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IMO the phone is exactly the right camera to use for those moments. The quality on modern phones is so good that I would barely even think of it as a compromise. IBIS is still really uncommon on cinema cameras. Komodo/K-X are global shutter which makes shake feel a little more organic, IMO, and if one can deal with higher shutter speeds, they also record gyro information so you could use gyroflow or similar. Lack of IBIS can also be a feature in some cases - like I'd be unlikely to mount a camera with IBIS on my car before driving down a rough road. I've heard stories of that sort of thing wrecking the IBIS mechanism. But yes, they are converging for sure. It'll be interesting to see the knots people tie themselves into to explain how it isn't "true REDcode raw" as soon as Nikon announces a camera (or firmware for an existing camera) which adds it. I'm coming from the perspective of hiking with the original GFX 100 for the last few years so my perspective on which cameras one can carry around all day might be a bit off. The GFX 100 body weighs more than the K-X body (though the K-X weighs more with battery+screen) It sounds like you might be frustrated by the startup time and weight of it too. It's faster than the K-X, but probably not "take a shot in 2 seconds" fast. I still would say "a bit weird," but not so much "surprising." 😄

Wishful thinking. That would have great idea though.

oh damn, I need to check out if that works with my old Fujifilm X-A3, would certainly get me using it more again As you just can't deny the damn ultra nice convenience of shooting everything with your cellphone (even if it's just a sh*tty $199 phone's camera)

Sooooo... Does it have a 2X crop mode, and can you adapt MFT lenses to it? 😉

Yeah. I have spent time in tech startups, app design, user experience circles, and "proper" cameras are basically dinosaurs, and the thinking from the manufacturers is pre-historic as well. It's not getting better that quickly either, because there's this background mentality that "it works for the pros". In practically any camera forum you see it with discussions that go like this: Hi, I'd like a small and convenient camera with great image quality.. what do you recommend? Use your phone Actually, I'd like great image quality too, that's important to me Oh well then, you'll need this 5kg rig that is manual everything and needs lighting and external audio Actually, I need it to be small and convenient too Use your phone ........ Actually BOTH are really what I need <mumble mumble...> so you know better than the pros do you? well.... hey everyone, this guy is shitting on Deakins!! It totally is!!!

Yeah, I really think of it in terms of the priority. Cinema cameras are divas - the things in front of the camera are changed to suit the camera. You need lighting to suit native ISO, you have to wait for the camera to be ready, you have to start/stop if there's an issue with focus etc, they need external stabilisation. Hybrid / mirrorless / video cameras aren't divas - they adapt to the things in front of the camera. They are designed to operate at non-native ISOs and often have dual-native ISOs, they turn on quickly, they try to keep up with the scene with AF and AE etc, and they often have stabilisation built-in to reduce need for external rigging or tripods etc. Obviously this isn't a perfect description, but in general terms I feel like these are the "stereotypes" of each genre perhaps. Over the last 10 years both camps have started integrating the features and benefits of the other camp, with cinema cameras getting better ISO performance and now AF and IBIS, and video cameras basically getting a nicer image. If you shoot in relatively controlled environments I think it's easy to think that everything is mixed up now, but I shoot my friends and family during travel in available light with no direction and no retakes. Often I will see a moment about to occur and I have 2s to start recording and by the 4s mark the moment is over. I miss lots of these because the camera is in my hand by my waist and I can't get it turned on and in focus in 2s. Lots of my clips have the first 5 frames of the clip being the nice moment and then the smiles fade as people turn away etc. My situation is obviously extreme, and I'm 100% aware of this and that almost no-one is operating like this, however it throws the situation into very clear focus for me, because: 1) my iPhone can operate under these situations just fine and can turn on and do AF and AE before I've composed the frame properly, and apart from delays in getting the camera app started from the Lock Screen, it's basically faster than I am 2) my GX85 is almost as fast as my iPhone, being easier to turn on, but AF and AE are a tiny bit slower 3) BMPCC / BMMCC..... good freaking luck with that!! By the time you turn them on (and the monitor of the BMMCC), get the ND adjusted, get focus, start rolling, then frame, the moment is all but a memory. and these don't have a 60s turn on time! Yes, I could walk around with the camera turned on, but I remember the day my wife and I went to Pompeii - we walked around looking at this and that for 3 hours, had lunch, then went for another few hours again. Carrying a cinema camera around with batteries large enough to last that long simply wouldn't have worked. I carried the GH5, F0.95 prime, and Rode Videomic Pro in one hand that day, and my arm was sore for a couple of days afterwards. From this perspective, a C70 might be a camera I could work with, but a Komodo would simply not be anywhere near flexible enough for me. Thus, I am very aware of the differences in general approach, and thus thus, these "I just bought a RED!!!!" and then "Why I'm selling my RED" aren't surprising at all 🙂

