What is your favorite F35 characteristic? :)

NorBro said:
'Lucy' has 3 big hitters in its specs...not sure how much is "some scenes", but I wonder if anyone during the meeting(s) brought up anything about color or skintones when discussing the combination of systems, and I wonder why all three cameras were used
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It's clearly an F65 A camera production, and it was specifically chosen as they preferred the color: https://www.creativeplanetnetwork.c...behind-camera-choices-luc-bessons-lucy-606065

IMDB (owned by Amazon) used to list A camera first: seems like perhaps something business/political going on with Amazon (Prime Video) and ARRI? Remember Netflix effectively banned ARRI for a while because of resolution, massively boosting the use of the F55 (and Red). Or perhaps they're listing A camera last now or making it random to keep everyone guessing lol.

Here's the details regarding Red and Alexa for Lucy: http://www.fdtimes.com/2014/07/24/luc-bessons-lucy-described-by-thierry-arbogast-afc/
I’m looking at IMDB. It says that you used an Alexa and an Epic for some shots?

Yes. For the car chase in Paris, as background plates. We needed to match the chase with the actors later in the studio. We shot the chase during the middle of August. Paris is completely empty during August. It’s the best time to do a chase. But the chase was supposed to be with the actors and the actress and they were not available at this time. Scarlett came to Taipei in September. So we filmed the chase elements without the actors. We mounted six RED cameras on a camera car: one in front, one behind, two on the sides, one tight, one wide. At every point, we needed to match the actors. We had this camera car do the chase along the rue du Rivoli in Paris. At the time, it was very difficult to find six F65s in Paris. It was easier to find six RED cameras in Paris. That’s the reason why we shot with the RED in 4K, which was very comfortable.

So the RED cameras were for the car chase and what was the Alexa for?

Alexa was also used from time to time because it was easier to find for occasional extra camera shots. I love the Alexa too. We also did some shots with the Canon 5D. We used the 5D for some very small, very quick shots. But when you have an action scene, quickly cut, it’s not a big deal to match everything together. There are some shots that are just two seconds long.
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F65 worked well for Lucy:
LUCYPK001_TPT_00043R-FDT.jpg
 
I agree that handheld looks amazing on the F35. I just love the way it looks. I attibute that to the shutter, so shutter is my favorite element in the camera... but of course... the way the F35 captures the image is also due to the RGB sensor... but I can only pick one so MOTION it is for me. That's my favorite.
 
Would love to get some Cooke on the f35!

I actually like the Cp.2 look on the F35 so far. Never really liked the look on the F55 or the A7. Not bad, but not memorable either. I liked Cp.2 on The 1DC, but not so much on the other Canons. But the Zeiss Cp.2 work on the F35, maybe has more to do with the camera. So, in a way, I like how the F35 gives lenses a new partner.
 
rbirnbaum said:
I agree that handheld looks amazing on the F35. I just love the way it looks. I attibute that to the shutter, so shutter is my favorite element in the camera... but of course... the way the F35 captures the image is also due to the RGB sensor... but I can only pick one so MOTION it is for me. That's my favorite.
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I think weight of the camera is one of the "motion cadence" variables. But that is just my belief, don't really know. But I used to add 12lbs to my dslr rigs to help with the handheld look. Made my handheld footage feel right, even on an old T3i.
 
Wow this thread got hijacked fast! Jcs has to always make it about venice or F65. This is about people favorite F35 thing. Jcs can you delete your posts and make your own thread? Since you deleted your troll post when it got downvotes. Let this thread be about favorite things of F35!
 
James0b57 said:
I think weight of the camera is one of the "motion cadence" variables. But that is just my belief, don't really know. But I used to add 12lbs to my dslr rigs to help with the handheld look. Made my handheld footage feel right, even on an old T3i.
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Used to do the same... spider rigs
 
rbirnbaum said:
Used to do the same... spider rigs
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Was spider and gini-rigs the same thing? I had a bunch of old gini rig parts, and found a way to get 12+lbs of fitness weights on the back. wasn't for a paid gig, so ugly was ok, but made that handheld so much nicer.

Did another informal comparison between the A7 and the F35, but used sunlight that changed too fast, and that didn't allow for directly comparable frames between cameras. A7 is amazing, but still ends up looking like amazing dslr footage, but something about the F35 footage feels better. I want to say more life like, or more movie like, but that is so vague. Also, I shot 1080 s35 for both, so that does cripple the A7 in a way, but I primarily use the A7 in 1080 because I use it to shoot a lot of footage and need to conserve space typically, so for me, it is applicable.

Main thing I like about the F35 is how the eyes look straight out of the camera, as the shadows under the eyes render more pleasantly:
6C764790-683A-4669-9481-C01466D25EF4.jpg
(the compression reduces the difference in quality between the two, but the F35 is much preferred)
Screen Shot 2018-07-09 at 1.50.17 AM.jpg
the exposure for these two images are different, so the clipping is in different places on the lamp. The F35 and A7 are comparable for dynamic range, but the f35 seems to handle light better.
 
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James0b57 said:
Was spider and gini-rigs the same thing?
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It was just generic for **** around your rig everywhere... weights... wires... hated it. I know that I can strip the F35... viewfinder, body lens and battery without IF box 1 wire to 422 recorder and I am game.
 
