Essential The Official Photography Thread

[PimpHandStrong]

Best Buy. When I was looking at the various sites, they had the quickest turn around time.

Amazon was saying they wouldn't be able to ship until the end of July


B&H Photo would have been my 2nd choice because they had em sooner as well.

Yea Amazon dates are hella far out. About how much time pasted from your order date to shipment?

 

[GoldenGlove]

Yea Amazon dates are hella far out. About how much time pasted from your order date to shipment?

I ordered it June 27th and it was at the store to pick up July 3rd

 

[8WON6]

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Has anyone shot with a Red camera before?

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

Has anyone shot with a Red camera before?

Yup I've shot with the EPIC Dragon and the Scarlet Mysterium-X. Are you thinking of renting one for a gig?

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Yup I've shot with the EPIC Dragon and the Scarlet Mysterium-X. Are you thinking of renting one for a gig?

I was thinking of buying the Red Raven to be honest.
RED RAVEN Camera Kit + Apple Pro Apps Bundle for Education

I'm still doing research on it though. I just landed a subcontractor agreement to shoot training videos for the government.
I'll be doing the videos with 2 GH5's.
I was thinking of ways to invest the money back into my company and set myself up for higher paying jobs and larger projects in the future.

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

I was thinking of buying the Red Raven to be honest.
RED RAVEN Camera Kit + Apple Pro Apps Bundle for Education

I'm still doing research on it though. I just landed a subcontractor agreement to shoot training videos for the government.
I'll be doing the videos with 2 GH5's.
I was thinking of ways to invest the money back into my company and set myself up for higher paying jobs and larger projects in the future.

You might want to look into the Kinefinity, it's a RED competitor from China that has a 6K brain (body) going for $6,000. With either system you have to build out the camera yourself and it ain't cheap, even to build out a Raven you're looking at $13,000 minimum.

Kinefinity | 卓曜而生

Another alternative is the Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, GREAT image quality and it comes with everything you need to use it out the box except for the memory. For $5,000 you can't do better than that camera in the price range.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

You might want to look into the Kinefinity, it's a RED competitor from China that has a 6K brain (body) going for $6,000. With either system you have to build out the camera yourself and it ain't cheap, even to build out a Raven you're looking at $13,000 minimum.

Kinefinity | 卓曜而生

Another alternative is the Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, GREAT image quality and it comes with everything you need to use it out the box except for the memory. For $5,000 you can't do better than that camera in the price range.

Yeah. I'm aware of the build out requirements with those Red cameras. The accessories are expensive as hell too.
That apple link goes to a kit the has everything you would need to get started with the camera.

I've never heard of Kinefinity. I'll have to check them out more.

The black magic cameras are cool but I personally don't like the form factor. Before I bought my GH5 I was torn between the Black Magic Ursa or the GH5.
For the price and features, I went with the GH5 and don't regret it one bit.
After shooting substantially with the GH5 I feel like I'm ready for a camera with significantly more dynamic range.

The Sony A7Riii excites me. So does the Canon 1DX MKii.

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

Yeah. I'm aware of the build out requirements with those Red cameras. The accessories are expensive as hell too.
That apple link goes to a kit the has everything you would need to get started with the camera.

I've never heard of Kinefinity. I'll have to check them out more.

The black magic cameras are cool but I personally don't like the form factor. Before I bought my GH5 I was torn between the Black Magic Ursa or the GH5.
For the price and features, I went with the GH5 and don't regret it one bit.
After shooting substantially with the GH5 I feel like I'm ready for a camera with significantly more dynamic range.

The Sony A7Riii excites me. So does the Canon 1DX MKii.

Honestly if you're looking to spend that type of money, invest that in some real cinema lenses before you upgrade the body.

One of the best cinelens deals on the market rn is the sony Alta set

Sony CineAlta 4K Six Lens Kit (PL Mount) SCLPK6/F B&H Photo!

Even if you slapped these on your GH5s you will notice a very large improvement in your video quality. I

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Honestly if you're looking to spend that type of money, invest that in some real cinema lenses before you upgrade the body.

One of the best cinelens deals on the market rn is the sony Alta set

Sony CineAlta 4K Six Lens Kit (PL Mount) SCLPK6/F B&H Photo!

