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I picked up a used Samsung 55” S90C QD-OLED (Quantum Dot-Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TV/monitor off of Craigslist and now I can see what I was missing. If you struggling with grading, like I did, these consumer TV/monitors, which you can purchase the current version S90D at Costco new for $1,199, have excellent color rendering contrast, brightness. It can be you everything monitor but overtime the OLED may get screen burnin. Tthat is one of the downsides of this great technology - it’s organic and is consumable. We’ll see how it looks after a year. I imaging it will look DaVinci Resolve was use frequently. Anyways, if you are in the market for a color grading monitor the QD-OLED seem to be an excellent choice.

There's always this uncanny-valley when I watch even the most realistic CGI. After a while it becomes clear that's not real human I'm watching on the screen. Long takes make it easier to identify. Maybe it's the natural movement of the human body we're accustomed to from millions of years.

Good morning and happy new year to all ! Here is the 1st attempt at a music playlist with video driving the Tenere 700. For a long time I wanted to do something like this and I say why not now! 47 minutes of tech house music, I have them divided into chapters. Ι like rock music but I like some pieces of electronic music like these. Enjoy the musical journey here:

Ah, the Pet Shop Boys late 80’s… “They have the guns, we have the numbers, let’s make lots of money”.

For the genre, that's about right.

Another vote for the Lumix S5 if AF isn't a priority. I got mine for $535 and it's a big step up from the GH5 which I sold to get it. I waited long enough in the depreciation cycle that I actually had some money left over after the trade up to full frame. I would combine S5iix with S5 and S9 for a really solid and cheap 3 camera system that gets you most of the 2020's tech advancements but at minimum cost for the image you're getting. If you need high quality stills just swap out the S5 for a Lumix S1R and you're all set. This was my plan before I got swayed into Fuji bodies and a bump up to the GFX medium format system.

f me. I'm over here shooting a doc with an EM10iii I bought used for $300 and thinking, "Dang, this looks pretty good!" And yet now I want an SL2. Damn you all.

You just need to go through the spec sheet for each. Beyond the stuff on paper, the main big difference for me is that there is no Log profile for the S1R. Many people have good results with HLG and Flat profiles with the Panasonic however. There is an L-Log profile on both Leica's. Next will be what modes you want to use and if there is 10 bit color for that mode. Beyond that, there is the subtle difference between the way Leica and Panasonic choose to "tune" the sensor. Many people really like the mojo of the Leica, myself included. I'm not a fan of the SL2-S because it really is pretty gimped for the price tag and you are around the image quality of my $535 Lumix S5 o.g. But even the lowly S5 shoots 6k RAW to the Atomos Ninja V and has anamorphic modes. The SL2 at least does 47mp stills and 5k. Full Frame 60p etc... If I had the money I would go 1. SL3-S for A-Cam 2. SL2 for B-Cam 3. Q3 for C-Cam (but probably a Lumix S9 really) I found a great video that was helpful for me to be able to see some subtle differences between the S1R and SL2, let me see if I can find it.

I was saying to my son today that it's pretty much impossible to become a billionaire if you're a decent person. I'm becoming convinced that we're nearing an inflection point and it's not going to be pretty. As another noted sage said, "They've got the guns, but we've got the numbers."

Because these rich kids are not the same rich kids you would find in 1500, and maybe the differentiator is financialization of the economy. You no longer need to own material things to be rich, you just need to manipulate the stock market, or recently, release a shitcoin! And obviously you can't compete with holders of meme-based capital, with your peasant-priced AI-replaceable talent. Material things could make a connection between rich and poor. The owner of the farm had to visit farmers to know how his asset is doing. In contrast to England, France was a place that this connection was weak, and we know what happened in 1789. In an over-financialized economy, there is no connection at all. So psychopathy in this system is not just a personal characteristic of individuals, but a requirement for joining the club.

Agreed. 10 years from now even.

