Trek of Joy

+1 This is pretty much what I expect to see - PADF, 4k60p, stacked sensor for faster readout/less rolling shutter, a bump to 20mp so FF is oversampled and crop mode is full readout and slight IBIS improvements. It would be nice to get 4:2:2 internal - even if its only 8-bit - it wouldn't cannibalize any FS5/7 sales, but it would make the A7s a better addition to a FS kit. I'd be really surprised if any future A7 didn't have the new battery - but this is Sony and their pro A9 is the first to have a UHS-II card slot despite the competition using them for years, and there's only one - the $1600 XT2 has two UHS-II slots, SMH. OT thought - I do hope the A9 is a huge success, if Sony is really serious about chasing action shooters there needs to be a APS-c version to compete with the d500/7d2 in the bird/wildlife/safari realm. Make it a 4k60p camera and you have a GH5 killer as well.

This system uses tags on the subject to track them with some pretty amazing accuracy - and it works with any geared cine lens that has hard stops. And you can use either an iPad or their device for manual stuff. Pretty cool. http://andra.com well said

I never said "high end" and that's a subjective term. Compared to an iPad, the RX100 is high end. Compared to a RX100, a C300 is high end and so on. And people earn income using both, so the definition of a pro is wide ranging. Nat Geo and Sports Illustrated shooters aren't using Arri's and Leica Cine primes - neither are most wedding and event shooters, they're shooting video with something that likely has AF. You're presenting a very narrow slice of the professional shooting industry, and that's part of my point, when people are dismissive of AF, they're ignoring the bigger picture. And I'm not talking about asthetics, a look, or artistic expression or anything else beyond the fact people getting paid are actually using AF. Geez, I saw an episode of Diners, Drive In's and Dives being shot at a local restaurant a few years ago and the b-roll shooters were using 70d's and tapping the screens. Watch any reality show and you'll see AF in action. Canon C100/300's (and 5d's, 80'd's, A7s and so on) are being used to shoot commercials, TV shows, documentaries, web series, vloggers and so on, and yes people are actually using the AF when they shoot, despite the stream of "this could never be done with AF" samples. Just search eBay for C1/300 with the DPAF upgrade, if its never used, why did so many shell out the cash to get it? I'm not saying everyone is suddenly using AF exclusively because I try to not talk in absolutes, but to say "pros never use it" is condescending toward anyone that gets paid and does use AF. Today more content is being pushed onto Youtube than any other medium of delivery. Regardless of what anyone may think of that, its a fact. There are no concrete numbers, but its pretty easy to surmise there are far more people earning money shooting with AF cameras. AF tech and algorithms are moving at a pretty fast pace, it won't be long before they can pull off almost any shot. AF can easily track moving subjects while the camera is moving independently - like walk-and-talk gimbal shots, and the rest can still be done manually. When digital first hit the line was pros would never shoot digital. A decade later when the 5d2 blew up there was tons of dismissive talk about how pros use real video cameras. This stuff will never end... Cheers

AF is a tool, choose to use it or not, but reading the condescending "pros never use AF" stuff gets old. I never understand the elitist attitude some have when people do things in a different way than what's been traditionally done. Some don't use AF because until recently it was complete shit or just not an option. Everyone can conjure up scenarios to show how MF can be superior, but then you're looking at things in a vacuum. Not everyone is shooting narrative on set, or shooting weddings and so on - though I know a few wedding shooters and they use AF a lot. I don't think most use it 100% exclusively. There are plenty of situations where AF is a big help, namely run and gun or small cameras on a gimbal. Watch the doc Cartel Land, most of it was shot with a C100/17-55 and it takes the term 'run-and-gun' to another level. I'm pretty sure Canon's C100/300's are marketed at professionals and have been very successful, and they're pushing DPAF pretty hard. Movie sets with dedicated focus pullers and cinema lenses with no AF are an incorrect parallel since there's no option to use AF and many of the cameras have no AF capabilities. That's like mocking a Prius for not being a good sailboat. But with small hybrid cameras and fly by wire lenses it can be very effective since MF is being handled by a computer while you spin the focus ring - so trying to repeat focus moves will not result in the same amount of ring movement and distance scales are an approximation. Also focus peaking is not always 100% sharp, this can easily be seen when zooming to check focus - its close, but many times its not there. AF is getting better all the time and its moving at a pretty fast pace since that's an area that's driving competition. DPAF is special, tap the screen and it follows your subject. Sony's face tracking is pretty incredible - once they get "center lock" focus dialed on the video side you'll be able to track a single person or object regardless of what else enters the frame. It works great on the stills side. When I'm traveling and I shoot hundreds of stills a day along with a lot of video, most of the video I shoot is a clip after grabbing a few stills. AF makes life a lot easier. When shooting 2-cam sit-down interviews, everything is done manually. When shooting events (I don't shoot weddings - mostly corporate parties, fundraisers) I use AF a lot because it allows me to work faster, I don't think that makes me or anyone else less skilled, its just what works for me. I'm working on funding for two docs over the next year and they'll likely be shot with either Fuji XT2's or a combo of the A7rII and A7sII - and I'll be using AF and MF together. In the end its another tool to help get the job done, I'm glad I have the option. YMMV.

