Clark Nikolai

On 7/8/2025 at 7:12 PM, Clark Nikolai said:

They're using the same sensor as the Digital Bolex and 3D printing a similar shaped body. No mention of an A to D board, just the chip going in to a Raspberry Pi.

I had a better look and they're not going directly from the sensor, they're going from an already made machine vision camera.

https://machinevisionstore.com/Catalog/Details/992

https://machinevisionstore.com/content/downloads/basler/AviatorDatasheet.pdf

These are used on assembly lines and such. It connects with Camera Link (which is an industrial standard for these kinds of cameras.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_Link

Maybe this thing isn't "faux" after all.

I stumbled on this GitHub project. Not sure what to think about it (and suspect it might not be real). They're using the same sensor as the Digital Bolex and 3D printing a similar shaped body. No mention of an A to D board, just the chip going in to a Raspberry Pi. I remember the original Digital Bolex team took a few years to get the sensor's quadrants aligned and to get the colour science sorted out and these guys' sample images look great after only a short time. Maybe all this stuff is just faster to figure out nowadays.

https://github.com/lafauxbolex

What do others think? If real this would be great! They're changing some things from the original: A M4/3 mount, a big monitor and compressed DNG files.

On 6/29/2025 at 5:45 AM, MrSMW said:

I had a client from just over 10 years ago come back to me the other day having lost what I provided for them.

I went to see if I still had it and expecting it to be a bit trash compared with today, but was actually quite surprised.

It stood up very well and the video was shot on GH3 and the photo on X Pro 2.

Recently I showed something I did some years ago, shot on HDV with a Canon HV20. Some people were impressed that way back then I had such good equipment then shocked when I told them it was on a consumer HDV camera. (I did have a wide angle attachment and shot it in a log type mode then colour corrected it.)

Cameras have been more than good enough for a long time.

3 hours ago, Ty Harper said:

You're absolutely right, but the creator of the future will likely be wired differently than us. Specifically when it comes to how we perceive/capture/synthesize/translate the real world into different visual/audio mediums for the purpose of telling/expressing a story/POV. So it is understandably hard for us to fathom how AI will change things. 

But that could be the "difference" you're sensing. But that doesn't mean the core thing(s) that drive humans to create will change. But I could also be completely wrong too, so there's that, lol.

I dunno. I think people have a good sense of when some art just doesn't have any soul. Many won't care but a lot will, enough to cause a reaction and a different direction. Look at other art movements in history, most of them were a reaction to a status quo establishment that was no longer interesting.

On an unrelated note, aren't banana trees some of the prettiest trees there are? The shape of the leaves and the way they move in the wind is just an attractive thing. I have a friend who once sailed the South Pacific. He said when they would be at sea for days and would approach an island with banana groves that it was such a beautiful sight.

I'm in the only place in Canada warm enough to grow them ( and just barely too) so people plant them as decoration a lot. 

1 hour ago, Phil A said:

And what the hell is with the image simulation wheel?! Who actively wants to change their picture profile with a physical wheel instead having that do something that impacts shooting?!

Right. The physical wheel should be for commonly used features like EV adjustment, not for rarely used things like picture profiles.  I have a pocket camera with one and every time I put it away in my pocket, the fabric moves the dial to some other position and I have put it back before shooting. Slows me down.

On 4/30/2025 at 5:10 AM, BTM_Pix said:

I'm surprised someone hasn't been buying these, slapping their own logo on and selling them on for twice the price.

Yeah, just some minor changes (different mount, HDMI port instead of cable, zebras, false colour and focus peaking in firmware) would make this a nice little EVF.

12 hours ago, Phil A said:

Zero interest in the new gimmick they released, I can honestly not see who this is meant for.

I suspect they don't know for sure but are seeing "the kids" buy used early digital cameras and having fun shooting with them so they're making a camera for them. Also the half-frame thing is bizarre. Half frame doesn't apply with digital. You're not saving on film or processing. Maybe the holding-horizontal-but-shooting-vertical thing is what they're going for. 

So, the fun of shooting. For me it's too much money for what I might play with for a month at most. Maybe super rich people will buy them as stocking stuffers for their nieces (who already have a hundred gadgets)...

1 hour ago, PannySVHS said:

Call it the Lumix Bolex @eatstoomuchjam

Um... you do realize what the nickname for this might be.

4 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

I can speak to Resolve, but I'm sure that other editors can do it too.  For something like the above, set your timeline to a 16:9 aspect ratio.  Import your footage and set the pixel aspect ratio to 1.33, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, etc.  Then in project settings, go to the image scaling tab.  I believe you'd use "scale entire image to fit."

