LightShooter

7 hours ago, John Matthews said:

It looks great! I like the colors. The A7s3 is too much for me and my needs. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to put this video on your website, maybe as a video background of sorts? Where was that taken? It looks like there are some good trails and photo/video opportunities.

Thank you.  Right now this is just testing to dial in my workflow.  I will be reshooting this with my tripod repaired so i can get the jib/pan/tilt movements.  As well as add 16bit RAW, All-I 4K/120, and HD/240 once my FAst comes in later this week.

This camera will be doing 2 jobs, my passion shoots which is solo wilderness backpacking, the more remote, the better.  Also to shoot commercials, corporate, interviews, and hopefully a documentary or two (years away from that, but scripting now and getting to where I can finance and produce them).

This spot is called Mystery Falls and there are great spots to hammock, shear cliffs, and lots of other interesting subjects.  I have shot 2 videos at this location a couple years ago (on personal YT channel, same name as my username here. 

Last couple of years I've been digging Idaho Wilderness from Frank Church to White Knob, mostly in the 4.3 million acre Salmon-Challis National Forest, which has over 2 million designated as wilderness.

31 minutes ago, Hangs4Fun said:

OK, I reset everything and now just looking to apply the corrective LUT and some level of a neutral starting grade. 

Here is just 24 second clip of one of the first clip.  Just goes to show, I was so focused on the highlights, I completely ignored my blacks and shadows.  I think from here, a decent creative grade could be done, with plenty of room to push it.

https://vimeo.com/user122394328/review/464516430/65a7a1eb4d

Below is my workspace AFTER removing the damage from AUTO, and doing what I was trying to avoid (basic grade that might have my interpretations in it, but oh well).

And here is the cringy BEFORE, where I hit AUTO on my video layer and later when I went to see what it did on my adjustment layer, it looked to be no changes, when in fact it was.  Notice just how crushed the blacks were with the auto button and it just goes to show you, not to focus on any one aspect.  I would really appreciate feedback on what is considered a good neutral starting point after ETTR to 94+ and then applying the Leeming corrective LUT for S-Log3.  I'm looking for some good starting point that you could then take and apply a creative LUT to match another camera or do a custom grade to taste.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.    

Much better blacks now. What about the slider shots?

1 hour ago, Hangs4Fun said:

I exported 2 different 4K versions of this, one best for Vimeo and one best for YouTube.  I don't have a CFast card yet, so this is limited to v90, and had issues with gear and couldn't get RAW this time (well add both RAW and the higher options once I get my CFast card.  On my monitor the vimeo image looks better, it seems to have more details in the white water section.

Here is the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/PgS_RUuPun

Here is the Vimeo video: https://vimeo.com/464041748

 

 

 

Outstanding! Can't wait to see the RAW

I didn't know Gitzo made video heads?  And what is that thing between it and the tripod?

15 minutes ago, Hangs4Fun said:

. MUCH more to come on the build out of that

In this first picture you can see the reroute cable that lets you run your XLR-K3M 12" away from the top center.  you can see the front leading bump it has and how it might hit the cage and/or NATO rail IF you have a cage that does not let you adjust the front/back position in your cage like the Kondor Blue does.

 

Here I am showing the XLR-K3M itself, and it does not have that leading bump off the MI shoe like the reroute cable does.

I just went to their website and saw the Ultimate So my A7SIII cage.  That is some sweet looking gear.

Btw, I noticed the same issue with the 4 channel audio on output. This weekend is to busy for me to experiment further though

SWEET, my A7S3 came in today. So far, so good, can't properly test it just yet, but hopefully this weekend.  I tried posting using my cell phone, where I had some photos, but it was an epic fail, LOL.  Anyone know how to delete a Topic on the root?  It wouldn't let me.

Any way, will try to get some footage up this weekend.  No promises, was already going to be a busy one.

34 minutes ago, Hangs4Fun said:

For anyone about to start do more external recording, especially external RAW, I compiled a list ProRes Disk Rates, Consumption, and Usage Times.  This time I added a section that has the number of minutes you would get out of 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB drives for your project estimations.  Also adding in costs soon, so that you can estimate your costs/TB and costs/Minute for the different combinations.  The spreadsheet I have will take in the size of the drive and the cost, and then calculate your costs per minute for each of the different codecs and fps settings.

Link to the Spreadsheet?

Oh, and thank you.

