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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.

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

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

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

Fuji have announced the X-T30 IIi https://www.fujifilm-x.com/global/products/cameras/x-t30-iii/ It looks... fine. The price is nice - $1,000. As I said in the title, it looks like it'll be great for someone who would have bought the X-M5, but preferred a camera with an EVF. Photos are 26 megapixel. Video is 6.2k at up to 30fps, 4k at up to 60fps, and 1080p at up to 240fps. The only mention of image stabilization on the product page is electronic so I think there won't be any IBIS which will be a deal breaker for some/many.

How does the stabilisation stand up on the Nikons and Sonys compared to Lumix? It’s such a huge plus for me when covering events etc

Or maybe you will not 😂 I still stand by the ‘fact’ that it’s an excellent choice for my needs and the only alternative combo I would switch to right now at the end of 2025, would be Nikon Z8 + ZR + Z6iii (or perhaps 2x ZR’s) vs 2x S1Rii + S5ii and if a fairy waved her magic wand in my direction and said it could happen overnight with zero faff or cost, I’d accept her offer. But as fairies don’t exist, I’ll just have to stick with what I have!

Some test results... SlashCam have the S1R II 8K at 22ms, but I think open gate brings that closer to 30ms? Sony a1 is at 15ms for 8K, no crop. The 4K/120p is also much better / cleaner on the a1: S1R II https://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Test/Panasonic-LUMIX-S1R-II-Sensor-Bildqualitaet---Debayering--Rolling-Shutter-und-Dynamik--Rolling-Shutter---Panaso.html#RollingShutterPanason This is important because 4K/120p is usually what sets apart your £3k new camera from a £1k used S1H. Granted there's a few new features that have come through since. But if you don't need the speed, the a1, S1R II, Z8 and so on seem a bit pointless to me? There's so many cheaper options if 60p or even 30p is your only need. a7 IV, S1H, Fuji X-H2, and so on.

What follows is not my opinion. Just a bunch of facts. Sony a1 is £2800 used now. Let's suppose Sony a1 is same price at point of acquisition as a new S1R II - ok you may have to get a used Sony with a few marks and 10k shots on it, but such is the nature of the used market these days you'll easily find an offer with 1-2 year warranty like a new cam. For 8K it is 422 10bit 500Mbit H265. The equivalent to H.264 at 1000Mbit. 300Mbit is a bit low for 8K and the much slower sensor in the S1R II means rolling shutter is problematic in the 8K and open gate modes. But that's an ok trade-off if the price is lower. But it is £2999 at WEX. So for sure the a1 is a direct competitor. E-mount is more adaptable. I can even autofocus my manual focus lenses on it. There's fewer native lenses for L, and fewer adapters. E-mount is all-round superior because it's been around longer and has a larger installed user-base. I like L-mount, but it just doesn't give you as wide a choice in glass. And we must take into account the size, design and build quality of the body, where subjective opinion matters a lot - but there's no denying the S5 II body which houses the more powerful panasonic tech is a mid-range £1300 consumer-grade construction and feels like one, whereas the a1 is firmly in the professional bracket, along with the a9 series. And AF on the Sony still way ahead. Open gate is definitely a plus for the Panasonic. As people who own multiple cameras though, my choice would be to bring out the trusty S1H for a grand when open gate or anamorphic is needed. When it comes to other more common scenarios like autofocus shooting, higher frame rates, 4K/120p, low rolling shutter and a wider choice of lenses, most people would be served better by the a1 than the s1r II or s1H. The a7rv sensor is fantastic. Same sensor in the Sigma Fp-L... which is why I kept hold of it, despite it being an odd duck. I don't think I will 🙂 It's a great camera but just doesn't light my fire enough. The Sony a1 is nearly 5 years old and has a better spec, a better lens mount, is smaller and better built. The GFX 100 is king for manual focus vintage glass... the large sensor is just glorious, and the design - although it's a bit of a chonk - is just such a pleasure to work with. I'd rather have the Sony a1 and GFX 100 at the core of my camera world, and everything else I add to that is either a bargain or a niche use. For example I love my X-Pro3 for a small street photography camera, and the Ricoh GR OG. Definitely considering adding an S1H to the bag again though, as it's entered bargain territory and is one of the very few modern mirrorless cameras still to have that oh-so-rare AA filter. The S1H's image is better than the S5 II and the differences to the S1 II or S1R II are probably pretty tiny. 6K is enough for me. Z8 is the best spec on paper for the price in today's world. You mean in a worse body 😉

What exactly are you getting that you can't get somewhere else? Is it R3D only? See below then... I wouldn't count that as a win or worth the money to upgrade. Currently, the R3D in the ZR is 1500Mbps. You HAVE to shoot RAW to get the most out of the ZR when you compare it to other cameras. One wedding would be 4+ TB of footage. For $500 more Panasonic delivers a camera with 10 stops of latitude (the same as an Alexa LF) a solid 3 stops more than the ZR. But it might overheat. 9 stops without their "DR Boost" which is still better than the ZR. Or you buy and FX6 with electronic ND and make your life 3x times easier. If the ZR shipped with R3D with ELQ compression than it probably would be a decent buy. I'm definitely not sold on it for its current price and feature set. But considering the starting price is so low, and discounts will happen, it might be an interesting camera in 8 months.

