Canon R6V & Sony 100-400 RUMORS! Gerald Undone's RETIRING?! RAWtalk 194

Summary

FroKnowsPhoto Photography Podcast – RAWtalk 194

Episode: Canon R6V & Sony 100-400 RUMORS! Gerald Undone’s RETIRING?!
Date: April 24, 2026
Hosts: Jared Polin ("A"), Stephen Eckert ("B")

Episode Overview

This episode dives into:

• The impact and logistics of the Fund a Photographer project
• Gerald Undone’s (unexpected?) retirement from camera YouTube
• The defection of Nikon Ambassador Dixie Dixon to Canon
• First impressions and skepticism about GoPro’s new Mission One camera line
• Immediate rumors on the Canon R6V and Sony 100-400mm f/4 lens
• Reflections on the business side of content creation and gear purchases
• Updates on “Born to Bowl” HBO show, lightning trips abroad, and more

Jared and Stephen blend behind-the-scenes insights, banter, and strong opinions on gear, the changing photo community, and YouTuber burnout.

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Key Segments & Insights

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1. Fund a Photographer Project: Gear for Those in Need

[00:00–06:58]

• Massive Gear Delivery: Jared describes a large FedEx drop of 36 boxes for the charitable project, highlighting FedEx’s rare pre-delivery call.
• Upgrading the Community: Lots of legacy EF glass, some RF bodies—aiming to help both young and underrepresented photographers who can’t afford upgrades.
• Transformative Impact:
  • "You go back to Cayenne...he's now shooting for Getty. Wouldn’t have happened without the gear" – Jared [03:21]
  • Also mentions Christian (now shooting Penn State sports) and Cam (touring with major artists).
• Adapters Needed: Struggles with getting enough EF->RF adapters for recipients.
• Behind the Videos: Only ~5% of gear giving is filmed—most is off-camera.

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2. Gerald Undone’s ‘Retirement’ from Camera YouTube

[07:00–20:58]

• Breaking News:
  • "Gerald Undone, the other day, put out a YouTube video...I’m retiring." – Jared [07:36]
• Nature of Retirement: He’s quitting “camera YouTube” for burnout and the realization that "all new cameras are just great," making ultra-technical testing less relevant.
• Content Creation Philosophies:
  • Gerald = technical, hyper-detailed reviews
  • Fro team = real-world tests, personality-driven, practical applications
  • "If you absolutely despise what you do...then you have to make the change, regardless of whether or not you make money." – Stephen [09:34]
• Burnout & Business Choices:
  • Jared reflects on how their business model (presets, guides) makes abrupt shifts much harder compared to an independent creator.
  • "It's hard to just up and leave and pivot to something else...there’s mouths to feed." – Stephen [12:26]
• Notable Quotes:
  • "I’m surrounded by objects that don’t bring me joy. This is theater and I don’t want to do it anymore." – Quoting Gerald Undone, via Stephen [19:16]
  • "He almost didn’t want to be [at the a9.3 event]. You could tell he was kind of almost over it then." – Stephen [20:25]
• Plans to Interview Gerald: Jared wants a deep-dive podcast, focusing on business pivots and post-niche survival.

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3. Dixie Dixon Switches from Nikon to Canon

[20:59–29:51]

• Context:
  • Dixie Dixon, a Nikon Ambassador since 2012, leaves for Canon—now an Explorer of Light.
  • Fro signals this is more about industry image than moving the market.
• Ambassadors’ Real Impact:
  • "Ambassadors today don’t really move the needle for the photo community." – Jared [21:44]
• Role Explained: Ambassadors create real campaign/media content for brands’ marketing—not just influencer work.
• Why Switch?
  • Dixie’s motivation: business opportunity and features (Jared teases "printers" as a key factor), promises a follow-up interview.
  • "It’s not like an athlete has never left a team and signed a deal with another team in the league." – Jared [26:36]
• Notable Quote:
  • "She’s not gonna get worse photos because she went to Canon." – Jared [27:12]

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4. Travel, Born to Bowl, and Lightning Trips

[29:52–38:09]

• Jared recaps filming, and wrapping up “Born to Bowl” on HBO—episodes are all now bingeable, but critique is the series is “too short.”
• Discusses flying to London for just 48 hours; Stephen questions why Jared never stays longer to explore. Jared’s philosophy: “I want to work, I want to create.” [32:55]
• "Six hours. It’s the same as going to remind..." – Jared, minimizing long-haul travel fatigue
• Soccer photo stories: Boosting morale by catching “the one good shot” [35:01].
• Observes British stadium trash talk:
  "You fucking cunt. You suck, get off the pitch, you cunt." – Jared [36:44]

