TomTheDP

The 12k is definitely a great offer. I can't help but think a full frame camera would have flown off their shelves. But I do love the 12k sensor tech. Hope to see more from them with that sensor technology.

It's hard to compare unless you are shooting same situation same lenses etc... Higher end cameras seem to have a softer look from what I have worked with. Lack of sharpening I'd assume when pitted against more consumer cameras. I actually find it to exposure similar to my Panasonic S1. Expose normally and you get a bit of grain in darker situations. If you over expose a stop or 2 it looks super clean. The Alexa noise is much nicer than the S1's though IMO.

You are referring to the Classic I assume? I'd really like to see the difference between the Classic and the LF in person side by side on my PC. Sharpening does wonders getting it closer to that newer 6k look though. Back to the topic of the Matrix, despite the rotten reviews, I am going to see it Monday. I am going in expecting it to be very different than the rest of the films and I hope to maybe not hate it.

Yeah AF just isn't a feature people want when getting a 50k camera. I do think it could serve a purpose though and productions are getting often smaller and less conventional.

Z-cams are incredibly robust and quite a bit cheaper. Canon really flaked out. Thats Canon for you though, hard to give my money to them TBH. Honestly the BMP6K pro is pretty robust feeling. The buttons are nice, the screen feels solid, really nothing that worries me.

It really killed me 😅 Good to hear its gone in newer models. The C300 MK2 can record BRAW with the new 12g assist, pretty compelling option. Too bad the C70 can't do any sort of RAW.

This wasn't actually noise. In the scene I was using haze and thought it was coming from the window blinds. But it was actually just a pattern from the sensor or maybe some kind of weird reflection??

I am sure if you put them back to back in a very high dynamic range situation you'd see a difference. My biggest issue on the C300 MK2 is the weird banding artifact you get in some high contrast situations. I was shocked to see this was a normal problem on the camera. If you discount low light performance maybe. The C500 mk2 has a lot going for it honestly, its just an easy camera. I do love the komodo though.

I used the C300 MKII for a feature recently. It's a really nice camera. We didn't use AF so I can't comment on that. An advantage to it is you can shoot BRAW from an external recorder. The internal 2k is nice. My complaint about it is in high contrast situations you can get a sensor artifact which causes vertical lines to appear across the screen. I was disappointed with this as I like to shoot high contrast stuff. You just have to watch out for it. I've only used the 1DX MK2 once. Its a nice camera but I'd be hard pressed to go with a camera that doesn't have LOG. The colors are great though as well as the auto focus. Definitely still a solid option.

The Pocket series from BM is fantastic. The issues with them are the non tilting screens and the battery life. This is solved on the 6k PRO. I'd take a 6K pro over the S1 however I'd take the S1 over the OG 6K or 4k. The S1 shifts magenta, simply make a bunch of WB presets with a +2 green tint and boom fixed. The Arri has a major green shift, while the LF shifts magenta. It's an easy fix if you do it in camera rather than attempting it in post. I have my Arri WB presets to all +2 magenta and the S1 +2 green. If using Davinci ACES + the Varicam35 option is a great way to easily color/exposure correct S1 footage. It's not 100% accurate as the Vacicam color science is different but its pretty close.

The ARRI name is keeping it up there. Also the fact that ARRI sensors have barely changed since the Classic so you are still getting that industry standard image. You can find them for good deals if you're patient. The support gear and media isn't cheap though.

The S1R 4k looks pretty nice. It's line skipped but hey it's still 4k. It does have 5k 10bit as well. I think it's a solid option.

Surprisingly there are some pretty big productions that are pretty rushed. I was reading an article that interviewed one of the DPs on the Netflix's The Punisher. He had one day to scout the location and plan for lighting the day before the shoot. This was for a pretty large action sequence as well. Stuff like that seems pretty common in this age of high end, high output, quick turn around streaming shows. But yeah I get your point.

Yeah having finally shot with an Alexa(owning one) there is definitely something to the image that is just not there on lower end cameras. Definitely more highlight detail than the S1 though its only really about a stop. The noise is a lot more pleasing and uniform. Being able to monitor and see an accurate REC709 image is amazing. Its like seeing for the first time lol. I really wish cheaper cameras had better monitoring or REC709 lut viewing options.

