I bought an app because someone on the internet said it was good? Is it? Spoilers: it's not bad. I'll post some thoughts. Music by Deskfern: / desk-fern
It seemed like the focusing issues were when he started out of frame then walked into it and stayed to talk to the camera. It probably assumed the shot was for whatever was behind him and didn't like having something 'blocking' it.
No sarcasm implied, I simply found humor in the disparity in strength between "favorite humans" and "alright" being used to describe the same person. I'm sorry if my comment offended you. As for your first response... rongwitchu! that blatantly obvious sarcastic and hurtful remark was uncalled for and in no way characteristic of my original comment.
I meant my first reply to be a reference to your overanalyzing an obviously nonintensive statement by me, and I, myself, wonder, if you, at parties, read as deeply into your friends' statement that are essentially not meant to be overanalyzed. Do you go at your friend who says "This is the absolute best meal I ever ate. It's wonderful!" and say "Oh really? Just wonderful? You said 'absolute best meal you ever ate', and I bet other meals were also wonderful. You must not think as highly of this meal as you say you do. Your choice of words leaves much to be desired"?
Graham, I'm still not sure why, but your vlogs are so enjoyable to watch for me. Please just keep making them. Thank you. I also assume we are getting that review in the next video?
1. I noticed the video quality improvement right away, and I'm watching this on a Samsung Galaxy S8 at work. 2. The only detraction I noticed was during the shot where you explained color saturation, the camera seemed to continually refocus until that shot was over. I didn't notice that at all during any other shot, but it was quite a distraction when that did crop up. 3. A whole lot of solar flares early on, but I'm checking that one off to it being earlier in the day when recording. Keep up the great work, Graham. And your fourth wall break had me dying. I show these to my lady every once in a while and definitely gonna show her that whole chunk. Hilarious!
So I ended up showing her the fourth wall break section, and she laughed. And while walking away, she said, "fine, I admit it, I have a crush on him even though he's Canadian." Well. Everything is fine.
Graham, you monster, I was actually fine with suspending my disbelief of you just having the camera beat you to places until you SAID something. AAAAAAH YOU BROKE IT!
same; I concluded what you had to do for these shots on my own...and 'compartmentalized' that knowledge. And now you've unleashed it - it's running free in my mind and I can't unsee all the cinematography 'tricks'! You've destroyed my willing suspension of disbelief! x_x ...of course, it'll probably 'grow back' and I'll be fine by the time you next upload a vlog. Just stop 'hanging a lampshade on the fourth wall' for heaven's sake! ;D
I was actually really happy he pointed it out, (I like 4th wall breaks, don't judge) because especially the pieces where Graham walks out of shot, he would have to walk all the way back to get his camera, which he did more than 10 times in the video :P. I guess Graham is comfortable with that nowadays, but I imagine it must have felt a bit weird at the start, especially with/for onlookers
I'm really glad it was a choice to make it look a little over exposed and wash out the colours, I was getting ready to give the app a bad review. It did appear to be having autofocus issues while you were explaining the add on pack though. Personally I'm not a fan of the washed out colours but it's purely personal taste I admit. Captured audio fine, quality was still good IMO.
What you guys need, is a storage server. Something with like 50TB storage space for video. Then a second one next to it for the backups. Honestly, not that expensive anymore. Buy a couple of used ones on ebay, not like you will need a lot of power. Then two sets of six 10TB drives(new, don't want to skip out on this). Ideally you would want to virtualize your servers and use something like veeam for backup, I'm sure at least one of you is enough into computers to handle this. Likely Ian from what I seen in your tinker show. But even a pair of physical boxes with one using robocopy once a day to the other would work fine. Using used servers and new harddrives, you could set this up for a thousand bucks and be safe against dead drives and such.
I liked this vlog, and don't have any nitpicks on the app. I think it's hard to be nitpicky about it when we don't get to see ALL of the tools it gives you. The vlog is 🔥. I'm excited to see if a 4k workflow can work itself more into Lrr productions. (I imagine you wanna shoot roadquest in 4k).
1) It might be down to personal taste, but I'm not a huge fan of the more washed out color gradients? It's just a little distracting, because I keep catching myself thinking the shots should be brighter than they actually are. Having said that, the B roll shots look excellent. Which I know seems like a weird thing to say after complaining about the gradients. 2) I'm not sure if this is the app or just your onboard mic, but the sound seemed oddly tinny compared to the other vlogs you've shot on your phone; I got used to it by the end of the video, but initially it felt like you were talking at me from down a particularly echo-y hallway. To be fair, I might not be the ideal audience for this higher end shooting experience, because I personally don't care about getting that 4K 60 FPS experience while watching videos. That said, I appreciate you taking the time to try the app out and giving us the chance to leave some feedback on it. Hope it's been helpful! Also; if you keep shooting in 4K, I reserve the right to refer to you as Graham St4rK going forward. Because it amuses me.
I love that dave's spokesmen has like sort of become just part of his life, like when he says "and then I go home?" and he puts the emphasis on the question mark
Caught you taking advantage of that 4k resolution to do some subtle zooms in shots near the beginning when you were walking towards and then away from the camera. Actually quite a nice effect.
Exposure is intense in a lot of the shots. Motion is captured in finer detail, but lights/darks are jarring. Not in all shots, but reflected light and direct light sources have distracting halos (looks just blurred at the beginning). Some shots really pick it up like when you are talking to Beej about delivery. Super crisp on the bottom of the screen but when you tilt the camera up your heads even start to wash out. I'm a new fan and your vlogs introduced me to LRR. WOTC should hire you to do travel promotion for MTG events! Keep up the awesome!
