David Peterson

7 hours ago, Mei Lewis said:

I’m in the UK but I assumed electricity is mostly the same around the world. 

Yes, but no. 

The Laws of Physics remain true wherever you are in the galaxy!

But:
1) rules and regulations change significantly from country to country (or state to state, or even city to city in some instances)
2) amps and voltages (& KHz too) varies around the world (for the average household), which may impact your calculations. 
(for instance, most homes in the U.S. are wired with 15-amp 120-volt 60KHz outputs, while here in NZ they'd be 10A 230V 50KHz outlets)

12 hours ago, Tomasz Brodecki said:

Those are apples and oranges, there are separate uses for small cameras (with their portability/low mass/usefulness in tight spaces) and large cameras (with complete control laid out on the body, multiple robust connectors, efficient cooling, displays, battery life etc.).

Am talking about the context of a freelance camera op / DP (or small production house) which is buying their main #1 camera. I think such a person should always go for the likes of a FS7/C300mk2/FX6 over an a7Smk3/S1H, and cost really isn't a good excuse here. 

Yes, having an additional secondary small B Cam is useful too. (but they could often get away with say a cheaper P4K/S5/G9/a6600/etc instead of an expensive a7Smk3/S1H)

12 hours ago, Tomasz Brodecki said:

Because they don't make a single product from the latter category above, so there is nothing to advance to and maintain compatibility, unlike what you can do with Sony (E) and Canon (EF) systems. And as for Z-mount lenses, you can't use them on cinema cameras (unlike F-mount lenses), because of the 16mm flange-focal-distance.

I do agree, Nikon missed the boat here by not releasing their take on the C100mk1/C300mk1 way back all those years ago. That was a mistake by Nikon. 

Maybe they will release a "Nikon C70" with Z Mount? Doubt it, won't hold my breath. But it would be the smart thing for them to do. 

5 hours ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

It seems to me that you’re talking about lost opportunity costs - whether you could have made more net income by not buying gear that you didn’t use? I think that’s more of a business strategy discussion, rather than a simple accounting discussion. 

Yup, always considering the opportunity cost. I think it is a basic economics concept everyone should be aware of! (or maybe I'm just an economics nerd)
Not just financial opportunity costs, such as the cost of buying a cup of coffee vs buying a newspaper, but also the opportunity costs of time: the opportunity cost of going to the beach vs going to the gym. (or the opportunity costs of posting to a forum vs writing up a year end newsletter... oops!)

Which is why you need to always not just look at the costs/benefits of a purchase, but also the costs/benefits of not doing it. 

4 hours ago, Bruce Greene said:

I also invested in an early digital cinema camera system that was quite expensive and only returned about 25% in rentals. But owning the equipment taught me much about digital acquisition and helped me make a couple key relationships which enabled me to transition from operator to DP.

Yes, that is what makes it so tricky to do the economic calculations for your next gear purchase!
As sometimes you need to calculate the second or third order benefits of ownership. (first order benefits being the direct rentals you get from owning it)

For instance I own far more sound gear than I "should" for my current stage I'm at, doesn't make "logical" sense (I'm a tech nerd so I'm definitely a sucker for buying more than I need). But on the flip side, it's opened doors to do for instance a tv series that I'd never have had the chance to otherwise because I was literally the production's only option! Was an opportunity for me to leap frog my career ahead by a few years, and gain a massive learning experience.  

But then again, if I wasn't someone who lived extremely frugally , operating off the smell of an oily rag when it comes to my own personal expenses, then someone else in my shoes should never ever have invested this much into gear! As they'd be too heavily in debt to service those debt levels. (I'm almost debt free, aside from mostly some interest free student loans)

Plus I am an extreme bargain hunter, thus if my sound gear takes five or even seven years plus to "pay itself off" then that is ok. I've got them at such fantastic prices secondhand, I'm not going to be losing heaps of value in just the next couple of years from depreciation that has to be recouped. Unlike if someone was say making a brand new Sony FX9 / RED Gemini / ARRI Mini LF / etc purchase, which depreciate in value very very fast. 

That's correct Omar.
(and if you don't care about the various I/O differences)

The ProRes 16:9 should be "the same" from each. 

