All Activity

N-RAW Normal at 25 fps should be below 1000 Mbps. If I calculated correctly, N-RAW High Quality (which is similar to R3D NE) has a compression ratio of approximately 1:4 compared to uncompressed raw video (which is not available on the ZR, for obvious reasons). N-RAW Normal is about 1:8. RED's own codecs (not TicoRAW) in the (not Nikon) RED cameras range from 1:2 to 1:22 depending on settings. I suspect Nikon didn't implement the lower quality TicoRAW in the R3D NE codec (although both Normal and High Quality are available in N-RAW) because of the additional quality loss, and as a matter of protecting the quality expectations associated with the RED brand. They could be simply trying to impress. The ZR body is quite lightweight and slim, and adding more heat sink materials, a fan etc. to enable better quality compressed codecs would have made it larger and heavier, as would adding more hinges and mechanics to make the back LCD screen more flexible in the angles that are offered. I can imagine a bunch of things that could be wanted, such as full size HDMI, SDI, XLR, etc. connectors. THe ZR is probably as small and light as Nikon could make while enabling long recording times and R3D NE recording. Rather than focus on the data rates, I am puzzled at the lack of fully featured software support for the raw video formats. Some formats (R3D NE) reportedly offer a good visual match between what you see on the camera LCD with LUT applied but if you want to apply distortion corrections, a separate transcoding utility need to be applied to convert the footage to Prores. With N-RAW you can get lens profiles applied in Davinci Resolve, but the color doesn't apparently look like how it was on the camera display (?). If you use Premiere, N-RAW is shown with RED's Log profile, which then is different from what you see on camera in the view assist mode. People complain that you cannot cut the R3D NE and remove parts and rewrite the edited footage in the R3D NE format, instead it has to be transcoded into something else before the trimmed footage can be stored (if it is stored in R3D NE format the file does not get smaller). With N-RAW you can cut parts out and store it in N-RAW, so why is this different for R3D NE? Or did I get I could have gotten some parts wrong but to me it seems the software support is as much missing as the camera firmware, and the raw video is sort of an experimental feature at this point. Some comment and seem to think that to get the maximum quality is essential but then complain that the resulting files are too large, even though they are compressed at 25% of original data size, and further compression visibly reduces the image fidelity. I think for video there has to be a realization that you cannot get still-camera like detail and expect small file sizes. A compromise needs to be made. I like using Prores 422 HQ 4K on the Z8 as it allows the distortion profiles to be applied based on lens type and still looks fantastic to my eye, while avoiding the 8K. I can immediately tell the h.265 (which in Nikon's case is always 4:2:0) does not have as rich color on textured, colorful clothes as the 422 codec. Absurd in-camera file sizes, almost as big as 6K RAW? Yes, but it just looks gorgeous and is easy to edit. I delete the original files once I'm done with editing. I can't imagine shooting 8K RAW but with a 6K camera the RAW option is a possibility, once storage costs go down. At the moment the cost of a fast external SSD I got 3 years ago is three times as high as it was in 2023! Hard drives seem less affected and are a possibility for long-term storage, but for editing the SSDs are better. About your lens preferences, the 50-150/2.0 is 4599€ here, quite pricey! Although a set of f/2.0 primes would also be expensive, and together would be heavier, I still would choose the primes for their smaller size in hand, or use the 70-200/2.8 as a classic choice which is available on all major mounts. But I can see that a portrait and event-oriented photographer might prefer the f/2.0 zooms over primes or the f/2.8. I don't think the f/2.0 zooms will become mainstream though, as the f/2.8 are very high quality, lower priced, and have greater range.

Well, two years after the X4 and one year after the X5, here we are again : ) This time it actually looks like a proper generational jump rather than the usual yearly refresh: X6 brings dual 1/1.1" square sensors (33% larger area than X5), 8K50p (for smoother capture 'cause this is 360º shooting, folks! ; ) 10-bit I-Log and even native in-camera Dolby Vision. There's also a new 2600mAh battery design (finally no longer doubling as part of the actual camera body : ) rated for up to 140 minutes at 8K30. https://www.insta360.com/blog/insta360-x6-launch.html Funny enough, going back to the beginning of this thread, we were already asking for larger sensors, 10-bit LOG and better DR back in 2024... so they have been reading us after all? ; ) For me the really interesting bit is not the "action cam" side of the thing anyway, but how far 360 acquisition has now come as a tool to shoot first and decide framing/camera movement later. 8K was already making that increasingly usable with X4/X5, but larger sensors + 10-bit I-Log is another story for post. 8K50 is not exactly bad news either : P U.S. shooters will have to go down to 6K for getting 60p if needed. The usual guy. Looks like the X-series finally got the upgrade we were waiting for : ) Comparatives against the current 360º contenders or merely dethroned now? And against the other current action cams. Introducing auto editing features by AI, no less ; ) Their new PanoMind model is actually built around understanding the whole 360º scene rather than a conventional flat frame, powering AI Director, Auto Edit 2.0 and Moments Pro. AI Director can even go through your footage inside the X6 while the camera is charging, pick the highlights and have an editable finished cut waiting in the app afterwards (now that's actually useful AI! ; ) Auto Edit 2.0 can take one or several clips and handle the reframing, virtual camera moves, cuts, transitions and music automatically, while Moments Pro takes it another step into the cloud: give it the subject, mood, style and duration you're after and let it build the edit from there. In other words, the whole old 360º idea of "shoot everything now, decide where the camera was pointing later" is increasingly becoming "shoot everything now and perhaps don't even have to decide that yourself later" : P That's precisely where AI actually makes sense here: it addresses one very specific 360º problem: the absurd number of reframing decisions you can end up making in post. Maybe not yet refined but the concept is here : ) Computational cinematography has just landed... Photo Mode X6 vs X5 (who said higher resolution doesn't count? ; ) source (here's a new interesting tool to compare 360 cameras from this same guy, on topic) - EAG

