Mark Romero 2

8 hours ago, Davide Roveri said:

Cheers mate! 😊

90% of the shots is the Lumix S 50 1.8 and I've used the 20-60 kit lens for the wide angles.

Did you shoot in V-LOG?

33 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

But the Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 is a 💯% from me.

The Sigma f2 and f2.8 Contemporary primes are also A Grade as far as I am concerned with better build, feel, style and character over the Lumix f1.8’s plus have aperture rings and AF on/off switches on them.

It’s above 90mm where L Mount loses me…

Thanks for the reply!

Darn, if the Sigma 28-70 f/2.8 only had lens stabilization, it would be a no-brainer for me. Partly because, in the USA at least, Sigma will replace lens mounts free of charge, so if I decided to move from Panasonic to Sony at some point, then it would be an easy swap.

6 hours ago, MrSMW said:

S5ii + cage + Sigma 28-70 f2.8 + Rode Micro as my all day run & gun, gimbal ready, 4k 50p unit (so 42-105mm equivalent). Right hip.

How well does the Sigma 28-70 f/2.8 work with the S5 II? 

Panasonic has a crazy deal with the S5 II / X with the 20-60mm, and the 50mm f/1.8, AND the 85mm f/1.8.

I would be tempted to sell those lenses and get the Sigma 28-75 f/2.8 instead. (I already have a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM on the MC-21 so I think I would be covered for a normal fast prime, plus I have far too many manual focus lenses in the 50mm to 58mm range, too).

1 hour ago, sanveer said:

Magic Lantern, how about 12-bit RAW on the Panasonic Cameras 😉

 

This!!!

I would add that - and this is just personal - if you could live with the wonky autofocus, then I would probably go for an original G9 over the E-M1 II. I really like 10-bit video, and 4K 60p is nice. Also, I find the menus on the E-M1 MK II a bit baffling. But that's just me. 

I haven't used the G-series of cameras from panasonic, so I can't compare directly. But I do have an E-M1 MK II with a version 3.0 firmware on it (which allows for phase-detect AF in video mode).

It is pretty good. Handling is nice. IBIS is great and rather simple to use. 

I basically loan it to my son for his school video projects and he often has another student (who has never used a real camera before) use it to film him, and they are able to generate in-focus, steady footage (despite the fact that they have little to no technical training, nor any artistic training).

For being an 8-bit m43 camera in 2024, it is pretty good. I've used it as a C Camera with my Panasonic full frame S1 and S5 cameras, and while it is hard to match the Oly to the Panasonics, it is pretty easy to match the Panasnics to the Olyumpus (as long as you are shooting in 10-bit V-LOG on the Panasonic bodies).

Hope this helps.

51 minutes ago, kye said:

HLG isn't a standard, it's more like a semi-technical marketing phrase, however, rec2100 and rec2020 are HDR standards and you can use a CST to convert them to whatever you like.  If I shoot a clip in 709 and then HLG on my GH5, then the conversion from rec2100 to 709 is pretty close to the 709 version SOOC.  Close enough that the difference is irrelevant, because you're going to want to push and pull the image in post, and those adjustments will easily override the differences out of the camera.

It's easily tested - just record a clip in HLG and then in V-LOG and use the CST to convert both to rec709 and see which input colour space / gamma is closest to the V-LOG conversion.

The better you get at colour grading, the less you care about which camera or colour space was used, as long as it's a robust and efficient codec and has colour management support.

Thanks for the input.

Yeah, I think that the MAIN reason i never used HLG was because there wasn't a simple LUT available for it (as far as I knew at the time), and I was told that IF I ever wanted to uses ACES in resolve, then it could be problamtic. Is that an old wives tale? Don't know. Just didn't want to experiement with it because I was pretty happy with V-LOG and the Ground Control LUT (I think that is the one I am using... will double check. I just know it was free, because, I am cheap).

But will certainly give it a go now, although I admit that sometimes when using a CST node in Resolve, I then don't know what to set some of the other "ancilliary" settings to (like the tone mapping and such). And reading through the Resolve manual makes my brain hurt.

3 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Anyone really loving the colour they are getting from their S line cameras? I liked the results filming in HLG better than in VLog, which I got after grading.

