Django

Z9 FW4.0 has a ISO200 mode (Lo 2.0) that dramatically cleans up noise in N-Log: Not sure why Z8 hasn't yet received this update (among other features)..

EF-L lenses have their own look, I like the primes personally. Never liked the 24-105, massive barrel distortion and not a fan of slow lenses on medium wide focal lengths. 24-70mm f2.8 is usually my jam when it comes to zooms, and the RF24-70mm f2.8 does not disappoint aside from being big & heavy. And that is a concern, lenses keep getting bigger and bodies smaller. At least Canon has the R3 which is super light despite its mini sport-DSLR like body. And again that's where the RF70-200mm f4 comes in clutch. And yeah some older EF lenses too when it comes to weight/size ratio. The nicest combo I've experienced was Nikkor AI-S glass on Z8, and I can only imagine on the new Zf. Also awesome to see that old glass resolve in glorious 8K when it didn't impress me so much in mushy FHD during D750 days. Same can be said for EF on R5/R5C..

I guess everyone has their own requirements when it comes to lens designs. Personally, I have never carried a lens in my pocket, not even a pancake so that is not something high on my list. However, storage in my camera bag is always somewhat of a puzzle so shorter/compact is always welcome. I also value discretion which is why 70-200mm are usually not my thing. Plus compact lenses pair better with mirrorless cameras. So the RF 70-200mm f4 speaks to me. I know for others, weight is the major concern and it wins there too. Others do prefer fixed length mainly for proof reasons and that's valid although the RF-L extension zooms are weather sealed. Overall I think the RF 70-200mm F4 is a win. Maybe not to everybody but plenty of reviews out there give it praise and some even consider it their favourite lens:

I hear you, wedding photography is probably one of the most demanding types of shoot and you include videography which is even more taxing. I'm not even quite sure how you do it all but I can only imagine the math involved when it comes to gear. I'm sure every gram counts at the end of the day!

R5 definitely opened my eyes to 8K. I freaking love it, its beautiful. But I also have a 5K iMac Pro display so I can actually see the +4K detail up close. Obviously it still trickles down when downsampled so that's a bonus plus everything else Andrew talks about. It does kinda feel like when we made the jump from FHD to UHD. After working with 8K files for a while its almost hard to go back to 4K lol. One thing I don't think is mentioned in the article is ability to extract 33MP stills from 8K footage. Its pretty cool and opens up some extra flexibility when doing hybrid shoots. I only wish it was open-gate to have a more stills framing extraction instead of 16:9. I think I'm more excited about open-gate than 8K so 6K open gate camera like XH2S or new BMD camera may ultimately prove itself more useful. But that Sigma-FP-L has crazy specs I wasn't really aware of. 9.5K RAW plus all those crop modes?! wow. Gonna have to take closer look at it, I keep forgetting it even exists.

The RF STM primes are really not bad for their price. 200 bucks for the nifty fifty, 300 for the 16mm f2.8. The 50mm f1.8 has aspherical element despite the giveaway price. Rockwell even claims "In actual use this Canon lens is as sharp as the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8, but the foolish Nikon Z lens is 2½ times as heavy, over twice as long and three times as expensive! Is there any wonder why Nikon has fallen from number one in the 1980s to number three today? " of course sharpness isn't everything but that's still pretty funny hyperbole lol. The RF 35mm and the 85mm STMs cost a bit more but have IS and macro which is really nice. They are kinda noisy and have breathing which is sucky for video. The Nikon primes are silent and have breathing comp so yeah advantage Nikon for hybrid use. Guess you get what you pay for! Now the RF 28-70mm f2 is considered a marvel/gem. Some say its a bag of primes in one lens. Heavy & expensive though. You almost have to pair it to an R3 for proper balance. I'm sure that combo would be deadly for ultimate versatility, IQ & performance.

I own neither but specs indicate the RF f4 is shorter than the EF f4 (119mm vs 170mm) a little wider (83mm vs 76mm) and a little lighter. Its about the size of the EF 16-35mm:

right yet my point is it depends! what you may find to be a "middle ground lens" may actually be a game changer to others just by the nature of its compact size and weight. this is actually the one RF lens that reverses what pundits complain about in RF, that they are usually bigger and heavier than EF. quite the contrary in the case of this lens! And to some that alone may make it worth the upgrade price (not to mention optical performance enhancements). case in point: FYI there is a lighter and much cheaper RF option than the 28-70mm f2 and that is the 24-70mm f2.8 IS. And don't forget you can also adapt the EF versions, including Sigmas & Tamrons.

hmm.. the RF 70-200mm f4 IS seems like the one RF lens to actually by lighter, way more compact, shorter focus distance etc than its EF counterpart: so much more practical than the EF + adapter: ..that got you looking like a 90s paparazzi!

