eleison

5 hours ago, rawshooter said:

Just to compare:

In 2009, a DIY filmmaker equipped with the newest gear would have used

- a Canon 5D MkII or 7D with the mushy h264 image whose actual optical resolution was closer to SD than HD, in sRGB color profiles with a dynamic range of 7-8 stops;
- on a steady cam like the Glidecam, or a bulky DSLR rig with display loupes;
- with adapted vintage manual DSLR lenses because of the nearly unusable manual focus of native AF lenses (and AF still being unsuitable for video);
- editing the material in Final Cut Pro 7 or Premiere Pro using Magic Bullet Looks for color grading, with material that didn't really have enough bit depth for doing that.

Now imagine what the DIY filmmaker used before the canon 5Dmk2 or the 7d (which I owned).  The technology gap between what was available before the 5dmk2 and what the 5dmk2 herald into the video field was huge.  Remember MiniDv/mini8/etc?  Remember the canon xl1? .  Basically if you wanted anything "good" and you were serious/semi-serious, you used FILM.  There was no real viable options before the 5dmk2. With film, you had to buy film stock, you had to get it developed, you had to get it color matched, you had to have a person in charge of changing the film reels when shooting (not to mention storing it later)...  It was a mess.  I talked to some of my friends who did shoot shorts with film, and they told they spent an average of $30-40k minimum for a 5-10min short.

Heck, this very forum: eoshd.com...  The "eos" is from the canon "eos" 5dmk2 which I heard (not sure if true) caused Andrew some grievances from Canon themselves - trademark issues mostly, etc.

Because of the success of the 5dmk2 for video, it herald into the world blackmagic, nx, speedboosters, gh5, gimbals, etc.  Things that helped the little guy make movies.  Without the 5dmk2, we would have less options with respect to video equipment.  The 5dmk2 showed business that there was a viable market for the DIY filmmaker, the aspiring film maker, etc...

1st place:

5d mark II -- release in 2008, but regularly used for video after 2009; people stopped using those devices that helped create the swallow DOF; I can't even remember what those devices were called that were put in front of lens - I think they had spinning mirror elements or something.  Yep, back then everyone would give their left nut for a shallow DOF which for the first time, the 5d easily allowed film makers to do.  Also, hollywood movies started using 5d's as crash cameras and some even used them as B cameras; and (gasp) A cameras.  The 5d mark II herald the start of "the camera doesn't matter" era - at least whispers of it which was accelerated by the GH2 which was even cheaper than the 5d.

2nd place:

GH1/GH2 -- I still remember Zacuto did a "battle of the cameras" to see which camera had the best image quality in 2012, and in the blind test of image quality; Martin Scorsese chose the GH2 instead of the REDs, and Arri Alexa of that time period.  Obviously, the lighting and audio was professional done, but the subtext was video cameras are "good enough".  At that time, majority of aspiring film makers were using a gh2 plus the great 18-35mm sigma.  To this day, there are great gh2 shorts and movies that rival and exceed today's films shot on RAW cameras because back then if you had any talent at all, but couldn't afford the big name Hollywood digital cameras (they were very expensive and there was no "gap" cameras between consumer and big production digital cameras) you used a gh2.

Now we have RAW, great autofocus, great dynamic range, etc.. but the equipment already existed by the time the GH1/2 came out to produce great movies; the new equipment just makes things a little bit easier.... all you had to do was add the behind-the-camera talent (and the in-front of the camera talent).

16 minutes ago, fuzzynormal said:

As you may have noticed, the film making industry makes plenty of movies specifically for dumb people.  It's the larger market, so why not?  

Someone told me "there are no dumb people, only different market segments".. Some segments like porn, some like colored movies; at the end of the day, someone will cater to these segments because they need to pay the bills and feed their families.  I change my mine, story is not king, but the almighty dollar is :-P

2 hours ago, tupp said:

Yep.

 

Below is a 98-year-old film story told with a lot less than what we have today .  They didn't even have sound, and it is still entertaining!:

 

Sorry to the pixel peepers for the YouTube compression!  /s

Actually, according to my younger sister, my nieces, and nephews; this film would be unwatchable.  They all tell me they are allergic to black and white "old" movies.  So yeah, for some people even if the story is good, they just aren't going to watch.  I wish I could cram these movies up their bloody, prejudicial mouths because this is ART god darn it!!!  but nope, they aren't even going to try.  This is the same of bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, the invisible man, etc.  I'm sitting at the couch with pop-corn excitedly telling them for the next few hours we are going to have fun watching the great horror movies of the golden age.  They ditched me once they found out it was black and white.

