BTM_Pix

The best backup solution rather than just a camera would be an LX100 as it has a (very good) lens built in so will cover you in case a catastrophe befalls your other kit.

As its a standalone (and compact) solution you won't have to juggle with lenses either to be able to shoot two angles simultaneously and it has timelapse built in.

The downsides are fixed screen, no external audio, electronic only stabilisation and no specific flat profile like Cinelike D.

For their current used price of £250 and falling its great value for money and as has been mentioned on here frequently it a great lens with a free camera.

This is a good run through of it as travel camera.

In terms of its still capabilities, when shooting RAW in particular, it was involved in a supporting role comparison I did a while back between the SD Quattro and the Fuji X-T20 where it actually ended up more than holding its own.

If you want to have the flexibility to change lenses then the GX80/85 is the obvious alternative to the LX100 and adds tiltable screen, IBIS and Cinelike D with the easy hack but still lacks the mic input.

If you want all of that with a mic input then the G80 is the way to go and adds the articulating screen as well albeit at the cost of a larger but still pretty compact form factor.

If you want the G80 but aren't bothered about having IBIS and want to save some money, then the G7 is the one.

If its pure travel/backup/supplementary role then I'd personally go with the LX100 and for something that can be a more junior GH5 then I'd choose the G80.

And if you only need 1080p and want a left field MFT suggestion that will give you something entirely different then get an OG BMPCC

7 hours ago, mercer said:

 

I've contemplated selling my BMMCC and buying the P4K, but there is just something special about that original Fairchild sensor. Plus I am patiently waiting for you to create some kind of ingenious accessory for it.

Was the genius of the 4 channel assignable rotary pots to control aperture,ISO,WB and focus for £15 not enough for you then ?

Give me an idea of what you would want to control and how (ie pots, sliders or switches) and I'll see what I can do.

Its quite lo fi to do something for it so as long as you don't mind soldering a few wires it won't be too daunting.

On 1/16/2020 at 8:14 PM, Andrew Reid said:

Ah yes I do remember it

Gotta be worth a try hasn't it?!

 

 

OK, nothing elaborate but did these today with an A7Rii.

All standard profile, straight out of the camera JPEGs.

To make a reference, this is a daylight one, which the AWB does OK with and as expected is pretty much identical to manually white balancing it using the knock off Expodisc.

This one is using AWB.

And this is the one using the Expodiscalike.

To make it make a more challenging comparison, I set the X-Rite up against a white wall adjacent to the window with the left side being lit by a lamp and the right side being lit by daylight.

This is it with the AWB.

And this is it after setting a manual WB with the Expodiscalike.

The AWB is slightly cooler and the Expodiscalike is actually a more accurate representation of how it looked to the eye.

Putting the dropper on the same colour patch on the X-Rite, you can see the broad difference in RGB values.

AWB on top, Expodiscalike below.

So its a subtle difference but even on a quick not exactly that scientific test its definitely there and of course the advantage is it will be locked in for the whole shot.

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

Maybe this thread should now be renamed to "OG BMPCC in 2020!" 

Here is a brand new post from Noam Kroll:

Why I Am Revisiting Blackmagic’s Original (1080p) Pocket Cinema Camera

https://noamkroll.com/why-i-am-revisiting-blackmagics-original-1080p-pocket-cinema-camera/

 

I don't disagree with the article but to be fair to the Pocket4K, it does now have a Super16 mode albeit within a much bigger form factor.

25 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

 

If any normal people put in a performance like this in our jobs - breaking something then not fixing it for a decade, would we still have a job to go to afterwards?

 

Ironically, the very day after I was wafting that thing around proved that when it comes to politicians that rule certainly doesn't apply either !

1 minute ago, Cinegain said:

Ah, I have something similar lying around here somewhere. Believe this: https://www.expodisc.com/ Never actually used it much.

The Expodisc balances a bit warmer IIRC

One of those times when the knock off is actually a bit better!

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Does anyone have a work-around?

Remember this from the other week

I originally got this years ago as there were a couple of stadiums on my beat with mixed sets of floodlights that produced a horrible light that all manner of white balance settings couldn't tame and this made a much better fist of it.

I use it with the Pockets for ProRes but its just generally a useful tool, especially if you're shooting the same thing with differemt brands.

I'll do an A/B with it on an a6500 tomorrow if you want?

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin used to mention this sort of feeling whenever they saw films set in the Nevada desert.

39 minutes ago, eleison said:

Except when you open the hood of a Mercedes, you actually see an engine made by Mercedes instead of a honda engine.  

