Mark Romero 2

53 minutes ago, mercer said:

There’s a video floating around, I think Driftwood may have done it, but he tested a bunch of variable NDs and although it doesn’t compare quality wise to a Heliopan or Tiffen, it scored very high for neutral color and it is one of the few that has hard stops at each end so you don’t get the dreaded X pattern popping up in you footage.

They say you may take a sharpness hit but it hasn’t bothered me yet. I shot this with the 5D3 and ML Raw with the 24-70mm f/4 lens wide open and the Bower ND and it seems sharp enough to me...

Thank you.

On 12/1/2017 at 10:15 AM, mercer said:

Since the color shift in ND filters vary depending upon brand, I doubt it goes into consideration. If I were you, I would get ND filters with the most neutral color cast. A good neutral color cast ND filter is B+W on the more expensive end and Bower if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative. 

I like cheap!!! So the Bower is pretty ok for the dollars??? I see one on Adorama that says they should be able to reduce the light by 8 stops max, but is there a certain level that you wouldn't go past due to IQ of the filter? I think I can get away with five or six stops. Are Bower's pretty neutral in color cast up to six stops? (Bower ND filters seem to be better rated on Adorama than they are on Amazon.)

4 hours ago, noone said:

A7s at ISO 6400 is very nice.

 

The A7s at ISO 12800 has about the same DR as the Canon 7D does at ISO 1600 (RAW stills anyway).

120/100fps is only 750p on the first version A7s.

Thanks. Good to know.

14 minutes ago, Dan Wake said:

Cristal clear 6400 ISO is low light for me and I rly need also slow motion to work. I wish to spend about 1000 euro. I assume it's too early for this right? Maybe next year or too early too?

I think that is going to be difficult.

Off the top of my head, a used Sony a7s (original version) can shoot 1080p up to ISO 6400 very well and I believe it can shoot at least 60fps (maybe 120fps, I am not certain).

But then you won't have any money left over for a lens.

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

a7S mk3 will not have all the GH5 specs/features but with a FF sensor.

 

I'll eat my hat if it does.

This is why I now just wear a pancake on my head for a hat...

1 hour ago, Kisaha said:

@Mark Romero 2

Do not get me wrong, Rode has very good and competitive products, but in most cases they are a notch under what I would like, and usually I found it in Sennheiser products. I have and own other brands too, but in certain market gaps that Sennheiser doesn't have a product, or they are more expensive that I would like, or have the budget for. A great mic is the NTG3, I used it a lot for a few documentary series (because most of the production companies over here own a couple of those), but every time I was going back to my 416, I knew which one was better (at least for me, the NTG3 is a more forgiving microphone). My impression right now, is that the best, cheap, mic(s) for dSLR and mirrorless, right now, is the Sennheiser MKH440, it does more sense in 95% of the uses it is intended to. When I want the absolute cheapest, smallest, lightest, with not a lot of drain in battery, then I go to the micro. It is just brilliant that they built something like this. A) Micro B) 440 C) independent sound recording with pro mics and recorders, those are my user cases. As Max said, it doesn't get in your way. You can see through your EVF, it doesn't really add to the weight, it ain't so "phallic" and aggressive as others, and it is dead cheap! You can find it for even less, including the fur, and the Rycote Lyre system.

EDIT: also it has the best design among all this Rode video mic series, and it doesn't need to turn it on/off, I have seen myriad times other Rode video mics to be off, when they should be on, and off, when they should be off!

The rest of them are notoriously badly ergonomically built. Especially before the Rode adopted the Rycote Lyre system, they were a disaster to work with. Very bad battery placement, the rubber bands were silly and very bad implemented.

I do not agree with some of Max's opinions though, the micro AIN'T that good acoustically and musically, if you like, most of the other microphones were a good bit better than that, the price difference isn't unsubstantial but for all the aforementioned, and the price, it is the best.

 

Thanks for the insight!!!

6 hours ago, Kisaha said:

Wow! I can see 2 NX1 cameras there, I thought they had vanished from this dimension (the Trump one, where the world goes to hell!)

