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Have to say I am a bit impressed by this result, not just how well the smartphone keeps up with full frame but because it shoots internal 4K RAW (Motion Cam) and A7 IV, erm, doesn't! But just for kicks I did shoot a RAW still on the Sony to see how it would come out versus the RED (RIP) Hydrogen One. It is not even a very modern smartphone by the standards of 2022. It comes from 3 years ago. HydrogenOne 4K RAW converted to JPEG: Sony A7 IV Yes of course the A7 IV is cleaner in the shadows, I wasn't able to push the phone as far around the wall and tree due to noise, but there's something about the way the dynamic range is handled on the phone I like. I think the A7 IV almost has an HDR effect going on whereas the phone seems more real to me. It was much easier to do a quick grade that looked nice on the phone as well. Anyone let me know if any interest in doing a more serious comparison and in downloading the original RAW files if you want to grade them yourselves.

Hi Andrew - some thoughts for your consideration.. A few observations. I'm registered with a number of the other forums and chat sites (Facebook, Discord, etc) and they're either dead or are full of one-line posts where almost no real discussion can take place. Having a forum means that nuance and complex topics can be discussed - this seems to be one of the most active camera forums around so I'd suggest keeping it as a forum. It's the only place that has kept my attention about cameras. I don't think that cameras or video are in decline - quite the opposite, however it's changing. Looking at your recent pinned threads was very illuminating - there are more and more cameras and as they get better over time there is less and less reason to upgrade. This means that there will be less and less people who all own the same camera. I think it used to make sense to organise all discussions by camera model but that seems to be less and less useful. I think there are two types of topics now: 1) what should I buy / should I buy camera X? (purchase advice), and, 2) wow - video is hard - now I have my camera WTF do I do with it? (accessories advice / technique / etc) In the (few) years I've been around my impression is that the brand you have built for yourself and the blog is 'call it how you see it' and in alignment with this the forums are a bit more like that too (as compared with other PR-centric or PC-centric approaches). The site is also a rare home to discussions that are more reminiscent of cinematography rather than technology (for example, discussions of c-mount lenses, classic cameras like early Pan models and BM models, etc). Yes, there are more than a few people who can't see past the specifications, but many who prefer the image of a 2K Alexa with vintage primes over an 8K camera with a low-distortion zoom. Some suggestions. I suggest a strategy of playing to your strengths and harnessing your interests. What I mean by this is: Embrace the 'call it how you see it' approach, and just write more content. You have written about cameras, the industry, lenses, and various other topics, and I think this is still useful and desirable content. You've lamented not getting review models because you didn't kowtow to brands PR departments, but I don't think this is a barrier - when the NDA expires and we see a dozen 'reviews' of a product why not watch them and then share your thoughts? With a bit of careful attention to the footage posted and reading between the lines on who says what, quite a lot can be deduced and I'm sure that your audience would be keen to hear your thoughts instead of having to watch all the videos / articles about it. I'd also encourage you to share your thoughts not just on the products but also what they mean too. If your impression is that something is yet another soul-less spec chasing camera with mediocre colour science in a system with no practical lenses then that's something people would like to hear. If the opposite is true, they'd like to hear that too. You seem to love smartphones and they're definitely eating the market from the bottom-up, so embrace that. I suggest you include those on the forums too. The cameras in them are almost overlapping with the sensor sizes and dynamic range of good S16 cameras, so why not just treat them like any other camera and discuss them here too. While most of us won't have the latest android whatever-it-is model of phone, most of us don't have the R5C or Komodo either, and yet they're still popular subjects to discuss, so I don't think that phones are really any different. Talk about the industry. Talk about technique. Talk about accessories. Talk about camera-related lens-related cinema-related broadcast-related streaming-related editing-related audio-related post-production-related everything, whatever interests you. The audience for this stuff must be absolutely enormous when there are millions and millions of people who live-stream or run a YT channel or simply want to get more from the camera in their phone. If your audience is everyone that's interested in recording their own video, then your audience has probably multiplied in size by a million since you started this site. In terms of the forum, I suggest this: Collapse all the sub-forums into the main forum (we all know that sub-forums are where threads go to die) so just let the forum flow - it will keep it looking busy but not unmanageable and will focus all the attention on it. The only sub-forum should be the one for hot-topics like the politics thread you recently created. This will allow you to direct any discussions that get a little heated into that sub-forum and will 'cool off' those topics which is potentially required so that will work in your favour. Create a new forum post for every new blog post. I don't look at the sites main page but whenever you post a thread about an article I see it and normally go read it so I can understand peoples replies in context. I'm not sure what your stats say about how much traffic the forums drive to the blog posts? Fundamentally, more people are doing video than ever before, but honesty and experience (without a vested interest) is rarer than ever, so there is more demand than ever before for your insights. I suggest playing to your strengths and just up your output. Hope that's useful 🙂

Samsung has made the firmwares for their NX camera available to download on their open source site. https://opensource.samsung.com/uploadSearch?searchValue=hybrid Calling all Russian hackers by name of Tester13. Unfortunately no Galaxy NX (Android APS-C mirrorless camera) file but the NX1 is there. Could get interesting for those who know what they're doing.

