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Defending a manufacturer's fuck up via the medium of advocating a 3rd party add on cooling device with rotating blades is quite literally putting the fan into fan boy.

So, with all this talk about 8k RAW, it's got me thinking, and I'm contemplating going back to 1080p. I've been thinking about all these cameras with high resolutions and ferocious data rates, and why they don't implement higher bitrates and bit-depths on the lower resolution modes. Noam Kroll just shot a low budget feature in 2K Prores HQ on his Alexa Classic. In 4:3 no less! https://noamkroll.com/playing-against-filmmaking-trends-on-our-feature-with-arri-alexa-classic-2k-prores-hq-43-aspect-ratio/ His pipeline was RAW -> Prores HQ -> storage. Prores HQ in 1080 is around 176Mbps, is All-I, and is 10-bit. It sounds lovely. Uncompressed 1080 10-bit is a whopping 1490Mbps, so the 176Mbps of HQ is quite a saving of data rates. But what do I actually want? So I made a list: I want more bit-depth than 10-bit 10-bit is fine if you're on a controlled set or have time to get your WB broadly right in camera, but for some of the horrendous situations I find myself in, having more bit-depth would help (remember how with RAW you can WB in post - well, bit depth is what enables that) I want high bit-rates for a good quality image A good quality image means that every portion of the screen gets a decent amount of data, so this is about bit-rate. It's not about resolution, because a 100Mbps 4K file will still have half the data available for each square cm of the screen than a 200Mbps 1080 file I want files that are easy to edit in post It doesn't matter if my 8K smartphone files are only 100Mbps, the computer still has to decode, process, display, and encode 16 times as many pixels as 1080 So, do I want 1080p RAW? Yes, and no. RAW has great bit-depth, much larger bit-rates than I care for, but also isn't the best that 1080 can get because it is lower resolution after debayering. Do I want 2.5K RAW? Maybe. Problem is that RAW and IBIS are very rarely found together. What I really want is some kind of compressed, but not too compressed, intermediary file. What I really want is 1080 Prores 4444 (which is 264Mbps) or Prores 4444 XQ (which is 396Mbps), because these are 12-bit. 12-bit would do me very nicely. So, what do we get from the manufacturers? We get ridiculous bitrates on the higher resolutions, and paltry token efforts on the lower ones. My XC10 is a classic case - 305Mbps 4K but 35Mbps 1080p. The 4K has 2.5 times the amount of data per pixel than the 1080p, and 10 times the amount of data per square cm of screen. But I have a GH5, which is one of the exceptions, as Panasonic went for the jugular on the lower resolution modes as well as the higher ones, and so I'm down to the three "best" modes that will work on a UHS-I SD card: 5K 4:3 200Mbps Long-GOP h265 4K 16:9 150Mbps Long-GOP h264 1080p 16:9 200Mbps All-I h264 So I shot a test. That test showed me that the 5K mode is far superior, even on a 1080p timeline, but uploaded to YT is a different story. Considering I have partnered with YT for distribution share my videos on YT, that's what my friends and family end up seeing. This lead me to the question about what is actually visible after it's been minced by YT? Luckily I had done a previous test where I took an 8K RAW file, and rendered out various resolution Prores HQ intermediaries, then exported each of them from a 4K timeline. That video is here: So, I downloaded the above video in 4K, 2K, and 1080p resolutions, took screen grabs, and put them side-by-side for comparison. Here they are - you're welcome. So, what can I see in these images? The 4K download is better than the 2K, which is better than the 1080p. This is hardly news, each of these is more than double the bit-rate of the next one and they're all using the same compression algorithm, that's how mathematics works. Watching in 4K each lower resolution is subtly worse than the previous, except for 1.2k (720p) which is way worse. That's to be expected, 2k - 1.2k is a bigger percentage drop than the other resolutions. However, things don't get "bad" until in the 2.5k - 1.2k range, depending on your tolerance for IQ. Moving to the other extreme, watching in 1080 they are all very similar, except for the 1.2k version, which is interesting. Some of these grabs also have a lower resolution one looking better than the higher one next to it. That's not an accident on my part (I checked), it really is like that. As the original video has the resolutions all in sequence in the one video, I suspect that the frame I chose was differing distances from the previous keyframe in the stream, so that will introduce some variation. So, what does this mean? Well, firstly, no point shooting in 8K RAW if your viewers are watching in 1080p on YT. I doubt that's news to anyone, but maybe it is to some R5 pre-orders lol. More importantly, if your audience is watching in 1080 then they're not going to notice if you used 2K intermediaries or 3.2k ones. How can we apply this to our situations? This is more complex. In this pipeline we had 8K RAW -> X Prores -> timeline. This meant that the Prores was by far the weakest link, and Prores HQ is pretty high-bitrate compared to most consumer formats. 1080 Prores HQ is 176Mbps, but UHD Prores HQ is 707Mbps. I don't know of any cameras that shoot h264 in anything even approaching those data rates for those resolutions, so good luck with that. If you're shooting 4K 100Mbps h264 then that's the same bitrate per square pixel of screen as 1.4K Prores HQ, which is pretty darn close to that 1.2k that looks awful in all the above. Obviously if your viewers are watching in 4K then it's worth shooting in the highest bit-rate you can find. What does this mean for me? Not sure yet, I need to do more tests on the GH5 modes, and I need to think more about things like tracking and stabilisation which can use extra resolution in the edit. But I won't rule out going back to 1080p.

