That old Camera Question

V

Vows

As it's time to make my purchase....one last time. If you had old Nikon glass, $3200, mic and Tascam, and your going to shoot a project that you want the cine style look(film setting is 1997), you have been a 30 year vet at studio photography, all manual, built your lights and set, what camera would you buy? THe gh3 with a 20mm and adapter, the 3grand Nikon, or a Mark 3 with borrowed lens,any thing else? I would not mind a new Nikon body, but this film(video) I want to look its best. The project is shot one line at a time.
I have follow up questions..
As Always
Thanks
Vows
 
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Hi Vows - I have the GH3 and also have the Pocket Cinema Camera on pre-order.

In an ideal world, I would agree with jax_rox and Artorius that the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and an inexpensive Nikon to micro 4/3 adapter would be your best choice.

For creating a specific film "look", it is hard for an 8 bit DSLR or DSLM to beat the Pocket Cinema Camera's 13 stops of dynamic range and 10-bit ProRes color space (12-bit when upgraded to CinemaDNG RAW).

But the Blackmagic won't be available until July, at the earliest, and with Blackmagic's track record, I'm not counting on getting mine until Christmas :)

If you need a camera sooner than that, I recommend the Panasonic GH3 and that same Nikon to micro 4/3 adapter.

The GH3's choice of codecs (.MTS, .MOV, .MP4), bit rates (up to 72mpbs) and progressive frame rates (24p, 30p, 60p) make it the most flexible filmmaking tool and the best value for money of all the cameras on your list.

Hope that's helpful and good luck with your project!

Please post BTS photos and video, if you can :)

Bill
 
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Yes, but I could purchase the larger BMC that came out last year. Then how about all the video taper recorders that canon and sony have in that price range?
Can that pocket camera really be the best in the under $3500 range?
Thanks
Vows
 
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Vows said:
Yes, but I could purchase the larger BMC that came out last year. Then how about all the video taper recorders that canon and sony have in that price range?
Can that pocket camera really be the best in the under $3500 range?
Thanks
Vows
Click to expand...

Yes, a BMCC EF with a Nikon to EF adapter or a BMCC MFT with a Nikon to micro 4/3 adapter would clearly be your best and most cinematic option below $3500. It will give you more resolution than any other camera in this price range (plus a free copy of DaVinci Resolve), and you should definitely get it if:

- it fits your budget

- you need 2.5K RAW and your editing suite can handle it

- you can find one in stock

Buying a Blackmagic certified SSD such as the Sandisk Extreme 480GB and an external battery will probably get you back close to $3500.

Again, good luck with your decision.

Bill

P.S. - missed your question about Canon and Sony video cameras in this price range - they answer is: they are fine video cameras, but none of them will get you as close to a "film look" as the Blackmagic cameras.
 
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Why would you spend the extra money?

There are many things about the pocket cam that are actually better than the BMCC - ie; interchangeable batteries, cheaper and more accessible storage media etc.

The only reason you would go for the BMCC is to get 2.5k vs 1080p and IMHO it's simply not worth it. If you end up exhibiting in a cinema, it's just as easy to up-res 1080 to 2k (they did it for Act of Valor with DSLR footage and it was barely noticeable).

Spend your extra money on things actually worth spending money on (lenses, perhaps accessories to make the camera work a bit better).
 
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LINKING CAMERA WITH RETOUCHING OPTIONS

How do I achieve the goal of retouching single frame as I want to shoot 24fps, but would like to call individual frames out of an editing suite and into my photoshop and clean faces. Is this a common capability of any program, or camera ? I too have read about those containers, but don't understand, MOV., MP4 and MTS. Any help or start. Thanks
 
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Vows said:
How do I achieve the goal of retouching single frame as I want to shoot 24fps, but would like to call individual frames out of an editing suite and into my photoshop and clean faces. Is this a common capability of any program, or camera ? I too have read about those containers, but don't understand, MOV., MP4 and MTS. Any help or start. Thanks
Click to expand...

You can do directly in programs tailored for "retouching" video, like After Effects.

If you really want to do it in Photoshop, you can convert the video to a bunch of pictures (TIFF I think) and go through them one by one.

Also, I'd strongly advise to find yourself an editor/colorist to do this for you.
 
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It's quite easy to export your entire timeline as an image sequence, or a single frame if you need to.

AE would probably be better suited to some of the 'retouching' you may want to do though.
 
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