salim

I would just add that while 1-2 stops is a good rule of thumb, there are scenes in which you don't need bright shadows but you keep the highlights so normal exposure of slog can be preferable   Like night shots or with late sunset light.

Thank you Salim! Best of luck with your future endeavors!
David

David, 
This is super helpful and yet more inspiring. Keep the great work and wishing you more success in your future work. 
BTW, I'll try to watch Black Luck on Amazon Prime. I also love the subject of the hitman and wanted to make something about this character in Central/Eastern Europe. Mostly to add an exotic element to it, but also it's an area I've go to travel a lot in the past few years and made a few contacts and I just think cinematically it could look great. 
I read some of the review comments on Amazon Prime on Black Luck. Mostly around hitman being a cliche topic. Which is what I'm struggling with right now. How to approach it in a new way. Some of your reviewers said you approached the storytelling in a new way, so I'm looking forward to see if I can pick something up from how you did it. 
Cheers,
 
Salim
 
 

Hey Salim.
Thank you! I will do my best to outline some of what I experienced. First off, I looked at making the film as my film school. I had done short doc work and commercial work before, but nothing as big and complex as this. We are fortunate in the middle of America that a lot of people love to be involved in filmmaking. We had a ton of volunteers, but we signed contracts with each of them offering everyone a piece of the pie, if the film made money. For me, it's really about creating enough revenue, so that I can keep making films and share with the people who help make it happen. When we first started we had many delays, we would shoot one weekend and then it was two weeks before we could get back together. Everyone had their regular jobs, so it took us about 6 months to complete the film. If I had any type of budget I would have everyone take off two weeks and we would knock it out, but I didn't have that option. The cameras were great, but I did have a few issues with the lenses and NX1 manual mode when I first started. We finally got it down properly and it was good to go. We only had a Arri 1K and Arri three light kit when we first started. I bought a ton of c-stands and 2 Digital juice Flag kits. That really helped control our lighting setups. Most of the lighting on actors is bounced light, which I love the most. I wish I had known more about actually directing talent. That was something I have studied ever since. Jason Levering and I co-directed and that was complicated as well, but we both adapted and kept pushing each other. 
When it comes to festivals, I would say enter the festivals that you think the film will fit in the best. Have people watch it and have them give you their honest opinion. I had a fantastic editor give me some amazing insights and I ended up re-cutting part of the film. It's nothing personal and you have to look at it that way. We were fortunate to sign with Circus Roads Films who is a sales agent. They reviewed the movie and liked it. I would recommend them if you have a solid film. They took it out and got us a couple offers, but they didn't fit what we needed, so we went back to the festival circuit to build the film. Then we signed a deal with Indie Rights. They have a fantastic reputation with treating their filmmakers well, so we were happy to sign. There is never any guarantee on money. I think if you are going to make any kind of money you need someone taking your film to AFM and Cannes, which Indie Rights will do. They will sell the rights to different countries and that can be a nice revenue stream. On the other hand, if you have a massive following, it could be better to self distribute online. It just depends on the film and where you want to go with it. I hope this helps out. It is a little vague, because I have no idea how much money the film will actually generate. 
Best!
David
 

It hasn't premiered in Japan or South Korea yet. I'm unaware of how popular it is over there but it might be a huge market.
The ties between Columbia (Sony) and Japan are of course obvious.
I remember the articles about the Warcraft movie and how poor it did domesticly, while it made most of its revenue in the Chinese market. Legendary pictures also had strong ties with China.
 
Just a thought.

Ok, so how does that all add up? Simple, I started reading Andrew's site a few years ago and learned everything I needed to know about the Samsung NX1 and SLR Magic Anamorphot 1.33x adapter. I decided to use them on our first feature film. After numerous film festivals and special events our film, Black Luck, signed an International distribution deal with Indie Rights. Yes, we probably would have done the film without this knowledge, but I'm not sure it would have had the same look or feel. The camera and adapter worked amazingly well and proved that a no budget indie thriller can still have a high production value. I can't thank Andrew enough for educating me and so many other filmmakers about the possibilities of shooting a feature film with these great tools.
Cheers!
David 
P.S. If you want to check the film out, it just launched on Amazon Prime. Read the reviews as well. This isn't some masterpiece of cinema, but it is a satisfying movie created with passion. 

