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The game is rapidly changing. I am kind of hesitant to buy anything right now.

First in, last out? ( : My entry:

After much deliberation over my next big camera purchase, I finally ended up going for a used Sony FS7 mark 1. This may come as shock to some as I'm known here as being more of a Canon advocate and was torn until recently in between a C200 & C300 II. That said most of my paid work comes from a production company that uses mainly Sony gear so it kinda made sense to go this route. Also it was simply a deal I couldn't neglect: under 500 hours with a zacuto loupe and tilta v-mount support for under 4000 euros. I think the camera is still very relevant today with beefy internal XAVC-I 10-bit 4:2:2 codecs up to 4K60p, 180fps and a slew of advanced settings including LUT import and the elusive Cine EI mode. Add the XDCA module and you get internal ProRes & Raw external. It's also Netflix approved for those interested in that sort of thing. So far 10-bit 4:2:2 S-Log3 has been a joy to grade. I keep pushing and colouring and it just doesn't break! Where 8-bit XAVC-S files usually start to look cartoonish, the IQ here is solid AF. SOOC the skin tones don't hold a candle to Canon so I'll be mainly shooting in S-Log. Overall I'm pretty thrilled with the purchase, I've been staying clear from Sony for the longest time but this bad boy is on a whole different level I feel.

Glad you have come to the dark side as they say lol. Congrats on your purchase. GAS. There is a reason they are so popular, and relatively inexpensive for what they are.

I would not suggest that most people swap the GH5s for the P4K. I have several P4Ks, the GH5, & the GH5s cameras. I use them daily and I like the GH5s and the P4K both very much. The GH5s & the P4K are totally different animals, each with strengths. If I am doing a run & gun type event, I regularly take the GH5s cameras, as they are easy to use, have great battery life, and can produce great images straight out of camera. If I am filming a music video, interview, or similar, I regularly take the P4Ks. The P4Ks allow you to record RAW and produce lovely footage, but they require lots of attention to get great results. They also have lots of issues like focus issues (slow), handling, poor battery life, gimbal balance issues, post processing, etc. The GH5s is much easier to just grab, shoot, and produce great results straight out of camera. As long as you are aware of the P4K limitations, and are aware of the post processing requirements, you should love the P4K. It is capable of producing amazing footage.

I agree. In my mind, you have to judge a camera by: what it can do in the best of situations (and in the best hands) as this tells you what it is capable of what it typically does in the majority of situations in the hands of people around the same skill level as you and where the limits of its performance are, both in technical aspects as well as usability If you employ a Hollywood crew to shoot the demo reel any camera will look great, but some will be much harder to get good results with than others, and we're all closer to the middle rather than the top end, so we have to be realistic in that way. However, @Mattias Burling gives us an excellent opportunity by doing a blind test - which is to get a view of what each of us sees when we're not looking at the images through our own prejudices. For me this is particularly useful as it reinforced some of my beliefs about myself and gave me a bit more confidence in my own judgement. I also learned more about what I care about in an image and why. When I looked at the images and saw one I liked, instead of saying "oh, I like that because that is from <camera X> and that is a great camera" I had to actually evaluate what I was seeing and pick it apart as to what tangible thing I was seeing was causing my reaction. I noted that I really liked the colours of the EOS-R options, and the creamy rendering of the out of focus areas. I disliked the aliasing or oversharpening on many shots, and in the end it was these factors that lead me to make my selections. Now I am armed with more knowledge about what I like in an image. This is useful because the more I know about what I value in an image the more that I can adapt my equipment, shooting styles, and general approach to maximising those things.

A class action lawsuit is an easy win. Nvidia i just read had to pay up when their 4gb ram video cards turned out to only be 3.5gb. Someone get a lawyer in california asap.

Looking for red mini mag 512 gb customers to start a dance company/support group. We need to join hands and sing out our troubles.

I was primarily joking in my post. But to clarify, the posts by RED in the past have implied that the millions in R&D went into designing and optimizing custom firmware on the minimag drives, whereas the video argues (quite convincingly, imho) that they are ordinary micron drives running micron firmware. After the video was released, RED's statements subtly switch to saying the millions was actually for camera firmware, not custom minimag firmware.

The image is softer for sure. Just depends how much you'll notice or care. I opted to buy Nikon lenses as I knew I could get a Lens Turbo speedbooster for them for cheap, which are pretty comparable to metabones. But yeah if you don't have a fluid head tripod that would definitely be a place to start. I'd highly recommend a used 18-55mm Fuji lens. The OIS is amazing.

