eatstoomuchjam

The C50 is a $3,900 camera. It's quite good and I'd love to have one, but there's a LOT of competition in the $4,000 space. It shouldn't surprise cined that not everybody's talking about it. Ultimately, it will probably be a good seller for Canon. On the other hand, adding something with "Redcode" in the name as a feature for the ZR was a fantastic marketing decision on Nikon's part. With a decent colorist, the differences in a final image between the Redcode NE and Nikon raw are likely to be negligible - but it doesn't matter because people can now say that they have a camera that records Redcode RAW. These days, used Komodos are not that much off the ZR in price - and lensrentals.com has their early BF special on off-rental gear where you can get 15% off one of their Komodos which are still in decent condition - putting them almost equal to the ZR in price. But getting an OG Komodo means a bigger camera with a smaller sensor, much worse autofocus, worse/less flexible built-in screen, much ergonomics, worse media (Cfast vs CF Express), and probably buying a v-lock battery plate so you don't need to source older/expensive Canon camcorder batteries (I did exactly that), and a less flexible lens mount with fewer third-party lenses available. But you do gain global shutter and 16-bit raw with better test chart performance. So yeah, of course everybody's talking about the ZR. Not sure why anybody, cined included, should be mad about it. People are welcome to use whatever hammer they like - and more competition in the cinema camera space, especially affordable (in comparison) competition is great for us as consumers of those cameras.

The R3D files made by the ZR are actually R3D NE, a new codec which may or may not just be the same as Nikon raw, but with different processing applied. Resolve 17 was released in 2020 before either Nikon raw or R3D NE existed so you will probably need to upgrade to 20. A potential workaround would be to use redcine-x to apply basic adjustments and then convert them to a format that Resolve 17 can handle.

Speaking of disconnected, I recently got curious how much the GH7 had come down in price. I guess it's still $2,200 new (usually) but on sale for about $1,800 now which is a close match for the going price used? But... are there people out there still spending $2,200 on a GH7? I'm not saying it's a bad camera, but I'd really have expected the new prices to be <1500 by now, especially given that just about anybody who was willing to buy a GH7 at anywhere near $2,000 probably already did. (That and I've sort of always wanted one and really want the used price to be closer to 800 than 1800) That's a fantastic deal! Going rate is a lot more.

Fuji have announced the X-T30 IIi https://www.fujifilm-x.com/global/products/cameras/x-t30-iii/ It looks... fine. The price is nice - $1,000. As I said in the title, it looks like it'll be great for someone who would have bought the X-M5, but preferred a camera with an EVF. Photos are 26 megapixel. Video is 6.2k at up to 30fps, 4k at up to 60fps, and 1080p at up to 240fps. The only mention of image stabilization on the product page is electronic so I think there won't be any IBIS which will be a deal breaker for some/many.

I'd have to dig mine out to see what it is - but it's EF mount so usable on a speed booster. 🙂 (But still more expensive than cutting some cardboard)

It's true - that's a decent experience. DJI Transmission to their high bright monitor also seems to be higher quality with similar/less lag than my Hollyland Pyros. But I've had glitches/problems with all of them in the past, especially in the sort of areas where my phone shows like 40 wifi networks. The biggest problem for me is that if wireless is the only option, when it's not working, you're just SOL. It can work perfectly for weeks or months, but none of it matters if it breaks down on the day when you're shooting something that matters.

I'm still on the other side of this one. My most used lens while traveling on my GFX 100 II (and previously on my GFX 100) is the 32-64/4. Except when Etosha NP, where it was the 500/5.6 (sometimes with the teleconverter). Most used apertures on the 32-64/4 are all in the f/5.6-11 range. There aren't a lot of landscapes where I need to be at f/2.8 or faster and for environmental photos of myself or my partner (or both of us together) in places, the phone does fine - and if I do take it with the real camera, shooting at f/2 will definitely let somebody know that we were in a place with certain abstract impressionist colors seeming like a meadow or forest or lake behind us. For an upcoming trip to Thailand where I'd like to travel lighter since we're moving around a lot, sleeping on trains, etc, I'm currently giving a lot of thought to just bringing the 50/3.5 and trying single lens life. I'm eager for the day when the GFX 100RF is a lot less expensive on the used market.

