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For some reason, I seem to get the most excited about using the worst cameras I have. I know I'm not alone...... @dreamplayhouse @PannySVHS @QuickHitRecord @mercer I have some spectacular cameras.. the GH5, BMMCC and OG BMPCC. The GX85, XC10, X3000, iPhone don't have 10-bit or RAW so aren't in my top tier, but definitely are no slouches.... and yet, it's the GF3 and SJ4000 action cameras that make me the most excited. My eyes somehow skip over the nicest lenses and camera bodies but yet linger on those cameras and cause "what if" thoughts. I have similar thoughts about some of my worst lenses too. It's like there's a satisfaction from getting results that are better than they should be. A thrill about 'cheating' perhaps? It's not about image quality, otherwise it'd be the GH5 or BM cameras every time, but it's not. I think there's something in here about limited dynamic range. I've noticed that many people seem to be afraid of contrast these days too - maybe it's from staring too long at LOG footage and forgetting that film created rich contrasty images? Sure, these lower-DR 8-bit 709 cameras clip pretty hard, but according to imaging-resource the GF3 has about 10 stops of dynamic range. According to ARRI, colour negative film has 5.5 stops of DR between 2% and 90%. Who knows what film they were talking about but it's a real measurement from a reliable source so it's in the ballpark and worth consideration. According to Sony rec709 has about 5.2 stops - pretty similar to film. This means that we can take the 10-stops from the GF3 and add contrast so that we compress a couple of stops into a highlight rolloff and a couple more into the shadow rolloff and we'll be in the right range of contrast. This equates to 'stretching' the dynamic range of the middle stops. Assuming that the in-camera profile hasn't compressed any highlights/shadows then we only have to stretch the middle stops by a factor of two, which is do-able - just, but in combination with poor quality compression it benefits from a little blurring to smooth over any jagged transitions. I also think it might be the level of detail and sharpness. Steve Yedlin showed that a developed 35mm film has about 2-3K resolving power and high levels of noise (Resolution Demo pt 2 ~19:00). The sharpness is interesting too - film is resolution limited by how soft it is, whereas digital isn't. However, on moderate bitrate cameras the codec tends to obscure fine detail (but not creating artefacts so bad they have overly sharp edges), so this is a comparable aspect too. It's one reason I shoot 1080p on the GH5 - to control the fine detail to a more organic amount. BUT, regardless of the above.. I just know that I get more excited by these 'lesser' cameras than the better ones. I'm looking forward to getting better at grading with higher contrast looks, film emulation looks, and other nicer and stronger and more nostalgic image processing.

Hidden among the news of an unneeded camera update (BMPCC6k G2) was the fact that the Pocket cameras now record the gyro data for stabilisation in an upcoming REsolve update. This is very exciting! Grant mentions it around 1 minute into this video.

GX80 works wonderfully with the @BTM_Pix hack to get Cinelike-D. When I had one, used it with Leeming Lut for Cinelike-D and the colors were amazing.

First attempt at B&W grading with the S5, Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 and Helios 44M-4 58mm f/2. These are shots from a street fait in Athens. Shot on two different occasions. Music is done by me, I was feeling a bit melancholic at the time hence the title "Low". Hope you enjoy it!

I'll take about 5 without even thinking.

Exactly, but the workflow isn't really annoying either anymore. With MLVFS, the MLV files can be brought into Resolve as if they're CDNGS... then you can color and edit them like any other files.

I remember having some heated disputes here a few years ago about that specific camera (C200) and the first R ones. For me were wasted money, as obviously were on a middle ground just before Canon started all their modern releases and get back to the game, or not very competitive at that timeline with many limitations. Even Canon, usually very protective of their releases, just "ignored" these ones and are putting out there one camera after another.

First test under very bright sun, and little promo for an organic farm. Shooting animals that moves very quickly has forced me to make a lot of panning, but it was the first time with the camera to shoot outdoors, so please sorry the sense of seasickness with panning shots. Enjoy! 🙂

Creamy BW! Lookin tasty! 🙂

Why not just get the Pro then? All the Pockets have the gyro already.

