EduPortas

That's great, man. At the price used Z6s are going right now it's impossible not to consider it for serious work. What's your opinion of the AF in video? Can it hold it's own in talking-head scenarios? (I've only used my Z50 for this purpose and it was good in AF-F mode with the kit lens. It has no eye-detect AF, though, just face AF)

Nikon Z6 looks very good. Considerably better than the other cameras. And it's FF, as a bonus. Also, it has competente AF for video. Not Canon or Sony level, but certainly good.

Yes, they cost more or preserve most of their value bc the people who sell then know they will solve most of the user's needs years down the line. Take a look at the famous 3CCD Panny cameras still being sold for ridiculous prices. The ones that record on P2 cards or SD cards. They are almost 20 years old! The videocamera world seems less prone to "feature differentiation" like the MILC and DSLR environment, since the form factor has remained intact for a looooong time. Once every 10 years or so a new technology will come around and make videocameras lose a huge amount of their original price, but we can count those eras with one hand: Cassetes-->miniDV MiniDV-->SD cards CCD-->CMOS HD-->Full HD Full HD-->4K

Bleh. I find no pleasure in shooting with my phone. It's just there to register. Besides, holding the phone to take a picture or shoot video doesn't look cool :p A dedicated camera or videocamera requieres more work, yes, but there's an artisan's process that offers "something" that's not just there with the phone. The technical aspect of our job can be spiritually rewarding.

Sorry about that. You are correct. I was talking about the XA50, which is more expensive. Either Panasonic or Sony will prove useful tools within their limits. You can't go wrong. My experience with video cams from both brands since the mini-dv era has been very good.

Get the Sony. If you want a cheaper videocamera take a look at the AX100. One incher. 4K. Canon has one interesting 4K offering that is in the same budget range you are at (XA40). I find videocameras have a spot in any pro's rig because they magnify the image during recording with the press of a button, have unlimited recording times, and of course dedicated microphone and headphone jacks. Only very few MILCs offer all these functions as standard. So unless you're recording caves for a new Werner doc you'll be ok.

I can only speak from a very limited experience but my tiny Nikon Z50 produces beautiful 4K 24p files at 144mbps. I've spent an absurd amount of time admiring the beauty of the files on my 27-inch iMac monitor. This represents a HUGE step up from the 1080p files coming out of my 7DM2, which has fantastic AF in video but produces very soft output that looks decent on YouTube but never really convinced me when editing on FCX. Those Nikon files are simply astounding, though, and the Z50 (and Zfc and Z30, I would presume) has very good video AF as well. Shame it has no headphone input :[

Celluloid was much more forgiving with camera shake. Digital technologies look awful with jitters and make people sick more rapidly. The brain knows it's unnatural. Content is king, but 99.9% of the time I'd watch a shaky old family film than a shaky iPhone family video in 2021.

A grand total of two technologies have been relevant for the MILC/DSLR budget community in the last 7-8 years, the main audience of this blog: Canon's DPAF (originally seen in the 70D) Panasonic's affordable 4K in a relatively large sensor (GH4) After that every new advancement has been absolutely minuscule since 99.9% of today's output with consumer-grade gear goes to YouTube, social media and maybe Vimeo. What does any of that have to do with this blog? There's a HUGE audience that would be well-served with older tech reviews and opinionated pieces emphasizing retro-affordable gear in 2022 and beyond. That's the new frontier, Andrew: prosumers who want to go beyong their cell-phone but can't spend 10K+ on lenses and a cutting-edge camera body for a 1% increase in output quality. I haven't even mentioned older videocameras. Huge market there for newcomers.

Not a whole lot. Things can get complicated quickly. AF is probably the most important factor here. Even if your shots are locked the person recording the video must be confident the important stuff stays in focus. Will that person be able to check that every time she records? What if the subject moves about 6 inches during recording and she locked the shot at F2.0 at the start of the session? Boom! A 40 minute video turns out being completely out of focus. This is not trivial. That's why people love their cell phones. The DOF is so deep practically everything will look like it's in focus even if it's not perfect. In conclusion: jump for the absolute best AF camera you can afford, even if you sacrifice output quality. For a one-person-band, this is a no-brainer. Two 70Ds are probably a good bet, or a pair of SL2s. With the budget you mentioned it will be hard to buy two cameras with good, dependable, solid AF that record above 1080p. Search for videocameras by the usual suspects (Panasonic/Canon/Sony) that feature a long zoom with small sensors to ensure correct focus (not a very popular reccomendation in this site 😅). I'm not even touching other critical factores like good lighting and quality audio. And of course, AC power for your cameras. Nothing worse than being about to start a session just to find out your batt is dead! As I mentioned, lots of things to consider can overwhelm anyone. Specially if it's not her field. Good luck.

Yes, those new cameras bring in millions of hits on the usual photocentric sites. I would not be surprised at all if the vast majority of new camera sales are made within a two-week time frame when most sites still feature the "review" on their home page. Ergo the critical mass of reviewers flaunting their new gear after the NDA has ended. Amazon has played a huge part in this new marketing standard.

I was expecting Panasonic's own GH5s. It's had a strong price-drop recently and a chunky firmware update. Very nice read. On a sidenote: great videos, man. Poignant and certainly above the rest of the YT camera market crap.

