kye

Interesting. When I felt it was time for me to go to a better camera I was seriously looking at the Ursa Mini Pro but the fixed pattern noise thing was a turn off. I also was looking at the BM Production Camera 4K, Digital Bolex, the Ursa non-mini even (which were like a full size VHS camcorder). I see the BM 4K Production Cameras now on Craigslist for only CAN$1100 which is pretty amazing for their image quality. I wasn't liking the poor audio quality part though. There are always trade offs with cameras.
I ended up getting a deal on a Digital Bolex and loving it. It's not easy to shoot with but the results are worth it for certain types of shooting. I had a small group over for supper and a screening (projected) of my latest film shot with it and one of them, who's a layperson and not involved in film at all, said something like the image had a certain quality to it and wondered if I had a special camera or something. In the end I paid a lot but I'm super happy with what I ended up with. No FPN, good audio, amazing image quality, etc. It's also become a bit of a conversation piece when I've been out shooting. I've met a few interesting camera buffs that way.
I think to compliment this would be something like a 4K camcorder with built in gimbal type stabilization. Sony, Canon and Panasonic all make similar models. I have an HD Sony (PJ650) that I love for its ease of use, stabilization and all that. 
We live in a golden age of so many camera choices and most of them are very good and much better than the few choices we had in the past. In fact we can even get super picky about minor details. It reminds me of coffee and craft beer. Thirty or more years ago it was all crap and now so much amazing beer and coffee is available we can look down upon very good coffee because we can choose super good coffee. 
 

Here's one from last week's concert. Shot with BMMCC and the Sigma 18-35; not my lens of choice but it's the one I bring when I don't know what I'll be getting into, and I'd never been to this venue before. It was basically a house concert, but amplified and with some stage lighting on the floor; there was a bit of feedback in the sound system that I tried to notch out with EQ in post and succeeded in attenuating most but not all of the ringing. Some handheld b-roll at the beginning.
 

I suspect it differs by what you're trying to achieve.
To me, the images have an effortless organic and analog quality to them, very much like the early Alexa models, without doing much grading - it's how the image is to begin with.  You can get into that ballpark with the modern mirrorless cameras, but it takes a lot of work in post, and I'm not sure you'd get there completely.
When I look at the test images from CineD and Slashcam all these modern cameras all look pretty similar, and even the ones that don't match the rest seem to be different in ways that are relatively easy to overcome in post.  However, I've graded images from quite a few of these modern cameras and they all start out looking modern but regardless of what I tried (and I'm a better colourist than most folks around here) I couldn't get them to have any of that early organic magic that the OG BMPCC, Digital Bolex, 5D+ML, and the high-end 2K-3K cinema cameras all had.
Maybe if you have FilmConvert or Dehancer and you really know what you're doing you can get them there, but I don't think people want that anymore.  The look of high-end 2K workflows and of S35mm just isn't desirable to people anymore.
I've said this before, but whenever I go to the cinema I get a massive confirmation that almost all the online camera discussions are about video and not cinema.  Certainly almost all the images I see from 'camera people' look like they were shot with the worlds best interchangeable lens high-bitrate video camera, and look almost nothing like cinema.  Even when people don't want something that looks super-digital, they apply a heavy film-look that makes things vintage.  
There was a high-end look that existed between 1985 and 2019, but I seem to be one of the last few outside the industry who want this look.

The image from the 5D3 and ML is simply incredible.  @mercer swears by it and the images speak for themselves, there is an organic magic to them that is seldom seen regardless of price or form-factor.  Apparently it's pretty stable too, no crashes etc.
The 5D camera body is excellent but is ageing, and the sensor isn't the best in terms of modern specs, but prices are also very reasonable due to these things.  EF glass is also plentiful, cheap, and optically excellent.  The lack of stabilisation and the lower DR really suggest that it's a good camera for controlled conditions where DR and lighting ratios are within a manageable range.  
If you shoot controlled scenes then the 5D with ML certainly would be a good choice for having one camera.  

