BTM_Pix

The Expodsic (or at least this £13 'equivalent' version) is a good cheap alternative to an incident light meter as well as being a quick and reliable way to set white balance.
You just hold it over your lens whilst pointing to the light source that is falling on your subject so and when the camera meter hits centre then thats the exposure set correctly as the camera expects it to be because it is seeing 18% grey through the Expodisc.
Its quite interesting to see how that can look on screen when you then take away the Expodisc and on the histogram (especially with cinelike d) as it is definitely not ETTR but sure enough with zebras at 100% the peak highlights are only just pinging the zebras.
I wouldn't say its a definitive way to expose but its a very consistent starting point from which to make the decision and as its measuring whats falling on the subject rather than whats reflecting from it then its more appropriate IMO.
Kicks arse for white balance setting.
 

They are great products. 
They have a configuration app which has presets for popular apps but you can configure it to do your own things. The PRO version that Tim has allows you to create your own macros to be triggered by any of the switches so you can fire off a chain of commands from one press.
The Express version doesn't offer that feature but if you're travelling or don't need as many keys then its a lot more compact form factor.
Its smart enough to know which app you're using as well so it won't go off blindly sending out the wrong commands when you switch from Resolve to FCPX etc
 

Yeah, their earlier years were sketchy to say the least. Some of their designs sailed close enough to the wind in similarity to people like Aphex and Drawmer (to name but two) to be actionable and thats before we get to the build quality. It wasn't uncommon to have to buy and return several examples of a product before you got a good one.
Its changed over time though, particularly with their manufacturing when they built their own plant in China, and the tipping point for me in acceptance was their X32 digital console. I think they've sold in the region of 50,000+ of that and it variants and its a superb product. I don't think anything they make is going to make you go wow (aside from the X consoles) but they're fall less likely to make you go ouch than they were and certainly will never make you go ouch when you look at the price tag.
With regard to MIDAS, its relative I suppose. Compare two Behringer products that have their own pre-amps in with the variant that has the MIDAS ones in (such as the ADA800 8 channel A/D and the MIDAS equipped ADA8200 version) and there is a difference. Its often related to changes in surrounding components as well to be fair to incorporate the MIDAS design but the overall end result is the same in terms of improvement. As I say, thats only relative to Behringer's 'own' design pre-amps though so whether it actually makes them better than other manufacturers is a lot more subjective. Its not just a marketing gimmick though to be fair, as the designs are genuinely still coming from within the MIDAS design team.
 
At the risk of sounding like a Behringer shill (  ) there's quite a lot of side by sides on YouTube with the U-PHORIA where it doesn't disgrace itself.
Gearslutz.com is a good resource for blind comparisons between lots of different interfaces too. Often these are conducted by - how can I put it politely - people with more recording experience than some of the enthusiastic YouTube 'Hey whats up guys, Ched here with another of my famous shootouts that you folks have been asking me for' ones. Ched with his 19 subscribers there.
 

The robots have regular meetings about it but they're easily distracted.
 

Although I would like the big one, I would also really like the full blown midi version (not an option for that in the poll  ).  Looking forward to trying this out 

I've just bought an EOS-M for £100 which will arrive next week.
Ironically, its red.
So expect a Red RAW for £100 post soon !
Or a million questions at least.

As per the other thread, the functionality of the controller is now pretty far along and nearing completion so its time to finalise the actual input device itself.
The two options are shown here (with a GX80 to show scale).
How this will work is that a small module speaks to the camera over wifi to do the actual commands and it will receive its input from one of these devices, both of which are bluetooth.
And cheap.
They both have a combination of buttons and a joystick but the main difference between them is that the joystick on the larger one is analogue so can be used to progressively drive focus speed whereas the smaller one's joystick is a digital affair. This doesn't rule it out for progressive control just that it makes it a bit more work to fake it.
The other difference of course is the form factor.
The smaller one is quite neat having that hole in it as you can use it like I've done there with your thumb through it or, depending upon the width of it, mounted on a tripod pan handle.
The larger one benefits from having the indented grip so its six of one and half a dozen of the other really.
With both of them though, a bit of superglue and a thread adapter will have you being able to mount them on anything you want to.
 

