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Messages - Deny

#1
Camera-specific Development / Re: Canon 5D Mark IV
March 13, 2018, 04:36:08 AM
So how does one contribute to the 5D4 ML port? I own one and consider myself a reasonable hacker/programmer, regardless of programming language. Is there anyone who's taken the resposibility for the port and who can break down the necessary tasks and distribute them among old and new devs? I've read the topic and from what I've understood Digic 6 and Digic 6+ are pretty much uncharted territory, is there any info at all on how to get started on Thumb2? I own a linux box that I can use to run Capstone, will that work? More importantly, I'd really like a smaller, simpler task to get started if anyone is willing to take the time to give me one and point me into the right direction (meaning the necesssary resources to get the job done).

Now please don't bite my head off for this, but I really can't afford to brick my 5D4, I'm not rich and these things cost a lot more here than in the US, so chances are if I screw it up I won't be able to buy another one, ever. So tips for minimizing the risk of such a disaster happening to my camera would be greatly appreciated.
#2
Camera-specific Development / Re: Canon 5D Mark IV
December 18, 2016, 03:04:28 AM
@noipego despite what other people say I'm getting good results with the 5D4 4k (downscaling to 1080p), and DPAF with touch focus is to die for. WIFI IMHO is good for stills, if you want to monitor video you're better off with the DSLR Controller app for Android, which connects through the USB cable.

Regarding 1080p quality, I feel 4k downscaled to 1080p looks better (more detail) than 1080p on-camera, that's using the exact same settings and comparing them side by side after adjusting 4k->1080p. Not a huge deal, could be the AA filter, I don't know, but I'd rather use the best IQ I can get in my footage. The downside is, of course, the huge files @4k, don't even think about shooting 4k with the 5D4 without at least a 256GB sdcard or CF card, 95MB/s minimum (Sandisk Extreme Pro SDXC 95MB/s works fine) so the camera itself will format it using ExFat and therefore won't split takes into multiple 4GB files.

Regarding noise, I wouldn't say 4k is "noisy as hell" given proper lighting, but it's certainly noisier than 1080p. The fact that even then I've chosen to shoot 4k gives away my opinion about the compromises involved in that choice.
#3
General Chat / Re: Are Flat Picture Styles Snake Oil?
December 15, 2016, 03:34:07 PM
Really interesting replies, thanks guys :)

As you've probably guessed, I'm now where some of you were some time ago, that is, testing profiles myself. Last night it was VisionColor's turn and while the footage straight out of the camera looks good, it also produces some weird color casts that make grading a bit difficult, of course further testing and confirmation are needed.

On a side note, I wonder if I could get away with log PS when using the 5D4 4k MJPEG option, being 4:2:2 and all, but that's not going to do much good if I have to edit and grade in multi camera mode along with footage from the 6D and/or 70D.

For now the PSs that give me the best results are Marvels, Prolost and DeLUTs 2, but I still want to conduct more tests before I settle on a workflow.

Now pardon me if this is too much of a n00b question, but isn't in-camera PS contrast simply applying an S-curve? If so, setting contrast to the minimum value would mean a less pronounced S-curve and thus a more even distribution of values along the Y-axis (output), meaning the data sent to the codec would have better, not worse detail. No?
#4
General Chat / Are Flat Picture Styles Snake Oil?
December 14, 2016, 06:00:28 AM
I see there are several different opinions on whether or not shoot flat when not recording RAW, some say it's mandatory others say it's a bad idea.

A quick disclaimer first, I own a 70D (ML still in beta), a 6D (ML RAW resolution lower than 1080p) and a 5D Mark IV (ML... God knows when). So currently my best choice is still shooting without ML, especially when doing multi camera stuff.

Now I have tried grading ALL-I 1080p footage shot with flat profiles and I must say, with less than stellar results. I've tested ML 1080p on my 6D and it's awesome, but I can only record 1080p 6 seconds at a time so it's a no go.

I have purchased both James Miller's DeLUTs profiles and EOSHD C-Log profiles, have given them a try and while the results with DeLUT 2 have been good, I decided to turn on the Live View histogram in my 5D4. When I did, what I've found, correct me if I'm wrong, is that what flat profiles actually do is just raise the black level, lower the white level, or both. Whether anything above or below those points is clipped or compressed to me is irrelevant as in practice what's happening is I'm losing color resolution, again, correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyone tried this with their cameras? Turn on histogram, select picture style, look where the black and white clipping points are, compare with other picture styles? By the way I'm starting to understand the preference by some well known DSLR shooters for the "prolost" and Marvels picture sytles, because they don't compress any levels and thus let one use the full color resolution.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if we have 256 levels for each channel which is already too little, why on Earth would we want to reduce that number? No wonder people talk about banding when using flat picture styles.