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I like this way of marketing to give the camera to youtubers with low number followers and turns out they're talented and need more recognition.

GH5 GH4 EM10iii OM-1 5Dii XPRO2 XT-5 P1100 DSC-RX10 iPhone15 iPhone12 Xiaomi12 Ultra DJI Mavic Pro GoPro Hero All those different cameras were used to make our latest indy documentary on-and-off over the last 3 years. We finally finished post-production (for real this time) last month. Not to mention all the different ridiculous vintage lenses and modern lenses employed along the way. So that happened. My advice? Yeah, don't use so many cameras...and then try to make all that cohere somehow with no legitimate color grading skills... Surprisingly, I found the EM10iii footage the most pleasant looking color-wise when exposed correctly.

One of the best channels on YouTube in this industry. Thorough, no hype and do actually make quality productions out in the field and not simply spout BS from behind a desk, holding a lav mic wearing clothing back to front.

Suddenly Gerald finds no problem in DR and 10 stops is good enough to declare "cameras peaked".

I thought I would add my project to this thread as I was somewhat inspired by it. Long story short, I modded my BMPCC to turn it into a D-mount camera.

So you feel it in your bones that something is wrong with society and that corporations are doing a lot of harm, turning the frogs gay and so on. What was it specifically about the aquarium exactly that triggered these feelings? The science of fish? Some naughty toads? A pink goldfish? The financial institutions, like it or not, along with food and oil, are needed for civilisation. I'm not saying they can't or shouldn't be reformed, and refocused so the interests of the people are put first ahead of offshore tax dodging profit-making. It is true that neo liberalism and big business has failed to make society or communities better, it has failed us and the environment, they are parasitical and we really need someone to turn to in these dark times who can do something about it. I am just confused as to why that hero has to be a pedophile rapist with criminal convictions and fraudulent businesses, a fascist and a racist, old as hell, fat and stupid, born into privilege, a cold heartless landlord and a cultural wasteland of a person who likes to fawn over supermodels and traffic women. No names of course. A clue... it's not Bill Gates or the boss of Pepsi. Ah yes the NGOs and USAID are at the root of all evil aren't they wanting to end world hunger. Ah yes Russia that hero state where the quality of life for most people barely rises above the grade of heavy depression and alcoholism, and for good reasons. A shit economy, stripped of its dignity by a mafia state, which likes to routinely arrest and murder it's own citizens, and one that likes to spend countless billions on a hybrid war with Europe and the UK rather than spending it on fucking hospitals. You really believe he's moving away from the imperialist clutches of wall street? What are the actual things which have occurred to suggest wall street is weaker under Trump? He's had 4 years 2016-2020 in power and now again embarking on another term and as far as I can see the stock market has never been more of a bubble, more damaging and more highly inflated and inequality of wealth never worse especially in the US. And this is not me spouting an opinion, there's factual evidence for it, not that you'd trust any of the journalists who'd trojan the inconvenient truth into your pathetic little fantasy land.

Looks fantastic. Any interviews with the cinematographer / crew out there? They used Panasonic GH7 + Lumix 12mm F1.4 for most part https://www.eoshd.com/news/in-ny-and-la-theatres-january-major-new-movie-magellan-is-shot-on-the-panasonic-gh7/

For comparison its his ZR test At 0.1 High S/N ratio, DR is 6 stops. In his R6III test its only 3. Not only he is not curious at all why its so low, but doesn't even notice the drastic fall of it (from 8.26 to 3.04). As a reviewer I would dig into the data. I seriously feel he's not interested about what he's doing anymore. He's like "AF is good". What? How you tested that? Where is the evidence that its good? Canon website says its good, what else you know? And good for who? and why people should pay near $3k to have "good AF" when their current camera already has good AF? I assume R6III AF is "better" than R6II, but I need to see the evidence in practical situations. That's the job of someone who reviews gears for living.

I saw one part when he was saying that it was a little annoying that they did not get exact time remaining for recording. The same guy said that it was totally unacceptable a cine camera did not give exact time remaining on the card. OK, it is written cine, but it is still a 2200 USD camera, and h265 by its nature is variable bit rate. Simple example on a sitting interview with a static background and the bitrate goes a lot lower, while have dynamic shot with lots of movement or movement in the shots and the bitrate goes up drastically. The just couldn't find any thing to say positive at the camera except about Nikon color and his luts, that he sell!!!

And a lot of small improvements too

Media Division did a deep dive. Big improvements for sure. They were able to trigger overheating in some pretty extreme scenarios, but it no longer seems to be a likelihood in any reasonable shooting situation.

