# Upcoming Photo/Video Trip



## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

Friends.

I have been hired by a company in Africa to make promotional films and take promotional photos for their lodges.

They have asked me to cover four lodges over a period of two weeks.

I am very excited and very nervous at the same time. There are so many choices to be made! I am going to list things that are going through my mind here and earnestly request you to please correct me and advise me on anything that will help me with this project.

I am breaking up the equipment and questions in different posts for clarity and will keep updating it based on your thoughts.

I am thanking you all for your help in advance.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Cameras:*

R5 (2) Bodies with 3 batteries, two chargers.
R3 – with one battery and charger. (I do not own this; a rental company will lend it to me.)
Sony A1 with battery grip, one charger.
Go Pro 9
Drone Mavic 3


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Lenses:

Canon Lenses:*
RF 15-35 [Landscapes, Lodge interiors]
RF 100-500 [Fixed on Video camera A]
RF 100-400 [Fixed on Video camera B]
RF 70-200 2.8 [Wildlife, portraits]
RF 35mm macro (For food/drinks and personal photos after work.)
RF 50 (For interviews)
EF 100-400 II (I do not own this; a rental company will lend it to me.)
EF 100 macro (Food + Side camera on interviews. I do not own this; a rental company will lend it to me.)
RF 800mm (Standby lens for very distant objects)
*Sony Lenses:*
Sony FE 12-24mm 2.8
Sony 200-600mm 5.6-6.3
Sony 400 FE 2.8

*Venus Optics 24 mm Probe lens *(I do not own this; a rental company will lend it to me.)

*Filters:*
Set of ND filters for the 50mm


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Still Photography Equipment:*
Canon Speedlite 600EX II (2)
One lightweight stand of the flash
One slightly better stand for flash with an umbrella.
Umbrella – Make/model undecided. Am thinking of Elinchrom Deep Umbrella 33” with some diffusion.
Yongnuo: Speedlite Transmitter.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Sound:*
Tascam DR-10L – For interviews and my blogging.
Windscreens


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*General Plan/Crew:*
It will be three of us. (Me, my helper and a person from the company to help.)

I will do the still photography when we are on safari.
I will do the sill photography of lodges, food and people.

The assistant will do drone and video work while on safari.

The company person will be given the second video camera.

*Wildlife Still Photography:*
R5 with RF 70-200 mm 
Sony with the 400 and 200-600 for most of the wildlife stills.

*Lodge Stills/Video:*
Sony with 12-25 for lodges videos/photos. (12mm is better than the Canon's 15mm.)

*Wildlife Video Equipment:*
Cam A: Canon R3 4k 120 fps with 100-500
Cam B: Canon R5 4k 120 fps with 100-400


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Tripods, Slider, Head*
Tripods: Gitzo Tripods (3): I have three tripods. Two are heavy duty which I intend to use for video, the smaller one will be used as a monopod for still photography.
Gimbal: Zhiyun Crane 2
Heads: I have two good Manfrotto heads which I will use for video.
Slider: I have an older Rhino slider I will use for lodge exterior shots, timelapse and lodge interior video.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Storage, Cards:*
Sandisk CF 512 (2)
Sandisk CF 256 (1)
Pergear CF 1TB (1) (I saw this on CR two days ago and bought it.)
Lexar 128 gb (2) (This will be used to make simultaneous proxy files while making videos on RF)

*HDD:*
WD 5tb (4) (I want to duplicate save everything.) Is this enough?!?


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

I know I will stand exposed to my lack of knowledge here, but I will man up and list things that I need to learn and any knowledge/leads you kind people provide for me to up my skills, I will be grateful. It seems like I am starting from scratch. This list will keep increasing as I keep preparing for the trip:

