Ninpo33

Yeah, I had hoped the S9 would get a raw output update at some point but I guess it could cannibalize the s5ii so I understand. But then Fuji goes and gives away the store for $800 so hey…

Update: Decided against the broken FP. With the X-M5 coming out for $800 and doing 12bit raw, hard to pass up.

Yeah, I’m always surprised more people aren’t as excited about the X-H2s as I am. I know there’s a bias against Super 35 still but the huge popularity of the FX30 shows me it’s not all Full Frame these days. For anamorphic shooting the 6.2k open gate is awesome. And ProRes? Amazing deal for $1,500 used right now. I’m looking at the specs of the new Fuji X-m5 and thinking it will make a great B or C camera to the X-H2s. My ideal traveling doc setup is going to be GFX 100ii - Stills and static video shots X-H2s - Action and gimbal, handheld. X-M5 - C cam third angle, street cam. I picked up a number of older Minolta AF lenses this year for really cheap and metabones makes a MAF to Fuji X speedbooster for them. Having the full set of lenses for peanuts including a lot of fast f/1.4 lenses is going to be fun to play with.

I applaud your devotion to ethical products but in 2024 this is not that easy. The global marketplace is a complicated beast and just because a camera label says something about where it’s assembled “made” you’re going to never know the true story of what is the most ethical choice. Huge companies like Panasonic and Sony are global players with products being made and sold all over. Trying to assign a value on the finished camera body which may consist of parts from China, rare earth conflict metals from Africa? Who knows at this point? And to the rest of your post, have you played with any Fuji products? Sounds right up your alley. The X-H2s sounds like it has everything you are looking for in a camera system with film looks and the sweet XTrans sensor. I love it. At the same time it’s important to remember that a clean and neutral image will always be a great starting place to grade into whatever look you want. Dehancer and the other software options can achieve most of what you are looking for with a few simple clicks with the added benefit of not locking in an image or burning in a particular look.

Hoping to get some insight here from Sigma FP users. I have been wanting to build out a mini FP cinema rig around something like the Cineback or Rigid Pro box style accessory for a while now. The problem with the FP in general is the lack of articulating screen and having access to menu functions once it’s built out. I found a great deal on one with a cracked screen. The screen on this cheap FP has a big crack down the middle so I’m looking to use an external monitor in place of the damaged one. I’m willing to play around with it but wanted to see if anyone here had some quick answers that could save me some time to see if it’s worth it. 1. Will an external monitor or Ninja V Recorder be able to control all functions of the camera without access to back LCD screen? What about an app? EVF maybe as a solution? 2. With no ability to press the menu button on the back bottom corner is there a way to access the menu system otherwise? Custom button remap or the Sigma app? Not sure it’s worth it but it’s otherwise in like new condition and at less than half market value I’m hoping to save the headless FP and put it to use buried in a box style rig. Alternatively I could look into getting the LCD replaced but would rather put that money towards accessories I’m going to need anyway.

If you insist on going Sony one nice setup I’ve seen good results with is using the controversial and cheaper Blazar Anamorphic lenses and adapters. A lot of people have issues with the quality of these lenses even though they are priced really well. The thing is, most of the issues are with the edges and the swirly, swimming look and extreme distortion. By shooting with the FX3 or ZV-E1 and cropping most of the edges off, you’re getting rid of the more extreme character and retaining a more useable final image. Another great option is shooting with the cheaper FX30 and using the APS-C crop to your advantage and essentially doing the same thing. The real mojo with the FX30 is going external though and recording RAW 4.7K (16:9) 4672 x 2628 mode. This slight bump in quality helps negate the crop in post and is a really good image.

Sounds like you don’t want to shoot with an external recorder? If you’re that concerned about camera size building out a 5” monitor/recorder you might need to give up something. And again, I think if you’re talking about anamorphic shooting you need to really focus on other aspects of the image and not obsess over things like highlight roll off. Namely the ease and quality of anamorphic friendly modes on any particular camera. Sony has no open gate or anamorphic modes so you are forced to use a 1.33x lens to achieve the proper final aspect ratio. You won’t have very much anamorphic character, bokeh or distortion but you will retain the maximum resolution. What most people do is use the 1.5x aivascope or other 1.5x lens to achieve a super wide desqueezed image and then crop off a huge are of the sides to get the proper scope aspect ratio. For something like the FX3 it’s useable and I’ve seen good results but it is not ideal. The 10mp 3840x2160 image on the FX3 is already cropped in from the full height sensor and then you’re going to crop in again to loose even more resolution by chopping off the sides in post. in late 2024 my money for anamorphic is on the LUMIX S5iix and the Fuji X-H2s. Both start out with a 6k open gate image which gives you a huge 9k-10k desqueezed image and when you resize down to your final deliverable format you’re really gaining some mojo. Heck, even the Older S1H and S1R are going to be better for anamorphic and image mojo and you’re going to be out of pocket $1,300 US or less compared to more than double the price of a Sony.

