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Tianluokeng Tulou clusters, Fujian Province, China. These buildings have a very thick outer wall of earth and a 3-5 storey inner wooden structure that houses dozens of families. The structure is designed to be stable during earthquakes and secure against bandits. The oldest if the ones we visited was built in 1796. These are just with a quick grade, mostly Resolve Film Look Creator. The DR in the scene is extreme, and while all the required info is in the files, I'm going to have to go heavy on the power-windows when I grade these properly. Grabs from GH7 + 14-140mm zoom. Grabs from iPhone 17 Pro shooting Prores Log with default app. The Prores HQ Apple Log files grade really nicely, have heaps of DR, and are great to work with. The DR isn't quite as much as the GH7, but it's more than enough for these scenes. These were graded at a different time to the above GH7 shots so probably don't match. All-in-all, the iPhone well and truly punches above its weight when you take into account it's pocketability, the size of the sensor, and the incredible range in focal lengths. Imagine how much you'd have to pay to get a lens that can do 13-200mm FF equivalent FOV and has exposure levels between F1.78 and F2.8 across the whole range.

I initially dismissed the Nikon ZR. The compact body and odd I/O layout made it seem like a prosumer crossover rather than a serious tool. After spending real time shooting with it, that impression completely changed. The huge integrated display transforms the experience. It feels intuitive, immersive, and for the first time a Nikon mirrorless seems built for video operators. Pair with a Leica M lens and it delivers this uncanny mix of smartphone agility and FF cinematic depth, a combo that feels surprisingly liberating (think sigma FP but with IBIS). The body is metal and feels rock solid. The flip out screen isn’t ideal for low angle work, but that’s about the only ergonomic miss. The stills side remains capable and thoughtfully separated from the video mode. The redesigned video interface finally feels modern, with waveform, quick exposure tools, and four customizable banks all within reach. The main system menu still feels like a maze, but the dedicated video page is a major step toward a proper cine oriented workflow. I just hope Nikon will pull more from the RED side (traffic lights, open gate, 17:9 etc) in a firmware update. Despite its understated design, the ZR stands out as Nikon’s most forward-thinking hybrid yet. The 32-bit float audio, internal R3D recording, and that massive touch display all combine into a package that feels disruptive and modern at a mid-tier price point. Haven't been this tempted by a camera in a while.

Going back to the GH7, one thing that surprised me on the trip was the GH7 + Voigtlander 42.5mm F0.95 + Sirui 1.25x anamorphic adapter combination. When I saw that the Sirui was under USD300 / AUD500 I was stunned as anamorphic was something that I had dismissed as simply being inaccessible to me - too expensive / difficult / complicated. I ordered it immediately. When my tests revealed it was quite happy paired with the Voigtlander F0.95 primes shot wide open, I decided to take the 42.5mm on the trip with me as a creative experiment. The FF horizontal equivalent for the 17.5mm and adapter is 28mm F1.5, which is interesting but I'm not a huge fan of the 28mm FOV, so I chose the 42.5mm lens to pair with it, which gives an equivalent of 68mm F1.5. It's a longer lens for street shooting, but will give me some distance to work with (useful for a rig that is as large as this combination) and will give some great shallow DOF too. Here are some sample frame grabs from the night markets in Xiamen Island, China. When I used it in Hong Kong I found the focal length really came into its own. There were so many layers and so much movement, the best shots are just a confusing mess without the motion that helps you identify what is going on. Here are some more minimal frames. I have pushed the grade in these very heavily. Loads of contrast and vignetting and a strong application of Film Look Creator too. The Voigtlanders are soft wide-open too, adding to the look. IIRC these images were shot with the lens stopped down a bit (I'd forgotten my ND filter!) so it can be quite well behaved. It has sent me down a rabbit hole of looking at how to get a more vintage S35 / FF look. More on that later. My mini-review of the Sirui is this: It's very affordable It's large and heavy, but build quality feels very good and seems to have tight tolerances It's sharp It doesn't flare much at all, even shooting in the streets at night I only saw flares on a few occasions when the headlights of a car hit the lens just right The focusing mechanism is a joy, I used one finger to focus it for a lot of the time I was using it The bokeh is surprisingly cats-eye / swirly, and doesn't have that strong a vertical stretch (at 1.25x it's only a mild squeeze factor so that makes sense) It has a bit of coma with bright lights If you like what you see above, I'd recommend it. I started off thinking that my bag was very heavy and not taking this combo next trip would be a good way to lighten my luggage a bit, and on the trip home was thinking that I'll take it everywhere and just pack less clothes.

