rainbowmerlin

Good idea Andrew - I've just bought one of your colour profiles (I already own the only guide you sell for a camera I own). I know it's only a small drop in the ocean compared with how much you've lost, but as Tesco say, I guess every little helps. Let's hope for a better year for all of us in the coming 12 months.

Really sorry to hear about this Andrew. I'd heard eBay was bad for sellers - I've bought over 1000 items over the years with very few problems, but never sold anything on it. Was thinking of using it to sell some house clear-out, but won't do it with any high-priced items after your nightmare warning. I think your cautionary tale will act as a valuable warning to a lot of us, so that's one good thing to come out of this tale. Most people in my experience behave with integrity, but the minority who are willing to scam their fellow-humans create so much suffering. And as you say, eBay is almost perfectly designed for the con-artist to take advantage of sellers; it couldn't have been better for this if it had been designed for the purpose. I agree with earlier posts suggesting you just sell stuff directly on EOSHD, where you're likely to get a better class of customer! I know you've done this several times over the years (I bought a Sony camera from you quite a few years ago). I dare say it would be slower, and you might not get as good a price as in a competitive auction, but at least you'd know it was going to a good home, and the transaction should be a smooth one. (Also as buyers we know we can trust you to behave with integrity). Though I guess this might not have worked with selling the smartphones, as we're perhaps not the right target audience (but worth a try I guess?). A previous post also suggested if you accepted donations to help defray your cost? I'd certainly be happy to chip in (in appreciation of the valuable service you provide with EOSHD). If you're open to this, just let us know what payment mechanism would work best for you.

On this topic of wide crops, I've got an example here which is a still photo of mine (Fuji XT3) rather than a film. It was originally a fairly boring standard ratio photo of a field, which I was about to discard as not worth printing. But I noticed that if I just took a relatively small proportion of this as a wide crop lower to the ground, it was more visually interesting (and made a nice print in A4 width). No reason this perspective couldn't work as an occasional shot in a film also, with the radical shift in perspective jolting the viewer's attention. Though hopefully done in a way that the crop shows integrity as an image, that it's being done for an authentic visual reason, rather than as a gimmick. As here - the crop focusing the viewer's attention on the world of the rich abundance of small flowers just a foot or two above the ground.

Brilliant - really made me laught! I'm going to name this 'TurboVision'. It's a good example of a reductio ad absurdum - clearly this level of wideness could only work as a joke or extreme gimmick, it restricts the information flow so much. The Taylor Swift video I thought worked (for me anyway) as an artistic choice. I was viewing it on a 14inch laptop screen, so still a good sized image in terms of seeing plenty of detail. It did come across as slightly gimmicky, as it was obviously a deliberate and somewhat 'forced' choice, and in terms of composition some of the shots would have benefited from a slightly less extreme wide image. But mostly it was composed with the wide ratio in mind, and worked ok. (I would be less happy if having to view it on a phone, with the major loss of detail implied).

A wonderful actor - and a perfect choice to play Gandhi, whose family had the same Gujerati background as Kingsley's (they originally even came from the same village as Gandhi, going back three generations). Kingsley's birth name was Gujerati: Krishna Bhanji. Though interestingly, Director Richard Attenborough didn't know anything about his Indian background when casting this relatively unknown (to film) English stage actor. Kingsley's range is extraordinary, from the spiritual depths and moral integrity he shows in Gandhi (and even illuminates his small role in the comedy Dave with a similar moral quality as Vice-President), to the 'most savage mad-dog frothing gangster' (Roger Ebert's quote) in Sexy Beast . Ebert's great review of Sexy Beast: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sexy-beast-2001 Interesting New York Times article about Kingsley's journey from classical stage actor to Gandhi: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/gandhi-ar4.html?scp=4&sq=Midsummer&st=cse Also fascinating in the video in Andrew's post to be reminded of what making an epic film was like in the era before CGI. When Attenborough wanted to portray 300,000 attendees at Gandhi's funeral, he actually had to film a scene with 300,000 extras.

Loved the video - I've watched it three times already! (I watched the earlier one quite a few times also - always cheers me up). Though I think people are being too cynical about the R5/R6 heating issues. It's been rather cold here in West Wales in recent weeks, I've ordered three R5s to help warm the place up. More seriously, what on earth were the Canon engineers thinking? It seems to me the R5/R6 is the opposite of the Canon XC10. The XC10 had rather unimpressive statistics on first view - but was in fact really well designed, and does a solid, professional job (within its limitations of the one inch sensor etc.). It sounds like the R5 was put together by a committee looking for statistics that could be hyped, and built around that, without any thought about whether the bloody thing would actually work in practice. The price and branding is of a 'professional' camera, but no professional could risk using a body this unreliable for any serious video work. (No doubt it's a very good stills camera, but you don't need to spend £4,000 these days to get a good stills camera). It seems to have an intended useage restricted to the British Antarctic Survey and similar polar explorers. Instead of the Canon Cripplehammer, we've got the Canon CrippleOven.

