Matthew Hartman

I've been following this guy for a couple weeks. He strictly uses the NX1. Thought it might interest this group. 

42 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

The Kinefinity seems like a nice camera output, but damn it seems like a camera company one step from going Bankrupt all the time. They just don't seem very grounded for a camera company for me to buy into.

My guess it because they lack broad support from the community. The same can be said for both RED and Blackmagic when they initially started. It will take time for Kinefinity to gain brand recognition.

I understand ppl's skepticism,  I mean, I shoot with a discontinued camera after all, I've been around the block. But the alternative isn't all that great either, which is perpetually buying into overpriced systems from companies that care more about their shareholders than their customers. THIS is why the GH5s has very few improvements over the GH5, because ppl are more than willing to pay premium prices for small iterative updates which saves these huge corporations costs on components. This only changes when ppl are ready to take a risk in hopes of shaking up the industry. And trust me, this industry needs a little shaking up. 

42 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

I realize you are not going to make a Hollywood movie with it but how many on here are...

It's this statement that holds the industry back. Why not? Why can't you make a "Hollywood" (more like Alantawood now)  movie with it?

The typical reasons you hear are based off manufacturer marketing backed by archaic thinking. Someone who spends there's client's budget renting 3 Arri Alexa's is the person that wants others to think you can't shoot a feature film on a Leica, or a GH5 or even a smartphone. That would mean they've been complicit in blowing their client's money. 

"Tangerine" was acclaimed. All shot on an iPhone. Look at the original "Blair Witch" film. Did rather well too. STORY IS KING.

It's time for us to move on and start thinker broader now. A paradigm shift is just on the horizon, you want to be a part of it.

16 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

I would argue the Leica-D-Lux-Typ-109 is the best buy of a lifetime. Take a look at what this guy does with one!

http://www.ruslanpelykh.com/about/

Nice body of work, although I would argue the look has more to do with lighting and the talent. 

For a complete setup the price is good:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1082942-REG/leica_18471_d_lux_109_digital_camera.html

I watched a handful of videos online from the camera and to be completely honest I'm not a fan of the image, which looks to be a bit noisy and muddy even at 4K resolution. I think for a beginning filmmaker it's a great setup. 

15 hours ago, IronFilm said:

On the upside, at least the NX1 is meant to have really really good rolling shutter in 1080 

You're right it does. It just means I won't be able to "punch in" to the 1080 clips. Not the end of the world. 

15 hours ago, DaveAltizer said:

Lol! VPN that thing!

I uploaded it to Vimeo just for you 

 

Damn, Vimeo is absolutely mangling this video. Are you uploading a excessively large file to combat this?

14 hours ago, IronFilm said:

One of those chances is if they release a "Nikon N300", their 4K cinema camera. 

Ah, if only!

In a way, the entire company of Blackmagic Design is a "pet project" of their CEO/owner!

But it shows that approach of throwing the kitchen sink it while cutting prices low, can make the business rich and successful. Maybe more should try it. 

You're not going to get this from Sony and Panasonic, or Canon or Nikon for that matter. They're too big and ppl gladly throw money at their iterative shit so there's no incentive to grow or change. 

The "smaller" companies like Blackmagic are still hungry and have something to prove, for the time being. That was the position Samsung was at in 2014 as well. And we all know RED is outside the realm of affordability for 90% of us so they can continue to be a successful niche. 

I have never been more disappointed in any other company for discontinuing a product line. We all know had Samsung stayed in the game they would have completely dominated the mirrorless market by now. To unseat long time competitors Sony and Panasonic in this space in such a short time is unheard of. 

Having been burned by big manufactures I'm looking deeper into the AXIOM APERTUS and Kinefinity Terra lines of cameras.

https://www.apertus.org/axiom-beta

http://www.kinefinity.com/terra/?lang=en

A couple of ppl have remarked the the Leica SL (Typ 601) is the camera the NX2 would have been.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1192093-REG/leica_10850_sl_typ_601_mirrorless.html

I plead with all NX1 and NX500 owners to stop recording handheld footage in 4k.

These cameras do not do well with rolling shutter in 4k, even with slighter movements in the X and even Y axis. Jello and even micro jello all over the place. 

This is my biggest gripe with the camera and can totally ruin a shot. 

If anyone has figured out the "Rolling Shutter Repair" plugin in After Effects or Premiere in relation to footage specifically from these cameras please share your settings. On default settings, I don't notice much repair at all. 

3D LUT Creator Review

Lovely. Maybe add a music track? 

