Category: FocusPulling Original Video

19 October 2018

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K: Interactive Guide to Menus & Features / Sample Clips / Review

Written by Paul Moon

The headlining video for this page runs over 2¼ hours. It is the most comprehensive guide anywhere to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s menus and features. For your convenience, the below interactive guide breaks this video down into organized sections, taking you directly to a discrete explanation of whatever menu page or feature you’re interested in. Just click it, and a video will play back with a detailed explanation. Use the top index to skip around between menu tabs and pages.

I got inspired to throw this together after creating a menu guide for the Sony a7R III, after lessons learned from an ongoing trans-media creative project of mine (at www.95thesesfilm.com/concordance), and a full test run using the BMPCC4K to create my film America premiering tomorrow at the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival. So, I’ve combined sample footage from that project, with comments about the camera (triggered by explaining its menus and features), resulting in a hybrid resource of: complete product tutorial, review, and footage samples.

Previously here, I wrote up a deep dive into lingering niche technical questions, that the other blogs/vlogs were skipping or getting wrong, in the weeks leading up to the camera’s release. When Blackmagic gave me direct answers, and I got my paws on the camera early, I typed it all up, and it’s still worth checking out if you haven’t: www.focuspulling.com/bmpcc4k-learning

The BMPCC4K is shipping now via B&H, Adorama, and CVP for a revolutionary low of $1,295, just like the last time around when Blackmagic’s original Pocket changed the world (or at least, rocked mine). You’ve got to admit, it’s an empowering price point for independent filmmakers and film students. And I’m looking forward to watching what you’ll make with it: please share to the Facebook page and the Twitter feed @BMCCusers via joining, and then properly tagging your videos and adding them, to the Vimeo User Group.

00:00:00 – INTRODUCTION
00:01:16 – SAMPLE CLIPS/TESTS: highlight roll-off, holding the camera steady, internal microphones, rolling shutter, slow-motion
00:04:15 – TUTORIAL SETUP: an a7 III shooting the BMPCC4K that’s shooting the original BMPCC while feeding an Atomos Shogun
00:06:32 – TOUCHSCREEN CONTROLS: button-free, menu-free adjustment of most shooting parameters on the touchscreen
00:39:28 – RECORD 1: ProRes and RAW, 4K DCI vs. UHD vs. HD
00:47:41 – RECORD 2: Dynamic Range, Window Sensor, Project Frame Rate, Off-Speed Recording, Dual Card Slots, Dropped Frames
00:58:19 – RECORD 3: Timelapse, Sharpening, Record LUT to Clip
01:03:12 – MONITOR 1: LCD Clean Feed, Display 3D LUT, Zebras, Focus Assist, Frame Guide, Grid, Safe Area Guide, False Color
01:06:52 – MONITOR 2A: HDMI Clean Feed, Display 3D LUT, Zebras, Focus Assist, Frame Guide, Grid, Safe Area Guide, False Color
01:14:55 – MONITOR 2B: HDMI Status Text
01:17:14 – MONITOR 3A: LCD & HDMI Frame Guides and Opacity, Focus Assist type/level/color, Zebra level
01:24:23 – MONITOR 3B: LCD & HDMI Grids (Thirds/Crosshairs/Center Dot), Safe Area Guide
01:26:30 – AUDIO 1: Channel 1 & 2 Source Selection, Level and Gain
01:29:23 – AUDIO 2: Headphones and Speaker Volume, XLR Phantom Power
01:32:08 – SETUP 1: Date/Time, Language, Shutter Measurement type, Flicker Free Shutter, Image Stabilization, Timecode Drop Frame
01:40:15 – SETUP 2: Function Buttons
01:45:29 – SETUP 3: Tally Light LED/Brightness, Factory Reset, Sensor Calibration, Hardware ID, Software version number, Playback All/Single Clips
01:48:29 – SETUP 4: Bluetooth/remote control
01:49:24 – PRESETS: adding, confirming, updating, importing/exporting, deleting
01:55:49 – LUTs: film log to extended video, REC.2020 and REC.709
02:02:50 – CAMERA BUTTONS: ISO, shutter speed, white balance, record, power
02:04:17 – DUAL NATIVE ISO: tests, comparison between 400 ISO mode and 3200 ISO mode
02:11:25 – CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

SAMPLE CLIPS/TESTS: highlight roll-off, holding the camera steady, internal microphones, rolling shutter, slow-motion

TUTORIAL SETUP: an a7 III shooting the BMPCC4K that’s shooting the original BMPCC while feeding an Atomos Shogun

TOUCHSCREEN CONTROLS: button-free, menu-free adjustment of most shooting parameters on the touchscreen

RECORD 1: ProRes and RAW, 4K DCI vs. UHD vs. HD

RECORD 2: Dynamic Range, Window Sensor, Project Frame Rate, Off-Speed Recording, Dual Card Slots, Dropped Frames

RECORD 3: Timelapse, Sharpening, Record LUT to Clip

MONITOR 1: LCD Clean Feed, Display 3D LUT, Zebras, Focus Assist, Frame Guide, Grid, Safe Area Guide, False Color

MONITOR 2A: HDMI Clean Feed, Display 3D LUT, Zebras, Focus Assist, Frame Guide, Grid, Safe Area Guide, False Color

MONITOR 2B: HDMI Status Text

MONITOR 3A: LCD & HDMI Frame Guides and Opacity, Focus Assist type/level/color, Zebra level