Great news indeed. I've seen some of the recent stabilisation done from camera gyro data (was it from a Sony camera?) and the stabilisation was truly truly impressive, and I'd know because I shoot handheld and have spent a lot of time on some tricky shots trying to stabilise them. I've developed techniques that I haven't found anyone else online even talking about so I'm pretty sure I'm quite far down the rabbit hole. Finally, an out of body experience that doesn't require 'self medication' and a hangover!

Well done!!! I just love this. Great shadow work. It reminds me of Ilford Film. Was this shot in vLog? I knew the S5 would be great for run & gun B&W!!!

Good luck with that! At this point I think half the people on these forums should list "Panasonic AF hater" on their CV under "Personal interests". Besides, all it takes is a quick look around and see all the flat-earth, plandemic, moon-landing / holocaust deniers, and you realise that it's more of a miracle that anyone is remotely sensible about anything at all!

That's a MAJOR "gotcha". Not having playback. But then again... I did once start shooting a feature film with a Sony PMW-F5 that lacked playback! As we'd schemed to get our hands on a Sony PM-F5 (this was years ago, when the only affordable options for 4K would've been I think the GH4 or the Production 4K camera? Or the a7Smk1 with an external recorder), but... discovered it lacked the paid 4K upgrad! wtf Wasn't going to spend that huge chunk of change on a borrowed camera, so I did the Sony F5 4K hack for it. But meant we lacked playback 😕 😞 Oh well. so I connected my Atomos Samurai (which I already had and used with my Sony PMW-F3), so that I could have a way of viewing playbacks of shots! (as the F5 would automatically trigger a proxy recorder on the Samurai)

Honestly for stills you really don't need the latest and greatest. The exception might be for sports and wildlife. Most photographers I know still use older DSLRs, especially older photographers who have the mentality of using their equipment until it doesn't work anymore. I've tried to use that same mentality when it comes to video because at this point anything that has come out in the last 5 or 6 years is still very good. Had I not gotten such a great deal on the S5 I'd still be using the GH5, G85, and GX85 set up. I'd also add that the proliferation of people doing weddings has made that aspect of getting booked more stressful than the actual work itself. I took last year off due to COVID and being immunocompromised, and it screwed me quite a bit because it allowed others to slide into my place. I'm not mad, I'd do it again if I had to, but it has made getting back to pre-COVID levels pretty difficult.

Yes I was very vocal in my criticism when the EOS R came out as well as when the overheating controversy with the R5 was just getting started...so vocal in fact that I was banned from the Canon Rumors site where apparently only blindly loyal fanboyism is allowed. As far as the R7 goes, Gordon Lang did a great review of it in the video below. Based on the video I did pick out a few things that I really like and dislike: Dislike - It still requires a USB-PD source to power it. This is important to me because my current V-Mount battery setup that I was able to power the C200, C70, and S5 with won't work for this camera. The R5 has the same problem. Likes Batteries - It uses the same batteries as the R5 and 5DIV, so I would start off on day one with tons of useable batteries already. Lens Compatibility - This camera could possibly be the most compatible camera Canon has ever created. It supports RF-S lenses, RF lenses, EF lenses, AND EF-S lenses, so owners will have a massive array of economical options to shoot with. Of course an adapter is needed for EF and EF-S but I don't think EF-S lenses can be used with the R5 even with the adapter but I could be wrong. Another cool tidbit from the video is that RF-S lenses will be compatible with both crop sensor and FF RF mount cameras. Overheating - Gordon did not mention ambient room temps during his quick overheating test but it was still nice to see 2hrs and 20min recording at its highest 4K mode without overheating. It also has a nifty overheating tracking gauge which showed it wasn't even close. That would be nice to have in the R5. In the video it looked like the 4K HQ mode is a massive improvement over the other modes, not sure if it was just a change in other settings in the camera that Gordon made, but to me its rare to see that big of an increase in quality when switching between different video modes in a camera body. I'm looking forward to seeing more video focused tests and especially low light tests. If this camera had dual native ISO it truly would have been great. Without it, I would be happy if it was useable up to 3200ISO. The seamless integration between this camera and my other Canon cameras (batteries, lenses, adapters, etc.) makes this body very interesting to me. I stick by my original statement that Canon might have accidentally created the hybrid camera we've been waiting for.

Yeah, a raw to raw conversion shouldn't take that much processing at all - almost nothing in comparison to the other processing required when editing and grading footage.