Maybe, - I couldn't say as there are a lot who say the opposite and say the market is over-saturated and everyone else is undercutting them. I really don't know and pay almost zero attention to what anyone else is doing and never really have! Perhaps another reason why I keep ticking/plodding along? And on that note, back to editing the 4th to last of the season and then 'just' 3 more to go for this year...

Wedding seems like of one the safe plays right now. People who want to get married still want actual photo/video.

Panasonic is reading the sensor slower in both the normal and DR boost modes, explaining how they can get more DR out of it than Nikon in their implementation. It may or may not be the same sensor. In any case Nikon's compromise is different from Panasonic's and these are both legitimate choices. The ZR was under development before Nikon acquired RED and what RED know-how they added in this camera is likely in the firmware (and post-processing support in the R3D NE format pipeline). In cined's testing the latitude test shows better retention of color across exposure adjustments in post-processing when using the R3D NE than N-RAW and so it would seem that the RED acquisition already paid off for Nikon to become more competitive in the video arena, and this is not just marketing if it benefits users. What Nikon should do now is try to make the h.265 a bit more competitive so that more people who cannot handle the raw data rates can still benefit from the camera. It would be very costly for everyone to shoot everything in R3D NE to get benefits from the camera. I personally am looking forward to seeing some Prores 422 HQ material shot with the camera and see how that fares in comparison with the Z8.

It’s definitely been a tough stretch. Budgets are tighter and clients seem slower to move, even on things that would’ve been quick approvals not long ago. I’m seeing the same pattern where more content is being made but with less real investment behind it. The best move might be putting more time into personal projects that could eventually be licensed or streamed. Even if it only brings in small checks at first, it adds up over time and keeps your creativity active. I still think there’s room for people who know how to make something feel real. The tools are everywhere now, but the connection and emotion still come from experience.

That would almost have certainly have got me a sale in 2025, but as things stand, I still prefer the Q3 43 and if it did not cost so damn much, I’d have one. I’d get a Sony A7CR with the same sensor and a 16-28mm for the less than 10% of the time I need anything wider than approx 35mm and be done for my stills needs. But as much as I love the rangefinderesque format, I have not yet been able to build a system that suits my needs around it since…well since Fuji’s X Pro2 actually. Q3 43 still sits at the pinnacle for me at the end of 2025, but at about double what I am prepared to pay 😏

Fujifilm will probably release a GFX 100RF with a 28mm f/2.8 in 3-4 years, with IBIS, and an updated sensor and no one will give a shit about wanting a FF fuji camera. They'll instead be asking Leica why there isn't a MF sensor in their Q, hmmm?

Yeah exactly, for cheap smaller auctions it’s minimal. The secondary downside to the bullshit Tariff scam is that the options for shipping have decreased as well so the lowest priced options are now unavailable and there are just two options. I used to be able to pay $18 - $20 for a 7 day delivery but now that option is unavailable so ECMS is around $25 for the same sized package. One pro tip i can recommend is that they will store your package for 30 days free of charge while you sort it out and then you are able to combine smaller items for savings on postage. You have to be careful with weight and size however because i once combined 5 items and it ended up bumping me into the next tier and it ended up being $100 or more. Still though, cost per item was only $20 so in the end it was not bad. After your item arrives you can select the shipping rate in a drop down menu. As of last month there is now a 15% Tariff charge that’s added and that’s new. Also be sure to search for coupons in that drop down menu because right now there’s a 50% off international shipping so i just saved $30 on that and recovered some fees. I might do a youtube video soon doing a deep dive into it, I’ve been using it for 8 or 9 years now and learned a lot of tricks.

I know we’ve ventured off topic from Anamorphic adapters but I’m currently shopping for some cheap lenses with character and will use these with my Blazar Nero 1.5x so it’s somewhat relevant LOL… I stumbled upon both of these listings earlier, one from ebay US and one from Japanese Yahoo auctions. This is what I meant before when I said that there are bargains to be had for the savvy shopper.

