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Capturing once-in-a-lifetime moments: to raw or not to raw?


jase
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2 hours ago, Nikkor said:

I'm not throwing out big words, and I don't care about what's going on in your mind.

Nobody had mentioned weather sealing, and there is a reason it exists. Fact is, the BMPCC is one of the less weather resistant designes out there, it has open connectors and its a basic housing around a platine with a mount sticking on the front. Jase himself will have to decide if he thinks it's something he will need or not.

I had a d7000 that died in the rain, and that camera was weather resistant, I also had a D3 with a foggy screen because condensation formed behind the protective layer and until fixed you couldn't see a thing on it. I had a another camera that got condensation behind the sensor protection layer. Antoher fixed camera lens compact from panasonic that got dust behind the lens and there was no way of cleaning it,etc...

I am too a fan of weather sealing (WS) but as you describe sometimes this means nothing. Actually it might be true that more WS cameras go bad than non-WS since users tend to put them under more harsh conditions. 

Moreover, most lenses and video gear are not weather sealed so having a WS camera provides no benefit whatsoever. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sorry for resurrecting this, but I got two more questions. Assume I would use a BMPCC and set it to raw as well as fixed ISO 800 and fixed shutter angle, so that I soley use a VND for exposure in combination with Zebras. How does this work in a bright scene? I mean sure, one can use the VND to bring the exposure down, but what happens if I set the gain in post from ISO800 to ISO200, wouldnt my image than be crushed? Or do you only change the gain afterwards in case you want to bring the ISO up to sth like 1600?

What would you guys pay for a used BMPCC with a broken HDMI port? I am not interested in attaching any monitor to it at all, but on the other side selling it again might be pretty hard later on...

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Hi,

I am in the same boats I I think I can give you my point. I do a lot of travels everywhere world. Mostly adventurous ones with hikes, paragliding, motorbiking and so on. My next one in May is in Bolivia and will involve all those activities. I have not been able to find the right stuff yet even though I tried a looooot.

From GH3, to 5d3, A7rII, D5500, rx100IV,..... I got it all and each trip with a different camera. The point is that I am also seriously into photography.

Here is my report:

GH3/4: perfect for travel if you do video only because photo is shit. Good ergonomics and battery life, good quality and easy, perfect when you don't want to bother during travel. Cons is stabilization and photography

5D3: full of shit. Non convenient RAW, too big files too big lenses and photography not at the level of a D5500 for landscape. No Slowmo.

A7RII: good but expensive, and expensive lenses, poor battery and ergonomics. I did a trip in Cuba with it.

D5500: good for the price and for photo/video but no 4K, no stabilization on primes.

rx100iv. Great for Slowmo or wide shots but no DoF possibilities.

 

in conclusion if you focus on video only just get a GH4 with a 25 1.4 for DoF, portraits, objects and so on and use the rx100 for wide shots and Slowmo 

 

because I need photography I will use a D5500 and an RX100 for Bolivia

 

We still cannot find a camera that offers:

A7R2 specs with good ergonomics, body, and good battery and DUal Pixel type focus. 5D4 will be nice but no Body IS and no Slowmo and no tilt screen. in travel you want good quality in one body for photo video, with easy ergonomics and good features (AF and stab). That exists in different bodies but not in one which sucks.

the dream would be a canon FF mirorrles with tilt screen, 4k60, in body IS, DPAF and Nikon DR for stills at a 3000$ price point. of course with canon colors and CLOG and EF mount. That would outsell any body in the market so why the fuck don't they do it?

Oh and I use a drone when I can bring it too.

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1 hour ago, wolf33d said:

Here is my report:

GH3/4: perfect for travel if you do video only because photo is shit. Good ergonomics and battery life, good quality and easy, perfect when you don't want to bother during travel. Cons is stabilization and photography

5D3: full of shit. Non convenient RAW, too big files too big lenses and photography not at the level of a D5500 for landscape. No Slowmo.

A7RII: good but expensive, and expensive lenses, poor battery and ergonomics. I did a trip in Cuba with it.

D5500: good for the price and for photo/video but no 4K, no stabilization on primes.

rx100iv. Great for Slowmo or wide shots but no DoF possibilities.

My 2c on the list:

GH3/4: Might as well buy the dirt cheap G7, but a good option.

5D3: Great FF stills. Awesome Raw video with Raw slowmo. IMO the best run n gun Raw camera for travel.

