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I'm looking into semi-retirement. Weirdly, not because of the jobs I'm getting or not getting, but because my niche of freelance corporate gigs is definitely on the way out. It's the devaluing of video production in general. With video now, everyone does it. Quite literally. Anyone with a new'ish phone camera is on the other side of a gate. A gate that's been blocking people for over a century of motion picture creating. Phone IQ is really good. AI can help generate a ton of stuff with low effort/high reward. Canva is a thing. Online tutorials explain production concepts. Creative info flows like a torrent. Hobbyists are better than careerist, etc. etc. None of that looks like it'll affect me in 2026. I have 3 clients with semi-large gigs that'll get me through. Maybe they come around again in 2027? Perhaps. What value can I offer them? A certain confidence in problem solving they require? Sure. For now. However, for one of the clients specifically, I could easily do via AI in a day what it's gonna take me a week to do in a studio. So, yeah, I'm not gonna reveal that my client that yet, but still, that reality is here. At this point, as a documentarian filmmaker on my CV, that's the thing I feel I can do without AI stealing it away, but, man, not exactly a bunch of people out there have EVER made lucrative careers outta being a documentarian filmmaker. I mean, I'm decent at this sort of stuff, but I'm not, like, an elite creative, you know? No ones ever gonna watch a doc I've made (yet) and walk away thinking, "Wow, I need to make sure to see what that guy is going to do next." Hell, even the elite creatives in the documentary world barely make a living at it. Looking back I kind of feel like I should've gone all-in on sports-video production when I had the chance 30 years ago. Live event broadcasting will stick around for awhile. Other than that, I'm an older married guy without kids that has acquired some in-demand-assets throughout my younger days, so the wife and I do, luckily, have some things to help us through the final few decades of life. Then again, 3 more decades of late-stage capitalism? Gotta wonder about that too.

I'd have to dig mine out to see what it is - but it's EF mount so usable on a speed booster. 🙂 (But still more expensive than cutting some cardboard)

Hi, So how is your business going this year? I feel overall companies are spending less. Not too many jobs out there I feel. It feels like 2008 over here. Not sure how you guys are doing, where, how, what. Thanks,

The Blazar Mantis is an interesting lens, and does reduce the weight from 1.3kg down to 800g but the SB+50/1.8 is only 350g, so pretty hard to beat. Plus the Mantis is probably 20-50x more expensive! The Lensbaby Double Glass has a replaceable aperture, but is 50mm F2.8 so on MFT equivalent to a 100mm F5.6 so pretty slow when compared to the Voigt+Sirui combo which is equivalent to a 68mm F1.5, or the SB+50/1.8 which is equivalent to a 71mm F2.6. I'm actually quite impressed at how much stretch and how consistent it was with the insert at the rear of the lens. I'm guessing this is where a 3D printer would come in perfectly, as I could rapid-prototype a completely custom insert for it. No matter, I'm sure I can do a reasonable job with some cardboard and a sharp knife.

How did topic turn out to be? Seems like this is best camera in the market right now?

It's true - that's a decent experience. DJI Transmission to their high bright monitor also seems to be higher quality with similar/less lag than my Hollyland Pyros. But I've had glitches/problems with all of them in the past, especially in the sort of areas where my phone shows like 40 wifi networks. The biggest problem for me is that if wireless is the only option, when it's not working, you're just SOL. It can work perfectly for weeks or months, but none of it matters if it breaks down on the day when you're shooting something that matters.

I wonder what wizardry DJI made with the DJI Pocket 3 - because using a phone with DJI Mimo App as an monitor using wifi have almost no lag. Is amazing.

I'm still on the other side of this one. My most used lens while traveling on my GFX 100 II (and previously on my GFX 100) is the 32-64/4. Except when Etosha NP, where it was the 500/5.6 (sometimes with the teleconverter). Most used apertures on the 32-64/4 are all in the f/5.6-11 range. There aren't a lot of landscapes where I need to be at f/2.8 or faster and for environmental photos of myself or my partner (or both of us together) in places, the phone does fine - and if I do take it with the real camera, shooting at f/2 will definitely let somebody know that we were in a place with certain abstract impressionist colors seeming like a meadow or forest or lake behind us. For an upcoming trip to Thailand where I'd like to travel lighter since we're moving around a lot, sleeping on trains, etc, I'm currently giving a lot of thought to just bringing the 50/3.5 and trying single lens life. I'm eager for the day when the GFX 100RF is a lot less expensive on the used market.