Really it is only the full-frame cinema cameras that can do raw from a full-frame sensor. So: Alexa 65, Red Monstro, Canon C700, Sony Venice... And most of those need added modules or recorders. So, the cheapest full-frame camera that can shoot raw as of now is more than $35,000. The Nikon Z6 having raw has been announced but not yet released. The S1H will probably have some sort of raw, but not known for sure. Then Kinefinity and Z-Cam have full-frame cameras coming out that can do raw. The full-frame and Super35 raw output landscape will look a lot different in 6-12 months than it does right now, that's for sure.

I think the money spent on a Metabones would be better spent on a Gimbal, or a Microphone, a lighting package, ND filters, even a damn good used tripod and fluid head unless you have lots of money. With no IBIS in a XT-3 you are not going to do a lot like say a GH5 can. You are going to be pretty limited without a lot of the above items. Video is not cheap to do, and do it well. All the other things add up. Not saying you have to spend thousands, well you do, but in the beginning you can just add a few things at a time. A Metabones would be WAY down my list. More of a luxury item than a need. By the time you buy a XT-3 and add a Metabones you could have just bought a FF camera to start with now in this day and age. Seems silly to me. There are Millions and Millions of good used FF lenses out there. Not so many APSC Fuji ones, even other's that are real standouts. APSC is sort of the Red headed Stepchild of the industry. Only Fuji seems hell bent on it now. But with the Metabones you can use FF lenses, so that is the conundrum. Ah to have a ton of money.

Sincerely not. Very interesting angle viewing design. This camera is terrific, its design no less : ) I find people focus funny, not exactly your case once I've already checked your skilled framing abilities, but most part of people not necessarily here but everywhere stinks on theirs but complain about tilt screens... LOL C'mon : -)

I much prefer the BM body and ergonomics over the GH5. I can't go back to a 3inch monitor or a non-BM OS. However I will take the GH5 battery life!

here's simple cheap music video, BMMCC - Tokina 11-16 , Sigma 18-35 , Vitrox EF

Does it take film ? just curious ?

There is nothing nightmarish in this. Just the opposite, we have so many great affordable options to choose from now. Even though gear matters depending on the requirements, I don't really care because gear is not a limiting factor anymore. Unlike a few years ago, anybody can shoot a great film or documentary with very low camera budget. I don't necessarily agree all the time with Mattias but he has a point. All these endless topics about motion cadence, compression, bits, curve X and Y are a bit boring nowadays especially when there is very little actual movie making and demo real going on.

Man, German pricing is wild. A Z6, FTZ adapter, 24-70 F4 and that wonderful 50 F1.8 combined for less than 2500 euro. Or leave the FTZ adapter and end up below 2400... I was looking for a lightweight hybrid (Lumix S1 therefore no option). No way I am gonna support cripplin' Canon. So it went between the a7iii and the Z6... Seeing the nikon AF improve so drastically after the last firmware, with the promised external RAW and now this epic discount: count me in as a first time Nikon owner. Now to hoping the small Samyang AF primes don't take too long...

Hello i just got my xt3 and i feel a bit confused for so many things inside to learn.While starting to study i would like to have some info on accessories i would need Cards: i have few cards, sandisk sdxc 1,, 10 and 3, 90mb speed(don't know exactly what the difference for the 2 standing) the other is sandisk sdxc 1 only 10, 30mb, then i have another sandisk sdxc 1 that only report a 3 So i suppose the first could be ok to use, the opther are not good enough Usb c cable, is it worthy to buy it? A film cover for the display also is better to have it? i have a bunch of minolta rokkor lens, what adapter would you suggest I use XT3 for VIDEO! thanks a lot

yup FS7 aint industry standard for nothing, @Django yeah I would try it out the Venice lut, I found it to be pretty good with the a7iii/FS5 should be even better on the fs7 since the 4K is 10 bit and Slog 3 is easier to grade. I pulled the trigger on an FS5 that one of my clients was selling not to long ago. He and I are friends so he gave me the family discount so I got it for $2,000. I would wait to see what the a7siii has in store as the fs5 is getting a bit long in the tooth vs the FS7.

He does actually do this in the video (starts at 8:40) with a regular Micron Crucial SSD with a different earlier firmware. He tests it in the camera which recognises it as a RED product then flashes the newer firmware that is indicated on the real RED product (obtained from Micron's public site) and it is again identified in the camera as being a RED product. What he doesn't do though is actually record on it. If I was him and out to fully prove something like this in a video then I can't really think of a reason why I wouldn't press Record.

