The Chris

2 hours ago, Marco Tecno said:

Did you hear about Samsung nx1, didn't you? ;-) It's been there for almost 2 years, now...

What's the point of dragging the NX1's corpse into every camera discussion? I doubt most Fuji shoppers would consider the dead NX system, a large part of Fuji's appeal is where Samsung was weakest - ergonomic buttons/dials, lenses and SOOC JPEG's.

After watching a bunch of the promo videos on my 4k monitor, I'm impressed by what I'm seeing so far. As Andrew mentioned, its some seriously sharp/detailed video. There are a few standout features IMO:

• Dual UHS-II card slots, Sony can't even give us one, on any f-ing camera, love the A7rII, but the write speeds can be annoying
• Three total batteries with the grip, nice - and a new battery to boot (though Fuji OEM batteries are tough to find when released)
• Joystick means no dance to move AF point, leaving 8 custom function buttons including mic volume, though no headphone volume
• Flog (love that name, now we can talk about flogging our videos)
• Clean out for external recording
• 1080p is oversampled so it should be a great HD camera (unlike the a6300)
• Fuji colors

A few weak points for me:

• The rear LCD, lower resolution (WTF?) than Xpro2 (1.04m dots vs 1.62m on Xpro2) and no touchscreen, the better LCD would be welcome punching in to focus 4k
• Video recording needs to be selected on the control dial, so you can't just hit record while shooting stills (not sure if you can shoot stills in video mode)
• Face tracking still doesn't look as good as the A7rII or a6300
• No 120p, though it sounds like its possible, so *maybe* via a FW update
• Slight crop in 4k (would have preferred no crop in 24p if possible like the a6300)

Despite some early shortcomings, I'm ordering one with the 18-55 to compare to the A7rII. Sometimes its nice to shoot images without spending time in post, and Fuji's JPEG's are among the best.

3 hours ago, LPG said:

Yes, this is a beautiful camera indeed. A friend of mine has the T1. I like everything about Fuji, except that their lenses are big and expensive... Will wait for the GH5 because of the whole ecosystem. For studio work this is no problem, but I do not go back to bulky systems when outdoors.

Fuji's lenses are larger than m43 because they're covering a larger sensor, but certainly not expensive, the 16/1.4 is cheaper than the Panasonic 12/1.4, and the 56/1.2 is cheaper than the 42.5/1.2 and so on. Fuji has a few excellent pancakes and the 35/2 as well. The upcoming 23/2 will be another gem. Fuji holds regular sales which helps to keep used prices down.

Given the a6300's rolling shutter, it'll be interesting to see what Fuji can do. Love Fuji's lens lineup, the XT2 may move me away from Sony. 

48 minutes ago, jagnje said:

 If lets say 5d mk.4 doesn`t have 4k it will be the bigest fail canon has ever made.

Geez, talk about hyperbole. 5d3 is four years old and still a top seller. 4k is a niche market and a spec sheet highlight. Wedding and event shooters are waiting to jump on the 5d4. It's going to be huge.

Even if people on this board moan about these things, the vast majority of the camera buying world doesn't care.

Lots of TV, film and events are shot with Canon's "mushy 1080p" as some put it. We still live in a HD world.

I'd call the a7rII a "REAL" hybrid that already exists - IBIS, mic/headphone jack, great video, class leading stills/DR and something Panasonic really lacks... PADF.

It would be nice if Panasonic would dump everything into a pro oriented GH body including 10-bit internal and so on, but we've been saying that for years to no avail. Just like Sony and Canon, Panasonic wants you to buy a higher end camera.

IMO it'll get IBIS and a higher bitrate, but it'll still be the same old 8-bit 4:2:0 internal.

Panny should dump the goofy YAGH and do an external recorder with XLR inputs, they have all the tech in house and could easily build a unit that crushes Blackmagic's offerings. But again like Sony and Canon, there doesn't seem to be any interest (or High profit margins) in low volume products at consumer price points. 

a7rII's AF is much better than the a7sII, the PADF array covers most of the sensor and it does a good job tracking subjects, face detection stays locked on for a high percentage of shots when the subjects face is visible, even at wide apertures. Lots of test videos show it effectiveness. S35 4k means you can use smaller APS-c lenses, the 16-50pz is a great small option.