The hardware controller for Panasonic cameras is coming along nicely and I’m looking for a bit of feedback regarding what you might want on it.
As I’m settling on the controller type (the two front runners will be another poll) there is a bit of a dilemma over the number of switches and how they might be implemented so I want to make sure I get the best core set that will satisfy most people. 
Basically, I don’t want to have the controller be some massive unwieldy thing that defeats the object of having small cameras like the Panasonics so by sticking to something compact there’s obviously a trade off regarding how many simultaneous controls there will be available. The simultaneous aspect is important as to get as many functions on as possible they will be switched in layers and I want to minimise that too so I’m trying to find the sweet spot of total functions.
My idea with this controller is obviously so that it can be used to give you hands off control so you can operate the camera without inducing movement while its on a gimbal etc, and for general remote stuff like if you had it on a jib or even just for vlogging. 
However, as it will also do focus control as in controlling focus but also pulling focus, both at defined transition rates but also by manual control so that in itself requires a fair amount of controls to set positions etc. 
In addition, its other purpose is to get functions that are in menus or a few presses away (like exposure comp or ISO) under direct control to make the cameras easier to operate and add functions like a joystick driven focus point function for the cameras that don’t have it.
So…..there’s a fair bit to find space for!
What I’d be grateful for you doing if you have any interest in having a controller would be to just check as few or as many of the functions as you’d like to see on it.
There’s no order of importance so just click away.
Cheers

They are great products. 
They have a configuration app which has presets for popular apps but you can configure it to do your own things. The PRO version that Tim has allows you to create your own macros to be triggered by any of the switches so you can fire off a chain of commands from one press.
The Express version doesn't offer that feature but if you're travelling or don't need as many keys then its a lot more compact form factor.
Its smart enough to know which app you're using as well so it won't go off blindly sending out the wrong commands when you switch from Resolve to FCPX etc
 

I recently picked up one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0032XQSN0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For the price (cGBP80/90) it's absolutely fab - makes Final Cut faster and a lot more intuitive.

I've just a got a job with Canon to work on the launch event for 4K in their DSLRs.
That should be me safe for another 7-9 years.

I paid less than that for my 1DC over a year ago
But still, it wasn't a very good camera imho compared to a 5Dmkiii or the LS300 I swapped to.
Yeah like all robots those studios sometimes go off. But so could an operator. As a producer I would just analyze cost vs fail frequency vs time saved vs etc.
If it saves both time and money without any real loss in quality... sold (unfortunately).

Sorry, had a senior moment there. Well a double one actually.
Sony are doing a £150 cash back deal which I took to the price I saw one in a store for (which had sneakily already had the discount applied!!). I was also using the not far off parity exchange rate but the pound seems to have made a slight comeback.
With the real cash back deal its £679 (not the £529 I had in my head!) which is about €750.
So, yes, apart from it being way more expensive than your budget and you hating the screen and ergonomics of it then it was a very sage recommendation

If you're not married to having an OVF, you might want to look at the Sony A6300.
With a speedbooster adapter you can have FF FOV, even better low light performance and AF from your Canon lenses and with a regular adapter you can still have the AF and take advantage of the crop for extra reach for your wildlife. 
And if you have some ice packs around, you can also do a bit of 4K on it as well if you need to.
I think it will give you a far more versatile setup for your budget and IQ wise you won't be suffering for it either.
With the current price of the camera, you should be able to get all 3 pieces (the body and both adapters) for €1000 budget new.

Just tried it out on mate's GX85. So easy and so profound! Friend is quite blown away, flicking between standard and cine-D. He's pretty happy! Thanks @BTM_Pix

Nope, unfortunately

Errrmm, not sure I'd phrase it that way...

