kye

Some shots from a few days ago in Insadong.  This area was very crowded and I did grab a range of normal shots at street-level, but the ones looking up were of particular interest to me due to the variety of architecture in the area.










For reference, this is what most angles at street-level looked like:

I have been recording a number of themes while out and about.  The first are the 'normal' street scenes taken mostly at ground level.  The second is views from the hotel window, which I posted earlier.  The third is looking up.  The tall buildings here (with its ~25M population in the metro area) are seemingly unending, in variety, size, and number.  Some are deeply creative and stylish, some are featureless and faceless and nameless.  A good subject to include if trying to capture a sense of the place.
Here are a few shots looking up.  Like all things here, it's about contrasts, and often the vegetation contrasts beautifully with the buildings so I've leaned into capturing compositions including both.  These were all taken on the same day as the above shots.

Some shots from a few days ago in Insadong.  This area was very crowded and I did grab a range of normal shots at street-level, but the ones looking up were of particular interest to me due to the variety of architecture in the area.










For reference, this is what most angles at street-level looked like:

I have been recording a number of themes while out and about.  The first are the 'normal' street scenes taken mostly at ground level.  The second is views from the hotel window, which I posted earlier.  The third is looking up.  The tall buildings here (with its ~25M population in the metro area) are seemingly unending, in variety, size, and number.  Some are deeply creative and stylish, some are featureless and faceless and nameless.  A good subject to include if trying to capture a sense of the place.
Here are a few shots looking up.  Like all things here, it's about contrasts, and often the vegetation contrasts beautifully with the buildings so I've leaned into capturing compositions including both.  These were all taken on the same day as the above shots.

Part 2...  how did I get here?
I've written about this previously, but the summary is that I went through a sequence of trial and error, continually bumping up against the limits of the hardware, the software, my skill, and mindset.
Setup: GH5, fast manual-focus primes
I shot a bunch with the GH5 and a set of very fast MF primes.  I chose this setup as it had 10-bit LOG, IBIS, and the fast primes gave good low-light and some background blur.  I knowingly sacrificed AF, essentially swapping a fast / accurate / robotic AF for a slow / human / aesthetically-appropriate focusing mechanism.
The MF worked, but not always (especially for my kids, who wait for no-one), and took time and effort to operate the camera away from the things that literally every other crew member does on set.
The 10-bit LOG worked, but wasn't a properly supported LOG profile so didn't colour grade flawlessly in post.
The primes provided the low-light and shallow-DoF but the shots I missed because I couldn't change lenses fast enough were more valuable in the edit than having shallow-DoF.
The DR was lacking.
Setup: GX85 with 12-35/2.8
I owned the GX85 and 12-35mm zoom, so I did some testing.  
I loved the speed of AF-S, and the deeper DoF meant that the number of shots unusable due to missed focus dropped to almost zero.
I tested it with low-light and for well-lit night-time areas, like outdoor shopping malls, it was sufficient.  
The Dual IS (IBIS + lens OIS) was absolutely spectacular and a welcome addition, and having a zoom made me realise why doco and ENG shooters have them as standard issue.
The DR and 709 profile was a real limitation though, and I really felt it in the grade.
It was around this time I figured out proper colour management, and the Film Look Creator was released.  These made a huge boost to grading the GX85, despite its 709 profile.
The mindset shift
The fundamental pivot was in mindset.  As social media became faster and more showy, I noticed the gulf between it and 'real' film-making more and more.  I went minimalist, thinking more and more about the days before digital where the process was to shoot as best you could, cut it, do sound-design, and that was it.  The focus was on what was in-front of the camera, how the cuts made you feel, and sound design that supported that vision.  Even those shooting docs on 16mm film could make magic.
Without throwing away the baby with the bathwater, I decided to re-focus.  To shoot what I could shoot, to learn to cut with feeling, and to simulate a film-like colour grading process where the look was applied and only very basic adjustments were made.
Setup: OG BMMCC with 12-35/2.8
I owned these already, and on my last trip to South Korea I took these as well as the GX85.  My shooting moved from shooting people I knew to shooting more general scenes, giving me more time and taking the time pressure off.
The setup was large (comparatively!) and very slow to work with, but it validated my mindset shift.
The images were organic and rich, but in a way that drew you into their contents, rather than towards the medium.
The DR was finally sufficient, and the colours were delightful.
But the monitor wasn't bright enough, the lack of IBIS meant that the OIS stabilised tilt and pan but not roll, so the images all needed to be stabilised in post, but had roll motion blur due to the 180 shutter.
The low-light wasn't ideal either, even with fast lenses.
The moire from the 1080p sensor was real and ruined shots.
I also got a lot more comfortable shooting in public with a more visible camera setup.
New Setup: GH7 with 14-140 and 12-35.....
So what I wanted was the best of all worlds.  
Dynamic range.  
I knew the OG BMMCC and OG BMPCC were the same/similar sensor, and I knew the GH7 had more.  
What I didn't expect was how much more that would be in real life.  Here's a high DR scene from Monday.

