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Yeah, I thought that camera may have appeared by now to throw a bit more doubt into things but I'm now having intrusive thoughts about the Sony a1. This will be me outside the shop.

I'm not sure how the whole idea of "higher resolution is good/required for vfx" started, but it's a myth. Practically everything I've worked on has been Alexa plates at 2-3.5k. Particularly for a cg-heavy film like this, it's common to do it at 2k or a bit above, just because it gets way too slow and expensive. I think ironically 4k happens more at the low budget end, and then of course there's Netflix originals (lol). It makes a lot more sense if this was primarily shot on Alexa 65, but I do think the FX3/FX6 sensor is very good. It has the same highlight range as the Venice/Venice 2, which is to say it doesn't hold a candle to an Alexa 65 but for the money it's very good. Where the Venice has it beat is that it's cleaner in the shadows, but that's not accounting for the ISO 12800 option with the FX3/6 if you don't mind half a stop less in the highlights.

Very mixed. I am not dependant on ads and never have been so that side makes no difference to me, but there is definitely a shift to YouTube and social media. People aren't researching Google or reading long articles as much as before. YouTube is a grind and I have mixed feelings about that too. I enjoy it when I have some ideas. But the thought of being on a treadmill of content is horrific. Don't post for a week and you may as well be dead. On the other hand, EOSHD is great, having your own site independent from the algorithms of social media and YouTube is much more relaxed and I can do what I like, post what I want, when I want. And then there is this lovely forum, which is pretty unique. Never was close to the PR side of the camera industry and rejected a lot of advances. The site is not in a better position to cuddle up to the manufacturers, they are putting their free loans and exclusive invitations behind social media influencers instead now. Bloggers with articles are the previous gen of social media influencers. Now it is clowns and show offs on social media. They are perfect for one another and I don't want to be involved to be honest. I am looking to the future now and that is keeping EOSHD updated, at the same time as moving onto two new sites: Full Frame AI (making most of AI for photographers) and Ultra Camera Review (smartphone cameras and apps) There is much more future development in these areas than in mirrorless cameras, or filmmaking. Video on stills camera has kind of been "done" hasn't it?

Liking the 6k 30p ‘open gate’ (3:2) on the S5ii… Testing it ahead of the arrival of that pair of S5iix’s due hopefully soon… I think I will probably be using it as my go to for the bulk of my work going forward because it does have an extra edge of detail over 4k and allows for better quality 9:16 highlight films using the same material, on top of my regular wedding films/videos. The only issue I seem to be having is my M1 chip MacBook doesn’t seem to like it much whereas 4k footage flies through it. Not sure what’s going on there… The baked in LUT works great so will also be using that going forward. Using the Gamut conversion LUT which is my preferred one and the footage coming out is nicer than using any profile with more DR. After some minor adjustments, it’s then just a case of the grade but I am much preferring getting an ‘a good starting point almost ready to go’ SOOC image. No ‘worthy’ examples at this time as I was just messing about really trying out some different set ups and getting round any potential flicker etc (using 30fps in a PAL region). It’s tungsten that is the only occasional issue but these things have synchro scan so as long as you don’t mind breaking the 180 degree shutter rule, you can tweak it any which way. Or just shoot 108/216/324 degrees if you know it’s just going to be awful. Most of my work is daylight plus some LED so not really an issue anyway.

Seems like it's the same reason that everyone else thinks more resolution is better... We've been shooting moving images for over a century and most of that time it was genuinely below the optimum resolution/sharpness, and now we have achieved it, very few people are smart enough to realise that we've arrived and we need to move on and focus on something else. Plus, you know, brands do marketing for a reason - it works.... and if your product doesn't fulfil an existing need then job #1 is to create the need.

Cool that makes sense but even still if the footage gets reduced below 3.5K for VFX and delivery, as you say its still a downres from high resolution which benefits the IQ. So its not all going to waste..

