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I honestly wish camera hacking could return to what it once was. Just imagine, if people could crack into the firmware of modern cameras with their fast SD/CFExpress interfaces, we could have beautiful uncompressed RAW video on all sorts of cameras, instead of either having to deal with external recording crap, or paying a premium for a Canon R5 or Nikon Z9 to get internal RAW, or settling for something like a Sigma FP but then lose autofocus, image stabilization, etc.

I have lots of BTS videos on my youtube channel (and from the sound perspective, which is a very frequently overlooked aspect). Plus the kind of productions which allow me to / don't mind if I do BTS, are often smaller budget productions, and more relatable to your students than AAA Blockbuster Films. https://www.youtube.com/c/SoundSpeeding/videos

Below are links to some very rough, ungraded VR180 shots with the R5C using the Canon 5.2mm 2.8L Fisheye VR lens. Note, I’ve only tested these in Virtual Desktop (on a Samsung Odyssey), so I can’t vouch for them in other formats. Please download before playing for best quality. First things first, I wanted to show the ramifications of the fact that Canon’s EOS VR Utility cripples a crucial feature of the R5C for VR: being able to shoot 8K in 60fps. You cannot use the VR Utility on raw files (only with MP4), and since the R5C only records 8K60fps in RAW, you are shit out of luck (at least until someone finds a workaround—which will probably involve rendering your files in an NLE, creating an MP4 version, and then spoofing some metadata so the EOS Utility thinks you are using a native Canon file). Anyway, here’s the first 8K shot at 30fps, and then the same clip sped up X2 to simulate the 60fps look (you can see the judder is significantly reduced—although this will vary depending on what HMD you are using—I’m using the Samsung Odyssey because the extra contrast from OLED is worth the loss of resolution IMO). I chose a seen with a lot of movement intentionally. If a scene has less movement, you probably won’t suffer as much from the 30fps. 8K 30fps: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uGmzJJzMnw6ZVo5S0kFaHSp6SQ6kdFZW/view?usp=sharing 8K 60fps: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GGP6O0hRt8MFjcKfcXmiiy4nyANUZyqA/view?usp=sharing Now for some shots in 4K at 60fps. I also included versions sped up (in post) to 90fps, so if you have a 90hz HMD you can see what a big difference it makes to have your fps match the native refresh of your HMD. The 4K is clearly softer than 8K, but not bad. It’s most noticeable on objects in the distance. Things up close generally look quite sharp, even in 4K. In fact, I’d say the best image is taken of a subject that is between 4-10 feet away (which is much closer than the trains in this video). First sequence in 4K: 60fps: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19iV1KAwc9AKK1cLtqttZsaW0guMwgC92/view?usp=sharing 90fps: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1igs1_ErnqWhMDSwocaDw8xlJ2jJU2B8t/view?usp=sharing Second sequence in 4K: 60fps: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QM5tDfHzXO5-GX-TlwdG7ifJeOfzjfvQ/view?usp=sharing 90fps: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u8lVM0Z_GYxkxatW81msPzJ8pmcZM7pR/view?usp=sharing Last, some random still images, which don’t do the camera justice. The stills feature is great, the resulting images are very smooth from edge to edge, which is not something I’m used to. Typically a stereo image gets very distorted as you look 90 degrees in any direction. However, this only makes me more frustrated that I can’t shoot 8K 60fps in video. Still Images: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PBR8sLXu4-GqiSPlBxz6ErmXxp7EfYSH/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BRvRbbTusFd4EfLTacC-VFDwFGq_YVO4/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tVipjBXyyJiAQWz3Ktw8SjEH9XxoQZ20/view?usp=sharing FWIW, I tried to shoot 4K in the 120 fps mode, but It looked like noisy garbage, when I tried to speed it back up to normal speed. There might be something wrong with my workflow here, but Canon forces anything about 60fps into a Slow Framerate mode, and you can’t just take regular speed video at framerates above 60—so it’s possible there is a big quality loss from this process internally. Note: All video clips edited in Adobe Premiere with the Canon EOS VR Utility plugin. The premiere plugin is a must on PC, otherwise you are stuck rendering your videos in the native Canon EOS Utility App, which will turn your videos into a blocky-compressed and ungradable mess. If you have a MAC you can render in PRORES using the native app (or so I’m told), but I haven’t tried it. I can’t Canon charges $5 a month for the app, it looks like it took $5 to create. Really all its doing is transforming the image(s) so that the two circular images (two dots) recorded by the sensor will fill up the entire frame. PS: let me know if you have trouble playing any files. Most are file are h264, but the 90fps are H265.

