eatstoomuchjam

I got a couple of Back-Bones-modified action cams - one was a Hero 7 and the other, a modified Insta360 1" edition. The one I should have got was the RX0 II since it's also a 1" sensor. The main problem is that the tiny action camera screens are awful for focusing. The Insta360 has no HDMI output so I end up monitoring with my phone and the connection has a lot of latency. The image can be really nice once I get the focus right, but it drives me crazy to get there so I only rarely take it out. It's too bad because the camera's a really nice match for C-mount and D-mount lenses. The Hero 7 (or maybe it's a Hero 8?) does have an HDMI port, but the latency is even worse than the Insta360 over wifi. Also the sensor is smaller which makes even wide angle C mount lenses into telephoto. The RX0 II has a usable HDMI port, but after not really using the other two, there's no way I could bring myself to spend $1,500 for it. I also had ripped the lens off of another old GoPro and got some M12 (or whatever size it is) lenses to use with it. It had the same problem with being hard to use, though I liked the look of somewhat less wide M12 lenses a lot more than the one that the camera had some with.

That said, if a new one comes out, my YouTube feed will definitely let me know - and there's not a lot of interesting conversation to be had around a new action cameras. "So this one is a bit better than the last one and still has an obscenely wide angle lens? Cool. Cool cool cool." (That and since I already have a couple of 1" edition Insta360 One R's (upgraded to the RS brain), it's also really unlikely that I'll be in the market for a new action cam any time soon, not unless someone comes out with something crazy good - 5.7k not-so-wide angle with a "Leica" lens on a great big (comparatively!) sensor is more than enough for the above mentioned gimmick shots)

Your site, your rules, of course! Though I would say that depending on the definition of action cam, I've used them on set any number of times - even more now that the Osmo Pocket 3 is so good. But even for the more GoPro style... Someone's going to open up an old wood furnace door and peek in? Chuck in an action cam. It gets covered in soot? No biggie for an action cam. Director wants POV of a fist hitting someone's face and their POV as they fall to the ground? Action cam. Director wants to get the wheels of a car rolling through the mud from up close? Action cam. Really, just about any shot that I think has a high chance of breaking a nicer camera or where a better camera simply won't fit, I'll just drop in an action camera. Half the time, the shot never gets used, but the other half the time, the director loves it. There's no way in hell I'd use any current model action cam (except the Pocket 3 if that counts) to shoot more than a cutaway/b-roll bit, but they keep getting better and it's easier and easier to match their footage in a way that's not too jarring. There are a lot of creative uses - many of which are arguably gimmicky or hacky, but that comes down to a matter of taste.

The used OG FX3 might also cost less when the next gen is announced, even more so after a bunch of current FX3 shooters trade in toward the fancy new model.

Either the next gen will cost substantially more or they'll keep selling the 3a at a lower price after announcing the next generation for close to the same price. But your main point of "don't buy an FX3 right now" is fully valid. It's a 4-year old model. Other vendors have cameras that are highly competitive and arguably better. Sony needs to understand that failure to innovate (or slowness in innovation) is how they took so much business from Canon in the first place - and if their best idea for a "new" camera is to swap the display on an old one, the pendulum will be swinging back in short order.

One could make the argument that it should be the Sony Beta FX3. 😉

That's not necessarily different from now. I spent a decent amount of time in Sao Paulo, Brazil since I'm dating somebody from there - and the prices for most media there are a lot lower than in the US, even pre-tariff. It makes sense - in a country where a lot of people make the minimum wage of $300/month, asking people to spend $20 to rent a new release movie is just going to result in a lot of piracy. Asking people to spend $1-4 to rent it will result in a lot less piracy and a lot more people paying to see your film. Basically, do you want 100% of $2 or do you want 100% of $0. So - movie rental is already a sliding scale price-wise, depending on the country/region - presumably based on some inflection point, real or perceived, where people will either just bootleg or not watch it at all.

In my experience, if you're editing on a laptop - and especially if you want to do it while not plugged in, modern Macbooks are really hard to beat. My M2 Max is good enough that I no longer see any reason that I'd keep a desktop computer around (I still have one for gaming and if selling it wouldn't be a big pain, I'd probably do that since I boot it up about once per month). On the other hand, if you want the highest price to performance (and absolute highest performance) on a desktop computer, PC hardware is more powerful - and in many cases, you will be able to upgrade pieces instead of needing to upgrade the entire unit. As far as your proposed spec, I think you'll be unbalanced in favor of a very high-end processor and a mid-range graphics card. You might consider a somewhat lesser CPU, again knowing that upgrading in the future will be an option if needed. Do you plan to overclock the CPU? If not, there's not much benefit to a K vs non-K variant. One other consideration might be whether you plan to use any of the "AI" features that are being added to Resolve. If so, it might be worth considering one of the newer Intel Core Ultra chips (if the price difference isn't huge) since the main "benefit" of them over 14th generation is that they have a coprocessor for machine learning. I have no idea if Resolve can even use it yet, but even if it doesn't yet, it's a safe bet that BMD will add support in the near future. Anyway, that setup will be night and day faster than what you're using now. You definitely won't be going wrong with it.

They finally put up the new video about the Eve cameras. I didn't watch yet, but I expect most of the content will be similar to before.