Curious as to how you are then converting from HLG to a Rec.709 image? (or maybe you are just monitoring / delivering in HLG???). I haven't tried HLG yet because not sure if there is a "right" way to get it in to Rec 709. (Maybe there is a CST for it in Resolve??? Or a Third-Party LUT???)

I am pretty happy with V-LOG, despite my neophyte grading skills. I usually grade in Resolve DaVinci Wide Gamut / intermediate and use the Ground Control to Rec.709 LUT. Most of my Luma and Primary corrections are done BEFORE the LUT, in the HDR panels, and for me I find it important to set the Color Space (and gamut) in the drop down menu of the HDR panel to V-LOG / V-Gamut.

(NOTE: I used to use Sony 8-bit S-LOG from aps-c sensors, so it wasn't hard to see an improvement in 10-bit V-LOG from Panasonic full frame.)

I don't normally add a film look, or get too complicated with my node tree, since my graphics card only has 8GB of video memory (RTX 2060 Super... I can easily afford something like the 4060 TI Super or whatever with 16GB video memory, but the performance on those is still so bad because of the memory bandwidth, I refuse to do it). 

Again, I am "happy" with it, and my clients seem to be fine with it, but I don't think anyone in Hollywood is gonna ring me up asking to become a Colorist forthem any time soon.

3 hours ago, Walter H said:

but unsure I would do the same now (at least once the Z6v3 is released).

That is one camera I am looking forward to.

1 hour ago, Walter H said:

I have been thinking of this investment in the S1 as an opportunity to bridge for the next year or two when these second gen S-series cameras have been out a while and their prices moderate. 

That makes sense. Unfortunately for me, my brain un-friended logic a long time ago.

1 hour ago, Walter H said:

I do have a 1/8th Black Pro Mist and that has helped at times in some critical moments, BUT it makes the peaking for manual focus in video with the S1 almost disappear, especially in Vlog.

Uhhh... that's not good. I don't know if this will help, but I have heard people say something about using a monochrome (preview) lut or using a monochrome picture profile (for jpg shooting, at least) to get better peaking...

1 hour ago, Walter H said:

In other news, I'm absolutely ditching the S5 body and picked up a Fuji X-H2s for the role as a lighter weight hybrid cam and I'm really pleased with it.

I am still a bit ignorant about Fuji cameras in general, so would love to hear your thoughts on the X-H2s compared to the S5 (origianal) you are selling.

2 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 

Just realized you're not using a proper boom pole or any real shock mount either!! 😮 😮 😮 

Near the top of the list (either just before getting a shotgun mic, or just after getting a shotgun mic) should be getting a shock mount and a real boom pole. 

Such as one of these:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/554999-REG/Rycote_041107_INV_7_InVision_Indoor_Microphone.html 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/880280-REG/Rycote_041118_INV_8_Microphone_Suspension.html 

Or get a Radius shockmount (they're new company set up by the ex-Rycote people). 

https://radiuswindshields.com/ (B&H is not stocking them yet) 

Here is are dirt cheap Boom Poles you could get:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1384773-REG/airo_abp1_boom_pole_1.html 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1601173-REG/proam_usa_boom_sq_10_telescopic_boom.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1266050-REG/e_image_ba12_11_5_section_telescoping_aluminum.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1666142-REG/digitalfoto_solution_limited_bm01c_carbon_fiber_microphone_boom.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1374872-REG/came_tv_ms300c_carbon_fiber_microphone.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1504170-REG/proaim_bp_12c_12_carbon_fiber_boom.html

Or spend a little bit more for:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/326966-REG/K_Tek_KE_110_KE_110_Avalon_Series_Aluminum.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/625156-REG/K_Tek_KE_144_KE_144_Avalon_Series_Aluminum.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1606022-REG/auray_bp_59a_5_section_aluminum_boom_pole.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1773622-REG/k_tek_kc108_essential_5_section_boompole.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1490197-REG/k_tek_kp9_klassicpro_graphite_6_section.html 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1639167-REG/k_tek_kp10v_boom_pole_carbon_removable.html 

https://www.gothamsound.com/product/qp-slim-short-quickpole-boom-pole (my personal choice here) 

Thanks for the great tips and the easy to follow guide to upgrading.

