All Activity

According to Brandon Talbot, Nikon is working on fixing H.265 and adding RED Log3G10 as an option for it besides N-LOG. That will make the camera tremendously more useful for the majority of normal users who don't always want to shoot R3D NE.

I vacillate between being a cynic and a nihilist, so where on the spectrum would "F these kinds of dudes in this BS society" fall?

I half expected him to retire into YouTube Apple product reviews, as that would bring in much more dollars than pixel peeping Sonys.

Luckily photography/videography are my hobby so my decisions don't need to make any sense... so I just bought a new-in-box Nikon ZR & a 40mm f/2, both for 30% off. Same store had a Megadap ETZ21 Pro for half price. So far having a blast with the camera.. I like the form factor a lot and the screen is just exciting, both the IBIS & AF are easily better than my Fujifilm X-H2s. The H.265 is definitely subpar, but it's still ok for social media use because once it's 1080p on a phone, anything will look good. You should buy things the way they are now, but I sure am hoping they'll bring a firmware update to bring the H.265 to the same level as in the Z6III.

Great write up and thanks for making the effort. I can see that shooting the Alexa with a neutral / clean lens with deeper DOF and crushing the whites / blacks and it not having carefully sculpted lighting etc would mean it would be an easier act to follow for MFT. As I see it, the limitations of the GH5 compared to the Alexa would be the colour science on skin tones etc, DR, and shallower DOF with character lenses.. most of which weren't significant in how it was shot. I have no experience with an Alexa but I've heard that it's a two/three person camera and that operating it solo is difficult. When I think about things like that, combined with the weight and form factor, I can really understand how limiting it would be to operate compared to how fast the GH5 etc are. I do have some idea about coverage and how incredibly demanding actual "real" productions are. When I analysed Parts Unknown and saw the quantity and quality of shots required for a 40 minute episode I was blown away. Most shots were professional but not incredible, but there were something like 1000 of them in each finished episode. Which they manage to get in something like 5 days on location. I suspect the speed and flexibility difference between the Alexa and GH5 is really a microcosm of the DSLR Revolution. Sure, some of that would be shooting style from the operators and some would be camera choice (ARRI made the Amira for being much more portable/faster) but even between an Amira and GH5, if the goal was getting as much acceptable quality coverage as quickly as possible then the lighter camera has the edge for sure. Pair it with one of those tripods where a single mechanism releases all the joints simultaneously and you'd be able to really cover a scene very quickly. I remember doing a graphic design course back in the day and they said that you can use whatever stock images you like for your projects, and as long as they don't actually clash with the theme of your project then no-one will notice. Since hearing this I have paid attention to such things and it's definitely true - the graphics really don't have to be related at all. I suspect b-roll is partly like this too, as long as you have someone talking and include things that are vaguely related to the subject then it'll work like forgettable eye candy to keep the viewers attention. The Kuleshov Effect is working in your favour for sure. I love the quote "kids love colour and motion" which I think was from a movie and used very sarcastically, but I suspect some of the purpose of b-roll is just to keep that part of our brain from getting bored while we're listening to the person say the thing. Of course, there is an art to it for sure and talented people will be shooting and making edits that create magic by being a lot more than the sum of their parts. Great to hear you were able to navigate the politics and that the end result was a success in the eyes of the boss. Going back to the ARRI takeover and strategy, the fact that ARRI created the Alexa Mini as a 'special use' camera and then everyone switched to it for the whole production says (to me at least) there's a demand for smaller camera packages. It would be amazing if the new management didn't realise this and see what they can do with smaller bodies still. I'm sure ARRI would have a good idea about sales figures for things like the RED Komodo and Komodo-X etc, which are very small, which must further emphasise the demand for smaller packages. I understand that cinema cameras potentially do things like heat/cool the sensor so it's at the optimum temperature and this requires size/weight for the mechanisms and also significant battery power too, so maybe making things smaller is more difficult than we'd imagine. I like to point out to people that the GH7 has a lot more stuff in it than the smaller cameras people compare it to (IBIS, cooling, internal RAW, etc), but in this case we're comparing mirrorless cameras with cameras that literally have heaters in them, so it's not a straight comparison by a long shot.

After reading the newsshooter article, I think the Vega h2 is a really cool camera with lots of neat features, but I'm definitely skeptical about the sensor and color and stuff.

