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Good news, bad news. Good news is that I have learned a lot about the srp( samsung reconfigureable processor) architecture. Bad news. It is very very very very complicated. Machine compiled c into binary. Unknown yet when it is loaded into the firmware and if the .cpp files that are listed are infact that, or just other hard ware controls So the srp is like an fpga in the way you can change what it does on the fly. It differs in the way that it uses VLIW instead of bits to do its magic. Reverse engineering the binary into something workable.. is possible, but time will tell if and how much can be changed. The plus side of a simple isp changing values in softwear can do something like what the gh2 hack did. The downside being you are stuck with the hardware. The plus side of the srp implementation.. Building a custom algorithm to..exchange the hevc codec with something else.. Could be possible. Unknown yet if the nr is a part of this or just a software implementation. Also if the rumors were true about the ml guys approaching samsung, this would be why it didnt happen. They dont release the srp compiler. One instance of them giving access to it at the SAIT school in Korea is all I could find. very very proprietary. But the dream for me of having a cheap 14bit 6.5k red competitor is what keeps me going. The confirmation of the UHS-II bus sweetens the deal. Going to investigate the possibility of a SD-SATA converter.. I wouldnt mind having a 1tb ssd attached to the back of the camera. TL:DR This camera is complex and things are not getting easier but still progression is being made.

So yep... I've been shooting with the A7SII pretty extensively on a bunch of music videos. This particular video is narrative-only, shot in Whitby UK within 6 hours with a crew of 5 people including make up artist. My duties? I wrote the idea, shot, lit, graded and edited the video in FCPX. Most of the video was shot in natural light. One night scene was lit with Lupolux Dual LEDs and Scorpion Lights, powered by batteries (lifesaver!). The sun was going down quick and we used the A7SII up until ISO 12,800. Picture profiles were custom Slog2 profile and also custom Cine2, shot in 4k 25fps. We used the Sony CLM-FHD monitor on the camera (very useful). Would never used the camera without a monitor again unless desperate. Camera remains light and easy to use. Gimbal shots were on the Ronin-M, with the full IBIS activated with the Sony Vario-Tessar 24-70mm - operated in upright mode. Fantastic combination. Handheld lenses were Sigma 18-35mm (used at 35mm), Samyang 14mm and Helios 44-2 85mm (bloody well hard lens to focus!). This video wouldn't of been possible to shoot in 6 hours without the A7SII. The aesthetic helped the video with it's murky look, and the portability with IBIS was awesome. Helped keep us on our toes and be creative with the shots. Issues? I went through 9 batteries and er, the zip on my coat broke and er... I got a wet ass?... that's about it. I'll let you guys decide what you think the story is about and all that jazz. Hope you enjoy it!!