*TO LEARN:*
1. Star Trail Photography (while keeping the lodges in the foreground)
2. Night star Videography (while keeping the lodges in the foreground)
3. Off-camera flash techniques.
4. Which umbrella to buy that can fit in my suitcase with a diagonal width of 32"
5. How to quickly change video settings? I want to have video settings available at a) 8k RAW b) 4k log 120 fps and be able to quickly change between them.
6. Which colour space BT.709 or Bt.2020 or Cinema Gamut be the best? (I do not even know what is 'colour space'
7. How to level cameras quickly while filming videos? The HUGE problem with my Gitzo legs is that the only way to level the camera is by raising or lowering legs and not from the head. This is a big big problem when chasing action constantly.
8. Can the Done remain steady enough to do exposure bracketing while shooting stills? The DR on the drone is low and it would be good for me to be able to bracket exposure. I wonder if the unit even allows for this, let alone be steady enough..
9. I need to properly learn masking for me to be able to make my landscapes look better. (Exposure Bracketing.)
10. Learn the Sony for still photography. UGGGG
11. Have I made the wise decision to shoot video on R3 and not R5? My reasoning is: High MP on stills (R5) may prove helpful and the 4k 120fps may be better on R3.
12. Is it ok to shoot the Sony 12-24 at f8 without worrying about diffraction?
13. Will I get video jitter if I speed up 120fps to 25fps in post? I know that slowing down 25fps to 120fps is not the best idea.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*Things to perhaps reduce:*
1. Canon RF 15-35 mm. ---> The sony wide zoom should work better.
2. Canon EF 100-400 mm ----> This range is (better) covered in the Sony 200-600. I checked TDP and they both have comparable IQ. Both are heavy lenses and one must be reduced.
3. Canon R5 plus 2 batteries/charger. I think one R5, one R3 and the Sony A1 is enough. Three cameras are enough.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*BLOGGING:*
I am not super articulate, nor do I have any special knowledge to share. But I can share my experiences of the trip which may be useful to some. I will use my iPhone for that in the field and R5 when back at the lodge. If you have any suggestions, for this, please educate me. I am nervous about it.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

*The Sony Story:*
I was at my friend's rental house and Sony India's marketing head dropped by. He heard me talking about the Africa trip. He said he will give me the above-listed stuff for me to 'try out'. How could I refuse?  I know I will have to learn a new camera, but they will give it two days before my departure...


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## Del Paso (Dec 1, 2021)

Lucky you!


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

Del Paso said:


> Lucky you!


Ever heard of the phrase "Shitting Bricks"?


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## AlanF (Dec 1, 2021)

sanj said:


> *Still Photography Plan:*
> I am thinking of using R5 with EF 100-400 and 800 for stills and


I'd take a RF 100-500mm and an RF 2x. At 1000mm, it outresolves the 800/11, allows some zooming out to 600mm, takes up far less space and weighs less. That's my experience with my lenses.


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

AlanF said:


> I'd take a RF 100-500mm and an RF 2x. At 1000mm, it outresolves the 800/11, allows some zooming out to 600mm, takes up far less space and weighs less. That's my experience with my lenses.


Thank you for opening up my mind to this. I will contemplate hard on it...


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## sanj (Dec 1, 2021)

AlanF said:


> I'd take a RF 100-500mm and an RF 2x. At 1000mm, it outresolves the 800/11, allows some zooming out to 600mm, takes up far less space and weighs less. That's my experience with my lenses.


Contemplation over. I am selling the 800 and buying a 1.5x teleconverter. 700mm is good enough for me! Thank you AlanF. I hope the focusing speed of 1.5x matches the 800mm!!!


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## AlanF (Dec 1, 2021)

sanj said:


> Contemplation over. I am selling the 800 and buying a 1.5x teleconverter. 700mm is good enough for me! Thank you AlanF. I hope the focusing speed of 1.5x matches the 800mm!!!


The RF 1.4x on the 100-500mm focusses very fast, and the AF area in the EVF is much larger than for the 800 f/11. It's also more shower proof. Glad to be of help.


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## Del Paso (Dec 1, 2021)

sanj said:


> Ever heard of the phrase "Shitting Bricks"?


Of course!


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## sanj (Dec 2, 2021)

Del Paso said:


> Of course!


I am nervous but I know this is going to be a superb trip where I will learn a lot and take lots of photos. Happiness!!!


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## sanj (Dec 2, 2021)

Can someone PLEASE help and tell me which umbrella to buy? My largest suitcase is 32" diagonal.


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## sanj (Dec 2, 2021)

AlanF said:


> The RF 1.4x on the 100-500mm focusses very fast, and the AF area in the EVF is much larger than for the 800 f/11. It's also more shower proof. Glad to be of help.


Dear AlanF. I got nervous about the $500 1.5 convertor. I am unsure about the loss in quality. I also think that small subjects very far away will have bad quality anyways. So, I will live with the 500mm magnification on 45mp camera which I can crop. I also have the Sony A1 with 200-600 mm on a 50 mpx camera. I would like to know your thoughts on this, please.