The best test so far

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.

I guess that people must have been complaining to Panasonic that the S9 was too affordable and they really needed the same thing, but more expensive. 😉

I have been a pro photographer for 20 years now and live in a tropical island with lighting ratios you can't even imagine in most countries. This is why I have been always very sensible to Dynamic range result/progress/testing for the last two decades, as most of the population including me are darker skin and we have very hard light. During that time I saw the first digital cameras (I would say from 2 to 3rd generation) depending on how you count, go from about 10 to 14-15 (SNR) DR test in RAW, as contrary to most videographers, photographers been shooting in raw for decades. I have seen what a 10 stops DR camera image look like and my ZR is no way as bad as this. Last week I had to film some B rolls for the launching of an international car brand here, where we had to mix some of our country shots with their own media. And as I had little time, I had to go around and shoot in less ideal conditions with harsh middle day shoot and some with harsh backlight and I had to dig deep into the shadows. This is start of the summer in the southern hemisphere, so the light was already hard even not quite as from December to March. So to come back to CineD, I have enough experience to know their numbers/conclusion are just BS. In fact they are some of the reference that have educated me, mostly with the latitude test, which I consider the best test today. But when you take RAW numbers and pit it against mostly compress/NR based codec, guess what, it is disingenuous. Because if you had watched DR test for the last decade with Xyla charts and Imatest, you would know that Raw data tend to score much less because of noise, but in that noise is still a ton of Data. Gerald Undone who is himself not a Nikon Fan, does the explanation very well in the ZR dynamic range test. First he got 10.9 stops at 0.5 medium noise rating, which strangely jumps just a little bit to 11.1 on a normalized 4k timeline, and just adding a little NR, where as he says the details in the shadows are still very high he reaches 12.6. This is in the RED Komodo X range. I have seen other test from french (I am a french Speaker) to even Korean which were around same numbers and which corelate with multiple side by side test. And no way their are 2.5 stops difference between the KX and the ZR!!! But it is not the first time I see them cooking their numbers to support some kind of narative. But this time it was the exact opposite for the Sony A9iii. The one with the Global shutter that even with your eyes could see with a bad DR, but I remenber the guy putting so much NR to get 9STOPS of exposure latitude, to say it had great latitude. Yes it is a 1080p image, but doesn't mean it has 1080p details, which I pointed in the comments.

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.

First time in ages i got away for a few days and did a road trip out to a little country town i like to visit. Full discloser, never really considered myself, much of a cleanliness or sterility freak 🙃. However i am liking the sirui 1.33 24mm. Probably mostly for the convenience it brings. Its not 1.5, 1.6 or 2x, and i think the anamorphic effects are kinda tame compared to those other stretches i mention. I liken it to stepping stones i think, little bit different to what you'd normally see but not as jarring as 2x ( although jarring might be too strong an adjective). It will flare and do the blue streaks as well but i find the blue streaks to be less intrusive compared to what you see on youtube. I suspect the first prototypes steaked quite a lot in youtube videos, no idea if they toned them down. My experiences has been their abit more subdued. The anamorphics guy Tito Ferradans has a vid on using oval cutouts in sirui lenses. I'd probably try something like that next. If i wanted a look that was closer to 2x Its taken a while to figure this lens out and i expect i still need to do more with it to realize its potential. The whole sterility / cleanliness thing, is of course subjective. What you may like, i may not and vice versa. I personally don't find cleanliness and or sharpness objectional in a lens and i recently bought a lens with a whole lot of yellowing going on that most wouldn't buy. I think the sirui and the other modern anamorphic lenses bring convenience to anamorphics. Buying a vintage anamorphic is much like travelling down a rabbit hole. Theres lots of things to add on and sometimes that can take a while to sort out. Its my understanding that 1.33 are geared towards crop sensors and the bigger stretches for full frame ? of course you can mix and match, if you so desire. i'm on mft format and i think 1.33 stretch adds enough of a difference for me. i also suspect a 1.33 stretch is a good start, if your looking to dip your toes in anamorphics and have a crop sensor camera, but dont want to travel down a rabbit hole.