Yup it's some kind of filing system you download so then you right click your mlv folder, scroll down and choose MLVFS, assign them to a different folder and open them in Resolve. Then somehow or another it tricks Resolve into thinking they're CDNG files.

To be fair in those cases, then the camera was either (Unsane) a bit of a gimmick to help market the movie, or (Hardcore Henry) integral to the storytelling of the movie. (you could never have done Hardcore Henry with an ARRI! Although, if Hardcore Henry was re-shoot today in 2022, I would be curious as to how it might go with a Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera, Sigma FP, or a Z Cam E2-M4. None of those cameras where an option back when Hardcore Henry were filmed) If you're not one of those weird rare exceptions, when you shouldn't use a GoPro or iPhone to film your next feature film. But I agree with your general point: content is king. I agree, any semipro/pro hybrid camera released in the past 5 years is going to be good enough for photography and video! What's the WORST example we can think of which was released since 2018?? Canon R? Does 30MP images, and outputs 4K 10bit. Nikon Z6? Does 4K raw output for goodness sake! Fujifilm X-H1? Panasonic GH5S? Olympus E-M5 mk3? Sony a7mk3? They might not be everyone's cup of tea today in 2022, but they each got a tonne of praise when released and produce nice 4K images. Maybe the only semipro/pro camera released in 2018 we could be critical about is the Fujifilm GFX 50R, but of course that is playing into a small niche focused on medium format photography. So full marks for those types of stills there, but only 1080 video. Oh wait, I just remembered the Pentax K-1 Mark II came out in 2018! We can't criticize its stills capabilities at all, but video... only 1080 😕 So fine, we found ONE (two, if you count the medium format camera, three if you include the 50S mk2 as well) semipro/pro camera released in the last five years which isn't suitable for both stills and video. And it is so obscure, most of us haven't even heard about it, or have forgotten about it already. I'm trying to take this same philosophy and apply it to my work as a Sound Mixer as well. (one of the reasons I enjoy listening to Scott Choucino, even though I'm not a professional photographer, as I feel there is still a lot of overlap that I can learn from) Avoid the temptation to upgrade to DPA 6060! When my Sanken COS11D / DPA 4060 work just fine. Why get a Sanken CSM1 when I have 3x Sanken CS1e? Resist the desire to get a teeny tiny Lectrosonics SSM transmitter when my still rather small Lectrosonics SMV do the job! (and I've got five of them!) Put off the plan to do the big upgrade to Shure Axient Digital Wireless, when my Lectrosonics Digital Hybrids are still "the industry standard" and do a great job. Don't ever buy an Anton Cantar (as much as I'd love to have all those features/ergonomics!), as it isn't like I'm ever going to get anything which my my Sound Devices 833 with its 16 track recorder can't handle.

Tilt screen and higher capacity NP-F battery. I had been pondering taking the financial hit and trading my 6K in for the Pro so this will make the hit bigger! I thought the next one they would bring out would be the 4K Pro (or even the 6K with an MFT mount) so this seems a bit meh to me and I’m not sure why anyone looking at the 6K wouldn’t just stretch to the 6K Pro. More details here https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera

Well don't buy it.

Yep, they revealed today that all the BMPCC cameras (4K, 6K, 6KG2 and 6K Pro - not the OG BMPCC, of course) already had an internal gyro that is now enabled, and the data could be used to stabilize in post using Resolve.

Film doesn't underexpose well so you get crushed blacks rather quickly hence the contrasty look but it obliterates digital in highlight DR latitude. Kodak Vision has been championing their motion film stock and I remember reading it gives DR readings anywhere from 12 to 20 stops depending on scan techniques and recovery methods. You can check some of the charts yourself: https://www.kodak.com/content/products-brochures/Film/VISION-200T-Sellsheet_US_4PG-EN.pdf The wider exposure latitude in KODAK VISION3 Films differentiate film capture from the limited dynamic range of digital capture. Digital "dodging and burning," a very powerful tool in the colorists' toolkit, is now even more powerful—up to two stops more image information can be extracted from scene highlights in VISION3 Films. If traditional 10-bit scanner data encoding schemes are used to digitize films having this extended density range, highlight information captured on these film could be lost. Kodak has recommendations for extracting the full density range stored on high dynamic range films in a technical document titled Scanning Recommendations for Extended Dynamic Range Camera Films Also recommend some of the great accompanying videos : notice at 1:40 how the DP states he overexposed the highlights by 6-7 stops and again at 2:00 the field is 4 stops over and the sky 7 stops over before recovering the highlights. have fun achieving that kind of highlight latitude in digital! ..again at 7:37 overexposing the grassy area by 3-4 stops and perfect recovery. Just some extra food for thought when comparing film to digital.

