EphraimP

11 hours ago, Anaconda_ said:

I don't really like the trendy washed out look, and wanted deep blacks, but perhaps I've gone a bit too far? I can reign it in no problem 🙂

I can understand not wanting a low-contrast look, but yeah, definite ease up on the blacks. especially in a dark environment with super bright highlights like you are dealing with, crushing the blacks will hide a lot of detail and make your scene too contrasty.

I have and use both. The menu separation between photo and video is nice on the T4, as is the switch between photo and video modes. Another thing I like about the T4 is that you can easily select for audio line level in or mic level in. I haven't found a setting to do that on the T3, so if it's possible it's either buried in the menu system somewhere or I'm a dummy.

As for the screen, coming from Canon I didn't like the T3's screen articulation when I bought it. A full on flip screen is definitely better for some extremely low and high angle shots and a must for any kind of selfie work or if you are recording an interview on sticks and positioned beside the camera to talk to talent. But, on the other hand, I've come to appreciate the way the T3's screen tilts up and down from it's position in line with body. For some hand-held filming styles it works much better than the screen flipped out to the side and tilted.

Even if the first version or two aren't very good image quality wise or interface wise, this could really be a watershed moment in camera development. I'm interested to see how it develops. 

It's not legit until it has an EF adapter 😏

Just now, MicahMahaffey said:

We're definitely in a time were most cameras can get the job done and nobody will ever notice what camera you used. 

It's a pretty great time to be a videographer/filmmaker. So many tools at our disposal becoming more and more affordable. If you want to take a bare-bones approach, you can make very beautiful projects at a relatively low cost.

Of course, it's still super easy to invest thousands and thousands in gear as an indy shooter/low budget pro (don't ask me how I know 😏). It pays to be thoughtful about what you invest in, and treat your gear buys as an investment.

2 hours ago, MicahMahaffey said:

6k vs 4k 

Full frame vs APSC

Better Ibis, better battery life, better ISO performance, better build quality, better image in log (less digital looking) 

10bit 422 instead of just 420. 

There's obviously more but those are what I consider to be general improvements. 

Only thing on the XT4 that's better is its ALL-I compression modes. 

But the Panasonic long GOP 10bit codec is essentially as robust as an all I codec. 

The Fuji autofocus is better too, yeah? And if you add the Metabones speedbooster to either the T3 or T4 you've got your full frame and access to plentiful EF glass.

In general, all of these cameras can give you a good image, which is awesome. Probably 90 percent or more of your audience won't be able to tell the difference if you nail focus, exposure and white balance.

5 hours ago, josdr said:

Hi guys , has anybody seen any tangible benefit between the internal 10 bit 4:2:0 recording in a X-T3  and writing to a ninja v at 10 bit 4:2:2 . Apart from prores being easier to edit which I do not mind, is there a qualitative difference in recording to a ninja in real world applications?

If someone that actually uses the combination  has experience on the matter , I would be very happy to hear from him. I do not care for you tubers and their findings 🙂

 

Thank you

I use Ninjas with my T3 and T4 all the time for paid work for small nonprofits and businesses. Besides the ease of editing, which you've mentioned, it seems like my Prores files tend to have a bit more latitude for color correction. I haven't done side by side test, so could just be a perception based on my expectations of a 422 file's color depth over 420. 

Using a Ninja also means I can record two high quality files for each take, so I have a backup in case something goes wrong. Hard drives for the Ninja are way cheaper per Gig of fast storage than cards. I run a 1TB drive with each Ninja and can edit straight on the drive if I don't have space on my main editing drives on the workstation. Western Digital 1TB WD Blue drives are dirt cheap at about $100 a pop. 

There are also tangible benefits to using a bright, high quality 5-inch monitor with all the exposure tools and ability to de-squeeze anamorphic, using different framing guides, etc. You can use something like a SmallHD or an Atomos Shinobi, but I figure if you're already buying an on-camera monitor, it makes sense to go with one that records too.

I usually shoot unscripted doc-style interviews, but there have been times I've shot non-narrative scripted content, with non-professional talent either trying to memorize their lines or reading large cue cards held next to or right below camera. I have never been happy with those shoots, so usually steer clients to the doc-style approach even if they have clear messaging points and calls to action they want to get across. 

I have a two shoots coming up for an investigative report style project that are complete scripted with non-actors. The client wants to rent a teleprompter and because we'll be shooting direct-to-camera I think it's way to go. I could just rent one two times, but I have a friend who also runs a small production company who rents a teleprompter about 5-6 per year. So, if I buy one now instead of renting twice, I can put the clients rental fee towards the purchase and rent to my buddy to help make the thing pay for itself.