Thank you for sharing, Andrew. This is looking great. I will watch it as soon as they show it in the cinemas over here. I am still curious to test a GH5 MK II due to it been tested by slashcam for displaying great rendering of texture and offering one of the best 4K images of any dslms out there in that regard. Its optional 1.4 crop mode makes it a great digital 4K S16 cinema camera. GH7 in 4k pixel per pixel mode might be closer to 16mm crop though. I would love a M43 sensor sized lumix pocket cinema camera with flexible cropping, like S16 1:1.66, S16 4:3 with full Super16 width, 2/3" 1:1, you name it. And while you are at it, Panny please give it an internal ND and still keep the EVF and great battery life plus full size Hdmi.:)

My Takumar 50mm F1.4 arrived and I took it out to compare it with the Voigt 42.5mm F0.95 with Sirui 1.25x adapter setup. The Voigt+Sirui is equivalent to 68mm F1.5 and the Takumar+Speedbooster is equivalent to 71mm F2.0, so a bit longer and a bit slower. In order to avoid changing lenses all the time, I did a little lap with the Voigt+Sirui, then did another lap with the Takumar and re-created the compositions from the first lap (as well as grabbing other shots too). These images have had a film-emulation applied, and have had exposures matched, but no other changes, so things like contrast and WB etc should be the same. My impressions: Voigtlander is softer at F0.95 than the Takumar at F1.4 I haven't compared them with the Voigt stopped down, but I'd probably rather get a bit more subject separation than sharper images. The extra sharpness of the Takumar makes the focus peaking a lot easier to use when using the screen (using the EVF you can see what is in focus but the monitor you need peaking on) The focus ring on the Takumar is a lot looser (not that damped but not too loose either), but of course it's backwards The extra width of the Voigt is apparent. It makes me wonder if the Speedbooster is a little less boosting than I claimed. The Sirui has a lot of coma on the edges (stretching light sources horizontally) so the bokeh seems more horizontal than vertical on lights, whereas the Tak seems to have a zoom-blur sort of effect which is a bit odd The Tak has slightly lower contrast (hard to see but I noticed it when trying to match exposures) In addition to those, I also grabbed these with the Takumar: Swirly bokeh! and it's not a Helios!! It has a nice halation/glow but the ghosts from the light sources are real. This is something I am thinking a lot about because I find them to be very distracting. Seems sharp at the edges at closest focus. The bokeh is confusing - sometimes with bubbles and sometimes not. I actually find that the response to light sources in this lens is very complicated - sometimes it stretches along the spokes of a wheel and other times along the rim of the wheel. Also something I noticed but isn't really visible in stills is that light sources pointed straight at the camera have a flare that's like a loop, like this, which can look pretty distracting too. My conclusions are: The focus being lighter and peaking being more obvious makes it a bit easier and faster to use, so much so that I changed my process to where I'd adjust the vND, then hit record and then focus in the 2s it takes the GH7 to begin recording The size and weight difference is significant and I found I was able to shoot people from a lot closer with it than the Sirui The small size and weight mean it's a no-brainer to pack on trips where I'm reluctant to pack the Voig/Sirui combo Next is to test it with an oval insert to get some stretched bokeh. As a proof of concept it certainly looks promising.

A couple of years ago, I was saying on Forums that Arri would fail, and people were calling me stupid. Ohhh its image is so special, etc etc how peasants could understand this. But the problem is you can't sell a lot of 70-100 000 usd cameras, the market is what it is, even more so when you have very capable cameras coming for much less. You reach a level where that 5% more cannot justify the 10, 20x the price. Before you had the highend market where camera cost/rent is peanuts compared to the overall cost, but that secondary market, the people that used to rent those highend cameras, can now buy a camera that will do 90% of what they need, and will rent only 10% of what they used to do. Arri and most US/german companies are going to be eaten by the Chinese ones. They still live in the rental business, for camera and other gears light lighting etc. The principal of the Chinese is that they will produce affordable equipment for the many, that will help them also produce for few highend that they will sell. You will find Aperture/Godox/Nanlight models that will cost less than a hundred dollars, to 4k led light costing more than 10 000 USD. They will sell a thousands of the 300 USD 300 watt cob monolight, for perhaps every 10 000 USD 5000 watt one. But those thousands of 300 USD lights will help them for R&D for those big lights. same for camera, imagine if Arri had repackage the original Arri LF in a more affordable casing, taking out some features of frame rate and sell it for 10K. They would be selling thousands of them, perhaps at the detriment of their higher ends, but those thousands of 10k models would overall bring so much money.