Yay!!! I was really wondering if you all would like the espresso soda, and I am glad to hear that wasn't a bust🤗. Also I think that you're outdoor shots in 4k have a real nice quality to them, but I'm not sure I noticed a difference indoors. Great experiment though
Man, the picture was so sharp I kept getting distracted by background details, like leaves moving in the wind / brightly colored cars / Heather in the editing mines. I don't think I've really *seen* 4k before, and at the risk of cliche, it feels like I'm literally there with you. It's absolutely gorgeous, but might not help your audience focus on what you want them to focus on.
So, the quality of the video was immediately and noticeably better. Even before you mentioned you were shooting in 4k I noticed that it looked different from your previous vlogs. The colors definitely seemed much better looking. There were some times autofocus was noticeable but I think it happened less often than previous vlogs overall.
I think 4k definitely has a place in your vlogs, but not for most walking and/or talking shots. I'm really impressed with your framing, especially when you stand on the street and talk about colour corrections, it's a shame the cars were borking up it's auto-focus. I like a detailed scene and one thing I noticed: some things like trees seem to be far less detailed, is that a focus thing or does it do something to the image to conserve space? It's like it's blurry in strange spots I guess? only really noticeable when you're in front of the camera with a deep background.
I definitely prefer the previous vlog setups. My eyes were constantly battling for focus in this video. I knew the color was slightly off (well, not off but just odd) at the beginning and there's what looks like a grainy/fuzzy filter over the top. Maybe good for cinematic or specifically-driven timeframe look but just doesn't fit with the vlog style. Cheers and thanks for trying different things. Oh and the 35GB doesn't seem too bad but I can't imagine how big it would be on a PAX vlog or Magic weekend vlog. Whew!
It does seem different in some way, but I'm not really sure I can consciously pick out how? Seems at least as good as usual. Maybe "brighter"? I don't know if that makes sense at all. The visual strength of your vlogs is your shooting style + editing, though. That's what has the dramatic-enough effect on quality that I always notice it--being the pure-consumer of video content I am. Perhaps there's a little improvement the more powerful app adds that I just don't know enough about video and filming to notice? Also, always felt the obviously-staged-but-largely-unacknowledged-as-such-natural-feeling shots of entering buildings and passing by had a subtle element of comedy to them alongside the stylistic flair, and I found the lampshade-hanging this time worked well. I dunno, maybe I'm primed to think in the lens of comedy for these vlogs? Inescapably, you're all funny people. Well, point is, I like that sort of thing and think it's good.
Interesting idea, a sorta but not quite review that let you test things out. Personally I didn't feel the app made a noticeable diffrent from your usual stuff though. Still might be worth playing around some more with this or different apps.
It's like that for anything you do for a long time... especially if you made an effort to be good at it. You can stop Doing The Thing for money, but at some level you won't ever totally stop Doing The Thing.
I liked the way the colors turned out, especially on a lot of the bright colors like the construction equipment. It really made it pop and stand out from the browns and greys.
I was going to say the greens felt a bit washed out, but then you addressed that that's because the app shoots SUPER flat and then you colour graded it. That said, I only noticed because you called out it was a camera app test, so I don't think I've ever noticed on a "normal" video but it could just be that that's because I wasn't inherently looking for something to be "up" with the image.
Now I feel bad for watching in 360p (also now I understand why Tobuscus would often vlog in heelies. Dunno if he still does since I haven't watched his stuff in a few years)
Hey G, the vlog looks great! There were a couple spots that looked kinda Instagram filter-ish, but I'm not sure if that's from the 4k shooting, overdoing it on the color grading, or just the lighting you had to work with. Overall, though, really enjoyed it, and I love the peeks behind the scenes! As far as shooting footage in LOG color, does Filmic Pro only have that one mode, or can it also shoot Rec.709 (or other color spaces)? And just for my own clarification, when you say you shoot flat for the Crapshoot, are you shooting in LOG or does the Ursa have an actual "flat" preset? Also curious, you mentioned that you filmed this using a GorillaPod; do you use a powered gimbal at all with your phone, and what model? Any solutions for filming while driving? (I wanted to vlog a trip I took this past weekend, but having a three-hour gap between events while being on the road solo kinda screwed with the flow.) Really looking forward to Road Quest and everything else you guys are working on. Keep it up!
Largely in echo of others, the auto-focusing was a bit off-putting and the colour was at best "different but not worse" so I dont see the benefit. Given the choice I'd probably pick the colour of earlier video's and especially the 60fps for all the buttery smoothness. Though, as always the framing and editing was superb. Your great at this Vlog business!
I am deeply invested in the mystery of the James-Flummoxing Hallway Poltergeist. Also, gorgeous PT Cruiser convertible shot at the end! Haters gonna hate, but Cruisers gonna cruise. ^ _ ^
I think it looks fine, if it's more work to edit then I don't think it's worth the hassle. Seems like the battery life will be a problem during cons like PAX and whatnot though, even with extra batteries.
I did notice the focus adjustments more than usual, and I think the color palette felt a bit different (not in a bad way, just different - and that may have been for a variety of reasons). If it works better for you on the back end, then huzzah!
Color grading can best be done when the footage has as little chroma subsampling as possible., e.g. 4:4:4. 4K resolution and the Log file format are irrelevant if the color information is just not there. 8-bits gives you 4:2:0 and a quarter of the original color information, 10-bits provides 4:2:2 and half of the original color information, while 4:4:4 has all of it. Subsampling is not just done to save storage space, the smaller size is easier to transfer. Most cameras having 4:2:2 only have that via the HDMI output, internal recording is 4:2:0. This is why external recorders are used. Even on pro gear, external SSDs are required to capture everything the sensor can provide. A neat trick is to shoot in 4k at 4:2:0 and when downscaling to 1080 obtaining 4:2:2. (Semi-simplified, bits and subsampling are independent, common pairings are used.)
looks great to me, however i'm convinced you could shoot in 360p and still make it look good with your editing style. speaking of 4k and Road Quest, are you planning to shoot RQ in 4k for the scenery shots?