On 12/20/2020 at 10:30 AM, Satsuki Murashige said:

At the end of the day, I don’t want to be the smartest guy in the room, I want to be the dumbest guy. I feel pretty safe in that room!

 Nice saying! Love it. 

On 12/17/2020 at 8:39 AM, Satsuki Murashige said:

I disagree with this analysis - you pay off individual pieces of equipment based on their rental day rate. Assuming that you've factored that cost into your total day rate as an owner operator, the FS7 was paid off in the 33 days worked.

If only a small percentage of the jobs needed the FS7, the you could have avoided buying it, and made pure profit on the rental of your paid off C300mk1, and only spent the money on renting the FS7 for those three days which you needed it. (which is a far lower cost/risk than buying outright an entire FS7)

If you disagree with this assessment, what if it had been only one day out of the 33 that the an FS7 was needed? Or even zero days?

There is a tipping point somewhere along there, which will vary from person to person and from one piece of equipment to another, and will depend on when in the life cycle you're buying in, and will depend on a dozen other factors too.

On 12/22/2020 at 1:56 PM, Daniel Alexander Skwarna said:

One thing I will ask is that any advice offered work with the stuff I have right now as I can't afford to add more gear.

Although you can't immediately do this, you definitely should in the near term ditch that Zoom H4n and throw it out. As even today's semi pro field recorders are extremely good value for money, and would give you a huge leap forward in terms of functionality and quality. 

I mean prosumer recorders such as: Zoom F8n/F8/F4/F6, or the MixPre series of field recorders. 

33 minutes ago, Robin R Probyn said:

and that switch over happened in less than 2 years .. I know.. I had both, a PMW500 and an f5.. first it was corporates all going s35 and within a year every single broadcast tv show except for sports / breaking news .. I had the PMW500 less than a year and it was a door stop ..

However the jump to S35 was a big big improvement that even a causal viewer / producer / director could see. 

But in the move from S35 to LF to beyond, those are much smaller leaps, relatively speaking compared to the leaps from small chipped ENG cameras to S35 cinema cameras. 

This is also why the change over from 4K to 8K will happen much much slower  than the move from SD to HD, or HD to 4K. 

Because we're hitting diminishing returns when it comes to leaps up in resolution. 

There is a *HUUUUGE* shortage of production grade cinema lenses for FF35, it would be impossible for every film and tv series to swap over to that in 2021. 

Like I said, S35 will remain an industry standard for both the short and medium term. Will take a while for FF35 to take over (if it ever does? Am a bit skeptical, I feel S35 is a sweet point for size / DoF. Going bigger & heavier than S35, as you're constrained by the laws of physics when it comes to the optics of lenses, brings a fair few downsides to productions. And S35 can already go very shallow for DoF, going too much further beyond that makes life difficult for the 1st AC and for the viewer when everything in the scene is out of focus. And if you're stopping down FF35 to match, then you're losing any of the low light benefits).

On 12/17/2020 at 9:22 AM, Tomasz Brodecki said:

I'll keep my eye out for that and, let me reiterate, I only recommend Nikon hardware to long-time Nikon owners, since as motion picture equipment, this product line is a dead end.

Why??? Nikon is committed to Nikon Z Mount, they've got as good odds or better as anybody else for still being around for decades to come. And I feel that Nikon is one of the class leaders here when it comes to sub $2K mirrorless for filmmakers. And if you're a hybrid content creator, then Nikon is top notch for stills too. 

On 12/17/2020 at 5:57 AM, Tomasz Brodecki said:

α7s III is definitely the mirrorless camera to grab now if video is your main priority.

However the a7s mk3 (and Panasonic S1H) is one of the most expensive mirrorless there are. 

One of the main points of mirrorless is to save on costs. 

At the price point of the a7Smk3/S1H you start to ask yourself, why not just go all in and get a cinema camera rather than a mirrorless? If you're a professional, the extra cost per shoot is extremely minimal after all. 

On 12/15/2020 at 10:20 PM, Robin R Probyn said:

But maybe not for long sir .. looks like digital video cameras are all going to be FF sensors sooner than later .. with a s35 crop mode ..

S35 is not going away any time soon, they'll still be around for years to come. 

Heck, I just purchased a S35 cinema camera this week!