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Luck-Garrett-Sheeks/dp/B0764KD2K8/ref=sr_1_2?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1507185936&sr=1-2&keywords=indie+rights
 

Milestones will get posted when they happen...

Leica R 35mm Summicron or Contax Zeiss 28-85mm f/3.4-4.

How is the 3,5K compared to the 1080 RAW? Is it more detailed. 1080p is enough resolution for me, but It always lacked detail in my experience(besides DR). Not sure if the the 3,5K is a detail improvement over the 1080p. If not, then I would just use the 1080p.

I think you guys should debate this in a new topic, because it's killing this one for the rest of us.... title of the topic is "What Magic Lantern reveals - 5D Mark III capable of 4K all along"
I really mean it will all the good will in the world, please for the love of all that is holy open a new thread instead of using this one... I've nothing against you guys arguing about the science of dynamic range over 20 pages....
Just put it in the proper place so this one can stay on the topic of Magic Lantern and the 5D Mark III raw. PLEEEASE!

I put it together, I found these on Vimeo. I was looking at this camera 3 years ago, and found a lot of these examples on Vimeo. I ended up buying three of these F3's, as the price with the S Log RGB was $1,800 to $2,000 (with a few extras as well!) you can't beat the F3 for the money. And built very well with all the HDSDI outputs. I find it can shoot just about anything you can throw at it  I recommend the Optitek FZ to Nikon or Canon lens convertor, it's rock solid and locks the Nikon or canon lens on the F3 without any jiggle or play. I use my Odyssey 7Q+ and together they work a charm. 

The other camera with this Kodak super 16 sensor was the Ikonoskop
A good place to find them used is here -
http://www.rawcinemashop.com/used-gear-market-place/
Might be worth looking for some on eBay as the prices may have come down quite a lot.
https://www.eoshd.com/2012/11/ikonoskop-a-cam-dll-vs-blackmagic-cinema-camera-first-impressions/
The Digital Bolex and Ikonoskop look was one of the most unique I've ever seen from any digital camera.
Limitations and all - all part of how special it looks.
https://www.eoshd.com/2013/03/ikonoskop-a-cam-dll-versus-blackmagic-cinema-camera/

I don't think that's what people are saying. I think it's sort of the opposite. If you're working professionally you want to make sure you can justify the cost of the gear or else it's bad business. So there's no reason to buy an Alexa unless you can afford the crew to support it (and the roughly $100k investment up front)... and your revenue warrants it. Whereas if you're buying a camera as a hobbyist, your bank account (and credit) is the limit. I'd say spend more on other areas of the production, but if you have the money for a camera package and the rest of the production, go for it! 
I do think a bigger problem is that a dSLR or C300 or FS7 is a camera you can operate comfortably with a crew of one or two, whereas in my experience it's harder to shoot on Red on Alexa without a bigger camera department and a much bigger G&E department (the sensors are light-hungry). Particularly if you want to introduce more camera movement. And so that can add many thousands a day getting the additional crew and support gear, unless you have the ability to get people to work for free and have access to cheap rentals G&E and camera support. Frankly I find the Red MX and Epic to be a nightmare on fast-moving sets and very difficult to use as owner/op cameras, though to be fair I was using both of them a month or two after they first came out and they are a lot better now. This isn't meant as an anti-Red screed. The Alexa is just as bulky and requires a lot of battery swapping, too. It's also pretty slow, but the Amira is faster. I love the image from the Mini but not the ergonomics. They're all built for a bigger crew. 
So I think the hidden expense is the added cost in workflow and crew and time with some of those cameras, and that can add an additional five figures to the budget of a short easily... that is, if you're paying your crew and post team. But if you have that worked out, you've got it worked out. That's my only argument against getting a big expensive camera, but if you have that part worked out, go for it.
On the basis of image quality I'd put the 4.6k BM well above the MX well above the original 4k BM, which has a significantly worse image than the 2.5k. The  4k has the thinnest dynamic range and most fixed pattern noise I've seen in a cinema camera. But if you're used to shooting on film and lighting for film, you won't need any more light than that with any of these cameras, though you will need to be very careful managing your highlights on the 4k BM and to some extent on the MX.
What lens set do you own? Some lenses have strange corner performance with some cameras (I believe the Cooke Speed S2/S3s do with some Reds). I would rent all three cameras before buying anything. Anything with very oblique light rays in the corners can perform dramatically differently on different sensors and that won't be as apparent on a 2.5k converted to PL because of the smaller sensor only receiving the more direct rays.
But as for spending money on your hobby, do it! 99% of Porsche owners aren't professional race car drivers. Just get whatever is gonna make you happy. They're all nice cameras. You sound like you know what you want and to that extent can't really go wrong. I might envy you for having gobs of disposable money, but I think any of us would spend it just as irresponsibly if we had it.
 