My favorite is the Micro, it is the only Rode mic I ever owned! All the rest, I would rather use something else.

It looks good (at US $59 ) and sounds good, but is there any other not-so-obvious reason you like the video micro???

4 minutes ago, Axel said:

I have the smallHD Focus. Helps with exposure also through false colors. I don't worry about the said car tire shadows, but you always want to expose skin correctly. 

Thanks again!

2 minutes ago, ntblowz said:

A63/6500 1080P quality is bad, especially when I cut with sharp cameras like C100MKII, the difference is sooo obvious!  my old A5100 have sharper 1080p output.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I wish there was an aps-c sensor camera that had the 1080p output of the original a7s 

Maybe I should just pick up an original a7s and use my APS-C lenses on it for 1080p??? (Since I already have several Sony aps-c lenses and since I am too cheap to buy a Sony 16-35 f/4 lens)

2 minutes ago, Axel said:

There are certain circumstances in which UHD @100 mbps is a problem: Slog. Even if you bravely try to ETTR all the time, in the real world and in situations of wide dynamic range you'll nonetheless sometimes capture the noise floor. Not necessarily shadows beneath car tires but for instance parts of faces that happened to be heavily backlit. This noise then clots together as macroblocks with banding. You could live with a little noise, but those areas ruin the recording, and you usually see them when it's too late. The GH2 once had all-intra hacks with absurdly high data rates (like 172 instead of 24 mbps), and the fans raved about the added detail. But there wasn't more detail. The hack just preserved all of the noise. The shadows looked more natural, and if there was too much noise, you could perfectly Neat it. 

A ProRes capture means less compression artifacts, so I wouldn't say it's completely useless. Would I want to schlep a recorder on top of my compact little camera? Definitely not. I try to expose better, and I accept around 5 % rejects where I failed.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.

And what do you consider "low light"? What ISO are you thinking of?

And which is more important to you: 4K at 60fps, or better "Low Light" performance?

38 minutes ago, Alex Uzan said:

No, you won’t get any real benefits.

The sony a6300/6500 1080p is awful. Worst than any other camera I own. Such a pity since it’s 4k is the better one. I had to buy a gh5 for work (long recording), and I can see that I lost something in IQ.

Thanks for the input.

Ok, well I guess I will just continue to use my a6000 for when I need 1080p (mostly for 60fps in sunny conditions so no need for the high iso capabilities of the a6500 sensor).

Noticed the Atomos Ninja Flame 4K recorder is on sale for $595 and am thinking of getting one for my a6500. 

But I am wondering if it would really make that much of a difference - in particular, to the quality of the 1080p footage.

I have searched around the internets and it seems like maybe it doesn't help much with 1080p footage; maybe the only benefit is that it reduces compression artifacts, which are apparently not that high to begin with when using XAVC S codec internally.

The other benefit is the brightness of the monitor.

Anyone using an external recorder with the a6500 (or a6300) and see any real world benefits in terms of IQ?

Looks like the Ninja Flame can record 8-Bit 4:2:2, and as far as I understand, the a6500 / a6300 can output 4:2:2 from HDMI port. Any real world benefit? 

Thanks in advance.

It's a helpful video.

The most important lessons for me were:

1) Significant difference between cardioid and hyper cardioid patterns, and

2) Booming a cheap mic closer to your talent will be much better than having the most expensive mic sitting on top of your camera

I know, I know, obvious to some already.

10 hours ago, HockeyFan12 said:

No I couldn’t afford the Bay Area! Beautiful part of the country, though. 

No one can afford the Bay Area!!!

2 hours ago, HockeyFan12 said:

I've seen Chungking Express projected from a good 35mm print at a high end screening facility and the texture and color of it are beyond anything I've seen shot on any digital camera

I have to say that anybody who is both a hockey fan AND a fan of Wong Kar-Wai is ok in my book.

Are you located in the Bay Area by chance???

I remember watching Days of Being Wild at the World Theater on Broadway in The City back in 1990 or '91 when it was first released. That was probably the closest to film nirvana I have experienced.

