Jordan Lee

3 hours ago, kye said:

What focal length do you actually need?  ie, what precise focal length, rather than just wider than 18mm.

I'm a huge fan of super-wide-angle lenses, and my second most used lens is a 15mm FF equivalent, but you want to hit the sweet spot.  

If you go wider than your sweet spot then you will either crop and throw away pixels, or you will get closer and get more wide-angle-distortion.  If you go narrower than your sweet spot then you will have to go further back to get the framing you want, and if that's not possible then you won't get everything in frame that you want to.

When I was in the market for a super-wide, I got my GoPro, worked out what FOV it was equivalent to, and then did a bunch of test shooting with it to emulate the kinds of shots I wanted to get.  I then experimented with cropping to simulate various longer focal lengths (easy to do - double the focal length is half the width/height of the frame) and worked out where the sweet spot was for me.

If you're unsure but want to buy something now, get the Tokina 11-16mm second hand, shoot a bunch with it, work out what focal lengths you want, then sell it and buy what you need.

I think 16mm FF equivalent would be good - which is why I was thinking 11mm (approx 17.6mm with a crop) would be close enough. 

2 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

The first thing I thought of was the Tokina 11-16mm but that's APS-C. Do you absolutely need 11mm? Is your budget in the $500ish range? 

You can often get a good deal on Rokinon/Samyang lenses used. They're faster than the Irix, and are pretty decent lenses especially for the price, though the Irix likely has better build quality. Reviews say the Irix is soft wide open, so be aware of that.

The Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 would go really well with your 18-35mm but I think it's $1100, so that might be too much. 

I used to have that Tokina lens back when I had a 7D, and it was the first one I thought of initially. But ya, it's only APS-C, which isn't a dealbreaker, but I was just hoping to cover my bases by getting one that I could also use on a FF cam. I've also actually owned a couple of Rokinon's 14mm lenses (one EF mount and one Sony mount), but the moustache distortion on them is quite bad. Also 14mm on APS-C isn't quite wide enough for my needs

As for budget, ya I'd say I'm looking to spend less than 700ish. Also I don't need a zoom, a prime would be fine.

Hey all, I'm looking to get a wide angle lens and just wanted to get a second opinion/see if I'm missing anything. I've got a BM6K (where my current widest lens is the 18-35 Sigma) as my Acam and an A7III as my Bcam/stills camera. 

Even though I could get a better/cheaper/wider APS-C only lens, I was thinking about getting the Irix 11mm F4 because it's full frame, and it'd be nice to have it somewhat future proofed and useable on my A7III on occasion. This way I can get a pretty wide shot on the BM6K that would give me a noticeably wider FoV than the 18mm, but also have the option of going really wide on my A7III when needed. Or, if I ever upgrade to a full frame ACam.

Am I missing anything in my train of thought here? Are there any other options I should consider with my current camera setup? Thanks!

48 minutes ago, PaulUsher said:

Here's some ENG I just shot for an agency - rough as sh*t but there's some demonstration of smooth AF changes https://vimeo.com/431234900

And here's the AF locking  on and tracking a drone - between 4 and 6 mins approx https://vimeo.com/425105022

Neither are the perfect AF examples I'm sure you're looking for but these demonstrate AF performance in pretty extreme AF use cases - both are at telephoto length on the 18-135 (crop mode), It has the smooth STM motor - the RF nano motors are even smoother

Looks great to me! Do you know if the shot at 0:44 in your first link (where it rolls focus to the guy in the white headband) was using AF? If so it looks really smooth to me. Also is that 18-135 an EF lens or an RF lens?

Wow, thank you both very much for your detailed replies. You've given me a lot to think about. I'm in the same boat as you, Trek of Joy, where I miss my Canon colours and am tempted by the R6. I was also really hoping to be able to utilize that drop-in ND adapter with EF lenses too. Do either of you have any video samples you've shot that feature AF use?

Hey there, does anyone have any experience with video autofocus on the EOS R with both native and adapted EF lenses? Three years ago, you wouldn't have caught me dead using AF with video work, but using AF with my Sony A7III along with both Sony and Sigma E-mount lenses has been a great experience for situations like interviews, speeches, and gimbal work. I like that the focus pulls smoothly and looks like a manual focus roll (as opposed to super fast and jittery). How does DPAF compare on Canon cameras? I'm assuming it's probably really smooth on the expensive RF lenses, but what about EF lenses with an adapter? I know they're supposed to work no problem for stills AF, but haven't seen many tests for video AF tracking.

Do you guys think the new Mac Minis are a good budget (compared to the latest iMacs at least) 4K editing option? I have an aging iMac and am looking to upgrade soon

I have the Sony 55mm f/1.8 with my A7III, which is an awesome lens except for the fact that its manual focus uses focus-by-wire. As you know, it's very hard to achieve repeatable focus pulls and the like with these kinds of lenses. I understand that some of Sony's GM lenses have linear manual focusing, which, while not as nice as a mechanical focus system, is much preferred to the variable speeds of their other lenses. So my question is, do you think it'll ever be possible to update the firmware of a lens or the camera body to switch a lens' manual focus to linear? Or is it impossible because of the construction of those lenses?

On 8/14/2018 at 11:59 PM, Scopitones said:

This looks great. U really caught some lovely moments in this. What lenses were u using? Manual focus?

Thanks! Sony 16-35mm f4, SLR Magic 35mm 1.2, Sony 55m 1.8, and Canon 135mm f2. AF for the gimbal stuff and manual for pretty much everything else

On 8/2/2018 at 3:13 PM, Gregormannschaft said:

Wow, very impressed. I have the Crane as well but find it a touch annoying when it's movement makes a robotic jerk to the left or right. Boring alarm (!!) , but mind if I ask whether you've inputed your own custom settings? It has a very natural feeling, but that could also be down to the good edit. Kudos either way, I know how hard it is to make random meetups or events cinematic but you did a great job.

This video was shot with the default settings, but I've since modified my settings so that the tilt is slower and the pans are smoother

7 hours ago, Gregormannschaft said:

Love this, so impressive and wonderful colours. The only technical downside I can see is slightly difficult highlight rolloff, but that's nitpicking. 

I'm curious, I love the movement in this, were you using a glidecam for a lot of the shots? Gimbals have become so impressive but the movement is smooth and has a very natural feeling.

Thanks! Yes, a lot of this was shot during harsh sun mid-day, hence the difficulties with highlights. As for the movement, I was using a Zhiyun Crane Plus

Thanks! Sony 16-35 f4, SLR Magic 35mm 1.2, Zeiss 55mm 1.8, Canon 135mm f2, Metabones IV adapter, and the SLR Magic variable ND

Shot this video for a Bible camp I was at last week entirely with Pro Color V4 HDR: 

I'm sure you've all seen this kind of low-contrast, desaturated teal/orange commercial colour grade before, but I can't quite seem to get the look right on my own. Obviously a lot of it is how it's shot and with what kind of lighting and camera, but what kind of steps would you personally take (using Lumetri in Premiere for example) to work toward this kind of aesthetic? I've tried a mix of lifting the blacks/shadows, bringing down the highlights, lowering the contrast, playing with the curves, but everything I try just looks cheap next to something like this:

I see that the PP2 setup uses SLOG-2. Will it work with SLOG-3 as well? I know SLOG-3 on the A7SII has some issues, but sometimes I like to get all the DR I can for certain shots.