On 9/2/2020 at 12:54 PM, Trek of Joy said:

No, I'm just getting it from B&H. As it stands I only have one Sony body and two lenses, the 12-24/4 and the 24 GM, I'll need the s3 and I think another Sony lens to get pro support - but I'm probably getting the 35/85 1.8's so that should get me there unless I go Batis 40/85 instead. My order was processed just a few seconds after it went live and this is such a niche camera its not going to be in short supply with almost 2-months of lead time from announcement to ship date. IMO if it had 24mp or so it would be far more appealing to more photo-centric users because of the EVF and AF advancements. But that just means we'll get it faster LOL!

Chris

I dont understand the whole concern about 12MP photos.

2048 pixels is the max res that the large majority of places that people publish their work. As far as the very few times most people with print their work, I have printed size A3 all day long from my Nikon D3 and even A2 (23.5" x 16.5") with simple upRes technology that most print shops have.

Question is are the very few times that people are actually getting prints done above 24", then if so, ok.. Yeah 18MP or 24MP.  But seriously, short of poor composition or not having long enough lenses, where crop is involved, but even then that is going to be rare AND rarer that they need to print that larger than 24".  Don't even get me started on needing more storage space.

For a very large majority, 12MP is more than enough for photos.  So I dont get the argument

8 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Video Devices (aka Sound Devices) already let you use mSATA drives in their video recorders years ago. 

You missed my point.  NVMe can do sustained rates from 2,500MB/s to almost 4,000MB/s.  

mSATA even the high performance only get write speeds UPTO 500MB/s

So NVMe can do sustained writes from 5 to 8 times faster than mSATA.  With 4K RAW 60p you need a ton more sustained write speeds than SSD can even burst to, so i was trying to think of a way to get faster throughput.

mSATA is also just SATA which is much easier and cheaper to manufacturer into small electronics.  To do NVMe you need crazy bus speeds to support them.

Also with the Ninja V, they dont just have you plug the hard drive in by itself (like those mSATA devices do), so also I was thinking Atomos could create a safe cartridge holder for the memory stick like NVMe sticks similar to how they made the Master Caddy II holder.  That way we could safely have a couple NVMe in storage as we swap out drives.  

Hope that makes more sense

20 minutes ago, ajay said:

 

Yo-Yo... Saw that as soon as he posted it.

8 minutes ago, Hangs4Fun said:

BeBob is really good, expensive but you have a workhorse that will give you every bit of what the sticker says. 

I'm building out my A7SIII rig, and went with the FxLion NANO TWO.  One it is small AF, and two it has USB-C with PD.  My plan is to actually run my A7SIII on it's Z100 battery, and at the same time charging it through it's USB-C PD port (the A7SIII supports charging the battery while also using it).  And for the first time, thanks to PD, you can charge the battery faster than it can use the battery.  This allows for me to swap Z Mount batteries without disruption to recording.

I also plan on recording out to my Ninja V sometimes 16bit RAW out (to 12bit ProRes RAW) others good ole 10bit 4:2:2 ProRes HQ.  What about battery swaps with that?  Well, thanks to Atomos buying TCS (makers of UltraSync line of timecode devices), they have a new AtomX module I just picked up this week called the AtomX Sync.  It provides Genlock timecode as master or slave with an RF and Bluetooth wireless network.  Best part is the timecode is baked into the media files, so none of the BS post work of converting LTC footage.  OK so what the heck does timecode have to do with batteries??  Well, the Sync module ALSO includes a small capacitor (aka battery), so that you have a good 5mins you can continue using your Ninja V monitor and recorder while you swap batteries.

So no disruption of recording locally and/or externally, because both the camera and the Ninja V will keep going while I swap V Mount batteries 🙂    I'm pretty proud of this setup, haven't heard anyone else doing it, as all of the pieces needed to do it are so new.  Hope to produce a few videos on it as soon as my A7SIII is in my hands.  I'm also doing some other cool stuff with my rig setup for quick change outs to go between cage/top handle only B Roll to Gimball to shoulder mount to tripod and back and forth.  

I think this would solve the issues in this thread too, right?  Since the camera wouldn't be getting its power from the V Mount battery directly like with a dummy battery?

On 8/29/2020 at 12:23 PM, LightShooter said:

Great idea, was wondering what could solve the write speed issues with SSD drives. This will likely add $100-200 to the price for the NVMe bus

Those NVMe would smoke the CFExpress card write speeds yet are at SSD prices.

