked 400-600, which accentuated common detail features, than a complex multistage "wavelet" sharpening routine. The first Jupiter image was from the steadiest "seeing" conditions I've ever had - in the Florida Panhandle. The Mars image at it's historic closest approach in 9/3/03, from southern Mexico.

It is pretty good but the focus throw is a too short.

I have the Olympus 12-100mm. It has more 'rotational play' on my Panansonic G7 and GX85 than my other lenses (more so on the G7 than the GX85). The 12-32mm Panasonic is particularly tight in comparison. I remember the same kind of 'play' when I had the 85mm Samyang lens so not just an Oly thing, but certainly a thing. It doesn't affect image quality, afaik.

I agree. I recently purchased the 12-100mm for doco work because of its versatility. It makes swapping lenses a thing of the past, as long as there is enough light.

I considered the 12-60mm but concluded the extra reach of the Oly outweighed the extra stop on the wide end, and I use primes for low light environments anyway. 

Still, I think if size and weight are a major concern, the 12-60 would be a good choice if you don't already have the 12-35/40 2.8 zooms.

Anyone used the Zoom H5 and the Tascam DR100mkII? I'm considering getting one of these two to use with a Sennheiser mke600, so any opinions on which you would prefer and why would be great  

I use the Zoom H5 with a Sennheiser MKE600, great results. 
Zoom's preamps are not the quieter in the world, but with the nice output of Sennheiser they works fine, they just need a good output from the mic. Of course if you use an external preamp no problems at all, you can feed the H5 from that and use the mic you want.

Ive been happy with the DR100mkii + MKE600 for a long time now.
Good amps in the Tascam and I love the emergency power system.