Django

Interesting, you had some pretty harsh comments towards this camera (so did I tbh) but it sounds like you're warming up to it after trying it out! The overheating is really dependent on the ambient temperature and how long you shoot. 65 degrees is pretty mild/cool and shooting 10s to 2mn clips with intervals isn't going to stress it much either. This camera might turn out to be ideal for your particular needs/shooting style but I'd be curious on your feedback on a warmer day (+75F).

Its a little crippled compared to XH2/XH2S... but its leap and beyond an XT3/XT4/XS1O etc. XS10 is a good choice for most compact affordable Fuji but with that comes mediocre battery life and probably so so AF. Always a trade-off somewhere!

An XE4+XS10 would still run you more than an XT5 which Fuji has shrunk the size to a fairly compact form factor, and offers better specs. You could just get that and pancake lens for travel, and use bigger lenses for other situations like video work. An XT4 could also work if you wanna save some bucks and you're ok with a slightly bigger body. My dream Fuji combo would be XH2S+X100V. But I probably won't be going that route being tied to other systems.

Agreed. Also let's not confuse "cinematic" which has become a general buzzword today and actual film simulation which is what Fuji gives you inside its X series. Fuji film simulations are based on actual 35mm film stocks from their own film legacy. This isn't just a LUT as you can tweak it in-cam and even set grain size etc (albeit only in photos). These are known as Fuji recipes. For video the most usable one is Eterna based on the Eterna cinema film stock. This is a unique in-cam approach compared to other manufacturer picture profiles which are often pretty basic if not cliché. Fuji have a clear advantage since they have actual Film heritage. Being able to preview these looks and tweak them while shooting is ace creatively speaking not to mention fun. SOOC baked profiles is often overlooked by most manufacturers. I'll mostly shoot log for video and RAW for stills because of this but with fuji cams SOOC film simulations is a great alternative. Definitely a major incentive of going Fuji!

tried out a bunch of cams but forgot about the R8, might have to go back and check it out.. what's the overheat limit like @ntblowz ? also I've never tried "HDR PQ". what are the benefits compared to log? baked-in look with similar DR?

So I just tried the ZV-E1 among other recent releases and here are some quick thoughts: The build quality is better than I thought, nothing like the previous toy-like ZV cams and much closer to current A7 series, probably closest to A7C. Unit carries a certain weight so balances ok even with bigger (prime) lenses. Very minimal design and button layout. While this may seem like a con its also a pro, kind of reminds me of Leica philosophy. Yes sometimes less is more. Set the shutter speed with the dial, aperture with the thumbwheel. Zoom with the rocker switch. Jump to stills/video/S&Q with the mode switch. Just about everything else is done on the touchscreen like a smartphone. This is where things start to go a little sideways. The tiny 3" display and small fonts of the settings require precision, and the Sony menu and overlays don't help. But it is still more handy than most other A7 cameras with their limited touch capabilities. By default just about everything is automatic, like a smartphone. Basically point & shoot. And it works pretty well as in no major jarring issues. The AF is top notch, I tried several lenses including my F1.8 Zeiss and it didn't skip a beat.. smooth AF, pun intended. No surprise about the IQ, its an A7Siii sensor. Clear image zoom via the rocker switch is killer though, really like that function lifted from FX3. Tried the AI reframing stuff, didn't gel with it. Applies a huge crop. Now about the overheat. After 15mn of shooting 4K60p indoors using lowest bitrate codec, the camera shut off with no warning. I thought the battery had died lol. That was on the normal level heat setting, so I put it into high and didn't run into the issue again but I was shooting short clips, changing lenses every 5 minutes and didn't spend more than an hour with the unit. I didn't have a fast card so wasn't even able to test out the higher bitrate settings or ALL-I. The camera did feel warm after about hour. This pretty much confirmed my suspicions through the reviews that this camera is not fit for pro/extended use but rather casual shooting. I still find the price of 2799€ pretty bonkers for a camera with no EVF, single card slot, zero cooling, no mechanical shutter etc. But the IQ and snappiness is impressive. That being said, it does make the A7SIII feel somewhat sluggish & dated. And all this tech in an A7 body would be nice. I guess its a good preview into what's to expect in upcoming higher end Sony bodies..