My understanding is that there's a ton of work in designing a PCB, and it looks like their main PCB is large and potentially has almost everything on it (I haven't studied it though). 4K PCB: 6K PCB Anyway, making the 6K the same as the 6K Pro (notice how the 6K is now the same size as the 6K Pro?) would give them economies of scale and synergies, while being able to configure the other things (NDs, brighter screen, etc) to be different. It makes sense as a commercial move for them in terms of pricing and manufacture. I've had the sense through their seemingly random previous camera models that they were leaping from one design to the next perhaps based on what was cheap and available at the time. This meant that every camera was largely a new design, making them more prone to QC issues. Seems this update is aligned to that perhaps. Pity it wasn't a Komodo-style box design though. The BMMCC still has no replacement, and nothing even remotely close in terms of size, so I'm still holding out hope for a box camera. If it has a usable top display I'd consider it.

Would be interesting to see something like that in a Panasonic firmware update.

That was part of my motivation... to completely obscure the camera with treatments in post. We all focus on the camera, debating the fine points of the limits of camera features, and then only take advantage of a tiny taste of what is possible in post-production. It's like shopping all over the world for the finest ingredients, then taking them into the kitchen and boiling the crap out of everything. Will overcooked fine ingredients taste better than overcooked cheap ingredients, probably, but it's hardly the potential that existed. We're all running around shopping for ingredients and steadfastly refusing to learn to cook, or for those that do know their way around a kitchen, passing up the opportunity to learn to cook well.

In 3 characters... WOW

Thank you so much! 😀 Yes, it was shot in VLog and graded in Davinci Resolve.

Right, now I remember! That was the build and settings that worked best. I just might pickup a 5D3 again at some point for nostalgic reasons and to experiment with ML RAW again. Good to know the workflow in post is simplified a bit too.. Absolutely. I actually also simulate the film workflow with my Leica M9 as the playback is totally useless on the super low res display, no live view and it only takes small size SD cards that I fill to the max with only 24/36 pics available. Changes everything. I did a pro portrait shoot recently with this M9 setup and the R6, end result was well 36 shots on the Leica vs +400 on the Canon. There were great shots on both cameras but the clients favourite was by far the Leica ones (and I did not tell them which came from which camera). There was just more work/effort put into the composition, direction etc.. was an interesting experiment!

Nah, the stable Nightly Build is 1080p Full Frame 14bit 16:9 Raw. It shoots continuous with proper live view. Playback was wonky when I tried it back in '17 so I never tried it again. It has exposure meters including a Raw Histogram with an Over Exposure Warning including which channels are clipping. It has peaking and "Magic Zoom" ... punch in while recording. Everything is stable and I've never had any hiccups. Only the Experimental Builds have a crop and a wonky Live View.

They should just retire the non Pro 6K at this point imo. Confusing lineup with so little differentiating the 6K G2 & 6K Pro.

I can deal with no playback, but no Live View + No playback? Is that how it really was (I forget its been so long)? So what you're basically shooting from the optical viewfinder or guesstimating focus? metering exposure etc? If so that's actually good for skills (its why I still love shooting film for stills) but damn thank goodness for "modern comfort" as well!

