BTM_Pix

Turns out the something new was a new version of the Pro. Its 8K (yay) but £5K (rather less yay) https://www.insta360.com/product/insta360-pro2/

Maybe this one is more to scale

Their joint venture stuff with Contax would count I guess so it would be the Contax TVS in 2002 with all its 5 megapixel CCD goodness.

Absolutely, I was just clarifying in case any unintended tone might have been coming across in my replies. It was the availability of adapters that allowed a lot of people to dip their toe in the water with Sony in the first place though as they already had Canon glass which meant they didn't have to throw the baby out with the bath water and could also use Canon glass to fill the gaps in the Sony lens lineup which are still not completely filled even today. There are also still plenty of Sony A7 cameras of various models with M mount adapters permanently attached to them to enable people to use them as a (much) lower cost alternative to Leica M and latterly SL cameras. As far as the GH5 is concerned, I'd venture that for every youtuber posting "hey guys, whats happening, lets check out the face detect AF as I am sashaying towards the camera and appearing from below frame" videos, there are probably at least 3 other people using it with adapted (probably vintage) glass on it who would probably struggle to tell you where the AF settings where in the menu because that is the heritage of the GH line. I will also venture to say that the adapter as weakness rather than opportunity issue will suddenly be put on the back burner by a lot of people when the BM Pocket 4K finally appears.... If you don't mind, I'm going to clip together a few lines from your posts because I'm getting a bit confused about your position over it so thought I'd clarify mine against those. I'm reading that as you saying that The lenses are the limitation of MFT That there are no fundamental limitations of MFT That the sensor is a fundamental limitation of MFT That the lenses are the limitation of MFT. I disagree with 1, 2 and 4. In the case of 4, primarily because 3 trumps everything and also because I don't even think Panasonic and Olympus in their wildest dreams ever thought it had a shot of taking over the entire industry. As per my example with the PL lenses, it is everything behind the lens that would negate their use so I agree with 3 for that specific context and quite a few others but it still does have its place. I'm more than happy to agree to disagree and leave it there though mate

Some interesting choices they've made there. If the expensive one is the same price as the D850 then I'd question some of those choices.

No ZF at all, I'm afraid. The 85mm f1.4 I've got is the Contax Zeiss Planar T* which I legally stole from a shop in Tokyo. No on the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 ART either as I've got the Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 which has been doing the job for what I need it for for years and will no doubt end up getting carried shoulder high by the cockroaches as the only other survivor of the nuclear holocaust. I'm not a massive fan of the 24-70mm range though I have to say when it comes to doing anything creative as you always wish it was a bit wider or a bit longer. Its a good safe bet but even on vanilla jobs like shooting press conferences I find myself taking it out less and less as I'd sooner have a wider prime or wide zoom on another camera (I use the X-T20 a lot for this) and go longer on the main camera.

OK @mercer I don't have anything as exotic as that Zeiss left. In 35mm, the only Zeiss prime I have is a very old Flektagon 35mm f2.8. I also have the short end of the Zeiss 35-70mm f3.4, the short end of the Minolta 35-70mm f3.5 MD and the long end of the Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L as a comparison. All of which I can persuade on to a Sony A6500 tomorrow if you want? As a micro contrast bonus (albeit slightly wider ) I can throw in the 30mm version of the Sigma f1.4 ART on a Sigma SD Quattro. (though this may make you weep openly and cry "Why no video on Foveon, Sigma? Why, why?")

Hang on, let me just check my collection of 35mms ....