9 hours ago, kye said:

I did the film festival / film competition circuit for a while and my takeaway was this.

Content is the only thing that matters.

I've seen barely acceptable videos with out-of-focus shots, shots where the camera got bumped, clipped dialogue, noisy dialogue, car sounds making it difficult to hear people, overexposed shots, and various other problems win competitions outright because they interviewed old people and got them to talk about sex and it was hilarious.  I've seen films win best edit when the editing was clunky because the story was good, etc.

Content is the only thing that matters.

Content is the only thing that matters, content is the only thing that matters...  content is the only thing that matters.

I agree... Unless it's porn, and then the story kinda gets in the way.  I see a lot of porn directors trying to inject story into their production, and I'm like, forgitabuttit.. Like, why would Big Mike put his swong in the pizza box?  It just doesn't make narrative sense....  So yeah, story is king UNLESS it's porn..

1 hour ago, kye said:

They don't, that's absolutely true.  You're also right about Sony probably being able to eat REDs lunch if they wanted to.

All your points are valid and will apply to a level-headed purchaser, and that's definitely an ingredient in product and market success, but that's not quite the whole picture.  The other part is the marketing game, and for that RED have a reputation that Sony don't.  You don't even have to go to YT where people are making "I bought a RED" "I spent $15,000 on a camera" clickbait videos about RED cameras but there's scarcely a mention of UMP or Sony anywhere, even in this thread there have been a few people saying that their interest in the Komodo (at least partly) includes the name.  For this reason I think there might be some success by having an entry-level product, even if it might get killed by Sony products in every other way possible (which is probably debatable as different people have different criteria).

I feel the market place for digital cameras is made up of people not buying on hype (e.g., I cannot name camera products that have succeed based on hype).  The clothing industry (where Jannard first made his money selling expensive Oakley sun glasses) is a different story.  But the clothing industry and the digital camera industry are vastly different in my opinion.  However, I think this was the reason why RED ceo's were unabashedly willing to slap their RED logo on products and charge 2-5x as much for RED accessories which were basically re-branded products with very little value added except for the brand logo.  It's the same mentally.  It may work for a while, but ultimately people notice -- especially technology based people. 

RED does have a reputation.   But that reputation is based on things that they did aprox 10 years ago.  Amazing spider, The Hobbit, the girl with the dragon tatoo, etc.  films that were shot on a RED camera........ 10 years ago.  Very few high production hollywood movies are shot with red now (it's arri).  They use to be a major player in sundance, not any more.  RED had the first mover advantage.  To people who don't know better, it has the reputation of being good, and expensive.  That is why you have click bait YT videos regarding RED "I spent $15000 on a camera".  For people in the know, it's more about arri alexa... but arri alexa doesn't have that reputation..  They didn't have the first mover advantage -- and too be honest, I really don't think they market themselves that much.

https://nofilmschool.com/infographic-camera-lenses-sundance
https://ymcinema.com/2019/06/17/red-arri-and-others-cinema-cameras-market-overview/

At the end of the day, who knows what can happen?  I could be totally wrong.  Unlike some people though, I don't care if someone bought a red.  When people hype themselves by saying they have a RED, I just roll my eyes and think to myself, come back to me when you have an Arri alexa lf.  Now that's a youtube video I want to see ?

3 hours ago, EthanAlexander said:

You have literally no way of knowing this.

RED has forced users to use over-priced accessories, they have a patent that stifles competition, and they're of questionable moral character, their marketing is mostly hype, but that doesn't mean that the cameras aren't capable of great imagery.

Komodo directly addresses two of the biggest drawbacks - price and proprietary media, and they still hold the trump card of real compressed raw. Add on top of that PDAF and a mirrorless mount - there's no direct competition. Who are you to say that this won't grow their business?

 

You are right.  One of their biggest drawbacks is price.  How does a company lower price?  Make things a commodity.  Use the economics of scale.  Sony, when they think it's time and when they think it's financially worth it, will create cameras that enthusiastic AND the serious cinematographers will want to buy.  Right now, the "cinema field" is not that important to Sony.  They are letting the smaller companies have this market segment while they are making $$$$ in the enthusiasts and advance hobbyist segment via their a7 and a6000 line.  They are also letting the smaller companies experiment to see what features are important.  