I find it amusing how "hackers" are perceived by various companies. It sounds like Panasonic of 2009 viewed them as a potential opportunity to evolve whereas other companies (Canon, John Deere) try to stop them at all costs in order to protect their business model. I'm really rooting for Panasonic to succeed in the long-run (game over if they get PDAF in their bodies IMO).

Not finding anything on the MaikarScope brand on the interweb's, just an old eBay listing for another model. Lens is made in Japan and seems to be a be bit of an odd ball.. rare ?? The glass looks clean and is in good condition with blue coatings.

Please be real, please be real, please be real, please be real, please be real, please be real, please be real. Yes, and that price puts it on par for competing against the GH6 and X-T4. But if it can do everything the FX3 can, then the FX30 should be a worthy competitor. Especially if they put NDs into the FX30! (but sadly I highly doubt that, even though I personally believe anything called "CineAlta" ought to have NDs!!) Exactly! Not just FS5/FS7, but also people who are still holding onto the older F5/F55/FS700/F3. Then the FX30 would be fully compatible with all of their lenses, and it would give them an awesome B Cam for gimbal shots / car rigs / etc that the bulkier F55 etc cameras struggle badly at. Even big time Sony VENICE users would like the FX30! Plenty of people are still shooting with top notch S35 cine lenses on the VENICE, and the FX30 is great C Cam to match with the VENICE. No timecode. And I think there is a codec / picture profile that the a7S lacks vs FX3? (specifically, S-Cinetone, which is a very big deal for some) I think the a7Smk3 is still very slightly prone to overheating sometimes? While the FX3 (and FX30) would be rock solid reliable? (relatively speaking... honestly, I worked on a feature film using the FX3, and that overheated!!)

I've changed my EVA1 to the Wooden Camera PL mount. I don't miss having EF glass. Since the PL mount is split, there is a possibility to convert to other lenses mounts.

Yeah, and for Panasonic EVA camera too, EF mount is just a bit more limiting.

Project Greenlight fits the bill for you in terms of the full crew/budget/schedule aspect but, even just for contrast, this full length run down of the whole process on a micro level is very comprehensive.

Project Greenlight might fit the bill. I've only watched the first season as I'm not sure if the other seasons aired in the UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Greenlight To be honest, I'm not sure the first one did either and I may have watched it via a "non-traditional" method 🙂 Its based on a competition element but once that is out of the way after the opening episode or two and they've picked the winning script it then follows the whole process through to the film being released.

Indeed, very underrated. And for those who are cool with 1080p it does so internally, in 10 bit color. No bulky rigging needed. I think the 1080 may be oversampled.

Sorta hijacking this thread but it is relevant: Must've been living under a rock, Sony discontinued the FS5M2. RIP Awesome camera to keep an eye out for used, and Atomos effectively prolonged these cameras forever with the Ninja V. I fucking love S35-sized sensors. Allows you to shoot on vintage and tiny glass. Add a focal reducer and you have almost full frame. Of course you need to rig the fuck out of this camera to get good image quality. Good camera to own for low budget, controlled shoots.