It's been a while since I had to film on land, and I'm using many lenses that I had almost forgotten about. For my rare terrestrial shooting, I always used old Yashica ML lenses in manual mode, and then I got an opportunity where an entire Panasonic kit came almost for free. - Panasonic Leica DG Macro 45mm f/2.8 - Panasonic Leica DG 12-35mm f/2.8 - Panasonic Leica 35-100mm f/2.8 - Panasonic Lumix G 100-300mm f/4-5.6 But I only used the 45mm macro a lot, which is superb underwater. After two days of shooting (I have a GH5 and a GH5MII, and my buddy has a GH5S), I wanted to throw them all down the toilet. Actually, the image quality of the Panaleica lenses is stellar for my taste (maybe even too clinic), but what really gets on my nerves is the impossibility of using manual focus creatively. They all have focus-by-wire, which means it is not linear, and the focus changes with the speed you turn the ring. I know, I'm stating the obvious. But let me vent, and then I'll get to the point. I rummaged through the GH5MII menus and discovered that since it has a similar firmware to the GH6 and GH7, in theory, it would be possible to choose whether to have linear focus and also set the focus throw. But—and here's the fun part—only on some types of Panasonic lenses. Finding the list is like looking for a unicorn, and when you finally get it, you discover that few of the listed lenses (which would almost be a basic kit) have this capability. It's crazy. Basically, it doesn't matter how many new camera bodies Panasonic makes (personally, I think the GH7 is the last of its kind) if you then have crappy lenses that haven't been updated for 15 years. Playing with continuous AF, I discovered that the 45mm Panaleica macro can't even keep the focus in AFC in basic scenarios. And it should be the king of macro in the M43 line and it doesn't support linear focus. In the end, I had to do some relaxing therapy by mounting the Yashica ML 50mm f1.4 and enjoying turning the manual focus ring. Out of curiosity, what is the situation with Panasonic FF lenses? Is it the same situation there too?

I just want an S1H in exactly the same body but a bit lighter, with the updated real-time LUT and AF. Done deal.

I had the LPS Red service included with my GH6 when I bought it new, and unfortunately had to use it the next year when my camera screen started glitching out and eventually died. Other than the fast turnaround it was a huge headache and the communication from Lumix Pro Services was terrible. I had to pay out of pocket for shipping both ways, an inspection fee, and then parts and labor. The third party repair facility was great, but there was a glitch in the LPS system showing on their end that my camera wasn't registered even though I had proof on my end. I could never communicate with anyone at LPS efficiently and the email tag back and forth was incredibly slow and nothing was ever resolved and did not get the said warranty coverage. Maybe I'm the only one that has had this issue with them, but then again maybe this is why it's going away.