Experimental test footage or not, it's always fun to see your walkabouts. I've noticed a LOT of construction in every single video -- is Victoria getting, like, razed to the ground by monsters and constantly rebuilt? Or what?
it certainly seems interesting, but like many ppl mentioned, the weird pulsating with the focus can get a little distracting especially when the camera is just sitting still. looked pretty great in 1080p though, but i think for the future (especially future cons) filming in 4K will just devastate your battery and then less time is spent on filming and more is spent on charging. unless you wanna add a battery pack to your already kinda heavy camera setup :Y I do like the color filters though, personally i prefer to do it all manually but this one was nice and not too overblown
I admit, I never inspected the quality of the vlogs as closely as I did on this one, but if there is any difference I think it's worse. Focusing issues, the colours were not great, and when I have to choose between 60FPS and 4K I take the 60FPS without complaining. And did the lense always have such a bad quality in the edges and all that chromatic aberration?
After seeing you running the board, I realize I've always been curious as to how much live tweaking you have to do on the levels and all. I realize there is a lot of normalization needed when you add extra mics, but how much is there to do on a regular basis once you know what is needed for a particular show or cast?
You went in and out of focus a lot during this one, and it might just be that the colour grading was a little off but most outside scenes seemed a little more 'yellow' than normal. While it may be capable of doing sharper images, the focus shifting so much meant I didn't really see much benefit from it. Personally I prefer the look of the other videos, they seem nicer and more detailed, strangely enough. Could just be my monitor, I suppose, but it is a noticeable difference. Since I'm actually commenting for once I should point out I love these Gvlogs, especially the assorted behind the scenes/day in the life bits you sometimes do. These are some nice videos.
There's a lot of weird colour grading going on. I fully understand the idea of shooting "flat", I do all my still photography in RAW mode and then adjust everything in post on Adobe Lightroom which is essentially the same thing, but there are many scenes in this video that look super-weird compared to your normal vlogs or LRR videos. Other scenes look great or completely normal. Please keep doing 4k or 60 fps whenever possible though, either one is nice to have.
Unrelated to the new camera app, (Or maybe it is, you might have had freedom in cropping if you shot this at 4k) but there were a lot of really wet set up camera shots in this, varied compensation, different techniques. I really enjoyed this vlog.
Another app I suggest is MoviePro. You can create custom presets easily, and has a nice interface. Plus, on iPhone 8/+/X at least, you can shoot 4K/60 using HEVC. I think the 7 can as well?
Even without a 4k monitor you can still benefit from the quality improvement. If the video is shot in 4k and edited at a resolution above 1080p (doesn't have to be 4k, 1440p would already show the same effect) and then uploaded to UA-cam, the resulting video quality (after the additional encoding performed by YT) will still be higher than if it was recorded, edited and uploaded in 1080p. The difference in quality will vary heavily based on the content. With regular live action video it's not as easy to notice. However if you have a lot of fine detail (for example with video game recordings, small text on screen, high resolution texture and foliage etc) the effect is quite noticeable.
that's completely irrelevant. I'm watching this on a 720p side monitor and the video was noticeably better looking immediately. You not having a 4k monitor does not matter at all and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the benefits of shooting in higher resolution. Did you know that movies are generally shot in 6k or higher? Can't you see the difference in their video vs random youtuber videos? It's night and day.
I'm on the autofocus and auto light balance dislike camp, strongly in the b-roll looks fantastic camp, and only slightly in the shoot flat/recolour dislike camp. Would like to see it with different saturations because on my phone it made graham look like he had rosacia. All the non-skin tone elements looked real nice though. As for 4k itself, the sharpness was most rewarding the slower the image was, so for talky bits and b-roll of surroundings it was sweet, but for walky b-roll it was not super noticable.
That is my general feeling towards subway: it will do. We had a quiznos (which is massively prefer over subway) nearby where I live some time ago but it closed down and became a thai express :(
Love your vlogs - this app you tried: Not at all. The colors were all wonky (blown out?) and everything looks flat on flat to me. At first I thought it was a "recent upload" thing, so I was waiting for the quality to get better, heh. Selfishly, I hope you stay with the native iPhone app or move on to another app than what you were testing here. Watching this from a Huawei P9, if that matters to anything. Again, I really, really super enjoy your vlogs. Like, really. I love to watch them and the travel vlogs from you and Kathleen while I wake up. It's the best.
Seemed to me like the color was always a little bit flatter...? Nothing really seemed to pop color wise very much. It was much less noticeable inside, but I think I still prefer the old vlogs. Maybe it is just down the the settings you used? It still looked "fine".
Even on my phone screen the image quality came off as crisper, and I feel like the color is in some way softer. I don’t know if that’s particularly positive or negative, but it was definitely noticeable enough to be a little startling.
As to the app, I think if it works for what you need it for, go with it. I did not notice a difference in quality from previous GVlogs. That is, I know, completely unhelpful, but I did not see differences.
The color grading was off to me, looks almost washed out somehow? The fact that the moon base is on the second floor blew my mind. I had assumed it was on the first floor since you guys moved in. I am frustrated by how much time is wasted by vloggers setting up entrance shots, but I guess it's part of the enjoyment of filming. :)
I feel like this video overall looked lower quality than your other videos. The colors all looked more washed out than usual and I found myself really missing that sweet sweet 60fps I typically come to expect in gvlogs. Watching on my desktop PC monitor in 1080p, I didn't notice any real boost in image quality either. Maybe that's just because of the lower framerate and washed out colors? Either way it's probably better to film in 1080p for that 60fps and to not have your battery rebel against you and stage a vicious coup.
