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Everybody's different and is going to cite their own camera choices. I'm brand agonistic even though I have my own subjective preferences. I love Canon for the simplicity, reliability, skin tones & lenses. R5ii, R3, R1, C70/C80 form a good eco system. The Vari-ND adapter paired with the extensive EF lens market is also a unique edge. What I don't like is the third-party RF blockade. Sony, although dominating the video market has ironically fallen behind imo. The Alpha and even FX line still don't have proper +4K resolution, open-gate or built-in RAW, ProRes etc. I also find the alpha bodies very consumerish and uninspiring. That being said the FX30 is definitely a great deal and now that it has shutter angle it makes for good compact solution. For S35 though I prefer Fuji. XH2S is very slept on with 6.2K, Open-gate, ProRes plus its a true hybrid. I don't use Panasonic and they seem to be asleep this year so I won't comment. This brings me to my favourite cam manufacturer this year: Nikon. Z8, Z9, Z6iii. Fantastic cameras at aggressive pricing. Z-mount is also the most adaptable mount. Z9 is still my number one camera with pro build, long battery life, grip, stacked sensor, 8K60p, ProRes etc. Z8 is right behind it. And now with the RED acquisition it's only going to get better for cine users. In fact the first collaboration was done a couple weeks ago with the free release of RED technical and creative LUTs for the system. I've seen a test where they match very closely to RED cameras. Exciting stuff!

I don't think there's a better value out there than the S5ii (and the X) except maybe the original S5, which is an absolute steal on the used market. Having used the FX3 and the FX30, I just don't think either is a better camera than the S5II X. The only real benefit I can think of is Sony's larger user base and lenses.

Once upon a time, Vimeo. For reasons officially unknown (I'll come back to this later) Vimeo stopped being, for us Europeans, a community of video storytellers. (As it still likes to call itself). Basically, in certain regions of the world you can no longer use the video search function and at the same time you can no longer browse other users' videos. I can only see and search my own videos and eventually see a video of another user only if I have its link. Even if I know his name I cannot search for him. I can only see his profile if I know his exact url. This post sums up what happened: https://shortverse.beehiiv.com/p/vime-nooo I am so angry. I noticed it by accident and I also looked like an idiot because I as well as thousands of other users thought it was a bug. No communication at all. Out of the blue. The entire UE community lost. Membership fee is the same for everyone but I have most of the features disabled. Those who read this thread and, for example, have an account in the U.S. or other countries not affected by this ban might think that this does not affect them. But it absolutely does not! I have several friends in the U.S. who use their Vimeo account for showreels, basically a videocentric Linked-in. In their profile they have written "available for hire." Here, you must know that their profile is no longer searchable from banned countries. And we don't even know which ones they are. I can only access a video of theirs via direct link but I can't go to their profile or search them by name via the search function. This is my following people page: I can see their names but I cannot click on their profile icons. Sounds like a joke. What is the point of these lists now? Just imagine my frustration, I've been a member for 13 years and I've developed a whole network of relationships over all these years and now I can't even see the profiles of people I've collaborated with, anymore. Think about it before you renew your subscription!

Having been part of this industry, with insider-knowledge on the tactics these people use, I can tell you that this is EXACTLY the kind of thing that happens. It's impossible to prove this level of malfeasance, and this is the reason why it is so effective. Remember that Google is a well-evidenced CIA-project. Google's objective online is 'intelligence'-harvesting and psychological-manipulation for power and profit. As you have noted, anything that competes with the CIA (Google)'s ability to gather information, censor voices, and manipulate public-opinion, becomes a target for infiltration. Vimeo was a serious-threat to power because it offered an independent, community-run information stream. It is the purpose of Google / the CIA to destroy human-community, where it discovers it, and to replace natural-conversation with top-down programming. Existing power-systems do not like the free-flow of information because it exposes their crimes. Freedom of speech is the antithesis of evil; therefore evil despises it at every turn. As Google's founders, the CIA, famously said: "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." - William J. Casey, CIA Director (1981)

And people wonder why there's not more competition to YouTube, it's because of mismanagement like that seen at Vimeo. They had the chance to become the thinking man's YouTube but blew it, to become a failing business service for videography clients and pros. The price increase reflects that too, that they preferred to focus on a tiny niche rather than the huge community they used to have. At this point the mismanagement is so bad, you could even assume Google planted a covert CEO there just to absolutely make sure it would never become a valid competitor. And today I don't think it matters that much as YouTube provides a much better platform, and the Vimeo community has been dead for well over 6 years now.

Because Lumix are far from being my favourite as a company. They have made some stuff, the timing of which suited me, but then continue to frustrate re. the future. I don't much care for Sony as a brand either, but hey, guess what? I shoot Lumix and Sony 🤪 I've never really bought anything much simply because of the badge or because how popular something might be.

The obvious ones: Blackmagic (4k & 6k) and Sony (FX30). But I’m tempted now to add Apple. The 16 pro max is just so convenient and unobtrusive. Recording ProRes to an external SSD makes it a genuine video tool. Not to produce the highest quality cinematic image but as a tool to capture the world it is up there with the rest.

