BTM_Pix

Photo Editor by Aviary has a 2:35:1 crop preset

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Nikon does have a bit of a track record of trying to deal with the concept of there only being photographers rather than male and female photographers unfortunately.

Ranging from the well meaning to the full on face palm WTF moments.

The first Nikon that I owned (which was 36 years ago now by the way ) was the EM.

The EM - and the accompanying E series lenses which I still use a couple of today - was actually designed by Nikon as a system for female photographers who, Nikon reasoned, had been put off switching to SLRs because of the cost, the size and the complexity of something like the F2 compared to the compact cameras they were using.

It backfired and the EM wasn't a great success as men were offended by it being dumbed down in terms of features and build quality and women were offended by it being dumbed down full stop.

Ironically, during the lead up to the announcement of the D850 (still being called the D820 at that point), it seems the same thinking is still at play nearly 40 years later with the President of Nikon talking about making a dSLR that 'women would find easier to use'.

https://www.nikonrumors.co/new-nikon-mirrorless-camera-confirmed-again-in-an-interview-with-nikon-president/

Whether this is a deliberately sexist culture or just some cringe Alan Partridge/David Brent style attempts to do the right thing I don't know.

They do have some form for some inexcusable ads that make it hard to make a case for the defence though.

As for this last one, if thats how they illustrate 3mp then Lord alone knows what they'd do to represent the 47mp D850.

24 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

It's not about being politically correct or about gender politics. There was just absolutely no reason for Nikon to end up with this shitstorm in the media, from being stupid at marketing. Anybody can find female photographers. They're everywhere. Nikon should get to know some!

And if we are to believe Nikon's response about them not being available then this shows that not only are there plenty of them but that they are also too busy actually being out there and doing it to take time out to have their egos stroked at PR events 

There's a bit more detailed follow up to it here from the guy who did the video.

Not sure of the veracity of the poster replying that the original battery being chipped is a probable cause of it as I think the world would be awash with similar tales but probably something other people with GH5s could chime in on regarding specific brands they're using.

21 minutes ago, DBounce said:

So I have had my GH5 for a couple of months now, and I have had a couple of incidents with it. 

1. Whilst hanging out on a friends yacht I ran into an embarrassing situation when a few of the party goers wanted a group picture. I had the GH5 on hand, so was happy to snap the picture, however for no reason I can think of, the GH5 out of the blue started to fire it's shutter uncontrollably. It was firing at a rate faster than I have every witnessed, and would not stop until the battery was pulled. I removed the lens and reconnected it. Then reinstalled the battery and powered on the camera... reframed my shot and attempted to retake the shot. To my surprise the camera repeated the locked shutter behavior and again would not stop firing until a full hard reset. No actual pictures were captured. 

 

Similar sounding problem here that was caused by a 3rd party battery 

Curious to know why the price difference between the US and Europe (especially the UK) is much bigger for the D850 than it is on the other Nikon pro bodies.

I did say you'd have to get familiar with cleaning the sensor

On 11/09/2017 at 7:02 PM, OliKMIA said:

They are also not very creative  (not an insult for news and sports photographer) and don't need the latest bells and whistles or cutting edge DR. On top of that many agencies just put Canon and Nikon on the shelf for their staff because "that's how it should be"

There is definitely conservatism involved - and there has to be due to time and budget pressures - but I'd definitely argue the point about a lack of creativity to be fair.

We're dealing with live events that we have zero control over in terms of positioning and light etc let alone action but we HAVE to get something worthwhile and that means you often have to be creative just to get SOMETHING.

We're also dealing with trying to operate cheek by jowl with competing photographers - scores of them - all of whom you know WILL get a shot by hook or by crook and quite literally step on your toes to do so. So getting something different enough to stand out to a picture editor when he's receiving literally hundreds of images a minute from the same event demands a certain degree of creativity.

