kye

2 hours ago, Kisaha said:

@kye i replied while I was in a difficult shooting with -3 degrees Celcious, which for my country equals to Polar temperatures, so maybe I did misjudged the statement.

I seriously respect ALL jobs, and I mean that with all my heart. All jobs are important, all people are important is my motto. Imagine if there was no cleaning service anywhere, no garbage collection, noone that make your clothes or put together the pieces on your phone and your camera to make them whole. People process our food, build our houses, clean our streets, service us in restaurants - and I have done some of those myself, so I know what is like.

In anyway, what makes this forum more interesting for me, is the knowledge and experience that working professionals share here. It is different to test a camera on your best friend's birthday party, and different than covering the event of a corporate client. Different when someone testing cameras on himself, on his spare room, and different when on a 50-100 people set for a major network. The weight of the decision gives weight to the opinion.

That is the difference with DPR, 1 in 1000 has a valuable information there, if most pro's leave eosHD, then it will become a more videocentric DPR.

No worries mate...  -3 would make me pretty grumpy too!

All professions, huh?  ALL professions?  Really?  Lawyers?  Lobbyists?  Hitmen?   ..................Politicians?  ???

What setup are you thinking of investing in?

1 hour ago, Mokara said:

Why? Cell phones have higher pixel densities than sensors used in micro 4/3 cameras. The only thing that would affect practicality is the power of the processor being used. If the most advanced processors currently available have a hard time doing 4K60p, then they probably can't do 8K30p. That is most likely what the Panasonic manager was saying, but it got lost in translation and comprehension.

Do Sharp have a processor capable of encoding a 8K30p stream in H.264 or H.265? Likely not, so if they do make such a camera it would probably use some relatively uncompressed encoding scheme. The picture of their camera shows a small body, it is dubious that thing will be capable of dealing with the heat from a high efficiency codec at 8K.

8K has four times the pixels of 4K, so 8K30 is equivalent to 4K120 in terms of pixels-per-second.

You might be right about less processor intensive processing but they'd have to be choosing from the options available in the marketplace which may not have a less-compression / higher bit rate option at the right price. Of course, if you were a microchip manufacturer then investing in the market for a 8K video compression chip isn't a risky proposition, and phones have been doing 4K60 with efficient power consumption and thermal loading for a few years now, so it's not like the tech is that far away.

35 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Because camera buying is a religion and people gain a god like level of clarity as to which brand to worship.

Not realising that they should worship the art of photography or film-making and see the rest as tools.

I suspect that brand worship is a symptom of the amateur who loves the equipment and talking about it online and not the pros who are way too busy trying to balance the quality of their work with putting food on the table, but who knows...

39 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

100mm is twice as long as 50mm. The issue I have with mounting a long lens on a gimbal is movement. Gimbals are harder to control then simply holding something by hand. If you are just doing a static shot its fine but if you are trying to pan with the gimbal or move its really difficult. 

I'm still unclear if the OP is using a 100mm lens or a 100mm equivalent lens.

I'm also a little surprised that you didn't get good results. I've only used a gimbal on my phone but it made smooth movement really easy to achieve. Maybe with a longer lens it would help to change to the slowest movement?

What was the problem you had? Was the pan speed uneven or did it not stabilise enough?

I used mine hand-held with a 58mm Helios on it, which is the equivalent of a 116mm lens on full-frame. That worked well when I was able to be reasonably steady but needed a bit of help when I was cold or had been active.

On a gimbal you shouldn't have any problems at all

No crop and it's really wonderful to use - I have used it handheld with long vintage lenses and it's worked really well.

Enjoy!

2 hours ago, Kisaha said:

This is very insulting for us that chose the other way around.

I breath images and sounds everyday, why do you believe this is lesser than what you do?

I consider myself lucky, being able to survive from film and video. When you do a project somewhere, you get concentrated knowledge and experience unlike most "normal" jobs I know.

No insult intended!  Sorry if that's what it sounded like.

I sympathise for the struggles that the pros are experiencing with the changes in the industry, and in a sense I just have my struggles in a different industry.  I've had my fair share of stress from work (or the lack of it) during my career and there is just as much criticism and commentary of my industry from those outside it as there is in photography I think.  

We all live somewhere and holiday somewhere else, and we all work in one industry and have hobbies in other industries.

2 hours ago, liork said:

No, for that you need 12K.

8K is twice as wide as 4K, thus has 4X the pixels.

Maybe you're thinking of MP?

