eatstoomuchjam

I understand that the grip of the Z6 III holds the battery. Judging by pictures, it also holds the memory cards - which includes a UHS-2 full-size SD card instead of a UHS-1 micro-SD card like the ZR has. Oh, and you can also change the cards while the camera is on a tripod or gimbal. I had no idea that mirrorless cameras couldn't be used without a gimbal. That's quite a limitation. Without being aware of it, I've been using mine mostly without a gimbal for a while now. You know the microphone is supposed to point toward the front of the camera and not the back, right? That should reduce the risk of poking out your eye with it when holding up the EVF. 😉 Anyway, the Z6 III has a screen that is still pretty decent-sized at 3.2". From your description, it sounds like your needs could be better met by using a Black Magic Cinema Camera 6K instead of a Nikon ZR. The BMCC has a bigger rear screen at 5". The EVF is optional so you won't need to use it if you don't want to. While L mount isn't quite as versatile as Z mount, it's still quite good. The BMCC6K also has 2 mini-XLR mic inputs which can be used along with the internal mics for 4-channel audio. If you want smaller files, you can increase the compression ratio for BM raw. Even at the maximum compression on the UC12K (12:1, I think?), it still looks very good. I usually use the Ursa at 8:1 except for VFX shots where I go up to 5:1. The main limitation against the ZR is that the BMCC is a bit bigger and heavier. But as a person who wants "the best back LCD I can have," the BMCC blows the ZR and its puny 4" screen out of the water. You'll also get a full-size HDMI port and not a garbage micro-HDMI port in case you want to connect to an even bigger 7" screen.

Yes, a mere 3.2 inch. Yet another time when people might be wishing they had just 0.8 inches more. 😆

Part of what's crazy to me is that the ZR isn't that small. If you compare it with a Z6 III or an EOS R5, the actual bodies are almost the same with the main differences being that the "bigger" cameras have a handgrip and EVF protruding from the small body. Looking on camera decision and comparing the ZR to the Fuji X-M5, the ZR is gigantic. And I feel like the Z6 III was more expensive when the ZR was released, but as of right now, their prices are almost identical with used Z6 III costing less than used ZR. So if you don't need the sort-of Redcode RAW or internal 32-bit float, the ZR becomes a somewhat weird choice. This is why I am waiting for the used prices to go down a lot once people figure that out or when the next shiny camera drops. 😉

Well, my initial review is very short and succinct. "Doesn't fucking work. At all." Judging by their FAQ, I received a defective unit, as on my R5, it just shows F00 and won't switch out of MF mode. On the C80, it displays a communication error and won't autofocus. After updating the adapter firmware, no change. Their utility to program it also does not find it after I follow their instructions to connect it... at least on my Mac. I'll try it on a Windows computer later tonight, maybe. Also, even if it did work, it won't be usable on an RF mount Red. On my OG Komodo, the chin/motor of the adapter hits the chin of the camera. I didn't try it on the Komodo-X, but the horizontal/vertical dimensions are identical or nearly identical so I don't expect a different result there. Asked Amazon to replace it. I think they ship the replacement before I send back the original... though it ships from China. So I guess we'll see in 7-14 days whether the replacement works.

Well, it wasn't in May, but mine just arrived! Let's see how/if it works...

I ordered one, should be here by tonight.

At this point, I am pretty sure that I'll still be asking for it next January - and the January after that. 😉 It makes some sense that BMD would bring all of those upgrades to two of their most popular cameras first - now let's just hope that they don't leave the higher-end stuff out. Judging by their last set of announcements, there is some hope for new features coming to the Ursa LF, given that they're focused so heavily on pushing it into the broadcast market, but I could also see them pulling most of the people working on camera firmware and shoving them over into the firmware that runs on their boxes that are designed to fit in a server rack (the main focus of their recent announcements).

Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro are now $100 off everywhere. It's still on the pricey side for an action camera, but my Insta360 One R/RS's are getting older/a little beat up and the batteries seem to be showing signs of age too. I'm not sure how this person did such a deep dive on the imaging pipeline, but it was an interesting read. https://gethypoxic.com/blogs/technical/gopro-mission-1-gp3-image-pipeline Info on the sensor: https://www.sony-semicon.com/files/62/flyer_industry/IMX06A-AJ1R-J_Flyer.pdf (Also saw that Sony now has a 247 megapixel MF sensor while digging that up, that's a lot of dots)

FWIW, PDAF has been in beta on the CC 6K for like a year or more now and reviewers were saying that it was working great. This release just formalizes it as released. My hope now is that BMD will finally follow through on their statements that PDAF coming to other omdern cameras, including the Ursa LF. That and 4-channel recording would be a nice update for it.

I think the closest thing to what you're looking for is the cinepi project. That or there was at least some project recently where somebody removed the glass from a smartphone and juryrigged a lens mount to it. That'd be another place to start.

The Ronin 4D can be great, but it can really make you crazy. It is definitely my favorite gimbal. If you go used, you can get a usable 6K setup for around $5,000 which, while still expensive, is a lot more affordable than $10,000! The Flex really makes the system interesting.

As a person who is waiting for used ZR prices to drop a bit more before picking one up, this all sounds good to me. 😅

It looks like a beautiful place. Glad you had a nice trip! Were you looking for additional feedback on the video?

I quite liked it, but do know that if you're trying to capture anything with sound, the fan noise on the raw is really obnoxious. The image was pretty nice, though!

From what I've read, this is basically correct. It can apparently add about 3 stops of extra highlight retention. On most modern cameras, changing ISO doesn't change the sensor gain unless you move into the territory that is handled by the next "native" ISO. The only exception I know to this is Z Cam (which is why they suffer some WB shift when changing ISO). Otherwise, for raw codecs, you are adjusting the allocation of stops/highlights in the recording - and for non-raw codecs, you are changing how the camera post-processes the raw that it read at the base ISO. So in theory, the LOFIC should help with any ISO that is set by the user. It should also be understood that it only helps with highlights and does nothing whatsoever for shadows - meaning that ETTR is probably even more of a thing with any LOFIC system than it was with most Bayer sensor setups.