So I really didn't think I'd end up keeping this camera, especially as it is 1799 euros body only(!!) for just 1080p and no articulated screen. BUT this camera is a lesson to all the others... 1. May seem like a small thing to start but it has the BEST menus I have ever used, end of story. Properly organised. Not too long. Snappy to navigate. It is amazing how many other cameras get this wrong, even Canon which have too many sub-sections / tabs. Then there's a nice big MY menu at the end of the new Fujifilm main menu so you barely have to dig into the other tabs at all. It is such a nice improvement on the previous Fuji cameras. During a shoot the menus can make or break a camera. Ask any FS7 owner 2. COLOUR and CODEC and DETAIL - it excels at each. The images have an electricity to them, super alive. On most cameras, even with H.265 on the NX1, the codec always pays lipservice to the blacks. Whenever you bring them up they are a mess of banding, compression, blocking. The X Pro 2 codec handles like the D750, super clean in the shadows and LOTS of detail. You can bring so much out of the blacks even when they are crushed in-camera when using Velvia - which by the way, is giving me the most satisfying out of camera non-graded non-fussed with colour yet. 3. SMOOTH editing, and 60p for slow mo. With 4K i have come to miss my render-less timeline, snappy editing and 60p with small file sizes. The only 4K 60p DSLR is $6k and 800Mbit. Hmm - no thank you. 4. SOUL. It has as much soul as a Leica but is far cheaper and with a much more versatile feature set and viewfinder. The EVF is super sharp and you don't even have to magnify focus half the time, just go off the EVF or the back screen. Both are superb. To shoot with it is a pleasure. The water sealed body, the build quality, the twin memory card slots, the reassuringly photographic clunk of the mechanical shutter, which by the way is much quieter than a DSLR but no less beefy, the retro good looks - SUPERB looking camera body - it all adds up to something you just want to pick up over anything else. Makes the GH4 and NX1 feel like boring utility tools. 5. It is FAST and the LENSES are lovely. AF and general speed of operation is a big improvement from the X Pro 1. Then there's the lenses 35mm F2.0 WR, small and affordable. 56mm F1.2, creamy like a Noctilux. I also love the 18-55mm F2.8-4 zoom, it is small and well above average for an APS-C zoom of this kind, 35mm F1.4 is slower to focus and has no OIS but it is a lovely piece of glass, 23mm F1.4 also a stunner. OK, I wish it had zero moire, I wish it had 4K and I'd love an articulated screen. And yes... This is designed purely as a purist photographer's Leica-style rangefinder, what the hell am I doing shooting video with it? Because it FEELS so good to do so and it LOOKS so nice when I playback the results afterwards. Two things that are so important - the feel of holding the damn thing and the feel you get from the colour and details afterwards. Vibrant and alive, the whole experience. Sony, Canon, Panasonic experience dull by comparison. They really need to take a hint from Fujifilm.

I don't know what menus are you talking about... My X-Pro1 does not have any..

Would still call the doctor.

I'd include in the Panasonic G7 as well! A Panasonic G7 should be the #1 4K camera a person first looks at Some people even prefer it over the GH4. Best feature about it is..... CHEAP! :-D And this is more important than you think, as it is still very very early days for 4K in consumer stills cameras. I bet within a year or two we'll see a huge flood of new 4K cameras having been released. So just get a camera for *now*, then upgrade to something else in the future. And the G7 is perfect for that case for a *now* 4K camera.

Here's the Velvia preset, which I absolutely love... First shot, crappy light but it has that 'x' factor Sony is nearly always missing, all without any effort at all in post... Look at the smooth tonality and balanced colour... By the way, here's what Velvia looked like without the 16-235 correction in Premiere... different to the JPEGs and on the camera screen, it had crushed blacks. However the codec has kept them! They snap right out when you correct for the dumb Quicktime RGB range clipping. Next shot a much more challenging one for dynamic range. Look how much you can get out of it with the most simple quick grade possible - just Fast Color Corrector in Premiere and zero else, not even a RGB curve change... First ungraded, 0-255 straight off card: Second graded, 16-235 fast colour corrector Oh and very important this...... in doing this correction to extend dynamic range notice how colour doesn't go 'weird' like with S-LOG Cheers for that vid Kaylee, fun to watch.... You can see how detailed the image is pretty well from that. I dial sharpness down -4 to take the edge of it and bring the blacks up a bit in post. Nice fast lens helps too, and Speed Booster. It is a really cinematic image with these adjustments.

A7S II is contrast based AF, the A7R II is phase and contrast hybrid. Phase detect active with Canon lenses with the Metabones adapter on the latter, it can be very fast. Lack of native NX lenses, hmm... not really! S 16-50mm F2.0-2.8 OIS? S 50-150mm F2.8 OIS? 85mm F1.4? (It beats my Zeiss wide open) 30mm F2.0? Lovely cheap pancake 45mm F2.0? Again very cheap, light, fast and sharp! Those are the best ones... not a bad line up and covers 16-150 all at fast apertures. AF is best on the S premium zooms What else would you need? Plus you can adapt Nikon, Sony Alpha and a ton of other lenses to it with adapters.

Again, how gorgeous is that!

The issue of nx1 at iso 3200 in video is, imo, nr. The raw pictures at iso 3200 are totally usable, especially when downscaled to 16mp or below. Hence at 8mp they should shine! Instead, video at 3200 is very poor. Hence, there is something 'wrong' going on in the process.