You may be interested to read this book https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691215730/as-gods-among-men A sweeping narrative that shows how the rich historically justified themselves by helping their societies in times of crisis, why they no longer do, and what that may mean for social stability. The rich have always fascinated, sometimes in problematic ways. Medieval thinkers feared that the super-rich would act ‘as gods among men’; much more recently Thomas Piketty made wealth central to discussions of inequality. In this book, Guido Alfani offers a history of the rich and super-rich in the West, examining who they were, how they accumulated their wealth and what role they played in society. Covering the last thousand years, with frequent incursions into antiquity, and integrating recent research on economic inequality, Alfani finds—despite the different paths to wealth in different eras—fundamental continuities in the behaviour of the rich and public attitudes towards wealth across Western history. His account offers a novel perspective on current debates about wealth and income disparity. Alfani argues that the position of the rich and super-rich in Western society has always been intrinsically fragile; their very presence has inspired social unease. In the Middle Ages, an excessive accumulation of wealth was considered sinful; the rich were expected not to appear to be wealthy. Eventually, the rich were deemed useful when they used their wealth to help their communities in times of crisis. Yet in the twenty-first century, Alfani points out, the rich and the super-rich—their wealth largely preserved through the Great Recession and COVID-19—have been exceptionally reluctant to contribute to the common good in times of crisis, rejecting even such stopgap measures as temporary tax increases. History suggests that this is a troubling development—for the rich, and for everyone else.

They look like Matt Grangers to me.

*yet It's hard for me to believe that 20 years from now, AI will be unable to produce videos of any type that are indistinguishable from videos shot with cameras. It's an interesting discussion how much diverse training needs to be given to a model before its output is presumed original. I mean, we're all trained on images from other artists, and at the moment the primary difference is that our brains are way less adept at permanently storing precise information. And at this point, these models have ingested more videos than any of us have seen, so the inspiration is even more spread out than a human's. It's probably not that far off before some of these big companies start collecting training data straight from the real world, that combines binocular vision, audio, and other sensors into a combined stream, like our own.

The advertisement industry created its own problem by allowing minus 1 second cuts to be the norm in most ads. For short stuff like most ads AI is fine. For a feature film with long takes of real human emotions not so much. The recent passing of Lynch should help us keep that in consideration.

A great portrait of a great man. And he finally found some comfortable pants.

Potato AI.

6k 30p open gate actually… My S9 still has not turned up and yes, it is part an aesthetic thing for me but also having 2x S5II’s tripod based, having this third roaming unit on a free standing monopod or freehand, I do want it as small and light as possible. Hence also going with a set of the LUMIX primes. So despite me believing that the S5II is superior in almost every way, the S9 is arguably more ‘fun’ and is that little bit more ‘appropriate’ (for want of a better term) for me. I could easily have gone back to 3x S5II’s and in some ways it makes more sense…but then not everything has to make sense as long as it works!

