Tim Shoebridge

Very interesting article, full of emotion as always I definitely share your frustration. However I would not blame the subscription model for everything, there are real advantages to the model for both the software provider and the consumer alike if it is implemented well. If software companies want to then they can lock you into their products and force you to keep upgrading even with the one-off licence purchase model. Let's face it, this has been going on for decades since the invention of the personal computer. The real issue here is Adobe and their attitude towards their customers. The stability of their software is appalling, their track record at protecting their customers' data - including passwords that Adobe didn't bother to encrypt - is appalling. How they are still in business defies me. But as you allude to, where is the competition? Where are the viable alternatives to Photoshop, Lightroom, After Effects and Premiere Pro? There are alternatives out there but nothing is perfect and it takes a huge effort to change and retrain ourselves. So I suppose at the end of the day we have no-one to blame but ourselves for continuing to give Adobe our business and our hard-earned money....

I do agree with you. But the reason they exited the market was bizarre, based on the desicion of a man now in prison. So there is hope :)

A return by Samsung to the camera manufacturing business would be very difficult, the one thing they need which they lost so spectacularly is trust. But making sensors for other manufacturers makes a lot of sense, the sensor in their NX1 was ground-breaking. Are there any other 28Mp APS-C sensors even out there yet.....?

The GFX 50s is a fantastic camera for sure, I ended up coupling it with Hasselblad XPAN lenses (ironically made my Fuji) ... they work brilliantly and are extremely compact. BTW I shot this video with the GFX 50s soon after buying it, really love the colours and how the shadows hold up in low light, just a shame the overall video quality is not quite there...

I think the reason we are collectively so disbelieving of Sansung's actions is that we are all used to long-term players in the photography and video industry. Samsung is not a long-term player, and for Samsung the revenue it gains from camera sales is relatively insignificant compared to its core businesses. Sony are a very different company with a different history and circumstance. I can only guess that Samsung set themselves a revenue target when they decided internally to invest what must have been a very large fortune in the technology that the NX1 was born from, and presumably their sales of the NX1 did not meet their targets, hence they are quitting. Yes, they are very unlikely to have got back the technology investment they had made, but a smart businessman knows when to quit, and for reasons that only they know of they are quitting. The dirty nasty consequence of their actions is that people buying the NX1 will be unsupported in the very near future (has been the case in Europe for a month) but Samsung appears to not have a conscience about such things. But then apparently the smart businessman does not have a conscience. In the photography community we are used to companies like Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Fuji, Leica and Olympus always "being there" in one form or another, they would never do what Samsung are doing, so we can not believe what we are witnessing is true, there has to be a good ending to this story, like for example Nikon attaining their technology. Clearly that particular theory is proved wrong, Nikon have gone their own way and released a flagship 4K camera that shoots for a maximum of 3 minutes. Samsung could of course be a future supplier of sensor technology to Nikon like Sony are today, that makes perfect business sense, but they could do that already while continuing to develop the NX range just as Sony continue to develop their Alpha range. I think the main thing I take away from "the Samsung Conundrum" is a stark reminder that developing camera technology is about business, making money, and not being a charity or an unprofitable service to a relatively small customer base. But that does not in any way excuse Samsung from keeping quiet, allowing rumours and conspiracy theories to develop, and not communicating clearly to the world their real intentions with their camera business, while allowing continued sales in expensive technology items that they most likely have no long-term plans to support.

As an FS5 owner myself, and having made my biggest investment yet in a video camera, I'm feeling cheated. Yes Sony will produce firmware updates to address the problems that they can address in software but I am very concerned that there is only so much they can do in firmware: The FS5 is very small and extremely light and there really is not much in the way of electronics inside compared to an FS7. Many assume that Sony could simply unlock the FS5 and give it full FS7 capabilities if they chose to but is that assumption realistic? My concern is that Sony compromised one step too far in terms of hardware + processing power when they made the FS5 to be so compact. One example being that the camera is hardware limited to feeding only one external output at a time - which includes the LCD/EVF - thereby forcing you to invest in, and daisy chain, a 3rd party viewfinder if you want to record externally. At this rate, with external recorder and 3rd-party viewfinder, where is the advantage in size or cost compared to an FS7?

Have you tried the Beholder MS1? It works great with the Sony a7 series as long as you don't fit a bulky lens. Same joystick control as this OSMO, works with many different cameras and a lot cheaper.

I would first like to qualify the comments that follow by saying that I really appreciate your reviews and insights, they are informed and very valuable and I always look forward to reading them. That said, I can not help but notice that what was categorised as a "minor quibble" in your a7s review 15 months ago is now called "pixel-binned mush with moire and false colour". I quote this not as a criticism of your comments, but rather as proof that I feel that Sony has already become a victim of its own success. Maybe it should put the brakes on the incredible pace of its camera development, because what was "the best sensor I have ever shot on" last year is so quickly superseded. Given the incredibly rapid advances in technology that Sony can bring to market, it really is a very important question for professionals and enthusiasts alike as to whether we should keep upgrading or hold on to what we have. For years we had the same thing with stills photography and the sensor resolution "arms race". Thankfully common sense is just starting to prevail. Perhaps we need a similar reality-check with video? After all, how many people buying video-capable cameras really do need to shoot 4k professionally? For me personally, my a7s mark one will serve me well for years to come, and I relish the opportunity in the very near future to pick up a backup body at a bargain knock down price!