kye

Interesting - I will take a look!

Locked off shots and not using ISO One Billion to make night time look like broad daylight, what sort of heresy is this ?

Visuals, music and sound design are all original.

Visuals, music and sound design are all original.

Visuals, music and sound design are all original.

Please don't.
This is one of the main challenges for society - the people who care about truth enough to learn anything about the world self-censor when they realise they don't know everything or make mistakes.  Meanwhile, the people who don't care about truth and don't know very much about the world continue broadcasting at full volume unabashedly.

Please don't.
This is one of the main challenges for society - the people who care about truth enough to learn anything about the world self-censor when they realise they don't know everything or make mistakes.  Meanwhile, the people who don't care about truth and don't know very much about the world continue broadcasting at full volume unabashedly.

Sadly, I've reached the point where I have to choose between retaining a detailed knowledge of long forgotten music and recording technology or doing more than surface skimming a new camera spec sheet that I'm only vaguely interested in and thereby risk making erroneous assumptions.
I can't do both so I'm off to sit on a park bench with my thermos flask of tea and a tartan rug where I will wax lyrical to passing birds about how to manipulate the tape sync and sequencer functions of the Greengate DS:3 to fool it into becoming a de-facto AMS 15-80S for live triggered drum replacement.

Please don't.
This is one of the main challenges for society - the people who care about truth enough to learn anything about the world self-censor when they realise they don't know everything or make mistakes.  Meanwhile, the people who don't care about truth and don't know very much about the world continue broadcasting at full volume unabashedly.

I found this video to be a breath of fresh air.....

25% off men’s colognes, Boots, UK 👍

I scored an awesome Black Friday deal on a music effects VST plugin.  It was 40% off, but allowed coupons to be applied after that, so some quick googling and I got it down from $199 to $86!
I've recently been getting the sound design and music side of things sorted out, so I'll be writing custom music and sound design for my videos as well.
Remember - sound is 50% of the movie...  at least!

I scored an awesome Black Friday deal on a music effects VST plugin.  It was 40% off, but allowed coupons to be applied after that, so some quick googling and I got it down from $199 to $86!
I've recently been getting the sound design and music side of things sorted out, so I'll be writing custom music and sound design for my videos as well.
Remember - sound is 50% of the movie...  at least!

Great stuff!  Lots of little interesting stuff to notice in there, like you making sure people are clapping in time to your soundtrack, etc.  Some fun characters too - there's nothing like a grumpy person staring down the barrel of the camera lens!
Those Sony 6000 series cameras can make some great images.  I was considering the A6300 at one point, but an IBIS bug put me off at the time.  I think the major issue for those cameras was that getting good colour out of them required more skill than people had at the time.  Now there's more support for folks in terms of tools like colour management, the film emulation plugins, and more knowledge of colour grading techniques, so it's much easier to make the most of the files.
Amusing about your son - kids are funny sometimes.  Just as I thought I'd figured mine out (even just partially) they'd change and go through a new stage and I'd go back to being completely confused again!

@kye I didn't recognize a drop in resolution caused by the rawlite filter. I like the highlight rolloff better on the pocket. It could be something imaginary, but in certain situations the og pocket seems to look better. I don't know if it's due to the rawlite filter on the micro. I haven't tested the micro without it. I also got a second micro with the original filter but I haven't used it yet.
@mercer You are right, I was wrong:) Some Cmounts cover S35 from 35mm on. I think the Fujinon does. My Tevidon 35mm does. I love the Tevidon 10mm on S16. It's especially beautiful close to midrange.

PS: Being FX30 the best workhorse and bang for the buck these days... Completely underrated IMHO.
 

My favourite cams right now are either the OG BMMCC or GX85.  I would buy a GH7 to replace the BMMCC but it's $$$$$.
You could interpret that by saying:
Blackmagic and Panasonic are my favourite manufacturers, but that's definitely not right Blackmagic in 2014 and Panasonic in 2016 are my favourite manufacturers Blackmagic and Panasonic suck because the best cameras they released are around a decade old Everyone sucks because the best cameras are around a decade old Camera users suck because they keep wanting things that make it so cameras are either rubbish or are absolutely huge Your choice!

