[Blaise Douros]

Yeah, but winners don’t use AWB anyway 😉

[Blaise Douros]

I’ll second the A7III. Very capable, has UHD, and with the addition of the K1M or K2M, you can get two channels of XLR inputs. Slow motion in HD at up to 120 fps. SLog2 and 3 if you need it, otherwise, the standard gammas are quite useful with good dynamic range.

I don’t use the autofocus, since I don’t trust machines to do a man’s job, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good.

You also might consider something like the Canon XF705 if you don’t care about interchangeable lenses.

[Blaise Douros]

Sigh, I’m going to take the bait.

1. They have a dedicated focus puller.
2. DOF depends on more than just f-stop. Focal length and subject-to-camera distance also affect it.
3. When there are multiple people in-frame, subject-to-camera distance is much greater–the further from the camera, the deeper the DOF. Closeups like what you’re talking about decrease the DOF because they’re closer to the camera.
4. They may not be using lenses that are quite as long as 300mm, especially for shots where multiple people are in the frame.

And to answer your other question above: if your subject is likely to move more than 0.12 feet forward or back during the take, and you aren’t able to pull focus well enough to follow that motion, then yes, it’s too shallow. If you ARE able to pull focus on that move, then it’s not too shallow. See how that works?

Regardless, maybe you should put on your thinking cap and figure out a different way to shoot it that doesn’t place this requirement on your camera op. This would solve 93.6% of the problems you post on these boards.

[Blaise Douros]

For the love of God, don’t try to sync files with your clients over Dropbox if you have limited data. Video files are so big. SO. BIG. If you have a 300 gig data cap, that could be eaten up in one project. Plus, it will take eight days for the client to upload, and four days for you to download. This is a huge waste of time.

So here’s what you’re going to do. Get your client to send you all the relevant media on a drive–make sure it’s not the only drive where they have this data, it needs to be a copy. Then, use Dropbox or Vimeo to let them review your cuts. If they HAVE to have access to the project file (which I don’t recommend) you can share that via Dropbox, with the file pointers going to your external media drive. The client can then reconnect the media to their local copy.

Cloud services and internet speeds are just not there yet when it comes to sharing video. They just aren’t.

[Blaise Douros]

Check under your seat–a lot of planes have AC outlets now.

[Blaise Douros]

Whether you shoot in SLog shouldn’t matter for your keying, as long as you’re lighting the screen correctly. What you want to ask here is whether you need to do much grading after you pull your key.

You can shoot in SLog, apply a LUT in post, pull a key from the color-corrected version, and apply that key to your ungraded footage. Then you have more freedom to grade your keyed footage.

However, if you want to just pull a key and do minor adjustments, then just shoot in standard gamma.

My point is, either way, you will NOT be pulling a key from ungraded SLog; if you shoot in SLog, you’ll correct to a standard gamma for the keying process anyway.

[Blaise Douros]

I have a Sony FS7 with the additional K2M attachment (there’s also a tether version, the K1M), which allows a total of four channels of XLR audio into the camera. The audio quality is excellent on all inputs; if there’s preamp noise, I’ve never heard it. Plus, the FS7 (and FS7 mkII) is a great overall camera.

[Blaise Douros]

I would note that OP’s main concern is playback. It seems to me that a long final render could be fine–sounds like he wants to find a solution other than buying a bunch of new storage. I agree that ProRes simplifies matters, but I think that given OP’s question (how do I get good playback without buying new storage for ProRes transcodes), the proxy workflow satisfies the requirements of the question with a minimum of cash outlay.

[Blaise Douros]

Just use Premiere’s Proxy workflow. The proxy files are manageably small, and you can reconnect to the original media for your final export with one click.

[Blaise Douros]

Exporting a ProRes version directly from the sequence will get you the best quality.

Transcoding an h.264 to ProRes is completely possible, but reduces the quality–h.264 has significant compression compared to ProRes, so you will be limited by the quality of the h.264 export if you transcode.