solovetski

Don’t shoot the messenger. 
I’m just talking about the way BMD see it.  
They are known for how good their color science is, and now workflow, especially on their own cameras.  I mean most of the best looking images shot on other cameras are still going through Resolve for final color.
They made a great codec that works on even the oldest computers. BRAW 12K plays back faster than 4K ProRes even on Mac. 
Don’t kid yourself that 4K or 2K delivery means you only need 4K acquisition.    Because right now you can shoot 12K BRAW for a SIMILAR file size as ProRes 4K.  So why bother with a legacy codec.
If you are BMD why would you bother supporting a legacy codec anymore. It’s not just KINDA supported.  The only KINDA supported is FCP.  In everything else BRAW works, especially the big boys like AVID.  And until recently the ONLY way to shoot ProRes RAW internally is on a Nikon.  I’m not sure that problem has been solved yet either.  You’re currently FORCED to use an external recorder to record PRR.
And from what I understand, PRR won’t easily support the higher resolutions like 12K because the file size is then massive.  It can’t scale up.  And before you say I don’t need 12K, again, with BRAW it can be a similar file size to 4K ProRes BUT you get the super sampling advantages.  I’m not saying that’s what everyone actually wants, but think about it from BM’s perspective. 
They made an awesome raw(ish) codec that plays back on any computer often faster than 4K ProRes, in most editorial and finishing systems that can handle and scale to higher resolutions with no real file size cost.  It could be implemented by other manufacturers if they wished, but they’d be happy just using it for their own eco system anyway.
I think the main reason that people aren’t using BRAW more on other cameras is that they don’t like the recorders that Blackmagic make, not because they don’t want BRAW.
 

I'm sorry to hear that and glad you've recovered and doing well.  These things definitely give clarity on what is important in life!
Sounds like you definitely deserve a new camera - the S5iiX looks like a killer offering.  I've been playing "if I won lotto, what would I buy" recently and the S5iiX is high on that list.  Enjoy!!
My only piece of advice is to just shoot a bunch of test shots and play with it to really understand how far you can push it etc.  Especially shooting highly saturated, high DR scenes, and doing a series of under / over exposures, then trying to pull them all back to a normal exposure again.  If you can get everything setup to where you can pull footage down / up to a normal exposure and have it look correct then you're in a good place with normal WB / exposure / saturation / etc adjustments.

So...
 
I was diagnosed with kidney cancer on September 5. I had my right kidney removed on October 13 and am now cancer free (and if my scans show nothing in April I'll be considered cured!). During that entire period though, I didn't do any jobs and just focused on recovering, but had decided to dip my toe back into the water and had a small job planned for a friend this week.
 
As I was just going through my equipment in preparation of getting back into the swing of things my pup Teri knocked over my main S5 and IT BROKE. Now, it doesn't impact my job because I have two extras of the same cameras, but obviously it left me needing to get a new camera. Sooo...
I bought the Lumix S5IIX instead of getting another used S5. I swore I'd never buy a camera brand new again, but the used price isn't that much less, and I was able to get a decent deal on it with a lens. With all I've been through (having my kidney removed was, without a doubt, the most painful thing I've ever experienced, just FYI) I figured I'd treat myself. 
This is a long way to ask a couple questions while I wait for it to arrive tomorrow:
1. how easy is it to match the original S5 straight out of camera or with a little tweaking using the standard or natural color profile? I will use log, but for certain jobs it's just easier to skip that part.
2. why is there no third party battery grip? has anyone heard why? 
3. I have a couple third party batteries. Wasabi and Newmowa brands. Has anyone encouraged any problems with third party batteries? I have like six OEM batteries but I've heard the S5II and S5IIX's battery life isn't as good as the S5.
4. what are the best settings? I've seen tons of YouTubers but I'd prefer to hear it from people that do more than film themselves in their spare bedroom/garage and actually are out there getting the most out of their camera.
5. This one is most important: I just want you all to know I love you all. My ordeal has given me a greater appreciation for life, the interactions I have with other human beings, and just everything, really. Thank you @Andrew Reid and everyone else that makes this place special.