Yes, just a one shot fixed-lens model in the X100 body or similar. Any other strategy would confuse their own customer base. Right now, they have some very clear buyer differentiation in the extremely expensive MF and the fragmented APS-C lines. So a FF body makes sense but only as a curiosity for the deep-pocketed aficionado.

Indeed which was why for stills anyway, my 3 most recent cameras have been; S1R 47mp, A7RV 61mp and now S1RII 44mp. I do wish Panny had gone with/been able to use the 61mp sensor from the Sony also used in the Leica SL3 because those 15mp do allow a fair bit more cropping, but hey ho. I have mine set up for Hybrid Zoom and whatever they call the the equivalent for zooms at the 1.4x crop setting so something like my 28-70 becomes a 28-98 and a 50mm f1.8, a 70 and that’s a really good option to have in camera at a flick of a switch. For next season, I am probably going to pick up the Sigma 28-105mm f2.8 as a ‘one & done’ for stills because with hybrid mode engaged, it becomes almost a 150mm lens and allows me to do away with switching to an even bigger and heavier 70-200 and that is a big deal. 24-70 + 70-200 vs 28-105(-147)= A. No lens swaps B. More range in a single lens C. Less weight than a 70-200 and less than 1/2 the weight compared with the duo D. Costs less I don’t think there is a Fuji equivalent so it would be a lens pairing again and medium format for me is now dead unless we ever see something like an f2.8 RF, but I’d prefer to see a fixed lens S1RII rangefinderesque body a la Q3.

That would make more sense than starting a whole new lens system IMO. Just make a body in the $2500 range and loads of people will come in. Add to it a fast f2 prime that isn't gigantic (I'm ok with in-camera software corrections) and I think it would be way cheaper than making and marketing a new system. There's already so much confusion for the limited number of consumers left buying cameras. I would say a FF point and shoot would make more sense for them. It would also sell really well IMO.

Business wise, its way easier for them to make lower priced MF body than start a FF body from scratch and face 3 giants right out of the gate. Also it sends a wrong message to their customers: "both APSC and MF we pushed all these years, aren't best choices, either in image quality or practicality".

The GFX 100 RF has a great sensor but it's a bit pointless to have a sensor size advantage only to shoot at F4 max. The sensor size advantage = better low light, a more shallow depth of field, more character from the lens - all of that F4 works against. And the sensor size of the 100 RF comes with a big premium. So you're paying quite a lot extra for no advantage. Much better to have a full frame + F2 combo unless you really need 100 megapixel - but then who wants such a large sensor only to crop down to Micro Four Thirds framing? My beloved GFX 100 is at its best when you can ignore all the slow Fuji lenses and put a Minolta MD 50mm F1.4 on there.

I really like this shape in the bokeh. It reminds me of 1950s graphic designs.

If that's the direction you're going, have you considered a Blazar Mantis? It's a 1.33x squeeze and has an internal oval aperture to give what they claim to be closer to a 2x bokeh look. I've looked at them a few times and I personally find their bokeh to be a turnoff, but a bunch of people seem to like them. Otherwise, it might be worth looking into whether any currently-shipping lenses allow a waterhouse aperture. I had a modern Petzval for a bit that did. If it's a waterhouse, you could put tape over the biggest and cut out any shape you want for the bokeh. I think lensbaby have one or more lenses which have both a standard round aperture and a hole for inserting bokeh-shaping cutouts. I might even have one around year somewhere from around 12 years ago that I've only used a few times - not for the bokeh cutout, but because the front element of it is on something like a ball head so it can be unlocked and moved freely around to get all Scheimpflug-gy(?).