Olympus or the GX85 are your only other IBIS options. 

2 hours ago, richg101 said:

I have a feeling the reason the sony is so large is that it might be a re-purposed lens.  probably originally designed for a-mount, or at the very least designed to be onfigured to be used with a a-mount camera, and then the optical design has been translated into e-mount.  the additional 30mm length to make up for the lack of mirror.  

I disagree, check the cutaway below. That's an e-mount lens through and through.

2 hours ago, Django said:

^ doubt it's a regional thing.. for example the Full Sail University (FL) tech package consists of an FS5. if you're producing 4K (which most TV productions aren't) then FS5/FS7 really is the only place to go within the under $8K run&gun/doc/ENG cameras. they're definitely out in the wild, NYC homie shot this on a FS7 couple weeks ago:

 

Not saying they're not out there, because they are. Just commenting on the topic, the C100/300's are very popular where I live/work and in TV land, they're heavily used in scripted productions, unscripted productions and commercials.

1 hour ago, Nick Hughes said:

The FS cameras really seem to be proving popular in doc-style shooting, which is where I've been seeing and using them. Also in concerts.

I'm always happy to get handed a C camera to shoot with, but boy do I love being able to flip on S&Q mode for some really nice 180fps. It really helps that cinematic-documentary format. They also seem to pair better with their DSLR-style counterparts than the canons. 

Just watched Cartel Land, at times its nuts. Basically all handheld run and gun (and sometimes getting shot at) with the C300 and a 17-55 lens for most of the shots.

I've never seen a FS7 or FS5 in the wild, lots of TV productions here in Florida from sports to reality TV to porn, and I've seen lots of C100/300's and Red's, a few Blackmagic cams and lots of DSLR's. Dual pixel AF, a great codec and painless audio makes them great run-and-gun/doc/ENG cameras.

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I'm going to say that it's not quite comparable. First, that lens has been on the market for some time. The list price is $999 when it first came out. This Leica has JUST come into the market. Second, I know Fuji makes great lenses and I'm sure this one is wonderful, but could there be more value in the "designed by Leica" made by Panasonic brand? I'm not sure. I bet this lens will come down in price a little within the first 3-6 months... especially if no one's buying it due to cost. I think Panasonic got hit with a heavy design cost by Leica and now they have to make it up. Perhaps, they gave it a "premium" price to get more pros... just an idea. This branding strategy is a little strange and contradictory in a way. It's like making a Ferrari designed Ford or something. How much would you pay for that? I guess if it looks and drives like a Cobra- that's cool. However, if it looks and drives like a Mustang with a Farrari engine- less cool. Not sure if that makes sense, but that's kind of how I see it.

Ford makes a Ferrari, the new $400,000 GT, and its absolutely amazing. Almost 7,000 have applied to buy one of the 500 being produced.

https://www.ford.com/performance/gt/

Panny's pricing is going to bite them in the rear. This looks like a fantastic lens, but they aren't going to sell many, especially when the 12/2 is half the cost.

VA 4k is 350 nits, Ninja Flame is 1500. I realize the Flame is $400 more, but peaking, zebras, false color, built in HDR for easy monitoring of Log recording, Prores/DNxHR codecs, custom LUT's, anamorphic desqueeze, and a much, much brighter screen makes it a compelling option. The quality of the VA's panel is the main reason I'm hesitant to buy one.

I have a job coming up where an external monitor is needed, so I'm just going to get a recorder to get 4k out of my a7s and use the a7rII as a cutaway cam. The VA is tempting because of price/media, but that screen. 

55 minutes ago, ntblowz said:

IQ is one thing and characteristics is another, I prefer the the rendering from Leica 42.5mm F1.2 than Batis 85mm 1.8, Zeiss is never that sharp at 1.8 vs Leica at 1.2, and OOF on Leica is nicer, no onion rings, even though the bokeh is smaller but more pleasing. I got A7RII, A7S, FS5, GH4 and G7 so I know what I am talking.

 

You must have a dud, my Batis 85 is crazy sharp wide open.