When the talk has turned to drilling holes in a brand new state of the art camera, I suspect there may be a problem...

The previous one couldnt even do 1080 100fps without a heavy crop. This one is doing 120fps at 4k with only slight crop. Plus it has AF, fully articulating screen and 10bit h265..... Some people are hard to please 😅

I have long been waiting for a solid mirrorless release from Canon. And was hoping maybe Sony would get their act together with colors and IQ. Looks like neither will happen for another 3-4 years. The Sony A7sIII specs are pretty much perfect, IMO - focusing on great 4k and great frame rates and not worried about 6k and 8k. But from what footage I've seen, zombie skin tones seem to persist. And the R5, though tempting, just seems too unreliable. So, after using Panasonic as my stopgap for almost 4 years now (GH5, S1, and now S1H), I think it's just time to admit that I'm a Panasonic Man. Once those f1.8 primes come out, Sigma releases more compact primes, and they release a smaller (500-600 gram) full-frame camera I can use for stills, then it will have everything I need. Panasonic just makes the most reliable and robust cameras with all the specs you need and have leapfrogged Canon in color and IQ with the S1 and S1H. Sure, having great AF is helpful sometimes, but it has failed me enough with the C200 and EOS R that I would never trust it on a professional shoot. Looking forward to just being happy with the S1H (especially now with 6k and 4k ProRes Raw!) for the next 2-3 years.

He loved the C300 and literally released a video saying it was his favorite camera. 3 weeks later he received a camera to try out that he preferred and instead placed an order for 3 of them. Not everything is a conspiracy. It's okay to disagree with his conclusions, but let's be real.

Quite bold of BM to be releasing a new version of the ATEM Mini Pro when they have barely delivered any of the current one but here we are. As the name suggests, this new one lets you do ISO recordings of each individual camera, audio track as well as the master tracks to a single USB drive. It then saves your live cuts and all of those recordings (and other media such as overlays and titles etc) to a project that you import straight into DaVinci Resolve onto a timeline for further tweaking. If you are using BM Pocket cameras then they can be recording BRAW internally at the same time and Resolve has a new function to swap these as the source tracks in that edit with a single click. With the addition of the ISO tracks this is now some serious capability not just for straight live to air/net productions but also for anyone doing any multi-camera production that you would want to have post edit control of like a live performance recording, sports game, YouTube tutorial etc or even a low budget soap opera ! The developments that BM have been up to with the ATEM Mini series is probably not, on the surface, of that much interest to a lot of people on here but it is very innovative and is a real showcase of their end to end pipeline. Using an ATEM Mini, the Pocket 4K/6K cameras are turned into fully fledged studio cameras with remote control of on board colour correction and automatic tally functions but without losing their ability to simultaneously still be recording BRAW cine formats internally. So you can simultaneously do a live production in HD, use its built in encoder to stream live to the internet, hand off a USB stick with a video of the ready cut version to a client, record each individual track for easy post refinement of the mix and still retain the option to use 4K or 6K RAW master versions of those tracks to create a higher resolution finessed version with a single click. A four camera system that can do all of that for a total of under £6K or £9K depending on whether you go with 4K or 6K is arguably as revolutionary as any of their camera releases. I can also see it having a lot more applications in the "new normal" and offering some potential new opportunities to anyone who is already invested in Pocket4K/6K cameras. The bonus is it is a new product launch that can be discussed without reference to thermometers and stop watches 😉