Got a OnePlus 9 Pro as well. Put GCam on it and turn HDR+ on with RAW Results are stunning. I would like to get this next but seems somebody has destroyed it...

Something that does work is the NX-L so it is full frame now. With the magic of some bluetac to fool the OS into thinking there is a lens attached (no "shoot without lens" option) A RAW frame to peep at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fPLD7KVWjpLdC9gQEAUjda4vkAdrlweZ?usp=sharing Bluetac trick:

Here you go:

Well, you know I am all eyes and ears for Smartphone stuff. What amazes me is how on an iPhone especially right out of camera is really about as good as you are going to get for the average person other than DoF stuff from a real camera and even that on my new OnePlus 9 Pro is not even bad. They have the HDR, AI, Computational stuff Really down pat on them. The video side is amazing also. And sure, it is not great blown up to big sizes but who even does that anymore. But yes, this raw stuff is really getting good and interesting. It is certainly the future for new people getting into all this stuff. going to be even more Super exciting down the road.

Phoneraw sounds pretty cool. Regarding pinned topics, eight could be a good number, providing a spot for the original phone raw thread and some other hotties like the BMMCC one fi. It would fit the bill and spirit as well I feel. Just 28! was too many imo.:) There are a whole bunch of youtube channels done by people who appreciated the credo of small and old school gear and great dedication of using it. They are all around the 500 to 4000 followers strong. So, still good stuff out there, seemingly overwhelmed by the clickbaiters. If Gerald would be the only one, he would be a great addition to the voices of camera techies. But the large number of copycats is dull as dull can be. Hopefully i get around within the next weeks to contribute some fun stuff. Just a bit busy with the heat and tideous jobs. Got a nice onetaker with the BMMCC, shot with the Canon FD SSC 35mm f2 on a focal reducer. I used a nice little old school trick at the beginning of the sequence and a self built mini jib. It´s gonna be a great pleasure to share all that with you very soon, dear friends. cheers and have a nice week!

We have evolved into a dangerous form of media that's for sure. It's addictive, truth bending, ADHD and heavily sponsored. Thinking of starting PhoneRaw.com which will try and get people to take more artistic shots with smartphones and learn the whole workflow of raw, both for stills and video. If it is time up for traditional cameras (for me at least) then you have to know when to step aside and let the Geralds and Fros take over because you know then it is a bit of a lost cause and not what it was in 2014.

Modern culture is in a bit of a vortex with this, I think. It's not just cameras. Society has to figure out if it can evolve beyond this somehow --or if the majority of us are perfectly fine with being sophisticatedly exploited by our corporate overlords. I still visit forums because that's my comfort zone. It's a form of interaction built upon years of usenet and also the communal gee-whiz-ness of personal computers from back in the day. But, hell, I was born in the 60's, man. I lived in a different world. Your earlier metaphor is apt. Some of us like a novel, but most people prefer a photo pamphlet.

Wonder if it might be worth picking up the RX100 style GC100 Android compact they did to experiment with that ? They are cheap and plentiful on eBay and it seems you can root it. https://androidmtk.com/root-samsung-galaxy-camera-ek-gc100

Developer options can be enabled so will see if it can be rooted. You could argue this is what the back of most cameras should look like in 2022.

Or just drip feeding depending on your level of cynicism 😉 The mad thing is that Sony had the integration solution between real cameras and smartphone nearly 10 years ago with the QX cameras. It was possibly ahead of its time when it launched but I've no idea why they haven't resurrected the concept in the meantime.

Panasonic announcing that they are now officially exiting the sub GH6 market completely is the official end of that era. Their rationale is that anyone wanting to take high quality photos and videos will now buy a €1200 smartphone. I'd sooner have a €1000 camera and a €200 phone but I'm not the market so I can see their point. They caused this themselves by still even now having terrible integration with phones when the writing has been on the wall for years about how people would make and share imagery.

The E-M1 Mark II does 60fps RAW. You get very short clips that you slow down to about 2 sec. max. Didn't really bother repeating the experiment as you're better off using Magic Lantern or a Sigma Fp. It has no legs really. There are so many better options available in 2022.

I've been thinking about this since my first test with RIFE. The problem is that none of the old CCD cameras I would want to do this with can capture more than about 5fps.

https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g4904810180906/ https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g4904810187677/ Proof Canon listens to its customer, they've announced the R5 MK Transformer, rumored to have ZERO overheating issues!

I must admit I had to think on that a bit. 😨

The red one can only be used with prime lenses.

The experience of shooting is important to me and I do not like shooting with the Pocket 4k or 6k. Battery life is a pain, ergonomics are awful, don't like EF mount, want IBIS, prefer full-frame, like Panasonic's IQ more, etc. Red Komodo has a lot of the same issues and its IQ is wayyyy below other Red cameras. I'm sure Panasonic will come out with something soon, so fine with waiting.

Well for all you BM guys out there looking for focus and AF help this may be a cheap answer.