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All of the above. I think that the lessening of detail forces my brain to "fill in the blanks", making it more of an interactive set for me. And I have an emotional response to an espresso machine, which I usually wouldn't. Curious, does the front element rotate when focusing on this? I've held the same position for years but lately I've been learning to like it. Hard-edged bokeh is one of the big differentiators between modern and vintage glass.

From dealbreaker to game changer... ; )

Today I tested the Voigtlander 42.5mm and Helios 58mm F2.0 lenses with the Sirui 1.25x adapter. GH7 >> Voigtlander 42.5mm >> Sirui 1.25x adapter.. Wide open at F0.95: ...and more stopped down (I didn't have enough vND for this much light): GH7 >> M42-M43 Speedbooster >> Helios 58mm F2.0 >> Sirui 1.25x adapter There's a certain look to the Helios, but it's hard to separate it from the changing lighting conditions, and I wonder how much of the differences could be simulated in post too.. reducing contrast by applying halation / bloom, softening the edges, etc. In pure mechanical terms the Voigts go much better with the Sirui, and the extra speed is really handy, so that will probably be my preference over the Helios.

Thanks. If you like contrasty light, my next batch of images should please you! What is it about them you like? Is it how imperfect / degraded they are? They certainly have an incredible amount of feel, that's for sure. This zoom is the Tokina RMC 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 and I understand these were held in reasonably high regard back in the day, so it's potentially not a disaster, although I'm not sure that it's the sharpest / cleanest vintage zoom in the world. Looking back at the initial set of images I posted in my first post, this seems to have gotten the closest with the softness of the OOF areas and the CA / colour fringing etc.

Would you consider just upgrading to a used z6iii whenever it makes sense to financially? Just the fact that you’d be able to get arguably better internal recording than the atomos / not having to hook up the atomos all the time..

To me, these are my favorite images yet -- by a long shot. I may need to reconsider my position on vintage zooms!

Nice! The contrasty light makes this images much more interesting than the previous flat ones.

Disregarding the use of AI by professional filmmakers as a tool to make serious content, can I just say, fuck those same 2 voices reading garbage AI scripts in YouTube videos, and all generated images of celebrities. And especially fuck AI images of real landscapes and mountains on Facebook. The Grand Canyon doesn't look like that.

This is my presentation page on the website of the agency that represent me : https://bangger.com/realisateur/stephane-tranquillin/ I have other works I can't show or that aren't released yet, including some for major brands (French car brands, TV documentaries, etc).

Shot a quick test with the Tokina RMC 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 zoom wide open with the wide-angle adapter. Combined with Resolve Film Look Creator it's super super analog, and maybe a bit too analog for what I would find uses for. Still, interesting reference. GH7 shooting C4K Prores 422 >> M42-M43 SB >> Tokina 28-70mm >> cheap wide-angle adapter >> cheap vND Resolve with 1080p timeline: CST to DWG >> exposure / WB >> slight sharpening >> FLC >> export Personally I am not really a fan of the hard-edged bubble-bokeh and the flaring with strong light-sources in frame is too much for most of what I shoot (mostly exterior locations and uncontrolled lighting) but it's great to know that looks with this level of texture are possible. I'm keen to compare it to the setup but without the wide-angle adapter. That would be less degraded but maybe in the right kind of way.

Imo, you're describing two different strategic approches to AI. Yes, it's important for us to get familiar with it as a tool in our work - but there are also managers/execs, etc looking at AI as a way to cut costs, which includes human labor, at all levels of production. So the only people kind of protected at the moment are ones in unionized jobs... but of course even that is temporary.

Could you show me some of your a.i. works? IDK if with a.i. it's the same like ordinary filmmakers which make reels... Or could you show me some pro work made with a.i.?

Sounds good, can you name that specialized AI and the purpose it serves in your workflow? Thanks.

There's a lot of "well...." and "it depends" in there. - If you have a manual focus lens with FF gears on it, the R4D is infinitely better, in that it can do it at all (after you buy the focus gear for additional money and spend time calibrating the lens) - If the subject is within between 1.5m and 4m of the camera, the R4D might be better (it's really good here, but I haven't tested the S1R II which might also be very good there) - If there is haze in the air, the S1R II will probably be infinitely better. Haze reflects light which makes lidar throw up its hands and give up - If focusing closer than 1m or so, R4D can get weird because of parallax (the lidar unit sits above the lens - this becomes more relevant the closer you get) - If focusing more than 4-5m away with r4d, the lidar keeps doing alright until about 10m or so and then it just doesn't work at all and calls it infinity. This is fine with wider lenses, but awful with long lenses. That's probably also why the calibration doesn't understand that there are lenses longer than 100mm or so.

Same…one of my most used lenses for my Z6, an old Nikon 17-35 2.8, is not weather sealed lol, but there’s the 5% of times where it’d be nice for the body to be weather sealed.

As a filmmaker I've made the switch to specialize in Ai and I couldn't be more happy. Never worked this much. I think this is just another tool and we need to adapt. It won't replace everything but is able to make things easier sometimes. And the knowledge and skills I've had as a classic filmmaker are unvaluable to create compelling films. The basis is the same : what story I want to tell?

