kye

Ads don't generate much income, even for the professional YTs, which is why they do sponsored videos themselves, essentially running ads within their "show". The goal is to attract many viewers and retain many viewers. IIRC the algorithm doesn't like it if people only watch a bit of your video then click away to the next one. This is why controversy, spectacle and drama are so prevalent on the platform, creating a steady stream of engaging videos is really fricking hard!

I thought Andrew said we could use existing cameras as long as we could prove that we could have bought it for under the budget limit... If you come last then this truly will be an interesting challenge!

Absolutely - well said. It's a tool that can be used for directing attention. The eye is pulled to things in focus, so it's another compositional tool in our arsenals. It's actually not - https://petapixel.com/2012/11/17/the-camera-versus-the-human-eye/ We just have some pretty advanced visual memory and it pieces together the bits we see in focus to build a mental model of our surroundings. Which is awesome because our eyes are actually deeply flawed instruments, but our brain hides that fact from us... http://www.cycleback.com/eyephysiology.html and the fact that it isn't makes it very interesting to all kind of people for all kinds of things... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698998003174 https://www.osapublishing.org/josa/abstract.cfm?uri=josa-49-3-273

I didn't say large DoF was worse, I just said it has an aesthetic. No negativity from me about deep DoF, just that if you show footage that has a fixed wide angle and deep DoF look then it has a certain aesthetic. I don't know why pointing out that something has a 'look' is automatically interpreted as being a bad thing. I wouldn't mind if all my cameras had the 'Alexa look'! Let's review shall we... here's my original post - please review it carefully for any hate: Ok, now you haven't found any, maybe we can start again.....?

I've got one of my cameras and have ordered the second one. I'm pretty sure one of them will come last, but ce la vie!

I was browsing ebay last night and found an old camcorder and was flicking thought the photos trying to see if it had a FullHD sticker on it and then I got to the side where you put the tape in! Then I laughed and tried to remember if I still owned any miniDV tapes. Then I wondered if the bitrate and codec on miniDV would be better than cheap cameras recording to SD cards..

I run Resolve.

iPhone X has focal lengths of 4.25mm and 6mm (source) which for the 4.25mm lens at f1.8 gives a DoF of 12.3cm at a distance of 20cm. A 26mm lens (which is what the equivalent FF focal length is) that was f1.8 gives a DoF of 0.28cm at a distance of 20cm. That's why you can't get any background blur with a tiny sensor unless the subject is very close. They love to say it's a 26mm equivalent f1.8 lens, but when you take the crop factor into account it's the equivalent of a 26mm f11 lens. They love to convert the focal length to FF equivalent but conveniently "forget" to convert the aperture. So their 4.25mm f1.8 lens is fast from an exposure point of view, but not from a DoF point of view, which is why I commented - every shot has infinite DoF and it impacts the aesthetic.

Yes, taking into account sensor size. If you don't take into account sensor size then it's a crazy fast ultra-ultra-ultra wide.

Great stuff. I think it was obvious from a visual perspective that it was shot on a phone, but after 10 seconds it wouldn't matter any more and it would all be down to the acting and story. I maintain that phones are very useful for what they do, which is essentially a camera with a slow / wide prime lens. Time spent not film-making because of equipment limitations is time wasted. I think discussions about equipment are fine as long as you're already shooting with what you have.

You're probably right. I compared a RAW still to a 1080 frame and saw a massive difference, but it will depend on bitrates. Maybe for $200 you get good quality 1080 and rubbish 4K. I guess we'll see!

I was contemplating not entering because I was pretty sure I'd be last.. Maybe the 'cheapest camera you can find' is a better approach? I do like the sound of that

Yeah, @quivering_member.. we made Australia great again some time ago before it got trendy. ???

The results of my morning walk yesterday.... Not an official entry (I may as well just put the camera in a box now in preparation for shipping it..) just a kind of proof of concept test. I went for the "it's rubbish, so mess it up and make it look like early film" but I know very little about early film, so there you go. Equipment used: Panasonic GF3, Super Takumar 55mm f1.8, generic 0.7x m42 to m43 SB. Graded in Resolve. Things I learned: It's difficult to focus on a fixed LCD screen with no MF assist functions It's kind-of pocketable and the tiny fold-out Manfrotto Pocket worked well for low angles on the ground, benches, rubbish bins, etc People really get freaked out... one guy walked into the middle of my shot, stopped, pulled out his phone and using selfie mode had a good look at me and took a photo. All the time I'm just standing there looking at the screen on the camera and thinking "get out of my shot! why couldn't you have just walked though it like a normal person!" I should have added way more film-grain in post to survive the YT compression The camera has no manual controls in video mode, but if you set the camera to manual stills mode, 1/50 and base ISO then you can adjust ND/aperture to expose correctly, then when it auto-everything's in video mode it should get a 1/50 with base ISO.... it should do, anyway. This wasn't shot with an ND, just in dark conditions, and some of these shots weren't set up right so shutter angles will be all over the place. I took a photo (RAW still) and video from the same location, then overplayed them in post to compare. Whomever manages to get 4k will absolutely kill everyone else.

The entire point of an eGPU is that it's an expansion for someone who needs a laptop (for whatever reason) but wants to edit quickly when they're 'docked'. I'll use my eGPU to create proxies, and then to do final editing and grading on the original footage when I've finished the edit. It will also be useful for doing quick edits. Surely someone here has gone down this path?

