NERD DAY: The First One

Welcome back, friends!! Pumped for this one because it's the first official episode of our sub-series which we're going to title "NERD DAY"!! This sub-series will mainly be hosted by myself (Sean) and my good friend Josh Birman. We love "nerding out" on all thing camera gear. From the camera gear itself to audio to lighting and everything in between, this sub-series will tackle all of it! So buckle up and come hang with us on NERD DAY!

If you have questions you would like to submit, please email us at info@theredletterdays.com

For inquiries and information about our services, please visit our website at www.theredletterdays.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Red Letter Days Podcast. I am your host, Sean, and I have a special uh co-host with me today, uh, Josh Berman. It's me. It's him, he's back. Um, and the reason it's the two of us, and Michaela's not here, is because we're gonna do a fun kind of sub-series podcast together because Josh and I we love to nerd out on gear and stuff like that. We literally have occasionally nerd days that we just get together and and we met, we play with we're like we're like old big kids with with you know our toys, you know. It's like it's like going back in time, you know, kind of just being kids playing with our toys and stuff. Our toys have just gotten much more expensive. Oh yes, yeah. So, anyways, this is gonna be a subseries, and I'm literally just gonna call it nerd day. Um, and then you know, we'll put kind of the topic behind that and everything. But I think this is gonna be super fun. And so if you're not into the nerd stuff, we'll just say this up front. This probably isn't the episode for you. If you like, if you're interested, you know, in in this kind of stuff, um, then yeah, uh stick around. And if you have questions or or anything that you want us to answer on the next episode we do, be sure to drop those in the comments um and everything. But yeah, this is just gonna be super fun. I'm excited for this one because every time I start down a tangent of talking, like anywhere near kind of nerdy stuff, I get the look from the camera every time. So it's uh this is giving me like the freedom that that I so long for. Yes. Uh so there's so much to talk about. Like there's there's so much to what we do. So Josh and I specifically, we kind of specialize in the video uh realm of things, um, although our businesses offer both services, photography and video. Josh and I both kind of specialize in the video area. And uh and and that's kind of I guess that's kind of across the board with couples who have companies like this, it seems like. It's like, you know, the the the wife uh kind of heads up photography, that's kind of her thing, and then the husband kind of does video, and that's very much so for us and everything. But but I think I think a reason for that is because of the technical aspect to video. Like it it there's so much, there's so many layers to it. Um and uh and I I just get sucked in by that stuff. Like I'm just like specs and you know codecs and resolutions and you know, all this stuff. Yeah, what is it about that?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

That like I just love it. Learning about it.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah, I don't know. I think I don't know why, but it just it just sucks me in. Like I just I don't know what it is about it, but I just I love that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

If I go to talk to Emma about it, her eyes just kind of glaze over exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

And that's every time with Michaela, you know, I'll start talking about stuff and I'll have to like do a disclaimer at the front of it. I'd be like, hey, I'm uh can I share something nerdy with you? Like, yeah, well, yeah, I just I have to tell somebody if I haven't already like texted you or whatever, yeah, uh, which is usually the case, I'll usually text you. And and that's like, and then during our slower seasons or whatever, we'll be like, nerd day? Uh-huh. Yep, absolutely, nerd day. So so this is gonna be like another aspect to it. Um, but it's gonna be a blast. I thought, since this is the first one, we'd kind of go back in time to our humble beginnings. They were very humble. And I wanna I want to talk like gear today, like equipment that we've we've shot on over the years, and I want to go back to our to our beginnings uh for that. Um but uh first first and foremost, how are you? Doing great. Yeah, yeah, good. I wore sweatpants. I know, I see that. I I was pumped when I saw you walk in the door, like, yes, he's wearing sweatpants.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

I had to think about it this morning. Like, oh yeah, I remember wearing sweatpants with me.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

I'm so proud of you. Isn't it better? So much better. So freeing. Sweats are best, man. Sweats are best. Um, but yeah, any any exciting things been happening in your guys' world uh recently? I mean, you had uh you had a Hawaii wedding um not too long ago.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

That was very exciting. Yeah, uh, never shot a wedding in Hawaii before. It uh rained super hard right at like the end of the wedding, like speeches time. We were like gearing up for speeches, had all my cameras set out. I'm like, okay, I'm ready to go. And then rain just comes down.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Like, like no warnings.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

I mean, we were expecting rain to happen at some point in the day, but the whole rest of the day had been really clear, and we're like, okay, we might have avoided it. And then it just came.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Did you did you notice like clouds rolling in and getting it? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

And it was sprinkling a little bit, but we're like, it's probably fine. Yeah. Uh, and then it was not fine. Then it was not fine. So then everything moved inside under uh like under a covered area, didn't look nearly as good. I was so excited for like this toast shot. I had it, this beautiful like background with like the Hawaii mountains and like volcano and everything, and then just rain. I'm like, okay, now we're moving inside. We got like I don't know, like the porch lights and like one my one light lighting everything. Like, this this sucks.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Dang, oh my gosh, my my heart is broken for you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

At least the ceremony and everything before that turned out nice. We got done with a couple portraits, so all of that went great. Oh, good, good. Just the very end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

That's the worst, man. Yeah, oh well. One thing that will never leave my my memory is when we were doing that wedding at um what's the what's the venue that uh it rained during the ceremony?

SPEAKER_03 6:26

Um, uh Chateau Daily.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah, yeah, and then all of a sudden Josh springs into action because he he ahead of time he had bought these coverings for all the cameras.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

But I didn't think it was gonna rain because the whole rest of the day was like fine. We're like, okay, we made it the ceremony. I don't need to put the covers on. And then as soon as the ceremony starts, it dumps rain. I'm like, crap.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

And it was funny because I was shooting on one of your C70s, and you run over, and very quickly we we throw this thing on there because I'm like the only shot that's like manned at that moment, yeah. And so I'm trying to like stay on whatever I'm shooting. I think I was actually supposed to be on the couple, but I was like on the family or something like that. You're like, Sean, hold your position. I think you thought I was on the on the couple or whatever, and I was like, okay. And so you threw this thing on, and I couldn't see a thing awesome. Just completely flying blind. Yeah, that's great, totally flying blind. Um, because it's a C70, so it's the flip-out screen, but you can't tilt when it's against the body. So I was like, Well, I can't have that, so it's against the body. I'm like, well, I hope it's on something.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

But it turned out pretty good. Good. Yeah, good. Just less of it than normal. Yeah.

unknown 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

But yeah, you just running around frantically like putting these covers on all these cameras was like, oh man. And we had it was the C70s, so there's fans pointing directly up into the sky where the rain can fall right into the camera.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

Oh no. All my cameras are gonna drown.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Oh man. So I when you said that, I I imagined that in my head, but I'm glad you at least you were able to get undercover and your equipment was protected and everything. Well, okay, let's go back in time. Um, because I don't really have that much going on right now. Well, I I mean I've been I've been doing stuff, but I think I mentioned that in the last uh podcast. But so let's go back in time. Hold on, I have a sound effect for this. Where's my where's my chimes? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Okay, you you so you started um in 2017. 17. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

