Django

A very cool feature I'd missed that came with the 3.0 Z9 FW is this "Hi-Res Zoom" which is basically what I assume is the equivalent to Sony's clear image zoom tech but with oversampled 8K to work with and zoom control can be set to lens control/focus ring. This is really sweet for prime lens shooters like myself, effectively doubling the focal range. Great way to make use of that extra resolution.

Embargo lifted. Its got same video specs as Z9 so you get N-Raw, ProRes Raw etc. Pretty sweet camera!

So I just tried the ZV-E1 among other recent releases and here are some quick thoughts:
The build quality is better than I thought, nothing like the previous toy-like ZV cams and much closer to current A7 series, probably closest to A7C. Unit carries a certain weight so balances ok even with bigger (prime) lenses.
Very minimal design and button layout. While this may seem like a con its also a pro, kind of reminds me of Leica philosophy. Yes sometimes less is more. 
Set the shutter speed with the dial, aperture with the thumbwheel. Zoom with the rocker switch. Jump to stills/video/S&Q with the mode switch.
Just about everything else is done on the touchscreen like a smartphone. This is where things start to go a little sideways. The tiny 3" display and small fonts of the settings require precision, and the Sony menu and overlays don't help. But it is still more handy than most other A7 cameras with their limited touch capabilities. 
By default just about everything is automatic, like a smartphone. Basically point & shoot. And it works pretty well as in no major jarring issues. The AF is top notch, I tried several lenses including my F1.8 Zeiss and it didn't skip a beat.. smooth AF, pun intended. 
No surprise about the IQ, its an A7Siii sensor. Clear image zoom via the rocker switch is killer though, really like that function lifted from FX3. 
Tried the AI reframing stuff, didn't gel with it. Applies a huge crop.
Now about the overheat. After 15mn of shooting 4K60p indoors using lowest bitrate codec, the camera shut off with no warning. I thought the battery had died lol. That was on the normal level heat setting, so I put it into high and didn't run into the issue again but I was shooting short clips, changing lenses every 5 minutes and didn't spend more than an hour with the unit. I didn't have a fast card so wasn't even able to test out the higher bitrate settings or ALL-I. The camera did feel warm after about hour.
This pretty much confirmed my suspicions through the reviews that this camera is not fit for pro/extended use but rather casual shooting. I still find the price of 2799€ pretty bonkers for a camera with no EVF, single card slot, zero cooling, no mechanical shutter etc. But the IQ and snappiness is impressive.
That being said, it does make the A7SIII feel somewhat sluggish & dated. And all this tech in an A7 body would be nice. I guess its a good preview into what's to expect in upcoming higher end Sony bodies..

So I just tried the ZV-E1 among other recent releases and here are some quick thoughts:
The build quality is better than I thought, nothing like the previous toy-like ZV cams and much closer to current A7 series, probably closest to A7C. Unit carries a certain weight so balances ok even with bigger (prime) lenses.
Very minimal design and button layout. While this may seem like a con its also a pro, kind of reminds me of Leica philosophy. Yes sometimes less is more. 
Set the shutter speed with the dial, aperture with the thumbwheel. Zoom with the rocker switch. Jump to stills/video/S&Q with the mode switch.
Just about everything else is done on the touchscreen like a smartphone. This is where things start to go a little sideways. The tiny 3" display and small fonts of the settings require precision, and the Sony menu and overlays don't help. But it is still more handy than most other A7 cameras with their limited touch capabilities. 
By default just about everything is automatic, like a smartphone. Basically point & shoot. And it works pretty well as in no major jarring issues. The AF is top notch, I tried several lenses including my F1.8 Zeiss and it didn't skip a beat.. smooth AF, pun intended. 
No surprise about the IQ, its an A7Siii sensor. Clear image zoom via the rocker switch is killer though, really like that function lifted from FX3. 
Tried the AI reframing stuff, didn't gel with it. Applies a huge crop.
Now about the overheat. After 15mn of shooting 4K60p indoors using lowest bitrate codec, the camera shut off with no warning. I thought the battery had died lol. That was on the normal level heat setting, so I put it into high and didn't run into the issue again but I was shooting short clips, changing lenses every 5 minutes and didn't spend more than an hour with the unit. I didn't have a fast card so wasn't even able to test out the higher bitrate settings or ALL-I. The camera did feel warm after about hour.
This pretty much confirmed my suspicions through the reviews that this camera is not fit for pro/extended use but rather casual shooting. I still find the price of 2799€ pretty bonkers for a camera with no EVF, single card slot, zero cooling, no mechanical shutter etc. But the IQ and snappiness is impressive.
That being said, it does make the A7SIII feel somewhat sluggish & dated. And all this tech in an A7 body would be nice. I guess its a good preview into what's to expect in upcoming higher end Sony bodies..

