Andrew Reid

Depends on which mode, not so simple on a phone. The ToF depth map can give you the look of F0.95 on full frame at the touch of a button.

To me it just looks hyper clinical, revealing, digital although it also depends on the photographer and lighting, so we can't blame the phone for everything. She looks better in this one: But this one by all accounts is just a bad shot. Greasy, tired skin and blue cast on her forehead. Granted it is a backlit shot. In this one the camera is clutching onto every last drop of dynamic range and has that HDR puke look in the windows. I just think the PROCESSING dial needs turning down several notches to be honest.

RED Hydrogen had decent colour science. Sony Xperia 1 II has the most natural image I've found so far. The Chinese ones are all an inconsistent mess. The Huawei Mate 40 Pro is the best I've found. But of course the software side is crippled. It's very frustrating. Nobody seems capable of going forwards in a good way. Apple have mucked up their image processing a bit too. Since the iPhone 11 Pro Max they have turned the digital look up a notch, more over sharpening, but real resolution not really going places. I haven't found a reason to switch from my iPhone XS Max. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a nice sensor but in day to day use it hardly makes any difference. Only with the IBIS on manual settings in RAW does it stretch out a lead... Less noise, pin sharp image at slow shutter speeds in low light. For my main phone I can't switch from Apple to Android especially not without Google Play Services on Huawei. So I stay with Apple for now and use the Mate 40 Pro as a camera only in second jacket pocket!! Is there GCam for it?

It's in-between the 1/1.2" and 1" on this chart, so practically 1" as near as makes no difference. Bit like Canon APS-C is still APS-C even when it is a 1.6x crop vs 1.5x crop. How long before Micro Four Thirds sensor in a smartphone? 🙂

Somebody with a clue about photography needs to walk into the Chinese smartphone manufacturers and tell them how to do things. In 2014 the Panasonic CM1 with large 1" sensor came along and there's been a 7 year wait for another 1" smartphone to add the latest computational photography image processing. The Samsung ISOCELL GN2 in the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is finally it! There's no doubt about the technical capabilities of this smartphone and that it's capable of some wonderful results (after a bit of grading) as well as 8K. Technically this sensor has every latest development - 50 megapixel, 8K, dual gain ISO readout (per pixel!), Quad Bayer, Dual Pixel Pro AF (split pixels horizontally as well as diagonally!) and more. The phone even has a Time of Flight sensor to assist AF in complete darkness. So why does it look so shit? DXOMark has the full run-down on the Mi 11 Ultra with sample photos. You'd expect with these specs, combining the enthusiast grade Sony RX100 size sensor with cutting edge AI and image processing that smartphone manufacturers would have taken the time to learn something about presentation and optics too. https://www.dxomark.com/xiaomi-mi-11-ultra-camera-review-large-sensor-power/ https://www.eoshd.com/news/xiaomi-mi-11-ultra-with-1-sensor-and-8k-video-gets-reviewed-why-a-technical-marvel-cannot-come-close-to-flattering-the-subject/

Second that!!

It's done. Who wants to beta test it? I'll choose two people out of a hat lottery style that I can trust to give feedback about the settings.

Adobe Creative Cloud finally has some competition. Communist Creative Cloud has been launched today in Berlin! The three PC terminals are subscription based, and are wheeled to you once per month for the important competition of your communist propaganda leaflets. Each terminal comes with a Nikon 1 series mirrorless camera with extremely large format sensor developed in Sochi by the renowned soviet scientist Mr P. Utin. As you'd expect for subscription software, pricing is extremely low starting at $0*. The true price you pay for this is in your committed allegiance to the "Die Linke" party and a green tax where you have to dissemble your entire apartment piece by piece and replace each brick with wood. You may also offer blood. In keeping with the famous Moto "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs", the software ships only with the level of tools for your feeble abilities. YouTubers get a version of Communist Premiere Pro with a thumbnail creator containing two special presets - "Amazed face" and "Shocked expression". A special Chris and Jordan mode is available which gives all ex-camera-salesmen the belief they are famous filmmakers for the glorious region of Kamerastalingorsk. All editing tools are removed apart from the digital zoom. Wedding photographers get a special Communist Photoshop that only allows photos shot wide open at F1.2 and a clarity slider that ends at -20. *The use of the terminal is limited to 1 hour due to radioactive emissions from the special CRT monitor. EOSHD hands-off report On a tour of the Communist Creative Cloud offices in Berlin today, I could see a hive of activity. Proud workers huddled around a machine (of course adhering to the mask policy of the German C.C.C.P regime) putting images of Stalin into a transform tool. The beta test programme had gone well with only several deaths, and minor spillage of radioactive material from the Robotron CPU. I was not allowed to go near the software but was informed by a member of the Stasi CC that the Communist Creative Cloud doesn't just feature apps like Premiere and Photoshop. Office productivity tools are included and these I'm told are expected to be a big hit with the Berlin city authorities, like the municipal vaccination coordination offices. Meanwhile you may sign up to Communist Creative Cloud by creating a special personalised profile of yourself and uploading it to the Communist Cloud server based in Moscow moderated by Mr V. Puttit. Dubbed "Sputnikbook", it is part social media photo sharing website and part personal activity tracker. Already 100,000 people have gladly taken part all on their own accord. I am told Communist Creative Cloud (CCC) Premiere Pro can handle 12K video, the K standing for Kosmonaut. For videos not shot with 12 Kosmonauts you are limited to a standard resolution of just 12 green lines and the standard CRT refresh rate of 1 frame per month. Still, more productive than the average leftie! Long live Communist Creative Cloud!!