For now as a Nikon shooter, I am more inclined to shoot NRAW and do the renaming trick to R3D, than to shoot R3D as I am finding that the Nraw has more DR than the R3D and you can shoot the normal version that takes only about 370 mbs for 24 fps in 4k and 700 mbs for 6k. This is a little test of conversion of Nev to R3D. You have NEV (Nikon RAw), NEV but using the RED lut, Then the Nev to R3D renaming and finally the REDraw file. then So I need to make a little bit more test, with skin tones etc, but they are quite close to me, even more so that even between the different red cameras like the Raptor and Komodo, their is some color difference. The yellow are a little bit more saturated and the image is a little more toward yellow in the Nikon ZR redraw R3D files. On side by side test the ZR was the more yellowish of the red camera. So it might balance out in the end.

Had a chance to have a look at one in the flesh. It feels good in the hand and the screen is everything that everyone has already said it is. The overall size of the camera is even more compact than I thought it would be, particularly when they are displaying it alongside the next one up in the Nikon RED range ! I was sorely tempted at the price here which works out at £1650 including the 24-70mm f4 lens for visitors. I’m here for a few more weeks so maybe I might buckle but the issue for me is that they had a Z8 at the next display and for an old fart like me that just appeals more, especially in light of the is it/isn’t it stuff about the RAW and the file extensions etc. I might just sit this out (again) for another year to see how the dust settles with firmware updates for the ZR and actually the Z6III as that might be the compromise play for me, although the Z8 will likely still win out. So, ultimately, I was able to put the ZR down and walk away fairly easily. Unexpectedly, the one I had far more difficulty walking away from the was the much maligned Fujifilm X-Half. Kinky.

Ha! Ans it's said one is supposed to get more conservative as they get older. For me, I just can't shake capital being the vehicle for fascism. Souped up and hot-rodded to fly down the drag strip. And, yeah, since pseudo-capitalism is now global and we're on the verge on climate collapse? Woo boy. Buckle up. Yup, sure is hard not to be conspiratorial about it all. As someone once said, have a nice day "you fucking dumbasses" 😉

I would absolutely use it and as above, it would be my first choice, clean sheet. The ZR/Nikon probably doesn't quite have the AF of Sony and it might not quite have the IBIS of LUMIX, but we are really beginning to split hairs these days when it comes to spec and performance. It's compact, has possibly THE best lens selection (IMO, there is no 'possibly' about it, - it just does including near native adaptation of Sony E glass via Megadap) and it's e Shutter only approach on the ZR and Z8 would not be an issue for me as it is with LUMIX where in certain lighting conditions, it's shit (for stills). Give me a pair of ZR's, a single Z8 and 3 lenses of my choice, 1x monopod and 1x tripod and weddings/events would be a breeze. No better than my current LUMIX set up, just a sideways one and one I would not hesitate to use. I could make the same argument for Sony and Canon. It just comes down to personal choice.

Made a lowball offer on ebay and scored the “Vintage Lumix” S1R kit for $800 US this week. I have a book project and need to photograph a lot of oversized art in high megapixel raw so i couldn’t pass it up for the money. Been wanting to try out the 5k mode for a while now and have a whole list of vintage lenses to adapt. As much as I wanted the SL2 or the GFX 100s the prices haven’t come down as much as the Lumix stuff and I can always revisit those later. For now the Original S5 with Ninja V for prores raw and the S1R for high res stills and 5k Super 35 Anamorphic. A little S9 for $800 is next and that will round out my 3 camera budget system for under $2,300, Not bad…

The a7 V is quite a predictable upgrade, nevertheless it's excellent. It does however miss a lot of video features that are present on the Panasonic S1 II / S1R II for a similar price, and the cheaper Nikon Zr / Z6 III... No open gate, no anamorphic, 4K is still maximum resolution, no real-time LUT can be baked into footage, and of course Sony still has no internal RAW codec to call their own. Still, this is a $3000 entry level camera so we can't be too greedy can we? Compared to... Sony a7 IV. The previous a7 IV is now even more of a bargain, it will probably go down even further in price used, most likely to region of $1200. Stills quality the same as a7 V and probably more than most people will ever need. Video quality is excellent but the rolling shutter is on high-side, that's one area as well as the Super 35mm 4K/120p where a7 V has an advantage. Sony a9 III. Well, keep an eye on that used price as it's already not a million miles off what a new a7 V costs... Sony a1. Again, the more powerful option vs a7 V albeit with a few of the new features missing, you can pick one up used in the UK for £2700, same price as a new a7 V. Nikon Zr. THE choice if you want fake raw. Nikon Z6 III. Much more price competitive than the new Sony. Panasonic S1R II. The dark horse. It does more. Price is high though and I much prefer the Sony body design and build quality. Panasonic S1 II. Certainly has the edge on the a7 V for video, if not autofocus. More expensive, but again keep an eye on the used market prices. Overall I think the a7 V is predictable - it's good that we have another partially stacked sensor option though.