I had no idea it existed and send my stuff to a place in Paris and a company whose name I forget… And Panasonic Lumix told me to do this with no mention of these so called pro service so 🤷‍♂️

1) This didn't go well for Sony when they released the QX100 and QX10 years ago. It also didn't work well for Olympus with the Air A01. Of course, none of them stuck a stupid bullshit "AI" label on the end of the camera name so who knows, maybe that's what was missing. 2) Fuck GenAI. Of all the things I want integrated in my camera, that's at about the rock bottom of the list. 3) Note that at least 3 of the 6 testimonials that they include (screenshot below) don't actually say anything positive about the camera. "That's very different" is not an endorsement. In fact, where I live, saying "that's different" is usually a form of backhanded insult. 4) It looks like it only supports wifi connection to the phone without a wired option. In a best-case scenario, screen lag will be tolerable. Go to any reasonably-crowded urban area, though, and enjoy the slide show and/or "connection lost" messages. 5) Even though they say you can choose from over 100 M43 lenses, I'd be worried about magsafe supporting any moderately heavy lens. Even if it does, the camera will be really unbalanced. 6) When Caira goes out of business, there will be nobody left to update the app and the camera isn't usable without it. Cross your fingers that Apple doesn't change some necessary API during an OS update. 7) Super early bird pricing is $695. You can go buy a used Panasonic G85 in like new condition for about $430. You can get an OM System OM-5 in like new condition for about $760 or in excellent condition for about $690. The G85 is cheaper and pretty good - at least on a spec sheet, they seem similar - a little bulkier, maybe. The OM-5 should be at least as good of a camera, also is quite small (not as small, of course, but very small by modern camera standards), and will keep working whether or not OM Systems stays in business or decides they want to stop making cameras. 8 ) Phone cameras are already very good these days. Mine is more than good enough for any of the sort of images/videos that they seem to be promoting on their site. If not, I'd probably just get a newer/better phone and not some janky add-on. 🙂 9) Small company + Kickstarter means you'll probably be waiting a good long time and/or never actually receive the order. Even though they say they have 500 mainboards already in stock, actually building and shipping hundreds of units is a really hard challenge that a lot of kickstarter projects don't take into account - and sometimes not even due to fault of the creators. My 4x10 film camera that I ordered from an established brand (Ondu) who already made/shipped lots of pinhole cameras for years beforehand took WAY longer than expected, at least partly because suppliers kept sending out-of-spec parts to them. The owner is a really great guy and we had some nice conversations when I asked my camera hadn't come despite that he said they were caught up on orders (turned out that their tool to collect shipping information lost a bunch of responses so he had to go manually collect them from a lot of people). So anyway - for me, Caira is a hard no. I'm basically the opposite of their target market, though.

Finally got ZR yesterday. After changing all the settings like I have them in Z6iii, except Zebras and Vignette for R3D, got to test it a bit too. 1st, the screen is really good, you can change almost everything needed via the touch id and new menus quite quickly and intuitively. Need to figure out still what I need to set on those 4 custom buttons really. The grip is tiny but feels ok in the hand. Still, with heavier lenses like 1kg 50 f1.2 and 135 f1.8 having the L shaped gage’s bigger grip seems to be a must, as it also has the Arca-swizz base plate for easy tripod use too. Quickly tested R3D NE vs NRaw to R3D hack with ISO 800 and 6400, and R3D NE was a bit cleaner in the shadows and seemed to hold the colors better too. The Z6iii EVF and all of it’s buttons in muscle memory seems still of course more convenient to use, but there is no going back to timy 3.2” screens after this. In various Panas and Z6iii I almost never used the screen. Cinema tools has made a false color LUT, propably have to buy and try that too, if setting the zebras to 245 for R3D highlights does not work like zebras at 255 for NRaw. The build quality seemed robust, but the shutter button needs a bit heavier press. Could not find the focus limiter in the menus either. Hopefully the weather allows to take both ZR and Z6iii outside, and see how the ZR handles, and what the footage looks like.

Seems like another hidden cost of the internets obsession with AF. The more everyone screamed about it from the rooftops the less that manufacturers cared about anything else. The worst thing about the camera industry is the BS that the online communities prattle on about. Now we have clinical lenses and megadollar-megapixel cameras that fill up your card in 10s flat with 8K 60p RAW and require all kinds of Film Emulation in post to get rid of the sensation that digital scalpels are being hurled into your eyeballs when you look at the footage. No wonder vintage lenses have never been more in-demand. ...or vintage point-and-shoot cameras or digicams for that matter.