My feelings: 60fps make your usual blogs feel more fluid. I like that you have the freedom to grade, but again I feel the more natural grading of your other vlogs looked more... well, natural. (And log tends to get noisy on the iPhone very quickly) I'd shoot in filmic for the exposure/focus controls and the bitrate but leave the rest at 1080/60.
My instincts, including biases honed during the 90s evolution of print, prepress, and photography, has always been to operate at as high a resolution as possible, and downsample to an output res appropriate to your final media, be it glossy high end lithography, or your cousin’s fancy new inkjet. Content and delivery in this new age a decade and a half since I put down my pica-ruler leave me with a few questions. Such as does a vlog, no matter how funky and stylish, benefit from even 1080p when it’s compressed out the wazoo? When people are watching on their phones and tablets? I mean, I’m a huge gearhead, even if my budget hasn’t kept up (I still used an ancient 20D when I need that really long lens) the likes of Linus Tech Tips shooting with RED gear leaves me with a sense of ‘production wanking just because we can’...
I recall him saying in a Loading Time or whatnot that they started filming in HD long before they started uploading HD files, which proved to be a godsend when YT and regular people's computers caught up to camera technology. That said, this is just fun for Graham, and if it's a pain in the sack to have to deal with 4K in any part of the process, I support him not doing so.
Depending on how many doors/windows are open in the moonbase, opening or closing those hallway doors may be whats pulling the blinds away from the wall. Air Pressure. Happens to me but my space is not as large.
I know this wasn't the focus of the vlog, but tell James that the blinds doing that may be a result of air pressure changes or wind whenever someone opens the door to the Moonbase. I'm not an expert, I've just ended up having to help people move stuff out of their house multiple times and noticed sometimes the blinds would shift as a result of the door opening.
First of all, I will always give you some suspension of disbelief, Graham. Second, I appreciate that you guys overthink sales and shipping as much as I do. Hope that new vanity works out.
It's a phenomenon called "focus breathing" and it has to do with the way the different lens elements interact. You can design lenses to minimize it, but it's expensive to do and not really worth it for most people.
I have no thoughts on the actual video but the reflection of the iPhone on your forehead was quite distracting. Also the audio seemed off today? I know what's not what they were trying to test, just wanted to voice what I did notice in case that's helpful.
I kinda feel the app was worse than just the stock camera app? As others have said already, the colours seemed a bit off (on my laptop screen), and the framerate hit was noticeable to me a few times. It mowing through your battery life seems like it's not the greatest for being able to do a bunch of vlog clips throughout a long day also? (without, like, a bandoleer of backup batteries)
Colour / contrast was a little off in this but everything else seemed ok. Resolution doesn't seem better to me than your other vlogs but that might be me.
I think you got better results shooting everything on auto, and using the footage directly, Your color grading is too tasteful to pop like 'Camera' footage, and I think unless you're greenscreening the capture, direct 1080p60 gives you a crisper (not more high-res, crisper) look, plus I guess I've come to like the 60fps from your vlogs. I'd say Filmic == special occasions, and you should return to the more primitive methods for vlogging. Plus, it means any old iPhone would work for you without installing of extra apps :)
![FEED BIRBS [PAX Aus 8]](/img/n.gif)
6:42
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Graham's Feet Are At best novelty account I've seen yet
From now on I wanna see these... Graham should pin this
They're also at 11:28 but he's not walking...
Not sure if I'm in the weird part of UA-cam or not now.
Well you've made it weird now, well played!
I can't express how much I LOVE James professional pride/fastidiousness/OCD with the blinds.
Noticed quite a bit of focus adjustment that seems awkward. Looked like it didn't know it needed to focus on you.
yes, lots of weird focusing adjustment when nothing was needed. also some stuff out of focus like a sheen of grease on the lens.
It may actually be happier focussing at 1080p60. I'm on Team 'Camera' (unless some fancy greenscreening is required)
He did mentioned there was a focus lock in the app. Not sure how well it's working though, lol.
It seemed like the focusing issues were when he started out of frame then walked into it and stayed to talk to the camera. It probably assumed the shot was for whatever was behind him and didn't like having something 'blocking' it.
Yeah!! That was a startling failure.
Graham is definitely one of my favorite humans. He's alright.
There must not be many humans you have particularly high regard for... No digs against Graham, but one of your favorite's is "alright"
Wow, you must be fun to be around.
BTW, I'm a Southern American, so "alright" doesn't have any sarcastic meaning.
No sarcasm implied, I simply found humor in the disparity in strength between "favorite humans" and "alright" being used to describe the same person. I'm sorry if my comment offended you.
As for your first response... rongwitchu! that blatantly obvious sarcastic and hurtful remark was uncalled for and in no way characteristic of my original comment.
I meant my first reply to be a reference to your overanalyzing an obviously nonintensive statement by me, and I, myself, wonder, if you, at parties, read as deeply into your friends' statement that are essentially not meant to be overanalyzed. Do you go at your friend who says "This is the absolute best meal I ever ate. It's wonderful!" and say "Oh really? Just wonderful? You said 'absolute best meal you ever ate', and I bet other meals were also wonderful. You must not think as highly of this meal as you say you do. Your choice of words leaves much to be desired"?
Graham, I'm still not sure why, but your vlogs are so enjoyable to watch for me. Please just keep making them. Thank you. I also assume we are getting that review in the next video?
1. I noticed the video quality improvement right away, and I'm watching this on a Samsung Galaxy S8 at work.
2. The only detraction I noticed was during the shot where you explained color saturation, the camera seemed to continually refocus until that shot was over. I didn't notice that at all during any other shot, but it was quite a distraction when that did crop up.
3. A whole lot of solar flares early on, but I'm checking that one off to it being earlier in the day when recording.
Keep up the great work, Graham. And your fourth wall break had me dying. I show these to my lady every once in a while and definitely gonna show her that whole chunk. Hilarious!