That all makes sense. I bought my BMPCC and BMMCCs for a documentary project (and future doc projects) and they'll work for that; most of my doc work is music-related and I don't need a "run and gun" setup. But I do a lot of concert and dance photography and am occasionally being asked to do video as well, and that's where something faster and easier to use would be helpful. My big requirement there is low-light performance, and it seems that despite its smaller sensor the GH7 might be better in that department than the FX30 (the FX3 is out of my price range, although the Nikon Z6iii could be a contender), plus I'd get the advantages of more depth of field (and thus more forgiving manual focus) when shooting MFT. I'm in no rush to make a decision as I can get by with my current cameras for now, but I definitely want a simpler, hand-holdable and faster option available when I need it.

Absolutely.
But, this is where things are highly contextual.
I've written about this before, but the summary was:
Priority 1: Get the shot - You can't use the shots you didn't get. Priority 2: Get shots in the best way - Shots that are in focus, aren't shaky, have usable composition, don't have nervous-looking subjects or people in the background are staring at the camera, etc. Priority 4: Get the nicest image quality - Insert all the normal camera stuff here...  DR, colour science, etc.   No, I didn't mis-number this, priority 4 is so far away from priority 1 & 2 that there is no Priority 3.
Now to context.
When I came up with that I was shooting my family and friends.  The most frequent Priority 1 challenge was security guards wouldn't let you shoot in museums, art galleries, shopping centres, some zoos, and even in parks if you had a "professional looking" camera, and the most frequent Priority 2 challenges were that I couldn't frame up fast enough to catch the moment, shots weren't in focus, and were too shaky.  
The only times that Priority 4 challenges came up was shooting shots where they weren't moving, or random shots without them in it, like landscapes and street scenes of markets etc. 
I also spent a lot of time analysing professional and award-winning edits of similar materials (travel / travel food shows such as Parts Unknown, Chefs Table, Street Food, as well as YT) and I discovered that in the professional stuff:
the quality of their shots is solid but not breathtaking the quantity of shots was stunning - they're shooting vast quantities of material (one 45 minute episode had 2000 cuts!) the magic came from the structure, the interweaving of images combined with music and sound design, and the layering of interviews with voice-over narration I used to shoot with the GH5 and manual primes as my main camera, but recently realised that the GX85 with AF zooms was the faster way to go, because it was smaller and less 'pro' looking so got into more places and when I was using it the AF and zooms made far more shots in focus, I got far more shots because I was quick enough, and lots less shots had random people in the background staring.  The GX85 became my main camera for this reason.
Then the kids moved out and so the previous trip (which inspired this post) was just about the location, so I knew that Priority 1 and 2 would be far easier to satisfy.  In South Korea many of the interesting places are public spaces (street malls and markets, not big shopping centres - although they have those too) so no security guards to worry about, and because I can mostly take all the time I need to frame up and expose and focus, mostly it came down to image quality.
However, you'll notice my setup wasn't only the BMMCC.  It was the BMMCC and GX85 for a reason.
My thinking on the previous trips and for my next one is that there are four types of places where I might shoot:
Tourist places like lookouts etc, where everyone expects people to be filming
Use the big camera
  Public places that are busy but not touristy, where people wouldn't be surprised to see someone filming
Take both setups and try the big camera but switch if you have to
  Public places that people wouldn't expect to see someone shooting
Take the small camera, try with a zoom but swap to pancake lens if required, or use phone
  Places where shooting wouldn't be expected and maybe not welcomed
Take the small camera and pancake lens in a pocket and keep it in the pocket when not taking a shot, but potentially grab quick shots with phone instead In terms of the logistics, the BMMCC requires a backpack anyway because the rig is too large for a sling bag, so any time I take it anywhere I take the GX85, zoom, and pancake lens as well.  The GX85 and zoom fit into a sling bag, and the other zoom and pancake lens also fit in there, so I take those too.
This means I can always "downsize" the rig I'm shooting with, depending on the situation.
This is the setup I plan to take on the next one.  There's no way I'd just take the "big camera", regardless of what it was (GH5, GH7, BMMCC, Komodo, etc).

Definitely useful. The big lesson I keep relearning is that it's more important to get the shot than to have optimal image quality; of course if you can do both that's ideal, but in my case I find that I rarely shoot video because my cameras are so cumbersome to set up and operate.
For Halloween evening I got asked to make a short video of the trick-or-treaters in our neighbourhood and first I set out to do it with my OG Pocket, handheld (with three points of stabilization) but it all took so long and I kept having to adjust focus etc. that I quickly switched to my iPhone and got much better video for much less effort. "Better" in this case means I grabbed shots I would have missed with the Pocket; the Pocket video looked better but I was able to achieve much more with auto exposure and autofocus on the phone.
The GH7 seems like a good idea, since the only autofocus lens I own is a Panasonic (the 12-35 zoom) and I have some nice manual MFT lenses I could use on it. But I use Sony for photography and have a huge collection of lenses that I use on E-mount with adapters (I have no Sony lenses and only two native e-mount lenses, which I rarely use). So I have to decide whether to go the GH7 route or the FX-30 route as a more practical video camera with built-in stabilization, autofocus, etc.

