Video on the K5

colton · 11-10-2011, 03:49 PM

So I'm seriously taking a look at the K5 as my next DSLR purchase, its quality of stills work is well documented, and I really like its look.
I would be getting this camera mainly for stills, but my background is video, and I want to be able to do atleast a little video work with it (mostly for fun!) I know there have been threads on here about the video capabilities of the K5, but not for a while, and opinions change, the camera isn't even a year old yet!
So, now that I got through all that, what's video on the K5 like (in comparison to say the 7D)? How's the compression and noise? One more thing.. the impressive black level resolution of the camera in stills mode, does this carry over to video?

Adam · 11-10-2011, 04:29 PM

Check out our in-depth 7d vs K-5 comparison for some commentary on the video performance:
Canon 7D vs. Pentax K-5 - Comparative Review

The K-5 is still lagging behind the competition when it comes to video, unfortunately, but that doesn't mean you can't get good videos with it if you try hard enough!

**LaurenOE** · 11-10-2011, 05:21 PM

Shall I post again the recent videos I did?

**Rondec** · 11-10-2011, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by LaurenOE

Shall I post again the recent videos I did?

Absolutely. They are well done and demonstrate clearly that with appropriate techniques the K5 is very capable in the video department.

**LaurenOE** · 11-10-2011, 06:41 PM

Ok, here they are again!

They look best at 1080p, but your internet connection will vary.
They were all shot with the K5 and Pentax lenses.
The lenses?

DA 12-24
DA 18-135 WR
DA 55-300
FA Limited 77mm
F 50mm f1.7

This is the shortest one. A little about the Romans.

You Tube

This one is about Castles.

You Tube

For some reason, this one is the most popular?!?!

You Tube

There is a part 4, but I can't seem to finish it.

colton · 11-10-2011, 08:20 PM

Originally posted by LaurenOE

Ok, here they are again!

They look best at 1080p, but your internet connection will vary.
They were all shot with the K5 and Pentax lenses.
The lenses?

DA 12-24
DA 18-135 WR
DA 55-300
FA Limited 77mm
F 50mm f1.7

This is the shortest one. A little about the Romans.

Wow, great job on those videos! They look fantastic! (Both a compliment for you and the camera!)
I'm still wondering about the compression, they don't really address it in that review other than saying the compression for the pentax is "less efficient," which to me could mean less compressed... and personally better for me. I do some VFX'y type stuff occasionally, and it would be nice if I was able to do it with footage I shot with this. How would you rate its compression with footage coming out of the 7D (or anything h264 for that matter)?

**LaurenOE** · 11-10-2011, 08:45 PM

Originally posted by colton

Wow, great job on those videos! They look fantastic! (Both a compliment for you and the camera!)
I'm still wondering about the compression, they don't really address it in that review other than saying the compression for the pentax is "less efficient," which to me could mean less compressed... and personally better for me. I do some VFX'y type stuff occasionally, and it would be nice if I was able to do it with footage I shot with this. How would you rate its compression with footage coming out of the 7D (or anything h264 for that matter)?

We also have a Nikon D7000 and a Canon Vixia something camcorder that does 1080p.

I like the K5 the most, and so does my husband.

The video on the K5 is uncompressed MJPEG/AVI (IIRC). It's not very efficient, sure, and it won't make it on YouTube in that state because of the file size, but I LIKE that. I use Adobe Premier and After Affects for my videos with the MJPEG plug in from Accusoft and everything works out great.

No one takes raw video and posts it anyway, so the efficiency becomes moot in post production.

The ability and ease of use of the K5 over my Husband's Nikon D7000 has been stated before in other threads.

Tonight he said he wishes he had bought a K5 instead, after buying the Vixia and D7000 -

- but I digress.

Just be aware that the K5 or ANY DSLR is not a video recorder in that clips are limited in file sizes that fit on a SD card and are able to be read directly from a computer. Video cameras are different in how they store the digital files.

Heat is another issue in that you won't be able to shoot and leave it in live view for too long, but again, that is an issue with ANY DSLR that can do video.