The C50 is a $3,900 camera. It's quite good and I'd love to have one, but there's a LOT of competition in the $4,000 space. It shouldn't surprise cined that not everybody's talking about it. Ultimately, it will probably be a good seller for Canon. On the other hand, adding something with "Redcode" in the name as a feature for the ZR was a fantastic marketing decision on Nikon's part. With a decent colorist, the differences in a final image between the Redcode NE and Nikon raw are likely to be negligible - but it doesn't matter because people can now say that they have a camera that records Redcode RAW. These days, used Komodos are not that much off the ZR in price - and lensrentals.com has their early BF special on off-rental gear where you can get 15% off one of their Komodos which are still in decent condition - putting them almost equal to the ZR in price. But getting an OG Komodo means a bigger camera with a smaller sensor, much worse autofocus, worse/less flexible built-in screen, much ergonomics, worse media (Cfast vs CF Express), and probably buying a v-lock battery plate so you don't need to source older/expensive Canon camcorder batteries (I did exactly that), and a less flexible lens mount with fewer third-party lenses available. But you do gain global shutter and 16-bit raw with better test chart performance. So yeah, of course everybody's talking about the ZR. Not sure why anybody, cined included, should be mad about it. People are welcome to use whatever hammer they like - and more competition in the cinema camera space, especially affordable (in comparison) competition is great for us as consumers of those cameras.

Same sensor as Blackmagic Pocket 4K But it's a much more feature packed and better built camera, with an excellent stills photography pedigree as well.

GH5 for $350 is pretty good but I've seen GH6 for under $750, that's possibly an even better deal. GH7 is too new to see a big fall on the used market unless you get lucky, but you can get the similar spec G9 II for a pretty nice $1400-ish. Keep an eye out for GH5S too, it's an underrated bargain now

The reality. I am sure you can get more out of R3D than Lumix log, but at 5x the data rate. But then again, I have seen the size of the Lumix raw files and they are over 10x log, so err, no thanks. The actual reality is that no one will notice, especially as all they are interested in these days is the 60 second short on social media that can easily be shot on a phone or action cam...which coincidently, is exactly what I will be doing next year... Should we care? Yes we should...but always within the realms of reality and that reality for me is I'm not going to be shooting data rates 5-10x what I already have that are already more than good enough, because where does it stop? I still love the ZR, - I think it is THE camera of the year, all factors considered, but mainly for it's form factor and rear LCD, although I do wish that was tilt not flip out, but hey ho, not buying one so what does my opinion matter!

R3D NE, NRaw, Prores and H.265 compared by Cinema Tools. Not that much difference between R3D and NRaw, but not sure if they exposed according to this Recommended Zebra pattern values for R3D NE footage at Different ISO levels document. https://download.nikonimglib.com/archive8/ocJ930074UNE07okE3j44a40zA01/R3D_NE_datasheet_for_Zebra_pattern_(En)01.pdf

I'm looking around at the current anamorphic landscape and finding that while much easier to work with and capable of wider angles, the new offerings from Sirui, Blazar and Laowa lack the same jaw-dropping quality that footage from the older adapters had. I find them so clean (yes, even the Blazars) that I think that it defeats the point of shooting on anamorphic. So that brings me back to the vintage adapters, which seem to have come down in price since the modern lenses have hit the market. Plus there are now several variable diopters available for single focus. Going on character alone, what are your favorites? At one point or another, I've owned 10-20 different adapters, and I still have a modded Bell & Howell Single-Focus. But after an 11-year hiatus from anamorphic, I am looking for fresh perspectives.