With those considerations, I think the ikan Elite pricepoint is about right and I see that it's rented out by rental houses in the US, so it must be of reasonable quality. Does anyone here have experience using it or a similar price point unit (~$650-700 US). 

Yeah, no problem matching the two. Same sensor. It's more about the potential difference in color rendering if you are using third party lenses on one camera and native Fuji on the other. It's still not a huge problem to match them as long as you shoot a color chart to help you. 

I got a T4 to go with my T3. I'm glad I did. The IBIS isn't perfect, but if you learn how to use it properly, it does help. That's really the biggest difference besides battery life and the small size difference, on paper, since they upgraded the T3's autofocus via firmware. I've not done a side-by-side comparison to see if there are any differences. 

The extended battery life can be clutch, too. 

The F250 with the V8 7.3L Powerstroke is a hell of a truck. Extra cab, not the crew, full-sized bed.

3 hours ago, Ben J. said:

I've seen companies use clips from youtubers in their videos many times. I wanted to know if, as long as you give credit to the youtuber, its okay to use part of their video in yours? I know there are things like fair use, and this would be used for a product video but it is also sharing awareness as well (though mainly, a product video).  Is it legal to show a youtuber's work as long as you give them credit?  I wanted to use a clip from this youtuber because it show the danger of not wearing a mask when playing airsoft.

I'm interested in how you would plan to download/access this bigtime YouTuber's video to edit a clip that is usable, considering YT image killing compression.

Plus one on the 18-55. It's not super fast but it's a workhorse. It pretty much lives on the T4. Actually, it's the only Fuji lens I have as well. Since I already had the 17-40 F4, 70-200 F2.8 and 180 F3.5 macro EF-L lenses, I went the route of getting adapters to Fuji and the cheap F1.8 EF nifty fifty for the rare times I need fast glass. I'm very happy with the look of the Metabones X-Mount speedbooster, though I haven't paid much attention to its autofocus ability because I usually manual focus that one.

I also picked up the Meike 25 T2.2 mini cine when it came out. I really like that lens, if it's in a matte box to control flairs. Now that Meike has more choices, I'll probably get more of them, though manual primes really aren't the best choice for run-and-gun doc work. The big question is whether to get the EF mount to go with the speedbooster or stick with X-mount, seeing as my next camera may be a C70 or C200 mark II if I don't hold out to see what the XH-2 has to offer next year.

Oh, and btw, @DanielVranic, I just tested the run/record time for the T3 with the Atomos powered by a  48.8 Wh Powerextra battery. I got 2 hours 12 minutes with a bit of dinking around. That's pretty much equal to what I got on the T4. The T3's internal battery was empty at the end of recording, where the T4 still had a few bars. With two power extras and 2 Powerextra batteries, you could record for almost 4.5 hours. Unless you're recording some long live events curtain to curtain, that's probably enough juice for a day's work. 

2 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

My Pocket4K is defective unfortunately, cost more to fix than its worth used. But you are 100% correct. I shouldn't be replacing my XT3 with an XT4. I should be adding it in.

That's a bummer, man. The quality control issues with BM cameras is a major reason I won't go near a Pocket 6k Pro, even though it's go like 80-90 percent of what I want in a mini cine-style body for about half of the C70 or FX6. 

Good to hear to you have a MixPre, though I wouldn't imagine you use it much on music video shoots. The only issue I've had with mine is configuring sound out so I can send it directly to camera. The manual settings are confusing and I've screwed it up in high-pressure settings. So I have it set to basic, but it outputs line-level signal that my T3 can't take. Luckily the T4 can be set to line or mic level, so I can use it with the 4. 

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Ahhh i am definetely struggling with it haha.

I would honestly say I do 50% gimbal work 25/25 sticks and handheld. 

Because you already have your new gimbal and your handheld setup, practice with the handheld setup and see if you can get acceptable shots. If not, then maybe think about upgrading the camera. Or, if you want a two-camera setup, sell some other gear for the T4, and set that up for handheld/sticks shooting and leave the T3 on the gimbal.

I don't know if you still have your Pocket 4K (if that's the BM camera you had). I'd definitely ditch that for a T4, because it has the IBIS and better autofocus you seem to want. And working with two cameras with the same color science is nice. Even with different brand lenses that handle color differently, I can correct my T3 and 4 very easily. Love that.

4 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Great test! Thanks for letting me know.

So, I had a thought pop up. I could probably get 1100$ish for my XT3 used. Is it worth the upgrade to go to the XT4 for IBIS and the larger battery? 

