BTM_Pix

This is me with all the abysmal kit lenses that I've bought over the years with the intention of using them as a DIY rebate scheme by selling them off.
 

This is me with all the abysmal kit lenses that I've bought over the years with the intention of using them as a DIY rebate scheme by selling them off.
 

I've just picked one of these up and its a pretty nifty little thing.
Basically its a series of locking bars that you can easily change to be anything from a selfie stick for Vlogging to a top handle to a shoulder mount or even a poor man's low mode stabiliser.
As the joints lock in any angle its really flexible in being able to be shaped to what you need it for. Its really useful in the shoulder mount mode actually because you can make the angle of the piece that runs over your shoulder to be really tight so it hooks in firmly.
Each piece also has 3 mounting holes so you can attach handles, mics, lights, monitors, cup holders or whatever else rig enthusiasts like to cram on there if thats your thing.
Its light, versatile, folds down small enough to fit in a coat pocket and at £38 its not exactly going to break the bank.
With something with IBIS like the GX80 I've got it with here, it gives some great additional stabilisation advantage and still keeps you stealth.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Camera-Photo/Movo-SV1000-Aluminum-Combination-Stabilizer/B012Y7UVB4/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1498822792&sr=8-19-spons&keywords=movo&psc=1
 

In 2020 low end Canons will finally get 4k that looks like 1080p

I would imagine the 80D would smoke it for stills and there are lens choice advantages, particularly on the wides.
But having said that, you could get the G80 with a smart speedbooster for less money and reduce the bridge the lens gap and make a dent on the low light as well.
Whereas the advantages the G80 has of 4K and the IBIS (not to mention small primes in MFT format) and form factor are not something that you can bring to the 80D. Or, it seems, can Canon this side of 2020
Thats why the G80 is the sweet spot for me.
The one that could have been, if Fuji had IBIS, would be the X-T20.

I've just picked one of these up and its a pretty nifty little thing.
Basically its a series of locking bars that you can easily change to be anything from a selfie stick for Vlogging to a top handle to a shoulder mount or even a poor man's low mode stabiliser.
As the joints lock in any angle its really flexible in being able to be shaped to what you need it for. Its really useful in the shoulder mount mode actually because you can make the angle of the piece that runs over your shoulder to be really tight so it hooks in firmly.
Each piece also has 3 mounting holes so you can attach handles, mics, lights, monitors, cup holders or whatever else rig enthusiasts like to cram on there if thats your thing.
Its light, versatile, folds down small enough to fit in a coat pocket and at £38 its not exactly going to break the bank.
With something with IBIS like the GX80 I've got it with here, it gives some great additional stabilisation advantage and still keeps you stealth.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Camera-Photo/Movo-SV1000-Aluminum-Combination-Stabilizer/B012Y7UVB4/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1498822792&sr=8-19-spons&keywords=movo&psc=1
 

Sony has stopped the production of 16mp sensors so that would explain the discontinuation of the G85 et al. Im looking forward to the 20mp going in all future cameras as it seems to have fixed the purple flaring issue (judging by what ive seen from the GH5). 
The G85 is a nice sweet spot. I am tossing up between that and the Canon 80d for very low budget photo/video work. Thoughts, anyone?

Readily available in the UK still as body only. Thanks to the country lurching from one laughable decision to another it won't be long before there is 1:1 parity with the dollar and it'll be worth buying a plane ticket to come and get one!
http://www.wexphotographic.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-g80-digital-camera-body-1607694/
It does point to a new model but I'm curious to know what they could put in it without threatening the GH5 to be anything other than a relatively small incremental change. Higher bitrates and purchasable VLOG are both available in their top end bridge camera the FZ2000/2500 so it could be those and that could make it worthwhile for upgrading. But either way, a new model will make a used G80 quickly be available sub £400 which is beyond a bargain.
Not to mention the surprise on their faces when I ask if I can test it with my new follow focus controller........
And how doubly shocked they'll be when I put the metabones smart adapter on and they see it doing it with Canon lenses as well......(As shocked as I was yesterday when I got it working !)
But that's for another thread on another day. Like next Thursday probably.

