Phil A

While I really dislike the film simulation dial (I shoot raw so it's wasted), I absolutely love the fact that Fujifilm put a joystick on every camera. I will never ever buy a camera (especially for photography) without a joystick for focus point selection. With most brands, you have to buy the upper-mid / high-end models to get a joystick as focus point selector.

I’ve received my filter adapter for the iPhone today. I wanted it to be as flexible as possible and didn’t want one that’s integrated with a proprietary case nor one using proprietary magnetic filters. Setup is the iPhone 16 Pro with the JJC MFS-II MagSafe 67mm filter holder and the ACASIS 2239 MagSafe SSD case with a 1TB Corsair MP600 Mini in it. I’m using it with my normal Torras case, because when you take off the rubber it fits perfectly in (twss).

Where I live, the S5 II came out for 2450 EUR equivalent at today's exchange rate... and since a month, with the current discount, it sells new for 1299 EUR. To be honest, as a former Product Manager, you don't give nearly 50% discount because your product is doing amazing. So hard to say how much of a success it was. I still believe the weakness is the lens eco system of L mount for a lot of people.

The only product I'd consider would be the Shinobi II because they made it smaller and it seems decent for the price. Critical focus and exposure are sometimes hard to judge on the small screens of mirrorless cameras. Comparable products from other manufacturers are not that much cheaper. But let's be honest, what we really want is a monitor like the new BMD PYXIS monitor, that we just plug in with one cable, no battery and be done. Most monitors for consumers/prosumers are thicker than they should be and have borders that are way too thick (incl. the new Shinobi). Having external recorders always was a dumb idea to me because I don't want different formats/bit depth/color spaces depending on if I shot that part of the project with or without the recorder.

I struggle with the prices of the Q and SL Leica systems. While the M has a clear differentiator because there are no competitors (except for that super niche PIXII that I never saw someone use even on social media), the other two are something that Sony/Panasonic/... could easily replicate for half the price if they'd want to. It's funny when the Leica fanboys start arguing that it's worth paying 3k more than a competing product because it has less buttons or no "unnecessary" video function, etc. Reminds me of back when the DSLR guys were suspecting that the camera would be WAY cheaper if they had no video recording (but of course still have live view).

The Light camera that was hyped a decade ago would have really hit this spot. Too bad that never panned out. I used to shoot a Canon EOS 1Ds III with assorted L glass when traveling... now I am already frustrated by carrying a X-H2s with 2 lenses around on trips. Can't wait for the same results with smaller/less gear.

That thing looks like it will not even remotely cool the CPU under sustained load and will thermal throttle the performance into Nirvana.

I would definitely not buy an Alienware prebuilt. They tend to have poor upgradability, might use weird custom parts (I think in the past there were custom sized mainboards and/or PSU used in some models) and tend to have no too great thermals. Building a PC is quite easy and there are part lists available to ensure compatibility between components.

I just bought the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 for my Fujifilm, but it's also available in E-Mount. I'd rather sacrifice some range and have a smaller lens. Else there is also the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8

You can't, that's only on iPhone 15 Pro (Max)

The disappointing but absolutely not surprising part is, that this feature doesn't come to the older iPhone Pro (Max) models. It would probably be technically possible to implement the log profile via an update on e.g., iPhone 14 Pro as it already has a 48mp sensor with HDR, but that's not helping the sales cycle from Apple's perspective. I don't think it's impossible from the hardware side to skip some of the (over)processing of the image.

What I kinda wonder is about the dynamic range for photography. I still have my GH5 that I never parted with and objectively the pictures of the X-T4 have more latitude for editing, but I just liked using the GH5 so much more as I find Fujifilm's controls just not conductive to the user experience (obviously subjective). I guess just jumping to a S5 II would be the best of both worlds? "Bad" rolling shutter though for handheld. Still no perfect camera out there.

In Switzerland a new S5II from a store is 1763 CHF while the S5IIX is 2599 CHF... so hard to justify the price difference, considering what you can get for the 200$ firmware upgrade... so I guess with some luck, one might get a used S5II for 1000 less than a new S5IIX at this point. But I have to agree that I feel like there's a big opportunity missed by not having BRAW to an SSD instead of to an external recorder.

I still have my GH5 because I couldn't pull the trigger on selling it. It's a camera I always had 100% confidence in, imho top notch user experience too, and I wish the S5 would have been just basically a carbon copy of its features and body with a bigger sensor (biggest deal breaker for me was the step back with the EVF; S1 obviously with a great EVF but just too big & heavy). I also believe that the GH6 is a great camera with a huge feature set. But I've seen reviews where they said that the sensor is actually a downgrade to the GH5 when it comes to quality for still images, which is a big downside for a hybrid. There's the mentioned BMPCC4k, but that's a 4 year old camera with no signs of them updating it (looks like they moved on to APS-C, which would be more interesting to me if it retained a mirrorless mount). Generally I look at these things sometimes a bit in a different perspective because I'm not working in a creative / art endeavor but in an industrial field where there is less emotion involved. It's good to have variety of choice and many different niche options, but Panasonic is heavily cutting prices and the people who do buy their cameras prefer to shoot with 3rd party lenses (because half of the M43 lenses nowadays are the same size as APS-C/FF) on 3rd party adapters while using 3rd party batteries. There was always that talk about Canon selling lenses over cameras when it was EF mount, seems for Panasonic it is pretty much the reverse. There is no real "manufacturer ecosystem" that people are locked in because they often buy nothing from the camera manufacturer besides the body. People like to talk about what corporations ought to do for their loyal customers, the good of mankind/art, etc. but in the end, when you look behind all the mission/vision talk, most big companies operate to make higher profit to increase shareholder value.

