Andrew Reid

On DPReview you can check all the cameras added to their database https://www.dpreview.com/products/search/cameras#! Not including the niche ones, or weird re-releases of Panasonic compacts, I came up with this... GFX100RF / S1R II / Sigma BF / Powershot V1 / OM-3 / Leica SL3-S / Sony a1 II / Nikon Z50 II / Fuji X-M5 / Leica Q3 43 / Canon Cinema EOS C80 / EOS R1 / R5 II / Sony ZV-E10 II / Z6 III / GH7 / S9 / X-T50 / GFX 100 II / GR III HDF / Leica SL3 / X100 VI / OM1 II (7000+4500+800+5900+6500+900+800+7000+5000+2000+1000+2000+3500+5000+7500+1300+1600+2000+2500+1000+6000+1600+2000=77,400) All RRPs in Euros for the notable new cameras released in the past 12 months. 77400/23=3,365.217 If you take out the crop sensor models / APS-C, we get an average price of 4350. Who do they think we are? Oligarchs?

The pancake is 32mm equiv. rather... 40 x 0.79 = 31.6 Anything between 40-45mm seems to be a nice sweet spot for me on a GFX camera. https://jonasraskphotography.com/2023/11/05/the-future-of-the-elusive-6524-format/

That's a shame. Anyway....

In case anyone is interested what the Canon 40mm F2.8 pancake stopped down to F4 looks like on the GFX 100 sensor... 102 megapixel RAW https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dhwquD9iiCYouNpwsmlu1-QcmSSNE8VD/view?usp=share_link No crop. No vignetting correction. I think for 5 grand Fuji really should have put a better lens on it. I mean, if an old EF 100 euro one can do this... And it doesn't even have the advantage of a short flange distance. OK it is 5mm less wide... so 35mm equivalent. rather than a 28mm equivalent. But the 28mm F3.1 equivalent. look for 5 grand is a bit... boring? I think we know the reason they didn't go all out on it... A more exciting lens would have stopped people buying the more exotic GFX mount stuff!

I recently treated myself to a Nikon Z 40mm F2 for 150 euros. It ain't bad is it?

I'd love a more affordable full frame compact from Sony but have a feeling if they do an RX1 update it will be 5 grand. Otherwise it pinches sales off the E-mount stuff and their lenses. The original RX1 for under $800 on eBay is currently one of the best walk-around travel / documentary stills cameras you can get for anywhere close to the price with a full frame sensor. I urge anyone to snap it up used.

28-63mm equiv. crop zoom maintaining 20 megapixel at the 63mm crop. Nice. I agree it would be a bit of a pity if this isn't in video mode. But then I think with other cameras it's a pity they lack such basics as a aspect-ratio control dial with 65:24 and 14 film simulations too 🙂

Are they called A7R V?

That's a chonky lens on the right...

Looks like a box-camera with wireless tether. In the mould of an FX3 but even smaller.

They could have had an EF 40mm F2.8 pancake on there and in-camera vignette correction, but they had to do it properly didn't they. The GAS is real on this one though. Nice to see Jonas Rask in the presentation... Have always liked what he's been doing with Fuji cameras and his Minolta experiments on the 50R were quite inspirational from an old lens GAS perspective. Not much talk on the video side in it... Does it even do 4K?

That lens is a feat of engineering. I do think F4 might kill the look though. Love the aspect ratio dial, instant x-pan mode. In terms of spec, Leica Q3 no longer the top-end compact... But with the faster lens, it will be interesting to see the results and compare. Built in ND... but no IBIS or X100 VI hybrid finder. A few ergonomic mistakes carry over from X100 VI... The notch to flip up the screen is at the side, it is much better off under it. The EVF eye cup looks rock hard, like the X100 VI it puts a dent in your eyebrow after a few minutes. Not the biggest fan of the combined ISO / shutter speed dial. The pull up to change ISO is really awkward. If they are feeling brave they should have ONE dynamic dial with OLED screen on top which toggles between displaying and setting different settings.

That's a prime example, if you pardon the pun I know ultra sharp corners are a concern of the engineers, and all that... But the 40mm F2.8 EF Pancake costs 150 bucks and doesn't vignette. If you need sharp corners for landscapes, which you'd shoot stopped down 99% of the time anyway at infinity... then just stop down to F5.6 or F8. Sorted. No reason why the lens can't be an F2 or F2.8 on the mini GFX.

Certainly aimed at the Leica Q3 crowd and perhaps some X100 VI owners with deep pockets. I don't like that F4 lens though. All just so it has sharp corners wide open. The Reid Experiments with fast full frame lenses on the GFX 100 proves that you can have a small-as-Leica-M something F2 lens on there and still reach the edges of the sensor quite well. I forgot the X100 VI in my list as well... The new lens and sensor is much improved since the earlier days of X100T etc.

Thoughts on the best fun-factor cameras, I am thinking Fuji X-Pro 3, Sigma Fp, all the things that doesn't try to look like an EOS R5, but feels and looks a bit different. Niche artistic tools. I think I would rank my favourites as follows but pretty sure I have forgotten some... 1. Sony RX1R II... The smallest ever full frame camera and that ingenious pop-up EVF 2. Fuji X-Pro3... Fuji's prettiest camera, with the most film-camera-like shooting experience 3. Sigma BF... It's the Fp concept turned up to 11 4. Hasselblad HV... The crazy Sony collaboration which came up with this 10k a99. It's lovely though. Got mine on eBay. 5. GFX 100 with full frame lenses... Pure art every time. I would like for there next to be a digital version of a Contax T2 in same style of body, same size, retractable fast prime lens, also would like a digital Nikon S series rangefinder camera and an X-Pro4 that finally launches Fuji's full frame range (I can but dream).

That could just be a bug in Adobe Camera Raw which fails to completely turn off NR. But in the Slashcam video, can you link to it? I am curious about that one.

I think if people are spending $3500+ they also want a future proof camera. The S1R II sensor is a Sony IMX366, right? That will be mid-range at best in a year when it is featured in the a7 V around the $2k or 2.5k mark. Anyway let's see what Panasonic bring in April, and if they get the S1H Mark II right. For me the sensor or image quality has never been the main problem with Lumix cameras anyway... all fine and some of the best video quality in V-LOG. Since the s5 the main issue has been the long wait for new stuff, AF behind the curve, poor lens adapter performance, and an unimaginative product line-up that neither feels or looks either high-end or creative. (Unlike, say an X-Pro3 / Sigma Fp / Z8)

At least it won't be 7 years though.

That's always one of the problems with the R for resolution cameras. Always a better video one coming a bit later.

Interesting but it needs a bit of explaining, aka how were they exposed, how far are the shadows being pushed, and what bitrates in 8K h.265, and so on.

Said no camera company ever.

Nice to have a video from someone actually shooting with the camera and doing a good job at that. Very good review. I would choose the Sony a1 over both of these, it has the speed over the a7r V and close-enough in resolution at 50MP, and it has the better sensor over the S1R II and of course the mount very much depends what you're most invested in but I definitely have more stuff for Sony than I do L-mount.

I think overall a fascinating post and goes to the heart of why limitations breed creativity, you can't fix it in post.

I just think 30ms+ rolling shutter in 2025 on a $3.5 hybrid cam is a bit of a piss take, and it does render the open gate mode compromised and also the 8K. The line-skipped / pixel binned modes are fine though. Decent amount of detail, but again nothing that a much cheaper camera can't do.