No, it was X-Trans (see specs on link below): https://***URL removed***/reviews/fujifilm-x-h1 Though I wonder if one argument for moving to Bayer CFA for X-H2 might be all the software work Fujifilm have done on the image processing on the GFX cameras, which use Bayer? Perhaps they can transfer some of that work over to a Bayer X-H2?

Hi BTM - yes Patrick at FujiRumors got back to me and made the exact same point, he's just passed on how Google has translated it. I still wonder if Google Translate has struggled if there was a double negative in there (it can be a somewhat crude translation tool) - or alternatively I've simply misunderstood the point that's being made, which is also quite possible! In the absence of a Japanese speaker who can check with the original, we'll have to leave it at that. Anyway, regardless of the precise semantic intention underpinning this phrase, the interview taken as a whole (and FujiRumors very strong messages about this for many months now) do seem certain an X-H2 is planned to come out within a year or so. At least at this point. I suppose they could change their mind, but Patrick doesn't seem to think it at all likely, and he's got a great track record of anticipating Fuji developments. The price point/level of video sophistication is an interesting one. I'm assuming they will wait until they have a new sensor to put in it (otherwise there would be no need to wait so long - they could do as Andrew suggests and just put an X-T3 sensor in a slightly modified X-H1 body and bring that out fairly quickly). But as the X-H2 is I believe intended to be their 'flagship' they won't want to make again the issue they had with the X-H1 of it being superseded by a significantly more advanced sensor in the next X-T update. So the X-H2 will have a new sensor, I'm assuming. Fujifilm have the choice of going for a relatively low price point for a cinema camera (£2000 or below) and making it otherwise similar to the X-H1 in where it sits in the market. OR really try and max everything out to go for the best cinema camera they can produce given the new sensor specs, at a still-competitive price point of around £3 to £3.5k perhaps? Built in ND filters, higher-end audio connections etc. Going for a higher-end market.

I'm wondering Andrew if the above quote was a typo on FujiRumors? From the context of the interview, it would logically make more narrative sense for it to be 'does not make it IMpossible' for them to co-exist. I've contacted Patrick at FujiRumors to float this, will let you know what he says. I do think there is definitely a gap in the market for a highly video-centred X-H2, particularly as Fuji doesn't have higher level cinema cameras to 'protect'. I've decided to hold off buying an X-T4 (keeping my X-T3) for an X-H2, which FujiRumors has been very consistent in saying would come out in 2021 (I'm guessing first half of the year).

A powerful and thoughtful post - The photographs and text combine to produce a vivid picture of the lockdown in Barcelona. The title of your piece recalled the Specials song 'Ghost Town', with its video that is very evocative in relation to our current situation: I do hope all goes well for you Andrew, and that before too long you are able to find a flight home. This is hard enough without having to cope with being outside your own home/community. I do think you've nailed on the head the key policy choices governments have to make (reflected in the different choices made by the UK and other countries). To lock down or not to lock down? If health services are being overwhelmed by the number of cases (as in Italy) then I'm not sure there's much of an alternative in the short-term. But the economic and social cost is very high. And as you rightly say, there's then the question of what happens when the lockdown is lifted - does the virus then re-establish itself and you're more or less back to square one? The UK government is taking what Sir Humphrey would I guess call a 'courageous' approach in looking at a different way forward. Only time and hindsight will illustrate whether it was wise or not, though I can't fault Boris Johnson for listening carefully to the evidence of his (clearly expert) scientists and doing his best to implement it (as of when I last looked at the news about 4/5 days ago - I'm trying to insulate myself from it for a while, having gathered enough evidence as to how things were unfolding to make my own decision about how to navigate through the coming weeks and months). I'm not exactly a fan of Mr Johnson, but we're seeing him trying his best to rise to the situation (at least in my interpretation, from what I'd seen so far). The contrast with President Trump is a stark one, and I can only applaud the humanity of your post Andrew in indicating the total unacceptability of Trump's cynical attempt to 'corner the market' for the exclusive use of the US only that new German coronavirus treatment. I have no doubt there will be millions of Americans shocked by the selfishness involved. I also think one of the positives that can emerge from this situation (and there will be such, I have no doubt) is that the world will start to come together again, and those politicians based on populist demagoguery will start to lose their attraction. Such is my hope anyway. And the humanity and trenchant criticisms of the 'America First' Trumpian approach by Andrew I can only echo whole-heartedly. I wish you all the best Andrew - I've never met you personally of course (our one encounter at a distance was me buying your Sony RX10 off you some years ago), but I like to think of you (and this whole forum) as a positive presence in my life. Your posting on this topic a further example of this, and an indication of how community can help us all find a way forward through these challenging times.

Great work from my favourite camera maker! All the more reason to love the innovations/Kaizen from Fujifilm. I've heard it's part of Fujifilm's innovative new 'biomedical' camera marketing program. Two free packets of the new drug will be included with every X-T4 sold. (I believe Donald Trump has put in an advance order for 200 million X-T4s, which should see Fuji's camera division safely into profit for the next few years).

