FHDcrew

A-Roll is completely 8-bit

On 3/17/2024 at 1:59 AM, newfoundmass said:

It's possible to get those kinds of results using a standard profile on an 8-bit camera. Picture profile settings are just part of it, though. Nailing color and exposure are important.

I'm not necessarily blown away by the dynamic range personally. I think it looks good, especially considering it's shot on what is almost a 10 year old camera, but I think it really just boils down to it being a nice day out. 

Half of the shots in this video I shot are in 8-bit rec709 but graded in post.  Learn your gear and 8 bit is just fine.

On 3/17/2024 at 1:59 AM, newfoundmass said:

this post is broken 😞

Glad I stayed in the Nikon system 😂 

41 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

ditch the despised gimbal forever… 😉

You could go gyro stabilization?  Get a cheap action cam and hotshoe mount it.  Use it to log the data.

Would love to see skin tones!  I need to learn how to work with them given 8-bit limitations. That indeed always tends to be the trickiest for me to work on. 

Love this!  I am coming to the same conclusion as I shoot in 8-bit rec709 more and more.  And I find that having a color managed workflow helps a lot; the image is quite flexible when conformed to Davinci Wide Gamut; responds a lot like LOG does.  And if my exposure and white balance aren't too off, the grading experience is great.

@PannySVHSdid you shoot with your Sony F3 at all?  🤣

38 minutes ago, kye said:

I've been thinking about my own strengths and weaknesses too, and have started a project designed to let me focus on something that I'm quite weak at with the goal of improving in that aspect.  I think that focusing on something in particular and just practicing that might be a good way to build that specific skill.

I'm reminded that in sports the coach will have players run drills of the same thing again and again, presumably so they can focus on that one thing without being distracted by the chaos of a normal situation.  I imagine the situation is the same with film-making - trying to work on one aspect while also doing all the rest probably doesn't help much in comparison to just focusing on that one thing.

Yeah I probably should focus on improving one thing at a time.  Good advice!

As far as 2024 Gear Upgrades, here is what I am considering:

1.  Invest in more grip gear.  This will be good as I can start playing with new lighting techniques and do more.

2.  Possibly upgrade to the Sony A6700.  Not sure about this yet, but I like the camera.  For what I shoot the overheating is a non-issue.

3.  If I do not get the Sony A6700, I may pick up a second Nikon Z6 used to use as a b-camera.

4.  Get a new 50mm prime.  Thinking of going for the super cheap Nikon 50mm 1.8g.  The Tamron 45mm 1.8 is nice optically, but does not have the most consistent autofocus.  I get much better results with first-party Nikon F-Mount lenses, let alone native Z lenses.  Also, this lens has built in image stabilization, but because it is used in tandem with my Z6 IBIS, I find that with this particular lens the image stabilization is extremely inconsistent.

Good year!

Gear: I snagged an older Nikon 17-35 2.8 F-Mount lens for $350.  Works very well, stabilization and autofocus both work surprisingly well for its age, and it has been a welcome addition to my kit.  I also bought an Amaran 60d and snagged a Neewer RGB light for 1/3 its retail price from an auction.  No new camera upgrades; 2024 is the beginning of my 3rd year with my Nikon Z6.

Work: Started to get some good pay opportunities and get some nice consistent work.  Started working for a nonprofit with a great working environment, producing a lot of promotional material.  Enjoying this experience.  Second-half of 2023 I focused a lot more on broadcast than on cinematography.  Crewed some D2 College Football games and even did a basketball game recently.  Also tried to learn my way around a 4 M/E switcher.  I built a custom video switcher solution using OBS, Central Control, a Newtek Tricaster Control Surface, and a bunch of plugins.  I use a cheap Blackmagic Decklink Quad in the mix and it works great given how little I spent on the whole thing.

Skills: I feel that my style as a cinematographer became more established; when running and gunning I began to figure out what types of camera moves and whatnot I enjoyed the most and observed a level of consistency with my work which is always nice to see.  That being said, I need to push myself more.  I don't feel that I grew exponentially especially within the past 6-months.

My favorite work of 2023:

This one is a Baptism Recap Video I made, shot on my Z6 with the Tamron 45mm 1.8 and Nikon 17-35.  All 10 bit prores to my Atomos Ninja Star.  Graded in Resolve.  I feel that this was the one I pushed myself the most in recently, both in terms of effects but also in learning to get better at sound design.

