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I love the way Blaine constructs his videos. Zero fluff. Just tips and tricks the whole time.

Further to this, I watched a few past videos from Blaine yesterday and this video (while quite chaotic) gives a bunch of pretty interesting examples of how using a Film Emulation of some kind combined with some of the basic Resolve tools can give quick but very effective results:
Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the way he treats Resolve..  he shows that if you know a few techniques then you can get in, make some good adjustments, get a great result, and get out, and move on with your day.
It's sort of a rare counter-example of the impression that Resolve is finicky and takes hours and hours, which almost all other colour grading videos give, but isn't true.
At it's most basic, you can just apply a LUT to every clip and then make basic adjustments in a node prior to the LUT on each clip and can get great results in a really quick way.  This is the way that film-makers grade when they want a result, rather than the way that colour grading YouTubers grade when they're making a YT video about some nuance or other.
The section from 5:00 on with the test shots shows that even if the shots weren't filmed well at all, you can get great results quickly with just a few quick techniques.

My big light is the Smallrig 450D. I love it. It's well-built and super bright when I need it. That said, most of the time the brightest lights I need are 300w. 

Luc Forsyth
Jacques Crafford
Cam Mackey
Mark Bone

My big light is the Smallrig 450D. I love it. It's well-built and super bright when I need it. That said, most of the time the brightest lights I need are 300w. 

BMD’s menu system and OS is already designed around a 4-5” screen. It’s a great OS and menu too!
To make one for a two inch screen would require a complete redesign. Im not sure they would save much money by doing this TBH. I think the side screen works. Means you can change settings and get a visual, useful if rigging the camera on a gimble, car etc just for lining up. 

I wonder the reasons....
1) the crash of the media industry lately? Thus less money to spend
2) the economic recession in general? Thus less money to spend
3) the continuing rise of social media? And thus the fall of web forums as the place to be
4) just like with photography, the average affordable video camera out today is already "good enough" for filmmaking? (perhaps the decline we've seen in nerdy discussions about photography, will happen now with filmmaking too) Thus a ground breaking new camera no longer feels the same way as a ground breaking leap forward as before. As honestly, look at what we had before the P4K, it did make the P4K seem like a big deal! For its low price and great features. While today the PYXIS 6K is definitely awesome and at a great low price, but we already have so many similar-ish cameras at similar-ish (or cheaper) prices with similar-ish prices. And a lot of the great things in the PYXIS 6K are not things we necessarily need. It just feels like the leap forward from where the competition was beforehand was bigger with the P4K than it is today with the PYXIS 6K

Anddddd there's the box camera!

This might be the single largest release lineup Blackmagic has ever done. There's like a dozen new pieces of hardware plus DR and firmware updates. Craziness.

It's interesting to see the minuscule amount of hype around this Blackmagic livestream compared to the BMPCC4K in 2018. It's a ghost town here today.

Good catch! New EVF too. The body design is looking very similar to the existing Ursa Mini? 

Looks like a user changeable lens mount as well

The new automatic parameters for denoising and the film look panel in Resolve are both a bit exciting.  BMD might have just tanked sales for Dehancer and/or FilmConvert, especially if the new film look panel allows export/sharing of settings.

Well, they've definetely got a new camera coming. The 'Ursa Cine'. I'd imagine they will also announce other new hardware, the next Resolve, and software for the pocket cameras.
Ursa Cine seems to have PL mount and some kind of wireless features judging from the antenna. I wouldn't be surprised if it was built with camera to cloud and all that stuff in mind. Also USB-C on the front? I doubt that's for an SSD, so maybe powered focus motor or something?
 
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B&H and Adorama are my most trusted vendors for used stuff. Fun thing about Adorama is that almost all their used stuff on their site is also listed in their eBay store with a “Make offer” option so you’re able to buy things under list price. They’re pretty good about actually accepting offers, too. 

