Review of the year, 2020 - THE YEAR FROM HELL!!

[Andrew Reid]

Here's my review of 2020 in cameras / filmmaking. Doesn't make for easy reading so take a stiff gin with you to this article...

https://www.eoshd.com/news/a-review-of-the-year-2020-by-andrew-reid/

[BTM_Pix]

Dear 2020,

 

[zerocool22]

Yeah I hope to shoot again in 2021, as 2020 has been a dud shooting wise. Allthough 2020 was not a bad year for me, got way more time for the family, got to work from home saved me a countless hours of travel/traffic/getting ready.

I do kinda agree with Tom Cruise though, I think you would be pissed off as well, if you are investing millions into a movie, changing heaven and hell to work around the virus and then some people neglect the safety rules, which could end up shutting down the movie, putting a lot of families in financial trouble. I get annoyed as hell from watching TV where the speakers are not respecting the covid rules. Sitting too close togheter, not wearing any masks etc. Its not that hard.. Dont do it for yourself, but do it for your family, your friends, the healthcare, your job. Each infection has the potential to create a new lockdown, its a vicious circle. If everybody just took necessary precautions we would already be out of this mess. 

When in the future an even more super deadly virus breaks out, I will not wait on the goverment or anybody else to take action, as it turns out A LOT of people are unresponsible (including friends, family, coworkers, goverment,...). And the only option is to isolate yourself completely. I don't want to sound like a prepper nutjob. But I think everybody can take their own conclusion about human kind in general. 

[SteveV4D]

1 hour ago, zerocool22 said:

 Each infection has the potential to create a new lockdown, its a vicious circle. If everybody just took necessary precautions we would already be out of this mess. 
 

But what are necessary precautions?  No one Country or Health department can agree.  I've had relatives catch the virus just shopping for food.   You either shut down the World and ruin the Economy or accept the deaths.  Or choose the balance in-between, which does damage to both.  Its an easy get out by so many to think that following the rules could defeat a virus.  Especially as the rules differ depending where you are.

There was only one way out and thats with a vaccine.  Lockdowns and restrictions are simply short term remedies but not by any means an end to the mess.  

[independent]

Hybrid camera of the year: Canon R5, the NSX to the A7Siii's Accord
Video camera of the year: Sony FX6, the Tom Cruise to the C70's unChristian Bale
Audio product of the year: Tentacles Sync Track E, Zaxcom version
Biggest Innovator: Apple. M1 (agreed) will push all editing machines and software, but Apple has also promoted pro/cutting-edge features in its iPhone such as Dolby Vision, Lidar autofocus, IBIS, which challenge standards even in the pro industry. AI and machine learning, though not exclusive to Apple, will definitely change post-production processes in the very near future.

2020 was a great year in filmmaking tools that make the job easier. Now, getting jobs.

[MrSMW]

I think no one can dispute that 2020 sucked balls and especially for creatives.

I personally managed around 5% of my booked work with the rest either postponing to ‘21 or cancelling outright.

Some of those re-booked ‘21 jobs are already postponing to ‘22 and I am pretty sure that at least the first 1/2 of the year will either bail out of fear, or because they have to.

Social media is mostly a cancer to me. Was prior to the virus and even more so now.

I think the virus has done as much damage if not more so from the fall out and behaviour of others as the disease itself.

I largely ignore the news. It is near pointless to consume and 90% doom & gloom and is another form of cancer itself.

Cameras and gear, yep, it gets less interesting year on year but at the same time, with so much free time last year, like many others, I may have over-indulged.

I think maybe I am more like Andrew than I previously realised...

Nowhere near as political or opinionated 😉  but Sony leaves me cold and I am a fan of Fuji, Panasonic and Leica, plus the new Sigma lenses.

So 2021...

My main wish is my industry (destination weddings in France) actually gets back on track this year because otherwise I do not have a business or an income which would mean unless supported by the state, I am fucked.

If it does...and it’s still a big if, I am currently aiming for an S5 based system for my hybrid work. Intrigued by the new Sigmas; 35 f2, 65 f2 and 105 f2.8, I’d like to use them if after testing, they work for me.

The hardest task for this new year is probably trying to remain as positive as possible (or at least not negative) and that means keeping up avoiding the news and social media as much as possible.

But otherwise, a HNY to all.

[Oliver Daniel]

@Andrew Reid, I agree. 