I sometimes use time lapses or hyper lapses to help tell the story. I mainly only use hyperlapses with drone work and occasionally timelapses to show a setup, or for dramatic effect such as to show the sky rolling across the horizon. I have a dedicated Canon Rebel T6s that I use just for timelapses, it has incredible battery life with the dual grip handle (over 2,000 images in one timelapse once and it still had over 50% battery life remaining), plus I don't want that high shutter count on one of my more expensive cameras, additionally I like to set up my timelapse camera somewhere and leave it while I go shoot other content so there's the theft concern as well. Lastly, it is blazing hot here in the summer and it has never once overheated during a timelapse so its a great little timelapse camera. Many times I have lugged the timelapse camera with me planning on setting up a quick 15min timelapse to use as the opening or closing for the video and many times it's just a not a good fit, either there's no place I feel is safe enough to leave it while I do other things, or the sky is completely cloudless so it would be a wasted effort, etc. As far as where in the edit I tend to find them the most useful, for me its usually the very beginning opening sequence or the closing i.e. a timelapsed sunset is a nice closing shot especially in places where I cannot use the drone. But without the right conditions (cloudy skies, progressive changes, etc.) timelapses aren't worth the time or effort to me. When editing 60FPS on a 30FPS timeline I do occasionally only slow down say the last few seconds of a longer 5 or 10s clip, just enough to stretch it to the jump point which keeps the rest of the clip real time while getting it to the logical jump point, also sometimes I combine 60FPS with optical flow to drop all the way down to 25% to simulate 120FPS without actually shooting 120FPS if I want truly slow motion; this effect followed by a speedramp can be quite dramatic. I know purists may say optical flow isn't "pure" enough slow motion, but in DR with the right settings it does a really good job depending on the content being slowed down. I decided years ago to stick to 30FPS and 60FPS for all of my work unless the client specified 24FPS, or PAL....for me it eliminates all of the conformance issues and reduces the problems with pans, eliminates the jittery look, etc. etc. I figured out long ago I will never be a Hollywood feature film videographer so the 30FPS delivery framerate looks the best with the least amount of work to me.

Right, but that's not to do with the vfx. It's to do with the dp's choice for the format and the camera. The extra resolving power gives him more dynamic range in the shadows due to less noise, for example, compared to a single ALEV III sensor. Also it's to do with the joys of shooting a digital version of a 65mm film back and using 65mm lenses. I just came off a very high profile vfx heavy film shot on the 65 and the pulls were 3.5k. So that extra res is typically not making it to the vfx vendors by the time they start. But the extra IQ is baked in on the downres. And the vendors would have reduced them down further before they start work because the delivery required for DI is below 3.5k. So they will shrink resolution wherever they can in order to get the job done on time.

Indeed : ) Loved that part you're prone to change your mind "another five or six times", I guess I've already made such part so far in this portion of the road yet! LOL : D Looks promising anyway. The 2nd part of the other tests above-posted is just going online here: I'd still look for more tests exploring all the possible combinations though. Z8 is a completely different beast than the older sister IMO from its intrinsic modular form factor. Apples to oranges :- )

Sony Cinema Line FX30 (ILME-FX30) - Firmware Version 2.0 Tascam DR-44WL - Firmware 2.14.0132 Built-in stereo microphones are ideal for surround sound. In most cases, you can no longer put simple cannon mics to record your surroundings. The FX30 has a lot of good features)

Yeah, that really is a weird one how they've managed to do that. I'm now weighing up my actual uses in terms of when I would need that extra power though and whether the external PD option wouldn't be more appropriate to me anyway. My thinking is that the times when I would need that extra power would also align with the the uses that would potentially cause heat issues as well so fully externally powering and not having a battery in it might offer some mitigation to that issue too. For my usage, the times when I would be doing 8K RAW etc on any serious level wouldn't realistically be me casually wandering about wafting the camera about but be in a more controlled situation so external power doesn't bother me and would actually be more beneficial. Another issue is media costs. I'm presuming the RAW and ProRes formats are a no-go when using the SD card option of the Z8 but I'm wondering what the maximum capability is format wise when using them? Absent of dual recording capability to the two CF cards in the Z9 anyway, the CF/SD combo of the Z8 could actually be of more benefit to me in a lot situations. So, there we go, its not even the end of the afternoon and I've gone from Z8/Grip/2 batteries to Z9 and now back to Z8 only. Tune in tomorrow to hear another U turn.

That's what I'm saying the price is so similar that I'd much rather lean towards a Z9. Yes modularity is one thing, but as you pointed out earlier once you do attach the grip the Z8 becomes bulkier (and uglier) than the Z9: ..and considering the very average battery life, you'd probably have the grip on most of the time anyways. The Z8 sensor dust cover is nice though.

As a lot of it seems to be related to the heat in the card then it could well mitigate it but it would need confirming. On a more general note though, that kit does offer a good option when shooting a lot of content as the cost of say a 1TB drive to go with it is at least half the price of the equivalent CF card. I've just done the sums and a brand new Z9 will cost me around £400 more than a Z8 with the grip and two additional batteries. For a used Z9 it will probably be almost even. I like the modularity aspect of going the Z8 route, particularly as I can defer the grip until later to see to what extent these issues affect me in actual use, but I'm still leaning towards the Z9 at the moment. Its just under three weeks now until I'm in a shop and having to make the actual decision though so thats enough time to change my mind at least another five or six times !

