Snowfun

Ooh that opening shot gives me tingles

A short from Filippo Chiesa

Thanks to Sony Italy, I had the opportunity to put the new FX5 through its paces on a real project I’m currently working on. I shot everything in X-OCN LT 5K open gate, using spherical lenses. The FX5’s sensor is truly wonderful, and I believe its performance sets a new benchmark for cameras of this type—and beyond.
 

Sony RX0 is reasonably small. Not a zoom however and you might regard it as an “action cam” (albeit without stabilisation it isn’t!).

Anything like Foolcontrol for RED?
I know you like posting links but sometimes commentary or, at least, comment would be appreciated!

It’s for a personal travel/ski film next winter in northern Finland (supplemented by a Sony rx0ii). I have several manual Nikon lens which I previously adapted to the Pocket 4k. The 85mm is a favourite. Plus all my M/ZM/VM (one of my favourites is the Voigtlander 50mm f3.5 Vintage Line Heliar). I want the Panasonic/Leica 100-400 (not sure why but it seems ridiculously fun to go to 800mm equivalent!). I’ve also ordered the 9mm f/1.7 Panasonic/Leica to replace a MFT Voigtlander 10.5 (far too heavy). A healthy mix of MF and AF. Shallow dof is certainly not a priority.  Interestingly, I am finding that the “fun of using” is far more important that ultimate IQ… after all, none of this really matters! 

What are you shooting and what lenses are you contemplating?
I can't recall what your other normal equipment is, but MFT opens up a Pandoras Box whole world of possibilities with adapters etc too (if you don't need AF) so that can be fun too.  I've been shooting street video at night with two combos that work incredibly well..  the first is my 42.5mm F0.95 with the Sirui 1.25x anamorphic adapter on the front, making it an equivalent of 68mm F1.5 and creating beautiful rendering wide open, but the combo is 1.3kg / 46oz so I also got a Takumar 50mm F1.4 on a speed booster, which is equivalent to a 71mm F2.0, which is much more vintage but is tiny and almost a full 1kg lighter.
I'm contemplating a native 35mm F0.95 or F1.4 to replace both and have a less vintage but still lightweight for travel shooting.
I also rock the 14-140mm for day shooting while travelling, and in brighter places the 12-35mm F2.8 is pretty hard to beat.  So many great lenses.  If you don't need crazy DOF then MFT is a great option, even with the larger body sizes.

I needed a colour sensor for a specific project (my primary camera being a M11M) and just picked up a G9ii - it’s a fun little thing. Seems well built and easily customised to play nicely with individual requirements. Even with a (Smallrig) cage it’s a convenient size (identical to LUMIX S range I think - although lenses are presumably smaller). Currently just the Lumix 14-42mm but plenty of exciting options. Until I read this thread it wasn’t really an option I’d have considered. Glad I can read!

A may have, sort have, hacked my Sony a7 IV. Although the firmware is encrypted the .DAT cam settings file isn't.
This allows you to dive in and change picture style parameters, without the limits of the camera menus or Sony's tethered apps via USB.
This is early days yet, but I've already got a prototype app that's quite useful.
First bonus feature... it allows you to save all your Picture Profile recipes and Creative Style settings to your laptop and manage them in a nice to use Mac OS app (Windows version I'll also be working on later). This allows you to store as many "Recipes" as you want and dial them into the camera.
Second bonus feature... It is able to apply recipes to Sony raw files and export as LUTs for S-LOG2 and S-LOG3, with a live preview shot as you grade it.
Interesting to see the reference to "S-Cinetone 2" in the data...

 Third bonus feature is that this app might allow us to go further in future... I'm getting a good understanding of how the camera OS works.
I have also reverse engineered Canon's picture styles, although this is a topic for a future post 🙂

Time for a UK / Europe Based Vimeo alternative then. Time to make our own.

Would it be worth quoting Genesis 1:3 as this would solve the high ISO need…
(with apologies)

Would it be worth quoting Genesis 1:3 as this would solve the high ISO need…
(with apologies)

Then I'd also like to ask, what exactly is the "have to" part of it.  Like, y'all can't get paid and/or make a living without vertical videos?  I'm not trying to be obtuse in my responses.  I don't do things for social media because I really don't want to.  Dabbled for a month back during the pandemic and just decided, "Nah, not for me."  My career is winding down so I'm not chasing that shit.  So ... I legit don't know what's going on for a "have to" to be part of the career calculus.

To misquote Niemöller:
”first they came for the media. I sat and watched. They came for the gays, the trans and those who are different. I sat and watched. They came for those they claimed don’t belong. I sat and watched. Then they came for me. There was no one left to hear my cries…”

I wish I could sit in the corner with a hot chocolate while someone wise told me that we are over the worst of it… then I remember that Vance waits to inherit, Farage hovers around No10 like flies over a corpse and… unfortunately it does seem that sitting back and ignoring it is no longer a sensible option.

