BTM_Pix

Sigma have announced that they are releasing a range of RF mount lenses, indicating that Canon have softened their “no 3rd party lenses” stance.

I say softened rather than abandoned as, whilst these lenses are fully licensed by them, they do not include any full frame lenses.

At least for now.

The initial offerings are the two f2.8 zooms and four f1.4 primes from Sigma’s Contemporary range that have been available in other mounts for a few years now.

The 18-50mm is the first one that will be available but it is not until July and the others will follow in the Autumn.

No word on prices but they are usually similar in different mounts so you can take that as a rough guide, although maybe there will be an additional cost on top for the official licensing from Canon.

Good news for owners of crop RF cameras to have different options and also for people using the KOMODO (or maybe we should call it the NIKOMODO now).

Full details here 

https://www.sigma-global.com/en/contents/sigma_rfmount_lenses/

On 4/21/2024 at 12:42 PM, mercer said:

As far as... how can I judge the image... look at the skin tones... the weight of the image. It looks and feels like a real movie.

I like the look of it too.

I think what it is benefitting from greatly, aside from the compositions, image quality and general shooting competency, is what I would call accidental environmental production design.

The uniforms and demeanour of the subjects are consistent and tie together as does the station setting and its train and staff.

When the shots are framed, as many of them are, to only include those elements then it provides the right aesthetic to sell the "cinematic" image.

The proof of that, for me at least, is when other none designed elements stray into the frame and not just the obvious of modern vehicles etc but onlookers with modern clothes (particularly those out of the general colour palette) then the illusion is gone and quite jarring to be taken out of it.

No amount of obsessive grading is going to cure that.

Oh and the use of a tripod does absolutely no harm whatsoever in this as does the flattish light of what I am guessing is the archetypal overcast Bank Holiday day in the UK.

All in all, aside from it being a good advert for a camera from "yesteryear" in modern terms, I also think this is more broadly a very good example of why "cinematic" doesn't just happen when wafting a camera at random scenes no matter what YouTube thumbnails will scream at you.

When it comes to trying to do this in the wild, its definitely a case of granting ourselves the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the skill and vision to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

13 hours ago, kye said:

No-one is going to hack the BM hardware, they will have put a huge amount of effort into the security because they essentially use Resolve to drive hardware sales, so it's critical to their business model.

I did a little man in the middle interface for the SpeedEditor a while back so I could remap it to use with other products like FCPX and LumaFusion.

If the will was there then I'm sure the other surfaces would follow a similar investigative pattern to evaluate and emulate their protocol.

Not to use the surfaces on other software of course but to provide a way for other devices to mimic them.

YouTube link is now up

Only a couple of hours of speculation/prediction time left.

Maybe this will finally be the year they boxify the cinema cameras that everyone has been asking for ?

Or an actual fits in your pocket cinema camera ?

4K ATEM Mini ?

I'm guessing there will be a live stream posted on their site at that time.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/

9 minutes ago, ac6000cw said:

Jannard (now 74) retired from RED five years ago - https://h4vuser.net/t/everything-changes/10600 - so I very much doubt he'd want an executive role anyway.

Yeah, I know.

Its on that basis that I was surprised to see him as an advisor if he was as "retired" from RED as he stated.

18 minutes ago, ac6000cw said:

I suspect that Nikon saying that Jannard and Land are now 'close advisors' is mostly about trying to reassure RED users that the RED philosophy isn't going to change overnight.

Agreed.

I doubt it will last beyond the next product launch though.

Well, the takeover is officially complete now and no executive roles for Jannard or Land so, with that, hopes fade for the release of the Nikon BASTARD or Nikon CRUSHER

Full press release here :

https://www.nikon.com/company/news/2024/0412_imaging_01.html

“No changes to product support, warranties or policies”  does leave plenty to infer about where there could be changes.

Notably product development, pricing and manufacturing.