I'm not sure why they would be any less "PRO" when they might well have extremely high quality Canon mount lenses attached to them? The adapters are such an integral part of the process for people using these cameras that they are permanently attached to the camera and so can be more or less considered the de facto lens mount. Changing the lens means just changing the lens as if it were a native Canon mount at that point. This is also true for cameras like the Sony FS5 and FS7 where a large number of them that are used in professional environments every day permanently use an EF adapter. I'm not sure where I've suggested MFT cameras are in common use on large budget TV shows and feature films by the way? Even if that was the suggestion, there are numerous reasons why they wouldn't get used in that environment that would take precedence over the lens choice, native or otherwise. I have a RED Epic and a set of PL primes and my Panasonic GX80 can mount all of them and use them in exactly the same way so if those lenses are not limiting the RED then they can't be limiting the Panasonic surely? Absolutely everything else about it would be of course but not the lenses I'm not trying to have an argument with you for the sake of it by the way - as I think the native offerings could be cheaper as well for one thing - but I do disagree about the lens choice being the limitation when it is adaptable to so many different lenses. For what its worth, I think MFT as an imaging format in terms of cameras from Panasonic and Olympus is probably in a bit of an awkward place right now but its more to do with the internals than the lens options. MFT as a mount with cameras such as LS300 and probably the BM4K behind it is a different situation but, again, the E mount is catching and probably overtaking it in terms of utility.

Natively perhaps, if actually less so now than it used to be, but the mount itself will take just about anything except E mount lenses. If you use the smart versions of the Metabones speed booster for EF lenses then you can have a lot of very fast glass (made faster) complete with AF and aperture control from the camera. The Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 becomes an 11.5-22.4mm f1.2 lens when used with the Metabones XL 0.64 for example, which makes it equate to a 22-45mm f2.4 if it were on a full frame. The biggest drawback comes in the wider areas generally but even then something like the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 in EF mount using the Metabones XL is going to be like having a 14-20.5mm f3.6 on a full frame, which few people would feel would be a limitation. Having big chunks of lens like those and using an adapter doesn't really jive with the whole compact camera philosophy of course but fast glass on full frame isn't particularly compact either so if people want that sort of performance then it comes with the territory. With the f1.4 manual focus prime lenses from Samyang in EF mount then mounting them on the Metabones will get you the equivalent of f2 full frame primes without breaking the bank or your back.

Yeah, the rumour link quotes $3000 which is the same sort of price as the RX1Rii so you'd think there would be a premium so another $1K gets it closer but still a few hundred off the Leica Q. Unless you go for the new Globe-Trotter special edition which is, erm, $7000

Yeah, the 18-35mm is almost like a freak of nature the way it stands up against primes. The 7Artisans fits in the pocket somewhat easier in both senses of the word though ! Now that I'm not only sipping the Leica Kool Aid but feeding it in on an IV line, its my new best friend. Its worth bearing in mind as well with the (yes I'm going to mention it again) TechArt Pro adapter these small M mount lenses from 7Artisans and of course Voigtlander are given another dimension by being able to become auto focus on Sony E mount cameras. I have the X-T2 and the X-T20. The X-H1 IBIS looked troublesome to me during the early tests I saw of it and when internal F-LOG was given as an update to the X-T2 my interest in the X-H1 cooled completely. My take away is how much degradation there is on images when you upload them on here !

The Zeiss Ikon ZM M mount stopped production about 5 or 6 years ago I think. Looks like this new one will be a fixed lens digital version of it like Leica have done with the Q, albeit with a 35mm instead of a 28mm. The Zeiss f2 35mm is about £1000 and the f1.4 is about £1600 so if the price quoted for this new one is right you would imagine it might be the f2 they have in it but if its the f1.4 then...well...that would be very interesting against the RX1Rii and especially the Leica Q.

