eatstoomuchjam

Not cinematic enough. I fixed it for you. Now that's cinematic.

I get wanting open gate for ratio changes, but 60p? Am I missing something where everything is slowed down 2.5x? Most of what I see is still presented at normal speed, give or take. Or does the excitement mean that this new camera will be the harbinger of a new era of everything online seeming v e e r r r y y y y s s s l l l o o o w w w?

If you're in any sort of mass production, FPGA is substantially more expensive than ASIC - and a lot more power hungry. It's one of the reason that the Z Cam E2 series was so power efficient. It's all ASIC. On the other vendors' cameras, things like H.265 encoding are mostly done with a dedicated coprocessor so it's super-duper efficient. It's one of the reasons that you'll rarely see any of them add a codec post-release. Dedicated silicon is also why encode/decode can be a lot faster on the computer, depending on which processor/GPU is in play.

I dunno - the V-Raptor [X] sensor seems to be a marvel of modern engineering - and while it's designed by RED's engineers, the semiconductor manufacturing is done by TowerJazz. And quite good, if not marvelous, the Komodo and Komodo-X sensors are also made by them and they are fantastic. Plus the GH7 sensor is, from everything I've heard, really really good. My guess is that it's largely a cost-based decision. The off-the-shelf part from Sony has much better economy of scale and it's "good enough" for most things. It's sort of the basis for the Z Cam business model - integrate high-end (though inexpensive) off-the-shelf components and write good software to glue them together. The entire E2 series is basically a wedding of Sony sensors with... I think it's Hisense? Anyway, with another off-the-shelf circuit board. They shove those things into a box and put a lens mount and teeny tiny screen on it. The majority of their R&D is in software. It's not hard to imagine somebody in Panasonic management looking at a price sheet and saying "We could integrate this TowerJazz sensor for $1,200 and get 10% better performance than the Sony sensor which costs $600. Either way, we're going to sell the camera for $3,800. Will we get enough extra sales based on 10% better performance to make up for a $600/unit shortfall?" That's even more the case when you are also supporting budget cameras like the S9 which basically demands a commodity sensor which will come from Sony. So you already have a team of engineers who are familiar with the ins and outs of Sony's sensors and having them also support (or having a different team to support) TowerJazz is also going to be expensive. I have no insight into the actual costs of either vendor, but if you're Red and were selling the Komodo for like $6,000 or $7,000 when it was first released, spending an extra few hundred bucks per sensor ain't so bad because you have enormous margin. BlackMagic are the real outlier here. They seem genuinely less interested in turning a huge profit per unit with their cameras. It's not to say the high end where they use Fairchild isn't expensive, but I'm still a little bit boggled by the UC 12K which, at $7,000 is a lot, but less than 2x an R5 Mark II. Other than the fact that my car's suspension groans when I set the camera on the passenger seat, that is. Well, that and offloading footage from the media module. They really need to release a single module reader with USB-C. Having to offload directly from the camera over 10gE is really silly. It means I'll have the CF Express module in my bag most of the time, just in case we need to offload on-site.

Counterpoint: Did Gerald ever make one? And didn't Panasonic quite literally just invite Andrew to review a camera, but he turned them down? It's a weird time to make that accusation. 😃

I don't have VR goggles, but I do have a 77" TV that's in my dark basement and I usually sit about 8-10 feet from it. I scooch up a bit closer when I want to preview how something will look on a big theatrical screen from 30-40 feet away. If I really want the full experience, though, I'll ask a friend to come chew popcorn and talk while I'm trying to watch it. 😉

Pyxis also does 72p open gate for not a lot more - though it can only do open gate 72p at 8K, 12k is limited to a mere 40. And the UC12K does 12k open gate at 80fps and 8k at 144fps. Komodo-X also does open gate at 80fps, though open gate on K-X is 17:9. All of those cameras support those framerates in raw. I think the S1 II can only do it in 10-bit or less formats, right? Not a deal-breaker, but another limitation. I don't know why anybody acts like shooting high FPS open gate is a hugely exciting feature, though. Is shooting slow motion 3:2 really a huge use case? For the sort of stuff that I shoot, we're usually delivering in scope and overcranking done rarely at best.

