Andrew Reid

For a start nobody seems to be able to concentrate for long enough to watch what is being made. Boomers have movies on in the background like elevator music for smartphone scrolling. Everyone could do the industry a favour by un-addicting themselves from their phones for long enough to look up for 10 seconds and watching something long-form, challenging and not family friendly. But everyone is too exhausted and overworked for it, and they have children hanging around on tablets - you can't get the time as a couple to go out and watch Taxi Driver and you can't put it on at home either because it would upset the brats. It's a big cultural shift in the world and filmmaking is one of the big victims of it. It is strange as pre-pandemic, I thought cinema was doing well and there was that moment when Oppenheimer / Barbie were all that people talked about, and the F1 movie has done incredibly well, one of the biggest grossing movies of all time. Apple is spending billions on movie production. There are signs of life. Why is it that everyone seems to be struggling so much - well, it's just a typical industry recession, less demand, because put simply - there's just TOO MUCH CONTENT and too much competition from people's shitty phone addictions for the customer's attention.

Camera market is a total sideshow for Zeiss, whose main income stream is from EUV lithography machine lenses, as a partner with ASML -> TSMC. The iPhone CPU is etched into silicon using Zeiss glass. These big companies are interested in growth. They'd rather buy an unprofitable, but growing company, than a profitable but stagnant one. The Chinese might buy ARRI for the patents and branding. Only if it stays in German hands will they continue as a cinema camera manufacturer. That's what I think anyway and I could be wrong, we'll see.

ARRI are closing two factories in Germany. https://www.eoshd.com/news/arri-closes-factories-contemplates-company-sale/ The ALEXA factory remains for now. 150 jobs are to go. Reasons for this and words from ARRI's spokesperson are in the article above. But in a nutshell they really need saving - and like Nikon buying RED, it should be Sony to do it for ARRI. They will lead the cinema camera world if they do. The question is will there still be a cinema camera industry if the current pace of collapse continues?!

I find the higher LCD dot spec a bit dotty as 3 inch is too small to see the difference. What does matter is the live-view quality - scaling, focus aid quality, and that kinda stuff. It would be nice to see a ZR size screen on a stills camera one day. Hell even in the 90s they had 4 inch LCDs on consumer Handycams.

Oh dear 1 million dot not 2.3 million dot said no-one ever 🙂 You have to be a bit dotty to be bothered by the difference.

Nice work 🙂

I've been using Flexible Picture Controls in the NX software, have made some Fuji emulations for my Nikon Z f. The latest processor Nikon cameras - Z6 III, Z F, Z8 and Z9 are the only ones that support the Flexi colour profiles. You get plenty of control - custom curves, HSL, colour grading for shadows, mids and highs. You have to be really careful with it though, because all the colour processing seems to be done in 8bit. It has a somewhat brittle processing pipeline, presumably designed for speed as they have to work at 4K/120p for example on a mid-range cam. It is not a patch on what Panasonic has done with Real-time LUTs. But it's a start and you can get some nice results. So far all the RED colour science and codec stuff from Nikon has a faint whiff off BRANDING EXERCISE about it. It's not really quite authentic. R3D on the Z R is basically just NRAW. And the LUTs are just, well... RED branded colour grades. You can do all that yourself on a Z8 with not a RED badge in sight.

Blimey if ever there was a GAS curing end-game camera it's the a1 for that price. It has the spec to last until about 2050! It's smaller than the Z8, more nimble ergonomically and has better colour science (I am not joking).

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.

I have been getting back into the Sony A7 IV recently. The more I think about it, the more I think this (along with 2018's a7r III) is where Sony finally got things right and properly came of age. It's really very good and current used prices make it one of the best bang for buck full frame cameras. Constantly surprised at how good the EVF is for the price. The IBIS is much improved from previous gen. As is the colour science. The menus are still complex, but they're much snappier and faster. And the grip, all buttons, really have much more feel. The fact they kept the build quality and ergonomics the same as some of their most expensive cameras, i.e. a9 II or original a1, is the opposite of what Panasonic did with the S1R II being in a mid-range S5 body. And although the sensor is slow compared to an a1 or stacked sensor camera, the price is low, the image is fantastic, the 4K is oversampled from 7K and you still have the option of faster frame rates in the Super 35mm crop modes. Also although the H.265 bitrates are quite low by 2025 standards, the codec holds up magnificently. And small files are what I like. Autofocus is not up to the high-bar of a 2025 flagship Sony like the a1 II of course. But it's pretty damned good. £1600 is a steal (used). Bring on the a7 V... Rumours have us expecting the same 33 mp sensor but partially stacked, but I don't they put a 7K or 8K mode in there. 4K/60p without a crop, maybe 120p in the S35 mode more likely.

How about the original Sony a1? The Z8 is a bit of a bargain, but out of the two I regret selling my a1 more, because it was smaller, lighter, and here's the kicker - better colour science. Which I'd never thought in a million years I'd say about a Sony. You also save a lot of card space by shooting in the upgraded 8K H.265 mode that looks as good as N-RAW for a quarter of the file size. E-mount saves you further money on glass and adapters as well. If the OG a1 is similar in price to that Z8 with 24-70 bundle, I'd be tempted to go for the Sony and stick a nice small, but cheap, vintage 35mm on it. I'd then pair that with a little Micro Four Thirds camera, maybe a good old GX80.

That screen looks huge. They finally did it. A world beyond 3.2 inches exists. In the land of low camera prices, with my lack of impulse control I wouldn't stand a chance. Just out of curiosity what are the prices on used a Sony a9 III? I am actually more tempted by that by anything Nikon related, when it comes down under 3k.

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.

Scary image.

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.

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.

If Blackmagic hadn't have existed, there would have been a less colourful period in cameras between 2013-2018. But the rest have caught up now though, and there's not really much need as an indie filmmaker or enthusiast to get a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera over something like a Panasonic S1H. They are a high-end broadcast / pro cinema camera company now. The 12K sensor is very impressive. But they are not doing as much value for money as they used to do... Panasonic still is though.

I will always remember what a Leica manager in Germany said to me, which went like this: “I have read your publication today, and I have to admit that the tone is from my point of view unreasonable. However, we respect that journalists can make up their mind independently. But I think even for your reputation within the worldwide video community this article might not be helpful.” Continues on front page: https://www.eoshd.com/news/same-career-psychopaths-who-sold-out-filmmaking-are-destroying-our-political-parties-and-the-bbc/

LOL. I know. We are talking about the lack of a modern full frame L-mount version of the GX8/GX9.

Nice. With a bit of practice it's less scary than it sounds, and you just need the right tools and steady hand. A JIS standard screwdriver is a must... they use weird Japanese screw-head geometry, which the normal Philips head screwdrivers have a habit of stripping. The only things I don't go near are modern lenses... Hellish. Especially the zooms if you go deeper than taking the rear mount off.

Haven't you got an Air Frier yet? Or is there something about France that forbids progress in the kitchen 🙂

I have many questions about your Sirui setup 🙂 How easy is it to focus and what's the min FD when combined with the Voigtlander 42? Are these shots wide open at F0.95 on the Voigtlander? Could you go wider, with the Sirui? Voigtlander 17.5mm? It really is a lovely result you've posted and would be happy to see more. The GH7 is such a good choice when you have optics as good as the Voigtlander Noktons are... and anamorphic is the cherry on top. Makes me want to get a GH7 in fact.

Panasonic did much more overall than BM.

Nothing to stop them doing an FX2 as well.

Very nice. Proof that Micro Four Thirds has it's own look, and is cinema on a stick in the right hands.