Trek of Joy

Discount for early adopters. Says its shipping this month.

Amazing. I'll take one ASAP without the protruding wires, ha, ha. I use ND's all the time for stills and video. This could be a killer travel solution with your control device and any new Sony since they stripped all the apps. Arsenal raised $2.6 million on Kickstarter and like many they can't seem to get out of their own way. I like your controller a lot more as its not dependent on an app for functionality. Cheers Chris

Bumping this back up as I just scored a deal on a a7III, any other experiences with 3rd party NP-FZ100's? Will be looking to test a few out myself. Cheers Chris

With Canon I always turned IS off since it was in the lens. I've been lazy with the IBIS on the a7r2, I mostly forget to turn it off - even when shooting 42mp stills - and I've seen no ill effects. Chris

If you're talking about Vice Chariman Jay Lee, son of Samsung's chairman, that was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges, then no he's not in prison. The courts freed him earlier this year and he's back at the helm as Director of Samsung Electronics. It wasn't a bizarre decision, Samsung is focused on growth industries, digital cameras are not a growth industry, and they haven't been one for almost a decade. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-lee/samsung-scion-lee-walks-free-after-jail-term-suspended-faces-leadership-challenges-idUSKBN1FO0R9 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelpremack/2018/02/06/samsungs-de-facto-leader-is-out-of-jail-now-what/#310b2f257354 So no hope for the fake news NX2, since he's the one that axed the NX line. Chris

Just to clarify, CIZ goes to 2x. I just don't like the image degradation beyond 1.5x, which is what I meant when I said it was good to about 1.5x. Sorry if that wasn't clear. Chris

Most likely VW, Mercedes and BMW - combined vehicle sales over 15,000,000 in 2017. Most of their vehicles have at least 1 camera, and higher end models have many more. That's volume the digital camera market will never come close to seeing again - and with increased camera use for auto safety and autonomous driving, its a massive growth industry. As soon as I saw this on Fujirumors, I knew this would start more fake news NX2 chatter. Just like the Exymos presser that started the fake NX2 chatter a few months ago. Perhaps down the line this could benefit Fuji and bring an end to the Sony monopoly in the ILC world, but for now its about mobile and industrial. Also, maybe - just maybe, Fuji will partner with Samsung for better in-cam processors since Samsung is capable of raising the bar beyond everyone else. Chris

CIZ is good to about 1.5x on the Sony's I've most recently owned - the a7r2 and s2. Beyond that it gets mushy. I've used it a few times shooting wildlife since my longest lens is the 70-200, so 1.5x in crop mode (300mm) and another 1.5x (450mm) with CIZ. Its like a built-in TC. Put it on a custom function button and you can quickly punch in by tapping a button. Works pretty well, caught a couple lions having domestic issues in Masai Mara. I'm going to move from the 70-200 to the 100-400 soon, so that will give me some serious reach. p.s. Just minutes after this female scolded the male, he walked over to her and they did the nasty. Best 5 seconds of his day. Shot the whole thing in 4k with the a7r2 s35 mode, just need a voiceover from David Attenborough. Cheers Chris

Fair enough, but you didn't specify extended mountaineering. My kit would be a little different, but not much. I carry a tripod too, the small Siuri CF travel tripod. I've hiked plenty of elevation carrying most my kit, including time in the Himalayas and the Andes. It would still include a standard and UWA zoom - two lenses I always have with me when traveling. And with your scenario, I would still carry two bodies since things happen and I always carry a backup. To that point, I'd opt for the a6300/6500 if you're also getting the a73 since you can swap lenses across both bodies. The a6300 or a6500 + 10-18 is actually lighter than your Nikon setup too. I'd get the 28/2 as well, been carrying one for a couple years, love it. Good luck. Chris

The call him the Angry Photographer. All gear, no skill. His instagram is laughably mediocre, bad snapshots with $10k in GFX gear. Proof positive its the person behind the lens. I hate to give him any publicity, but here's his drivel. He's now accusing the equally odd Jason Lanier of some pretty harsh things after he got dropped by Sony. The Youtube soap opera is nothing short of pathetic. ,

I always carry a zoom like the 24-105 or 24-70. Travel is different for everyone, but I do extended trips to multiple destinations so my kit needs to be versatile. I've been to 55 countries in the last couple of years, lots of incredibly dusty environments in Africa, SE Asia, India, South America and Central America, I rarely changed lenses in the field. But a single FL is pretty limiting, even with something like a a7r3 or a crop body as a backup. I carry 2 bodies, 2 primes and 3 zooms -- I decide what I'm going to need before I leave my room for the day and outfit each body accordingly. Even in those situations I occasionally changed lenses, but I was smart about it - turn the camera off, body facing down and so on. I also carry a blower and sensor cleaning supplies because even if you're not changing lenses sometimes crud still gets through - especially if you're shooting native Sony lenses since they don't put any weather sealing gaskets on the rear of their lenses. Chris