**LaurenOE** · 11-10-2011, 08:48 PM

Oh, and thanks for the compliment! I wish I was still over there. I miss the UK as soon as I get on the plane to GO there!

johnmflores · 11-10-2011, 09:38 PM

Great work Lauren! Very creative and well executed. You've shown that you can get good footage from the K-5, and that it's more about the photographer/cinematographer than the gear!

But speaking of gear, what slider did you use?

**LaurenOE** · 11-10-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally posted by johnmflores

Great work Lauren! Very creative and well executed. You've shown that you can get good footage from the K-5, and that it's more about the photographer/cinematographer than the gear!

But speaking of gear, what slider did you use?

Ah, the slider...I get quite a few questions about THAT.

That slider is a prototype from IndiSystems. I was given it to test out in the UK as a "Portable" and "lightweight" option. The design is a good one, but the mods/extras I added to what they gave me, took it to another level.

When I sent back my feedback to the IndiSystem folks - I haven't heard back.

As given to me, the Slider is not ready for "Prime-Time".

Since I own my own Metal Lathe and Mill, I did quite a few modifications.

What you see in the above picture is not what they might sell when the bugs get worked out.

I've since ordered the parts to make a duplicate of my own, with my own mods, but out of respect I will not sell it. Besides, I only make stuff for myself or friends when they need tweaks.

There are a ton of Manfrotto bits in the above picture and the end result was a HEAVY setup that I took EVERYWHERE.

I can recommend the Walkstool you see in the above image. That little stool is AMAZING in getting the shots where you have to set up in a location and wait for people to walk away/past.

Every photographer should have a Walkstool!

Walkstool - The stool that walks

johnmflores · 11-10-2011, 11:45 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by LaurenOE

Ah, the slider...I get quite a few questions about THAT.

That slider is a prototype from IndiSystems. I was given it to test out in the UK as a "Portable" and "lightweight" option. The design is a good one, but the mods/extras I added to what they gave me, took it to another level.

When I sent back my feedback to the IndiSystem folks - I haven't heard back.

As given to me, the Slider is not ready for "Prime-Time".

Since I own my own Metal Lathe and Mill, I did quite a few modifications.

What you see in the above picture is not what they might sell when the bugs get worked out.

I've since ordered the parts to make a duplicate of my own, with my own mods, but out of respect I will not sell it. Besides, I only make stuff for myself or friends when they need tweaks.

There are a ton of Manfrotto bits in the above picture and the end result was a HEAVY setup that I took EVERYWHERE.

I can recommend the Walkstool you see in the above image. That little stool is AMAZING in getting the shots where you have to set up in a location and wait for people to walk away/past.

Every photographer should have a Walkstool!

Walkstool - The stool that walks

Wait, you own your own metal lathe and mill? You win cool person of the day!

That prototype is interesting. Looks like they are trying to create a wider platform for added stability but is still portable. But you've got what looks like 5lbs of gear on the slider - I can see why you needed to mod.

I just ordered the IndiSliderMini. I'm hoping it will be stable enough with my GH2 + pancake setup. It's a lighter setup than the K-5 + zoom, so it may be sufficient. I may need to triangulate as you have done, but I'll probably try cables or wires with turnbuckles to the hook on the bottom of my center column first. Two wires in tension should stabilize it pretty good. I've got Super Clamps if it comes to that, but I prefer to travel light.

Again, very well done!

biboun · 11-11-2011, 03:37 AM - **1 Like**

First, congrats LaurenOE for the great vids, sure the slider helps a lot for cinematographic-like sequences, it perfectly fits the subject you are filming, and gives life to those old buildings. (tehre seem to have small stutterings in some movements, are the movements like that or it's youtube encoding? do you use SR ( stab) when recording? )

About the original threafs question about K-5 vs 5D/7D, I have the chance to own a k-5 and have a 5D at work + lots of collegues using 7D for video purpose.