Then you should have what you're looking for - output with black bars at the top and bottom where you can write things.

 

To add to this, another thing you can do is shift the image up giving more room on the bottom for subtitles. Another thing you can do is put the black bar at the top for surtitles.

9 hours ago, maxJ4380 said:

Otherwise shoulder rigs scream TV to me. But if it works for you that's great. 

The camera was designed to be hand held with a pistol grip but I find that it's just so heavy that I can't hold it up for a long time (It's over 2 Kg) so I tend to use shoulder mount or tripod. My latest film I'm interested in camera movements because my last one was almost entirely on a tripod so it's a nice change for me to have movement.

Vancouver is such a film town (and film school town) that you see people with shoulder rigs and gimbals often. There's always somebody shooting their student film or low budget indie or skateboard film (plus the big productions with their film trucks). It's not a big deal to see here. (Sometimes you wonder if there's anyone left in Vancouver who's not making a film.)

13 minutes ago, maxJ4380 said:

Curious as what system people are using in 2025.

 

I'm using an Ulanzi & Coman Zero Y tripod with a Leofoto BV-5 video fluid head. For shoulder mount I have a two-rod shoulder rig that has no brand name. I got it on Craigslist for $40. It's been good. I added a bracket to hold a monitor. I've never used a gimbal but a few years ago I was thinking of one. Now I'm more interested in "imperfect" camera movements. 

I use the stabilizing in Final Cut for tripod shots where there was some movement (from wind or whatever), I don't tend to stabilize the shoulder mount footage. I just use it as it is and just not use anything that's very shaky.

Like tends to happen in all types of art, when "perfection" is easily attainable then imperfection becomes desirable.

16 hours ago, JulioD said:

Well it's been more than 10 years that you could have bought what...version 8 of Resolve and have never paid for an upgrade?  That's pretty insane to still be able to use V20 today after all that time with all the features it unlocks.  I can't think of any other vendor that is like this....

Apple has done the same with Final Cut Pro, if you bought it ten years ago you still get free updates.

Interesting. This is the kind of thing I was looking for last year. See this thread:

I ended up getting a Kinotehnik LCDVFe. It's really nice overall and does the job very well. (There are only two things I don't like about it. One is that you can't have zebras and focus assist on at the same time. The other is that it takes 4 AA batteries. Wish it could also take a Sony NP-F battery as well. (I'm powering it from the camera and that's good but drains the camera battery. (I also wish it was a bit smaller in size.)

For this V780H EVF, it seems pretty good for the price. 

1 hour ago, ntblowz said:

Does that makes the people rather travel outside US to buy the camera overseas instead? 

In Canada, at one time, electronics from Asia (mostly Japan in those days), had Canadian tariffs applied (to protect Canadian electronics manufacturing, yes we once had that). This meant many people travelled to the US to buy electronics. Shopping malls opened up close to the Canadian border to sell to them. At some point in the 1980s that changed and then the price was about the same.

9 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

As a Final Cut Pro user I keep expecting that Apple will charge for an upgrade, but I am guessing they're waiting for a major version update to do it.

I wonder that too but so far it seems to be over ten years without having needed to pay again. Apple makes their money off hardware so the software helps sell the hardware. (You could say too that about BM in a way.)

The iOS version of Final Cut is a subscription. I don't know how that's doing. There are so many other NLEs for iOS out there that are a one time payment kind of thing that it's competing against, (including their own iMovie for iOS).

11 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

I do think that there is a basic level of understanding the world that is willfully lacking among many on the right, with the willful part being key. There's a rebellion against rationality, logic, and understanding among my friends and family on the right, of which I have many. The very idea of gathering facts and using them to make an informed decision is a symptom of the Liberal Elites, and any attempt to do so is talking down.

Yeah, I've been watching this for a long time, since at least the 1980s. That anyone who is educated is wrong and just observing things from your immediate surroundings is enough to know the whole world. I remember in the '80s visiting some farmer friends here in Canada, they were setting up a barn and had the walls in backwards which would cause it to collapse later. When this was pointed out by their son (who had travelled the world) one of them went on a rant about "the left wing professors who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground."

In 2016, when Trump was campaigning, here in Vancouver there were three Americans from California on a visit. One was originally from Texas whose grandparents were Mexican. He was pro-Trump and went on about how dumb and dirty the Mexicans are and how we're lucky in Canada how we don't put up with any of that (He wasn't aware that Canada is full of Mexicans but anyway...). One other was also pro-Trump and was proud that he only had a Grade 3 education so was a real person and not brainwashed by the leftist whoevers in the education system. Somehow that made him smarter than someone with a degree. The third person was suspicious of Trump and didn't know what to think of his two friends cult-like admiration of him and the MAGA movement.

