MrSMW

The final line up for the 2024 season. From left to right… S1H with battery grip, 70-200 f4 (not shown, Rode WG2) permanently on tripod shooting static full length ceremony & speeches, manual focus, 4k 25p. Z6ii + adapted Tamron 70-180 f2.8 (not shown battery grip arriving tomorrow) with option Tamron 20-40 f2.8, stills only but can do video in an emergency. Sling on shoulder. S5ii + cage + Sigma 28-70 f2.8 + Rode Micro as my all day run & gun, gimbal ready, 4k 50p unit (so 42-105mm equivalent). Right hip. Zf + 40mm f2 candid stills but can also do video in an emergency. Left hip. Single backpack with all lighting, all other audio, all spare batts, cards, power bank, chargers, gimbal etc, but actually lives in my cart along with the 2 big light stands, 40m extension reel and 500W portable power bank.

Oops I did it again…or rather Lumix and Sony did… I don’t want to rail on L Mount because for me, it’s so close to being the outright ‘best’ all round system, but once again, it’s the lenses that are letting it down. Again, for me and MY needs. My YouTube feed was flooded the other day with the announcement of the new Sigma 500mm lens. Bravo, looks relatively compact for a 500, but at 3x longer than I will ever need, utterly irrelevant. Then we get Lumix launching the 28-200mm f4-7.1 and that is relatively compact (unzoomed) for what it is, but again, completely irrelevant for my needs. Hailed by some as turning your camera into a camcorder. Not quite and if that’s your thing, great…but not for me. Then Sony announce their 24-50mm f2.8. Hello. Arguably not something the world was exactly asking for, but for those wanting a smaller more compact & lighter lens vs the trad 24-70… Especially on a higher MP body with more latitude to crop… Having flipped to Nikon (back to after 12 years away from) for stills, I would seriously consider this lens for both stills and video, but as I already have the excellent Tamron 20-40mm f2.8…which is actually a more useful focal range for me, the new Sony lens is not going to be one for me….but it’s another example of at least the type of lens that does interest me. I could really see it on something like an A7RV for 90% of my needs 90% of the time. I do hope Lumix announce their S1 replacement soon and suspect they will in March, but it’s the glass that for me is letting the system down, primarily fast more compact zoom lenses. I put my new (used) Z6ii with adapted Tamron 70-180mm f2 against my S5ii with native 70-200mm f4 yesterday and it’s not significantly smaller or lighter, but is both and a full stop faster and for my work, the difference between f2.8 and f4 is significant. Never mind if I actually had an L Mount f2.8 either from Lumix or Sigma which would then match the faster aperture, but be significantly larger, heavier and ergonomically less good to use. So not a rant against L Mount but rather a wish and a hope that they can come good, at least on paper, but I fear it’s too late for me for stills at least… Just some musings over coffee 😜

Probably 2 principle reasons. Reason A. You enjoy using it so use it more than you would another and that in itself leads to self-improvement. Reason B. Fixed lens. You learn to see at that focal length and that leads to another kind of 'improvement'. I used the fixed 35mm focal length for almost an entire season of wedding photography and it was both a joy and a compromise. For work/clients, probably too much of a compromise and I would not ever go back to that but I use my Zf as a fixed lens camera, just with a 40mm glued on, but with my second unit with either 20-40mm or 70-180mm as required.

If I had not gone back to Nikon (Zf and Z6ii) for my stills needs, I would almost certainly have gone back to Fuji for all my needs, photo and video. X100vi as my candid stills and C roll video unit, XH2 for secondary stills/longer/wider lenses and B roll video, XH2S as my primary video I'm not a fan of what has happened to the V model due to TikTok/social media etc and all the availability/price nonsense, but it was and still is a sublime bit of it. Not sure I'd pick the new vi over my Zf as a pro tool though... As an every day walkabout, vacation etc, sure, but love me my Zf.

Yep. At the end of every season, I keep saying to myself this will be the year I trawl through the dozens of productions I have made that year, making notes which clips to then hunt for and then splice it all together to make some whizz bang promo that all those folks with the attention spans of goldfish, will be falling over themselves to contact and book me over. Never happens. I then get some inspired thought about editing it to a specific track...and then remember it's copyright protected and I don't have the BBC or Hollywood budget to spend on licensing it. And I am just a lazy arse in my off season... Maybe next year...

Probably because it reduces contrast?