Here are the pro and cons:

pro:
-Mjpeg compression for pentax vs H264 for canon: the files are definitively bigger, but the quality is here, especially if you want to make post-production on your footage ( color correction, you can get stuff in the low level without too much compression artifacts), you could even try some green screen keying, should work better that h264.
honestly, for the pro, that's all , but so important. (no temporal compression in mjpeg also makes it less cpu consuming in editing softwares like premiere, all you need is a good mjpeg decompression codec, and good hard drives to keep the bandwidth, your cpu won't be hurt)
-k-5 doesn't seem to have problems with lights frequency ( which is the result of a con, shutter speed is auto)
-k-5 has built-in stabilization, functionnal in video, but some times movements are to hard to stabilize, and the result becomes crap, the counterpart of stab is what you see in the live view is a bit delayed, your actions sound to you like if you are drunk (

)
-the rolling shutter effects seem less visible on k-5

cons:
-on k-5 you can't adjust shutter speed (there is a trick to make it , but it sounds to me more of a legend that a real way of working, as it's not operable and reliable on real live recording context)
-on k-5 you can't adjust iso (same shit as shutter speed)
-you can only adjust aperture before you record, or let it auto (worst of all, cause it would change your DOF during the shot),
------>anyway you can lock the exposure to prevent the k-5 to try and autoadjust shutter/iso/aperture, globally the operating mode is to setup your shot, your aperture, light mesure mode (spot/global etc..), let the k-5 adjust iso and shutter, then lock exposure and start recording ( if you don't do that, exposure may change during recording, resulting to a camcorder-like looking footage)
If you have lenses with an aperure ring, you can use it when recording , k-5 will compensate exposure if you don't lock exposure, it's really fine with old prime lenses that all carry an aperture ring, a cheap 50M F2 becomes a killer lens for video, smooth focus ring, aperture ring, you'are set up.
-no 60fps mode, even in 720p
-1080p is only 25, not 24 or 30 for now ( i don't care, i'm in France, here it's 25

)
-no way of injecting custom color curves for video, but you can adjust the built-in ones ( on canon, you could build the color curve that applies to the sensor signal before it gets encoded, lots of people use some "log-like curves to prevent blacks and whites to be clipped, and compensate it in post-prod)
-file size is limited to 4GB, which makes short movies in fullHD mjpeg ( about 4/5 mins if i remember well), on canon there is not such limits and h264 offers a better size/duration rato
-SR ( stab), and the way sensor is carried n the box (center by electro magnetical system) is noisy, if you want to attach an external mic to the hotshoe (flash) mount, you'll have to buy a suspension system

same on both:
-no AF when recording (you can choose beetwen built in AF or contrast detection with zone setting on the live view, both work correctly , but real AF is better in low light, it just makes the mirror go down and up the time to focus)
->no one cares about that, real focusing on video is manual, and if you want smooth focusing, buy a follow focus gear

-no focus indication (some other brands -nikon?- have implemented a zebra functions that shows high details/contrast to help focusing) , it is sometimes hard to check fine focus on the built in screen , especially outside with small apertures
-no pixel remapping in video mode : you'll probably have hot/dead pixels and will have to live with it, 5D/7D also do, i don't think the remapping is possible real time in video( as they don't use all the sensor lines/rows in pentax, they could let us select which set of lines we use and see which has the least number of hot pixels, if i remember weel, in canon the image is the result of a mix of rows, so hot pixels are merged with correct one, nothing to do for them)
EDIT:Gimbal's trick works, remapping is possible in video, but it's a trick, a firmware could make it persistent
-sensor becomes very hot on both canon and pentax in video mode, and you will sometimes have to stop recording cause the heat sensor will stop it to protect it's sensor.
-32Khz mono audio recording ( mic input is stereo but still 32K) an external recorder is a good investment if you wan't real sound

As you can see, a lot of differences, but nothing that could'n be solved with new firmwares, i just wish pentax will understand how video mode is making the difference today for a lot of prosumers (you just have to see how much 5D/7D are used for indie/music videos /documentarys today)
In my opinion, the k-5 has better sensor with better dynamics ( even vs 5D really), better encoding for quality, it just lacks the basics features (iso/shutter setting) + 60fps 720p and 1080p 24fps + curve customization + a workaround to 4GB limitation ( back to back file recording), and it would jump a big big step vs canon.

