sanveer

Not a very good interview but the short and curly of it is
The URSA Cine 17K 65 retails for approximately US$29,995. In contrast, the Arri Alexa 65 is unavailable for purchase and must be rented, with high-end productions often spending hundreds of thousands on camera packages.
 

Panasonic just released a new on-camera mic.  Looks like an excellent option for events etc where you want something small or something really flexible.

I've watched a few YT showcases and for me, the best features are:
It gives you 32-bit without having to have the external mic preamp box (and then adding microphones to that, making it larger again) It's small, much smaller than an on-camera shotgun mic You can quickly swap between modes (I assume?) it's powered by the camera It unlocks the ability to record >2 channels of audio into the files (one person said you can record left/right/mono/mono-20dB as a combo, and left/right/left-20dB/right-20dB as a different combo) It's definitely not magic and the laws of physics still apply.
There don't seem to be any really good on-location stress tests posted yet, but there's a few examples.
Media Division did an in-kitchen test to compare it to in-camera mics and lav and a DJI clip-on, and also applied a bit of AI voice isolation too to see how far you can push it:
Dustin did some good tests including walking a 360 around the camera in each mode, which showed how directional it is, which seems pretty impressive.  He also compared it to the Sennheiser MKE440.
This shows the different modes out in nature:
This is probably a complete revolution for a number of niche uses.  Content creators would be one, where they're recording in noisy environments but still staying relatively close to the camera where physics will be helping them.  Another is where the flexibility really helps, like shooting events where getting pristine audio isn't an absolute must but working super-quickly is more important and perhaps the 32-bit would really come into its own.
This reminds me of how people used to talk about Panasonic when the GH4 and GH5 were around and people were saying that Panasonic just listened to people and then implemented the features that people would use rather than trying to be flashy and grab headlines.  This will be an invisible workhorse for lots and lots of people.

https://www.indiewire.com/news/obituary/robert-duvall-dead-1235141818/
The world will be much emptier without him. He was one of my favourites—and, for sure, one of many others here too. RIP, you’ll be truly missed, not just on screen.

 

It really surprises me how many of these fuckers pose and smile for the camera.
They're absolutely insane.
It's absolutely insane.
This world is absolutely insane.

Depending on which source, we're the third, fifth, or sixth highest.  But that also comes with highest prices for a lot of things including health care.  My after-insurance cost for a dental check-up, two cavities filled, and a crown was over $2,000.  To have a skilled laborer (like a plumber or electrician) come to your house will usually cost $300+ for all but the most basic things.
The trend started before the current president and is applicable to every country.  In general, fewer cameras are being released in the $2,000 range than are released in the $3000+ range - and far fewer still under $1,000.  Even if the median salary is $40,000 (according to the SSA), after state+federal taxes, that'll come to under $3,000/month - barely enough to cover rent, food, and insurance.
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/central.html
 
 

Lately I’ve been thinking about how fast new cameras and lenses come out, and it made me wonder, do these companies actually realize a large portion of the world (especially here in the U.S.) is feeling some real financial strain right now?
Between rising living costs, inflation still lingering in daily budgets, and shoppers saying they plan to cut spending because things are less affordable, people in many income brackets are tightening their belts rather than splurging.
At the same time, camera gear prices keep going up, with manufacturers leaning heavily into higher end products and even having to increase prices due to tariffs and costs and used gear demand is surging, which suggests many photographers are turning away from new purchases and toward more affordable options.
Meanwhile the constant cycle of marketing, hype, and new products can get overwhelming. It starts to feel less like “new tech we need” and more like noise pushing us to buy things even if budgets are tight.
I’m curious, do you think camera companies are aware of this, or does it not matter to them because their target audience is high end buyers? And has the constant churn of new gear given you a kind of “second hand fatigue” not necessarily because you want nothing new, but because it feels relentless and disconnected from what most people can realistically afford?

Me too. Ergonomically it's nice. Holding up to your eye with the loupe is good for both stability and keeping out sunlight from the screen.
If it was all programmable, even with a third-party firmware hack, it would be great!
I agree again. There's several nifty retro style cameras out now that are fun but just have such crappy image quality. The early days of digital photography had such a variety of shapes that were tried. Kind of like the Burgess Shale fossils.
 
No, but CMOS has come a long way in image quality, global shutter and colour depth which are the things that people like about CCDs. A new camera could be made with a good CMOS sensor.
 