Resolve is moving towards GPUs over CPUs, and v16 is absolutely killing my MBP 13" with its 'you-might-as-well-not-have-a-GPU' integrated Intel Iris 550, so it's time to get an eGPU! I've done a bit of research, but no-where near enough, so I have questions. I've seen the Razor Core X chassis recommended lots of places, does anyone here use it? I've heard about bottlenecks due to the Thunderbolt connections, and potentially that it's Mac drivers and might be fixed, so is it worth getting a super-duper card? The 1080ti was the card to beat for ages, is it still right up there? or is there another card that is better value? Who else has taken the plunge?

On a recent trip my wife took pictures with her iPhone and I took video with the GH5. We often took images from the same vantage points one after the other so there was ample room for comparison. One thing I noticed when I started grading the images was how lovely the iPhone photos were in terms of colour and processing. I've got it on my list to try and break down the iPhone colour science to learn some stuff. It's an interesting thing, the debate about convenience vs output. A friend of mine who is into stills photography still uses his Canon 40D (or maybe it's even a 30D) because although he's done several major trips (eg, weeks going through Europe) and really tried to use his iPhone, he says that "the only photos I give the slightest f@#$ about came from the DSLR". For him the matter is closed - no smartphone picture has ever done it for him so taking a picture with a smartphone is basically like throwing the moment away. It's not like it's about anything other than the image either: he's a minimalist, hates the size and weight of the DSLR, he prints the odd picture but mostly they go out in a regular email update to friends and family, and he part owns and runs a tech company doing programming and virtualisation of services in the cloud. He's the perfect person for a smartphone, a parent who values convenience, is completely connected online and has disposable income to buy whatever smartphone he'd like, but nope! Do you think it's the shutter delay that gets in the way? or something else specific that you can think of? I've done street photography with both and apart from stealth, the real camera wins in every other department IMHO.

There are, they're just not what you'd call 'competitive' Australia has historically been subject to the 'Australia tax' which makes new goods about 40-80% more expensive due to lack of competition through wholesalers having a monopoly across a geographic area, and while this is currently diminishing, I still get a lot of "this item does not ship to your location" on Amazon, and retailers here haven't really adjusted to internet pricing. In terms of local second hand goods, shipping costs somewhat kills price competition: People here who are spending even a few thousand on luxury items like electronics, fashion, or even art, often fly to Asia to buy and then bring things home in their luggage as the total cost is less than buying locally! It's a good thing though, it somewhat curbs my bower-bird-like curiosity ???

Nice images!! You win the $150 challenge! oh, hang on...

I took my GF3, M42 to M43 Chinese SB, Super Takumar 55/1.8 and Manfrotto Pocket desktop tripod for a walk this morning and grabbed some shots as a sort of concept test. The GF3 has terrible IQ, no controls in video mode except WB, and a fixed screen with no MF assist function, so focusing it when it was on the ground looking up was a little.... challenging. Especially wearing full corporate uniform! But, I shot something when I otherwise wouldn't have, so that's a good thing I think "below average" might be being kind! But I bought it as a stills camera and for that it didn't disappoint. Combined with the pocketable 14mm f2.5 pancake lens mine has racked up enough flier miles to go around the globe more than once. I bought mine new with the kit lens, 14mm f2.5 lens, and all the extra batteries, filters, screen protectors, rocket blowers, and practically everything else available from china that might be useful for just under US$400. When I dropped it and it landed on the corner where the touchscreen was closest to the edge the metal chassis took the shock and apart from a slight wrinkle in the body there was no other damage. 2 weeks! 2 weeks!?!? You're hilarious!! Shipping to Australia often costs more than the item and takes MONTHS. When I was buying lots of old valves/tubes from the eastern block the ebay feedback time limit would close before I received the goods in the post! I had items take 10 weeks sometimes!! I received a package on Monday that I'd ordered in mid-May from JAPAN. A modern country with effective logistics infrastructure, strong trade relations, and is even in the same timezone as me! 2 weeks.....

I'm one step ahead of you. I already have MFT lenses, so... Find list of Panasonic m43 cameras <check> Ebay search GH2 under $150 <nope> Ebay search GH1 under $150 <maybe....> Ebay search G7 under $150 <nope> Ebay search G6 under $150 <nope> Ebay search G5 under $150 <nope> Ebay search GHX1 under $150 <maybe....> Ebay search GF6 under $150 <nope> Ebay search GF5 under $150 <maybe....> Find list of Olympus m43 cameras....... But hang on, how good are these cameras? Crap, I don't know anything about any of these, except that my GF3 video quality is gonna get laughed off the internet.....

@Andrew Reid - good job on the rules I also kind of like the idea that if a cameras current value is less than $150 then someone can still use it, considering that someone else who didn't own it can buy it and use it, and also that any camera currently devalued to that probably isn't in use any more! but happy with your call. That's because resolution really matters!! Look.... ??? Also, and completely unrelated question for the group. I have a particular new project coming up and am looking for recommendations for a camera that is as cinematic as possible and that I can buy for less than $150.....

Wow.. 8 weeks and that big. He's gonna be huge!! Better start writing your masterpiece so you can afford to feed him!

Oooh, I like the manual lens only idea!!