8 hours ago, kye said:

Will said that you can use it with a USB-C hub to connect an SSD while also powering it via USB.  Have you tried that?  Maybe it is just limited to connecting to one device and the USB charging doesn't count?

The camera itself can’t be powered over USB but that hub does allow the zoom on demand to be used simultaneously with SSD recording so that is a positive, albeit that BM doesn’t specify it in the manual.

He reports no issues with doing it so that’s all we have to go on and it might well be that BM doesn’t specify it because there are a LOT of USB hub/SSD combos that people could use that would make it a support nightmare.

The zoom on demand handle is very much a sledgehammer to crack a nut to get that external control though as it certainly takes away the Micro element and its primary function is only compatible with a few very average lenses.

The hub usability (difficult to refer to it as compatibility until BM official support it!) does open up the possibility of them making a more appropriate form factor interface for some external control.

Or maybe someone else will if there is sufficient demand from people buying the Micro as a cinema camera…

10 hours ago, kye said:

Really? I never realised that...  I think M4K just has AF-S, not AF-C.

Maybe I just saw how huge the P4K was and never paid much attention beyond that!

Yeah, they improved it’s performance over firmware updates but it’s AFS only and still fairly basic, hence why I developed the AFX to give it AF-C without having to use the internal CDAF.

Its really bizarre why they excluded BLE on the new micro as it has closed the camera to products such as AFX and other external controllers, something that is actually even more applicable to this form factor as it has such limited direct control.

Obviously it’s a differentiator to keep it in the realm of being a studio camera - hence why it can be fully controlled through an ATEM - but it’s a shame nonetheless for people who want it to do double duty as a cinema camera.

It has three great uses for the USB-C port in that you can use it to record BRAW to an SSD, connect BM’s excellent and pretty affordable focus demand controller and finally connect an Ethernet adapter to enable it to be controlled with a REST API.

Unfortunately, with it only having a single port you have to pick only one of those features when it’s easily foreseeable that you might want to use at least two of them simultaneously.

For the purpose that they are offering it, the camera is absolutely fantastic it’s just frustrating that it is so close to being a bit more things to a bit more people.

57 minutes ago, kye said:

sooooo, the P4K sensor has AF, but the P4K does not!

The P4K does have CDAF AF-S, does this variant have AF-C then?

4 hours ago, kye said:

 What you really need are a few buttons where you can store and then recall configurations, so you can have Config 1 with HDMI 1 (showing yourself), and Config 2 with custom PiP settings (showing your slides with you in PiP with custom location etc), etc, then you could swap back and forth without having to punch a bunch of buttons each time to re-create the settings while also looking professional in front of your audience.  The saving grace is that in the default setup you can swap from HDMI 1 (you) to HDM1 2 (the presentation) without looking, and then when you have to look down at the ATEM to find the stupid PiP button at least they can't see you fumbling around because you aren't currently visible.

If you do go down the ATEM path then I think you might be interested in my new product as it addresses exactly this type of operation, amongst many other things.

8 hours ago, kye said:

Unfortunately the best reviews were the ones done when it came out, and they are obviously only of the initial firmware.

Try PhotoJoseph’s complete 3 1/2 hour masterclass here:

The Mini Pro versions of the ATEM have the MultiView option for the HDMI output and the Extreme has the hardware macro buttons.

Audio delay is adjustable per channel.

If you can stretch to the ISO version of the Mini Pro or Extreme then each individual channel and the master are recorded to SSD along with a project file of all the cuts that you can then load directly into Resolve to re-cut it.

If you are using BM cameras then you can then automatically swap in the original camera media and there is now a workaround (see PhotoJospeh’s channel) to do this with any camera.

I have designed two products for the ATEM that will be released at the end of April and one of those will be of interest in terms of creating custom functionality for DVE etc as well as offering more direct control of existing functions that do not have dedicated hardware input on the control surface.

1 hour ago, Tim Sewell said:

140 hours, perfect cosmetic condition with Shape arm, 6 batteries and V mount adapter for GBP695 (all but GBP50 of which I covered with trade in).

