Hey videographers,
actually, my work these days is almost entirely focused on programming and IT, but over the past few months, the massive rise of AI slop has gotten on my nerves so much that I, just out of spite, revived an old hobby of mine: filming, editing, and color grading.

At least in my community, the feedback has been pretty positive, and I’m considering whether I could possibly build another small side hustle around this work.
I’m not planning anything crazy. Maybe covering a small event here and there. Do you think the visual quality of my work is good enough to realistically consider taking such steps?

Workflow:

Part 1, the intro:
Since i could not use my Sigma FP to film my Sigma FP i had to use my old Canon EOS 600D (2011), Helios 44-2 58mm f2 Vintage Lens
Shot using Magic Lantern Firmware - 1600x670px 14Bit MLV RAW
RAW-Conversion in MLVApp to Arri LogC3
Resolve for Grading and Editing
Upscale in Topaz Video AI
(just using "Focus Fix" for minimal Detail enhancement... i was astonished how great the 1600x670 image was looking blowed up to 4k in Resolve)

Part 2, the actual reel:
Sigma FP with different lenses, most shots in 100FPS, 1080p, 12Bit CinemaDNG RAW
Some shots are done with a 3" FPV Drone with a DJI O4 Video Unit
Resolve for RAW-Conversion Grading and Editing

Sigma FP grading workflow:
CinemaDNG to BMDFilm in RAW Tab -> CST BMDFilm to Arri LogC3 -> Grade -> ArriLog C3 to Rec709 LUT

I am a beginner and really had this doubt for a long time.
Do everyone in the industry use the ND filters especially when it comes to lower productions.
Yes in bigger commercials it makes sense, too much production budget is there you can opt for top of the line solid nd’s with the best glasses.
But when it comes to lower productions and zero budget especially for social media etc does it really makes sense ?
Also I worked in some productions where they bump the shutter speed saying another glass in front of the lens kills the quality of the expensive lens we have and also on the other side some people use it no matter what to follow the 180 shutter rule.
But what is an acceptable range of shutter we can use at 24fps and do not following it makes the visual more jittery and detect even the smallest shake or it actually makes it better when we shoot handheld etc.
Is it really a concern?
Especially when we want to shoot in colour profiles like slog 3 or 2 and when the camera is also not 10bit or above like the FX3.

Anyone have info other than badly dubbed or AI generated YouTube videos?

Google search mentions the Hong Kong link, which redirects to the US site which shows nothing. I really need to get a VPN.

My DJI app had an update and mentioned it.

Getting all sorts of wild answers when looking around online. Been asked by a client to travel from the north (where i'm from) to London and shoot a general video and photography of a leisure place. Not any details just yet (like trying to get blood out of stone) - highly likely there will be no talent so it's going to be a struggle to get anything amazing. I was going to quote £1.5-£2k. Likley they will come back and say they know someone cheaper. Is it around what you'd charge?

Mid range Videographer & Photographer - Shooting on Lumix gear. Any help is appreciated!

So I bought a zhiyun weebil 3e for my camera setup for car edits, im using an a6500 with the 16-50mm kit lens. Ive found that for some reason the gimbal is not stabilizing like at all. Comparitively to my phone or normal walking with my camera the gimbal is BARELY better, could honestly just be a difference in my walking ngl. I have done all the correct stabilizing and tuning but still for some reason it just will not work.

Can i get some help on figuring out why this is not working, im willing to sped like 40 bucks on extra stuff if i need but if it doesnt work im honestly just gonna sell the gimbal.

Thanks for the help!

Hey everyone, Charles here. I'm a working DP based out of Miami.
I picked up the Tilta PL-to-E autofocus adapter with my own money a couple of months ago to see if it was actually usable for solo shooters running manual cine lenses on gimbals. I’ve stress-tested it on a few passion projects and recently started bringing it out on paid client shoots.

Here is my breakdown of what works, what doesn't, and a quick rigging hack if you're planning to use it on a gimbal.

