mrjim

It's fantastic and great fun to see what people used for this challenge. I bought this used Sony WX500 fixed zoom (30X) lens compact about 22 months ago on ebay for £133 plus postage. It has a 1/2.3 type Exmor R CMOS sensor and seems to be a cheaper version of the Sony HX90V minus the EVF, and I believe is missing some of that model's more sophisticated manual settings. It does have a flip-up LCD screen (not touch), which is useful for waist-level video and selfies. I shot the video using the XAVC S HD format at 25p which tops out at around 50mbps. You can also choose the same codec at 50p. AVCHD and MP4 are other options, but no 4K.  
Leaving it on automatic is ok but you can get blown highlights, and the ISO is pumped up to get a useable picture inevitably resulting in some noise in lower light conditions. However, there are some manual tweaks available. You can adjust and fix the ISO setting and, in the case of the Bexhill video shot in bright sunlight, I chose 200 ISO. I selected Multi Metering Mode, Focus Area Wide, Daylight white balance, Steadyshot Active, face detection ON and Low Soft Skin Effect. I didn't grade the footage, it's straight out of camera. Being a small sensor camera, optimal image quality is achieved by shooting in well-lit situations, which was the case here. I was impressed by the fine detail captured by the WX500, and the dynamic range in the scenes isn't bad at all. It's fair to say it's a surprisingly capable and inexpensive pocket video-cam with effective stabilisation.

The camera used was a compact stills camera, the Fuji FinePix E900. I bought it new for £140 in May 2007 and haven't used it for seven years (the first thing I had to do was reset the clock!). The 4:3 video it shoots (auto exposure only) is 640 x 480 x 30p. I enlarged this with a video utility to make it 1440 x 1080 x 30p before editing on a 1920 x 1080 timeline, so the "Academy" shape was retained. But absolutely no exposure or colour changes were made, so the colours you see are straight from the camera. Interestingly, it's the auto exposure (and it's sudden changes within a shot) that makes it look amateur, more so perhaps than the ultra low resolution.
A sad sign of the times regarding increasing obsolescence: I took out the xD card to put in my computer multi-memory card reader, only to find that xD was not one of them! Luckily, the camera features a USB socket, so I could connect the camera directly to access the files.   
Michi: "I'm particularly curious to see what camera @TrueIndigo has used. I liked the colours of that one the most." -- This camera features a 9MP 5th generation Super CCD HR sensor. From the days when Fuji photsites were octagonal in shape and some were of a different size -- wild times!

Congratulations to the winners! Well deserved! The spirit of the competition was really fun, actually go out there and create content. I hope there will be more challenges like this in the future. 
Now, onto the reveal:
I shot on a Panasonic GF5, picked up for about 50-60$ in a used store in Hong Kong:

Locked the SS to 40 or 50 like recommended in your old article Andrew. A fun little portable camera to shoot on, and the small size of the files make them superfast and easy  to edit. Also put a LUT over the finished edit. 
I also used a 10$ tripod and a vintage 70-210 Tokina/Vivitar tele lens with OM mount, bought for maybe 10-15$. 

 
 
Now PannySVHS, if you want me to send the camera, PM your adress.
 
Best regards!

How much more technical?  hahahaha..  just wait!
I liked your video - it looked vintage in both the colours as well as lens.  Interestingly I didn't spot the Helios despite having done lots of lens comparisons and owning two of them myself!
Great stuff!
You absolutely win my vote for Most Off The Wall Choice!!
I am going to claim that I had the thought of a webcam running to a laptop, but not with an anamorphic adapter!  and of course, I only thought about it, you did it, so big credit to you!
If only you'd pummelled the image to death in Resolve like I did!!
You did well on the IQ - fourth place well earned!  Plus you were the only person to include a Dalek, so special bonus points for that!!
I voted for you in the IQ category - excellent choice.  This has great IQ, nice colours and contrast, and getting that SOOC is impressive!
Nice!!  These old cameras are still pretty good!
I like it!
Of course, I don't own a GH2 and wouldn't buy one so would keep my current strategy of using the cheapest camera on ebay and grading it within an inch of its life!
I am hatching plans for how we can do this again in some way.  I have an action camera I don't want, so maybe the rule will be "everyone must enter this competition because if you don't I'll mail you this action camera" ???