So I I started doing video in high school in like when would I have started? 2014 maybe? Okay. Um and I the first camera I ever got was like this little I don't even know what it is. It's like it's like a dad cam where you like hold most of it in the palm of your hand and the little screen flips out to the other side. Yeah, yeah. I had one of those that my parents bought me because I was into like I was kind of into like making little YouTube videos as a high school student. So I had one of those, and then later in high school, I bought a Canon 60D. So that was kind of like my first nice camera.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Okay, so you you went straight into the Canon, Canon burst. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

I don't think I even really knew about any like I didn't I knew about Nikon, but Nikon didn't really shoot video, right? And I didn't know anything about Sony.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

And some of my friends had Canon, and I knew that a Canon was like decent, and most people who were shooting video were shooting Canon.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

I think Canon was king back then for for most things. Um video uh specifically, but yeah, I I think that's that's probably correct. 60 D. Yeah. 60 D. It's hard to say.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

I gotta look, I gotta look up that. It was the same camera as the Canon T3i, which was like super popular back then. Okay, but it had a few extra features. I think it was almost exactly the same camera, but it had some extra stuff on it.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

So I went with that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

I uh so was that an Ape APSC crop sensor? Okay. Um 18 megapixel, CMOS digital SLR. Um, yeah, APS Cm. Um 5.3 frames per second continuous shooting.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

And a three-inch very angle LCD. It captures 1080p full HD video, has a nine-point autofocus system.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

Yeah, autofocus was basically non-existent.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Do you know what we're at now?

SPEAKER_03 10:47

All the points. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

I I actually I I don't know, but I know it's hundreds. Okay. Yeah, I know it's hundreds. So nine point auto autofocus system, all cross-type.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

And like it didn't really work for video at all. You had to like, it was only photo. Okay, basically.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Um wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

So I used that in high school for yeah, shooting YouTube videos. I made like a little short film as like my senior project, so I used it for that, and then I used it for like sports photography, uh like during high school sports and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Okay. Do you have any of your old like videos that you made?

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Yeah, but I I try to forget about them.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Dude, I haven't seen any of those yet. I know it's not good. I want to see that, man. It was so bad.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Oh man. Okay, so so Canon launched your career and so what when did you so if 6DD was primarily like focused on uh photos, did you still use that that handy cam for your video stuff then?

SPEAKER_03 12:03

No, no, six D was video and photo focus. Okay, it did everything.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

I just had to manual focus pretty much all the time. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah, or which is backwards.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Yeah. That's backwards on Canon cameras. Right, right. I think I could use autofocus. Like if I held still and like took like a one one shot autofocus, like just got the focus, then it was I could use that, but I I couldn't do continuous at all. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

That didn't exist. Nothing continuous. No, no, no. Wow. Dang man. Yeah, that's well, we'll we'll get to mine, but that was my whole world too when I when I started.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

So that I used that camera, that 60 D to start doing weddings. Okay. So I probably shot my first definitely my first wedding, like the one that I wasn't paid for at all that I just stumbled into. I shot that one with the 60 D, and then the next wedding. I think I only had the one. I might have like borrowed somebody else's camera just so I had two.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Um and then some point that first year in 2017, I bought a Canon 5D Mark III. So that was that became my main camera, but then I had two.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Dang.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

Um that was quite a step up then. It was, yeah. Definitely. Also, no auto focus. Um but I I could at least do I think I could do 60 frames a second, but it was probably 720p. 720. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But at least it was full frame.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

That was huge. That's yeah, that is huge. That would like open up a whole new world new world. Oh, yeah. Now, did did Canon make lenses that were like specific APSC crop uh lenses and then full frame lenses?

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yeah, okay, yeah, like my 60D came with a kit lens, it was like an 18 to 150 or one of those like crazy lenses. I think I saw that. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So I had that one and then I think I bought like a 24 to 105 with my 5D Mark III.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Okay. And was that a full frame? Yeah, that was full frame. Okay, dang, man. That was like you're a big, big dumb.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Oh yeah, for sure. I probably had like a 50 mil as well. So I think that was those were the only lenses I had. Nifty 50. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

I was certain when I started, and because one of the first things I shot on was a uh, so I'm Nikon still to this day, um, started on started on Nikon. And the first thing that I shot video on was a Nikon D750, which is a full frame DSLR camera, um, shot in full HD and it shot in 60 frames, full full HD, full frame, which is really cool. But I shot on a 50 mil, and that image still to this day, I love the the look of a of a 50 mil prime lens. Um, and uh I thought for sure, like this is the only lens I'm ever gonna need, ever. Like, I'm I don't know why I would ever use anything else. Yeah, and so I used that for for quite a bit. Um, because Michaela had, I think at that time when I started, because I started in 2018, um, and I started shooting at the the church that I was pastoring at. And they had a Nikon D750 as well. Um, but they had like a 24 to it wasn't a 24 to 70, it was it was something else, I think. But but same camera. Okay. And so, but she had a D750 and she also had a like monster Nikon D4S, which is kind of like the Nikon Z9 body. Oh, like it was like a sports body, yeah, exactly. It was it was the big dog. Yeah. Um, and so uh, but I I was able to use her her D750 as well for like a second angle for a little bit. And so, but in my mind, that was around the time. I think I a lot of people were still shooting in HD 1080p. Yeah. Um, but I think some people were starting to get like four, like Canon was starting to introduce full frame 4K into some of their cameras back then. Like I think um the 1DX or something like that had come out, and then the 1DX Mark II, I think that Mark II was like the big one, yeah, yeah. Well, and we'll get to your your next big because you got a 5D Mark IV after your Mark III, right? And that's the one that introduced like really good autofocus. Yes. So that's when the whole world opened up for autofocus for you and 4K and 4K, yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it a crop, 4K?

SPEAKER_03 16:44

It was a 1.75 times crop, so it was more crop than an APSC was.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah, because APSC is 1.5. Uh yeah, 1.5, 1.6, somewhere in there, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Depending on the camera. Dang.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Yeah. Holy moly. I mean that's a pretty rough crop. Yeah, well, and I so so my next camera after the 750, I think the next um at the beginning of the next year, like 2019, Michaela got me a camera for Christmas, like the 20 uh 2018 Christmas, and that's the camera I started using, I think. Or wait. Actually, I think it was in the beginning of 20 2019 or something like that. But she got me a uh a Nikon D7500, okay. Um, which was a crop sensor camera, but it had 4K.