Funnily enough they discontinued Canon FD lenses in the 80's and they are still easy to get on eBay in 2016 so I wouldn't worry about anything NX1 related becoming 'unobtainable' any time soon, if anything it will just get cheaper, which is nice. The NX1 is by far the most pleasant to shoot with ergonomically. Feel in the hand is great. My hand and the A7S II have never got on very well. It doesn't quite feel as bad as clutching a bag of nails but it does feel like clutching a soulless badly designed camera body with fiddly badly placed buttons, for sure. NX1 fits like a glove and your hand wraps most comfortably around the most important controls. I even prefer it to a Canon 5D body and that says a lot. A6300 is cute, small, but still just as soulless and fiddly ergonomically as the A7S II. As for the image we'll have to wait and see... I am going to do a comparison with the NX1. I think for the money it is great. Unless you need the in-body stabilisation and headphone jack of the A7S II, then the A6300 will serve you just fine especially with Speed Booster and it can do 12,800 pretty comfortably from what I have seen of the early footage. I rarely go higher than that. NX1 meanwhile will give you better colour straight off the card, no fuss to grade, better ergonomics, top panel LCD, weather sealing and sharper 120fps... Super clean ISO 800. ISO 1600 ok. ISO 3200 starts to get bad. Your call

I don't mean to offend but everytime I see your profile pics I think of Howard Stern and Seth Rogen. In a really good way though!

After ejecting yet another Sony camera that looked great on paper (RX10ii) I thought I'd make a little comment about this... its been replaced by a Canon XC10. On paper a crazy idea, but in reality it's an upgrade. No ultra high speed, but no problem TBH. Slow lens? Yeah, but great colour great battery life, brilliant menus and autofocus... If you look on paper at the specs and the choice looks silly, but actually use the cameras and all becomes crystal clear. Sony menus are so bad they ruin the experience of the cameras for me. The build quality is also questionable, probably partly due to an obsession with miniaturisation that is becoming counter productive. The colour is so obviously Sony because it's always missing something. The F65 looks great, but once you get down to consumer/pro crossover level I'm afraid it's just a bit piggy unless you want a kind of odd bluish Kodak emulation on everything. its not that you can't make it look nice, it's that it restricts you to a certain look that isn't always suitable, so I find unless the situation is very controlled I can't cut it with Canon C footage to my satisfaction. its so disappointing because Sony specs are great, and their innovations like the memory CMOS for high-speed footage, as well as continuous ND are brilliant. But every time I get one of these things into a high-pressure situation or back into post I just feel let down. i actually WANT to like them, but I don't! So I'm venting. ill add some XC10 footage to the pinned thread shortly...

Hahahahaha, best game of this so far

wow thats amazing, it was a nex 7 with lens turbo and nikkor 50mm 1.4.

Id imagine the image coming out of the NX1 is better overall, but the A6300 should perform better in low light. Also the 2x crop for slow-mo is a huge turn off for me, however, theres a speedbooster to make it FF. I currently own an NX1, and might get an A6300 in the future as a B cam, but I wanna see how it performs, specially concerning rolling shutter/overheating and so on.

Yeah I payed $1600 for the NX1, 16-50 S, 30/2, 16/2.4, 45/1.8 and an extra battery. And Im sure I could have gotten it cheaper. So image/dollar is definitely the NX1. Between the a7sii and a6300 would probably go a7sii if money wasnt an issue.

If you talk about normal, current Canon lenses like the L series stuff, I would rule out the NX1. There's no way of electronically controlling the aperture with these because there are no smart adapters for Samsung.