Oddly enough, you'll actually see a Renault engine on some of them, including the A class.

https://www.smartmotorist.com/mercedes-engines

58 minutes ago, eleison said:

Technically I said apsc, and not super 35.  ? From my quick google search the ls300 sensor size is 23.46*15.64 which is smaller than apsc.  However, I guess technically a MFT could fit an apsc sensor but with significant drawbacks.  Perhaps that is why the LS300 was not popular (e.g., corner sharpness of MFT lenses meant for smaller sensors)?

https://***URL removed***/forums/thread/4327452

It uses Variable Scan Mapping to scale coverage for different lens types (default preset for MFT is a conservative 80% but this is assignable as most lenses are 85-90%) to give the correct native field of view for whatever lens from Super16 to Super35 is attached so the corner sharpness of MFT lenses on it is moot when it comes to why it wasn't popular because you never see the corners.

The perception of the mount being indivisible from the sensor size was the biggest hurdle to it being accepted.

Well, that and the abysmal EVF obviously.

But because of the VSM you can do tricks with it that give it incredible flexibility, such as being able to put an APS-C lens such as the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 on it using an EF>MFT speed booster and using the VSM to rescale it to maintain the native FOV of 18-35mm but gain the extra stop and additional sharpness that the speed booster brings.

This is in addition to using the VSM in the "Prime Zoom" function making a 2x virtual zoom controlled on the hardware zoom rocker control for any prime (or zoom) lens.

Or re-mapping the zoom rocker control as a focus control for any lens while still retaining Prime Zoom control through an external LANC zoom control.

And on and on.

No one could ever say JVC didn't have a serious go at packing the innovation in when it came to that camera !

9 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Unfortunately, the JVC LS300 wasn't popular enough to dissuade a lot of people about an MFT mount only being able to have an MFT sized sensor behind it so that inevitably plays a part too.

1 hour ago, eleison said:

Sensor size?  I'm not sure you can put an apsc sensor into a MFT mount; I'm pretty sure you can't put a full size sensor.  I think the MFT lenses would have to be redesigned.

The prosecution rests m'lud

6 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Additionally, I keep on holding out hope BMD will realise the brilliance of combining S35 with MFT mount! Imagine a BMPCC6K MFT or URSA Mini 4.6K MFT?? ? (bonus points if it is a locking MFT mount!)
 

Its not hindsight because I argued it at the time as well but I think the EF mount for the 6K was a mistake.

The MFT mount was the best of all worlds because it would have allowed for cheap lightweight primes, speedboosted EFs to effectively make it a full frame camera and of course the shallower mount to take PL lenses or the MFT mount Meike Cine Primes which cover the s35 sensor anyway.

Most other MFT lenses give at least 85% coverage so a simple window mode (which they have done now with the 4K for Super16 without the sky caving in) for when you are using those lenses would have been sufficient.

There is absolutely no benefit to having the EF mount on it so you have lost full compatibility and inter-operability with the 4K and permanently restricted your lens options for the sake of having native control of a lens that you could already use anyway. 

Its like the Brexit of lens mount decisions and like Brexit I've yet to hear a single tangible benefit from the choice.

I have both the 4K and 6K and I certainly can't give you an example of a benefit.

The only way the EF mount makes any sense is if BM see it as a B cam for the Ursa but its surely more logical to see it as the A+ cam to the 4K.

Unfortunately, the JVC LS300 wasn't popular enough to dissuade a lot of people about an MFT mount only being able to have an MFT sized sensor behind it so that inevitably plays a part too.

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Wonder what this one is like? Nice range on it

https://www.shphoto.de/carl-zeiss-f-contax-rts-3-3-4-5-35-135mm-vario-sonnar-t-mmj.html

I've never tried one.

MapCamera have a bunch of them for around £400 so you can pick one up when you take your FP to be fixed !

Main criticism I've read about, aside from not being constant aperture, seems to be size and weight.

34 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

 

Parfocal as well?

Yes but its push/pull zoom so thats a bit moot in this case!

Funnily enough, the 35-70mm is featured in that Media Division's Zeiss Super Speeds vs Contax Zeiss episode on YouTube.

I actually only got it because the shop I bought the 85mm f1.4 at for what at the time was a cheap price (under £300) and the 35-70mm was sat next to it so I thought it was worth a punt as I didn't really know too much about that particular one at the time.

Ironically, prices for the 85mm seemed to have stopped rising while the 35-70mm has carried on so it ended up being by far the shrewder deal

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

I had to snap that up. Good find mate

Let me know how you get on with it.

I completely fluked the 35-70mm f3.4 for about £160 in Tokyo last year and its an absolute belter.

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Now I am waiting for my Fp to arrive. Sent the previous one back, and bought it for £1650 inc. 45mm F2.8. Yes, it may be an import. But if it breaks I can fly out, get it repaired in Japan, have a holiday, and still be £100 up vs the ridiculous UK price

Hopefully we will see some juicy firmware updates soon including Sigma-LOG

Or they might just call it V-LOG and nick it from Panasonic

The UK price is daft even by the usual differentials.

