Juank

To return to the original question, perhaps the most important element in all this is the ability of the operator to understand the variables and aesthetic implications of all of the above layers, to understand their budget, the available options on the market, and to apply their budget to ensure the products they use are optimal to achieve the intellectual and emotional response that the operator wishes to induce in the viewer.

To expand on the above, here is a list of all the "layers" that I believe are in effect when creating an image - you are in effect "looking through" these items:
Atmosphere between the camera and subject Filters on the end of the lens The lens itself, with each element and coating, as well as the reflective properties of the internal surfaces Anything between the lens and camera (eg, speed booster / TC, filters, etc) Filters on the sensor and their accompanying coatings (polarisers, IR/UV cut filters, anti-aliasing filter, bayer filter, etc) The sensor itself (the geometry and electrical properties of the photosites) The mode that the sensor is in (frame-rate, shutter-speed, pixel binning, line skipping, bit-depth, resolution, etc) Gain (there are often multiple stages of gain, one of which is ISO, that occur digitally and in the analog domain - I'm not very clear on how these operate) Image de-bayering (or equivalent for non-bayer sensors) Image scaling (resolution) Image colour space adjustments (Linear to Log or 709) Image NR, sharpening, and other processing Image bit-depth conversions Image compression (codec, bitrate, ALL-I vs IPB and keyframe density, etc) Image container formats This is what gets you the file on the media out of the camera.  Then, in post, after decompressing each frame, you get:
Image scaling and pre-processing (resolution, sharpening, etc) Image colour space adjustments (from file to timeline colour space) All image manipulation done in post by the user, including such things as: stabilisation, NR, colour and gamma manipulation (whole or selectively), sharpening, overlays, etc Image NR, sharpening, and other processing (as part of export processing) Image bit-depth conversions (as part of export processing) Image compression (codec, bitrate, ALL-I vs IPB and keyframe density, etc) (as part of export processing) Image container formats (as part of export processing) This gets you the final deliverable.  Then, if your content is to be viewed through some sort of streaming service, you get:
Image scaling and pre-processing (resolution, sharpening, etc) Image colour space adjustments (from file to streaming colour space) All image manipulation done in post by the streaming service, including such things as: stabilisation, NR, colour and gamma manipulation (whole or selectively), sharpening, overlays, etc Image NR, sharpening, and other processing (as part of preparing the steam) Image bit-depth conversions (as part of preparing the steam) Image compression (codec, bitrate, ALL-I vs IPB and keyframe density, etc) (as part of preparing the steam) Image container formats (as part of preparing the steam) This list is non-exhaustive and is likely missing a number of things.  It's worth noting a few things:
The elements listed above may be done in different sequences depending on the manufacturer / provider The processing that is done by the streaming provider may be different per resolution (eg, more sharpening for lower resolutions for example) I have heard anecdotal but credible evidence to suggest that there is digital NR within most cameras, and that this might be a significant factor in what separates consumer RAW cameras like the P2K/P4K/P6K from cameras like the Digital Bolex or high-end cinema cameras ..and to re-iterate a point I made above, you must take the whole image pipeline into consideration when making decisions.  Failure to do so is more likely to lead you to waste money on upgrades that don't get the results you want.  For example, if you want sharper images then you could spend literally thousands of dollars on new lenses, but this might be fruitless if the sharpness/resolution limitations are the in-camera-NR or you might spend thousands of dollars getting a camera that is better in low-light when there is no perceptible difference after the streaming service has compressed the image so much that you have to be filming at ISO 10-bajillion before and grain is visible (seriously - test this for yourself!).

No in Fuji's case the X-Trans sensor has a huge impact on IQ. It uses a unique non standard Color Filter Array that affects noise, moiré and detail resolution. It also avoids the need for an optical lowpass filter. 
The new processor in XS20 is what allows 6.2k open gate in 10-bit 4:2:2. The XT4 could only do up to 4K in 4:2:0. Also allows FLog2 and ProRes RAW out.