An interesting watch today on the Tube... A series of 3 videos that lifts the lid on today's world. So in a nutshell... A Neofascist tech oligarchy that has defeated the people (a democracy) and gained control of a country (the US), which has been possible due to the collapse of clueless neoliberalism, and now they have a neofascist-like grip over the government, placing themselves about the law, with a client media that isn't interested in reporting factual evidence any more. Key takeaway from Gary... We are competing with the rich for space and basic resources like food and housing. They are now so rich, we can't compete for these things... And they are consuming everything... (True, as anyone who has visited any major city will tell you). ... and this is leading to societal collapse. So to distract us from the real problem - the super rich and inequality - they are asking us to blame immigrants. He also says that they are encouraging a high level of uncontrolled immigration, to fan the flames even further. So they have a paid-up client media to turn us against one-another, and then sell us the so-called "solution" back to us in the form of authoritarianism and mass-deportation. An interesting take, which leads to the Ai business. But first... take a look at Sabine's video, a scientist I respect a lot (Not least for her cutting sense of humour)... As always she is 100% right. The real problem with AI is not that one country or another is falling behind or failing to invest... The real problem is that it is going to consolidate world domination levels of power and reliance into the hands of a few private wealthy individuals. (Who have very questionable sociopathic and neofascist tendencies). Ai filmmaking is all well and good... But it is yet another example of placing more and more power and money into the hands of a few private companies and individuals. Nowhere has been better at doing this than the USA. Which is why they now have a neofascist oligarchy in control of the government (and to a large extent the law), who have tricked nearly half of people into thinking they're on their side... The 90s/00s political class has failed to do anything about this consolidation of power, and the massive inequality and inflation this has led to in our communities. Of course being in Berlin, I have witnessed this rising tech-fascist inflation happening right before my very eyes where communities have had to give up massive amounts of property to corporate landlords, and seen the prices of basic commodities more than doubled. We, us normal people...are being priced out of life. So from the streets of Berlin... where an office in a co-working space now costs 3600 euros per month... to Microsoft and their spending 500 billion USD on a computer... Just the latest example of massive consolidation of wealth, IP and power into the hands of the US tech oligarchs and monopoly powers. Softbank, the Japanese company involved in the funding of this venture with Open Ai, Microsoft and Oracle, of course has taken one of the UK's most strategic and valuable tech assets away from us... ARM... Because our Neo Liberal government believe in a globalised free market and were too clueless to prevent it. So the impoverished and increasingly "Butler style economy" UK with a government on the verge of bankruptcy, is firmly out of the picture when it comes to all this important technology and money splish-sploshing about... despite inventing a lot of the tech in the first place, through our world leading universities. I think that rather than be angry at the state of our politics, inflation, property prices, and rapidly declining standards of living, and going out and voting for Trump and his rich cronies who are the source of the very problem... Maybe people can wake up to the real news. And at the very least start blaming the right people.

S9 have PDAF in 1080p60 FF mode.. if you only shoot 4k most of the time then S5II is the better deal. But for some people aethestic is quite important too.

I agree - but Viltrox is not for fully professional use (specially video ones). Is to bring more people to the system. They made a huge jump in quality - their first AF lenses were ok for the price, but the newer "Air" ones are much better optically, and cheaper (because use high quality plastic and basicalyy the same outer shell for a bunch of focal lenghts). Perfect for the S9 and for amateur / enthusiast use of the S5IIs. And the 27mm f/1.2 and the 75mm f/1.2 are superb (but APS-C). But their LAB line looks promising.

The AI was trained about overrigging a camera with Caleb Pike.

Also, Blackmagic is a great option, however if you are doing a lot of handheld you'll want to at the very least have stabilized lenses, if not some way to stabilize any handheld camera work you do. Those cameras aren't very heavy or friendly in the hands, as they are pretty cheaply made, so you'll want something to add some bulk to it and make it more handheld friendly.

The overall quality of life improvements (plus auto focus) are just worth it to me. Currently my three camera set up is the S5II X and two S5 bodies. I just prefer the image out of the S5, it has better colors and just looks more natural (less sharpening.) That's not to say that the S5II doesn't have a good image, though. It really boils down to preference. I've only used the S1 a few times, but it's a great camera too! I do think the S5 though is overall a better value on the used market. It's crazy how affordable they are. Some will tell you they are awful and completely unusable, but they are fine once you figure out how to work with their limitations. But there are limitations and it's important that you know that going in. It is nice not having to worry about it as much with my S5II X BUT there are times when that auto focus fails, as there are times when Canan and Sony auto focus fails.

Greetings Creatives! Some cool new texture images are ready on my Abstract page: https://soundimage.org/txr-abstract/ As always, 100% free to use with attribution. Enjoy, stay safe and keep being creative! Attribution Info: https://soundimage.org/attribution-info/ Ogg Music Packs: https://soundimage.org/ogg-game-music-mega-pack/ https://soundimage.org/ogg-music-packs-2/