Hello my fellow anamorphic friends! It's time for upgrades and because of that some of my gear must go! Lenses will be shipped from Vancouver, BC - Canada. I only accept PayPal. Taxes and shipping are my responsibility. If interested, reply here, send me a PM, or an email! ferradans@gmail.com One last thing before we get to the lenses: I'm currently selling a Cinemascope t-shirt, unique stuff. Price is $25, including shipping. Click here to get yours and be sure to send me which size you want it (M, L, XL). This is my attempt to fund the Anamorphic Cookbook and all the Anamorphic on a Budget videos so any help is appreciated! Now to the pretty glass part... ISCO WIDESCREEN 2000 MC (1.5x stretch, focus through) Click for photos of the lenses. The best focus through adapter out there (meaning you use the taking lens’ focus ring). 1.5x stretch, Isco branding and quality, excellent performance and a very compact, solid and lightweight build. I have two of these lenses for sale, each one fitted with a 62-72mm step ring for diopters or single-focus solutions. Glass is in pristine condition, no scratches, spots, dust or fungus (which is almost a miracle considering the age of these lenses). They come with original front and rear caps plus a regular 72mm front cap. SALE DOES NOT INCLUDE REDSTAN CLAMPS. For more information, check my review! Price - USD700 each, shipped ISCO 16:9 VIDEO ATTACHMENT Mk I - or "1.33x Iscorama 54" (1.33x, single focus) Click for photos of the lens. This is an extremely hard to find adapter, in plain words, it’s an Iscorama 54 with 1.33x stretch, which turns a 16:9 sensor into an automatic Cinemascope machine. Single focus operation, set your taking lens to infinity and shoot away using the Isco’s focus ring. Focus is smooth and glass is perfectly clear: no blemishes, scratches, fungus, dust or anything. Goes as wide as 40mm on full frame. Comes with both original front and rear caps and a Redstan clamp (72-77mm), which makes rear thread 72mm or 77mm according to your preference. Front thread is 95mm. For more information, check my review! Price - USD2600 shipped CENTURY OPTICS 58mm ANAMORPHIC (1.33x stretch, focus through) Click for photos of the lens. The Century Optics is one of the most recommended adapters for people starting out with anamorphics and I sincerely don’t understand why people even complain about it. This one is in perfect shape, no damage whatsoever to the glass (no dust, scratches or fungus) but one or two tiny scuffs to the body (see photos). Stretch is 1.33x and rear thread is 58mm, making it super easy to attach to taking lenses. Goes as wide as 35mm on full frame, which is very good coverage (losing only to the Panasonic LA7200) and focusing is done using the taking lens’ focus ring. Close focus can be challenging but a cheap diopter kit is enough to solve the problem. It comes with original front and rear caps and an adapted 77mm front thread for attaching diopters (not shown in photos). For more information, check my review! Price: USD650 shipped

Going to get mine on Thursday now, Sony had a delivery technical issue so they are coming in a few days late here. Looking forward to it. I do wish Sony would change their menus, ergonomics, skintones, colour, LOG profile, jello, banding, macroblocking, edge tearing, etc. quite a long list isn't it? You can be assured my coverage won't be a PR smoothie unlike ALL OTHER SITES SEEMINGLY IN EXISTENCE. Can I just say that Sony have some SUPERB PR people.

it's okay. i doubt either of those two read this forum. they won't be offended.

I owned both the G7 & GH4 and recently managed to use both cams on a wedding shoot before selling the GH4, I saw no reason to keep it. The G7 wins, I'm talking picture quality not features, the GH4 has loads of great features and should not be discounted however, all depends on what type of media you shoot. Just get a G7 already if you are considering it, for $500 or less you can't go wrong, its dope. Would make a great B-cam to the A6300 or similiar. Here is the wedding I shot with both cams, all night footage at the very end shot with the g7, not the GH4 which suffers by 1 1/2 stops.

I changed my mind about the a6300 after seeing more clips and testings. I do only videos so Bad skin tones, shitty 1080p, jello effect, banding and macroblocking, that's too much to deal with. It was too good on paper to be real in the first place. Now i'll have to sell the batteries,charger,adapter and lenses that i bought/ordered already trying to get ready for the a6300 early. That's what i get for trying to buy a camera that's not out. I still got my bmpcc and i'm getting a gh4 for now and we'll see what small camera comes out in the next months...