I've been rocking 2 secondhand S5s all this year, mainly with my Super Takumars (I've got the 20-60 kit for when I'm feeling lazy) and I've yet to touch the edges of their capabilities.

I don't know what people see in new cameras really. Used ones just so much more exciting. A GFX 100 for £1800. You don't need to buy a single medium format lens for it... Bang on a 10 quid adapter and Minolta 50mm F1.4 for 50 quid and it looks like a Leica M11 with Noctilux F0,95. A7 IV for £1300... What a bargain that is. Does everything. If you need the exotic frame rates and codecs... EOS R5, 4K/120p, 8K raw, £1700. Sony a1... You can go to Japan and the flight pays for itself. The list goes on. I will never buy a new camera or pre-order one again.

First time I see the reference to Fake RAw!!! Since when does the ZR has fake raw, in fact it is as RAW as it can be with zero noise reduction etc. I know the ZR does have its quirks, as lacking some good exposure tool for now in software and micro hdmi in hardware. But the RAW and image quality is their.

I also find this quite baffling, this camera in a FX2 body would have been a great move! I don't get it!

I'm of a more ramshackle mentality, but even my loosey-goosey philosophies hit a limit. fyi, this particular doc was about people that are trying to help conserve raptor migration through SoCal. So, lots of bird shots. Which we don't really do, nor have done. The whole thing became kind of a production experiment. We were only answering to ourselves so we could take risks like that. The scope of the project kept changing, but the finances never did. There was very little money in our pockets, and what we did have we needed to save for travel. And being a seriously-non-affluent-filmmaker, it basically came down to a make-do-as-we-can process. Our personal finances, as well as the various situations of the shoot, were all over the place. We were borrowing/renting lenses and gear in a very haphazard way. Sometimes it worked. Mostly it did not. Meanwhile, the stuff we had in our own collection was inferior. For instance we used a POS Vintage Photax 500mm w/2x extender for an entire season to get a lot of the BIF shots. That was an insanely unfortunate thing to do, but it's what we could afford to have on hand. The biggest bitch was not having a real tripod. We truly wished we had friends/colleagues that could have let us use a pro Sacthler or Miller. More than willing to carry some sort of hefty rig into the wild if it would've allowed smooth shots when filming at a +2000mm FF equiv. That FOV reach is f'in hard to control. As a side note, it was pretty wild running around with birders carrying equipment that was so expensive and professional while us "filmmakers" were often using, basically, consumer toys to grab video. At the end of the day, the images are passable by a certain standard, but when you pixel peep you can tell it's all held together with spit, bubblegum, hopes, and prayers. "f8 and be there" was the mantra we had to talk ourselves into and accept. "The best camera is the one you got." ...That sort of thing.

🤷‍♂️ but as with the OG S1R and it’s 47mp sensor (Tower Jazz was the speculation at the time?), that was unique to the brand, the 44mp S1RII sensor is Panasonic’s own apparently and totally unique as far as I am aware? IMO, it has that mojo that the S1R had in that there is something unquantifiably special about it. I think most reviews/reviewers go mainly off the spec sheet and very very few have proper Panasonic full-frame history/experience but those that actually go and shoot the thing properly, know. I’ve shot 8 weddings spread over 24 days, stills and video with it now and can see immediately when I drop the files on a timeline, how much better they are than those of the S5II/S9. And this is no “because I have one” fanboy hallucination, because I have near zero brand loyalty and if I think something else will do a better job, I owe no company or brand anything. Plus have no YouTube channel, have ever received a free piece of kit or anything, so simply user feedback opinion. Define ‘better’. It’s one of those things that is not any single thing but the sum of several smaller things… As above somewhere or perhaps the other Lumix thread, ‘less muddy’, not that the material coming out of the S5II/S9 is muddy, but using words, it’s the best I can do. I’d throw up some sample footage myself for download except I only shoot log with the baked in Phantom conversion LUT for workflow purposes but the comparison with S5II/S9 is the same because that is what I have done with those cameras since I had them. The pricing was a bit too high straight out of the gate, but I picked mine up for £2700 which was acceptable compared with any kind of brand swap which I looked at which would have been anything from 5-10k based on my needs. So did I remain ‘brand loyal’ purely on cost then? Nope; cost + familiarity/continuity + capability, but starting afresh today, I’d go Nikon with adapter E Mount glass.

I'm talking about in cinema, there's no use case for it. Sports yes.