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5. Business Realities: Gear, Criticism & Strategy

[38:10–47:02]

• DIY 'Shopping Spree' at B&H: Jared details the behind-the-scenes reasoning for spending nearly $20k deploying a new employee (Austin) with all necessary gear (computers, storage, monitors).
• Pushback: Community criticism focused on environmental concerns and "arrogance.” Jared’s response is blunt:
  • "I don't recycle. How about them apples?" [41:31]
  • "The haughty, arrogant way you spend your money disgusts me...Good taste and modesty were simply not welcome.” – Reading viewer comment [43:00]
• Defending Investment:
  • Buy once, cry once principle—better to buy quality gear upfront for efficiency and longevity.
  • "If you don’t need it, don’t buy it...You’re still spending out of 10 grand, you’re still spending 6700.” – Jared [46:15]

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6. GoPro Mission One Line: Skepticism & Alternatives

[47:23–54:05]

• GoPro’s New Line: Mission One: $599–$699 range (with lens & interchangeable Micro Four Thirds mount version).
• Skeptical on pricing and practicality: For $700+, “you’re veering into real camera territory.”
• "I think this is a fail. I think GoPro is in trouble with this one.” – Jared [51:05]
• Compares with Insta360, DJI Osmo alternatives—suggests the real value is in proven compact systems, especially for creators who don’t need rugged action cams.

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7. Rumor Roundup: Canon R6V and Sony 100-400mm

[54:09–64:07]

Canon R6V:

• Leaked Specs: Possibly a “V” variant of the R6 mark III, targeting creators with 7K open-gate, IBIS, and more (launch rumored May 13).
• Surprise at IBIS:
  • "Usually the V lineup doesn’t have IBIS—here, it might." – Stephen [54:54]
• Potential Pricing & Market Crowding:
  • "If it’s $2,500, it’s way too close to the R6 III and renders it pointless." – Stephen [56:00]
• Questions on body size, kit lens, target market.

Sony 100–400mm “F4” Rumor Debunked

• Correction:
  • Sony Alpha Rumors walked back claims of a 100–400mm f/4 coming soon—likely a 4.5 instead.
  • “You’re crazy to think it would be 10 grand [for an F4]...But that’s what it would be.” – Jared [62:12,62:50]
• Impact & Opportunity: 100–400mm f/4.5 would offer a manageable, pro-level lens for wildlife and action shooters without ultra-premium price or size.
• Notable Quote:
  • "A constant aperture 100-404.5 is going to be, if it's real, super sweet, and I think it's going to be a highly sought-after lens." – Jared [61:46]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It's hard to just up and leave and pivot to something else...there’s mouths to feed." – Stephen [12:26] (on business realities for creators)
• "I’m surrounded by objects that don’t bring me joy. This is theater and I don’t want to do it anymore." – Gerald Undone, quoted by Stephen [19:16]
• "You suck, get off the pitch, you cunt." – Jared, on UK soccer crowds [36:44]
• "If you absolutely despise what you do...then you have to make the change, regardless of whether or not you make money." – Stephen [09:34]
• "She’s not gonna get worse photos because she went to Canon." – Jared [27:12]
• "I think this is a fail. I think GoPro is in trouble with this one." – Jared [51:05]

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Timeline of Important Segments

• [00:00–06:58] Fund a Photographer project & impact stories
• [07:00–20:58] Gerald Undone retirement analysis
• [20:59–29:51] Dixie Dixon switches to Canon
• [29:52–38:09] London trip, show updates, British banter
• [38:10–47:02] Gear buying, business defense, and B&H shopping spree
• [47:23–54:05] GoPro Mission One skepticism
• [54:09–64:07] Canon R6V leak and Sony 100-400mm lens rumors

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Final Takeaways

This episode is overflowing with frank industry talk and inside baseball for camera users, YouTubers, and business-minded photographers. Major shifts like Gerald Undone’s burnout—and the realities of niche content creation—get real, while the fun of giving away gear and skepticism over cringey gear launches keep things grounded. Whether you’re in for specs, business strategy, or just the banter, this episode covers all bases.

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End of RAWtalk 194 Summary

Transcript

[A]

Stephen, I'll be right there to record. All the funder photographer boxes came and I gotta get them in because it's about the rain. Sorry for the delay, Steven, but FedEx decided to drop off 36 boxes of fun day photographer stuff a little early. But the good thing was FedEx actually called me prior to them coming out just to make sure someone was here. And that to me is exactly what they need to do. Especially when they're sending someone out with 36 boxes.