Gerald just posted a thorough Z8 review with a lot of overheat results among other things. He reveals some mega aggressive NR and very strange artefacts using the h265 codec in 4K. Apparently there is a new V2 LUT for N-log with a smoother curve. This camera does tick many boxes for me and there is something about the IQ I find lovely. But its true that considering you can now find Z9's for maybe 300€ more, that take care of the battery life and overheat issues.. I don't see much of a reason to go for the Z8 if I was going down that path!

I've actually been wondering on how much we can workaround and circumvent the overheating hassle with something like this: https://www.zitay.net/ZITAY-CS-305-CFexpress-Type-B-to-SSD-Convertor-Card-Reader-Adapter-XQD-CFE-CFX-Replacer-Substitute-Nikon-Z6-Z7-D5-D6-D850-D500-PANASONIC-DC-S1-S1R-Canon-EOS-1DX-MarkIII-R5-C500-MarkII-p779221.html Let alone set it with a more convenient temperature cutout from (auto) standard to high: source

Well I used to shoot all my events at 50p so I had the option of real time at up to 50% slow motion and my productions were typically 1/5th real time and 4/5th slo mo. That’s all changing from next week as I’m switching to shooting 30p + 60p despite being in a PAL region. 30 is my new go to after research and testing with 60 being my option and productions will now be approx: 1/5th in real time + 1/5th at 40% + 3/5ths at 80% + probably squeezing in a flowing timelapse or two + some slow shutter drag stuff from late on. Throwing the kitchen sink at it? Kind of, but in a considered storyboard cohesive manner as in it’s all pre-planned such as; couple exit ceremony with confetti? Well that’s shot in 60 to end up as a 40% speed closer and fade out from the chapter ‘Ceremony’. Shoot for the edit basically. I’m setting up each of my cameras with 5 custom settings; indoor stills, outdoor stills, 30p indoor video, 30p outdoor video, 60p outdoor video. Timelapse and shutter drag stuff, I will just manually set at the time. I’ve spent too much time juggling kit in recent years intending to up my capture game but it’s been getting in the way of creativity/intent so some fundamental changes have been happening…

There isn't one reason for the decline in websites like DPR and IR, but clearly the ad money has shifted to TikTok and YouTube social media influencers, and away from written articles so that is a big reason. The jazz media company that bought the magazine company that Dave sold IR to back in 2019, saw no worthwhile profit in IR's books. Not only are these sites predominantly about written articles, they are about a subject that is fast turning into a niche. Smartphone cameras are mainstream as we all know, and that means proper cameras are now about as mainstream as cassette tapes. I think AI will accelerate this retreat even further. The other general trend is that both DPR and IR were not ideal from a content point of view, it was often like reading advertising copy, as is the case with so much in the camera world in 2023. There is a lack of drama, a lack of true insight, it has all become a bit dry. The camera companies should be really worried about these two canaries in a coal mine and they won't be the last to die. It points to the fact that the camera industry should probably do something to stop the rot and support the remaining sites. Sadly they won't.

Shot on Nikon Z6, Tamron 45mm 1.8, 8-bit neutral PP with contrast reduced in-camera. Graded in Resolve. BTS posted below.

Thanks Kye, With a medium rig as my GH5 it's a completely different story. My camera housing has three 1" spheres integrated so I can attach clamps and legs as tripod for macro or details which requires a stable position. Fow wide angle shoot I just remove the legs, mount a diffrrent lens and port and I change floating arms to get a different bouyancy and trim.

Love the colour. The lens interestingly hazes quiet vintage style in the strong backlight shot. You should do a breakdown of your findings regarding colourwork and exposure from the Sigma FP thread. I watched your Sirui Anamorphic 1.6 test. Looking lovely. What are your estimations on the set? @OleB Lovely stuff you all. I already posted some of my semipro work on this forum. Was mostly doing colour work last year, last hurray so to say before all auto on the newest Davinci version will do the job.:) Anyway, here is my first paid music video, directing, producing, lighting, DPing, editing the thing. All shots inside filmed against a small wall in a small living room;) Shot on one day, shots and lighting done spontaneously on location. Had a friend as AC for 90% of the shots thanx gosh. Most inside was GH5 at ISO400 VLog, S1 as BCam for the golden pattern lit background shot inside and three handheld lowlight shots outside. Sorry for reposting, if some of you mind:)

Here we go. 🙂

Have you tried using https://camerasize.com/compact/ to compare the size and weight of various camera and lens combinations? It's a great tool for quick visual size comparisons of the top, front and back views (and hovering the mouse pointer over a camera or lens picture will pop up dimensions and weight info). For example, this is a comparison of A7c, FX30, A7 IV, R8 and X-T4 - https://camerasize.com/compact/#858,895,883,903,841,ha,b