FreshGiant

No. Cropping won't change the lens characteristics just field of view.

Hey good to see someone else from Chicago on here. I'm on the south side. Hope you are staying safe. Finding a platform is easier because you can not only do all the branching on their software (including quizzes and stuff) but you get all the analytics. So if I make a video about my business that has 50 branches, I can see which paths are most popular and which ones lead to the most contacts. Ultimately I'd like to pitch this to clients (choose your own adventure sales videos), but I need a reliable platform. The problem is that the good ones all sell to school districts for e-learning and the budgets are incredible. Like I said $1000-$1500 a month with 12 month contracts. I didn't know if anyone had ever done a project like this before, but I'm guessing they are still pretty rare.

I run a little video company in Chicago. Clients are usually small companies doing video for the first time. I pay for ads, lots of people click and out of them very few contact me for a project. To improve those numbers I have an idea to produce a branching (choose your own adventure) style video on my website of me answering all the questions every new client has (mostly how pricing works and the video production process). I want to create a seamless experience that is better than just a bunch of youtube videos linked together, I want a real branching video platform. And after searching for a long time I've found 2 options A) open source stuff like H5P that is beyond my technical knowledge (but free) B) Great but incredibly expensive platforms like Hapyak that costs $1500 a month and requires yearly contracts Wondering if anyone has every done any interactive/branching video projects and if so what platforms did they use.

Yes, I''ve seen heavily used FS7 drop below 3k. Its starting to get pretty tempting. I think the Z Cam E2 image is better despite being a smaller sensor, but that is still a very in demand/versatile camera. My hope was that they would bring the costs of C300 mkII down (my dream 2nd hand camera). Sadly that camera is still around 6k used.

Since I do 1 man band stuff mostly, I really like the idea of staying small with m 4/3 cameras/lenses. And since 99% of my stuff is indoor, NDs are not as much of an issue for me. I can always screw one on if needed. But I too have looked at that S6 version. And like you, once you do the build up it gets a bit too expensive for me. Like I mentioned, I think I'd rather have multiple small cameras, I don't think the internal sound preamps are great. I've heard issues. The Wooden Camera A box Plus (which isn't out yet), seems like the best solution. Its like a little juicedlink box. But depending on the price, original Mix Pre3 used on Ebay is about $400. That would work as well under the camera. I would almost never use V Mount batteries for shoot, only if I'm doing a bigger shoot with an ad agency and I wanted to build up the camera to make it look like a mini RED or something to impress. 3+ hours on an NPF battery off Amazon for $25 seems pretty great. But there are V mount solutions. Tilta made one but isn't released, but there is a mounting plate from a chinese company Nitze for $150 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Nitze-Universal-Gold-Mount-Adapter/dp/B082PF2NKP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IHT0SRHS6EU1&keywords=nitze+z+cam&qid=1582723142&sprefix=z+cam+nitz%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1

So I'd have the Portkeys monitor on top (which controls the camera). Then I would just use Wifi app to monitor/control the other 2. Old Iphones like 6s are $75 on ebay. Here is an example of 1 iphone/magic arm. Imagine another on the other side and a top monitor. Still pretty compact. I'd probably go with the Sigma 16/30/56mm F1.4 m43. Would be an excellent affordable 3 camera interview kit.

90% of my work is solo corporate work. Half interviews the other half corporate events (like conferences). About 10% of the work is branding videos with small teams (I hire 1-2 people). I shoot on the S1 and rent an Eva1 if needed. I started with the GH series, so i'm most comfortable with V-log. I like packing small, I do travel. This year I was planning to sell the S1, invest a few thousand dollars and get a used EVA1 or maybe C200/300mk2. Obvious advantages from moving to a camera like that from a mirrorless. But recently I've thought about going the other direction and buying 3 Z Cam E2 (yes 3), when the price starts to drop (about $1350 used meaning I could get 3 for about $4k) . I always thought I should move up and buy more expensive cameras, but I'm starting to think that for my kind of work having more cameras allows me to significantly change what I can offer my clients. The camera/M43 lenses are so small, I could pack a 3 camera set up in a backpack. Maybe even a small motorized slider. I could produce much better interview content with multiple angles. For conferences I could do 2 stationary cameras and one manned and produce multi-cam keynote speeches. For branding work, I could build the camera up (metabones XL, Full Frame glass, V Mount) and it would look fine for agency people. Unless something comes out at NAB that is just jaw-dropping, I really think multiple small cameras is the best approach for me personally.

Am I wrong, but didn't the XT3 have record limits?