The 14mm needed post stab even more than the 25 due to the kind of framing and nature of the mise èn scene going along with the fov, framing and most of all nature and design of the shot. A slightly shaky 14 looked more stupid than a more shaky 25 due to that, from my still little experience with my og pocket.
I have shot with my og pocket about seven or eight times over the course of one year so far, each worth about 4 batteries per session and 30 to 40min of footage. So take it with a bit of grain of salt.:) @kye

Well, it definately is a raw look one can achieve doing that, filming handheld with a portrait lens on a tiny shaky camera.😊
Panning with a moving object yields great results though. Shooting with 180 shutter angle allows great stab in post. It stabilizes better than any of my other cameras in post. On my first day I shot my 25mm on 360 degree shutter and beyond diffraction limit. It was fun. Watching the footage was not.😂

I think if camera makers were to take simultaneous capture seriously, then maybe they could record a 4k/6k/8k video stream at a normal video frame rate to one card slot, plus simultaneously a stream of reduced rate stills - e.g. 1/2 or 1/4 of video fps - at full (or near full) sensor resolution as compressed raw or high quality JPEG/HEIC images to the other card slot. That might get close to the best of both worlds.
We've already got cameras like the S5ii that can record a 4k video stream plus simultaneously a reduced resolution 'proxy' video stream, so it I suspect some cameras already have enough processing power to do something like that.

There is really only one lens that I would call a ‘super zoom’ and that is the Tamron 35-150. 
In my ideal scenario, I would glue on one lens and be done.
Canon come close with their 24-105mm f2.8 and the R3 is for me, the best lens platform other than in one area and that is mp.
I need to shoot up to 150-200mm with my ‘one and done’ lens and cropping 24mp is a bit too much of a stretch.
Now if the R3 had even 45mp or better still 60mp, we would not be having this convo as with that f2.8 24-105 it would be that and a 35-150+ at the press of an assigned crop button.
But it doesn’t and any new R1 might, but it will be stupid money for sure.
Keep a 70-200 for those times I need something longer?
Nope. The times I need something longer are when I also need something wide.
The bottom line is I am not so much camera bound but focal length bound and governed by approx 35-150 in a single lens.
So Sony or Nikon is the reality.
Either/both need a battery grip and the Sony is the smaller and lighter option with the Tamron 35-150 and the Z9 the most ergonomic and balanced, but heaviest and the Z8 with a battery grip does not get a look on because it’s bigger still with the battery grip and why would you on that case when the Z9 exists?
Summary = Z9 or A7RV with Tamron 35-150mm are currently the best options.
Nikon Z6iii and any S2R might change that equation and in the case of the Nikon, will require a battery grip.
The Lumix question though always comes back to lenses and requires the pairing of a 24-70 and a 70-200 to get in the ball park but with that MASSIVE compromise of 2x bulky lenses and lens swaps I can’t do.
Unless Samyang pop out their 35-150 and then we have a chance.
Which brings me back to MF and the GFX series.
Cropping in camera or post is my other solution to having a ‘one and done’ lens but that shorter zoom is too short and the 45-100 even, in FF equivalent, a bit short and requires a significant crop to get up to around 150mm.
And so whilst I could just about swing that, GFX 100S + 45-100, does it make more sense than the Z9 or gripped A7RV with 35-150?
I would like to get on with things but at the same time am not in any particular rush as my current set up does work, it’s just not (still) ideal.
Quite possibly/probably Kye and this is where the issue lies in that this is a pretty obscure topic and surprisingly so.
Around 12+ years ago, I attended a 3 day international photo event in the US where the big topic was ‘fusion’.
Today we call it hybrid capture.
I think as already dabbling and I thought it would explode and become the norm and yet it has not.
With the cameras it has, massively so, but out in the real world beyond the chat, very few are really actually doing full hybrid capture, especially as one man bands.
Over a decade and the industry is still pretty much photo or video, with an extremely small number of equal amount hybrid shooters.
I am not complaining as it means my pool of competitors is tiny to non-existent but I still find that baffling almost every day.
My main point being to quoting you though that because it’s still barely out of it’s infancy, there is so little info, limited testing, no ‘handbook’ so a lot of trial and error needed.
In my ideal world, I’d have a well stocked camera shop on my doorstep that allowed loaners or at least rentals and I could play.
The reality is I have to rely mostly on on-line research, instinct, best guesses, testing what I have, gradual evolution etc…
By the time I have it properly cracked, I’m going to be out of the game 🤪

Man - I recently watched my BMMCC footage I shot with the 14mm handheld and it was too shaky so well done on hand-holding a 25mm lens!
The images certainly grade like refined butter....  just incredible compared to any h26x footage.