It seems to be a thing with right wing parties now. A technique where when campaigning they promise a better life but when in power they do things so that systemic problems are not solved. If you think about it, when times are good people vote liberal, when times are bad people vote conservative. This means that it would go against their own longevity for conservative parties to improve things.

3 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

They pulled the launch video because of some unspecified mistake in the processing of the camera's footage.  If I had to guess, I'd say they exported at the wrong resolution and then included it in the video, but that's just a guess.

 

I'm glad I watched it yesterday before it got pulled. It's good though that they're doing this. It shows they care about quality. I hadn't noticed anything odd in the footage but then I was watching in 480p at the time. They say now that they'll redo the video and put it up.

It looks like a cool project. The images seem pretty nice. 

It's nice to see Cinema DNG still being used in new products. 

23 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

The 1980ies Dune was fun and a best of 80ies spectacle with a meditative prologue and full of atmosphere, great ambitions and quirky failures, a cult classic with lasting charme and soul.

 

It was great in so many ways. I watched it on VHS in the late '80s with a friend who had read all the books and knew the plot. I didn't so I had no idea what was going on but still loved it anyway. The sets and outfits were all very cool.

I heard that Lynch was forced to have it edited too short for the story to fit it in to a movie time. It would have been great if instead of remaking it, they took the original footage and made a Netflix series, giving the scenes more time to breathe and maybe putting back any scenes or parts of scenes that had originally been cut for time.

I have a friend who shortly after the film was out was in LA and went to a movie prop and costume sale. There were for sale the Freman outfits from Dune. He kicks himself now for not buying one.

On 3/12/2025 at 8:22 AM, fuzzynormal said:

Anyone here specialize or enjoy documentaries?  My wife and I made a doc for our small community and were wondering if it had any viability beyond in-town screenings at the local film fest.

 

It's really nice. It's a nice interest that maybe doesn't get much exposure on film. I think you combined the different types of cameras very well.

There are film festivals that focus on nature and the environment. (Search FilmFreeway.) I think this could be perfect for these types of festivals.

One thing they all want is a transcription and/or closed captions so be ready with that.

4 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

The whole bullying of Canada and Greenland thing is all so these nazi crooks can dig them up for raw resources and access Canada's hydroelectricity on the cheap. It isn't going to happen, not if Mark Carney wins.

Yep. We've been their neighbour for a few centuries and know their tendencies (expansionism, etc.) We were fine for over a hundred years before we had a free trade agreement so we could do that again I suppose. I think it's okay for a country to protect its own industries, I just don't like the territory expansionism part. Like why can't they just buy minerals from Greenland? Why do they need to own it?

I think Canada will be in this world longer than Trump will.

On 3/12/2025 at 2:35 PM, eatstoomuchjam said:

Seems like multiple people are in favor of challenges, but thus far, nobody (me included!) is excited to actually run them.  😉

When I read that bit it seemed interesting but then thought about for myself what it would mean. I don't have time for my own projects as it is so introducing more seems like I wouldn't have the time for (even though the idea is exciting.)

But one thing I can do is write a bit about the challenges I'm having right now in my own projects. That would be kind of interesting to others I think.

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Well, today in 2025 you can buy an ARRI itself (the old classic edition) for sub $5000!

 

I just checked eBay. Yes, you can get an original Arri Alexa for less than CAN$5000 including the viewfinder.

We live in the golden age of cameras, Kids. Go make your movie!

10 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

People I know who work with it always tell me it's the easiest to get the grade they are looking for and for my eyes there is something about the image that feels more organic.

So true. I assistant edited on a feature shot with a 2K Alexa and they (for some reason) recorded to ProResHQ. I found the files to be some of the nicest, easiest footage to prepare for the editor. The show had a colour grader at the end but before that point, one of my tasks was to colour grade test reels and rough edits and it was so easy and fast to do as the image that it had, even in ProRes was amazing.

The image is really nice and easy and quick to make it look good in post. This has budget advantages.

Another thing the DOP told me he liked about the Alexa is that the viewfinder shows you beyond the recorded image. This way you could anticipate, say, an actor about to enter the frame. This was something he had missed from the film days. Film cameras' viewfinders would show more of the image than you're getting and would have a frame guide to show you what you would get but you could see more on the sides than that.

He also said the menu on the side panel was fast and easy to navigate. Another time saving on set.