My first miniDV camera was the Canon ZR10. Amazing little thing. Pretty good quality for its time and tiny. (Truly a palmcorder.) I shot lots of stuff with it.
https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/dvc673.html
If they came out with the same body and features, but recording HD, 2K or 4K in ProRes (or raw) to a card it would be great!

Absolutely love the form factor, hate the image quality. If they'd do an X-mount Bolex with 1" sensor, we could put some proper Bolex 16mm glass on it.
Actually the Evo is a fun toy. And for 350 euros, it's never going to be an XF camera in terms of optics or the sensor, is it?
But the concept itself deserves so much more.
The eras dial, the loupe on the little screen, the grip and shape, the looks, I love everything about it.
But the digital images that come out of it really very bad... ProCCD on a smartphone is much better at replicating the analogue look or y2k digicams.
Also the 15 second limit on video clips sucks... It would have been nice to have an option to turn that off. It's there for the Fuji cloud storage feature, for quick uploads, quick downloads with the printed QR code, and there to prevent Fuji needing to spend more than 10 dollars on their server!
I really, really, hope they do an enthusiast level version of the concept, even if that means it has to be without the Instax printer built in.
Also EVERY camera manufacturer should be trying new form factors.
There's such a lack of variety.
The Bolex form factor is wonderful and there are others that should be making a come back as well. From the MiniDV era there's the Sony PCe1 handycam, there's the Canon Tx digicam which was like a tiny aluminium Bolex, just beautiful, and of course there's the Digital Bolex form factor and that Kodak sensor... These are the cameras I'd like to see modern versions of, and in the case of the Digital Bolex, maybe not so modern but we have to be realistic about CCD... it ain't coming back to a Canon or Sony!
There's also a massive gap in the market for a Micro Four Thirds or Super 16mm size sensor Handycam with a proper camcorder lens that can crash zoom and take fisheye adapters, yet remain as small as a MiniDV cam from the early 00s.
These lenses had very small sensors behind them... but if someone would even slightly upgrade the lens and sensor size whilst keeping the same zoom and autofocus characteristics we had in the MiniDV era, including the variable speed zoom rocker switch, it'd be a winning combo with the modern image processing we have now and RAW codecs.
Perhaps Nikon can be brave and try something?
There's a 'video' lens for the Fuji X mount camera, but it's really very large and bulky by MiniDV or Handycam standards. So I wouldn't mind a smaller sensor than APS-C if it gave us a modern 4K RAW shooting "Sony Handycam" the same size as we had in 2003.

I struggle myself with using US services at the moment given that our data could soon (and might be already) in the hands of a neo-nazi government.
In terms of the ethics of it, I'm also disappointed with the behaviour of the American CEOs and how they have brown nosed the nazi President like a bunch of pathetic losers.
It leaves a very sour taste in the mouth and not just for them.
It does make me uneasy paying for YouTube Premium, Google Gemini, Apple iCloud, Adobe Premiere and Netflix, actually it makes me more than uneasy, it makes me sick.
But unfortunately our leaders in Europe barely know how to use MS Paint, and have over the years completely dropped the ball on tech. So there are no decent alternatives, not really.
That said, the UK & EU gets a bad rap for what it's created. The best of European technology is the most complex in the world from ASML and Zeiss. Without their EUV lithography machines, TSMC, Nvidia and Apple would not have their fancy chips.
They'd be reliant on Intel fabs and old processes.
Any more funny business from the US admin and the Dutch should fucking remind them of that.
Also the British invented the WWW, RISC architecture for CPUs and smartphones, not to mention ARM. We've not done so badly, we've just failed to commercialise stuff properly and let the American venture capitalists snatch it away from us.
If it is political and that's why he's taken the channel down, he's missed a big opportunity to publish a video saying so, and directing us to his new channel on a different and more ethical Tube.
It's a real shame just to pull the plug entirely without even so much as a goodbye.
But then, maybe he has good reasons to... I don't know. I just rather hope he's ok.

Really sad if he has indeed given up on YouTube.
He's still on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mattiasburling
Maybe we should ask him if he's alright?

Anyone know where he went? It would seem his "Gear Doesn't Matter" doesn't exist anymore.

Good! But still there is hate speech published daily online on some platforms. Hopefully European countries soon shut those sites down before someone like Adolf or Nigel or Josif or Donald gets elected here alao and does their worst.