Assuming you're still reading this thread, I'd suggest the following: Ignore all the tiny pieces of technical detail that the tech-obsessed and argument-prone contributors have shared in this thread and return to first-principles. First principle - get your shots in focus. Nothing else matters if a shot is out of focus. If you're shooting kids or anything else that isn't under control then either get phase-detect AF or learn to manually focus. I shoot similar to you and manually focus - it's a skill and requires some practice but it's do-able. Getting shots in focus with the best auto-focus cameras is also a skill that requires practice. Second principle - get a nice looking image - whatever that means for you. The nicer the camera the more likely it will require colour grading and most people can't colour grade to save their own lives, let alone create lovely images. Once again, this is a skill that can be developed, but making lovely videos requires (literally) a dozen or more skills so you just might not have it in you to learn to colour grade as well as edit, mix sound, master, learning NLEs, media management, etc etc. If you don't want to learn to colour grade then you're going to rely on the picture-profiles from the camera and that will potentially limit the dynamic range and other image attributes, sometimes quite significantly. Third principle - get the first two right and then buy the camera and then don't look back. Go learn about the other dozen skills. Highly skilled people can create feature film quality results with any of the cameras you're talking about so there's a snowflakes-chance-in-hell that the camera will be a limitation, it will be your level of skill. Fourth principle - if you get to here let me say this again. The camera doesn't matter. The only people that will tell you otherwise are camera nerds (like here in this forum), camera manufacturers (who want your money, over and over again), and camera influencers (who want the views and royalties and commissions and manufacturer kickbacks etc). Seriously. Buy the camera that will get your shots in focus and then move on.

I reserve the right to do some other tests but I must say that I am satisfied with the VND True Color Nisi filter. Already seeing the clips that don't have a minimum of color cast, I was thrilled. Then I must say that this VND also creates images with excellent definition, almost equal to the clips shot without a filter.

I suppose, but filmmakers shot feature films for years on film without any playback. It's a modern comfort. Now I'm using an old build from 2017, so it's possible they've figured that out since then. For me, the 5D3 was so very liberating because once I used the camera, I didn't look back... or forward. The image was MORE than good enough for my humble hobby. I wish I could have that epiphany with some lenses. Neat trick for the F5... let me guess... 9 out of 10 times you got the shot?

I've had very good results shooting wide open with the kit lens on the S5, too. I really do wish people would actually try using and learning these cameras before repeating how bad the AF is. It sucks that you need to learn to work with its strengths like that but it's very doable. Back button focus is also very helpful.

Yeah, you just take one frame and drag it on the timeline and it brings all of them all in. Magic stuff. Resolve is crazy powerful anymore.

It converts on the fly, I believe. It's a great option because it's one less step in the workflow and you don't have to have extra disk space etc. Of course you pay for the conversion when editing and rendering because the conversion is being done every time a clip is accessed, but it's a raw to raw conversion with All-i files so shouldn't be anything like editing from an IPB codec.

I've edited straight from the CF cards.

Magic Lantern isn't undependable. 1080p 14 bit RAW is a staple. It's just an annoying workflow.

That is true, I have shot corporate, news, sports, events, and music videos but it all still seemed to just end up on social media and YT 😀. Corporate work typically ends up on their websites hosted by Vimeo, I have also been an additional camera op and b-roll shooter for TV commercial work but not what I enjoy doing. From Canon, but Panasonic still manages to do very well in the overheating department. But Panasonic went with lower resolution sensors and when necessary they even used crop modes; which all added up to reliable cameras. I do think the second gen R cameras will see an improvement in the thermal department, I am pretty sure Canon won't make that type of mistake twice. I definitely want to see some detailed R7 test results, I think with the smaller sensor and cropped 4K60FPS it should be very reliable. If it does prove to be as efficient as the S5 was at heat management I will probably get one. @IronFilm I made the same poor purchasing decision when I got the C200, fortunately the rest of the rig is compatible with the C70 so the cost of the body and cage for it were my main mistakes. In the end I needed a camera I could put on a one handed gimbal as a OMB, better 4K, better codecs, etc. The C70 checked all of those boxes for me especially with the recent RAW update. IMO the C70 is more camera than anything I will need video wise for the foreseeable future.

It has been my observation that they get better by the month. So, using the latest one is probably the way to go, but, and a big but if you use the higher end modes they are pretty unreliable, but if you stick to say 1080p that works almost non stop anymore on the newer builds. ML is a crap shoot. Zeek seems to have it down pretty well, but I try it and I end up with pink spots and 5 second footage, Ugg it drives me crazy LOL, but damn you want to make it work so bad. When it does work wow impressive stuff. Crazy as it seems the EOS M has the most potential.