Currently the difference between the used and new price of them Japan is so small that I'll likely buy a new one in a kit with the 45mm f2.8.

They've got six weeks to sort out that firmware before I hand over my cash though !

Voted.

I could have saved myself a lot of clicking if there was a "Shamefully, an awful lot of the above" option

Really weird about the Techart E to Z not being stackable with their M to E AF adapter.

Don't really understand why they just haven't made a dedicated Z mount version of that adapter anyway but maybe thats the plan ?

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

By default, when you're not logged in, then Safe Search is turned ON  ?

By default, I'm a deviant so Safe Search is always turned OFF  

2 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Ah didn't realise it was parfocal as well. Not bad for £200.  I might try and fine the Zeiss but none on UK eBay at the moment, mostly seem to be in Japan.

This is where I get my old lenses from when I'm in Berlin:

https://www.shphoto.de/catalogsearch/result/?cat=0&q=anamorphot

Highly recommended

I'll see if they have any in.

Ffordes have got a few.

This one described as being "ALMOST AS NEW" for £239

https://www.ffordes.com/p/SH-18-016844/lenses-contax-slr/28-70mm-f35-45-mm

39 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Almost never use Flickr myself, but there doesn't seem to be a way to sort them by number of favorites, comments, or views? Would be one metric for figuring out the "best performing" lenses. 

 

I've a feeling you might end up with some less than optimum results if you sorted using those parameters.

Most of them not safe for work.

10 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

 

What is the best rendering lens at F4? I doubt you'll find answer on Google.

 

No substitute for real testing of course but there is a way to mine Flickr using exif tags that can be useful.

If you use this link that I've just created

https://flickr.com/search/?exif_min_aperture=4&exif_max_aperture=4&exif_min_focallen=24&exif_max_focallen=24&sort=relevance&tags=cinematic

Then this will find all shots taken at f4 on 24mm lenses.

If you want to change the range to include shots from f4 to f5.6 then just change exif_max_aperture to be 5.6

Ditto if you want to change the lens range to be from say 18 to 50 then just change exif_min_focallen to be 18 and exif_max_focallen to be 50 etc

I've added the tag "cinematic" as whilst not being a very accurate description in many cases, it makes the search a bit more relevant as it at least shows what the creator was aiming for

If you just want to search for all images that match the lens parameters then just chop off the &sort=relevance&tags=cinematic off the end.

1 hour ago, kaylee said:

 

#INSTEADOFARGUINGABOUTHOWTOPRONOUNCEBOKEHJUSTSAYBLUR2020

 

As its all a ploy to sell increasing numbers of ever wider aperture and ever more expensive lenses to people then an easy way to remember how to pronounce it is :

Bokeh makes you broker 

15 hours ago, Cinegain said:

You're so out of touch.

 

Hardly anyone rides a Boosted Board anymore. They're all about the OneWheel now. ? Lol, every YouTuber that wanted to be a Casey now is a Peter/Matti. Indeed. A lot of emobility transporters, ripped jeans & coffee. 

I think this should be de rigueur for travel vloggers *

• You can carry all your gear in it
• It goes 10kmh and has a range of 25km so you quickly can get to the nearest coffee shop even in quite remote areas to do the upload
• It has a power outlet to run the cameras 
• You can put a mount on the handlebars to turn it into a ride on dolly and completely remove the Z axis bounce from your gimbal shots

Plus, of course, you can do the obligatory riding through airports shots without people sarcastically shouting "Hey look everyone, its not Casey Neistat".

Though, to be fair, you won't look any less of a tit.

* CONFESSIONAL NOTE

Not just for vlogging really as I can see a use for this in plenty of other video/photo jobs.

6 minutes ago, billdoubleu said:

I've hardly seen a deal worth pursuing on eBay. At least, not if you're looking for the DR license as am I. I'm not swimming in cash, but I'm not risking $100 in savings on a used camera.

Yep, they do seem to be holding up very well both in terms of price and interest.

Meanwhile, the thread about the 6K one here has been relatively dormant over the past four months.

23 minutes ago, JordanWright said:

If anything i've seen the 6k used at crazy low prices, even CVP have had a few between £1600-1800. 

Seems plentiful stock of them new as well, unlike the Pocket4K.

As someone who has been working his bollocks off creating an intricate workaround to get remote focus over bluetooth working for the 6K this doesn't please me at all !

38 minutes ago, mercer said:

Thanks!!! Now when I can find a new one, with the software, I may have to give it a try. I wish BM would offer a fire sale on the P4K like they did with the OG.

I wonder whether the deluge of used/and or discounted P4Ks that many (not including me by the way  ) thought would happen as people "upgraded" to the P6K ever materialised?