Ticking along but still here after 25 years comprising approx the first 10 as a photographer and the last 15 as a hybrid shooter in the wedding industry. 5 more years to go and then I will be packing it in out of choice. In the meantime, just have to make sure I keep my head above water and not overly concerned in that regard as neither AI nor the wannabes can do what I do. Yet, as far as AI goes anyway... Seen a lot of changes but no real challenges as such and for whatever reason, I just seem to have been in a place where I can just tick along and by 'tick along', I don't mean cruise, because I am always working at it and on it. Rather I just don't feel the need to follow every trend and possibly because of that, why I have remained pretty constant whilst I have seen so many come and go.

Yup, but to be fair, Lumix has had a lot of ‘love’ recently from the shill brigade but a lot of them will now (and have already started) flipping over to the ZR. Soon though, Sony will be releasing the A7V and they will then flop back in that direction and will have gone full circle. Beyond that, perhaps DJI will have popped out their rumored MILC and that will become The Next Big Thing? It’s all inevitable.

Wow, I think that one speaks for itself. I actually just made my first ever purchase from Buyee. The lens was not well photographed or chronicled, but it was listed for a price that I couldn't pass it up. I think one of the things that has stopped me in the past is that I didn't know what the shipping fees would be, and now the tariffs are an x-factor as well (I read 17% a few days ago, but who knows). But for $30, it seemed like an experiment worth trying.

How did topic turn out to be? Seems like this is best camera in the market right now?

Hi, yesterday panasonic finally released the firmware uodate and lumix flow update for the s5ii. I really like the app. Setup time is also fast. As this might replace my shinobi ii for travel purposes. Allthough I need to test how long batterylife of my smartphone is while using lumix flow. Not sure if there are any other drawbacks. But apps like these could give external monitor brands a hard time. Or at least in the consumer section. Cheers

All hail the Nikon ZR 4 inch rear LCD

Shot on A74 an Helios 44 First spotify data shows that the song is somehow listened to in Japan - so if you know anyone in that area...

I'm looking around to find an example to explain this better. Most of what I'm seeing is too sharp. This is nice. I find that sometimes I actually like when anamorphic lenses having taking lenses that are focused just a little off. Here's my B&H single focus vs a Sirui 1.6x that I rented. I'd happily just stick with the B&H if I could go wider with it. I also like what I'm seeing from the Kowa 16D in terms of character, but it's not going to play well with a ~50mm lens either. That is a really nice lens. Very smooth bokeh, and a little CA in the bokeh wide open (which I quite like). I think those Voigtlanders are known for holding circular bokeh for longer when stopping down, a very nice characteristic for pairing with an anamorphic lens. I think you're onto something. Check out this video. Tropical was the wrong word. But it's super humid! I liked in Kobe for three years. I've owned the Helios three different times, and sold it. I just don't get along with that lens. If I can find a decent mod on a fast 35-50mm lens (with no streak), I'd consider it. From what I've seen, the mods still don't have the weirdness of true anamorphic. What Blazar is doing is really neat. I think they are doing it with their new Beetle lenses as well.

My “Pocket Anamorphic” setup i’m working on. Waiting for a couple eastern european guys to finish with a small scale front focuser prototype for these little 8mm scopes.

Optyczne published their review: https://www.optyczne.pl/107.4-Inne_testy-Nikon_ZR_-_test_trybu_filmowego_Jakość_obrazu.html

Seems there's something new to arrive (from t)here: NDA is leaked here (for more details there and over there). This November, they say. (Actually, not totally exempt from pure nonsense, oh boy!) It would be nice @MILCs side too! ;- )

At least for the 16 Pro, there are Magsafe threaded filter adapters. I have one that takes a 67mm filter (or is it 58?). The only real bummer is that it can't go on with my phone in the standard Apple case so I have to pop the phone out to use it. Mine cost $20 or so IIRC. Maybe something like that exists for the 17 as well?