1) colour
The sensor in cameras is a linear device, but does have a small influence in colour because each photo site has a filter on it (which is how red, green, and blue are detected separately) and the wavelengths of light that each colour detects are tuned by the manufacturer of the filter to give optimal characteristics, so this is a small influence in the colour science of the camera.
The sensor then just measures the light that hits each photo site and is completely Linear.  Therefore, all the colour science (except the filter on the sensor) is in the processor that turns the Linear output into whatever 709 or Log profile is written to the card.
2) DR
DR is limited by the dynamic range of the sensor, and of the noise levels, at the given ISO setting.  If a sensor has more DR or less noise then the overall image has more DR.
The processor can do noise reduction (spatial or temporal) and this can increase the DR of the resultant image.  The processor can also compress the DR of the image through the application of un-even contrast (eg crushing the highlights) or clipping the image (eg when saving JPG images rather than RAW stills) and this would decrease the DR.
3) Highlight rolloff
Sensors have nothing to do with highlight rolloff - when they reach their maximum levels they clip harder than an iPhone 4 on the surface of the sun.
All highlight rolloff is created by the processor when it takes the Linear readout from the sensor and applies the colour science to the image.
There is general confusion around these aspects and there is frequently talk of how one sensor or other has great highlight rolloff, which is factually incorrect.  I'm happy to discuss this further if you're curious.

More rainbow flarytails test 🙂 with Oneplus 8 pro + custom  anamorphic 1.5x scope.
I hope you like it and if not please leave your feedback.
Thanks!

A 3d pop effect starts to show together with defocus characteristics of a real anamorphic lens. I can see a number of 2x anamorphic  purists jumping on this and saying that there is not enough oval defocus. The scope used is a custom 1.5x compression ratio . Flares to my eyes look much more natural than those artificial over coated lens on the market such as Ulanzi, moment and the like.
 

In other news, after cancelling my pair of S5iix preorders, I made a final (honest guv) decision re. final 2023 line up…and just ordered another (used) vanilla S5ii.
So cracked my 3 camera, no lens change matrix:
S5ii + Sigma 16-28 f2.8
S5ii + Sigma 28-70 f2.8
S1H + Lumix 70-200 f4 
Happy with that. And getting my black Sharpie out tomorrow 😬

Just to add, I’m doing a small hybrid wedding today, S5 photos and S5mk2 for video. I think eventually I will buy a second hand GX80 with a 12mm for a general 4k lock off ceremony cam which is small  to carry.
I am going to invest in those flip up filter things. I have the Xuma magnetic things which work fine with one camera but now I have a harness with 2 cams the VND has been knocked off a couple of times as it hung by my side!

I used to work out of my little Mazda Bongo camper a lot back in the day.
Same logic regarding the savings and convenience particularly when I had to cover games late at night or be at pressers first thing in the morning.
Great to use it as a mobile office as well to file from too.
The biggest cost savings were covering long multi day events away such as football tournaments and particularly like here when shooting the Tour de France.
Using the camper saved me a lot and meant I could ram it full of boxes gear as well as utilise it as a mounting point for remote cameras !

Its got me quite nostalgic for covering the Tour again to be honest, although these days it would be far more lucrative shooting it as a vanlife vlog than it would as an editorial photographer. 

The camper as an all round business proposition, costs me approx 3500 euros less per annum over car + hotels etc with the added bonuses of always on site plus for family/personal use for ‘free’.
That’s my 90 euro cart fully loaded except back pack and 3 cameras on my person, but otherwise every bit of kit I use or might use on a job including 40m extension and 500wh power bank (both of which were in the bottom of the cart).
All lighting is mains, power bank or battery.
The gimbal is indeed mounted on a tripod for ceremony, speeches, entrances, exits etc, but on a quick release plate so can go into floaty mode within 2-3 seconds or go onto it’s mini tripod base also with QR plate.
It’s all about having the most minimal kit I can get away with, but without too much compromise and being able to use anything as quickly as possible and as fuss free as poss.
That is why my next ‘job’ is getting the number of bodies down from 4 to 3 or ideally 2 and currently only adapted Tamron/Nikon can do 2…

The cart:

 

It was Monty Python that invented it anyway.

This is actually a bit of a rework/variation on a theme of Canon's Legria Mini/Mini X cameras from a decade ago.

I had the original one and it was pretty decent for what it did at the time and I think this new one might be an idea that has now met its time.
I've seen a lot of mocking about it but considering its a single purpose product then judging it on its suitability for that one purpose then it seems to have a lot going for it for a lot of its intended users.
 