Yeah I had similar experience with the R6, learned how to get around overheat but it was a constant stress and I vouched never again but for casual shooting, travel etc was never really a concern. The ZV-E1 during my one hour test did shut off while in the menus with no warning which is what made me think initially the battery had died, but it was still on default normal temp setting. When set to high I didn't get an overheat warning but I didn't stress the camera much.
I've done some gigs in China with an FS7 + A7iii. Needless to say the A7 was the only camera used in public. Looks like you'll be able to put the ZV-E1 through its paces on your tip. Don't forget to grab a VPN beforehand so you can access google and such and hopefully give us some feedback! Safe travels.

The A7Sii was quite seminal being the first FF 4K mirrorless with IBIS that could literally see in the dark. Noise was never an issue with that camera since it had such great low-light performance across the ISO field. The real problem with these earlier A7 cams was the horrible AWB in mixed lighting combined with so-so CS. Andrew had a classic hilarious YT video about the A7Sii zombie skin tones. Sure you could somewhat correct it in Davinci but 8-bit really isn't the best for heavy color correction not to mention the waste of time. Daylight shooting not so much an issue but the camera had a few other cons brought up in that video such as slow AF, harsh highlight roll-off, poor battery life, build quality issues etc. 
Still for the current used price its a great little budget camera if you find one in not too battered state (they honestly haven't held up well) and don't shoot much mixed lighting. 
 
The A7iii fixes most of the A7Sii issues both in build, battery life but also AWB/CS. Also uses oversampled 4K for more detailed current IQ. But they still go for +$1.5K used. Not bad but not phenomenal considering you can now get a 10-bit cam for not a lot more from other manufacturers.. 

The A7Sii was quite seminal being the first FF 4K mirrorless with IBIS that could literally see in the dark. Noise was never an issue with that camera since it had such great low-light performance across the ISO field. The real problem with these earlier A7 cams was the horrible AWB in mixed lighting combined with so-so CS. Andrew had a classic hilarious YT video about the A7Sii zombie skin tones. Sure you could somewhat correct it in Davinci but 8-bit really isn't the best for heavy color correction not to mention the waste of time. Daylight shooting not so much an issue but the camera had a few other cons brought up in that video such as slow AF, harsh highlight roll-off, poor battery life, build quality issues etc. 
Still for the current used price its a great little budget camera if you find one in not too battered state (they honestly haven't held up well) and don't shoot much mixed lighting. 
 
The A7iii fixes most of the A7Sii issues both in build, battery life but also AWB/CS. Also uses oversampled 4K for more detailed current IQ. But they still go for +$1.5K used. Not bad but not phenomenal considering you can now get a 10-bit cam for not a lot more from other manufacturers.. 

An XE4+XS10 would still run you more than an XT5 which Fuji has shrunk the size to a fairly compact form factor, and offers better specs. You could just get that and pancake lens for travel, and use bigger lenses for other situations like video work. An XT4 could also work if you wanna save some bucks and you're ok with a slightly bigger body. 
My dream Fuji combo would be XH2S+X100V. But I probably won't be going that route being tied to other systems.
 

Agreed. Also let's not confuse "cinematic" which has become a general buzzword today and actual film simulation which is what Fuji gives you inside its X series. 
Fuji film simulations are based on actual 35mm film stocks from their own film legacy. This isn't just a LUT as you can tweak it in-cam and even set grain size etc (albeit only in photos). These are known as Fuji recipes. For video the most usable one is Eterna based on the Eterna cinema film stock.