2023 was so poor for me that I almost left the industry. 2024 was enough to get by on. 2025 seems like I'll gross 10-20% more than last year, even though my costs are up significantly across the board. It's still by no means a "well-paid" job. And I don't know how sustainable this is, because I haven't felt like my market would support a price increase for the past three years. I haven't given dared to give myself a raise. This is one of the problems about making a living in video production and editing into the second half of one's career. @fuzzynormal touched on this above; I can't expect to increase my rate based on experience alone when I am competing with people who are literally half my age. Now that I'm in my 40s, the stability and security of a staff position hold more appeal. And yet the job market is so volatile that I might have better job security being self-employed -- for now. My problem is that there is nothing else that I am equally drawn to. Almost every role that draws a decent salary involves sitting in a never-ending stream of unproductive meetings, and I can see a lot of those going away as a result of AI in the next couple of years. I can't reach a place where a career shift makes sense.

It's funny, but I look at "what if" scenarios for lenses about once a fortnight and I've repeatedly considered getting an EF-MFT speed booster and I never found a reason for it. The EF lens options never met the parameters of whatever it was that I was contemplating doing, so I never bought one. On the other hand, my M42-MFT speed booster remains in use continually. Every time I 'tidy up' my lenses and put the ones I don't use into a box this always seems to stay out for one reason or another. I always seem to be learning something about images or shooting or something, and will look at my lens collection from a completely new perspective, and the MFT system and M42 system (for adapting FF lenses) always seems to be the winner.

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

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

It's true - that's a decent experience. DJI Transmission to their high bright monitor also seems to be higher quality with similar/less lag than my Hollyland Pyros. But I've had glitches/problems with all of them in the past, especially in the sort of areas where my phone shows like 40 wifi networks. The biggest problem for me is that if wireless is the only option, when it's not working, you're just SOL. It can work perfectly for weeks or months, but none of it matters if it breaks down on the day when you're shooting something that matters.

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

I shot a lot with the GH7 + Voigt 42.5mm F0.95 + Sirui 1.25x adapter while in China and Hong Kong and loved the setup, both for the images and also the ergonomics and use, but the combo is heavy. The glass is 1.3kg and with the GH7 the rig is over the 2kg mark (4.4lbs). While I felt like a total bad-ass wielding the rig, and the coolness factor of shooting street scenes with hand-held anamorphic is in-arguably off the charts, it wasn't perfect. The bokeh isn't that stretched from a 1.25x squeeze factor, and does exhibit a certain amount of swirl, I was wondering if there was a spherical alternative that would be considerably less weight to drag around the world. This is a first experiment in that direction. GH7 + M42-MFT Speedbooster + Meyer-Optik Görlitz 50mm F1.8, but with two small additions: Yes, these are small cutouts of the sticky part of a post-it note stuck directly to the rear element of the glass. These sit between the lens and speed booster. I've tried putting cutouts onto the front of the lens (on a space UV filter) and the results are underwhelming. This, however, looks incredible and is much more consistent in the shape of the bokeh throughout the frame. Obviously the shape isn't ideal, as I should round it slightly and especially round the corners, but as a proof of concept, this looks promising. More complex scenes: Of course, these are open-gate images, and this is definitely bokeh that deserves widescreen.... and with the best grade I could manage in the Mac image Preview tool, we get this: There is definitely something here. More to come for sure.

Looks like it supports a wired connection. If using the phone as a monitor in most places, that's preferable. In any sort of urban area, congestion in the 2.4ghz and 5ghz zones makes wifi monitoring frustrating - it'll be working perfectly for an hour and then as soon as you start to roll a take, it's either stuttering or turning into a work of impressionist art. Otherwise, apps like it (without a number of the features like storyboarding, etc) have existed for other cameras for a whlie. The Z Cam mobile app is so good that it makes you angry at every other camera vendor (it also supports wired connection). But yet, most users end up still using monitors - among other things because notifications popping up while filming is distracting - and just about everything on set needs a damn app these days and that gets annoying when that app needs to run on what is now your camera's monitor. The main place I've ended up using this sort of app is for travel - for building out a minimal rig, it's fantastic to pack just a little phone clamp and not have to think about an external screen and some np-f's.

Love this. I remember as a teenager I used to translate everything to CDs - how many albums I could buy with the money I was evaluating. +1. My own experience of buying from Japan on eBay is similar to this. There are always examples of scammers / criminals / misrepresentation / bad behaviour from every culture. I think that it's precisely because the Japanese have such a good reputation for this that the few examples of misrepresentation that have happened get blown up and repeated far more than they might from other countries. I've bought quite a number of lenses that were cheap because they had fungus or haze or some other issue, and I consistently found with the Japanese listings that when I received the lenses and really examined them (especially against a strong light source) that the issues I discovered were almost always completely described by the Ebay listing. I suspect I might have had one surprise from a Japanese listing where something was misrepresented, but the level of deception was what you'd sensibly assume to be true on every other listing from any other place basically. From everywhere else, "buyer beware" is just being sensible.

Thanks for the incredibly helpful response, buddy! You probably get invited to a lot of parties!