kye

Ouch. That totally sucks.. sorry to hear it. With the kind of budget I have for equipment that's a nightmare scenario Super Aids is just awesome!! I'd go for MEDICAL WASTE I saw regular reports of thieves taking equipment when I was reading the stills photography blogs daily. Even at the Olympics where they used a two-person team to distract and then steal rolling pelican cases of stuff Luckily in that example they had security footage and the photogs banded together to raise awareness and encourage the police to catch them, so the guy even got his gear back before the games started. The setup I've used previously was to have a normal backpack and add one of these into it: It's tall enough to have a Canon 700D with 55-250mm zoom mounted on it fit into the middle section so it's bigger than it looks. I've used it for carrying equipment on my carry-on for flights and also transferred to a lighter day-pack for shooting excursions. On the most recent trip when I had the XC10 / Rode VideoMic Pro+ / Gorillapod 5K it wasn't quite so handy. I used QR plates to separate the Gorillapod from camera, but with the Rode VMP+ on the hot shoe of the camera it had to be put in vertically which meant holding the mic to take it in and out which wasn't ideal. I didn't want the hassle of having to take the mic on and off the camera each time as it prevents getting quick shots. So I'm thinking I'll have to review this setup unfortunately, so I'm not sure what I'll do about it yet.

Similar advice to when you don't want your camera to get stolen I've been reluctant to go for a larger sized camera body, as before I got into photography that was how I judged if a person was a professional photographer (wrong I know, but it is what it is)! In terms of looking the part, I think I've got that down... I just got back from a 10 day trip to the Northern Territory of Australia and in addition to the shorts, t-shirt, backpack, and scowl from wrangling kids I also bought one of these so I didn't burnt to a crisp in the sun: I'm pretty sure that no-one, after seeing my hat, had the inclination to take me seriously

I can't confirm it but your assumption makes sense. It also means trouble for what is fast enough to write to it! RAW at 60p would be 540MB/s Taking a look at the most expensive cards on B&H: ARRI 512GB Extreme PRO CFast 2.0 Memory Card - 450MB/s Angelbird 256GB AV Pro CF CFast 2.0 Memory Card - 400MB/s Lexar 512GB Professional 3500x CFast 2.0 Memory Card - 445MB/s ProGrade Digital 512GB CFast 2.0 Memory Card - 450MB/s of course, sane people would just shoot compressed, but considering this thread is about specs...

For me it's actually slightly different - I'm shooting totally legally but I must still be clandestine. I'm shooting in places where people can shoot video of their kid with their phone, but if I shot the same shot with a C300 then I would get kicked out or get hassled or attract unwanted attention from the surrounding public. I'm not doing anything wrong, but I also want to use a better camera than my phone without getting hassled, thus the need to be clandestine. With your 5d3, what lenses and sound equipment do you use? and where do you shoot? I find it to be a question of how big your camera setup looks that is the main factor unfortunately...

When my sister was in film school I helped out on a few sets where the AD was present in name only.... you'd hope that once people start getting paid that things would improve!!

I'm not sure if you were asking for recommendations, or just being thankful that I offered... but regardless, here's a few 'vlogging' channels with high production value: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpnuadQ_w3r6f4Q_NRlqd-w Kraig Adams - makes vlogs and travel films on A7SII - used to be a pro wedding videographer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3DkFux8Iv-aYnTRWzwaiBA Peter McKinnon - makes photography / videography focused vlogs and shoots C300 in studio and 1DXII out of the office Here's a few channels with high production value that aren't 'vlogging' channels: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3stPIuUoCDHG7COfwr0tEA Brandon Li - makes short travel films with A7 cameras https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2hAbftpVjHtFrDOpEM90aA Action Movie Kid - short videos where the (average IQ) videos are CG'd by a professional CG guy https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHA_jMfCvEnv-3kRjTCQXw Binging with Babish - cooking videos shot on A7SII with Atomos ext recorder and just for sanity, here's potentially the best YT channel out there, which is probably shot on a point-and-shoot... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA Primitive Technology, which is videos of a guy making things without any tools - he literally has a pair of shorts on and walked into the jungle and makes things with what he finds. Why is it so great? He doesn't talk, there's no music, but they're still hugely engaging. It's a combination of "what is he doing?" and one of those rainforest tapes people meditate to. This is a channel where the content is so good I don't give a sh*t what it's shot on. I got as far as him saying he "looked at the spec sheet and....". Judging a camera from the specs alone is the equivalent of judging a restaurant by googling recipes of the dishes on the restaurants menu. The fact that this thread is mostly around this has not escaped me! :D