Sorry the post is a bit long, but there is so much to tell about that beloved k-5

also sorry for my bad english, I'm French

Gimbal · 11-11-2011, 05:01 AM

Originally posted by biboun

-no pixel remapping in video mode : you'll probably have hot/dead pixels and will have to live with it,

Actually there is a simple trick to fix that, (unless I have mixed up things as I don't shoot video that much) but it was something like set the camera in live view before switching over to video mode. And that's it, no more hot pixels. But you'll have to do it every time or the hot pixels are back.

biboun · 11-11-2011, 05:48 AM

Will try, sounds like the shutter speed trick with A mode.
typically the kind of stuff that (if it works) proves a firmware could solve the issue.
Theroretically, i believe the pixel remapping is done in post-processing for still pictures, don't know if the exmor can handle it realtime 25/s for videos.
Anyway, dead pixels are the kind of issue that is easy to solve in still pics (ligtroom autocorrects it), but a pain in video (if someone knows a premiere plugin that lets you correct dead pixel videos, i would like it, it's just a question of recreating a pixel by averaging 8 pixels around).

**LaurenOE** · 11-11-2011, 06:51 AM

Originally posted by johnmflores

Wait, you own your own metal lathe and mill? You win cool person of the day!

That prototype is interesting. Looks like they are trying to create a wider platform for added stability but is still portable. But you've got what looks like 5lbs of gear on the slider - I can see why you needed to mod.

I just ordered the IndiSliderMini. I'm hoping it will be stable enough with my GH2 + pancake setup. It's a lighter setup than the K-5 + zoom, so it may be sufficient. I may need to triangulate as you have done, but I'll probably try cables or wires with turnbuckles to the hook on the bottom of my center column first. Two wires in tension should stabilize it pretty good. I've got Super Clamps if it comes to that, but I prefer to travel light.

Again, very well done!

If you triangulate you have to support from below the slider track.

You ordered the IndiSlider Mini? Hmm...this is awkward...the quality control on the IndiSlider Mini, and the mods I did to that, are what led the owner to send me his prototype. I even did a webpage about it, and the owner asked me to take it down. We worked out our differences over the phone and he's a good guy.

Are you reading between the lines?

On the flip side, the IndiSlider Mini is rigid enough and strong enough.

11-10-2011, 03:49 PM	#1
colton Inactive Account Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 2	Video on the K5 So I'm seriously taking a look at the K5 as my next DSLR purchase, its quality of stills work is well documented, and I really like its look. I would be getting this camera mainly for stills, but my background is video, and I want to be able to do atleast a little video work with it (mostly for fun!) I know there have been threads on here about the video capabilities of the K5, but not for a while, and opinions change, the camera isn't even a year old yet! So, now that I got through all that, what's video on the K5 like (in comparison to say the 7D)? How's the compression and noise? One more thing.. the impressive black level resolution of the camera in stills mode, does this carry over to video?

11-10-2011, 04:29 PM	#2
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594	Check out our in-depth 7d vs K-5 comparison for some commentary on the video performance: Canon 7D vs. Pentax K-5 - Comparative Review The K-5 is still lagging behind the competition when it comes to video, unfortunately, but that doesn't mean you can't get good videos with it if you try hard enough! Adam PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide \| Site Help \| My Photography) PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