Leica M Typ 240... 2012, this was before Panasonic got more involved with making Leica's stuff. I'll give this a 10/10. The whole motherboard slides out really easily. I baked it in the oven to bring it back to life from completely dead. The solder needed a reflow apparently. 200 degrees C at 7 minutes did the trick. Custom chips all over the place. Utterly beautiful mechanically and in terms of the quality of connectors, cables, lots of metal parts and brilliantly designed internals. Next up another older camera, Nikon D700. Very impressive motherboard with separate analogue to digital converters. Probably why the colour science still has the edge on the newer sensor designs with their inline on-chip A/D. Nikon own branded chips. By contrast in the newer Leica Q... It's actually a Samsung. And the lens relies on a LOT of digital correction, so it's certainly not in same league as a Leica M when it comes to the quality of parts or optics. End result in terms of the images is very nice though. We'll call it the Samsung Q. Onto Fuji now and I have fixed an X-Pro3 and the old X-Pro1. The original had a lot of Fujifilm's own CPUs inside. It's very well made but has a lot of traditionally soldered wires on the mainboard, old-school style. This continues with some of the newer models too. X-Pro3 was an easy fix, a ribbon cable (FPC) had come loose where the sensor plugs into the mainboard. Some tape over the socket had shrunk in the heat and pulled it ajar. Pictured above is the X-Pro1 circuitboard, it's more proprietary whereas X-Pro3 looks a bit more generic on the inside. Here is an oven bake of a Panasonic LX15 mainboard... The components can withstand very high-heat and usually cold solder joints are responsible for a wide range of issues. Unfortunately in this case I made a mistake with the stop watch and the card slot fell off 🙂 Here is a sensor with hot mirror... the IR cut filter glows pink in this shot. If you remove it you get an IR capable camera and can also shoot normally if you add the IR cut filter to the front of the lens instead. I think this sensor is from my Lumix LX100 II or could be Sony RX100, I forget 🙂 Now onto Sony and their smaller cameras are too tightly packed. FPC cables develop cracking over time as some of the metal is folded and bent too tightly to fit the smaller bodies. This is an RX100 and it's very common to see these fail on the cable that connects the lens. A relatively easy fix actually and replacement FPCs are $5 on Aliexpress. But I don't rate Sony's quality as highly as Fuji or Panasonic so far. Onto Canon and I have had a very bad experience so far with their modern cameras. The DSLRs were much better made (i.e. 5D Mark III which was easy to tear down and remove the OLPF back in the day!) They use extremely fragile FPC connection sockets and the ribbon cables themselves are brittle and cheap. Sometimes a few bends and they tear. Doesn't make for a stress free repair that's for sure. In contrast to Panasonic, with the lovely GX80 it's in a different league and take a bit of extra abuse by an amateur repairer. I've done a lot more than what I have time to post today but probably will do a deeper look at stuff for YouTube or the blog. I rate as follows the brands then... 1. Leica (the extra cost is noticeable on the inside) 2. Panasonic (they know how to sensibly build a camera and logically lay out stuff, and they don't scrimp on component quality) 3. Fujifilm (high repairability score and robust, sensible designs) 4. Nikon (high repairability but many of the newer cameras not up to high-standards they set during DSLR era) 5. Sony (they try to pack in too much) 6. Canon (really quite terrible, cheap cost cut components, and badly laid out) Stay tuned for more. I do this just for fun, and really enjoy it. Plus now I have a oven baked Leica 240 to play with 🙂

And when he also did a test of standard Vlog vs Arri log, the standard Vlog looked a lot better to me. Someone else and I forget who now (but it was someone UK) also did a side by side between the S1II and S1RII and all though he made a case that the S1II was better, about 90% of the comments including myself, disagreed. I was playing with building a new custom non-log profile based on a download from LUMIX Lab, but heavy rain has stopped play 😒 Agree as it stays on and there is less risk of touching the glass and getting fingerprints on it or having to put it somewhere safe every time. I also had mine flip down rather than up as it looked less crap. I might go back to it now I back to primarily shooting one video designated unit as I could make a VND work better with that, but as above, was working on a non-log profile with an ISO of just 80 which in most scenarios, would remove any need for ND. But ground to a halt thanks to the crap UK weather...

The screen is the gateway drug. I am much weaker than @BTM_Pix and after handling one briefly for 15 minutes ordered it 3 days later. It's coming tomorrow. I'm not bothered by the "lackluster" DR results or anything. I also bought it in hopes the firmware updates will add even more value, which is a big no-no but I heard ProRes LT is confirmed coming.