I thought it was funny....
If this whole YT thing has managed to remove peoples sense of humour then I think some lightening up needs to be done 🙂
I mean, if you want to be pissed at someone, I'd be starting with billionaires getting rich off slave labour in third-world countries, but you know, you do you!

Perhaps it's just me but the search function didn't throw up any topic that I could find so starting this one.
The XH2. Not the S, model, but the 40mp 8k capable one.
Anyone have one and been using it in this mode, ie, 8k?
And specifically, in one of the film profiles such as Eterna?
I am back to musing over pulling stills from video at either 6k 30p full frame (which I currently have) with Lumix and potential other options...
Not interested in BM Cameras, - too many compromises for my needs.
Canon has options as does Nikon, but at 8k only.
I came from Fuji X cameras (2011-2020) and the XH1 was one of my favourites of all time for both video and stills, but things have moved on quite a bit since then...
The XH2 intrigues me with specifically 8k 30p Eterna, the profile I used to shoot with the XH1 and then the XT3 as a 'one and done', minimal grading required, wedding video option and 8k would allow me to pull stills.
As above, any experience appreciated!
And nope, not bothered about anything external or rolling shutter, just the quality of the output 🙂
 

Just be careful to avoid stopping down too much, because diffraction softening sets in pretty quickly on this tiny sensor. In general I try not to go above f5.6; with some lenses I can go to 8 but the image starts getting soft in an ugly way.
I used my OG Pocket earlier this year to film some music performance in a very dark club, and it worked! I used my Micro Cinema Camera last week to film a 2-hour evening concert and that worked out well too. I'll be using my two Micros and the OG Pocket later this summer for an all-weekend filming and photography gig. They're still great tools. I think stabilization is really the biggest challenge...for handheld I'm using a Zacuto Marauder Mini, which is no longer made, but it works pretty well for stabilizing while giving a handheld look. I also have a glidecam and might ultimately get a gimbal but I'd rather not have yet another thing that requires batteries and charging.

Let's take a moment to appreciate the old treasure that is the Nikon Z6 OG, which couldn't have aged better even if it were deposited in an oak barrel in Scotland for the past 6 years.

First of all it is £650 now.
Secondly of course it is full frame whereas a lot of the other options for this price are crop sensor.
Many of the other mirrorless full frame cameras have aged quite badly. The Panasonic S1 is superseded by a smaller cheaper camera with better AF. The Canon EOS R classic has been superseded twice by the R6 and R6 II. The formula of Z6 on the other hand has only merely been tweaked with the Z6 II that doesn't add a huge amount extra, because it just doesn't need to.
And the Z8 / Z9 are insanely more money than £650.
I like that it has such nice colour science out the box. It also has better custom picture profile management than Canon.
The IBIS is superior to the Canon EOS R3 in every way, let alone the EOS R5 or R6 II.
The 4K video and 6K sensor is superb in low light, better than the 8K+ stuff.
And despite now being very cheap the top LCD and enormous, detailed EVF hold up very favourably today, in fact the EVF competes with some of the best even in 2024.
The ergonomics are excellent, it doesn't put a foot wrong in terms of what it tries to do. And what it doesn't do, you probably don't need. OK, so there's no 4K/60p, or faster stacked sensor, and 120fps is limited to 1080p, but everything feels fast and responsive, including the on-sensor phase-detect AF.
It is much smaller and lighter than the Panasonic S1 or S1H, yet with phase-detect AF and a very similar sensor under the hood.
Z mount has also ripened well... It has a really good line up of lenses and adapters now, including the nifty Leica M mount autofocus adapter which will turn every manual focus lens into a fast and snappy autofocus optic.
Plus it's the only mirrorless mount that adapts to Sony E!
So you can put your native Sony mirrorless lenses on there and everything works.
I can't think of a better deal for £650 at the moment on the used market for cameras.
Curious to hear other opinions and what's changed in Nikon land since it came out those long 6 years ago in 2018.
I can't for the life of me think of another 6 year old camera that has aged this well.