11-11-2011, 03:37 AM - 1 Like	#12
biboun New Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 19	vs7D/5D First, congrats LaurenOE for the great vids, sure the slider helps a lot for cinematographic-like sequences, it perfectly fits the subject you are filming, and gives life to those old buildings. (tehre seem to have small stutterings in some movements, are the movements like that or it's youtube encoding? do you use SR ( stab) when recording? ) About the original threafs question about K-5 vs 5D/7D, I have the chance to own a k-5 and have a 5D at work + lots of collegues using 7D for video purpose. Here are the pro and cons: pro: -Mjpeg compression for pentax vs H264 for canon: the files are definitively bigger, but the quality is here, especially if you want to make post-production on your footage ( color correction, you can get stuff in the low level without too much compression artifacts), you could even try some green screen keying, should work better that h264. honestly, for the pro, that's all , but so important. (no temporal compression in mjpeg also makes it less cpu consuming in editing softwares like premiere, all you need is a good mjpeg decompression codec, and good hard drives to keep the bandwidth, your cpu won't be hurt) -k-5 doesn't seem to have problems with lights frequency ( which is the result of a con, shutter speed is auto) -k-5 has built-in stabilization, functionnal in video, but some times movements are to hard to stabilize, and the result becomes crap, the counterpart of stab is what you see in the live view is a bit delayed, your actions sound to you like if you are drunk ( ) -the rolling shutter effects seem less visible on k-5 cons: -on k-5 you can't adjust shutter speed (there is a trick to make it , but it sounds to me more of a legend that a real way of working, as it's not operable and reliable on real live recording context) -on k-5 you can't adjust iso (same shit as shutter speed) -you can only adjust aperture before you record, or let it auto (worst of all, cause it would change your DOF during the shot), ------>anyway you can lock the exposure to prevent the k-5 to try and autoadjust shutter/iso/aperture, globally the operating mode is to setup your shot, your aperture, light mesure mode (spot/global etc..), let the k-5 adjust iso and shutter, then lock exposure and start recording ( if you don't do that, exposure may change during recording, resulting to a camcorder-like looking footage) If you have lenses with an aperure ring, you can use it when recording , k-5 will compensate exposure if you don't lock exposure, it's really fine with old prime lenses that all carry an aperture ring, a cheap 50M F2 becomes a killer lens for video, smooth focus ring, aperture ring, you'are set up. -no 60fps mode, even in 720p -1080p is only 25, not 24 or 30 for now ( i don't care, i'm in France, here it's 25 ) -no way of injecting custom color curves for video, but you can adjust the built-in ones ( on canon, you could build the color curve that applies to the sensor signal before it gets encoded, lots of people use some "log-like curves to prevent blacks and whites to be clipped, and compensate it in post-prod) -file size is limited to 4GB, which makes short movies in fullHD mjpeg ( about 4/5 mins if i remember well), on canon there is not such limits and h264 offers a better size/duration rato -SR ( stab), and the way sensor is carried n the box (center by electro magnetical system) is noisy, if you want to attach an external mic to the hotshoe (flash) mount, you'll have to buy a suspension system same on both: -no AF when recording (you can choose beetwen built in AF or contrast detection with zone setting on the live view, both work correctly , but real AF is better in low light, it just makes the mirror go down and up the time to focus) ->no one cares about that, real focusing on video is manual, and if you want smooth focusing, buy a follow focus gear -no focus indication (some other brands -nikon?- have implemented a zebra functions that shows high details/contrast to help focusing) , it is sometimes hard to check fine focus on the built in screen , especially outside with small apertures -no pixel remapping in video mode : you'll probably have hot/dead pixels and will have to live with it, 5D/7D also do, i don't think the remapping is possible real time in video( as they don't use all the sensor lines/rows in pentax, they could let us select which set of lines we use and see which has the least number of hot pixels, if i remember weel, in canon the image is the result of a mix of rows, so hot pixels are merged with correct one, nothing to do for them) EDIT:Gimbal's trick works, remapping is possible in video, but it's a trick, a firmware could make it persistent -sensor becomes very hot on both canon and pentax in video mode, and you will sometimes have to stop recording cause the heat sensor will stop it to protect it's sensor. -32Khz mono audio recording ( mic input is stereo but still 32K) an external recorder is a good investment if you wan't real sound As you can see, a lot of differences, but nothing that could'n be solved with new firmwares, i just wish pentax will understand how video mode is making the difference today for a lot of prosumers (you just have to see how much 5D/7D are used for indie/music videos /documentarys today) In my opinion, the k-5 has better sensor with better dynamics ( even vs 5D really), better encoding for quality, it just lacks the basics features (iso/shutter setting) + 60fps 720p and 1080p 24fps + curve customization + a workaround to 4GB limitation ( back to back file recording), and it would jump a big big step vs canon. Sorry the post is a bit long, but there is so much to tell about that beloved k-5 also sorry for my bad english, I'm French Last edited by biboun; 11-11-2011 at 04:24 PM.

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11-10-2011, 05:21 PM	#3
LaurenOE Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Back in Florida, but worldwide gigs! Photos: Albums Posts: 3,690	Shall I post again the recent videos I did?