Because I will do literally anything to avoid eBay, I am willing to let some of my favourite gear go for knock down prices. I have a mint GH5S which wants to find a good home 🙂 I also have a Nikon Zf if anyone is interested in some full frame Fuji-style shooting. This is loaded with my pre-release Fuji film styles for the Nikon Z mirrorless cameras. £500 should do it for the GH5S and the Nikon Zf price is negotiable. The stuff is in the UK - collect over coffee in the Peak District or Manchester. Or post within the UK or Europe. I'll be going back to Berlin soon. I also have a couple of compacts which wish to depart the crowded EOSHD HQ and go on a shoot. Canon G12 (CDD) and a Sony RX100 VA. Prices of those can be discussed below if you're interested!

I'd argue it is the MOST important because without the camera, you don't have a picture. It is the small differences between the latest sensors and codecs that's the unimportant thing. In cinematography, our job isn't to worry about the costumes or set pieces, that's the job of someone else. So lighting and camera are the most important for a DP. What has happened is the gap between the top-end i.e. ARRI and the cheap stuff has closed up. This has been going on ever since the start of the DSLR revolution so it's not a new thing but there's never been a smaller gap that exists now, for example between something like the Alexa 35 and a $1000 used Panasonic S1H. By the way although Magellan has beautiful content and really nice camera-work, the sharpness of it and the deep DOF isn't everybody's cup of tea. It does look a bit too soap opera in parts of that trailer, I think. It looks very different to an IMAX shot film. So there's big differences between formats and lenses still... The same cinema focal length for example on 16mm has always looked vastly different to same on IMAX or large format. Also there are big differences in grading style, camera movement style, and so on. I think most relevant for us is that you don't need to make a massive rig any more to get good results. It's horrible having the weight as a one-man DP. Probably why they used such a small camera on this.

And while it's not nearly as ridiculous as the EOS R5's overheating problems that were almost entirely caused by the Canon 🔨, when you bring out an S1R on any number of shoots for a long time, someone's bound to start going on about how it overheats. I still get that when I bring out my R5 for slider shots/suction cupping to windshields/etc. "Aren't you worried that's gonna overheat? I heard that camera overheats a lot." "They corrected most of that a while ago and I'm pretty sure it'll make it through this 45 second take, regardless."

I really do think the camera is the least important aspect these days though. Lighting, set pieces, costumes, locations, etc. are so much more important. Magellan could have been shot on pretty much any camera from the last 10 years and looked just as good, because everything else about it looks good and it's clearly made with skill and talent. 28 Years Later was a huge disappointment for me as a film (28 Days Later is one of my favorite films of all time) but it's still a gorgeous looking film that was shot on iPhones. If it was shot on a ARRI Alexa 35 it wouldn't have changed what I disliked about the film. And watching it, I didn't think to myself "jeez, this would've looked so much better if they'd film it on a better camera." A LOT of gear went into making it look as good as it does, but the camera itself was pretty low on the list, I think.

New firmware dropped today, apparently S2 cameras no longer catch fire and several 8k open gate tests have been shown to outlast battery life. No mention of the latter being improved and maybe they sneaked something in there in that regard as it’s less than I am used to and my only real criticism of the camera. New Sigma 17-40mm f1.8 landed for me personally also. So far, so good. Internal zoom, hurrah. Not big nor heavy, hurrah. Bright f1.8 constant aperture, hurrah. Hybrid zoom works with 4k 50p and there is a 422 all-intra mode, albeit at 800mbps, another lower one at 600mbps and a long gop 420 at just 200mbps and most likely going with that with the new Cinelike A2 profile that is not as flat as the D2 or as punchy as the V2. With the hybrid zoom enabled plus the standard level (ie there is a higher level with more punch in) EIS engaged, gives a good FF equivalent range of 28-66mm which is perfect for my needs. I think we’re going to get along beautifully and should do exactly what I needed which was to reduce kit (bodies, lenses, lens swaps etc) down to a more compact level. The proof of course will be out in the field but it’s a mild evolution than any kind of revolution after 5 years now with LUMIX, so not expecting any surprises…

The gear doesn't matter thing is so boring, it does matter and you can't shoot much without it. The GH1 opened a door, because the aesthetic on offer was very different to the small chip digital camcorders at the time or Mini DV. It opened the door to all those interchangeable lenses, and there's a big difference in look between these lenses let alone between a GH1 and a Mini DV cam. Actually you can tell the Magellan is going for a certain look too with the GH7 - it isn't Hollywood, it's documentary style and looks quite clinical in places with a deep DOF, which they didn't have to do but the Lumix lenses are like that and it works well. So choice of gear, informs the look of what you're making and does matter greatly. The difference in image quality between a GH6 and GH7 doesn't matter quite so much... But the format of camera, and era of camera does.