SPEAKER_03 17:36

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

And I thought because it shot 4K, like, oh man, like I'm good.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Yeah, forever. This is the only camera I'll ever need. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

And 4K in quotes because it's UHD, so it's 30 uh uh 2160, yeah. Uh 3840 by 2160, but it's cropped, and so it's like, yeah. Yeah, it's bad. Yeah, I know. Like looking back at some of the footage from that thing, I'm like, oh man, like I one, I had no idea what I was doing as far as colors and you know, anything like that or whatever. Um, I just had there was so much to learn yet. Oh, yeah, you know, back then. But I was so excited that I had something that could shoot in 4K and everything. So tell me, tell me about switching from the Mark III to the Mark IV.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Well, the autofocus was huge because at that point I was shooting a lot on like a glide cam. I think I was just glide cam at that point. Yeah. So I would have to manually focus like midway through my whatever my gimbal glide cam move was, uh, and then do the move, knowing that the beginning and the end were probably gonna be a little bit out of focus.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Okay. Because there was just no other way to do it. Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

You can't you don't have autofocus, yeah, so you're just kind of stuck with that. Yeah, or you could try to manual focus as you're moving, but then you're kind of bumping the camera. It's not great.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

So autofocus was incredible. Uh, I didn't really shoot 4K, even with even though I had it, because the crop was so bad. Yeah. Um, and because the file sizes were so huge. Right. Yeah. Because right now 4K is like, yeah, it's big-ish file sizes. Like I might finish a wedding and have a hundred and fifty gig shot on my main camera.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

If I were to shoot 4K on the 5D Mark IV, I'd probably have 300 gigs or more.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Right. Yeah. Well, and now we have different compression ratios and stuff like that that allow us to shoot in higher quality with smaller file sizes in the H.265. But back then we didn't, I mean, we didn't really have 10 bit in our cameras. No. Um, at least not in the consumer, prosumer cameras or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

I didn't even have log. It was just standard picture profiles.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Right, right, exactly. Yeah. And so that so 8-bit is what we shot in. So um that and the and h264 is, I think, is all we had um built into the cameras back then. So that was like the across. I mean, I think most people still do H264 kind of stuff. But that so that lended itself to just smaller file sizes back then.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

And the I don't know what it was, I can't remember exactly, but something about Canon. I think the 1DX Mark II did this as well, where the 4K files normally it's it like takes man, I can't remember. I'm pretty sure the the files, instead of recording like a standard video file, it would like take 24 pictures per second, like full res pictures, and then combine those into a video internally. So the that's why the files were just massive. Yeah. Because it was like these huge resolution images that it was combining into a video instead of just shooting video. I don't really know how it works, but yeah, I'm like trying to remember from my research from like five 10 years ago or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

That sounds like a crazy like version of like a time lapse or something like that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, interesting. That makes sense though for the large files. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, so so back back when I was getting started, you know, obviously I I went to YouTube to learn like everything because I just wanted to to learn absolutely everything. Yeah. And so it one of the main guys I found, and obviously I think you you you back then followed him as well, Peter Peter McKinnon. Oh yeah, Peter McKinnon. He was like the top dog, and he was my introduction into like the 1DX Mark Mark II and everything, or at least that's where I heard it from. But he was shooting in so the 1D X Mark II could shoot in 120 frames per second.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

That was huge. And everyone wanted that.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, that was just mind blowing to see his B roll that he would shoot in in 120 frames per second. And dude, I I there's he he laid the groundwork for so like it was just kind of crazy how fast he grew back then, but he just kind of knew like and the way he presented it too. Um just very cool and casual and everything, but and his style and stuff, you know. But the whole like how he shoots B-roll, the way that the way that he shoots it and puts it together, his transitions, oh yeah, which I used in one of the I think it was my first wedding ever. I used one of his transitions where he masks out um in between. So you use uh a foreground subject to transition to your next frame. And then you mask like somebody like walks in front of the frame and then it like swipes and then and then you mask that out frame by frame and then it reveals the next one. I did that in my first wedding film. Um, and it was the wedding party was walking by me, and the last groomsman I used him to mask out and then revealed a couple um in the next shot. And I was so proud. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think I ever used that again. I used it on like five plus videos. I was obsessed with that kind of transition. And I I might be wrong. I'm maybe I did use it one other time, but like I remember that taking so long to get it to get it perfect. Oh, yeah. And even even then, like feathering it properly and getting it to look exactly the right. I was like, I can still, but I didn't care. It was like so cool. Um, but yeah, Peter McKinnon, he was like, he was the guy that that I would and then Maddie Hipoya, his his best buddy, that they always did stuff together. He eventually started his own channel. Um, because I think originally Maddie was like I think he was like a cinematographer originally and then got introduced to the world of YouTube and started working with Peter and and I think he was his editor for a while. Um, like would go and shoot with him and stuff like that. And but um uh he so I started following him too. Um and then uh who's the other big one? It was full-time filmmaker, I think, back then. Um uh why am I blinking on his name? Parker. Parker Walbeck, yeah. Yeah, and that I got into watching him and his stuff mainly because I was getting into real estate, shooting real estate stuff, and so he had some really cool stuff uh specific to real estate and everything. But yeah, like that camera, the 1D X Mark II. It was like the camera, yeah, and it came out when I was shooting on I think the the 7500 or something like that. So I was like, I wanted to throw my camera in the garbage right then and there.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

I remember having a goal for like a long time of like I need to get the one DX Mark II. Yeah, never happened, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

You you never you never did it. No, never did it.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Yeah, I ended up by the time that I was like I finally had enough money to like get a camera that big, it was it was an older camera and there was newer options that was like I'd rather get that.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Right, right. Yeah, and I I was I mean we had we had some uh invested in the glass and everything for for Nikon and everything, but uh but there wasn't like you said, it wasn't really video strong at all. Um and but it became I think it was 2019. Um and that's why I was I was trying to remember um my the the camera situation like when she got me the 7500 because 2019 Nikon released its first um step into mirrorless technology. So I wanted to talk about the mirrorless technology because you you you got uh uh uh Canon R. Yes. Original Canon R. Um and I had I got the original Z6, Nikon Z6, which was Nikon's step into the mirrorless realm. And that was all competing with Sony, who kind of came into the mirrorless uh realm earlier than than all of them with their uh a7 III, I think. And um, and that the a7, I think, was the the the run of the mirrorless stuff. I I don't know a lot about Sony. Um I mean I know more about their current stuff and the newer stuff, but I don't know a lot about the history of of when they like launch the technology. I do know Sony sensors are in Nikon cameras. Yes. And so uh just on a side tangent, I've noticed that um converting log images and stuff like that, they uh they respond really similarly because of that and everything. Okay, and so which is kind of cool. And so since you started, and I'm jumping ahead now, but you shoot you one of your main cameras is an FX3 now. Yeah. Um, whenever I grade that next to my my footage, go a little easier. Yeah, it's like I I literally have to do nothing. Yeah, finding kind of crazy. Um, but anyways, yeah, so Sony kind of came in and just swept the nation, you know, of video and and photo and everything with with their cameras. And so I think Canon and Icon, they had to respond um pretty strongly in that. And I didn't ever go down like the Panasonic route or anything like that. Um obviously I could not afford going down like the red or I think black magic was was around and they were pretty affordable, but I think they didn't make great cameras back then, yeah. I think uh what the the original pocket um cinema camera um was kind of I can't remember, I'll I'll I'll look that stuff up um while you're talking, but uh tell me about your experience like moving from DSLR technology into uh mirrorless technology.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Yeah, so when I bought my 5D Mark IV, I think the R was out at that point.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Um and it's almost the same camera, like they're so similar. I think they have the same sensor as well. Um but I just I think I chose the 5D Mark IV because it had I think it had like a faster frames per second in photo mode. Like you could shoot like seven instead of five on the R. The R did five, the 5D Mark IV did seven frames per second. So I was like, okay, well, if we want to shoot photos fast, we should probably have this one. Yeah, um, and at that point we were doing photography. Um starting to get into it, but yeah, so I chose 5D Mark IV first, and then we like really started doing photography and video at the same time. I'm like, okay, well, we need another camera. Uh um so I got the R because it was, I'm like, well, maybe it'll be a little bit better for video, it's smaller, I don't know. So I got that one. I kind of gave Emma the 5D Mark III and four as her main cameras, and I took the R as my main camera.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