On 11/19/2017 at 6:03 AM, Mattias Burling said:

A used A7s is affordable indeed these days. 

Yes, it is. Something to think about.

But then the 16-35 is about US $1,100 used, and then I would probably need a 24MP body such as the a7 II as well. 

If sony full frame lenses were more affordable - or if I were halfway decent at manual focus with adapted lenses - then it could work.

On 11/18/2017 at 7:51 PM, ryne275 said:

Likelihood of the a6500 being "replaced" in the next 6 or so months? I'm thinking about picking up an 6300 or 6500, but if an a6700 is right around the corner, should I wait? 240fps in FHD would be nice. And 4K 60fps would be fantastic

I don't really know when the a6500 will get replaced, and I think that trying to predict what sony is going to do is kind of a fool's errand, IMHO.

People were kind of right in predicting the a9, but it wasn't exactly what people had said it would be (the lower MP sensor).

Not sure many people were expecting the release of the a7R III. Most people I saw were predicting an a7 III. But then again it kind of made sense that some of the tech that was in the a9 would go into another flagship camera.

I'm not really sure what would go into an a6500 successor... and no telling if it would be at the a6500 price point or whether it would be closer to that of D500

5 hours ago, mercer said:

Btw, he is a Sony shooter that recently switched to the 5D Mark IV.

I watched his video on WHY he switched and it is hard to argue with his points. I believe he shot primarily / entirely in 1080p with his Sony cameras, so that is one thing to keep in mind.

The 1080p on the 5D IV does look good. How is the DR and rolling shutter on the 5D IV?

My hope of hopes is that Nikon would release a new D750 / D760 that would have on-sensor phase detect AF and great 1080p, and still have the easy-to-work-with codec and really great colors. And please get rid of the mode dial lock function. 

15 minutes ago, mercer said:

I had the a6500 for a while and felt the IBIS was very good, especially at fixing the RS issue, but then when I bought my 5D3 and 24-70mm f4, I was blown away by how steady that lens is. The IS on that lens gets great reviews, so I just figured it was a one off. But then I bought the 35mm f/2 and was blown away yet again by how steady the lens is. With a strap and my elbows at my sides, it’s damn near rock solid. With that being said, my comment wasn’t intended to be a pissing match between Canon IS lenses and Sony IBIS, I just wanted to express that I know IBIS is tempting but the OIS on Canon lenses is pretty impressive and often goes unmentioned.

I understand why people are annoyed with the large file sizes of mjpeg, but since storage is pretty much the cheapest of “accessories,” it never really bothered me much. Anyway just throwing it out there in case Mark hasn’t considered it. 

Honestly Mark would probably do well with almost any camera on the market since I would imagine most real estate videos are watched on cell phones.

If I were shooting real estate, weddings, trade shows, or any event really, I would think AF would be one of the most important features needed, so I would stop reading this site and go buy a Canon.

Thanks for the input. It is always good to get a diverse range of opinions on things.

Is the dual pixel AF that much better than the AF on the a6500???

12 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

There are tests floating around on youtube/vimeo that show otherwise. Being able to shoot at base ISO's rather than the sky high ISO's required for Slog, and not needing to use LUT's makes life a lot easier too - but my grading skills are pretty basic. The DR curve is distributed different in Slog compared to Cine, but they both produce about 12 useable stops. Sony's claims of 14+ stops is just not true.

Storage isn't the issue for me - though it does eat card space awful quick. Its how taxing the large files are on your computer when you have 100 clips, transitions, slight exposure/color corrections, titles and such on a timeline. 

Not trying to start a flame war either.

Cheers

Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I kind of figured Sony might be over-optimistic with their data  claims.

And yes, being able to shoot at ISO 200 is much better than ISO 800 (which is base ISO for Slog 2 on the a6300 /a6500). Plus, I am a simple man with simple grading abilities, and slog 2 does not seem to like pedestrian colorists such as myself...

2 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

I've shot extensively with both, IMO when shooting video IBIS is vastly superior at stabilizing the image and reducing the micro jitters when shooting handheld. Plus the 5d4 file sizes, ugh. Though I would love DPAF on my a7rII, its not worth the mjpeg files for me.