[B]

So usually when I have like a freight delivery, they always call ahead of time.

[A]

This isn't freight.

[B]

Yeah, but it's close enough. It's a whole truck.

[A]

But it's not freight. It's Express 1030. I don't know what they spent on this stuff because it's 36 boxes of gear.

[B]

You actually unloaded that really fast.

[A]

Well, so I told Austin not to be here till like 10:20. They showed up at 10. When they called me, I called and had Austin come over. By the time time Austin got here, all of the boxes, I already had them loaded into the side yard with the help of the FedEx guy. But then I needed help getting them into our secret loading, unloading basement of a facility that is super secret and fortified. And he helped with that just as it started to rain when all the boxes were outside. This is like the fourth round of fun to photographer gear in the last. Was it before pan? It had to be. No, it was right at the pandemic.

[B]

Ah, during the pandemic building.

[A]

Yeah, but that's only two years and it's been the. It was during the pandemic because when we interviewed my teacher, he was wearing a mask. I was wearing a mask. So that's when the gear came in. So anyway, this round of gear is. I mean we're getting into the, we're getting into the good stuff. And I'm not talking about glass, I'm talking about. We started to get RF bodies that are like holy Jesus. Yes, they're six years old. But you're like really?

[B]

The funny thing is all of the older mirrorless cameras from like I'd say 2020 and on still really hold up. Like I think of the A1, you know, that's still an incredible camera. The R5, obviously the R6, the Z8 and the Z9, you know, they're four and a half years old at this point. And I think of the A7 III too. That's a, you know, a seven year old camera. Yeah, still one of the greatest cameras ever released.

[A]

Yeah, that Was a. That was. That was one of them. We got a ton of EF glass. No RF glass just yet, but I have a feeling that that might be coming in the next batch that we end up getting. And we are going to be able to help so many young photographers, and not just young photographers. Photographers that couldn't make the transition, can't make the transition. And this is going to help them tremendously.

[B]

Do we have adapters for EF to rf?

[A]

No, I'm in the process of figuring that out. Whether I buy them from Brandon at Alan's camera directly or.

[B]

Or.

[A]

Or Canon's able to hook us up with some sort of discount. But I'll probably have to drop a couple grand to get a bunch of adapters to just at least get people set or. For $139 or whatever it is people can get. And all they need is one adapter. They can leave that on the body and just change the lenses. And that's. I mean, that's going to be insane

[B]

for those that are unaware, which I feel like you probably are if you listen to this podcast. But if you want to check out all the fund A photographer videos on YouTube, there is a playlist dedicated to those videos. They expl.

[A]

And that's. And we've been able to do that. We have a bunch of videos where we've helped. I mean, you know, you go back to Cayenne, and Cayenne is now shooting for Getty. And he wouldn't have been shooting for Getty if he didn't have access to the gear that we were able to help him get, because that allowed him to focus on shooting more with better gear, better glass. And now he is officially with Getty

[B]

and Christian, I think of too, who's now in college. He's shooting the shit out of Penn State sports and he's doing incredible work still. And I think of Cam, who wasn't necessarily part of the fund, a photographer part. But we did gift him a lot of gear from Apple and helped him further his career in photography. And now he's on the road with all these incredibly huge, massive touring artists

[A]

that I've never heard of that are the biggest in the world, because I don't understand that. But he is in Japan right now, I saw. And then he's. All he's done is traveled the world for the last three, four, five years. I think he was doing some Kanye stuff. Not that that's a Whoop Dee Doo anymore, but. But he's. He's with. He's like the go to on the road to get a guy. He goes with that Rod Wave guy who I've never heard of. Seriously Couldn't name a song from Rod Wave, but the guy's selling out arenas. 18,000 seat arenas, so good for him. So hopefully Cam is racking up the. Racking up the dollars and, and, and just he's out there crushing it. So.

[B]

And he's what, 21 maybe?

[A]

Yeah. He didn't go to college. He didn't need college.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Now, before we get too far, here's what's coming up in this week's podcast. We've got undone is retiring. We're talking about Gerald Un done what that means. And I might also get him on a podcast in the future to hear it from the horse's mouth. Dixie Dixon leaves Nikon for Canon. Ooh, the photo news fix talked about that. Where he. Where. Where I talk about Canon stole from Nikon.

[B]

She went to the dark side.