Need for an external monitor depends on how you use it. If camera is on a tripod then you're probably fine, but if you're hand-holding for an ability to quickly get a variety of shots then you might miss a screen that can't articulate vertically. In terms of hand-holding I can hand-hold my XC10 / Gorillapod 5K setup with my arms fully outstretched at 240mm steady enough so that the IS locks the shot with no movement, so it is possible. Depends on the vlogger and what you'd call a "vlogger" (as opposed to many other styles of YT film-making). I see YouTubers with A7SII / Atomos external recorders, C300s, C100s, 1DXII, A7RIII, GH5, GH5s, EVA, etc. If you definition of 'vlogger' is only people that prattle endlessly into the selfie camera on their phone while walking somewhere to get their nails done, then your definition needs expanding radically. I'm happy to provide examples of YT channels with high production value if you're interested.

Peter McKinnon leading the way once again by taking YT videos up a notch by taking the selfie stick concept and inventing the Canadian Cinema Stick.... Yes, that's a C200, and yes, he uses it while riding an electric skateboard. Now the BMPCC4K doesn't seem quite so extreme

Quite significantly it would seem!! CONGRATULATIONS!! You are now the official editor of all of my home videos!! Just tell me how I get all my footage to you - I think I have about 4Tb so far :D I am not sure how many people here shoot with what levels of planning, hmmm, maybe I'll start a poll. I shoot with an equipment checklist and no plan. Obviously there is planning for a day out at a fair, or for a family holiday, or a trip somewhere, but there is nothing beyond that. I shoot what happens, when it happens, with no intervention. I try and shoot so that I have enough footage to make a coherent story in post, so I try and concentrate on establishing shots (which I'm quite forgetful at), transition shots (normally us moving between locations), and then the shots of interest. about $1000!

I'm a little confused.. are you saying that you shoot productions with scripts, boards, and lights, but don't have budget for locations? If you're doing all that and trying to not get noticed / hassled then wow - good luck to you! In terms of IQ, it's all relative. If you're shooting a Hollywood blockbuster but say that image quality doesn't matter that much then you might still be shooting with a F5 instead of a Venice, but if you were a vlogger who said that image quality was their most important aspect they might be shooting with a GH5s instead of an RX10. It's hard on these forums to know what situations and levels people are at, so pitching your comments to one person can be difficult and if it's to a whole discussion it might be impossible because of the different assumptions from different people (and even if you take the time to fully explain yourself then people just don't read it..)

Lots of YT videos are shot inside a home studio set which is permanently setup. In this case camera size is almost totally irrelevant. However, that isn't what this thread is about In terms of camera size and it looking 'pro' with my XC10 / Rode VMP+ / Gorillapod 5K setup I get jaw-dropping stares and overhear conversations that go for minutes at a time about my setup from members of the general public. I'd be nervous about buying something like a 1DX and wouldn't even consider a C100 just because of the size and 'pro' appearance. I've seen quite a few vloggers get stopped by the police or security guards, who insist on saying that photography is not permitted, despite it being a public place. I just did a bit of googling to find any easy examples, and found one mention of someone that got stopped for taking photographs of the moon! It seems that you get stopped if your camera looks 'better' or bigger than the average tourist, if you use a tripod, if you have lighting, or if you have any extra people. If you have a day job then maybe you do have deep pockets. I am an office worker who has worked in the head office of many companies and I think that about 1% of office workers own a 5dIII to take pictures of their kids. There's a cashed up tech savvy middle class out there... If I was shooting indoor vlogs with the camera on a tripod I would consider an ex cinema camera if it had good IQ and codecs. [Edit: I didn't realise that an Alexa Mini was *that* expensive. I don't think office workers would own one of those!!]

