TomTheDP

I guess longer lenses feel less intimate to me. As an extreme example lets say being on 16mm for a close up feels to me like you are actually right next to the person vs say being on a 85mm. Though I would agree that longer lenses generally look more pleasing. All personal preference at the end of the day of course.

I tend to find myself on 35mm most of the time, which I consider right in the middle. I feel it gives me enough depth without too much compression giving that almost voyeuristic look. I do like super wides occasionally even for close ups, though it can be too jarring. I don't use super long lenses that much. I think its nice to get a POV look, like a perspective shot looking at something from afar. I did that a few times with my last project on a 120mm. Another use is trying to make a character feel more isolated. I mostly shoot narrative projects though so I guess lens choice becomes a lot more intentional.

probably best thing to do is rent a few different systems for different projects and see what you like using the best. If you work someone in the video field most of the advantage of a certain system is just practical usability for whatever it is you shoot.

I mean at the same time a lot of these new cameras do handle natural light pretty well, especially the full frame sensors. I think the big differentiator is still the lack of 14 bit readout on most cameras. Dynamic range is pretty respectable but we are still only getting a 10-12 bit readout. I'd love to play with 5D MK3 raw footage. I imagine its lacking in dynamic range but has a certain mojo due to the 14 bit readout. What I found with the S1 sensor is the dynamic range was good enough for most scenarios, even some pretty difficult ones. I find after using lower end cameras for many projects from production to post, and now using an Alexa from production to post, you can tell the difference. If you are just comparing single frames maybe not as much, but overall the Alexa sensor and color science is just easier to work with and looks better when pushed really hard. If I wanted to be smart I'd get a RED Raven or Komodo for quick projects. You still get that great IQ, albeit not an Alexa, but in a much smaller and less power hungry package. That would be run and gun enough for me.

I assume the stills are 14 bit which makes a big difference, at least from my experience comparing stills to video RAW on most cameras. But like you said it could be as simple as just an inferior sensor. I would say the A1 is likely doing NR but it sounds like the underexposed areas look very organic.

I have not owned the Pocket 6k but have shot with the Pocket 4k and the Alexa side by side. The Pocket 6k is a great camera. I guess I have never been a huge Blackmagic fan. I like the images from their OG cameras however they are just funky to use. The new pocket cams just feel cheap compared to Panasonic gear. It is really just my personal bias. Blackmagic is definitely the easiest option for cinema features and codecs for a really cheap price. I do like the low light capabilities of the S1 line and the extra dynamic range is also nice to have. I think using color space transform to ACES is a great way to gain better control of WB without having to shoot in RAW. I am not sure how that workflow affects the color accuracy of LUTS, such as the Emotive color Alexa luts. The biggest benefit of shooting RAW to me is the ability to fine tune white balance. It is a critical feature when trying to match cameras. With the S1 emotive color got the contrast and roll off really nice but the WB threw off the color when shooting side by side with an actual ARRI ALEXA. An Aces workflow might be a way around that though. I think for now I shall stick to the Sigma. It is a great camera, it just requires transcoding for certain NLE's, which isn't the end of the world.

The GH6 still stands out to me as its internal 4k or 6k 60p looks better than the full frame 4k 35 crop on the S1/S5/S1H. I recently sold my S1 to get a Sigma FP. The S5iiX might bring me back to Panasonic. I have always been impressed with the dynamic range on the S1 sensor and with a nice internal codec it would be hard to turn down. The GH6 also has 4k 120fps which the S1 sensor can't hold a candle to. The thing is I rarely shoot above 24fps and I think the S5/S1 Sensor in full frame 4k/6k 24 has more dynamic range. The GH6 is cheaper though. I am also interested if there will be a S1H2 with a new sensor that has a faster readout for 4k 120fps.

I don't know man I think it looks great. Looks very organic and the colors look vibrant. I think it is a winning combination.

Looks really good @FHDcrew

The 14 bit ADC mode seems to increase dynamic range over the 12 bit ADC. The entire patch range went up to 15 stops.