This works perfectly:
D:\ffmpeg-20170915-6743351-win64-static\bin\ffmpeg -i P1077005.MP4 -vf scale=1920/1080,setsar=1/1,setdar=2.6667/1,colormatrix=bt709:bt470bg -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:v libx264 P1077005-ffmpegHD.mp4
NOTES For other formats:
A DCI 4K stream is compressed using JPEG2000, can have a bitrate of up to 250Mbps, and employs 12-bit 4:4:4 color depth.
4K=4096/2160
UHD=3840/2160
HD=1920/1080

Yes, going to be good for warp stabiliser. With Dual IS, 5 axis IBIS and Warp, maybe we won't need that £1000 tripod Flowtech 75 after all

Except it's run by a bunch of extremely rich guys who work full time in the film industry, and choose to give nothing back for free - it must be for a profit at all times!

CInema5D lost more credibility with the forum sale to Planet5D and the GH5 'unusable' test than with this particularly piece of clickbait.
But what will really bury Cinema5D is the lack of focus on enthusiasts, it's almost all pro stuff on there. I'm glad, less competition for me.

The camera specs are nothing better than the DJI Phantom 4 pro. At this stage, P4P is a much safer bet. 

I'm looking for a secondary camera for underwater shooting with decent low-light support for 1080P.
Most GoPro footage I've seen fails in low-light and I'm somewhat afraid of housing my A6300...
The Olympus Stylus Tough TG-5 looks interesting, it's rugged & compact, but I would love to hear your personal experience.
 

I'm happy to report that my setup is pretty simple. Which is something I never thought possible for anamorphic shooting. Here's a picture:
 

I'm going back and forth between which of these two monitors I should buy.  The decision comes down to the answer to this question:  Is the quality of the Inferno's 8bit 422 image so much better than the A7sii's internal 8bit 420 that it justifies the extra cost and bulk of the Inferno compared with the Focus? What say ye?

A good decision!
1. Speed Booster XL has the most full-frame-like look, unless you want to avoid vignetting on APS-C lenses then go for the Ultra. Also if you want the absolute best corner sharpness go for the Ultra.
2. Not tried the battery grip as the internal battery last ages and spares so easy to carry! Might improve ergonomics though.
3. The XLR hotshoe audio adapter?
4. 35-100 II... Nah. I'd go for the Olympus 12-100mm F4 instead. Run & gun with AF I take it?
5. Only if you need AF when re-framing a shot otherwise stick to Sigma
6. You don't need it, the screen is fine! Keep it simple.
7. Haha
8. Yes.

I think Nikon has already hinted at a mirrorless camera and promising it will be a category killer.  But the current UI of D810 is very good (far better than my Sony a6000). With the consumer market, the mobile phones are just destroying it. I think for that reason Nikon and others have to go after prosumers and pros. Probably why Fuji had to expand into MF line. The other thing I wish nikon will focus on, while doing their mirrorless is to provide IBIS. The stuff I'm hearing people are doing with the 5-axis stabilization out of Olympus is crazy and make the ergonomics of not having to think about a tripod more enticing. 

I think Nikon has already hinted at a mirrorless camera and promising it will be a category killer.  But the current UI of D810 is very good (far better than my Sony a6000). With the consumer market, the mobile phones are just destroying it. I think for that reason Nikon and others have to go after prosumers and pros. Probably why Fuji had to expand into MF line. The other thing I wish nikon will focus on, while doing their mirrorless is to provide IBIS. The stuff I'm hearing people are doing with the 5-axis stabilization out of Olympus is crazy and make the ergonomics of not having to think about a tripod more enticing. 

Nikon D850 press release is leaked: https://nikonrumors.com/2017/08/22/nikon-d850-press-release-leaked.aspx/

looks like 4K (only UHD) but with no crop factor. Official press release is in 30 hours and we can learn more about its video capabilities.