1080 video quality on 5dmk4 and 1dx2 vs competition?

Jack Douglas said:
Thanks Jay, good to know. ethanz, appreciate your perspective also.

Scott, do you think the 70-200 2.8 II is too heavy/big - have you physically tried a few different lenses?

If one adds the dual handles to the gimbal, then control is no longer at your fingertips, right? What about rigging up some kind of flag-pole type support??

Jack

Yes, Zhiyun has two remotes available. One is a $50 remote that replicates the PTZ controls of the gimbal that you can mount on the handles/extension pole. The other is a $200 remote that replicates everything including the focus wheel, oled screen, ptz and camera controls.

I haven't tried a 70-200 on the crane 2, but I have seen some Youtube videos of it balanced. It looks like extra care needs to be taken to ensure a tilt operation doesn't damage the camera because it sits very close to the roll motor at the back.

https://youtu.be/-ZeYKHzf4jo?t=6m22s
 
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Jack Douglas

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Well, after watching the videos, I just had to make the purchase so hopefully in a week or two I'll be able to also provide feedback. I never dreamt I'd have one of these gizmos after seeing initial units and initial prices!! Makes me think of all the threads where various people whine and complain about what crummy this or that is being produced by whomever, but mostly Canon. ;)

Jack
 
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Jack Douglas

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Received my unit today carelessly burned the 1DX2 replacement foot with the box and a bunch of cardboard (I was cleaning out scrap boxes from the shop and forgot the extra package was in there). I bet no one else would ever do this! :-[ What a stupid guy. Anyway I found it with all the finish burned off but it cleaned up and except for the numbers is OK. :)

So, after all the fun I finally started balancing with the 11-24 and it looks to me like there are physical restrictions of travel - so if anyone has any experience please comment.

The 1DX2 has the lens much higher so the bracket that rises up to contact the lens barrel is woefully short. That piece ensures the camera doesn't swing and stays pointing forward. I'm sure I can create a workaround.

For now I'll probably change to the 24-70 F4 so I get a feeling for the above mentioned restrictions and whether they are inhibiting once I've got the smaller lens working.

Jack
 
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Jack Douglas

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Just debating to start a new thread more appropriately titled??

So I'm balanced with the 24-70 F4 but something pretty obvious jumps out - you certainly won't maintain balance while zooming. So choose your FL. A tad of zoom fine tunes the balance.

I really don't think I've got the full range of motion because moving the camera by hand through different angles does create some interference. I'm thinking for normal reasonable vertical orientation of the handgrip it should be no problem.

Possibly the same would apply to the 11-24 but I'm concerned. On the other hand, is full range of motion compared to a small camera really that critical relative to just doing the basics, i.e. just walking along pointing this way and that??

It's past bedtime so no more tonight. Like with any new venture I feel like I don't have a clue what I'm doing! :)

Oh, and one hand holding is not for weaklings (like me)! I can do it a little but only in an elevated perpendicular orientation and certainly not having the handgrip horizontal. However, two hands is not bad.

Jack
 
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ethanz

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Jack Douglas said:
This is very telling of my personality ... I'm still fiddling with the gimbal and camera and the latest issue is how do I connect the gimbal micro USB to the 1DX2 - there is no such cable??

Jack

You connect the USB from the gimbal to just one part of the USB slot in the 1dx. It doesn't completely fill the 1dx usb slot.
 
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Jack Douglas said:
This is very telling of my personality ... I'm still fiddling with the gimbal and camera and the latest issue is how do I connect the gimbal micro USB to the 1DX2 - there is no such cable??

Jack

Yes, there is a small zippered box under the gimbal in the carrying case. It contains a few cables incuding one marked "Canon." There is also a Sony cable and a Panasonic cable (as I remember). The longer end (where the connector is physically longer goes into the camera. I then tuck the flap under the connector to make sure it doesn't move around as the gimbal moves.
 
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Jack Douglas

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jayphotoworks said:
Jack Douglas said:
This is very telling of my personality ... I'm still fiddling with the gimbal and camera and the latest issue is how do I connect the gimbal micro USB to the 1DX2 - there is no such cable??