Hi!
My camera is an Olympus OM-D E-M5 (2012) with an old Canon FD 50/1.4 lens, used with a basic, cheap adapter.
With a bit of luck and searching you can find an E-M5 for €200 (or a bit less) on eBay. I bought the lens also on eBay for a low price (I don’t remember exactly how much). 
No other equipment or colour grading was used.
 
 

i got a bit fixated on the losing camera bit, completely missed the fine print about entering just for the judges category. But thats life.
I'm a bit surprised with the amount of entries or lack thereof, as i bid on 3 or 4 cameras but was out bid on everything. I was sure you guys must have been buying everything up  for the competition. The old video camera segment  of ebay must be quite abit more active than one would have thought. Too cut a long story short i ended up using a logitech c920 webcam with a letus anamorphic adapter taped to the front. My reasoning for using the letus was to help differentiate my entry from the others. i figure if speedboosters were allowed if you already had them an anamorphic should be ok as well. Not sure if anyone else shot anamorphicaly. Considering i went to the trouble of using the letus i did forget to get any footage of the lens flaring which was kinda dumb. Since my entry has proved surprisingly unlikely to win the point is moot i guess.
I'm glad i entered i learned a whole bunch of things that i can apply to the next challenge. i am fairly confident i can increase my vote rate by at least a 100% next time round ?
So dan the man pm me your address if you need a webcam for  the odd late night online dalliance. Mind you, you can keep those tips,tricks and footage for your own personal gratuitousness ok ?
 

Now, that's called dedication! 
Great work, kye. 
 
Here is a picture of my setup:
NEX5 (the original one, not N /R /T), which I bought for ~40 $ (it was missing battery, charger and, supposedly, its battery doors wouldn't close [they do, though]) + Helios 44-4 (which I bought many years ago in a combination with working Zenit ET for 20 $) and a cheap (10$) ND filter. 
 
It's got one of the quirkest video modes. 
You can lock the exposure during recording only by holding down the shutter button, otherwise it's full auto and shows a tendency to quickly ramp your ISO quite high. 
That's why some people came up with and idea like this:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8270
 
Waiting for next reveals. 
(( :

Congrats to the winners - well deserved!
I figured I would lose the competition so would have some fun with it, so went very very budget.  I also wanted to see how far I could 'improve' the footage in Resolve.
Camera #1:

Fujifilm J20
Point and shoot - 2009 - 640x480 30p (final video was cropped to 16:9)
Price is about $15-30 on ebay (mine was purchased by my wife when new, so has been sitting in a drawer for about a decade)
Final video:
Unprocessed footage:
 
Camera #2: 


Fake action camera
It claims 1080p, but is FAKE and shoots the worst 640x480 30p I have ever seen (final video was cropped to 16:9)
Price was AU$17 brand new on ebay (which included free shipping across Australia - about 5000kms)
Final video:
Unprocessed footage:
 
Camera #3 was going to be a D-Mount lens on my old GoPro, but sadly didn't survive the modifications..

 

