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Both sides have now filed a joint motion to dismiss the case so it’s all over. Whether this means Nikon are paying a license fee or it’s a “win”’ against the patent itself that will benefit all manufacturers is uncertain but it looks like that new Z8 might be even more compelling now. Perhaps the timing of the settlement and its launch may be more than coincidental. Full story here https://ymcinema.com/2023/04/27/red-vs-nikon-case-dismissed/

The RAW case was dismissed, and Nikon is free to keep it.

fx30 at night:

My first S1H has been perfect but my second one a right bitch so I ditched her and went back to an old flame (S1R) who doesn’t talk down to me.

Right, some of the "criticisms" could be labeled as nitpicking, sensor-sh*tting or genuine concerns depending on your use case for the camera (and the expectations you would have from a $2k mirrorless unit). Me personally, I really wasn't expecting the first attempt at PDAF to be this great and am happy to wait on the updates or new iterations of the tech. However issues with banding, channel clipping, chroma noise pattern and green noise signal, picture profile NR and smoothing etc are worthy of mention on the sole basis of them being a step back from previous models. These are new issues that weren't there before, much like S1H ghosting. But regardless, I'm enjoying the S5ii for everything it CAN do and have been working around the processing quirks, there's no other swiss army knife camera like it. It's pulling its weight with strobe photography. Videos grade wonderfully with VLOG in good light. I have some great LUTs to burn in looks, very handy for turnaround. The boot time is kinda annoying, though. Perhaps I'm most curious about how the S5IIx prores (and even HDMI raw image) will look in comparison to the current image in the S5ii with the available codecs. There's some noticeable differences in the processing of the prores image of the GH6 vs h.265 and I suspect the same will be true here!

I'm not sure how FX30's video lowlight capabilities effectively can translate to shooting photos on a D500 but I do agree that indoor sports shouldn't be the most challenging light conditions unless you are shooting at very slow aperture and/or the gym has extremely poor lighting for some reason. In that case, the solution imo is to use faster glass, improve the lighting and/or indeed get better lowlight sensor. Regardless, if you do need a hybrid, that kinda rules out FX30, especially for sports. XH2S would be a much better hybrid for fast action and lowlight imo. S5ii and R6ii are also solid choices in that $2.5K budget.

Googles meaning: ‘ad hominem’. You learn something every day on this forum 👍

Early days and as with the S5 that preceded it, like it but don’t love it. To be fair, it’s not it’s fault but more my use case for it which is long static stuff and a tiny amount of gimbal. Edited one shoot so far with it and no idea what the critics are saying about it…but as above, fairly limited and controlled use so far. Shot another job but not edited it yet and then a third later this week. Really, the S1H is my workhorse for the greater part of my video work and that is a case of ‘love’ over simply ‘like’. Has a certain mojo to both using it and the output. In other news, my pair of S1R’s came back today and just in the nick of time as I leave tomorrow for my next job. I’ve tried selling one of them once previously but came to the conclusion last week, without going Sony or Nikon (both with native or adapted Tamron lenses), I just cannot get from my current need for 4 working cameras, to 3. Not without chucking 10k into the mix on top of all my trade in kit…and I cannot justify the cost right now. Or this year. Not complaining though… In my ideal world, I would flip to a 3 camera system without hesitation but also unless any future camera has internal ND, using any system for hybrid work is a pain in the arse! I know because I have been wrestling with it for about 12 years and still have not found the ‘perfect’ solution. Does it exist? Nope. Could it exist? Yep. Easily, if we mashed up a few of best bits of several manufacturers… Will it exist? Probably soon. I think we are one step away and it will become reality if internal ND’s can become a common thing. In the meantime, I will ‘soldier’ on with my pair of S1R’s for stills (and emergency video use), S1H for primary/creative filmmaking and S5ii for the more static stuff, gimbal and anything requiring good AF.

If there is enough light indoor to play sport, there is more than enough light for an FX30 to get decent images.

I have shot many videos with both cameras (not borrowed for one week from Sony). I thought I would like the fx30 better, since I am a bit of a stickler on resolution, and the fx30 oversamples 4K from the full sensor. But, what I found is I just like the look of the full-frame 4K from the fx3. And the fx3 4K 120p is uncompromised, while that from the fx30 is clearly noisier and has a big extra crop. With the fx3 one can mix together slow motion (from 4K 120p) with any regular-motion frames (in my case, the dreaded 4K 60p). The "big" fx3 disadvantage for me is that the lenses for the full-frame fx3 are so much bigger. I need to travel light, and also cannot poke big rigs into crowds or in some travel spots. Thus, I tried out the fx3 with the smallest zoom lens there is the "kit" 28-60 collapsible lens. It is slow and has limited range. So, can you get shot variety from it? - Clear Image Zoom though helps it get to 90mm essentially losslessy. Do you sacrifice image quality from this cheap lens, including subject isolation from shallow DOF? I took this combo to Bryant Park to capture the Spring blooms and the activities. The video mixes slow motion and regular motion (some bocce and pingpong clips are in slow motion 2X). I was pleased with the results. The one issue is that I cannot smoothly manually zoom the kit lens, and I am normally very good at manually zooming. Clear Image Zoom gives me smooth variable-speed zooms, though, but only up to 1.5X. Note this video does not use any of the new firmware features - this video could have been shot with the a7siii.

No I don't use much lighting when run & gunning. Most low light I do is concerts and events and I'll use the available lighting for realistic ambience. I mostly shoot fast prime lenses so not a big issue. On Canon I'll usually go with the Canon 50mm F1.2 & 35mm F1.4 wide open. On Sony I shoot with the Zeiss 35mm F1.4 & Batis prime series. And for zoom the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8. I also don't mind crushing blacks and using a little NR. Whatever works. If I get the FX30 I'd surely go for those new 7artisans T1.05 cine primes I was talking about the other day.

I can understand the FX3's uncropped 4K120 being a clear advantage but the "I like FF look better" sounds pretty arbitrary. YMMV. Personally I like the FX30 better for video because the 6K oversampled video, 26MP stills, S35 & FF third party lens support (with speed booster), the more usable dual ISO range, the less aggressive NR, and of course 50% more affordable price tag. In fact with the last firmware update, chances are it is going to be my next camera (just waiting on the next few Sony releases of which another FX body is rumoured to be coming by this summer with the new AI chip/features). By the way, was surprised to see French pétanque being played in NYC although I guess it is in fact its Italian bocce cousin!

I haven’t used either so my comments are entirely without substance but when I was considering (and came very close to) flipping my L Mount set up, I decided the closest would be neither the FX3 nor the FX30. Instead, it would be both. FX3 instead of S1H FX30 instead of S5 But I got an S5ii to replace the S5 as the 10k approx to change systems was a bit rich 🤑 I like them both in principle and perfect lens line up for me from Tamron and if it were not for the €‘ s, I would have done it as for my needs, it would be the only current viable way for me to get from a 4 body down to a 3 body set up (A7RV being the 3rd body in the equation). Maybe next year because I really do want to go 3 body as soon as it is viably possible.

@MrSMW I picked up a Sigma 18-50 to use in crop mode based on your recommendation and it's great! Vignetting and distortion corrections work. AF is great (quiet as a mouse, I think it's actually totally silent). Build quality is good. Image looks good. I'm going to use it as a family/holiday lens. Thanks for the tip! I never would have spotted it otherwise, as it's not a popular choice for Panasonic L mount. I think I got the only one in all of Ireland!