Also a no for me. Micro pancake lenses on a 1 inch sensor simply can't rival with S35/FF + nice glass. The DoF on an iPhone makes it look like everything was shot at f11. Don't even get me started on "cinematic mode". Then you have the handling/ergonomics. Dials, buttons, aperture rings etc are essential to me. I don't even know how you'd go about putting things like ND's on an iPhone or quality audio. Now for social media or vertical B-roll sure it sounds nice. My biggest gripe I guess is that you have to buy an iPhone 15 Pro to have log. You know they could give you log in other models including older models. If anything pros would prefer to disable all the image processing.

Yeah when the first rumours of this project being shot on an FX3 came out that was my initial reaction, that this was more of a marketing promo angle. But after reading that article it seems like the directors ethos for this was to see how far down he could go "leaning on a new wave of affordable, lightweight filmmaking technology — Edwards stripped everything down to its essentials to inject more spontaneity and creative freedom into a process that felt needlessly rigid." Doesn't seem like it was so much a budget choice but more likely compact lightweight oriented. and while the FX6/FX9 aren't huge, once they get rigged up with V-mount, follow-focus, monitor, cine lens, matte box, wireless transmitters etc.. they aren't really super handheld anymore. I mean here is the FX3 fully rigged up and its not exactly compact at that point:

Leica M glass is fantastic optically and build quality wise but manual and f1.4 summilux are incredibly expensive. Those lenses are in their own realm just like Cooke and other pricey cine glass. I don't really see how those formulas compare to the AF prosumer glass from CaNikon, Sony & Panny. This report from 2022 lens sales is quite interesting: https://shuttermuse.com/the-best-selling-lenses-of-2022/ Interesting to see the EF 50 f1.8 in the overall top 10 and not a single fast RF prime lens in Canon's top 10. Whereas Sony has 2 GM prime lenses in its top 10 including the great 35mm f1.4 GM. That lens has excellent optical performance, size and build quality as well as great AF motors and neat hybrid features like a declick switch for smooth aperture control for video use. Meanwhile Canon doesn't even have a RF 35mm L series lens which is crazy although I've heard reports they've been hitting roadblocks developing a RF 35mm f1.2. Obviously Sony has a great head start when it comes to mirrorless lenses and it reflects on its sales of premium glass. As a Sony user, I've invested mainly in Sony Zeiss lenses. I just love the Zeiss look and quality. But I keep reading rave reports about latest GM series. As a Canon user, I'm still using mainly adapted EF lenses. I have the RF 35mm STM which is ok for its price point as are the other STM primes but inferior to equivalent sub $1K primes from the competition. I have no intention in upgrading to RF primes any time soon. That said I have done a few shoots this summer with the RF 24-70mm & 16-35mm f2.8 zoom lenses and was very pleased with those. They are on my purchase list if I keep going with Canon. Great optical performance and lens IS which Sony for example doesn't provide in their equivalents.

Zf + Z8 might be a good pairing for your needs.. As an old-school Nikon stills shooter myself the Zf is interesting to me. Paired with super affordable compact primes (such as the vintage AI-S series) it would be a neat almost rangefinder style experience. The video specs are also quite decent, they actually surpass the previous Z6/Z7 series. So this product actually does speak to me. Overheating though is definitely a concern and if severe would be a total deal breaker for any professional usage. It really seems to be the plague of current mirrorless systems.

Nikon already attempted this a decade ago with the Df: .. was a FF D610 in retro body. Then again not long ago with the APS-C Zfc: This latest Zf is basically a Z6ii with the new Z8/Z9 processor. It’s a cool concept, right out of the Fuji playbook but ultimately as a hybrid nothing groundbreaking imo. Nikon is playing catch up with cropped 4K60p and average read-out. The card slots on the bottom battery door and micro SD are annoying. I also fear overheating may be severe (heard reports it overheats in stills mode). other than the cool retro look and dials I’m not sure I’d pick this over a R6ii that does full sensor 4K60p, less RS, 6K external RAW, superior video AF etc in the same price range. All that said I do salute Nikon for pursuing the retro camera design for stills shooters and including decent video specs.

Oh I hear you and if the camera allowed Braw & 10-bit h265 4K/6K that would be great for fast turnaround projects and efficient storage .. but its Braw & 8-bit h264 1080p. So no middle codec. Reminds me of my C200 that had Canon RAW & 8-bit 4K. Not very flexible and this isn't even 4K proxy. Little weird in 2023.