..and great affordable Nikkor glass (from AI-S to AF-S) to adapt natively. Nikon have a much longer F mount legacy lens series than Canons EF that goes all the way back to the 70s and that are compact and really well built.

For photo none of their cameras overheat and with the latest lenses, AF is pretty solid. Its really only for 10-bit video at high resolution/fps/codecs that the XT5 will give you issues. But for the casual use you're doing plus SOOC shooting it could work. At this point best bet is indeed to try and rent one and see if it works for your particular needs.

As they cram more features and chips inside similar ultra compact bodies designed to support 8-bit FHD originally, we are going to get more and more overheating problems on the video side. Of course this is where Sony will upsell you an FX30 with FF body and active cooling.

The XT5 uses the 40MP XH2 sensor. So yeah very different sensor to the XT4. But they have reduced the size of the XT5 so that it matches the XT1. This results in some crippling for the video side due to heat management. 6.2K & 4K60p max. And it overheats pretty quickly, much more than the XT4. For this alone, I wouldn't go near it unfortunately as I do like the retro dials and form factor. But for casual use it may not be so bad. The AF is I've heard slightly better than XT4. The sensor is nowhere near the performance of the stacked sensor inside XH2S.

The Fuji film simulations combined with X-Trans sensor is what gives Fuji its singular SOOC filmic look. There is one often overlooked tradeoff which is chroma noise smoothing that can give mushy colours especially in Flog. You probably won't even notice it though if you're not shooting log. Then there is the sharpness that some perceive as too intense even at the minimal setting. But YMMV, some people like it. The main gripe many people have about Fuji for video is their lenses aren't really suited for manual focusing and up until XH2S the AF was rather dodgy. It is much improved and seems sticky on XH2S but still some quirks persist. Perks aside, XH2S still has one of the best sensors around with 14-bit readout, 6K and open-gate. And very chunky ProRes files. But if you don't need such high-end specs/performance and don't even shoot log or grade then I don't really see much point investing in such a cam. Might as well shoot on any older cheaper 8-bit model..

Z9 was announced during COVID and had a 9 month shipping delay due to global parts shortage which led to continuous backorders. This is no longer the case so the same scenario shouldn't repeat itself. Z8's should also be produced on a larger scale as it is less of a high-end niche camera than Z9. flip out displays on mirrorless bring tons of issues including failure points and side port blocking and for me zero advantages as I never use the selfie position. Unfortunately most video oriented mirrorless have all switched to them so its nice one company has resisted. The Z9 probably has the most versatile tilt hinge display mechanism too, hopefully included on Z8.

Wait until Z8 gets announced and I suspect used Z9's will pop up again although a new Z8 + grip and full warranty might still be a better package. Z8's are expected to start shipping before the end of the month.. FWIW I tried a Z7ii yesterday just to get a feel for Nikon mirrorless (Z8 being the first Z cam that ticks my boxes) and although it felt extremely rugged and I LOVE that they haven't switched to flip-out displays, the ergonomics were a little weird, and I noticed a really annoying lag on the touch screen. I'm assuming these quirks are ironed out on Z9 and hence Z8 though..

..not to mention current affordability of the FS7 vs other options. Pro rigged out video/cine cams can be expensive. But FS7 is closer to a cine cam with an ENG form factor than a "camcorder" which implies a more compact form factor with built-in EVF, zoom and mic. Options kinda dried up but if sensor size, lens specs etc don't matter, surely there are many viable budget options left especially on used market. DVX200 is definitely the last pro model of that category I was genuinely interested in but yeah it was pretty expensive at launch and still goes for 2 to 3 grand. I still kinda want one and wish Panny would make a sequel although extremely doubtful at this point.

