Sony New Camera Launch - 29th March 2023

[IronFilm]

4 hours ago, kye said:

Well, if that's what you want to do then don't let me stop you, but social media is bad for your health in many ways and something like this might be one of them!!

Oh I dunno, doing an Ironman each day doesn't seem to crazy to me?? 

When I was (kinda, not really) a "professional" cyclist then I'd 10hrs/day of cycling month after month after month. 

On the topic of cycling and Netflix, the biggest sporting event of the year just started this weekend!! Tour de France, and the greatest ever sprinter (arguably... greatest ever cyclist) is reading his last ever Tour de France, and there is currently right now a Netflix film being made about him, "Mark Cavendish: Never Enough":

https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81568626

Going to be released next month, once the race is over. A very quick turn around indeed!!!

Last month Netflix released another cycling doco on the Tour de France, about last year's race:

Been a lot of great cycling docos coming out lately, there just came out last month a documentary about America's first ever Tour de France winner (not just the first American, first ever non-European!!): 

This is a netflix cycling doco from a few years back, but is fantastic for any sports enthusiasts, not just cycling fans. Because it goes into a deep dive undercover look into doping (the filmmaker, Bryan Fogel, is himself a quite serious amateur cyclist, so he started out by doping himself!! ) : 

Team Jumbo-Visma did really amazing docos for their own YouTube channel during the last tour, such as: 

 

Just in general, it's amazing the very high standard of quality you can see from youtube channels covering various sports. Such as GCN Racing (why would I ever ever want to subscribe to a sports tv channel?? Youtube does it so much better than any broadcast tv I could get): 

https://www.youtube.com/@gcnracing

https://www.youtube.com/@gcn 

4 hours ago, kye said:

It also reminds me of the doco The Barkely Marathons which used to be on Netflix but doesn't seem to be available any more - if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it 🙂

oh yes, I've known about The Barkely Marathons for many many years! Being the super keen former runner I once was. 

But I reckon the Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Race (a kiwi woman won it last year! And set the race record) is a far far more impressive feat of human endurance racing than The Barkely Marathons is. At least the The Barkely Marathons are all completely over and done with in a rather short span of time. 

https://3100.srichinmoyraces.org/ 

https://youtu.be/0HusKjAhnvg

Only 49 people have ever completed this race! Why aim for climbing Mt Everest or going into outer space? When you could be a member of an even rarer club!! 😉

Perhaps my biggest regret from my sporting life is that I never raced an ultra marathon myself (although, I certainly ran longer than a marathon numerous times in training just for fun). 

 

[MrSMW]

I ran a 12k and walked 18k yesterday but now feel slightly inadequate…

3100 MILES?!

Even Forrest Gump would choke.

[IronFilm]

52 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Even Forrest Gump would choke.

Heh, I've had a few people shout that at me while I am running! I look a little like that. 

Have a facebook friend who has gone well past her 100th daily marathon in a row. she's gunning for the female world record (I think it is over 200 days in a row??). And her plans for after that? She wants to run the fastest ever length of New Zealand! (she used to hold the record, which she set back when she was a teenager, but someone else has recently broken that record) 

[kye]

7 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Only 49 people have ever completed this race! Why aim for climbing Mt Everest or going into outer space? When you could be a member of an even rarer club!! 😉

49 people??  That's WAY more than the Barkely Marathons...  only 17 people have finished that since 1989 😉 

(For anyone not familiar, the Barkely Marathons is essentially what a cross country race would be in hell, and was specifically designed so that high-achievers would be able to experience failure.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons)

Seriously though, the two races couldn't be more different, how fun.  I've never needed to do crazy things to find the limits of myself as a human being - just watching anything shot on film and then trying to colour grading your home video footage to match will show you your limits in about an hour!

[IronFilm]

The Barkely Marathons though is a bit like having a 100m race and saying "a requirement of the race is that you must be finished in under 9.7 seconds", of course only very very few athletes would ever be able to "complete" this race. 

I feel that's a bit of what The Barkely Marathons has done, to make it artificially even harder. As neither the distance or the terrain is outrageously super exceptionally hard when you compare it to some of the hardest ever off road ultra marathons there are in the world. 

It is the artificially extra very low time constraint (along with all the other weird things they do) which exist to great "the legend" which is The Barkely Marathons. 

[kye]

10 hours ago, IronFilm said:

The Barkely Marathons though is a bit like having a 100m race and saying "a requirement of the race is that you must be finished in under 9.7 seconds", of course only very very few athletes would ever be able to "complete" this race. 

I feel that's a bit of what The Barkely Marathons has done, to make it artificially even harder. As neither the distance or the terrain is outrageously super exceptionally hard when you compare it to some of the hardest ever off road ultra marathons there are in the world. 

It is the artificially extra very low time constraint (along with all the other weird things they do) which exist to great "the legend" which is The Barkely Marathons. 

Yes, I'd agree with that.  It's less in-keeping with the "how far and how fast can you go" ethos of endurance sports, and more a weekend event designed to not only challenge you physically but to challenge you on every level.  If the goal is to create an opportunity to fail then it fits, and it makes sense that it would take a very different form than the other ultramarathons around.  When I watched the original doco on it I didn't know much about them, but I was surprised to discover that ultramarathons are super common.