For anyone interested, someone finally pointed me to a video showing the 1.6x crop mode footage. To me it looks very sharp and detailed. It is at around the 2:14 minute mark. If you look at the regular 4k mode before it there is a big difference in the pixelation of the street lights. Canon's heat sheet claims this mode does not overheat. So unlike the R you get IBIS and 10 bit internal, and maybe a little bit better autofocus in this mode. Not ideal for the price, but at least there is a decent 4k mode for longer record times.

My wife doesn't want her face posted, but here is just an example of some skin tones under a terrible fluorescent light (white balanced) before/after a beginner blueish/green horror movie type grade. No keys or masks were used by the way, just white balance and tint changes. S1H 5.9K ProRes RAW on a 4K Cinemascope timeline @ ISO 4000

Here's a very boring test shot of my kitchen at ISO 12800, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 @ f/2.8 (ungraded). The light is coming in from another room and was quite dark to the eye. If you zoom into the image there is definitely noise, but it's totally usable even without noise reduction added.

This is so depressing. People should never, ever buy a camera that needs some kind of third party cooling solution. Don't reward companies that put out cameras like that.

don't forget to pre-order a backpack with the retractile umbrella option for run and gun with the new Sony a7s3. In case of you took R5 path, I just saw a big discount on Walmart for fridges using the coupon FANCANON.

I use the Metabones EF to R 4K Speedbooster on the EOS R and you can do some pretty interesting things with it in 1080 and older Gold Ring Canon EF lenses. Shooting 1080 with these lenses you get a wider image circle of the lense so in this example the EF 85 1.8 becomes a 60ish 1.2 with swirly edges kinda anamorphic - like. With stabilization enabled the image is cropped enough to almost cut out ll the vignetting in 2.4:1. Most of the shots in this video I didn't crop out the vignetting. I've been experimenting with the R in 4k since the release of the R5 and with the Speedbooster and stabilization on enhanced and these Gold Ring lenses you get a very reasonable 4k 24p - gimbal-liked stabilized image. Will be very interesting to experiment with the 4K Speedbooster in this 1.6 crop mode in the above Chinese video.

I feel I'm stuck. I ordered Pro and waited about 6 weeks for delivery. I actually built a little segment of my business around the functionality it gave me. Now, the ISO version presents me with a super useful and sought after feature I've wanted since I got the Pro, but long after I could return the Pro. Also, I can't really even dump the Pro in favor of ordering the ISO since I need it for my work now. Choice is great. I just wish I had this choice when I ordered the Pro!

Yeah, it's been ridiculous how hard it has been to get a Mini Pro, or even a Mini. I got really luck in that respect. When I landed the jobs to fund the purchase and had to get one right away, I pre-ordered from B & H, which had a lead time that was acceptable. Then I found a Amazon seller with a few in stock, so I ordered from them and probably secured the last one they had in stock. I had to pay extra shipping, but it got to me before B & H even had them in stock. I thought about keeping the B & H order and selling it on Ebay, because I'd seen them going for as much As $900, but decided against it. Hopefully I got some good karma points for letting someone else get it at the regular price before B & H went out of stock again. I get that the ISO features aren't necessary for everyone. Like I said, I'd pay the upgrade if it was possible. If you only used in to remaster one job, it would totally be worth it.

So somehow the product defects were not caught in the final design and usage stage at Canon? Nope not buying it. They thought they could release this as is and get away with it. It didn’t work. You literally just need to turn the camera on and do absolutely nothing and see the overheating problem! Apparently Canon doesn’t even use their own cameras. They are probably desperately going back to one of the prototypes that incorporated proper heat management and then silently getting that camera into production. Further, the existence of that stupid Tilta cooling monstrosity tells us that Tilta at least knew about the overheating and designed a product for it. And they did it before the camera was even released! How long does it usually take to design something like that. 3 months minimum from conception to design to prototype to finalizing parts manufacturing. Probably longer. Something smells.

Somewhere in an Indiana Jones end scene type warehouse are thousands and thousands of R5 / R6 cameras that will never ever see the light of day.