I was looking at the Deity Theos, but...

Due to patent restrictions, APPARENTLY in the old US of A, the Theos isn't allowed to both transmit wirelessly AND record internally at the same time. I could be wrong about that but I watched Curtis Judd and someone else (TL;DR???) and they said you can't transmit and record in the US, as best I can remember.

There is another (non transmitting) recorder from Deity coming out called the PR-2, which appears to be pretty similar to the Tascam DR-10L, but will sync timecode with the Deity TC-1 (and, i am assuming, you can adjust setting through the Sidus app instead of having to bear hug the talent in order to adjust gain).

Nowadays, it seems like for no-budget shoots, people are just slapping the Rode Go or DJI wireless transmitters WITHOUT a lav mic on to the talent and leaving it at that.

You also asked why not use the Tascam DR-10L mics and recorder, and in fact, I DID, but...

The talent and the campaing manager didn't want to use a teleprompter (which I brought and set up), as it made the talent really "tense and robotic." So he kept the script in his hands. He marked out on the script what he had to recite facing the camera, and there were parts of the script marked out that he could look at the paper, as there would be a cut to B Roll in those parts.

Problem was, he would often crank his head down, or raise his arm up quickly while talking, so a lot of the Lav audio had rustling clothing sounds. Or he would clip when pointing his face straight down to read the script.

We actually shot 7 videos that day, and we ended up with 48 takes total. If it wasn't the DJ and the cheerleaders, it was the gardners next door cranking up the power mower, or the construction crews hammering away down the block. Or sometimes the talent would just bring the script up or start tilting his head down too early. There was a lot of audio spliced together from different takes. Hence, my renewed interest in timecode...

The irony is, if he is directly talking to you about political issues, he is a GREAT presenter and VERY articulate.

I guess this would have been one of those shoots that uses the dual teleprompter setup (can't remember what it is called but there is a pretty famour North American Documentary shooter who uses it), where the talent looks in to a teleprompter which is projecting the image of the interviewer, and the interviewer is looking at the live feed of the talent in a teleprompter, too.

On 2/8/2024 at 11:37 PM, IronFilm said:

How exactly are you using them and your Tascam?

Here's an example. I did the A Roll / audio for this with the Samson C02 boomed overhead the talent in to the Tascam DR-60-D II. There is a LOT of work done on the audio (I basically had to run it through Adobe Podcaster as well as some EQ and other things in Resolve... don't remember exactly what.

The only B Roll I contributed was the parts where Marin County was NOT on fire or under water. 

Aside from the (slight) wind noise (don't have a dead cat / blimp for these mics), we were about a block away from the local high school, and halfway through the shoot they had cheer leading practice, and so a dji was blasting music for them to practice to.

Here's a BTS shot that shows (more or less) the setup. Because my 300 Watt Godox light wasn't adding anything, I just changed out the softbox and light on camera left to a DIY scrim (just draped some translucent cloth over a background stand on camera left, then a white reflector for fill on camera right).

Note that the boom stand was a LOT closer to the talent at the time of shooting (probably around 18 inches or half-a-meter away for thsoe who don't speak Freedom Units). The talent requested this BTS photo after I had already moved the c-stand with the boom further away from the talent in order to strike the set.

On the tascam, I set the gain to medium (in the menu) and then crank the physical dial up, which seems to have slightly less noise than setting the gain to high (in the menu) and turning the phsyical dial down.

Let's not talk about the apple boxes :(

4 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

7 hours ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

(Again, looking at this as a one-man-band operation, using my heinous Samson C02 mics.)

Ohhh... maybe that's something to fix first! Before changing your recorder.

But the Samson's are CHEAP, and so am I :(

On 2/1/2024 at 6:24 AM, Dan64 said:

Hi all, am new here so apologies if this is in the wrong place!

Does anybody know if the FX30 outputs timecode? 

I want to satisfy the EXT AUTO REC function on my Zoom f6 but want to check that the FX30 can output timecode through the multiport if I get a Sony VMC-BNCM1 Timecode Adapter Cable and tentacle 3.5mm sync cable. 

Thank you in advance 

Dan 

Sorry if I am confused about your situation, but...