Use this: https://www.proxfree.com/ Just put in the YT URL and pick a Netherlands server in the drop down below. Best, Your fellow GEMA-Hasser

It and the GH4 are both totally valid production tools. Found this on DVXUser. Shot on the GH4, CineD, Leeming LUT. Used right, it's a really nice "film stock." Detailed, high color discrimination, very good tonal separation, with a bit of organic grain and surprisingly good highlight roll off. It gets noisy fast and doesn't like underexposure, but if you treat it right, it'll reward you.

Am interested in hearing your thoughts on it when you get it. I was able to get out today and run some tests. And I finally tried the Leeming LUT settings you told me about. I will probably buy his LUT when he has a specific G7 version.

Yep! Cleaner in the blacks, better low light performance, no color artefacting, and a very slight reduction in crop factor (2.2 vs 2.3). I'll be buying one in the next two weeks to finally replace my GH3 as the compliment to my BMPCC.

Are you sure the a6300 degrades from 6400? The sample from cinema 5d shows much more than that!

Edit: Image quiality got ruined in the images below so here are some higher res ones. http://imgur.com/a/f509f

Inside of ISO 1600, they will be similar. The NX1 video degrades at 3200, whereas the A6300 seems to degrade at 6400. This is not the case for stills. I have an NX1, and A6000, and they are totally different cameras. The NX1 is a joy to shoot with, higher hit rate on shallow depth of field, easy to use and fun to interact with. My opinion? As good as the A6300 is, the NX1 retains APS-C champion hybrid status for 2 more years. The only competition will be from the GH5 with 4k 60fps, if they can pull it off, which they will have to do remain in the game.

Done as well! That's for getting this together

Of course it looks corps like. Would have been the same with every camera. The shot was “exposed” for the background and then Yuryev steps in (in full shade). Not to best condition to test skin tones. If you want to see some less corps like skin (and not use masks) you will have to blow the sky. Still not perfect but looks a little healthier.

I would edit raw over prores any time, from any camera.

Exactly. I'm a hard-core Nikon user myself and love my D810, or for special tasks the D4 as well. But the NX1 is ergonomically perfect. Not too small, not too big - just right. Image quality is great. I wouldn't have thought it but currently I end up using this camera most often, even for stills... Even the smaller LX100 or the RX1R remain in the bag or on the shelf more often than I would have imagined before. Regarding batteries: I think there will be enough third party alternatives for some time to go. And lenses are my least worry. The small pancakes and the S line provide everything you need. If you want to play, the Nikon mount offerings (or Canon if you´re into this brand) via an adapter provide a whole new world of choices. Yes, manual but the really high end stuff from Zeiss is without AF as well. Focus peaking on and everything is fine. For the next couple of years, until Nikon will have cought up, for me this is the solution.

the exact same scenes that concerned me.. but the noise is at least more even than it looked viewing online. in the description it said they were testing high and low isos, hopefully these were both super high iso

hmmm i downloaded the "original" 4.3GB file from vimeo and im not impressed. where am i wrong?

If you really have the money - yeah, the A7S II. ESPECIALLY if it is going to be put into heavy production use. As much as I perhaps might prefer some aspects of the NX1 image - the utter lack of native lenses and Samsung's leaving the market put it at a disadvantage as a daily production tool.

Corpse like. No it depends how you move it. Just hand-holding it steady won't be enough to hurt the image. Throwing the camera around like in a Greengrass movie wouldn't work, but most other stuff would and don't forget you can fix rolling shutter easily in post most of the time, although it does involve a bit of a crop. OIS on the lens helps too. Plenty of Canon lenses with this via the metabones adapter. Not quite so many nice Sony lenses with OIS.

there's not too much of an issue that'll be caused by the nx1 being discontinued. can't upgrade in the same line (ditch native lenses when you need a step up), no more legit firmware updates (off-chance of some awesome hacks on the way). nx1 is sharpened but detailed, hard to say either is better. if you've done your research, hard to say.. play with original files? maybe rent?

