Geoff_L

Maybe the conversation has moved on, but this made me laugh:
"Thousands of Angry Game of Thrones Fans Call on HBO to Remake Season 8"
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/05/game-of-thrones-season-8-remake-petition-hbo 

The script writing is leagues ahead of GOT!
Earth solved the overpopulation problem sending people to space, first in the Mars colony, then the outer belt, but there are political issues in earth as well, it is not the gardem of Eden it used to be, it is not the Star Trek utopia but a deeply flawed place, but the best there is in this system.
The first 2 seasons were truly exceptional. 3 was good, some over simplifications (or the exact opposite!) at times but it really hold its narrative. It made sense in the end.
Has anyone watched the Nightflyers? George R. R. Martin Material, and in HDR, but is pushing behind in my To Watch list, every week for half a year now!
What a dissapointment the Star Trek re-boot is so far. Just another super humans product. The movies and the series just not worthy of the Star Trek name. I have recently finished watching all the TV series, again, so I am 100% sure..

But The Expanse not only depicts "a vast underclass of exploited low class ignorant people". It also talks about Mars, a highly technologically advanced civilization, that once dreamed of transforming Mars into a Earthy like place. We can also see research stations etc. We even see what you describe, or sort of, with the biggest ship ever made, built to send people colonize distant unknown worlds. ; this one was not built to be loaded with "useless" people .
"Belters" or colonies as you describe, are, as I see it, only workforce. They live a shit life at the end of the solar system in order to exploit the resources for the others. I don't see them a "settlement", in the way, as you said, the elites could make. I'm not sure that in reality, the elites would hasten to leave a life on Earth to live in mostly "hard to imagine life" places as we can see in the serie.
I'll soon start the books, and I can't wait to see how the show differs from it !
 

I am a big fun of the Expanse too! But last season was suspect at points, this 4th season can make or brake it, make it classic or just a very good sci fi one.
Dark was very good also, not excellent but liked it better than Stranger Things.
One series I never expected to like but enjoyed for its first seasons (last ones are a tier down) is Brooklyn Nine Nine. Good and fun 20 minutes!
The Deuce is very good also.

SPOILER :                  Samwell Tarly killed more people than the Golden Company.

They really lost me when they started to write by themselves without following the book anymore. I felt it like a cards castle collapse : everything was rushed, unlikely, too easy. I couldn't enjoy the episodes anymore, as I was constantly obsess by the non-stop mess. Season 7 was, to me, really painful to watch, given all the things that had been built since episode 1 some years ago.
But these season is really really worse. 8 seasons that are supposed to lead to next Sunday episode that, given what we've got since 5 weeks, should be utterly disappointing.

Can't wait to pass to something else, like the next season of Dark (awesome German serie) or The Expanse...

... and still wait for the next book of George RR ?
 