The gatekeeper is talent.

Let's not forget Nikon had no cine line, it was a clean buy with zero conflict of interest. Canon and Sony already have full cinema lines, so buying ARRI would create instant internal turf wars. Canon’s C-series and Sony’s VENICE would clash hard with the Alexa pipeline. At this point the wild card that makes the most sense is Apple. They could scoop ARRI up without blinking, keep it running as a prestige pro division, and then quietly bake LogC + ARRI color science straight into the iPhone Pro pipeline. Zero internal conflict, huge marketing flex, and a perfect fit with Apple’s long-term imaging strategy.

They're already closing down their pro services, and no way they invest in a zero growth business when they kill their own zero growth businesses. Canon can't do it. That would be all against their ego. They and their customer base believe Canon color science is best in the world, and thats why they have 50% market share. They're like "we ain't need nobody". Sony will have a integration nightmare if they do it. Arri systems are in conflict with the whole Sony line up. Also it would be an official admission that the electronics/AV giant couldn't get the color science right and eventually had to go shopping. Nikon acquisition of RED unintentionally made this perception that its a preferred approach in Tokyo. But it isn't. Nikon had to choose between two costly options and the acquisition was cheaper. In China, its only DJI who can gain a lot with Arri reputation in its arsenal, but I don't think Germans are comfortable with giving away this German icon to Chinese. Zeiss would be the perfect owner. A German brand with enough money, so the brand stays in the country, and they're heavily invested in high end part of the cine market.

I don't think there's much wrong with the slower sensor to be honest, I have come round to it, and I really like the FX2 as well - the images speak for themselves and it's one of the only cheap cinema cameras with both a proper EVF and mechanical shutter, and we all know that hybrid is where it's at... And again worth saying that unlike Panasonic S1 II - it is in the body of the flagship pro camera, not in the cut-price shell of a mid-range consumer camera. The partially stacked sensors are of course the current cutting edge, a7 V will be great but only if you NEED the speed. I don't shoot much 4K120p or 60p. Cinema 24p is still my most valued spec in terms of frame rates and as for 30p, it is still a TV / YouTube frame rate and doesn't look cinematic. Getting all this sensor talk in perspective, we'll go back to the very start. Canon used a Panasonic CCD in their first 1D DSLR, their own pioneering CMOS tech was not yet ready in time so they switched plans. Then, from the first Canon 1DS it was ready to go - BUT CMOS at this time was much slower than CCD. The 1D classic is the only FAST pro sports cameras ever made with a CCD! In the following years Canon were able to go from behind with CMOS and take the speed crown away from CCD sensors. The in-line A/D line-by-line readout tech of CMOS is what enabled video. Sony in 2005 commercialised their first CMOS sensor in the Sony R1 APS-C bridge camera. It had video only in terms of it could do live-view. The 10MP raw photos still stand up today. The way CMOS handles dynamic range is also different to CCD - a linear sudden blow-out in the highlights, but on CCD a more film-like non-linear and gradual highlight roll off and it was not until the Sony a7r III in 2018 that CMOS started to match CCD for colour fidelity and latitude. That is 18 years of development progress. The a7 IV sensor is a faster version of one of that chip, one of the most groundbreaking sensors of the last 25 years. 33mp instead of 42mp, but it sped up to enable a 7K full width pixel readout rather than pixel binned 4K. In 2025 it's still one of the only mid-range cameras to go past the 24mp mark. I think for £1500 that is a decent offer? Have you seen the a7r III's images? It's absolutely stunning, in some ways beats an a1 and z8. The a7 IV's "slow sensor" is at that level. From those very early days in early 2000s, video took another 8 years following the debut of CMOS - first with the Nikon D90 and then with the 5D Mark II. It took a further 6 years until 2014 for anyone to make a 4K capable full frame CMOS sensor. The a7r II was the first to do oversampled 5K->4K in S35 mode and full frame pixel binned 4K. Oooooodles of stuff has been shot since on this camera and on many other cameras with a similar level of rolling shutter. Of all the specs I care about, rolling shutter only occasionally presented itself as problem in the real world. I've owned countless full frame cameras... Panasonic S1, S1R, S1H, Sony a7s III, Sony a1, Nikon Z9 and Z8 but sold all of them. The only mainstay for me is the GFX 100. The only thing the faster Sony and Nikon cameras offer to the creative process, is speed and less rolling shutter. If action sports and slow-motion is your bag then great. When the a9 III with global shutter (and the slightly noisy base ISOs) comes down to under £2500 I might consider one of those but until then...For cinema... I think the a7 IV and FX2 are the best images you can get for the price. Although the Panasonic S1H has the edge in low light, and for HDMI RAW output to a hateful Ninja, it lacks the autofocus, the ecosystem of E-mount, and also of course the small and light body size.