Update..
I've booked another trip for next year, and have been doing the post-trip analysis and working out what I'll do for next time.
We all know the BMMCC sits in a very narrow niche of size, performance, and features, so I won't rehash that, but I figured my analysis on alternatives might be useful to anyone else still interested in this camera.
Options
Keep the same setup as I used previously
Big camera: BMMCC with 12-35mm F2.8 Small tourist camera: GX85 with 14-140mm Tiny stealth camera: GX85 with 14/2.5 Extreme low light: GX85 with 7.5/2 + 17/1.4 + 50/1.2 Buy: nothing Pros: no cost, known setup Cons: no AF - manually focusing took time but wasn't a huge deal some moire - only a few shots had moire dim monitor - only a problem when in bright sunlight limited low-light when hand-holding - native ISO with 12-35/2.8 lens is 'enough' for ok lit places but not for dim places, and my fast primes don't have OIS so aren't usable with a tiny hand-held rig limited focal range when on tripod in low-light - I like to shoot little scenes at night from out the hotel window and the 50mm is the longest fast lens roll not stabilised - OIS can't stabilise roll so footage does have roll jitters from hand-holding in a smallish percentage of the shots Same setup but minor upgrades
Buy a brighter monitor to get visible screen in bright conditions Buy OLPF to ensure no moire Buy 85mm F1.4 to get fast tele for low-light Use my OG BMPCC
As cool as the OG BMPCC is, is still suffers from most of the issues of the BMMCC as well as introducing new ones.  The monitor doesn't articulate at all, is useless in almost all daylight situations, and is the wrong polarisation for my sunglasses so is black, so I'd still need an external monitor and therefore I'd need a rig for it to protect the notoriously fragile tiny-HDMI connector on the side.  It also needs an external power solution.  All to give me one of the slowest AF mechanisms ever invented.
Use the GX85 only
This really simplifies the setup with one camera, but severely limits the dynamic range.  This is important for any time the sun is low, which is a lot when you're on holiday, but is also (surprisingly) more of a problem at night when you want to be able to see the people walking in the streets but don't want to blow out the people inside the shops and bars and restaurants eating etc.
I've done a bunch of side-by-side tests recently and have (finally) managed to get the GX85 files to have some of the mojo of the BMMCC, so I'm less obsessed with the filmic and organic look of the BMMCC that I was.  It's really about DR, which just isn't enough to consider this a good alternative to the BMMCC, and is a recurring weakness for other options.
Use my GH5 as the main camera
DR is still poor compared to BMMCC (almost two stops less?) Flippy screen is a PITA because to tilt it (I like to shoot from the hip and high angles) you have to flip it out to the side first AF is solved (I only use AF-S so no worries there) Moire is solved Dim monitor is solved Low-light when hand-holding is solved - I can use the 12-35/2.8 with a higher ISO or use the primes with IBIS Focal range when on tripod in low-light is partly solved - I can use the 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 with higher ISOs Roll stabilisation is also solved by IBIS Buy GH5ii
Same as above, but DR is only around one stop less and instead of being free it's AUD1500.  Not worth it compared to other options.
Buy BMMSC 4K G2
Same as current BMMCC setup, but..
No AF without having that stupid handle that's larger than the entire rest of the rig Moire is fixed Dim monitor still an issue Low-light when hand-holding is fixed due to dual-ISO (400 and 3200) which means 12-35mm f2.8 lens on this becomes equivalent of a T1.4 lens on BMMCC Focal range when on tripod in low-light is also partially fixed as 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 becomes equivalent to T1.8-2.8 on BMMCC Roll still not stabilised Additional issues including: Large file sizes from 4K BRAW, must buy SSD, must buy mount and cable protectors for SSD, cost around AUD1500 plus SSD plus cage Buy GH6
DR is better to BMMCC AF is fixed Moire is fixed Dim monitor is fixed Low-light when hand-holding is fixed - native ISO for V-Log in DR Boost mode is ISO 2000(!) Focal range when on tripod in low-light is also fixed by high native ISO 2000 so the 14-140mm lens is good enough Low light becomes so good that I don't even need to take the fast primes on the trip (I'd still take the 14/2.5 pancake lens for use with the GX85) Roll is stabilised High-DR scenes had streaking issues that I'm pretty sure I'd encounter, considering I am shooting scenes where I am simultaneously clipping the white and black points of the BMMCC which has 11.2/12.5 stops of DR AUD2500+(!!) Buy GH7
This fixes all the issues with the BMMCC.
DR is much better than the BMMCC AF is PDAF Moire is fixed Dim monitor is fixed  Low-light when hand-holding and focal range when on tripod in low-light are both fixed, and I don't need to bring the fast primes Roll is stabilised by IBIS Also doesn't have the issues that other options have:
Screen tilts as well as flips Can record internal Prores (not Prores RAW, although it does that too) at various resolutions (down to 1080p) and in various flavours No streaking or image issues The only downside is the cost - AUD3400 or so currently.
Non-MFT cameras
This is pretty simple, there are no good options currently available that are equivalent prices.
Any non-MFT option currently suffers from at least one of the following issues:
Variable aperture 10x zoom lens options don't exist or are large or heavy or both Faster 3x zoom lenses are typically large / heavy I have to buy a new body as well as at least two new lenses, which simply can't compete with the price of just an MFT body I also suck at selling things, so that's a whole hurdle I'd rather not have to deal with.  I also seem to keep finding uses for old gear, so there's a reluctance there too.
Conclusion
My conclusions were pretty simple:
The reduction in DR from the free options (using the GX85 or GH5 only) weren't worth the benefits, especially as things like the dim screen / moire / roll shake weren't bad enough in practice The cost of the GH5ii, BMMSC 4K G2 (plus SSD), and GH6 weren't worth it considering how many issues they didn't solve (or new issues they introduced) Therefore the GH7 was the only worthwhile option currently around So, my decision is that unless I'm buying a GH7, I shouldn't invest in anything that doesn't align with that direction.  Considering I don't want to casually spend AUD3500 right now, this means I'll be keeping the current setup, perhaps with a few minor things if they're not that expensive.
The advantage of this do-almost-nothing approach is that when I get around to looking to upgrade, I won't have locked myself further into the MFT ecosystem than I am now, so if I decide to change systems later on I still can.  I also looked at the RED Komodo and found even a minimal rig was about 3x the weight of the BMMCC rig, so would be too heavy even if I could afford it.  So that eliminates all cinema cameras too, making things like buying a fancy external monitor a waste when my next camera is likely a MILC.
Hope this is useful 🙂  