Which is why I picked up a cheap used Samsung NX500 and am waiting and trying to be patient until I have a project set up that actually needs one of these new ones.

@ currensheldon - thanks for the info - I really appreciate the insights! It seems like the less expensive FF Raw cameras will be using the same Sony sensor, so each one will have its key features and priced to sell accordingly, probably all higher than the FP. So regardless of if the FP has all the features one would want. there will be another one around the corner to fill the demand. Its hard to image the RAW output from the same sensor in a different box will be dramatically differently, but may the best color science, feature set and pricing win!

Unless you are shooting sports or wildlife you hardly ever have a need for long lenses. 85mm is even pushing it in FF lengths. You want Wide more than Long, at least at first. People are Really not into seeing sheep on a hill 700 meters away trust me lol.

Yeah you could kind of just use that setup alone for an entire shoot. Maybe not so much weddings but for narrative stuff. Obviously its not replacing a gimble but you could use it to get a steady handheld look. Its a shame Fuji doesn't put that OIS in their F2 primes.

Welcome to the dark side. I've been eyeing the FS5 as something a little more robust than my a73 (plus 10-bit) and right now Adorama has a stripped body for $2k. The raw upgrade, a few Smallrig bits, and an external recorder would come in under $4k total. But with 10-bit and 4k60p popping up in hybrids like the S1 and upcoming S1H - my preferred form factor - I can't pull the trigger just yet. There are some great values in used cameras a generation older than the current model. Chris

I do this *all* the time. It is such a hassle to set up everything that I leave my P4Ks rigged up (mostly) and transport them that way. I take off the external monitor (if I am using one) when I travel, but leave the cage, rails, battery, follow focus, etc. I have the HDMI / USB-C clamps in place, so I also usually leave the SSD attached. If you want to go with a smaller / lighter setup, skip the v-mount battery with rails and use one of the Sony NP battery sleds. I attached them to the cage top handle. A 970 gives me 2+ hours of run time (iirc). The NP battery sleds that I use have an LED that turns red when the battery gets low, so you have some indication before the external battery dies. Since I use the 12 connector, I also have the internal battery as a safety backup.

No video for the Foveon FF. I don't remember where I read it but pretty sure I read it in an interview with the CEO recently. If you want high ISO or video the fp is the one you need. Foveon sensors are limited by physics when it comes to high iso, so I very much doubt the new will be very different from the older ones. If the Foveon ff had video and high ISO, why would Sigma need to make a FF Bayer sensor camera? I really look forward to reviews of this fp camera and the Foveon FF next year.

The non tilt screen is never an issue?

I like trawling YouTube for live music videos. This is one of my favourite bands And being without any shred of shame those songs are from their Album "Snow White" and a few of my photos are used (at very small size) in the collage on the album . They never sold that many records but would sell out live shows and became the first band in the Australian Live music associations hall of fame. They were the next big thing in their youth, got a two record deal with Warner's USA, made the first album but Warner's wanted them to change some things, they didn't so the record was not supported and they got paid out for the second without having to make it. Snow White is a later album from Warner's Australia but because of a little swearing from the lead single, it got little airplay except on a few stations and late night TV (it was a few years ago).

Alister Chapman is the man for Sony FS7 stuff. He is a wiz at it. A Venice LuT he has for it Might help. He has lots of good articles on your camera. http://www.xdcam-user.com/2018/05/venice-look-luts-for-14-stop-cameras-a7-fs5-fs7-f5-f55-etc/

The Leitz Cine SL to PL adapter. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1233326-REG/leica_16_079_leica_sl_pl_cine.html Other somewhat less pricy PL to L adapters are also available !

What about them? If you reduce or remove a lens coating, you decrease the light transmission that the lens is capable of. How much by, will be determined by the specifics of the glass and coatings in question. Uncoated Superspeeds will have less transmission than the original coated versions. That’s just physics Are rental houses documenting the transmission loss and adding additional markings to the few lenses they’ve had de-coated? Probably not in most cases. But that doesn’t change the fact that those lenses are losing some degree of transmissiveness.

Many people saw the L mount as a hindrance to getting a S1 but it’s looking like it’s going to be the closest thing to a universal mount for full frame cameras.

The Asian music videos usually are very simple unless it's the heavier genres like punk and rock. But that's something I really enjoy, especially with lighter music. This song is from the Ghibli movie "The cat returns" and there is something very comforting in the music video's simplicity that go hand in hand with the song and the artist.