Here it is without the FLC, which I set to add contrast.

Now with the shot raised by 3 stops.  Notice the detail in the railings and under the eves on the right.

Now with the shot lowered by 3 stops.  Notice that the roof, and even the body of the car are still not clipped, with the only clipping being the sun reflecting off the car window.

In grading, there is more DR than you can fit in the DR of the final shot - assuming you haven't developed Stockholm Syndrome for your LOG footage that is.
Low light.  
I had previously established that the GX85 and 12-35mm F2.8 were good enough for well-lit night locations.  I also knew that the BMMCC at ISO800 and the 12-35mm F2.8 set to a 360 shutter was good enough for semi-well-lit night locations.  I also knew that the BMMCC with my 50mm F1.2 lens was passable at the darkest scenes I shot in Korea - which were from the hotel window at night.
I've compared the GH7 vs the GX85 and BMMCC and the noise profiles are all very different, but I concluded that the GH7 had probably 2-4 stops of advantage over those.  This means that I might be able to shoot well-lit night locations with the 14-140mm lens, and might be able to shoot from the hotel window at night with the 12-35mm lens.  
I'm still contemplating if I should take my F1.2-1.4 primes on my up-coming trip, but if I don't I'll still be able to shoot 99% of what I want to with the zooms.
Camera size.
Perhaps the only drawback when compared to my previous setups.  
I'll be taking the GX85 and 14mm F2.5 pancake lens as the pocketable tiny camera.  This combo is no slouch by itself, so although it lacks some of the specs from more serious cameras, it is easily in the capable category, especially when helped by Resolve+FLC and from a shoot-cut-sound-publish mindset.
Absolute speed.
When it comes to absolute speed, nothing beats a smartphone, which is always in your pocket, can be pulled out and rolling in seconds.  This is also a serious tool when combined with Resolve+FLC and a shoot-cut-sound-publish mindset.

First day out shooting in Seoul.  Here are some images.
These are all frame-grabs, were ETTR, had a look put over them with Resolve FLC plugin, and I adjusted exposure on each (and contrast on the odd one or two) and that's it.  I'm sure I will finesse them once I start editing for real, but this is essentially just looking at my dailies.










Setup is incredibly easy to use thanks to the huge DR, AF is super-snappy, the 14-140mm zoom gives so much flexibility and I'm finding I'm using the long end a lot more than I thought I would.
I'll post some video footage of it later, but I'm also finding that I can hand-hold at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) and with the OIS + IBIS working together get almost no movement in the frame at all, and with a slight crop in post I'd get locked-off images.  At anything below 80mm or 100mm the frame is locked and won't need any stabilisation in post.  Incredible results.

I would suggest that it has enough DR, as would most current high-end cameras.  Have you done any tests to work out how much DR you're actually dealing with?  I'd suggest it's less than you'd think.  
It's trendy to complain about how cameras don't have enough DR and to continually call for more, and I have done this in the past as well, however I did it because I actually shoot scenes on a regular basis (backlit sunsets) and I was able to work out how much DR this required in real life (the BMPCC / BMMCC could just do it and the GH5 fell short) so I knew I needed around 11 stops.  I would suggest that interview situations, even naturally lit, wouldn't require as much as literally having the sun in the frame, but it's very easy to run a test and find out.
I did a latitude test on the GH7 in V-Log Prores and whatever wasn't clipped kept full quality, so with proper colour management was basically perfect.

Read that a few times about the S5ii and hoping for a better low light camera.
My thoughts to that are 😂
and 🥱

Visited Jikjisa Temple yesterday, which was founded in the year 418, and looks straight out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  Everywhere you turn there are compositions that make you gasp.








The main challenge with full sun like this is the high contrast scenes, and then grading them so they don't look faded and also don't have half the image almost while or half of it pitch black.
This one has slightly more contrast than I'm happy with, but it gives you a sense of the look things start to drift into.