I just sold my S1 and have bought a S5mk2 with a Sigma 28-70 f2.8. They have them as a pack here in Spain for 2590€. Pretty happy with the deal. Only had time to set up the camera a check a few things. But there are 2 things that I think I'm really going to like, the ability to punch in and check focus whilst filming and the EVF, which isn't as good as the S1's but it's way better than the S5's. I'll have to learn how to use the AF but so far it look pretty good. The lens looks great, nice and compact. I can see it being my main lens. If also means my back pack will weigh less as I'll use the 24-105 less and the S5 is a lot lighter than the S1. All good so far!

Would love to see a new Video Quality Chart. Maybe one with best character then one with best sensor etc. Last one was in 2015 I think?
 

Yeah, that's exactly it, but you'll see that in the big budget shows as well! Eventually it will all be 4k across the board, but right now it's mostly only lower budget projects or the extreme high end meaning like an Imax-shot sequence in a Nolan film. If $100-150m projects are shot on an Alexa 65 and are very vfx heavy, it's still normal to see them being finished at lower than 4k despite the res of the camera original.
Besides Netflix and their 4k push (and good to point out it's associated with flogging tv's), I am a bit out of the loop with what all the streamers are doing for their spec requirements, but it would make sense for any footage for the Volume being shot as hi-res as possible. Also stuff like VR, that's a good place for 8k+.
Yes the 4k hype has pushed Arri forward with the Alexa 35, which is an astonishing camera. And watching a 4k remaster of an old movie scanned off the neg is amazing.
Ah yeah there you go, I shouldn't have said it was a rumor. The dual gain thing I mentioned WAS a rumor though, that sadly hasn't panned out:
https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/fx6-features-19ev-wdr-via-v2-x-firmware-and-wdr-license/
Was hoping to see that in the FX6 and in my fever dreams, the FX3. I did a bit of online searching, and there were a bunch of papers published my Sony engineers in Japan that were using this WDR approach, but it hasn't made it into any mainstream camera releases.
I'm always interested to see dual gain approaches in other sensors like Canon and the GH6. What I noticed is Canon have focused more on cleaning up the shadows, while Arri focused on the highlights. I think this is to do with the power requirements of using a DGO approach to capture highlights since the Alexa has a much higher power draw, but also probably a culture difference where Arri's film background made them more focused on capturing filmic highlights. I can imagine that the engineers at Canon are more interested in a lower noise floor.
Another issue with Canon's DGO is slower rolling shutter compared to when it's turned off, so again an area to improve on.
 

Right, I actually learned this on my level having worked on low-budget commercials where the 3D VFX team were begging for 2K pulls whereas the DP was pushing 6K from the BlackMagic. I was naively hoping 4K could be the middle ground but quickly realised there simply wasn't the budget or time for that. So I have first hand experience with this type of scenario, however I admit I assumed that on high budget Hollywood films things were different but I guess it also depends on budget and deadlines.. I wonder if theatrical releases are also more lenient as US theatres are still mostly using 2K projectors?
Netflix requirements are high but they are partners of Samsung/LG/Sony pushing high resolution TVs which need high resolution content to shine! Its not just one big hustle though and I feel this pushes the industry forward, including ARRI..  I wonder if Disney+ does the same with its original series (they have the most VFX heavy content with Marvel & SWU IPs). Speaking of Fraser, I know he shot The Mandalorian season 1 in ARRIRAW 4.5K on the LF but that's also using mostly VP for the VFX via The Volume so whole other paradigm.
 
Its not a rumour, its been absolutely verified in teardown that the A7SIII/FX3/FX6 sensor is a 48MP quad bayer sensor binned down to 12MP. That's how it achieves such class leading read out speeds without being stacked. I didn't know/think about dual gain ability though.
We have seen ALEV inspired dual gain sensors in the C300/C70 DGO sensor as well as GH6 so that is trickling down. And of course RED Komodo has global shutter 6K sensor for very attractive price.

It's one of the reasons I like Sony's stance on the FX3/FX6/a7sIII etc sensor being "only" 4k. It has about the same pixel pitch as the ALEV III sensor. I hope they do another version of these cameras that unleashes the sensor's rumored dual gain ability, if it really is 8k being binned to 4k.
I would really like to see cameras in the affordable price range focusing on higher dynamic range and reduced rolling shutter or having a global shutter. We still haven't quite seen that breakthrough where we are getting a true 13 stops to match the original Alexa in a camera in the sub-10k market.

