The ghost of squig

A 4K micro with or without a 3.2" LCD and a NPF battery mount would've been a much more attractive proposition. Who needs 6K? I just made the leap from 1080p to 4K and the first thing I did was slap a Black ProMist filter on it to take the edge off.

A 4K micro with or without a 3.2" LCD and a NPF battery mount would've been a much more attractive proposition. Who needs 6K? I just made the leap from 1080p to 4K and the first thing I did was slap a Black ProMist filter on it to take the edge off.

A 4K micro with or without a 3.2" LCD and a NPF battery mount would've been a much more attractive proposition. Who needs 6K? I just made the leap from 1080p to 4K and the first thing I did was slap a Black ProMist filter on it to take the edge off.

Blackmagic has developed a blue sky rendering filter to Resolve the blue sky macroblocking issue.

Blackmagic has developed a blue sky rendering filter to Resolve the blue sky macroblocking issue.

Blackmagic has developed a blue sky rendering filter to Resolve the blue sky macroblocking issue.

If Canon wants to get back into the game it has to up its video spec, duh... but it won't. Photographers are shooting video more and more. Pro photographers shoot raw, so it's just common sense to introduce internal raw video. Chances are Sony will beat Canon to it with the A7SIII, Sigma is already doing it with the FP. If the EOS R shot APS-C 4K lossless raw with <15ms rolling shutter it would've been huge.
 

If Canon wants to get back into the game it has to up its video spec, duh... but it won't. Photographers are shooting video more and more. Pro photographers shoot raw, so it's just common sense to introduce internal raw video. Chances are Sony will beat Canon to it with the A7SIII, Sigma is already doing it with the FP. If the EOS R shot APS-C 4K lossless raw with <15ms rolling shutter it would've been huge.
 

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Maybe your northern sky just isn't blue enough. ? Have you tried a polariser?

Thanks.
You get a punchier image with ETTR: more contrast and saturation, and less noise; but you'll get maximum latitude exposing in the middle @ 400 ISO, albeit with a bit more noise.

Buddy, you know why you've always been one of my fav posters for years if not longer than a decade now, wherever you are ; ) a breeze welcome to any users community again, thanks to you too @Andrew Reid : -)

Both CDNG units? Even compressed raw?
Exposing in the middle on my Braw unit, the macroblocking is clearly visible. Between 1 and 2 stops over you have to look hard for it but it's still there. It's there in ProRes too so it's not exclusively a Braw issue. BMD have been very quiet on this flaw, which is disappointing.

When is somebody going to make a decent loupe for this camera? I got the cheap Australian one from eBay, it’s not great, but better than nothing. BMD should make a loupe. One of the things I like about the Sigma FP is Sigma is making the essential accessories for it. It’s been over a year since the P4K was launched at NAB and we still can’t get a high quality loupe or a P4K specific speed booster. ?

Man, you are such a tease! ?

I can think of a couple of good films made without those things. 

I can think of a couple of good films made without those things. 

I can think of a couple of good films made without those things. 

I just did a few jobs for independent candidates running for parliament. Besides some gopro adventure footage at the beginning of the first film, it's all 5D MK3 14bit lossless. 99% shot with an old Leica 35mm summicron-r, a few shots with the 90mm summicron and 135mm elmarit-r. Almost all of it shot from the shoulder. Also used a B+W Käsemann polariser and a cheap Hoya ND. Cut and graded in Resolve 16 with filmconvert and http://www.colorghear.com/ , upscaled to UHD.
 
 
 
 

I’ve always had this feeling that Blackmagic cameras are never quite finished, this isn’t a problem exclusive to Blackmagic, but it seems to be more prevalent with BMD. Being a small innovative company that caters to no-budget filmmakers, I can accept that BMD cameras are a bit rough around the edges, what I can’t accept is BMD keeping quiet about flaws and not fixing them in a timely manner.
Since the days of the D90 and 5DMk2, blue skies have been a go to for testing for codec flaws, when I get a new camera it’s one of the first tests I do. I noticed the Pocket 4K macroblocking on the first blue sky shot I took with it. If BMD think this flaw is acceptable then they should market it as the ‘Pocket Hobbyist Camera 4K’, or put a landscape with a ? symbol on the box, because it falls well short of the IQ expected of a cinema camera for landscape shots. I haven't noticed any codec issues shooting interiors, it doesn't appear to be a problem there, but I have hours of shots to edit and review.
BMD needs to think very carefully about how they respond to this issue, just a hint of bullshit or patronizing will not play well for them. Users need to be told exactly what the problem is, and what is going to be done to address it.

Pray your LCD doesn't die.

Pray your LCD doesn't die.

I shot some low light footage last night and I'm very happy with the results. 3200 ISO speed boosted shooting is one of the primary things I bought it for, and I chose to shoot with it last night because my testing confirmed it performs better than the 5DMk3 ML raw and the X-T3 in low light. Sunny days: not so much ?