It's fantastic and great fun to see what people used for this challenge. I bought this used Sony WX500 fixed zoom (30X) lens compact about 22 months ago on ebay for £133 plus postage. It has a 1/2.3 type Exmor R CMOS sensor and seems to be a cheaper version of the Sony HX90V minus the EVF, and I believe is missing some of that model's more sophisticated manual settings. It does have a flip-up LCD screen (not touch), which is useful for waist-level video and selfies. I shot the video using the XAVC S HD format at 25p which tops out at around 50mbps. You can also choose the same codec at 50p. AVCHD and MP4 are other options, but no 4K.  
Leaving it on automatic is ok but you can get blown highlights, and the ISO is pumped up to get a useable picture inevitably resulting in some noise in lower light conditions. However, there are some manual tweaks available. You can adjust and fix the ISO setting and, in the case of the Bexhill video shot in bright sunlight, I chose 200 ISO. I selected Multi Metering Mode, Focus Area Wide, Daylight white balance, Steadyshot Active, face detection ON and Low Soft Skin Effect. I didn't grade the footage, it's straight out of camera. Being a small sensor camera, optimal image quality is achieved by shooting in well-lit situations, which was the case here. I was impressed by the fine detail captured by the WX500, and the dynamic range in the scenes isn't bad at all. It's fair to say it's a surprisingly capable and inexpensive pocket video-cam with effective stabilisation.

It's fantastic and great fun to see what people used for this challenge. I bought this used Sony WX500 fixed zoom (30X) lens compact about 22 months ago on ebay for £133 plus postage. It has a 1/2.3 type Exmor R CMOS sensor and seems to be a cheaper version of the Sony HX90V minus the EVF, and I believe is missing some of that model's more sophisticated manual settings. It does have a flip-up LCD screen (not touch), which is useful for waist-level video and selfies. I shot the video using the XAVC S HD format at 25p which tops out at around 50mbps. You can also choose the same codec at 50p. AVCHD and MP4 are other options, but no 4K.  
Leaving it on automatic is ok but you can get blown highlights, and the ISO is pumped up to get a useable picture inevitably resulting in some noise in lower light conditions. However, there are some manual tweaks available. You can adjust and fix the ISO setting and, in the case of the Bexhill video shot in bright sunlight, I chose 200 ISO. I selected Multi Metering Mode, Focus Area Wide, Daylight white balance, Steadyshot Active, face detection ON and Low Soft Skin Effect. I didn't grade the footage, it's straight out of camera. Being a small sensor camera, optimal image quality is achieved by shooting in well-lit situations, which was the case here. I was impressed by the fine detail captured by the WX500, and the dynamic range in the scenes isn't bad at all. It's fair to say it's a surprisingly capable and inexpensive pocket video-cam with effective stabilisation.

It's fantastic and great fun to see what people used for this challenge. I bought this used Sony WX500 fixed zoom (30X) lens compact about 22 months ago on ebay for £133 plus postage. It has a 1/2.3 type Exmor R CMOS sensor and seems to be a cheaper version of the Sony HX90V minus the EVF, and I believe is missing some of that model's more sophisticated manual settings. It does have a flip-up LCD screen (not touch), which is useful for waist-level video and selfies. I shot the video using the XAVC S HD format at 25p which tops out at around 50mbps. You can also choose the same codec at 50p. AVCHD and MP4 are other options, but no 4K.  
Leaving it on automatic is ok but you can get blown highlights, and the ISO is pumped up to get a useable picture inevitably resulting in some noise in lower light conditions. However, there are some manual tweaks available. You can adjust and fix the ISO setting and, in the case of the Bexhill video shot in bright sunlight, I chose 200 ISO. I selected Multi Metering Mode, Focus Area Wide, Daylight white balance, Steadyshot Active, face detection ON and Low Soft Skin Effect. I didn't grade the footage, it's straight out of camera. Being a small sensor camera, optimal image quality is achieved by shooting in well-lit situations, which was the case here. I was impressed by the fine detail captured by the WX500, and the dynamic range in the scenes isn't bad at all. It's fair to say it's a surprisingly capable and inexpensive pocket video-cam with effective stabilisation.