Camera: Sony FX3
Lens: Blazar Remus 33mm T1.8 1.5x Anamorphic (PL Mount)
Adapter: Tilta Nucleus Autofocus PL-to-E Mount Adapter
Gimbal: DJI RS4

The Good:
Reliable AF: It essentially tricks your Sony body into treating the manual lens like a third-party AF lens (think Tamron or Viltrox tier). Sony’s Eye-AF and tap-to-focus lock on surprisingly fast and hold sticky tracking.
Gimbal Game-Changer: Being able to run anamorphic cinema glass on a gimbal completely solo without needing a bulky LiDAR setup is massive

The Annoying (The Quirks):
The Hardware UI is Frustrating: Mapping lens hard stops and focal points using the tiny built-in screen, two tiny buttons, and a scroll wheel is cumbersome. Tilta needs to release a dedicated mobile app so we don't have to navigate menus on the adapter.
Noise: The focus motors pick up audible noise, so keep that in mind if you are recording scratch or primary audio on camera.
Stock Battery Plate: The included battery plate is clunky, hard to mount on caged setups, and restricts where you can place accessories.

My Lightweight Gimbal Rigging Hack: When running this on a gimbal, skip the iris motor completely to save weight and just manually set your aperture. To bypass the stock battery plate, I mounted a cold-shoe MagSafe adapter to the top of my camera cage and slapped a small MagSafe power bank on it. It draws very little power, keeps the center of gravity low, and easily balances on the RS4.

Final Verdict: It’s $500, which is steep, but for solo operators wanting to use glass like the Blazar Remus or NiSi Athenas without sacrificing AF, it's a solid tool. I still keep native Sony glass in my bag as a backup on paid jobs, but this adapter has earned a permanent spot in my kit.

I mapped out the step-by-step setup, focus speed racks, and gimbal balance footage in a full video review if you want to see how it tracks in real-time, I'll leave a link in the comments

Happy to answer any questions about the lens mapping or power routing if anyone is thinking about picking one up!

Last month I was approached by a guy who wanted to do a live stream at a local science museum. He's a creationist of the 6000 year old Earth variety and basically wanted to tour the various exhibits refuting all of the dates, evolution, and putting his spin on all the research. He also wanted to do it while the museum was open (public museum) with people around, so it would have been a bit of a spectacle.

I don't support his beliefs. Originally I was going to do it because it seemed like a quick one hour one-off thing. I can cringe for an hour for some cash. But once we learned that cellular and Wi-Fi signals were scant, he changed strategy to making a set of videos that I would shoot and edit. At that point, I decided I really didn’t want to be a part of it and told him he should find somebody else.

Anybody else have a situation like this where the content of the video just didn’t sit well with their conscience? I've made videos for people on the opposite side of the political spectrum from me and just bit my tongue, but this seemed so blatantly opposite from what I hold to be true that I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to be involved with educating families and especially children like that.

I made a little "pre-kindergarten" video of my son in iMovie. I have zero experience and am just doing this for my family. The video is completed and edited. I just need help increasing the volume of his voice, as some of his answers are hard to hear. I can send file/link to video.

I hope I'm in the right place. Please direct me elsewhere if needed!

Hello! I am a filmmaker and photographer and I’m planning to do a 6 months backpacking trip to south america (colombia, peru, bolivia, argentina).

For this of course I want to bring my camera. But i’m still very unsure what gear would be the best to carry all the way through the continent.

I want to bring my Fujifilm X-H2s + 16-55mm lens for a small setup and ideally a small laptop like a Macbook Air to be able to edit. Also it makes sense to bring 1 or 2 SSD to Backup the files.

What experience do you have with camera + laptop on a backpacking trip? I’m concernced about all the weight I have to carry through the mountains etc.

And Since the gear can be stolen, is there a specific insurance that you can recommend?

Would love to hear, what worked for you!

Hello and thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge 🙏 I'm a YouTuber with a permanent studio setup and a camera (Sony a7) that rarely moves from a fixed position. At the moment, camera and Elgato teleprompter are on an (ancient!) Vanguard SBH-100 with a ball head. It's a horrible setup!

I know I need to replace the ball head because I waste so much time every week trying to level the bloody thing when its magically unlevelled itself between videos, and have been looking at the Benro GD3WH Precision Geared Head, but I also think this is an opportunity to replace the tripod, preferably with something that takes up less floor space. Is a monopod with a round base a crazy idea?

I'm temporarily in a rented house which makes mounting anything on the wall or ceiling more hassle than its worth, so it needs to be on the floor.