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## sanj (Dec 2, 2021)

I am struggling how to assign different profiles video setting to C1, C2, C3. Does someone know how to do that?


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## AlanF (Dec 2, 2021)

sanj said:


> Dear AlanF. I got nervous about the $500 1.5 convertor. I am unsure about the loss in quality. I also think that small subjects very far away will have bad quality anyways. So, I will live with the 500mm magnification on 45mp camera which I can crop. I also have the Sony A1 with 200-600 mm on a 50 mpx camera. I would like to know your thoughts on this, please.


The quality of the pair RF100-500mm/RF2x I have is very good, and it does squeeze out extra detail. I reckon that at 1000mm f/14, it's giving the resolution of a 700mm f/7.1 lens. I do use DxO PL 4 (now 5) and it handles the noise of the higher isos very well, but other software might not. On the other hand, cropped 500mm is excellent and small images from it can be upscaled 2x with Topaz Gigapixel very successfully if you need more pixels.


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## snappy604 (Dec 2, 2021)

hehe my only advise is.. don't get mugged.. that's a lot of gear!


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## 800km (Dec 2, 2021)

It has been over 50 years since I was taking photos in West Africa, back in the manual camera and film days! My thoughts for you are: 1.) protect your equipment from weather. We had torrential rains in the hot summer and harmattan dust in the winter. High humidity can encourage growths inside your equipment! 2) Be ready for high contrast situations. Black faces with white robes required a bit of finesse when determining exposures. I met and worked with wonderful people.


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## sanj (Dec 3, 2021)

snappy604 said:


> hehe my only advise is.. don't get mugged.. that's a lot of gear!


Thank you. If the airline does not lose it, I should be ok. I get picked up at Nairobi airport and then taken to the lodges where it is perfectly safe.


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## sanj (Dec 3, 2021)

800km said:


> It has been over 50 years since I was taking photos in West Africa, back in the manual camera and film days! My thoughts for you are: 1.) protect your equipment from weather. We had torrential rains in the hot summer and harmattan dust in the winter. High humidity can encourage growths inside your equipment! 2) Be ready for high contrast situations. Black faces with white robes required a bit of finesse when determining exposures. I met and worked with wonderful people.


Will keep all of this in mind. The safari vehicles have a cover and I will ask them for extra plastic covers. January is supposed to be the dryest month but things are changing. Thank you!


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## neuroanatomist (Dec 3, 2021)

sanj said:


> Thank you. If the airline does not lose it, I should be ok. I get picked up at Nairobi airport and then taken to the lodges where it is perfectly safe.


My wife and I spent a night in Nairobi once. Very sketchy area, but we were fine.


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## sanj (Dec 3, 2021)

AlanF said:


> The quality of the pair RF100-500mm/RF2x I have is very good, and it does squeeze out extra detail. I reckon that at 1000mm f/14, it's giving the resolution of a 700mm f/7.1 lens. I do use DxO PL 4 (now 5) and it handles the noise of the higher isos very well, but other software might not. On the other hand, cropped 500mm is excellent and small images from it can be upscaled 2x with Topaz Gigapixel very successfully if you need more pixels.


It would be rare when I would need the extra pixels. These photos are mostly for their website and not too large. In case of that very special and rare situation that something great happens very far away and I need to crop a lot, I will use the software you mention. Thank you.


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## sanj (Dec 3, 2021)

neuroanatomist said:


> My wife and I spent a night in Nairobi once. Very sketchy area, but we were fine.


Of all the African countries I have visited, Kenya seemed the safest. Parts of South Africa and Namibia the worst. But fortunately, I will never be 'alone'.


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## neuroanatomist (Dec 3, 2021)

sanj said:


> Of all the African countries I have visited, Kenya seemed the safest. Parts of South Africa and Namibia the worst. But fortunately, I will never be 'alone'.


Interesting. I have only been in Kenya briefly. I felt safe most places I've been in Africa, especially Rwanda.


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## sanj (Dec 3, 2021)

neuroanatomist said:


> Interesting. I have only been in Kenya briefly. I felt safe most places I've been in Africa, especially Rwanda.


Rwanda is a GREAT country.