2020 was a behemoth of a challenge. Mentally it’s been awful but I think I’ve done well to persevere and pursue a change in direction.

2021 doesn’t change anything, it’s just a number. I’ll just continue and crack on. 

You’re right about Youtube. Anything that becomes oversaturated starts spitting out trash so it’s harder to see the better layers underneath. Many camera “reviewers” spend half a video giggling and skateboarding. They don’t represent the industry and make it feel glamorous. It isn’t. We don’t have to watch them. I don’t anymore. 

The A7SIII is definitely my camera of the year. But now I’ve used it, I’m not sure how much better they can get. I feel like they have plateaued. How will the GH6 appeal now? I see it being the last one in that series. 

I feel the camera companies should focus on quality of the image. Not resolution, just the “meat and sauce” of the image. The codec quality. The user experience quality. .The connectivity options.

But all in all, although us users crave the next gadget, we don’t absolutely need them to make great stuff. I hope more people seek their inner creative, improve their skills and speak own their voice - instead of licking their lips over an iJustine advert *cough*, I mean review. 

Also, I hope more people spend less time online. It’s mostly not good for you and can be counter productive, and damaging to your mental health. 

Get out and shoot @Andrew Reid, show your voice and ignore the commodity that plagues your mind. Maybe change your editorial for EOSGD a bit, and focus on the inner creative aspect. 

[Matins 2]

Such a great image.

Definitely not optimistic about 2021.

[PannySVHS]

My camera of the year, is the quasi S5, my Lumix S1, though from last year! After the update with internal 6K, external Prores RAW and internal 4K 60p 10bit it is state of the art. Best image in town below 6000 USD.

My other camera of the year is my vintage Sony PMW F3. To me EOSHD was always about regeneration of senses, relaxation and inspiration. Never about industry or pandemics.

The pandemic is a monster, so is the responsible lifestyle of billions of people, which exploiting resources, animals, humans and health. It would be possilbe to have a completely different quality of living in this world. This assurance is a source of hope. Art is hope. Cinema is art. Or is it? Cinema is cinema. That´s all to it. A lot of people are doing good things. The monsters have always been raging. Now the world has this: youtube hyperbole and AI pushing agendas.

Give cinematic findings more curation, give nerdy gems more curation and exposure! @Andrew Reid Don´t worry about Youtube. The crappy part of youtube will implode some day. Gems like this as have been posted on this forum on threads such the "digital super8 eos-m" one. Happy New one, dear friends! 🙂

 

[Gandulf]

It's been a weird year but I can't complain.

We once again how incompetent our governments were, and that it's "do as we say, do as we do" as we saw plenty of them break the rules, which would result in fines if they were just regular citizens. I'm no tinfoil hat person, but in many places (mostly speaking about Europe) the coronavirus is used to monger fear and some of the new regulations have nothing to do with Corona anymore, just a wacky power trip to take away our freedoms (can't film cops anymore in France) and getting as much money out of people's pockets.  All you see in the news is covid, covid, covid although in Belgium three times more people died from cancer and heart attacks. We don't see banners pop up every ten seconds about how bad smoking is, or one newspaper article out of 2 that obesity kills.  Our hospitals don't have the capacity because the same minister of health that is imposing drastic lockdowns and huge fines and other crazy stuff cut through health budget years ago, something he will never mention.  Also, old people die, that's how life has worked since ever.

The news feels rigged. Social Media is rigged. I got fact checked on facebook about a comedy sketch about Covid and blocked for 7 days. I don't share conspiracy bullshit, this was, pure comedy. Everywhere on social media there are banners about Covid, if you mention it in on facebook, there will be an extra warning in a window. If a video is about covid on youtube, it's surrounded by banners and also has a mention of "learn more about the WHO vaccine trials". Yup, I know it's there, no I don't wanna be sick, but I also don't wanna be spammed/attempted to be brainwashed 300 times a day. Where did the hot milfs in my area go? At least they sounded fun.

Youtube is an advertising platform with content, not the other way around.  But as influencers are afraid to speak up about shortcomings, we only get "awesome" "focus on the good things" results as they are part of the marketing ploy of the big companies. That's why on the release day of a camera, suddenly you will see 50 different tech reviewers review the same products, clickbait titles and filling the air with as many possible words to have their video as long as possible. Oh, and plenty of them don't know half what they're speaking about, are mediocre camera operators at best, and some are literally worse than dogshit.