It's fantastic and great fun to see what people used for this challenge. I bought this used Sony WX500 fixed zoom (30X) lens compact about 22 months ago on ebay for £133 plus postage. It has a 1/2.3 type Exmor R CMOS sensor and seems to be a cheaper version of the Sony HX90V minus the EVF, and I believe is missing some of that model's more sophisticated manual settings. It does have a flip-up LCD screen (not touch), which is useful for waist-level video and selfies. I shot the video using the XAVC S HD format at 25p which tops out at around 50mbps. You can also choose the same codec at 50p. AVCHD and MP4 are other options, but no 4K.  
Leaving it on automatic is ok but you can get blown highlights, and the ISO is pumped up to get a useable picture inevitably resulting in some noise in lower light conditions. However, there are some manual tweaks available. You can adjust and fix the ISO setting and, in the case of the Bexhill video shot in bright sunlight, I chose 200 ISO. I selected Multi Metering Mode, Focus Area Wide, Daylight white balance, Steadyshot Active, face detection ON and Low Soft Skin Effect. I didn't grade the footage, it's straight out of camera. Being a small sensor camera, optimal image quality is achieved by shooting in well-lit situations, which was the case here. I was impressed by the fine detail captured by the WX500, and the dynamic range in the scenes isn't bad at all. It's fair to say it's a surprisingly capable and inexpensive pocket video-cam with effective stabilisation.

Voted. Well done all.

OK, I‘ll do it.
But: Seeing the masterpieces you guys submitted I’m seriously afraid to lose my camera (it’s old and cheap and partly broken but I’m somehow fond of it), so I’m entering only for the jury prize... ?‍♂️
Shot only with a camera and a rather old lens. No grading.
Here it is:
 
 

Hallo friends,
here is my contribution. I hope you like my final film. Looking forward to the great pleasure of exchanging experiences and technical odditities and tricks once Andrew gives the signal for releasing info next week. Thank you for your beautiful films, discussion and the awesome spirit. Thanks Andrew and everyone for inspiring us to film something personal. Here is my labour of love, shot last week and edited over night until just now cheers!
 
Thank you very much!

Little Teaser to my entry. Still editing. Learned a lot about my old camera and about camera in general. Lineskipping can be a great thing sometimes.
 

aaa123jc: "hopefully I won't lose my new camera" -- don't worry your camera's quite safe, I've just uploaded my entry:
 

I swear that is a GH2 with some ex-tele shots in the mix. Could be wrong.
Looking forward to when everybody reveals what they used.
Keep em coming!

C'mon guys, someone submit a really bad one, I don't want to come dead last. My budget camera is my only camera ?

I was originally planing to shoot a short "music video" for one of my vocal cover. However, an event very bad happened to my city and the region I live so I didn't have the opportunity to do a proper video.
Luckily I have brought the camera with me on a half-day trip to Hong Kong Disneyland. I was filming my girlfriend, as usual, and her good friend. I wasn't planing to use these footage for the challenge, so... hopefully I wouldn't get the last place because I really like this new camera! 
Anyway, this is a very fun competition indeed. Would love to take part again! 

Got lucky with the weather yesterday out filming my piece! Definitely a challenge using my chosen camera body and was wary of it's pitfalls. 
In keeping with the rules, I'm not revealing my choice but the only thing I will say is that I use the latest version of this model in my professional work and boy do we have it lucky now!! The technology has definitely moved on considerably in a relatively short period of time.
Looking forward to the results from the judging phase!
 

Well, I haven't posted on EOSHD for ages, but when I saw this competition I thought that sounds fun. I dropped by on Bexhill-on-Sea on the South Coast yesterday on my way to somewhere else, and shot this footage over an hour or two.  No grading, straight out of camera. Manual settings (although fairly limited choice that's all I'll say). Edited on my laptop this evening. I bought the used camera on ebay for £133. I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for Andrew.  As long as I don't come last.
 
 
 

Well, I haven't posted on EOSHD for ages, but when I saw this competition I thought that sounds fun. I dropped by on Bexhill-on-Sea on the South Coast yesterday on my way to somewhere else, and shot this footage over an hour or two.  No grading, straight out of camera. Manual settings (although fairly limited choice that's all I'll say). Edited on my laptop this evening. I bought the used camera on ebay for £133. I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for Andrew.  As long as I don't come last.
 
 
 

Here goes nothin'........
Camera #2