So here in Switzerland, the GH6 released for 2499 CHF in end of February. Today I've seen it for 1757 CHF with an additional 200 CHF cash back offer. So basically price dropped by nearly 38% in just 8 months. Is it now time to say Micro4/3 is dead? 🤐 I assume the fact that the market is saturated with affordable new/used full frame options and the majority of buyers of dedicated camera systems being into photography is pretty bad for the M43 ecosystem. BlackmagicDesign has moved on to APS-C sensors, the Sharp 8k M43 camera never materialized. People who want to shoot vintage S16 glass just use a high-res FF/APS-C body with a crop function.

I'm shooting H.265 200 Mbit on the X-T4 and used to shoot 150 Mbit H.265 on the GH5. I fully accept the weaknesses of those codecs, but I create only content for social media or personal usage so there is absolutely no point in recording in higher bit rates or codecs. Most people are obsessed with technical image quality when in the end, anyway no one cares about their results (cat video on YT with 7 views). The only moment where I might use a higher bit rate option is if I record something with water, because that's always a disaster in LongGOP. I always used to transcode to ProRes and wanted a camera that can record ProRes because of my editing system, but since I switched to Apple M1 based hardware, everything is golden with H.265.

Bought a M1 iPad Pro 12.9” because there were the “MacOS will come to iPad Pro” rumors back before iOS 15. Was finally considering to sell it now (together with my M1 MacMini, to buy a MacBook Pro 14”) because all I do with it is web browsing, YouTube watching and some editing in Lightroom Mobile. I just prefer Lightroom Classic on the Mac instead and Davinci Resolve over LumaFusion… and now this. Guess I’ll give it a try before deciding.

I wouldn't be surprised if no-name content gets second class treatment to save on storage. I heard often (i.e. don't know by evidence) that big YouTube channels get better compression than small ones. From a business perspective it makes sense. No need for super high quality cat videos that 3 people will see, better give some more performance/storage/bandwidth/whatever to MKBHD or MrBeast where millions will watch it. I'm not saying their content is better, I'm just saying from a business perspective you focus on the "product" that is in demand. Perspective: I used to be Product Manager for a not-in-demand product in an industrial area 🥲

Cameras are just 18.6% for Canon (printers are 55.2%). I think Nikon is the most vulnerable in that group you mentioned.

Direct comparison with the new DJI Action 3 from PotatoJet. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but generally I feel like these are a pretty solid. DJI obviously very aggressive on pricing, which might steal a lot of potential GoPro customers.

It's a bit surprising to me how the GH6 is doing nowadays when you compare it to what a hit the GH5 was. I'd love to know the expected vs actual sales figures from Panasonic. There are basically no mentions on YT besides the launch reviews and it's widely offered in stores already 10% below MSRP with a 128 GB CFexpress card included. I guess while the GH5 just one-upped every other MILC with the 10bit internal recording and no-crop 4k60p, the new GH6 just doesn't really bring much to the table that people actually need/want and the competition can't offer. I guess we're in "good enough" territory when it comes to every strength of the Lumix as a hybrid, be it Sony, Fuji or Canon.

I would actually love to upgrade from the X-T4 to the X-H2S (which imho currently is too expensive to jump to) mainly because of how much I’ve grown to dislike the control concept. The retro dials are cool to look at but in the end I’m not utilizing them much. I found the GH5 or my old Canon 5D III a lot more efficient in their UI when it comes to physical features. Also the implementation of Custom Modes on the X-T4 isn’t good imho because they don’t save enough settings for the video modes. Biggest pet peeve probably the D pad, I’d rather have a rotating one like mentioned cameras to control exposure compensation instead of the dial on the upper right that I just can’t use proper without taking the camera off my eye.

I think that 3rd party lenses are a huge draw into a system. For video creation, the Viltrox primes are quite a bit better than the Fujifilm primes at cheaper prices. The same way I think a lot of people like the 3rd party options for zooms like the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD for Sony & Fuji APS-C or the Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN that is way smaller and lighter than the 24-70mm from the camera makers. You could argue that a 2500€ lens from Canon/Sony/Nikon is a lot better than a 999€ 3rd party lens... but then when does it really matter? When has the hint of less sharpness/resolution or the higher artifacts (CA, etc.) actually detracted from the work you produce?

Did you by chance test the sensor coverage of any (Voigtländer, Zhongyi, Laowa) of the 25mm f/0.95 lenses? I find it wild how there are so many 35mm 0.95 lenses from China for APS-C but basically nothing in the 24-30mm range.

You didn't hit the same focus in both pictures. If this is with the same lens at the same aperture, the plant in the foreground shouldn't be this much sharper on the left than the right pic.