2 NX1s and 1 tripod. ?

This is a exert taken from a Forbes article about an official statement from Samsung in relation to the upcoming release of their Galaxy S9 smartphone:

"Meanwhile the Exynos 9810 is big on party tricks. 4K UHD can be recorded and stabilised at up to 120fps (twice the 60fps of the 2017 iPhones). There is also support for 10-bit HEVC and VP9 video formats offering a 64x wider colour pallette than the 8-bit colour support seen last year."

I can't help but think the above could have very well been the evolution of the NX line of cameras, if not even better specs than this.

They are putting this in a freaking smartphone! A freaking smartphone is going to shoot better slow motion than my NX1 with more color bit depth!

Unbelievable in both a good and pissed off way.

FY Samsung. 

3 hours ago, keessie65 said:

learning everyday, thank you @Matthew Hartman

We all are my friend. Thats the beauty of life. ?

8 hours ago, keessie65 said:

Hi Matthew, just wondering, do you have films made with these settings? I have them also but I normally use DR settings, not always happy with.

I'm finding with the NX1 that you have to use different settings for different scenes. When I used to set my settings to just one setup, it didn't work for everything.

Casey's settings work really well when you're shooting in a controlled studio with plenty of lighting. So he sets his master black level to 0 because in that environment you dont have to pull up your darks that much or at all. You control shadows with actual lighting.  

But in darker or more unpredictable lighting situations, (run and gun) I really have to crank up the master blacks levels to get any latitude in the shadows. I usually set that between +6-10. I never go pass +10 as a rule of thumb because when you adjust black levels down in Premiere/Lumentri you get a lot of banding and artifacts. It's pretty bad actually.

You have to work with this camera for a bit to discover it's weaknesses. Good image out of the box, but not very malleable. We're fortunate that Samsung's color science is generally good.

I've seen some amazing results from this camera and I've seen some absolutely horrible results too. I believe the key is sutble grading and good controlled lighting that doesn't push extreme contrast values in the scene.

Even low output practical lighting will blow out really quickly, which is a hallmark of limited DR. And if you underexpose to combat this, and try to lift the image in post you run the risk of bringing out the noise in the shadows. 

I'm sure Samsung would have addressed some of these issues with firmware updates that made better use of the amazing 6.5k, 14bit, 28.8MP sensor. But they left dishonorably and now we're stuck with what we have. 

I think the best we could hope for is a hacker comes along and lifts a lot of current restrictions on the clean out HDMI channel, so we can get more out of this sensor through an external recorder. 

http://caseywilsondp.com/2016/03/24/samsung-nx1-free-lut-pack/

These custom NX LUTS are very nice. Also, there are sample image grabs on Casey's website. Enjoy! 

UPDATED the petition to include some recent filmmakers using the NX1 for their productions. 

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/samsung-keep-nx-alive

On 9/1/2017 at 2:18 PM, DaveAltizer said:

Thanks! 

I directed this but didn't have much say in the edit and post. If I were fully involved in that process I would have done either just 16:9 or 2.35:1.

Also, the color grade...not a huge fan. Would have made the intro shots more moody and dark. 

Just my thoughts. Wish I had more involvement, but dealing with the artist, label, and producer wasn't easy and they kinda took over the project after the shoot day. 

I may put together a "directors cut" and post that on Vimeo with the changes I mentioned. 

Definitely.

Honestly, with such a cringe worthy and aggressive grade this could have been shot on a DSLR with the same destructive output.

If this grade/look was the intention of the production/client, budgeting/using the Alexa Mini for this project was simply overkill. The distribution channel for this is probably Instagram and Facebook which ends up in a super compressed 8bit codec anyway. 

I've been down the road where I as the DP/cinematographer lose control over final vision of the project and the powers that be take over and just ruin the hell out of it. It really sucks. I feel your pain.

The last time this happened to me the edit and grade looked absolutely horrid, I voiced my issues, and then was basically told to go back into my corner. I was so upset I ended up walking away from the project sighting "artistic differences".    

How I help combat this is I'm also and Editor. I actually approach my cinematography as an Editor and try to get in as package deal.

I've also learned that being dipolmatic and having the director sit over my shoulder while I'm cutting sounds good spirited in theory but usually ends up in a situation where I basically become a technician to a backseat editor, rather than a storyteller crafting a story, if that makes sense? I dont find it fruitful. 

Since narrative filmmaking is my side passion seperate from my day job I can be selective about which clients I work with. I've kept this setup intentional. But I understand not everyone does it this way. Some have to work with what they have because it keeps the lights on.  