Can you give more detailed instructions on how to do this? Where are you putting the LUT's - in the same place as presets or somewhere else? Also is there any other place to get your LUT pack? I'm in China right now and I can't access the sale site. Thanks in advance.

Used 5d4's are selling for $2750 on Fred Miranda. Personally I prefer the 5d form factor over the 1d - but that's a personal thing. A newer sensor, more MP, Clog, touchscreen and DPAF would make it a significant upgrade IMO.

Great tip, going to try that out as I shoot lots of short clips instead of long takes. Never thought of that, do you just delete the other libraries? I dumped Premiere (and all things Adobe outside of LR) and still learning FCPx. Thanks.

I use a 12" Mac/FCPx for travel purposes - I only edit from the internal SSD to keep things as fast as possible - and XAVC 4k files bog it down more than Fuji's 4k files despite being the same bitrate. Wish I could bring my 4ghz iMac with the 4gb video card on the road, but that would take a travel budget far larger than mine. Any recommendations on how to speed things up?

You can buy a used A7rII and a used A7sII for less than a new A9, if you don't need the speed that will combine to be a superior setup for stills and video. Grey market deals pop up as well putting both just over $2000 each. Both also have Slog and the rest of the PP's, though the sII is the only one with Slog3. Cheers

The first one was announced just before NAB a few years back along with the cine lens, it was one of the stars of that years' show.

4k60p seems likely. So does a MP bump and that stacked sensor now that processing can handle downsampling a FF sensor. Touchscreen focus should be mandatory. No PADF would be a big mistake IMO. Sony doesn't want to sell us 10-bit until the FS line, I don't imagine that will change with any of the a7 bodies. Since the a9 is the new "pro" line, a $4500 a9s with 10-bit would make sense and wouldn't step on the FS line. The a7s line can continue at its current $3000 price point.

The mock at NAB may have the 2.8L, but the promo pic looks like the SigArt 24-35.

That poor little gorillapod...

Sensors on both cameras are perfectly clean. Ha Long Bay was where I first noticed it since we were there on a clear day, all my shots came back with spots in the sky. I thought it was dust on my sensor but after checking both, they looked fine. Then I put a light to the 10-24 and 55-200 and it looked like my lenses were partying with stripper glitter spray. I don't think m43 DR works for me stills-wise, I like having the ability to shoot at higher ISO's and move shadows/highlights/exposure a few stops in post with as little noise penalty as possible. I was playing with the GH5 and EM1.2 and I liked them for video, but... Here's a shot from Ha Long pushed a little bit to show them better, the are a bunch of dust spots visible, its worse now. That's a little easier to address with a healing brush, but in video its not so easy. I think I've talked myself back into a IBIS body too. I'll just sell my Fuji kit when I return or sell whatever I get if Fuji decided to add IBIS. I feel like I shouldn't have left the 16-55 and 50-140 at home, but that would have added significant weight to my daily carry kit. We walked 15+km today and climbed 2,000 stairs, 10+ is the norm most days, the less I'm carrying the better. Cheers

Thanks, I have Sim City starred on Google Maps, will be heading there after checking into my Air B&B.