At least we're not checking people's political persuasion and social media history at airports.
If the online posts are right wing incitements to violence, I am on the side of the police.
While I disagree with some of the heavy handed methods used, there are certain people who deserve to be prosecuted and only have themselves to blame.
And at the same time, the government is also making bad decisions, and some decisions that are straight out of the right-wing playbook rather than what you'd normally associate with a centre-left Labour government.
For example the whole approach to the pro-Gaza protests has been baffling, the arrest of peaceful anti-genocide protesters completely wrong, the overzealous roll out of facial recognition technology is wrong, the attempts to roll back encryption, all quite wrong and the police getting involved with online 'hate speech' resulting in them arresting people like Graham Linehan for his opinions, just because a lot of people find him offensive. (It's a real pity that he chose to die on the anti-trans hill and it's classic depression... why couldn't he keep giving us more IT Crowd and Father Ted instead?)
The government is reviewing the hate speech policing and quite rightly too... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2922w73e1o
But when it's online literal nazis inciting people to attack others, they deserve to have the police at the door and I've no problem with it. That's less about censorship, than it is about law and order.

I think you are right on the money, I only have one XH2s which I got mostly for a one client, The bulk of my video work is on the Lumix's.
After the firmware crisis, I never fully trust the AF and have opted to always manually focus.
I also agree with you, Fuji just abandoned the XH2s, they could have at least given us shutter angle, waveforms..... anything via firmware!
I know they probably want all of us to run out and buy an Eterna but that's just not the right camera for what we do so no thank you.
 

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/4979409121/sony-a7-v-video-studio-scene

I just read a report that in retaliation to Greenland threats, European leaders are planning to introduce trade blocks with America, and part of that is a potential voiding of American patents. What could this mean for the camera industry? Suddenly everyone can put compressed raw into their cameras without having to argue with RED? 
https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0119/c90000-20415649.html
"The mechanism would allow immediate retaliation, including punitive tariffs, market bans, financial sanctions, and the suspension of U.S. patents and licences, without recourse to the United Nations or the World Trade Organization."

Definitely; that's where the 12-35 2.8 and DJi 15mm 1.7 will show their strengths for me.  The lenses haven't arrived yet, but the camera came with the 12-60mm 3.5-5.6 kit lens, so definitely in the ball park with size and weight.  The thing is so darn light; it actually feels extremely comfortable and balanced attached to the larger body style.  I could be fine with a sigma 18-35; funny thing is even that feels somewhat light to me, as I am used to having to carry around my Atomos Ninja V for anything 10 bit.
 
Yes, yes, yes.  The only reason I have a great idea now of what matters to me, is because at this point I've shot a lot of projects, and have done so on multiple different camera systems.  So along the way, I've learned what matters to me.  I'm not going to notice a 1/2 stop DR difference; some grainy footage (as long as the grain isnt ugly) doesn't bother me terrible. Sometimes I like it.  But I do value great stabilization, as the way I shoot I end up spending a good chunk of my time finessing post-stablization to achieve the type of camera movement I want while keeping things completely handheld.  I have a solid handheld technique down, but on most cameras it is still not perfect.  I always hold the camera losely, usually shoot wide, and do a great heel-toe walk or body sway.  But I always need to post-stabilize.  I end up trying the stabilization options in Davinci Resolve.  If that doesn't work, I render that clip out to Prores and import it to After Effects just to apply Adobe Warp Stabilizer, as it is a bit better in my experience.  Once I get the result I like, I export.  The beauty of the G9II is that when you combine the fantastic IBIS with e-stabilization high, I get quite close to the result I get after all of that post stabilization process...but this is just the footage out of the camera.  It saves me a lot of time.  And I can even add a drop of warp stabilizer on top to make it perfectly smooth.
 
Another big advantage for me, its effectively doing what Gyroflow does but all internally and paired with the best IBIS ever.  I've tried Gyroflow.  I've used it on some FX3 footage I shot for my buddy's wedding film company.  I've also rigged an iPhone to my Nikon Z6 as well as used the Senseflow A1.  Its a nice solution.  I figured I'd love it; its the same concept of what normal post-stabilization does (which I always use ALL THE TIME).  Big difference is it is using true camera motion data; so the results should be perfect right?  Well yes, but you need to shoot on a high shutter speed.  And I found that even on the Sony FX3, where Gyroflow can work with IBIS on, the crop was often still fairly large.  And the workflow is lengthy.  With the G9II, I have a minimal 1.255x crop with e-stab on high, and because its working fully in tandem with the phenominal physical IBIS system, its very stable AND I can zoom the lens mid-shot and it works fine (can't do this with gyroflow on most setups).  AND I can keep my shutter at 1/50 because the physical IBIS system is doing 80% of the work here.
 