[A]

I have what? Yeah, yeah. I have one of two titles that we could use. Talk about season one of Born to Bowl has ended. People always make a big deal about me flying places for a short amount of time. Talk about the B and h shopping spree, GoPro prices, their Miss One line, and Canon rumors for an R6V are now out there. Oh, I guess we should also mention that the Sony Alpha rumors is saying that the 100 to 400 is not an F4. And we will talk more about that by the end of this episode. So, anyway, to wrap up the fund, a thing really appreciative of Canon allowing us to do this and trust us enough to make this a reality and help people. And it's. It's great. It helps them because they look great. It helps us because one, it looks great, but we also get to help people. And it feels so good giving the gift of photography.

[B]

And also, we only film maybe, what, like, 5% of the actual interactions with funded photographer recipients. There's a lot of gifting that goes on without needing to tell the world.

[A]

Yeah, I sent a 328 to a photographer that I met at a Phillies game recently. She shoots for the Washington. Whatever the hell they're called. The hell are they called?

[B]

You get a lens. You get a lens.

[A]

Basically. You know, I asked what she shoots with because she was shooting with Sony, because that's what the team shoots with. But she told me personally she shoots with Canon. And I was like, yeah, do you have any long glass? She's like, no. I was like, do you want some long glass? She's like, that sounds too good to be true. I'm like, I know, but it's not. Do you want a 300 or a 200 to 400? Pick one.

[B]

How many people have you converted to Canon with this Funda photographer project?

[A]

I mean, it's not a matter of trying to convert people. I mean, Kyan is notable just by

[B]

simply gifting them more gear that might suit what they're shooting. Have they converted?

[A]

Cayenne is like a big one because he had a Z9 and he had a D6. He had an old 400 which was going to die at some point, and he made the jump. But Geddy is all canon anyway, so being able to hook him up with a 400 to 611 to 24, 24 to 70, 70 to 200 we gave him. We hooked him up. And so if you can go check out Cayenne's fund a photographer, you'll see all of the stuff he ended up with. But let's move on to the Undone thing, because this, this hits close to home. Gerald Undone, the other day, put out a YouTube video that's not a farcical video that says, I'm retiring.

[B]

He's officially done.

[A]

Oh, oh, oh. Dead on. Get Undone.

[B]

I was waiting for him to, like, intro it like, I'm done, or end it with, like, and I'm officially done.

[A]

All right, so Undone puts out this video, and it's not the first time that I think he's hinted at being fed up with the camera review world. He mentions that cameras have gotten to a point where they're all just great, and I don't need to go into these super long tests that are super technical to do. Now, Gerald and us, you and I, we have different types of content. Gerald is a super technical guy that breaks down all of the technicalities of these cameras and does super tests that I will never do. We're more of a practical take it out into the real world, shoot things and report back. Some people just absolutely love having the technical aspect, and that's totally fine. There's a great niche and an area for that. But it seems like in the past couple of years, Undone has done less videos, taken more hiatuses, and it just seems like he's kind of fed up. And that's exactly what we got out of his I'm retiring video and more

[B]

fed up with the camera YouTube world. Not so much YouTube itself.

[A]

Well, you never know. We know how it is on the back end.

[B]

Well, he says that he's not quitting YouTube but he's simply retiring from camera YouTube. That is his, like, exact quote.

[A]

Yeah. Which is a tough thing. We've seen it. We've seen people do this in the past. I hate it as. And I've got questions for him. And by I, meaning Stephen has sat down and thought of questions before I've had a chance to sit down. When I'm gonna talk with Undone later in the day today and really just talk about. We're gonna talk about, is this a good business decision? Does it even matter? Because when you and I were talking the other day, when he made the decision, we're like, if you absolutely despise doing what you do and you don't wanna do it anymore, then you have to make the change regardless of whether or not you make money.

[B]

It's just like quitting a job or switching careers. Like, you know, if you absolutely hate it, if you hate waking up every day and thinking about camera YouTube, then it's time for a switch. We all get burned out to a certain extent, but, I mean, he's really frying over there, it seems.

[A]

I will say that, you know, you and I have had this conversation a bunch where I thankfully have staved off burnout for a while. There was a mental shift that happened a couple of years ago when it came to views and what does. Well and what doesn't. And yeah, it may hit you for a short minute if something doesn't take off right away. But I think we have our methods, we know what works for us and we're okay with it and we keep doing it.

[B]

I think what we've found freeing is the whole like, one for them, one for us mentality. Especially now that we have Austin on board, we can do more of that. The technical review videos, the lens reviews, the embargoed videos, new camera bodies, stuff like that, along with stuff like the recent 11 minutes of chaos, 4 by 5 project stuff, the Paris speaking of

[A]

a video that freaking flopped.