Yea, I always format in camera before I start shooting. I've had problems with Adata and Sand Disk Extreme. Both I've used on GH5 400mbs 4k with no problem. Thousands of clips. I've had maybe 2-3 errors on the S1 (shot 100s of clips) with both kinds of cards. Moved to Sony M cards and haven't had a problem yet. I bought them on Amazon, but I think it was Adorama as the seller (but can't remember for sure). This isn't an isolated issue. If you go on the FB page and search you'll find someone posting every few days reporting various cards. I thought it was only SD but someone posted and mentioned the XQD slot too. Yes, i could dual record with an external monitor, but if I'm adding another 1k to a 2k camera, at that point I could just sell and looking at a used EVA1 or FS7 which are both under 4k now. This is why the Xt4 is interesting. 2 cameras would be within my price range (I do lots of interviews), but reliability is my #1 concern. Love their color science, auto focus, and lenses.

I've always used Panasonics (GH3, GH4, GH5) and have never ever had a problem. They were all workhorse cameras. But on the FB group for the S1/S1H there are lots of reports of card issues. Even using V60 and V90 cards. The Xt4 looks like a dream camera, but so did the S1. Its all about reliability, and hopefully Fuji gets it right with this one.

Any word on video record limits? Seems like if they wanted to go after Panasonic for the hybrid video king, you would need to figure out how to never overheat and have no clip limits. I am actually unhappy with my S1. I've had issues with various (expensive) SD cards. about 1 in every few hundred clips will not write to the card forcing me to pull the battery. This happened on a paid shoot and was very embarrassing. I don't want to record onto an external device (loud/power hungry/heavy/expensive). I was planning to get an S1H as an A cam and S1 as a B cam, but now that I'm having trouble with the S1, I am considering getting 2 XT-4s and moving to the Fuji system. But if there are overheating/video clip limits, that is going to be a deal breaker no matter how great the images are.

I would suggest the S1 and the 24-105 f4. Ibis is excellent battery life is excellent (2+ hours per battery) No record limit (or overheating) AF is good Great in low light Shoots in UHD 10 bit 422 to sd card 14 stops of V-LOG (optional) Very good skin tones Is a 6k sensor so you can do a APSC crop in camera so that 105mm becomes a 157.5mm and the lens is parfocal. Because fo the S1H and all the other cameras you can find them used for $2500 now for the camera/lens combo. I do a lot of corporate events (trade shows or conferences kinda thing), and it really works well.

My guess would be that they put the 6k IMX410 sensor from the from the S1 in a box with better processing power and maybe codecs they had to license (ProRes/ProRes RAW). Maybe similar to what Z Cam is trying to do with their full frame 6k camera but with an L mount instead of an EF mount. Add dual XLR and internal ND and it would be a very interesting camera if they can keep the costs at or below the EVA 1. Why do this and hurt the EVA or the cine division? I have an S1 with an EF adapter (waiting on 10 bit/vlog), but I would be worried if I was Panasonic about the whole L mount thing. They need to come out with a great L mount camera, just to make the whole alliance thing viable. If they were selling a ton of L mount cameras then developing lenses make sense, if no one is buying the cameras they might need to abandon the whole project. Which is why it might be coming from the Lumix division since their big picture might be lenses, where the video/cine division isn't focused on lens sales.

Sage, I love the LUT (bought both versions). Is there any plans to come out with a full V-LOG version? With the prices of EVA1 coming down and S1 getting full V-LOG in July, I think there will be more interest in a full V-LOG to GHa LUT.

Looking at a used FS7 from a rental company. System hours 3000, but I could get it for $4k. Any thoughts? Anyone have an FS7 with really high hours? I've heard it is a workhorse camera, but I honestly don't know what the life span of a camera like that is.

They said Jan. 1st for new firmware that includes the no sharpening. Almost positive this one was shot with the old log as well. It would be interested to see a new test when the updates are all out (including ProRes HQ). Was interesting to see that Z Cam had the worst rolling shutter.

Engineer on the FB group said they are talking to a 3rd party company about a monitor that can control the camera, then today they sent a link to buy the PortKeys LH5 HDR (which does have that ability) $279 5 inch 1500NITS 1080p Pinch to Zoom 3D LUTS, focus assist, false colors... 360 degree swivel arm available Jan. 1st Those two together would be a really great little package. I might buy both today. If the camera turns out to be a dud I can return it to B&H for 30 days. If it turns out to be incredible, then I'll sell my GH5 and get a 2nd for interview set ups.

