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

Although it's not exactly what you're looking for, I'd have to second the Nikon Series E lenses. They truly are remarkable little lenses. I haven't been able to find a good copy of the 35mm 2.5 but the 36-72, 50mm and 100mm are nice little lenses, especially the size of the 100mm. Also the older non-ai lenses are pretty spectacular as well. One lens I hate to mention because it does get such bad reviews is the 35-70 3.3-4.5 ai-s lens. It's tiny and a lot better than the bad reviews give it. I mean, it isn't great, but there's something very Nikon in its not greatness. Another zoom lens I love, which I assume you're familiar with is the Canon FD 35-105mm 3.5. This lens is ALMOST parfocal. Obviously constant aperture. Internal zoom. Fairly compact. I've had a few copies over the years, then end up selling it because I didn't use it too often, regret it and seek another one. My most recent copy I put on the Sigma FP and here's a sample of it at 105mm wide open... No mind-blowing image by any means, but fairly sharp wide open and I like the way it handles the highlights. Of course it's a mess in direct light... as I found out last week during a shoot. However, there are rumors that Canon considered putting the L badge onto it because they were so happy with the lens. As far as primes, other than the Nikons, the Takumar lenses are a personal favorite of mine. I've heard people argue that the 28mm 3.5 is one of the best 28mm lenses they've used. I haven't used that one but the 35mm 3.5 is excellent. I've used a couple of the wide angle Tokina lenses from the late 70s, early 80s and they were decent, but I think they were f/2.8 lenses. Obviously you could get a cheap Neewer fixed ND to pop on the lens and leave there to give you that slower stop and to protect the front of the lens. Also check out the old Vivitar lenses, I have a set of mostly Tokina made ones in the m42 mount and I have always been very fond of them. The image instantly feels like an old 70s made for TV movie. I'm probably going to sell them though, not because I don't like them, I just have too much stuff and really need to scale back. I guess you could also look at some of the older Zeiss Jena lenses... even the MF ones would give you the slower apertures you were looking for wide open. Great thread! Wish there were more threads like this on here like it.

Totally get the frustration, mixed feelings here too. But honestly, I’ve been directing AI content for agency work and even for music videos where the budget wouldn’t cover full CGI. It’s not about losing work, it’s about adapting. Most clients are abroad and on tight budgets, so outsourcing is just reality. Learning to guide AI creatively is how you stay ahead, not get replaced!

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.

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 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.

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.

I own one. It's a fantastic second camera. There's no way I would want one as my primary camera. Pros: - Image quality is brilliant - Integrated gimbal and 4th axis (the whole reason for the camera to exist) - Very flexible to use in many scenarios with options like the Flex unit - Raw license is now $1 (too bad I didn't wait!) - The 8k is one of the best low-light cameras on the market - Probably matches really well with the S1R II - Lidar autofocus works really well (within its limitations) - Subject tracking mode is really fantastic - Integration with high bright remote monitor is amazing - Swappable lens mounts means you can use DJI's DL lenses, Sony E mount lenses (I had infinity calibration problems and sold the E mount unit), L mount, M mount, and thanks to third parties, EF mount and PL mount lenses Subject tracking, in particular, is great for stuff like vehicle mounting. The high bright + flex integrations also allow for some really cool creative stuff if the flex unit is mounted on a monopod, for example (think jib/crane shots, zooming into spaces, etc) Cons: - A really awkward camera to use for non-gimbal stuff - Weirdly inflexible (like if you choose ProRes, it'll be ProRes HQ, if you choose PRR, it will be PRR HQ except in hfr modes where it will be PRR standard) - To get the better recording codecs (ProRes 4444/PRR), you need to use DJI's special media ($800/TB + $300 reader) - Lidar autofocus doesn't work past around 10m - Flex unit is expensive - High bright remote monitor is also expensive (plus needs transmitter for more $) - A bit heavy (I use mine with Ready Rig most of the time so I don't think of the weight much) - 6k model has fairly poor RS, 8k model allows choosing really bad RS or less DR - Even though many lens mounts are available, lens selection is very limited by gimbal capacity, if you don't want to use the 4th axis, you can use more lenses if you add a counterweight, but the 4th axis is really one of the big selling points - TB50 batteries, though you can get third-party battery plate replacements for v-mount or TB51 (I just have 3 TB50's - when they crap out, I'll switch to the Alvin's v-mount plate which I ordered early on, but didn't end up using (yet)) There are probably more of both that aren't coming right to mind. Glad to answer any specific questions.

Decided I am selling my S9...I know. It's a killer camera. I realized I want something more durable as my a-cam. I got it for a killer deal, but that also just makes it all the more easy to sell as I am pricing it low at around $900 WITH the Smallrig cage. After further thought, I want a camera that is weather sealed, and reports about the rear dial going out (it feels soooo cheap) do not give me the most ocnfidence.)

I don’t mind…and in fact, welcome AI, if it is for specific tasks rather than replacing creativity. When it replaces the; pen, paintbrush, camera, then yes, strong dislike, but if it can reduce my non-creative edit time, then great.

I like perfection because you can muddy it up but as the saying goes, you can’t polish a turd. Anything I can do that makes my workflow better, enhances creativity because it allows a greater effort to be focused in that regard. I feel and have felt for a long time that the tools have been getting in the way hence the streamlining. Arguably the tools have been good enough for quite some time, but there have always been real world niggles. No excuses now, anything I don’t manage or get wrong is on me. Again, has been arguably for a long time, but being realistic, as a one man band hybrid shooter and with no manual, it’s been a learning curve and though that curve has flattened significantly long since the 15 years I started (shooting hybrid), it’s still a ‘work in progress’. And always will be.

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?