I've done a quick test for you of a prime ART against a zoom ART at the same focal length along with a couple of other 35mm lenses for comparison. I shot it on the X-T2 as it was the most universal mount as the lenses are EF, Nikon F, Fuji and Leica M mount. Lenses are : (L-R) Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 ART, Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART, Fuji 35mm f1.4 and the wildcard 7Artisans 35mm f2 M Mount. Everything was shot at f1.8 to match the 18-35mm at the same exposure with the exception of the 7Artisans which was f2 and exposure adjusted. All of them are jpeg out of the camera using the ProNeg Standard profile. The camera was locked off on a tripod so the FOV variance is due to the lens (and/or internal corrections in the case of the native Fuji lens) rather than a change of shooting position. And, yes, the backlight on the light meter did stay on longer during the Fuji and 7Artisan shots hence the reflection in the table. OK, here they are then. First up is the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 ART Next is the Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART Next is the Fuji 35mm f1.4 And finally here is the 7Artisans 35mm f2 For reference, the current price of these lenses on Amazon in the UK is: Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 ART - £641 Sigma 35mm f1.4 ART - £649 Fuji 35mm f1.4 - £499 7Artisans 35mm f2 M Mount - £249

And if its not then you can always use it with the hood on.

I'd be thinking WOW!! if they have enough room to make a speed booster version of the adapter. Faster versions of their back catalogue of already fast primes with full AF when shooting in Super 35 mode would be a bit of an OK thing.

Yes @UncleBobsPhotography I have something for you to memorize 8 focus points with selectable transition speeds. It will be out shortly-ish after the BM4K camera (as it will support Panasonic/Sony/BM). Or if you switch to Leica you can have it earlier. Though that seems a bit extreme ?

A bit more context here with it mounted on what looks like a D850 or D500 you can see how much of the rear taper behind the controls is still the lens so it suggests that the actual adapter is reasonably compact. Again though, even if it was a native mount, that is a far, far bigger lens than you would be expecting them to be illustrating the benefits of a compact mirrorless setup with Not to mention it being £11K !

Don't be fooled by that picture. The lens is the 180-400 so what might appear to be a big clunky adapter at the rear isn't but is an integral part of that particular lens as it has an in built switchable tele converter (hence the 1x graphic) and a slot for drop in ND filters. Here it is for context on a D5

I think they have confused themselves about the type of difference a fresnel element will provide. I have the Nikon 300 f4 PF which has the fresnel element in it. It enabled Nikon to make it roughly a third smaller and half the weight of the previous version and it is a hell of a lens. But its still an f4. My suspicion is what they actually meant its that it can make an f1.4 lens have the weight/size that you would expect of an f1.8 just as the 300 f4 PF has the sort of weight/size that you would expect of a 300 f5.6 lens. So, fast primes that are smaller than you'd expect is the headline there rather than slower primes which are faster than you'd expect

If that is legit then the lack of an image lock button is surprising considering it is on every other Nikon FX and many DX cameras too. And by surprising I mean a bit daft, particularly as it not only lock the image but initiates the wireless/network transfer of it in the background so you dont have to go into a menu and can carry on shooting.

Try this ip address from my original post as it might be up to the same game _________ Its a bit clunky getting it going as the documentation wasn’t exactly readily available so I wasted a lot of time being unable to connect to it as an access point because the router address it uses when wireless is entirely different (and undocumented) to what it is when you are using the LAN port or it is in bridge mode.( Its 192.168.8.8 by the way ) ______________

A great application for it. They have something new being announced on the 21st.....

A bit of both. Moving towards more motion stuff like live broadcast of things around events like press conferences and build up around the stadiums pre match. Also some sports film shorts. A lot of time is going to be taken up with product development as well as soon as the Blackmagic camera is released and I've just finished a Leica version which will need some manufacturing setup etc Also some tedious corporate structure stuff as Brexit will make it too painful to be doing stuff from outside the EU. It's utterly weird that you mention Olive oil production as last night we were on a long car journey and were discussing how the hell the economics stack up regarding number of trees and stuff !!

Or, we could dispense with the disco lights and just look at it's on board screen It will have a guaranteed minimum of two silly design flaws unfortunately. It's how I roll. No, I don't think you're either of those for wanting that capability. Just trying to consider a way to keep that option in the scope of something compact and cheap. I have a couple of ideas that could keep it sensible that I'll look at.