Actually, here's my nomination for best-bang-for-buck camera nowadays - the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 just announced by BM.
Here's why:
It's tiny, and fits the entire ecosystem of the previous Micro models, including battery type (Canon LP-E6) It can record BRAW up to DCI 4K60 to USB-C....    so you don't need a big expensive external recorder, you can use any old HDMI monitor you like! BM specifies 13 stops of DR, the same as all their previous cinema cameras, and up from the 11 stops they quoted for the previous Micro Studio camera It has AF (it won't be fast, but the previous BMMCC didn't have AF, and the OG BMPCC one was quite useful) It's $995! So, it's smaller and cheaper than the P4K, but appears to only have one native ISO.  Interesting.

Famous Sony footnotes kicks again:
Sync speed with "External" flash is 1/500. With base ISO of 250, its the same as 1/200 with ISO 100.

Almost all major prosumer Sony cameras overheat I guess. Maybe the ones where the node size is too large, that lacks a heatsinks, or fan or some other issues.
Sony doesn't care for overheating. This one shoots 120fps at 24MP, but for only 1.5-1.6 seconds or something. Guess that means that their RAM isn't really huge. Also, it could probably be used to cook in the winters during shoots 😁

Exciting! Been waiting for a global shutter hybrid for years. Would love to have no rolling shutter and an unlimited flash sync speed. Now I just have to wait about five more years until it's available at a price point I can afford, and from Panasonic 😄

I have a strange relationship with the GX85, now that I've gotten sufficiently good at colour grading - I don't feel limited by it.  Of course, if they were to increase the DR, improve low-light performance, add 10-bit, etc etc, then I'd be happy, but I'm not chafing at the bit for those things.  
What I wouldn't mind though, is having a log profile.  And not a "V-Log L" style unsupported thing, I mean a real log profile that's supported with professional specifications.  Apple did it with a phone, so there's no excuses now.  They might need to add 10-bit for that, but so be it.
There is quite a bit of info about Panasonics future plans.
For example, this says that Panasonic has registered two new cameras, likely on higher end and one lower end:
https://www.43rumors.com/panasonic-officially-registered-another-new-model-in-china-we-now-have-two-cameras-coming-soon/
This article from France suggests that they're selling well there, that although the compact camera market was crushed by covid, their sales are increasing due to competitors leaving the market segment, and that expert users prefer compact cameras with interchangeable lenses instead of expert compacts:
https://phototrend-fr.translate.goog/2023/10/interview-panasonic-salon-de-la-photo-2023/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
That's all hedging-our-bets marketing-speak of course, but it sounds to me like Panasonic might be keeping its eye on the compact market segment with the view to having a large share of a relatively small market.
We all know that smartphones ate the point-and-shoot fixed lens market, but interchangeable lens cameras will always have a huge advantage over smartphones in this regard, so I think there will always be demand of some sort.
The Resolve v18.1 manual is 4036 pages.  They're up to 18.6 so I'd say that one is longer still.

Gratuitous very tenuous link to post, but just for ‘proof’, my daughters little story on IG…
 

It is.
Around a decade or so back, I was what is known as skinny fat, ie, very little muscle tone but a surplus of fat around my middle.
I never exercised, had developed asthma, smoked and drank (but not heavily) and it was a gradual erosion/accumulation more than anything.
I decided to do something about it around the time of my 40th birthday.
I’m 53 in a few weeks and never been in better condition and actually have a fitness competition (Hyrox) that I have traveled to Ireland for from France, in a couple of hours.
Why mention this?
Fatigue, or reduction of from being in shape.
And not just the physical, but the mental which is unseen but contributes.
But I still have trouble getting to sleep after an intense 15+ hour day because despite downing tools, I’m still buzzing.
The next day though…and I can never lie in and catch up no matter how late I went to bed or how tired I am, by lunchtime, wiped out and can easily grab another 1-2 hours early afternoon, but it’s not until the day after the day after I feel recovered, so never take back to back jobs anymore.
No way I could be working the way I have been for the last few years one to two decades ago and I guess another factor why when other photographers or videographers ask me how I do what I do, part of that answer is level of fitness.
But as with all these things, it is only a part of a greater whole.
2.8kg unsupported in and out of your hands all day though is a bit nuts which is why it has to go!