11-10-2011, 06:05 PM	#4
Rondec Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Photos: Gallery Posts: 27,650	Originally posted by LaurenOE Shall I post again the recent videos I did? Absolutely. They are well done and demonstrate clearly that with appropriate techniques the K5 is very capable in the video department.

11-10-2011, 08:20 PM	#6
colton Inactive Account Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 2 Original Poster	Originally posted by LaurenOE Ok, here they are again! They look best at 1080p, but your internet connection will vary. They were all shot with the K5 and Pentax lenses. The lenses? DA 12-24 DA 18-135 WR DA 55-300 FA Limited 77mm F 50mm f1.7 This is the shortest one. A little about the Romans. Wow, great job on those videos! They look fantastic! (Both a compliment for you and the camera!) I'm still wondering about the compression, they don't really address it in that review other than saying the compression for the pentax is "less efficient," which to me could mean less compressed... and personally better for me. I do some VFX'y type stuff occasionally, and it would be nice if I was able to do it with footage I shot with this. How would you rate its compression with footage coming out of the 7D (or anything h264 for that matter)?

11-10-2011, 08:45 PM	#7
LaurenOE Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Back in Florida, but worldwide gigs! Photos: Albums Posts: 3,690	Originally posted by colton Wow, great job on those videos! They look fantastic! (Both a compliment for you and the camera!) I'm still wondering about the compression, they don't really address it in that review other than saying the compression for the pentax is "less efficient," which to me could mean less compressed... and personally better for me. I do some VFX'y type stuff occasionally, and it would be nice if I was able to do it with footage I shot with this. How would you rate its compression with footage coming out of the 7D (or anything h264 for that matter)? We also have a Nikon D7000 and a Canon Vixia something camcorder that does 1080p. I like the K5 the most, and so does my husband. The video on the K5 is uncompressed MJPEG/AVI (IIRC). It's not very efficient, sure, and it won't make it on YouTube in that state because of the file size, but I LIKE that. I use Adobe Premier and After Affects for my videos with the MJPEG plug in from Accusoft and everything works out great. No one takes raw video and posts it anyway, so the efficiency becomes moot in post production. The ability and ease of use of the K5 over my Husband's Nikon D7000 has been stated before in other threads. Tonight he said he wishes he had bought a K5 instead, after buying the Vixia and D7000 - - but I digress. Just be aware that the K5 or ANY DSLR is not a video recorder in that clips are limited in file sizes that fit on a SD card and are able to be read directly from a computer. Video cameras are different in how they store the digital files. Heat is another issue in that you won't be able to shoot and leave it in live view for too long, but again, that is an issue with ANY DSLR that can do video.

11-10-2011, 08:48 PM	#8
LaurenOE Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Back in Florida, but worldwide gigs! Photos: Albums Posts: 3,690	Oh, and thanks for the compliment! I wish I was still over there. I miss the UK as soon as I get on the plane to GO there!

11-10-2011, 09:38 PM	#9
johnmflores Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Somerville, NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,361	Great work Lauren! Very creative and well executed. You've shown that you can get good footage from the K-5, and that it's more about the photographer/cinematographer than the gear! But speaking of gear, what slider did you use?

11-10-2011, 09:51 PM	#10
LaurenOE Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Back in Florida, but worldwide gigs! Photos: Albums Posts: 3,690	Originally posted by johnmflores Great work Lauren! Very creative and well executed. You've shown that you can get good footage from the K-5, and that it's more about the photographer/cinematographer than the gear! But speaking of gear, what slider did you use? Ah, the slider...I get quite a few questions about THAT. That slider is a prototype from IndiSystems. I was given it to test out in the UK as a "Portable" and "lightweight" option. The design is a good one, but the mods/extras I added to what they gave me, took it to another level. When I sent back my feedback to the IndiSystem folks - I haven't heard back. As given to me, the Slider is not ready for "Prime-Time". Since I own my own Metal Lathe and Mill, I did quite a few modifications. What you see in the above picture is not what they might sell when the bugs get worked out. I've since ordered the parts to make a duplicate of my own, with my own mods, but out of respect I will not sell it. Besides, I only make stuff for myself or friends when they need tweaks. There are a ton of Manfrotto bits in the above picture and the end result was a HEAVY setup that I took EVERYWHERE. I can recommend the Walkstool you see in the above image. That little stool is AMAZING in getting the shots where you have to set up in a location and wait for people to walk away/past. Every photographer should have a Walkstool! Walkstool - The stool that walks