When I'm grading them for real, I think I'll likely use large power-windows and pull things down or up using those.
As a reference, here's the kind of shot I'm talking about where the contrast ratios are just overwhelming.  The information is all in the files, so I'm capturing it all, I just have to pull it out.

i mean the fairly obvious answer to the question is quality of light. other than the second to last set just generally being too dark and contrasty, you can just tell by the highlights hitting the road and the sharp shadows that you're dealing with very hard light. during sunset, the sun becomes a way softer source, which is why everything suddenly looks way nicer. 
compare your references:
Perfect Days (which is btw set in Tokyo lol): the first still has fairly harsh sunlight, but that creates that fun tree shadow on the toilet. all of the other stills you chose from the movie are during overcast weather where the sun is  naturally diffused and gives you a more low con look. 
The last medium close still from Kill Bill is a great example tbh. Do you think it looks natural? Because to me that super harsh light hitting the background dunes and car certainly doesn't, if the light that's hitting the actor is modified to such a softened and bounced back degree.
the matrix: tiny bits of hard light as edge lights around the character, but everything else is lit super soft, and some intended contrast ratio. same thing with the killer. Super soft first still, the virtual paris background has some harshness but our character is in silhouette in the second, and the last one is mainly soft, but has a hard edge light on the side. 

i like this one, but i dont like how hot the highlights are on the right side. i would either try to power window the exposure down there, or use a diffusion filter for blowing these highlights out and making them feel a bit magical. you can see some great examples of that in wong kar wai's films. 
up the exposure and lower contrast slightly on that second to last set, try to power window whatever's distracting to curate the viewer, and they'll look pretty decent. this is what i can do with about 10 minutes of work by putting your thumbnails in resolve. basic fixes for legibility, but still going for contrast:


 

It's like a wedding where the fella wears a dark suit and the bride, a white frock. In bright sunlight. And insist on doing everything outdoors, early to mid-afternoon. Welcome to my world 😏 😉

Visited Jikjisa Temple yesterday, which was founded in the year 418, and looks straight out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  Everywhere you turn there are compositions that make you gasp.








The main challenge with full sun like this is the high contrast scenes, and then grading them so they don't look faded and also don't have half the image almost while or half of it pitch black.
This one has slightly more contrast than I'm happy with, but it gives you a sense of the look things start to drift into.

When I'm grading them for real, I think I'll likely use large power-windows and pull things down or up using those.
As a reference, here's the kind of shot I'm talking about where the contrast ratios are just overwhelming.  The information is all in the files, so I'm capturing it all, I just have to pull it out.

I think that last set is nicer, although i can't tell you why. i know its night  and i expect it darker. I'm not entirely sure that its being down to night is the only reason they are nicer. You've done something different in your approach to grading or the initial video i think.  

Just had a look at some stills from it, and yes, much darker than my other references.
I looked through all the John Wick franchise, as well as some other action series too, and one way they can make these things all look dark is just have them all set in night-exteriors or interiors without visible daylight.  I think there's lots of tricks like this.  For example, I read an article on how movies often look "larger than life" which has many factors, but one was that there were almost three times the number of shots that were taken below eye-level as those at or above eye-level, so most of the movie was literally looking up at the characters.

Nah, they will pass, but then these are night shots rather than day so would expect them to be darker 😝
I re-watched The Batman yesterday. Last time was big screen with French subtitles 🥸 but at home on this occasion and that movie I think is a great example of ‘dark’ for reference.

Pretty stable and even with the post stab, not a huge amount of cropping going on 👍
I'd say FF Lumix is about the same level with S5ii.

Edited and uploaded the stabilisation test video.
Test of how well the GH7 and 14-140mm combination is able to stabilise hand-held footage.
GH7 was using the Boost IS mode, which is a more stable version of IBIS (but it doesn't do electronic IS, that's a different mode, so this mode has no crop).   My hands were more shaky than normal when filming this, and the first shot was standing up without leaning on anything, and the second shot of the hotel was sitting down.
Results aren't perfect, but they're good enough for my purposes.

I don't mind at all, I mentioned it partly to raise the topic as I'm not sure about it.
What I need to do is to get a bunch of references and study how they distribute the DR of the images into the final grade, so I can get a sense of things.  A bit like how cinematographers get an understanding of levels and ratios, using false colour or a light meter.
I pulled a few reference stills from the movie Perfect Days which is set in Seoul to compare:




and some from Kill Bill vol 2, as it's a bit more contrasty:



and The Matrix, because it's got that feeling of the matrix not being a real place, which gets to the idea that Seoul is like a world unto itself:



or The Killer has quite a dark grade to things:



There's something about the rich dark areas, and having rich dark colours that I'm chasing, but obviously I'm yet to work out what it is and how to get it.
Works in progress though!

A few more from today, in Hongdae.  Even less grading than yesterday, but trying to lean into the contrast and deep shadows more.










 

That is some stability Kye!
Various Netflix and other productions should take note; I hate all this super handheld jittery stuff.

