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As expected, Camera Conspiracies isn't a fan, comes complete with the expected boardroom sketch with a blonde wig.

And then there was one. 🤞

I think if I was in the camera reviewing game, I wouldn't either, but therein lies the problem with that scenario, - just how do you retain any kind of personal or perceived integrity if you only ever praise every single piece of kit launched without becoming an utter shill? Fortunately I don't have to and will never have to because I don't have and never will have an 'influencer' channel! But back on the FX2, I have watched a couple of reviews now and regardless of their personal opinion, I have made my own mind up and it's "not quite". I have become used to using 6k 30p open gate as my standard for over a year now. I like both the quality of the output and the relatively low size of the log file with Lumix. The OG gives me a decent option for post production 9:16 crop without having to make an entirely new social media short from scratch. The S5ii was good for this last year and the S9 is better (despite various shortcomings) for this year. Is a move to Sony or Nikon still on the cards for next year? Ideally yes, but purely because it's the only valid option for me and my specific needs and requirements and yes, I have looked at every conceivable option and continue to do so without it becoming an obsession. FX2 though? No. It's failure for me is the LCD & EVF. I haven't used an EVF for years, stills or video, - it's just too slow and clunky a way of working for me. Add on monitors etc also do not work for me so rear LCD is a critical part of my process. So I would personally not use or want the EVF of the FX2 and at the same time, that LCD res is just really quite poor, even compared with my S9. In fact other than build/body (but not glass options), the S9 is just a preferable option for me right now. ZV-E1 is on my radar but again, suffers from the same LCD woes. It bypassed me completely but the best Sony option for me right now would probably be the FX30 which has an excellent LCD which utterly shames that of this new FX2. The FX2 could have been a contender for me if they had simply skipped the EVF protrusion and had a decent LCD instead. And that right there, was and is the dealbreaker for me. Next move is over to Nikon. Please don't fuck this up. Make an FX3/30 style body with quality rear LCD, internal Z6iii spec with ability to bake in RED luts and we're probably golden. I can then use all my e Mount glass adapted with full AF and happy days will ensue. And I can then end my career back where it started, - with Neekon.

He doesn't want to ruin his relationship with the brands to the point they don't send him the new cameras twice as good as previous gen.

Took too long for me to edit my post! For nearly 10 years it has felt like Sony has had an impenetrable wall around the YouTube/influencer market, especially from like 2018 on. It's weird that we're seeing more people being more critical of them and some even defecting to other brands. Part of it you can chalk up to other brands playing catch up when it comes to working with the YouTuber/influencer types. You've definitely seen a lot more of that from Lumix and Nikon lately. But still, it makes you wonder if something has changed with Sony's marketing strategy, because I don't think that's enough for these people to start switching or being more critical of Sony unless Sony decided it would cater to them less. I'm a Lumix user. I think a lot of the criticism they've gotten has been overblown, especially the rolling shutter nonsense during the S1Rii release, but I also don't see too much in their recent releases that would have made me think that people would be ditching Sony for them. But in the last 6 months I've noticed more and more people are, and that criticism of Sony has been popping up more and more. It's really hard for me to believe it's just because these folks were just so blown away by the S1Rii and the S1ii releases, even though I think both are decent/good cameras (even if, in the S1ii's case it's a bit overpriced.)

This does seem to be the case and I am not sure exactly why… It could be they do have a really good spec and are one of the best tools (at least on the camera side of things) for the job, but then your average YouTube reviewer doesn’t need that beyond a point as very few of them seem to be full-time industry, but instead full-time YouTubers and as such, do not need half of what these cameras have. Sony have been somewhat slack recently by comparison and their cameras have been lacking in a few areas spec-wise, possibly artificially crippled to preserve the more pricey stuff. I have always thought Lumix’s marketing to be more than a bit shite, but maybe they are craftier than we thought and have been playing a longer game of getting influencers slowly but steadily to their cause over the last few releases… Until fairly recently, you had to already be in the Lumix club before being invited to a launch but now it seems that is not the case. Fair play to them, I’d like to see them do well. Every camera launch these days plus other pieces of kit such as lenses, seem to have as many detractors as they do fans and this is to be expected for various reasons. Not every piece of kit is for everybody and this FX2 is clearly a competent hybrid rather than a dedicated video or stills camera so unless ‘hybrid creation’ is your thing, this camera will be of limited interest. Same as if a 1.5kg f2 medium to long zoom is not something you need or want, it does not make it shit. I still haven’t watched a single FX2 review yet so maybe should but just based on a few spec details I think I understand who it’s for. Is it groundbreaking? Nope. Very little is these days. Could it have been better? Possibly rather than probably plus yes definitely, but then it would have cost more. Should it have internal ND? Probably not because there would be so much criticism of this ‘old’ sensor etc. I am not 100% convinced at this time but to me and for my needs, it seems a pretty decent thing…

Dr Seuss is alive an kicking!