Readily available in the UK still as body only. Thanks to the country lurching from one laughable decision to another it won't be long before there is 1:1 parity with the dollar and it'll be worth buying a plane ticket to come and get one!
http://www.wexphotographic.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-g80-digital-camera-body-1607694/
It does point to a new model but I'm curious to know what they could put in it without threatening the GH5 to be anything other than a relatively small incremental change. Higher bitrates and purchasable VLOG are both available in their top end bridge camera the FZ2000/2500 so it could be those and that could make it worthwhile for upgrading. But either way, a new model will make a used G80 quickly be available sub £400 which is beyond a bargain.
Not to mention the surprise on their faces when I ask if I can test it with my new follow focus controller........
And how doubly shocked they'll be when I put the metabones smart adapter on and they see it doing it with Canon lenses as well......(As shocked as I was yesterday when I got it working !)
But that's for another thread on another day. Like next Thursday probably.

11. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

1. Think about the light before anything else. 
2. Change that lens, it may look way better on different glass. 
3. When the talent is in thought, or simply just waiting for a direction, roll the camera without their knowledge. You can get some really useful, very natural moments. 
4. Don't do the shot once. You may pull off the technique better on repeat. 
5. Bring 634 lens cloths to a shoot, because you will lose 633 of them. 
6. Never settle on a grade straight away. Look at it again tomorrow. Those skin tones might be green and you had no idea. 
7. If you're not sure if it's right, it's definitely not. Trust yourself. It's got to feel right, always. 
8. Adjust the light again. It will look better.
9. Eye lights. Make the effort.
10. Buy a RED cam. Send it back. Read EOSHD and get confused. Get a GH5. 

Readily available in the UK still as body only. Thanks to the country lurching from one laughable decision to another it won't be long before there is 1:1 parity with the dollar and it'll be worth buying a plane ticket to come and get one!
http://www.wexphotographic.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-g80-digital-camera-body-1607694/
It does point to a new model but I'm curious to know what they could put in it without threatening the GH5 to be anything other than a relatively small incremental change. Higher bitrates and purchasable VLOG are both available in their top end bridge camera the FZ2000/2500 so it could be those and that could make it worthwhile for upgrading. But either way, a new model will make a used G80 quickly be available sub £400 which is beyond a bargain.
Not to mention the surprise on their faces when I ask if I can test it with my new follow focus controller........
And how doubly shocked they'll be when I put the metabones smart adapter on and they see it doing it with Canon lenses as well......(As shocked as I was yesterday when I got it working !)
But that's for another thread on another day. Like next Thursday probably.

@BTM_Pix i really think G80 is your camera!!
We, G80 owners, really wish it so badly !!
And think about the surprise faces of the camera store crew, when you came back but this time not to capture data packages... 
 

Picked up a GX85 for $400 US. :D

Some great discussions on here in the past few weeks about paring things down and in the spirit of that, what do you think is the sweet spot camera?
I'm beginning to think its the G80/85
4K, IBIS, Mic input, Cinelike D, articulating screen, flexible mount, compact, no overheating, decent app for remote control, easy workflow.
And you can now get them for £550.
I can see it about cameras further up like the A6300/6500 and the GH5 but I definitely think the G80/85 packs the biggest bang for the buck.
Whats yours?

Credit to Sony on that front. You can reheat frozen burritos with their cameras.

I don't know, I think with your discovery, the GX85 is the camera to get, but the little extra features are worth it for the G85. I'm so bored with most new cameras I've tried since going the 5D3 route that I am looking to the past for my future cameras. I think I see a 1DC in my future. But that's neither here nor there for this thread.
For the money, the Panny GX85 or G85 is great for 4K and other features. If you don't need 4K, I still love the HD image out of the D5500/D5600. I would love to see more talented people than myself have a stab at it. But for the money, I think the a6500 has the best 4K around and respectable 5-axis. 

Cinelike D being able to be switched on in their £250 travel compacts might have opened a few people's eyes to Panasonic playing a very similar game
 

Hi,
Just thought I would share that Avid have just released a free editor for Mac and Windows, Avid Media Composer : First.  According to the website you get 4K editing, 4 video tracks and 8 audio tracks.  
Enjoy
 