MPB?

They've had a bunch of them at great prices recently and it is so much bang for the buck.

9 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Which is what the sport of cycling is. 

(especially in that era) 

Not 100% of riders.

15 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

You're proving my point here. You can't give out all the wins to anybody else but Lance Armstrong, thus it is utterly farcical to remove it from him when you've got no remotely good options whatsoever to replace him with. 

No, you’re trying to prove your own point that 100% of riders were using.

Floyd Landis’ TdF title in 2006 went to Oscar Periero just as Alberto Contador’s went to Andy Schleck in 2010 so that proves the point that they only had to go one place down to find a rider that they could give it to.

I’d venture that the Armstrong “asterix” years are more to do with UCI/ASO complicity and/or legal issues that are still ongoing.

Anyway, enough of cycling, I’ve derailed this thread enough so will politely withdraw from the sport vs spectacle conundrum.

2 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

What high profile professional sport does not have drug taking?

 

Likely none.

The issue at hand is being lukewarm about when someone is caught.

That just doesn’t chime with me personally in terms of being sport.

6 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

The only reason cycling gets so much flack is because they're a hell of a lot more transparently open about it & the media actually talks about it.

Transparency?

Armstrong colluded with the UCI to cover up his positive tests FFS.

7 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

It indisputable that USA Postal during that era was the king at the sport of cycling (well, at least the #1 when it came to TdF wins, which to the casual external viewer is all that seems to matter. Even though the sport of cycling is so so so much more).

It is indisputable that they were the leading systematic doping team.

As for their other successes in the other Grand Tours or Classics then, again, it was all whilst cheating.

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Just like Red Bull is right now for F1. 

If Red Bull’s domination was achieved through cheating (that marginal financial doping issue aside)then you might have a point.

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

As a hard core fan of cycling racing for many years, I'm quite lukewarm over this, don't really care.

I’m not sure as a hardcore fan of any sport how you could be lukewarm about systematic cheating as, well, it doesn’t seem very, erm, “sporting”.

From my personal point of view as a pro sports photographer covering Tour de France in that era though I’m far from lukewarm about having sat in press conferences being lied to  by him and watching him ridicule and soil the reputation of David Walsh and Paul Kimmage.

Or Emma O’Reilly.

I’m also sore that in Armstrong’s case, unlike all the other ones I’ve covered, that I get zero residuals from my “winner of stage x” or “winner of TdF x”  images 🙂

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

 If you somehow believe Lance Armstrong doesn't deserve the wins, then who does? 2nd place? No. 3rd place? No. 2nd place? No. 4th place? No. 5th place? No. 6th place? No. etc etc etc 

I might be being old fashioned here but I’d give it to the highest placed cyclist that wasn’t using PEDs.

I have some sympathy with the “well they were all at it” aspect so, fine, let everyone do it and have a special event.

Just don’t call it sport when it’s only being used by some of the field.

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

 

16 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

What does that have to do with RED??? (I can't watch that video due to copyright) 

Not RED per se but it’s founder Jannard’s role in suppressing the truth about Armstrong’s doping.

The documentary tells the whole story so if you have a VPN it’s worth watching if region blocked.

A summary of it is here

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-02/sponsor-turned-blind-eye-to-lance-armstrongs-doping/5564074

“Turning a blind eye” is doing some heavy lifting there.

8 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Why?

Aiding and abetting the biggest sporting fraud of all time.

On 8/10/2023 at 1:00 AM, Andrew Reid said:

I had a tip off by a man who should know, that a certain Leica SL3 is coming in March next year

Well he certainly did know very accurately didn't he !

1 hour ago, ac6000cw said:

IIRC, that included RED being able to use the Canon RF-mount on their cameras - so I guess in theory a Nikon-branded RED camera could have a Canon lens mount on it... but the Canon-RED agreement might not allow that if RED were taken over by another camera company.

Its definitely a puzzler about what will happen there.