... and Black Magic seem to be able to source sensors from Fairchild. And Red from Towerjazz (or at least they did once?). Even if those are exclusive contracts, there are plenty of others able to make image sensors. https://us.metoree.com/categories/image-sensor/ At least in the case of BMD and Red, that also means that they have sensors that are a lot more interesting than others - with Red having a global shutter with similar DR performance (or superior in the case of V-Raptor) to non-global shutters used in most mirrorless cameras. And in the case of BMD, the RGBW sensor in the UC12K and Pyxis is fantastic and a great differentiator vs Sony's offerings. The catch is that there's a big upfront cost in development of those or other sensors and Panasonic are unlikely to invest that - instead focusing on extracting money from customers who are locked in to their mount and from technology licensing deals with Leica.

I've heard a few times that the sensor in the A7 IV is pretty fantastic, though I haven't used it myself. It makes perfect sense to put it in a cine-style body! Less sense to give it a mechanical shutter. Even less sense to do it... now? The A7 IV came out in 2021. Why wait 4 years to release the cine equivalent? And while I know that AI AF on the specsheet is AI Autofocus which has nothing to do with AI and everything to do with actually-useful ML, describing anything as "AI AF" automatically makes me not want it. 😉

Sort of, yes, but it's only a 24 megapixel sensor. The resolution in super 16 mode or super 8 mode would be pretty low. You'd be at 4k in S35, and closer to 2k in M43. 1:1 crop mode on the GH7 would be one of best right now for using S16 or Super 8 lenses. You'd still have decent resolution and probably not be at 720p or less.

Ah, maybe, but I'm saying they could release this exact camera at the same price, but with a different brand/form factor and influencers would go crazy for it. I'm not even trying to create my dream tiny 4k camera that uses my C and D mount lenses (that might be the altcinecam thingie). 😅

One thought is that if Panasonic want to charge a premium for their cameras, especially in this day and age, there's a straightforward path to it. So Panasonic/Lumix marketing folks, if you read this, here is a free suggestion: Panasonic were never huge in cameras until the digital age (yes, I know there were 35mm cameras and no, nobody has nostalgia for the C-D353AF or the C-D900ZM). So find an old film camera brand that people used to love, but is no longer made. Some of the big ones have been eaten by the competitors (e.g. Hasselblad/DJI), but the people who bought Rollei are producing junk with the name - but you could also consider someone like Bronica, Agfa, or Ansco. Or hell, Voigtlander is all lenses now. Maybe they want to sell bodies too. Or for film, you could try grabbing Bell & Howell from the vultures who have been using it to sell crap - or maybe Mitchell or Aaton? Don't think I've seen a digital Mitchell. So let's say Mitchell. So buy or license the beloved film camera brand. Now tweak your SOOC colors a little bit. It doesn't have to be a lot. Just... enough to make the images feel a little more nostalgic to people. I dunno, maybe make them a little browner and a little lower contrast. I'll leave the interpretation of nostalgic up to your capable engineers. Next, instead of a body format based on the design of a 35mm camera, go for a retro-styled look more similar to a Bolex or one of the more art deco-looking super 8 cameras. Think less "SLR" and less "box" and think more "ellipse." Then move away from drab product names that are just a soup of meaningless letters and numbers. Then give a proper release to the camera without getting people jazzed up in advance for something it isn't. When you announce the new Mitchell Fox Grandeur Digital Cinema Camera featuring the exact same feature list as the S1 II, you'll have influencers across the spectrum talking about how beautiful it is and the rich heritage of Mitchell cameras.

It's definitely a fair question. Fuji's is definitely not perfect, judging by my GFX 100 II, but it's generally usable. That seems similar to what I've seen/heard of the S1R II and S1 II (Media Division did some pretty decent real-world tests and... they weren't outstanding) And I'd put DJI's in a similar category, though it also requires the most comfort/familiarity, especially with the Focus Pro which uses a second camera with a second screen for control and because it's LIDAR-based, has a limited (but useful) range where focus even works at all. They're all better than Red's, though. Red's is in a category that I'd describe as "almost usable, but will probably break your heart if you try to rely on it." 😅 Sure, and Fuji with the GF 100RF as well at 5 grand. Though it's also not clear how many of them they're actually pumping out of the factory. It doesn't seem like they're shipping in thousands upon thousands of units.