[IronFilm]

2 minutes ago, kye said:

but I was surprised to discover that ultramarathons are super common.

They are now!!! 

But back when I was a serious running (twice a day running training! Every day, all year round) then I think in my city (Auckland, the biggest by far in all of NZ) we only had one ultramarathon each year! 

It's only in the last 10-ish-ish years that ultramarathons have seen their massive boom in popularity. 

[ntblowz]

Seems like E1 have tweaked the sensor a bit vs A7S3 in terms of noise

 

 

[ntblowz]

Here is a fashion shoot video I did with E1 recently, I m definitely impressed with the colour.

 

 

[kye]

1 hour ago, ntblowz said:

Here is a fashion shoot video I did with E1 recently, I m definitely impressed with the colour.

 

 

Looks good - muted in a very appropriate way.

How did you handle the post workflow, especially colour grading?

Fashion is perhaps one of the genres that require the most "accurate" colour so that product colours reflect the actual products.  

[ntblowz]

15 minutes ago, kye said:

Looks good - muted in a very appropriate way.

How did you handle the post workflow, especially colour grading?

Fashion is perhaps one of the genres that require the most "accurate" colour so that product colours reflect the actual products.  

Thanks! I make sure my wb is correct, I also did custom WB with my budget vnd as it got this jaundice cast if using default WB set in camera, then add phantom lut with minor tweak in post.

I been using Capcut for those reels, it definite give finalcut and premiere a run for the money for reel videos, it can't do detailed adjustment vs those paid program but it's free and come with lots of effects to use.

[PannySVHS]

On 7/17/2023 at 8:42 AM, ntblowz said:

Seems like E1 have tweaked the sensor a bit vs A7S3 in terms of noise

 

Thanks for posting the video. From what I get, the E1 has less noise reduction so could be similar raw image quality as the FX6 in lowlight. The poster on youtube prefers an image with mush and less noise though. Different tastes:) But absence of the strong NR like in FX3 and A7S3 would be a huge argument for fans of the "organic" image. So that makes the E1 an interesting camera indeed. FX3 sensor readout speed, FF 60p, Lumix S1H image quality, A6000 size body, AF. Shutdown due to heat is unfortunate.

[ntblowz]

8 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Thanks for posting the video. From what I get, the E1 has less noise reduction so could be similar raw image quality as the FX6 in lowlight. The poster on youtube prefers an image with mush and less noise though. Different tastes:) But absence of the strong NR like in FX3 and A7S3 would be a huge argument for fans of the "organic" image. So that makes the E1 an interesting camera indeed. FX3 sensor readout speed, FF 60p, Lumix S1H image quality, A6000 size body, AF. Shutdown due to heat is unfortunate.

Yeah I like the option of using AI powererd denoiser in post than brute force approach that was typically done in camera.

FX3 should definitely get this option too since it is "cinema" line, unless it was baked in the process so there is no way to fix with firmware?

Still good to see that Sony does listen to some feedback when they prep the new machine, just sucks the old owner get left behind.

[MrSMW]

7 hours ago, ntblowz said:

FX3 should definitely get this option too since it is "cinema" line, unless it was baked in the process so there is no way to fix with firmware?

Does the FX3 still lack shutter angle and waveform? Otherwise for me, if I was starting afresh, it would be my pick for what I do, paired up with some other Sony offerings.

I have come to the conclusion that as much as I love my L Mount system, I’d chuck it all in right now for a Sony based one if a magic fairy waved that wand.

There’s a body for everything from the 6000 line, through the rangefinderesque A7C and if a fixed lens compact is your thing, R1R’s (or whatever it is called) are still available.

Then cinema cameras ranging from the junior FX30 through FX3 to FX6, not to mention the super-dedicated cinema cameras.

Stills or hybrid, A7iv, A7RV, A1, A9…

The fixed lens compact zoom ZV’s, the interchangeable lens ZV’s…

The most extensive line up of lenses, native and with others such as Tamron…

The only real disappointment for me with Sony is their rear LCD screens which are a bit shit compared with a lot of other competitors.

It would be a toss up right now for me to pair either a Nikon Z9 with a Z8, or an FX3 with an A7RV, with respectively a 28-75 and a 70-180 (which both line have available).

But having said all of that, L Mount I think will have something by next year that will leapfrog all of the above offerings for my needs, so I will keep the faith for now.

Because I don’t have the cash.

And because *spoiler* fairies do not exist.

 

[Django]

 

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

It would be a toss up right now for me to pair either a Nikon Z9 with a Z8, or an FX3 with an A7RV, with respectively a 28-75 and a 70-180 (which both line have available).

I've been messing around with the A7RV and I gotta say I really love it for those 61MP stills. Insane cropping power and resolves close to medium format. However the 8K is a little misleading, its got a 1.24x crop, maxes out at 25p, low bitrate 4:2:0 and a horrible 36ms rolling shutter. Alongside overheating that mode is almost unusable. 4K also has a crop by the way.