There's been some discussion on this here today. The main takeaway is that nobody even understands what it means. How in the fuck can you put a tariff on a film? It doesn't even make sense. And what is a "foreign import?" If I drive across the border to Canada, shoot 3 minutes of footage, and add it to a 90-minute film that was otherwise shot and edited in the US, what's taxed? FWIW, it also would be a torpedo to the Canadian industry - and I suspect the tariffs were partly driven by spite at Canada for voting so strongly against his agenda. Anyway, the major studios are going to hate this. Aside from reducing costs by producing abroad, if other countries retaliate in kind, International returns on films are going to crater - and that's a huge percentage of their profits.

The latest episode of PetaPixel is "Shot on ????????" so... probably this camera. The footage looks about as usual for Chris and Jordan.

... and this is part of the problem. A lot of people will think that they just need to pick up a Ronin and they'll remake Adolescence. And yet, they won't be working with 3-4 camera ops, an entire lighting crew, huge drone + operator, car crane + operator, multiple sound engineers, etc. Local film competitions next year should be a little wild. 😅

That's simply not true. The focus motor is an additional $270 purchase. The 6K version of the Ronin 4D also doesn't come able to shoot ProRes RAW or 4444 XQ. For that, you'll need to add the ProSSD mount ($200) and a 1TB ProSSD ($800). For most MF lenses, you'd also need to buy a mount other than the one included with the camera - I haven't seen many DJI DL mount to anything else adapters. A Leica M mount costs $300 new. Used prices on most of the above are about 2/3 of new cost. The 8K version of the camera includes the mount and a ProSSD, but (if I remember right) not the motor. And while almost none of the cameras that I mentioned include ProRes RAW (except the S1R Mark II), a majority of them are capable of shooting raw (many of them in a format that works in Resolve without conversion (additional $80 fee for Raw Convertor license if PRR). For those that don't, you can buy a used Ninja V or Video Assist 12G for $200-500. For stabilization, you can add a $400 gimbal - though compared with using the R4D, it will be much more of a pain in the ass. On the other hand, most of the other cameras can support lenses weighing more than about 1000g which is about all the R4D can support if you want to use the 4th axis. External 5" screen? If you don't already have one sitting around, you can get one of equal or better quality to the R4D screen for about $200-300. Any of those other cameras can also be set up in such a way that they will be small/light/unintrusive. That's simply not possible with the R4D. The closest you'll come is the Flex unit which costs $900 and then you'll be in a backpack ($200-300 if you buy the official PGY Tech one) and still carrying a pretty big/obtrusive camera. The main advantage of the Ronin 4D is the integrated 4th axis which eliminates a lot of footstep motion and helps smooth things out on a car mount, etc. In my experience, it's better than using an EasyRig with the springy arm or a ReadyRig Nimbus - and can be used with either for even more smoothness. The second advantage of the R4D is that everything is tightly integrated. If you get a Gimbal with subject tracking, that'll be on a separate screen and is usually driven by a second camera rather than through the camera's lens. If you get a DJI Focus Pro or other Lidar-based manual focuser, that'll also be driven through a second camera and another screen. With the R4D, you can draw a box around a subject and turn on AF and when you start tracking, it will do so uncannily well... about 95% of the time, and randomly lose the subject the other 5%. It's a great single operator camera - but again, it's far from the device I'd choose as my only camera. If I could have only one, I'd take something else for sure. It would be my first choice for my second camera, though... hands down.

Davide is 100% correct. Pair that GH7 with one of the cheap Panasonic/Olympus kit servo zooms and you have a tiny camera that works great for street work. Or bring the Olympus 12-100 if you're willing to tolerate the extra weight. Add a couple of fast primes for shooting at night and you have a fantastic usable kit. Otherwise, if you just can't stomach micro 4/3 for... some reason, there's nothing wrong with the A7S III. If light weight is a concern, I'd swap for the f/4 versions of both lenses. You'll still be able to get pretty nice shallow DOF and the lenses will be substantially smaller/lighter. Plus if you're shooting on the street in some of the cities, having smaller lenses won't be shouting "rob me" as loudly as a big white f/2.8 70-200, for example. I'd also give serious consideration to super 35. Fuji has a lot of great options and Sony has the FX30 (or whatever the non-cinema camera version of that is - A6700? Something like that?).

Well, the 8K sensor for the X9 is generally acknowledged as superior to the 6K one and it's (as far as almost anybody can tell) the same sensor that is used in the Panasonic S1R Mark II, a $3,300 camera. That camera compares favorably to the EOS R5 without being enormously better. You can get a used EOS R5 for around $2,000. Having both an EOS R5 and both versions of the X9 (having bought the 6K and upgraded), I can safely say that the image from the EOS R5 is pretty close to the X9. Plus if we're talking about shows on Netflix, Chimp Empire (recommended to be by another forum member here) is gorgeous. That one was shot on the Canon C70. Someone listed one in the local Facebook buy/sell camera group today for about $3,500. The Creator was shown on theater screens everywhere. It was shot on the FX3. The Sony ZV-E1 which is available used for about $1,700 uses the same sensor. In a recent short film contest, a film that I shot tied for best cinematography - mine was shot on a combo of Komodo-X and C70. The one that tied it? Shot on a Panasonic S5, a camera that is available used for about $800-900. Even if I cared about awards, I wouldn't be upset about the tie - the other film looked great on the big screen. So... I'm not really sure anymore what point you're trying to make about the Ronin here. Yes, it was used for a Netflix show. Other high-end prosumer cameras have also been used for Netflix shows before so this isn't really novel. Nearly every camera on the market right now is superior technically to the Red One M-X (also available for under $2,000 on the used market) - the camera used to shoot films like The Social Network, Ché, and District 9, all of which were shown on cinema screens worldwide. All of this means it's a great time to be a filmmaker, but that's hardly unique to this one camera. 😃