I'm guessing Canon has a veto/sign off on new models that use it which would mean they could carry on as is but who knows really as I don't think it has ever been confirmed what the actual agreement is between RED and Canon.

From the outside it would seem obvious its swapping compressed internal RAW for mount and AF technology but who knows if that is the extent of it and what the fine print is.

Well, I'm guessing Nikon must know by now though !

1 hour ago, ac6000cw said:

So are we going to see some Nikon Z-mount cinema/video lenses eventually to go with a RED-designed camera, or is this takeover primarily about REDs IP/patents and high-end video processing knowledge?

Could be sensor tech as well to free Nikon up from Sony.

The presumption is that nothing will change at RED in terms of them being an ongoing concern doing what they do now.

A few days ago RED released a mini EVF that is $4.5K dollars so there is definitely some scope for Nikon to make RED cameras a LOT more affordable.

1 hour ago, Snowfun said:

Although hipsters have already moved onto Jim’s new venture…

Nice to see he's named his son after a Bob Marley record.

1 hour ago, Snowfun said:

Will Nikon keep RED separate or will RED technology creep into the consumer offerings? 

Maybe they want to do with the Z8/9 what Canon did with the R5 and bring out a cine version of it like the R5C.

I could certainly see a Z8C turning a few heads.

If they ran those products through the RED brand (a Toyota/Lexus style) then I could see it turning even more heads.

Its a bit of wild cultural disconnect between Nikon and RED though in terms of keeping RED going as is with that, erm, "style" of theirs so maybe it just is for the IP.

Can't really see Nikon releasing a new camera called the Nikon BASTARD or Nikon CRUSHER or some such.

It’s certainly a plot twist in the “how can Nikon get round RED’s patent for internal RAW” story.

And likely not good news for Canon extending their current arrangement for it with RED either.

28 minutes ago, Snowfun said:

Have Nikon ever made sunglasses

 

Funnily enough they do.

https://www.nikonlenswear.com/in/sunglasses/
 

2 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I've always thought this: if L-mount comes out with smaller pancakes and a few reasonably priced very small bodies, MFT would be on a path to obsolete.

I think the closest that you're going to get with that will be the Sigma contemporary range.

They are behemoths compared to what you can get in MFT but, actually, when you line it up against an MFT package of actual equivalence (or slightly less in this case) then the story changes.

Its just that with MFT you have the option and thus far in L mount then you don't.

Unless....

You don't mind sacrificing a daft amount of money and going APS-C and picking up the Leica range that they made for the TL and CL which are very compact indeed.

Leica have abandoned APS-C and Panasonic seem content to sit either side of it with their MFT and L mount so it might be a place that Sigma could carve a niche for themselves with an APS-C body, particularly as they have an excellent set of fast primes and a zoom for it.

With the trials and tribulations of them trying and thus far failing to make a full frame Foveon, it could well be that it would find a home for an interim APS-C version in a rehoused Fp. 

Realistically, though, the only current way to get pancake-ish full frame in L mount is to go for the manual focus route of using M mount on them like I've done on mine here with a 35mm f2.

As @MrSMW has just posted, the E mount system is currently better served with compact FF lenses particularly in regard to 3rd party manufacturers like Samyang.

The closed shop nature of the L mount alliance (in terms of electronic lenses at least) is definitely a hindrance in that regard.

1 hour ago, kye said:

Lastly, the FP seems to only have OIS options for 24-105 and 28-200, but they're not in the camerasize database, so pictured above is the 24-70/2.8 which is a tank.

The new 28-200 is roughly the same size and weight as the 20-60mm so it is a lot more balanced to the Fp.

It has a a great range and having the OIS offers an interesting proposition of it turning the Fp into a very compact Cinecorder.

However, it is very, very slow on the long end though, particularly for only 200mm.

Not that ultra shallow depth of field is the be all and end all of course but f7.1 is a bit of a stretch.

Of course the swing to that particular roundabout is that you don't have to worry so much about the camera not having sentient AF !