Thanks for the comparisons... nope... not going to get an A7 any time soon.
But yeah... I am not surprised... A7 is great for some things... but hate, hate the motion on it. Looks like a video game on a stuttering desktop.
 
Yeah, I was so excited when I got my first dslr rig, but quickly hated it. started making my own rigs. Can wait to see how Yachacha's F35 turns out.

I did a short a few months back, right after I had bought the F35 and still didn't have everything setup properly. Took the f35 to the scout, and shot some simple things, then ended up shooting the short on an A7, and the short lost a lot of the vibe that we had on the scout from the F35 footage.
 
James0b57 said:
Yeah, I was so excited when I got my first dslr rig, but quickly hated it. started making my own rigs. Can wait to see how Yachacha's F35 turns out.

I did a short a few months back, right after I had bought the F35 and still didn't have everything setup properly. Took the f35 to the scout, and shot some simple things, then ended up shooting the short on an A7, and the short lost a lot of the vibe that we had on the scout from the F35 footage.
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Yes... but the A7 must have been a good choice for other reasons :happy:
 
James0b57 said:
Theoretically, haha
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The A7SII has excellent sensitivity along with very aggressive noise reduction, which provides excellent low light performance. The reason the F35 looks better, especially before posting online, is much better color detail along with pleasing noise grain. The noise grain acts like dithering, helping to further improve the look of gradients.

While the A7SII will never have the mojo of the F35, you can more closely match them by using the F35 as a color reference and grade the A7SII to match, then add noise/grain to the A7SII. For more closely matching motion, will need to be steady as possible (rolling shutter). Still won’t be as good as the global shutter in the F35, though would allow you to use the A7SII as a B camera (they used the 5D for some quick shots on Lucy).
 
In the few tests I've done, the Sony seems to have shared the DNA between F35, A7, and F55 type cameras (anything getting near Cinealta eco system). I can see them cutting in the same scenes without much effort. But that is what I am really liking about the F35, it "feels" better, and that feeling or vibe while difficult to describe, is making all the difference. It is common for a vintage camera to have mojo. It is rare for a vintage camera to have mojo and keep up or surpass the quality of newer cameras!

Light falls so naturally:
Screen Shot 2018-07-09 at 10.38.12 AM.jpg
(cropped from a screen grab)
 
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These days matching cameras is a lot easier, specially when you are using short clips from the inferior units. I know that MacGregor used the Mini in some of the Penzoil commercials but he used the a7xx for close shots and some car mounted shots on some of the smaller models... I think F35 is a great A Camera, then use whatever else will help.

And yes, I also love the noise from the F35... no fixed pattern just random noise. Feels very natural.
 
We have a new cult preacher!!!

James0b57 said:
In the few tests I've done, the Sony seems to have shared the DNA between F35, A7, and F55 type cameras (anything getting near Cinealta eco system). I can see them cutting in the same scenes without much effort. But that is what I am really liking about the F35, it "feels" better, and that feeling or vibe while difficult to describe, is making all the difference. It is common for a vintage camera to have mojo. It is rare for a vintage camera to have mojo and keep up or surpass the quality of newer cameras!

Light falls so naturally:
View attachment 131718
(cropped from a screen grab)
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For me it's how the image falls apart, the imperfections of the format and technology that are unique to each camera.

Compression in color and motion are the biggest turn-offs for me, looks fine in static tripod images, start moving the camera and watching the edges. Judder and jaggies and jello all these words we have had to adopt to describe the quality of compression. F35 wins over much newer CMOS simply because it avoids compression on all levels.

Film is always king, private Ryan would of looked like trash on any digital camera, including the F35. F35 is closer to film in my book but the imperfections of the wobble of film is still my favorite.

I was watching the departed recently and surprised how many scenes had a slight side to side shake. even super modern film prints and scans have a wobble and vibration to their image that no digital camera has been able to reproduce.

I think after the F35 my next camera will be a Arri 235 but the price of the camera means nothing to the price of film. For years I found by hunting eBay for lots of film I was able to pull off shooting 16mm relatively cheap for a film student. The 2nd biggest cost saving part of shooting film was doing the transfer myself, terrible results however it was a great way to learn and find the shots I wanted to spend $$ on for real telecine.

This is an example of film being able to do something no other camera could handle in such a smooth pleasing way:

http://www.skydivingstunts.com/pages/videos/arri/arri_skydiving_2.html
 
James0b57 said:
It is common for a vintage camera to have mojo. It is rare for a vintage camera to have mojo and keep up or surpass the quality of newer cameras!
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Fortunately vintage 'Ferrari' cameras that cost $250K new aren't priced the same as vintage Ferraris!

As for surpassing newer cameras, I'll ask around to see if there's interest in an LA camera shootout (including sourcing a VENICE and Alexa LF. How's the Kickstarter coming along? ;) ).
 
jcs said:
Fortunately vintage 'Ferrari' cameras that cost $250K new aren't priced the same as vintage Ferraris!

As for surpassing newer cameras, I'll ask around to see if there's interest in an LA camera shootout (including sourcing a VENICE and Alexa LF. How's the Kickstarter coming along? ;) ).
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I may actually put a kick starter on, especially if you want to collaborate on a real comparison test. I will definitely reach out to my friend about the Venice, as well.

So glad the price doesn't go up! And can't imagine ever selling this.
 
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