I've been seeing on YouTube that some of the influencers have been going on about how great the old/small Panasonics were. If you want to see something really bonkers, look at current GM1 pricing - a lot of them going for about $500 in a kit with the 12-32. Since those went so crazy, now I'm seeing some from adjacent influencers saying "Hey, everybody! The GF* series is also really great and small and btw, some shoot 4K" so I'm not surprised they're going up now too.

You asked an easily-googled question and used phrases like "I don't pay much attention to new releases and am probably fairly behind but are there full-frame anamorphic lens options on the market just yet?" That phrase basically screams "do my research for me," as does the follow mention of the Blazar Mantis, a 1.33x anamorphic lens with an oval aperture and no autofocus, but in the context of "I thought I heard of..." which, again, is a thing that is easily resolved by yourself with a 10 second google search for "Mantis Anamorphic." As to the rest, lighten up, Francis. The point of most forums isn't for people to do simple google searches for you, but (hopefully) to have more interesting discussions. Asking things like "Does anybody have personal experience with the new Mantis anamorphics" or "Looking for experiences about the Blazar Apex autofocus anamorphic" might actually yield something interesting.

Ah, I missed that you said autofocus. Updated: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=1.33x+anamorphic+autofocus+full+frame In short, yes, some exist, and no, nobody here would have any insight as to the product plans for anamorphic lens manufacturers next year.

Are you actually gonna produce it? I'm ready to watch. Just keep in mind that outside of a fairly small community of camera nerds, nobody will really "get" it. If it were me, I'd try to make it more universal - could be a fashion influencer or similar. I'm sure that this pattern of stuff is really common among other influencer communities too - I'd think of like the Ezarik sisters who both do a bunch of lifestyle influencer marketing. They never met a robot vacuum, electric car, or new Apple release that they didn't love and showcase in a very postiive, nicely-lit, non-threatening way.

There are a number of full frame anamorphics on the market ranging from "affordable" to "costs more than a car." Otherwise, https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=1.33x+full+frame+anamorphic

As expected, Camera Conspiracies is not a fan. As always, it's recommended that fanboys of any system take his trolling with the biggest grain of salt.

I can speak to Resolve, but I'm sure that other editors can do it too. For something like the above, set your timeline to a 16:9 aspect ratio. Import your footage and set the pixel aspect ratio to 1.33, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, etc. Then in project settings, go to the image scaling tab. I believe you'd use "scale entire image to fit." Then you should have what you're looking for - output with black bars at the top and bottom where you can write things.

Is it really better than Fuji's? And DJI's is arguably better too. 😅

Tony and Chelsea are just excited for the chance to put out some sort of content other than Tony reading various rumor sites to the camera, dumb "what's the best camera" videos, sponsored software content, and insipid camera-vs-camera comparisons. Also, they seem to have made a huge mistake uploading that one to YouTube - they forgot to use the photo of Tony looking surprised in the thumbnail. Seriously - they're really channeling their old stock photography days with that one. It's on like 50% of their thumbnails.

Theoretically, this is true, but in some cases, manufacturers will raise prices across the board. In some cases, to subsidize a lower profit margin in the US while keeping the prices reasonable. The whole thing is a freakin' mess. Heck, Leica raised prices in Canada and the US despite that Canada added no new tariffs on them.

Some other bits gleaned from watching a few reviews: 4kp120 is at 1.17x crop, not full sensor width (from the Petapixel review) Autofocus is... still not quite Canon/Sony level (from the Media Division review) Dynamic range, especially with DRO on, looks very nice (from the MD review)

Part of the problem is that the difference in prices is enough that the impatient might just decide to ditch their Lumix gear and buy Nikon. "You can have the same sensor, but with worse RS and a little more DR, and btw, it costs almost 2x as much" is not the selling point that one might think.