Hello my fellow anamorphic friends! It's time for upgrades and because of that some of my gear must go! Lenses will be shipped from Vancouver, BC - Canada. I only accept PayPal. Taxes and shipping are my responsibility. If interested, reply here, send me a PM, or an email! ferradans@gmail.com One last thing before we get to the lenses: I'm currently selling a Cinemascope t-shirt, unique stuff. Price is $25, including shipping. Click here to get yours and be sure to send me which size you want it (M, L, XL). This is my attempt to fund the Anamorphic Cookbook and all the Anamorphic on a Budget videos so any help is appreciated! Now to the pretty glass part... ISCO WIDESCREEN 2000 MC (1.5x stretch, focus through) Click for photos of the lenses. The best focus through adapter out there (meaning you use the taking lens’ focus ring). 1.5x stretch, Isco branding and quality, excellent performance and a very compact, solid and lightweight build. I have two of these lenses for sale, each one fitted with a 62-72mm step ring for diopters or single-focus solutions. Glass is in pristine condition, no scratches, spots, dust or fungus (which is almost a miracle considering the age of these lenses). They come with original front and rear caps plus a regular 72mm front cap. SALE DOES NOT INCLUDE REDSTAN CLAMPS. For more information, check my review! Price - USD700 each, shipped ISCO 16:9 VIDEO ATTACHMENT Mk I - or "1.33x Iscorama 54" (1.33x, single focus) Click for photos of the lens. This is an extremely hard to find adapter, in plain words, it’s an Iscorama 54 with 1.33x stretch, which turns a 16:9 sensor into an automatic Cinemascope machine. Single focus operation, set your taking lens to infinity and shoot away using the Isco’s focus ring. Focus is smooth and glass is perfectly clear: no blemishes, scratches, fungus, dust or anything. Goes as wide as 40mm on full frame. Comes with both original front and rear caps and a Redstan clamp (72-77mm), which makes rear thread 72mm or 77mm according to your preference. Front thread is 95mm. For more information, check my review! Price - USD2600 shipped CENTURY OPTICS 58mm ANAMORPHIC (1.33x stretch, focus through) Click for photos of the lens. The Century Optics is one of the most recommended adapters for people starting out with anamorphics and I sincerely don’t understand why people even complain about it. This one is in perfect shape, no damage whatsoever to the glass (no dust, scratches or fungus) but one or two tiny scuffs to the body (see photos). Stretch is 1.33x and rear thread is 58mm, making it super easy to attach to taking lenses. Goes as wide as 35mm on full frame, which is very good coverage (losing only to the Panasonic LA7200) and focusing is done using the taking lens’ focus ring. Close focus can be challenging but a cheap diopter kit is enough to solve the problem. It comes with original front and rear caps and an adapted 77mm front thread for attaching diopters (not shown in photos). For more information, check my review! Price: USD650 shipped

But ... but ... the B.A.!

Metabones XL and G7 is a killer combination , G7 is much cleaner in the blacks and less noise than GH4 , G7 codec is very thick you can grade it to extreme levels with no micro blocking , its like grading ProRes!!

Heck, There's no reason to look at tribal culture. I have experience with my grandmother as an example. She and I grew up next to each other as neighbors, so I know all about her history. She was born in 1920 and grew up on the family farm. It was hard labor during certain times of the year, but the hard labor side of it wasn't that daunting or time consuming. Most of that farm life was just, as it happened, life. You know, feeding the chickens wasn't really work per se, it's just a chore and something you do as part of your existence. With her, her mother, and her father farming was a certainly a job often, but it was on their own terms and certainly less than 40 hours of hard labor a week. This was during the same time that Flint was upending the manufacturing model with the establishment of the UAW about 45 miles down the road. So, there's context to all of this. It's not like these guys working in the factory didn't understand what their physical limits were. Yes, we can certainly put in a lot of hours of work in a week, but parts of American culture used to know how to balance it and what was reasonable. I don't know if something like the UAW would have happened if car manufacturing set itself up on the east coast --which had been exploiting workers quite harshly since the dawn of the industrial age and where urban life was actually a lot more demanding and competitive. The agrarian legacy of labor expectations lasted well into the American 20th, 21st century. Anyway, you can also look the lives of USA farmers in the 18th and 19th century as well. Assuming they avoided disease and dramatic injury, the quality of life was actually pretty good. Lots of recreational time while waiting for things to happen seasonally. It was actually normal to go to bed early, wake up in the middle of the night, spent some hours just relaxing or socializing, then going back to bed 'til dawn. Sort of a reverse siesta. Farmers in the States (and most USA citizens used to be farmers) played by their own rules as they decided how and when to do what they needed to do. 2/3rds of our social history was a result that rugged individualism, so if you've ever been curious why Americans culture is the way it is, there's a clue... I'd say Americans and Aussies have a very common kinship... but I'm rambling now. Time to get back to a corporate edit and suck on some irony.

