Andrew Reid

It's 37 billion in total funding over 2 years for the app and entire track and trace system which has highly paid consultants, a big Tory running it, people phoning you up when you're quarantining, and so on. "Only" 35 million of this was to develop a phone app based on already existing Google and Apple technology to alert you when you may have been in contact with somebody who has tested positive. I think some of that money was wasted on an earlier app as well that never saw the light of day because they switched strategies later to use the Google / Apple methods of tracing, since it's seen as more privacy conscious and less draining of your phone's battery life. When I was quarantining last month when I came back from Germany, I got a call every day for 10 days from the system basically asking if I was in my home and being a good boy. Yes. If you miss every call because you're on the toilet or whatever, there's no obligation to prove you didn't break the quarantine. It's all a complete waste of money. The onus is on the public to behave. I don't think any of the government measures really do much but cause us all a big hassle. If you came back from a covid hotspot with the virus and tested positive during home quarantine, by that point you'd have given it to your kids, relatives, wife, etc. And they'd all be mixing it in the community. And indeed a lot of people who brought the Indian variant into the country did not bother even sticking to the rules and some people are even still carrying on as normal when they're sick and know they have it. Unless you have a very strict quarantine like New Zealand with the hotels for everybody, you may as well have none. It always starts with just 1 case and goes from there. It's either all or nothing as far as the rules go. In the UK it has always been a patchwork of half measures. The most concerning thing for me is how so few journalists are questioning how the money was wasted and why the sums are so high. The government has the press and The BBC very well trained it seems.

Nope it really is 37 billion £ https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/150988/unimaginable-cost-of-test-trace-failed-to-deliver-central-promise-of-averting-another-lockdown/

The Panasonic GH6 is going to be the most advanced Micro Four Thirds camera ever made. The reaction has been pretty positive. But is it enough for it to be a solid update over the GH5? Does it need a big attention grabbing feature that makes it unique? New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/gauging-the-reaction-to-the-panasonic-gh6/

For some people the GH6 does need that stand out feature, which nothing else does. For other people it will be the overall package of features for the price, and the small size and the particular lens mount that makes it worth upgrading to from an older GH series. For me I consider focus and exposure basics. So sort out the AF and have an ND filter. This will make it stand out for me. Plus ProRes 422 for smoother editing. Wide dynamic range. Great big EVF. Let's face it, the GH5 was a much nicer camera to use than the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras, with far more features and much better for hybrid use. So if they can borrow a few features from the BM Pocket 6K Pro like the ND, ProRes and give us all the advantages of a mirrorless camera for $2500 then It'd be a big relief to use the GH6 instead when I need all those. Panasonic's IBIS system, ergonomics and image processing are some of the best around.

5.7K is plenty. I'm glad they didn't go 8K. 4K/120p is much more dramatic looking than 8K. Great for cinema. I agree on all your wish list points. Some good stuff there. They are very heavy too. Great lenses, but may as well go FF now. Micro Four Thirds can be more extremely small and light. AF is top of my list too. Let's hope they offer both DFD and phase-detect AF.

Wait till you see how much they love Atomos? I'm going to be tied up with HDMI cables forever it seems (for ProRes or RAW)

You mean the GH5 II or GH6?

Here's the GH6 announcement and press release: https://www.eoshd.com/news/panasonic-gh6-announced-with-4k-120p-new-sensor-and-processor/

"New GH series cameras" - notice the plural - are coming. I'll be in the YouTube chat bar to watch with you all. My hopes and dreams are: GH6 development announcement with some key details - Internal ProRes 10bit and RAW recording would be great to compete with Blackmagic & Canon. 4K/120fps to compete with Sony. Internal ND filter would be fantastic. We can but keep our fingers and toes crossed! GH5 II revealed in full, I don't think it's going to be a big leap from the original model but USB charging is certainly welcome and maybe Panasonic can surprise us with something else useful? GH5S firmware 2.0 and G9 firmware update 2.4 could bring some interesting features including ProRes RAW via HDMI! New lenses? Maybe another GH series camera aside from the GH6 and GH5 II? According to the teaser we are getting at least 2 cameras. The live presentation starts at 15:00 GMT (London) and 10:00 ET.

