Jedi Master

I took my new camera to San Francisco last weekend to capture Christmas in the city. I filmed at 60p and showed the footage to family on Christmas day and I got the same reaction you did. No one said it gave them a headache or complained that it felt like someone peed in their eggnog.

I think it's mainly tradition and what people are used to. Kind of like asking why more people like red than blue or why some people prefer LP sound.

The FX30 is on sale today at B&H for $50...
 
Alas, it's a mistake in the ad copy and when you go to the site, it's actually $1798.

I think it's mainly tradition and what people are used to. Kind of like asking why more people like red than blue or why some people prefer LP sound.

Only the compare revealed the copying errors. I too was shocked when I saw them and when I used Window's Event Viewer to look at the error logs, there was nothing there to indicate any device errors. The first time this happened, I wiped the T7 by reformatting it and tried the copying again, and got the same results, although the copy errors were in different files and the missing files were different. I tried this several more times with two other T7 drives and got similar results. The files being copied were about a TB of RAW files from my Canon still cameras along with associated .PSD files.
In all cases, the drives were connected to my PC using USB C to a native USB C port on the PC. I tried four different USB cables to rule out a bad cable and it didn't make a difference.
I tried the same tests with several T9 drives and never saw any binary copy errors or missing files. At this point, I have zero confidence in the T7.

I learned FORTRAN in high school. It was the first high-level language I learned.
At university, the first CS class that every CS major had to take was a FORTRAN programming class. I was an EE major, but I took it anyway as I could see that's where the industry was headed. The work was done on a CDC 6400 mainframe using punched cards.
The second CS course, which I also took, used Pascal, which was a big improvement over FORTRAN, although even some of the CS majors just couldn't get their heads around the concept of pointers (they seemed natural to me). 
After that, everything was in C, which is the language that I use to this day when working on microcontroller projects (as a hobby). My professional work mostly revolves around working with hardware description languages, primarily SystemVerilog, and the various tools used for simulation and verification.

Not in my neck of the woods. When the pandemic was at its peak, county authorities ordered Elon Musk to shut down the Tesla factory in Fremont, CA. He refused at first, claiming Tesla was an "essential business" (essential businesses were exempt from the order). Public outrage and pressure from the authorities finally got him to relent. This incident is believed by many to be the reason Musk decided to move the company headquarters to Texas.

This has got me curious enough to dig deeper. I'll try with several other computers running various operating systems, different cables, etc. Hopefully I can identify the root cause of the miscompares.

AI will not remain static. It'll continually get better and better to the point where it will stop generating "dubious code" and generate code just as good, or better than what a human can generate.

I have an A6500, so not the A6700, but the A6500 has a reputation for overheating too. I've never had a problem with overheating myself, even during our hot California summers. Big caveat, however: My "takes" are rarely longer than 1-2 minutes, so the camera has time to cool down between takes.

Yes, very bizarre. I've never seen anything like it in recent memory and am puzzled where the issue is happening--on the SSD itself, in the transfer process across a USB cable, on the motherboard in the USB hardware, transferring data from the USB controller into memory, a bug in the OS that's corrupting memory involved in the file transfer, or a bug in the program I use for the binary comparisons.
I did a test yesterday that adds to the confusion. I took my newest T7, reformatted it, and copied all of my digital photos (about 1TB worth) to it. I then ran a bit-by-bit binary comparison and saw several bit compare errors and several missing files in several directories. I ran the same compare two more times and saw the same kinds of errors, but they were in different files! Yes, files that didn't compare previously were now comparing correctly, and files that compared correctly previously were now not comparing correctly.
It's always good to compute checksums for important files to verify their integrity. They're not quite as good as bit-by-bit comparisons, because two totally different files have a tiny, but non-zero, chance of hashing to the same checksum. I think I'll try calculating MD5 hashes on all of my digital photo files from their usual location (a 10TB WD hard disk) and do the same for the copies on the T7 SSD and see if the MD5 hashes are always the same. I'll run this in a loop and log the results.

Only the compare revealed the copying errors. I too was shocked when I saw them and when I used Window's Event Viewer to look at the error logs, there was nothing there to indicate any device errors. The first time this happened, I wiped the T7 by reformatting it and tried the copying again, and got the same results, although the copy errors were in different files and the missing files were different. I tried this several more times with two other T7 drives and got similar results. The files being copied were about a TB of RAW files from my Canon still cameras along with associated .PSD files.
In all cases, the drives were connected to my PC using USB C to a native USB C port on the PC. I tried four different USB cables to rule out a bad cable and it didn't make a difference.
I tried the same tests with several T9 drives and never saw any binary copy errors or missing files. At this point, I have zero confidence in the T7.

Looks fine to me.