The Z8/Z9, R3/R5C blow it out of the water with no crop, internal RAW and fast read-out sensors.

That being said I'm still thinking of going all-in with Sony. FX3/FX30/FX6/A7S3/A7RV.. even the ZVE1.. pretty complete compact body line-up and of course the lenses to go along with. You do have to say goodbye to RAW or high resolution video specs.

Its tough because I'm still pretty invested in Canon glass and the R3/R5C/C70 ticks a lot of boxes but the closed RF mount is a concern plus I'm also tired of being split up in multiple ecosystems, just doesn't make sense.

[MrSMW]

2 minutes ago, Django said:

That being said I'm still thinking of going all-in with Sony. FX3/FX30/FX6/A7S3/A7RV.. even the ZVE1.. pretty complete compact body line-up and of course the lenses to go along with. You do have to say goodbye to RAW or high resolution video specs.

Compact body line-up works for me as do the lenses.

I'm interested in the hi res video specs for 'true hybrid' future work, ie, video, stills and stills from video, but the latter is not yet a deal-breaker for me and more a potential future option of interest.

I'd rather not go cropped video if I can avoid it as I prefer my stills and video to 'match' as closely as possible and I get that currently shooting FF 6k 30p, but not with 4k 60p which is cropped 1.5x. This will be a deal-breaker whatever I do next, whether it's with L Mount or someone else, ie, FF everything, zero crops.

All internal is also a deal-breaker for me because other than a cage/battery grip and a small shotgun mic, I'm not interested in rigging anything. Internal raw video comes into that category of 'true hybrid' and opens up the possibility of even shooting 100% video and pulling stills, but realistically, means min FF 6k 50/60p or 8k 50/60p.

Right now, if the fairy dropped the cash, Nikon as it best meets all my criteria, but if the internal raw/crop factor was removed from the equation, the Sony option.

With Sony, I'd still be concerned about those rear LCD's as I use them 100% and the difference between those on my S5ii and S1H are night and day with that of the S1H blowing away that of the S5ii without even trying.

With Sony, my choices of FX3 and A7RV would be the former, approx 85-90% video and the rest stills with the A7RV being the opposite, ie, primarily stills with a secondary video role.

[Django]

4 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Compact body line-up works for me as do the lenses.

I'm interested in the hi res video specs for 'true hybrid' future work, ie, video, stills and stills from video, but the latter is not yet a deal-breaker for me and more a potential future option of interest.

I'd rather not go cropped video if I can avoid it as I prefer my stills and video to 'match' as closely as possible and I get that currently shooting FF 6k 30p, but not with 4k 60p which is cropped 1.5x. This will be a deal-breaker whatever I do next, whether it's with L Mount or someone else, ie, FF everything, zero crops.

All internal is also a deal-breaker for me because other than a cage/battery grip and a small shotgun mic, I'm not interested in rigging anything. Internal raw video comes into that category of 'true hybrid' and opens up the possibility of even shooting 100% video and pulling stills, but realistically, means min FF 6k 50/60p or 8k 50/60p.

Right now, if the fairy dropped the cash, Nikon as it best meets all my criteria, but if the internal raw/crop factor was removed from the equation, the Sony option.

With Sony, I'd still be concerned about those rear LCD's as I use them 100% and the difference between those on my S5ii and S1H are night and day with that of the S1H blowing away that of the S5ii without even trying.

With Sony, my choices of FX3 and A7RV would be the former, approx 85-90% video and the rest stills with the A7RV being the opposite, ie, primarily stills with a secondary video role.

Sony seems like a bit of a step backwards for your needs. Again A7RV has cropped video, no RAW, high RS & FX3 has 12MP stills and 4K max resolution. Other than compact body/lenses you'd be compromising quite a bit for a complete system change.

Nikon Z8/Z9 ticks those boxes, so does Canon R3/R5C. FF everything, internal RAW, 6K/8K, high-res stills.

[kye]

 

[kye]

I'd forgotten that Matteo had a ZV-E1..  here are the other videos he has done with it.

and this was what he shot with the ZV1 (NOT the ZV-E1) - just as a comparison

 

[MrSMW]

50 minutes ago, Django said:

Sony seems like a bit of a step backwards for your needs. Again A7RV has cropped video, no RAW, high RS & FX3 has 12MP stills and 4K max resolution. Other than compact body/lenses you'd be compromising quite a bit for a complete system change.

Nikon Z8/Z9 ticks those boxes, so does Canon R3/R5C. FF everything, internal RAW, 6K/8K, high-res stills.

I’d go more ‘sideways’ with Sony as from a stills perspective, I’d say ahead, video behind but lenses ahead.

Canon R5c no IBIS so out of the picture for me. I do really like the R3 though!

I am just going to sit on my fence for the rest of this year though as happy with what I currently have for my current needs + big extra tax bill of 14k dumped on me because someone at the tax office made an error in their calculations last year. Plus just want to see what happens in L Mount land for next year.

One thing is certain and that is I will change something up next year and it will either be, in order of expectation:

Swap my S5ii’s for S2H’s, or even Sigma may spring a surprise…

Back to Nikon after 13 years.

Then Sony.

Outside chance of Canon.