That's what's really annoying, my camera is always in the bag until I'm shooting, then it goes back in the bag. I'm not one to wander with a camera hanging around my neck because one of my bodies has a Cosyspeed finger strap that I slide my index and middle finger into, much easier to shoot compared to a neck strap, but a PITA to carry for long periods. Quite frankly I'm surprised its so bad since I'm not doing anything different than the 5d2/3 were my main cams for years or the last couple years with the A7's and such. I would strongly recommend WR lenses based on my experiences. If the WR zooms weren't so big by comparison I would have brought them instead. As always, YMMV.

I moved over to Epidemic sound. But Jewelbeat at $2.99/track is also appealing, search is slow if you don't have a really fast connection.

They should care, because those are people with top end gear and the ability to get a shot on the cheap - they're eating their jobs. Many organizations (at least here in the US) are using freelancers and whacking photo departments to cut costs (why pay salary/benefits when you can just shell out for a few images) amid sharply declining revenues. There are lots of ex-newspaper/magazine/TV broadcast shooters floating around with all the publications that have been shuttered and the crazy amounts of consolidation. Sports Illustrated canned its entire photo department a few years back. Ditto for most of ESPN's videographers. Fox Sports hires local stringers for its regional broadcasts. Many conflict zone photogs are freelancers. The supply far exceeds the demand. I'm speaking as an ex-journalist that started in the biz in 2001 and watched papers merge with TV stations and fire 75% of the staff, I've seen 2-3 stations share operations in the same market to save costs by shedding the overlap (most notably videographers) and so on. We used stringers/freelancers daily (most were ex-staffers) and I watched our newsroom shrink over the course of a decade to a shell of what it was when I started.

Yes, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, India and Nepal were all incredibly dusty. The haze from the dust made for some awesome sunrise/sunset photos, but its been really dry in SE Asia and just about everywhere we've been lately has been uber dusty. Cheers Here's a shot from Bagan in Myanmar - this was about 90 min after sunrise on a clear day, when the sun was lower it was completely obscured because of the haze. I have tons of shots from from sunrise (about 6 am) until this point where you can't even see the sun. All the haze on the ground isn't morning mist, its dust.

Sony has a Japan only model too, the international cameras cost more in Japan, a few hundred USD after conversion - that's why I'm waiting until I get to HK and weighing my options. Cheers I had the NX1 for a few months after it was released, way too much noise in the stills at 3200+ and I'm doing rough edits of my video on a 12" MacBook, 4k is fine but h265 is a no go. Also, the 12-24 isn't wide enough for me and I don't think in the long run it'll fare any better than my current UWA on the dust front. Cheers

16-35/4, 24-70/4, 70-200/4, 28/2 (I'd prefer to go wider than 23mm, but I'm not a fan of the 18m pancake) and the 55/1.8 or the new 85/1.8 as my walk around primes, not much bigger than my current kit, if at all - though I haven't played with gram counting. Really the zooms see the most action and right now the 23 is my most used night lens, the 28 could fill that void and I could probably skip the longer prime completely. I'd carry a little more weight if it didn't mean the problems I've having now. I check LR, I've only shot 12 images with the 56, but that's mostly because its completely incompetent when it comes to low light AF. The new FE 85 has linear motors, should be much better. I've been looking at used prices, that seems to be the case. About 90% of my shooting is with the zooms, I never change lenses outside and I pretty much always carry the 10-24. I love shooting with a UWA. Here are some from Indonesia, most with the 10-24. Its a desert island lens for me. https://www.facebook.com/pg/trekofjoy/photos/?tab=album&album_id=694928277381242

a6500 has a 30p crop too IIRC. No crop is likely 4k24p only. edit: Phil A beat me to it I think everyone is overlooking one of the most significant changes - since the Nex5 people have been complaining about the shitty placement and tiny record button, Sony has FINALLY changed it.