Nothing wrong with that if it solves the problem. I have drilled a hole in a new 3-grand camera in the past with zero regrets.

Yes, I believe it is going to work on many machines. But on his video it didn't playback realtime on a Mac pro with the vega 2 card and 12 core CPU. So I decided to try for myself on my humble Ryzen 1600 with RX570 card. Resolve and all drivers are the last updates. And it didn't playback realtime, but the footage from A7s 3 works really well since it is H264 10bit. In this fast test I set the timeline to 29,976fps for the Canon R5 footage. A7s3 footage is in 50fps. In the end I add a pocket 4k footage BRAW 24fps. Playing R5 H256 the CPU was maxed out at 100%, then it droped to 25% with the A7s3, and finaly 15% for the Pocket 4k BRAW. I don't know for what kind of machine I would have to upgrade to play these H265 files realtime. Dont know if you guuys have tried any of these footages, but if yes, let us know about the performance.

Someone dissembled R5 and found barely any heatsink and shockingly there was no TIM (thermal paste).

YouTube compression : >1440 VP9 <1440 AC1 think that defined for me the resolution I need to upload ... as AC1 is very poor. I routinely upload 2K to Vimeo ... always 4K to YouTube. Vimeo charges for space while YouTube does not charge

You contribution to the forum is very very valuable thx to be here

Typical bait & switch salesman tactic. Oldest trick in the book. Listen, I’m no conspiracist. But you people are so naive. Gerald isn’t your friend. He’s running a business. A YouTube gear review business. I wanna be there when his three A7S3s brick out on assignment in the field. But oh wait, that’s not his concern, he’s not a filmmaker, he’s a YouTube lab tester. Never leaves his temp controlled studio. Basically the vidéo gear equivalent of Unbox Therapy. Good, we need people like them testing gear. But take their clickbait catch phrases with a grain of salt. C300 MK3 review: « This is going to be my new daily driver. » A7S3 review week later: « This is going to be my new daily driver. » Tweet: « Here is proof, I’m buying 3! » ..and hence the hype train carries on around the blogosphere/forums and sponsored links bring in the revenue. Perfect technical masterpiece my a**. By the way, I’m saying all this as a Sony user interested in the A7S3. I won’t however give it a free pass in the overheat department, nor will I let Gerald off the hook for not taking his review unit outside and tweeting folks to ignore other people’s overheat testings. End rant.

Yes and not only about RS... I think R5 is overall a better capture device but it is natural some people will choose one over the other. We cannot share all the same option for our fav colour or the world would be monochromatic : -)

Why does every comment of yours has a massive elephant in the room? Nobody is criticising Canon for being conservative on the EOS R5 specs. You have to deliver the specs AND reliability, so that customers don't get a defective product. Not hard to understand is it?

it is 1.6x so slightly less than eos r's 1.74x

Not really. I never asked for 8K... or even 120fps 4K.. maybe some did, I didn't. In fact, what I was hoping for was a Canon version of the S1H camera with their own colour science and AF. Still waiting....

I feel your pain over this as it is has come with almost indecent haste after the Mini Pro. It certainly does feel like there has been a "hang on, maybe we could add...." moment post launch of the Mini Pro that they could have had prior to it. I think both products are valid as not everyone needs the ISO facility and the multi-view and master recording of the Mini Pro was an upgrade worth having over the original Mini. But it just doesn't sit right that the two pro variants couldn't have been announced at the same. This morning I was doing my usual (fruitless) check stock scouring for the Mini Pro so I've really dodged a bullet in one respect but if they don't get this new one in stock until they've cleared deliveries of the Mini Pro then my new product for ATEMs is just getting pushed further back again as I have to have this one now to test it on. And it will cost me more money. So, swings and roundabouts for me too, I suppose.

Yeah, I'm interested to see where they could go with it in terms of being able to replay the multitrack ISO recordings on the control surface itself like it is a music portastudio so you can re-do the cuts before putting the project file into the computer to do a final tweak and online it as its a lot more tactile and responsive that way. I think this thing has the potential to be a lot more than just a live tool.