Well I'm very happy to see Nikon is finally back with an extremely solid flagship. Its system/mount certainly deserves it.
The irony is that it sort of took Z8 to redeploy the light on Nikon, despite it being a repackaged Z9 that's been out for 2y!
But it is certainly those smart adapters that are the real game changer for someone like me with multiple lens systems that isn't sure where to go next.. I still have some reserves (specs aren't everything) but GAS is high so again I need to test out a Z8/Z9 ASAP.. 
Also don't forget in DX mode with one push the 20-40 turns into a 30-60, and that with Hi-Res Zoom function it becomes a 40-80mm via lens ring control. How cool is that?

From the brief hands on experience that I had with @Andrew Reid's Z9 and Megadap E mount adapter, I was impressed enough to consider it a bit of a turning point in finally purchasing the Z9 (or Z8 or Z9 or Z8).
This review is with a broader range of lenses and setups.
There are a couple of EF adapters out there and the one I'm looking at is the Meike with the drop in VND system. 
This is their own test video but it looks usable enough.
 
For M mount (and everything else like M42, C/Y, Manual focus F mount etc that you can adapt to M) I have the original version of the TechArt Pro for E mount and it works well for what it is but has some restrictions.
Their version for the Z mount looks to made a lot of steps forward and for the miracle it is performing in terms of bringing AF to manual focus lenses I'd be fine with the performance judging by videos such as this.
With regard to the FTZ, I've only seen positive things really other than some slight slow down with TCs but thats par for the course a lot of the time with my experience on some lenses on TCs on the native F mount.
I'm not sure there is any performance difference between the FTZ and FTZii but the latter is the one for the Z9 as it doesn't have the protruding foot.
 

Yeah, I thought that camera may have appeared by now to throw a bit more doubt into things but I'm now having intrusive thoughts about the Sony a1.
This will be me outside the shop.

That's what I'm saying the price is so similar that I'd much rather lean towards a Z9. Yes modularity is one thing, but as you pointed out earlier once you do attach the grip the Z8 becomes bulkier (and uglier) than the Z9:

..and considering the very average battery life, you'd probably have the grip on most of the time anyways.
The Z8 sensor dust cover is nice though. 

Yeah, that really is a weird one how they've managed to do that.
I'm now weighing up my actual uses in terms of when I would need that extra power though and whether the external PD option wouldn't be more appropriate to me anyway.
My thinking is that the times when I would need that extra power would also align with the the uses that would potentially cause heat issues as well so fully externally powering and not having a battery in it might offer some mitigation to that issue too.
For my usage, the times when I would be doing 8K RAW etc on any serious level wouldn't realistically be me casually wandering about wafting the camera about but be in a more controlled situation so external power doesn't bother me and would actually be more beneficial.
Another issue is media costs.
I'm presuming the RAW and ProRes formats are a no-go when using the SD card option of the Z8 but I'm wondering what the maximum capability is format wise when using them?
Absent of dual recording capability to the two CF cards in the Z9 anyway, the CF/SD combo of the Z8 could actually be of more benefit to me in a lot situations.
So, there we go, its not even the end of the afternoon and I've gone from Z8/Grip/2 batteries to Z9 and now back to Z8 only.
Tune in tomorrow to hear another U turn.

Indeed : )  Loved that part you're prone to change your mind "another five or six times", I guess I've already made such part so far in this portion of the road yet! LOL : D
Looks promising anyway.
The 2nd part of the other tests above-posted is just going online here:

I'd still look for more tests exploring all the possible combinations though.
Z8 is a completely different beast than the older sister IMO from its intrinsic modular form factor. Apples to oranges :- )

As a lot of it seems to be related to the heat in the card then it could well mitigate it but it would need confirming.
On a more general note though, that kit does offer a good option when shooting a lot of content as the cost of say a 1TB drive to go with it is at least half the price of the equivalent CF card.
I've just done the sums and a brand new Z9 will cost me around £400 more than a Z8 with the grip and two additional batteries.
For a used Z9 it will probably be almost even.
I like the modularity aspect of going the Z8 route, particularly as I can defer the grip until later to see to what extent these issues affect me in actual use, but I'm still leaning towards the Z9 at the moment.
Its just under three weeks now until I'm in a shop and having to make the actual decision though so thats enough time to change my mind at least another five or six times !