I’ve had very good luck buying and selling with MPB in the past, but you need to reallyyyy stress test stuff from them IMO. I’ve returned a couple items that I didn’t feel were listed correctly. Like, things I bought at “Excellent” that I would characterize as “Poor” or “Acceptable”. Still, there are some great deals there.

B&H and Adorama are my most trusted vendors for used stuff. Fun thing about Adorama is that almost all their used stuff on their site is also listed in their eBay store with a “Make offer” option so you’re able to buy things under list price. They’re pretty good about actually accepting offers, too. 

I’ve had very good luck buying and selling with MPB in the past, but you need to reallyyyy stress test stuff from them IMO. I’ve returned a couple items that I didn’t feel were listed correctly. Like, things I bought at “Excellent” that I would characterize as “Poor” or “Acceptable”. Still, there are some great deals there.

B&H and Adorama are my most trusted vendors for used stuff. Fun thing about Adorama is that almost all their used stuff on their site is also listed in their eBay store with a “Make offer” option so you’re able to buy things under list price. They’re pretty good about actually accepting offers, too. 

I’ve had very good luck buying and selling with MPB in the past, but you need to reallyyyy stress test stuff from them IMO. I’ve returned a couple items that I didn’t feel were listed correctly. Like, things I bought at “Excellent” that I would characterize as “Poor” or “Acceptable”. Still, there are some great deals there.

I'd try a range of things, and I'm sure others will have more to add, but I would:
Check the camera physically to make sure the screen works, buttons, EVF, etc I'd update the firmware straight away to the latest Put on several lenses and test that they're recognised correctly and the AF and OIS are working After putting in a new battery and formatting a memory card in it, I'd pick the best quality normal mode (24/25/30p) and do a long recording on it of something that has a lot of movement in it (a great test is putting three still images on a timeline each at 1 frame and then loop the video)..  if it records without issue for 20+ minutes without anything odd happening that's good, but if you have time I'd test until the card fills up or the battery dies I'd also do the same but on the highest frame rate mode Check the files are playable in the camera and work on the computer If it passes all of the above then it's unlikely that it has some lingering issue that isn't also present on new copies as well.

Aside from launch day preorders like the BMPCC4K, I buy almost all my cameras used from major retailers. You’d be amazed how many cameras get returned just a couple weeks after launch. Like new condition for 10-15% off. I stress test them quickly just to make sure there isn’t some defect. 
Typically, anything rated 9 or higher from B&H is indistinguishable from brand new.

 

Aside from launch day preorders like the BMPCC4K, I buy almost all my cameras used from major retailers. You’d be amazed how many cameras get returned just a couple weeks after launch. Like new condition for 10-15% off. I stress test them quickly just to make sure there isn’t some defect. 
Typically, anything rated 9 or higher from B&H is indistinguishable from brand new.

 

Since one of the stated reasons for documenting the journey was accountability, how did your first night of shooting go?

Script and partial shortlist written. Ready for action tomorrow night when wife is out, so hopefully no interruptions!

I had the 18-135mm for a bit. It's a very compact and lightweight lens. Good range. Great AF. The weakness is obviously the f/5.6 aperture on the long end. It's fine for outdoors stuff, but I found myself really wishing I had an extra stop of light pretty consistently indoors. On my full frame cams, the 24-105mm f/4 is my workhorse. It strikes the right balance of range, aperture, and performance. I'd imagine the 18-105mm would be a similar experience on APS-C.

Kinda, sorta, but not really. Those are examples of one-off costs to unlock features permanently within the product, whether it stays with the original owner is sold off. Imagine having to pay monthly to have V-log in your GH5. Or pay Sony monthly to have shutter angle in your FX3. I'm actually OK sometimes paying for a firmware update past a certain point in the development cycle. It's logically how some manufacturers can recoup development costs on older tech they've moved on from. But, a subscription??? No way for me.

I legitimately think that the consumers will eventually abandon any manufacturer that tries this. And, if they all try it together, I see a mass revolt against new models and perhaps even a movement to “older” cameras.