It also demands creativity to keep yourself interested in trying to create something fresh of Cristiano Ronaldo for example when you and everyone else has shot a gazillion frames of him over the years in his various permutations of joy, sulk and pout

I'd dispute we don't need the latest and greatest but, yes, we do only truly value them in quite a small range of specific areas like high ISO, AF and networking. Wide DR is something elsr that we do value though as we deal with a lot of uneven light in stadiums in both daylight (huge areas of dark shadow under big stands) and floodlight where the difference between the goal area and the rest of the pitch can be much bigger than expected. If you're struggling with exposure you have to go fully manual and continually ride it to stop even the best metering system making the wrong (often catastrophic) choice. As we deal in JPEGs rather than RAW we have to have it as right coming out of the camera as possible so more DR to be a bit more forgiving is important to us.

I'm not being a defender of the faith for Nikon and Canon but we do need someone to come up with a package that can better than what we've already got if we're to jump ship. 

The trouble is people like Sony and Fuji keep turning up to a gun fight with a knife. Even when they bring a gun they seem to overlook the bullets.

I have never seen any sports photographer pet their camera and declare undying love for it. On the contrary, most of the time they are being cursed so its not a fanboy thing by any stretch of the imagination that keeps us with them. 

Its just a fit for purpose thing.

And its on them to make something fitter for purpose rather than us to try and work round it.

Creatively or otherwise

30 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

 

DPA 4061, six of them

 

No wonder you haven't bought a new phone in a while mate

31 minutes ago, jonpais said:

Why not buy it, try it out, and if you're not happy, send it back?

Or better still, sell it on to me for a discount

The fundamental problem you have really is what to do with the NX1 rather than should you trade it for a GH5.

It has still got a decent value because of how good it is but even amongst those who know that, its undeniable that its probably reached peak value. Every day that passes is going to diminish that further because people will be less and less inclined to buy into what isn't just a discontinued camera but a dead system. It's a real shame because it is a great piece of kit that will probably be churning out great images for years to come but as a secondhand proposition no one will fancy being the one left holding the baby when it does give up.

What hasn't helped that is just how good the GH5 is turning out to be. I suspect there are a number of people even on here who might have been thinking about taking a chance on picking up a used NX1 who have since succumbed to the charms of the GH5. As it is almost certainly only be video shooters (and only a niche of those) who would be after an NX1 now then that is your target market for selling it to dwindling further on a daily basis.

So I suppose the proposition you have now is to choose to keep the NX1 and keep enjoying it until it dies or cash out while you can before it becomes almost worthless.

In that sense, its not the NX1 vs the GH5 you have to decide between but its actually the NX1 vs the NX1.

If you do decide to cash out then its just a question of putting it into the best camera you can get for that money, which the GH5 is certainly looking to be.

If you are intent on holding out for the Sony then at least you'll have your NX1 invested in something who's value is diminishing slower.

1 hour ago, DBounce said:

I can't help but suspect the Hydrogen will be a gimmick. The iPhone is going to help drive some innovation, and I like that. 

I know what you mean...

But....

The Hydrogen offers a medium for displaying holographic content. How much more innovation do you need driving than that

23 minutes ago, tugela said:

Buffer runs out at that point, so the frame rate goes down since there is no space any more.

10 seconds is a long time for a lot of stuff. 

I wasn't being entirely serious.

And yes, 10 seconds can seem like an absolute lifetime for a lot of things.

Luca Brasi will only be able to have a power nap with the fishes then instead of the full sleep.

9 minutes ago, Arikhan said:

That means 10 seconds of RAW video. Great!

Intentionally or is that just the point at which it stops because its overheated like their other cameras?

I think thats only when the thread was started about something specifically film/gear related to stop them being derailed.

If the thread has been specifically started like this one that isn't about those things then I think Pete And Bernie's Philosophical Steakhouse is open for business.

I'm excited about the one that is supposed to cost £1000 as it lessens the "how f***ing much? for a f***ing phone?!"impact from the other half when I tell her I'm ordering a RED Hydrogen 

Just playing Devil's Advocate here for a moment but multiple stores in multiple countries having multiple copies in stock and ready to go is either a sign of tremendous production levels or tremendous disinterest from people actually buying them

A bit of context to Andrew's point about LCE is that they aren't a small shop in a provincial town but one of the only multi city bricks and mortar outlets still standing in the UK.