So I ended up showing her the fourth wall break section, and she laughed. And while walking away, she said, "fine, I admit it, I have a crush on him even though he's Canadian." Well. Everything is fine.
just my opinion, but I think I like the "regular" vlogs/gvlogs better. Maybe it is the color saturation. Maybe it is the FPS, but either way.
I did find myself noticeably distracted by the color grading in this vlog vs those prior
Maybe it's Maybeline
The color doesn't feel right, feels like this should be a photo, and not a video.
A Graham Stark tech test/behind some scenes is a thing I love to watch. Keep doing the great stuff!
You always have such great music for your vlogs. Its so... calming.
You still need to Kickstart Surge with Serge, a coffee show.
I don't even drink coffee and I would watch this.
Graham, you monster, I was actually fine with suspending my disbelief of you just having the camera beat you to places until you SAID something. AAAAAAH YOU BROKE IT!
same; I concluded what you had to do for these shots on my own...and 'compartmentalized' that knowledge.
And now you've unleashed it - it's running free in my mind and I can't unsee all the cinematography 'tricks'! You've destroyed my willing suspension of disbelief! x_x
...of course, it'll probably 'grow back' and I'll be fine by the time you next upload a vlog. Just stop 'hanging a lampshade on the fourth wall' for heaven's sake! ;D
I was actually really happy he pointed it out, (I like 4th wall breaks, don't judge) because especially the pieces where Graham walks out of shot, he would have to walk all the way back to get his camera, which he did more than 10 times in the video :P. I guess Graham is comfortable with that nowadays, but I imagine it must have felt a bit weird at the start, especially with/for onlookers
Graham, the music on this sounds like something out of the Persona games. Also, just wanna say your vlogs are very enjoyable.
I'm really glad it was a choice to make it look a little over exposed and wash out the colours, I was getting ready to give the app a bad review. It did appear to be having autofocus issues while you were explaining the add on pack though. Personally I'm not a fan of the washed out colours but it's purely personal taste I admit. Captured audio fine, quality was still good IMO.
What you guys need, is a storage server. Something with like 50TB storage space for video. Then a second one next to it for the backups. Honestly, not that expensive anymore. Buy a couple of used ones on ebay, not like you will need a lot of power. Then two sets of six 10TB drives(new, don't want to skip out on this). Ideally you would want to virtualize your servers and use something like veeam for backup, I'm sure at least one of you is enough into computers to handle this. Likely Ian from what I seen in your tinker show. But even a pair of physical boxes with one using robocopy once a day to the other would work fine. Using used servers and new harddrives, you could set this up for a thousand bucks and be safe against dead drives and such.
I liked this vlog, and don't have any nitpicks on the app. I think it's hard to be nitpicky about it when we don't get to see ALL of the tools it gives you.
The vlog is 🔥. I'm excited to see if a 4k workflow can work itself more into Lrr productions. (I imagine you wanna shoot roadquest in 4k).
I really enjoy watching these, they're peaceful and informative. Your area of Canada looks very pretty. A bit like NZ really :)
1) It might be down to personal taste, but I'm not a huge fan of the more washed out color gradients? It's just a little distracting, because I keep catching myself thinking the shots should be brighter than they actually are. Having said that, the B roll shots look excellent. Which I know seems like a weird thing to say after complaining about the gradients.
2) I'm not sure if this is the app or just your onboard mic, but the sound seemed oddly tinny compared to the other vlogs you've shot on your phone; I got used to it by the end of the video, but initially it felt like you were talking at me from down a particularly echo-y hallway.
To be fair, I might not be the ideal audience for this higher end shooting experience, because I personally don't care about getting that 4K 60 FPS experience while watching videos. That said, I appreciate you taking the time to try the app out and giving us the chance to leave some feedback on it. Hope it's been helpful!
Also; if you keep shooting in 4K, I reserve the right to refer to you as Graham St4rK going forward. Because it amuses me.
I love that dave's spokesmen has like sort of become just part of his life, like when he says "and then I go home?" and he puts the emphasis on the question mark
Caught you taking advantage of that 4k resolution to do some subtle zooms in shots near the beginning when you were walking towards and then away from the camera. Actually quite a nice effect.
I enjoy Graham's content, no matter what it is, but know/care little about cameras. You just keep doing you.
real talk, G: Watch+play is my favorite stream; not "of yours" but my favorite period. Thank you for putting so much effort into it.
Same. W+P and LRL are the only two streams I make absolutely certain to catch live.
the colors look really nice in the outside shots, i am a fan. the good weather helps some i imagine. thanks for vlog.
Exposure is intense in a lot of the shots. Motion is captured in finer detail, but lights/darks are jarring. Not in all shots, but reflected light and direct light sources have distracting halos (looks just blurred at the beginning). Some shots really pick it up like when you are talking to Beej about delivery. Super crisp on the bottom of the screen but when you tilt the camera up your heads even start to wash out. I'm a new fan and your vlogs introduced me to LRR. WOTC should hire you to do travel promotion for MTG events! Keep up the awesome!
Yay!!! I was really wondering if you all would like the espresso soda, and I am glad to hear that wasn't a bust🤗. Also I think that you're outdoor shots in 4k have a real nice quality to them, but I'm not sure I noticed a difference indoors. Great experiment though
Oh, and that the bottles got there intact, i guess thats real good news too :)
The mid dialogue seamless edits are hot!
Man, the picture was so sharp I kept getting distracted by background details, like leaves moving in the wind / brightly colored cars / Heather in the editing mines. I don't think I've really *seen* 4k before, and at the risk of cliche, it feels like I'm literally there with you. It's absolutely gorgeous, but might not help your audience focus on what you want them to focus on.
