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Right. Recently I did some transfers from films for someone. Most were from the 1950s but some were 1960s and '70s. It's noticeable how the film stock improved. When they switched to Super 8 it was very much better having the larger area used for the image but it was more than that. Even the Regular 8 from the 1960s was better than earlier stocks. The collection came with the original boxes that were returned in the mail from the lab and it's the same stock and ASA, but manufactured 10 years later. Hope you're having fun figuring this out. I love this kind of thing.

My understanding was that Brandon literally helped make the genre with (what I like to call) "washing machine travel films" like Hong Kong Strong that are like you rolled and spun a camera through a city and then cut it with only match-cuts - they trigger my motion sickness pretty strongly and I literally can't watch them. However, people loved it and he got a bunch of TV appearances out of it: As previously said in the thread, he can make any camera from the last decade shine, and he has, and it's skill. All true. What no-one else has said though, is that videos like this are film shoots. They're not holidays, or someone filming while traveling (even slow travel).. These videos are researched, storyboarded, scheduled, and then shot on location with a cast (him and his GF, but often he recruits locals and will direct them like he's shooting a narrative) and crew (IIRC he's mentioned hiring people to fix, drive, translate, liaise, etc). This is no secret, and his free BTS content shows this openly. I think he sits in a fascinating space that I don't see a lot of professionals operating in. He shoots uncontrolled (and uncontrollable) situations, like markets and crowded public places, does so with talent and a shot list, but does so shooting relatively low-impact. People shooting a travel doc will be shooting with talent in markets and in the streets but will have huge shoulder-rigs and will build up a little crowd of people who are just staring at the shoot and have to be choralled to keep them out of frame. People shooting relatively incognito in a crowd are mostly doing it without talent or a plan or shot-list. Not a lot of people sit between those two scenarios, and even less will tell you how to go about doing it. I've paid a lot of attention to his BTS segments (which are excellent if you want to make videos like this) but as someone who travels for the enjoyment of it and shoots along the way, I can tell you that there is very little overlap between shooting while you travel and producing and shooting and editing a travel film. I put myself on the email list for when he launched his course, and when it was released it was pretty pricey. Probably good value as he obviously knows what he's doing, but too much for me considering the differences of our methods. Maybe it's an aesthetic thing, but his work looks dated to me now, including the Oppo piece. I understand why he still shoots these things like this, because he's appeared on quite a number of videos like this that are posted on the manufacturers channel, rather than his own channel, so it's obviously how he keeps the lights on.

To be fair, their own product page for the S9 certainly says otherwise though. It’s all about the casual shooter. Particularly the crossed out edit graphic. I don’t disagree that it does a lot more but that’s what they’re aiming at based on their own marketing. Which is another aspect of the bundled launch in not having the right lenses or the right type of “reviewers” there. They hedged their bets and it all just looked very confused. Plus, the S5ii 😉 https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/cameras-camcorders/lumix-mirrorless-cameras/lumix-s-full-frame-cameras/dc-s9.html

If I'm honest, this Fuji announcement has pissed me off a bit with Panasonic. Frankly, the price and value tread deeply into the core of M43. Having Panasonic basically refuse to make anything and allowing Fuji to own the market says volumes about the current state of Panasonic. Let’s be clear: they’ve come out with ONE value proposition in the past year, and it was for pros (S5II/X). We’ve been begging for a newer M43 camera like the GM5 or GX9, and Panasonic continues to ignore us, despite having an ecosystem for those cameras. To add insult to injury, they come out with an overpriced S9, effectively moving the amateur price point to $1500. Oh, and by the way, we have a new BS 'lens' for you—a manual focus 26mm fixed f/8! What the hell? Now we have Fuji putting the amateur price point back to where it should be—$800. It’s time to lower the price of the S9, announce a new GX9-type camera, or say goodbye to that market.

The Fuji X-M5 looks pretty exciting, especially for the price. The open gate sensor is a big plus for anamorphic shooters. The lack of in body stabilization is an issue. As for autofocus, Fuji’s “AI-driven” system sounds promising, but I’m waiting to see how it performs in real-world scenarios before getting too excited. I’ve got my own thoughts on how it compares to something like the Panasonic S9, especially when it comes to autofocus and video. But what y’all really think? On another note those film simulations look good for quick work.

While I really dislike the film simulation dial (I shoot raw so it's wasted), I absolutely love the fact that Fujifilm put a joystick on every camera. I will never ever buy a camera (especially for photography) without a joystick for focus point selection. With most brands, you have to buy the upper-mid / high-end models to get a joystick as focus point selector.

Looks like they haven't learnt anything from "DEI Snow White" loosing $170 million.The Odyssey is shaping up to be another "go woke,go broke". Why the silly looking noses on the Dwarfs ?