First day out shooting in Seoul.  Here are some images.
These are all frame-grabs, were ETTR, had a look put over them with Resolve FLC plugin, and I adjusted exposure on each (and contrast on the odd one or two) and that's it.  I'm sure I will finesse them once I start editing for real, but this is essentially just looking at my dailies.










Setup is incredibly easy to use thanks to the huge DR, AF is super-snappy, the 14-140mm zoom gives so much flexibility and I'm finding I'm using the long end a lot more than I thought I would.
I'll post some video footage of it later, but I'm also finding that I can hand-hold at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) and with the OIS + IBIS working together get almost no movement in the frame at all, and with a slight crop in post I'd get locked-off images.  At anything below 80mm or 100mm the frame is locked and won't need any stabilisation in post.  Incredible results.

First day out shooting in Seoul.  Here are some images.
These are all frame-grabs, were ETTR, had a look put over them with Resolve FLC plugin, and I adjusted exposure on each (and contrast on the odd one or two) and that's it.  I'm sure I will finesse them once I start editing for real, but this is essentially just looking at my dailies.










Setup is incredibly easy to use thanks to the huge DR, AF is super-snappy, the 14-140mm zoom gives so much flexibility and I'm finding I'm using the long end a lot more than I thought I would.
I'll post some video footage of it later, but I'm also finding that I can hand-hold at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) and with the OIS + IBIS working together get almost no movement in the frame at all, and with a slight crop in post I'd get locked-off images.  At anything below 80mm or 100mm the frame is locked and won't need any stabilisation in post.  Incredible results.

First day out shooting in Seoul.  Here are some images.
These are all frame-grabs, were ETTR, had a look put over them with Resolve FLC plugin, and I adjusted exposure on each (and contrast on the odd one or two) and that's it.  I'm sure I will finesse them once I start editing for real, but this is essentially just looking at my dailies.










Setup is incredibly easy to use thanks to the huge DR, AF is super-snappy, the 14-140mm zoom gives so much flexibility and I'm finding I'm using the long end a lot more than I thought I would.
I'll post some video footage of it later, but I'm also finding that I can hand-hold at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) and with the OIS + IBIS working together get almost no movement in the frame at all, and with a slight crop in post I'd get locked-off images.  At anything below 80mm or 100mm the frame is locked and won't need any stabilisation in post.  Incredible results.

First day out shooting in Seoul.  Here are some images.
These are all frame-grabs, were ETTR, had a look put over them with Resolve FLC plugin, and I adjusted exposure on each (and contrast on the odd one or two) and that's it.  I'm sure I will finesse them once I start editing for real, but this is essentially just looking at my dailies.










Setup is incredibly easy to use thanks to the huge DR, AF is super-snappy, the 14-140mm zoom gives so much flexibility and I'm finding I'm using the long end a lot more than I thought I would.
I'll post some video footage of it later, but I'm also finding that I can hand-hold at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) and with the OIS + IBIS working together get almost no movement in the frame at all, and with a slight crop in post I'd get locked-off images.  At anything below 80mm or 100mm the frame is locked and won't need any stabilisation in post.  Incredible results.

I have been delivering in 14x9 (1.55:1) for a few years. With my new rig I will be narrowing that up a bit more, even, to 1.5:1 or 1.43:1 or maybe just 1.5:1. I'm liking the way 1.43:1 looks the most so far. Plus, Imax!
The Panasonic frame masks are going to be really useful for this, particularly for my fisheye, where I will actually be cropping width and height. I just wish I could use the masks when reviewing footage.

Fortunately, I am a big Wes fan!

The low-contrast look has been fashionable for a long time, since people started shooting in LOG and then editing in it and getting used to how it looks.  Colourists talk about this problem like it's been around for many years and simply never went away.  This caused a feedback loop where directors fought the colourist to keep things bland, which made films get released with bland grades, and then this became the reference for future directors and also all the amateurs.
Also, it's quite hard to add contrast in post because it requires a clarity of thinking that many do not possess.  When you look at your image and see it's captured all this information in the shadows and highlights and then apply a healthy level of contrast you immediately miss the details that are now crushed in the rolloffs.  This leads to the question of what parts of the scene can be obscured.
The only way to be able to answer this question is to understand what the shot is about, and therefore what is relevant.
This is a level of maturity not yet attained by many.
I didn't really do a systematic comparison with the G9ii, but in general terms, why would I pay several thousand dollars for a new camera that isn't the leading offering, when the flagship is only a few hundred more?
Certainly, if internal Prores and cooling fans were absent on the G9ii then either of those would probably have been an instant disqualification.  The size comparison is pretty moot as well, for street work I'd consider both to be full-sized bodies.