With regard to audio, I think the innovation has largely come from the music side of the fence rather than the broadcast/film side to be honest.
From that point of view, there have been numerous 5DMKii moments.
The Portastudio was one, the LinnDrum was another, the Akai S900 sampler, the Atari ST with Cubase, the ADAT digital multitrack, the Yamaha 02R mixing console and of course SoundTools as it was and ProTools as it became.
Arguably, these were all much bigger game changers than the 5DMKii, particularly the latter ones as they changed the entire industry at the high end as well as the low.
The 5DMKii let you make images that looked somewhat  like the movie studios could do, the audio products didn’t just allow you to produce audio that sounded like a real recording studio did but actually became the real recording studios.
The nature of broadcast and film is intrinsically more conservative.
I’ve been involved in product development for one company where it seemed inconceivable why the BBC, for example, would spend five times more for something that did less and then for another company where it seemed inconceivable to me why they would spend five times more on what we were proposing to them than they could on something similar they could get from a music store.
Some days you’re the statue, some days you’re the pigeon !
The problem with audio developments for music is that it plateaued and then became a race to the bottom price wise from which it will never return. It means that the innovation is now in the cost reduction and arguably why not because there really isn’t many more places for it to go in terms of functionality or quality. Which is good for us!
As all of this rapid development was going on in music technology, say between 1982-2000, it was like the wild west at times with companies coming from nowhere with bombshell products that either drove their competitors out of business or drove them on to greater heights.
And the vast majority of these companies were small ones (generally created by musicians who had to invent what it was the market didn’t have for them to buy), which made them lean and agile.
Over time though, the eating each other’s lunch routines often combined with little, no or reckless business practices (and ESPECIALLY poor cash flow from over ambitious product developments) left them vulnerable to being put out of business or, more usually, being bought out by the major manufacturers who were predominantly large Japanese companies. The likes of Oberheim (Yamaha), Linn (Akai), PPG (Korg) and Sequential Circuits (Yamaha again) all went that way and the innovation generally went no further for them once they were under the wing of those bigger manufacturers.  Eventually freed from their ‘consultancy’ deals, most have resurfaced as boutique operations serving an ever more niche market.
If I look at someone like Fairlight and my relationship with them as an example of what happened to an innovative company, its quite informative. I went from being an awestruck kid when they brought the CMI out, to then working for a manufacturer who basically drove them out of the sampler business they’d created, to eventually working on OEM development with them when they transitioned to broadcast. In the subsequent 20 years they’ve changed hands countless times and are now just a tab on a piece of free(ish) software. Its hard to grasp such a transition for me but for anyone who’s too young to know what the CMI was, its the equivalent of RED’s RAW pipeline ending up as a free download in the Sony PlayMemories store for your RX100.
Lexicon are exactly the same. From making jaw dropping almost other worldly products to being gobbled up by a company that was making most of its money off providing car stereos for GM etc and Lexicon was reduced over time to being included in every low end mixing console and software bundle that it could be licensed to. The company that bought them has done the same to every company its bought and I can’t even dignify them by mentioning their name even 20 years after them destroying the company I worked for !
So there’s just no incentive there for anyone to be innovative in music audio anymore as its littered with similar stories and the ones left standing wouldn’t see the amount of volume in broadcast/film that they need to press the button on the mass production runs they now need due to how cheap everything has to be now.
The company that COULD do it are the much maligned Behringer. 
If you look at something like the X Air XR12 digital mixing console and see what they can knock out for £239 retail (inc VAT!!) then it doesn’t take a genius to see what they could do against Sound Devices if they had the inclination but there just isn’t the market there. Because, believe me, they wouldn’t have blinked if there was.
So, unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to get that 5DMarkii moment and the innovation such as it is will come from individuals themselves looking at products from the music side of the fence and modifying it themselves. Like getting that X Air XR12 and powering it from Sony NP batteries to make an extremely capable digital field mixer and recorder for £269 (including the £30 for the bits to do it) or being a smartarse and using cheap midi controllers to create remote focus and control systems for Panasonic cameras for under £75  (ahem!).
Because music audio had its numerous 5DMKii moments a few years ago there is a backlog of a ton of cheap stuff that flies under the radar for film makers that is waiting for them if they look for it. 
 