Even if you slapped these on your GH5s you will notice a very large improvement in your video quality. I

100% I bought a few prime lenses already for the GH5 and I love them.
The GH5 is a monster. I love it and really feel like I'll have it for a very long time.
It's just that in some jobs where the lighting has been terrible the GH5 really struggles.
I was looking into speed boosters and all that also.
We'll see. It's a lot of money and we won't get paid until October.
I just want to make sure I re-invest that money wisely because I'm trying to build the business into a full time job that is able to support a few employees.
Right now things have been going great. I've seen some serious checks already, but nothing that I would be comfortable quitting my current job over...yet.

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

100% I bought a few prime lenses already for the GH5 and I love them.
The GH5 is a monster. I love it and really feel like I'll have it for a very long time.
It's just that in some jobs where the lighting has been terrible the GH5 really struggles.
I was looking into speed boosters and all that also.
We'll see. It's a lot of money and we won't get paid until October.
I just want to make sure I re-invest that money wisely because I'm trying to build the business into a full time job that is able to support a few employees.
Right now things have been going great. I've seen some serious checks already, but nothing that I would be comfortable quitting my current job over...yet.

I see, have you looked into the GH5S? It performs a lot better in lowlight than the GH5. TBR the Raven and etc. will not perform much better in low light than the GH5, cinema cameras are optimized for studio lighting conditions and/or daylight. As far as I know, Sony still makes the best lowlight cameras on the market so that might be where you should look next and particularly if you're doing a lot of contracts where you don't control the lighting.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

I see, have you looked into the GH5S? It performs a lot better in lowlight than the GH5. TBR the Raven and etc. will not perform much better in low light than the GH5, cinema cameras are optimized for studio lighting conditions and/or daylight. As far as I know, Sony still makes the best lowlight cameras on the market so that might be where you should look next and particularly if you're doing a lot of contracts where you don't control the lighting.

Yeah man. That Sony A7Riii is a monster.
That was actually going to be my first choice back when I was upgrading but I didn't have the budget for it so I went with the GH5.
Part of me feels like having the GH5 AND a Sony A7Riii would be the perfect set up for almost any situation.
I've read good things about the GH5s but overall feel like it wouldn't be a big enough upgrade for my needs.
Coming off the GH5 is going to be hard since it's such a great camera. The upgrade would have to be substantial.
When it comes to full frame bodies my gut says go with the Sony A7Riii but I've also been looking at the Canon 1DX mkii.
The big benefit I see with the Canon is of course the Canon accessories/lenses. The 1DX mkii is also supposed to be a beast of a stills camera too.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Just a side note for anyone trying to make money from their photography: DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF NETWORKING!
The best paying gigs I've gotten have been through personal contacts. In person I'm very much so an introvert.
I'm not socially awkward, but I prefer being alone than being around others. As I reflected on my past jobs, I realized that the highest paying positions don't necessarily go to the most skilled people, they usually go to the "talkers"; the people that can step up, speak clearly, energetically, and inspire confidence. Recognizing that, I started to really look at the small circle of people I associated myself with and found a few people that are really outgoing and were down to put in the leg work of getting a company off the ground. My LLC is a formal partnership between myself and an old friend from middle school.
I handle all of the official paper work and contract negotiations but when it comes to introductions and all the high energy "people person" talk, I fall back and let my business partner take the lead. Basically if you have the skills, and the passion, but don't necessarily have a very outgoing personality, it's OK. Just make sure you have people around you that have the skills you don't have so that when you work together your skills complement each other instead of causing you to clash. I see way too many people with huge dreams trying to accomplish everything alone. Self awareness is key. I haven't made it to where I want to be in business but I'm slowly seeing the results of my hard work.

 

[GoldenGlove]

Yeah man. That Sony A7Riii is a monster.
That was actually going to be my first choice back when I was upgrading but I didn't have the budget for it so I went with the GH5.
Part of me feels like having the GH5 AND a Sony A7Riii would be the perfect set up for almost any situation.
I've read good things about the GH5s but overall feel like it wouldn't be a big enough upgrade for my needs.
Coming off the GH5 is going to be hard since it's such a great camera. The upgrade would have to be substantial.
When it comes to full frame bodies my gut says go with the Sony A7Riii but I've also been looking at the Canon 1DX mkii.
The big benefit I see with the Canon is of course the Canon accessories/lenses. The 1DX mkii is also supposed to be a beast of a stills camera too.

The Sony A7iii outperforms the A7Riii for video and in low light situations. If you're not copping the A7Riii for the 42MPs for still photography, you might as well give the A7iii a look... it's 1000 cheaper, has more focus points, and it's the better video camera.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

ff24cvc by James Ellis, on Flickr