Someone is going on RED's naughty list this Christmas!

That band is just crazy. I don't mind the Dandy's.

Great shots. Anyone who has been to Japan will also realise you did very well to avoid getting more vending machines in each frame!

Yeah I've seen the 8K TVs on sale already. They are around. There is an 8K channel in Japan on TV broadcasting already. Don't think there's much to watch on it though

I probably should keep my big fat yap shut, and I have a lot of respect for Mathias and I agree with the sentiment about technique and worrying less about specks but (obviously there going to be a but...) I try to tell potential clients that if they're comparing photographers to try and look at all their output, not just their portfolio pics. And that anyone should be able to get 20 good shots together. It's how they handle the most difficult situations and the level of consistency that is the mark of a professional, and I'd humbly like to suggest the same is true of gear. It's when you push cameras to the edge of what they're capable of that you find out which ones work for you. I'm constantly shooting in very high dynamic range situations. The z6 is a better fit for me than the gh5. I prefer the highlight rolloff on the z6 and like how much you can push the shadows. The same test shooting the dog backlit against a window would be more enlightening. Can you recover shadow detail, highlights, does the image still look nice with the background overexposed etc.

Nice Seinfeld reference there

according the C5D and Sigma website this camera record 12bit CinemaDNG internally Looks like my packs of Sandisk 300MB SD Cards suddenly find a better use!

I'm never going to sell my NX1/NX500 combo -- at this point I have gotten rid of all native lenses except the 16-50S and the 16-50 PZ (and I have one of Luca's speedboosters as well). But the NX500 with the hack enabling silent, electronic shutter is invaluable to me as a timelapse camera. While I have moved on to an S1/GH5 pairing for most of my paid work, the dynamic range of raw photos on the NX cameras at ISO100 is still basically unbeatable in my opinion. 28 megapixels, and shadows can be boosted to 100 in LR with zero downsides, it's amazing. Video-wise, while these cameras, some 5 years later, are finally, finally starting to get a little long in the tooth dynamic-range wise (and missing higher 4k framerates,) If you keep them locked down, in 4k 24p, the image is still so sharp and beautiful, and in reasonably low-DR scenes still does -- and always will -- achieve stellar results. For me, IBIS is a must-have now, and a real game-changer for my type of work. While the new Nikon cams are interesting, no 4k60p is very annoying, not enough of an upgrade from the NX cameras. The XT-3 is very cool, but has poor battery life and no IBIS. I have really been liking the S1 though. Its autofocus is not as bad as they say, especially with the recent update. Stills are technically lower resolution but hold detail far better at high ISOs than the NX1, which turns to mush after ISO 800 really. Of course, the S1 is also quite large and heavy. No perfect camera! Although the NX1, for its time, was pretty damn close.

really curious about how the low light on the camera is - really important for run and gun

It's a video/gif where only a very small part of the image moves and the rest is perfectly static. It's popular for social media. Here are some examples: http://cinemagraphs.com/ EDIT: Also, here's a link to the press release as PDF https://www.sigma-foto.de/fileadmin/relaunch/Pressetexte/SIGMA_fp/SIGMA_PR_EN_fp_1907.pdf

Dayam.... Oh ? I was reading the comments on YouTube... Now their reputation is really on the line - someone started questioning if their 8K cameras are really 8K? Or upscaled internally from another lower resolution... “how low can you go????” let’s do the limbo!!!