He knows and he weeps for and with you. Still good with it. What I meant was if Covid had not come along, I would have progressed from XH1 (one of my fav cams of all time) + XT3 to all XT4’s instead of S5. Then I would have moved on to XH2S’s for video and XH2’s for stills with some hybrid crossover between the two otherwise identical cameras. Spits loudly in the corner.

Probably what I'd be using if I wasn't using what I am now.

Have you tried using a 1/8th mist? That has been my go to throughout ‘23 on the S5ii and no issues. The S1H does just have a (slightly) nicer image but the 1/8th evens it up a little and seems to fix most if not all moire issues. I might just get a battery grip for the S5ii and sell the S1H battery grip and then I can flip around their use ie make the S1H my run & gun workhorse and the S5ii can do static and gimbal. That should fix my use case dilemma of having them currently in my non-preferred roles…

I suspect something is coming very soon as in by this Spring. Exactly what, no idea, but I'd say the essence of the S1H, some of the tech (AF) from the S5ii and then more on top. Probably the 'perfect' camera for my needs...but my needs are also based around certain lenses and unless that ever comes into being... I'm still wrestling over how to get the roles of my S5ii (A cam) and S1H (B cam) reversed because I prefer using the S1H over the S5ii and the image quality out of the S1H...though that is not massive to my eyes, but is 'a thing'. The issue is the S1H is much more suited to static duty and with the battery grip, even more so, but switching back and forth between units and lenses is a right PITA so I shall probably just stick with them in the roles as they are. L Mount does my head in. Love the quality, love the capability...but it's spread out over various units, none of which tick all the boxes for me ands the absence of a fast, lightweight compact 70-200 is 'massive' to me. The bottom line for me is I will be interested for curiosities sake to see where Lumix go, but unless they bring out the lenses I need, L Mount remains a compromised system for my specific needs.

Internal variable graduated ND. That’s fantastic for minimalist travel/landscape photographers. This is an absolute gem of a camera and I wish I had a place for it in my life, but along with anything that begins with the word Hassleblad, at this point in time, it cannot and may not ever be.

- 6k60 NRAW, 4k120 (crop), 4k60 full ProRes RAW - New higher resolution EVF: 5.76m dot - Improved LCD - 20fps still RAW (14bit) - 120fps stills jpeg - 1/16000 shutter speed - 299 points AF - 8-stop VR (same system as the Nikon Zf) - CFexpress+SD memory cards - PSAM Dial - Camera body size and overall dimension are similar to the Nikon Z6II: 3-5mm longer width becuase of the LCD hinge and a few mm thicker - The overall height (bottom to the EVF) remains the same but the actual camera is 2-3mm taller - The grip button layouts and design look similar to the Nikon Z8 apart from the command dial which is the same as the Z6II * VERY interested in internal 6K NRAW. Not for everything, all the time, but in certain situations where I can achieve up to 50% slow mo and pull off high quality stills. This also cuts my need from 4 camera bodies on a job, down to 3, so worth it for that alone. Hopefully something like or the same as the Z8/Z9. I've learned to live with flip outs but would much rather have something like the Z8/Z9/S1H/A7RV has. Great. With the Zf it is also linked to the focus point. Good, because I have 2x 256GB that are just gathering dust. Or would be if they were not sealed in a plastic bag. My principle interest though is launch/availability date...

Without being flippant, that is probably your answer! I don't use it, as far as I am aware... I don't even know what it is really... I record audio into my cameras using either a Rode Wireless Go or a Rode Micro shotgun and then simply replace it in my timeline with lav mic recordings that Adobe Premiere does at a click of a button. Sometimes, I'll use the Rode WG itself if it's good enough for the purpose. But then I am a simple man. In so many ways...

I don’t know… Have we ever been seen in the same room at the same time? I am questioning my very existence now…

Something I’d welcome would be combined battery and SSD grips as in here is your basic body with 1 or 2 card slots and here’s your ‘pro’ version with twice the battery power and an SSD. Or for those that would prefer not to have a ‘larger’ grip, a non-battery, SSD grip that is more slimline.

With another 24, they can’t really pitch it beyond 2.5k but with the 33, maybe can reach for 3k? 33 would help with sales I suspect and I’d prefer that to be honest, but 24 would not be a dealbreaker for me.

Instagram I thought it was a word you had made up but I Googled it. I don’t think they can bungle the Z6iii though. Not everyone will be happy and the reality of it when it’s revealed might not even be enough for me, but I suspect on their current form, Nikon will not enshittificate this.

