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I, for one, would like to welcome Zhiyun's marketing team and/or their spam bot to this forum. As to that specific light, if it doesn't come in an ugly leather case and have Cam Mackey's signature all over the light and all of its accessories, is it even worth considering?

End of 2026? Djeez, even released today it would be underwelming.

Hey all, I’ve been shooting mostly with natural light for a long time, and honestly never thought too much about artificial lighting. Lately though, especially when shooting indoors, I’m starting to feel like light control might matter more than I gave it credit for. Not even talking about fancy setups — just having a consistent light source seems to make framing and exposure a lot less stressful. At the same time, I’m still not sure how far I actually need to go with this, or if it’s easy to overthink lighting as a hobby shooter. While browsing around, I ran into the Zhiyun X200 RGB. I haven’t used it, just saw it mentioned a few times. Has anyone here tried it or looked into it? Does it make sense for photography, or is it mainly a video light? And do you actually end up using the RGB part, or mostly keep it on white? Would love to hear how you guys think about lighting in general.

And now the ZRc: Fourth quarter of 2026 is too late, or something lost in translation. Z30/Z50II sensor at that point is lame. No IBIS is shame, and 4k60 with crop on APSC is unacceptable. But why its not Z30II? Doesn't make sense.

Yes you’re right about the 2x. I was doing quick math and then it was too late to edit once i realized my mistake. If you watch the video link above Ed shows the results of the Saturn + adapter combo. It kind of accentuates the pin cushion distortion a bit unfortunately and creates some funky edges but it’s all very personal about what is character and what is a flaw. I think for the size, weight, close focus and ease of use the Blazar Nero is still my choice of low budget semi DIY. Still will pick up a Sirui 1.25x whenever i find one cheap enough though. The rear 82mm threads work better for larger lenses while the Nero 52mm threads are the perfect fit for older vintage taking lenses like my Kowa R’s and Topcon glass. The Sirui Nightwalker lenses are going for $180 each on ebay right now and they fit really well with the 1.25x adapter. I think that’s a super good deal for a tight little S35 kit for a mild anamorphic look. Sony shooters still have no open gate so a great kit for the fx30 etc… I’ll probably pick up a set now that the shilltubers have moved on to the newest releases and these are old news.

AI is not a person or a human being and it doesn't share evolutionary history or biological safeguards with us. It's therefore more unpredictable what it might do. I share a lot of the concerns you express in your article. It's worth following what Bernie Sanders has been saying about AI and the impact on the workforce and that the benefits of AI should be shared among all of humanity and not concentrated in the hands of a few ultra-rich people. Although Musk has been claiming that work becomes optional in the future and there can be universal income that allows us to do anything we want but everything that the big seven companies and their billionaire owners have been doing suggests that they only care about power and getting even more rich and are not at all likely to share the riches with the people. What in their past and current behavior would make anyone believe this would ever change, without society and its political leaders forcing a change? Musk seems to think he is player 1 in a computer simulation (the world) and so everything that happens is part of a game and an adventure to him. World destroyed? No matter. Restart simulation. As long as he gets to try to get to make it to the next level (Mars) in the game, that's all that matters. We are all just extras in the game. What concerns me the most is that in the race for Mars and superpowerful AI, the Earth's environment, the climate, and its people are sacrificed and yet Mars is and will likely always remain hostile and unsuitable for human life, so all that we have could be sacrified on a useless and pointless goal by a person who doesn't have all the birds at home. The situation is a clear demonstration of why individual wealth must be limited and redistributed when it gets out of hand.

Cancelled my EM1X order. I was definitely interested, but turns out Viltrox speed boosters don’t work in video AF on Olympus bodies 😕 I am contemplating a G9 II instead or simply holding out with my Nikon Z6 for a while more. End tangent. I don’t wanna derail this thread haha.