If they aren't carrying them from stock in a city like Manchester which, trust me, has a fairly big chunk of the UK's pro sports photographers in its environs, then there is some significance there.

Anyway, no 400mm f2.8 so its all moot  

55 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Yes, it's a good job Canon's competition has also made some really bad mistakes, this seems to be the latest one.

They are not doing enough smart things to turn that market around.

Canon and Nikon will continue to rule the pro stills market because Sony and Panasonic simply haven't figured out a way to change the status quo yet.

Part of the problem is the lenses.

It's a tricky one. I can't figure it out myself... still working through the problem in my head before offering any good solutions after years of thinking about it... My current feedback to Sony would be... "Erm, yeah, good luck!"

I just don't understand the half arsed way they've gone about it.

Its not like they wouldn't have got a decent hearing either as the arse has dropped out of our market so much that we are skint enough to shill for anyone for a few quid and a long term loan of a body and lens

Seriously though, even without the 400mm f2.8 (without which they are more or less dead), then at the very least they could've tried to get us to look at trialling using an A9 as our 70-200mm camera option alongside our existing Nikon or Canon 400mm to get us into the system. This is exactly what I've been doing with Fuji gear but to be honest Fuji are talking a good fight as well without really being that arsed. Worries me that if you can't get any support off them when you're effectively helping them by using it for real in these environments then what the hell will they be like when you need their help?

All of it just makes me think they're happy to promote the potential use of this stuff to aspiring sports photographers but aren't really prepared for when someone actually using it at the sharp end of pro work.

I have no idea why Sony would get involved if they weren't going to come in all guns blazing, especially this late in the game when budgets have collapsed.

The best thing they could do in all seriousness is give them on 60 day loans to photographers covering major events and at least gain some exposure (ho ho) from people using Sony at that level. Even if it doesn't result in A9 sales to aspiring sports photographers it might do for models further down or in the pipeline. It does Canon no harm having all of those white lenses being very visible at major events. 

It also gets a conversation going amongst photographers to create some curiosity in it and encourage others to try it.

Because, right now, I imagine the chances of a typical working pro sports photographer walking into a camera shop and buying an A9 is not very high.

At all.

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

So two things going on here... the market for professional photo journalists and sports shooters... And the market for consumer electronics and televisions.

In the photo journalist market Canon and Nikon rule and it is very hard to break the deadlock, props for Sony to try with the A9 but it's a first effort in a VERY long haul, especially to break the stranglehold of the Canonikon lenses.

 

The odd thing about Sony with that camera is I'm not even really seeing them trying that hard to break in.

I was sure that I'd have seen at least ONE shooter using them at the Champions League final, for example, but there were absolutely none.

Asking around the press room and no one had been approached and offered one which I just found really odd.

So, once again, the only freak shooting on mirrorless for the game itself (a few people use mirrorless for general build up shots) was me

I'd have thought they would have approached us via our national and European press associations offering roadshows or open days or whatever but there's been absolutely nothing.

The resistance wil always be about the glass of course when they do but even so its still surprising.

One thing that is a bit of a misnomer though at least for sports photographers covering pro sports is the concept of a hyrbrid camera.

The rights issues involved for motion versus stills makes it a complete non-starter and its expressly forbidden in our accreditation agreements. Rightly so of course as broadcasters pay literally billions of pounds to cover an event whilst we photographers pay zero ! Putting the camera into Live View mode is enough to set the alarm bells and risk ejection from the event. Its why stills extraction isn't a real thing at pro level either because the very act of filming is forbidden itself irrespective of if you then want to deconstruct it. 

40 minutes ago, Arikhan said:

 

Yes, you are right - touché...Probably because sound (aka higher end audio handling),is for me something like pain in the stomach...

Sorry, I didn't mean you personally.

I meant all of us

The company from Den Haag on that list should get themselves over to Amsterdam next week and set up in the car park as there doesn't seem to be anyone else showing them as far as I can see !

1 hour ago, Arikhan said:

 

@BTM_Pix

Yes, it seems to fit my needs for an affordable price. The F4 seems to be a much more advanced device, but it's much more expensive too...The final question will be: Do I really need the advanced functionality of the F4 for my usage?

