Django

33 improvements, but F-log ain't one...

^ Lol.. Naples is the worst city in Italy.. good pizza though.. http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-no-one-wants-to-travel-to-naples-2015-7?r=US&IR=T

It isn't so much about "affording decent lighting equipment". if you're shooting run & gun, events, weddings etc.. you don't have time to set up lights on every shot.. that's where Canon/Sony cams come in handy. I don't see those type of shooters switching over. For all the marketing, BMD cams are still mostly cinema cams in their ISO handling. They're trying to compete with Red/Arri on a budget. Amazing for studio & narrative with controlled lighting or sunny california outdoor shoots but for other types of shooting or low light conditions they're far from ideal. You'll get all kinds of noise & block artefacts that Da Vinci for sure can't solve.. Also I hope they've fixed that magenta cast issue the 4.6K sensor had!

Personally I'm really excited about the Nikon mount, especially the way they did it with smooth aperture control ring. Well that's if I was in the market for a Ursa Mini Pro that is..

One area where Sony/Canon destroy BMD is ISO performance. Ursa's base ISO is 400/800 and maxes out at 1600. This alone rules them out of quite a few situations..

looks like BMD is now competing with sony FS & canon C line with all the tactile controls & ND filters. nice to see SD & SSD option too. honestly quite a beast of a camera. the Da Vinci micro control panel is pretty awesome too (at 1/30th of the advanced panel price!). like others i would have liked to see some updates to their smaller cameras but still some pretty cool announcements..

yeah it does have it's quirks but in the end the pros do far outweigh it's cons. i can't stand the Sony's now. Internal log is the only thing they really have over it. can't wait to get more lenses for the Fuji and go out shooting.. it's a fun camera!

Just got back from business trip in India.. XT2 ended up being the perfect travel companion. Camera managed to attract little to no attention which was vital to us. I'll admit I was nervous going over there with just the Fuji (although my partner had an A7S for gimbal/night shots) but the XT2 served me well. I did get one overheating warning on a particularly warm day (camera didn't shut off but it was burning hot). Also the 10mn limit drove me a little crazy during interviews (should have bought the grip for boost mode i know). But other then that it was a breeze to setup and shoot. The A7S footage has got a bunch of scenes with it's infamous color/WB issues, whereas XT2 nailed it on auto 98% the time. That alone is pretty great. I was shooting AF-C the whole time, but would use AF-lock to avoid unwanted hunting (XT2 seems to often want to hunt unexpectedly). I've also assigned a button to "preview profile" to better assess a scene without film simulation which often add too much contrast. Finally 4K footage imported super easily for edit in not so recent 2012 Macbook. Another good surprise. All in all very impressed by it's performance, will purchase the grip for boost mode and choose cam again on my next long-distance trip. C100 / DSLRs are feeling clunky and dated all of a sudden!

IMO the XT2 is Fuji's first serious attempt at video. As such it should be cut some slack. Yes it's missing a couple of things and has a few quirks, that hopefully firmware will address.. but overall it's a very solid effort. The 4K image is excellent, the film simulations unique & brilliant. Gorgeous color science. One of the best auto WB of any current system. Then with Fuji X you get an excellent range of compact lenses with aperture control (who wouldn't appreciate that?!!!). Top notch Made in Japan build quality. Lovely design.. Manual controls. Basically all the stuff that's made Fuji X a cult among still shooters.. The ergonomics.. well clearly they are geared towards photography, and as such they are pretty much perfect on the XT2. For video, it's a little hit & miss. But no mirrorless camera is perfect in this domain, and overall I like the ergonomics a lot lot more then Sony's.. that require all kinds of button pushes and LCD navigation to get to basic functions.. Also love the view mode button on XT2, allowing direct LCD/EVF configs, very handy for gimbal work etc.. Now that's not to say a lot could be improved. I haven't used this cam on any professional work yet as I'm still putting it through it's paces. Lack of internal log being my biggest complaint for my type of work. But despite all its quirks and limitations, I still find it a fun camera to use and capable of superb IQ..

curious, why would the booster grip enhance RS? btw, i've decided to keep this cam.. despite it's quirks & shortcomings.. something about the image and it's the smallest cam/lens combo i own. will be taking it with me to India next month as my travel cam. so i'll probably be getting the grip soon.. any ND recommendations ?