But yeah.  Moral of the story is shooting lots and lots of stuff has made me realize what matters most to me.  The G9II seems to really hit that.  Again, I used the Nikon Z6 for 4 years.  I've also filmed weddings on a Sony FX3 with nice Sony G master glass.  I filmed very extensively for one organization with a Canon R5 and EF glass.  This past summer I bought a Canon R7, then a Panasonic S9, then sold both.  So I've tried enough cameras and shot enough to know what works well for me.  I'd fully agree that a lot of what camera youtuber's claim are the big time differences are not always as important as they seem; for me, the wonderful IBIS of the G9II and the minor crop in e-stabilization is way more useful than a full stop of DR improvement when you already had great DR in the first place.  Etc etc.
This is a concert I filmed and edited this summer on the Panasonic S9.  I haven't had a chance to film anything substantial on my G9II...but this is close.  It's a super weird setup I sort of wound up with over the summer...The Lumix S9 with the Sigma 18-35...in the Super 35 crop mode WITH E-stab on high.  So basically a 2x crop MFT level at that point.  But I still found the image to be very nice.  More importantly, with some careful walking, I got the images to be this stable and a lot of these shots have NO post-stab applied.  Colors were very rich.  G9II is even better because again the crop is lessened in E-stab high and the physical IBIS is better.  And build quality smokes the S9; that was something I did not appreciate about that camera.
 
A short clip from a concert I filmed, with the aforementioned Lumix S9 setup.  Again, no post-stabilization.  It is just so smooth.  Makes all the difference with how I like to film.
 
More handheld with the Lumix S9 setup.  This has a bit less "gimbal-push-in" shots and a bit more regular handheld shots.  With e-stabilization high, it has a perfect balance struck, where you can walk and move the camera such that it looks like a steadicam, or you can just handhold it for regular stuff and it looks as stable as a cine-cam weighted down.
 
This wedding trailer was with my old Nikon Z6 setup.  Combo of Davinci post-stab and Warp Stabilizer.  Outside, I cranked my shutter speed very high to help.  I used RSMB to add motion blur in post.  While this worked, I had to spend extra time stabilizing in post and tweaking things if it was not perfect.  This is all but eliminated now with the G9II.  Also, half of this video was shot on a Nikon F-mount 24-85mm 3.5-4.5, entirely at f/4.5.  I reckon that looks pretty close to what the Panasonic12-35 2.8 will look like; @kyelet me know if I am wrong since you've used that very lens I think?  But anyways, its enough DOF for me.  That being said, if you like more, totally get it.  Nothing wrong with that.  End ramble haha.  

I really like the idea of the time travel dial
A really elegant way of switching the look.
Good to see the Super 8 / Bolex form factor make a come back as well.
Fuji of course, now should do a high-end version of this with Cinema DNG.

As many of you will have guessed, I’m not a rich teenage kawaii girl so take my opinion on this camera with a grain of matcha.
What I am though is a member the unspoken demographic for it which is the jaded old photographer with a bad back.
So I’m not her, I’m not you and you aren’t either of us so I’m predicting your mileage will vary wildly.
Which is a good thing.
I enjoy it for what it is, a genuinely pocketable holiday camera that makes me take silly snaps with far more frequency than I would do with a “real” camera because I’ve long since understood that holiday doesn’t mean assignment.
Anyway, some silly soft, noisy snaps I took with it.

Could I have taken these with my phone and at likely better quality ?
Of course but the question is would I?
No, because getting my phone out of my pocket and wrestling with it like a wet fish when I see something interesting is not my idea of using a camera.
 
 

@stephen
Thanks for the heads-up on the iPhone raw Cinema DNG app. Is it by the same people (or associated) with Motion Cam?
Phones are not meant to replace mirrorless cams for video, and the file sizes in the raw video apps are of course enormous.
But you have to admit the image is rather lovely and it's fun to play with.
I like that it is open gate with optional 18fps mode, you can get very close to a vintage super 8 look with that.
Interested to compare it to Blackmagic Video app LOG in terms of the unprocessed look though.

OK, we open a  DJI drone shop in one of the Canadian border towns and Americans come across, buy one but only take the controller back with them.
As soon as they are over the border they message us and we switch their drone on, put it on the roof of the shop and then they fly the fucker over the border themselves.

 

Sad news about Rob Reiner, and his wife, gifted photographer, Michele.
The President says he died due to "Trump derangement syndrome" and the "anger he caused others".
Writing in a social media post:
"[Reiner] has passed away together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome".