I don't see your problem, just build strength by carrying around a brick all day when you're at home or running errands.
It's a standard industry strength training practice.
This photo shows a steadicam operator popping down to the shops on his day off:

 

Speaking of weight, one of the principle reasons I am shifting some of my kit, - my main unit clocks in at just over 2.8kg 🤪
My targets now are 2 units 1-1.5kg each.
I don’t mind a bit of chunk and heft, but anything over 2.5kg…as just one of 3 units is a bit much on 12+ hour shoots!

If I had to choose just one lens to keep out of my collection, it would be the Pana 14-140mm F3.5-F5.6 - for the range it provides it's relatively small (75mm long) and light (265g), it supports dual-IS2, focus breathing isn't noticeable and on my copy at least the zoom ring is reasonably smooth. It's been my most-used lens ever since I got it as a bundle with a G6 years ago.
If I could keep a few more, then...
The Oly 12-40mm F2.8 - just a great all-round, reasonably bright, moderate wide to moderate telephoto, no noticeable focus breathing, 85mm long and 382g. (The Pana 12-35mm F2.8 is a bit smaller and lighter and gets you dual-IS - I was considering both a while ago and then a really good used deal on the Oly came up so I went for that).
The Oly 75-300mm F4.8-F6.7 - what I use most often for wildlife, pretty small (117mm long) and light (423g) for the focal range, and decently sharp for something that small/light/cheap.
Low light? usually just chuck the Pana 25mm F1.7 into the camera bag or pocket in case I need it - cheap/small/only 125g.
I also own the old Pana 20mm F1.7, but that's noisy when focusing, so I might swap it for a 17mm or 15mm fast AF prime at some point (Oly or Pana Leica probably).
I've recently acquired a used Pana 35-100mm F2.8 (to complement the Oly 12-40mm F2.8). Decent lens and not too large/heavy for a 'pro' lens, but it's got noticeable focus breathing so not ideal for video C-AF use.
(and yes, the Pana 12-32mm pancake is great when you want to keep things as small as possible, especially if you're taking two cameras on a trip, so that would be a 'keeper' too).

I have the GH5 and GX85.
The GH5 was my default body, and I used it with the Laowa 7.5mm F2, the Voigtlander 17.5mm F0.95 and the Voigtlander 42.5mm F0.95.  Occasionally I'd use a longer lens for wildlife etc, like the FD 70-210mm F4, or the Tokina 400mm F5.6.  I would carry the 12-35mm F2.8 for difficult situations where I need very fast zooming or extra IS.
That was up until a recent trip when I discovered the GX85 with the 14mm F2.5 pancake lens combo.  Not only did I fall in love with the size of the setup, and the lack of attention it raised, but I also discovered that the AF-S was extremely useful and the DoF was adequate.  
I've since come upon the idea that there are three setups that I think I will pursue:
GX85 with 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 zoom lens
Having a 10X zoom lens will be liberating because I'll be able to shoot whatever compositions I can see, the AF-S will allow me to work really quickly, and (after spending a lot of time with a DoF calculator) I realised that the DoF should be sufficient for the work I do.  This is a day-time setup.
Interestingly, this lens is the same size as the 12-35mm F2.8 lens, so not too bad in practice. GX85 with 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 pancake lens
Compact walk-around setup when size really matters, and still gives a good zoom range.  Similar use-case to the above. GX85 with 7.5mm F2, TTartisan 17mm F1.4, and TTartisan 50mm F1.2 lenses
This is the low-light setup. All that is in combination with iPhone, and especially the wide camera, which acts as a second body and gives quick access to a super-wide angle.
If I was going somewhere that camera size didn't really matter, like doing a tour with a busload of tourists, then I'd consider taking the GH5 instead, but I'm struggling to put my finger on why it would be that much better.  I know it has various better specs, but in reality I'm only doing home video stuff, so the shooting experience and the reaction of people in-frame matters more than DR etc.
My philosophy is to think hard about how I shoot and what I am trying to achieve and to challenge my assumptions.  Hope this is useful 🙂 