I think that you need to use the multiport for timecode IN to the FX30 for recording timecode metadata. So that would basically tie up your multiport.

The Sony VMC-BNCM1 plugs in to the multiport, if I am not mistaken.

I am not sure if you can "jam" timecode on the FX30 / FX3 cameras. By jamming, that would mean plug in the tentacle sync to the multiport first, get the FX30 to read the timecode value from the Tentacle sync, and then unplug the tentacle sync while the FX30 timecode remains in sync, thus freeing up the multiport.

There is a page that lists three options of getting timecode with the tentacle sync and the FX30 / FX3 here:

https://tentaclesync.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403308580241-How-can-I-sync-my-Sony-FX3-FX30-camera

There is this note at the bottom of the page:

Please keep any timecode generator connected to the camera at all times. Without the continuous connection, the camera's timecode will drift within less than 30 minutes.

So to me, that sounds like 1) you possibly COULD jam sync timecode to the FX30, thus freeing up the multiport, and 2) you should NOT do that as it will drift out of sync relatively quickly.

Hope this helps.

On 1/24/2024 at 8:20 PM, Walter H said:

Any thoughts/opinions on adding an OLPF to our beloved Panny's? Seriously looking at this option from Kolari for my S1.

Context: I'm a hybrid shooter doing almost as much stills work as video professionally. Currently with an S1 and an S5. I've been repeatedly hit with troublesome moiré particularly when doing portrait work and have considered selling off my S1 to pick up an S1h to compliment and diversify explicitly for this image-making issue. 

Purportedly, their OLPF is more effective than what is in the S1h. I could do this and still be well below the kit cost vs what I could get for my S1 vs. the cost of a lightly used S1h would be. My S1 is now out of warrantee - not worried about voiding anything. I talked with one of their engineers today and the white balance shift is lens specific and quite slight but they felt they had to put a strong/conservative disclaimer on the website. One-year warrantee. I could ditch my 1/8 black mist when filming with the 24-105. Etc. 

Struggling to find a downside here. 

One downside is I think that you will be spending $700 on a modification for a camera that you would be lucky to re-sell for about US $800. (I got a trade-in quote from MPB for like $535 or something like that. Gonna pass on that. Thanks.)

I don't think getting the OLPF mod would help with resale value (might even hurt) as anyone shooting photos would probably balk at the idea of buying a camera with a third-party OLPF installed.

Of course, not a problem if you plan on holding on to the S1 long term. But with the second-gen S1 / S1H / S1R "likely" to come out this year, it might not be a great idea.

All this is just my long and convuluted way of saying that the 1/8th Black Pro Mist filter doesn't seem like that bad of a solution.

On 1/27/2024 at 3:48 AM, IronFilm said:

 

On 1/26/2024 at 10:55 PM, Mark Romero 2 said:

My current audio gear, by the way, is still a disaster: Two of Tascam DR-10L, a Tascam DR-60D II, and two of Samson CO2 cardioid mics.

Ahhh... I remember the Samsons C02, it was awful, yet I did all of my first feature film with it for anything indoors.

Out of curiosity, do you have any thoughts on whether a used first gen MixPre 3 would be noticeably better than the Tascam DR-60D MK II that I currently own? 

I think I would lose one channel, but the MixPre 3 has timecode in (not sure if it generates TC as well or not), and if the levels / balistics are easier to read and don't have to do as much menu diving as on the DR-60D MK II, might be a worthwhile investment. (Again, looking at this as a one-man-band operation, using my heinous Samson C02 mics.)

On 2/7/2024 at 7:10 AM, jgharding said:

The hope is that an S1H ii would add the AF, with some improvements, and hopefully not add any bugs LOL
 

In a perfect world, I think the autofocus would be the CDAF / DFD autofocus that Panasonic always PROMISED us it would be, but never delivered. It's too bad, because when my S1 or (original) S5 actually DOES nail focus, it looks REALLY nice and smooth. It almost has an "ease in" quality to it where it slows down just enough before landing in focus.

Of course, those times are few and far between. 

Some of my old Sony aps-c cameras had that same kind of feature when focusing on subjects not in the center of the frame (and I think that made the AF system revert back to CDAF, but don't want to swear by that).