And they would be right ! I don’t know where I got that notion from. In my defence I am not far off qualifying for a bus pass, not really a fan of the destructive nature of IBIS and prefer OIS which a lot more of the X mount lenses have. Well in my new role as Minister of Disinformation, I could only speculate but as it’s is the X-S20 internally then I’d go by that.

PS: Being FX30 the best workhorse and bang for the buck these days... Completely underrated IMHO.

My favourite cams right now are either the OG BMMCC or GX85. I would buy a GH7 to replace the BMMCC but it's $$$$$. You could interpret that by saying: Blackmagic and Panasonic are my favourite manufacturers, but that's definitely not right Blackmagic in 2014 and Panasonic in 2016 are my favourite manufacturers Blackmagic and Panasonic suck because the best cameras they released are around a decade old Everyone sucks because the best cameras are around a decade old Camera users suck because they keep wanting things that make it so cameras are either rubbish or are absolutely huge Your choice!

@Davide DB Yes, indeed, Portugal is full part of EU so no idea why here works differently : ) I only tried to let you know as much as this community that you have a workaround through VPN and free account at least so far. I'll be monitoring it for sure and let you all informed from my side. No worries with that of my name anyway, era una battuta : D Only a point that "E" is part of one of my first names and not some virtual nick in this cyber world we live all in ; ) not equal for all as it seems! Such Vimeo move is incredibly nonsense... I'd feel the same way if I had found that as you did. No excuses for them! Saluti per te e la bella Roma, citta' del mio cuore sempre e sempre : ) Ti contatto una volta lì ;- ) In questo momento, lavoro su qualcosa per Roma prossimo estate...

im in belgium and also affected. This makes the site mostly useless imo

I agree with you but as I told you there's no difference among my Italian subscription plan and another unaffected by this ban. So why I have to pay the same and I'm not entitled to know who is affected? I'm not able to connect to my partners anymore. This is the last message from Vimeo support: As part of our compliance with local regulations, message, follow, search, for hire card, collaborator card and collections in activity card are not available in some regions, which is why you are not able to see them on Vimeo.com. While we are unable to discuss specific regulatory details, please know that our decision was made to ensure full compliance with applicable EU laws and regulations. We are committed to maintaining a high level of legal and ethical responsibility. Then I discover that Emanuel Portuguese account is not affected. To my knowledge Portugal is 100% inside the EU regulations.

I've definitely shot a bunch of stuff on the GFX 100 II using the 5.8K widescreen mode - that's the full sensor width and some sort of scope aspect ratio (can't remember exactly, but 2.3x anyway). I wouldn't call it faux-anamorphic, though, because of the lack of horizontal flares or funky rounded bokeh. In most cases, I prefer just to shoot 17:9 with frame guides set for a scope frame. That's how I've shot the last... bunch of short films that were delivered in scope. That comes with the bonus that the editor can move the frame up or down a little bit without having to punch in for it. Some of my cameras (Z Cam, RED) allow shooting in scope, but about the only reason I can see for using it would be to save space - and it's just not going to make a big difference for me to save the 25% or so. I have a set of nanomorphs (25/50/80) that I keep threatening to bring to some production, but given that the main cameras that I use these days (Komodo-X/Komodo/C70) all have 17:9 sensors, 1.5x anamorphic will put me at 2.8:1 which is wider than my collaborators will enjoy so we'll just be cropping left/right instead of top/bottom. Though I recently got a Dog Schidt (Helios 44-2) with a faux anamorphic aperture and I picked up a 1.33x anamorphic adapter to go with it. I might, at some point, shoot some low-priority project with it. I sort of like the combo.

Emanuel sorry for getting your name wrong but I don't understand what you are getting at. I am in Italy and Vimeo does not work as it used to. From the one article that summarizes what happened, I read that the change to the terms of the contract was made for several European countries: Several European users have the same problem and this is confimed by Viemo support which states "this is not a bug". I am glad it works in Portugal. Vimeo support keeps replying to everyone that “the service has been modified in some regions” but refuses to specify which are these regions. Hence the idea that the whole European Union is affected by the change in terms of service. I have been using Vimeo for my work/passion for 13 years and have my entire private archive online there. No use creating another account and using it secretly with a VPN. Ciao

That all makes sense. I bought my BMPCC and BMMCCs for a documentary project (and future doc projects) and they'll work for that; most of my doc work is music-related and I don't need a "run and gun" setup. But I do a lot of concert and dance photography and am occasionally being asked to do video as well, and that's where something faster and easier to use would be helpful. My big requirement there is low-light performance, and it seems that despite its smaller sensor the GH7 might be better in that department than the FX30 (the FX3 is out of my price range, although the Nikon Z6iii could be a contender), plus I'd get the advantages of more depth of field (and thus more forgiving manual focus) when shooting MFT. I'm in no rush to make a decision as I can get by with my current cameras for now, but I definitely want a simpler, hand-holdable and faster option available when I need it.