[B]

But. But you can do that kind of stuff that you really want to do. Like, you've been wanting to put out that 11 minutes of chaos video for the longest time and we can still do that kind of stuff along with, again, the more technical stuff where Gerald Undone really has carved that niche out for him where he is that technical camera reviewer, YouTube guy. Like, it's hard to get away from that. Granted, I do think he did a great job with his studio tours, and I really hope he keeps up with that in this new branded version of Gerald Undone.

[A]

And to go back to the 11 minutes of chaos real quick. That has maybe 20,000 views if it has eked it out. Now we understand that in a real world that's really fantastic. More than 99% of the other people who have YouTube channels will never see 20,000 views. So you have to put it all into perspective. And on the flip side, when we have a viral video do 850,000, that's insane for us. There's people that put out videos every day that get 2 million, 3 million, 4 million views, or in the MrBeast world, they getting like 50, 60 million views. So all this stuff is put into perspective. But the biggest thing that I'm gonna wanna talk to Gerald about is the business side. It's like, can you afford to do that? Because I look at what we do as, it's absolutely a means to an end. We know that when we put out content that promotes our presets, we are going to generate revenue presets. Now by doing that, that allows us to have more employees, which hopefully staves off, you know, makes it a little easier in the long run. More content means more places to put plugs that help us. And then I could go off into the world and make YouTube, make HBO shows and go do more photo shoots while still running the business. Like I couldn't see just dropping dead on this for us.

[B]

So that's the other thing is you can scratch that itch and go and do the HBO bowling stuff, your 4x5 project, shoot the Phillies, go on the road and do whatever while we're manning down the fort here. That is something that you can do where I don't think Gerald has employees. I know he has Patrick, that helps on occasion, but I don't think he's like a full time employee with him. So, you know, it's hard when you're doing it by yourself as well. And you don't have necessarily like a sounding board where me and you are talking non stop every single day. And it's more of like a partnership with this channel, in my opinion. And also it's a lot harder for you to just up and leave and make a decision like Gerald just did, because you have families to feed, quite literally our families. And it's hard for you to just be like, I'm out, guys, figure it out. At least I hope you don't do that one day. But. So I work just as hard to try and push this channel further and to make you happy. Because it's obviously on. Everything's on the line, you know, it's it's very hard to just up and leave and pivot to something else.

[A]

Yeah. And I absolutely do take into consideration that there's mouths to feed. Oh, yeah, there's, there's babies. I mean, it used to literally feed Morgan, but now, I mean, we got you, we got Dan, we got Austin, we got my bank account, you know, your house fund. Got to feed, feed something. But no, I mean, it's, it's, it's certainly a business that we do. And I see no reason for us to change what we do to the extreme because it is a means to an end, and I'm happy with that.

[B]

Well, and I question, you know, we have a lot of digital products, and if we did say, pivot into a whole different genre of YouTube, how do you then go and sell something like presets for photography when you're doing something completely different, like reviewing cars or something like that? Like, it just doesn't organically make sense. Also, we have obviously beginner guides, stuff like that. There's so many different things and sponsorships that make sense in the camera world, but not in a different type of YouTube world. So I'm curious, from a business standpoint, how is he going to pivot and sell technical digital products like his brand new luts that have only been out for, say, a few months in a non camera video?

[A]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to, gonna have to ask him about that one.

[B]

And will there be new branding now that he is shifting from this camera world?

[A]

I mean, the camera world is a very small niche. There's a lot of other YouTube worlds that have far more revenue possibilities. Oh, yeah, and, and maybe he'll go there. But you know what?

[B]

But you're starting over. That's the hard part.

[A]

Yeah, but you know, that brings up something. Just a side note about podcast revenue. I listened to a bunch of different podcasts and they talk about like Scott Galloway and Pivot with Kara Swisher. They were talking about how Netflix has been what Netflix will pay a creator to be Netflix exclusive to put up video podcasts on Netflix. And they're paying like it was like 25,000 an episode or something. They're like paying some good money to some of the bigger creators. And that's a lot of money per year to not put it on any other network. And then Scott made a point. He's like, our average age of a podcast listener is like 34. Average age of a news watcher on TV is like 70 at this point. And so these 34 people are coming into their Buying years. They've got money. And he's like. And they listen to their. And they listen to the ads. And I'm like, who are you fucking kidding? You don't listen to the ads. Like, I skip every one of the ads on every podcast, regardless if it's a live read or just some bullshit that's plugged in there. They're trying to say that podcast money, Podcast ads are worth more money at a higher cpm. I just don't get it. Like, the boot camp on May 30, bitly slash May 30 fro.