8 hours ago, BrorSvensson said:

what a joke of a price, like really. How much harder is it to make than a regular 24mm 2.8 for full frame?

Its not a f/2.8 lens though, its a F/1.4, to get that much light gathering in a UWA lens requires a lot of glass.

15 elements don't come cheap.

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I'm pretty sure this is my next MFT lens:

http://www.43rumors.com/ft5-leaked-first-images-new-panasonic-12mm-f1-4-asph-lens/

Panasonic Leica branded 12mm F1.4- no IS, but you won't be needing it with the GX80. Could be priced at $600- perhaps more. I'll start saving.

The 25/1.4 and 15/1.7 are $600, expect a 12/1.4 lens to be more expensive. I'd be surprised if it's much less than $1000. I find this lens really interesting, but the rumored Olympus 12/1.2 is also looming. 

TCS reviews the GX with many names

11 minutes ago, TSV said:

So you need a "Hack" that may break your camera warranty, a battery grip with two batteries on a 3000 USD camera to do something that a 800 USD Camera can do out of the box? Just saying...

No it's just an app, no impact act on anything at all. I can record for over an hour on a single battery. The grip allows me to fill larger cards. 

The app/hack allows unlimited recording on Sony bodies that can take apps. My a7rII goes until the card is full with the grip attached. 

Cheers

Owned the a7rII since the day it was released, my cam still looks like new and no issues at all. I've had the a5100 for almost two years now, it's with me everywhere, it's always in my bag/car/carry-on, and even though it's all plastic it's still a 9 or better. 

9 hours ago, jcs said:

  I'd pay for Resolve once it reaches closer to what I can do in Premiere (would make sense for them to start charging for a mid-priced version once it has near feature parity with FCPX and PP CC).

I think that's a possibility as it becomes a powerful editor, there's a lot of space between free and $1000, if they can resist selling to a larger company. 

11 hours ago, HelsinkiZim said:

The only editing software that will integrate with everything you will need to know to maintain a video production business now and tommorrow, is Premiere Pro.

Can I have some of what you're smoking?

Premiere is hardly the gold standard for NLE's. Most of the production houses and freelancers I've worked with use FCPx and Avid. I think in a few years Resolve may put all of them out of business if they continue to develop the editing side of things and give it away - unless Adobe buys them to keep people from dumping that stupid subscription model.

Adobe's programs have become too bloated and slow. If it works for you, cool, but its not for everyone.

55 minutes ago, icarrere said:

Sorry ,  I haven't red anything. Why waste time with all this shit?

Because we're not all holier-than-thou douchebags that troll a gear site with disparaging remarks toward those speculating about a highly anticipated camera.

Remember when some were calling it iMovie Pro? 

Fuzzy, I think you have to decide PC or Mac.

Personally, got tired of updating drivers and dealing with the Adobe bugs while my 2009 MacBook Pro just kept chugging along without major issues. I threw in the towel went all in with Apple when I bought my Mac Pro last year. Everything just works, don't care if I paid way more than a larger, more power hungry and noisier PC, my time is valuable and I'm done wasting it with nonsense like trying to figure out why a CC update suddenly kills the audio in Premiere and Audition. The fact that all of the vital components of a PC are a mishmash from different companies with drivers that try (and don't always succeed) to mesh with the OS and everything else as opposed to a closed system is worth it for me. FCPx is much faster than Premiere too.

I'm done with windows myself, and I've never been happier with my editing station. The only disappointment is Apple whacking Aperture, it was so much better and faster than Lightroom, which sadly is still faster and more powerful than the alternatives. Once I can dump LR, I'll be Adobe free too. 

If its a desktop, you can get a Mac Pro with a 4k monitor in the same price range. The 5k iMacs have a fan that I found annoying, if you're editing/rendering video or anything else that's processor intensive its on a lot. They also get really hot because there's so little space for air to move. You can get a 6-core with the dual 3gb graphics cards for $3400 from the refurb store. I have the same matching, bumped RAM to 64gb and it plows through everything. Plus you get more ports and its whisper quiet, it sits on my desk next to my monitor and I never hear it.