@Andrew Reid I have been a member of many forums over the years and really hope this one doesn't end, IMO it is the last place on the Internet where someone can still go to have deep technical discussions about all things video production related. So, I do hope you make the decision to keep the forum running, and my contribution to what I think will help it do so is below: Remove the Edit Post time limit - This is my only technical complaint with this forum, no other forum I have ever been a member of has this. I know awhile back you had a problem with spammers editing some posts after posting, but I am not sure this was the right answer. Maybe you could do like some forums, after a member has reached a certain level of posts then the limit is removed or at least raised to 24hrs. Many times I will find a typo in my post or want to write some more after reading it and there is no way to edit it. So either I just skip it (usually) or write it in a follow up post (looks like I am overposting to me). Cater to Photography as Well - I know this forum is micro-focused on video production, but these days many of us myself included is a hybrid shooter. I rarely post anything photography related here simply because it caters so heavily towards video. The reality is though, most of the cameras we talk about on here also have great photography features. I think you would attract new members if you also started covering more depth in the photography area. Maybe not you personally but making the forum more attractive for photographers somehow. I think Fred Miranda is the last really deep photography site out there. Also, it is so much more work to produce a good video that you know will immediately get picked to pieces by other forum members 🤣 vs taking a good photography image and talking about the technicals behind it. Members love showing their work, having a gallery where we could post photography as well would definitely increase the forum's appeal in my opinion. That gallery could also let members vote on their photo pick of the week or something like that. Sub Forums - I know you just got rid of them and this will probably be an unpopular recommendation here, but when I look at every successful forum that I have contributed to (Fred Miranda, AutelPilots, CanonRumors, DodgeDurango.net), they all have one thing in common; they force you to pick a sub forum. I know many subforums is where things go to die, but that's because most forums have too many sub forums. A few big parent forums would organize things better than many sub forums. For Example, parent forums could be (Photography Talk, Video Talk, Drone Talk, Gear Reviews, Classifieds, Editing / How To, Show and Tell). Those are just examples. AutelPilots is very well laid out and has a lot of interaction in the subforums mainly because new posts in the sub forums are surfaced in the latest threads section helping everyone find new posts regardless of subforum. Advertising - I know you need revenue, and I know everyone dislikes ads, but I would rather the site have ads then get removed. I am not sure how ads work, maybe you could be selective with who can advertise on your site, but I know the site has to generate revenue as well. Most of the forums if not all of the ones that I listed have ads and the members still come. Classifieds - I don't know if your classifieds section currently charges to post something for sale, but I know Fred Miranda's site does. Its a very nominal fee ($5 I think) but its still better than nothing. Obviously that comes with its own headaches (scammers never sleep), but I would trust buying or selling to a well known member here than eBay any day. If you already charge for classifieds then you can ignore this suggestion. Educational - This forum has vast breadth and depth of knowledge when it comes to video and probably photography as well. But very few educational posts are made, probably because YouTube already has literally everything you could ever want to know. But I think an educational section here would be very helpful. The problem with YouTube is most of the time the viewers ask follow up questions that don't get answered in the comments. I am a member of AutelPilots and my instructional posts get more interaction than any other posts that I make there. People always want to learn something new, and I feel like at the moment this isn't the site people go to to do that. Gear Review - I think every member here watches gear review videos. We all know most of the YT reviewers are heavily biased and most of them don't actually use the equipment to make a living; but, there are a few very good ones that I do watch. MonkeyPixels, Gerald Undone, and a few others I do value their opinions. Since it would not be cost effective and redundant for you to try to match the "professional" gear reviewers on YT, maybe you could curate instead....find the one single best review that you consider the most thorough and accurate and post that one video here, where members can discuss it in greater depth; also where you can provide your own deep insight into what you thought of the review and the gear being reviewed. Social Media - We all hate it but we all use it in some way, I use it just as an alternate gallery posting location to show my past video and photography work and also because my clients typically go there to reshare their content from my social media to theirs. I know you hate it as well, but I think you could use it to your advantage without it becoming and bottomless endless waste of time. On my website I use software so that everytime I post a blog post on my website it automatically posts on all of the social media platforms as well. Maybe something like that would reach more people and attract new members. Other Forums - I am pretty sure you have already done this, but I think a review of other top forums might also give you more ideas on what it takes to get members these days. The most successful forums that I see are usually the ones where members turn to when they need help or want to learn something from someone else that will most likely have an answer (i.e. DodgeDurango.net is the biggest forum for Dodge Durango owners and where nearly everyone goes when they want an answer to their specific problem). AutelPilots is very specific for Autel Drones and they get tons of new members every time a drone is released by people trying to learn everything they can about Autel drones. Learning and education IMO are the biggest and best performing categories on YT and rank the highest on Google searches but I don't feel like this site currently caters to that category. Show and Tell - I mentioned a photography gallery previously, but maybe a video one as well. I always hesitate to post my content here because it could be considered spamming or self promotion, but if you had a section where members could post their work and answer any questions other members had about how it was created, the gear that was used, the technicals behind it, how it was edited, etc...that would be great. Obviously you would need to keep spammers out, so maybe the gallery sections could be read only until a member reached a certain posting level (similar to Fred Miranda). Pinned Posts - I don't think they are a bad thing, I do think they shouldn't be more than 3 or 5. This is where subforums would help as well. Great information can get buried in this forum, pinning 3 or 5 posts of what you consider the top post or most relevant information at the time in the sub forums could be conversation starters, could be instructions for newcomers, could just be very useful information that might answer a question for new users visiting the subforum. Metatags - Not sure if members here would use them, but metatags really help with searching posts. It can be hard to find information on any forum, but if you allowed for a metatag field (just like metataging photos), it could make searches easier if members used them. Instead of having to type them, they could be easily clickable right before you post. Here is where I could rant about the current state of things where no one wants to read more than 180 characters, everyone is just using their cell phones so things are in a state of decline, people don't want to read, or type anymore and just want a YT video that spoon feeds them, etc. etc, but its all been said before. Those are definitely all uphill challenges and they won't get any easier but here's to hoping this site can overcome them. As other sites fold up or go under, maybe that in the end would be a good thing for this site as those members look elsewhere for an outlet. I think at the end of the day this site has currently narrowed down its focus to a very small niche of users (video content producers endlessly pursuing the absolute best image quality possible by all means necessary) which is a turn off to new members who might just want to know what that exposure triangle thingy is, or the short answer to how to get started in Davinci Resolve. Maybe your intent is to keep members like that off of this forum, but I think if you want to grow the forum you have to somehow find a way to balance what the general population is looking for with what the absolute purists are looking for as well.