I can't imagine them getting many video assist sales from their 1080p capped HDMI cams. Besides the main selling point of the 6K cams is having that large 5" display built-in. I think this is more about segmenting current products and opening a path for a future Pro model. As for the comparison with the S5iix I'd go further since it seems they are using the same (if not very similar) sensor. The read out times seem identical. Just different bodies & specs. Different customer base too obviously.

I've been enjoying extracting stills from recent 8K shoots with the R5. But no I don't see it as photography even if the end viewer may not notice the difference. The shooting process just isn't the same and things like slow/fast exposure or flash photography just aren't really doable. And for people like me that mostly shoot vertical portrait pics, extracting stills from a horizontal 16:9 / DCI clip isn't going to give me that. But that's where open-gate comes in clutch. Sadly no Sony/CaNikon offers it yet. Actually virtually no open-gate 8K cams out there aside from a few pricey cine cams. More and more 6K open-gate options though. Especially in L-mount!

I understand why no ProRes RAW but no ProRes doesn't make sense to me. They include ProRes in all their other cameras. Sounds to me like good old cripple hammer not to cannibalise Pocket 6K Pro sales. Its a pretty big miss for this new camera as you don't always wanna shoot in RAW. For both storage space and workflow reasons. They added h264 proxies for the first time but HD only I think.

I can't seem to download the app, says not available in my region which is weird as I'm in the EU, anyone else? As for the new camera, some mixed feelings. While I embrace the jump to FF and L-mount, I don't get why they removed the ND's and ProRes. Are they going to come up with a "Pro" model next year with those specs like on the Pocket 6K? Also the sensor seems a little dated, slow read outs, no bumps in resolution, no DGO. You'd almost think this is a Lumix Sx in a BMD body. Not that its a bad thing, just a bit underwhelming imo. I guess the price is pretty decent for a FF cine cam.

Love the pocket-size form factor. Best camera is the one you have on you and I could see this tagging along all day. ND's & external mic jack for the win versus smartphone. No log though. Might be tempted if they add that in firmware. @markr041 Is that SOOC footage and if so what picture profile did you use?

Those P+S Technik lenses are $25K a pop and I see some crane shots using GFM gear (also $25K a pop): https://www.pstechnik.de/lenses/technovision-lenses https://www.gripfactory.com/gf-mod-jib Not exactly minimal or budget equipment. The handheld shots may be but that's not exceptional aside from Tilta which is obviously low-end lol. I also imagine everything was shot using 4.2K RAW external recording. And there is clearly tons of VFX going on. At that point there is little to no doubt you can shoot a feature on a mirrorless. Still impressive it was actually done. Mirrorless has certainly gone a long ways! The FX30 is definitely almost a bargain at its price point. Other advantages over the FX3 is it uses an oversampled from 6K image and S35 means you can speedboost FF lenses. FX3 can't do S35 unless you use clear image zoom hack but you're then getting sub 4K image. The FX3 still wins in low-light which is probably why it was mainly chosen for The Creator which has a lot of night scenes it seems.

@Attila Bakos Isn't the chroma smoothing only inherent to Fuji X-Trans APS-C line? GFX uses Bayer CMOS. Not really surprised at pricing considering that: 1. This is supposed to compete with the $8K X2D 100C 2. You can already get a 102MP GFX100S for $5K/6K. I'm not in the market but hopefully some of the video specs will trickle down to X series (touch-to-track AF & WFM).

..and don't forget AF. It is SO good these days. I still think Canon is on top with things like Face Only but Sony is right up there too with neat tricks up its sleeve. Anything Panny pre-S5ii isn't bringing it which is why I'm saying their next-gen flagships should hopefully finally be competing on all levels.

The A7SIII/FX3 should really be considered for two things: low-light and rolling shutter. It pretty much sits on top of the pyramid for those two categories. For hybrids I'm more into high resolution sensors so R5/R5C/A7RV/Z8 would be my picks but stacked sensors are even more clutch so Z8/R3/XH2S are also ace choices. I think the next gen of Sony's and Panny's equipped with stacked sensors will be lit. But yeah all current cameras are still pretty great!

Well if you're also on Canon, do check out the R5C. It's imo bit more cine cam oriented with the actual full C-line menu that includes things like shutter angle, gain ISO, WFM, false color etc. It can also do 8K60p FF, 6K S35, 2K S16. And internal RAW. All things the Sony can't do. And it has an EVF! The higher resolution may come in useful if you do macro/crop work. And the various crop modes open up a lot of lens options. It's not perfect, its downsides are poor battery life and no IBIS but there are workarounds. In the end I think your lens preference should dictate what system you choose but that's the alternative I'd consider (I'm also on both Sony & Canon systems).