Well...

Whilst Its true that the DR70d fits your usage now and you might not need the extra features of the F4, will that always be the case?

Might you need the extra features further down the line is what you need to consider.

Yes, its a multiple more in terms of cost in relative terms but in absolute terms is it really ?

The £300ish difference is probably something you wouldn't think twice over if it was a camera body or a lens I would imagine.

And if you do need those extra features in the future, how much will you get for the Tascam in part exchange ? About £150 if you're very lucky so you'll have already lost half the difference. When you look at it in those terms - if you will need the extra stuff further down the line and have to buy an F4 - then the real difference in price is only £150.

Against that, you have to look at whether your a better use of your budget right now is to put into better microphones as the old adage of garbage in garbage out is very much in play here. 

In an ideal world you'd have budget for all of it but if you don't then its not exactly like you'd be recording onto an old cassette deck if you went with the Tascam so, for me, I'd go with putting the extra money into whats feeding it as that's where you'll feel the overall benefit more at this time.

Its IBC next week so make sure you keep an eye on that in case someone comes up with a new model before you take the plunge.

In the meantime, here is some viewing for you based on long term usage of a number of different recorders.

Do you know  @Andrew Reid whether the distributor in Berlin actually have one for demo/rental ?

Just to clarify I wasn't endorsing the 70d over other options, just responding as to if it could fill the functionality required.

With regard to battery life with it, I'm not sure whether this would be a massive drawback when you power it from USB.

This video tests it running for 11 1/2 hours off a cheap 12,000 mAh block with all channels recording and with phantom switched on all of them.

Again, not an endorsement for the 70d, just an FYI if you go that way.

4 minutes ago, Arikhan said:

@BTM_Pix

Does this mean, that when attaching a DR-70D to the XLR of a mixing console (of a band OR within a press room) I could get and mix A. the original sound (of a speaker or band) and B. the ambient sound when recording with a second mic the ambient sound? And if it understood it right, could I record A. Original sound and B. Ambient sound on two different channels, so I could work on it separetely in post and mix it to meet my requirements?

 

Yes, it gives you options to record all four channels separately (which will give you the maximum flexibility), as stereo sets or as a mix.

1 hour ago, Arikhan said:

It seems, I misunderstand this...Could you please explain why do you act like this (with TWO recorders at same time) ?

To be more precise for my personal use: I want to use the DR-70D MAINLY to bypass the poor internal preamp of the DSLR...So the sound will be recorded IN THE DSLR with the Tascam as preamp (Mic --> Tascam (feed recording - Feed1) --> DSLR (feed recording - Feed2)), AND - at same time - in the Tascam for sound backup....I want to use this workflow, because recording sound on the DSLR (after bypassing the camera preamp with the Tascam), would speed up my workflow for journalistic use AND at same time I get a sound backup by recording sound feed in the Tascam...

Thanks for sharing your experience and explaining!

If you are recording a music gig, for example, the sound that will be coming from the mixing console feed is reinforcing the on stage sound - hence why the formal term for live audio systems being Sound Reinforcement. Depending on the band this will invariably not be providing the full representation of the gig as, for example, the overall guitar sound will be lower as it will be missing the sound of the on stage guitar amplifiers, which can be quite significant. If you are doing a Kraftwerk gig then this is less of an issue as there is nothing naturally occurring on stage (sometimes physically in their case  ) that isn't present in the mixing console mix. 

However, in all instances, you will be missing the room ambience (including the sound of the audience) and the mix from the console will always sound much drier.

Hence, having a secondary ambient mic source, allows you to mix both.

With regard to the DR-70D, yes this would work in this mode as the mic inputs are switchable to line level to take a signal from the feed box at a press conference. It is actually very useful in this role as with it having four inputs you can attach a receiver from a radio mic to enable you to supplement the provided feed with your own mic. In a press conference situation can be invaluable in the same way as the music gig example as whilst the persons(s) answering the questions always have microphones, it is not always the case that the journalists asking the questions are covered with a mic so you can end up with the audio from the central feed box having barely any level for the questions.