Sure if the OP is basing his purchase of a 5D on the experimental builds, then it's probably not a good idea to purchase one. There's a crop and the last I checked there isn't any real, or accurate, Live View. With that said, Andrew has a gorgeous sample of the 3.5K mode, and I've seen dozens of samples online. Even the eos-m has some nice features and IQ if you like to tinker. But based on what he said, it doesn't sound like that's his goal here. I was merely correcting a false narrative that ML Raw is entirely useless on the 5D3. I mean, a filmmaker recently had his 5D3 ML Raw, narrative film debut at SXSW and received write ups in all the Hollywood trade magazines. Of course, he shot it in 1080p, but if it wasn't dependable, I doubt he would shoot a feature film on it.

Exactly my point... I'm not trying to insult you or the community... but all the "hype" is around these experimental builds. Everyone is excited to share the positives without sharing the negatives. All I'm doing is pointing towards the negatives.... if you can look past them, you're golden.

Compiled ML builds are only around 2MB-3 MB. It appears that one of those files is the git repository (possibly many MB). To install ML on your EOSM, follow the instructions at 03:14 in this video by @ZEEK: A lot of the ML documentation is way out of date. It's best to find recent online tutorials and/or post questions at the ML forums. I don't know where one can find the older builds. Perhaps post the question on the ML forums?

The 8-bit codec was plain weak. And the RAW had massive files. The 4K was also very soft and not in that good soft but detailed cine way. EF so almost no adapting or focal reducer. The body itself was very nice but I just ended up still using the FS7 9.5 times out of 10. Got almost no use of it, bought it right before the price drop and lost so much selling it virtually new. Worst investment ever for me basically. Crazy to think my R6 absolutely destroys it IQ wise. The FS7 still holds its own. I've bought it twice now. Such a workhorse. This of course kinda makes me doubt going C70 (even though I'm leaning towards it) over FX6.

I called Canon when people first started reporting no DGO at 60P and they said it is active at all framerates except 120FPS. They did not differentiate between CLOG2, XF-AVC, H.264 vs H.265 etc. I supposed I should call them again and ask specifically if the compression codec and LOG curve matters. We were talking (or at least I was talking) about the R5C specifically and with the R5C the common working theory is that the only way they got it to not overheat even with a fan was to remove IBIS. The 8K affects IBIS because if it wasn't an 8K sensor they probably could have cooled it down properly without removing IBIS (hence the R7 and R3 both have IBIS and don't overheat). Not shooting in 8K doesn't save the battery or at least I don't think it saves it by much. You still have to power the fan, the full sensor, all of the faster circuitry required to process up to 8K, etc. Of course I would be curious to see some charts that say how long the R5C works for photos only or lower resolution videos. Most of the reviews I've seen said it only lasts 30min even when just shooting photos. No IBIS was the deal breaker for me with the R5C because it had the other compromises to make it work as a hybrid and not overheat. With the C70; the Audio XLR inputs, and the internal ND filters made it worth the loss of IBIS. @Kisaha @Django @ade towell @ntblowz 8K, 10bit, 4:2:2, RAW, line skipping, ISO performance etc. etc. I will admit I sometimes just have to smile as I read about fellow videographers dismissing a camera in these price ranges due to lacking or gaining these features. Maybe I am a bit jaded, probably because my little corner of the industry is littered with mediocre footage and so my customer's expectations aren't much above mediocre as well, but IMO any camera released in the last 5yrs can create amazing footage. At the end of the day it is the content that matters and if the camera fits into your workflow and has features that helps vs hinders your creativity then that is the camera for you more so than paper specs. I think it is safe to say that the plethora of cameras released in the sub $10K USD range are aimed at online/social media content creators and I am not ashamed to say that that is exactly where 90%+ of my content ends up. Once this footage is online it is most likely to be viewed on a tiny cell phone screen at 480P resolution. I say all of that to say that I think the R7 is probably going to be an incredible little camera that is more than good enough to shoot most of the online content that their owners choose to create. Kim K could pose for 30 seconds in front of her cell phone propped up in the corner of her room and rack up 3M views in a few hrs. We could spend months planning a project, weeks shooting the project, and weeks more editing and posting the project and only get a few thumbs up. My point here is content is king; if you have content people want to see or you have a niche with a following the camera specs won't matter much. Feature length movies have been shot with GoPros (Hardcore Henry) and iPhones (Unsane), imagine what those people could have done with the R7. IMO our number one competitor isn't the person with 8K or no pixel binning, or no line skipping.....its the cell phone. For me personally, if the R7 doesn't overheat, and I can find a way to work with the crop, then I think it would be a great B-Cam to the C70 for those times when the C70 is locked down on a tripod and I need some quick B-Roll or a second angle for an interview, etc. I live in a very hot state, so my #1 requirement above all else is no overheating.