Jack

Yes, there is a small zippered box under the gimbal in the carrying case. It contains a few cables incuding one marked "Canon." There is also a Sony cable and a Panasonic cable (as I remember). The longer end (where the connector is physically longer goes into the camera. I then tuck the flap under the connector to make sure it doesn't move around as the gimbal moves.

Thanks you two. It seems I didn't see with sleepy eyes that the 1DX2 has a connector that is like two in one with one being micro USB. I was fearful of try to insert the micro USB. What confusion when I started googling cables - the naming and variations. :-\

Out of curiosity, what is the the tiny part of that connector?

Batteries are charged and once I come out of deep sleep mode I'll try it out and then move to the 11-24.

Jack
 
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Jack Douglas said:
jayphotoworks said:
Jack Douglas said:
This is very telling of my personality ... I'm still fiddling with the gimbal and camera and the latest issue is how do I connect the gimbal micro USB to the 1DX2 - there is no such cable??

Jack

Yes, there is a small zippered box under the gimbal in the carrying case. It contains a few cables incuding one marked "Canon." There is also a Sony cable and a Panasonic cable (as I remember). The longer end (where the connector is physically longer goes into the camera. I then tuck the flap under the connector to make sure it doesn't move around as the gimbal moves.

Thanks you two. It seems I didn't see with sleepy eyes that the 1DX2 has a connector that is like two in one with one being micro USB. I was fearful of try to insert the micro USB. What confusion when I started googling cables - the naming and variations. :-\

Out of curiosity, what is the the tiny part of that connector?

Batteries are charged and once I come out of deep sleep mode I'll try it out and then move to the 11-24.

Jack

Yup, no problems at all. It's the same when I was shooting with the 5DS, you just need to plug the included micro usb cable into the lower end of the USB connection on the camera. The extra pins for USB 3 are not required.
 
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Jack Douglas said:
Thanks Scott - have you actually had the 11-24 functioning on the gimbal at this point in time? When full movement is limited, it appears that bumping and scratching can take place depending on how one orients/handles the unit.

Jack

Hi Jack,

I did but only briefly. I have the camera and lens with me but the gimbal (and a lot more) was too much for my luggage allowance and has been shipped down separately. I am on a 12 month project in the Caribbean and hope to catch up with the rest of the gear I sent down in a few weeks.

But even after a brief workout I'd agree that care needs to be taken with handling the gimbal so as to not damage anything, video is (as I expected) proving a steep learning curve!
 
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Jack Douglas

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Steep, for you ... oh dear now I'm anxious and feeling lost. :( Later today, I'm going to start a new thread, something like, "Anyone with interest in the Crane 2 Gimbal" or ?? suggestion.

My feeling is that there would be more interest in video if people realized that this kind of magic is within virtually anyone's budget. As in the past, I'd say not using the 1DX2 video capabilities is almost criminal. ;)

Scott it must be hard to take an assignment like that!!

I did operate the Crane 2 a few minutes ago with the 24-70 and behavior was predictable and stable and I actual fired a shot but I now need to get more familiar with the buttons and modes etc. Presently I don't have a second camera to post shots of the mount clearances etc. - maybe my wife's cell phone will do.

Jack
 
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stevelee

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ethanz said:
As we've talked about before, I use Premiere for video editing. It is a full feature software. I shoot in 4k typically and then create proxies (basically a downsized version of the file that the software uses for editing, but then reverts back to the source video for final output encoding). Even with my nice computer Premiere has problems playing 4K, even on the 1/4 playback setting. In my mind, Premiere is not very efficient. From what I've heard, FCP has been finely tuned to work 4K well on Macs.

I don’t shoot 4K very often, since my iPhone 6S is the only thing I have that will shoot it. FCP runs great on my 3-year-old iMac when editing 4K. I can’t tell any performance difference from editing 1080p, other than the fan might come on a little more often. It does have an i7 processor and a SSD. Once I’m done, I tell FCP to delete all the work and cache files. They can take up most of the considerable free space on the SSD.

I haven’t tried 4K in Premiere. I am so used to FCP X that I am a lot slower in Premiere. The only advantage for me is that color grading is more Photoshop-like to me.
 
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