Bit of a surprise but its all over for Lexar.
https://***URL removed***/news/3111535898/lexar-discontinued-micron-announces-the-end-of-lexar-memory-cards
Meanwhile, over at Sandisk
 

With regard to audio, I think the innovation has largely come from the music side of the fence rather than the broadcast/film side to be honest.
From that point of view, there have been numerous 5DMKii moments.
The Portastudio was one, the LinnDrum was another, the Akai S900 sampler, the Atari ST with Cubase, the ADAT digital multitrack, the Yamaha 02R mixing console and of course SoundTools as it was and ProTools as it became.
Arguably, these were all much bigger game changers than the 5DMKii, particularly the latter ones as they changed the entire industry at the high end as well as the low.
The 5DMKii let you make images that looked somewhat  like the movie studios could do, the audio products didn’t just allow you to produce audio that sounded like a real recording studio did but actually became the real recording studios.
The nature of broadcast and film is intrinsically more conservative.
I’ve been involved in product development for one company where it seemed inconceivable why the BBC, for example, would spend five times more for something that did less and then for another company where it seemed inconceivable to me why they would spend five times more on what we were proposing to them than they could on something similar they could get from a music store.
Some days you’re the statue, some days you’re the pigeon !
The problem with audio developments for music is that it plateaued and then became a race to the bottom price wise from which it will never return. It means that the innovation is now in the cost reduction and arguably why not because there really isn’t many more places for it to go in terms of functionality or quality. Which is good for us!
As all of this rapid development was going on in music technology, say between 1982-2000, it was like the wild west at times with companies coming from nowhere with bombshell products that either drove their competitors out of business or drove them on to greater heights.
And the vast majority of these companies were small ones (generally created by musicians who had to invent what it was the market didn’t have for them to buy), which made them lean and agile.
Over time though, the eating each other’s lunch routines often combined with little, no or reckless business practices (and ESPECIALLY poor cash flow from over ambitious product developments) left them vulnerable to being put out of business or, more usually, being bought out by the major manufacturers who were predominantly large Japanese companies. The likes of Oberheim (Yamaha), Linn (Akai), PPG (Korg) and Sequential Circuits (Yamaha again) all went that way and the innovation generally went no further for them once they were under the wing of those bigger manufacturers.  Eventually freed from their ‘consultancy’ deals, most have resurfaced as boutique operations serving an ever more niche market.
If I look at someone like Fairlight and my relationship with them as an example of what happened to an innovative company, its quite informative. I went from being an awestruck kid when they brought the CMI out, to then working for a manufacturer who basically drove them out of the sampler business they’d created, to eventually working on OEM development with them when they transitioned to broadcast. In the subsequent 20 years they’ve changed hands countless times and are now just a tab on a piece of free(ish) software. Its hard to grasp such a transition for me but for anyone who’s too young to know what the CMI was, its the equivalent of RED’s RAW pipeline ending up as a free download in the Sony PlayMemories store for your RX100.
Lexicon are exactly the same. From making jaw dropping almost other worldly products to being gobbled up by a company that was making most of its money off providing car stereos for GM etc and Lexicon was reduced over time to being included in every low end mixing console and software bundle that it could be licensed to. The company that bought them has done the same to every company its bought and I can’t even dignify them by mentioning their name even 20 years after them destroying the company I worked for !
So there’s just no incentive there for anyone to be innovative in music audio anymore as its littered with similar stories and the ones left standing wouldn’t see the amount of volume in broadcast/film that they need to press the button on the mass production runs they now need due to how cheap everything has to be now.
The company that COULD do it are the much maligned Behringer. 
If you look at something like the X Air XR12 digital mixing console and see what they can knock out for £239 retail (inc VAT!!) then it doesn’t take a genius to see what they could do against Sound Devices if they had the inclination but there just isn’t the market there. Because, believe me, they wouldn’t have blinked if there was.
So, unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to get that 5DMarkii moment and the innovation such as it is will come from individuals themselves looking at products from the music side of the fence and modifying it themselves. Like getting that X Air XR12 and powering it from Sony NP batteries to make an extremely capable digital field mixer and recorder for £269 (including the £30 for the bits to do it) or being a smartarse and using cheap midi controllers to create remote focus and control systems for Panasonic cameras for under £75  (ahem!).
Because music audio had its numerous 5DMKii moments a few years ago there is a backlog of a ton of cheap stuff that flies under the radar for film makers that is waiting for them if they look for it. 
 

