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Obvious this is wrong of Small Rig but I just think nearly all companies are pulling similar stunts and content creators are happy to enable it in 99% of situations. I don't know this guy but it's good he has spoken out. But it is a bit like watching two sales people arguing about principals. If this was Sony sending him a free A7S III would he have called them out for blackmail? If Canon had sent him an EOS R5 but he didn't like the overheating, is this blackmail when they expect content from him? It is the unspoken rule. If you want free stuff, they expect you to return the favour and do your part. Is it a quid-pro-quo when nobody complains and blackmail when somebody does? No they are the same thing really. The only difference between Sony with Gerald Undone and Small Rig with this guy is the degree of subtleness.

I could certainly try opening my own camera store here at EOSHD. Need a clear out and really would hate to be scammed over something like an Iscorama or Leica SL2. I think I will continue raising some awareness of how dangerous eBay is for sellers and then go my own way. Thanks for the support guys.

And then fine tune it even further with AF speed and sensitivity. No user should need to do this though and this has been Panasonic’s Achilles Heel. Not so much the fact the AF is contrast based, but there has been little to no instruction in regard to how to make it work best which has been left to the community to try and resolve. It’s cost them market position and countless millions in sales. Marketing and reputation is everything. The entire L Mount system; Panny, Leica and Sigma have virtually all the ingredients needed to have the best product in the marketplace bar none and it’s slightly frustrating that they do not.

Jesus, Andrew! That's fucking appalling behaviour from eBay. I've not sold that much on eBay but have gotten through it largely hassle-free, but this makes selling anything of value super sketchy. Thanks for sharing your story, I hope it comes good and you sell your equipment successfully, and you can go on and do the house move with extra funds. 🙂

Oh my. I've been a happy eBay buyer for hundreds of items, and I've been surprised by how good service I've been getting from 99% of the sellers. This post clearly shows that I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. Fortunately my local classified ads have been working great for selling my gear with in-person delivery, and I will continue using that so that I'll never have to deal with something like this.

If anyone wants an insight into the other side of this unvirtuous circle then launch a product and watch the emails pile in. From the straightforward "can I have a free one if I do a review on my YouTube channel?" to the full on "I will say its great on my YouTube channel if you give me a free one and a cut of the sales" and all points in between. On sites such as this one below, you can register to boost campaigns for products that you have absolutely no idea whether work or not or even if they will ever be delivered and earn money from other people taking that risk : https://kickbooster.me/marketplace/ Sites such as that one are referenced in almost every solicitation email we've received regarding the PBC and then the AFX so its obviously all part of the game. Is everybody at it ? Its unlikely but there are clearly enough people who are very much at it so as to bring the whole thing into disrepute in my opinion. There is clearly a space then for someone to do absolutely straight reviews that demonstrably have no financial aspect to them whatsoever either through advertising or affiliate links. The problem with someone doing that is that there are so many people with vested interests in these inanimate objects - whether financial or emotional - that you then end up with this at your virtual front door if you are critical of it. On that basis, who the fuck would even be arsed doing it ?

Well the the 24-105 has a wider FOV and a longer one, but is 'only' F4 vs 2.8 Sharpness-wise, not a lot in it and I'm not really a pixel-peeper, but maybe a very slight edge to the Panasonic? The Panny has OIS which improves stability further, but the Sigma is smaller and lighter and doesn't extend as much when zooming. The Sigma is a nicer fit on both my S5 and S1H whereas the 24-105 IMO is a bit large for my liking on the S5 without a grip. Useable? Sure, but all day shooting a wedding... nah, grip. I'm still waiting to test the Sigma 65mm f2 (hopefully within the next couple of weeks) before committing to that as my principle video lens and then I'd flip the 28-70 over to the S5 full-time and that will be my pairing (S5 + 28-70mm f2.8, S1H + 65mm f2) but if that doesn't wok out, then I'll keep the Sigma zoom and use it as a 'dual prime' on the S1H and either get another 28-70 for the S5 or just keep using the 24-105. I do like the output of the 24-105 and it's flexibility and if it was either smaller and lighter by 25%, or same size & weight, but f2.8, it would be a definite keeper...but currently it's the size & weight that is preventing me from committing. And I know, I know, it's hardly a massive lens at just under 700 grams anyway, but by my standards, it's fking huge!

He is expected companies to send him free gears just to ear his "valuable" feedback yea right....... the most silly part is that they refer themselves as content creators..... they are not content creators they are sales guys replacing the guys in the shop or in TV sales. This is it. The argument that the value of the good is only a couple of 100$ is also ridiculous.

Here's an Autofocus Tip that I totally didn't realize... Apparently you are supposed to "confirm" AF tracking using the joystick or touch screen. (OK, maybe not PERFECT but looks better than usual.) Hmmm... maybe I SHOULD read the manual for expensive pieces of equipment...

So it's blackmail when they don't like the product enough to do a video. But THIS RIG WILL BLOW YOU AWAY *shocked face* if they do?

I for one will never go back to shooting anything less than 4K and typically nothing lower than 4K60FPS. I already have over 120TB of storage, my projects drive is 4TB, my cache drive is 1TB, 14 core CPU, RTX 2080TI video card, USB3 media readers, 1TB SD cards, and I always generate optimized media for every clip to have smooth playback after color grading and Fusion effects are added. I rely heavily on recomposing shots, stabilizing in post, straightening the horizon (drone footage), and couldn't imagine losing all of those capabilities. I shoot 4K60FPS because I never know when I might need to slow something down later as part of a speed ramp or to get additional gimbal stability. Interviews of course are shot at 4K30FPS. I typically then deliver in 1080P although lately I have been editing on a 1080P timeline then upscaling to 1440P for a YouTube delivery. For my website's demo reels I need the highest quality so I have Vimeo Basic which is free but has a very low storage limit so I put about 4 or 5 videos there until I reached the storage limit so that customers see a higher quality video than YouTube would allow. I also tried hosting a few MP4s on my website but that's just too unreliable; maximum quality but it's a pain to write the code to detect the different viewports and deliver the proper format based on the user's devices. I get what you are saying about the additional overhead, but all of it is paid for by my clients. I charge for each project based on the number of hours it will take for me to shoot, edit, and deliver that project and my service proposals are based on processing, editing, and rendering 4K footage. Clients hire me based on my past work, they expect to get the same level of quality that they saw from other projects, the only way I can do that is by shooting in 4K or higher and delivering in 1080P or upscaled 2K. I have never shot a single frame of video in my GH5, C200, GoPro, or drones at 1080P. If you plan for 4K, build your workflow around 4K, and charge your clients for 4K it's really no different than 1080P. If you are not making a living from video work and just posting personal projects on YouTube then 4K might not make sense.

Me and my friend are planning on shooting something over the summer and I thought this would be a good time to invest in a new lens. Right now I only have two kit lenses that came with the camera. What is a good lens that I can get that will be flexible enough to do most things in filming a short film? I understand that I will not be able to do the whole thing with just one lens. My gear: Nikon D5600, Nikkor 18-55mm and Nikkor 70-300mm https://snaptube.cam/. I am willing to buy a converter so if you have a good Canon or Sony lens please don't hesitate to drop it down there. I am shooting for a lens from $500-$800. Any suggestions would be super helpful!