I detect a lot of anti-Chinese bias!
It's reasonable enough to raise the topic but save us the old "China makes junk" cliche, it's no longer as simple.
China is a developing economy and all countries go through eras of churning out cheap products during this phase. Japan did it. Even the US did it to some degree, but in a very different technological era. Looking at the camera companies - Sigma did it - made very cheap lenses in huge quantities for a LONG time before they started to do the high-end quality stuff we all respect so highly.
What is going on at the moment is Chinese home-grown technology is cost competitive and technologically becoming on an even par with western stuff, so that combination makes it a huge threat to US businesses like Intel and Qualcomm. There are political reasons for smearing Huawei.
There is also a distinction between IP, design and assembly / manufacturing. Most of China's developing economy has been based on assembly and manufacturing but now they are becoming big on original designs and products, which is another threat to the US economy. Especially in chip design and telecoms.
As for quality, perceptions and stereotypes always vary... You're entitled to your views. I find them outdated. RED cameras and iPhones are hardly poorly put together products - both made in China. Foxconn. No doubt if they had been made in an American factory by American hands you'd think they were better made, but that says more about prejudiced opinion than the actual facts or the skills level of the Chinese workforce. Across Asia there are a lot of people highly educated and dedicated to their work otherwise they wouldn't do the things they are doing. And Chinese space programme is another flagship advancement, whether we can agree on their politics or not, the writing is on the wall. The US is no longer top dog.
"There will be nobody left in China to do business with. Very bad for China, very good for USA!"
---
Of course when you have this twat starting trade wars, you're bound to get people whipped up into a sinophobic frenzy.
Let's look at the facts.
It's hard to imagine a President so out of touch with US businesses, who have benefited massively from cheap Chinese labour and manufacturing.
There isn't a single major US technology or camera company around today that doesn't need Chinese manufacturing or parts supply.
And yet Trump thinks attacking that is very good for the USA, because he has a simple world view - "we can make stuff here... it's easy... just build a factory"...
For a start, if you look at the quantities of natural resources, rare metals and energy required to make mass produce fundamental parts for modern technological devices and appliances, the US doesn't have any of it easily to hand like China does and digging them up at the scale required would cause massive pollution right on your doorstep. Is that would you want?
If smartphones were all made in the US they would cost 10x more at retail and wouldn't sell a single unit vs cost effective competitors.
The technology doesn't even exist at the required scale in the US to build the stuff, like it does in China, Japan and South Korea. We're talking here about the machines that make machines. Vast majority of the equipment is Asian.
We are talking vast scale of manufacturing, where a single factory is the size of a small city and employees over 1 million people. Add up the cost of those people with US wages vs doing the same thing in China and you start to realise what a fucking amateur Trump is when it comes to business and why he has made enormous losses and write-offs in every one of his business ventures.

Fallacious arguments and bias party !

Someone here appropriated too much Schopenhauer's  "Art of being right"...


Mixing up facts and opinions, putting forward the "free thinking" and "independent thought" argument, bringing on the "fear" and political correctness that one bravely overcomes to tell the truth, and wish more "sheeps" could access this level of "awareness"...

Congrats. Flat earthers and trendy conspiracy theorists use exactly the same mechanism...

Fallacious arguments and bias party !

Someone here appropriated too much Schopenhauer's  "Art of being right"...


Mixing up facts and opinions, putting forward the "free thinking" and "independent thought" argument, bringing on the "fear" and political correctness that one bravely overcomes to tell the truth, and wish more "sheeps" could access this level of "awareness"...

Congrats. Flat earthers and trendy conspiracy theorists use exactly the same mechanism...

Fallacious arguments and bias party !

Someone here appropriated too much Schopenhauer's  "Art of being right"...


Mixing up facts and opinions, putting forward the "free thinking" and "independent thought" argument, bringing on the "fear" and political correctness that one bravely overcomes to tell the truth, and wish more "sheeps" could access this level of "awareness"...

Congrats. Flat earthers and trendy conspiracy theorists use exactly the same mechanism...

Fallacious arguments and bias party !

Someone here appropriated too much Schopenhauer's  "Art of being right"...


Mixing up facts and opinions, putting forward the "free thinking" and "independent thought" argument, bringing on the "fear" and political correctness that one bravely overcomes to tell the truth, and wish more "sheeps" could access this level of "awareness"...

Congrats. Flat earthers and trendy conspiracy theorists use exactly the same mechanism...

Fallacious arguments and bias party !

Someone here appropriated too much Schopenhauer's  "Art of being right"...


Mixing up facts and opinions, putting forward the "free thinking" and "independent thought" argument, bringing on the "fear" and political correctness that one bravely overcomes to tell the truth, and wish more "sheeps" could access this level of "awareness"...

Congrats. Flat earthers and trendy conspiracy theorists use exactly the same mechanism...

Oh, sure you are not...
Your non-stop peremptorily assertions and fallacious arguments is not "trolling" ; this is "Jonpaiing" in cow-boy style. I understand why you are constantly fighting with a lot of other members.
Seriously, you've made this thread awful to read. I'm out.

I'd like to share one or two clips, but I'm reluctant as I'm still learning how to properly use resolve and grade. I'm still working on my skills and, once I will be comfortable, I'll post here  flat/before  and an after clips. But what I can say is  that the flat footage is quite neutral, and with only minor tweaks like curves, saturation etc. I really find the image to sing. And that's come from someone who likes what he sees from Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Fuji, BMD...

