IronFilm

You'll get that in Antarctica! 😉 Go do a nature documentary.

There isn't a HUGE difference between the F3 with the paid RGB update vs the F3 with the very s-log firmware. From my personal perspective, the biggest difference is having 10bit 60fps vs not. (and for me, even though my F3 is capable of it, I can't do it anyway because I'm using an Atomos Samurai Blade, as the BMD VA didn't exist cheaply secondhand back then)

For some, that's cheaper than being in jail! haha

Not too shockingly surprised, we hit "Peak (dedicated) Photography Hardware" (i.e. not counting mobile photography, which is as popular as ever) a number of years ago. We're not going to see every brand spamming out new products as fast as they did in the past, especially not when they hit a really tough year like right now. (what with COVID19 and chip shortages)

You absolutely do need the paid RGB update. And yes I agree, it's unlikely you'll get an F3 with this if it wasn't already advertised with it.

Because ARRI is a trusted known, vs an unknown. That alone makes an Alexa Classic still very valuable. Let alone all the technical reasons why it is worth buying.

I'm on a prime time tv drama series currently (in their sound department though of course), and GoPros have been used for this. (mainly is 3x Panasonic Varicam LT though, plus a bit of Panasonic EVA1 for when a 4th camera is needed on big days, or for splinter unit. Also a few times ARRI AMIRA, I think simply because they can't source any more Varicams for when they need five cameras all at once) WHY is a GoPro still used on this type of show? Because it is "there", they've got it hand, and because it already by default waterproof and easy to use with zero hassle. Don't think using a BMMCC crossed the DoP's mind for even half a second. He's got bigger things to worry about than that maybe two second shot it might have been used in, out of the entire tv series.

I'd lean to say it is overkill to use an external recorder with an XT3, you've already got yourself good 10bit from it internally, save yourself the money and get a lighter (both in terms of weight and in terms of power consumption!) monitor instead of a monitor/recorder combo. My perspective is about being practical, vs squeezing every last 1% out.

Shogun is overkill, you don't need a 4K recorder. SxS cards are overpriced, use an SD adapter, although the internal codec is a fairly low bit rate.

Only a hundred bucks for a Canon FD adapter to FZ from China. Get that! (don't bother getting a pricey electronic EF-FZ adapter)

@ntblowz, not tempted at all by the FX6 instead?

*IF* you could still buy it, I'd imagine Sony still charges full price. That would make NO SENSE at all to buy in 2021. You could almost buy a secondhand Sony PMW-F5 for the price of that firmware for the F3.

Rental only makes no sense at all for the type of product they are, who does Atomos think they are.... Panavision?? HA! Perhaps they've got supply issues and can only make a limited amount at the moment, thus are testing the waters first before making their widely available for sale.

Yes, a 2nd F3! 😉 If you need a gimbal camera / easy car rig cam / whatever / etc, then I've reached for my BMPCC as a camera also with a pretty picture but waaaaay more compact. Yes, but only over SDI (not HDMI). The free version, not the paid RGB Firmware version. Yeah, 35mm on S35 isn't wide at all. (in fact it is the normal FoV lens) The Sony PL Gen 1 are not as well built as the Gen 2. They were great for their time, in terms of being one of the very very few "affordable" options for PL Lenses. (a good match for what was the first ever "affordable" S35 cinema camera) But now in 2021 we're being flooded with upcoming "affordable" PL lenses to consider. Also you don't have to use PL Lenses with the F3, because it has a base FZ Mount underneath.

"TECHNICALLY" you don't have to make a purchase! If you already own one.

And how do you think they got to that position?

That's disappointing, as I like Smallrig's products such as my BMPCC cage and my FS7/F3 shoulder rig.

It is the "latest" in the X-Tx series. As in there is no "X-T5" yet. How long were these projects? Guessing not feature film / web series length, but more like short film length? Then yes, shooting 3 per year does 100% qualifies as "rarely".

The FX9/VENICE have 4K S35. ALL the ARRI digital cinema cameras have "identical" pixels, it's just the size of the sensor they've cut out of the wafer that varies. And that won't change until their 4K S35 sensor camera gets launched. In a way, these 4K LF format cameras were largely a stop gap measure for ARRI to slow the bleeding out to the true 4K competition (such as what is demanded by Netflix commissioned films).

It does indeed suffer from that problem. Have zero doubt whatsoever that if they could have made everything identical about the Alexa 65, except be a higher resolution sufficient to do 4K S35 then it would've been a much more successful camera by a huge margin. No of course not, that would be stupid silly! Unless..... if it could do 4K S35, then yes, people would be renting it just purely to do that!! Exactly. Non-Arri brands definitely can't be a one trick pony if they wish to succeed. Venice is also massively preferable for gimbals (or car rigs / cranes / etc).

Amazing AGC???? No, as I never ever ever use AGC. Am quite certain my recorder doesn't even have that "feature"! Yes, when the early digital recorders took the leap forward from 16bit to 24bit then that was a very substantial change indeed. (24bit though is plenty however, but nobody should these days be ever recording in 16bit!) On one of Simon's more recent films, he had sixteen people in his Sound Department.

Because DR can be somewhat subjective in terms of how you measure/define it.

@kye, the point Dan was making is that a Large Format native 4K cinema camera is going to be a tough sell. As then it can only be used with shooting the entire sensor if you want to do 4K. Guess that niche usage works for some larger markets. But for most people they need to be able to use these cameras as 4K S35 Cinema Cameras too, which a Large Format native 4K cinema camera can not do 😕

Watch all of this interview with my sound god hero Simon Hayes, he goes into what it takes to record excellent top notch sound even under raining conditions on screen: