Tim Sewell

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)?

I've been rocking 2 secondhand S5s all this year, mainly with my Super Takumars (I've got the 20-60 kit for when I'm feeling lazy) and I've yet to touch the edges of their capabilities.

My understanding was that this is related to their decision to reduce their activities in the lighting and grip side of the industry, not cameras.

I'd seen quite a lot of the info in that post previously as I follow Ed Neidermeyer on BlueSky, who has spent the last 10 years writing about Musk's various crimes. But the bit at the end about newly-tariffed countries no longer having much need to emulate DMCA laws with regard to reverse engineering might just have some bearing on why Trump is suddenly threatening other countries that enact laws to regulate or tax US Big Tech companies.

Busy day?

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Indonesia... Jakarta? No, she came willingly.

I'd love to see a digital Canonet!

No, I was there the whole time!

Got them around £600GBP each - one in excellent condition, one as-new. So yeah - great value. And apart from ease of use (the FX30 has such great ergos, I think) I don't really feel like I've lost anything (apart from video AF, which I don't really use except for family fun vids, which the S5 can still keep up with). I even had some money left over after selling the FX30 and the A6600 which allowed me to complete my Takumar set with the 85mm, get the Lumix 20-60 kit lens, a bunch of batteries and some extra cards. So I'm not complaining at all.

The only brand new cameras I've bought (in the digital age) were the GH4 and, more recently my FX30 (which is exceptional VFM). Unfortunately I've just had to sell the FX30 because I can't afford a decent Sony B-cam for it and instead bought 2 secondhand S5s. The only thing I've seen recently that I've thought was well-priced was the XM-5, but too much for a fun purchase even then. It's not only bodies, though. Prices for even fairly quotidian lenses are just laughable these days.

In 1988 I wasn't too displeased with the result, though...

How about a mode to simulate when you get the bleach and the fix steps back to front because you're a bit drunk?

I'll have to take a look at that!

Last night I (solipsistically) spent a while watching my own videos via our Quest 3 VR goggles in 'cinema mode' and I must admit, seeing things on a virtual 20 foot screen certainly makes them look better! Any other forum users been doing this? But it got me to thinking - a great use of this technology would be if you could link it in to a Teradeck or whatever so that Directors and DPs could see, in real time, how a given scene or shot will look on the big screen. Is anyone doing this, or am I being silly?

That Kofi review I linked up-thread does just that, funnily enough.