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By Ilkka Nissila · Posted
I would be very surprised if manufacturers let reviewers keep the test units for free; all I've ever heard about is that either the reviewer has to buy it themselves, or the unit is loaned for brief time for testing and then has to be sent back. Of course, with a few cases, the advertising campaign for a product hires photographers to make promotional photos but if they want to keep the gear they have to buy it. Is Hasselblad now an exception to this? From what little I've used Hasselblad, I think the color rendition is great, and the image quality is nice as long as you don't crop the images. Mostly the image quality advantage is dependent on the use of the full sensor area and there is nothing special in the images if you crop them into full-frame image size or smaller (and the sensor is not that much bigger than 35 mm full frame, unlike film-based medium format systems which could have 6x7 cm, 6x9 cm or even bigger areas). But I do think Hasselblad does a great job with the out-of-camera colors. I like the X series body shape and design, but did not like the slow EVF of the unit I shot with (it was not a X2 series, maybe there is improvement now?). If the EVF refresh was as fast as on a Nikon Z8 I would probably own a Hasselblad system. Notice the X2 series bodies have no video capabilities. -
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By BrandonWalsh · Posted
Ha, the "you fat fucker" Santa letter got me. Welcome to the club of wanting a thing you can't quite justify. You're not wrong about the review ecosystem. Once a £12k body lands on someone's doorstep for free, the incentive to stay on the nice list is baked in, and it's not even conscious most of the time. They just... find themselves emphasising the good bits. The handful who bought their own being a touch more balanced tracks with that exactly. That said, I'd go easy on the focus thing as evidence. Judging a camera's AF off files other people shot and dumped online is a mug's game. You've no idea what lens, what aperture, whether they nailed it or were shooting handheld at a gallery wall. Could be the body, could equally be the muppet. Hard to pin on the camera from the outside. The bit I'd actually push back on gently: the medium format "magic" doesn't really show up in downloaded web files or on a phone screen, and it barely shows on a like-for-like social crop. Where it turns up is big prints, deep tonal roll-off, cropping the hell out of a file and it still holding together. If none of that's your workflow, then yeah, an S1R II is going to look every bit as good to you and your eyes aren't lying. That's not the Hasselblad failing, it's just the gap being smaller than the marketing wants you to believe for most real use. Sigma 1.4s over the 1.8s is a very sane way to spend the money you were about to set fire to. Enjoy those, they're lovely glass. -
By eatstoomuchjam · Posted
In general, I think FF is the sweet spot for a lot of stuff - not that the format is intrinsically better than anything, but because that's where most of the research/development goes. Lens makers and camera makers put the most work into those systems and lenses for those systems. S35 is just behind it with one vendor putting almost all their eggs in that basket and, as you said, it being the default for a number of video-focused things. Unless the gimbal is camera-integrated, they sort of end up being the worst for lots of stuff. Everything ends up being harder than it should be, including stuff that should be simple like accessing camera menus. I'm really enjoying the focus rat bag. It's a lot less involved than putting on my Ready Rig and if I have an image stabilized lens, I can get stable enough footage. If I were shooting Panasonic and lighter gear, I wouldn't even need/care about that! -
Nope, that is exactly where I am; I've had more seasons than Kiefer Sutherland in 24 who only managed 9 seasons, - I'm closing up Season 26, the last 15 of which have steadily become increasingly hybrid with the last 5 being approx 90% hybrid packages. In 2027, it's 100%. The format of these events has barely changed in the last 26 years, - more fashion and annual fads, but the core of it is the same; two people get ready, meet for a ceremony, drinks & snacks after, then they eat, there's some talking stuff and then they dance. Having said that, the variety of things to capture is high with so many genres of capture required including; landscapes, architecture, still life, candid moments, food & kitchen, bands, formal elements... But aside from that, yes, my biggest driver kit-wise has been 'smaller & lighter = faster = better'. The compromise is always 'quality (of output) vs volume, size and weight of kit' and I could make a strong case for M43, APSC, FF or MF but the sweet spot for me is FF stills and either FF or APSC/Super 35 for video. M43 doesn't really have the ultimate low-light quality I need and MF doesn't really either, especially