2 hours ago, User said:

Yes, this is statistically true. But my comment was more towards finding a way forward and towards a life with meaning that is financially sustainable.

I'm doing doc film - which I love - but it's pretty much a vow of poverty. Not to completely derail this thread but I'd be curious on how others here plan to keep their heads above the water in the years ahead?

I'm an amateur, as are many people here I believe, so I think we'll grapple with the changes that are likely occurring in our own industries, and visit the world of photography and film-making in our spare time and with the luxury of not having to survive from it.

8K - the only way to get a true 4K image!

Edit 2: I tried creating a new node, changing the mode to HSL and then setting the RGB mixer to the same settings as the faulty node, and it has similar but much worse behaviour, so I can't work out what it's doing. 

2 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

in resolve you have to hit "options" during import and select "all files" and it will see it

Thanks!  That was what I was missing

I've been playing with it for a while and I've noticed this "black sun" type problem:

This is coming from the HSL node, but the strange thing is that even if I go into the RGB mixer in the HSL node and reset everything to defaults, it is still there, and gets turned on and off when I enable or disable the node.  This looks like a bug in Resolve to me rather than the RGB mixer in that node doing anything wonky.

But that's the only problem I can find.  I even cranked the contrast to ridiculous amounts in a node in before the emulation nodes and it seems fine.

Original image + emulation nodes:

Stupid contrast + emulation nodes:

This is my GH5 in 4K 150Mbps 10-bit 25p mode with HLG.

Edit: I was using the WDR - Compound power grade for the above.  I haven't played with the other ones yet.

A long shot, but I'm interested if Sony is going to update their X3000 action camera (the X3000 is their 4k30, 1080p120 action camera with IS).  It was released late 2016 so might be due for a refresh?

Considering GoPro bet their farm on stabilisation and Sony has had optical stabilisation since 2016 it's a strange segment right now.

16 minutes ago, Snowbro said:

Dang, that is bad. I think that camera stores do not scale their human capital, according to demand. It took over 2 weeks for BH to process a return during this same time, they normally do it in a day. 

I suspect you're right about them not scaling up.  In a sense delays are inevitable, with the combination of goods getting cheaper and people buying more, and a faster pace of life with less planning combining with deliveries getting faster, and you've got the perfect recipe for a very intense and short spike in activity.  If everywhere resourced up to meet that need you might need to have zero unemployment and everyone working 20-hour days for a week or so to compensate!

8 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Did figure out the Juan Melara Linny LUT, looks like you have to into the PowerGrade's and tweak the HSL values to get it to not tear the footage.

On its own the Linny broke the color blue and some shades of red. With the HSL adjusted and then brought down in another corrector node, it works fine.

I will post tests soon.

Cool!

I downloaded the Powergrade and tried to test it on some GH5 footage but I couldn't install it.  Resolve seemed to want different file types than what Juan had created, so I suspect it was a software version / backward compatibility issue.  I googled a bit but didn't find any ready answers, and then got distracted.

I'm curious to see your results, but the original LUT 'look' didn't look that special to me, so I'm not that motivated TBH.

3 hours ago, arson519 said:

i was watching him he was one of the first to get a gh5 he had like barely 1000 subscribers 

Yeah, and he just hit 100k.  His success is well deserved I think, his videos speak for themselves.  

24 minutes ago, Snowbro said:

Since this thread has gotten so incredibly off track and random, I am just going to throw this out there: I ordered a camera from Adorama Sunday with next day air priority shipping. They created the shipping label, but two cutoff deadlines have passed. Called them and they said it would be shipped today, didn't apparently. I never had this issue with BH, I wonder if there is a bottleneck in their SCM. Maybe I will get it next week lol. 

My sister ordered a voucher for me for xmas online, and paid to have it delivered in next day express post.  That was about a week before xmas and it arrived after New Years day.  I think xmas consumerism is getting better / worse!!

I think there's too many people concerned with defending themselves against the people with big problems and not enough concern for actually fixing those problems in the first place.

Then again I live in a country so full of socialist communist lefty hippies that the conservative government used a massacre as an excuse to take away all our guns, and now as a forty-something I live in complete repression with only the fact that neither I, nor anyone else I know well, has been directly impacted by gun violence.  Naturally, I'd rather be packing serious heat and going to funerals like all the free countries out there.  But maybe that's just me?

6 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

Thanks for both of your replys, its very helpful.  The aesthetic I am going for is capturing the beauty of the hike with relaxing nature sounds (stream, occasional boots on rock, the birds and wild life, no heavy beathing).  I want that floating flying feel over the foot step jitter, but also capture a natural looking gain of elevation as you take a big step up.  Its not a mountaineering climb but you do have to watch foot placement. 