11-10-2011, 11:45 PM - 1 Like	#11
johnmflores Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Somerville, NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,361	Originally posted by LaurenOE Ah, the slider...I get quite a few questions about THAT. That slider is a prototype from IndiSystems. I was given it to test out in the UK as a "Portable" and "lightweight" option. The design is a good one, but the mods/extras I added to what they gave me, took it to another level. When I sent back my feedback to the IndiSystem folks - I haven't heard back. As given to me, the Slider is not ready for "Prime-Time". Since I own my own Metal Lathe and Mill, I did quite a few modifications. What you see in the above picture is not what they might sell when the bugs get worked out. I've since ordered the parts to make a duplicate of my own, with my own mods, but out of respect I will not sell it. Besides, I only make stuff for myself or friends when they need tweaks. There are a ton of Manfrotto bits in the above picture and the end result was a HEAVY setup that I took EVERYWHERE. I can recommend the Walkstool you see in the above image. That little stool is AMAZING in getting the shots where you have to set up in a location and wait for people to walk away/past. Every photographer should have a Walkstool! Walkstool - The stool that walks Wait, you own your own metal lathe and mill? You win cool person of the day! That prototype is interesting. Looks like they are trying to create a wider platform for added stability but is still portable. But you've got what looks like 5lbs of gear on the slider - I can see why you needed to mod. I just ordered the IndiSliderMini. I'm hoping it will be stable enough with my GH2 + pancake setup. It's a lighter setup than the K-5 + zoom, so it may be sufficient. I may need to triangulate as you have done, but I'll probably try cables or wires with turnbuckles to the hook on the bottom of my center column first. Two wires in tension should stabilize it pretty good. I've got Super Clamps if it comes to that, but I prefer to travel light. Again, very well done!

11-11-2011, 05:01 AM	#13
Gimbal Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Sweden Posts: 2,106	Originally posted by biboun -no pixel remapping in video mode : you'll probably have hot/dead pixels and will have to live with it, Actually there is a simple trick to fix that, (unless I have mixed up things as I don't shoot video that much) but it was something like set the camera in live view before switching over to video mode. And that's it, no more hot pixels. But you'll have to do it every time or the hot pixels are back.

11-11-2011, 05:48 AM	#14
biboun New Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 19	Will try, sounds like the shutter speed trick with A mode. typically the kind of stuff that (if it works) proves a firmware could solve the issue. Theroretically, i believe the pixel remapping is done in post-processing for still pictures, don't know if the exmor can handle it realtime 25/s for videos. Anyway, dead pixels are the kind of issue that is easy to solve in still pics (ligtroom autocorrects it), but a pain in video (if someone knows a premiere plugin that lets you correct dead pixel videos, i would like it, it's just a question of recreating a pixel by averaging 8 pixels around).

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11-11-2011, 06:51 AM	#15
LaurenOE Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Back in Florida, but worldwide gigs! Photos: Albums Posts: 3,690	Originally posted by johnmflores Wait, you own your own metal lathe and mill? You win cool person of the day! That prototype is interesting. Looks like they are trying to create a wider platform for added stability but is still portable. But you've got what looks like 5lbs of gear on the slider - I can see why you needed to mod. I just ordered the IndiSliderMini. I'm hoping it will be stable enough with my GH2 + pancake setup. It's a lighter setup than the K-5 + zoom, so it may be sufficient. I may need to triangulate as you have done, but I'll probably try cables or wires with turnbuckles to the hook on the bottom of my center column first. Two wires in tension should stabilize it pretty good. I've got Super Clamps if it comes to that, but I prefer to travel light. Again, very well done! If you triangulate you have to support from below the slider track. You ordered the IndiSlider Mini? Hmm...this is awkward...the quality control on the IndiSlider Mini, and the mods I did to that, are what led the owner to send me his prototype. I even did a webpage about it, and the owner asked me to take it down. We worked out our differences over the phone and he's a good guy. Are you reading between the lines? On the flip side, the IndiSlider Mini is rigid enough and strong enough.