Topics

My apologies if this has been answered already.
I am building a small streaming studio using a Black Magic ATEM Mini Extreme ISO as a video mixer. This allows me to stream directly from the device and furthermore to setup a super user-friendly multi-camera zoom-call. (The ATEM mini can work "like a webcam", sending the live-edited multi-camera stream straight to zoom without the need for additional software.

Previously, I was using a software solution, allowing me to scale up the HDMI feed from a 5D mk2 by aprox. 120% in order to turn the 3:2 output to 16:9 (getting rid of the black bars)
As this is not an option when using the ATEM Mini setup, I was wondering if anyone knows of an affordable hardware solution to scale/resize/overscan that can achieve a similar result?
I think there is a chance that it could be done with a "Decimator MD-HX HDMI and SDI Cross Converter with Scaling & Frame Rate Conversion", but I am unable to confirm if it will work (and ideally, I would love to find a cheaper solution as I need to get 2 or 3 of them) Thanks

Not sure if its appropriate to talk about gear that is is totally unrelated to ML, but I feel a sense of kinship with the user-base here, so it seems natural to pose gear questions. If you think that we should only talk about ML related Hardware and Accessories, just say the word and I'll get back in my box
As the title indicates, I am looking to invest in my first "real" tripod and I suspect that the related considerations could be relevant at some point for other users here.
So, tripods... chepo budget or "pro" budget?
I have been using a horrible weifeng 717 at home and an older Manfrotto at work.
I recently discovered the brand "Benro" and I find the price/feature-set of the Benro A3573F S6 kit very appealing. I am however a bit sad about the lack of Pan drag adjustment compared to the equivalent Manfrotto kit. Even more so, I worry that buying low-end will lead to frustration in the long run and that it might be better to get a a Sachtler Ace on credit.. Any informed opinions on this dilemma?
Benro A3573F-S6: 260€
Manfrotto MVK502AM 470€
Satchler Ace M 600€

Couldn't find any discussions of this even though I have a feeling that it must have been debated already.
As the title suggests, it would be awesome if we could get Exposure compensation in Manual mode.
Amongst other things, it would make manual ETTR with autoISO so much easier.
Personally, this would be of great benefit for me when I shoot dance and acrobatics and it is my understanding that the BIF people would benefit greatly from it as well

Seeing as there appears to be no trial versions available, I was just wondering if anyone here has tried any of the stuff from http://www.cineplus.ch/ccp.html
I recently started doing wedding videos with very fast turnarounds (someone else does the main wedding video and my job is to boil the leftover 10+ hours of footage down to 30 min in literally no time) so I have little time for grading and thus I started looking for some easy shortcuts for these kinds of projects.
Any input appreciated

I'll readily admit that I didn't read through the entirety of feature requests before posting this, wo with the danger of being schooled here goes:
Would it be possible to get the "live DoF calculator" shown in the ML focus menu as an overlay?
A simplified version showing just a single value like dof of acceptable sharpness would be sufficient for most video uses I think.
I have a pretty good grasp of DOF mechanics, yet, when shooting event videos with a zoom lens my brain cants keep up

Like most people, I don't use auto focus while recording video.
I have however, recently been in a few scenarios where is was handy.
These days I am doing alot of run-and-gun event coverage (sometimes in extreme low light) and once in a while - for the right kind of scene - it seems usable to me to let the camera auto-focus. If it hunts alot, so be it, I'll probably edit it out and thus, this method will not be used when something important is going on.

Maybe I am just addicted to having all options (even the ones I woun't be using) but I can't help thinking that it would be interesting to experiment with push-AF if it wasn't for the horrible exposure changes.
The focus hunting is one thing (on a very rare occasion I have even used it to give an explicit gonzo-PoV effect) but the exposure changes basically always makes the shot useless - even in the rare ocasion whenre the AF actually nails focus without much hunting.
Sometimes I catch myself pushing AF after pulling manual focus just to see what the camera WOULD have chosen (When using AF after MF, often the AF doesn't hunt much)
It seems that the camera gains up to 12800 ISO when AF is activated (at least it seems that the exposure fluctuation does not happen @12800)
So, with the danger of being regarded as an absolute cinema-nuub and/or just silly, is it at all possible to deactivate the AF-gain (or whatever is happening)?

I am sure this has been covered before, but my search efforts were largely in vain...
So, is donating disabled again? I can only find the bitcoin-donation page and I (and many others I think) would really like to make an oldschool donation if possible

I have been experiencing some banding issues in my raw clips, and I am wondering if this is merely the effect of pulling up an underexposed shot, and if so, how to best deal with the problem (appart from not under-exposing)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oxaf9ljmv14tlvm/Jarden1_28-0054-tekes%20night.aep_1.mp4

The issue is best seen if you download the vid instead of streaming it from dropbox

Playing around with Raw video has re-booted my interest in cinematography and I am having a hard time finding relevant information pertaining to the use of tools like vectorscope and waveform for setting lights and exposure. I am planning to play around a bit with the auto ETTR functionality, but having a basic understanding of image analysis would be nice
So, anyone got a link to a thread or an article dealing with this?

[(i)]

By now, I have been playing around with the different methods of RAW->DNG.
I understand that the different batch utilities have different flavors in terms of proxy footage, but for now, I am only concerned with the DNG.

(i) - I would really like to be able to treat the DNG in Lightroom like I treat my normal photos - including the use of profiles.
That is, I have alot of presets I made, presets that use camera profiles like "Adobe Standard", "Camera Neutral", "ILFORD" and so on.
How do I modify the DNG for Lightroom to be able to use said profiles? I assume it has to do with Camera info and/or exposure info in the EXIF? I seem to recall a post claiming that RAWMagic (for MAC) can do this?
After spending all day trying to figure this out I am loosing my mind. I tried several exif editors to no avail.
Anyone out there who found a way to get camera calibration / camera profile to work on ACR/LR?!
EDIT: I managed to get calibration profiles working by simply importing the complete EXIF from another photo using ExifTool (and ExifToolGUI)

(ii) - Again, speaking ONLY about DNG conversion, are there any differences between the different apps? eg. RAWanizer(Pros:Nice interface, nice filename/structure handling) , BATCHelor (Pros:Option for LOSSLESS DNG compression), Eyeframe(Pros:Nice Preview function)

(iii) - Playing around with ADOBE's DNG converter (Adobe or Batchelor) using LOSSLESS compression, a set of 356 DNG goes from 1.14GB to 349mb (Lossless)(Millage seems to vary quite a bit) . Given this significant reduction in size, is there any reason NOT to use compressed DNG by default? (This is obviously a VERY nice feature for those who do non-destructive editing or anyone keeping the DNG)

(iv) Would it makes sense with a post that tracks and links the newest versions of all the various PP apps?

As always, I did my best to find threads dealing with these issues but found mostly scattered posts. If I missed a thread dealing with any of these specific issues, please move/point me there