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## sanj (Dec 4, 2021)

Friends. Question: If I am filming simultaneously with two R5's, will leaving the WB on auto make it difficult for me to match the two cameras in post? Or should I dial in WB manually? Thank you...!!


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## sanj (Dec 4, 2021)

One of the things I wanted to learn (as mentioned above) was if the Mavic Drone will do exposure bracketing. It does! This screenshot shows how.


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## sanj (Dec 7, 2021)

I am now flying to Los Angeles to pick up a lot of gear. Plenty of things like the drone/cards etc are not available in India yet for a good price. I hope that I am not boring you all. Just would like to document here for you all the steps I am taking for the job to be a success.


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## Del Paso (Dec 7, 2021)

sanj said:


> I am now flying to Los Angeles to pick up a lot of gear. Plenty of things like the drone/cards etc are not available in India yet for a good price. I hope that I am not boring you all. Just would like to document here for you all the steps I am taking for the job to be a success.


Just go ahead, it's certainly not boring, just the opposite!


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## EricN (Dec 7, 2021)

Actually, I'm curious about how long the trip takes, which airline you use, which hotel you stay at, and if you felt it's a good choice or next time, you'd try different companies. Such things like that.


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## sanj (Dec 8, 2021)

Can anyone tell me the best settings for shooting the lodges at night (stills) where the lodge will be exposed separately and the sky separate for stars? Pretty please.


EricN said:


> Actually, I'm curious about how long the trip takes, which airline you use, which hotel you stay at, and if you felt it's a good choice or next time, you'd try different companies. Such things like that.


I will write. I am at Dubai airport waiting to board the aircraft for a 15-hour flight to Los Angeles. I will keep updating this page.


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## Del Paso (Dec 8, 2021)

In case you forget to update your post, I'll have you banned from Canonrumors for lifetime!


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## sanj (Jan 2, 2022)

Friends. Lots and lots of updates. I will post them eventually, but for now, help is needed BAD. I have the R3 in my hands but the movie Rec size menu does not show 6k RAW or 4k HQ. And, when I set up the camera to shoot proxy simultaneously, I do not get an option to shoot in slow motion. What could I be doing wrong?? The R5 gives me these options easily. (not 6k but 8k RAW. I am attaching files.


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## sanj (Jan 2, 2022)

I flew Bombay - Los Angeles on Emirates. My layover in Dubai was 15 hours. I discovered a great facility Emirates provides. It provides something called 'Dubai Connect' for passengers with a long layover. It provides a Free visa, a free hotel and a free meal. So if you guys ever find yourself in such a situation, just walk to the Dubai connect counter.  Here is a view from the free hotel, after I used their free gym while I sipped wine and at dinner.


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## sanj (Jan 2, 2022)

I flew Emirates and Qatar airways. My strong advice: Do not waste money on buying wifi. It does not work for half the flight and is very slow when it does.


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## sanj (Jan 3, 2022)

This is where my equipment list is at right now. It is too much! I always believe that only amateurs over carry! But I do not know what to reduce. :-(
*EQUIPMENT LIST



CAMERAS/BATTERIES/CHARGERS: NO BATTERIES IN CHECK-IN*

Canon R3: (2) Battery (1) Charger

(2) Canon R5: (4) Battery (2) Charger

Sony A1: Vertical Grip. (2) Battery (1) Charger

Drone: (3) Battery (1) Charger

Go Pro. (1) Battery (1) Charger


*LENSES:

Canon:*

Probe (EF mount)

RF: 15-35mm

RF: 35mm

RF: 50mm

RF: 70-200mm

RF: 85mm

EF: 100mm macro (Jackie)

RF: 100 - 400mm

RF: 100 - 500mm

Canon Extender 1.4x

Canon EF Adaptor


*Sony:*

12-24 mm 2.8 GM

24mm 1.4 GM

200-600mm

400mm 2.8

1.4x Extender


*TRIPOD/HEADS: *

(2) Manfrotto 608 Nitrotech Fluid Head.

(1) Arca Swiss Head

(3) Gitzo tripods. Big, medium and small.
*Note:* Ensure all 3 camera's and Canon 100-500 must have a plate mounted permanently.



*CARDS/READERS:*

For Sony A1: (2) 80 GB CF Type A

For R3 and R5: (3) 512 GB CF (1) 1 TB (2) 128 GB SD cards.

For Drone: (1) 128 GB Micro SD.