Very interesting. Thanks for the insight Thomas!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/21/tabloids-hurt-princess-diana-panorama-bbc-scapegoat “Defund the BBC,” was last night’s pontification from former Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie, who once put Diana’s covertly recorded private phone calls on a premium-rate line so readers could ring in and have a listen. And those were the good years. Half the stuff these guys did in pursuit of Diana stories is, mercifully for them, completely unprintable. Alas, we will spend the next few days hearing of the BBC’s shame from some of the most shameless hypocrites in human history. The tabloids may not like Prince Harry’s reincarnation as a super-rich Californian wellness bore, but it does have the moral edge over pulling people’s medical records and hacking the phones of murdered 13-year-old girls.

Photographers and tabloid paparazzi are said to have played a significant role in the death of Princess Diana in the 1990s. Now there are new revelations about the role journalists at the BBC played in her life and events leading to her death. However, there is more to this story than meets the eye. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/princess-diana-death-by-a-million-clicks/

DM me and I'll send you a new download link!

It's still available. Look at Shooter's Guide menu on front page. https://www.eoshd.com/eoshd-shooters-guide-sony-a7-a7r-lenses/ Have you seen the prices of Canon FD 24mm f1.4L lately? 🙂

For a long time the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras have been a barebones experience to shoot with. Great codec and image quality but a lack of important other features (and not great build quality). Well Blackmagic has stepped up and beaten the mirrorless cameras to build-in ND filters. Yes in 2021 it's finally happened! Well done camera industry. They have added a hinge to the screen as well. For an extra $500 you can get an EVF which slots on top. The battery also gets an upgrade from a smaller Canon LP-E6 to Sony NP-F570. However one thing I find puzzling about the Pocket 6K Pro is the lens mount. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/thoughts-on-the-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-6k-pro-tilt-screen-evf-built-in-nd-filters-but-why-ef-mount/

Fun to read about the history. Even when they went all in with the most advanced 8mm camera it was always a side show compared to photography though. If you look how diverse Fuji are now, making covid drugs and stuff... Compared to Nikon which basically only has two product lines - cameras and lithography - It spells trouble for them as they are just not exploiting the demand in other areas.

It's sold.

Yeah but I show that in the article. I raised the exposure 5 stops! Still no difference.

Yeah RAW and ProRes are the natural codecs for 10bit and above. I can't work out if Sony's 8bit is just very good if 10bit H.264 and H.265 is a waste of disk space.

In 99% of cases there seems to be little benefit to using 10bit other than more difficult to edit, larger file sizes. 10bit is one of those easy to get excited about specs on paper. It’s a bit like the amount of memory in your PC or the speed of the CPU. The higher number, the better! What actually makes the difference when it comes to image quality? Well it’s a bit complicated. RAW is the ultimate codec, and the ultimate pain in the ass. LOG is great, no question. Lots of dynamic range, small file sizes, easy to edit and to apply a LUT. And for great LOG you need 10bit, right? Well it seems that on the A7S III the difference is much of the time impossible to even see. Not that this was not already proven by the Canon 1D C and that infamous MJPEG codec. The 8bit Canon LOG mode on that was incredibly nice. Fast forward nearly 10 years and there’s far less difference between 10bit 4:2:2 and 8bit 4:2:0 on the Sony A7S III than you might expect. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/sony-a7s-iii-10bit-image-quality-vs-same-camera-in-8bit-with-surprising-results/

It’s been a bit of a trend for Nikon shooters to jump ship to Sony, Fuji and Panasonic in recent years. I even know a few myself. I am hearing rumours that Nikon might be about to finally wake up – to offer a broad range of filmmaking camera equipment (and lenses) for professionals. New blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/has-nikon-got-a-cinema-camera-range-in-development/

I agree! X-T4 ergonomics not as nice as original X-H1 and feels cheaper too

Solution A - the battery grip ($999)! Solution B was the SL2-S. Not a great outcome really. A quite expensive one for users. There was never a firmware update to fix it.

X-Trans has probably served its purpose now and was never a big advantage for video. With the X-H2 being a video orientated model, it may be that the rumour mill is just picking up on the fact that it will use a normal bayer pattern and high speed readout, and that the photography orientated models are all up to date for 2021 so there won't be any more in the near future. This does not mean to say X-trans is dead forever. Originally a way to minimise moire with no low pass filter, you probably don't see the effect much in video mode or on a higher 8K+ resolution sensor. At these resolutions the debayering becomes more processor intensive for X-Trans too vs normal bayer.

I see it come up a lot on rumours sites... Company X has developed 12 completely different products and only one will make it across the line! It is just the rumour mill covering all the bases in case one turns out to be right. Do you think Fuji planners sit down together and go... hmmm... we can't decide whether to go 4K or 8K, so let's pile money into both of them, order two completely different sensors, and then decide afterwards! It just doesn't work like that.