I think the mild refresh of the FS5 was pretty telling. My guess is the new body with the higher spec EVF/LCD from the a7r3, the same $3200 price, PDAF with a stacked sensor for faster readout/less rolling shutter, and 4k60p with the same bitrates as all the other a7's. Just to keep the gap between them and the FS line. If they do go stacked sensor and PDAF, expect insane face/eye detection with those fat pixels. Personally I'd like to see a MP bump so crop mode is full pixel readout 4k, but I don't think that's going to happen. Cheers Chris

Tough to draw direct parallels. All I can think of are subjective and non-quantifiable things that supposedly "sound better" like all the goofy "organic/cinematic" talk about an image. I only have experience as a guitarist, but these are some I've seen through the years; Honduran mahogany vs. the rest of the world mahogany, expensive boutique tube amps with NOS vintage tubes, Plexi Marshalls from the 70's, hand wired amps, an American made Gibson/Fender/Martin vs. a Japanese or Korean version, or maybe recording in a giant multi- million dollar studio vs. small home studios. Chris

Hmmm... passed on the last deal, its back and so tempting... Chris

Agreed, 733,000 views and counting, someone obviously likes it. It captured a moment, well done. Who cares about how many stops of DR. Cheers Chris

I believe the source of all the non-Sony speculation was the angry photographer guy on youtube that just sits in front of a mic and blabbers about cameras. I don't watch his stuff because he posts 5 or 6 videos every day with no content other than himself. I don't know how anyone can take him seriously. But he's been called out for false claims before and I'm sure it will happen again. He's also been called out for stealing other people's images and claiming them to be his own. That alone gets a permanent ignore from me. Though I did watch the "Shootout" with Jason Lanier and my suspicions were confirmed watching angry guy fumble with his camera like a 15-year-old trying to undo a bra for the first time - he's just a gear collector. At least it puts that silly debate to rest. Cheers Chris

Looks cool, I thought when it went to black at the end there would be one final spook scene like most horror trailers. A quick rundown of the production - number of actors and crew, locations, shoot/edit time, gear used for video/audio and so on would be really interesting. Update when we can see the full version. Chris

You've succumbed to the dark side...

I've never looked at the 502, if memory serves its a fixed counterbalance and the lock knob is on the right side - which make no sense whatsoever. Not sure what they were thinking on that one, since most heads (by most I mean every head they have on display at B&H in NYC, which is about 50) have the lock on the left side. Plus the rest of the adjustments are optimally positioned with the pan bar right side on the head, same for most cameras since flip out LCD's always go to the left or are positioned on the left side of the camera, lens/iris/ND controls are on the left side and so on - they're meant to be used with the right hand on the pan bar. Except for the 502. The poor ergonomics are a design fail IMO, unless you're left handed and zoom/focus from the right side of the camera, or have a camera with all the controls on the right side - then I guess it would work. Cheers Chris

I'm wondering the same thing. Those feather-weight video heads lack a proper counterbalance, and are usually pretty awful when it comes to smooth pans or any combination of tilt/pan movements - diagonal moves always show the flaws. Even the slightly larger with the cheap fluid cartridges are really bad because they still lack the ability to pan smoothly. Most of the heads listed have no adjustable counterbalance or pan drag adjustment. I'd get a better head, or a gimbal, or just shoot handheld with an IBIS cam. Chris

Just let us know when the Kickstarter campaign begins.... Chris

It would be interesting to see how the NX1's DR, AF, EVF blackout when shooting action and such compares to current cameras like the XH1, GH5 and a73. I don't remember it being as good as the video from the a7r2 in s35 mode or on the stills side compared to the a6300 when shooting fast paced action, but its now been a few years since I had the NX1. Most reviewers have moved on to other systems, comparisons are rare. But the zombie camera lives on.... Cheers Chris

Well the E1 certainly got better after the big FW update, so they can produce a great looking image IMO. But as others have mentioned, its odd to put out beta footage instead of a more polished product that blows people away and fires up the pre-orders. They need to get something much better before the P4k comes out of hibernation, otherwise its DOA until the 75% price break. Chris

I keep seeing this repeated, yet no actual proof. Source? Thom Hogan lays out a pretty convincing argument for that being the case, he's well plugged into Nikon-land. It has the Sony DR jump at ISO 400, similar to the bump Sony's see at 640, but with a base ISO lower than Sony's 100. Until Chipworks does a teardown and analyzes the sensor, or another camera comes out with the same sensor, we won't know. Chris

SMH. Why would you downvote? Its a swing around bag, that's what its designed to do. Its carrying 2 bodies and 4 lenses, minus whatever I'm shooting with at the moment - looks like a gripped a7r2 + 16-35/4. Loewpro Flipside Trek 450 AW: https://www.lowepro.com/flipside That setup helped me get some decent shots of Fitz Roy and about 25 other countries. Its a great travel camera backpack. Chris