The original Olympus OM3 was one of the finest cameras I ever owned. Didn’t need a battery except for the meter (if I recall correctly). Even seeing “OM” brings back memories of long gone days… ironically given the debates about MFT, FF s16 etc, I sold it to get a Bronica MF. 
Anyway, sorry, totally irrelevant to the post.

I have an opinion on that...
https://www.eoshd.com/opinion/chris-and-jordan-select-sigma-bf-fuji-x-half-and-sony-fx2-as-worst-cameras-of-the-year-just-goes-to-show-that-some-people-dont-have-a-single-creative-brain-cell/

The original Olympus OM3 was one of the finest cameras I ever owned. Didn’t need a battery except for the meter (if I recall correctly). Even seeing “OM” brings back memories of long gone days… ironically given the debates about MFT, FF s16 etc, I sold it to get a Bronica MF. 
Anyway, sorry, totally irrelevant to the post.

I wish I could sit in the corner with a hot chocolate while someone wise told me that we are over the worst of it… then I remember that Vance waits to inherit, Farage hovers around No10 like flies over a corpse and… unfortunately it does seem that sitting back and ignoring it is no longer a sensible option.

To misquote Niemöller:
”first they came for the media. I sat and watched. They came for the gays, the trans and those who are different. I sat and watched. They came for those they claimed don’t belong. I sat and watched. Then they came for me. There was no one left to hear my cries…”

@Snowfun
This really hits home. Especially the part about sitting in front of Resolve for hours trying to fix something that might have lost its purpose before the grade even started. The gear cycle has become its own kind of trap. We keep upgrading tools that already do more than we need while forgetting what we were trying to say in the first place.
What you’re describing feels less like disillusionment and more like realignment. It’s that moment when you start asking what actually matters and realize the art is in the process, not the specs. Whether it’s a Leica M11M or a P6K, the camera only matters if it helps you express what you feel.
I’ve gone through something similar. I’ve realized that storytelling and emotion always outlast sharpness or dynamic range. A phone clip that feels alive will connect more than a perfect cinematic shot that says nothing.
You summed it up best at the end. Art in both process and product. That’s the part that stays with me.
 

Art…
Over the last couple of years I have become increasingly disillusioned by “video”. Far too much emphasis on gear. Buying the latest drone or gimbal or battery solution and upgrading this or that or, preferably, both. And to what end? To produce something that a handful of people will watch once on a phone screen? Last year I had the opportunity to produce a couple of short promotional films for a heritage steam railway. They got in the order of 10k views. Were they “art”? No, they were artistically dreadful. Was there any joy in making them? Not really - far too many hours sitting staring at a screen trying to remember how to use Resolve. (And, to be honest, the parts people liked most were the iPhone bits - the “artistic” sweeping views and thoughtful sequences were redundant…)
All the time wondering whether a Canon might be better (whatever that means) than my Sony? A LUMIX better than my P6k? Or should I look good and get a RED badge? Or a Nikon? All, of course, irrelevant… the quality of today’s stuff is way more than what I’m capable of.
So a change of scene. I’ve bought a M11M to produce art for the wall. Something which will last beyond a quick Vimeo view. It’s gorgeous to use. I got a mix of Leica and Voigtlander lenses (the latter’s 28/35/50 Apo are fabulous). The results are incredible. Ok, so I still need to sit at the computer with Capture One but protecting the highlights and pulling up the shadows reveals staggering levels of detail. And standing by the side of a Scottish loch debating whether to use a green, yellow, orange or red filter? Well, it ticks the pseudo-intellectual hipster box. 
Of course, the P6k will come out of the cupboard every-so-often but the focus - the passion - is now on monochrome art. 
Art. In both process and product.

True. Except that, as hobbyists, we’re not up against deadlines and there are occasions when the more stuff we have to play with, the better. In that respect raw provides more fun opportunities! That is, I suspect a very different perspective to that of a single working professional who needs to optimise client satisfaction (income) while minimising time spent sitting in front of a computer. 

I'll be honest. If anyone is starting from zero (including myself) - we'd all jump on this...

In fact, if anyone asked me... "which one should I go for".... this is it.

Its the same price as a Canon R7 (more or less, no matter where you are coming from with more features).

I am; should be delivered tomorrow. Main reason is it's my normal upgrade cycle time. But, even if it was a year early for me I'd still be compelled to buy it. I've been using my phone for critical pick up shots for a while now and the addition of ProRes RAW makes it even more useful for me this way. The 200mm equivalent telephoto also will be great for casual concert and event photography so I'm pretty happy all around. 

ProRes RAW...
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/release/20250910-02