If I was about to buy new lights asap in the new year for general interviews/corporate shooting then I'd be very tempted by new Aputure Amarans which pack a lot of value into them at a low price:
https://www.newsshooter.com/2020/12/16/aputure-budget-friendly-amaran-100d-and-200d/

I know less than zilch about Final Cut, but I'd suggest you go ask your questions in one of those forums? As definitely sounds likes you're screw up that stage. 

On 12/22/2020 at 1:56 PM, Daniel Alexander Skwarna said:

kind of feels like the FCPX sync clip(s) function flattens everything into a single mono track. Not so noice.

On 12/22/2020 at 8:34 AM, M Joel W said:

Thanks, Brian. Any recommendations? I see the Sigma fp is being touted as a directors finder but my needs are actually pretty primitive. I just want something small I can walk around with that shows framing.

I came to this thread to say exactly this, mentioning a Sigma fp!
It is already super ultra compact as a camera. 

But if you don't care about mounting a lens on it, and just want the smallest possible, why not just use your phone with an app?

Very tempted to get those Sirui 1.33x anamorphic lenses and put them on a Sony FS7.

On 12/11/2020 at 4:07 AM, Miguel Angel Calderon said:

I don't know how fair is this thinking since I obviously use that camera outside of jobs/projects for tests, learning a bit more, just playing and having fun, etc.

That's one way to look at it, that purely considering only the rental costs would be an underestimation. Because that doesn't fully capture the value you gain from owning one yourself, and thus knowing it inside and out. 

But also a counter argument could be made that you're overvaluing the estimate because how many of those jobs could have been done with cheaper gear? (or even entirely without) But you just took along what you've got, even though it is fancier, because it is "what you have". 

For instance, consider a person who upgraded from a C300mk1 to a Sony FS7, and in their first year did 33 days of work (@ 3%) with the FS7, does that mean they've "paid off" the FS7 in just one year? No, not at all, not if 30 of those 33 jobs could have still been done with their C300mk1!

On 12/10/2020 at 5:07 AM, Miguel Angel Calderon said:

David, I didn't know that E-mount was designed for cropped sensor cameras.

Try not to think of it as "cropped" sensor. 

As after all Super 35mm is the industry standard!

I'll be buying myself a Sony FS7 soon, and that's an APS-C / S35 Sony E Mount camera. 

On 12/31/2017 at 2:01 PM, Samuel Berger said:

One thing I noticed is that the C300 Mark II and the UMP are both in the "approved" list of cameras for Netflix partners. But the C200 wasn't. I'm unsure why that is. It shouldn't concern me as I don't work for them, but it makes me wonder if that list reflects public opinion of what a "pro" camera is.

The "approved list" is kinda meaningless really, because very few of us on this thread are doing productions commissioned by Netflix themselves. (if you're selling a completed product to them, it doesn't matter what you shot it on, you could have filmed on a potato)

And if you do find yourself somehow (unlikely) shooting a Netflix commissioned production, you'll have plenty of budget to get whatever camera your heart desires.

I think for the extreme price of an a7Smk3 you're massively better off buying a secondhand Sony FS7 as your main camera instead. You'd do better in the marketplace competing against others for jobs as a cameraman, rather than being "yet another dude with a stills camera" (of which those people are a dime a dozen). 

Don't expect the a7Smk3 to be a big improvement with IBIS over your a7III, you need to go to Panasonic instead for that. (or heck, even Fujifilm or Nikon) As Sony made a mistake, they thought they'd only make compact APS-C mirrorless, thus the E Mount was designed for APS-C. But then they squeezed in a FF sensor behind the E Mount, but that doesn't leave much room for IBIS to move around effectively. (Nikon meanwhile thought ahead, thanks to coming into the market late, and made the biggest mount of all!)

If a Sony FS7 doesn't appeal to you, then just stick with the a7III, and go make the best you can of it! Am sure there are still plenty of ways you can improve yourself. 

If you have an itch to spend money that you just can't get rid of, then spend it on lighting or audio gear. 

But yes, if you were to start again, getting a Panasonic S5 (or heck, even a Panasonic GH5) would have made more sense than the a7III.

