A couple weeks ago I was preparing to make an estimated tax payment to the IRS when to my horror I discovered a ton of money had been withdrawn from my bank account over a period of weeks through what is known as ACH (clearing house) fraud. They’d been transferring huge amounts of cash on a daily basis.... Continue Reading →
Panasonic L-Mount: Same Old, Same Old?
I’ve been following Sigma with interest for years, marveling at how a manufacturer of middling third-party lenses has gone on to become one of the world’s leading producers of superb optics. But lately I’ve come to think of their approach as a bit old-fashioned. Their ART lenses may be a bargain, but their massive size and weight... Continue Reading →
Sony a7 III Low Light Test
My first low light test of the Sony a7 III. S-Log2, ISO 8000, no color correction in post, aside from dragging down shadows and midtones and boosting saturation a bit. https://youtu.be/scC26lcC9Pc
Sony a7 III Skin Tones in Butt Ugly Lighting
How do Sony a7 III skin tones fare under some of the most unflattering of all lighting conditions? I decided to find out by shooting some video at a local coffee shop whose mixture of daylight and fluorescent, along with ghastly green walls and green uniforms you can see in the snapshot below. I white... Continue Reading →
Leeming LUT One Panasonic HLG to rec.709 v.801 Beta (RC10)
Lumix GH5, Olympus 45mm f/1.2 Pro, Leeming LUT One Beta v.801, no correction in post. Lumix GH5, Olympus 45mm f/1.2 Pro, Leeming LUT One Beta v.801, curves adjustment only. Leeming LUT Pro
Nonsense About Sony Skin Tones
We keep hearing the same old rubbish about Sony colors being shiite. Screen grab, no color correction, shadows pulled down a bit in post.
Leeming LUT One Panasonic HLG to rec.709 Beta v.801 (RC2)
Lumix GH5, Olympus 45mm f/1.2 Pro, curves adjustment, no color correction in post. Leeming LUT Pro
Leeming LUT One Panasonic HLG to Rec.709 v801 Beta Test
Here's a quick beta test of Paul Leeming's latest version of his LUT to convert HLG to rec.709. When released, users will notice that in-camera saturation must be reduced to -5, and ETTR is highly recommended, otherwise clips will appear too dark on the timeline. Both color accuracy and dynamic range appear to have significantly... Continue Reading →
Three Popular Misconceptions about Panasonic Debunked
1. Panasonic's in-camera correction for lens aberrations is unacceptable. Listen to what Roger Cicala has to say about the subject in his review of the Sony 24-105mm f/4 zoom back in February: The simple fact is that Sony, more than any other company, is using electronic correction to a degree that we haven’t seen before. Some seem... Continue Reading →
Sony a7 III: Magenta Cast
https://youtu.be/qnHb8bD4nqU "Bounced" by Cheese N Pot-CLicense
Sony a7 III: The Perfect B-Cam?
I shared my latest a7 III video and some screengrabs with a respected filmmaker who shoots with the GH5s and asked for his opinion about the tonal transitions, color, noise, detail and highlight roll off. I did not ask him to evaluate nonsense like ISO 100,000, or any other such pointless rubbish cluttering the Internet.... Continue Reading →
Sony a7 III: Extraordinary Shadow Detail
Sony's a7 III has been widely praised for its good low light performance, but it's seldom acknowledged how exceptionally clean the shadows are even at low ISOs. It might also be assumed that because we're shooting 8-bit rec.709 video, that tonal transitions must necessarily suffer - but in actual practice, Sony's are in fact superior... Continue Reading →
More Wholesome a7 III Goodness
https://youtu.be/KC5HnGsgGKU "Submersed Phonics" (JBYo Collab) by SroLicense Screen grabs, ISO 400, Sony 85mm f/1.8 at or around f/3.2, no color correction in post, shadows pulled down slightly.
Sony Dominates FF Sales in USA
Four out of ten full frame cameras sold in the first half of 2018 were manufactured by Sony. It’s also been reported that in the overall mirrorless market, Sony has held the No.1 spot in both dollars and units for more than six years. The company attributes much of its recent success to the overwhelming popularity of the a7r III, a7 III... Continue Reading →
Further Thoughts on Full Frame After Shooting m4/3 for Five Years
https://youtu.be/eN64GtCmotk Buttons. Two of the most annoying on the a7 III are the menu button, which is inexplicably located to the left of the EVF; and the lens release button, which is tiny and very difficult even with rather slender fingers to reach with the handgrip scrunched so close to the lens mount. Some buttons might advantageously be... Continue Reading →
Sony a7 III: Ungraded/Graded
https://youtu.be/YoN2t4m4XzQ "Runners Fields - Cleanversion (ID 728)" by Lobo LocoLicense
What Nikon’s Gotta Do to Beat the a7 III
Okay, now for a few quibbles with the a7 III for those who are on the same page when it comes to Sony’s state-of-the-art FF mirrorless (that is, not some pie-in-the-sky $2,000 Canon mirrorless in 2020 with no crop, functioning DPAF in 4K, no crippled HDMI out, blah, blah) being the one to beat in 2019. Screen... Continue Reading →
Sony Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4
The Sony Distagon 35mm f/1.4 is a heavyweight among my primes. https://youtu.be/2iEo7NI1e-o "Fission Core" by Parvus DecreeLicense
Z Mount Euphoria
Ever since Nikon's announcement of a full frame mirrorless camera, the forums and YouTube have been rife with speculation. But perhaps most annoying of all are predictions by a few diehards that third party manufacturers will be churning out dozens of compatible lenses within months of its release. Most seasoned professionals however tend to err on... Continue Reading →
The Daejeon Chronicles 