If I come across a client that basically is unwilling to trust me for what I bring to the table I dont bother working with them. Lots of ppl have a story to tell. They can hire someone else or shoot it themselves. No one who has talent or skill should be made to feel like a wrench monkey. 

On that note, if you find a client or director you have chemistry and a good working relationship with do whatever it takes to nurture that relationship and keep it flowing. This is why you'll often see the same Director/DP/Actor couplings across multiple films. This type of connection doesn't come along easily.

2 hours ago, keessie65 said:

Now filming for a few days in The Efteling, the Netherlands. Because of the low light at evening I decided to build my setup; NX1 + NXL speedbooster + Mamiya 55mm f1.4 + Bolex 16/32/1.5x + Rectilux HCDNA. I had to set the lens not at infinity, but somewhere about 10 meters to get the sharpest results. The film follows later, for now a few pictures.

After all, I am very happy with the NXL speedbooster.

Colors look rich and the image clean. Can't wait to see the film. 

I have a Helios 44 58mm coming in the mail from Russia and a m42 to nx adapter. 

From what I'm reading online the Helios makes a great taking lens. Any thoughts about this? 

Can you point me in a good direction for a good quality clamp, or whatever it's called that goes between the taking lens and the anamorphic lens? 

I think I'm starting to wrap my head around this anamorphic stuff. It took me a second. I didn't realize at first how it all worked. 

13 hours ago, lucabutera said:

 

So basically the camera itself does not control or comm with the lens? You need this intermittent device from Aputure, which gives you electronic control externally? 

Though not the optimal solution as direct comm between camera and lens, and a bit pricey, it's an interesting workaround. I'm sure that took a lot of man hours on your part. 

When will this v.2 be ready for prime time? 

Ciao. 

20 hours ago, Juxx989 said:

I have a filter I enjoy using 90% of the time and I started thinking... what if I just cut it perfectly and popped it in front of the sensor (not thinking permanent) 

I have a NX1- and it seems to have the clearance to do so from the back of my S- lenses to the sensor... (my Rokonon 12mm is not tho the rear glass is bulbous and protrudes out quite a bit Guess its how they made it so wide but still can take a screw on filter)

Its seems like it would solve some problems of not flaring as much and I can rock any lens.... 

I have a NX 10 collecting dust I could use as a test subject 

 

this guy did something similar but made his infrared (and said he destroyed its ability to shoot normal) 

I was just thinking I could put it and remove it with Tweezers 

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Permanent-Infrared-DSLR-Camera/

 

Main worries are if a little piece of sand gets in between them some how it will become sandpaper and grind the sensor

and wtf would happen if I triggered the Manual Shutter  (could switch to e shutter)

I have an INTP personality so im always thinking of crazy shit...

any thoughts on this one?

 

 

I've thought about this too, except in a slightly different approach. Entertain me for a second. I'm a fellow INTP. ?

You know those macro extension tubes sold cheaply on line? Well, they actually maintain electronic control with native NX glass and could be a perfect candidate to retrofit a diffusion filter inside whilst gaining macro ability and keeping AF/Aperture communication intact. 

Thoughts?

I would be very leary of putting any other material besides glass close to the image sensor. I think that's asking for trips to the camera repair shop for frequent sensor cleaning. 

14 hours ago, Kisaha said:

It isn't for sale, it isn't ready yet.

They have difficulties with Apple's operating system.

They say that Android version and hardware is ready, but nothing is certain with KS.

I work with devs who code on multiple platforms and as of late, Apple did something with the last two versions of iOS thats causing our apps a lot of issues. On the other hand Android has really opened up their platform. I can understand the slowdowns. No one wants to release a crap v1 app right out of the gate, so the wait is most likely worth it. 

12 hours ago, MountneerMan said:

What Rec709 LUT is everyone using?

I have two free ones that I don't mind but are certainly nothing to write home about.

I use a customized Rec709 developed specifically for the NX1 by Casey Wilson/DP, who uses the NX1 sometimes for big brand name commericals. ( Yes the NX1 is used for top-level work, sssshh ) 

I would share them here but he gave these to me personally so I don't feel comfortable distributing them without his permmision/blessing. 

I will say that it's a less aggressive LUT than your typical Rec709 for other brands because even in gammaDR mode the NX1/500 produces a3 contrasty image like you already explained. 

Casey taught me that the NX1/500 already produces a good image in-camera and the secret is to grade lightly, which is certainly true for grading any 8bit compressed file. However, The NX1/500 needs a little extra care than other brands.