I don't think it works that way though.  A 12K sensor would be sensitive to moire if there were repeating patterns that happened to align with the gaps between the pixels, just like a 4K sensor.  
It might be that common causes of moire are around a certain size and therefore impact one combination of sensor resolution / sensor size / and focal length more than other combinations.  Also, lower resolution sensors might be more prone to moire as they're typically older and there were larger gaps between the pixels than there are now.
Lower resolutions are likely to have issues on cheaper cameras too, due to the camera line skipping and therefore effectively creating very large gaps between the active pixels.  
Sadly, there's lots of different ways to create moire, and many of them tend to come from strategies to make the product more affordable!

People seem to be obsessed with nit-picking the colour science of cameras, but indicate they don't colour grade for one reason or another.
To me, even a few simple adjustments can improve the image so much more than the differences in colour science between manufacturers.  In fact, the image out of camera is like a plain sponge cake straight out of the oven - it's nice and the quality matters but it's far from the final result.
Colour grading is also talked about as being super complicated, and it can be, but it doesn't have to be.  Simple grades can still be really powerful.
Here are some examples from online, to show how much of a nice image is camera colour science and how much is colour grading.
ARRI  LOG:

With ARRIs LUT:

Grade:

The above grade was done using only white balance, the lift / gamma / gain controls, a vignette, log wheels, in that order.
To look at skin tones, the holy grail of camera colour science - here's a before and after....   before:

Then on top of the previous look, here's additional treatments to give it more of a film look.

These additional adjustments were: Gain (to lower exposure), white balance, saturation (lowered), darken shadows, in that order.
Which was inspired by this frame from Sicario:

Here's the video showing the whole grade: https://youtu.be/8GkcqEA72QM
 
Next example - SOOC:

with 709 conversion:

Grade:

Video link: https://youtu.be/fRDjEB6ryyQ
 
Next one - with 709 conversion:

Grade:

Video: https://youtu.be/OmBBYHMi_ek
 
Next one - SOOC:

With 709 conversion: 

Grade:

Video: https://youtu.be/UNW_8jcGJqw
 
There are literally more examples online to count, but I just focused on the more neutral looking colour grades, as the people doing dirty film grades probably don't care about skin tone minutia when they're going to pummel the image with Dehancer etc.
So, what's the TLDR?
Even half-a-dozen simple steps applied in addition to the manufacturers LUT can make a huge difference It's about making small changes to make the image look slightly nicer, and they add up The reason that fancy cameras look incredible is because the colourist takes the great work done on set and expands on it How do I get started?
Look at the image and work out what tool might improve it (if you have no idea, just try the basic ones) Wiggle whatever tool back and forth, deliberately going too far one way and too far the other way, then find the best spot Compare the adjustment you just make to see if it makes the image better or worse, if it's better then keep it, otherwise undo
(sometimes a really good adjustment will look completely natural and the 'before' will look like something is being applied to the image and is damaging it) Go to 1. Repeat until you can't find anything that makes the image look better. If you're using another image to inspire your look, then for step 1, just look at both images and work out what looks different about yours, and try and fix it.  Is it brighter? Darker?  More contrasty?  A different colour?  More or less saturated?  Adding a vignette to lighten your subject or darken the other areas of the frame is a good trick.  Looking to find anything in the frame that's distracting and de-emphasising it is really useful too - even just lowering the brightness or saturation can really stop it from fighting for attention.
Even by the time you've adjusted these basic tools, you'll be well ahead.  