I like the colors and overall image of this camera, especially for the low price, but Nikon definitely sacrificed DR for a faster readout. This is from G. Undone's test: 10.9 usable stops in 6K R3D NE is not great for a modern cinema camera. NR will get you another stop, but it's not an ideal starting point. By comparison, the Komodo 6K scored 12.5 usable stops in 6K R3D and the Komodo-X was at 12.9 when tested by CineD. CVP's latitude test was also fairly extensive as it tested both native ISOs: The good news is that you don't lose much DR when switching into the higher base. The bad news is that, no matter which base you use, most of its competitors have an extra stop in the highlights: As for under exposure, it is usable to under 3, but no more. It is RAW after all, so this poor result is understandable when compared with the Sony cameras.

You seem to post nothing but angry negative stuff. Why waste your time with all of us talentless hacks?

The file sizes are still too large for my work. I shoot long form, or at least a full day's worth of footage and can easily come home with 400-500gb of footage as its stands. Prores 422 would double it.

It definitely seems like manufacturers are pushing Raw like it's the best thing since sliced bread. The average buyer of the prosumer hybrid mirrorless cameras does not need Raw. I noted some chat above about bandwidth vs processing power. Seems this is also the case with the Lumix S1II/S1IE. Seems like Lumix is beginning to favour Raw over H.264 and H.265 recording, which is very disappointing. I tested one for a weekend and was let down by the horrendous digital sharpening and aggressive noise reduction in the compressed codecs, even when it's turned all way way down, it's not "off". Many claim the extra sharpening is to help the AF, but the AF still works in Raw - the only recording format that actually looks organic and natural. So it's evidently a processing problem. I was really excited by the prospect of the S1II but I'm afraid it's completely unusable for my needs. I don't want or need Raw, I'd just like a nice, natural looking H.265 image please.

True, I would agree with this. For me, I always make it a priority, even though it's costly and I don't "see" anything new when spending all that money on RAID drives/arrays, memory cards, and the computer upgrade. But I do that knowing that in the past, I've always benefited from it and have never regretted it.

At ISO 6400, ZR is way better than Komodo X, and equal to S1ii. With noise reduction, even ISO 25600 is useable. And thats what matters for the target market. They're mostly one man with no or very limited lighting equipment. Underexposing and lifting the shadows in post is not what they usually do. Its good to have lower noise floor, but you don't want to go much down there anyway. Because despite less noise, you're still dealing with poor SN ratio, due to shot noise, which is inevitable side effect of underexposure. That's why much of R&D money in CMOS sensor industry is directed to improvement in saturation level (more room for overexposure), and solve the noise problem with AI.

For me, the iPhone has been competent for filming since the 13 pro max. I’ve produced whole documentaries with it. Now with the 17 pro max out, with an iPhone and maybe an action camera, I can document high quality content while being extra nimble and incognito.

They are from the same sensor and if the ZR can achieve the same as the S1ii, then it would already be very very good (RED Raptor territory). The S1ii has the DR boost mode which showed 10 stops of latitude, that is Alexa LF level, but with 27ms, which is not great at all.

Nice video from Nikon India.