BRAW is definitely a good alternative though. I am not a big fan of shooting 6k, though you can always opt for S35 4k.

The shipping said it was in customs then afterwards it said "returned to sender" now it says "ready for pickup" at the same city it originated from. I assume that means it was rejected by customs and sent back. There has been no update to the shipping or contact from the seller since Sept 23rd so I am just trying to get a refund at this point. I am somewhat bummed though the Alexa Classic realistically gives me everything I'd want in a slightly smaller package. I was using ProRes RAW which is virtually lossless. It's not as hard to match cameras it normal conditions but becomes trickier with mixed lighting or more difficult situations. That is where high end tends to shine more.

All Arri cameras have the same dynamic range essentially. They all have the same sensor even the Alexa 65. They essentially stitch the sensors together. While RED for example uses completely different sensors for each camera. Its one of the great things about Arri, you know exactly what you are getting. The benefit is more the color than the dynamic range in my opinion. Arri 444 is 12 bit log which has more color information than 10 bit log or 12 bit linear RAW that Panasonic offers. Its 2.8k vs 6k if we are talking Classic vs Panasonic S1 though. I really don't care a lot about resolution which is why I am getting the Classic. Certain luts do a great job of getting close or even matching Arri 100%. It is kind of situation dependent though. Emotive color does a great job. Even with his luts though they are made to match specific light sources. The internal codecs are limited and ARRI imitations luts are pushing the color really far from its original starting point, often resulting in artifacts. RAW makes a big difference on the Panasonic cameras though and is really awesome to work with. I certainly wouldn't suggest most go out and buy an ARRI or any other camera, especially not if you are a hobbyist. As an owner/operator DP it was the right move for me and my specific goals.

Prores noise seems to look a little better too. Not exactly sure how to describe it. The fixed noise pattern doesn't go away unless shooting in RAW though.

It's the Classic, just the body with the gold mount plate. I already got a PIX E5 that I am going to use to record rather than try to get SXS cards. I am not a big EVF guy so I am ok without it. It does have the high speed license. I do have an XT coming from Russia with all the goodies. I kind of want to cancel it, as it was rejected at customs. I just don't want to deal with it at this point now that I have the Classic inbound. My only real desire for the XT is the Prores 3.2k. In reality the difference between the 2k on the Classic and the 3.2k on the XT is almost nothing.

Google "Nikon z9 8k RAW" The lack of being able to dial Z-cams ND off is a bummer but at least there is an option. Otherwise you'll have to get a vari ND and deal with the color issues that those provide. The Zcam F6 is the competitor against the BS1H in my opinion. The BS1H is $3500 while the F6 is $4000. The S6 is only $2500 and is also S35. The S6 does 4k 100fps though and crushes all the VFR modes on the S1H and BS1H which are pretty crap IMO. The option for SDI out is great but if you are going solo with this camera and shooting prores RAW, pulling focus is a bitch off the slow latency HDMI. Prores internal would be a nice feature to have. The BS1H is cool but its more of a specialty rig cam. I am waiting on a full frame EVA1 with hopefully a less chinsey body and 10 stop NDs.

Pretty good deal I just got one for 4k USD on ebay.

Yeah 6K pro is a different story due to dual native ISO. On the URSA if you shoot above 800 iso you get fixed noise pattern banding.

I think so. You'd not want to shoot past 800 iso either way though.

The Z-cam has 4k 120p that is pretty darn solid as well as the option for electronic ND's and internal Prores HQ 422 at full resolution. This has built in SDI which is cool but you can't external record through the SDI so that is a bummer. At least you should be able to get a feed to an external monitor that doesn't have horrendous latency. Is the HDMI implementation here faster though? If it is that would be a big advantage. The HDMI out on both the S1H and Z-cam is very slow. Internal ND's would have made this camera a huge win, without them its kind of meh. The only advantage of the lighter weight is for drone use. Once you add a monitor you lose the weight advantage. The new Nikon camera will have internal prores RAW. If this had internal RAW and in combination with the SDI out I would buy it.

The raw codec is definitely more flexibile color wise though its very similiar in terms of the look. I personally like S1 color better than the GH5. I noticed shadow dynamic range is way way better with RAW. No banding in the shadows even when 6 stops under exposed and it retains the information. It does get noisy but the noise is much more organic than with the internal codec.