Going on a rant here: I think one thing that bugs me about (contemporary) Sony cameras is that the autofocus is SOOOO good, a lot of people don't bother to slow down the AF speed, which I think it might make it smoother / more natural. Combine that with the focus breathing and it's something that kind of just irks me. Rant over.

I would be interested to know what it is that still bothers you about the S5IIX though. Is it just mostly the moire? 

How do you find the image quality overall?

Lament: I know I should be moving toward Sony, but since I still do majority photos (with flash), the best camera for me is probably the a7S III, which isn't a bad camera, just that the FX3 or even the FX30 might make more sense in some video situations.

Since your background is (basically) visual storytelling, how about marketing? (or social media marketing or buzzword-du-jour marketing???)

The other questions is, what does your heart WANT to do?

44 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

@Mark Romero 2, TC was added as a feature for the S1 in a firmware update:

https://www.eoshd.com/news/firmware-update-turns-panasonic-s1-into-an-s1h-with-record-time-limit-in-demanding-modes-like-6k/ 

Well... it definitely has time code support of some kind, but I think it is more similar to the S5 (original, and possibly the S5 II / X are similar). 

I can't confirm either way about getting timecode though the flash sync port since I didn't get a BNC-to-flash-port adapter :(

However, with firmware 2.1 on my S1, there is no "External Timecode Settings" menu available (while the S1H has that option), so there is no way to set a TC Syncronization, as far as I can tell, through the menu.

I'll try looking in to it a bit more later on. But I think that we just are stuck recording audio timecode to the left channel and then converting to metadata in Resolve. (Suck it, Premiere Pro users!!!)

Unrelated Rant: Wish there was an easy way to store those flash sync port covers when you remove them.

On 1/27/2024 at 11:19 PM, IronFilm said:

They both support timecode via the flash sync port, just like the GH5S and GH6 does. 

I am not 100% sure that the regular S1 will accept time code via the Flash Sync port. 

I have to finish up my quarterly taxes today, but will test it out with my S1 and my Deity TC-1 unit this evening just to confirm later on.

But my gut feeling was that only the S1H and the GH5S are the only hybrid bodies that would accept time code through the flash port, and that for the other bodies (including the S1) you would have to dedicate an audio channel to recording time code (and then use a feature like Resolve's convert audio timecode to metadata timecode, or whatever it is called.

If I am wrong and the S1 actually DOES accept time code through the flash port, I will be a happy boy. (I do have the $200 Cinema / V-LOG firmware installed.)

16 minutes ago, kye said:

Not an odd request at all!

These days it does seem that the preference is to go with ProresRAW or BRAW in order to get file sizes under control though, and after looking at the Sigma FP I can understand this trend because WOW, those data rates are just stratospheric!

One thing I'd dearly love for the manufacturers to offer is downsampled Cinema DNGs.  So, if you had a 6K sensor then you could choose 4K, 3K, 2.5K 2K, 1080p resolutions that were still the full sensor width.  This gives much of the benefits of both worlds.

Are you talking about internal storage like a small internal SSD inside the camera?  I have definitely noticed that many cameras record externally to SSD at much higher data rates than their card slots are able to muster.

Perhaps, and I know I'm being optimistic now, an open standard might emerge where NVME shaped SSDs in a slimline hard-case could be used as removable media via a slot.  Any camera that supported it would have the benefit of not requiring a fragile lump+cable to be attached, but the user would get the benefit of a fast drive.

I am thinking about an NVME which is hard-wired to the camera's internal board. The write speeds would - as far as I understand - be potentially higher than an external SSD.

The one downside would probably be expense though, because faster speeds would mean bigger files, which would mean a bigger drive, which would mean more expensive (I guess, but I ain't no engineer).

On 12/18/2023 at 11:49 AM, Jim Russell said:

I realize I am the odd duck here, but I would love it if the S1H II gave us Adobe Cinema DNG at 6K via the USB cable to an external SSD. I doubt they will, but I remain hopeful. Panasonic seems to have shifted focus to the under 30 users, as evidenced with S5IIx sales results. But there are still a number of us old war horses who still love their cameras.

