BTM_Pix

The RED EPIC (I'm guessing it was likely this camera he was using?) introduced the HDRx mode which in basic terms recorded two tracks simultaneously at different exposures, predominantly to offer a method of increasing the dynamic range of the capture. These could then be manipulated in post in different ways in terms of blending them to create the composite image but the other use for HDRx was to provide a higher shutter speed capture for stills extraction. https://www.red.com/red-101/hdrx-high-dynamic-range-video This promise of being the nirvana of hybridity (the EPIC had a Stills/Motion switch that was dormant for 3 years!) was what tipped my hand into buying one. It arrived just in time for me to cover the 2012 Tour de France with it but the excitement only lasted a handful of stages before it was packed away and I shot the rest of the stages in the traditional manner with real stills cameras. I found that I was getting both unexciting video and unexciting stills with it due to it having to be tripod based so whilst it was OK as a secondary camera for safety coverage it wasn't bringing anything to the party creatively. The world has certainly come round to meet the potential of this idea though in the last 9 years and something like the Alpha One could certainly offer a version of this dual stream idea in 60p. Although, having said that, RED would no doubt sue the balls of them if they did !

Or thrown away your hard drive and have to offer the local council £50m to let you dig up their landfill site... https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/14/man-newport-council-50m-helps-find-bitcoins-landfill-james-howells

For the specific way you are describing how you would shoot where you can keep the shutter speed high-ish (which has always been the bugbear of this if you were respecting the 180 rule) then, with the caveat that you aren't making massive prints, we might well be. The practicalities of the heat, battery life and media usage when shooting 4K120p all day with this camera are still unknown with this particular camera so that is the major potential fly in the ointment but as you are in no particular rush to get one then you can watch how that unfolds when people start using them. As for whether the quality stands up, again, it won't be long before people will start posting downloadable clips from it in its different modes. The picture profile is the other factor but, based on what I've seen of it in their other cameras, the S-Cinetone has certainly got the potential to make that moot(ish).

Ah but my figures are only in response to your original statement regarding those who preferred the fact that Fujifilm released the GFX100S rather than the X-H2. That doesn't directly correlate with the number of those which have any specific intention to purchase the GFX100S. My study has shown that it is only 18.15% of that 10.73% who's reason for preferring Fujfilm having released the GFX100S was because it enabled them to buy one. The remaining 81.85% of that 10.73% preferred it not to be the X-H2 as they were all Fuji X owners who had got tired of waiting for it, got out of the system and would have had seller's remorse. 😉

I've seen the Production4K Camera go for as little as £550-650 and there are a couple on eBay uk now at that sort of price. To be able to get a global shutter camera that can shoot 4K CinemaDNG or ProRes internal straight to cheap high capacity media that has an internal battery and big screen for that sort of money is almost unbelievable, even if it has a limited ISO and the ergonomics of a paving slab. Its certainly not a run and gun shot grabber but if you can live with its limitations, and even actually embrace the benefits of it requiring a bit more graft, then I think its still relevant and an absolute bargain compared to anything else. The interesting thing from my own personal point of view about the Production4K Camera is the "very nice" to "meh" ratio in terms of footage I've seen with it is consistently amongst the highest of any camera. I think that definitely reflects the fact that it doesn't lend itself to being just wafted around and a bit more care has to be taken with it.

Fuji want everyone with an MFT or APS-C camera who is eyeing the move to FF to give it a miss and move straight to MF. Its a good strategy as anyone making the move to FF is also having to factor in buying in to one of the four new mounts (E,L,RF and Z) three of which are far from being established and don't have a plethora of budget options available (although Sigma are rebalancing this a bit with their latest L mount releases). So Fuji are offering a way to not only leapfrog the quality of FF but also, by being pretty much the only realistic player in the hybrid MF area, removing the uncertainty of which mount to go with. It also offers the upgrade path to their X series owners to keep them onboard which Fuji would otherwise have to do by bringing out not only an FF camera but a whole new lens range to go with it. There is an argument that the image bump from APS-C to FF or from FF to MF isn't particularly dramatic (although in the case of the GFX100 it is IMHO) but it certainly is a noticeable one from APS-C to MF. And thats what upgrades should be about isn't it? Actual "wow, this is so much better" rather than simply "OK, this is better". The GFX100S may not be the final destination for everyone but it is certainly the biggest signpost yet that there might be one.

Though that in itself is pretty telling and confirms the suspicion that having the actual product and using it in anger is largely incidental to many of those cranking out that sort of content.

Maybe, but I'd have put the a9 in that same category too though and that had the usual suspects all over it when it was launched. Sign of a different time as well of course but the current COVID situation hasn't really slowed the number of the first day "reviews" of other cameras (including their own a7C as an example). They are also going after the well heeled consumer territory with this camera too as I hadn't really appreciated myself until the past couple of years just how much money was being spent on the flagship Nikon and Canon bodies and the associated long primes by amateur bird and wildlife photographers. In the current market situation, thats a way bigger target than pro sports photographers thats for sure. As I said, I don't necessarily think not having a raft of "hey guys, smash that like button" videos all appearing simultaneously is a definitive sign of anything sinister but its a notable difference to me at least. Maybe Sony are just as sick of all that bullshit as many of the rest of us are.

The 8K being 4:2:0 is one catch if 8K is the primary reason for buying it and the mechanical shutter is still on the low side for one of their target markets compared to the big two's flagships. With regard to heat, the 30 minutes limits are there but who knows in reality how much variance there will be in real use in different environments. One thing that is quite interesting is that this launch has not been backed up with the flurry of 'Embargo has passed, prepare the gurning thumbnail and lets get my "comprehensive review"of the camera up NOW!' YouTube videos. I think that might well be Sony being mindful of what happened to Canon with the R5, as running the same overheating tests that they were eventually forced into doing after so not including them in their initial breathless "reviews" of the R5 it would now be mandatory for any credible reviewer. That doesn't necessarily mean there is anything suspicious in the a1 regarding overheating but by keeping the camera out of the hands of YouTubers (even if by way of extending their publishing embargo for a couple of weeks) then Sony will at least be able to keep any possibility of it being the talking point about the camera for a while and killing the launch buzz!

