My First Wedding W/LS300

[Alex Humphrey]

Sony seems to traditionally over the last 40 years seems to always have the best low light, though no camera can handle 1/4 of the ISO they all claim. If JVC usually tops out for me around 800 ISO to maybe 1,200 ISO with the JVC LS300.. Sony seems to be good for twice that. Now they all claim from 25,000 to 100,000 ISO but I find them all unusable by 3,000 ISO. That being said I'm using sunlight or scripted work with fresnel and soft box lights and some day I'll move to LED, so for me 400 ISO is more than adequate. I have seen however that many of these raw cameras (Digital Bolex, Black Magic etc) even shooting at low 400 ISO the raw format gives huge ability to push in post, and looks as though it works with their cameras better then applying gain (higher ISO) at the time of recording. I would bet a Round Table Pizza XL Combo that those raw cameras can't really be usable past pushing in post up to something like ISO 3,000 either.

Philip Bloom for instance (Philip Bloom- Blog | DP, Director, Filmmaker) has reviewed a zillion cameras on his many jobs and some of those Sony's can see in starlight. Good for maybe extreme news, but useless for narrative.. (too much video noise) but dial it back to something maybe like 5,000 ISO and with some NR it might be able to squeak in. Because of his info I want to get a Blackmagic Pocket camera, disassemble it, remove the IR filter and turn it into a infrared camcorder for "just because" stuff.

[John Nantz]

Noa - you left me hanging here with a big question: Why?

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I compared with my gh5 and at 6400 iso the difference is big up to a point I"d say the ls300 footage was unusable, since the gh5 is not exactly known for it's low light capabilities that says a lot about the ls300 performance. However I still will take my ls300 footage over my gh5 any day but I"m not going to take it with me at a candle lit only venue.

That is, Why would you still take your LS300 footage over your GH5 any day? because it’s a camcorder and easier to use or faster access to controls? Flexibility? Or…?

The LS300 is much larger cam than the GH5 is, so is that a factor? Personally, I have a hard time with the small cams or cameras because everything is so small and compact so something like the LS300 is easier to work with, although perhaps a little larger than I'd prefer for much run 'n gun stuff.

[Noa Put]

The ls300 looks more natural when it comes to color, especially skintones, it's not that I dislike the panasonics color because I use my panasonics for weddings but I wish they had the same colorsience as the JVC.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Originally Posted by Alex Humphrey

Because of his info I want to get a Blackmagic Pocket camera, disassemble it, remove the IR filter and turn it into a infrared camcorder for "just because" stuff.

Interesting! I love this kind of stuff... When it comes to modifying to get a custom outcome that intrigues me. That is what attracted me to the Blackmagic Micro Cinema 4K camera was the port for control. I see alot of different mods out that utilizes the control port. That type of stuff interest me. I will keep looking around and see what jumps out at me for a third cam though.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

The ls300 looks more natural when it comes to color, especially skintones, it's not that I dislike the panasonics color because I use my panasonics for weddings but I wish they had the same colorsience as the JVC.

Agreed! But it also can be adjusted in post. To me kind of tedious.

I have to say that I really enjoy you guys' point of view. It keeps my mind from tunneling into my own little world.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Just an update: I got the Z Cam E1 today and I did not like it. Way too much noise even in correct exposure and focus. Focus is hard to determine with the small screen. You will hit and miss a lot trying to pin point the correct focus. I was able to update the firmware and it improved some descent features, but did not make much of a difference to the issues I have with this cam.

[Nick Haman]

If you want a smaller cam for cheap, look into the Panasonic GX80/GX85 - There was recently a hack to enable Cinelike D profiles on it, making grading very nice. The only think missing from the camera is an external audio input. If it's a Bcam though, you can take the sound from your main source.

Here's a forum link to a discussion about the hack: Would You Perhaps Be Interested In A Different GX80/85 Colour Profile??? - EOSHD - EOSHD Forum

Here's a video of someone explaining the hack how to do the hack (avoiding scrolling through that thread:

How to Unlock CineLikeD and V on the GX80 / GX85 - YouTube

I've tried it myself and it worked very well. I'm yet to make a video combining this with the LS300 though.

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Very nice cam hack. I love this type of stuff when more of the potential of the camera is unlocked. I truly dislike it when manufacturers make a more power product but scale it down with firmware to make it fit a lower comparison point. Then the great hackers go to work to help unlock those awesome features that they dumb down. Magic Lantern was a good one for the Canon DSLR.

[Alex Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Aaron Jones Sr.

Interesting! I love this kind of stuff... When it comes to modifying to get a custom outcome that intrigues me. That is what attracted me to the Blackmagic Micro Cinema 4K camera was the port for control. I see alot of different mods out that utilizes the control port. That type of stuff interest me. I will keep looking around and see what jumps out at me for a third cam though.

Here is the link to Philip Bloom's blog that got me thinking that a Blackmagic Pocket camera (1080p only) but does shoot QT ProRes plus Raw, and is easy to disassemble and remove IR filter with 4 screws and an O ring I think..

so If I don't like the BMPCC I can always turn it into a an IR camera for free plus a screw on filter or change back..

Blackmagic Revival: Experimentations with Infrared video and stills | Philip Bloom- Blog

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Shot part of my music vid today but the weather did not hold up for us. However we did get some good shots though but we will have to go back for part 2 to finish up. I also mounted my cam to the hood with the car kit I mentioned before. Here are a few grabs:

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

A few more shots from my wife's camera of the car mount:

Notice Alex I have those new extended batteries you mentioned to me. I go them in yesterday.