It would be nice to get Cinema DNG natively, however, at least one can get ProRes RAW and then convert it to Cinema DNG on the computer. 

Hopefully soem sort of licensing deal will be worked out to allow the native recording in Cinema DNG, if that is even possible. Better yet would be a large amount of INTERNAL storage that would allow people to capture at a much higher bitrate.

10 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Always makes me laugh when I read that someone thinks a 700g mirrorless is heavy.

Heavy? What are you? A 5 year old girl?

Having said that, this 53 year old girl got pretty tired of his 2.8kg set up from last season so replaced it with something almost exactly 1kg lighter.

But then there is pure weight vs weight distribution and handling due to ergos and how you use these things…

I actually have a tough time lifting things. I have broken each collar bone at least twice due to motorcycle accidents and playing ice hockey. Operating a camera on a gimbal can be a challenge. I might end up with an easy rig at some point, which I am sure would look pretty stupid at a wedding...

3 hours ago, kye said:

Actually, that's an interesting idea - you could take the 4K image and Super Scale it to 8K, then when you crop into it on the timeline you'd be cropping into (let's say) a 6K area of the image, which was originally a 3K area.

It's definitely worth trying along side dialling in the sharpness yourself.

Hmmm... didn't think of it that way.

I just naturally ASSUMED that supersizing the least amount possible would be best... as opposed to supersizing it larger than needed, then cropping in. 

I guess now that BMD knew what they were doing when they limited the supersizing to fixed values...

13 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Ninja V recording ProResRaw 4.7K from the FX30 might be the ticket for you. (maybe with a little help uprezzing/sharpening in post)

Do remember that often we can be far too critical on ourselves, and that local bakery you shot for or the local rally car team you film for, none of them are going to notice or care if you punched in on a 4K or 6K image. 

Yeah there is no point buying a Sony Venice if by the time  you get to the level to justify having it, that a Venice 2, Burano, and even a FX9mk2 are out already! A bit of an extreme example, but it applies all the way down. Don't get an FX6 before you're ready, if a FX30 will do. Don't get an FX30 if an a6300 will do. Don't get an a6300 if a NEX5N will do. (I literally was having this conversation with someone local here in NZ last week. They're brand new with ZERO experience in filmmaking. Of course something like a FX30 would be fantastic for them! And maaaybe if they dropped all their money on it they could get a FX30 body and a kit lens. Some people seriously do that, all the money into the body. But I said they place they should be looking at is at the NEX5N to a6x00 level, secondhand. With more erring towards a NEX5N. 

Lots of times with pro grade cameras people will have an in between stage where they're kinda-ish an owner or at least a regular user, before they actually buy one itself. 

Let's say a producer you know is doing a reality tv production and they go "right, we need half a dozen camera ops with a FX6"

Well, you'll just rent a FX6 for that production. 

Also maybe you start regularly being a wedding second shooter for a guy for a whole wedding season, and he uses a FX6/FX3/FX30 combo setup for the main cameras. So as you become buddy buddy with him, maybe he let's you borrow his FX6 when he doesn't need it? (or for a very cheap deal) 

Thus you then shoot a no budget short film on this freely loaned FX6, and you do a couple of local low budget videography jobs with his FX6 that he rents to you at a great deal. etc etc etc 

As you get more experience with the FX6 you then become comfortable advertising yourself as "an FX6 shooter" (no need to mention the little dirty secret you don't actually own one yourself...). 

Eventually you're doing enough of these FX6 jobs it makes financial sense to then buy your own. (or maybe by this point in time the FX6mk2 has came out! And you get that instead) 

You might even be borrowing/renting a FX6 for jobs that don't strictly need it, but you think both the job and yourself can benefit from it. 

That short film for instance might not have had the budget to rent a FX6, so perhaps strictly speaking you should have used your FX30. But because you believed in the director, and you have got the stars aligning that some of your other mates are going to join in too to be stellar a 1st AC and Gaffer for you on the crew, you decide to really push all out with this to get something amazing for the show reel. So you also use your connections to get the free loan of the FX6. 