In that case then maybe a gimbal is a good choice.  It fits the feel, if you mount the camera with a quick-release plate and then balance it then it should stay balanced and be quick to setup, and perhaps most importantly, before you take a big step you can strap it to your chest somehow, put it into locked mode, and then take the step and have full use of both hands when doing those tricky bits of a climb.  I think I've seen people strap a gimbal to the front strap on a backpack so maybe that might work.

I think two of the biggest challenges that we face in photography, and which starts fights, are:

1. People make different kinds of films.  
   I just started another thread with a great BTS from an adventure film-maker who shoots everything 60p so he has flexibility in post with which things he can use for slow-motion.  This makes sense for adventure film-making, but would be stupid in narrative work where slow-motion plays very little part.  If I had a zillion dollars then the best camera for narrative work might be an Alexa, but if I'm going to jump out of a plane it sure wouldn't be (extreme example) but also if you're running a studio for a game-show then the Alexa is probably also not the best choice.
2. People see differently and have different tastes.
   Lots of the talk about colour science is about taste, but some people can't see colour that well and don't care.  Some people are much more sensitive to motion and care about the 180 degree shutter, whereas others are sticklers for blowing highlights and chase high DR cameras with low noise and >8-bit outputs to ensure that the foreground looks good and the highlights aren't clipped.

Most of the "this camera/lens/mic/preamp/tripod/etc is better" arguments are really people judging equipment according to their individual sensory perceptions, their workflow priorities, and their shooting situations and then thinking other people are stupid because other people have different perceptions / workflows / and shooting situations and evaluate differently.

I think the solution is for people to be more curious.  If someone says something you disagree with, instead of disagreeing with them, try asking them why they disagree, or how they came to that conclusion.  This is how to cool a situation and learn something as well.

Levi Allen, who is freelance filmmaker and a solo adventure documentary maker, has made a bunch of high quality films and made a great BTS video talking about production and equipment and various other things.

This series is about people walking slack-lines (the alternative to tight-ropes!) and there's some pretty crazy content.  Here are the first five episodes, which IMHO are just spectacular:

and here is the BTS where he talks about the equipment he used (watch the above before the BTS because it's got heaps of spoilers)

Highlights include:

• Almost everything shot with the Panasonic G7 in Cine-D
• He got the Sony A6300 for slow-motion and he thought the AF would mean he could ask others for help as second shooters, but the screen was so rubbish in daylight and it kept overheating that it wasn't much use
• He shot 4K because he wanted to sell it for more
• A few shots (mainly the time lapses?) were shot on the A7S but because it wasn't 4K it didn't get used much
• Drone was Phantom 3 Pro in the Natural profile
• Rode Video Mic Pro for run-n-gun
• Rode NTG-3 for interviews
• Kessler crane motorised slider
• He used MF primes, mainly the Rokinon 35mm MF
• He used shots from his iPhone because they were needed for the story

Other interesting thoughts:

• He now owns a GH5 and shoots everything in 60p now so he has flexibility to slow things down in post
• He worked out the profiles to use in his cameras by doing a bunch of camera tests and looking at the output and choosing the settings 
• He hates PP "Premier Pro is garbage" and edits in FCPX, and "if I was working on just films I would probably be editing in Resolve, but because of my internet workflow and things like that I've been editing exclusively in Final Cut and it's made my doc work amazing"

He also then gives a commentary of Episode 4 talking about storytelling and creative aspects, production challenges and being a solo shooter and BTS, as well as equipment.  There's a ton of great info in there so I'd encourage you to watch the full BTS for more.

1 hour ago, Snowbro said:

I know a guy who used to be an engineer (80/90s), the company he worked for went under. I think he started doing photography more seriously while he was searching for another job. It turned into him doing it as a professional for around 30 years. He was the classic photographer guy, light meter, backdrops, fleece vest etc. I know he also did many weddings; then the digital age hit. One of the first Nikon D3's in the state was purchased by him, he still uses it today as his only camera.. As the years passed (2005-present) I have watched him go from a happy confident guy, to a nervous, broken looking man. He has not adapted well to the times, his photos are almost straight out of the camera jpgs at maybe f10, seems as if they could have been taken with a phone camera. Editing video is wizardry to him, same with flying a drone (even though he got his commercial license for it). One time, he visited and was almost crying, that a new soccer coach at a local high school, hired someone else to take the group photos that he had taken for a decade. His relationship with his wife is hostile, she even bought a new D850 last year, with a set of pro lenses to spite him (she never uses the camera or will let him touch it). Point being; it is hard to watch someone with so much passion and happiness decline so badly. I know he is struggling incredibly financially, but he is unable to adapt with the times. Even if he did keep up, like you mentioned, there is much less work for even the top photographers. 