And the I like the R way better than the four just because of how small it is. Uh-huh. Um, the 4K is still super cropped, the file sizes are still huge, but uh yeah, other than that, it's pretty much the same as the 5D four.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yeah, okay. So you you didn't, it wasn't as drastic of a change for you. No, it was almost no change. My mine was literally like night and day difference. Okay. When I when I jumped from the 7500 to the Nikon Z6 because it was all of a sudden I had working autofocus. Oh, yeah. You know, like good, good autofocus. Um, I had true 4K full frame. Oh, nice. And I could shoot in 120 frames per second. I think that was cropped or no, that was in 1080, but it was full frame. So 1080, 120 frames per second, um, 4K, actually 60 frames, I think, was in 1082. I think I could only shoot in 4K up to 30.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

Yeah, that was the same for my camera. Yeah, I had like so I basically shot everything 1080, 60 at that time.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah. But man, like I was just blown away. Yeah. And I didn't have money for mirrorless glass back then. They were just launching that stuff because they had changed the whole mount. They had gone from F mount to Z mount. Right. Z mount was much bigger and closer to the sensors. So their promise was um faster glass, faster, smaller glass because of that and everything, which eventually they started to release all sorts of stuff. So I adapted the 50 mil, the nifty fifty, um, and I used that and I took the kids out back then. I still have my original video on the Z6. Um, it was like my little test, and I even branded it with like the Nikon logo and everything. And actually, I put it up on Vimeo as public and it got thousands of views. Wow. Um, because it was pretty early on and everything.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Um, and and actually I started a YouTube channel back then um uh as kind of a and my first video was can you vlog with the Nikon Z6? Okay. And so I I took it, I just took it out and kind of did the, and it didn't have a flip screen, so I couldn't see myself. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Um, it was just tilt on the back. And so I could I couldn't see myself, but I had um I had the 24 to 70 kit lens um that I got, which is F4 or whatever, but it was wide enough, you know, that I could hold it out and it was it was okay. But it was the autofocus, man. Like I did not have to worry, and it was silent. That's awesome. It was totally silent, which blew my mind. Like, I didn't know this was even possible. And so yeah, I released that. I remember like um walking around the neighborhood. I remember taking it into the car, um, going through a drive-thru. Like I had it on a little like mini tripod thing and went through, you know, it was just you know, silly like day in life, you know, see if this camera works for that. Yeah, and it got thousands of views, like tons of comments and everything. And so I think people were pretty pumped about that camera when it first came out because you know, a lot of the the older guard or whatever in photography, I think a lot of them shot Nikon cameras and everything. Because you know, Nikon in the photography world is still very strong and has been strong for a long time. Yeah, but I think there was a desire to kind of move into video, and so the release of the Z6 and that technology and everything just opened up a whole world. And on top of that, and and the reason that I've shot with those cameras up until I sold them the beginning of this year, finally. I just saw my R. Yeah. Yeah. Um, is because with with the uh combination of using the Atamos Ninja V monitor, you were able to unlock log, 10-bit 422 log, okay ProRes. Dang um all the way up to RAW. You could you could unlock all the way up to raw, and uh Atamos uh release the option to shoot in H.265 compression ratio. So I was able to shoot in uh 4K, 10 bit, 422 log, um, and record directly to SSD on those things. And so in H.265. So I could literally record, you know, video for I think I think with the one terabyte SSDs that I had in those things, I was able to record like up to 23 hours straight forever. Yeah. Um, and so that's why I I had three of those um that were in my regular kit with with three uh Ninja Vs, and those were my sticks uh cameras for for everything. And they were so heavy. They were yes, they were. Yeah, because they had I had them on the and I by the way, great video on your tripod, your tripod video. Just released that not long ago. Oh, yeah, I wanted to see that in person. Um, but yeah, I I have the old man Frodo large uh tripods, heavy tripods. I just I can't shake them, man. They're just like so solid. They are I mean, yeah. Um, but because of the ninja monitor, and I got the like biggest batteries in the world, they were huge, but they lasted all day.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

And you had the battery grips on the cameras at one point. Yes, that's true. It was like a massive camera with a cage with a monitor with a massive battery and an SSD and like just the biggest tripod ever as well. Yep, yeah. I remember hauling two of those like across the field for at a wedding, and I kept I stopped like four times because I'm like, oh my gosh, these things are so heavy.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

I forgot because it just kind of became normal for me. Yeah. But I I I remember when you when you met, you met you made many comments over the years. Um haven't held back. And then Johnny one time, I think when he came to to shoot or whatever. Um, and we it was at um uh Scamania Lodge. And at that's the stuff is not close together at Scamania Lodge, and so I remember we had to move stuff from the undercover area is kind of where setup was um or staging uh of the equipment, and we had to run it over to another ceremony area, which was along the path. Like, and I remember watching him like carry just one, yeah, but it's all rigged up and everything. He took like three breaks on the way out. Yes, they're heavy, they are, they are heavy, thus, the reason I got that cart, you know, eventually I got the cart and then that changes you should get a cart.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Everybody should get a cart.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Um, but yeah, dude, like that combination, and I'm jumping a little ahead in time, but but not really because um, and I didn't know I didn't know what I had back then because I had I had gotten a Ninja V back then when I had first gotten the Z6, not immediately, but I think in that same year I got it because of the capabilities that it unlocked in the camera. And I went out and I shot stuff with that, but I didn't really know what I was doing. And NLOG, how how to treat NLOG was still kind of developing and stuff, like you only had the technical LUT from Nikon at the time, and it was awful. Yeah, it was awful.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

What is with that? What is with camera manufacturers making log and then making the worst possible LUT to convert it into Rec 709?