Also with the same amount of $$$ I could get 2-3 new lights, or an XF lens or two. Also with my new RSC2 I can see my handheld use shrinking a bit. The gimbal is so small yet the footage looks like a dolly shot. 12/10 impressed with that little guy.

Because they have updated the T3 firmware supposedly to T4 level (I haven't done a side-by-side comparison myself), the only major difference between the two is IBIS. So it really depends on how much you shoot completely handheld, since you are enjoying your gimbal shooting as is. I definitely wouldn't shoot handheld on my T3 with just a monitor and side handle; I feel there is too much shake and micro jitter. On the other hand, that's the main setup I use with my T4 for b-roll and walk and talk interviews.

So now I have a two hour and ten minute video of the ceiling in my office. I spent a few minutes in the settings after I turned everything on and turned off the recording after the Ninja's batter monitor started giving me the low battery warning. I'm not sure how much longer it would have gone on before cutting out, but we can safely say that the 48.8 Wh battery can power a 1000 nit recording monitor and the XT-4 for 2 hours 15 minutes. 

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Thanks! Ill keep in mind the XT3 has a smaller battery.

The T4's battery still had 3 bars left, so I'm guessing that the T3's battery would probably last for the full charge of the NP-F battery. If you really wanted to be sure, I could take my T3 out of its cine rig and pop out its dummy battery for the stock one. Let me know.

Btw, that 2 hours and ten minutes of footage is 400 gigs. So that's about 5 hours of 4K 23.976 footage in ProRes 422 on a 1T drive. Not too bad.

10 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

Sorry if I missed that earlier! This is great. How long does one last ya?

No worries. I've never timed it out, but running the monitor and camera on the battery, plus having the internal X-T4 batteries usually gets me a few hours of start/stop recording time in the field. I'd guess definitely over an hour and a half straight run time. 

I've got my T4 all charged up in the office now. I'll set it up and do a run time test. Should be good for me to know. I'll post the results later.

5 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

How do you do that? Is that something the XT3 can do as well? 

You mean power my camera off the monitor battery? I thought I mentioned that earlier. I use these inexpensive Powerextra 48.8Wh batteries that have both USB and a DC outlets on them. On my T4, I've been using a USB to USB C cable to charge the camera. No reason you couldn't do it with your T3, in place of the batter bank. 

I might buy a DC dummy battery for my T4 and start running it that way instead.

1 hour ago, DanielVranic said:

Atomos own site says 150mins for a 1TB AtomX drive at HQ - 

too late, already bought option 2 and skipped the Ninja for the Shogun.

Happy shooting then! I'll be interested in how you like the little handheld rig you set up. I've been doing something a little similar with my T4, but skipping the usb battery and powering my camera off the monitor battery. If you use a smaller monitor battery, your system may balance a little better side to side.

5 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

I am having a really hard deciding between these two setups. As I am probably going to be on the gimbal 70-80% of the time, I have to consider that.

1. Ninja V +Cage + WD kit + Ronin RSC2 Basic kit - $1335, and I can't use RavenEye on the RSC2, only 150mins record time at HQ.

2. Shinobi + Cage + RSC2 Pro kit + 2x more (i have 5)V90 Prograde Cards ~ $1390 but I have RavenEye, and 400 mins of record time, only at 400mbit HEVC.

I lean toward 2, because of how much I use gimbals for my workflow, but also having a robust codec is important to me.

150 mins record time at HQ (ProRes I'm assuming). What size drive are you using? I can get nine and a half hours of record time on a 1TB ssd on the Ninja, and more than 14 hours with ProRes 422 regular.

I was gung ho to buy the C70 when it first came out, but had to wait until the end of the year for the financial side to work. By then, I'd heard the rumors about a C200 Mark II coming in April, and was much more interested in. Thought about the FX6, but I'm not up for changing out my lens collection right now, plus there are a few things about the camera I'm not sure about.

Now, as I've been shooting more with my X-T4 with a side handle/monitor set up, I'm not sure if a wide-grip, elbows locked to body setup isn't more stable for hand held than a traditional cine-style rig, at least for me. I think the T4's IBIS is helping a lot here, but it isn't perfect and sometime adds unwanted motion or warping to a shot.

And then, of course, there is a new rumor of a X-H2 coming next year with a big new feature. It's probably a new BSI sensor, or so the rumor mill would have it, but would it be too much to ask for it to include e-nd like the FX-6? That would be a dream feature, even over XLR inputs. No reason the H2 couldn't have both (mini-XLR?). But that's just pipe dreaming, I'm sure.