Classic Chrome is by far my favorite film simulation but yes Pro Neg Std is the flattest. Here is a good run-down of the color science behind each mode: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/introduction-fujifilm’s-film-simulation-modes

couldn't agree more. my C100 is most often found sitting on it's shelf, until i get a call like a couple weeks ago to shoot a corporate docu, and in 2 days of use it already paid for itself. no way would i have been able to do the things i did with the XT2. Canon Log, Zebras, ND filters, the insane battery life (a full day of shoot with ONE charge) and yes the killer feature: dual pixel AF. Not to mention the ergonomics and confidence you get by having such pro equipment. that being said if you're an amateur/enthusiast, maybe C100ii is overkill. certainly not the camera i'd bring on the street, on vacation or kids soccer game..

Maybe I've been spoiled by Canon/Nikon, but no I've never had to update firmware out of the box for basic operational usability (although that seems to unfortunately become the norm with everything electronic these days). Furthermore, again I wasn't even aware lenses had or could be FW updated! Then again most of my glass is vintage Nikkor and my Canon stabilized lenses always worked fine right of the box. Maybe I've been lucky? Or maybe Fuji dropped the ball on this one. The 18-55 OIS kit lens isn't even new, it's the same then on XT1. So I'm sorry but I feel the blame is on them for not testing and not the user for not having searched every second of every review video.. Anyways let's bury that subject since issue has been resolved. @jonpais Speaking of the kit lens, I was actually positively surprised by it (above issue withstanding) yes it isn't constant aperture which I also despise but it does have OIS which seems kinda invaluable for handheld work, especially in 4K where micro shakes are increased. It's also really well built (as most Fuji lenses) with aperture wheel which can be set to automatic or manual. It feels fly by wire so it's really smooth which is great for video. Optically it's also quite excellent. For only 300 extra it's kind of a no-brainer although if I keep the camera I will of course purchase primes which is what I favor shooting with. Nice review btw, and glad you're getting along with the camera! Could be Honeymoon phase but there is definitely something different and unique about the Fuji experience.. it doesn't feel like just a tool like Sony's for example..

that does give hope, i'm also aware of their good update reputation ("kaizen" approach) but it's more a question of when then if. first firmware release couple days ago is pretty underwhelming aside from bug fixes.. also this video around XT2 release seem to indicate Fuji is serious about video development: I'm also a C100 user and have done a couple A/B tests this weekend. the color science is different, just as it is also with Nikon and other brands. Preference is subjective, but what you shoot may also have an impact. I still think Canon rule for skin tones, but I also like the more neutral Nikon/Fuji look for landscape etc.. But once I engage the various Log and Wide DR profiles on the C100, the Fuji can't compete. The Fuji sims are all quite baked in, almost as if a LUT was applied.

believe me i did some pretty extensive research including my own testing of the product.. except not with the kit lens. i simply couldn't fathom this type of issue with the kit lens. anyways thanks to those that helped, the FW update seems to have taken care of the issue, which was driving me crazy.. looks like F-log has got it's own set of quirks. basically a lot of issues related to video seem to need fixing which isn't all that surprising considering how recent Fuji's video development has been. so it feels a bit like early adopter beta testing using an XT2 for serious video, which has me a little bit nervous i'll admit.. then again you'd have told me just a year ago i'd be buying a Fuji for video i would have called you insane! all that being said, i don't wanna sound like i'm bashing it. who knows i might even keep it. build quality is definitely ace. lens line up is solid. color science & auto white balance are tops. film simulations + highlight/shadow settings are really fun to play around with. the 4k codec seems efficient and easy to work with. i'd just like a nice update with internal F-log, zebras/histogram and perhaps a little smoother AF tracking so this camera could be on par with the competition.