Sooner or later, Sony will create a camera that appeals to an even bigger audience including the serious cinematographers.  They have too because introducing "professional" features to a product stimulates sales.  They cannot let their mirror-less camera's sales stagnant.  That's not how business work.  They will create a camera that will be mass marketed and using the economics of scale will be cheaper than anything that RED can do.  That was what happened in the DSLR field (I think Sony introduced the first full frame camera under $1k during a time when everyone thought full frame cameras were for professionals only). 

Remember Sony is light years ahead of RED in sensor technology (does RED even design their own chip???).  RED's trump card of compressed RAW.  Is that really important?  I see within the next few years, there will be hardware good enough to have save uncompressed raw.  Also, while not 100% raw, braw has shown that companies can get by without using compress raw.  Sony is a huge company, they can easily create their own version of cameras that use braw like codecs. They could also license compress raw from RED if they think it's in Sony's best interest to do so -- which they haven't.

PDAF and mirrorless mount - been there, done that.  Those two items are not exclusive to RED.  I think sony has a patent on PDAF or at least aspects of PDAF but I'm not 100% sure.   This is one of the reason Panasonic has such bad autofocusing because they are forced to used CDAF. 

At the end of the day, RED is nothing. They are an emperor without clothes.  I can see them NOT existing within the next 10 years.. perhaps not even the next 5 years.

46 minutes ago, kye said:

I'm not sure that I understand your post, but in terms of what I was suggesting, I think they're perfectly capable of creating a low-cost lower-functionality product that will be suitable for lower and mid tier film-makers and will compete for film-makers who are progressing up the ladder as they build their businesses.

... but business don't exist in a vacuum.  The question then becomes can RED create products that can compete with Sony?  They can't because RED is a small company without the economics of scale.  Sony sells bucket loads more cameras -- how hard do you think it will be for sony to create camera's that compete with RED?  Not too hard.  They have proven they can take on "establish players" like canon and Nikon before and sony definitely has the resources.

17 hours ago, kye said:

For big budget productions there are only really two post-colour / processing solutions, DaVinci Resolve and Baselight.  In this sense it's a bit like RED and ARRI.  Google this forum and see how many times Baselight has been mentioned, but at this point Resolve is a familiar name to most film-maker you tubers.  RED would do well to adopt the same strategy.

Red wouldn't be able to.  A lot of Red's marketing is based on marketing (anyone want 10x marked up prices of REd branded SSD's?)....  RED is too small and don't have the leverage that blackmagic does.  Blackmagic has resolve and has experience catering to the non-budget film makers and low budget film makers for a while now.  Red is relying on their reputation.  In their market segment which they help started - mid to higher end production; ARRI is kicking their butt; very few people shot on RED now.  It's ARRI.  Red is now trying to go into Blackmagic's market with the Komodo.  However, I don't think the market is big enough to sustain two major companies not to mention, at any time now, Sony can completely wipe both blackmagic and RED away by creating a competing camera; they just don't think the market is big enough for them to really care. 

When the sales of their A7 cameras start slowing down, we'll see Sony slowly start to encroach on both RED and blackmagic.  Remember, within only a few years, sony took away both canon and nikon's marketshare.  Both of these companies were a lot bigger and more entrenched than RED or Blackmagic.  Just like the REd phone, Komodo is RED's last grasp for market share.  Just like the Red phone, it's not going to work. 

Red is slowly becoming a joke.  It's hard for us "video enthusiast" to see that because we knew about red when they first helped start the film to digital revolution for mid to higher end productions.  But if you step back with fresh eyes, Red just like their Red Phone, is a joke - it's just a matter of time. 

4 minutes ago, Chrad said:

You think believing the Kavanaugh accusers is wrong because it's based on feelings rather than evidence, but then chose to believe that they are lying, based on your own gut feelings. And somehow this has something to do with Pol Pot and Stalin?

I use evidence and empirical validation.  I never once said I would use my gut feelings to accuse someone of lying.  The regimes of Pol Pot and Stalin can only exist largely because of emotions.  The theology is greater than the man or the objective truth.  Those that oppose must be put down at all costs.  If you don't believe in the greater communist mother land, you will be put down; if you don't believe in "zero year", you will be part of the road that the ox cart moves on to build that 1000 year empire.  The "orange man bad" theology is just the same, but in a very, very smaller scale.  But like it's other counterparts, it is based on emotions.  

2 minutes ago, Chrad said:

Sounds a lot like feelings unsupported by evidence to me.