I shot a lot with the GH7 + Voigt 42.5mm F0.95 + Sirui 1.25x adapter while in China and Hong Kong and loved the setup, both for the images and also the ergonomics and use, but the combo is heavy. The glass is 1.3kg and with the GH7 the rig is over the 2kg mark (4.4lbs). While I felt like a total bad-ass wielding the rig, and the coolness factor of shooting street scenes with hand-held anamorphic is in-arguably off the charts, it wasn't perfect. The bokeh isn't that stretched from a 1.25x squeeze factor, and does exhibit a certain amount of swirl, I was wondering if there was a spherical alternative that would be considerably less weight to drag around the world. This is a first experiment in that direction. GH7 + M42-MFT Speedbooster + Meyer-Optik Görlitz 50mm F1.8, but with two small additions: Yes, these are small cutouts of the sticky part of a post-it note stuck directly to the rear element of the glass. These sit between the lens and speed booster. I've tried putting cutouts onto the front of the lens (on a space UV filter) and the results are underwhelming. This, however, looks incredible and is much more consistent in the shape of the bokeh throughout the frame. Obviously the shape isn't ideal, as I should round it slightly and especially round the corners, but as a proof of concept, this looks promising. More complex scenes: Of course, these are open-gate images, and this is definitely bokeh that deserves widescreen.... and with the best grade I could manage in the Mac image Preview tool, we get this: There is definitely something here. More to come for sure.

All hail the Nikon ZR 4 inch rear LCD

Looks like it supports a wired connection. If using the phone as a monitor in most places, that's preferable. In any sort of urban area, congestion in the 2.4ghz and 5ghz zones makes wifi monitoring frustrating - it'll be working perfectly for an hour and then as soon as you start to roll a take, it's either stuttering or turning into a work of impressionist art. Otherwise, apps like it (without a number of the features like storyboarding, etc) have existed for other cameras for a whlie. The Z Cam mobile app is so good that it makes you angry at every other camera vendor (it also supports wired connection). But yet, most users end up still using monitors - among other things because notifications popping up while filming is distracting - and just about everything on set needs a damn app these days and that gets annoying when that app needs to run on what is now your camera's monitor. The main place I've ended up using this sort of app is for travel - for building out a minimal rig, it's fantastic to pack just a little phone clamp and not have to think about an external screen and some np-f's.

Everything attached to this camera eclipses the body 😄

Hi, yesterday panasonic finally released the firmware uodate and lumix flow update for the s5ii. I really like the app. Setup time is also fast. As this might replace my shinobi ii for travel purposes. Allthough I need to test how long batterylife of my smartphone is while using lumix flow. Not sure if there are any other drawbacks. But apps like these could give external monitor brands a hard time. Or at least in the consumer section. Cheers

Yes it would, especially if it was high megapixel to allow extensive cropping either in camera or in post. The RF100 came so close for me other than the f4 lens. An f2.8 would have swung it for me but high MP sensors are a good thing IMO. I built my career off Nikon and then Fuji so have a soft spot for them both so like to see them do well. Also, I prefer rangefinderesque style bodies over SLR style humped blocks and whilst L Mount has them in Leica and Sigma flavour, I wish the old Panasonic Pony of Hope would ride into town on one. The Fuji X Pro2 was the camera I probably owned the longest and shot the most work on.

It's time https://www.eoshd.com/news/why-its-time-for-fujifilm-to-go-full-frame/ And a full frame X100 without the RX1 III or Leica Q price tags would be fabulous thank you.

It is the pipeline, of course... :- )

Love this. I remember as a teenager I used to translate everything to CDs - how many albums I could buy with the money I was evaluating. +1. My own experience of buying from Japan on eBay is similar to this. There are always examples of scammers / criminals / misrepresentation / bad behaviour from every culture. I think that it's precisely because the Japanese have such a good reputation for this that the few examples of misrepresentation that have happened get blown up and repeated far more than they might from other countries. I've bought quite a number of lenses that were cheap because they had fungus or haze or some other issue, and I consistently found with the Japanese listings that when I received the lenses and really examined them (especially against a strong light source) that the issues I discovered were almost always completely described by the Ebay listing. I suspect I might have had one surprise from a Japanese listing where something was misrepresented, but the level of deception was what you'd sensibly assume to be true on every other listing from any other place basically. From everywhere else, "buyer beware" is just being sensible.

That doesn't make sense. Tweaking sensor can't happen in few months, and it will be so expensive that it would be more feasible to make a new sensor from scratch. I don't believe they're different sensors. But the pipeline has been changed for sure. Maybe a new debayer algorithm and chroma noise reduction provided by RED is implemented.