when we are looking at lenses such as Hassie's 35-100. Folks often suggest things to me that seem so obvious to them but my question back at them is, "do you do this week in week out, all season long, as a one man band, because if not, I appreciate the thought, but nah". I'm still exploring even after all this time. For example, I picked up my 4th gimbal recently after quickly returning every single one previously...and once again, absolute failure. It's not me, - it's the tool...and yes, well aware of the saying about blaming the tools, but sometimes it really is the tools, so selling the gimbal and a camera and doing something else instead because the simple reality is, the stability in LUMIX cameras is now so good, I can actually get better...or rather, more consistent footage, NOT using a gimbal, but using just the camera. (What's wrong with the gimbal? Simply having it and then having to operate it whilst not being able to do anything else is a fucking pain in the arse!). So yes, the tools are critical and am I at 'peak camera'? Absolutely, - I just need to be at 'peak operation' of said tools and I pretty much am with just a few niggles such as gimbal type work as in I don't want or need 'a gimbal', but have a need/want to be able to produce 'gimbal-like' footage at certain times, so it's a case of need/want driving choices, rather than buying tools and then trying to make them work/fit. My decisions are also not cost driven, ie, if the Hassie R2D2 actually made quantifiable sense, I'd find a way to fund it. In fact I had a plan and that was to take 2x more jobs in 2027 than I wanted plus the sale of some kit, which would fund it. We're talking an extra 2-3 weeks work in total, for something that would last years and maybe I could market & milk to death and be part of any future model launch, but my conclusion remains and that is it would not allow me to do anything I already cannot and therefore makes zero sense other than on a pure 'want it' factor. -
By eatstoomuchjam · Posted
Sure, I love my Fuji, but I'd be delighted to use an X2D II and tell people that I liked it if they wanted to send me a free one. Ergonomics are one of the absolute top criteria for any camera. If I were presented two cameras, one 45 megapixel and one 61 megapixel and told to choose one, my first response would be "either, that's a lot." My second would be to pick them up and shoot a few frames. And even that ends up subjective - if I'm using light pancake lenses, I don't care much if the body has no grip and I just have to wrap the bottom 3 fingers on my right hand awkwardly down the edge of the camera. If I'm going to put a 24-70/2.8 on it, the body with no handgrip just got pretty unpleasant. A 70-200/2.8 and now I strongly dislike it. And yeah, that's why there's a 24-70/4 and a 70-200/4. I have the former in EF mount - and I've been trying to get accustomed to shooting with a Focus Rat bag these days (third-party cinesaddle that I got from the B&H deal zone). The EF 24-70/4 is on it a lot more than the 2.8 - I can actually hold it pretty steady with the IS turned on (and the EF 24-70/2.8 has none). I have the 70-200/4 RF as well - can't use it on the Ursa (no RF mount), but it's fantastic on the R5 or on my handheld Komodo setup. I don't find myself wishing I had shallower DOF very often with either. Especially if I'm handheld on the focus rat, having a little more DOF is more of a feature than a bug. Biggest problem is just that I'm always shooting from chest height and I'm only 5'9" or so. If the talent is 6 feet tall, there are gonna be some nostrils. Next thing will be experimenting with setting my elbows on the bag and using a shoulder rig so that I can get a little more height. But a 30-pound camera setup on the shoulder is... not living the dream. Better to use the R4D at that point. Anyway, for the style you've described shooting, you really are basically at endgame/perfection now. It's always tempting to swap out for other, shinier gear, but especially now that the prices on everything are going up so much, it's hard to imagine buying anything new. I'd guess that part of any interest in new gear is also a game to keep the job interesting - you've been doing weddings for a long time, haven't you? Can't really change the format of weddings, but you can at least change the tools that you're carrying around them. That might just be me projecting, though - that's probably where I'd be after a while. I'm basically not buying anything new and I'm just watching the cameras that I find even remotely interesting until the used stocks increase to the point where price starts dropping. ZV-E1 or A7CR for $1,300ish? X-M5 for $500-600? S9 for $700? I'll be interested. Upgrade from my R5 to an R5 II? Refurbs caught my interest last week or the week before - something like $3,500 - but I'm assuming that also means that trade-in on my OG R5 will be like $800 and I'm not spending $2,700 for a bunch of incremental upgrades.
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