So, the quality of the video was immediately and noticeably better. Even before you mentioned you were shooting in 4k I noticed that it looked different from your previous vlogs. The colors definitely seemed much better looking.
There were some times autofocus was noticeable but I think it happened less often than previous vlogs overall.
I think 4k definitely has a place in your vlogs, but not for most walking and/or talking shots. I'm really impressed with your framing, especially when you stand on the street and talk about colour corrections, it's a shame the cars were borking up it's auto-focus. I like a detailed scene and one thing I noticed: some things like trees seem to be far less detailed, is that a focus thing or does it do something to the image to conserve space? It's like it's blurry in strange spots I guess? only really noticeable when you're in front of the camera with a deep background.
Really dislike the color grading on this one. It's so instagramy-filtery.
It almost seems washed out slightly.
I definitely prefer the previous vlog setups. My eyes were constantly battling for focus in this video. I knew the color was slightly off (well, not off but just odd) at the beginning and there's what looks like a grainy/fuzzy filter over the top. Maybe good for cinematic or specifically-driven timeframe look but just doesn't fit with the vlog style. Cheers and thanks for trying different things. Oh and the 35GB doesn't seem too bad but I can't imagine how big it would be on a PAX vlog or Magic weekend vlog. Whew!
Hi G, on this one the color seemed a bit "artificial" compared to your previous ones. As always, a pleasure to watch the vlogs
It does seem different in some way, but I'm not really sure I can consciously pick out how? Seems at least as good as usual. Maybe "brighter"? I don't know if that makes sense at all.
The visual strength of your vlogs is your shooting style + editing, though. That's what has the dramatic-enough effect on quality that I always notice it--being the pure-consumer of video content I am. Perhaps there's a little improvement the more powerful app adds that I just don't know enough about video and filming to notice?
Also, always felt the obviously-staged-but-largely-unacknowledged-as-such-natural-feeling shots of entering buildings and passing by had a subtle element of comedy to them alongside the stylistic flair, and I found the lampshade-hanging this time worked well. I dunno, maybe I'm primed to think in the lens of comedy for these vlogs? Inescapably, you're all funny people. Well, point is, I like that sort of thing and think it's good.
Interesting idea, a sorta but not quite review that let you test things out. Personally I didn't feel the app made a noticeable diffrent from your usual stuff though. Still might be worth playing around some more with this or different apps.
Ah, James and blinds :)
It's like that for anything you do for a long time... especially if you made an effort to be good at it. You can stop Doing The Thing for money, but at some level you won't ever totally stop Doing The Thing.
I love how innocuous the r34 skyline sedan is at the beginning of the video
Watched this with my partner, and we really enjoyed this gvlog. I especially loved all the techy stuff!
I liked the way the colors turned out, especially on a lot of the bright colors like the construction equipment. It really made it pop and stand out from the browns and greys.
I really enjoyed the wipes around 14:23. Nice touch.
I was going to say the greens felt a bit washed out, but then you addressed that that's because the app shoots SUPER flat and then you colour graded it.
That said, I only noticed because you called out it was a camera app test, so I don't think I've ever noticed on a "normal" video but it could just be that that's because I wasn't inherently looking for something to be "up" with the image.
I like the color palette especially for the b roll. Verry spring summer.
Even if details feels slightly better, the color saturation and focus point is not my jam. What is my jam? The beats on this video. Love it Graham.
Now I feel bad for watching in 360p
(also now I understand why Tobuscus would often vlog in heelies. Dunno if he still does since I haven't watched his stuff in a few years)
"Trouble at moonbase. One o' them venetians has gone out o' skew on the window."
Hey G, the vlog looks great! There were a couple spots that looked kinda Instagram filter-ish, but I'm not sure if that's from the 4k shooting, overdoing it on the color grading, or just the lighting you had to work with. Overall, though, really enjoyed it, and I love the peeks behind the scenes!
As far as shooting footage in LOG color, does Filmic Pro only have that one mode, or can it also shoot Rec.709 (or other color spaces)? And just for my own clarification, when you say you shoot flat for the Crapshoot, are you shooting in LOG or does the Ursa have an actual "flat" preset?
Also curious, you mentioned that you filmed this using a GorillaPod; do you use a powered gimbal at all with your phone, and what model? Any solutions for filming while driving? (I wanted to vlog a trip I took this past weekend, but having a three-hour gap between events while being on the road solo kinda screwed with the flow.)
Really looking forward to Road Quest and everything else you guys are working on. Keep it up!
Largely in echo of others, the auto-focusing was a bit off-putting and the colour was at best "different but not worse" so I dont see the benefit. Given the choice I'd probably pick the colour of earlier video's and especially the 60fps for all the buttery smoothness.
Though, as always the framing and editing was superb. Your great at this Vlog business!
Checking in from 720p in windowed mode on UA-cam: I see no difference.
Also, Serj's approval may be more valuable to me than that of my own father.
I am deeply invested in the mystery of the James-Flummoxing Hallway Poltergeist.
Also, gorgeous PT Cruiser convertible shot at the end! Haters gonna hate, but Cruisers gonna cruise. ^ _ ^
Josh Fredman I'd prefer the hovercraft
I think it looks fine, if it's more work to edit then I don't think it's worth the hassle. Seems like the battery life will be a problem during cons like PAX and whatnot though, even with extra batteries.
I did notice the focus adjustments more than usual, and I think the color palette felt a bit different (not in a bad way, just different - and that may have been for a variety of reasons). If it works better for you on the back end, then huzzah!