While I think it would make sense for hybrid cameras to offer similar "looks" across photos and video for easier presentation together, I am not really sure storing photos in log format makes sense. First, while linear encoding would waste bits due to the highlight photon shot noise making the least significant bits meaningless, this has already been corrected in compressed raw file formats such as Nikon's (technically lossy but visually lossless) compressed NEF. If I recall correctly, Nikon simply leaves out the LSBs in highlight pixels, thus saving storage space. In log video mode, cameras bias the exposure metering to produce about three stops of underexposure compared to normal SDR photos, and this leads to a lot of noise in the main subject (if there is one). It may not be such an issue for video because in video you can do temporal noise reduction which you cannot do for photos since they're individual frames with different content in each image. Usually in still photography, people want the main subject to have the highest possible image quality, and exposure metering algorithms typically emphasize the detected or selected subject and only secondarily protect highlights from blowing out. I still almost always increase midtones in post-processing by a curves adjustment, reducing highlight contrast and bringing the subject (midtones) up in brightness. For scenes that require a large dynamic range, many photographers I know of shoot a set of bracketed frames in order to ensure high SNR for each major part of the image and then merge the images with masks or other such techniques (depending on the subject). For video, exposure blending with masks is not possible but some automated DR-enhancement methods that blend two amplification levels exist in a few cameras (dual gain output). While the idea of having highlight exposure latitude is appealing, it comes at a cost in the midtone and shadow SNR and I think many still photographers would consider the outcome to be of poor quality compared to what they are used to. It's also the case that many if not most (?) still photographers use Auto ISO and manual exposure mode as their go-to exposure mode and they expect the camera in most cases to set the ISO precisely to get close to the desired brightness for the main subject as they are shooting. I often set the camera to ISO 100 or 64 and Auto ISO, lettting the camera vary ISO from 64 to 12800 to get the exposure correct and the photos near usable as they come out of the camera with minimal tweaking. This won't work for log as most of the ISO settings are unusable in log given the 3 stop underexposure built-into the approach. Yes, you can apply +2-3 stops of EV correction and then get similar results to linear modes but then the exposures on the screen will look off and it's harder to see the subject and get the correct feeling of the scene and how it would render in the photograph. I just don't see this going anywhere outside of a few filmmakers wanting look-matched still photos when video is their primary output. Still photographers outside of agency photojournalism shoot raw and that's that for the most part.

This is my reason for shooting photos raw. The difference between 8-bit jpeg and raw photos is much greater than between 10-bit log and raw video. And also most in-camera jpeg profiles aren't exactly documented, afaik. With a documented log curve you can adjust white balance and exposure in post, and while you lose "some" fidelity vs raw, the transformations are accurate. So on a slightly different topic, I'd personally really like for more photo cameras to shoot 10 bit log photos, and for standard photo editing software to have the same kind of color management that Resolve has. I don't do anything crazy to my photos, but I do see the limits of 8 bit jpeg in normal use, which I do not see with 10 bit log video. Overall, I sort of suspect that most people who want to shoot raw video already are. External raw recorders are easy enough, so if you're already committed to the workflow and HDD requirements, the external recorder often isn't the breaking point.

The best camera is the one you hold ; ) ...and that's the "toy" when in good hands! :- )

@kye, your framing, beyond that of a traveller, unveils the eye of an artist :- )

For sure. The “18 stops” claim comes from the manufacturer (sensor-level, special HDR mode). It’s plausible as a sensor specification under controlled conditions/multi-exposure HDR — but practical DR measured in real cameras has been substantially lower due to optical and pipeline factors. Although the sensor itself has a “theoretical” 18 stops, many other factors (noise, analog-to-digital conversion, image pipeline, compression, amplifier architecture, pixel readout, linearity, saturation capability) limit the actual practical performance. Manufacturer's claim = sensor under optimized conditions (two/more readings, dual-gain, on-sensor HDR, internal measurements). This isn't necessarily the DR you'll get in a final phone/camera. Actual limits: optics (flare/veiling glare), amplifiers, pipeline noise, compression, RAW/JPEG processing — all of which reduce useful DR. https://www.imatest.com/docs/full.html Imatest/DxOMark measure the system, not just the sensor die (photodiodes (light-capturing pixels), transistors, amplifiers, readout lines, A/D converters, etc.). Lab values applied to cameras tend to show much lower useful DR on sensors of this size — hence the large difference between manufacturer claims and practical DR. However, if this OmniVision sensor actually comes to fruition with 18 practical stops, that will be revolutionary for such small sensors — it would be worth watching for announcements and technical tests.

For anyone who knows one or two things about imaging science, it was obvious we can't go beyond 16 stops with current combinations of tech, as DR is not just about pixel's saturation. You can save harsh highlights from clipping but you get an overall contrast level that doesn't match to that saved highlights, which is what exactly demonstrated here.

Enjoy. Do you prefer cinema when it's busy or borderline empty? I think I prefer to go on quiet days.