I don't know but wouldn't expect it to be much different and the Lumix might even be better. No evidence either way that I have seen or am aware of. But cost, size and ease of use. Obviously MASSIVE difference. I need AF for certain things and it's been more than goof enough with Lumix since the S5ii. For the times I don't need AF, I still tend to use it to acquire focus and then lock focus manually on the lens and when I've finished that scene, flick it back to AF. Same as turning cameras on and off after every clip or still, I do it subconsciously as in just trained myself to do this.

Ultimately a combo of trust/knowledge based on: build/lack of weather sealing + no mech shutter for stills + single card slot. Now arguably, 99.9% of my use, the lack of weather sealing/ultimate build quality, is not an issue. The single card slot isn't either as I have my S1Rii set up for stills to CF Express and video to SD. But mech shutter, or lack there of, dealbreaker. Probably with something like the Nikon Z8/Z9, it would not be an issue, but with the S9, it is. But then also to be fair, I didn't buy it for that, but simply tried it and it did not work so...

I presume the AF on the dji ronin 4d is better then the s1rii. Allthough not sure. Something I negletated over a decade, but now I realise how much time you save by using AF. So it moved up in my importance list. And is why I am also considering sony again, as they still seem to lead the pack in the AF department.

Well the prompting is not that easy, what sometimes you think is easy turns out in an horror challenge to get it somehow how you would like. It costs credits. Clients depend on your knowhow and experience to get it done. Similar like actual shooting, what is stopping them to get an camera and shoot it themselves. Time/costs

Just discovered that Minolta MD 35-70mm f3.5 is parfocal. 🙂

I agree, but if you're trying to make a living doing this, those were a lot of billable hours that are not going to be available anymore. I had a potential client reach out about a project and I sent her a quote. I never heard back and later saw on their socials an AI version of said project. I'd like to hear more about your experience because I can't quite grasp what the revision process would be like. I assume that you adjust your prompts based on client feedback, but does the client ever tell you exactly what prompts to use? And rather than trying to communicate their ideas, do they ever just generate their own AI imagery? At that point, I think I might have a difficult time justifying why I would still need to be involved.

Yep...that's my problem. I really want this to be my a-cam, but it only truly makes sense as a b-cam. Yes, it could be an a-cam. Heck, none of the blackmagic bodies are weather sealed and tons of people use them as a-cams. But something about the S9 just doesn't make me love it as an A-Cam. Now ironically, my Z6 + Ninja is technically not weather sealed because the Ninja V clearly is not water-protected, but at least the Z6 body is, so if needed I can strip it down and the body will survive. And the Z6 image still kicks butt. 10 bit NLOG below, skin tones came out great.

I considered getting one as my primary video unit but the cost plus the weight, but mainly the weight, put me off. Big time. I decided that for my needs, this would be a FAR better option full stop. And that is where it started and stopped for me, ie, massive overkill in so many ways…but for my specific use case which is a hybrid shooter. If I was pure video, it would be different and actually, I could see myself using one as a principal unit along with something static or semi-static.

If only it was lockable… I keep jogging it myself and then discovering I am shooting 1/80th or 1/125th when I have set 1/100th, but I suppose it is built to a price. I don’t mind needing a cage for video or a decent grip for photo so any next gen, the format is fine. I prefer modularity. I didn’t think the lack of a mech shutter would bother me, but it did when I tried using it for stills and got either quite a bit of jello effect and/or banding in certain lighting conditions. This reverted it for me to being a pure video unit. I would rather it was weather sealed but not a big issue for my needs. If it was going to be my only camera or camera type, it would need to be. I did almost sell it a couple of weeks back with that second S1Rii inbound, but then decided I might have taken my kit streamlining one body too far and it made more sense to keep it as at least backup due to the not so great trade in price. In the end, I decided to simply ‘repurpose’ my S9. That second S1Rii has not turned up in time for my next job I leave for later this day but when it does, both units will be fully hybrid use shooting 7.2k open gate and stills. My sole remaining S5ii with battery grip, lives on a sturdy video tripod and shoots 4k longer stuff where there is no fear of overheating or running out of card space or battery life. Not for my use. Just plain old reliable workhorse. I’d rather use the 6k mode, but for the 30 minute recording limit. My only crit for this unit. The S9 now lives on it’s very light but sturdy freestanding monopod (or lightweight tripod) for ceremonies and speeches and has 3 roles: longer fully stabilised clips, clips when I also need to shoot stills at the same time, gimbal mode (ie, highest e stab) and slow mo in 6k except for the latter two options which are about 2% of my needs. I think if I had sold it, I would have regretted it so now it has found it’s true role, I am even happier with it despite it’s limitations. Is it an A cam? It could be but not for me. It shines though as that second or third purpose unit where anything larger or bulkier would just be a pain. I miss my Zf and the A7RV I sold to go fully L Mount/Lumix, but have no regrets and genuinely am 100% happy with that decision with zero criticism of my new set up. It just works.