No I didn't, this thread is monitored by BMD staff, and there's a thread on this issue on the BMD forum. Grant strikes me as a good guy. I don't want a refund, the camera works very well in most situations, however this blue sky problem is not an issue with my other cameras, so it's something BMD needs to have a look at.

After a couple of days playing around with the 3, I can get them all to match up pretty well with Filmconvert and a bit of tweaking, sometimes I couldn't tell which was which. What made the P4K and X-T3 shine was my old Leica 35mm Summicron-r, it really helps take the 4K digital edge off, and adds some nice flare, not always welcome on run and gun doco work, but that's why I carry a mattebox. I've got a 1/8 Black Promist filter on order, it will be interesting to see how that works with the 18-55mm Fujinon.
What did surprise me is the X-T3 is cleaner and sharper than the P4K at high ISO, my Viltrox speed booster hasn't arrived yet, that extra stop of light and S35 crop should even things up a bit. At 3200 ISO the P4K looks to be on par with the 5DMk3 noise wise, albeit without the fixed pattern noise.
I'm shooting some stuff for a doco next week where the P4K will be on sticks shooting a 2 hour 12:1 Braw master, whilst I move around a dining table with the X-T3 shooting FHD on a monopod to get close ups.
It's been overcast here, I'm waiting for the sun to come out so I can do some definitive dynamic range tests. The 5DMk3 still has the edge in terms of post manipulation, Braw doesn't have as much highlight control. 10bit HEVC and Braw are quite close in post.
The P4K and the X-T3 both lose saturation and detail in the shadows, the 5DMk3 does better there, but it's noisier in the shadows. I saw a test on the X-T3 vs the Nikon Z6, the Nikon did much better than the X-T3 in the shadows, if only Nikon would bring out an update with a good internal 10bit codec, with an XQD or CFexpress card, it could do internal raw ?.

It begins.

Evaluating new cameras isn't my favorite thing, so I thought I'd share the pain. I've got a lot of work on ATM, so this will be an ongoing project. I might even end up making a youtube vid ?.
I've been shooting with the 5DMk3 ML raw exclusively for many years, you can check out some of my recent work here:
A few contenders have come along over the years like the A7s and BMMCC, but all have failed to measure up to the 5DMk3 with Magic Lantern raw. These jobs I did recently were particularly gruelling, up to 19 hour days, days on end, uncontrollable lighting, no recce, no crew, constantly on the move, a great stress test for any camera or operator. The weaknesses of the 5D have never been more apparent. With a slight lull in the storm, and some technical hurdles in upcoming work, I took the plunge and bought these two sought after bodies. Not being able to get a Pocket 4K for like 8 months allows a lot of time to pixel peep and contemplate the future. Pixel peeping is one thing, but you really don't know if it's for you until you test it for yourself, or wait for a crash test dummy like me to do the work for you.
Very early impressions: I have to say that of the 2 cameras, I was more excited about the arrival of the Pocket 4K, at least until I remembered the lens adapters I ordered haven't arrived yet. I rummaged through one of my four film detritus drawers and found 5, yes 5 ? Nex adapters (remnants from a brief Sony affair) but not a single M4/3 adapter of course. So I unboxed the P4K, grabbed one of my Canon batteries, and fired up the little beast. The fan: super quiet, probably the quietest fan I've ever heard, a non issue. The firmware: 6.2.1, no CDNG for me. For those who haven't heard: BMD have put a new touchscreen in the latest cameras that only works with 6.2.1 firmware. I'm not really fussed, the Braw stuff I've seen looks really good, and the file sizes are amazing, 4K Braw files are smaller than 5DMk3 raw 1080p files. UHD 12:1 Braw files are roughly the same size as 1080p ProRes HQ files,and 200Mbit/s 1080p X-T3 HEVC files.
I've had the X-T3 for a couple of days and I got an 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS lens with it. This lens is fantastic, creamy bokeh, and the OIS is amazing, I can get super steady shots at the long end handheld, I know I'm very late to the party with OIS, but wow. Can't wait to put an Iscorama anamorphic on this puppy, no 58-52mm step down rings in the detritus drawers either ?. Low light on the X-T3 is a mixed bag: up to 8000 ISO the noise is tolerable, film-like chroma grain, no fixed pattern noise, however: the X-T3 image falls apart in the shadows, that's a big minus. The other image related issue that comes to mind is: white balance. I had to go digging into the detritus drawer for a grey card! I mean srsly, what's the world coming to? I haven't used a grey card in years;  I'm so accustomed to shooting raw I just don't even think about white balancing anymore. I haven't drawn any conclusions on custom white balancing yet other than it's absolutely necessary with the X-T3 ?.
Ergonomics: the X-T3 is terrible in big hands, I rarely handhold a camera, rolling shutter micro jitters are a thing, but the OIS lens makes it doable. The Smallrig cage has a handgrip extension, so that may help. The P4K is much better in the hand.
Stay tuned.