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This is my primary question! 5DIII in RAW (esp with ML dual ISO to boost dynamic range by many stops) is something magical, to be sure. However, the 5DIII JPEGS are also magnificent in their own way -- I keep one lying around just for the JPEGS. Somehow this camera has a miraculous ability to hold onto highlights, even in JPEG mode. Nikon D200 CCD in RAW. It uses a Sony CCD so it's better in some ways (highlight retention and rolloff) versus the Kodak ones, but worse in others (less interesting colors). Still magical, though. I keep one lying around: One that is often overlooked is the Ricoh GXR M-mount module. While it may share the same sensor as the X100 and Nikon D90, but it is geared a little differently.... more muted colors (except for reds), and somehow crazy good for B&W photography. Seriously, using any RAW converter (LR, rawtherapee, darktable, filmulator, all of which I've used), you convert any RAW GXR images to B&W and it's... incredible! Lastly, of course... the Leica M9, my primary camera for these last few years and to this day. Lately, I find that Darktable's recently introduced "Sigmoid" process is very tender with the M9's harsh highlight clipping issues, the sensor's greatest downfall. P.S. I think Andrew mentioned this, but the 5DII is SUPER magical, more so than the 5DIII, and right up there with the M9! I have a 5DII laying around too, but don't have any photos available. Once again, using ML's dualiso module to boost the dynamic range and this thing is just produces cinematic photos like nothing else I've ever seen! Focusing on the 5DII is and always will be an unreliable pain, though (even if just using the central point). P.P.S Nikon D700 in RAW! What an incredible sensor! Delicate highlight rolloff (and lots of information there); great organic colors and lowlight performance.

Aside from those very odd Pentax users I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a happy new year resolution of buying more cameras. What is on your wish list and how are you spending the Christmas holidays? 👍

Merry Christmas and happy holiday to everyone.

Thanks for the wishes of you all here! : ) In this year I lost my best friends ever, my father and dearest aunt, a mother to me, hope 2025 may only become better than this 2024... No complaints at professional level though... Five/six awards (the 6th 'cause we're working on a sequel of a previous TV series not yet under my umbrella by then despite a determinant role in the nomination towards this prize this time) ten days ago for two feature movies shot in NZ and Macau, China, respectively, as producer with two of my partners in crime by this scribe of yours too. North of Portugal. My brother's new home. With my core family of three, brother, sister-in-law, nephews and his brother-in-law, sister-in-law and respective mother, very likely. Our mother is still recovering from a surgery two weeks ago, the 2nd one this year from another fall and same broken leg... so the youngest will be with her instead. Just life, I guess. While waiting for my FX30 next week arriving from a U.S. trip, Osmo Pocket 3 (have you already bought this jaw-dropper?) and their really small and handy accessories are the ones I regret today to not have discovered earlier from the previous model anyway. As never enough to have been reported before, that larger sensor, 4K 100/120fps and 10-bit D-Log M (even 4:2:0) are a thrice must : ) 4th axis stabilizer just to mention one of the plus size : D of this little toy is simultaneously-plainly-and-luxuriously a simple joy... : X The set of filters and extra add-ons, no less ; ) Testing all of them for these holidays! : P Happy Christmas and the best 2025 to everyone! EDIT/PS -- @Andrew Reid Thanks for extending that infamous 5-minutes editing limit here, serves to share more in the same post and in age of a big fail to twitter/X model without useless multiple posts so dispersive and annoying I intend to believe LOL :- )

Absolutely no new cameras in 2025. Chord Electronics will be taking my money as I need to upgrade my audio system. (Indeed, a couple of cameras less - FX30 & BM4kStudio will head towards MPB). Seasonal felicitations!

