eatstoomuchjam

Probably. I just found it really overbearing. I personally don't bother with diffusion filters at all. The short, lacking detail reason is that I'll just use a vintage lens if I want a vintage look. And yes, your observations align with mine about using diffusion filters. On low-budget sets, they also add headaches on controlled shots as the DP is now complaining that the lights are interacting with their diffusion filter in a bad way, causing time loss due to coddling the darn thing.

I think you're assigning more capability for logic to my government than they deserve.

This is incorrect. They were added to the FCC's "covered" list which means that they won't be able to get certification on any new devices that have wireless transmission moving forward. It's not just future drones. And while it's true that DJI can still legally sell existing devices that already have FCC approval, if you try to buy something, you will quickly find that DJI are barely trickling stock of any of it into the US now (apparently customs also scrutinize/delay their stuff a lot more). In some of the Ronin 4D groups, people are practically begging for parts. Just the other day, I saw somebody offering to pay full MSRP for used ProSSD's since they couldn't find stock anywhere.

At least judging by the trailer, I agree. The only thing that bugged me, really, was the glow/halation effect - were they actual diffusion filters or did they just smear the lens with vaseline? Other than finding the diffusion distracting, though, I thought the look was absolutely well-suited to the story being told. The choice of a phone felt intimate and immersive.

Hezekiah Northrup is somewhere in the background too. He's just hard to make out because the photo was taken just a few weeks after he invented Bokeh.

The weirdest bit is @Andrew - EOSHD in the center rear, similar to Jack Torrance in the old-timey photos from The Overlook...

My first thought was "I bet Rosco or Lee have something like that, but maybe not in the right size" and after a few minutes of searching, I found something from Rosco that's like that, but not in the right size. https://www.adorama.com/ro1081102024.html So there's hope, maybe that or searching for "graduated center filter gel" or similar would get you closer! Another thought would be to make something like the soft focus disc for an some types of large format soft focus lens - some examples here: https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?49632-Recommendation-for-Soft-Focus-lenses-for-4x5/page2 It wouldn't be exactly the same as varying the opacity of the film like in a gradient, but you could make an aperture that has a hard edge in the center with the edges around it perforated, but with the density of perforation decreasing toward the edges. It'd almost certainly introduce some interesting aberrations.

I think the goal is to record once and have a frame that can be cropped to work with both landscape and portrait edits.

I'd be inclined to put the R5 II over the a7V on the IQ chart. The A9 III is probably worth mentioning somewhere too. The OG Komodo is almost worth including, even though it isn't a hybrid mirrorless - but I have seen some in the approximately $2,000 range on the used market - pair it up with a $500 RVLVR Clutch handle and a $300 Portkeys monitor and you have a setup that's not much heavier than most mirrorless cameras on the market, with good ergonomics. The main bummers are the battery (I use a V mount adapter from Wooden Camera instead of the Canon batteries that it uses natively) and the recording media (CFast).

I, for one, would like to welcome Zhiyun's marketing team and/or their spam bot to this forum. As to that specific light, if it doesn't come in an ugly leather case and have Cam Mackey's signature all over the light and all of its accessories, is it even worth considering?

Wouldn't any new camera sales be heavily skewed to new releases?

I have the same vague impression, but I'm not sure. I never really went looking for it. But as you said, if there's some polarization, it stays consistent as the ND is dialed up or down. Definitely, it's one of the dangers of vND. Also with wide angle lenses during the day, the sky can end up looking funky and not just different.

Map Camera are pretty transparent with what's selling well - though what's selling in Japan might not be as big in other markets. https://news.mapcamera.com/maptimes/2025年11月-新品・中古デジタルカメラ人気ランキング/ Their top 10 lists for new and used cameras are quite a bit more varied than lensrentals' list. Even the much-maligned X-Half makes it to the top 10 list for used!

e-ND filters (at least the ones I've seen) are LCD panels with what is effectively a single very large pixel, so yes, it won't have some of the drawbacks of a vND, especially including no X when dialed up. I've never noticed any polarization with mine which is the inline filter for the EF mount on Z Cam. They are also effectively infinitely variable (if someone wants to nitpick that, feel free) so they also make it less important to have a clickless aperture, if you're one of the people who needs stepless exposure pulls on a regular basis. As for color accuracy, that'd depend on the quality of the LCD panel used, I imagine - but at the very least, I would expect it to stay consistent throughout its range. I'd also be curious in the future if someone will come out with an electronic ND that allows for gradations or split filtering, etc. Landscape photographers would be all over it.

The BF is beautiful. If I found one used at half price, I would probably take it. B&H has one used right now for about $1,700 which gets into a range where I daydream for a minute, but I'd be much more interested at $1,100-1,200. It's the same thing that makes the X-M5 tempting. The X-Half is... not for me, at all. Not at any price. I think that a lot of the FX2 irritation is that they released it so close to releasing the A7V. But I also suspect that it's only a small number of people who bought it who want the A7V now.