This is a unique in-cam approach compared to other manufacturer picture profiles which are often pretty basic if not cliché. Fuji have a clear advantage since they have actual Film heritage. 
Being able to preview these looks and tweak them while shooting is ace creatively speaking not to mention fun. SOOC baked profiles is often overlooked by most manufacturers. I'll mostly shoot log for video and RAW for stills because of this but with fuji cams SOOC film simulations is a great alternative. Definitely a major incentive of going Fuji! 

Fuji have a huge history of making film.
Nikon do not. They make cameras.
Clever people at Fuji have taken that knowledge of making positive and negative film and crafted digital versions of that history.
Perhaps not identical digital replicas, but at least emulations that evoke something along the same lines.
The most recent ones such as ‘Classic Negative’ are not based on any particular film stock, but instead an era. Or a collective representation of an era.
The bottom line is sensor aside which ‘may’ have an impact on the result, it is more a case of their ‘intent’ and effort to produce these things that sets them apart.
With most other brands, the result tends to be more a case of that is what that sensor produces with a few digital tweaks.
The ‘same’ profiles in Photoshop applied to the Fuji raw files are not the same as those that come SOOC with Fuji Jpegs.
The results SOOC from the ‘medium format’ Fuji digital cameras are just bonkers beautiful and probably the closest thing to ‘digital film-like’ files.
If I did not shoot 50:50 stills and video on every job, I would without question be shooting a pair of GFX100S’s with a pair of primes.
Or the Hassie X2D which is also crazy good for stills. Which is fortunate as it can’t shoot video.
My rule of thumb would be:
Ultimate SOOC or raw/edited stills, either of the two above cameras.
’Film like’ stills SOOC either on their own or combined with shooting video, AKA hybrid, then any Fuji camera.
Possibly the most ‘film like’ of all, OG X100. Properly vintage user experience compared with any more recent Fuji camera is an added ‘bonus’ 😂

No EVF is a key feature according to Sony
Wonder how long the the camera last with 4K120P in july/aug temperature..
The processor on those new camera felt much more refined vs 2-3 year old release, the R8 makes my R5 felt a bit old for sure lol.
 

So I just tried the ZV-E1 among other recent releases and here are some quick thoughts:
The build quality is better than I thought, nothing like the previous toy-like ZV cams and much closer to current A7 series, probably closest to A7C. Unit carries a certain weight so balances ok even with bigger (prime) lenses.
Very minimal design and button layout. While this may seem like a con its also a pro, kind of reminds me of Leica philosophy. Yes sometimes less is more. 
Set the shutter speed with the dial, aperture with the thumbwheel. Zoom with the rocker switch. Jump to stills/video/S&Q with the mode switch.
Just about everything else is done on the touchscreen like a smartphone. This is where things start to go a little sideways. The tiny 3" display and small fonts of the settings require precision, and the Sony menu and overlays don't help. But it is still more handy than most other A7 cameras with their limited touch capabilities. 
By default just about everything is automatic, like a smartphone. Basically point & shoot. And it works pretty well as in no major jarring issues. The AF is top notch, I tried several lenses including my F1.8 Zeiss and it didn't skip a beat.. smooth AF, pun intended. 
No surprise about the IQ, its an A7Siii sensor. Clear image zoom via the rocker switch is killer though, really like that function lifted from FX3. 
Tried the AI reframing stuff, didn't gel with it. Applies a huge crop.
Now about the overheat. After 15mn of shooting 4K60p indoors using lowest bitrate codec, the camera shut off with no warning. I thought the battery had died lol. That was on the normal level heat setting, so I put it into high and didn't run into the issue again but I was shooting short clips, changing lenses every 5 minutes and didn't spend more than an hour with the unit. I didn't have a fast card so wasn't even able to test out the higher bitrate settings or ALL-I. The camera did feel warm after about hour.
This pretty much confirmed my suspicions through the reviews that this camera is not fit for pro/extended use but rather casual shooting. I still find the price of 2799€ pretty bonkers for a camera with no EVF, single card slot, zero cooling, no mechanical shutter etc. But the IQ and snappiness is impressive.
That being said, it does make the A7SIII feel somewhat sluggish & dated. And all this tech in an A7 body would be nice. I guess its a good preview into what's to expect in upcoming higher end Sony bodies..

