Devin Gibson

Hey buddy the 2.5k is called the baby Alexa for a reason. You will absolutely love that camera, its a beast and dont worry about the form factor etc, none of that stuff matters to a filmmaker whos willing to tell stories and not make any excuses as to why they wont make something. I own that camera as well as an Alexa classic and I tell you there is nothing easy to handle with the Alexas form factor, its huge and you need a ton of stuff to move around freely but guess what? Who cares!!!!!!! What kind of excuse is form factor. Im glad you asked this question on this form and Im telling you the 2.5k is beautiful so are all the other cameras you mentioned. Nothing at that price point will compare to the 2.5k at all. the pocket has the same exact image but not the same resolution which simply means the 2.5k will provide more detail is all. The pocket was only made to accompany the 2.5k and was created to use in tighter spots and shots that would be impossible with other cameras. Dont believe that 2.5k is dead or that 4K is better. Just run with it, its a great camera to learn cinematography, screw all the FPN talk and shoot at any ISO that your scene requires. Techy people will be the only ones crying over this stuff meanwhile our audience is crying over our storytelling go for it now!!!!!

Hey Jay, thsnks so much for your response. Shooting at iso 1600 in a scene where its intended for low light renders some disgusting results in regards to noise, FPN, you name it. Just yesterday I shot 1600 iso outdoors in the snow, and boy did that help me to obtain some extra lattitude in highlights. The only reason i could see myself shooting at such an high iso for a night scene is if I intentionally want the look to have built in noise aesthetically. For this low light scene I dont need more lattitude in the highlights especially in controlled environments, and if i need more exposure to see into the shadows i can simply add more light instead. Maybe I'm wrong but choosing an ISO setting is much more than using it to crank up brightness. My feeling is mutual with the idea of fast lenses only being used for low light shooting, once again i feel t stops are associted so much to the feeling the story demands. This scene im shooting indoor at night at a T8. Its obvious in a low lit environment if i crank up the iso to 1600 it would appear I'm seeing more shadows the problems arise when you pull the shadows down in post. I know this concept is hard for most to grasp but, low light shooting usually renders best to use an iso that gives more in the underexposure but then again theres solid reasons to shoot higher as well. Every iso setting is the start of the canvas

Thanks im taking this suggestion into consideration and will begin my testing first thing tomorrow.

You must be correct as i do shoot with a 3:1 compression perhaps it will be different if i shoot raw lossless thanks so much i will be testing this out for sure. So would you suggust if im shooting with some sort of compression to simply lift the shadows with lighting and then crush the blacks later in post?

Thanks for clarifying that. I want total darkness without blockiness or artifacts. Sometimes i want to see into the shadows in any event the issue i face now is artifacts in complete darkness. Thanks

Hello everybody, I recently purchased the ursa mini 4.6k and I am in love with this system. The thing is, I love darkness and shooting underexposed. I know the ursa isn't a low light camera (whatever that really means lol) and i know the native iso of the sensor is 800. Usually when I'm shooting into darkness with the Alexa I tend to shoot at a very low iso as it certainly gives me more latitude in shadow areas and the image is clean and looks amazing. When i shoot with the ursa at 200 iso the image is super clean but when i bring the ursa footage into resolve the blacks gets these weird artifacts and blockiness. I hate this to pieces. Just to paint a picture : no I'm not trying to lift the shadows in post i leave them where i shot them and feel o should be able to. So the Ursa isn't a low light camera i get that, but as a cinematograoher i don't mind not seeing information in certain areas if its by design shouldn't black just be black? Not sure if anyone has seen la la land but the scenes where everything goes pitch dark and its only a spot light on them, i should be able to achieve the same amount of darkness and not have to worry about artifacts and blockiness. I know lala land was shot on film etc etc but thats besides the point. Im not comparing film to digital I'm simply saying black should be black without blockiness on film or digital right? Please keep in mind i am not having a noise issue in fact the image is super clean as I'm shooting with the lowest iso and i know exactly my reasons for doing so. Did i find a scenario that the Ursa simply cant handle? Once again I'm not discussing whats a low light camera I know the rumors that the black magic cameras are not good in low light but what does that mean besides the obvious and in relation to my problem exactly. Most people say its not a low light camera because they all try to shoot at the native 800 iso in low light and wonder why its noisy. For night time scenes i'm trying to see into the shadows so the more stops in the underexposure by shooting at a lower iso is what I crave. Please help how do i shoot jet black and a persons face in the middle of the frame perfectly exposed surrounded by darkness without artifacts/blockiness on the Ursa mini 4.6k. I love this little camera so much would hate to return it for something like this but might have to as i am a lover are darkness. I'll take any advice or tips. thanks so much in advance.

Good day everyone, this may be a noob question but it would be really helpful to get this answered, I've been a lurker on this wonderful forum for a long time, and finally decided to post something. I noticed a lot of dp's use HMI lighting but im intetested in the popular use of blasting them through windows. I also seen other non hmi lights like 5k's being blasted through windows. Why is that? Whats does it do for the scene (i know it depends on the mood etc but genreally speaking?) so if you guys can just explain some situations where you blast a strong light source through the window you will be enhancing my knowledge. Feel free to rant as you see fit. Thanks so much in advance