I expect Reduser will be collectively moist and greeting it like the invention of fire but I have to confess that I've no idea what it even is.
I read the press release twice and still don't know.
I felt like this fella.
 

Good stuff.
I always thought the Olympus E-M1 II would make quite a nice compact telephoto choice for sports, with it's blazing speeds and nice 300mm F4 pro lens. Pair that with the 40-150mm F2.8 pro lens and it's quite versatile even in low light at ISO 6400. Wouldn't go much above that though.

Its a decent combination and value thats for sure. I don't know whether the subject separation on that 300mm with it being on an M43 would be ideal and its really hard to judge any long lens on M43 because flickr pools which are my normal gauge only ever have pictures of birds, planes or the moon for anything over 150mm on an M43 !
They also weren't on my radar because APS-C was the limit for me regarding low light but 6400 would generally be OK but you'd be surprised how poor the lighting is at some major stadiums. Its improved a lot in the UK since BT got the rights funnily enough and insisted on additional lighting. They obviously wanted to shoot on M43!
I've actually used M43 cameras as remotes behind the goal a few times (the OMD-10) but the battery life just couldn't hack the amount of exposures it was having to do.
My faith in Fuji being serious about getting into the game is dwindling unfortunately so I think its going to end up being a system I only use for covering stuff like cycling and boxing etc where you don't need the longer stuff.

Enjoy the Spanish footy! What gear are you taking?

Use a small Bluetooth earpiece and you can monitor it live with those two bits I linked to Jon. You don't have to wear it all the time (unless you wanted the 'And now over to our correspondent in Vietnam' effect!) but just pop it on as you go into record for a quick confidence check.

@BTM_Pix
C'mon BTM_Pix, "banding" is some kind of hater speak...In my eyes, this is a new kind of artistic effect invented by Sony - ES-SST (Electronic Shutter - Sony Striping Technology)...As it works only sporadically at the moment (and only when using ES) on the A9, Sony is working on a firmware upgrade to insure the functionality of this revolutionary striping effect in almost every lighting situation possible...So please consider, that's not a bug ("phenomenon" in manufaturer speak), but a feature...
Rumors say, they work on an app for their Sony MemoryApp Collection too, as many other users of A7X and A6X00 cameras want to get this famous "striping effect" too...This SST-App will cost 10 USD, but hey, it's cheap for such an useful feature...

Granada - Real Madrid

I'd have struggled to understand a fair amount of the answers without the subtitles if it was a podcast to be honest
I was actually considering at one point if maybe they shot it on 5Ds because the cameras themselves would've been provided by the hosts. If this was the 'old' days of the Soviet Union (which I think Putin wishes it was), security concerns would've meant them not allowing new fangled technology in. Mind you, it was also a pride thing then too where they'd use their own versions of the western technology that they'd copied and often enhanced. MIghtn't have been a bad thing these days, imagine it :
"You use our new Canonski Shest MK DVA. It is like your Canon 6D Mark 2. But made of cast iron. And has 4K"
Putin's personal photographer also uses Canon so perhaps he felt more at ease seeing those cameras around him. Looking at his personal photographer, I'm sure I'd feel at ease too if she was around....
If I was into conspiracies (which of course I am!!!) then maybe the look was also a deliberate bit of propaganda done to not beautify the subject and his surroundings. 
You could take that one way - which was to make Putin more relatable - or the other way to make him and his surroundings all look a bit shabby and low end.
Its like whenever the BBC have a news item or documentary that includes TV adverts they always seem to get the advert, record it onto VHS, put it by a huge magnet, dub it onto another VHS where the tracking is fucked and then get a VHS camera to record it off a TV that they found in a skip. The message obviously being 'Look and behold how horrendous and grubby TV advertisements are compared to our beautiful images. Please keep giving us your license money so we don't have to sully your screen with this garbage'.
Whatever the reason though, after just starting to watch the first episode, I think the content trumps the technical for me.