Hahahaha yep. I’m iceman and I shoot on Nikon

Thanks for chipping in. Yes Pocket og II would do really well. I actually have had so much fun shooting with it since the video and will have more stuff to put out soon. Watch this space. When I say it is so much fun, it is actually very inspiring just taking it with me wherever I go with a few batteries and capturing life happening around me. It is a great storytelling tool. Take care and have a great holiday everyone.

Appreciate it. Thanks for watching

Iceman, is that you? You can be my wingman anytime.

No information is available on the technology used... because there's a remote control: so it needs power to activate, right? Some people think that "electronic" means electro-optical, like Panavision's LCD or Sony's: being placed so far from the sensor could also cause vignetting, so it won't be as effective.

Combining the adapter with the 1.6x lenses could be an interesting strategy if it can deliver decent results. It might provide just enough funkiness to make things sing. I believe the combination would actually result in a 2X final squeeze, at least on paper.

People complain about Liquid Ass but continue to buy $1000 phones, continue to reward these shady techno-aristocrat run companies with $$$, continue to gobble down the AI slop and streaming hot turds every evening. Think back to 2007. A lot of shit started going badly after the first iPhone was released. The smartphone is a very sharp tool that has now been sabotaged by sadistic capitalist death cult profiteer weirdos. The effect on our societies has been like giving a flamethrowers with no safeties to toddlers. No oversight. No reflection. No thinking. Now every-other-thing is some kind of scam, Ponzi scheme, or malicious wealth extraction tool.

An option some people have been doing is to double down on these and put the 1.25x adapter from Sirui on the front to give you a 1.7x stretch. They are pretty cheap now at $275 and give you a bit more anamorphic mojo. I’m looking for one myself right now because they also make for a really cheap front VD if you remove some of the optics. There are some 3D printed mods floating around the interwebs.

I ignored their videos the moment he started a video with "welcome back peta-philes"... that was a poor decision!

They do fit weddings very well. Having the dual native iso at 12,800 is a good way to fake having an internal ND filter cause when you go inside you can just put the ISO at 12,800 and leave the ND on lol

But yeah soooo many wedding filmmakers I’ve met use FX3s

Well count me as second then…I’m a wedding filmmaker and shoot on Nikon…and pretty soon will be shooting on Olympus unless I last minute decide I want a Panasonic G9 II instead of a cheap used EM1X I’m about to buy.

Wouldn't any new camera sales be heavily skewed to new releases?

I have the same vague impression, but I'm not sure. I never really went looking for it. But as you said, if there's some polarization, it stays consistent as the ND is dialed up or down. Definitely, it's one of the dangers of vND. Also with wide angle lenses during the day, the sky can end up looking funky and not just different.

I don’t know of anyone in my industry who does not shoot Sony. Except me, call sign Maverick.

The Sigma BF, from what I’ve seen so far, looks like a design-first camera that deliberately embraces limitations and a very specific tactile shooting experience. If your baseline is “fast, familiar, efficient, and feature-complete,” then yes, it can easily feel like a compromise for the money. But cameras built around constraints are often the ones people actually end up using, because they push you into a different pace and a different kind of attention. Calling it “bad” is basically mixing up “not optimized for my workflow” with “objectively worthless.” Same story with the Fuji X-Half. If it really ships as JPEG-only and is clearly marketed as a “fun,” frictionless camera, then the fair comparison is less “serious camera vs serious camera” and more “intentional point-and-shoot experience vs phone.” In that context, price becomes the whole argument: a fun toy is fine; an expensive fun toy is where people split. And wanting RAW isn’t necessarily pixel-peeping. It’s about long-term ownership, personal rendering, and not being locked into a single pipeline. Fuji could improve the proposition a lot with a smart firmware strategy (RAW/DNG, better HEIF options, more flexible output) without changing what the camera is supposed to be.

I hear the same thing. Most small and one man video production companies and teams use Sony FX3 and FX6 cameras plus Sony auto focus lenses. No manual focus or fancy anamorphic lenses. That explains why Sony doesn't care about open gate.