I knew about the announcement, but it won't be available for awhile and like you say beyond what I'm looking for. The A9 looks sweet though, the joystick, dual cards, UHS-II for fast write speeds and better batteries are all attractive features that led me to Fuji. Fuji techs didn't seem surprised at my lenses, even when told I only had them 4 months. They put a light to my lenses and agreed they needed to be cleaned. I asked if I could pay extra for faster service and they declined. It was pretty clinical, a couple guys were inspecting my lenses and chatting back and forth, but they didn't speak a lot of English and my Japanese is about a dozen words. I really don't know what they were saying. I did get to tinker with the GFX as they had them on display, cool camera, but geez its huge. I can get a new A7rII in HK for about $1800 USD, and there are insane deals on used gear. I'm pretty sure I'd rather go back to Sony than just keep buying duplicates of existing lenses, but any sort of switch is nerve racking, and doing it on the fly even more so. Cheers.

Peeps, I'm four months into a year-long trip around the world and I'm currently carrying twin XT2's with the following lenses: 10-24, 55-200, 18-55, 23/1.4 and 56/1.2. I shoot a lot of stills, probably 1,000 a week when I'm not doing time lapses and such. But I have two dilemmas: My most used lenses - the 10-24, 18-55 and 55-200 are taking in a lot of dust. Its pretty bad inside and its showing really having a negative impact on my images, especially stills since there's more latitude to push things around in post. Stabilization, the OS in the 18-55 is really good, but its just a little too shaky for my liking. I'm currently in Japan and Fuji service told me 10 business days to clean my lenses while my total time in Japan is only two weeks. I had to pass because they couldn't guarantee I'd see my lenses before leaving. I'm also going to be in China in a couple weeks (dusty outside the big cities), Africa later this summer and then Central/South America for the last few months of the year. After going through Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, India and Nepal - I'm sure the places my wife and I are headed will be just as dusty. I can't keep adding to the crud that's already in there. So I've narrowed it to a couple options that have the blessing of my wife and will rack up some big travel rewards on our credit card: buy mint used copies of my worst lenses and get them all cleaned when I return and sell them off so we wouldn't eat much in depreciation, or move to something that's better protected against the elements. After shopping Toyko's big ass camera stores like Yodobashi, Bic and Map camera I really like the EM1.2, but most of what's sold in Japan doesn't have English menus. I'll be in Hong Kong next week before China, so I can make a switch there. What I feel is probably my best move is to go back to Sony - I shot with the A7rII from the day it was released until late last year before switching to Fuji back to Sony wouldn't be very challenging. I had zero dust issues with my 16-35 and 70-200 after 1.5 years, its really disappointing my X-lenses look so bad after just a few months. I'm traveling light, about 15kg for all my clothes, backpack, camera bag and backpack, camera gear, 12" MacBook and various chargers/accessories. Not looking to add weight by going DSLR. Just wanted to bounce options off others to get some other perspectives. I'd hate to switch, but I don't feel Fuji is a great long-term option after what I've experienced. Some combo of a lightly used A7rII and a A7sII or A6500 as a second mostly video camera is what I'm thinking. HK has some killer prices on used gear and new stuff is also really cheap. Thanks in advance.

+1 The A-mount 16-50 is a great lens, very sharp and renders nice. IMO your best option is native E-mount to take full advantage of IBIS and AF, plus it'll be smaller/lighter than any adapted zoom. Don't forget about the 18-105 PZ if you're looking for a standard zoom, its sharp and much cheaper than the 16-70. Personally I like the 16-70 at used prices, most of the hate is from pixel peepers and the bad corners, which will be cropped out when shooting video anyway. Every Sony lens can be had used at great prices from places like Fred Miranda's buy and sell board. I wouldn't buy any of them new. I'm in Tokyo right now and I went to a few of the big shops here that have every body/lens on the market on display for shoppers to try out. I'm seriously considering a switch back to Sony from the XT2's I'm currently using, partly because of IBIS and partly because my most used lenses (10-24 & 55-200) are sucking in a lot of dust. I didn't have these issues with my Sony kit. I spent a lot of time with the A6500 and various lenses and I really liked the 18-105. I'm looking at getting the 10-18 again (my favorite Sony lens) and either the 18-105 or 16-70 as my main walk around lens.