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I'm looking into semi-retirement. Weirdly, not because of the jobs I'm getting or not getting in the next 12 months, (that's already set) but because my niche of freelance corporate gigs is definitely on the way out. It's the devaluing of video production in general. With video now, everyone does it. Quite literally. Anyone with a new'ish phone camera is on the other side of a gate. A gate that's been blocking people for over a century of motion picture creating. Phone IQ is really good. AI can help generate a ton of stuff with low effort/high reward. Canva is a thing. Online tutorials explain production concepts. Creative info flows like a torrent. Hobbyists are better than careerist, etc. etc. None of that looks like it'll affect me in 2026. I have 3 clients with semi-large gigs that'll get me through. Maybe they come around again in 2027? Perhaps. What value can I offer them? A certain confidence in problem solving they require? Sure. For now. However, for one of the clients specifically, I could easily do via AI in an afternoon compared to what it's gonna take me a week to do live in a studio. So, yeah, I'm not gonna reveal that my client that yet, but still, that reality is here. At this point, as a documentarian filmmaker on my CV, that's the thing I feel I can do without AI stealing it away, but, man, not exactly a bunch of people out there have EVER made lucrative careers outta being a documentarian filmmaker. I mean, I'm decent at this sort of stuff, but I'm not, like, an elite creative, you know? No ones ever gonna watch a doc I've made (yet) and walk away thinking, "Wow, I need to make sure to see what that guy is going to do next." Hell, even the elite creatives in the documentary world barely make a living at it. Looking back I kind of feel like I should've gone all-in on sports-video production when I had the chance 30 years ago. Live event broadcasting will stick around for awhile. Other than that, I'm an older married guy without kids that has acquired some in-demand-physical-assets throughout my younger days. Because of that ownership, the wife and I do, luckily, have some things to help us through the final few decades of life. Then again, 3 more decades of late-stage capitalism? Gotta wonder about that too.

It's time https://www.eoshd.com/news/why-its-time-for-fujifilm-to-go-full-frame/ And a full frame X100 without the RX1 III or Leica Q price tags would be fabulous thank you.

I'd have to dig mine out to see what it is - but it's EF mount so usable on a speed booster. 🙂 (But still more expensive than cutting some cardboard)

The Blazar Mantis is an interesting lens, and does reduce the weight from 1.3kg down to 800g but the SB+50/1.8 is only 350g, so pretty hard to beat. Plus the Mantis is probably 20-50x more expensive! The Lensbaby Double Glass has a replaceable aperture, but is 50mm F2.8 so on MFT equivalent to a 100mm F5.6 so pretty slow when compared to the Voigt+Sirui combo which is equivalent to a 68mm F1.5, or the SB+50/1.8 which is equivalent to a 71mm F2.6. I'm actually quite impressed at how much stretch and how consistent it was with the insert at the rear of the lens. I'm guessing this is where a 3D printer would come in perfectly, as I could rapid-prototype a completely custom insert for it. No matter, I'm sure I can do a reasonable job with some cardboard and a sharp knife.

I really like this shape in the bokeh. It reminds me of 1950s graphic designs.