Then for that local videography job where you just merely making a social media advert for some local nail saloon, it has just a low budget that sure the FX30 could have been just fine, but maybe there were aspects about it you thought "it would be nice to have a FX6" so you decided to swallow the costs for the discounted FX6 rental from a friend to use it on the shoot. That way both the production and yourself benefits from the experience of using it. 

I've seen this kind of progression / tactic play out many times with various crew members I know in the industry. 

I've done something rather similar myself with my own career as a Production Sound Mixer. 

Started out with just using my absolutely shitty / nonexistent equipment on my own short films or student films and such. (one of my first ever short films I used a monopod as a boom pole! With a Zoom H1 mounted at the end of it. Yes, it was that bad) 

Then I was doing some productions using other people's stuff, such as merely a crappy Zoom H4n (or a much better setup with a Sound Devices 302 going into Zoom H4n, still an awful setup though!). Or one particular film that will always stand out in my mind which was a Sound Devices 302 running into a Sound Devices 702T, which was very weird for me... as I was seemingly meant to be using 5x Sennheiser G2/G3 wireless with it???? And a boom! wtf

Eventually as I got to know directors, they'd leave the equipment on loan with me. After all, if I was doing every single short film of theirs, why not just let me have the gear in between the shoots? Saves them having to remember to bring it to the shoots. So that's how I ended up getting a borrowed 416 shotgun and blimp plus crappy boom pole from one one director, and a borrowed Sennheiser G3 from another director, with a G2 & G1 wireless from another, getting an Oktava mk-012 hypercardioid boom mic from another, etc. That I just got to keep at home for myself, that I could also use on any another  productions I'd do. 

Eventually I'd gradually upgrade and add to this equipment. Getting a better boom pole, getting my own Sanken CS3e shotgun, getting more of my own wireless (going with Sony UWP-D11 instead of Sennheiser G3 though), getting an AKG CK63 instead of the Oktava, etc etc etc 

(also would sometimes be renting in extra gear when needed to, such as extra Lectrosonics wireless from the rental house. Or even just simply better lav mics than the crappy stock lav mics I was using. Even for gigs that didn't request it, but I thought were paying me a good enough rate I better show up with the gear to justify it) 

I'd try to keep around the borrowed equipment from the directors even after I'd upgraded it, as it's always good to keep spare backups! But as my career progressed I'd get busier, and have to be saying "no" to these directors when they asked me to do sound on their short films because I would have actual paying jobs I needed to do so I couldn't do their freebies any longer.

Thus of course if I wasn't working for them, it made no sense to keep on holding onto their gear, so I'd return it back to them. But it helped me get started onto the track to where I am today! (with a quarter million or so RRP of sound equipment!)

 

Yeah I think in the vast majority of cases people shouldn't use a log profile if recording in 8bit, if they can avoid it. 

IKR!!!! I used to have an a5100, if you just simply stare at it too hard then the thing will have an heart attack and overheat. 

Eh? The FX30 is an APS-C / S35 camera. 

And Sony's APS-C line up seems to still be going strongly. (ok, not as much focus put into it as say Fujifilm does. And I wish there was a "Sony FX60"!!) As Sony has their a6x00 series of cameras and the FX30 too. (oh, and the Sony ZV-E10 too! Plus any others I'm forgetting??) 

Sony APS-C is definitely not going away any time soon. 

Thanks for the thorough reply and sharing your experience about your equipment "ladder" as you slowly got more - and better - equipment.

Gotta ask why you went with the Sony wireless instead fo the G2s / G3s? I've heard a couple of people mention going the Sony route over Senheiser for their wireless packs, but they never really went in to detail why.

My current audio gear, by the way, is still a disaster: Two of Tascam DR-10L, a Tascam DR-60D II, and two of Samson CO2 cardioid mics. One "legit" boom pole (well, it can be mounted in a c-stand grip head but if you tried to hand hold the thing, you would hear nothing but squeaking metal the whole shot). Oh, and the Ubiquitos Zoom h1n and a TAKSTAR SGC-598 shotgun mic. Anyway, at least I have progressed past the point of leaving the shotgun mic in the hotshoe while standing 15-feet / 5-meters away from the talent, so there is still hope...

And... I got the Deity TC-1 for timecode generation, but none of my cameras or audio gear has time code in / jamming, so I basically have to use an audio channel for that.