Welcome to the free peer-to-peer colour grading course! ???
The idea is that we all have things to learn from each other, so we all grade the same clip and then you explain what you did if someone is interested in your grade.
These are the rules:
No criticism.  NO CRITICISM!!  Seriously. If someone asks for constructive feedback then sure, give a few helpful pointers (and not an essay), but this thread is about learning from each others strengths, not pointing out each others weaknesses. We are here because we are not professional colourists, and some of us only do this for fun and aren't pros, so give us a break. If we criticise then no one will grade, and... If no-one grades, no-one learns anything. You don't have to grade to participate, but please do if you are able to. You can post multiple grades if you want.  Try different looks, see what works and what other people might like.  Grading is subjective. Anyone is free to post a clip/still to grade, BUT, You must post two grades of other clips before you post your clip for grading.  Otherwise we'll have a thread full of clips and no grades.  See rule #2. If you post a clip, please include what colour/gamma profile it was shot in.  This helps to transform the colour space. Please post the file SOOC if possible (if it's not too large a file size) or at least a completely ungraded unprocessed clip from that file.  Be sure to maintain bit-depth and resolution. Please post relatively nice clips, not ones that are impossible.  Try to remember that we're trying to learn colour grading, not show off our troubleshooting skills. Don't be an asshole.  Seriously, just play nice and get along I am serious about Rule #1.  Posting your creative work is an act of courage - criticising others is an act of cowardice.  If you are an asshole I will call you out, and I will not be polite about it.
All that said, here's clip number one.  Have at it!
https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D8480669_08693060_6029821
Clip shot with GH5 in 150Mbps 4K HLG, shot with sharpening turned all the way down.  I have reason to believe that the HLG on the GH5 is neither rec.2100 nor rec.2020, but rec2100 is probably good enough to get a decent grade.  I shoot auto-WB so it probably needs adjusting, and there's a bit of noise too, but it's not too far gone - I shoot in way worse conditions than this.  The clip is from a tour of a traditional village temple in Nha Trang Vietnam.

I think a key piece of the puzzle is the human side - how we see and how our brains interpret what we see.
Our eyes have an aperture range and focus just like a camera lens, so anything that is outside of this range isn't going to look natural.  
Images with slightly too shallow a DoF for the perceived subject distance will seem un-natural, but might be what we see if we have been poisoned or drugged and our pupils dilate beyond their normal range.  If you go shallower than this range and it's just going to look completely wrong.  It's AN aesthetic, but it might not match your DESIRED aesthetic.
Our pupils dilate in low light conditions, so it's going to seem more plausible to open the aperture a bit in low-light situations.  Our eyes do adapt the gain from our rods/cones so shooting with a fixed ISO isn't necessary as there is some flex there.  In very low light we switch from the cones (which are the colour-sensing ones) to the rods (which are monochrome) which is why in very-low light we can't see much / any colour.  Reducing saturation in colour grading might help in making scenes set in very low light feel more natural.
Our pupils also dilate when we are looking at something we really like / love, and our eyes can adjust the gain down a bit to compensate, so opening up the aperture for romantic scenes is also appropriate.
The other non-DoF element is in colour.  We tend to remember scenes as being more colourful than they actually were, and I would theorise that this effect is greater if the memories were positive ones, so this could also be taken into consideration during post-production.
I think a large part of film-making is using the equipment in ways that deliberately trigger the right emotional notes and psychological connotations, so knowing what these are and using them to your advantage is going to help your work be interpreted correctly, and the piece be more engaging.

I was thinking the other day about how almost all lenses look best wide open.
So if it's a full frame F1.4 lens you see most clearly the rendering it has wide open rather than say, F5.6.
The advantage of a 2x crop sensor is that you get to shoot wide open and see more detail in backgrounds.
You take, say a 10mm F2.0 micro four thirds lens, it has the look of F2 but the deeper DOF as well so the setting isn't completely creamed out. If you have a really beautiful setting, you don't want it to be invisible and just bokeh in every shot.
So you could stop your full frame lens down to F4 or even F8 but then the whole character of the lens is lost and they all look uniformly pretty much the same beyond F4.
I think it begs a comparison... I might do one soon.
Take a Super 16mm 26mm F1.1 lens on a GH6, and compare it to a 50mm F1.2 on full frame, and also the same 50mm but stopped down to F2.2 to match the equivalent aperture of the S16mm lens at F1.1 wide open.
On the otherhand, the advantage of full frame might reveal itself more clearly when the focus distance is further out, and the subject remains a little bit separated from the environment, whereas on the 2x crop camera they'd be on the same focus plane, 'infinity' might start from about 3m outwards.
I understand the appeal of medium format, 65mm, large format cinema cameras, full frame, and so on...
Just think that 2x crop is not without merit and can even serve the story better in many cases.