On 8/31/2020 at 9:20 AM, Hangs4Fun said:

Hey LightShooter, I have a full Edelkrone setup.  As the ole Franks Hot sauce commercial says...
"Edelkrone, I put that $h1t on everything", lol

I will be doing some shots with the JibOne combines with dual HeadOne V2's for repeatable motion controlled pan/tilt/jib movements.  Also will be doing some shots with the SliderOne Pro V2 combined with dual HeadOne V2's for repeatable motion controlled pan/tilt/slider movements.  I want to see how well the A7SIII does with parallax in an outdoor scenario, with high dynamic range needs, and lots of motion and reflections (waterfall, creek, large bolders).  Will be testing that in 10bit 4K/120p and 10bit HD/240p, plus 16bit 4K RAW (out to 12bit 4K ProRes RAW, as long as Atomos releases it when I go to test).  

Also, looking forward to testing out the time lapse with these setups.  A motion controlled Jib movement with pan/tilt done over an hour or two, has an interesting look to it.  And with 12.1MP sensor at 4264 x 2408, the resulting timelapse would be about a 4.3K video.

If you have anything specific to do with motion controlling and A7SIII tests you would like to see, let me know.

I would love to see how the A7S3 handles exposure changes and AF when that Job lifts it from one darker place closer to a lighter place that is farther away, especially in 4K/120P.  When do you think you will be able to test this?

Oh, and thanks 

On 8/19/2020 at 5:15 PM, Hangs4Fun said:

yeah, I really love using my Ninja V and false color's, makes it fast.  I do use a variable ND (the PolarPro PM edition on my Sony 24GM f/1.4).  I really like your idea of using a cheap and light plastic monitor to get false colors.  But since I mentioned it, maybe I should upgrade my phone to the Sony XPeria 1 Mark II PRO if it actually does have an hdmi port.  Sony is interested in providing us monitoring capabilities with their top Xperia phones, I just thought it wouldn't be available until the Mark III.  The video tools on the non-pro Xperia 1 Mark II already have false colors and scopes, so if the PRO version adds hdmi,

I think that would be the best way for me.  Since I have to have a smart phone for my wilderness trips any way (not for cell service, but for using topo maps, and Earthmate bluetoothed to my InReach Explorer, controlling my drone, and backing up my footage at night in the hammock to a Samsung T5).  

So the new PRO edition of Expedia Mark II is going to have hdmi and scopes and false colors as a monitor option for our Sony cameras?

yes please. How much is that beast?

On 8/20/2020 at 9:32 AM, Llaasseerr said:

I would definitely be interested in some ProRes RAW HQ and internal s-log3/s-gamut3 captured together, I guess shot at base ISO 640 at the highest quality internal codec.

Same here, was just going to add that

On 8/20/2020 at 9:29 AM, Hangs4Fun said:

Daai, I'm not sure if this will help you on your A7III, but its worth a shot.  Watching the Brandon Li short film shot on the A7SIII he described what he did to get more dynamic range.  I would think it is worth a shot to try on your A7III.  He just uses the Standard Creative Style with the following adjustments: 

• Highlights -9
• Shadows +9
• Sharpness -7
• DRO AUTO

Brandon is used to shooting on A7III, A7RIII, etc and since those are 8bit and S-Log3 is unusable, he learned to get more dynamic range with other techniques.  He applied those to the A7SIII (which is good for you, but ultimately, I also think because of that, he didn't squeeze all of the DR out of the A7SIII that he could have)

Will try this on my a7iii. Thanks

On 8/20/2020 at 9:01 AM, Hangs4Fun said:

QUESTION TO DO WITH A7SIII TESTING

If there is any interest, I am more than willing to establish a set of test parameters for when my A7SIII comes in.  This could also include the external RAW option (as long as Atomos releases the firmware update on time).

I could even do some private TEAMS, WebEx, YouTube live streams and do some live tests, as well as having live test parameters being given to perform live.  Then make the footage available for download either via Google Drive or Vimeo.

Like this comment or reply to it, if you are interested.  If there is enough interest, I will set up a new thread to start collecting the test parameters and conditions.  And start planning the live sessions.

Yes please, I really want to see that 4K/120p combined with motion controlling. Do you have the ability to do motion controlled sliding, pan, tilt?

Great idea, was wondering what could solve the write speed issues with SSD drives. This will likely add $100-200 to the price for the NVMe bus