There is no way to turn down internal sharpening on Sony where as with Panasonic you can dial it down quite a bit and then mess with it later in post if so desired. Gerald Undone talks about this quite a bit as one of his main requests from Sony even on the higher end cameras like the A1. It could be a good thing or a bad thing just depends what you shoot and who it’s for. I like the more filmic image out of LUMIX for an easier color grade and have found it very time consuming to deal with the latest Sony cameras the last several years. Mostly skin tones and faces are troublesome with the exception of the more recent A1 and ZV-E1 which somehow have been less green and more neutral

I guess that includes over sharpened files with green color cast...

Agree on all points. You really can't beat it currently for features and price. I've even found a company that will put in OLPF filters in the S5ii and other cameras and am wondering if that might bring back some of the mojo some people are saying they really miss from the S1h vs newer S models...

You’re going in the wrong direction for everything you’re asking about. Sony is the image with no mojo and the clean clinical look. Very old sensor in all the cameras you mention and poor color science with green cast on faces. ZVe1 is fun and a good bargain and that’s a camera that has slightly improved color as well as many of the FX3 features for half the price. However anamorphic is not the strong suit and you’re going to throw away a lot of the resolution by cropping in on ultra wide image sides in post since there is no open gate settings. I’ve seen some nice results with the FX3 and Aivascope as well as the FX30 with Blazar lenses but you’re limited to 1.5x max so do some research. In my opinion you’re better off with Panasonic for these things or waiting for some new models from someone else. A7siii especially. Overpriced for its specs and poor color performance in late 2024. If the S1H 2 ever comes out it sounds like it will be a good choice for you.

Peta Pixel did a follow up review on the S9 recently I just watched yesterday. Now that the little zoom lens is out and they let go of the record limits they gave the camera another look. Surprisingly they ran the camera for 50 minutes or so with 0 overheating issues and until the battery went dead. I was surprised to hear that… Huge shift from 10 minutes of open gate shooting upon release. Even 4k 60 went for 50 minutes and finally gave an overheat warning but still functioned fine so that’s some great news.

There are a lot of people talking about it online that didn’t get it for free. Obviously there was the first wave of influencers that got it early but after people started buying it and posting. I’ve seen 5 or 6 YouTubers that review stuff from their own purchases or rentals. As someone who shoots 75% video and 25% stills or so, the S9 is a perfectly fine camera. It now can be picked up new open box for around $1,100 sometimes with a lens. Mini 6k open gate anamorphic footage with amazing IBIS is a deal for that price.

Specs are solid but that is not a “prosumer” camera. S9 is not a prosumer camera. FX30, FX3, X-H2s, S5iix is what I think most people would classify as “prosumer”. But camera companies have to sell cameras and for all I know, this is what needs to be done to sell cameras in 2024? It makes sense considering how we consume content these days.

While I agree and understand where you’re coming from, capitalism works a little differently than that. You have to remember, companies are dictated by the market and really need to be much more on top of things. They have to be two steps ahead if they want to survive to be around in 2 years time. There are so many factors that need to be managed to survive, public perception and marketing are big ones and Panasonic is blowing it right now. They don’t have a clear vision and it shows. There’s a lot of psychological factors involved and if people don’t trust where they’re going they will jump ship and look for what they need from others. For most of us, buying a camera isn’t just the body, it’s investing into the whole system. If you’re a professional that means maybe 2 or 3 cameras and then all the accessories, lenses… personally, I need to know that I’m making a good decision that will work for me and my team for 2 - 5 years and when that gear is starting to age it’s ready time for an upgrade. The image and experience with lumix is great but things are getting a little strange with the lack of news and latest releases. There’s been a pretty consistent and timely release of products over the years and for the first time in a long time, that schedule has been inconsistent and the focus has shifted. That promotes concern for those of us who are dialed in and ready for the next major flagship upgrade or need to adapt. And at the end of the day, it’s pretty simple, we like gear and tech and new shiny things. The camera world is very innovative and it’s growing and changing really fast. 32 bit float, lidar, IBIS, animal detect AF… it’s all moving quickly and 5 years is a Looooooong time.

https://www.newsshooter.com/2024/10/14/fujifilm-x-m5-camera-x-series-lenses-announced/ Looks like we’ve moved into the “social media driven” era for cameras and are doubling down on low price. I really wish companies would continue to support prosumer stuff and innovate instead.