That may depend on the camera. I have no experience with their older stuff, but DSMC3 isn't nearly that slow to use. I've even been taking the K-X on hikes and from my shoulder bag to recording takes about 2-3 minutes. Of course, I'm not running with a sound person, video village, etc. If I were on a half day indoor natural light docu-type shoot with it, I'd bring it with the EF 24-70/2.8 on a focal reducer. Camera setup and teardown time would account for 5-10 minutes of the day. I'd probably have to swap a battery midway through. The problem may not be the camera in this case, but the person who is using it. 😉 That said, if someone didn't insist that I use it, I'd be far more likely to grab my C70 for that kind of shoot (also with 24-70/2.8 and focal reducer). It's hands-down a better camera to use in a fully uncontrolled environment. Setup/teardown time would be almost identical.

My eyesight is not as good as it once was but I see Batman. 💥KAPOW💥

It's all marketing. There is no such thing as "tech press" in YouTubeland. And even if there were something akin to it, companies would find a way to grease editor's hands, as the auto world has shown. No one in their right mind trusts car magazines anymore. And with good reason. "Ad-mags" I think they call them? Well, the ad-mag for the camera world is now YouTube. Those guys in Tokyo allocate some $$$ for Marketing and they want/need results in their investment. It's just a spreadsheet. But that Excel file has a clear line between Marketing budget and Journalism/Media budget. Two different beasts completely. It's incredibly strange youtubers are asking journalist's rights when they have played the Marketing game for a long time now. Why would they ask the respect journalists command when they have not won that respect in the slightest?

That's true. It also points out to the clear way any of YT personalities can semi-guarantee being objective. "I paid my cash for this thing. Here's what I think about it". Put your money where your mouth is and all that.

Am I the only one seeing a ninja in the cold shoe of the S9? I wonder if they meant that? I can't unsee it now.

Camerasize.com now has the S9, just so you know. I only saw that just now. Here, we have a proper comparison to a camera and lens I own:

It helps standardise and unify the content, so for example Tokyo is one of the most photogenic places on the planet... That breathtaking beauty is going to be plastered all over the launch footage and test shots on the day the embargo lifts. It's why Canon took their bros to Hawaii, and not a carpark in Slough. Couple of days on a trip you can tell a lot about a camera, but it usually isn't final firmware and you can't compare very much to rival models. Although I did once bring my Leica SL to the Panasonic S1 launch 🙂 So you're right that you need longer to really get a long term insight into whether it's worth a serious investment and how it compares to a myriad of other options. So what usually comes out on YouTube is a range of quite glossy stuff that shows off the camera in the best light possible, in some of the most aesthetic situations. This has replaced the Vimeo tests of old where you had a filmmaker and model, or perhaps a videographer and a duck in the pond. And herein lies the marketing.