 

On 12/1/2020 at 12:43 PM, Justin Allen said:

Unless you go with a cheap Chinese knockoff, or a ReadyRig.

Am curious to hear more about how the Chinese Easyrigs and Chinese Serenes perform? They're tempting at their much lower prices for the more occasional shooters such as myself. 

Keep it simple, remember the 180 shutter angle (mindful of if you're 50Hz or 60Hz wherever you are), shoot to ProRes 444, try not to go over 1600 ISO (even better, shoot at 800 ISO), and remember to white balance correctly. 

Have loved the Panasonic G6, such a big upgrade from the original Panasonic GH1 which I started this filmmaking journey with (although technically it was my girlfriend's Nikon D90 or my sister's Canon T2i that I borrowed for the first handful of shoots), but in recent years I've been considering an upgrade. First to the Panasonic G7, simply to get 4K, but as the price of the Panasonic G85 kept on coming down on eBay that tempted me instead for the better low light, the live HDMI out, and of course the IBIS! But this is a slippery slope, because as I wait... then the Panasonic G9 got that big 10bit firmware update, and their prices were coming down with time too. (& more firmware updates came out too, such as better AF for the G9, and being a USB webcam for the G9)

Never really seriously considered the Panasonic GH5 or GH4, as they always got the most attention, thus I felt they always kept up the highest prices on the secondhand market, compared to the value that the Panasonic G series offered instead. But I still kept half an eye on the GH4/GH5 sales, just in case. Even considered a few alternative options such as Fujifilm, or for instance the Panasonic S1 that I bid on last week until the price shot up far too high for my tastes. In the end I kept on coming back to Panasonic MFT as offering by far the best value for money. (& the fact I already owned MFT lenses helped too)

However, today I won an action for a Panasonic GH4 for only NZ$417! (less than US$300)
That was a price too good to ignore (but I doubt I'd have bid a penny higher), thus to my surprise I find out I've settled with the old Panasonic GH4 as the upgrade from the G6 I'm going with. Even though I'd like the IBIS / better high ISO / etc of the G85 or G9, it isn't such a bad thing to have settled for this cheap deal of a GH4 because it is just going to be for casual vlogging usage to create simple content for my YouTube channel. 

One very small benefit of going with the Panasonic GH4, is that when the price of the Panasonic G9 finally tumbles down to sub US$300 (right after the Panasonic G12 gets released?), then I'll be able to use the same Panasonic DMW-BLF19 batteries in both! (which wouldn't have been possible if I'd got a G7 or G85)

Now, how many more years until I upgrade my "big camera", the Sony PMW-F3? The F3 is a truly fantastic camera! I still think there isn't a better 1080 camera at this price point (but the world is moving onto 4K). Had it a fair few years, unfortunately the F3's popularity didn't last too long because the Canon C300mk1 got released shortly after and the C300mk1 just *dominated* the low / mid end professional work for that generational cycle. (interesting how the secondhand F3 has seen a bit of renaissance in 2019/2020 thanks to Caleb Pike & others)

Been wanting to do the natural upgrade to a Sony PMW-F5 for a while now, but can't justify it because as a Sound Mixer I don't do a high enough volume of camera work. The FS7/FS5 or even a secondhand FS700R might very well make more sense! (I like for instance all the work done with the FS700R by this guy: https://vimeo.com/paulbates However the FS700 isn't as nicely ergonomic as the FS5! That compact size is fantastic)

Just keeping my eyes open for the right secondhand deal, in absolutely no rush whatsoever. (as I'm still primarily by far a Production Sound Mixer, as what I do day to day)

Shoot in 10bit (with both in vlog), and shoot a color chart, and I wouldn't be worried at all. Not at a low budget level which can't be affording a 2nd EVA1 rental anyway. 

On 8/13/2020 at 3:17 PM, Satsuki Murashige said:

Ask for help with heavy awkward pieces of gear. When in doubt, it’s always safer to two-man it. That goes for pushing heavy carts as well. 

This. 

And in general, try to work on well resourced productions where you're not rushed for time, as you try to do multiple jobs at once. 

I know for myself when I'm doing jobs where I'm the entire sound department by myself, it is a LOT more physically draining than when I get to focus on being just the boom op or just the mixer.