Same here :- )

I’ve come close to pushing the ZR button a few times now and there are really only 3 things that have prevented me doing so… 1. The file sizes of that Red Raw codec. Apparently N raw is the next best option and there are of course some ‘workarounds’, but until there is a compressed version that maxes out at no more than 1000 mbps, it’s just too much and one of the principal draws of this camera is the Red codec. 2. I’m not unhappy with L Mount. In fact the opposite except for one factor and that is the absence IMO of equivalent lenses to Sony’s: 28-70 f2, 50-150 f2 and Tamron’s 35-100 f2.8. It’s ‘almost’ worth switching just for these lenses alone, but that last word, ‘alone’, but alone is not enough and lenses aside, everything else that L Mount, specifically Lumix offers, beats that of Nikon & Sony. 3. I still have hope that from within the L Mount Alliance, over the coming Winter and next Spring, either (or even both) a rangefinderesque camera will appear from either Lumix or Sigma and at least one rival for one of the lenses above, will appear. Unlikely to be a Leica, but next gen FP a possibility and even more likely, an S9ii? 4. Bonus reason, - switching not only costs money, but there is always a settling in period with any new system that frustrates. So my set up now just works, I have it and I like it and as above, my only real crit is with regard to certain lenses, but the ZR body style just appeals to me and I would like that rear LCD, but ideally as a fully articulated unit which is a bit of a missed opportunity IMO.

Well, my initial review is very short and succinct. "Doesn't fucking work. At all." Judging by their FAQ, I received a defective unit, as on my R5, it just shows F00 and won't switch out of MF mode. On the C80, it displays a communication error and won't autofocus. After updating the adapter firmware, no change. Their utility to program it also does not find it after I follow their instructions to connect it... at least on my Mac. I'll try it on a Windows computer later tonight, maybe. Also, even if it did work, it won't be usable on an RF mount Red. On my OG Komodo, the chin/motor of the adapter hits the chin of the camera. I didn't try it on the Komodo-X, but the horizontal/vertical dimensions are identical or nearly identical so I don't expect a different result there. Asked Amazon to replace it. I think they ship the replacement before I send back the original... though it ships from China. So I guess we'll see in 7-14 days whether the replacement works.

Well, it wasn't in May, but mine just arrived! Let's see how/if it works...

That’s so awesome. Amazing to see how far ML has pushed the life of these cameras.

Hey everyone, This week's brand new music tracks are: "FUNKY SIDEWALK ANTICS" https://soundimage.org/chiptunes-5/ "COSMIC CANDY CATCHERS " https://soundimage.org/sci-fi-15/ They're free to use in your projects, as always, with attribution, just like my thousands of other music tracks and sounds. ANOTHER 5-STAR RATING! My Game Music Mega Pack just received another 5-star rating...woo hoo! I'm so glad my fellow creatives are finding it useful! You can check it out here: https://soundimage.org/ogg-game-music-mega-pack/ One question people ask me sometimes is: "Why does the mega pack have around 1460 music tracks in it when your website has nearly 3000?" Answer: The mega pack has tracks intended for video games. My website has those as well, but it also has lots of tracks intended for video content creators, podcasters, etc. Genres like: Aerial/Drone, Events/Travel, Nature/Science, etc. That's why my website has more tracks in total than the music pack. Anyhow, I hope everyone is having a good week. As always, please stay safe and keep creating!

I am actually finding that I use open gate a lot, not for content creation or vertical video but just for a taller aspect ratio. And something in a rugged doc-ready form factor would be a huge asset - I'm getting sick of shooting video on a stills body. This puts the FX5 at the top of the list currently for me. Price of the body itself doesn't strike me as particularly unreasonable given that it will hold its value, but its the accessories (the cards, new adapters, etc) that make the whole switch to E-mount dreadful right now. It's also hard to pull the trigger when the S1HII is overdue.

The dev who is working on it said that it would be easy to port to the 5D3, but he doesn't have one to work with. From my limited experimentation, it seems to be on par with Crop Mood, which was never as solid as the 5D3 (I still have mine). You can still overload the buffer and have the camera stop recording by pointing it at a very bright light in the higher resolution modes. Turning off global draw seems to help avoid this. The other thing I've noticed is that sometimes the preview goes dark after finishing a recording or powering on. The histogram is still in motion, but there's no image on the screen. Power cycling brings it back. It's probably still much easier to use than a real 16mm camera -- that's how I'm looking at it.