A7RII: Don't like it.

D5500: Good stuff. Great quality/mb which is ideal for travel. Grades nicely and takes great stills as well.

rx100iv. There is no way I would trust it for travel. Ive had two that constantly over heat, get "System Error" and is the slowest camera Ive ever used. For travel I want something snappy.

Personally I would be looking at the 5Dmkiii, LX100 or maybe just the Pen-f. Depending on how I rated the practicality vs quality on the trip.

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I also am considering this. Both for a trip to northern India and later Peru. I have an A7s but am not happy with the quality compared with 5d mkiii raw. Additionly I am getting a second body anyway, so I can get two cameras rolling whilst I do my astro time lapse. I have mostly canon glass anyway so for me it will be a good combo. Most video will be ML raw but the A7s will help out if extra low light is needed. The only thing I need to sort is offloading the data. Do I take my macbook or get a netbook just for data offload. I shall practice on local trips first.

 

 

 

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My take on a travel camera is one that you don't have to baby or worry about, it just does its job and gets out of the way. GH4 fits the perfectly. I have left it out overnight in the rain with the 12-35 doing a timelapse and it was fine. And this was a slightly abused, used camera before I bought it. Video quality is great, you get 1.5hrs on a 64gb card (and not u3 cards, cheap u1 cards work fine). Battery will last probably three times that of continuous recording. Plus a usable slow mo!

 

As for photo quality being a con, I totally disagree. I think we are at a point where you can use virtually any camera for photos and it will do a good job. GH4 especially with Pana lenses has decent tracking AF and perfect single AF. Raws are versatile, there are lots of small lenses too. It's what I would take if I could only have one body.

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7 hours ago, kidzrevil said:

@Mattias Burling idk, I had a GH4 with the voigtlander 17.5,25 & 42.5 and the photos were damn good imo when shot using RAW of course

 

 

P1120183.jpg

P1120240.jpg

P1120467.jpg

The photos look good, no question about it. But they would have looked much better IMO from a Canikon. Specially in the DR department.

If we take the context of military photos there is a reason why most CC teams still use DSLRs. Even though saving space is a key. 

 

 

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I've shot for the military for a couple of years and the last thing they care about is DR. Any camera made in the new millenium with 10+ stops is capable of taking good pictures. Plus consumers dont care about any of that stuff anyway imo. Oh and the US military only use Nikon's....I even seen a d90 being put to use at one point in time lol. Anyway the GH4 is more than capable of taking good still photos especially if your work will only be displayed on the web. @Mattias Burling

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14 minutes ago, kidzrevil said:

I've shot for the military for a couple of years and the last thing they care about is DR. Any camera made in the new millenium with 10+ stops is capable of taking good pictures. Plus consumers dont care about any of that stuff anyway imo. Oh and the US military only use Nikon's....I even seen a d90 being put to use at one point in time lol. Anyway the GH4 is more than capable of taking good still photos especially if your work will only be displayed on the web. @Mattias Burling

US Marine recon uses Canon.

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1 hour ago, Jonesy Jones said:

US Marine recon uses Canon.

???? Idk about that. Marines are a branch of the Navy and the Navy uses Nikon. I assume the entire military uses Nikon's. i have never seen a branch in the military use Canon as the official equipment. 

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24 minutes ago, kidzrevil said:

???? Idk about that. Marines are a branch of the Navy and the Navy uses Nikon. I assume the entire military uses Nikon's. i have never seen a branch in the military use Canon as the official equipment. 

Well, one of my childhood buddies is a marine recon super dude with like 4 or 5 tours under his belt. His team uses Canon's. Doesn't really matter to me though. Just putting some info out there.

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On 4/29/2016 at 7:51 AM, jase said:

Sorry for resurrecting this, but I got two more questions. Assume I would use a BMPCC and set it to raw as well as fixed ISO 800 and fixed shutter angle, so that I soley use a VND for exposure in combination with Zebras. How does this work in a bright scene? I mean sure, one can use the VND to bring the exposure down, but what happens if I set the gain in post from ISO800 to ISO200, wouldnt my image than be crushed? Or do you only change the gain afterwards in case you want to bring the ISO up to sth like 1600?

What would you guys pay for a used BMPCC with a broken HDMI port? I am not interested in attaching any monitor to it at all, but on the other side selling it again might be pretty hard later on...

$400 sounds fair. I think one with a broken HDMI port went for that on BMC User a while back.

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