"He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J Trump"

Obviously, I find this troubling on so many levels. A real insight. That he can't even write RIP to one of Hollywood's greatest or send condolences to his family without making it all about himself and implying that Reiner had a mental illness.
I think it's time for anyone who voted for him to take a bit of a step back from politics (if capable of that) to think about what they have done and who he is. And if after that you still can't bring yourself to snap out of the cult, but you still happen to be a forum member here I would like to ask you to leave. Hopefully you have already.
In contrast here's how Ben Stiller remembers the Spinal Tap director, who like Rob had a comedian father...
https://x.com/BenStiller/status/2000441874662961291
"He came out form behind a huge comedic shadow of the great Carl Reiner and being a tv actor to being a a great director who made an incredible run of movies. Spinal Tap is one of the best comedies ever made - and the list goes on. He was a kind caring person who was really really funny."
Now there are reports coming from gossip outlets that Reiner and his wife were murdered by their son Nick who is now in police custody.
What a shocking Hollywood tragedy and just an awful way for such great souls to go out, who have given us so much.
Go and see Spinal Tap 2 everyone.
RIP Rob & Michele Reiner.

Tim Cook has always been a mess, he's just been sufficiently hidden from public view; most of the time.
Did you know that Steve Jobs hated Cook? Massive chunks of Steve Job's biography were censored by Walter Isaacson, after Job's death, to conceal this from the  public. There's an investigative piece on it, here: https://vo.lc/The-Execution-of-Steve.html 
Cook is also a child-slaver. His is personally-evidenced knowingly using children to manufacture Apple products. Note that this is different from Apple's prior use of child slaves, because, until Tim Cook turned up, Apple had not been directly, knowingly, complicit. [Source: Business Insider]
The real reason these Apple executives are jumping-ship, however, has nothing to do with technical problems at Apple. Instead, they are getting ahead of a much bigger scandal, which will likely sink the company. 
Here I quote from an article by a Guardian award-winning writer who was a journalist for both The Times and The Telegraph newspapers; and worked at BBC radio. The journalist knew Steve Jobs personally, and worked with him. This is from the article:
"Tim Cook abuses children. This is well-documented. The extent to which he abuses children is to be determined by a court, and the process by which he will be brought to trial for his repeated abuse of children depends on your capacity — as the message on Steve Jobs' desk, pictured at the top of this page, reads — to "THINK". Your inclination will be to turn away."

"Tim Cook has, bizarrely, never had any identifiable partner of any sort. Readers will note that this was also the case for notorious pedophile, Jimmy Savile. This is not of course, to draw any comparison whatsoever between Tim Cook and the notorious pedophile Savile. Any attempt at such a direct comparison would (as it was with Savile) be met with such violent legal repercussions from the child-slave-traders at Apple that nobody would dare write such a thing. Perhaps we should not even think it."

"Many reporters, after Jimmy Savile was exposed, congratulated themselves on having kept silent for years out of fear of being sued, and all the children who were raped in the interim were also delighted at the reporters' cowardice. Weren't they?"

"The problem is that the entire, disgusting edifice of Silicon Valley relies on our fear. What happens if we're not scared? What happens if we stop treating the child-slave-trader Tim Cook as royalty?"
Source: The Execution of Steve, By Chris Stevens / Phoenix Kaspian, 16th January, 2024.
Note that the journalist's article has been up for almost two years, undefeated by Apple's legal team. Apple is the richest company in the world.
You do the math.
Apple is cooked.

I've been thinking for a while that, internationally, Hollywood is going to get cooked by the 'new' USA. Think how many of the biggest movies over the years have been predicated on the notion that the USA are, once you get down to it, the good guys, the freedom guys, the justice guys - how does that notion survive in a world shown, daily, evidence of resurgent American fascism, cruelty and opression.
Even in those movies where the US state is engaged in bad stuff, the day is saved by upright American patriots (with great teeth) - but IRL, where are those patriots? We're now aware that they're not to be relied upon to do that.
So how does a global cultural hegemony based on an vision of the US as that shining city on the hill survive the revelation that the shine is an illusion (obviously many of us already knew that it was a tortured myth anyway, but the grotesquery is now so pronounced it's unignorable even to the millions of normies who make up the entire international audience for Hollywood's product)?

It is and it isn't.  A little history reveals otherwise.  Honestly, humanity's default mode seems to welcome oppression.  And why not?  It's intellectually easy.  Many peoples don't like trying to be more smarter.