SPEAKER_01 37:29

I have no idea because it happens a lot weirdly with different brands too, and and I think it's because they and and I've seen this in a couple different like Gamut has done videos um based on the N log technical LUTs from Nikon and stuff like that. Okay, they they created those in very, very precisely controlled lighting situations. Gotcha. And so it does not account for you know bright direct sunlight days, it does not account for you know tons of contrast and everything. There, and I don't know why, you know, why wouldn't you want to give people more flexibility? But I suppose the ability to dial in the intensity is there in the programs, but that that removes some of the color. Um, and yeah, so I I don't know. The answer to that question is I don't know, and I will never know why. Because even to this day, like my my Z63s, the view assist, the built-in view assist is although it's much better, it's still not quite there, yeah. Um, with that. So I I don't know. And so that's why thank the Lord for companies like Gamut, you know, that comes out in Cine Match and stuff that for whatever reason, they're like, this stuff sucks. We're gonna make our own stuff that makes this so much better and so much easier. Like Gamut specifically, creating LUTs that matches across the board on cameras, that's been a game changer. And I commented on one of their posts uh recently about like, what do you use, you know, to match cameras, whatever. And so yeah, I just I'm really thankful for those guys. But yeah, dude, it was it was a great combination and something that I just I used for up until this year, yeah. And finally, finally sold those um just solid, solid cameras.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

It's great when a camera can actually last five balls.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Man, it was great. And the reason I put the battery grips on there, you remember why I didn't want to have to worry about battery life at all.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Like you didn't with those battery grips, you used them all day.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Well, and something I had done previous to getting the Ninja Vs. Do you remember my little Jimmy rig that I came up with to keep those because they had the recording limits? You remember? No, so I had the little remote triggers that I would attach down at the bottom of the track.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

You're talking before you put the monitors. Yeah, before the monitors. Yep, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Yeah, because they had 30-minute record limits, and I didn't want to have to worry about uh checking on those. And so I got these little remote triggers that I programmed to go off exactly like 30 minutes and two seconds or something like that after I hit record. Yeah. And so as soon as the camera would stop recording, two seconds would tick and then it would turn it back on and start recording again. Oh that was my little workaround.

SPEAKER_03 40:21

You had them like velcro to the leg of the triangle. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

It was great, it was all built in. Yeah, it was all built in. Um, but yeah, when I got the Ninja V monitors, I didn't have to worry about that. But then I got the the battery grips because I didn't want to have to worry about battery life in the camera bodies themselves because they're still, you know, they eat battery. Yeah. And so, but yeah, that that did make it very, very heavy. But I thought they looked amazing. It I thought they looked so cool. Like, I remember the first time I got I got the whole thing built out, and I took a picture and I sent it to you like I do all the time.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Right, right. Like, dude, check this out.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

They looked like very professional. They did, yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

And the bigger camera bodies with the monitors on top, it it does uh oh, I forgot you because you also had like a big 70 to 200, like in like a massive lens. That's that also added to the weight.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

That that, yes, yes, that thing is a beast. It's sitting there right next to you on the shelf, and it's massive, massive. Um, so yeah, and even the 24 to 70 that I use regularly, that thing is heavy too. But yeah, that that camera specifically, um, I remember when I first got that lens, I had to get a support to build in to uh the cage that I had on my Z6. Okay. To and it was created to um screw into the bottom plate of that. You can kind of see on the bottom there's that little mount. Yeah. So that kind of helped take the strain off of the mount. Oh, because that's so heavy. Yeah, eventually I just stopped caring about that. Uh-huh. It's like it can handle it, it's fine. Yeah, yeah. Oh man. Yeah, what a journey that's been, dude. Like, I and now, so after the 5D Mark IV, you got the R.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Yep. Which is like a side, it wasn't an upgrade, it was like a sidestep. Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Lateral, but yeah, yeah. Cause because that was your main camera that you shot on. Yes. Yeah. So on your let's talk about get gimbal stuff too, as as we've transitioned. Um, because you went from glide cam. What was your first like gimbal?

SPEAKER_03 42:37

The Ronin Mark I.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Or the sorry, the Ronin S Mark I.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the same for me.

SPEAKER_03 42:43

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

They call they just called it Ronin S back then.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Um, and uh, I still have that in my closet actually. Do you really? You still have one? I do. Wow. Yeah, I should bust it out. Um, and I I let Travis Clinton borrow that for a little bit too. I thought you were just giving it to him. Well, I was gonna give it to him. Um, and he was like, I I won't ever use it or whatever. But I think he used it on one thing or something, but um, yeah. So that was my first gimbal too, and that that was another game changer.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

Because again, the lighter weight, mirrorless cameras, the autofocus, like that was just it was amazing. Yeah, it was incredible.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

The most annoying thing about it was that there were no uh access locks, yeah. So it would just flop around. Yep, and the case that it came with, you had to disassemble the entire thing and like move all of the arms. So if you wanted to put it in the case, you'd have to completely disassemble it and reassemble it and rebalance every single piece of it every time you wanted to use it, which was so annoying.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Yeah, which at the time we didn't know. We didn't we didn't really know otherwise. Yeah, it's just that's yeah, exactly. That's the way it was. But the technology to because I had a glide cam as well for a little bit that I used. You did yeah, okay for a short time. Um, and I was just awful at it. So I I think I used it a couple times and I just could not get it. It's hard to learn, yeah. It was it was really hard. Um, and so yeah, I was like, I'm investing in this technology or whatever, DJI, um, and then also the drone technology, which we could talk about those two, but um because of the ability to um to have like presets built in, because I remember we had the three uh presets or whatever. Um I don't think they were presets like you could customize them. I think they were built-in modes okay um back then on the Ronin S. But I think um one of them was just tilt um or or just pan or something like that. One what the other one was like pan tilt, and then the other one was like locked horizon uh whatever, um, if I remember correctly. Because I the reason I remember that is because I would build those because I was so locked in with those. I built those into the next gimbals that I got um to make sure. Actually, never mind, my first gimbal was not the Ronin S.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

So the crane.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

Yeah, it was a June crane. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 45:13

I remember that was like the big one until DJI released that.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Yeah, actually, I will tell you this. When I switched from the June crane to the Ronin S, I missed the June crane.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Um, because of that one specifically that I had. And I can't, I can't remember the dude, I totally forgot about that thing. But I think that thing was smoother overall in its movements and a little bit more intuitive as far as what I was looking for, yeah. Um, than the the Ronin S. Okay. But because DJI like stormed onto the scene and they were just like crushing it with everything, I was like, well, I have to have it. And that speaks very high uh heavily into like what happened to me over the next like five years or whatever, us, I guess. Yeah, but yeah, that um that technology just changed everything. And and of course, as soon as you get a gimbal, you like you shoot everything on the gimbal, everything, and there you do the same movements on it. You feel like you have to do the same movements. So all of my wedding films back then, all of my b-roll all looked the same. Yeah, it was all parallax shots moving around the subject or pushing straight through the scene, or you know, whatever it was, like, or locking it and going from side to side like a slider movement. Right, those were my main kind of kind of moves or whatever, but it was everything. Yeah, it was literally everything.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

I'm I remember sometimes, I mean, even still a little bit. I have to like remind myself like you don't have to move every single shot, you can stay stationary, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Yep. You know, one of the things they're great for if you have something to kind of prop them up on is like tripod shots. Um, because you don't always have like to to have a uh perfectly horizontal horizon line, like they'll they'll autocorrect for that. And so I've used that many times um doing that because I don't want to haul around a tripod or whatever. But uh so so you move oh so you we were on the uh did you say EOS like they like they say EOS or EOS?

SPEAKER_03 47:31

I probably say EOS.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Okay, because I think there was a whole thing about that.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

Yeah, I never honestly I just skipped that part and you just said called the R. R. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So I'm on the R.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Yeah that's like that's like uh Canadians say Z. Yes instead of instead of Z. And so like when they would we they'd start to say like the Z six or whatever. What is this? Is this a new one? Oh no, they're Canadian, so they have to say that. They have to, it's the law. It's the law. So after the R, what did you move to?