I'm pretty sure that the Mavo Mark II LF is using IMX410. It's a great sensor which is why it's been used in so many cameras since it was introduced in 2018. But that's also exactly the problem. It's in a lot of cameras already. Sell it at $1,500 and it's interesting as a budget play. Sell it at $3,000 and you're going up against the EOS R5, Nikon Z8, Red Komodo, Nikon ZR, Panasonic S1 II, and EOS R6 Mark III. IMO, every one of those sensors that's at least equal to the IMX410. They also support 10-bit internal recording that doesn't look like ProRes 4444 (I think that's the only 12-bit format available on Kinefinity right now). Of course, it's also up against the much cheaper Z Cam E2-F6 and E2-F6 Mark II which also use IMX410. The form factor is enticing, but a ZR is even smaller and also has a big flippy 4" screen. And internal raw. And really good autofocus. And costs around $1,000 less. Just like with some of the other cameras that have been announced recently, the question to ask not just "What makes me buy this over the other cameras on the market?" - but it's also "What makes me buy this over a camera I already have?"

There is nothing on their web site about it either.The full specs don't seem to be finalised yet,it looks like an entry level camera for them so logically the sensor is already used in their existing line up.Their Mavo MkII full frame body start around US $6,000 they are aiming at getting this to market at around US $3000 .

Nice Storyblocks ad read in the middle of a video where he claims to be retiring, but then says he's just not going to make (as much) camera content as before. And then claims that the brands never paid him for reviews - guess he bought all those fancy Aputure lights himself and reviews calling the Amaran Halo series "UNBEATABLE" had no gear or money changing hands, 'cuz, y'know Amaran Halos are the pinnacle of video lighting technology... (Saw a couple used on set, they were fine - didn't seem bad or anything, but "unbeatable?" Yeaahhhhh Ooooookaaaayyyy) Also, the part where he says that he will now feel free to take gear given to him by camera brands because he's "retiring" from reviews. 🤣🤣🤣 Ohhh, and then he says he will make paid "showcase" videos for brands, but will limit it to short form content. Wow. What a "retirement."

"Talking about products I don’t actually care about but that I think will draw more views or earn me a bunch of money. I don’t want a portion of my house to be essentially be a shrine to cameras.” Turns out he didn't give a shit.

Looks cool, but I'm surprised that I can't find any info on frame rates or anything. As the first reply says, if it's the typical IMX410 then it's not interesting to me. I do love that it uses a generic battery and interchangeable lens mount.

Nice try, GoPro, but $699.99 is not as "less than $700" as I meant. So it is in "I'm gonna wait for this to be in the hands of real people" and not "Why the heck not put in a preorder?" territory. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1964095-REG/gopro_mission_1_pro_ils.html

Sure, I'll give you a deep dive. I'll also vent a little. You might imagine there would be some worry matching footage, but for this project, surprisingly not really much of a big deal. We had worked with the Alexa footage for months, so I didn't fret at all that a GH5 would do the pick ups. Why? None of the Alexa footage was shot with a deep consideration for the lighting. It was all very workman-like. And the "eye" of the shooter was decent, but average. That's really the biggest thing. Anyway, the cinematographer and director decided to bring a rigged out Alexa to a run-and-gun-available-light shoot. The dudes are older gents and they just felt like "the best" camera was the logical tool to use. Not true, honestly, but you couldn't convince the cinematographer of that notion. Which is kind of a legacy mentality with older guys, but that's what happened. There was a political element here too. It's a decent budgeted doc so the "shot on ARRI" rhetoric was desired. Okay, so the main reason re-shoots were required: there weren't a lot of compelling shots that could juice the narrative. The footage was decent to look at, but not dynamic. The cinematographer really couldn't get around easy with this big 'ol rig and sticks. Interesting things would happen situationally with the characters, but he would unfortunately deliver a single shot when dozens were needed for a good edit. He'd just end up being burned out physically as the day went along and couldn't move into interesting places for useful footage. Ultimately, a big powerful camera was being underutilized because of "reasons". An Alexa camera delivers nice footage, of course, but when you're pointing it into blown out skies and shooting mid-day with it on the regular, it's not like it'll give you miraculous results. Here's the other rub that had me slapping my forehead, the cinematographer and the director really like the crushed blacks sort of color grade. And they didn't mind the whites being blown, so... That's a style that was typical a few decades ago, right? Well, you're taking a 14 stop Alexa, throwing away a ton of information, and delivering 9 stops for the final project? That's certainly a look. And Michael Mann loves it as well. But then, why the hell spend the $$ on an Alexa in the first place? Now, in this story you're getting a bunch of bias from a guy that spent my entire career as a one-man-band. If my background was from the more collaborative perspective of traditional filmmaking, I suppose a lot of this wouldn't even stick in my craw. Don't discount my naivete'. As for lenses, the cinematographer was using a very clinical variable. Ziess cinema Zoom 28 - 80 mm. And he liked f5.6. Great lens, but neutral character to it with how it was used, so when we went out for more footage I slapped my Olympus 12-40 on my GH5, packed a few ND's, and went with that. At the end of the day, it turned into an effective modest film. Could have been better, wasn't a disaster. imo, it was too verbose and that ends up being a slog, but all that talky stuff appeals to people that vibe on the themes of the film. And while the film doesn't stretch to get beyond that sort of thing, the director is happy with it, so all's well that ends well.