Indeed, and you'd think reviewers or even Fuji would mention this rather major issue with it's kit lens.. i didn't even know lenses had FW updates tbh.. speaking of which i found the following page rather cryptic (only a .DAT file and zero instructions?): http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/lens/xf18-55mm/download.html

well i've had an XT2 (+ kit lens) with me for couple days.. and i'm having really mixed feelings about it. some very strange issues from the OIS lens (image randomly starts "bouncing"?!) , screen refresh rate randomly alternates from smooth to choppy, judder/RS fairly noticeable. i'm also finding quite a bit amount of aliasing/moire (probably due to lack of AA filter). ergonomically, switching from stills to movie mode isn't a quick operation (coming from the Canikon world) as you've got to click over to several positions and the lever itself is very uncomfortable to manipulate imo. same for the AF switch: tiny, stiff and hard to tell which mode you're on without flipping the camera over. then of course lack of zebras/exposure tools and no internal log also a handicap. menu wise i can't seem to find any custom modes as i'd like various highlight, shadow & sharpness saved profiles (speaking of which anybody recommend a good flat setting?). at the very least independent video from stills settings would be nice.. so yeah that's quite a bunch of complaints i know, mostly stuff fixable through firmware though.. the film simulation and color science are still the main attraction, but for professional video i still think Sony is way ahead. XT2 is just a bit too quirky and video feels a bit beta. I'm giving it a couple more days but good chance it's going back at this point.

A6xxx ergonomics are terrible and the rolling shutter makes it virtually unusable for my type of shooting.. One other thing to consider however for video is that A6500 has super35 (1.5x) mode in 24p/25p 4K whereas XT2 has that odd 1.7x crop factor in 4K which can be a bummer for prime shooters and of course lack of internal Log. Fuji's done an amazing leap but still has a few tweaks to perform to be serious contender in the video field imo. Right now it's more of a great SOOC unit (which is what a lot of still shooters like about Fuji in the first place)

i dunno on paper A6500 seems impressive.. the specs are pretty killer.. indeed like a mini APS-C A7R2. But in practice still that god awful class-leading rolling shutter, overheating and average at best ergonomics. Camera is now ridiculously expensive (1700€ in EU?!) for what feels like a patch-up work on a ill-suited consumer type body. IMO Sony should just can the A6xxx series and rework the whole camera from the ground-up.. But of course that wouldn't allow the 8 month refresh rate..

yea you're probably right although i don't think dual pixel negates the possibility of using manual glass for various reasons. regardless that footage is definitely among the nicest i've seen from this cam.. very impressive 4K performance and the grade isn't over done.

- Camera : Canon 1Dx mkII 4k 50p - Lenses : Canon 24, 35, 50, 100 - Editing/Grading : Premiere Pro/Davinci Resolve I'm going to assume those are Canon cine lens.. and if so that's approx $20,000 in lens.. Also 1Dx II doesn't have CLog

if anyone is wondering what Flog is looking like: crossing fingers Fuji brings this soon internally, love the film emulations but rely on flat a lot for work..

you also have the 23mm 1.4? nice. expensive but a lot nicer for sure. can't help but notice in the 23mm f2 test video you linked a lot of shake & jello, which i've also noticed in my test footage at the camera store. lack of IBIS & stabilised lens is really the only thing holding me back at this point (and internal Flog) even though my pro work is always mono/tripod or gimbal assisted.. but these small cams scream handheld and it seems impossible to get decent footage out of them without some kind of stabilisation (hence IBIS upgrade on 6500)

good advice.. i agree an assistant is a blessing, i hate doing these gigs solo.. weddings are gruesome. most important is to be quick on your feet. bodies aren't really that important, i've shot with all kinds (D750, A7S2, 5D3, C100..) but your lens selection, gimbal/monopod setup, audio etc.. is as if not more critical even then body choice..

EOSHD SONY ON: EOSHD SONY OFF: ...seriously good job Andrew.. will order soon for a shoot where we'll be adding an A7S2 for night shots to a Canon setup.. hopefully will be easier to match footage thanks to this!!