SPEAKER_03 48:02

Uh well I had that for a while. Uh and then let's see, Emma, that's my wife. She was doing photography on the 5D Mark III and four. And at some point she's like, I kind of don't like shooting on the Mark III because it the colors look different than the Mark IV. So she's like, I want to get either another Mark IV. I think well, no, at that time she did. She wanted to get another Mark IV. And by that point, Canon had just recently released the R6 and the R5. Okay, those came out together. I'm like, I think we should like, I don't want her to get an old DSLR camera. Let's go mirrorless. Yeah. So I convinced her to get two R no, one was what am I saying? Yeah, two R sixes over the course of like a few months. We got two of them.

SPEAKER_02 48:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:52

Uh and we sold off the Mark III and probably like my 6D D or something. Okay. Um so then I still had my R that I was shooting on, but whenever she was not shooting photo at a wedding, I would take the R6s and shoot video with those. Okay. So for like a year, I would use the R sixes. Okay. But they overheat pretty bad in video mode. Yeah. Um, so I didn't love using them, but I did have full wait yeah, uh full frame 4K, 60 frames a second. Yeah. That was huge. That because I never had that before. Up until that point, I was still shooting 1080p.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Actually, even while using the R6s, I was shooting 1080p sometimes because it would overheat so bad.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:32

Um okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

Yeah. A lot less strain on the on the processor.

SPEAKER_03 49:36

Yeah, it basically wouldn't overheat if you're in 1080p. Nice. Unless it was already overheated from the 4K. Right, right. Oh man, there was one time. It do you remember? I don't know when this was, 2021 or 20, probably 2021, that you that day or weekend that it was like 118 in Portland, which is like unheard of here. Yes. Yep. I took the R6 out of my backpack, put it on like tripod, turned it on, and it was overheating. I didn't I didn't even start recording. I was like, okay, nope, not going into work today.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

Yep. Uh I do I do remember that vividly, I think, because I think we shot a wedding that weekend. Yeah. Um, and it was up in Welches. Oh, yeah. Um it was at like a park up in Welch's. Okay. And uh, and it was like 108 degrees that day, but it was muggy because like we were in the forest. Um, and it was just like this elopement style wedding or something like that, if I'm remembering correctly, but I'm pretty sure this was the same thing. And I was praying like the whole time because I didn't have any other cameras. Yeah, I think maybe I had one other Z6 at the time. Uh-huh. Maybe. Uh I can't actually remember if I had another one. But, anyways, yeah, the the Z6 was still my main camera on the gimbal. Yep. Um, and uh yeah, I was like, please don't know. Yeah, I don't know if this is gonna last because I did have an instance where it did overheat on me. Um, and it was for a buddy's wedding. Um and it was super hot that day. It wasn't as hot, but it was direct sun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

And that's what kills them.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

That's what kills them. And that's happened before to my cameras. Yeah. You remember we were at the um Empress State. Yep. Um I was just thinking about that. Yeah. And like the camera on the other side that didn't have direct sun never ever overheated. But as soon as the direct sun goes on that back screen, yeah, just go. It's just a matter of time.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

But anyway, so I had the R6s for like a year. Yeah. And then at towards the end of the year, I'm like, I don't I don't think I want to keep using these cameras. Like the overheating is killing me. Um and I mean they were Emma's photography cameras. So anytime that she was shooting photo and I needed to shoot video, I'm like, well, crap, now I'm a little bit screwed. I have to go back to the R, right, you know, whatever. Yeah. Um, so at that point, I upgraded to one Canon C70, which was like a huge step up from anything I'd ever had before, both in terms of size and uh specs.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Yeah, yeah, because that's cinema line, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:13

It is, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was their smallest and cheapest cinema line camera ever. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it was it's great. I still have them, I still use them. They're awesome.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

They're incredible cameras, built-in NDs.

SPEAKER_03 52:25

Yes, that was insane.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

Yeah. Um, and then C log 2, which was a cinema only uh uh log because I know the R with the monitor you could shoot in, or or internally you can shoot the monitor.

SPEAKER_03 52:39

I can shoot bit C log one. Yeah, which is which is not great. Yeah. Uh the R6 could shoot C log three. Yeah. But I after using it for a while, realized that I hate C log three. Especially on the R6 in particular. Okay. Uh, just because the view assist, like on your camera, the view assist kind of lies to you. It does the same thing. Okay. So I end up underexposing, but then a lot of noise would enter in, and then it was just a mess. Same. It was super hard to grade. Yep, same. Exactly. But yeah, the C70 with the C log 2, internal NDs, it had XLR ports, which I don't really use for weddings, but for other stuff, it's really great. Yeah. Um uh full frame 4K with the speed booster, um, which just meant I had to use the older like DSLR lenses, but that was fine because that's mostly what I had at that point.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 53:32

Um trying to think. That's those those are all the specs.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

The built the built-in fan, never overheating.

SPEAKER_03 53:40

The battery is massive, so it's like three plus hours of battery life. Yeah, yeah. Versus like a mirrorless or DSLR body, which is like an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

Yeah. I remember when you first got that, the the wedding, because you were like, I just got this. Is there anything I come shoot with you just for whatever? That's the feeder, the cat feeder, and and Milo's at the door. That's fine, actually, because he always eats both sides. Oh, good for it. Because he's a bully. Yeah. So Luna can have her meal in peace. Um, do you remember this wedding? Yeah, it was up north. Um, and you shot in wide dr.

SPEAKER_03 54:18

Yes, because I was scared of shooting logs because I'd never really done log that much before.

SPEAKER_01 54:23

And I didn't know because you were you were just gonna hand it over um the footage. And so I'm like, yeah, shoot, shoot and whatever. And that footage changed my life because because I again I was still on the Z6 and I was shooting in like a flat profile or something like that, because I was trying to get, you know, in my mind, I was like, oh, this is gonna give me more dynamic range, well, and so I can manipulate the colors a little more, but I was still in 8-bit, so I couldn't push anything too much. Um, but that footage uh from your camera changed changed my my whole kind of outlook on colors and contrast um for from my own stuff. Yeah. And even even your 5D Mark IV footage, um, which was very different, but still um that that helped me start to kind of transform my what I saw and what I liked and stuff like that, started to develop my my taste for colors and contrast and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 55:25

Okay, and so what you're telling me is that Canon cameras have made the biggest impact on your career.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

Oh gosh, here we go. Here we go. We've had this conversation. Yes, that's what I'm saying, which has never been a debate in my mind. Like canon colors are just amazing, they're nice, and they always have been, and I've always loved the colors. Um, but what it what it did is it opened my eyes to the capabilities of my my own cameras. For sure. And so I started to be able to dial in my cameras to achieve that kind of color and contrast and stuff like that, and so that just changed changed everything. Um I remember I remember uh I think I still shot on the Z6s um when we started shooting in log. Yeah. Um because because I I was too afraid to to shoot in log and everything like that. Because I just I didn't have a lot of I think I tried shooting in log once and I tried grading it, and I did it for like uh I think I was shooting for that bank back then, and I brought it home and I tried to make it look good, and I'm just like, oh man, this is awful. Like, what am I gonna do? Yeah, and everything. And so um, I think it worked out or whatever. Um, fun fact, I pulled up that footage from all those years ago, like last year or something like that, just to see. Graded it super easy, looked perfect, yeah, yeah, looked amazing.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