No, it's one of these: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1629147-REG/meike_mk_ff35t21_pl_full_frame_35mm_t2_1.html
Sorry to disappoint anyone who might have thought I wouldn't settle for anything less than a ARRI Signature Prime or a Cooke S4/i. 🤑
Yes, we brought a tripod as well. My wife held on to the tripod while on the cable car.
I decided to upgrade my tripod when I got the C300 and got a Sachtler Flowtech 75 CF tripod. It's lighter than my previous tripod and much easier to set up and use as the leg locks are at the top.
There were several factors that led me to buy the C300 over the C70: Bigger and non-built-in monitor, availability of a native PL mount, CFexpress card support. I didn't find it difficult to shlep the C300 and tripod around the city. I carried the C300 by its top handle in my left hand and the tripod by it's handle in my right. My wife and I are strong hikers, so the hilly terrain of the city wasn't that big of a challenge. The cable car ride was the only physically demanding part of the day, and that was only because I was hand-holding the camera at arm's length to get a better view (and avoid getting the head of the passenger in front of me in the frame).

I have an A6500, so not the A6700, but the A6500 has a reputation for overheating too. I've never had a problem with overheating myself, even during our hot California summers. Big caveat, however: My "takes" are rarely longer than 1-2 minutes, so the camera has time to cool down between takes.

One of the reasons I prefer travelogue-style work is because I don't relate well to people in person. I attribute this to my Asperger's. I'm kind of like a milder version of Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. I work all day with nerdy engineers like myself and most of the casual conversation is about technical subjects, not about anything related to art.
I've always been a big advocate of using the right tools for the job. I'd rather work with a tool than fight with it, even if the right tools cost more--to me, it's worth it in the long run.

2024 is upon us and I have decided to look back before looking forward. How did everyone else's year turn out?
 
Work
2023 has been the busiest year I have ever had, I have shot an even wider variety of events than before as well as small projects such as photoshoots, social media content for clients, etc. This year even logging into this site was a luxury I rarely had. Next year looks like it will be the same as I continue to build a repeat client base across a wider spectrum of project types.
Gear
Each year my goal is to buy nothing and of course it did not work out that way for me. My biggest purchase this year was to build a new editing workstation. I was having real problems editing the H.265 10bit 422 footage that the R7 and R5 produce and time is money as they say; with so many jobs my workstation became the limiting factor. I ended up building a custom workstation with a Core i9 CPU, 24 cores, 128GB of memory, NVME drives, and RTX 4080 GPU. Most importantly I made sure that the CPU I selected supported QuickSync which can hardware accelerate H.265 10bit 422 footage. This setup with Davinci Resolve finally fixed my Fusion and footage lags once and for all.
I also now have access to AV1 with the new CPU which produces almost lossless footage quality. I thought it was going to be a great new codec to use; until I found out Vimeo does not support it even though they say they do (my first AV1 upload to Vimeo stuttered horribly and was unwatchable), and on YouTube the user has to specifically enable it in their profile to enable AV1 playback. I will still probably always upload to my personal YT channel using AV1 but for clients I will need to stick with H.265 or H.264.
As many of you already know, my setup is now 100% Canon; R7 (Photo/Video), R5 (Photos), C70(Video) and I use them in that order from a frequency standpoint. The R7 has exceeded my expectations in every way (battery life, Image Quality, reliability, photos, video, rigging options). The R5 is a bit of a disappointment, 95% photos, sometimes a B cam for the R7, or a C cam for the R7 and C70. I probably would be better off with two R7's and the C70 but it is too late now.
C70 
The C70 is great when locked down on a tripod and especially for long form with XLR audio as an A cam. I am far from a pixel peeper, but for me when looking at the footage after a shoot, its always a bit of a disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it always seems flatter and duller than the R7 or R5 even though they are all set to CLOG3.  I personally think it is a combination of the Canon speedbooster and the Canon EF 24-105 F4 lens that lives on it as well as the fact that I have little or no control over the lighting for most of the events that I shoot. The 24-105mm is underwhelming in all areas, but I just can't seem to find a better lens for the C70; something like the Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 I think would be a better lens for the C70 but that's not an option in EF mount.
I think the 24-105mm combined with the speedbooster does something to the contrast and saturation that is hard to recover in post. Also, the slightest bit of direct light and the image washes out very quickly due to the speedbooster; and when I say direct light I don't mean direct sunlight, I'm talking even shooting concerts and music videos the image washes out terribly from DJ or music video lights. Needless to say, my setup is not doing the C70 any favors, but as a OMB my setup times are already long as it is. I am thinking about switching to a native RF lens for the C70 but that would be an expensive endeavor. The Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8 is $3K....insanity, it would probably greatly improve the C70's IQ but do nothing for its reach.
R5
The 30min recording limit pretty much kills it for anything long form which eliminates it as ever being an A cam even if overheating weren't a concern (which it still is to me). I do shoot b roll clips in a pinch with it or go with the C70 and R7 locked down and shoot the R5 handheld but its rare that I need all 3. The EVF has so much latency that I still miss my 5D4 for photography action shots. Other than the EVF lag, it is great for photography.
R7
I've said enough praises about it, but I do find myself thinking a lot about FF equivalency these days when picking up the R7 (more on that in a moment). To my eyes; the IQ out of the R7 and R5 are identical until the R5's second native ISO kicks in, but if the ISO needs to be that high I am in trouble anyway. These days I use an F7 panel light and pretty much never have to go above ISO800 with the R7 combined with the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 EF-S lens.
Stability
I shoot almost exclusively handheld now. Many projects I don't even bring the gimbal and the few times that I do, I hate everything about it and either don't use it or only use it for one or two shots (long form speedramps mostly). The R7's IS is great, and I no longer try to emulate fancy YT camera movements, I let the action do the moving and just slightly follow it with the camera work. For very short walks (backwards or forwards) I am stable enough combined with IS and sometimes DR warp stabilization that I can pull it off, but needing to walk really isn't as common as you would think for the projects that I shoot.
vND Meike Adapter
My favorite accessory of all time for the R7 and pretty much any camera I have ever owned has become the vND Meike adapter. No more fiddling with lens ND filters, it is nothing short of amazing. It does add a slight green cast to the footage but it is an even cast, no dreaded X pattern or variable cast. In post I just add 20 to the magenta slider in Davinci Resolve and its fixed. Sometimes the green is complimentary, and IMO gives it a higher end look so depending on the situation I will leave it. 
My only complaint with the filter is it does not go to zero stops of ND so if you are running back and forth from inside to outside for an event you have to accommodate the 2 stops when you are indoors by raising the ISO. It is also very easy to bump the little wheel and there are no numbers or steps on it to set it precisely to where it was before.
FF Equivalency
Over the course of this past year I have spent more time than I would like thinking about FF equivalency but not in the way most people do. I personally think the FF "look" is a myth, I have no clue when looking at a shot if it was a FF sensor or not.
When I personally think about FF equivalency it is from a lighting perspective. Before arriving at a new venue for a project I always worry that there won't be enough light available and all of my F2.8 FF lenses are no longer F2.8 on the R7 and the Sigma 18-35 F1.8 usually isn't long enough for back of the room type of long form content (dance recitals, corporate events, holiday shows, etc.) so I usually use the RF 70-200mm F2.8 on the R7 for B cam work. The R7 also does not have a second native ISO so it gets noisy pretty quickly after 1600ISO.
Those situations and the fact that 60FPS is line skipped (in both the R7 and the R5) sometimes makes me wonder if the R6 II would be as good of a fit for me as the R7. So far the R7 has delivered on every project and my concerns about lighting were overblown, but I feel like its the one thing that adds stress to my day when arriving at a new venue for a new project where I have no control over the lighting.
2024 Demo Reel
I also created a new Demo Reel for 2024. This was shot across many years, projects, and camera eco systems. No matter how busy you are, you still need to keep those new customers coming in so I decided to start off the year with a demo reel.
Below are all of the cameras that I think I used for the footage in this video. I also uploaded this video using AV1 to YT.
Cameras - Canon R7, R5, C70, S5, GH5, C200, R6, GoPro 8
Drones: DJI P4, Mavic Pro, Autel EVO II
 