One thing about these YT'ers and their marketing, they are actually offering looks at interesting imaging products, which does make things a bit of grey line in some legitimate film production. For instance, I just convinced a neophyte documentarian I'm working with to stop invading the space of his subjects with his "A Crew" Which is him, his cinematographer with a RED and all the rigging gak-gak that goes with it, a sound guy with boom pole and harnessed multi-mixer, an RF video village, and assistant producer. Trying to parachute in and get useful naturalistic footage of a person ON A HALF DAY SHOOT with that nonsense? C'mon. By the time they're in and out they maybe put in the can only about 30 minutes of footage, it's all stagey as hell, and if there's 10 seconds that's compelling it's a minor miracle...they got lucky with what the subject's personality delivered, not with the process of their craft. RED gear and crews are built for certain situations. Docs of a certain type? I say nope. No, just allow a savvy and talented 1 man band w/a mirrorless to go into the situation and keep it chill. Trade the marginally and slightly more advanced IQ for BETTER F'IN FOOTAGE. If an image looks better, but is inauthentic, what have you accomplished? Not much. The easiest path to some sort of normalcy in cinema veriti doc filming is to do one's best to mitigate the disruption of that normalcy. Boys and their toys. Always thinking that more is better.

I remember our time at Photokina, Dave, some of the trips are really fun, really productive. And we've both been invited by various camera companies at times to a launch or two. It's all part of the industry, but where it goes wrong is when they start barring outspoken voices and strong personalities, because to be honest free speech is what it should be all about, not marketing. The best marketing is always truthful. If they are going to start telling Gerald what his YouTube titles should be, that crosses a line for me. I like to poke fun at it, but on the other hand sometimes have to throw my hands up and say I am unhappy with some of our colleagues and the hypocrisy. If Gerald was truly transparent about why deep down he truly no longer likes Panasonic, it would not have much to do with cameras let me tell you that. The brand in his eyes is tarnished now, and that is partly the fault of Panasonic Canada or whatever PR company handled him. But I don't buy the video he put out. It's weird. It isn't fully honest. In my opinion Panasonic will now be all over it trying to patch things up and bringing him back into the inner circle which is exactly what he wants! There can't be a situation where the press and journalists are turned into a bunch of crybabies who change their opinions on a whim depending on how their VIP status is going. I have been let down and insulted by camera companies before, most notably Blackmagic and have had the odd incidence of throwing my own toys out the pram! In some ways a normal reaction because you want the access and your survival depends quite a bit on the attention of the big players in the market. So at end of the day I don't blame Gerald as much as I blame the world of corporate marketing. It is the marketing people who are playing an unethical game, slicing and dicing, horse trading and using people like pawns in a broader war.

The latest Fuji mobile app can do the same thing or at least something similar, even with the GFX series.

I think the Olympus E-PL9 did something similar as well as having the ability to download at your discretion when the camera's OFF. Honestly, it's probably not for me. I've always hated phone and never really put much money in them, but that's just me. In the videos, I saw some reviews looking through thumbnails on their phone and that's the situation I least like. Since you might know, can you configure the S5ii to upload directly to creative cloud via frame.io and after to your mobile lightroom? I think that would be even more preferable. I'm not sure the S9 can do that but I asked the question on B&H.

And I can't believe that with my GH5 I can't do what the gopros have been doing for years which is to download the videos in lightweight format to my phone immediately to get a preview. This would be a very useful thing on a boat with the housing still wet since I can turn on the wifi from the underwater housing.

I don't know if this is one of those events that Gerald was talking about in the video. Events where he had been invited and had not produced any videos. Josh has always been nice to me because of his wacky, arty projects, and I still don't have a clear opinion about what Gerald said. However, when I hear these moral sermons and see this video from five years ago now again, I ask myself some questions. If I had been there and had a million dollars worth of equipment at my disposal for 4 days (watch to believe at minute 2'29") could I really have spoken badly of Sony? I mean, I'm not a sellout but I'm not a rude one either. Mom taught me well about education.

As far as I know, not. I guess that in the Ronins you need the transmission unit attached to it to get that functionality?

Nope, I think that it is not the intended use - probably is another reviewer who don't read the manual. If the user wants to post the image / video ASAP, it should put the app on the mode that it automatically downloads from the camera every still /video that was taken. It is not a novelty, my X-S20 have this option, and I think that other manufacturers have this option in their apps to. Panasonic just thought a bit more about the process - hence a optimized use of 5ghz wifi (the download times looks faster than usual) and the new 50mbps codec for a fast transfer to the phone. You leave the phone on your pocket, take you shots, and when you finish the pcitures / video are already on you phone (on almost completed), you upload it to social media in the app, applying (or not) some of the luts with an optimized editor. I'm not this kind of user, but looks like a much better workflow than usual.

