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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Big Change...

Fran Kuhn said:
Hi Bettsy,

I do it every day, LOL. Works pretty darn well, I might add. AF is useful, but I find it's easy to MF and often more accurate for fast moving subjects.

-Fran

http://www.frankuhn.com
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I do as well; all of my still work is medium format and Af just doesn't work well enough in most situations.
Aloha
-A
 
EVFs work nicely on moving images because there's no decisive moment, there's no need for lightning fast AF on a movie set when you can just cut. If this is ever going to take off as a true DSLR-killer it has to come up with the same goods that pros are used to today. Price is another obstacle, but I think everyone knows by now, these aren't consumer DSLR-killer cameras.

When Nikon showed the D90, my first thought was, why don't they make an M90? The guts of the D90, but skip all the still photography stuff. Just a good 1080p cam. It might even be cheaper and smaller than the D90 with no mirrors.

Red needs to do something like this. S35-sensor cheapo Scarlet. Forget the DSMC part and bridge the gap in the market.
 
Yeah, I guess I should have added "on the Nikons and Canons everybody keeps banging on about". DSLRs I personally find almost impossible to focus now they have no split screens - maybe my eyes are just too old:-) but I find the auto focus in my Nikons so fast and (usually) reliable that I nowadays just use the focus lock. Shooting people I get so many more sharp images now than in the old days. It's sometimes disruptive when it goes searching but better on the shoot than finding out later you're soft IMHO.

My biggest problem is the guilt that I'm doing so much less now for images that are as good or better than I used to get.:blush:

On the subject of auto focus for cine work I think it's extremely important to differentiate on the grounds of who makes the decision of where and when to focus.

So long as the AC, FP or operator is in control of when and where I think auto focus and tracking has great potential for cine work. The idea of the camera saying to itself, "hey there's something new in the frame, I'll just focus on that" scares the crap out of me but if the crew member who's job it is could point to a screen and say, "focus on that now and track it as it moves" I would think that would be fantastic - particularly if the points could be set and practiced during rehearsal.
 
Fran Kuhn said:
Hi Bettsy,

I do it every day, LOL. Works pretty darn well, I might add. AF is useful, but I find it's easy to MF and often more accurate for fast moving subjects.

-Fran

http://www.frankuhn.com
Click to expand...

Hang on a moment while I get my glasses.:nerd:

Hey Fran, nice work. Must admit, action stuff was never a strong suit. If that were my site everything would be soft.

I do find it annoying that Nikon, Canon et al no longer provide a split screen as standard. Sometimes even I would use it but without it I need the camera to do it.

Nonetheless I see focus as a binary function. It's either focussed where you want it or it ain't. Someone with your abilities can no doubt do a better job than the camera on fast moving subjects and the manufacturers will always be working to match your skill. For me I just want to make that yes/no decision as quickly and easily as possible and, so long as I govern when and where the camera focusses, I'm more than happy to leave it to technology - so long as I can turn it off when I want to.
 
Me either. Autofocus is more than useful. It's a feature. Without it, I wouldn't consider not even to buy.
 
Jeez! Hasn't been much said by Jim lately, pretty quiet on the Recon channel!

Can't wait for the December 3rd announcement!

I'm a 15 year old wedding videographer, any clue if I could possibly be the youngest RED owner? That'd be sweet! :nerd:
 
bettsy said:
On the subject of auto focus for cine work I think it's extremely important to differentiate on the grounds of who makes the decision of where and when to focus.

So long as the AC, FP or operator is in control of when and where I think auto focus and tracking has great potential for cine work. The idea of the camera saying to itself, "hey there's something new in the frame, I'll just focus on that" scares the crap out of me but if the crew member who's job it is could point to a screen and say, "focus on that now and track it as it moves" I would think that would be fantastic - particularly if the points could be set and practiced during rehearsal.
Click to expand...

The Lumix G1 has a subject tracking autofocus function that allows the shooter to assign the autofocus zone in the viewfinder. That would certainly be a great feature for doc shooters. My eyes are getting too bad for reliable manual focus in low light.
 