I seriously don't get they the nx1 is do bad in lowlight while the a6300 can do this I mean there something wrong with the sensor design or we really need to remove that NR.

I returned the A7sii after the two weeks the store gives. I returned the RX100iv after one day. Loved it yesterday while shooting. Hated it today when I saw the finished footage.

We're sorry that you weren't satisfied with your viewing experience. Please contact the manager for a full refund.

Indeed. It's one of the fascinating things to me regarding US politics insomuch as the pro biz party also has in its corner the evangelical religious folks, who you'd think would be pretty clear headed about the morality of things. Then again, maybe they're not really that concerned with a philosophical morality, only how they perceive their own. Anyway, I'm on record as saying I don't think capitalism makes it out of the 21st century. That's not exactly great insight. Many people smarter than me are on board with that assertion. I mean, look, less than 100 people have more wealth than 3.5 billion people on the planet. I mean, I'm not against affluence, but hoarding wealth is just not healthy for a culture. It is immoral. Society is just going in the wrong direction; does;t mean we're doomed, just that we need to adjust. Enterprising people and moneymakers will always be around, but the system and culture of modern capitalism is too reliant on gluttony and exploitation to survive the social and economic stresses of the future. I suppose it could be argued that it's gone already, if it ever really existed in the first place. How does one see an "invisible hand" anyway? ;-) I doubt Adam Smith would even approve of the twisted version of his system as practiced today. Unions are really the only effective way, right now, to push back against those that willingly exploit. And unions aren't needed everywhere. I assert a business, any business, can be healthy and generous without maximizing profits at the expense of their employees. Their are nobler goals to strive for.

there's a reason they called themselves Canon

The Canon image is one that is very firm, not soft and flaccid. It is an image that can stand erect against the competition, maintaining its rigidity throughout the entire act of image gathering. When the other Cameras go limp and shrivel up, the Canon is virile and strong. Do I have this right?

They have unionized because they voted to do so last November. The vote was conducted under the supervision of the NLRB whcih found no evidence of any interference up to or during the vote by any B&H employee. I'm sure you understand and appreciate that we value our company-employee relationship as much as our company-customer relationship. We cannot have one without the other. They are intertwined and both must be in balance for us to continue our uninterrupted 40+ year history of success. I am only sorry you were exposed to an innuendo-filled campaign of inaccuracy on the part of those who wished to "persuade" our employees the union is in their best interest and who are willing to misrepresent facts about our employees and their work conditions to unsuspecting customers like yourself. Our workers have the right to vote on whether or not a union will represent them. We would not and did not do anything to impede their right to this vote which was held during November. Regarding the allegations of health and safety conditions, perhaps this will offer a different perspective: http://on.fb.me/1N5rsWI There is no asbestos, no lung-searing clouds of dust, no flakes of fiberglass peeling off the ceiling. The restrooms are as clean as those in my house. There are no "substandard conditions." The employees are not, as has been widely reported, “undocumented.” Our warehouses have been inspected by OSHA several times recently, each unannounced and unscheduled. We received no fines or warnings or recommendations to make any changes at all. Other than take-home pay, every B&H employee, including the warehouse workers, me and my boss, get the EXACT same benefits. There was a fire near, not in, our warehouse. At the time the NYFD specifically asked us NOT to evacuate our workers for two reasons – there was no need to do so as there was no danger at all from smoke or fire, and the evacuation of several hundred workers into a relatively small and confined space would have severely impeded the NYFD’s ability to deal with the situation safely, effectively and efficiently. What you read was hyperbole and fiction designed to cast negative aspersions on us.