If that's the direction you're going, have you considered a Blazar Mantis? It's a 1.33x squeeze and has an internal oval aperture to give what they claim to be closer to a 2x bokeh look. I've looked at them a few times and I personally find their bokeh to be a turnoff, but a bunch of people seem to like them. Otherwise, it might be worth looking into whether any currently-shipping lenses allow a waterhouse aperture. I had a modern Petzval for a bit that did. If it's a waterhouse, you could put tape over the biggest and cut out any shape you want for the bokeh. I think lensbaby have one or more lenses which have both a standard round aperture and a hole for inserting bokeh-shaping cutouts. I might even have one around year somewhere from around 12 years ago that I've only used a few times - not for the bokeh cutout, but because the front element of it is on something like a ball head so it can be unlocked and moved freely around to get all Scheimpflug-gy(?).

Looks like it supports a wired connection. If using the phone as a monitor in most places, that's preferable. In any sort of urban area, congestion in the 2.4ghz and 5ghz zones makes wifi monitoring frustrating - it'll be working perfectly for an hour and then as soon as you start to roll a take, it's either stuttering or turning into a work of impressionist art. Otherwise, apps like it (without a number of the features like storyboarding, etc) have existed for other cameras for a whlie. The Z Cam mobile app is so good that it makes you angry at every other camera vendor (it also supports wired connection). But yet, most users end up still using monitors - among other things because notifications popping up while filming is distracting - and just about everything on set needs a damn app these days and that gets annoying when that app needs to run on what is now your camera's monitor. The main place I've ended up using this sort of app is for travel - for building out a minimal rig, it's fantastic to pack just a little phone clamp and not have to think about an external screen and some np-f's.

FWIW, the Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 pancake is popular among Fuji GFX users because it's the smallest (or one of the smallest) autofocus lenses that covers the GFX sensor. If there's a market for the Canon lens, there's almost certainly a market for a similar lens that's one stop faster. Not even sure why Sean would equate it to a shitty 26mm f/8 lens.

I guess that people must have been complaining to Panasonic that the S9 was too affordable and they really needed the same thing, but more expensive. 😉

Japan is not tropical at all. Tokyo sits at 35N, a little bit North of San Diego, CA which is about 33N. For buying used lenses, tariffs are a real motherfucker, since buying lenses used from Japan used to mean getting them for a bit less than US prices and in much nicer condition all-around. As can my Blazar 1.33x when I pair it with one. It's a great place to pair with an old DSO FF 58 if you can find one at a reasonable price (or just wait until Gale does another run of them, I picked one up last year over the holidays). If playing with this, you might also experiment with a lens modded with an oval aperture or with just putting an oval cutout in front of or behind the lens. It'll make the bokeh a little more stretched. It's similar to what Blazar are doing with Mantis and was one of the options with the previously-mentioned DSO FF 58. I think there are also tutorials on doing a DIY mod for the Helios 58 (the lens used for DSO) to have it.

If you're using Chrome, you can just right click on some random part of the page and select "translate to english" and it does a pretty decent job.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809809423132.html I think it's newer than the one I got and I guess it's closer to $30 than $20. If you look around, you can also find some cases that work well with it. It can also work with some cases, as mentioned in this video by DP Journey. I got one of those cases too, but I'm not planning to switch to it until the Apple case that I got with my phone is falling apart (should just be another 3-6 months or so, based on the lifespan of my other cases and the amount of damage I've already done to it. The main change I made from his setup is that I went with a magsafe CF Express adapter that I can put on the little folding tripod gizmo. He also just made a video about an upgrade tripod gizmo which looks nice, but didn't seem to have anything compelling enough that I'd upgrade from the original.

At least for the 16 Pro, there are Magsafe threaded filter adapters. I have one that takes a 67mm filter (or is it 58?). The only real bummer is that it can't go on with my phone in the standard Apple case so I have to pop the phone out to use it. Mine cost $20 or so IIRC. Maybe something like that exists for the 17 as well?