Hey Kaylee! I will speak for myself but also speak for my friends who are all in this YouTube creator space making a full time living. I have a channel called Kinotika and I am a full time YouTuber. I went full time about a year and a half ago and we have over 60,000 subscribers...on track to hit 100,000 next year hopefully. First off...the money I make off ad revenue from Google is nothing. I’ll just say it to you....We make on average $1,000 a month off ad rev. That is by no means enough to live off of. On the months where we have had viral videos where we get close to a million views that month, we make $3,000 roughly that month. Even on our BEST months....$3,000 just isn’t enough money per month to live off of for me and my wife and kids. Thats where affiliate marketing comes in. I make sometimes double money or sometimes more off affiliate compared to ad rev...and it is continuing to grow. (I still haven’t even enabled international amazon...so I am only dealing with the USA) On top of affiliate, once we hit about 50,000 subscribers...agents started reaching out to me to represent us. I now have two agents working for me that get brand deals. Have you ever seen a video where they say “ This video brought to you by _____”? That is a brand deal. I get paid often $1,000 or more just to do one ad read. I make four videos a month and if I can get a brand to sponsor every video on my channel...we have some serious cash. Moral of the story is: CREATE AN AUDIENCE OF PEOPLE WHO CARE FIRST. Don’t worry about the money from Ad Rev or even affiliates. The biggest YouTube channels out there make the majority of their money from brand deals. The biggest creators I know for a fact will charge $20,000 and up just for an ad read. You aren’t going to make any money for at least a year or more. It took me about a year of uploading two videos a week every week talking about camera gear before I started making anything substantial. Making an “ENTERTAINMENT” channel is even harder than what I have done because it is difficult to monetize that. You have to gather a large following and then you will get calls from brands who want to pay you to sponsor your content. With what I do...people are already searching for the things I am talking about because I talk about new camera gear every day so it has a high searchability and discoverability rate. Watch channels like Derral Eves, Think Media, Video Creators, etc. They have tons and tons of videos teaching you how to get started. Moral of the story is...make videos that make you happy first. Just have fun. Make stuff you are good at. Don’t try to conform to what you THINK other people want to see. It has taken me a long time to accept the fact that I am naturally good at talking about camera gear and apple tech....that’s about it. Anyways....hope this helps.

Last year my main channel made about 60k USD. No YouTube ads, strictly affiliate pay from having viewers click a link to my site and then from there visit a merchant like Amazon, Walmart, etc. Here’s my deepdive answer: I make product reviews in low competition niches. The videos have ridiculously high production value and tend to outrank any competitors for ~2-3 years on search and autoplay list. So on average I make about 4K a month, but that doubles or more around November and December. This year revenue is down as my older videos lose rank and I’ve been slowing down on producing more content. I could wind up making half of what I did last year if I don’t start uploading more videos. Today I build sets and furnish them using free stuff I get from kijiji or craiglist. I made modular flats with double sided walls (tile one side, wallpaper other side) and can build a room with windows and a door. I have props for a kitchen, bathroom, office and workbench. I can also kinda make a living room. I currently use an FS5.2 and A6500 with Sigma 18-35 and 50-100 glass. I use a 5-axis Kessler Crane Second Shooter for camera control. Lighting is mostly from Aputure: C120Ds, LS1Ss. I also have a number of Quasar tubes with Kino housings. I shoot 4K raw at either 30 or 120fps and upload 4K30. Edit using DaVinci. Motion graphics are done on After Effects. Sound and VOs are captured on a Blue Yeti with me covering myself with a heavy blanket while sitting on a super thick carpet. Voiceovers are heavily processed in Audition. I wrote all the code for the website myself. The only expense is paying for the domain name. Each niche subdomain is hosted on a Google App Engine project which reduces my overall traffic and allows me to squeak by on the fee tier. YouTube is used for the video hosting. The web scrapping is done on a free tier Google Compute Engine project. I use Sikuli to grab prices from websites I don’t have API access to and google search cache as a backup. Google Sheets is used as a GUI for the database, which a python script accesses to generate a flatfile DB and then is uploaded to the appropriate GAE project every 24 hours. Long story short, I don’t use Wordpress with plugins. I use Google servers with custom code to have a lighting fast website, so people are more likely to use the website and click my affiliate links. WAY TOO MUCH INFO RIGHT? But more importantly: Is this a viable route for you to make money on YouTube? Sure, I guess. At this point 7ish years in, I’m bored of making these videos. It took probably 4 years to turn a profit with my most recent gear purchases. I’ve spent a lot on equipment to keep my interest. Lately it’s way too much fucking work. It was nice proving this could work but I work a full time job that pays me way more money. There’s no way for me to replace myself and earn a revenue as whoever I teach will inevitably just strike it out on their own. I tried to help my last GF to make her own content: makeup, handbags, etc... big mistake. I don’t recommend mixing work with friends.

Not off the top of my head, but I think some have spoken about it indirectly before, and an occasional one or two might mention $ figures. My understanding is that for the pros the revenue from ads is so little in comparison to sponsored content that it might as well not even be there. IIRC Levi Allen doesn't even have ads turned on because he feels they will hurt his channel more than they'd help his income. I agree with some of @Video Hummus comments - kids create lots of watch time and their habits would surprise you, watching things you wouldn't expect. There are quite a few YT people making videos about how to make a living from YT, and also articles and other info online about analysis of watching habits etc. I think the info is out there if you're willing to do a little digging.