Tell that to the millions of people buried in the ground... or who's fathers who got shipped of to Siberia never to see their sons again; fun times...  Like I said, what we have now, could be worse.  "Orange man bad" theology comes from a very evil place, but thankfully there is enough people with the power to oppose and to stop that kindling from starting a conflagration. 

9 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

As much as I'd suppose you'd like it to be true, the GOP would probably be unable to launch a criminal indictment into Hunter Biden because it's only a wild-hair conspiracy and current investigations into Biden's role have him operating within the confines of the law. 

Never mind,  you're right.  I just watched MSNBC.  Hunter Biden was given $82,000 a month salary because he was able to talk Ukrainian; also some people say he had no experiences in the energy sector and should NOT be on the board of the energy company, but that was wrong too.  Msnbc told me that he has over 20 years experience developing energy plans for countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and parts of the USA; he is not some dead beat who has not accomplished anything other than being the son of a prominent politician.  It was also just a coincidence that his Dad who was the vice president said on tape that the Ukrainian government needs to stop looking into the obviously, super qualified hunter Biden (his son) and the $82,000 a month job, or else his Dad would do everything in his power as vice president to with hold aid to the ukraine.

Nothing to see.  Time to move on and hope that I too can become another, hardworking, honest man like hunter Biden.  That way I can buy any camera i want instead of just pining for them.  Maybe with hard work, I can get a $82,000 a month job.  I wonder when he even had time to learn Ukrainian?  After work, I get so tired, I barely have any energy left except to cook food and take care of my son. 

1 hour ago, Chrad said:

So why do you think the accusers are lying?

The oldest reason in the world:  ideology 

Why do you think millions of people died in the killing fields????  Not all of them were against the regime, were they?  Why do you think million of people perished in the gulags of the soviet union?  Were they all american spies?  Or, the preventable famines in China??? Were all those rice farmers stupid and the central government far away from those rice field, these government bureaucrats knows best - at least that's what the officials said?  etc. etc..

ideology allows people to accept the unknown, the unclear, the speculative as TRUTH.  So far, as things go, it hasn't been too bad.  A guy got his reputation smeared, a president may or may not lose his job a few months before a election, etc. etc..  It's sad and hopeful in a way.  It's sad that people still accept speculation has proof.. it's hopeful because there hasn't been any mass death... yet... yeah, a few antifa brown coats have been intimidating people, but that's a lot better than the organized brown coat of yesterdays.

3 hours ago, The ghost of squig said:

There are no alternative truths, just distortions. A serial fraud, Trump is a master at deceiving the intellectually lazy.

Having heard the testimony, if I were on a Jury I would find Brett Kavanagh guilty of rape. But I can understand how your ideology blinds you from the truth.

Yeah, millions of people died during Pol pot because they were accused of being spies or going against "the people" with the same type of evidence that was presented during Brett Kavanaugh's  trial.

Accuser:  "Yeah, I remember Diem. He was talking to this american guy.  Sure it was dark. But it was definitely him. Sure, it was 6 months ago and he said that he was with someone else and that someone can vouch for him.  But that was Diem's friend. They are both capitalistic sympathizers..."

Pol pot official: kill Diem!!! Look at the accuser.. She is even crying???!!!!! How can she be lying?  Kill Diem's friend too!!!!

Pol Pot official:   (looks at his secretary) great, we just got rid of over a million capitalists, teachers, bourgeois, etc.  Another 2-3 million more to kill.  There sure are a lot of bad people in the world that want to take down the great nation of Cambodia...  But as long as we don't need definite proof, but just hearsay, I'm sure we can do it.  Our great nation will last for a million years because of our great effort and our ideology..   Remember Orange man bad, we must resist...

That's how some people want the world to work.  NO evidence.. Just feelings.  We have gotten a little better, but we still have people that will "believe her" regardless of anything.  Oh well, fun times.  

17 hours ago, The ghost of squig said:

A Trumpkin who's not  interested in the truth, who'd have thunk it.

The truth is what we make of it... 

6 minutes ago, fuzzynormal said:

I can certainly appreciate that sort of sentiment.  It's honest.  I'm not a Hillary fan either.  Her and the DNC deserve(d) a kick in their uppity teeth. 

However, I fail to see how "an ends justifies the means" attitude should be at play.  If the POTUS is a bad actor, it's reasonable to call them out on it regardless of other circumstances.  In other words, don't cover for the guy because you think it could be worse.  Rather, think it could be better and push towards that.

Hillary deserves jail.. so does hunter biden...  Bret Kanuagh did not deserve his good name to be pulled through the mud by lying women...  Justice demands proof and not "I heard from this person.. who heard from this person.. " etc...

