BTM_Pix

And if you add a cheap £20 LANC zoom controller like this one you can have focus control on the camera zoom rocker and still have zoom control (servo or Prime Zoom) on this.

Its lens dependent (and there can also potentially be a few nasties in terms of edge performance that you need to watch out for as well as vignetting) but you can push most of them further than you think. I don't have that particular Olympus lens to illustrate it but I do have the cheap and cheerful 12-32mm wide zoom that I've just knocked up a quick (and very rough ) illustration of how the VSM typically works for you. You can set the scaling to whatever you want (with 100% being S35) and its preset for MFT lenses is 80% but this is pretty conservative. As you can see, setting it to 80% and using the same lens on a real MFT camera (the GX80 in this case) gives you the same FOV but note how much additional area outside of this 80% is available. So in this case with this particular lens we can get quite cheeky and set the VSM to 100% and get a bonus increase on the wide end so our 12mm is more like a 10mm. With different lenses you might have to tweak this to say 90 or 95 but its still a nifty trick to have and its another plus against something like an FZ2500 which isn't as wide on the wide end as you might ideally want. I THINK YOU'VE GONE IN A BIT HIGH THERE MR. ROCKERFELLER NO WAY IS IT WORTH MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED ;)

I don't think they are unreasonable assumptions but I'm a bit curious about why they didn't announce the price or even ball park it. A conspiracy theorist might suggest that they obviously know how much it's going to cost as its not their first rodeo ehen it comes to making lenses but that they are gauging reactions and guesstimates in forums like this to see how much of a cinema lens tax they can get away with adding to it

Yikes!!! That is way less than I, sorry, erm, the hypothetical person I was referring to paid for his.

I don't know anyone that has done it but I don't see why not. By the way, if you use one of the Panasonic PZ servo zoom MFT lenses like the 14-42 or 45-175 (I think Olympus did one as well but I can't recall it off the top of my head) then you can map the zoom rocker on the camera to drive them.

Thats the problem with them really in that they've largely been overlooked since the 5Dmk2 but they've still been ticking along in the background getting better with each iteration. As a consequence, the majority of stuff you see online is still of the event/ENG type so doesn't really spark with a lot of people looking to do cinematic enough for them to look under the hood. There is now definitely the air of camcorders being "something your uncle uses". Forgetting that Spielberg is still someone's uncle

I haven't used the UX-90 but, yes, looking at the spec and some videos it does seem to share much of the muchness of the FZ2500 so your progression path is sound from that point of view. But I think its the much of a muchness aspect that might tie you up in a few knots in terms of choosing which of these systems to go for. I don't think you can go that far wrong with any of them for what you are talking about and for the FZ2500/UX-90 combo you could just as easily read RX10x/Z-90 if you wanted to. Having said that..... If you break this down to basics in terms of wanting a camcorder then by camcorder you are basically saying something as a single self contained item you can put in a bag, take out, switch on and start shooting. No mode switching, no additional filters, no lens swapping, no adapters, no dual audio, no rigging....Nothing. The funny thing about the Swiss Army Knife LS300 and the gazillion mount adapters and speed booster options that we can use to get it to play with almost every lens under the sun is that we often overlook the fact that it can actually be used in exactly the same way as the camcorders that you are looking at. Just because it has an almost infinite interchangeable mount capability due to it having the MFT mount as its base, it doesn't mean we have to use it. If we put a native MFT lens like the Olympus 12-100mm lens on it and leave it there then it is exactly like those other camcorders, with a similar footprint, but with one crucial difference of course which is its much larger sensor. And that will give you much more of a muchness than the muchness of the other ones The flexibility of the LS300 that is afforded by the mount then becomes an expansion option that you can choose to exploit or not rather than just its raison d'être as its often viewed. If you never take that option and just leave the Olympus 12-100mm (or something similar) on it then it will just be a camcorder like the ones above but with a bigger sensor. Which makes it a 4K Super35 sensor camcorder with 10x zoom for about £3.5K that you can add 4K60p, significant monitoring and ProRes recording to for another £500. These are two really interesting videos from a few years ago by Rick Young about using the LS300. The first is about just using it with MFT lenses and how surprised he was about how well they performed against his expectation but the second one is probably of more interest in that it looks at using it in the real world as a camcorder. Obviously, the job he was using it on was what we would call "video video" rather than cinematic so disregard the aesthetic but it offers some good honest insights as to how it performs in the true sense of being a camcorder rather than adding a load of modified lenses to it. I remember you thinking about using a C100 for event work so I think it might also be informative from that point of view if you wanted to use the LS300 in that role. Anyway, short answer, pick up a used FZ2500 and get on with it. Longer answer, pick up a used LS300 and 12-100mm and get on with it in exactly the same way with a bit more room to breathe.

Ah....cheers. They should have that system for Trump's tweets.

What do the things in brackets relate to Jon?