[B]

Can't skip that. But no, honestly, the only time I don't skip is like, if my phone's in another room or something like that, or if I'm busy actively doing something and I don't have time to skip real quick. That's the only time. But the worst is when they're all the way up front the first two, three minutes of the podcast. Because I just know automatically, oh, I'm skipping to the three minute mark or whatever it is.

[A]

Yeah, I don't find them to be effective at all.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So anyway, I'm going to get undone on the line and probably put up a video podcast type thing with him and put that on the YouTube and put that wherever we end up putting it. But we're going to. I'm not going to not ask the business questions like, okay, undone. What's going on? You have a family to feed.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Are you worried about this? Do you have some backing that's happening where, like, we've seen it time and time again where people announce a shift and then they end up like, Maddie Hippoya left for a year and of course he's back making content. Because it's like, it's one thing to announce that you want to go. I want to go produce and I want to go direct. You can, you can try and figure out how to do both and not crush the thing that got you to where you are to allow you to do the thing that you want to do. Like, I am here doing what I am able to do because of this YouTube channel and the people that pay attention. And I want to continue that. I don't want to kill that because I like, I see what it's like to make a TV show that's not really enjoyable. And it's also, it's not as lucrative right now for me as YouTube is.

[B]

And hey, we tried to pivot. We had some excellent content like Cooking with Jared that just flopped.

[A]

I mean, that did not Flop. That is.

[B]

I don't know why it's so crazy that that didn't work.

[A]

That is the. That is a great video that Deb shot.

[B]

You wanted to do that so bad. I'm like, it's gonna get zero views. No, no, it won't. I'm doing it. I want to do it. Okay.

[A]

It didn't cost you anything.

[B]

No, because you've made Deb do it. Because I refused to. Basically.

[A]

Yeah. Deb did a great job.

[B]

And how many views does that have?

[A]

I don't know. What? How many views does it have, Steven?

[B]

I don't know. I haven't looked.

[A]

I'm going to look it up. Right? Meow.

[B]

I've deleted that from my memory.

[A]

Cooking well. That's the original one. Fried Chicken.

[B]

Oh, that one's even better.

[A]

Shut up, Stephen. Fried Chicken. Wow.

[B]

That was over two years ago.

[A]

20,000. Oh God, that's terrible. It says two years ago that I've. I guess I've been without a. A lady friend for two years.

[B]

It was February of 2024.

[A]

Anybody? Any volunteers out there? Want to be. Want to be my lady friend?

[B]

Euler.

[A]

Anyway, that's the Undone. Oh dear. Silence. That no one wants to be my lady friend. But I do want to quickly fuck you.

[B]

I do want to mention some more things. If you haven't watched the Gerald Undone video, obviously it's like an eight minute watch. And I think three of those minutes is just him showing clips like a montage at the end from his previous years. I do miss that. That sexy long hair that he had though. I will say.

[A]

Oh, I never got that far in the video.

[B]

Yeah. He ends it with like a quick montage of him pretty much from the start to the latest reviews talking at his in his studio. But some quotes that he said in the video. Like he basically says, I'm surrounded by objects that don't bring me joy. This is theater and I don't want to do it anymore. I'm the type of person that stays interested in something for the puzzle or challenge of it. And I bore quickly if that challenge is removed. And like we saw in his A7.5 video, he essentially said, I'm done reviewing cameras because they've all gotten so damn good that it's hard to even like nitpick at this point.

[A]

I get it.

[B]

He says he just wants to like tear it all down set wise as well to make something more comfortable. Even if it doesn't look good on camera in future videos. I will say it's tough to be a Technical reviewer that is hypercritical on the details, like himself, and then not have a technically perfect set from a visual standpoint. So I'm sure that's why he's done that all these years. But now he has the freedom to just be like, you know what? Screw it, burn it all down. Let's just throw a camera in the corner and hit record and let my personality showcase. Because he does have a great personality, and I think that's why.

[A]

Tall. He's very tall and sexy and Canadian.

[B]

I mean, last time I saw him was at the a9.3 event. And one, I forgot how tall he was. And two, I could even tell, like, he almost didn't want to be there at that event. Like, he was kind of almost over it then.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's a thing. It's a thing. But I'll get to the bottom of it. We'll get undone with undone. Moving on. Dixie Dixon leaves Nikon as an ambassador to go to Canon to be an explorer of light.

[B]

I cannot wait to see the Nikon fanboy comments on this week's Fix when you mention this.

