Video Hummus

The screen is the gateway drug. I am much weaker than @BTM_Pix and after handling one briefly for 15 minutes ordered it 3 days later. It's coming tomorrow. I'm not bothered by the "lackluster" DR results or anything. I also bought it in hopes the firmware updates will add even more value, which is a big no-no but I heard ProRes LT is confirmed coming.

Cinema is going the way of the railroad. A novelty experience. Why hire a crew to film your car commercial when you can prompt AI to have a car do donuts in the desert with a AI narrator? People are too apathetic and dumb to know the difference between real and fake anymore. I haven't been to a movie theater since Dunkirk. I haven't had a killer movie experience since like "The Matrix" or "Lord of the Rings". People are overworked, overwhelmed, and underprepared for this AI Idiocracy we are barreling towards. People are filling that feeling of impending upheaval with distractions. I for one have canceled most of my subscriptions or upgrading to a new phone "just because there is a new one". Fuck the instagrams, facebooks, and tiktoks of the world. Scrolling physically makes me sick now and I'm actually glad for it. They don't get to monetize my attention anymore.

As a Z8 owner I'm ready to buy this camera but I really wish, and I'm dumbfounded, it did not ship with a more compressed R3D option. Especially since R3D NE is basically NRAW in the RED IPP2 workflow. I might actually wait to see what they do with the first firmware drop. Why Nikon!

You don't love anything except huffing those "alternative truthers" farts. I guess when you eat enough of the shit pies those types of people serve you, you eventually forget what shit tastes like and start enjoying it.

I get it. I'll happily wait for a mark 2 of the 100RF.

What exactly are you getting that you can't get somewhere else? Is it R3D only? See below then... I wouldn't count that as a win or worth the money to upgrade. Currently, the R3D in the ZR is 1500Mbps. You HAVE to shoot RAW to get the most out of the ZR when you compare it to other cameras. One wedding would be 4+ TB of footage. For $500 more Panasonic delivers a camera with 10 stops of latitude (the same as an Alexa LF) a solid 3 stops more than the ZR. But it might overheat. 9 stops without their "DR Boost" which is still better than the ZR. Or you buy and FX6 with electronic ND and make your life 3x times easier. If the ZR shipped with R3D with ELQ compression than it probably would be a decent buy. I'm definitely not sold on it for its current price and feature set. But considering the starting price is so low, and discounts will happen, it might be an interesting camera in 8 months.

On one hand, we have a video company (Panasonic) with a very robust video imaging pipeline, managing to squeeze an amazing amount of DR and latitude performance out of sensor that first appeared (lackluster; performance wise) in the Z6III. However, the camera was still heavily criticized for "terrible" rolling shutter performance and seemingly NOT being a SONY camera. Never-mind sony has released several cameras with terrible rolling shutter but people still shat their pants for them. The curse of being Panasonic LUMIX and not Sony Alpha. Nikon's take-2 on the same partially stacked sensor housed in a new body--apparently designed less than 1.5 years after they bought RED (Press X for doubt) for a measly 85 million (RED probably had massive debts that Nikon absorbed). It seems to me they did their best to squeeze enough RED tech for marketing purposes into a camera that was clearly just designed to be a Z6III with a new body, minus EVF, and with a huge giant screen. More like a Version 0.5 of "Z Cinema" than a V1.0, IMHO.

Fujifilm will probably release a GFX 100RF with a 28mm f/2.8 in 3-4 years, with IBIS, and an updated sensor and no one will give a shit about wanting a FF fuji camera. They'll instead be asking Leica why there isn't a MF sensor in their Q, hmmm?

They also fixed their horrible n-log view assist. Nikon is really killing lately with their value for money, firmware, and camera offerings.

I've owned and used both of these cameras. I had the R5C when it first came out. R5C is dead in the water for me because of the RF lens mount lock-out. It's one of the main reasons I left RF. So, get the Z8. I use a Z8 with 400mm f/4.5 with and without the 1.4x TC and love it. If telephoto lenses are important to you than Nikon has perhaps the best lineup right now with the Z mount. They are the only ones that have the holy grail end-game of telephoto lenses: 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4 both with built-in TC. They also have cheaper and excellent options: 180-600 f/4.5-5.6 being a standout value proposition. The 400mm f/4.5, 600mm f/6.3, and 800mm f/6.3 are still kinda unmatched. Z mount has some cool third party lens options and growing. Nikon has been slower to release non telephoto Z mount but they are doing it. The Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ being their latest. The Z8 is my favorite camera I've used in the past 8 years: A7III, GH5S, R5, R5C, X-H2S. I've shot some of my favorite photos with the X-H2S and am very fond of that camera but the Z8 performs so much better has a hybrid camera. I'm also really excited to see what Nikon does with their RED acquisition and Z mount. I think there are exciting products coming from Nikon.

It involves their partner and I'm not talking about Leica. RED going down market and Sony's success with VENICE has stirred up some unlikely partnership collabs.

It started with the YT AI slop science channels. It has progressed to AI generated "Let's Play" slop content for children. They WILL start using it to make commercials... ...then move on to making kids shows for your kids iPads so you can go to work and forget about parenting... ...then endless Netflix AI slop TV shows for the parents... ...parents that went in to debt to go to college but didn't learn anything because they used chatGPT to write their papers and get their grades... ...who then go into critical jobs without knowing jack shit... ...which they will then lean heavily on chatGPT to do their jobs (because that's what they learned in college). The lucky ones will die in the next drone war powered by Anduril.

On another note… Panasonic needs to release a f/2.8 PZ lens. If Fujifilm can do a 28-180 f/4 surely Panasonic could do a MFT 12-150 f/2.8

Panasonic product releases perplex me. March 2019 - S1/R flopped because they released the much smaller, cheaper, and functionally the same… September 2020 - S5 the Sony’fied version of Panasonics FF. Still no PDAF. Sales probably OK. February 2022 - GH6: quirky, no PDAF. Didn’t sell well because… January 2023 - S5II with PDAF and FF. mFT iS DeAd! June 2023 - GH7 with PDAF, improved sensor over GH6 (less quirks cleaner image), internal everything kitchen sink! The S1H should be slotted in there in 2019 but I left it out because it really was a niche product. It did however have a huge impact on future camera designs: mainly the GH6 and S5IIX. I suspect we will see a S2H soon to continue the cycle of shooting your own cameras in the foot.

A few years. I have been disappointed with Canon’s third party lens fiasco, lack of mid-range quality L-glass, and some other things. My R5C is sold off. I kept the R5 for photos but might sell that off. It says “wholly-owned subsidiary” of Nikon. So my guess is key technology will trickle from Red to Nikon (global shutter sensors, raw compression on high end Nikon gear, etc…) Red probably continue to do what they do but with Z-mount ecosystem integration. I also wonder if this is a way for Nikon to break free from Sony Semi-conductor in a way with global sensor technology, which seems to be the direction the industry is going.