MONITOR 3B: LCD & HDMI Grids (Thirds/Crosshairs/Center Dot), Safe Area Guide %

AUDIO 1: Channel 1 & 2 Source Selection, Level and Gain

AUDIO 2: Headphones and Speaker Volume, XLR Phantom Power

SETUP 1: Date/Time, Language, Shutter Measurement type, Flicker Free Shutter, Image Stabilization, Timecode Drop Frame

SETUP 2: Function Buttons

SETUP 3: Tally Light LED/Brightness, Factory Reset, Sensor Calibration, Hardware ID, Software version number, Playback All/Single Clips

SETUP 4: Bluetooth/remote control

PRESETS: adding, confirming, updating, importing/exporting, deleting

LUTs: film log to extended video, REC.2020 and REC.709

CAMERA BUTTONS: ISO, shutter speed, white balance, record, power

DUAL NATIVE ISO: tests, comparison between 400 ISO mode and 3200 ISO mode

CONCLUSION

22 May 2018

Luxli Cello RGBAW LED Light: Guide / Review

Written by Paul Moon

This post is really about the pertaining long-form video, above, that takes a deep dive into the features of an exciting new product from Luxli called the Cello, part of their Orchestra series of full-color lighting that started with their smaller Viola. The video is a full tour through the smartphone/tablet app called Luxli Conductor for Android and iOS, showing you its numerous Bluetooth control features that include white balance control, color gels, color pickers (from a live view or from recorded media), and RGB sliders. I show the app controls as an inset on the right side of the screen, with a matching live view of the light’s actual emission (onto a 1.1x projection screen) on the left side, starting at the 8-minute mark, captured using a Sony a7 III, with no color profile, in UHD-4K resolution, set to reference indoor white balance (3200K).

As mentioned in the video, if we were to judge things by the annual hysteria at the NAB show last month, this year it was all about color lighting, which goes by several abbreviations: RGB, RGBW, and RGBAW. That last spec, which defines the Cello, stands for red/green/blue/amber/white. It literally means that there are separate light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for each of those colors, combined under one “lens” as seen in the below close-ups, that work together casting pretty much any color you can dream up. You could achieve it less effectively with just red, green and blue LEDs in combination, but by adding white, you get better performance especially when you want to use the light just for its most common purpose, illuminating subjects in indoor and outdoor color temperatures without any hue/color bias. And by adding amber, you get even better performance than mixed RGB, when you want to throw purer incandescent-range color temperatures into the mix.

The video best explains (at great length!) the various nuts and bolts of how it works, and the design of the product. Some highlights include the fact that it takes Sony NP-F series batteries, which you never need to buy in the form of Sony/OEM because these are, after all, just lights. So Luxli includes a generic NP-F750 battery that runs about two hours, while you can also upgrade to a Watson NP-F975 for longer than three hours. Speaking of Watson, I also like that they include their innovative wall charger with retractable AC prongs — which also can double as a charger for just about any battery on the market, using removable adapter plates for two bucks each. I explained and reviewed Watson’s charging system here at the blog a few years ago. (Lately, it’s an affordable remedy to answer Sony’s greed for not providing any charger with the new a7 III.)

When it comes to external power options, unfortunately that USB port you see here isn’t actually for bus power — just for firmware updates, if they happen. The round “coaxial” barrel socket to its left is what you’d use for powering via an AC adapter, though they don’t specify what to get. Here’s the product that B&H links to at their pertaining Recommended Accessories page; at twelve bucks, they probably should’ve just thrown one in.

I’m looking forward to their release of a promised diffusion soft box that’s custom-molded to this Cello, just like the one they made for the Viola. That’ll make this product a portable all-purpose contender, perhaps creating buyer’s regret for that well-received but overpriced Aputure Amaran MX that I reviewed a few weeks ago. Of course, the combination of a strong diffusion filter, and its spacing away from the light surface, will result in decreased total light output, but having this flexibility to add diffusion easily, is a must.

Speaking of price, it’s available now at B&H for $399. That feels like a tough pill to swallow for such a small light, but there’s nothing else like it on the market, considering the broad range of control via smartphone/tablet app, and programmability for special effects that can equally serve modest theatrical/musical performances as well as any movie set. In that regard, multiple units can be chained together for discrete or synchronized control via Bluetooth. I just hope that this Orchestra product line takes off (would their 1×1 panel be called “String Bass”?) so that it’s possible to build a truly integrated kit with centralized remote control. Even better: could all these LED light manufacturers get together and agree on a standard protocol for light control — sort of a Z-Wave for studio lighting? That would be awesome.

May 22, 2018 FocusPulling Original, FocusPulling Original Video Leave a Comment

12 January 2018

Sony a7R III: Interactive Menu Guide, Samples and Review

Written by Paul Moon

The headlining video for this page runs 1¾ hours. It is the most comprehensive guide to the Sony a7R III menus available anywhere. For your convenience, the below interactive guide breaks this video down into organized sections, taking you directly to a discrete explanation of whatever menu page you’re interested in. Just click it, and a video will play back with a detailed explanation. Use the top index to skip around between menu tabs and pages.

I got inspired to throw this together after creating a menu guide for the Sony RX0 recently. Now, after lessons learned from an ongoing trans-media creative project of mine (www.95thesesfilm.com/concordance), combined with a full test run using the Sony a7R III to create www.scroogeopera.com last month, I’ve combined sample footage from that project with observations about this camera (triggered by explaining its menus), resulting in a hybrid resource of: product tutorial, review, and footage samples.

SONY a7R III MENU INDEX

tab1 : PAGE   1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11   12   13   14
tab2 : PAGE   1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
tab3 : PAGE   1
tab4 : PAGE   1
tab5 : PAGE   1    2    3    4    5    6    7
tab6 : PAGE   1