Hmmm.. you have a point!! Personally, I would consider it, but would do AB tests with prores first to see what difference there was. My primary interest would be to capture in such a way that I could digitally zoom quite significantly into the image if I needed to in post. This would likely be in 4K60 Prores, which I would be treating kind of like a 2x zoom for 1080 or even a 4x zoom which if IQ was good should be passable for the occasional shot. Of course, I'm shooting infrequent videos that I hope will form the history of my family, rather than daily/weekly videos with a half-life of only a few days!

I'm not sure what media that vloggers would end up using. Options appear to be: SD cards - depending on what data rate is required (4K60 RAW would be huge!) the SD card might be quite costly! Cfast cards - might be cheaper than really fast SD cards? USB-C HDD - depending on the features and sizes these might also be in the running for cheapest media - would also add some bulk to the rig of course. I don't think you can assume that SD cards are cheapest option without doing further analysis, and the answer might depend on resolution / frame rates / codec choice. Vloggers might also own CFast cards already.. I do for my XC10, and any 5DIII or 1DX users will also have them. hang on, the 5D might be Compact-Flash? maybe strike the 5D..

I never said the image would be the same,I said it would be indistinguishable, which would be easily achievable by someone who knows their stuff in post. This is assuming that the camera is used for deeper depth-of-field and well lit situations. I provided a link to the Hurlblog confirming that a GoPro was used in a feature film. If a GoPro can be made acceptable in a feature film then I think you're crazy to say that two cameras by the same manufacturer shooting in controlled conditions with the same colour profile can't be made to look indistinguishable from each other by a skilled colourist. Just because an XC10 isn't a good size for a head-mount doesn't mean it's not sensible for any other application where size and disposability (ie cost) matter. Vehicle mounts and many other applications where camera weight and potential damage exist on set. Do you think that someone shooting on a C300 would choose a to mount a GoPro or C300 to a car instead of an XC10? Are you saying that no-one within Canon has ever considered that this might be a side-benefit? Your life must be amazing to know what dozens of people are thinking! I mentioned that it's a part of the picture, not the main goal. My original point was that there are uses for this camera, as consumers we wouldn't know it was being used, there is evidence that it is being used, and therefore this forum (and the wider internet) is completely useless at predicting or evaluating this camera. You still haven't shown any evidence or argument refusing my assertion.

Nice. Almost like a street photography slideshow but where the pictures move. With the long lenses it has an intimate feel. I agree that you always have choices, and in my case I often choose other things over the film-making, and work hard to try and make sure I get the shot anyway. For me, especially with the kids, I am shooting life as it happens, and because of that I try to not get in the way of what is happening. I think it's more important for my kids to do activities than to pose so I can film them, or to have those activities interrupted so I can get a better shot etc. In this sense I'm always following along with what is happening. It happens where it happens, when it happens, and how it happens. If someone was facing the wrong way then I didn't get the shot. I don't direct people - if I ask someone to do something while also following my directions I think I'm ruining the fun for them and I don't want to do that. In terms of 'getting the shot' I have a lot of freedom in terms of what the critical shots are, but there are always critical moments that you want to make sure you capture. My kid walking across the stage, shaking hands with the teacher and getting the certificate at their graduation ceremony is a shot I can't miss. In that example I don't have control of the stage, program, or lighting, I have a limited choice in where I can sit, and the venue has control of if I'm even allowed to film at all. A recent play at the school had signs up saying that you are allowed to film your own kids but not other peoples - good luck with that when the stage has 20 kids on it running around. I can make an edit that is a sequence of nice moving photographs by just using the best shots, but story is the goal, so I have to ensure I get enough of the right moments. I started this thread because most people on this forum don't operate under the same conditions I do. I think the film above is a good example of a different conditions - people think they're in the same situation but in reality they aren't.

I read that sheet when I first ordered my XC10 and I was quite disappointed, but I then went on to read many of the other tests on much more expensive cameras, and I found that many high-end cameras didn't have a huge amount more resolution than the XC10. And then I read the a6300 test and ended up laughing out loud with its many many issues I didn't realise they've since tested the Ursa Mini and GH5s, so I've got some light reading ahead of me For those that haven't read any of these, I highly recommend doing so: https://tech.ebu.ch/camera_reports_tech3335 and for older cameras https://tech.ebu.ch/camera_reports_legacy Tests like these are a good way to cut through the internet BS and brand-loyal-myopia.