Color grading can best be done when the footage has as little chroma subsampling as possible., e.g. 4:4:4. 4K resolution and the Log file format are irrelevant if the color information is just not there. 8-bits gives you 4:2:0 and a quarter of the original color information, 10-bits provides 4:2:2 and half of the original color information, while 4:4:4 has all of it. Subsampling is not just done to save storage space, the smaller size is easier to transfer. Most cameras having 4:2:2 only have that via the HDMI output, internal recording is 4:2:0. This is why external recorders are used. Even on pro gear, external SSDs are required to capture everything the sensor can provide. A neat trick is to shoot in 4k at 4:2:0 and when downscaling to 1080 obtaining 4:2:2. (Semi-simplified, bits and subsampling are independent, common pairings are used.)
looks great to me, however i'm convinced you could shoot in 360p and still make it look good with your editing style. speaking of 4k and Road Quest, are you planning to shoot RQ in 4k for the scenery shots?
Jeez, Graham winking at the camera is so goddamn charming. I may have fallen a little in love
Experimental test footage or not, it's always fun to see your walkabouts. I've noticed a LOT of construction in every single video -- is Victoria getting, like, razed to the ground by monsters and constantly rebuilt? Or what?
I was literally about to ask about the "Set up the camera, walk away, walk past, walk back and get the camera" shots when you addressed it for me.
it certainly seems interesting, but like many ppl mentioned, the weird pulsating with the focus can get a little distracting especially when the camera is just sitting still. looked pretty great in 1080p though, but i think for the future (especially future cons) filming in 4K will just devastate your battery and then less time is spent on filming and more is spent on charging. unless you wanna add a battery pack to your already kinda heavy camera setup :Y I do like the color filters though, personally i prefer to do it all manually but this one was nice and not too overblown
whoa, that church behind you at around 11:40 is gorgeous!
Looks like it is the Victoria Conservatory of Music
I admit, I never inspected the quality of the vlogs as closely as I did on this one, but if there is any difference I think it's worse. Focusing issues, the colours were not great, and when I have to choose between 60FPS and 4K I take the 60FPS without complaining. And did the lense always have such a bad quality in the edges and all that chromatic aberration?
After seeing you running the board, I realize I've always been curious as to how much live tweaking you have to do on the levels and all. I realize there is a lot of normalization needed when you add extra mics, but how much is there to do on a regular basis once you know what is needed for a particular show or cast?
You went in and out of focus a lot during this one, and it might just be that the colour grading was a little off but most outside scenes seemed a little more 'yellow' than normal. While it may be capable of doing sharper images, the focus shifting so much meant I didn't really see much benefit from it.
Personally I prefer the look of the other videos, they seem nicer and more detailed, strangely enough. Could just be my monitor, I suppose, but it is a noticeable difference.
Since I'm actually commenting for once I should point out I love these Gvlogs, especially the assorted behind the scenes/day in the life bits you sometimes do. These are some nice videos.
There's a lot of weird colour grading going on. I fully understand the idea of shooting "flat", I do all my still photography in RAW mode and then adjust everything in post on Adobe Lightroom which is essentially the same thing, but there are many scenes in this video that look super-weird compared to your normal vlogs or LRR videos. Other scenes look great or completely normal. Please keep doing 4k or 60 fps whenever possible though, either one is nice to have.
Unrelated to the new camera app, (Or maybe it is, you might have had freedom in cropping if you shot this at 4k) but there were a lot of really wet set up camera shots in this, varied compensation, different techniques. I really enjoyed this vlog.
Another app I suggest is MoviePro. You can create custom presets easily, and has a nice interface. Plus, on iPhone 8/+/X at least, you can shoot 4K/60 using HEVC. I think the 7 can as well?
my argument against 4k is easy: I dont have a 4k monitor^^
Even without a 4k monitor you can still benefit from the quality improvement. If the video is shot in 4k and edited at a resolution above 1080p (doesn't have to be 4k, 1440p would already show the same effect) and then uploaded to UA-cam, the resulting video quality (after the additional encoding performed by YT) will still be higher than if it was recorded, edited and uploaded in 1080p. The difference in quality will vary heavily based on the content. With regular live action video it's not as easy to notice. However if you have a lot of fine detail (for example with video game recordings, small text on screen, high resolution texture and foliage etc) the effect is quite noticeable.
yeah I heard about that^^ but I just think that this small improvment isn't worth the amount of work that would have to be put into it
that's completely irrelevant. I'm watching this on a 720p side monitor and the video was noticeably better looking immediately. You not having a 4k monitor does not matter at all and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the benefits of shooting in higher resolution.
Did you know that movies are generally shot in 6k or higher? Can't you see the difference in their video vs random youtuber videos? It's night and day.
I *do* have a 4k TV. This was only published in 1080p, but I still definitely noticed an improvement in the picture. The depth seemed much higher.
I'm on the autofocus and auto light balance dislike camp, strongly in the b-roll looks fantastic camp, and only slightly in the shoot flat/recolour dislike camp. Would like to see it with different saturations because on my phone it made graham look like he had rosacia. All the non-skin tone elements looked real nice though.
As for 4k itself, the sharpness was most rewarding the slower the image was, so for talky bits and b-roll of surroundings it was sweet, but for walky b-roll it was not super noticable.
That is my general feeling towards subway: it will do. We had a quiznos (which is massively prefer over subway) nearby where I live some time ago but it closed down and became a thai express :(
Love your vlogs - this app you tried: Not at all.
The colors were all wonky (blown out?) and everything looks flat on flat to me.
At first I thought it was a "recent upload" thing, so I was waiting for the quality to get better, heh.
Selfishly, I hope you stay with the native iPhone app or move on to another app than what you were testing here.
Watching this from a Huawei P9, if that matters to anything.
Again, I really, really super enjoy your vlogs. Like, really. I love to watch them and the travel vlogs from you and Kathleen while I wake up. It's the best.
the episode where Graham breaks the 4th wall of establishing shots.
I did immediately notice the colour difference. It made you look more flushed/red than you normally look in your vlogs.