Now that Canon and Sony have played their video hand with the R5/6 and A7SIII (Sony still has a A7IV in their sleeves) respectively, the ball as been kicked—no absolutely belted—into Panasonic’s court. Panasonic has been absolutely silent either twirling their thumbs in worry or rubbing their hands in anticipation. Besides the very vague rumors is there anything more concrete out there about future products from them, wether MFT or FF? I can see Panasonic competing with the A7S fairly easily if they sort out their AF. It’s not a stretch seeing them deliver a MFT camera with oversampled 4K up to 120p quite easily. The Z-Cam E2M4 is doing 160FPS 4K at 13 stops DR on the same sensor Family as the GH5S/P4K. With a newer Sony STARVIS 4/3 sensor and upgraded internals with those ever so practical Panasonic focused design we may see a another leap mirrorless technology from them. Really hoping we will get some more info with @Andrew Reids upcoming interview with them.

What’s funny is this camera is barely even out, And it is already redeemed DOA. Anyone here old enough to remember A7S2 launch? There was like one batch and then 4-6 months back order. Back then the tsunami was claimed to have disrupted Sony’s sensor facilities. I have no idea what the stock situation is with R5 or if a recall is planned but we are barely through a global pandemic and COVID19 did cause Canon Japan factories to shut down. Just saying..

C'mon, let's accept it, Canon is still the king/queen, no matter what, just take a look on the tourists cameras... ; -)

I watched this and was super impressed. It's not a product I'd buy, its not for the type of work I do, but it's clearly very powerful and opens multi-cam shoots up to basically anybody. Having all of the source media in a pre-made project is incredible. The fact you can open and use that product on any computer using free software is even more amazing.

Can’t wait till next Camera Conspiracies episode!

Also from Canon Rumours: An anonymous communication yesterday let me know that “Canon is working on multiple solutions and will have a full statement and plan in the coming weeks.” Shame Canon didn't work on those multiple solutions before they decided to charge customers thousands for a product they knew was flawed. Sucks to have one from the first batch.

In that case a viable alternative is to shoot at 16,000, which is much cleaner and just raise exposure in post the same way he did with the FX9. I'd be interested to see that one since we've seen how clean the a7s3 is at 16k. Its really amazing watching all the reviews how incomplete the tests are in the rush to be first. Even the Undone video leaves questions... Chris

I feel your comments so much. I'm always looking for new technology that could help me when I shoot. I'm so into new gear, new releases, new AF tech, etc. But after looking at all that I often take a step back, then open my eyes on what gear I have. And when I look at the Panasonic S1H, i really feel that Panasonic was the only one to give us everything we wanted. A true professional workhorse. As i am writing this message i'm on my way home from 2 shooting days. The Panasonic never disappointed once. Not only in the last 2 days but since I've purchased it late February for a bargain price. I'm really happy with it, it has everything that I want although i'd love to have a better AF. But as you said, once Panasonic releases its 3 f1. 8 primes by autumn, i will be all good. I will buy another underappreciated camera to use those primes too : Sigma FP. It's basically a Blackmagic Pocket 4k FF. I'm so happy with my S1H! 👍🏽

from canon rumors : There has obviously been more talk about how quickly the Canon EOS R6 and Canon EOS R5 overheat when recording video, especially when shooting 8K or 4K60p (along with other framerates). The second issue a lot of videographers have is how long the cameras need to cool down once they reach an overheating threshold. So is Canon going to do anything about it? I think so, and I’ve been talking to a few sources and reading between the lines a bit. Canon released its first statement about the heat concerns back on July 16 and has been relatively silent since. I have been told that Canon is actively working on solutions to increase record times and reduce cooldown times. What those solutions are is unknown at this point. I imagine part of it is firmware, but are they also looking at a hardware fix? I have no been told a couple of times that the 2nd allocation of camera bodies will be delayed. Adorama told me it was going to be a significant delay, but that they didn’t know why or how long the delay would be. A reader I was chatting with on the Canon Rumors discord server was having an unrelated issue with the EOS R5 and was sent this by the Canon Store support. “The R5 was sold out within hours after launch. The next shipment is expected this November“

I am keeping my R5 order, but not seeing myself selling my GH5 any time soon. Having tried the R5 slightly, it seems like the best stills camera on the market, which shouldnt be ignored. It will also be great for whenever i need video autofocus, which in many cases will be more important than having the highest IQ recording options available. The s35 mode crop might be good enough if i have to use it. The Sony is not an option since i have lots of EF glass and I need a capable stills camera. I dont put much faith in peltier element based cooling as they are notoriously inefficient. A fan or fan+heat sink might be worth it though