A real head-scratcher by Nikon. An "entry level" USD$1000 MILC with no retro lenses to support it. Canon and Sony have even cheaper models, so the whole "begginer's camera" marketing fluff by Nikon is rubish. This is a camera squarely directed at Nikon fanboys who already have a competent kit. A toy that tries to pull a Fuji but ends up pulling Nikon owns rug from under themselves (sigh).

Absolutely. We glossed on this same subject a couple of months ago on another thread. These "technical" reviewers on YT are very capable individuals with a keen sense of money. They are wicked good with the telepromter and have loads of charisma. Any mistakes are swiflty dealt with 100 cuts during editing. Yet, it all feeds the same huge business model: newer is better. Time to spend yet again. "GH5? Bleh. Yesterday's news. Buy your S5 NOW and receive 10% off with my promo code!. Who cares if you need to spend $2,000-$3,000 on a new body and new lenses. You NEED that full frame look to be taken seriously". This is the Gilded Age of YouTube. But that fine golden leaf is starting to show some cracks...

I'm not against him as a person. That's beside the point. He just feeds the same hype machine by receiving new gear to review when a company launches a new product, except he does it at the technical level. That's were the credibilty as a YT channel starts to crumble. YT is where a good part of the marketing budget is spent in the tech sector. That budget includes freebies for these guys, trips, special passes, etc. They are not journalists where you can expect at least a modicum of profesionalism and respect for the reader/viewer. They are here to sell hard and fast with links in the description below. But hey, at least some actual photogs/video pros still write some serious reviews on less well-known sites. Except they are not on YT and since it's 2021 they apparently don't matter anymore.

I don't care if he gives a negative or positive review of a Sigma product. That's beside the point. The underlying credibility of these influencers is the main problem. We all know companies are greasing their hands with free gear they later sell to make a quick buck, ad revenue, free trips, etc. They are part of any marketing budget now. That's were they are coming from. Brands and the YT algorithm love them because it make a sweet connection with money spent advertising their new products on Google. They can track exactly when and whom created a surge in gear sold via a particular link. So no. They have no credibility in my book, bro.

I don't care about the technical specs of X gear or absolute technical quality of the image. Dude is clearly a gearhead. He shares no narratives (a review is analytical, not narrative work). So no, his review says nothing to me. But this type of "content" is what goes today by high-quality: talk about specs with the intention is to sell sell sell. Show some graphs. Record a quick v-log. Make you push that buy button. It's not a hobby, it's their job as influencers. That's why this blog is still relevant, even if the author takes six or twelve months to review X new camera 😅. At least I know he's not writing for the ad revenue and hot Amazon-BH-Adorama link.

Loyal reader since 2012 (or 2011? I forget). Never thought I'd see the day when the author of this blog would stoop down to some youtuber that is clearly a technician. Dude has no idea of what constitutes art and does not care. He's in it for the views and the afillo links. Guess it's 2021.

Every single movie I can think of that can be called art pushed normative boundries in some way or another. Most of them were missunderstood in their time. Contrary to what comes out today these creations had "weight": being subversive + having good exposition + good craftsmanship. There's some Hollywood stuff, of course, as well as cinema from other countries. Following that logic, 99.9% of the digitally enhanced stuff we're consuming today will most definetly not be remembered in 20-30 years. They are neither subversive nor have good exposition, but are techinicaly fantastic and produce a ton of money, but that's it.

Interesting thoughts, thank you. My main gripe with the new stuff is that a vast amount of new creators are better activists than artists. In the past, of course, directors, writers and producers were partisan to different causes, but foremost they were artists. Now it's the reverse: these guys are better activists than creators and their work leaves little doubt about it. For money reasons, of course, big companies have backed them.

Art has never been about not offending people. Some would say quite the opposite: you want to make people ponder. I think the current discussion is more about bland, well-poduced "content" on streaming platforms that is merely watchable, but very rarely comes close to being cinematic art. The truth is most of these new merely watchable shows have a heavy-handed ideological slant that make them transparent in their intentions, yet very profitable. Quite the opposite of art that is complex, layered and often contradictory.

Yes, but the thing is most audiences have become accustomed to these clinical/sanitized products and consider it the new "normal". They will gobble it up just because it's been released on Nflx or Amazon Prime and has a high level of techical polish but little depth. They think it's cool because it's new and since it's new it must be cool, right? As many have said, with most new shows and movies the agenda is so obvious it hurts. Yet after watching high-quality material (cine or TV) I like to reflect and ponder about the ideas inside the narrative, not become partisan to X o Y cause. Isn't that what cinema is all about?

Was thinking about the exact same thing today after watching some of Herzog's very first films from the 70s. Dude was really "out there". Sadly, we're not even on the experimenting level of cinema of the 80s-90s right now, let alone the 60s and 70s. I swear the ratio of crappy-to-respectable movies and series on Amazon and Netflix is about 9 to 1. But hey...that's what the masses want 😶

You could. But then hedge funds will start to make money off of other hedge funds betting who will go down each week. Same with stocks. They will bet upwards in price, not downwards as per usual. It's basically just a huge casino.

Because some dead French men of the XIX century and his pals made a bunch of experiments proyecting 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 FPS. Then they arrived at 24 FPS and went "yeah, that looks about right and there's no perceivable difference between 24,25,26,27,28,29 FPS and 24 is cheaper to roll". That's the legacy. Like the wheel, why try to change what is already damn near perfect?