Yes definitely. With Blackmagic I believe the Fairchild sensors were dual gain but not the newer pockets or the Ursa 12k. So much goes into cameras its hard to determine what is actually advantageous. Recently I used both the Sigma FP and ARRI Alexa Classic on a feature film. It was a good opportunity to put both cameras through their paces in a variety of scenarios. During production I began to question my decision to use the Alexa classic due to its size. However now that I just finished coloring the film I can say the Alexa was so much easier to work with in post. It just looks nice without any work needing to be done. It is also so easy to adjust. We only shot in prores 422 sometimes at 1600 iso for low light scenes. It still looks amazing. I worked on a short film where we shot on the Z-cam S6 in 4k prores 422 and Panasonic S1 in the 10 bit 4k codec. We came back to reshoot a scene and used the Alexa. Again the Alexa felt so effortless in post. I am sure my post workflow for the Panasonic could be better. But I can't argue with my eyes. Probably not a fair to compare a once 80,000 Hollywood camera to a prosumer $2000 camera though. Even when shooting in 422 it's still doing a 14 bit readout. But I think the color science and processing is almost just as important. I know that with the right post workflows most cameras can look identical these days when shooting 10 bit log or RAW. But the simplicity of cinema cameras has really drawn me away from prosumer gear, seeing as you can get a lot of older RED's and Alexas for reasonable ish prices these days.

I am not saying it's an issue, just a reality. 12 bit linear RAW gives a similar amount of information as 10 bit log. This is why I assume people aren't seeing a difference when shooting linear 12 bit over the internal 10 bit on the S1H. Bitrate could still be an issue as 150-200mbps these H265/H264 codecs are doing isn't a lot of data to work with. The Fuji XH2s does 14 bit ADC when shooting 4k up to 30fps. I am not quite sure on Blackmagic cameras. The URSA 4.6K had a similar dual gain sensor as the Alexa but I don't know if the color depth was the same. Atomos claims this about their recorders with the A7S3/FX3 "The Ninja V captures tremendous detail with 12-bit log files with over 68 billion color graduations! This is converted from the camera’s 16-bit linear RAW output. This process has the advantage of being visually indistinguishable from 16-bit Linear recording, while still having practical data rates." Obviously the good old 5D MK3 does 14 bit with magic lantern, if that counts. ARRI does this with their cameras, they package 14 bit into a 12 bit log as there is really no benefit to 14 bit linear over 12 bit log, at least according to them.

I think one of the issues is the S1H I believe only does 12 bit linear out. This really shouldn't give much benefit over 10 bit log. If it was 14-16 bit RAW you'd probably notice more of a difference. I think an advantage of RAW is if you are using different cameras on one project and or using Final cut or Premiere which don't really have ACES options.

Very odd. I'd definitely be interested in how the Sigma FP-L in 12 bit compares to the Sony.

The S1H lost that aggressive NR in later firmware, the GH5 had similar issue at first. The S1 never had the aggressive NR though, probably one of the better cameras in terms of an organic NR free image, it was rated at 12.2 stops. The C70 in RAW is 12.3 stops, which is very close to what the S1 is doing. Of course the S1 may have less dynamic range in RAW due to the likely less processing going on. But from using both cameras on projects the S1 seems to hold highlights better while the while the C70 is better in shadows. But I know people have noticed the C70 in 10 bit is doing a lot of processing, which is why I assume the dynamic range in RAW is less.

yeah meant to quote abe. In terms of the the DGO sensors it is cool to see. Apparently the URSA mini 4.6k was DGO as well. The only thing is the C70 and also the GH6 don't seem to have more dynamic range than say the S1's non DGO full frame sensor. I am curious to see if we'll get a full frame DGO sensor from someone. I kind of prefer single ISO sensors to dual for whatever reason.

I never liked using S35 4K mode on the S1 as it always looked softer and noisier, especially above 800 iso. It is just surprising the Canon in FF 4k mode looks worse.

Man that speaks really badly for the Canon.

Just to contribute to this resurrected thread, here is my Alexa Classic on a music video recently. Heavy but beautiful image.

Especially older films when it was all film. It is definitely less common these days but I have seen it, I think there was an out of focus shot that was very noticeable in the last Thor film. With super shallow DOF tracking long takes some soft focus is definitely common. I suppose its a little more critical for short form social media stuff as every shot is more apparent. Or maybe it matters less as such content is usually so short lived.

Most people like Sony these days though. But another thing is mixed lighting conditions, which is where a lot of cameras struggle. I think one thing higher end cameras are known for at least in the cinema realm is maintaining pleasing skin tones while also maintaining color accuracy. Film stocks definitely give a pretty stylized look though and everyone is using film conversion luts these days.

Must have something to do with the slightly different sensor variations and probably just lack of budget to really do things like make a custom lut for each model.

Why would they not release a new lut after intentionally changing the color science though.

It's very interesting how color differs from the lower end to higher end cameras. Even from S1 to EVA1 to Varicam. Is this carelessness or further market segmentation.

Very interesting. Very bizarre mistake by Panasonic if that is the case with the S1.