it started happening faster in hotter conditions, 24-27C, but still happens at around 20C. When I narrowed it down to the card being the issue, I would just leave the camera running on my table while doing post work, and would regularly fill up the card or run out of battery with the Delkin or OWC without any warning, but with the Lexar card about 10-12 minutes in, the heat warning sign would come on, and it would terminate recording in about 20 min or so. PS Should add the cards that cuz thermal issues for me are 128GB gold Lexar Cards

I wish someone in Nikon or RED explain what they did and what these codes actually do. NRAW show less purple noise at extreme underexposure but colors are all over the place. R3D NE is in a pool of purple noise, but colors are intact.

It's absolutely pointless even talking to these people (if they are indeed real people), we are so far apart and they are so far down the rabbit hole thanks to social media. The great tragedy is that the internet in it's original concept was supposed to level up people's knowledge of the factual world and to broaden their minds, connect them with other cultures and other people. The way the billionaires have just completely subverted the technology is horrific and they are all mega rich as a result. Zuckerberg should be in jail. On social media, even the order of comments under a post swaps around depending on who the algorithm believes you will agree with most, so the counterbalance of views just never gets seen. And the end goal of all of this was never to break society - that's just collateral to the main mission, which is shareholder value. And if Zuck and Elon weren't bad enough and all the dark money sloshing about from Russia, I am equally as disgusted at the so-called "moral" liberal elite of tech leaders who stay silent on the destruction of our society and community cohesion in the name of profit. Like Tim Cook for instance.

It makes sense to change cameras and not brands! I’ve been interested in the S1iiE as it does resolve a couple of things that I dislike about the S5ii. The S1iiE’s screen and evf would be much more comfortable for me. Like you I prefer the screen behind the lens. Whilst in general I prefer 1 camera for video and one for photo that’s not always possible. The photo/video switch would be a real upgrade. I have written the S1ii off for me as it won’t handle the heat here in Madrid but from what I’ve seen the S1iiE handles the heat better. So I’m thinking of changing a S5ii for the S1iiE and maybe picking up a S9 if I can find a good deal.

You don't love anything except huffing those "alternative truthers" farts. I guess when you eat enough of the shit pies those types of people serve you, you eventually forget what shit tastes like and start enjoying it.

Scary image.

Sadly a lot of the British public distrust it as well thanks to the constant brainwashing they've been subjected to by social media and Russian bots. I see the influence of the BBC outside the West as an attempt to spread the UK's voice, and system of democracy, and of course in some places this isn't welcome and will never be. The purpose of the BBC is not to please everyone all over the world all at once, they were set up only to serve the British public at home and abroad, i.e. with World Service radio and the BBC news website, if someone in Afghanistan or Turkey doesn't agree with a couple of programmes then so be it, not our problem. At the same time, people in other countries are well within their rights to have different opinions, and to tell the BBC to fuck off out of their airwaves. Equally, the Americans should fuck off out of UK politics too and leave us to it. However when it comes to some BBC content like David Attenborough people in other countries would do well to watch it. Maybe they would then have a less appalling attitude to animals.

Lenses to me are now more important than bodies and have been for some time since camera tech reached a certain point. The best glass for my needs is all in Sony E Mount…which is a bit of a bummer with LUMIX bodies 😂 Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 is better than Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 which is also good but having had both, I prefer the Tamron. Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 is relatively compact and light compared with the 70-200 chonkers available in L Mount. Sony 50-150mm f2 is waaaaaay better than the Tamron 35-150mm f2/2.8 because A. it’s internal zooming and B. it’s constant aperture and C. it is optically better. Never mind the super chonker that is the Samyang 35-150mm f2/2.8, the Tamron’s fugly stepsister. Then we have the Sony 24-50mm f2.8 G which if paired with the 50-150 would make a superb indoor/outdoor option for my needs. Hmmm, maybe I am talking myself into a flip… I’m seriously tempted…

I had an Alice cam on order. they are scammers, I have zero proof of Alice cams actually delivered to buyers. My second wave cam was never ready to be delivered, even when wave 4 funding was being done. At one point they asked for a full payment to get on the delivery list. Never was I contacted to pay the remainder for an existing, ready to ship unit. now prominent Youtubers are posting about the new cam with Zero reference to the previous gen, as if it never existed. So there was no scam either…

Yeah good move approaching indie RED shooters rather than your usual hybrid / YT influencer. Great review with strong footage. More I think of it, ZR is the perfect travel cam, street shooter.