Jarred Land said:
I picked up a 5D2 a couple days ago.. Video quality aside.. which isn't horrible.. but not to what we are used to around here.. Biggest issue though is that it's not really "setup" to shoot video.. You can't just set your shutter and ISO and go.. its pretty much auto-everything exposure wise. There is an exposure lock, but it is pretty tricky. Granted.. these are software decisions that have been made, but regardless, I have a feeling people that might be buying the 5D2 for Semi-Pro Video mostly might be a little disappointed.. just in terms of actually using it. the Video mode is pretty much the same as in Canon's digital ELPH line of cameras, but with a big sensor.

Now for Still images.. the 5D MII is a pretty impressive camera. The 1Ds is going up on Ebay.
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One thing that Canon does seem to have done very well with the 5D2 is low-light video, up to ISO 3200, I think. Definitely sets a high benchmark in terms of light sensitivity. Will Monstro excel in ISO/ASA as well?
 
bettsy said:
Hang on a moment while I get my glasses.:nerd:

Hey Fran, nice work. Must admit, action stuff was never a strong suit. If that were my site everything would be soft.

I do find it annoying that Nikon, Canon et al no longer provide a split screen as standard. Sometimes even I would use it but without it I need the camera to do it.

Nonetheless I see focus as a binary function. It's either focussed where you want it or it ain't. Someone with your abilities can no doubt do a better job than the camera on fast moving subjects and the manufacturers will always be working to match your skill. For me I just want to make that yes/no decision as quickly and easily as possible and, so long as I govern when and where the camera focusses, I'm more than happy to leave it to technology - so long as I can turn it off when I want to.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Bettsy.

I mentioned in another thread that if RED could come up with a reliable auto focus system I'd be in. Especially after struggling for a year with this Canon 1D Mark III. Now there's a camera that'll get you onto manual every time.:wink:

The wonderful, way-smarter-then-the-rest-of-us folks who build these things should know the following: They need full-screen AF point selection. Amazing the number of times there's not a point where I need it. Also, little, real world things like headlights on motorcycles make AF useless. And shooting my six year-old daughter's birthday party got me back onto MF faster than the bikes LOL.

Thankfully a good friend of mine, Mike Powell from AllSport Agency, taught me how to "pull" focus with a still camera ages ago. It's actually not as difficult as people think.

--Fran


http://www,frankuhn.com
 
Jarred Land said:
I need to agree with this.. a couple months ago, I started to get comfortable with a mamiya RZ67 with a digital back, and although the images where great, I just couldn't handle all the soft shots via the manual focus... and even when they were in focus the time it took to get there was debilitating for anything but studio tabletop work.

That said, one thing though that I do enjoy is Manual focus but with Intelligent focus Confirmation...
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Hi Jarred,

Are you sure it's a focus issue? You are locking up the mirror, right? If not, there will be nothing under 1/125th second even remotely close to being sharp. Just a thought from a concerned, ex-RZ owner.:biggrin:

-Fran

http://www.frankuhn.com
 
Adam Rexroad said:
J

I'm a 15 year old wedding videographer, any clue if I could possibly be the youngest RED owner? That'd be sweet! :nerd:
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I think Mark L. Pederson's kid has one, so you are about 15 years away from being the youngest.:sad:
 
Adam Rexroad said:
Jeez! Hasn't been much said by Jim lately, pretty quiet on the Recon channel!

Can't wait for the December 3rd announcement!

I'm a 15 year old wedding videographer, any clue if I could possibly be the youngest RED owner? That'd be sweet! :nerd:
Click to expand...

You have a Red One?
 
number6 said:
I think Mark L. Pederson's kid has one, so you are about 15 years away from being the youngest.
Click to expand...

Well, I really co-own my Red #711 with my youngest son, which he was 13 when I got it...:waaa: Does that count???:) :)

PS

He really believes so, but I do not want him to be disappointed now, so when he turns 18 the bomb will explode :devil:
 
Luis Otero said:
Well, I really co-own my Red #711 with my youngest son, which he was 13 when I got it...:waaa: Does that count???:)

PS

He really believes so, but I do not want him to be disappointed now, so when he turns 18 the bomb will explode :devil:
Click to expand...

Luis, if your son comes to you some evening and says he needs the camera tonight because he has a date with Paris, be very suspicious.:love:
 
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