I think because I ran into huge grading issues myself back then. I think it was because the conversion LUTs that we had were yeah, either we didn't either we didn't have any or they were really terrible.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

Yep, yep, yeah, exactly. And I didn't know. I thought I must be doing something wrong, you know. And so I'm I'm diving into the menu on the Ninja V, you know, to see what's going on there. I'm diving in the menu on the camera, I'm I'm looking up stuff, you know, I'm doing all this research. I'm like, there's gotta be something that I'm doing wrong. Right. Because I was still seeing like log footage from the Z6, you know, and everything. Um I think at the time like the Z62 had come out and stuff, and the Z7 or whatever, and I'm seeing footage that was shot in log and it looks amazing. Yeah. Like, what am I doing? What am I doing wrong? Like, I don't know what's going on here. Like, I'm doing everything right. Uh and that's my mind. If I'm doing it technically right, then it should just, you know, come out that way. Yeah. But what the footage uh from the C70 um revealed to me is like, I think I'm just I'm I'm limiting uh I'm putting too much too much emphasis on giving myself uh more um more flexibility in my settings. What I mean by that is like because uh internally I can only shoot in flat on the Z6 and everything. And so I was like trying to give myself more more flexibility by by you know um giving myself or uh creating less contrast in the image. Like you can turn down the contrast, you can turn down saturation, all that kind of stuff. Um but eventually I think I I kept shooting for you on that Z6, and I just had everything like flat across the board in that flat profile. And I think you actually really enjoyed grading that uh back in the day for the couple weddings or whatever. And then I started to be like, actually, this is pretty good. Like, this is pretty accurate, you know. When I started to get more into the nerdy, like technical stuff, like measuring the color accuracy and stuff like that on the vector scope and everything. Um was like, actually, this is pretty accurate. So started to shoot color charts and everything, and and so it just that whole season um just really opened my eyes quite a bit into into color and contrast and stuff like that. Um, and then I think it wasn't too long after I was like, I think I'm gonna like shoot in log um again. And I think I had found um I had found a ETTR LUT exposed to the right LUT. Yes, which was that's coffee machine turning off now. All these things. Um uh that was I think I want to say it starts with an L. Leaming LUTs. Yeah, leaming. Yeah, that's right, leaming LUTs. And this LUT changed everything for log it for log for me. Yeah, because on that train for a while, yeah, because it was great, because it gave me a really clean image because I was able to overexpose up to up to the point or expose to the right up to the point of just overexposing or maintaining highlights, and then it would knock everything down and everything was super clean. And so um, I think it was for um I'm gonna I'm gonna mess up the name Jonathan, Jonathan's wedding. Yes, Jonathan and um they're friends from Summit View, I think, that we did their wedding. Anyways, Olivia. Yes. Um and uh I think I started out shooting Linear. Uh Linear. And then I and then I was like, I I could probably because I was shooting in a high contrast scene or whatever, and I think we were doing the first look with dad. Uh huh. And I was like, I could probably shoot this in log. Like I was like, and you're like, oh yeah, I shoot my stuff in log. And I was like, ah, you didn't tell me. Like, and you're like, yeah, go ahead and shoot it. And so, and then from that point, like I think after you worked with that footage, you're like, Yeah, shoot and log for everything from that from that point. Um, but yeah, that that changed that that changed my world once again, starting to shoot and log and actually understanding it and actually having proper conversion LUTs and stuff like that to be able to get it to look good, you know, and the colors proper and but the dynamic dynamic range that it unlocked, yeah, was yeah, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:51

Yeah, because I I shot YDR on that C70 for like for a while before I switched to log because I was scared of log. Yep, yep. But yeah, once once I switched, and because it has the C log 2 instead of the C log 3, it was super easy to grade.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:05

Yeah, C log 2 freaked me out the first time I saw it because it was so flat, it was so flat. Yeah, I'm like, this looks nothing like my log. Uh in my mind, I'm like, log is log.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:16

Um it's almost grayscale, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

It's insane. Yeah, if you've never worked with C log 2 footage before, it's it's pretty incredible. Um and so that uh and and grading that stuff because so the difference I think in in Canon log opposed to um Nikon log, I think Nikon log is rec 2020, so I have to convert it. Okay. Where I think uh I think C log and anything that's like Canon Log, I think you can just add contrast and color to to the log without without converting it, and you can get decent colors out of it. Okay, but I didn't know that for for Nikon log. And so I that's that's what happened to me at first.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:04

So I was trying to just you know adjust color and contrast, but it was in rec 2020. Yeah, I did not convert it to rec 709, so it was like, oh, this is weird, like it's green and yellowish and everything. Like, what's going on? Uh-huh. Um, and so, but uh yeah, I we could talk about this for so much longer. We're already over an hour. Awesome. Let's fast forward. What are you shooting on now? Why, why, why are you shooting on what you're shooting on now? Um, and is there anything new and exciting for for your future that might be that maybe Emma doesn't even know about?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:49

Um so I've at this point I've got two C70s, and just back in like September, I bought a Sony FX3 and like a 24 to 70 for it. Um I got the Sony because I was shooting quite a bit for other people who shot Sony, and every time I would shoot for them, they'd be like, So do you have a Sony yet? I'm like, no. They're like, Okay, you're gonna have to rent one for this wedding. I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:14

So you rented one every time?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:15

Usually they would pay for it. Okay. Um, but I felt bad and I'm like, well, I keep having to rent these things. I might as well just buy one.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:22

I kind of want like I've thought about switching everything over to Sony, that's expensive to do. Yep. Um, yeah. But I'm like, well, I could just buy one camera, but one camera body, one lens, um, any extra lenses I can usually just borrow from the lead shooter. It's fine. Um, so I did that. I bought one Sony body, the FX3, and one like Sigma 24 to 70.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Um, and then I, you know, used it a couple times shooting for this person, and then this year I'm like, you know what? This camera is so much lighter weight than my C70, especially when I put it on the gimbal. So I'm just gonna shoot all my weddings as with the FX3 as my main camera this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

So that'll be A cam.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:03

And then FX3s, sorry, uh C70s on tripods.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:07

Yeah, yeah, very nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:09

And I know something that I love about the FX3, which by the way, is not just not just one camera body, like it's it's really expensive and it's held its value for for years.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:21

Weirdly, it has held its value. I've never seen a camera hold its value so well.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:24

Yeah, used, they're still over four grand just for the body, and it's unbelievable. But something that I love is that you can uh put your own LUTs, custom LUTs into it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:34

Yeah, that's something the Canon cameras don't even do. Well, kind of. You can load them in, but you have to if you use a custom LUT, you have to bake it into the footage. Yeah, whereas the FX3 you can use it just as a monitoring lot, which is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:47

I don't know why all cameras don't do that. It's just it makes no sense to me. I'm hoping Nikon hops on that train. Yeah, for sure. Um but you you also uh have a LUT that you've added in there for fall. Color right, um, which that's something that I I live by now is false color, yeah, like on everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:08