The X-T3 has BluetoothLE for remote control and file transfer as well as wifi. It remains to be seen how this is implemented in their app but once it is then its not beyond the bounds of possibility that some enterprising soul can replicate it to knock together a top display for it that sits in the hotshot using this small and cheap ESP32 board with integrated OLED display if anyone really wanted one.

Yes, looking at the prices of their other lenses, it might well be a very interesting option. Another option actually that makes sense for a single operator with the LS300 is the Sigma 24-105mm f4 combined with the Aputure LensRegain which, with the prime zoom, will give you a 24-125 f2.8 zoom in 4K (or 24-210mm f2.8 in HD) with electronic programmable follow focus. The only slight snag is having to take the adapter bottom apart to fit it because of the protruding ND wheel on the LS300 but on the day of our Lord it is worth remembering this is why He gave us gaffa tape.

There is real risk that the other types of camera are actually becoming porn though. Or you could up the sensor size even further and go for this combo of LS300 and Angenieux 25-250 which will give you a 10x zoom camcorder/cinema camera hybrid (which we will brand as a Cinecorder )with an aesthetic that I think you can get behind for around £3K used all in. Add in the Ninja V and you've got 4K60p as well for another £600.

HLG, SLOG3 and improved AF are the key ones.

Its a complete, self contained, shot grabber that you can put in a small bag and just go out and work with. Its probably the closest you can get to a true hybrid camera in the sense that having to quickly switch in the same light from shooting video to stills obviously not only requires deploying ND but also switching off the IBIS as it becomes counter-productive when shooting at higher shutter speeds. The FZ2500 can do this because its obviously got integral ND but crucially because its on a physical switch and you can map the IBIS to a physical switch so you can switch from true video setup to stills setup almost instantly and without taking your eye off the viewfinder. Trying to do that on any other camera just isn't happening because they are all stills cameras first with video functions built in. The compromise though is that its form factor is very much camera rather than camcorder but with it having a fold out screen, then you are only a Hoodman/Loupe and a cheap shoulder mount away from having that option but with the choice to revert to small form factor when required. Even buying the LOG license and adding the Ninja V is still going to keep you around $1500 for the package and with the FZ2500 having a 10 bit 4:2:2 output you are getting a fair amount of bang for your buck without going over the top form factor or rigging wise. If you decide its not cutting it and get shut of the FZ2500 then you'd still have the Ninja V to upgrade whatever the replacement camera was so its a low risk strategy. Here are a couple of comparison videos between the FZ2500 and UX180 (which is the 'pro' version of the HC-X1). The first is about the form factor and the second is about the image.

At the risk of sounding trite, a finished film shot on a camcorder is always going to be better than an unfinished one shot on a hybrid with a ton of vintage lenses so if thats what it takes to get you to the finish line then its an obvious choice.

Those Sony ones have a lot going for them. The consumer version is the AX700 and gives you the same stuff minus the XLRs (though there is a shoe mount adapter to add them) if you want to save quitw a few hundred dollars. Can't beat it for stealth either.

Have you had a go of the Kipon Baveyes 0.7x AF one ?

A version of Aputure's DEC Vari ND with electronic Follow Focus to go from EF to SL would be feasible though.

Erm...yeah...well that was all a bit uncomfortable and somewhat dubious.

I think the Sony systems have definitely benefited from Sigma's involvement (as they do from also having smart adapters for EF lenses), particularly for the APS-C cameras, to give more choice but they've definitely upped their own game too though. My own personal frame of reference for 'extortionately expensive' lenses has had some serious readjustment after glugging like a drunken sailor on the Leica Koolaid so those Sony lenses now look like a an absolute bargain

Not a deal breaker coming for anyome coming from the X-T2 as what you've never had you never miss but from the assumption of how much extra horsepower it has under the hood I'm quite surprised this hasn't been sorted.

Does it still only record video at 720p when you are controlling it via the app?

I'm guessing that Sigma will be able to put together a new version of their MC-11 adapter in short order to go from EF to SL. And hopefully it will be far cheaper than the Novoflex one. Be interesting to see if the relationship actually allows Sigma to begin selling their SL line-up ahead of the camera launch as they would have a very captive audience immediately with Leica owners. Including the hypothetical person who in a moment of madness bought a used SL last weekend. I, erm, sorry, he would be all over them.

Imagine how giddy you'd be if in a moment of absolute (yet slightly calculated) madness you'd bought a used Leica SL last weekend and now were anticipating realistically priced lenses becoming available for it.....

Well its arrived and it works a treat in my initial test with a MacBookPro Both drives show up without any messing about and copying a test 2 gig backwards and forwards between them is just under 10 seconds each way. For the £12.99 I paid for it off Amazon its a bargain just as a Cfast reader even without the extra SATA trick it has. Next step is to lash it to a SBC to make it standalone. I have the whiff of epoxy in my nostrils....