Spray & pray? Spits dummy out. I’ve never sprayed (other than weedkiller in the garden), or prayed (despite being forced by my parents to be an unbelieving choirboy for 5 years). I need AF for the video side for a total of around less than 1 minute in 12-15 hours. Any S camera with a native zoom such as the 25-105 f4 with the right type of AF selected and with the tracking tweaked, plus f8, will track even a pretty fast confetti run. Leave that on a tripod and hit record with a centre weighted focus. It’ll work. Everything else, I use manual focus. On the photography side, DFD is pretty fast and highly accurate. In some regards, better than PDAF. If I come back from a shoot with over 2000 frames shot and 10 were out of focus, it will have been me not the kit. If I had a blank sheet today, I’d probably go R3 or Z9 as my main workhorses. Problem is, I’d still need 4 cameras as a prime user (except my tracking unit which is a zoom) or 3 if I flipped 2 of my current hybrid units (S1R’s) for 1 single unit such as an R3 or Z9, but then I’d have to shoot a zoom with it in order to run with just 3 units. I just prefer the ‘purity’ of fixed focal length primes and really do not like using zooms unless I absolutely have to. But no chance of any system changes in his year despite having a couple of teething issues getting to grips with L Mount (coming from Fuji) but 11 weddings into a season of 33, it’s all beginning to gel now. Spent most of the first 10 jobs juggling different combos and with the last 2.5 years only providing a total of 6 out of what should have been 60 jobs, it’s only in the last 2 months I have had any facility to work it all through. I don’t think I’ll make any more changes this season so it’s: A pair of S1R’s hybrid with primes. S1H in sticks with cine lens and VND between lens and body for longer stuff. S5 also on sticks with 24-105 pulling tracking and longer focal length duty. Crazy good quality coming out of it all now, only limited by the user. Or the muppetry that sometimes goes on at weddings 😉 As things stand, interested to see most of all what the L Mount Alliance produces next…

I guess it comes down to how anyone defines ‘hybrid’. Your version seems like a video-centric one with maybe a requirement to sometimes take a still picture (because you don’t mention any photo requirements) and nothing wrong with that. My version of hybrid is a typical 12-15 hour shoot day constantly flipping between stills and video all day long and if the flip time is longer than 1-2 secs max, that’s too long. It’s also about the compact nature of the kit and being ultra mobile so whilst I could rig something out to improve the video capability, it would be to the detriment of the photography. So zero rigging for me. Hybrid has to be purely camera and lens. But that’s just my need. But then I split my needs and use 4 cameras… 2x handheld (hybrid S1R’s) + 2x tripod (pure video S1H + S5). There are multiple Canon options for this I think I’d be happy with…but ouch, it would be expensive to switch to any of them! And the overheating thing with some of them… The other day I had the S5 and S1H on tripods, rolling for 30+ minutes each (had to restart the S5 when it hit 30 mins) at 40 degrees C (104 F)?in the shade, but in direct sunlight. Both were extremely hot to touch even before I hit record. I’m not sure if the fan even came on with the S1H but neither missed a beat and not a single overheating warning on any of my 4 cameras. The S1R’s were super hot most of the day as in you wouldn’t want to hold them by the metal parts for too long! It made me think how those plastic wonders that are the R6 and R5 would have coped… Can’t prove it, but I suspect they would have shut down within a few minutes max in those conditions leaving me utterly f**ked for the ceremony!

After reading the original article I bought a GX85, and an adapter for my Panaleica 14-50 fourthirds lens. It was my first cam that could do video. Years later, I have now shot several concert (live or production) video's, up to 10 cam (mainly P4K), 3 manned cams. I currently have 3 fourthirds lenses (adapted to m43) and 8 mft lenses and 14-15 Samsung T5 ... The GX85 still serves (mainly photographs, or as a fourth cam when I am in a pinch). So, a big THANK YOU to Andrew. Without getting into video for music, the last two years would have been a personal disaster ...