[A]

Well, when I put up the Insta story. Sorry, when I did a reel on it, a lot of the comments are like, who cares? Who's Dixie? I never heard of her. And, you know, like, I don't buy because of an influencer, and I do

[B]

not disagree at all with those people. I know when you brought this up to me, I'm like, yeah, not a big deal. Like you were going to put into Fix. And I'm like, I don't know. That's not a story. Like, no one cares.

[A]

It gives us a good title.

[B]

Ambassadors. But yes, you mentioned the title. I'm like, oh, actually, that is pretty.

[A]

Canon steals from Nikon.

[B]

But I do think a majority of people do not know who Dixie Dixon is or really most ambassadors for brands, myself included, you know, minus the big ones.

[A]

Well, let me just say that ambassadors today don't really move the needle for the photo community. Now, they might in an influencer world, you know, if they're influencers as brand partners, but that's different.

[B]

Like Peter McKinnon with Canon, for example. He's a brand partner, not an explorer of light.

[A]

Let me explain what Dixie did as an ambassador for Nikon. Right? They're called ambassadors. Nikon ambassadors.

[B]

Yes. They are just called straight up ambassadors.

[A]

Yeah, she's been there since 2012. And I did get on the phone with her because I have her phone number because. Because I'm cool like that. And I Like Dixie's phone number. Cause I'm like, hey, Dixie, what's up? Anyway, we had a conversation. She shared some and I was like, that is valid. And that makes sense. Now I'll let her speak for herself because I'm going to get her on the line probably next week to talk about her reasons for leaving and why she decided to go to Cannon. She told me them and they are valid and they make sense. But she's been there since 2012. But what most people don't realize what an ambassador does is if they hand her a D5500, right, the lower end, or a Z5 or a Z5 2 or a Z30, she is the person that goes out and produces the photo shoots, the video shoots, the behind the scenes content, the photos that end up being the stuff that goes into advertisements, the brand photos.

[B]

See, I think that's true for Nikon and Canon. Like for example, Vanessa Joy, she did like the R5 Mark 2 campaign and the promotional video for that. But Sony, I don't know, I think it's more.

[A]

Sony does it.

[B]

Do they.

[A]

Oh yeah, like, look at their big things. They got Burkhart and they have all of those other creators. They, they send them out to go create stuff.

[B]

I guess I'm thinking of like the actual like product tour video that you first.

[A]

No, I'm not talking about tour video camera. I'm talking about the, the box art, the photos that they release with the camera. That's the stuff that I'm talking about. So you know, Dixie did the D5 release, Dixie did the Z8 stuff. So they would have her go do the portraits for that and do a photo shoot and they would use those images for the Z8 release page, the promo stuff. Now again, I don't think it moves the needle because anytime I hear ambassador for anybody, I take it with a grain of salt. Because they're getting paid to say this stuff. Not to say that they're doing it for nefarious reasons, but they're getting paid. Now, when it comes to Canon, taking an ambassador from Nikon, anytime you have a chance to take someone's former ambassador or current ambassador in the same industry, you make it happen. Because it's a big PR win. It's something that you can say, not saying, look, I say this in photo News Fix. Dixie is more of a photographer than an influencer in the photo community. Where I, on the flip side, more influence than a paid photographer. She's out there doing paid gigs for people all the time. And I'm not just trying to get a date, Steven. This doesn't. Don't even go there. I see it on your face.

[B]

The funny thing too is that in the latest video we just put out the B and H store walkthrough, shopping spree video, whatever you want to call it, the first second you walk into the store, there's a giant Nikon ad banner on the wall and it's her face right there with a Nikon camera. And that was just shot a few weeks ago. And you basically go and text her the picture of you almost like kissing the wall.

[A]

We were not kissing, Steven. We've never kissed.

[B]

Wanted to.

[A]

We've never kissed, Steven.

[B]

I'm talking about the wall, not her.

[A]

Oh, the wall. I didn't kiss the wall either. It's never happened, Stephen.

[B]

Oh, man.

[A]

Get your story straight. But people will, you know, you see the comments, then they're like, she did it for the money. And I'd be like, and not wrong. And it's a business. We run a business. She runs a business. And if she has decided that this is the gear that she wants to use and there's other reasons, I'll just say printers was a reason. She was like. And I was like, oh, well, that makes sense. She wants to do more printing.

[B]

Well, the question is, did the money come first over the gear or the opposite? That she wanted to shoot Canon and the money followed.

[A]

I bet you it's a little bit of both. I bet you Cannon comes along and is like, hey, we could make this worth your while. What will it take?

