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Nope and I returned it. Panasonic's reliability has long been a reason I use them. The reports of overheating made this camera DOA for me. Maybe they'll sort it out in the future and I'll pick up a used one.

Canon price increases on all products coming within 2 weeks. https://www.canonrumors.com/price-increases-coming-from-canon-usa/ This will have a ripple effect too, on second hand prices globally. It might finally be time to stop buying shit.

The going rate for an a7R V in mint condition used is currently £2500 which is quite tempting.

Did you open it yet?

Granted, hilarious as all the job losses and the rise of a fascist dictatorship in the West is, we must remind ourselves to buy local because it'll be local businesses that die first in all this buffoonery. For example, the niche smaller camera shops in America which import from Asia. Smaller Chinese manufacturers that make niche products like camera cages and rigs. And so on. It'll be good for the climate though won't it?

I can only assume MPB must have now seen this thread, because they have given me nothing but radio silence on all channels since a week ago. The CEO himself Matt Baker, has now ignored 3 emails after starting off all chipper. A Sony RX1R which was described as having a bit of dust on the sensor (easy to disassemble and clean, I have done it before with one), turned out to have a laser damaged sensor with a string of damaged pixels. So if you do purchase from MPB make sure you are luckier than I have been.

Biggest lessons I learned… Figure out the story you are trying to tell before shooting. How is the image helping you tell that story? Massage/manipulate the image before shooting… wear complimentary clothes, move things around… turn an image that would’ve been great with normal clothes and current setup to something more epic. Last one is controlling light. Yes. We all know to adjust shutter angle and iso in camera, we also know to bring a couple ND filters, pro mist filters… and even lights for late night shooting… but there is a thing and its really magical if you know (again about controlling light)… for example - the golden hour (specific hours in the day where the sun works with you instead of against you). Filming on rainy days….Throwing water on concrete (day or night) helps a lot, something to do with how much light is absorbed vs reflected. Adding smoke (smoke machine) or filming on foggy days (fog machine), it adds layers to the image but it also limits the light entering the camera.

Very interesting. I agree that Chinese and Korean reviewers are generally more unbiased and objective their reviews of home appliances and other gadgets, but have never seen their camera reviews. Are there any Chinese reviewers you recommend?

Some of the AI generated Trump stuff on IG is superb. We’re in for a golden age of stand-up comedy. Although how can you make the Trump joke any funnier?

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A sign of things to come for those outside the US. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce82391x2kyo Sony raising PS5 prices in double digit percentages. This is all to protect the ailing US market and... Just because they can. Because when there's an expectation all your rivals will have to raise prices as well due to a global force, and they all go up together that means they can get away with it as there's no cheaper competition keeping them in check. It's like a cartel, or a monopoly. Trump is the shit that just won't flush.

Yes this week.

Did you happen to receive an A7S III with faulty bluetooth for just over a grand? And a Leica Q? Maybe it will turn up in about 3 months speaking french?!

New set of pre-order cancellations for the US. https://www.fujirumors.com/fujifilm-to-suspend-orders-for-gfx100rf-x100vi-and-x-m5-black-only/ Many more to come.