It is funny you say that because I was just putting numbers together earlier because I was just wondering the same thing. To get a cheap all day usable camera set up would cost about $685 more. $2123 for the Pocket and $2808 for the E2. That doesn't include an articulating screen for the P4k. If that is a must have (it is for me) then you are talking a $494 difference ($2314 for the P4k and $2808 for the E2). So for $500 more you get 4k 120, and possibly 15 stops usable DR and a small form factor. Is it worth it? I think so, for others probably not. The DR tests will be huge and also reliability testing. I would be scared to bring the P4k on a paid job right now. I don't know if I should be scared or not to bring an E2. I'm never scared to bring a GH5 to a shoot. I would certainly pay another $500+ for a camera that I know won't unexpectedly shut down in the middle of shots! P4k - $1295 Core Power Edge (reported 3.5 hours run time) - $260 Core Power Edge (reported 3.5 hours run time ) $260 Smallrig Cage - $99 Samsung T5 1TB - $185 (Amazon Warehouse) SmallRig T5 mount - $24 TOTAL - $2123 E2 - $1999 Smallrig Cage - $59 DSTE 2X NPF970 - $32 (reported 3.5 hours each battery) DSTE 2X NPF970 - $32 (monitor) NKI SolidPod - $389 Samsung 860 EVO 1TB - $138 (Amazon Warehouse) Feelworld F5 - $159 $2808

I don't completely understand, but the engineers described WDR is an interpolation of 2 highlight video streams. This is why you get ghosting in the image with a 180 degree shutter and fast movement. But for static stuff like an interview in front of a window, it could be a really good solution. The new log format they said can get 15 stops of DR (up to 30fps) without WDR mode (so no ghosting). Official side by side testing next week with other cameras. I am very interested in that, far more than RAW. They also developed a setting to turn off digital sharpening. I downloaded a sample to grade and it looked really nice. ProRes HQ, 10bit 422, 15 stops DR, no digital sharpening, no crop 4k 120fps h265. NPF batteries. There is a lot to like for $2k. I am very close to buying one. But these are the things that make me pause. 1. They are a small company with no way to service cameras. If it breaks you have to ship to Hong Kong. So it probably shouldn't be your A camera. 2. M43 is probably dying, and I really want a FF field of view. With a SB .64 that should get you to 1.2X. Its close. It's probably good enough. 50mm becomes a 60mm. Not a deal breaker, but you know FF 10 bit 422 internal cameras are coming out very soon. But they will be mirrorless cameras that need to be rigged and not a camera built to shoot video. 3. No good audio solutions. They have that lemo to XLR, but no good way to control levels manually. Same problem with the P4k. The GH5 XLR-1 unit is a perfect little solution, I don't know why other little cameras didn't develop their own or create an interface that will let you use that or Sony's XLR unit.

I love the lut but I only bought the daylight version at first. My lights are daylight so I thought the times when I'm shooting corporate events or something and I'm under tungsten that I can just adjust the color temp on the lut and get a good result. Yesterday I decided to buy the tungsten version for a gig I just shot and I'm shocked at how good it is. If anyone is wondering if you should buy both, I highly recommend it. Also, has anyone tried burned the lut into a recorder yet? I have some gigs where clients will hire me to do some interviews but they want raw footage. Some are very small companies that are just taking the raw footage to save money on my editing rates but I know they are not equipped to color the footage. So I fear giving them log files, but I also can't go back to GH5 color profiles once I used this lut. Has anyone baked in GHa into a Ninja V? I'm thinking about getting one just for these kinds of clients.

I know Kipon does sell a medium format to Sony E mount focal reducer. So maybe they could make one for Nikon as well. There is a EF to Eos R adapter but Canon doesn't put any glass in there because obviously because it would cause photos to vignette. But if some other company can get that out and get the crop close to full frame AND keep the auto focus working, then I think the EOS R becomes much more interesting for video work.

Is a focal reducer technically possible? There would be a lot of demand for one if you could get the crop back closer to FF and still have working EF electronics/auto focus.

Sage, I bought the LUT and I have been blown away. I want to thank you so much. It really unlocks the GH5. I think it would be great if you can do more video tutorials as well on the best uses. Also, without having to do all the work of making a new GH5s lut, could you just do a lut that matches the GH5 to the GH5s V-LOG (GH5 looks a bit more green to me) the way you do a C-LOG conversion?

The CEO of Z Cam told me in the FB forum yesterday that ProRes 10 bit 4:2:2 internal is "100% happening" and when I asked him on a timeline he said "weeks". Not sure if that mean 40 weeks or 4, but that is what he said. They released this yesterday too. He said the triple native ISO (which seems like bad marketing) is that the native ISO is 200 and 800, but when they do wide dynamic range (which does look promising for static shots like interviews in front of windows) the native is iso 80. If E2 really gets ProRes 422 internally and starts to lower their price closer to GH5 levels, I think it could be a real rival to the Pocket. Lots of people like me just don't really need or want RAW, but they do want ProRes 422. And 5 inch 1080 monitors are so cheap now, having an articulating one is just such a huge advantage. I've said many times I'd actually pay more money for a Pocket 4k camera that doesn't have a screen (battery would last probably 2x as long)!