My two cents: Sitll not saw the Gerald's video, but it not surprised me. The writing was on the wall that he was kinda pivoting - much less gear reviews, trying to make a talk show vibe, and making a series going to Youtuber's studios and talking about their locations and processes. Looks like he wants to be kind of the Rick Beato of video recording (in fact, he even gone to Rick's studio 🙂) All this state of Youtube reviewers was clear for everyone that have a little bit of intelligence (looks like a minority, unfortunately). The signs were mounting each year. First, now all the reviews are "with a pre-production unit", hence "you can't go in deeper detail, but we will review it when a full production unit is available". In 70% of the cases, the full prouction unit test never appears, and the deeper test never occurs. In fact, a lot of reviewers never test the camera again after huge firmware updates - baffles my that camera companies did not see that as a problem, since most of the reviews stayed shown forever with problems that were solved after the release... The secons sign that I noted was in the X-S20 launch (a camera that I own and like, that it is not anti-Fuji fanboy here) - some of the most noted Fuji reviewers had not received loan units, and a LOT of smaller channels that I've never heard before received it. When a Fuji channel it 170k subscribers do not got an unit, but a channel with 1k got it (yes, this was the case), you know that something is strange. Same feeling was with the S9 - was the 1st camera that EVERY channel that I follow was invited, with no exceptions, even some very small ones that I like that were NEVER invited for anything. And for these (as I suspect also in the X-S20) the desire to stay on the loop probably makes them to do not be much critical. And I kinda understand - people trying to make a living on Youtube (not a much good choice nowadays) got a chance and wants to grab it. This is the state now, and everyone is entitled to an opinon. Could be much worse - a lot of big Youtubers raves about that piece of scam that is Luminar, for instance.

Could also do something in the style of "Our Robocop Remake" where we take a single script (they remade something that existed, we could do something new) and each shoot a scene from it in our own style.

Yes. About 60 seconds, I'd say... but my batteries last 2-3 hours so while I'm shooting, I just leave the camera on. If shooting raw, the camera is fully ISO invariant (that is to say, capture is at native resolution and ISO is raw file metadata). I haven't shot anything in ProRes to comment otherwise. I'd be a little surprised, though, given that the display output looks fine. Yes. Though you could mitigate this by shooting in the lower quality 6k modes which make the files substantially smaller. Disks are pretty cheap these days so I'm not too concerned. I set the camera to MQ (170MB/s) when I got it and unless shooting some SFX thing, I wouldn't anticipate ever changing it. LQ is around 110MB/s and ELQ is about 50-60MB/s, I think. Also yes. Though it depends on your definition of "higher," I suppose. Full resolution 6k can go up to 80fps. 5k is only a slight crop and can do 96. But if you need 120, 4k is a noticeable crop - and while I haven't used 240fps at 2k, that's a pretty huge crop. If you make frequent use of frame rates > 96 fps and don't want to work with a crop, it's definitely not the best choice you could make. Other things worth mentioning that don't bug me much yet, but might bug you: Manufacturer recommends black shading sensor any time there's a ~20 degree (Fahrenheit, guess that'd be about 11C) shift in temperature which could be annoying if moving in and out of buildings on a hot day, for instance. On the K-X, it takes about a minute. I think the OG Komodo is a bit slower and older Reds would take more than 15 minutes IIRC. Not a lot of buttons on the body for quick settings changes Wifi with the included antenna is hot garbage so monitoring by phone/iPad isn't usable. After swapping to a better antenna, I'd describe it as "tolerable" if not using the phone as a wireless monitor, there's no HDMI - just SDI. If you want 4k for crisp punch-in focus confirmation, that means 12g sdi... so if you don't want to spend $1k+ on a monitor, you'll be using a Video Assist 12g. Though the nice thing about that is that you can use the VA for a 4K ProRes backup of what you're shooting.

Do we all want to shoot a single theme/genre? Come up with a single script that we all shoot in our own styles? Seems like there should be something to tie them all together - if not, what is there to make it different from what we'd all normally be shooting anyway?