Last weekend was shocking. Absolute pure evil and terror. A brutal loss of life in Israel.
It is understandable they are out for revenge, but it should be Hamas and terrorist groups that get wiped off the face of the earth. Not women and kids.
A lot of binary views out there, with people taking sides, that's the nature of war I suppose.
This isn't my war.
And it isn't even many of theirs. There are so many civilians in that part of the world who want nothing to do with Hamas and just want to live peacefully in their home without the threat of Israeli bombs falling and occupation.
Surely we can all agree on this - that women and children should be spared.
The Israeli government doesn't seem to want to do that.
Many of the young Israeli victims at the music festival who were slaughtered in the prime of their lives also sympathised with the NORMAL people in Gaza who are NOT terrorists. Most people are not in nodding-dog mode USA-government style total adoration of the Israeli government and their politics.
I also think it is darkly ironic that so many on the extreme socialist left of Western politics and even many in the LGBTQ community seem to want to think of Hamas as heroic freedom fighters. Actually if these people ever came face to face in reality with Hamas they would be the FIRST in line to get beheaded.
I despise the actions of both Hamas and the Israeli government. Palestinian civilians as mere collateral, the occupation of their land, it is all so wrong.
Before wiping out terorism in Gaza there should have been a MASSIVE humanitarian effort to evacuate the civilian women & children population by sea.
By going ahead with a ground-invasion possibly as early as this weekend, is the Israeli government comfortable to be seen in the eyes of the world to be committing genocide? Does it want the death of nearly 2 million innocent people on their hands and to lose the support of the world's public?
Yes they are entitled to destroy Hamas and defend themselves so that what happened last weekend will not be repeated.
No, they cannot be allowed to take senseless revenge on Palestinians by bombing kids in their beds, it is the stuff of war crimes.
Hopefully people in a binary view, blindly supporting ONE SIDE against the other will be able to come to terms with the fact that no binary argument is ever valid in war.
As for the West, we seem to be standing by without any plan whatsoever to get the civilian population out of Gaza to safety. We are sending the navy, warships, no rescue boats, no proper safe corridor into another country, nothing.
Of course it would be a big logistical effort, with massive number of security checks, but even a few large ships could save thousands of lives, even if you just take children or those under the age of 18 and their mothers, sisters, brothers.
Leave the Hamas hardcore fanatics to fight, and get the kids out of there...

Now that my 2023 season (weddings mainly) is drawing to a close; all shoots in the bag, just 4-5 jobs still to edit and finish up, I am thinking about next year.
I’m always thinking about ‘next year’ actually because one eye on the future and all that, but as is so often the case, thoughts and plans over the course of a season begin to stack up, the season ends and I’m exhausted/run out of enthusiasm to see all of those plans through.
Year on year.
But 2024 is going to be different…
First of all, I am not carrying the fatigue off 33 jobs as I was at the end of last year with a more controlled 21 from this and a strict cap of 15-20 going forward.
The two Covid years of ‘20/‘21 caused another kind of fatigue, a weariness due to lack of development, due to lack of work and funds; just 6 from what should have been 60 jobs over that period.
So after 4 very inconsistent years job-wise; 1+5+33+21 and some kit and work practices that I am less than enthused about, I am not only making, but will be sticking to some fairly fundamental changes that I will be putting in place over the Winter.
The first of these is volume of workload with 15 jobs as my minimum and perhaps ‘fully booked’ target but with the capacity to go as high as 20 depending on my level of interest. That is the point I have already hit actually…
The second is tightening up what or rather who, I take on. Most of my clients and jobs are exactly what I was looking for but could still be tighter, so turning up the screws in that dept. 
Third, revising my approach to capture, ie, kit. My lighting is nailed down as is my audio but cameras and lenses less so and I have been frustrated with all the combos I have been using since…well since forever actually. The hybrid nature of my work requires not only a specific skill set, but a specific set of tools. Fortunately, those do now exist with various brands so it has become a question of who and what rather than hoping the next gen will deliver. All of the current main players deliver, it’s just which will suit me best. (It’s a Nikon/Lumix mash up for me BTW going forward).
Fourth, workflow/edit. From the photo side of things, not unhappy and my only plans there are to refine a specific look over this Winter based on what will now be Nikon rather than Lumix files. On the video side, less than happy. Not unhappy, just not quite where I want things to be and whilst I could do an @kye and ‘learn colour grading you fool!’, it does not interest me enough beyond a point. I’m not even sure I’ll stick with log and may go back to shooting a profile because whilst it might not have the ultimate scope, there’s a lot more consistency (*for me*) with that approach. I love editing pics, but hate grading video! Possibly if I shot raw video, I’d enjoy it more and that is an option I am at least going to explore…
So in a nutshell:
1. Take on less work.
2. Tighten up who I work with.
3. Brand switch including more compact set up/less tools.
4. Revise/refine output.
5. (Bonus Ball) All of the above combined = greater enjoyment = greater job satisfaction = greater output = leads to more of the same.
How about you? What plans do you have? Any direction changes you might be making?