Samsung took a heavy-handed Apple style, "we know whats best for you" approach, as this camera skates that consumer/prosumer line.  

You'll also see similar contrast ratios in their computer monitors and televisions. The thing is, your average person finds this type of image highly pleasing. 

Here's Casey's website:

http://caseywilsondp.com

15 hours ago, kidzrevil said:

@Matthew Hartman honestly bro thats the way to go. Scale back, trust me. It’s good that you are trying to future proof your content (so am I) but these gear reviews will make you think what you have is obsolete. A friend of mine told me “you really think what you have sucks because something new came out ?” that made me feel silly as hell ?

I have a LUT for this a LUT for that and it all becomes overwhelming. Now I shifted my focus to treating my camera like “film stock”. I use the picture profile that brings consistent results without tweaking and get as close to the final product as possible. Now when I grade I just need to make minor adjustments to an image and I get the same result with less steps in between. 

Scale back and focus on technique and watch how much better your work is going to look. Trust me

Well said man. We need more guys/gals like you being the voice of reason. 

57 minutes ago, kidzrevil said:

I think netflix requirements is a quality control thing. They are future proofing all of their content. Besides would you really want to shoot something for netflix without something high end and a team of people for post production? I wouldn’t worry about these things if you shoot for youtube or vimeo like most of us do. Personally my focus right now is building my lens collection over focusing on new cameras and camera technology. In my opinion a lens makes a bigger difference. 10 bit from a crap lens is going to look worse than 8 bit from a lens with exceptional color and contrast. All cameras process their image from a 12-14 bit raw image processor. It’s best to have your cameras settings set to get as close to the final image as possible to take advantage of the 14 bit processing before compression @Matthew Hartman

Sounds like an excellent plan you have there. I'm looking at a few options myself, trying to wrap my head around anamorphic right now. I think ultimately I'm just trying to up my game and maximize the output if the tools I already have, while weighing out pros and cons of going various directions. I might be taking on too much at once and just need to cool my jets and scale back. 

Of course, regardless of whatever direction I go in it's going to punch me in my wallet as anything relating to filmmaking is expensive. I should probably switch my information channels as ingest a lot of gear review channels and it just makes me thirst for shit I can't really afford right now. 

I always had a knack for getting more out of less and I probably just need to return to that and not worry so much about keeping up with the Jones. Thank you for your voice of reason, it's been helpful.  

On 11/11/2017 at 3:05 PM, Daniel Galli said:

anyone got a c-log s-log o any lut like gammadr2slog from andrew for nx500? 

I think we're trying to apply the methodology of other brands, Panasonic, Sony, Canon to Samsung's color science and that's a wrong approach for this camera. 

I think a better approach would be adding a little flatness on top of getting your exposure as close to desired in-camera and then applying a less aggressive Rec709 LUT, and then adjusting from there in post. I think the key with Samsung HEVC footage is subtlety.  

When you get aggressive with the grade with this footage it does not hold up well. That being said, Samsung's in-camera color science already produces some damn good rich color and contrast. It's Samsung, not Sony. 

Let's not forget what flat profiles are for in the first place. If your image looks good, whether that's in-camera or in post, that is the final goal isn't it? Yes we all desire post control, but that's not always possible. 

I know we all want to avoid crushed blacks and clipped highlights. A lot of that can be helped with proper lighting techniques or avoiding scenes you know the camera doesn't preform well under.  I give everyone permission to feel okay with that, because it is okay. 

Another option is using diffusion and low contrast filters, which offloads that process away from the sensor itself. I'm currently exploring this option myself and hope to achieve some viable results that I can share here. 

As suggested, the difference between normal and gamaDR is notable. It's Samsung's basic version of Log. I'm sure had Samsung continued with cameras a firmware update would have given us a proper Log, maybe even onscreen LUTS, waveforms, false color, etc.  

Make sure you have Smart Range + on under the movie tab of the menu. There's two "triggers" for that feature. One for photos, one for video and they are separated. 

The hack mainly helps with reducing macroblocking, not DR. 

On 8/26/2017 at 6:32 PM, andrgl said:

Actually, ignore my first post, Andy's stuff isn't good for us.

 

Here's basically the LukiLink (Android only) available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/HDML-Cloner-broadcast-streaming-Android-capture/dp/B01CI08N6M

 

The app itself hasn't been changed much yet, I guess the OEM provided them with the source code for the apk, but I hope Frank can add all the stuff he's promising on the Kickstarter page.

Amazon link goes to a removed page. I'm guessing the project went belly up?