Z9 was announced during COVID and had a 9 month shipping delay due to global parts shortage which led to continuous backorders. This is no longer the case so the same scenario shouldn't repeat itself. Z8's should also be produced on a larger scale as it is less of a high-end niche camera than Z9.
flip out displays on mirrorless bring tons of issues including failure points and side port blocking and for me zero advantages as I never use the selfie position. Unfortunately most video oriented mirrorless have all switched to them so its nice one company has resisted. The Z9 probably has the most versatile tilt hinge display mechanism too, hopefully included on Z8.

As they cram more features and chips inside similar ultra compact bodies designed to support 8-bit FHD originally, we are going to get more and more overheating problems on the video side. Of course this is where Sony will upsell you an FX30 with FF body and active cooling.

The XT5 uses the 40MP XH2 sensor. So yeah very different sensor to the XT4. But they have reduced the size of the XT5 so that it matches the XT1. This results in some crippling for the video side due to heat management. 6.2K & 4K60p max. And it overheats pretty quickly, much more than the XT4. For this alone, I wouldn't go near it unfortunately as I do like the retro dials and form factor. But for casual use it may not be so bad. The AF is I've heard slightly better than XT4.
The sensor is nowhere near the performance of the stacked sensor inside XH2S.

As they cram more features and chips inside similar ultra compact bodies designed to support 8-bit FHD originally, we are going to get more and more overheating problems on the video side. Of course this is where Sony will upsell you an FX30 with FF body and active cooling.

The Fuji film simulations combined with X-Trans sensor is what gives Fuji its singular SOOC filmic look.
There is one often overlooked tradeoff which is chroma noise smoothing that can give mushy colours especially in Flog.
You probably won't even notice it though if you're not shooting log. Then there is the sharpness that some perceive as too intense even at the minimal setting. But YMMV, some people like it.
The main gripe many people have about Fuji for video is their lenses aren't really suited for manual focusing and up until XH2S the AF was rather dodgy. It is much improved and seems sticky on XH2S but still some quirks persist.
Perks aside, XH2S still has one of the best sensors around with 14-bit readout, 6K and open-gate. And very chunky ProRes files.
But if you don't need such high-end specs/performance and don't even shoot log or grade then I don't really see much point investing in such a cam. Might as well shoot on any older cheaper 8-bit model..

I do think what's interesting is that video is finally starting to become equally if not more important than stills for the general public. surely the influence of YouTube, social networks etc. Everybody wants to get into it, do slomo, grade their footage. This has the beneficiary effect of camera manufacturers putting higher video specs than previous generations inside low-mid tier bodies. Its a real change in policy for companies like Canon & Sony that used to really cripple hard on video specs to protect cine lines. I still think FF4K60p in 10-bit with Clog3 is quite a nice surprise in an entry-level FF mirrorless. Yeah its no big deal for all those of us with R5's, A7SIII's, S1Hs etc but think of the little guys 😉 

..not to mention current affordability of the FS7 vs other options.  Pro rigged out video/cine cams can be expensive.
But FS7 is closer to a cine cam with an ENG form factor than a "camcorder" which implies a more compact form factor with built-in EVF, zoom and mic.
Options kinda dried up but if sensor size, lens specs etc don't matter, surely there are many viable budget options left especially on used market. 
DVX200 is definitely the last pro model of that category I was genuinely interested in but yeah it was pretty expensive at launch and still goes for 2 to 3 grand. I still kinda want one and wish Panny would make a sequel although extremely doubtful at this point.

..not to mention current affordability of the FS7 vs other options.  Pro rigged out video/cine cams can be expensive.
But FS7 is closer to a cine cam with an ENG form factor than a "camcorder" which implies a more compact form factor with built-in EVF, zoom and mic.
Options kinda dried up but if sensor size, lens specs etc don't matter, surely there are many viable budget options left especially on used market. 
DVX200 is definitely the last pro model of that category I was genuinely interested in but yeah it was pretty expensive at launch and still goes for 2 to 3 grand. I still kinda want one and wish Panny would make a sequel although extremely doubtful at this point.