I'm starting from zero.

As of right now I know I want to get Topaz Studio for their top of the line AI Upscaler that would be really useful to me.

I won't just be editing together stock images/videos and text from the internet but will also be creating my own 4K video content by filming things with my own camera.

For course learning I prefer Udemy so if you can recommend me any Udemy courses that would be great.

Now for editing programs itself which one should I go with?

Please let me know!

Thank you!

I’m putting together an edit for TikTok but need some foley for a specific action, any good libraries?

Without the nd filter, they weren't in my image and with my bare eyes I wouldn't see them either. :O What could make that happen ?

Hi folks, looking for some ideas on how to secure my camera cage better. I’m using a Lumix S1H and a Nitze cage. Bought them together used and only realized recently that a few pieces on the cage are missing, among them the locating/anti-twist pin. Ended up making a DIY pin out of a regular screw, but the cage still gets wobbly after a while (less quickly than before though).

Also missing is the little guard rail/anti twist block, on the front bottom of the cage - does that one make such a big difference?

I haven’t been successful in locating any remaining S1H cages which look promising, so I’m wondering if anyone can give me some advice on what to do with what I have on hand. Or is it just normal and acceptable that the cage gets wobbly throughout the day? Thanks for any advice!

I’m currently shooting S-LOG3 using a Sony A6700 with an 18-135mm Sony OSS kit lens and a K&F VND filter, editing using Davinci Resolve.

Hello!
Recently I played around with my blackmagic EF 2.5k with Sigma 18-35mm lenses :)
It came out this short video.
Very gentle grade there,no external LUT.

Hey, here’s the second video I made of the 911. What do you think?

Thanks again for your feedback!

I got a request to provide a quote to a prospective client the other day. They want photo and video for their wedding. Photo demands are really basic.

But for video, for 5 hours of coverage, they want me to produce a 1-2 hour long video? They also described their ask as a "highlight video". I immediately tried to set their expectations by letting them know that video editing and production is often the art of condensing time, but they remained steadfast that they really wanted a 1-2 hour long video.

Is there any context in which this kinda thing is normal? I rarely ever hear about longer wedding videos except for multiple day weddings which receive full video coverage of every moment, but then again I did go onto Youtube and found a few 45-minute to an hour long videos that were really rough. Sorta just nearly uncut footage of speeches and people mingling with some color grading thrown in.

I want to adjust my clients expectations, but I also do want to return to them with somekind of proposition. Best I can figure is to maybe produce the "Lo-Fi Vibes to Chill to" equivalent of a wedding video. Like, perhaps the video shooter of this wedding has two cameras, and one camera is capturing a wide shot of the event and is recording continuously and the cam op is running around with the second camera collecting more CU shots, maybe some sound bites / brief interviews with the attendees, and other feel good moments. And then the ending video would just be, well, pretty raw in terms of length.

Is that a typical deliverable? Has anyone ever asked or delivered this type of video before?

I think I'm just looking to understand the basic shape of what something like this looks like, professionally speaking, so that I can better set and/or ascertain the expectations.

Proposals/quotes take up too much time and Im looking to simplify the process. What does your workflow look like and what tools are you guys using to template and generate these? Cheers

I make videos that try to tell the story of familiar places from different perspectives. I'm self-taught and shoot from my phone. I'd like to get better at what I do and I'm wondering if introducing camera movement would make a difference to my final product? I've avoided it this far as I want the shot and the framing to do the talking, and I don't want to add distractions.

This is something I'm thinking about at the moment as I try to get better but I'd welcome any feedback on all elements of this little piece. Thanks

Hello,

As the title says, i'm working as a festival/club/nightlife videographer and i'm looking for a mic that can handle the audio in there (no audio clipping for loud music) while providing clean bass/vocals.

Clients nowadays want a lot of One Takes that they can post right on social media the next day so audio is really important. I would go for a 200E budget, but i can up it if it's a game changer.

Some guys that shoot big festivals recommended me to get Zoom H1n/H1E. They said it provides cleaner audio than a rodemic, but not sure. Does anyone have any experience with that?

Some random guy told me to just get DJI Mic 3 since it should do the job, but i don't trust it.
Form factor is also really important since i can't just show up with a huge mic to run and gun whole night.

Thank you!