For Go Pro:

*Card Readers:*

CF card reader (2) with cables

SD card reader (2) with cables

Card reader for Sony or will Canon card readers work?


*HDD's: *(Estimating 5 TB footage, will save in duplicate.)

(3) 5TB

(1) 4TB

(1) 2TB

*LIGHTS:*

Dracast LED

(2) STANDS

Candle lights


*FLASH ETC:*

(2) Canon 600 EX II-RT

(1) Yongnu YN-E3-RT II trigger

(1) Elinchrom 41" Shallow Umbrella plus Diffuser Cover

(16) AAA Batteries



*SLIDER/GIMBAL: *

Gimbal for Iphone:

Gimbal: Zhiyun Crane 2

Slider: Rhino Arc 1


*SOUND: *

Lapel: Tascam DR-10 (2). With windshield. (1 card each)

Boom:

(4) AAA Batteries.

What batteries for the boom?


*COMPUTER:*

MacBook Pro. Charger.


*Cleaning:*

a) Sensor Cleaning. Swap plus liquid

b) Lens Cleaning. Liquid plus microfiber.

c) Laptop Cleaning


*MISC:*

One travel power cube.

Two power strips.

Remote Trigger. REPLACE BATTERY

Pen flashlight (2)

Binoculars

Sound enhancer headset

Car charger


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## sanj (Jan 3, 2022)

I will write the name of the boom soon. I put the list here for your advice. Also, maybe it could be a checklist for you one day...


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## sanj (Jan 3, 2022)

The Sony rep informed me that the card reader I have for Canon will not work for Sony. I had no idea that different Cfast cards are made for Sony and Canon!!


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## kaihp (Jan 3, 2022)

sanj said:


> The Sony rep informed me that the card reader I have for Canon will not work for Sony. I had no idea that different Cfast cards are made for Sony and Canon!!


CFexpress come in Type A (Sony) and Type B (everyone but Sony?). Type A are physically smaller than Type B. Sorry. 

You did not put an microSD card next to the GoPro. Are you planning to share a card between the Drone and the GoPro?


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## sanj (Jan 3, 2022)

kaihp said:


> CFexpress come in Type A (Sony) and Type B (everyone but Sony?). Type A are physically smaller than Type B. Sorry.
> 
> You did not put an microSD card next to the GoPro. Are you planning to share a card between the Drone and the GoPro?


No, that is an oversight. I will have a card for both Drone and GoPro. Thank you for noticing that. I will fix!


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## sanj (Jan 12, 2022)

Friends. I am going to a post house tomorrow to figure out a few things. Here is the list. Please let me know if you want me to check anything else!

*Canon R3:*

6k Raw vs Raw light IQ Test
Raw light vs 4k-D IQ Test
4k 60 fps vs 4k 120 fps IQ test
*Canon R5:*

8k RAW vs 8k Raw Light
8k vs 4k HQ
4k HQ vs 4k. 
4k 60 fps vs 4k 120 fps IQ test 
*General:*


Check Histogram vs actual exposure in RAW (Screen looks too bright when the histogram is exposed to the right.)
30 fps vs 60 fps vs 120 fps - Slow-motion demonstration. 1. Mitain walking and 2. An empty can falling.
RAW with and with a log. Does it make sense to add log to RAW?
Color Space test: BT.709 VS BT.2020 VS Cinema Gamut
Does speeding up 120 fps to 30 fps look bad?

*The sequence of Tests:*

Check Histogram vs actual exposure in RAW (Screen looks too bright when the histogram is good.) (We will then expose accordingly)
RAW shooting with Log and without (We will then shoot accordingly for the rest of the above tests)
Which colour space works best? (We will then use that colour space for the rest of the above tests) 
All R5 tests
All R3 tests


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## sanj (Jan 12, 2022)

Sony guys visited me today and gave me all the equipment. Packing has started. I leave on 15th afternoon.


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## sanj (Feb 10, 2022)

Sharing some photos... Please critique! Sony Alpha 1.


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## sanj (Feb 10, 2022)

He was colouring his hair.... Canon R5.


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## Sporgon (Feb 14, 2022)

sanj said:


> Sharing some photos... Please critique! Sony Alpha 1.


What a pleasure to see a beautifully lit wildlife lion photograph ! Really nice and a change from the usual run of the mill safari images.


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