Of course, I don’t judge the quality (hw, sw and video) from their stock price 🙂. But they are under enormous pressure to survive, it is not like being a private company. They did many miss steps so now they seem to be ripping off customers to try to stay afloat. Btw I was a GPRO stockholder.
My first Gopro was Hero 2 and went up Hero 10. In parallel I started using insta360 cameras and now I’m Gopro free 😊 although I use sometime some of my customer’s ones as backup cameras.
I filmed in harsh situations so my experience could be different than others.
I have mounted on Rally Cars in Lapland and Africa, on wings of Military Jet, on desert's Buggy, Alaska Heliskiing, MTB etc..

The number of freezes, overheats, battery draining (enduro battery was made because the standard one was basically useless in winter conditions...wtf) that I had it was just so frustrating.
Gopro Hero Max is so old that is insane that they still sell it and the software is ridiculously bad compared to the insta360 one.

Gopro Mini, Session etc they still don’t know what to do… seems a trial and error approach
Gopro 10 was probably the buggiest camera that I had from all the camera that I have owned. Just do a google search for freezes, overheats, battery drain... and you will see that I'm not the only one.
And let’s not talk about their subscription model that they try to “lock you in” with hw discount hoping that you will not cancel a pretty useless subscription.
I was a big gopro fan, but they failed so many times on me that I don’t trust them anymore.

The 12 should have been a FW fix of the 11.. but as quoted company you need to bring more revenue and is a declining market too as form many a phone is a better solution than a gopro.












 

I recently asked for book recommendations to learn about human vision and was given a link to a free PDF.
It is incredible.
I'm only a quarter of the way through, but I'm absolutely blown away.  The human vision system looks like it was designed by committee and then re-imagined by Dali and Picasso, while on drugs.  It is a wonder we can see anything at all!
Did you know that the rods and cones (which detect light) are BEHIND a bunch of nerves and nerve cells and blood vessels, so the light has to go through a bunch of crap before you even sense it?   
The book is actually a mix of how the human vision system works and also what we have done with the tech to try and align to it, so it's a nice blend of biology and tech.  It's also very readable and tries to be as non-technical as possible.  This is a rare find compared to other books that are hugely tech heavy.
Take the red pill with me...  download it here: https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/support/documents/colourbook/colourbook.php (download it by clicking on the box next to the file size).

Yeah, just a little frustrated about the whole world seemingly taking digital cameras and giving them a bunch of crap that is increasingly fringe and specialist at the expense of simply having nice looking images.
Everyone loves how the Alexa looks, even the original, but then when it comes to what features we demand in a camera, somehow image quality comes last, with all the BS somehow being more important.  Non-cinema cameras have worse image quality now than they did in 2013.
No-one stopped to ask...   if the first 2 million pixels looks like crap, why would I want to have 62 million more?

It makes perfect sense to me that ALL sensors today, other than that intended for cinema/TV should be square because then best of both worlds!
Just set up custom overlays on the screen and it's easy to see what is possible from any scene.
With my photography hat on, I'd MUCH prefer to shoot this way without having to continually rotate the camera physically, but see the projected result/cropping on the screen instead.