To be honest, for all the head shaking, politically things are not that bad... We had millions starve because of bad government policies... people put into reeducation camps, etc... Previous generation, mass number of people actually got killed because they believed in what they believed because of people in power.  While I'm not happy with some things, but it could always be worse.

39 minutes ago, PolarStarArts said:

 

The bottom line is that Canon got greedy and thought they could rest on their laurels, said laurels consisting of their deep and vast lens ecosystem.

Canon didn't want to cannibalize their C300, C200, etc cameras becuz if you want good video, you don't use a small camera "designed" for taking pictures instead you use a $16,000 camera "designed" for video.  They were probably hoping that their cinema cameras would be a halo product to help sell their consumer cameras.  They didn't understand that enthusiastic are the one's that are buying and they don't really care about "halo" products like the mainstream consumers (soccer moms, etc.).  Besides, these mainstream consumers are increasing just using their cell phones.  oh well, good to know you Canon, don't let the door hit you in the butt when you leave. 

7 hours ago, Shaocaholica said:

They can still make cameras and accessories but outside of the patent dispute they still have a massive brand image issue.

REd hasn't been cool... for what?  the last 10 years?  If they lose this patent, they are done.  They don't have a niche to sell cameras too and they aren't broad enough (or cheap) enough for the general audience.  Maybe this is also why sony mirrorless cameras (A7siii perhaps, etc.) don't do RAW?  100% RAW uses too much data and compress RAW is patent encumbered by RED?  BRAW is not patent encumbered because the camera itself uses specialized data processing IN THE CAMERA to prepare for compression if the user wants it.  For sony to do the same thing, it would have to redesign their cameras and then they are using Blackmagics patents.

DAMN IT, RED.  They have a patent for video compression in camera for anything over 2k REGARDLESS if the algorithm is similar to RED's or not???!!?!?!!  They should never have been awarded that patent.  It's like saying you can compress any computer file over 2gigs, but than you have to pay someone because they own the patent to compressing computer files over 2gigs.. Ridiculous. 

edit: nevermind, I just saw the Jinni.Tech youtube video.  Stick a fork in it.. yeah, if they lose this patent, they are done.

Red is dead man walking.  It is  losing the independent movie makers, (these movie makers are using ARRI); and it is too expensive for the no-budget crowd... Besides, it like to sue people which is never a good sign.  A couple of people I know from my meetup group uses red... I'm not impress, and other than the cost of the cameras; the camera operators are also not impressed.  Dude, I hope Red dies in a fire.

27 minutes ago, Mako Sports said:

I don't think MILC is true threat to S35 video camera and legit high end cinema cameras...

Maybe, but I don't care if a camera is " a threat to S35 video cameras and 'legit high end cinema.'"  The standard is what will be used in most movies/videos that people watch.  If more and more MILC (I consider the BMPC4k a cheap MILC) are used to create features, than that is the standard.  Film use to be the standard.  They were expensive and bulky for the most part.  They are no longer a standard.  Things improve so that content creators can get their job done easier and quicker; and for the beginner content creator, cheaply.

There are "legit high end" film cinema cameras that are sitting in storage right now doing nothing.  they become obsolete because they no longer serve a purpose even though they are legit.

1 hour ago, Django said:

I seriously don't think MILCs are a serious threat to cine cams. There is room for both. And if they don't adapt, other players like Fuji, Nikon and Panasonic will.. 

People use to think MP3 were not a serious threat to high quality wav, or hd audio, etc...  Nobody really talks about the latter anymore - even among enthusiasts.  MILC will be a serious threat to cine cams.  Sony is so big.  How is it that it hasn't destroyed blackmagic yet?  It's because there is a market for low cost cinema camera and sony does not care about.  A lot of people bought the a7iii because youtube people were using it for their channel.  Imagine when and if everyone of them started using blackmagic cameras.  Video gear has gotten smaller and will continue to get smaller if it does it's intended job.

51 minutes ago, Cliff Totten said:

Its going to be fascinating to see what the XDCAM management team will "allow" the Alpha management team to give the new A7S-III. A Sony manager fir Russia was stating that he thinks the A7S-III wont have "deep color" as that is reserved for the XDCAM FS series only. I suspect he means 10bit.