Well. Cheek in tongue comments above. Don is my friend. I like his comments a big deal. He was not over eagerly providing more posts than anyone else does. There are many examples of various forum friends focussing on their mantras. I call my own name with my own posting obsessions. At the same time I do recognize my specific contributions as well. We all were best meaning for this forum. Now that it takes on an exiting momentum again, we won´t worry no more but be happy to see this place grow and florish even more.

No, I wouldn't.

If I pinned 7 threads would you and Webrunner comment on every single one 10 times a day? At this rate going to need a flood control not sticky posts!

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 🙂

I am also extremely disappointed by their lack of support for raw/60 fps. I messaged and heard back from Canon Canada that it's not supported, and they have NO plans or anything in development to support it. Too bad they don't care that they're handcuffing the current best 180 camera on the market. I guess something with support will come from a different company that's fully useable, and this set-up will disappear in a couple of years and be forgotten except of those of us that spent good money on it. What a shame.

Sony announced that these products will have an 8% price increase. a1 a9M2 a7SM3 a7C a7M4 a7M3 a6600 FE 12-24mm F2.8 GM FE 12-24mm F4 G FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G OSS FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3G OSS FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS FE 14mm f/1.8 GM FE 24mm F1.4 GM FE 35mm f/1.4 GM FE 20mm f/1.8G FE 24mm F2.8G Distagon T* FE 35mm F1.4 ZA Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA FE 28mm F2 FE 35mm F1.8 FE 50mm F1.2 GM FE 40mm F2.5 G FE 50mm F2.5 G Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA Sonnar T* FE 55mm F1.8 ZA FE 85mm F1.4 GM FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS FE 135mm f/1.8 GM FE 85mm F1.8 FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS FE 50mm F2.8 Macro E 16-55mm F2.8G Vario-Tessar T* E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE E 16mm F2.8 E 20mm f/2.8 Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA E 35mm F1.8 OSS E 50mm F1.8 OSS E 30mm F3.5 Macro FE PZ 16-35mm F4 G FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS FE 600mm F4 GM OSS SELP18110G SELP18200 SELP18105G SEL14TC SEL20TC SEL057FEC SEL075UWC