I've always preferred Nikon for stills (over Canon), and I find all the attributes that make me like Nikon imagery in the Z6 video files. I've also owned Fuji for years, but, for my tastes, I personally prefer more my stills output with the Z6, than with my XT1, XE2 and XT2. I'm mostly a landscape/documentary photographer for what it worth.
Once again, you can read on forums, for example,  that Panasonic colors are not at Canon's level, and a people complain about that. But, I often watch beautiful GH5 stuffs that literally destroy a large part of the things I watch on Canon...  Coming back to the Z6, I maintain what I think concerning the ratio of filmmakers/amateur-first-time-videographer in the available videos at the moment. Yesterday, I was searching for fresh Z6 footage on youtube, and I mostly came across strange framerate videos, awful grading, copy/paste styles or luts that are not adapted etc. applied to lots of Z6 clips.  It really do not praise in favor of the quality of the camera. I do hope that the next firmware will bring more experienced persons to use the camera, and give us a larger amount of great videos to watch.

Just a question :  prores raw is, at the moment, not editable on PC. Do you guys think that it may be possible one day ? I'm eager to try prores raw recording with the Z6, but not ready to ditch all my computer gear to switch to apple (no money for that). Thank you !

Doesn't look anything like Sony to me. I really dislike Sony colours. As has been said, I don't think there is nowhere near as many serious video shooters with Nikon yet. Nikon has not been a choice for serious video work until now. I love the look of the Z 6 and don't understand how they get such a fat image through so few mbps. But, webrunner5, if you don't like it that's fine, it's subjective at the end of the day. I think the only way you'll find out is if you rent one and see for yourself. No amount of online footage will do that for you. 

If I'm not wrong, this is literally the first real world raw video (and graded) that we see. Maybe give a little time until experienced filmmakers try it when it will be widely available.
I share the Castorp's view : Nikon is not widely represented in the video world, so you do not come across the same amount of great footages provided by videographers and filmmakers, as with Sony, Canon etc. Most videos I see are graded in a way that departs a lot from what you got straight out of the camera with the flat profile. Maybe people like Matti do apply their Canon or Sony sauce to the Nikon footage...
None of the attributes you both see in the videos you came across are represented in the flat profile footages I've shot since November...
And no need to argue "You must be the only one than can grade I guess.", cause I grade like sh*t and am still learning ?
Seriously, when I think of all the videos I watch from gh5, bmpcc4k, a7iii... I can see a lot of identic awful stuff that all try to mimic the same style, or use the same lut. I can not conclude that the characteristics of those cameras are responsible for these styles, because I have a lot of other great stuffs to compare with... It unfortunately is not the case with the z6.
But I have personaly found some really good looking stuff that give me hope !
 

If I'm not wrong, this is literally the first real world raw video (and graded) that we see. Maybe give a little time until experienced filmmakers try it when it will be widely available.
I share the Castorp's view : Nikon is not widely represented in the video world, so you do not come across the same amount of great footages provided by videographers and filmmakers, as with Sony, Canon etc. Most videos I see are graded in a way that departs a lot from what you got straight out of the camera with the flat profile. Maybe people like Matti do apply their Canon or Sony sauce to the Nikon footage...
None of the attributes you both see in the videos you came across are represented in the flat profile footages I've shot since November...
And no need to argue "You must be the only one than can grade I guess.", cause I grade like sh*t and am still learning ?
Seriously, when I think of all the videos I watch from gh5, bmpcc4k, a7iii... I can see a lot of identic awful stuff that all try to mimic the same style, or use the same lut. I can not conclude that the characteristics of those cameras are responsible for these styles, because I have a lot of other great stuffs to compare with... It unfortunately is not the case with the z6.
But I have personaly found some really good looking stuff that give me hope !
 

"A very short, quickly shot video on one of the coolest guys I know. Brooklyn based photog Mike Grippi. Shot with the Nikon Z6 Filmmaker's Kit, on a Z6 camera, recording into the Atomos Ninja V, which is a tremendous assist in making a film quickly while traveling light. This was shot in a single day, and recorded in ProRes RAW directly to the Atomos. Many thanks to Levi Arnold, our editor, who did a great job giving the piece a cool look. Hit the blog for more details! "
First footage I've seen with the yet to be released Prores Raw update. Great looking video I think!