In terms of size the main competition is the other small interchangeable lens cameras - A7C / FX3 come to mind, as they are also full frame like the Fp-L. For photography, neither of those comes close on resolution. For video, they're very good but don't have some of unique features of the Fp series like internal Cinema DNG RAW, and Sony's colour science isn't as good. A7C codec is a bit long in the tooth as well, and the FX3 is at least $1000 more expensive.

You'd expect them to point out the attachable grips at least 😆

They are coming at it from a marketeer's perspective because that's what they are. Chris at DPReview is an ex-camera salesman. Of course it doesn't occupy the same broad market territory as a Sony. It's a niche camera and they don't get it.

Yes, however sorry to repeat myself but what's the point of the Sigma Fp being just another A7R IV clone? We don't need another copy cat. Not denying the Sony offers a lot of spec for the money if you need a 60MP full frame camera with good 4K. But the Sigma Fp-L offers something different... at least for those who recognise that it's an artist's camera for studio, landscape, portraiture... and for videographers... whereas the Sony is more of an all-round work tool for pros and commercial work. The Sigma offers better colour science, more flexible grip designs, smaller size, internal RAW video, phase-detect AF for L-mount lenses, and there's many other differences to the Sony. It is aimed higher than the original Fp, so of course there's the higher price. The rolling shutter issues and lack of mechanical shutter does hold it back for certain types of shoots, that's for sure. However it is just the first of the future breed of all-electronic cameras. Global shutter cameras will outnumber mechanical shutter cameras in a few years time. They should do a version with the Sony A9 sensor next, faster readout. I think the Fp-L is in the top 5 for image quality... GFX 100, A7R IV, Leica SL2, Fp-L, EOS R5... all good sensors and ultimate in stills resolution. So maybe the price, being lower than all of those is not so bad after all. And it comes in a very small box, with very wide feature set and nice modularity. Besides you get to support directly a family run business which is in it for us and their employees rather than to line the pockets of shareholders.

Yeah it is as if they thought, "well it comes like this so must be reviewed like this". What does he think the quarter inch thread is for? A beer holder? It takes about 10 seconds to attach the official Sigma grip. The box format is about the modular flexibility and they barely touch on it. Would have been easy for Sigma just to do yet-another-clone of a Sony A7. Like Nikon are. Props for having the guts and imagination to step outside the box. Just shows up these YouTubers for how uncreative they are as artists that they can't even be bothered to attach a wooden hand grip.

A lot of them are not even photographers. Canadian guy in the DPReview video, forget his name, goes on about the EVF making it hard to grip. So add a grip then! It's got 4 or 5 grips - I can list them off top of my head!! I have 3 different grips myself for the Fp and attach them at will. Yet he... Chris or something... Is complaining that it's hard to hold a square box with no grip when you have a big EVF attached to the other side. Not a photographer.

I don't get why he went so negative on it. Overall, there aren't many RX1 sized cameras with interchangeable lenses and the latest 61MP full frame sensors. On the video side, not many full frame cameras do internal Cinema DNG without Magic Lantern's help either.

Know we know what the L stands for in Sigma Fp-L. Landscape, or possibly large prints! Although the new sensor takes aim at photographers needing 9.5K resolution, it maintains all of the 4K Cine modes, frame rates and codec options of the original Fp. The big news for cinematographers is the addition of phase-detect AF for the first time with an L-mount camera, which is what many have been asking of Panasonic. This is a very good move and should make the Fp-L much better at subject tracking in video mode. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/sigma/sigma-fp-l-adds-long-awaited-phase-detect-af-to-l-mount-system-61mp-sensor-and-4k-raw/

Yeah the NX1 and NX500 go for high prices even now. All the other Samsungs are dirt cheap. Even the really old NX10 has a great sensor. But it is only nice for stills and nothing else.

Nope.

Idea not realised at all yet, going to try and launch the competition on the forums next week. If you want to join in, you can of course get a head start and look for a bargain any time you like

This image shows the upcoming Sigma Fp-L, with the new EVF-11 module attached which gives it a nice rangefinder-style form factor. Cleverly, the EVF attaches directly to the HDMI port with no cabling. It's able to communicate via USB C and is powered by the camera. Since the Sigma Fp-L (and original) have quarter inch threads on both sides of the camera, a 1/4" screw secures the module in place (as if it were attached directly to a cage). New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/sigma-evf-11-is-a-masterpiece-of-design/

Surprised at the S1R too... 5K... 10bit.... HGL! Practically gone and done a Leica SL2! Release dates for downloads here: https://www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/lumix/firmware_update.html

Panasonic has announced a big firmware update today. It's especially good news for S1 owners. Also - BRAW / anamorphic goodies coming for S1H shooters (via HDMI). New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/firmware-update-turns-panasonic-s1-into-an-s1h-with-record-time-limit-in-demanding-modes-like-6k/

I am excited for this and will want to see what the Huawei P50 Pro is like as the Mate 40 Pro I am using now is incredible for photos. Biggest step has been with the smaller sensors and periscope folded zoom optics though. With the iPhone 12 Pro Max the step to a larger sensor didn't make much difference although it still has a much less capable chip than the P40 / Mate 40 Pro. I think image processing on phones is so good at getting more out of smaller sensors, it does somewhat mask the step to larger physical surface area. Larger sensors can even introduce some compromises in terms optics, with ugly bokeh and poor corners. Eventually I see phones being able to match full frame cameras for dynamic range (some they already are), low light shooting and even get closer in resolution terms but not optics. The look of lenses will have to be simulated with computational photography and depth maps. You can already do this with third party apps and it does work very nicely - pick your lens style (Helios 44-M for example with bokeh swirl, or even an anamorphic) and it applies the fake bokeh very convincingly. We're a while off this being as convincing as a real full frame camera or it working in realtime at 4K/120fps though.

Good deal for stills but no 4K 🙂

GH6 here we come...