I'd expect 10-bit H.265/HEVC. ProRes isn't impossible, but I'd still think of it as a long shot. I wouldn't place any bets on any form of raw video. But for this form factor and anything that I'd use it for, 10-bit H.265 would be absolutely fine. For me, the two use cases would be a pocketable 16mm-like camera with C mount and D mount lenses - and a super telephoto camera to pair up with an EF mount adapter. With a 2.7-3x crop factor (smaller than normal 1" sensor), the EF 100-400 turns into a like a 280-1120. Will the center of the image circle be sharp enough to resolve a full 8K? Don't care, if it makes a half decent 4K, that'll be plenty.

Seems impressive. Checking out their press release there's some great stuff. It says raw photo saving but only a mention of high bitrate video, not what codec it uses. Lots to love with this one. https://gopro.com/en/us/news/gopro-announces-three-cameras-mission-1-2026

The Verge posted a 95% useless hands on video where they just kind of show the camera hardware and show it powered on (but with none of their own video), but near the end, they finally get to one of the things I was most interested in - there is indeed an HDMI port (micro HDMI (🤮), but it's better than nothing). Assuming that the latency is decent, maybe this really could be the Super 16 pocket camera that I've been waiting for!

What to think about it? It's a lot of beauty shots of a boxy camera with a lot of buttons, and apparently has some menus - from a company who made a Micro 4/3 cinema camera that I thought nobody bought, but judging by B&H having a used one for sale, I was wrong at least once. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1733741-REG/bosma_dc0201_g1_pro_camera.html But $3,500 for a Micro 4/3 camera with poor dynamic range from a mostly-unknown manufacturer was always going to be a hard sell - especially with the Komodo now costing $500 less brand new. This new camera is up against some really tough competition from other vendors, both new and used. It will need to have features a lot better than the others or have "good enough" features and compete a lot harder on price than the G1 did.

Your other option is wait and see if Viltrox make their Nexus focus in a Nikon version or if Tilta do one.That would give auto focus to your manual lenses ,so far the focus speeds on the Sony version look pretty decent.The AF-S 85mm f1.8 has a good reputation and I have got some decent footage out of the Cheap Samyang 85mm T1.5 the manual Nikkor 105mm f2.5 is easy to find.

Well I came, I saw. I chickened out. Bought a secondhand ZFc with a kit lens. Effectively, I confidently walked in to get the 64 Strat in classic white with triple single coil pickups and a whammy bar…and walked out with a banjo. Went from getting a forever camera to getting a foralittlewhile camera. I had an FM2 when I was a kid and this drew me in as did the £450 price. The Z8 will have to wait but…

And I don’t think anyone would anywhere these days with ‘lower tier’ kit now being so good.

ARRI has the secret life essence -there is strong parallels with this scene from Dr. Strangelove !

Fascinating, and reassuring too. This is why I concentrated on colour grading - the hardware was good enough and the gap was squarely with me. Can you shed any light on what colour grading / image processing was done to get an acceptable match? Was there any particular way you shot with the GH5, or lenses etc you used in order to get it to match? I would think (if it was me) that going out shooting with a GH5 knowing it would have to be intercut with Alexa footage would trigger lots of thinking about how to best go about it so it would be good enough.