The more I see of BM, the more I like!! and considering that these days it's more and more about 'ecosystems' rather than discrete products, things like this make me more likely to invest further into the BM system with things like the BMPCC4K. I understand that their products in the past haven't been completely bug free, but the fact I'm a Resolve user (for end-to-end workflow) makes me think a BM camera would be worthwhile. I've played this game of calculating the $/Gb every time I buy a hard disk and there's normally a sweet spot in the middle of the range somewhere. Most product cycles start with a new product being marketed to early adopters who are willing to pay a premium for having the latest-and-greatest and this helps pay for the overheads of developing a product, then when they've recouped some of that and the product has some competitors they'll reduce the cost over time. Then it reaches a point where the next model up has also gotten into the low-cost-high-volume part of the product cycle and so this product can't compete, which in the case of hard drives it means that buying the smallest ones isn't economical, except when they go on run-out sale for end-of-line. In terms of buying drives for post I'd suggest that buying a larger drive might be more useful down the track - I've got many smaller drives that are now too small to bother with but add up to be reasonable storage, so if you're using them for archiving purposes then there's extra value in having your drive space spread over fewer drives. If you're buying media for recording I chose two buy two 128Gb CFast cards instead of a single 256Gb card, because if there's a card failure then I will have a spare to keep shooting on and I may lose less footage when it fails.

Wouldn't that be a great thing if they included it. Many of the web interfaces to remote control cameras are great but the latency means they're not for monitoring. If we could get a hardware link then how good would that be! And, just to aim for the moon, if the manufacturer released a set of tools for third party app developers to write their own app interfaces that would be spectacular ok, back to reality....

I was agreeing with you I don't think I would last 3 minutes!

Does the brightness required depend on the depth-of-field and focus assists? I just got back from shooting my kids football game in full Australian 31degC / 88degF sunlight and had no problems because the players were mostly 20-150m away and I was at f5.6 on a 1" sensor, so everything was in focus and all I had to do was keep framing. If I had shallow depth of field I would have been screwed, and would have needed either a very large/bright monitor or spectacularly performing focus assist features.

When I first joined the forums I thought I was a run-and-gun shooter, but I think now the term Guerrilla film-maker might be a better fit. I say this because: I shoot without official permission (and therefore can't have a setup that looks 'pro') I shoot in public where I have basically no control of what happens The subjects of my film (friends and family) tolerate my filming, but won't cooperate to the point of wearing mics or anything else like that This seems to present a different set of challenges to run-and-gun shooters who can mic up people, have control of lighting and 'set', and can have 'pro' looking cameras. Anyone else shooting in this style? (I think it's likely to either be hardcore documentary filmmakers, travel film-makers, or vloggers).

Dammit, inserting that image killed my whole post.. Anyway, my points were: @HockeyFan12 I think we agree with each other "good enough" image quality might be a Red or even a Venice camera depending on your client and distribution medium "good enough" will vary from person to person and even job to job "focus on story" still stands - just because you've got a Venice and 19-point lighting and Hollywood actors doesn't guarantee you'll make something worth watching (Hollywood provides lots of examples of well shot stories that weren't worth shooting) And @jonpais - in terms of hand-holding a Red - look at that guys arms!!

I would imagine that some of the challenges might be able to be planned for and compensated for in advance? What aspects of using a larger rig do you think are likely to get in the way of a single operator? I'm curious if it's lenses, outboard sound, the rig, media management etc. The reason I ask is that I've normally kept my gear as simple as possible but as time goes on it threatens to get more and more complicated, so knowing what the common first issues are would aid in me understanding at what point my setup is getting too complicated.

There's a stage when it gets itchy that most people can't get past, but after that it's all fine. I used to have a goatee and every year for Movember someone would ask me about how long the itchiness goes for

IMHO it's an excellent approach. Light comes into the camera and hits the sensor. Everything that happens after that will have both technical and aesthetic impacts - depending on what you're trying to do those impacts may not align with what you are trying to accomplish. The purist philosophy is the most flexible and requires the most amount of work / skill. Maybe it's just me, but I find that mostly when computers make decisions for me (as they've been instructed to make by their designers) the decisions are not what I would have chosen.