Yesterday I watched on Sky TV the documentary Linx, a French-Swiss documentary released in January 2022, shot and directed by Laurent Geslin. It follows a lynx family in the Jura Mountains and reveals the hidden life of this elusive feline. https://mulderville.net/en/news/5009/lynx-interview-with-director-laurent-geslin Geslin is fascinated by all wildlife but was particularly drawn to the lynx due to its rarity and symbolism. Living near the Jura Mountains, he found it meaningful to focus on a local predator rather than traveling abroad. The lynx, reintroduced in the area to help control herbivore populations, represents successful coexistence between humans and nature. While he has photographed many animals (including urban foxes), making a film was a new challenge. Film allows him to tell stories in ways still photography can't. The transition required adapting techniques, such as anticipating and building cinematic shots rather than capturing single moments. He already published a photographic book about the linx. Finding and filming a wild lynx was incredibly difficult—he once spent eight months without a sighting. Lynxes are elusive and mostly nocturnal. He used lightweight gear for mobility in the mountains and learned to read animal behavior over time. All footage in Lynx features truly wild animals in their natural environment—no trained animals or artificial setups. Geslin emphasizes that the authenticity took years to achieve. Geslin hopes viewers understand the lynx’s vital ecological role. As a top predator, the lynx helps control herbivore populations, which in turn protects young forests. He sees the lynx as the “keystone” of forest health and aims to raise awareness about the importance of preserving such species. The cinematography of the film is very beautiful. It is not cinematic in the strict sense. It has a very very natural look. The documentary has a distinctly European style that I prefer. There are no cumbersome hosts, no one is pretending to risk their lives to film the animals. No spectacularization. There is very sparse voice over and lots of natural sounds, ASMR style. I would have liked to see it in the cinema. Geslin appears in Nikon magazines and I became curious about the equipment used. In all the interviews he tells about the enormous effort of following these animals for two years. I couldn't find direct references to the equipment used (I have great difficulty with the French language) then by chance I came across some short shorts on his YouTube channel and a Lumix appeared. I can't tell if in a photo it is a GH5S and the other one it's a Lumix FF. If he really shot everything with Lumix cameras, I think yes yet another demonstration of what can be done with these cameras in a genre (wildlife) almost totally monopolized by Red. Regardless of the camera used I absolutely recommend viewing.

It won’t be a subscription and what upgrade fees do appear in the future will be modest.

Buy anything that @Andrew Reid hoped to buy, just so he can’t.

Good to hear thanks 🙂 Concerning deliveries, I can certainly relate as I've lived most of my life in rural areas in the French mountains. I worked at a public administration which was open from 8 to 17, and I remember experiencing the infamous "recipient was not in to sign" ahah. Drove us crazy, especially the reception secretaries who often stayed on expressly during lunch time in order to collect parcels. But back then it was still "La Poste" who was in charge (often relying on temporary workers though). I've lived abroad for the last 3 years and have just moved back to France, and I kind of discover this wave of "sub-contractor drivers". I can see them jumping from door to door in their Hertz renting van and sometimes using an old "La poste" jacket who has seen more sunsets than Michel Drucker (I hope you picked up our national running jokes 😅). Still, I'm temporary located in a city and they seem to do a great job from what I see and hear (and I've had only nice and "friendly" encounters with them). Just feel annoyed for them when i see them carrying a mountain of Prime boxes for the old timers next door who appeared to have been hooked with the almost hidden check box "click here if you're absolutely sure that, despite the fantastic offer on Prime, you want to say no to such an incredible offer, and at the same time, no, we've changed our minds, if you click here you solemnly declare your willingness not to refuse what we've said and you've probably now forgotten." on the Amazon page prior to pay your order. Anyway, we'll see. I now only have to decide on what gear to buy !

Is that still on? I didn't receive an email?

Can’t afford to do otherwise!

The Pyxis and Pyxis 12K price changes were initially right in line with the Chinese tax hike. Then a day or two later, the Pyxis 12K price dropped to the Aussie rate. BMD said they shifted enough to Australia to make that a thing. They had also made a comment that they build some of their equipment in China and some in Australia. At a guess, I'd say they focus on the high end where there's ostensibly more profit margin in Australia. That or they just figured nobody would bother auditing them if they claimed it. I'm sure that a big part of it was that nobody was going to buy Pyxis at $4k and the Pyxis 12K at $6600 was about $1,100 less than UC12K and unlikely to be purchased by anybody since anybody looking to spend $7k on a BMD camera probably already did with UC12K. Like me. I went on a crazy buying spree in the last month since I knew the tariffs were coming. Now my credit card bills hate me (which is translating to my bank account hating me), but I do have some fancy gear now. Anyway. None of that detracts from your point about all of the prices being pure chaos. In the reddit small business forum that I linked above, a bunch of people were complaining that foreign suppliers (mostly Chinese) were refusing to even do business with them, at least partly on the basis of insane and unpredictable US tariffs.

Well with one country being run by a tit and the other country selling so much tat, it is quite apt that these tit for tat exchanges will go on for quite a while yet.