TIL: James really cares about window coverings and their proper usage.
Seemed to me like the color was always a little bit flatter...? Nothing really seemed to pop color wise very much. It was much less noticeable inside, but I think I still prefer the old vlogs. Maybe it is just down the the settings you used? It still looked "fine".
Even on my phone screen the image quality came off as crisper, and I feel like the color is in some way softer. I don’t know if that’s particularly positive or negative, but it was definitely noticeable enough to be a little startling.
As to the app, I think if it works for what you need it for, go with it. I did not notice a difference in quality from previous GVlogs. That is, I know, completely unhelpful, but I did not see differences.
The color grading was off to me, looks almost washed out somehow? The fact that the moon base is on the second floor blew my mind. I had assumed it was on the first floor since you guys moved in. I am frustrated by how much time is wasted by vloggers setting up entrance shots, but I guess it's part of the enjoyment of filming. :)
I really liked it. HAven't got any fancy words for it, I just thought it looked really nice.
I feel like this video overall looked lower quality than your other videos. The colors all looked more washed out than usual and I found myself really missing that sweet sweet 60fps I typically come to expect in gvlogs. Watching on my desktop PC monitor in 1080p, I didn't notice any real boost in image quality either. Maybe that's just because of the lower framerate and washed out colors? Either way it's probably better to film in 1080p for that 60fps and to not have your battery rebel against you and stage a vicious coup.
My feelings: 60fps make your usual blogs feel more fluid. I like that you have the freedom to grade, but again I feel the more natural grading of your other vlogs looked more... well, natural. (And log tends to get noisy on the iPhone very quickly) I'd shoot in filmic for the exposure/focus controls and the bitrate but leave the rest at 1080/60.
Only James would get riled up about askew blinds.
I didn't thumbs up this video because I like it... I thumbed it up because you're experimenting.
My instincts, including biases honed during the 90s evolution of print, prepress, and photography, has always been to operate at as high a resolution as possible, and downsample to an output res appropriate to your final media, be it glossy high end lithography, or your cousin’s fancy new inkjet. Content and delivery in this new age a decade and a half since I put down my pica-ruler leave me with a few questions. Such as does a vlog, no matter how funky and stylish, benefit from even 1080p when it’s compressed out the wazoo? When people are watching on their phones and tablets?
I mean, I’m a huge gearhead, even if my budget hasn’t kept up (I still used an ancient 20D when I need that really long lens) the likes of Linus Tech Tips shooting with RED gear leaves me with a sense of ‘production wanking just because we can’...
I recall him saying in a Loading Time or whatnot that they started filming in HD long before they started uploading HD files, which proved to be a godsend when YT and regular people's computers caught up to camera technology.
That said, this is just fun for Graham, and if it's a pain in the sack to have to deal with 4K in any part of the process, I support him not doing so.
Is that some sort of cathedral behind the Subway? It's gorgeous.
Gonna level with you, I don't see any difference. Great vlog though
Depending on how many doors/windows are open in the moonbase, opening or closing those hallway doors may be whats pulling the blinds away from the wall. Air Pressure. Happens to me but my space is not as large.
I like seeing Graham in any number of ‘K’s or any hue.
not sure if it was added post production, but the light haze in the top third of the frame kept distracting me.
Graham do you need a Segway (like the wheeled one) for cross B.C journeys?
My theory for the mystery of the blinds, a gust when opening and/or closing the door?
I know this wasn't the focus of the vlog, but tell James that the blinds doing that may be a result of air pressure changes or wind whenever someone opens the door to the Moonbase. I'm not an expert, I've just ended up having to help people move stuff out of their house multiple times and noticed sometimes the blinds would shift as a result of the door opening.
First of all, I will always give you some suspension of disbelief, Graham. Second, I appreciate that you guys overthink sales and shipping as much as I do. Hope that new vanity works out.
The colors felt ... off i guess? Maybe it's because im just used to the other vlogs and the way the default camera app is, but it was pretty jarring.
Oh man, cold foam cold brew from Starbucks is amazing 😍
Is whatever is going on with the auto focus in the shot at 14:00 creating the appearance of motion at the edges of the frame?
It's a phenomenon called "focus breathing" and it has to do with the way the different lens elements interact. You can design lenses to minimize it, but it's expensive to do and not really worth it for most people.
OOOOH, new button to push on James: Move one of the blinds, daily...
I have no thoughts on the actual video but the reflection of the iPhone on your forehead was quite distracting. Also the audio seemed off today? I know what's not what they were trying to test, just wanted to voice what I did notice in case that's helpful.
How about a pair of fancy light-up trainers :)
So, I'm at 3:13, and I gotta say, the color on those bins really jumps out. kind of a slightly purplish blue? are they supposed to be that noticeable?
I kinda feel the app was worse than just the stock camera app? As others have said already, the colours seemed a bit off (on my laptop screen), and the framerate hit was noticeable to me a few times.
It mowing through your battery life seems like it's not the greatest for being able to do a bunch of vlog clips throughout a long day also? (without, like, a bandoleer of backup batteries)
Colour / contrast was a little off in this but everything else seemed ok. Resolution doesn't seem better to me than your other vlogs but that might be me.
Around the 7:30 mark, what're the framed cards hanging in the editing office?
I think you got better results shooting everything on auto, and using the footage directly, Your color grading is too tasteful to pop like 'Camera' footage, and I think unless you're greenscreening the capture, direct 1080p60 gives you a crisper (not more high-res, crisper) look, plus I guess I've come to like the 60fps from your vlogs. I'd say Filmic == special occasions, and you should return to the more primitive methods for vlogging. Plus, it means any old iPhone would work for you without installing of extra apps :)
The sound quality was pleasant, it was a little odd at first but I got used to it by the end.