Andrew - EOSHD

The clearest sign yet that people's critical thinking might be in a dodgy place... 7K RAW on a content creator's camera with a tripod mount to shoot in portrait orientation. Now let's remind ourselves: Why do people shoot vertical video - because of phones How big is a phone screen - Erm, about 7 inches tall How much resolution is 7K in vertical format... 1000 dots per inch! What DPI are the best flagship phone displays? Well, iPhone 17 Pro Max is 2868 ×1320, so about 450dpi, and that is overkill already because to make out the individual pixels you need a microscope. Those Instagram stories never looked so good.

I think it's quite exciting, for someone who skipped the Sony a7r V for video because of the slow sensor and terrible rolling shutter in 8K, I can finally embrace it fully without any silly deal breakers. It's also going to really help the price of the original a1 drop to sensible amounts. Already the lovely a1 OG is <£2200 on eBay from Japan. This is highest resolution stacked sensor yet though... 68 vs 50mp, $2000 less than an a1 Mark II, DGO and a new, absolute chonk of a battery, plus new EVF - possibly the best ever on a Sony - and an EOS R5 Mark II price to match. Finally Sony are not deluding themselves that everything high-end they do should be 6 or 7 grand. Would it be nice if it had real-time LUTs, open gate, anamorphic and raw codec? Yes, but as an all-rounder it ain't bad is it? I am not in the least interested in 2500Mbit codec file sizes when H.265 looks as good as it does in 2026. S1R II for me is tempting for open gate and the LUTs, but it's got too many deal-breakers where the Sony hasn't. The mount, for a start. And the a7r VI autofocus I bet is stunning.

To be honest, I really want one. I'll wait for it to come down to 3500 euros used, then I think i'll sell some stuff and pounce on it. The main weakness of the a7r V and Panasonic S1R II - the slower sensors and rolling shutter, is banished. The 1.2x crop in 8K isn't ideal though. Specs: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a7r-vi-review

What an absolute gem Looks like a real winner and very brave move because this will absolutely tank G9 II sales. As a G9 II owner, very happy with the GH7 sensor - I'm excited for this. Especially with it able to shoot 5K, although it does look to be the 2.2x crop variety rather than the oversized multi-aspect approach it goes for under-sized multi-aspect approach. That lens on the LX100 has always been the best compact camera 24-70mm equivalent. bar none though, so I'm not too bothered! If instagram crowd still go for a Canon G7X II after this comes out they want their heads seeing to.

It's a pity we can't reply to these emails with something like "Is it just a hobby or a real business?" "Did you mean to send that email?" How do these marketing boffins come up with this tone-dead stuff - are they psychopaths? yes

What was this custom anamorphic, and what was the ground glass adapter? Liking the look

It's a really interesting quote and comes down to how much of your hand and heart you're willing to delegate to a machine that doesn't know what art is, but the paradox is it has absorbed and computed into numbers nearly every piece of art in the world ever made. Interesting times to say the least. I doubt it's about money, I think his existing camera channel was doing superbly well in terms of bringing in the cash. I really just do think he's had enough creatively, because he built a creative dead-end for himself.

Of course, freedom of expression innit? And freedom of the audience to be more discerning of the artist's intent, and reward those who do try to put their principals before dollar signs.

Everything is art, that's why you can stick a urinal in a gallery and suddenly it's art. With YouTube what matters to me is the intent of the artist - are they doing it to shill a few cameras and get cozy with marketing, or are they doing it to further their aspirations in filmmaking and trying to build a community of other artists around it? Shilling a few cameras and getting cozy with Jack from PR is an art. But it's on the same level as cinematography is it?

Can understand it. Most artists I know want to share their work though and get huge satisfaction from it being seen. It's just that the self-promotional side, the marketing side, couldn't be further from the mindset of the most purist creative types. That's the bit I struggle with as well. Social media has become a cynical and dull chore, and the amount of work it takes to win the race for attention these days is just mind-boggling. Artists just want to create, they can't be arsed with all that shit.

I think you hit the nail on the head there. Gerald is a rigger, and a studio guy. He stuck to what he knew. Nothing wrong with that of course. It's interesting how vague he was in the goodbye video about what he's going to pivot to - something product based, but stuff that gives him joy, not very specific is it? Just shows how important enthusiasm and obsession are in this industry. If you lose interest, you're finished!

As far as mainstream content goes, it's up to the audience to change their habits, and I can't see them all squirrelling off to a dozen internet bookmarks everyday when they can just get served all in one place by an algorithm. Half of them probably don't even own a computer and just use their phone for everything.

Exactly, he chose to play the PR game instead with Sony and a few others, chose to focus 100% of his enthusiasm on YouTube studio tours and YouTube gear setups, there was never any interest evident in filmmaking or photography, which is strange as these are usually the thing people get most excited about! Even more strange was even after so many years of using the gear, he couldn't seem to shoot decent footage - which for me, shows that he never practiced it. Even if you're not naturally talented you can still become pretty proficient at aiming a lens. What also kills passion is having no immediate community to engage over it with (in real life) and it all being online. It might be that he's boxed into a clinical suburban environment with his wife and doesn't have that environment of fellow camera nerd enthusiasts around him where he lives, it only exists online.

His choice... It's always a choice. Needless to say there's only so long you can go on liking cameras but never shooting anything with them. And the social media skit can make one thin skinned and insecure - people look up to you like a God, which is ridiculous, or tear you down - not much in-between. So while part of me understands The Gerald Dilemma, the main part of me thinks, well, he chose to milk it for all it was worth didn't he? And it was a very privileged position that many would kill to be in, he could have used it as a springboard into an artistic career, but there wasn't an artist inside, nothing on the springy board. The problem is the system. YouTube / Alphabet is a billion dollar industry based off the hard work of content creators, who get a very small share of the overall pie and Google's Ad Business the lion's share. The internet has pivoted from a place where the artist owned the platform themselves (own website, own server) thus able to keep the benefits of 100% of their labour, to big tech owning the platforms and us becoming mere commodities as consumers/creators in a hive mind, whereas before we were founders, builders and owners as well as artists. The shift is noticeable in the language too. In 2012 we were all saying 'filmmakers' or 'musicians', but now everybody is lumped in together as a 'content creator', which got shortened even further to simply 'creator'. It's really dystopian shit. This is at the heart of what created The Gerald Dilemma - being a little pawn in a PR machine and ad industry rather than an individual. Being on a treadmill of content creation for the benefit mainly of big tech platforms. I don't see how anyone can take any personal satisfaction from it other than the money.

I half expected him to retire into YouTube Apple product reviews, as that would bring in much more dollars than pixel peeping Sonys.