This video was shot with the Z6:
 
 

That’s a grading decision. I have a Z 6 and it certainly does not have crushed blacks. If anything it shows that youtubers don’t change the picture profile at all. Default contrast and sharpening in standard profile doesn’t look very nice, too contrast and sharpened. This was shot in Prores Raw so we’re looking at a graded image. I thought it was pretty nice to see a cool grade.
I’m getting tired of everything looking like it’s shot at golden hour in July even though it’s shot in the north in November. 
If you shoot in flat  or neutral picture profile the blacks aren’t crushed. If you dial down contrast and sharpening in the standard profile it gives a very nice image straight away. It’s a wonderful image in Nikon flat. Like the D750 but better. 
 

When TechArt release their E mount adapter, you will then be able to put their TechART Pro adapter on it.
The basic premise of the TechART Pro is that it is a Leica M to Sony E adapter that enables you to have autofocus of the very not autofocus M mount lenses. 
When you activate the AF on the camera, the adapter physically moves the lens to achieve focus (you set the lens to infinity focus and leave it there).
So far so very good as there are obviously a world of very fine M mount lenses available for you to bankrupt yourself with as well as some very fine ones from Voigtlander and 7Artisans that will hurt far less.
The bonus though is via very cheap adapters to the M mount, you can do the same trick for manual focus lenses with Nikon F, Contax Zeiss C/Y, Canon FD, M42, Leica R, Minolta MD mounts and so on.
There are some caveats regarding the weight of the lens so I wouldn't recommend you hanging an old 300mm f2.8 off it (although if you use a monopod and let the camera move rather than the lens then it is possible  ) but it offers some great possibilities for getting more out of old lenses.  Another bonus is that you if you set the focus on the lens to minimum rather than infinity you can actually reduce the minimum focus distance by quite a large amount because you are varying its distance to the sensor which you can't do with regular adapters.
 

Y'all should be grateful Nikon even bothered to compete with anyone. Out of the Canikon duo, they are the only legacy company that threw all of its resources to mirrorless. They added IBIS, better EVF, 4k 30, 120FPS slow motion, 10-bit externally, possibly raw, they even built an adapter. If it wasn't for the X-T3, they would be in the same league as the A7iii. People pine over the EOS R, but they don't give a flying spaghetti monster of reaching their potential at that price point. Canon is crippled city! 

Its swings and roundabouts with the new mount I suppose.
In one way they are obviously keen on "encouraging" people to swap their old vinyl for CD as it were but there will be long term benefits to making that change.
On the other hand, for those of us who don't want to re-buy our entire collections (even should they exist in this new mount, which they don't) do still gain a lot from the mount change.
As I mentioned above, getting the option of stabilisation for my Nikkor 14-24mm or Sigma ART 35mm is a big win let alone getting it for my older manual primes but its the extra possibilities of the shallow mount that are arguably as exciting.
Medium Format speedboosters and F mount adapter with electronic ND are two obvious possibilities.
The other one though is the TechART E adapter so that you can use their TechART Pro adapter to get AF and IS for all of that legacy MF glass in pretty much every mount worth talking about. Not to mention it also meaning you being able to then use the Sigma MC11 on it to bring EF lenses into the equation.
That is a huge win as far as I'm concerned.

I suppose the easy answer is simply to start directing.
You mentioned that within your local community there is no passion for filmmaking. So identify what are the local passions and exploit those by making a film relevant to local interests and concerns. Find a local business with an Instagram account and offer to do a film for them (limit of 60 seconds so it’ll focus the mind). And do it again. Reputation grows slowly - your experience and skill set more rapidly.
The people skills will develop too as you relate to those you work with/for.
Set up your own Instagram account and shamelessly show off your work. Progress to Vimeo or YouTube but don’t expect huge viewing figures.
Be realistic. Remain optimistic. With a hint of idealism thrown into the mix. 
Possibly the most important thing (others will know a lot more about this than me)  is to do something - anything - to get you started...
And have fun along the way.

That's exactly my experience that I reported above. I did it more or less by trial and error. I just switched the thing to sport mode and saw no more wobble and forgot about it until I came back to this thread.