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With the recent price drop, the Pocket 4K is now under £1K new and that has pushed used prices below £700 so they are now far more affordable. It shoots ProRes as well as BRAW so theres no need to get involved with Resolve and even if you did want to shoot BRAW there are now direct importers into FCPX. As you are shooting multi-camera for live events etc then the BM range are absolutely hands down better options than any other range for work like that. With the ATEM Mini Pro series starting at under £300 you can do the live camera switching (or even just very efficient multi camera monitoring to a single monitor) and have full remote control of the cameras as well. If you get three used P4K cameras and the ATEM Mini Pro, then its £2.5K for the whole integrated multi camera system and the cameras are obviously more than capable in the cinema role too. Particularly as it is roughly the price of a single X-H2S. Without the live aspect then options such as the X-H2S etc are a good choice of course but as an all round system for fulfilling the different roles that you've listed then the P4K x3 /ATEM Mini Pro is far more suitable in my opinion.

The corruption on the license plate coincidentally features a fragment of the plate of the car that images of may well have been used to train it with. The car is a Porsche factory one that was provided to reviewers so enough images of it from different sources to train it. Could just be a massive coincidence of course ..... I think a new parlour game in the upcoming years when generating this stuff becomes more readily/instantly available will be image makers entering a specific prompt describing one of their own images that they have put online and determining how much has been lifted from their work based on the output that comes back.

The voiceover was real. This is the card at the end of the video. Well, there’s the rub. Whatever it was trained on was certainly very real. Looking at this frame, I’m pretty sure if you went through enough of PotatoJet’s YouTube content you’d find the ,shall we say, “inspiration” for it.

This is exactly why I was asking for the need for AF, because if not really, then 3x these with a lens each.

I'd love to get them, just there are always compromises made. For example I tried the Meike lenses and they just aren't well built. Optically they are very good for their price, but I have zero confidence that they will hold up to heavy use. The ones I got also focused in reverse and didn't work with my S5II X's linear focusing (I've heard this has been fixed for their "pro" lenses). Ultimately I went with Lumix primes instead, which you are pretty affordable on sites like MPB. You can get the 50mm f1.8 for $229 in "Like New" condition; for that price you might as well just get it over the Meike 50mm F1.8 at $169 new. It's a better lens and it's better made. Another issue I've had with third party lenses is that they aren't always consistent. A 35mm will have different color shifts and characteristics than the 50mm does and so on. I've even experienced where the same lens, bought together at the same time, had color shifts between them! It's why I really like what Panasonic has done, as every lens is not only the same size but they are pretty much identical optically. I can easily switch between them without adjusting anything. Still, if they put out a really nice fast prime that is well made and significantly cheaper than the Lumix or Sigma version, then I'd definitely be interested. I don't have a ton of uses for a 1.2 or 1.4 lens, I don't usually need that much light or bokeh, but it'd be nice to have one when I did want that look.

If budget is no option, FX6s all around. You're talking a sturdy body to handle the shake of long lens, good autofocus, good low light, good audio and timecode options, good dynamic range and color. If you are majorly constrained by budget, GH5s would be fine, FX30s would be better if you can afford them. As some have mentioned though, lens constraints are a major factor here.

Also, Blackmagic is a great option, however if you are doing a lot of handheld you'll want to at the very least have stabilized lenses, if not some way to stabilize any handheld camera work you do. Those cameras aren't very heavy or friendly in the hands, as they are pretty cheaply made, so you'll want something to add some bulk to it and make it more handheld friendly.

The overall quality of life improvements (plus auto focus) are just worth it to me. Currently my three camera set up is the S5II X and two S5 bodies. I just prefer the image out of the S5, it has better colors and just looks more natural (less sharpening.) That's not to say that the S5II doesn't have a good image, though. It really boils down to preference. I've only used the S1 a few times, but it's a great camera too! I do think the S5 though is overall a better value on the used market. It's crazy how affordable they are. Some will tell you they are awful and completely unusable, but they are fine once you figure out how to work with their limitations. But there are limitations and it's important that you know that going in. It is nice not having to worry about it as much with my S5II X BUT there are times when that auto focus fails, as there are times when Canan and Sony auto focus fails.

1) With the caveat that I don't use AF, the Panasonic S5 is a wildly good value at $800 used (what I paid for mine). Imo, the improvement in noise and dynamic range over the GH5 is worth it, but if you're always in well-lit areas maybe you won't notice much benefit. If you aren't tied to existing lenses, camcorders can be more convenient than hybrids. I'm not familiar with available models since I don't shoot events, but I'd research camcorders for event videography with no photos. 2) C400 or FX6. The C300 Mk III is also fine--I choose full frame because of the lenses I own. It also depends on how much weight matters, as the FX6 is extremely light. If I need photos as well, then add a photo body in addition, and honestly everything is so good these days that I'd take anything modern. 3) Assuming 1-3 person camera crew, it depends on the script. My general pick right now for myself is a C500 Mk II (cheaper than a C400). I used to have Z Cam, which has unbeatable wireless monitoring and control, but I don't like the lack of color management support in Resolve. I would pick a Z Cam F6 if I need to fit the camera into tight spaces. If it's a lot of fast action like a car chase, a Komodo's global shutter would be great. The Ronin 4D is also very interesting for extensive handheld--never used one myself, though. If I can step up in budget, I'd love to try the Blackmagic 12k LF.

Isn’t this precisely what Blackmagics were designed for?

It's definitely improved for very short takes. While I didn't watch the whole thing, the bits I skipped around to see were all very short clips. Anyplace with letters was also a give-away (the wording on the truck). I also wonder how many "takes" they had to do of each clip to get one that looked good and where the physics were mostly realistic. I saw a few clips that seemed in the "weird physics" space - that continues to be a major weakness of AI-generated video. But the main thing that could still slow down the enshittification of everything through AI is that AI-generated material is still not able to be copyrighted - at least not in the US. How long that lasts before the shitheads in Congress/Senate/Presidency "fix" it? Unknown.

Isn't that a cover for the OG S5 (not the S5ii, with the fan grills and a larger body)?

I still believe there is no better value out there than the Lumix S5 on the used market. You'll be amazed at what images you can get even with the cheap 20-60 kit lens. There is just something really, really nice about that camera's image. I prefer it over my S5II. The GH5 is a great camera too, even today, but it's worth spending the extra to get the S5 for the better low light. That's a lot harder because there are so many options. As a Lumix shooter I'd still go that route and get S5II bodies and the Sigma 24-70mm for all of them, but there are no shortage of options if you aren't limited by budget. I still prefer to shoot as light as possible and are familiar with their cameras, so that's my primary reason for choosing Lumix, but you really can't go wrong with anything available today. Another hard one, honestly. There are just so many options. This is probably a weird choice but I think I'd still go with the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. I still love that image very much.

I would get their 28mm f4.5 body cap lens for sure, perfect match to S9!

If it happens, I hope they release an entire set of lenses and not drip drip drip lenses because I personally don’t like mix & match sets of lenses if I can at all avoid it.