No Film School on LED Film Lights and how they work
Emma Garofalo has an article at No Film School, What Are LED Film Lights, and how Do LED Lights Work?
If you do any shooting this is well worth a read and has quite a few videos on LED lights and inexpensive lights to use for video.
Sony has announced the forthcoming Alpha 7 IV for $2500 arriving in December
Sony has announced it’s new Alpha 7 IV camera with 33 Megapixel Full Frame Image Sensor and 4K Video at 60 FPS in 10 Bit 4:2:2 vs 4K 30 in 8 bit for the mark III.
The 4K at up to 30 FPS uses the entire 7K Width of the Sensor, which 4K 60 FPS uses a 1.5x crop, which uses 4.6K and can use SD UHS II cards except one setting which needs a CFExpress Type A card. And it can record for more than hour without overheating!
The one big video issue is that unlike the III you can’t do 16 Bit RAW Video to an external recorder, in fact their is now RAW video, which is very unfortunate.
Still I would love this camera, but the video capabilities of the BlackMagic 6K Pro are superior, but it doesn’t have the still capabilities of this camera. My current still camera is non full frame DSLR the Canon 60 D, so I have lenses that would work for the Blackmagic, but this would be an amazing replacement.
DJI Releases 4 Axis Stabilized Cinema Camera the DJI Ronin 4D
The camera includes built in LiDAR focusing, which can be used with all the compatible lenses, autofocus and manual that work with the camera, and built in Wireless Transmission to multiple receivers at 20,000 ft, including a full wheel system. Both cameras have dual native iso, the 8K is 800/4000 and the 6K is 800/5000 and both have 113+ stops or more of Dynamic Range. And built in 9 stop ND filters! The lens work with interchangeable lens mounts, from DJI’s propriety DL mount, to Leica M mount.
With the built in LiDAR it can do ActiveTrack Pro for autofocus subject tracking and shows a LiDAR waveform for enhanced manual focus. The remote receives can also have full control of the camera for an operator. It can also shoot to CFexpress type b, external USB 3 or an internal DJI ProSSD. And it has built in microphones, plug 3.5mm and XLR microphone inputs. Also impressive are sensors on the bottom that help with balancing, though someone will have to make plates that have holes fro the sensors. And it can record in H.264 or ProRES or ProRES RAW.
Now the lenses are where I think this will be more of a purposeful camera vs a camera you shoot full features on, because it has limited lenses it is compatible with (and impressively you don’t have to do much to balance the cameras with these lenses). Here is the list of lenses in pdf form, there are currently 3 DJI DL lenses, 8 M Mount Leica lenses, 38 E mount with lenses from Sony, Tamron, Zeiss, Sigma, Voigtlander and Sirui. These are all pretty small lenses and not the lenses that pro cinematographers are going to want to use, but for certain situations this will be an impressive camera.
It is a beastly looking camera and a strange body. I am guessing you mostly use it with handles on both sides, but it can also work shoulder mounted.
It does seem expensive, but wait until we see how well this thing shoots. Actually I would like to see something much more in between this and the awesome DJI Pocket.
DIYPhotography has a tutorial video 13 Clever Gimbal Tricks you Need to Master
Using a Gimbal is much harder than you think, so if you are going to be using one, you need some hints to learn to get the most cinematic shots.
ProVideo Coalition Evaluating Houshold Bulbs for Cinema Use
I find this super interesting especially since I have had bad problem with this when trying to shoot with household lights.
Of course I wish I could afford a real Sekonic color meter but starting around $1699 that is not going to happen anytime soon! Ha!
CineFix on how to make a $5 Camera Stabilizer
Thanks to CineFix at IGN movies for these 3 videos. I always love building Camera gear with PVC!
CanonRumors is on the possibility of a $799 full frame camera
And that could mean a sub $1000 with lens, and with a $100 lens adapter you can use your EF and EF-S lenses. Wow, that would be really amazing.
Of course canon has really given up on amazing video in their cameras when they really started it in DSLR, so it likely wouldn’t be a video power house, but would really push full frame EOS-R as the standard. Maybe someday BlackMagic will update the EOS-R, letting you use R and EF and EF-S lenses.
No Film School on kitting out a Blackmagic 6K Pro Camera
No Film School has an article on kitting out a BlackMagic Design 6K Pro camera to get the most out of it. It is by no means a full look, but it has some great options to look at including cages, storage, batteries and battery handles.
Certainly worth a read.
I so want a BlackMagic 6K Pro. My Canon 60D just shoots such crappy video that my Osmo Pocket looks so much better even without things like lenses. And the fact that I have some canon lenses (though of course not the best glass) means I could have some glass to shoot with it.
And the tilting back screen and view finder really sell it for me if only I was making enough money.
Comparison of DJI Ormo+ and DJI Osmo Pocket Quality
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While I was working on an idea for a short film, I realized the footage I had wasn;t good enough, so I decided to do a test between my DJI OSmo+ and my DJI Osmo Pocket to see the difference in quality.
It turned out to be a huge difference. The Osmo+ with Z-Axis is much more stable, but the DJI Osmo Pocket is so much sharper. The image quality on the pocket is just so much better.
An interesting comparison, and I wish that the Pocket had a Z-Axis stabilizer, though it would be much harder because of all of the phone connected to it.