Honestly, it’s just not the camera if you seriously need those features in 2024. A Fuji is there specifically for those shooters. It’s really a niche crowd in my opinion.

This x1000.

I agree. They have a real opportunity here to listen to the makers and continue to give us the specs we’re after. LUMIX has always given us so many features for the price and supported cinema features early on. Even maybe forcing some of the other brands to offer things they wouldn’t have. If they doubled down on that and started being more transparent they could foster a real creative community around their products that would spread to consumers at large. The Sony products are sterile and efficient tools but overpriced and lacking a lot. There’s no reason why LUMIX couldn’t have put out an FX3 and FX30 and dominated like the days of the DVX100. But it’s all about marketing and a plan and creating more around the brand. They are so close…

Oh trust me, I know all about half frame format, as I mentioned I just picked up a few more and have over 15 different vintage half frame cameras by Konica, Yashica and Olympus etc… My point was that Fuji has done a good job focusing on small retro styled cameras in the past and that’s been a successful strategy for them. I could see them using the current trend of gen Z loving all things analog and vintage and making a modern camera that “sells” the aesthetic. As you mention, Half frame puts two vertical images on a single 35mm frame so making a little 1” sensor fun camera with low res vertical images feels very likely compared to a whole new full frame camera. Add some film grain and Fuji looks in a small compact body sound like a camera gen z will Love.

I’ve recently picked up a few half frame cameras from the 1960’s…!!! Love the styling and the lovely black and chrome. All of these cameras have jumped up in price like all retro film cameras so I guess I could see Fuji understanding their market and giving people another pocketable fun camera. Like a Lomo, or maybe a new X100v trend. I don’t think I see them doing Full Frame at this point.

I was hoping they would come to their senses and do this for the first update. Still not for everyone of course. But at the used price of $1,000 it still a deal for what it can do and will be a nice little 3rd cam for me in the kit. Full frame pocket anamorphic with LUMIX stabilizing is really cool. Now I just need to get my little Yashica 1.5x dialed in and can have some fun.

While waiting for new cameras to drop in late 2024 I have been instead having a lot of fun playing around with vintage lenses. Excited to see how my new Yashica Scope 1.5x does on a bunch of new stuff arriving from Japan this week. The good news about all the new cheap Anamorphic lenses coming out recently means that the adapters are dropping to rock bottom prices again. Feels like 2010…!!! Rapido has no more small variable 8A diopters for the baby scopes and I fear they are going to be out of business soon. Would love to figure out a small solution to keep this little setup tiny. anyone have any ideas?

Good point. Also to add, if you’re a generation that grew up with reality television always being a constant, the look and feel of unscripted stuff feels very normal. I work a lot in reality television and have to really think back to when it wasn’t dominating the channels. I don’t like it and it’s trash but it pays the bills and allows me to pick up other creative narrative stuff when we’re not filming. I miss the good old days of quality cinema and seeing something like the Matrix or Fight Club or Seven and just having a paradigm shift in the way I saw the world.

Another vote for Camera Conspiracies. Doesn’t get everything right but he’s having fun and trying. Transparent and honest and not afraid to make fun of himself. Very refreshing in the 2024 Douchtube space. He will take a theory and go out and shoot to test it. I’m tired of camera reviews and gear videos but I watch these 5 channels pretty consistently and find inspiration here. Some thoughts below. Camera Conspiracies Kyle McDougall GxAce Stefano Federico Ed Prosser What drives me crazy these days is the lack of originality and this insane copycat culture. A trend will start and all these people jump on the craze and suddenly it’s everywhere. Over using promist and “cinebloom” filters. Low saturation and washed out grading to replicate film. Too much film grain added. Nostalgic for an era many of these gen Z never experienced. Holding the lav mic or transmitter in their hand while filming themselves. Using an old school handheld mic to be ironic and different. Neon tube lights behind them at their butcher block workbench desk from Home Depot. Then cutting to close up shots with the plastic engineering mat desk protector. It’s just gotten so, so boring to hear people read the camera specs to me off the website with no original thinking or unique take on any of it.