It works with any generic basic USB-C hub and the camera provides enough to power the attached devices.

Yeah, cheaper, but not that much cheaper!
I guess my challenge with these is that they're both around a third of the price of the BM Micro Studio camera, which apart from coming with an OLPF installed, also provides:
4K sensor that is larger (MFT vs S16) Will have greater DR than the 1080p one on a 1080p timeline (because new one will be downsampled to 1080p from 4K) Dual ISO More bitrate options - from 3:1 to 12:1 Plus, it's a brand-new camera not one that's potentially almost a decade old.  The OG BMMCC seems pretty well made, but electronics don't have an infinite shelf life.

Great stuff!  Lots of little interesting stuff to notice in there, like you making sure people are clapping in time to your soundtrack, etc.  Some fun characters too - there's nothing like a grumpy person staring down the barrel of the camera lens!
Those Sony 6000 series cameras can make some great images.  I was considering the A6300 at one point, but an IBIS bug put me off at the time.  I think the major issue for those cameras was that getting good colour out of them required more skill than people had at the time.  Now there's more support for folks in terms of tools like colour management, the film emulation plugins, and more knowledge of colour grading techniques, so it's much easier to make the most of the files.
Amusing about your son - kids are funny sometimes.  Just as I thought I'd figured mine out (even just partially) they'd change and go through a new stage and I'd go back to being completely confused again!

I read a couple of years ago that the newest version of the Rawlite OLPF for the OG BMPCC and BMMCC has much less impact on sharpness than the original one did. I bought mine (two, one for each BMMCC) in 2019 and 2020 so not sure if that's the latest version but the images are sharp enough for me, keeping in mind that for video I have a personal preference for less sharpness (though it's better to have sharpness and dial it back than to try to add sharpness that isn't in the image to begin with).
I have occasionally experienced moiré on my OG BMPCC (which doesn't have an OLPF) but the main reason I got the OLPF was to avoid having to use UV-cut filters on my lenses. One less thing to think about and carry with me.