I was unaware of this smart adapter, very interesting especially the thinness! Dimensions: 144×118×83mm | 5.6×4.6×3.2in Weight: under 1kg Definitely reduced from Z9 but way chunkier then a Z6/Z7 or even most mirrorless. SAR did some comparisons and it's not too far from a D850 which imo is kinda great. I really miss DSLR type ergonomics, minus the weight (rumour has it uses some kind of carbon fiber compound).

Figure of speech. There simply hasn't been until now an R5 competitor, i.e FF 45MP 8K Raw internal camera in the $4.5K range. And the Z8 could trump it thanks to its stacked sensor performance and little big things like ProRes, full HDMI, unlimited recording, thermal management etc. Of course all this remains to be seen, and I'm sure an R5 mk2 is planned but I just think its very good for us consumers that Nikon is back challenging Canon again.

Whole video ungraded would be great if not too much of a bother! I have FX30 Slog3 footage but not at ISO2500 in lowlight and would love to test out grading myself so thanks in advance!

Yeah they definitely need to implement a Zlog2.

If you're a solo shooter doing events/sports you might be shooting video and cannot switch to stills at a specific moment so grabbing (8K) stills is a very handy option. @gt3rs has been doing this a lot with R5/R5C on his extreme sports and safari shoots and the stills look amazing. This Z8 if rumoured specs and price are correct is really shaping up to be the R5/R5C killer from Nikon.

that does look really clean! also the 15mm f1.4 looks like an ideal compact low-light wide angle lens. really a win combo. @markr041 any chance you could upload that clip in Slog3 on Vimeo for download? 🙏

This isn't a Z6. It sits way above just under Z9 which it shares basically everything as far as specs, but in a Z6/Z7 type body: Sensor: 45.7MP (stacked) ISO range: 64-25,600. 20 fps (120fps in JPEG mode). 5-axis in-body stabilizations: 6 stops. Shutter speed: 1/32000 – 900s. Electronic shutter only. Autofocus: 493 AF points. HEIF 10-bit support. Video: 8.3k @60p. 3.2″ tilting LCD screens. EVF: same as the Z9 (3690k-dot OLED). Memory cards: CFExpress + SD. Dust/drip resistant: same as the Nikon D850. Dimensions: 144×118×83mm | 5.6×4.6×3.2in. Weight: under 1kg. Price: €4,599 Very interesting camera imo. Especially if they include RAW/ProRes. If they don't drop the ball somewhere (like overheat issues), it could even be the cam that makes me go back to Nikon!

I'm not sure how FX30's video lowlight capabilities effectively can translate to shooting photos on a D500 but I do agree that indoor sports shouldn't be the most challenging light conditions unless you are shooting at very slow aperture and/or the gym has extremely poor lighting for some reason. In that case, the solution imo is to use faster glass, improve the lighting and/or indeed get better lowlight sensor. Regardless, if you do need a hybrid, that kinda rules out FX30, especially for sports. XH2S would be a much better hybrid for fast action and lowlight imo. S5ii and R6ii are also solid choices in that $2.5K budget.

Doesn't sound like nitpicking to me but rather valid concerns. Every time someone brings criticism over anything on YT now people call it clickbait but this guy also praises the camera where it shines so I really don't think its that. @hyalinejim has had the S5ii for a while too and agrees with him so again seems like genuine observations. Anyways, I don't have a horse in the race but I do think its pretty widely accepted that Sony is the new king of AF (especially now with all the crazy AI processing). I still prefer Canon UI but that's entirely personal. Panny is making breakthroughs within the Panny system and will surely improve over time, but Sony level it is most certainly not as of today. Of course YMMV depending on your overall video AF expectations..

Nah dude. The AF on S5ii is still a gen1 PDAF. It has numerous issues and is nowhere close to Sony's. Here are a few of those issues from a guy that has had the S5ii since launch:

@Attila Bakos Sorry to hear that and it does sound like they are trying to deflect actual testing but if the problem comes from XH2S, then surely it isn't really Atomos's responsibility but rather Fuji's to provide a fix? In any case shame to hear RAW is pretty much unusable in this cam.. especially considering it is the only way to circumvent the heavy processing and Xtrans CFA issues.