That's true! I did guess that. Apparently my guess was off, as was my memory of the ZR price. Thanks for the reminder/correction! 😅

Wait, so the very small $1,800 camera has compromises when compared with a series of larger $3,000ish cameras? I think it's useful to understand the characteristics of the camera, but for me, the more useful comparisons would be to other small cameras in the <$2,000 price range - i.e. S9, X-M5, and even maybe EOS R6 II/S5 II (though they're a bit bulkier IIRC).

Of course - the Komodo was designed to be a crash camera for big productions. Red really didn't plan for having a bunch of people using it for A cameras. It's always been an odd one out among their lineup. Anyway, I'd also say that it's pretty impressive that the OG Komodo, a 5+ year old camera with a (supersized) S35 global shutter sensor is coming up about even in those tests with a brand new FF camera with rolling shutter. Though I'd also guess that outside of that sort of over/under test, the ZR will have better apparent/usable dynamic range than the OG Komodo and maybe even vs the Komodo-X which is noticeably better than the OG. I think that there is almost no doubt that the S1 II will win it. 😄

You seem to post nothing but angry negative stuff. Why waste your time with all of us talentless hacks?

(Including SmallHD)

It's also worth pointing out that jpeg is, as far as I know, 8-bit only. It's one of the reasons that modern iPhones (and maybe Android?) default to HEIF instead.

Which, to some extent, just says Nikon is spending more on marketing which means they can hire better shooters/editors. 😃

"Need" is a strong word. It's likely that a lot of the benefits of 12-bit raw could be realized by just using a 12-bit variant of any other codec. I'm told that a lot of productions shot ProRes 4444XQ when they had Arriraw available. That said, PRR HQ is about the same quality as 4444XQ, but with much smaller file sizes. I think it's because PRR is non-debayered which means it's only saving 1 value per pixel instead of 3. A limiting factor, though, is that a lot of processors and GPU's only have onboard support for accelerated decode of 10-bit HEVC - so 12-bit will seem really slow/laggy on a lot of people's systems. Otherwise, people will talk about the ability to change white balance in raw, etc, but I've personally found those things to be a little bit overblown. If you're swinging from 2300k to 5600k, maybe, it's better to have all of the color channel info, but if you captured at 5600k and want to move to 5200k, it's probably fine. And, of course, people will bring up the ability to change ISO in the raw import, but this is asinine. It is convenient as a quick way to change exposure, but is functionally equivalent to just adjusting an exposure slider for non-raw footage (again, as long as the file is thick enough that the all of the details are there). For me, I like having thick files with a lot of dynamic range - so for now, I prefer cameras with raw. That's absolutely subject to change if people start shipping cameras with 12-16-bit HEVC. I think that the popularity of the FX3/FX6 and the sheer number of people making great-looking stuff with them serves as a great allegation against the necessity of raw. It also really depends on your goal/intention. I just got back from 2 weeks in Namibia. I chose to bring my GFX 100 II and didn't bring an external recorder for raw so what footage I shot of animals there will be all 10-bit ProRes 422 (5.8k or 8k). I also had an EOS R5 with me which was capable of 8k raw, but I ended up just giving it to my gf to use the whole time to shoot photos since the animals tended to be more than a few meters from the car and it let her see them (her with the EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 and me mostly with the GF 500/5.6). I don't think that, even once, I thought to myself that I should take back the R5 to capture some raw footage of a giraffe drinking from a watering hole. If anything, I thought "does this really need to be ProRes?"

I don't know about L mount. There are a few for E mount, though.

If "improved DR" means 1/3-1/2 of a stop, I'd be inclined to not worry about that, regardless. But if the S35 mode gets a full extra stop (plus the 1/3-1/2), that's likely to be noticeable. I'd stick with the standout feature of this camera for many modern shooters being the 3:2 open gate recording option. That isn't a thing I care about so I'll continue waiting for Canon to release the camera that makes me think it'd be worth selling my R5. Hint to Canon, it probably involves the letters d, g, and o. 😅