..not to mention current affordability of the FS7 vs other options.  Pro rigged out video/cine cams can be expensive.
But FS7 is closer to a cine cam with an ENG form factor than a "camcorder" which implies a more compact form factor with built-in EVF, zoom and mic.
Options kinda dried up but if sensor size, lens specs etc don't matter, surely there are many viable budget options left especially on used market. 
DVX200 is definitely the last pro model of that category I was genuinely interested in but yeah it was pretty expensive at launch and still goes for 2 to 3 grand. I still kinda want one and wish Panny would make a sequel although extremely doubtful at this point.

I’ve been waiting it out for a Z9 to buy as my forever camera ever since it was launched.
Two things were holding me back, namely there being an actual supply of them and then me being able to go to Japan to buy a used one.
I’ve been in no rush and as I’m going to Tokyo at the beginning of June and there are plenty of used ones available at MapCamera now, the time has actually come to get one.
Which has coincided on me going cool on the idea.
Bear in mind that I haven’t been inside a real camera shop since COVID so I’ve never actually seen a Z9 in real life but yesterday I met someone in Berlin who has one and let me have a go with it.
And well…

If the Z8 does indeed turn out to be a form factor reduced Z9 with a 25-30% price reduction too then I’m probably in.
The Z9 form factor doesn’t bother me in the slightest coming from my heritage of D3/D4/D5 use but maybe it would be nicer to have the option of a Z8 with a battery grip to pick and choose sizes depending on what I’m doing with it.
Ironically, it was the lenses that were leading me to and then away from the Z9.
I have a large collection of high end F mount lenses from my pro days gathering dust so the Z9 with the FTZ was the logical way to bring them into the modern era.
But I then didn’t fancy buying into the native Z lenses for when I want to have something smaller and lighter as I found them a bit expensive and not much 3rd party stuff to write home about made it worse.
So in the end I decided it was time to cut the losses with the F mount and go in with L or even E mount cameras.
However…
The man who let me use his Z9 (you might know him, not an Uber League Swingball player or anything but knows about cameras) had something interesting on it.


You have to look closely but it’s that waffa theeen Megadap E mount to Z AF adapter and it changes a lot for me.
The adapter more or less gives native lens performance of E mount lenses on the Z cameras.
I have a couple of E mount lenses so that is good but more importantly it opens up affordable and interesting 3rd party lenses like the Sigma’s contemporary series or primes and zooms and Tamron’s 35-150 f2/f2.8 which are now effectively available in Z mount using this adapter.
This means that the Z8 can not only be viewed as baby Z9 but also as a baby Alpha 1, particularly for anyone with a decent collection of E mount lenses already.
 

You can download the ungraded version from here (you download "Original"): 
Note: this video was rendered from the original 300 Mbps All-I 10bit 422 clips to HEVC 10bit 422 with a lower bitrate. But no grading, so still Slog3.
Ignore the Vimeo streaming version. above.

Figure of speech. There simply hasn't been until now an R5 competitor, i.e FF 45MP 8K Raw internal camera in the $4.5K range. And the Z8 could trump it thanks to its stacked sensor performance and little big things like ProRes, full HDMI, unlimited recording, thermal management etc.
Of course all this remains to be seen, and I'm sure an R5 mk2 is planned but I just think its very good for us consumers that Nikon is back challenging Canon again.

Doesn't sound like nitpicking to me but rather valid concerns. Every time someone brings criticism over anything on YT now people call it clickbait but this guy also praises the camera where it shines so I really don't think its that. @hyalinejim has had the S5ii for a while too and agrees with him so again seems like genuine observations.
Anyways, I don't have a horse in the race but I do think its pretty widely accepted that Sony is the new king of AF (especially now with all the crazy AI processing). I still prefer Canon UI but that's entirely personal. Panny is making breakthroughs within the Panny system and will surely improve over time, but Sony level it is most certainly not as of today. Of course YMMV depending on your overall video AF expectations..