It's interesting to me that there are a growing number of YouTubers switching to Lumix. Armando has been a long time Sony shooter, he even references people calling him a Sony fan boy, but here he bashes the camera (which he hasn't used), has generally unflattering things to say about Sony, and mentions that he has switched to Lumix. He also teases that they've got some exciting things down the pipeline. Now, all of this should be taken with a grain of salt. But it's an interesting development.

The EVF is great.

Yes, but negativity also likely cuts off the supply of pre-release review cameras from Sony (and possibly others who are afraid of a similar negative review). Sony doesn't need Cam, but Cam needs Sony and other vendors to send him free cameras to review so he can get in on the launch day view spikes instead of publishing a review a few months later with the rest of the schlubs who have to buy their gear.

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I don't know about that. Negativity is a whole industry that certainly draws in the views. Maybe not cammacky's style, I'm not familiar with him (I think I at least know who he is?), but a video critiquing every little thing about a product would definitely generate views. Gerald got a whole lot of buzz and an entire separate video's worth of views by saying rolling shutter was bad. There are plenty of channels that revolve entirely around saying how bad everything is.

To virtue signal that he isn’t a gear pimping shill, he’s declining to review a camera that he doesn’t rate ? Surely the best way of doing that would be to do a review and actually state that he doesn’t rate it IN THE FUCKING REVIEW. You know, like someone who actually reviews gear rather than just blindly promotes it would do. Another twat in a hat.

I'm sure if someone made twice the camera for the same price as the S1II, he'd be all over it! I take it more to mean that he's content focusing on what he has instead of what he doesn't have, which I can respect.

Yeah, I'm just saying it's shape heavily favors photography, while the marketing and naming imply mostly video (and yes I think the same of the FX3 and 30). Sony's product page doesn't mention photos until near the bottom, and even then, it highlights that you can shoot photos in s-log3 to match your videos. Not that it matters. Like saying Blackmagic Pocket cameras don't fit in pockets. It seems like a great product.

Ahead of AI? Good luck!

Quick phone the police, somebody has stolen nona's broomstick !!

I also don't buy this argument that if someone released a camera twice as good as what we have, we still don't need it! If thats the case, then what the hell are you doing in this competitive environment? When every teenager has a camera in his pocket capable of shooting 4k log video, you need better gears to up your game. Gear is not everything, obviously, but you're in a competition and you need to grab everything you can to be always one step ahead of the crowd, and soon ahead of the AI.

It's a damn shame! Thank goodness I bit the bullet and got the Fujifilm XM-5 (by sheer luck from a camera shop in the States, since it's going through backorders like crazy) before all the shenanigans start. I shutter to think what the future will hold.

Wow. You know a release is really ho-hum when one of the YouTube camera reviewers doesn't like it - especially one who never met a camera that he didn't like enough to film a video that looks... basically like all of his other videos. Sony really missed the mark when they didn't send it to him with a bespoke leather case with a bird on it.

The thing with Fuji is they don't want their fixed lens cameras to be TOO successful as it means lower lens sales. The X100 popularity from around the V model onwards, caught them off guard. So they didn't make very many on purpose, which further inflated prices, and they want everyone to be buying XF and GF mount lenses instead. That's why the X-Half lens is such a pathetic piece of shit. And why it doesn't have a RAW mode. It's meant to be a toy.

One of the reasons I don't blog as frequently or review stuff any more is that I have literally zero interest in spending $3k on a new camera every few months, and there's this strange urge by camera companies to inflate prices at the same time as going backwards in specs from the Sony a1 which is now nearly 4 years old. I fear it will be the same with the FX2, where I pick one up to try it once and then feel absolutely zero creative need for it. Same with the new Panasonics too. And at the same time, my interest in plain old photography is probably stronger than in video now, and what the Xiaomi 14 Ultra was able to do on that side had me thinking that even enthusiast level cameras for photography are on the way out. When are we going to see some real innovation from Japan?

I believe that is its primary purpose? For the solo hybrid ‘creator’. Pretty sure it would be a better ‘cinema’ camera. The guts of the S1ii in the FX3 body…but then I thought that was what the recent Lumix launch was going to be…but wasn’t. Personally, I’m going to pick around fewer bodies based on available and suitable lenses over video spec. I’d rather have both and as above, maybe that rumored Nikon might just have it all. Or be the closest so far…

Nope. About as relevant to me as rolling shutter! I’m a locked off kind of guy and I do not pan, tilt, or practice the wobbling jelly approach AKA ‘The Handheld Look’. My super lightweight freestanding monopod is one of the best and essential pieces of kit I own. If only I had not left it at a chateau 750km away a couple of weeks back 🙈 Fortunately I am back there in a few weeks and it’s slightly older, bigger and heavier sibling is pulling mono duty until then!