Merry Xmas everyone…!!! Up in the California mountains for the week renovating our ski cabin with the family, (3 dogs and two cats) Really warm this year with only one real snowstorm back in November so kind of an odd winter for us. I’m back in analysis paralysis as far as camera gear for 2025 goes. Bouncing back and forth between doubling down on cheap, dated LUMIX gear with a Leica SL2 thrown in for high res stills or being more sensible and getting the S1R to hold me over for a bit. Or… finally jumping to Fuji or Sony. Fuji feels more fun and Sony feels more sensible and boring. Plus the high prices for what specs you get just feels rough after coming from LUMIX. Dream cameras on my list right now are the GFX100ii with an X-H2s for fast moving stuff and high frame rates. Little X-M5 for fun personal stuff and a backup camera for the bag. Or the A1 marked down to affordable levels and a ZV-e1/FX3 for a tight little travel kit. I’m finishing up a documentary in Japan this year and do a lot of solo, run and gun stuff so the Sony AF should be high on my list. Instead I’m doing my usual though and going after the weird quirky stuff. Anamorphic and speedboosted vintage glass. Chasing after high quality stuff on the cheap. I’ve been having fun with lenses in the meantime and scooping up a lot of my bucket list vintage glass while the yen is down in Japan against the USD. The Konica 57mm f/1.2 and the Yashica Tomioka 55mm f/1.2 have been unobtainable for a long time but I was able to score remarkable deals this year on those two. Can’t wait to nail down my next camera bodies so I can start playing around. Hunting for a GFX100s sub $2,000 this week but also have the black X-M5 in my cart from Japan with kit lens for $800. S9 is on sale for $900 though so I’m going back and forth between the two. it’s actually pretty amazing that for under $2,000/$1,500 you have some of the best technology out there from all the big companies right now. We’re quite spoiled.

I have actually tried using second shooters from time to time and even farmed out editing, but nah, that drives me even more insane. At least when you do it yourself, your mistakes are your own and you can then use those to 'inspire' yourself to reduce them going forward as much as possible. Other than say tracking a couple with a gimbal and aerial drone stuff, I'm just not a fan of non-deliberate camera movement and I just decided towards the end of this year, I was spending too much time correcting in post or having material that just bugged me. It's really simple for me and that is I ask myself the question, "did you want to see any camera movement at all in that shot?" and if the answer is no as it is 99% of the time, I then have to ask myself why da fuck I wasn't then using at least a monopod if not a tripod. And the answer to that is convenience/laziness. I can't fully trust the freestanding monopod to be left unattended and 3 legged tripods with typically 3 points of extension (ie, 9 twists or clicks) are not the quickest things to use in faster paced environments. So in addition to my freestanding monopod and because my current lightweight tripod is no longer working properly, I am getting one of these: https://www.amazon.fr/-/en/dp/B0D93FB6VG/?coliid=I3I7882LSYHI5Y&colid=3UZ2Z0IEUEIAP&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it I have a pair of heavyweight tripods for proper static use, but you can't realistically work with those in most scenarios other than situations where you do want to set stuff up and leave it unattended knowing it can't get knocked or blown over.

Depends on the specific flavour of codec. The first 10bit codec on the S1 was the only 10bit one without the Vlog update. It offered 75mbps 420 h265 for HLG at UHD resolution. That mode provided nice colors and dynamic range. But it fell apart into macroblocking tetris on homogenously colored surfaces or a blue sky. The 8bit 100mbit h264 for 709 outperformed it big time in that regard. The later 10bit 150Mbit 422 running circles around both. The 8bit 4k mode on the A7SII was easily bettered by a GX80 in regards of color, tones and lack artefacts in 709. The 10bit 444 HD on the Canon C300II performed the worst artefact I've ever seen under lowlight. It mushed a persons head completely away on a few of the frames. Crazy and hillarious. UHD has problems too. Cine 4K seems best from my experience. Some people prefer to record externally on the MKII. Prores 4444 on the Ursa 4.6 couldnt rescue IR poluted footage. A good 8bit codec is no slouch, whereas certain 10bit codecs can perform certain flaws.