A worship night hype video I made.  Funny story: was planning to use my Ninja Star and shoot 10 bit.  Accidentally formatted the CFAST Card in the Ninja Star (the ninja star itself formatted the card).  I had a lot of files on this card as its 256gb.  So refused to use it for the shoot because I had hoped to recover the data from it.  In addition, the memory from my XQD Card was almost full, and it was a lot of files I needed to hang onto (dumb me didn't transfer them yet) so I had to resort to 8-bit 1080p 28mbps from my Z6.  Video turned out fine, but I don't love the 1080p from my Z6.  Does not grade as well as even the 8-bit 4k, let alone the external 10 bit.  I will say I was happy with the final output.

On 12/18/2023 at 9:36 PM, kye said:

Yes.  30p and 60p completely ruin the viewing experience for me - like if someone peed in my drink.  It doesn't matter what else the drink had in it, I'm not drinking it with pee in it.

You're not convincing anyone to like what you like, we're not convincing you to like what we like. 

Time to stop posting.

At the college I attend the broadcast director demands any promos/commercials for student media be filmed and delivered at 1280x720 at 60p. I hate filming in 60p and am less inspired by my visuals because 24p looks so much better to my eye. 60p should only be for sports. 30p for news. But 24p is great for commercials. 

I literally think it is just soft because it is a binned image. This always tends to be the case even on large sensor cams. 

Oh gosh I remember binning. It sucks man. It might just be the fact that it is binning. On my Nikon Z6, the full frame 1080p output is binned, and it looks a lot softer than 4k -> 1080. 

In a world where you can push and pull a camera’s image to your hearts desire, I’ve found that getting things nailed in-camera is not only under minded, it almost is becoming a lost skill. Shooting log and 10 bit made me lazy with white balance for example. I can correct it in Davinci Resolve to such a great extent that I don’t worry about nailing it on set. 
 

Let’s chat about tips regarding nailing things in camera. A lost art if you will. It’s something I’m trying to get better at. I shoot more and more in 8-bit internal on my NikonZ6 because of the convenience of internal recording. But I have to really nail my exposure and white balance to have a pleasant grading experience. 
 

Here’s my question:  what’s a good method to quickly dial in white balance that is as accurate as possible, when in a run and gun mixed lighting environment?  And you are stuck with 8 bit colors too. And you are doing it by kelvin only. I don’t find myself shipping custom white balancing very often during run and gun. 

Hopefully it’s reasonably priced!  While the ZF looks tempting I am not loving it ergonomically. I want a more utilitarian design personally. 

In all seriousness though, very sad.  Such an iconic piece of photography history; I loved their stuff.  I just got into video right as Kye was in his last year with DigitalRev, but suffice to say I really enjoyed his content and still enjoy his independent reviews.

Looks like DigitalRev TV deleted 100% of their YouTube videos.  RIP the old GH2 and 5D Classic videos I used to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalrevTV

In all seriousness though I do think this is a great step forward. Have been spending a lot less time on YouTube lately. Tired of the hype. 

20 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Somehow this is going to "revolutionize" and "change everything."

Hahaha. Blackmagic Production Camera 4k. Global shutter. 2012 baby. 

Nikon Zf for me. If anything because it gives people like me who are already in the Nikon ecosystem a good body upgrade that isn’t Z9-price-level. Internal 10 bit, better AF, built in waveform, really exactly what I’m wanting. 

2 hours ago, mkabi said:

There are even better options in 2025, you should definitely wait.

Honestly I’m holding out a bit longer, until 2045. Surely there will be better options then. 

11 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Check out this Blackmagic studio/broadcast camera setup (try and discover where the camera is hiding....):

 

Is this the Micro Studio Camera?

I love the workflow of the Tricaster though; it makes a ton of sense in my brain, and it is very similar to larger hardware switchers, just with the flexibility software solutions give you.  This is why I've been trying to model my entire OBS-based setup around the Tricaster workflow, using plugins and whatnot to make OBS behave as closely as I can to that of a Newtek Tricaster.  I don't know why, the workflow just really clicks with my brain.

2 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Just popping to to say I still have a working Video Toaster sitting in my closet.  I've often thought about doing live streaming with it just for giggles.  Never worth the effort, but still...

Did you know they officially retired the Newtek brand as of this summer?

Yeah they are Vizrt now!  Very interesting merge.

The Tricaster is weird cause it is very overpriced compared to building a rack-mountable vMix or OBS PC.  Just to get a new 4-SDI input Tricaster costs almost 10 grand.  With the price of gear now you can get an old decklink quad and a retired HP Xeon workstation for $250 combined, and cut 1080p shows no problem.