Hope you're not feeling ill?!
I know how that feels, they have a classic car show about two blocks away from me once a year... why couldn't it be one block?
Probably the truest statement I read all week.

No reason to play the Devil's Advocate, the 5Diii/ML Raw is one of the best images I have seen for the money... especially if you aren't too concerned with playing the resolution game. Is it perfect? No. Is the workflow a little tedious? Sure. But man those files!

I didn't post my camera choice just to be forced to defend it. With that said... please tell me another camera that has 14bit full frame, uncompressed raw video for less than $1000? Please I'd love to see that camera?
As far as the Sigma FP being a better camera... I've had the 5D for about 7 years and the FP for about 1.5 and I'm sorry to tell you... the FP is not a better image... unless all you care about is getting sharpness via resolution. And this is coming from someone that truly likes the Sigma FP. I will say that I do agree that the FP is a weird successor of the 5Diii/ML Raw, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Sigma got inspiration from that camera and firmware.
As is, the similarities make the cameras a bit too redundant for me, so after a lot of testing and consideration, I am keeping the 5Diii and selling the FP. I don't really need 4K and I have access to an S5iiX if I do... weirdly I find the ProResHQ out of the S5iiX to be damn near close in quality to the FP.

What a great way of putting it.
When the image is lesser, it's like a switch flips in my head and I'm able to move on to more important aspects.  Shooting becomes so much more fun too.

Have been using mine the fourth day in the row now. Having a blast. It's a very pure experience, having to be set with four puny batteries, which last for about 30 to 35min of footage. Today I was using the 12-32 zoom, on the first three days a 25mm C-mount lens, the latter with a 360 shutter unfortunately! Not using Nds at all is a pretty big confession to choosing a desired depth of field. It provides me with some challenges I have to master and which make me reflect a good deal about my framing and sujet. Handheld panning and tilting with the 25mm is quiete an exercise as well.

But no for goodness sake! Don't misunderstand me.
The idea is also cute, since I fell for it.
It's just that watching dozens of videos and hundreds of comments posted after GU's video I see that everyone tries to disguise the problem. then I don't know that youtuber so I couldn't appreciate his ironic streak.

Still loved.
 

Still loved.
 

Meanwhile, not all reviews are the same.....
 

I'm in agreement!  The irony is that I basically did exactly what you say "wouldn't have worked" 25 years ago. Betacam SX camcorder ops with torn rotator cuffs unite!
My career back then was filming tourism video around the world using big 'ol NTSC camcorders, large ANTON batteries, and a massive tri-pod.

Do you think that any cinematographer in their right-mind would use a 5D with a hacked firmware on a shoot that's $100,000 a day?
Hollywood gets nervous if the camera is anything except an Alexa.  If they get nervous about using RED, then you're dreaming that they'd even contemplate using a hacked firmware for anything.
You talk as if you're familiar with the industry, but.....

It's also a strange comment to make if you've seen the PR videos of larger format cinema cameras where cinematographer after cinematographer gush about how the larger sensor will make all their dreams come true, and using all the words that forum fanboys use, and making all the mistakes that forum fanboys make around crop factor and DOF and FOV.
I used to think that the pros automatically knew more about this stuff, but then I saw behind the curtain and realised that everyone is susceptible to sensor size envy.  Since the Alexa LF and mini LF were released, the price of FF vintage primes has gone through the roof, to the point that a decade ago people were practically giving away sets of F1.4 primes and now the average cinematographer struggles to even put together a functional set of the F2.8 versions.