So I'm personally kind of in a holding pattern. Maybe I'll just keep pilling up the cash for a new camera in the bank and see what comes next. While my current setups annoy me when it comes to having to use V-ND filters and separate audio recording for one-man-band work, it's not like my clients need anything better from me in terms of IQ or output.

It's a matter of what will make shooting less of a hassle and more enjoyable. And, let's be honest, it's always a cool feeling to rock a shiny new piece of kit, especially a camera. 

4 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

Oh I would bet. From what I can see, is this around 27MB a second at 422HQ?

I use regular ProRes 422. It has a target bitrate of 147 Mbps.

2 minutes ago, DanielVranic said:

Thank you again! This is extremely helpful. I was just weary of getting the wrong drive, as Atomos's guide was super vague.

Yea 899$ is sounding like a rip now, gunna quote myself all of this stuff and see how it all looks. 

Yeah, for the money you'd save, you can pick up a the Nitze cage/sun hood/mount combo. A sun hood is clutch for outdoor shooting. 

I'm  a huge fan of the Ninja and capturing ProRes to edit on instead of H.265. But remember to cost in storage for all those beefy files. And consider how much room each project will take up on your editing hard drives. Of course, you can edit straight on the capture SSD you use with the Ninja. 

The WD Blue drive I use is on sale on Amazon right now. You need to install it in a Master Caddy, which is a plastic box that slides into the back of the monitor. Each Ninja comes with one caddy, so you shouldn't need to buy one. 

You said you have lots of Sony batteries, so $599.900 for the Ninja and $115.98 for the SSD plus cable, you're at $714.98, almost $200 below that package price. Plus, you may be able to get the WD even more cheaply due to your wholesale connection. If you did need batteries, you could by two of the Powerextra batteries I linked before and get more power than the package batteries, plus the ability to power accessories or the camera, for a little more than $50.

You'll still save about $140 over that kit, if I'm correct. Those Anglebird SSDs are a rip off, as far as I know. Way overpriced.

4 hours ago, DanielVranic said:

Extremely helpful thank you!

What preamp is that? It is nice and small.

For sure. It's the Beachtec DXA-Micro Pro. It has one XLR input plus two mono and one stereo  3.5 jacks. Powered by a 9 volt battery. It is small. I've wanted to replace it with my Mix Pre-3 II, but the Mix Pre is much bigger and awkward to mount. The sound is pretty decent; I was happy with it before I picked up the Mix Pre.

On 3/7/2021 at 6:02 AM, DanielVranic said:

Hello everyone. Recently decided to take the XT3 off the shelf and kit it out for run and gun filmmaking. Few questions on rigging, and I need a second or third opinion.

1. Rigging. I currently have a P4K entirely caged out with V-mount battery, monitor , and shotgun mic (NTG5). I really like that setup, but wouldn't mind if it was much smaller. I have the battery grip for the XT3 but it makes it quite tall, and you also can't charge the internal battery with it, so I need to take 2x chargers everywhere I go just for the body. The Anker has about 5 batteries worth of charge on it, so I would love to use that. 

2. I am 33/33/33 tripod, gimbal and handheld. I have OIS lenses for handheld, and a Ronin RSC2 on the way, so I think we are good there. It mostly relates to ^^. I want to kit out this camera to make it truly usable for mobile filmmaking, but adding large cages and power supplies seem like the opposite direction.

I have my X-T3 rigged out this way, with pre-amp so I can use XLR mics and multiple mics at once. Here are some crappy quick pics.  

You don't need to cobble together a dummy battery, Blind Spot and several other manufactures already make one.  I can't remember which one I have for this rig, a GyroVu I think. It's worked fine for more than a year. This is a heavy rig, but for hand held shots I like that the extra weight tames micro jitters and compensates for not having IBIS in the body. I also like being able to power the monitor and follow focus with one battery. 

This rig also goes shoulder mount very quickly. I have a pad that slips onto the Manfrotto tripod plate under the pre-amp. And I can move the wooden grip down with a SmallRig extension arm. To make it balance better on the shoulder, I should probably get longer rails for the battery and move it back a few more inches. A counter weight would also help. 

For a simpler solution, because you are using a monitor, you can always get Power Extra NP-F batteries with USB and DC power ports. I use this setup for my T4, which admittedly I'm using more these days for run and gun b-roll and walk and talk interviews. You can mount the monitor on the top handle, on an arm on the right side, or you can use a magic arm as a side handle if you bend it right. The only issue I see for using a T3 is that it doesn't have IBIS, so the lighter setup is going to give you more micro-jitters from hand holding.