So the Canon C70 has false color built in, so I just have a button I can click and it turns on false color and then it clicks back off. Yeah, uh, which is awesome for exposing and making sure my skin tones look good. Yep. FX3 doesn't have that, it actually has very few like monitoring tools built in, which is kind of sad. Yeah. Um, but people have made false color LUTs, so I just installed that and then I can switch between the two different LUTs pretty quickly, not as quick, which is annoying, but sure pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:36

Um, and that works pretty well.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:38

Yeah, yeah. I uh so currently I shoot on Nikon Z63s. Um I'm still on the Z6. I never went like Z uh Z7s or anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

Are the Z7s better than the Z6s?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:53

Well they have larger sensors.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:57

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:58

Um, yeah, so they have like like higher megapixels. Yeah, higher megapixel sensors. Um and so that's that's the so my understanding back in the day when the Z6 and the Z7 were were first released, like the Z6 was gonna be kind of your if you were more video okay, kind of focused, then the Z6 was gonna be the one to go for. Yeah. I'm in the Z7 would be more like for photography, you know. That was kind of and so that's been kind of throughout the line. Yeah. And they haven't even released a Z7 III.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:33

No, I feel like I never hear anybody talk about Z7s.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:36

So I think they kind of I mean they had a Z7 II uh that release, so they may do a Z7 III. Um, but I think the primary focus has been on the Z sixes through through the years and everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:50

So you had you were using a Z9 for a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:52

Yes, Michaela has two Z9s, and I I did I got a Z9 um originally because it had all the things um that I had log internal 10-bit. I could shoot raw internally on that thing. Um and yeah, so it had all the things. It was big, big body, but huge battery, so lot long battery life um and everything. And so I got that thinking like, oh, this is this is it, you know, this is gonna be good. Yeah. And then I started shooting with that thing, and the image is nice. Um, it has a dual, it had dual base ice ISO, which was the first time I'd experienced that before. Um, and so um when shooting in log, so 800 and 4,000 were the the two base ISO um levels for that camera. And so low light was like great, yeah. It was like bump it up to 4,000 and like the image is clean. And even when you do turn the ISO up on those, it's it is clean, it's pretty clean. Um, Z63 is a bit noisier, so you got to be more careful when you're when you're pushing it. Yeah. Um uh, but it was just huge, it was really big.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:16

And so I think I hated shooting on the C7 and the gimbal.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

Yeah, huge. Yeah, and so eventually when I wanted to start shooting on the gimbal again, because that's a whole oh yeah, that's a whole thing we can get into next time is like shooting on the gimbal, shooting handheld. You guys kind of alluded to that when we had our podcast before, like you never know what Sean's gonna do, like is it gonna be different one day and you know the next day or whatever? But uh I wanted to start shooting on the gimbal again, and so um, and then the Z63 released. Um, and so and that was the first, that was Nikon's first camera that had the flip screen, yeah. Um and so, and that was perfect for for uh putting on the gimbal. Actually, I think their ZF might have done the flip screen, but the Z63 was like the first pro like level camera or whatever um that had the flip screen. And so um, but yeah, now I have three three Zix Z63s, um, and that's why I finally sold the the original Z6s, and they're small, they're a lot like the FX3, yeah, um, as far as their capabilities and everything. Um, and I and I thought about going down the road of the ZR because they just released the Nikon ZR not too long ago. But everything that I've seen, um it looks like they're pretty much the same camera. Okay, and even the Z63, and I don't know if it's something that they're still working out in the ZR, but the H265 is a little softer in the ZR for some reason. Weird. I'm not sure what what's going on there, and so Z63 has just been it for me. Yeah, and so I have three of those now, and so and then I have all my lenses, so I I will keep my tripods for now. But at least the cameras are light, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:11

At least the cameras and you don't have the big monitors on them anyway.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:13

No big monitors, um, unless I want to use, you know, I just bought that from you. So now I have two shinobis um, which are much lighter, and I have smaller batteries now, much smaller. Um, and so uh that'll that'll still be light. Um, and I'll throw that, you know, on a monitor mount on the gimbal or something like that. Or if I want to shoot handheld, I can throw that on top. It's still pretty light, but that's that's where I'm at now. It's gonna be great. Yeah, man. It's uh I'm excited for this this season. Like it's uh it's already shaped up to be a pretty good season, and yeah, just excited. I think our first wedding together is at the um oh I'm gonna forget the name of it. Something house.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:59

Oh, the Griffin House.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:01

Griffin House, yeah. Um, which is not for another month or so. Oh, okay. We got a little bit. Um, I think Michaela and I have a wedding this this Saturday um that we're shooting photos for, but um yeah, I'm just I'm excited. Now you got that FX3 is gonna be a cancel for repair. What?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:27

What I'm so upset. What happened? Um I I don't know what happened. It's been doing this, and I thought it was no big deal, but it's I think it's gonna be worse. And I just talked with somebody uh this last week that was like, oh my gosh, I've had that well, let me backtrack.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:43

Um when I use this thing after an hour or more of use, usually, I mean it varies, but usually yeah, after like an hour, all of a sudden the touch screen will just stop being a touch screen. You've told me that. Yeah. Um I can't tap to focus at all. I can't do anything with the touch screen, and the only way to fix it is to turn off the camera, take out the battery, put it back in, turn it back on. Then it's fine for like a while. Yeah. Um but I was just at this workshop and I was filming uh BTS of all the attendees, and one of them saw me do that and came up to me later. She's like, Oh my gosh, I've had that exact same problem. Here's what I did. I sent I had to send it in like three or four times for repair until they finally figured it out. But it's like the control board is bad. You gotta get that replaced. And she's like, it's only gonna get worse with time. I'm like, oh shoot. The worst part is that I bought this camera used from BH. Yeah. So there's no Sony warranty. Yeah. And I just called the like Sony repair place to get a quote, and they're like, minimum 600 bucks to fix it. And you cover all the shipping. Oh my gosh. Ouch. So all my savings from buying it used out the window. Oh dang it. Oh my gosh. I haven't even had it six months yet. Like, it hurts. Oh man. Um I am luckily, it's not like a debilitating issue so far. Yeah. Um, the only thing I can get worse. Yeah, I can get by with it, but yeah, I think like I have a wedding this weekend that I'll use it for, but then after that, I'll probably just send it in because I won't need this camera for like a month. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:18

So all right, good. Well, I'll hope for the best for that. Yeah, that's awesome. I that's the worst. I hate that so much. Um I think we can wrap it up, man. Like this is I like I said, we could talk about stuff for forever. Like, there's so much to talk about. Like, we haven't even gotten into like the fine fine details of of like the stuff that's built into the cameras, you know, that that the reason we use them and stuff like that. But um, thanks for coming out, man. Happy to like I love nerd days, they're my they're just the best. Yeah. Um, thanks for tuning in, guys. If you stuck with us through the whole thing, you guys are troopers, um, and you are true nerds, and we thank you for your for your nerdism. And so till next time, we uh we look forward to it the next nerd day. Thanks again, Josh. Yeah, no problem. All right, we'll see you guys in the next one. Bye.