I heard at NAB that Panasonic is very receptive to the S1 having 4k raw over HDMI and that it IS definetely comming to the S1 this year. Those same sources told me that Sony is not willing to go that far right now. Atomos is pressuring them but Sony is not buying into the raw idea for Alpha. (The next FS probably)

Will Alpha be allowed to have highly compressed 10bit internal recording or will it only be granted 10bit video HDMI? I would love to be a fly on the wall in these Alpha/XDCAM manager board room meetings!!

2019 is a massive political fight for managers inside Sony and Panasonic. Nikon?....no no, HDMI raw was an EASY choice!!! 

Yeah, sony is getting complacent, just like canon use to be.  Blackmagic and the Chinese manufactures see an opening with low cost cinema cameras and exploiting it.  If blackmagic gets good autofocusing, and and larger sensor; a lot less a7iii would have been sold.  blackmagic already has the most dominate color grading software, and slowly taking the NLE market.  That is sony's Achilles heel right now; I dont' think Sony knows this.  Good autofocusing, larger sensor and most youtube people would be using blackmagic instead of a7iii; image that; a lot of people bought the a7iii because of youtube people using them.

This is awesome.  I was so scared that I would be stuck with sony because of the lenses, but with this; it's easier to move to Nikon if they start getting their act together.

It's promising that FOXCONN is involved.  The company is huge, and with their resources, the 8k Sharp camera could be really good.  Also, big companies like foxconn are always looking for the next big thing.  Smart phones are becoming a commodity.  Cameras are going high end.  The low end to mid-range cameras are being forced out of the market by phones.  The highend market $2k+ camera/video is where the action is.  Basically catering to wealthy individuals.  I feel cameras are going to be the next big status symbols.  Samsung pulling out of the camera field to focus on smart phones was a big mistake.  I bet you they are regretting it.

It's actually a culture shift.  A lot of people are now into video it seems - kids, adults, moms, etc.  You don't hear gear heads talking about the size of a muscle car's engine.. or their gaming rig or smart phones (as much).  It seems to me, it's all about videos now.  I'm sure the rise of youtube had something to do with it.  Well-to-do people lust for new camera gear than anything else IMHO.  Or at least, it's in their top 10 of things to lust for. :-)  I welcome the time when I can zoom in like blade runner.

Deckard: "Enhance 224 to 176. Enhance, stop. Move in, stop. Pull out, track right, stop. Center in, pull back. Stop. Track 45 right. Stop. Center and stop. Enhance 34 to 36. Pan right and pull back. Stop. Enhance 34 to 46. Pull back. Wait a minute, go right, stop. Enhance 57 to 19. Track 45 left. Stop. Enhance 15 to 23. Give me a hard copy right there."

8 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

With Sony bodies, you can always count on there being major heat

Unless I can cook an egg on the body, it's not hot enough.  When I'm out in the woods, always good to carry one less thing.  Having to leave my pots at home would be awesome.

30 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

LOL. OK let's refrain from personal attacks unless you are joking. I am not sure which way he bats when it comes to Sony vs Canon that's for sure. Is it just to whoever is being nicest to him via email at any given moment?

It's all in jest, unless Tony sees this thread then I'm calling him out.  If he truly is "married", where's the pda?  If they are a couple, they have to be one of the most clinical couples I've ever seen irl or on YouTube.  You listening, Tony!!?  Wheres the pda?  hahhahhahah.

The problem with online reviews is that everyone is human.  Humans have a tendency to form groups and alliances.  If you see someone enough times they become familiar (conferences, meet and greets, etc.), and you will be friendly to each other.  You become friendly to the fellow YouTuber, the fellow Sony marketing person, etc.  It's hard to put down someone's product, or work; when you know the person.  That's life.

The only people who can truly be objective (imho) are those who are anti-social and are willing to alienate other people.  Telling the truth is hard.  I'm sure the montage of popular YouTubers featured this article isn't going to make Andrew any more popular.  I'm not saying Andrew is anti-social or anything.  But he has not engendered himself to the "camera reviewer mafia".  No booze and women for him, but we all know he's a little more truthful.

I don't think the EOS R is selling that well.  When camera companies give youtubers tickets to a event that has blow and women of ill repute in the back, you know having an unbiased review is the farthest thing from that person's mind.  Well, except for Tony Northrup -- I'm still not certain which way he bats even though he is "married".

1 hour ago, jonpais said:

Sony’s game is to get photographers to upgrade to a $10,000 cinema camera from an entry level MILC?

Sony is not bringing out the a7siii right now in part because they are trying to entice video orientated users to buy the a7iii.  If they bring out the a7siii too fast, they would lose a7iii sales - video orientated users would just buy the a7siii.