 
 

I work in an industry were the top guys are very well-paid, particularly in stock options. One of my co-workers is into sailboat racing and paid $400,000 for his boat. Another is into flying, and paid $700,000 for a plane. My hobbies are more modest in comparison, especially in recurring costs (it costs a lot to moor a boat or hanger and maintain a plane). 

I suspect sailboat man and plane man likely have much the same "its all relative" outlook about their purchases when they consider that you've paid nearly $100K for a telly.
More power to your elbow for being in the position to do so and buying whatever you want though, as you can't take it with you.
George Best had the right idea.

If I knew how my arm would feel after that I wouldn't have done it! It wasn't some big monster cine zoom--just a 35mm T2.1 prime. Fortunately, we had a very good driver (or whatever you call them) and the ride was very smooth. If I had to do it again, I'd ride on the other side so I could hold the camera in my right hand (I'm right handed) and hold onto the car with my left. My wife thought it was hilarious--you can hear her giggling in the scratch audio track.

I took my new camera to San Francisco last weekend to capture Christmas in the city. I filmed at 60p and showed the footage to family on Christmas day and I got the same reaction you did. No one said it gave them a headache or complained that it felt like someone peed in their eggnog.

60p looks awful?  Everyone who's seen my videos at 60fps have said they look stunning, no one has said "Doesn't look a film the frame rate is too high".  If people want to shoot at 24fps that is of course their choice, but unless that person controls the TV and playback devices and have them set up correctly, the chances are their friends and family or customers with their own TVs will be watching it like its 60 or 120fps due to interpolation on their TV and it will not resemble being at the "flicks" in anyway shape or form, but due to the lack of temporal information, those interpolated frames will be introducing artefacts and reducing quality.

Depends on whether the sink device (the smart TV in this case) supports QMS. The Netflix app does , but most streaming devices either don’t or not completely. 

I use a Sekonic C-500 color meter. It reads directly in degrees Kelvin.

I use a Sekonic C-500 color meter. It reads directly in degrees Kelvin.