I think that is probably too high a figure. From my reading of posts on here, I'd put it at 89.27% max. The distinction between the X-H1 and the X-T2 was wide enough when they launched it but two years on, Fujifilm would have to do something dramatic like put RAW and TC etc in it, for an X-H2 to sit above the X-T4 in the same way. Which would be great, of course 😉

Far be it from me to say they deliberately crippled the A9 but they are certainly included this time. https://www.sony.com/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-1/specifications /// PICTURE PROFILE Yes (Off / PP1-PP11) Parameters: Black level, Gamma (Movie, Still, S-Cinetone, Cine1-4, ITU709, ITU709 (800%), S-Log2, S-Log3, HLG, HLG1-3), Black Gamma, Knee, Color Mode, Saturation, Color Phase, Color Depth, Detail, Copy, Reset ///

If you went for the TechArt then a cheap M42-M adapter stuck on it will give you autofocus capability for them. It works far better (in stills at least which is what you say is your primary use for it) than I'd imagined when I bought it.

I've got an A7Rii so make that 3. Hard to see anything better value at the price if you are already invested in E-mount, particularly if stills are the primary use. If you are using manual focus lenses with it, I'd definitely recommend looking at getting the TechArt PRO adapter as it will give you pretty good AF capability for them. Its designed for M mount lenses but can be used with pretty much anything by stacking a "whatever your lens is to m mount" adapter on top. It comes into its own with small M mount lenses like Voigtlanders as its like having an autofocus high res Leica M with an EVF and its overall size isn't that much bigger either. Battery life isn't great of course but they're small enough (and cheap enough) to not be worried about carrying a few spares.

A funny and very pointed piece by Fujifilm. "We don't negotiate with hobbyists."

I'm going to start a company making cameras that are purpose built for intrusive doorstep photography of autocratic leaders. Hasslevlad.

After spending a bit of time with @Andrew Reid last year looking at his GFX100, it definitely put itself at the top of my "forever" camera list and one of the pleasant surprises was how much frame coverage was possible with the various FF lenses that we put on it and how adaptable it was in terms of AF adapters for not only EF but Nikon F, which would be a big factor for me. Obviously the price of the GFX100 was eye watering (relative to FF but not other 100mp MF cameras !) but if I squinted a bit I could still see it as "affordable" if not a flat out "bargain". To now be able to get the imaging part of the GFX100 in a smaller and lighter form factor for 40% off is huge.

There was a lot of chatter last month to suggest this may be happening sooner rather than later. With Tokina and Viltrox doing AF lenses for X mount, I can't see why Sigma won't be far behind so it might actually happen this time but I think the same chatter was around in 2018 so take it with a pinch of salt.

Well then... GFX100S highlights are : Weighs 900g, so 500g lighter than GFX100 in a 30% smaller camera body Shutter and IBIS re-designed from GFX100 6 Stops of IBIS Faster AF, speed of 0.18s with PD working at -5.5EV, improved face detection is now 50% faster New film simulation called "Nostalgic Neg" $6499 and available next month Not seen the full spec sheet but video looks to have been left untouched from GFX100 but that remains to be confirmed.

Time to see how much they've taken off the GFX100 to get to this much cheaper GFX100S. Some lenses will be announced too. Watch along at 14:00 CET EDIT >>> Fujifilm of course, not Fujfilm as the title suggests !

Still don't understand why they don't just make an optional combined battery grip and fan system for video use. For a start, moving the batteries out of the main body and into the grip would alleviate some of the internal heat. An exhaust system could then be incorporated into the connecting stork of the battery grip that opens up an aperture in the battery chamber of the camera with fans in the grip taking care of cooling. That would maintain the weather sealing and satisfy stills shooters who don't want to pay for any extra video oriented features that they will rarely use, particularly ones that add bulk and noise. And of course, anyone who is using this camera for video is going to need all the battery power they can so its a win win for them. Of course, when I say I don't understand why Sony don't do this, I mean from the customer's perspective but from their own point of view I think its pretty obvious why they don't.

My "precision" soldering skills would be more suited to welding pipes but there are kits like this available if you want to get some practice. So you gain experience of soldering different types of components to boards but as its building towards a finished item you also learn about the circuit. They are available on Amazon but have a ridiculous margin added to them but if you go to aliexpress then you can buy them for a couple of euros and often less depending on what type of one you get. Just put "soldering practice" in the search bar at aliexpress to see the different ones on offer.

If they can tame the bad aspects in most situations, and it looks like they have done a lot to do that with this one, then after spending more than the cost of this camera replacing the mechanical ones in my D series cameras over the years then good riddance as far as I'm concerned !

At £6500.00 its the same price as what it would be to get into a D6 or an EOS-1DxIII so if I was still in that business (not that there is much left it anymore after COVID) then it would certainly be an alternative but whilst they make a lot of the electronic shutter, the mechanical one is still only 10fps so lags behind the other two. They seem to have made strides in controlling the side effects with the electronic shutter though so that might not be the issue it once was with the A9. Its unfortunate for Sony that they look to have finally got it all together with a pro sports camera system (now they also have the lenses and networking workflow for liver editorial) to take the other two on properly just at the point at which the target industry is on its knees, save for the big agencies.

The devil will be in the recovery times no doubt.