That's really cool! Wish someone would update the 5D3 with that UI! I see on the GitHub, it says stable build. How stable is it? The only time I ever had an issue with my 5D3 was when I ran the experimental 4K builds or the compressed MLVs. The last nightly build I used worked just as well as any camera I ever purchased.

I’m actually seriously considering going over to Sony for stills at least, purely due to the lenses and the FX2 is a contender, but the A7RV more likely. It’s lenses. L Mount still does not have viable contender for: 28-70 f2 50-150 f2 70-180 f2.8 OK, there is the Sigma 28-45 f1.8 and the 28-105 f2.8 but the pairing of Sony’s 28-70 for mainly indoor work and their 50-150 for outdoor, would be a dream single body set up for me. Most likely Megadapted on a Z8 body… But then again, all L Mount need to do to retain me is produce at least a longer focal range sibling to the 28-45 f1.8 and I’ll be a happy boy.

I agree. I had an EOS-M when it was first hacked, sold it, and then broke my own rule and bought it again when Crop Mood hit. Now I have two of them: one built up, and one bare bones. And the developers are improving it all the time -- especially lately. Have you checked out Amit's new builds? They are based on Bilal/Danne's last release so they are seemingly just as stable, if not a little more-so. But the new UI is great, and he seems to be unlocking a new feature every day!

I have one URSA Cine 12K just waiting for... ;- )

One of my fave ones ever! : ) I have 4x units of them (the perfect steal for 100 bucks each ; ) and am usually recommending it as a primary cine camera for every newbie willing to pursue a career in this industry ;- ) - EAG

Canon EOS-M with Magic Lantern in 1:1 mode. These are the resolutions currently available: 3072 × 1308 2880 × 1226 2560 × 1440 2520 × 1080 2160 × 1620 (doesn't work with a monitor plugged in) 1920 × 1280 Yes, there's a major crop. And yes, it is possible to overload the buffer with the 3K and 2.8K modes when shooting 12-bit. And rolling shutter is pretty terrible. But it's a digital 16mm camera with 1:1 readout that shoots raw. Practically no moire or aliasing. And a beautiful image (one of my favorites right now, bar none). Plus, one developer has been making major updates to the UI and simplifying the menus in the past 2-3 weeks. It's like a whole new camera.

Pentax Q and Nikon J1 are worth a look for 1080p and absolute smol size with fast aperture primes

I like it. These little primes are much easier to focus than some other lenses I have, including the expensive focus-by-wire lenses -- but I do manual focus by default so ymmv.

I ordered one, should be here by tonight.

At this point, I am pretty sure that I'll still be asking for it next January - and the January after that. 😉 It makes some sense that BMD would bring all of those upgrades to two of their most popular cameras first - now let's just hope that they don't leave the higher-end stuff out. Judging by their last set of announcements, there is some hope for new features coming to the Ursa LF, given that they're focused so heavily on pushing it into the broadcast market, but I could also see them pulling most of the people working on camera firmware and shoving them over into the firmware that runs on their boxes that are designed to fit in a server rack (the main focus of their recent announcements).

Yeah : D Get a good excuse and go for it! : ) And let us know what you think about it afterwards! ; ) We are all ears... Quite a temptation indeed, to say the least :- X

Sure : ) That's actually how this thread started back in January, and I updated it again in March with the 9.9.2 firmware update : ) So yes, PDAF itself isn't the new part here. What I meant by "quite an update" was 10.2.2 as a whole (and AF finally graduating from beta), especially "10-minute pre-record" and all on the "Same hardware" (which is why those were the two bits I put in bold), that's the news! No need for a new camera ; ) alongside 4-channel audio, Cloud Streaming and the rest. And yes, you were already asking for the URSA Cine 12K LF back in January... let's see if that one comes next ; - )

Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro are now $100 off everywhere. It's still on the pricey side for an action camera, but my Insta360 One R/RS's are getting older/a little beat up and the batteries seem to be showing signs of age too. I'm not sure how this person did such a deep dive on the imaging pipeline, but it was an interesting read. https://gethypoxic.com/blogs/technical/gopro-mission-1-gp3-image-pipeline Info on the sensor: https://www.sony-semicon.com/files/62/flyer_industry/IMX06A-AJ1R-J_Flyer.pdf (Also saw that Sony now has a 247 megapixel MF sensor while digging that up, that's a lot of dots)

FWIW, PDAF has been in beta on the CC 6K for like a year or more now and reviewers were saying that it was working great. This release just formalizes it as released. My hope now is that BMD will finally follow through on their statements that PDAF coming to other omdern cameras, including the Ursa LF. That and 4-channel recording would be a nice update for it.

I'd be interested in testing it. I currently have a Nubia Z60U which is capable of capturing 4k 60P RAW without any dropped frames using Motioncam. So, yes, this phone is a power horse!