 

[k-robert]

Happy New Year to you Andrew! 

Thanks for you effort to make our "camera world" better. Unfortunately you are up to some enormous interest, surrounded by ignorants. But being honest and stand up for that, has never been easy. Keep up this important work. 

Concerning 2020.... I think this graphic illustrates best, what many of us feel.
Good Bye 2020, We Won’t Miss You! 
Found on https://www.fujirumors.com/good-bye-2020-we-wont-miss-you-and-best-wishes-for-2021-to-all-of-you/ 

[fuzzynormal]

On 12/31/2020 at 1:57 PM, SteveV4D said:

choose the balance in-between

Therein lies your answer.  Mitigate the threat seriously (which we do not do in the USA) and continue on as much as possible.  A new disease is going to wreak havoc.  Decent leadership tries to help minimize the trauma of it.  Bad leadership makes it worse.

Brasil vs. New Zealnd for example.  USA vs. Japan.

[fuzzynormal]

11 hours ago, secretgoldfish said:

I would have yelled at the boss instead for not providing enough monitor budget requiring two people to have to share one instead and thus bring about the end-of-days!

FWIW, he is the boss.  His company is making that film.

[fuzzynormal]

On 1/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Gandulf said:

about how bad smoking is, or one newspaper article out of 2 that obesity kills.

Is this a variation on post hoc ergo propter hoc?

[etudiant]

In all honesty, the entire sector is bleeding and no one is sure about their longer term survival. So everyone is frightened.

That does bring out the worst in corporate behavior, exemplified by Canon's really wretched handling of their R5 video performance issues. I like to believe that they would have responded better in a less difficult environment. 

As is, the R5 is apparently a fine photography camera and a decent, albeit quirky video camera. That is better than 'worst of the year' grade, even though your own Canon R5 experience may have been the hands down winner in that category.

I've no brilliant thoughts on resolving this, but Andrews selection of the M1 as the innovation of the year does seem a watershed moment to me. When the top innovation in photography is a pixel manipulation tool, rather than a lens or a sensor, the world has changed.

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

I am really enjoying the M1, in the form of the MacBook Air. It isn't proving to be 100% reliable though. A few software updates away from that I think. The external monitor support is dodgy. I cannot get over 4K30hz out of the USB C to a USB C display, nor via USB C to DisplayPort. The monitor is 4K/60z, and the only way to get it to work is to go USB C to HDMI. That's not normal, and it has had a few Kernel panics as well with the USB C hub plugged in and charging via that. So not perfect, but it's just so damn fast. I have about 25 tabs open in Safari, and it never chokes. The memory management and multitasking is just another world away from Intel. Everyday tasks are a breeze. My MacBook Pro 16" 2019 just can't keep up. It suddenly feels laggy, hesitant, just little pauses and hangs here and there where the Air M1 is as responsive as an iPad, yet the full blown Mac OS. Amazing. It cuts through 4K 10bit H.265 like it is 1080p. Even Premiere, emulated Intel x86, performs admirably on par with a top of the range iMac Pro 27".

[newfoundmass]

It was a disastrous year for an event / wedding shooter like me. I hope that things get better by summer but I don't have a ton of faith after the shit show these last 10 months have been. The way the US has handled this has been utterly embarrassing, and it's not just the government either. The selfishness, greed and ignorance I've seen has been brutal. I always knew it was there, but it has been impossible not to be beaten over the head by it every single day. And those aren't political statements, they're facts to everyone except the deluded cultists of he who shall not be named.

 

Good riddance to a truly awful year. Here's to a better 2021 for all of us. 

[h00b00]

Agree with the list.

A7S III really is the ultimate camera to save up for and the defining feature for me (didn't expect it at all) was the 9ms rolling shutter and the amazing catalyst stab. The S5 is the next best thing although I wanted it to be Fuji.

For 2021, I hope X-H2 (or maybe Sigma fp2) comes out with 12-bit 4k60p RAW CDNG out to a USB-C SSD. Don't like microHDMI/bulky atomos/no-proresraw-in-resolve shenanigan.

Also, more unique camera tests from EOSHD! I miss the days when Andrew used to post music videos that he shot with the cameras he'd test...my fav being the Herdwhite video shot on Olympus EM...something 🙂 

[ntblowz]