OK, I’m going to revise my figure to somewhere between 1/4-1/2

The thing is there is thing called ‘progress’ so it has to be more than it’s predecessor and Nikon have not quite been at the cutting edge of video until the Z8/9 and so yes, pretty realistic. It would not be a deal-breaker for me if the 6k 50/60p internal is cropped and personally not bothered about TC or any form of HDMI out…but these are my needs (or lack of). Size, I’m onboard with between Z6ii and Z8. Price 3k euros is OK to me and I can’t see it being more based on Z6ii launch price and Z8 prices. If it’s more or less what it’s supposed to be, then for more people, more of the time, a better option than the Z8 and wasn’t the Z8 the mirrorless camera of the year for 2023? I don’t think they can hash this up really?

If I could have my time over again and be a 20something, or a 30something, or even at a push, a 40something, this is something I could and would want to get into. As a 50something, even a fairly youthful one, I cannot be arsed so remain ‘happily’ a 2/10 one. Possibly a 1/10. Too little time left in the industry for it to have any real affect professionally now and time-wise, yes really do not want to get into 80 hour weeks as my ‘in season’ (Apr-Sep) weeks are already 80 hour weeks. But then again if I could have my time over again, I would not choose the industry I am in 🤪

And then I know I would immediately wish I’d spent a couple of hundred more… 😜 I think it’s an inevitability re. my smaller, lighter, faster mission that I am currently on but as the least important part of my puzzle and readily available, I want to see how my Nikon Z6ii + lens vs all my L Mount kit goes first and when that is settled…

For used Z9’s it is at 5k+ here in the EU but used ‘like new’ Z8’s are becoming available at under 4k euros. But even that is a bit much and if I was going to spend 3.75-5k, I’d rather have the Z9. In fact the only reason I have considered the Z8 is price compared with the Z9, but that ‘saving’ does not outweigh my preferences regarding what the Z9 has over the Z8. In both cases, a bit overkill for my needs. The Z6ii meets ALL my needs for stills but falls short on my needs for video which is why, as things stand at least, I am sticking with L Mount for my video requirements. But the Z6iii might change that equation. If I could have anything though, it would be Tamron lenses available in or adaptable to L Mount and all my issues would be solved in instantly, but dreaming in that regard…

In that case, for something like gimbal work, I'd definitely be looking at the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. It really is a case of whipping it out of your back pocket for such times as you might use it. I'm considering it myself... In one of my potential scenarios, I would carry on as is and have the S5ii gimbal ready at all times, but in another, sell the gimbal and get the Pocket 3. The latter option has more appeal as it's MUCH smaller, lighter and far less faff, albeit at the expense of a bit of outright quality, but for my needs, not really an issue. The only thing that is really stopping me is spending 500 euros and the resale of the gimbal. But will probably just end up biting the bullet as I hate the gimbal. Not the few times I need or use it, - just the thing full stop.

Internal or external I wonder… If that is internal and the rest adds up, it could be game on for me and replace my Lumix set up, ie, instead of having a twin cam L Mount set up for video and a twin cam Z Mount set up for stills, I could run a 3 cam Z Mount set up. 3 beats 4 on almost every level, mainly in cross compatibility and less of ‘everything’ to cart about. 4 has certain qualities and that is mainly in the dedicated set up side of things, but 3 has more appeal. Still sitting on my fence here waiting. Plenty of ‘like new’ stock of Z6ii’s with battery grips at 1600 euros and there will be even more when the Z6iii arrives. But internal 6k 60p could swing it for me as it would open up being able to extract stills from video footage that I can also use for slo mo elements. Yes there’s 8k 60p with the Z8 and Z9 but a bit overkill for my needs. Canon R3 has it as does maybe the R6ii? But LUMIX still stuck with 6k 25/30p and of course there are ways to get slow mo in post from that, but I’d rather not thanks and shooting 30p can be problematic in the EU. If it’s external though, I’m just going to go with Plan X and get a used Z6ii plus battery grip and go with the 2x2 set up. Still got 2 months on the clock for this to play out for me…

Always makes me laugh when I read that someone thinks a 700g mirrorless is heavy. Heavy? What are you? A 5 year old girl? Having said that, this 53 year old girl got pretty tired of his 2.8kg set up from last season so replaced it with something almost exactly 1kg lighter. But then there is pure weight vs weight distribution and handling due to ergos and how you use these things…