Canon marketing people clearly hoping for an early Philip Bloom review.

Fujifilm X-T4 press release leaked (by nokishita, I got this from the report on FujiRumors): The X-T4 uses the back-illuminated 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor and a high-speed image processing engine, the X-Processor 4. Combined with FUJIFILM’s colour reproduction technology, the X-T4 delivers a wide variety of options so you can recreate a scene exactly as you remember it. IBIS provides 5-axis 6.5 stop image stabilisation when used with 18 out of 29 XF / XC lenses. It offers many new components, including new materials to the base part, a refined layout of the shutter’s shock-absorbing structure and newly developed gyro sensors that boast approx. 8 times the detection accuracy of the IBIS unit in the X-H1. This particular mechanism assists night photography and sports photography, and also helps video recording in situations prone to camera shake. The new IBIS unit uses magnetic force rather than springs, which boosts functionality while making it approx. 30% smaller and 20% lighter than X-H1’s image stabilisation mechanism. Thanks to newly developed high-torque coreless DC motor, the ultra-fast focal plane shutter has the capability to shoot up to world’s fastest 15fps in burst mode, and has advanced response performance with a shutter release lag of just 0.035 seconds. The shutter unit also boasts double the durability with 300,000 actuations and offers shutter noise approx. 30% quieter compared to the X-T3. The 1.62 mil dots vari-angle monitor allows for more creative and versatile shooting styles. The LCD/EVF can be boosted in three different ways, Low Light Priority – allowing users to see the subject clearly in low light, Resolution Priority – displaying even the fine details of your subject and Frame Rate Priority which minimises blur in the viewfinder when shooting a moving subject. The eyecup now has a locking mechanism to prevent tearing or dislodgement. The Boost / Normal modes are now joined by the Economy mode, which saves the power to increase the battery life. The X-T4 features “ETERNA Bleach Bypass” a new Film Simulation mode, that uses FUJIFILM’s unique technology to provide versatile colour tones. The new mode simulates “bleach bypass,” which is a traditional processing technique for silver halide films; creating images with low saturation and high contrast for a special atmosphere. Highlight and shadow tones from -2 to +4 can now be adjusted by 1/2 stops, instead of 1 stop, allowing for finer tonality, and White Balance now has “White Priority” and “Ambience Priority” options in addition to “AUTO.” The “White Priority” mode reproduces a stronger white, while the “Ambience Priority” produces a warmer tone. When “RAW” is selected, users now choose the non-reversible “Compressed” option in addition to the reversible “Lossless Compressed.” A new algorithm and phase detection AF’s processing capability has led to autofocus performance as fast as 0.02 seconds. This ensures that users can capture and track a subject moving at high speed, especially when combined with the continuous shooting performance of 15fps in post view and 8fps in live view. Tracking AF performance has also undergone serious enhancement. The tracking success rate has been doubled compared to the X-T3. The Face / Eye AF performance has also been dramatically improved. This enhanced tracking ability has made focusing and taking portraits even easier than ever before. The X-T4 is capable of recording Full HD high-speed video at 240P, producing up to 10x slow-motion effect. IBIS is effective when combined with the electronic image stabilization function (DIS) for use in the video mode, and brings even more image stabilisation, which is essential for users shooting video whilst walking. The “IS (Image Stabilisation) Boost” mode mitigates gentle camera shakes, enabling stabilised fixed-point video recording without a tripod. The stills and video modes now have separate menus and the video-only Quick Menu (Q Menu) button has enhanced the camera’s simplicity while recording video. A ”Movie optimised control” function has been introduced; users can adjust exposure with the command dial as well as the touchscreen panel. With this function, user can switch the STILL / MOVIE mode dial on the top panel to swiftly shift into video recording with stored video settings. Video in the same format can be recorded on to two SD cards at the same time as backup. And the F-Log View Assist function has been added to correct low-saturation / low-contrast video while recording F-Log. Video is converted equivalent to BT.709 for display to make it easier to attain correct exposure in video recording. The “Fix movie crop magnification” function fixes the video crop rate to prevent changes in the angle of view when switching to a different video mode. An “MIC jack setting” on the camera can be switched input level between MIC level and LINE level. The camera supports external microphones as well as LINE level input from external audio equipment.

Yes, as a number of posts have said, I don't think the chromatic aberration is down to the X-T2! Andrew just happened to be shooting with the Canon F1.2 which was the one he had to hand (which uncorrected does have significant CA); shooting with a lens like the Fuji 35mm f2 or 56mm f1.2 there probably wouldn't be any CA to speak of. Some comments also about the softness - Andrew chose to shoot in the Astia (soft) film simulation (also with sharpness dialled right back), so that was a creative choice (which for me worked very well here). There are quite a few X-T2 videos available now, which show very sharp images, if that's what is wanted. In addition to the great colour profiles, the superb Acros black and white film simulation helped tip the balance for me on ordering an X-T2 (should arrive in a week or two). Here's an example (shot on X-T2 with the Fujinon 35mm f2). For me, this is really nice - French Art film, anyone?