Careful with making B camera suggestions.
You'll have someone on saying that the only B camera to an Alexa is an Alexa.
Or that the Alexa is actually the B camera to the Enormo2567-T
Is that a challenge

With regard to audio, I think the innovation has largely come from the music side of the fence rather than the broadcast/film side to be honest.
From that point of view, there have been numerous 5DMKii moments.
The Portastudio was one, the LinnDrum was another, the Akai S900 sampler, the Atari ST with Cubase, the ADAT digital multitrack, the Yamaha 02R mixing console and of course SoundTools as it was and ProTools as it became.
Arguably, these were all much bigger game changers than the 5DMKii, particularly the latter ones as they changed the entire industry at the high end as well as the low.
The 5DMKii let you make images that looked somewhat  like the movie studios could do, the audio products didn’t just allow you to produce audio that sounded like a real recording studio did but actually became the real recording studios.
The nature of broadcast and film is intrinsically more conservative.
I’ve been involved in product development for one company where it seemed inconceivable why the BBC, for example, would spend five times more for something that did less and then for another company where it seemed inconceivable to me why they would spend five times more on what we were proposing to them than they could on something similar they could get from a music store.
Some days you’re the statue, some days you’re the pigeon !
The problem with audio developments for music is that it plateaued and then became a race to the bottom price wise from which it will never return. It means that the innovation is now in the cost reduction and arguably why not because there really isn’t many more places for it to go in terms of functionality or quality. Which is good for us!
As all of this rapid development was going on in music technology, say between 1982-2000, it was like the wild west at times with companies coming from nowhere with bombshell products that either drove their competitors out of business or drove them on to greater heights.
And the vast majority of these companies were small ones (generally created by musicians who had to invent what it was the market didn’t have for them to buy), which made them lean and agile.
Over time though, the eating each other’s lunch routines often combined with little, no or reckless business practices (and ESPECIALLY poor cash flow from over ambitious product developments) left them vulnerable to being put out of business or, more usually, being bought out by the major manufacturers who were predominantly large Japanese companies. The likes of Oberheim (Yamaha), Linn (Akai), PPG (Korg) and Sequential Circuits (Yamaha again) all went that way and the innovation generally went no further for them once they were under the wing of those bigger manufacturers.  Eventually freed from their ‘consultancy’ deals, most have resurfaced as boutique operations serving an ever more niche market.
If I look at someone like Fairlight and my relationship with them as an example of what happened to an innovative company, its quite informative. I went from being an awestruck kid when they brought the CMI out, to then working for a manufacturer who basically drove them out of the sampler business they’d created, to eventually working on OEM development with them when they transitioned to broadcast. In the subsequent 20 years they’ve changed hands countless times and are now just a tab on a piece of free(ish) software. Its hard to grasp such a transition for me but for anyone who’s too young to know what the CMI was, its the equivalent of RED’s RAW pipeline ending up as a free download in the Sony PlayMemories store for your RX100.
Lexicon are exactly the same. From making jaw dropping almost other worldly products to being gobbled up by a company that was making most of its money off providing car stereos for GM etc and Lexicon was reduced over time to being included in every low end mixing console and software bundle that it could be licensed to. The company that bought them has done the same to every company its bought and I can’t even dignify them by mentioning their name even 20 years after them destroying the company I worked for !
So there’s just no incentive there for anyone to be innovative in music audio anymore as its littered with similar stories and the ones left standing wouldn’t see the amount of volume in broadcast/film that they need to press the button on the mass production runs they now need due to how cheap everything has to be now.
The company that COULD do it are the much maligned Behringer. 
If you look at something like the X Air XR12 digital mixing console and see what they can knock out for £239 retail (inc VAT!!) then it doesn’t take a genius to see what they could do against Sound Devices if they had the inclination but there just isn’t the market there. Because, believe me, they wouldn’t have blinked if there was.
So, unfortunately, I don’t think we’re going to get that 5DMarkii moment and the innovation such as it is will come from individuals themselves looking at products from the music side of the fence and modifying it themselves. Like getting that X Air XR12 and powering it from Sony NP batteries to make an extremely capable digital field mixer and recorder for £269 (including the £30 for the bits to do it) or being a smartarse and using cheap midi controllers to create remote focus and control systems for Panasonic cameras for under £75  (ahem!).
Because music audio had its numerous 5DMKii moments a few years ago there is a backlog of a ton of cheap stuff that flies under the radar for film makers that is waiting for them if they look for it. 
 

The 4K is a hell of a deal at that price isn't it?
Definitely think they'd be on to a serious winner with a 5" version of it though.
The functionality benefits smaller cameras most but the form factor dwarfs them.