I love this stuff, but I don't have the guts to do it for a profession. I keep suffering through a CS/MIS degree, because I know will make much more and have better job security down the road. 

Oh yeah, about the Economist stuff: I have a few cousins who work at GS. They saw the volatility from the bad CDO's, then offloaded it to customers before it exploded. They knew... 

Ouch..  sorry to hear about your friend.

They used to say that the only things you can count on are death and taxes, but they've added another one now - change.  We certainly do live in the times of Adapt or Perish.

I have a CS background but have generalised as my career progressed, and I now work across the whole organisation, which means primarily working with people.  Human behaviour and organisational behaviour do change, but it's pretty slow, and I do get a kick out of it once in a while, so I'm probably better off than the majority of people, even though most of it is pounding my forehead against granite.

CS/IS is a difficult area to be in because if you're technical you're having to learn new tech constantly.  In comparison to non-technical careers it's like jogging to stand still, running to progress, and sprinting to have a good career.  My dad was the head engineer of desktop computers in a large educational institution (10,000+ students, 6+ campuses) and when he retired one of the things that he said to me was "I don't think I have another operating system in me".  He went through all the major OS's from CPM to DOS to Windows 7 in his career and that constant burn was one of the reasons that made me move away from the technical side of things.

I tell the people that I mentor that if they want to get a pay rise they either have to go up, out, or deep.  "Up" is getting promoted through the ranks, which means that you stop doing whatever it was you were good at and change careers into management, which is a completely separate skillset, and which is why most managers are incompetent.  "Out" is starting your own business and either consulting or doing some kind of contract work, which means you get paid more than before for the same work, but you've taken on all the risk of not having any work and earning nothing.  "Deep" is becoming very knowledgable about a very specific thing, you will get paid a lot because your knowledge is rare, but you have to keep up-to-date and if you happened to be the worlds most knowledgable person about fax machines or steam engines or whatever then bad luck because you bet your whole career on the wrong tech.

The older I get the more I realise that people are mostly fuelled by their irrational insecurities and emotional baggage.

I've also realised that people make most of the decisions in their lives (especially major ones) with almost no knowledge whatsoever.  Think about buying a house for example - it's the largest investment that most people will ever make, but look at how many people got it so wrong in the US.  Same goes with investing in the stock market - I'm not aware of even one economist that predicted the GFC correctly and that's what they do for a living.  People are completely rubbish at picking a life partner, look at divorce rates, and those are the ones that aren't still stuck in awful situations by religion, cultural pressures, or economic factors.  The general populace are so miserable overall with their life choices that a huge percentage are on some kind of anti-depressant medication.  I could go on....

So, if people live their lives with judgement so impaired that they get major investment decisions wrong, choose the wrong partners, can't create happiness in their lives, and then don't even decide to get therapy but opt for medication instead, why would you expect that they will be able to somehow transcend all that and become informed, rational, and articulate people when it comes to cameras?

The other factor in this whole thing is that the photography industry is undergoing massive change.  Most people don't adapt well to change, and those that are resisting are competing with everyone else for the traditional type of work that they're used to doing which there is less and less of.  I think this is the main reason that many photographers are bitter and angry all the time.  If you hang out in communities related to industries that are expanding, or where the typical person is new to the field and not clinging to the past then the overall attitude of people is likely to be very different.

9 minutes ago, Kisaha said:

I have some inserts, and went that route in the past - especially on my own journeys - but it is not convinient for pro work.

What I currently do, is having a backpack or rolley bag for personal stuff and extras (cables, some additional chargers and stuff I do not particularly need on a shooting) and a shoulder bag, or two for the shooting essentials, but lately the numbers of different bags have increased substantially!

The other factor that I overlooked is the ability of some of those to go into the cabin of an airplane. 

I have to find something with the most interior space that fits on a cabin.

How big is the Ronin S when packed down?  In my mind that's the largest and most difficult item to include in a carry-on.  Unless the Ronin rides checked but gets strapped to the outside of the bag when you're on set?

If you take that out of the requirements for being inside the bag then a larger but normal camera bag would probably work well.