On January 19, right after the year started, FilmConvert announced its camera pack for the Panasonic S5 mirrorless camera, as well as the compatibility with the company’s new camera-matching solution CineMatch, suggesting those interested to explore the free trial available, which covers not only the Panasonic S5 but other camera models from different brands.
The Panasonic S5 is a hybrid full-frame mirrorless camera that provides excellent performance in both shooting photos and recording videos for serious, enthusiastic photographers and videographers. Important for videographers, the camera comes with V-Log enabled, completely free!
The next camera to receive a FilmConvert camera pack, on February 11, was the Canon EOS R5, which is the world’s first interchangeable lens digital camera with 8K movies. As the company did for the Panasonic S5, the Canon EOS R5 also was included in the list of models using new FilmConvert’s camera-matching solution CineMatch. In fact, in March, as CineMatch was six months old, FilmConvert announced its compatibility not only with the EOS R5 but also with the EOS R6.
Also in March, on the 23rd, FilmConvert announced the camera pack for the Sigma fp, adding that the company had also included a CinemaDNG BMD Film profile for all users shooting RAW and using FilmConvert in DaVinci Resolve. A promised was made then compatibility with CineMatch was coming as well, so users could potentially use the Sigma fp as their ultimate universal b-cam to any other camera!
On March 25th the company announced the release a new version of the FilmConvert Nitrate plugin with a compatibility update for DaVinci Resolve 17.1 on MacOS, suggesting those using FilmConvert Nitrate in DaVinci Resolve 17.1 on MacOS, to please update to v3.06 of the FilmConvert Nitrate plugin, available at www.filmconvert.com/download.
FilmConvert ends April with a new announcement: the availability of a camera pack or the new iPhone 12 Pro. Alongside speed and storage enhancements, the new iPhone 12 Pro adds a significant boost to its camera with 10-bit Dolby Vision. The extra data recorded allows much more flexibility in when color grading with FilmConvert, and really unlocks the potential of achieving truly cinematic images from a phone.
To test what’s possible, FilmConvert decided to see what the result would be when matching an iPhone to an ARRI, using CineMatch. They strapped the iPhone 12 to an ARRI Alexa and took it out on a real-world shoot to see how the mobile footage could be matched to a Hollywood cinema camera.
The conclusion may surprise you: footage from an iPhone does not look like an Alexa, but in terms of color it gets surprisingly close. The reviewer says that “if you need ‘the shot’ and have an iPhone in your pocket, you can crowbar it in your timeline with ease using CineMatch. If you want to give your iPhone footage the ARRI flavor, or want to use a creative LUT that has been designed for the Alexa – use CineMatch.”
All the camera packs mentioned here can be found at FilmConvert’s website. As we’ve noted before, FilmConvert has produced camera profiles for a variety of cameras from different brands, including Apple, ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Canon, Digital Bolex, DJI, Fujifilm, GoPro, Kinefinity, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, RED, Samsung, Sony and Z Cam. The list has grown based on requests from users, and names like Olympus and Fujifilm were not included a couple of years ago. FilmConvert say that they only create profiles for cameras when there is reasonable demand, so the number of camera packs available reflects the preferences from the community of users of FilmConvert’s software.
The company always notes that “If we don’t currently support your camera, you can request it here” and adds that “If we don’t have an exact match for your camera, never fear! You can still use our software to achieve a stunning result. We advise you to experiment with some of the different camera packs, especially within the same manufacturer. “As always these Camera Packs need the latest version of FilmConvert for full compatibility.