So shoot Cine 4/2 which has been shown in tests to have the same DR than slog, its just distributed in a different way and you don't have to overexpose then pull down highlights.

I am terrible at the maths, so I don't want to swear by this, but I BELIEVE that Sony says SLOG has a pretty significant dynamic range boost over the various Cine gammas:

http://helpguide.sony.net/di/pp/v1/en/contents/TP0000909109.html

Although I will defer to you if real-world experience is not in line with Sony's documentation.

20 hours ago, noone said:

For video away from what you are doing there is always weddings and parties I guess (not something I would want to do for pay- too nerve wracking).

There will be a LOT more wedding work here in Australia soon I think because of legalizing same sex marriage.

Kids parties?  Engagement parties?    Offering stills and video?

 

How do you find the 1/160 flash sync of the Sony and 1/200 of the Nikon?    Enough?     The other thing for me would be the 1/4000 max with each of them.    No problem indoors but I guess it depends on what the light is like there.

 

For architecture, I would keep looking for a "cheap" Canon 17mm F4 L TS-E and it works great with the FF Sony's (and ok with Canon DSLRs even).

Thanks for the suggestions on drumming up business.

The 1/160th of a second flash sync speed of the a6500 (and the 1/200th of a second on the D750) are somewhat annoying. In essence, when i am photographing a room with a beautiful sunny view, I have to stop down to about f/11 and crank my speedlights all the way up in order to capture the view.

Even sometimes at 1/200th of a second I get banding with the flash on the D750, so that is kind of a wash between those two.

6 minutes ago, Don Kotlos said:

You don't need slog for most things. The Cine profiles are great with more than enough dynamic range. The Cine/Pro/sgamut3.cine colors work great and if you boost saturation a bit you can have a great straight out of the camera look.  

Thanks for the suggestions.

I like my D750.

For stills, the image quality is excellent, the RAW files are very malleable and I often just need to get exposure "in the ballpark" and I can adjust it up or down a couple of stops. I've been able to recover highlights that I thought were blown.

The LCD Screen is very nice (tilt only, but a very good, bright image, and the screen is not to reflective).

However, as nice as the screen is, it is let down by the poor live view autofocus. The LiveView (LCD) AF is slow and it is quite time-consuming to move the focus point with the selector pad on the back (I think Nikon calls it a "D Pad" or something like that...)

If you enjoy focusing through the viewfinder then the D750 is quite good (although the newer cameras have a better AF system, according to most people).

Personally, I HATE using the viewfinder, so I can't say that I am in love with the D750. Just a lot of like.

8 hours ago, IronFilm said:

From having observed others in the real estate industry (as photographers, or videographers), my suggestion is in the long run to earn more and move up to focus on getting architectural / lifestyle shoots, plus coporate videos (or stils/portraits) for building related business (such as construction companies, or cabinet makers, etc). As they'll pay more than picks for just yet another real estate listing. 

Agreed, from what I've heard you really need to nail your workflow down. As it is about doing a high volume (which is why real estate agents mucking you around can be a big problem! As it might muck with the rest of the day's schedule). 

hahaha

Boggles the mind why a person would go for a 5Dmk4 over a D850 if they're already in the Nikon ecosystem :-/ 

Yes! Each gear purchase I make I try to think about what % is "for business" and what % is "hobby plaything for my own pleasure".

Agreed with each of your points.

1 hour ago, Don Kotlos said:

That's a bit harsh and no d-lighting cannot be used in 4K mode. But the flat profile should give you enough dynamic range. 

If you know what you are doing 8bit slog can give you great results. 10bit would be better of course. 

Yeah, the D750 in flat profile has plenty of DR.

If I were ONLY shooting on either a tripod or a slider and I could live with the softish 1080p then I am pretty sure I would stick with the D750. I think... But I need to be fast so I would use a gimbal and the AF of the a6500 makes me feel it would have an advantage here.

As for slog... I obviously DON'T know what I am doing...