Most camera launch films, for one reason or another, are usually very poor and don’t show off the camera too well. From launch videos, and the vast majority of YouTube and Vimeo uploads - the colour from every camera looks pretty whack. Even though the original A7SII did have weird as hell white balance, nearly everyone on the internet made it look like a turd, but you could actually get some really juicy colour out of that camera with PP tweaks and grading. Phillip Blooms paddle film with Atomos was dull as dishwater with the usual quick fire FilmConvert grade. That Japan one was regularly badly exposed, lit, colour corrected and graded. It is baffling the big brands approve these edits to advertise their cameras. There’ll be loads of great looking footage shot with this camera. I just hope the white balance is fixed!

Potato Jet's comparison to the FX9 was very interesting. He found the FX9 at max iso (12,800) with exposure brought up in post to match 64,000 iso was a better image than the A7s3 64,000 ISO. It had more detail and he said it was cleaner. I am sure this is at least partly due to the noise reduction on the A7. Pretty disappointing that Sony won't allow NR to be disabled. Very over looked thing on Sony's cameras.

From what I have seen you can pull back 3 stops overexposure without much problem. Expose for 18% grey and you have a lot of dynamic range, although noise in shadows so I guess overexposed a bit to kill the noise

Yes, not old by artist standards, but old digitally. I guess in the context of the DSLR revolution, and perhaps now the mirrorless cinema camera revolution?, we can 'go back' in some regards but stay modern in others. I'm not really talking about anyone going back to a huge ENG camera with belt-mounted battery pack and Betamax to get their 240p fix. Do you have links to Herzog's comments? I searched youtube a bit and couldn't find an account or which videos he might have been commenting on. It would be interesting to read them - he's not short of an opinion that's for sure, but they're often piercing and highly relevant.

Autofocus. AF speed is properly adjusted to account for and leverage the shorter focal length and the brighter maximum aperture. Dual-pixel autofocus (DPAF) and video AF support. Focal length and aperture are adjusted in EXIF (see note 3). Image stabilization (IS) lens support. Store EXIF data (lens name, focal length and maximum/minimum aperture) for one manual lens in the adapter. Build-in multi-function Control Wheel (turn/ push-in) for assignable functions(eg. ISO, shutter speed or aperture control, depth-of-field preview). LED indicator shows communication status. Powered by camera body. With most lenses, no external power source required. source With Tilta's cooling workaround, I know I will end to buy one... Canon is like Blackmagic to digital filmmaker, it is synonymous of the world of pictures itself ; ) BTW we're shooting three short films and a feature film from a C500 these days, works like a charm! : -)

The Panasonic S1H to Atomos Ninja V ProRes RAW firmware is downloadable here... https://www.eoshd.com/raw-video/panasonic-s1h-to-atomos-ninja-v-6k-prores-raw-update-now-available-to-download/ Seriously consider giving the 6K RAW a go. Most ProRes RAW is pixel binned via HDMI (like Nikon Z6, Sigma Fp, GFX 100, etc.) But not this one.

Definetely do teh metabones review. There is lots of cheap used EF glass with great quality, so it may be worth the investment.

Sony knocked it out of the park in my opinion. It seems to be the best 4K mirrorless camera you can buy. Did they not give us something we didn’t want in a sony camera? 4K120p, 10-bit 4:2:2, ALL-I options, Slog-2 and 3, you almost don’t have to worry about ISO performance, amazing autofocus in all modes even 120p, touch to track AF, face detect, dual SD and CFExpress Type A options, 16-bit RAW output from full sized HDMI (no shitty micro port), overheating doesn’t seem to be a problem for real world use (hopefully!). I know I said Canon knocked it out of the park with R5/6 but it turned out to be a kiddy pool. So I’ll be cautiously optimistic. The only real downside of this camera is the 12MP stills which kinda sucks for me when I want a FF camera that can kinda do it all. I’ll hold out on final judgment until Gerald reviews the hell out of this thing but Damn, E-mount it is for me.

No longer than offloading it. You can basically use Slimraw as an offloading tool to copy and simultaneously compress your footage from the SD card to your computer's hard drive.