[B]

Well, I'm actually looking at her EOL page on Canon's official website and it says dixie's Top Gear picks. And it looks like she has chosen the R5 Mark II, the R1A C80, and then lens wise, 24, 14 VCM 51.2 L 85, 12 L 135, 1.8

[A]

L 100 to 300 is on the list.

[B]

100. 370 to 224 to 105, 10 to 20. Basically, what's in our kit as well. If you had all the money in the world, that's what is in most people's kids.

[A]

I would venture to say that Cannon probably is going to will cut a check that's better than what Nikon would cut at this point. And I just feel like it's a better move and absolutely, when it comes to business, do what is right for you. It's not like an athlete has never left a team and signed a deal with Another team in the league. Right. Like Bryce Harper left. Where he left and signed with the Phillies for more money. Right. You make the choice as a business, but also from a strategic standpoint. She's not gonna get worse photos because she went to Canon.

[B]

Well, especially because a lot of her work is, like, highly done portraiture, that kind of stuff. Fashion photography, highly edited.

[A]

Well, she mentioned that she used the 1 to 300 to photograph a horse and something else running directly at her. And the auto focus was stupid, but we already knew that going into it, so. Anyway, we'll try to get Dixie on as well. I believe I am trying to do that for next week. We've got undone that I'll try to record today, and that is Dixie leaving Nikon and Cannon getting the swoop.

[B]

The only time I remember someone switching and it being, like, a big deal, I think it was Scott Kelby back in the day. Like, we're talking, I don't know, 12, 15 years ago, something like that. Didn't he switch from Nikon to Canon, if I recall?

[A]

I think so. I don't even remember.

[B]

I'm pretty sure he switched from Nikon to Canon, but that was one of the only ones I remember kind of making the news rounds.

[A]

Yeah, because he's more of an influencer in this world, and he has a means to an end. You know, Kelby one was a means to an end. It allowed him to go photograph what he wanted to photograph. And doing the education makes the money.

[B]

Yeah, I'm looking up now. He officially switched from Nikon to Canon around 2013, citing superior autofocus ergonomics and skin tones on the One DX and 5D Mark III. He later became an explorer of light, and I don't think he's one anymore.

[A]

Yeah, look, I would never be an explorer of light. I mean, you could never say never. It depends on how big the check is. But I. You know, people are all the time, like, you. You do it. I'm like, no, I wouldn't. Because when you're an explorer of light or an ambassador for a brand, you can't really talk about other systems.

[B]

You're immediately biased, obviously.

[A]

Right. And I'm not gonna listen. Like, if Dixie puts out a video on why she uses these Canon cameras, you think it's like, okay, cool. Like, I don't care.

[B]

I mean, I love watching those videos because they're the first with the cameras usually, and they can tell me about the new specs and everything, but I'm not gonna trust their opinion on, you know, if it works or not.

[A]

Like when Canon reaches out and said, hey, do you want to have Dixie on your podcast? And I'm like, no, she's not gonna say anything. But then when I talked to her directly, I was like. Cause I called her because I have her number and I like apples, and I got her number. And she was just like, yeah, I'll talk. I was like, great. If you're gonna answer this question, this question and this question, we can have a conversation. But if it's gonna be, like, toeing the corporate line, it's not gonna happen. All right, let's put that to rest and move on. The season of Born to Bowl My Bowling show on HBO and HBO Max is officially done. Which means if you've been waiting to binge all five episodes the entire season, about two and a half hours of content.

[B]

Oh, I can finally watch it.

[A]

You can finally binge it on HBO Max in the United States, and I believe in Canada, and I haven't heard of any other countries getting the show, but I think based off of the popularity of the show, I would expect that other countries should hopefully purchase the rights and add it to their systems at some time in the future. That would be very beneficial.

[B]

I mean, what's great is it's good and bad that they're, what, sub 30 minute episodes. You could binge it all in the same time as watching, like a movie, you know, two and a half hours, give or take, and you're watching all five episodes and done.

[A]

The. The. The biggest takeaway was it's too short.

[B]

Yeah, I agree.

[A]

And I love the oil. I learned about that. Right? That's the stuff. Those are the two takeaways. Now, it's better to be too short than too long. And it's better to leave people wanting more than wanting less and getting bored on their phone. So that's that. If you haven't checked out season one, you can watch it all on your own. All right. So the other day, did we talk about me going to London last week?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That I was about to go to London?

[B]

I believe so.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You did. Yeah, we did. Yeah. Yeah. You talked about the song. When you land the song, you play stuff like that.

[A]

Yeah, I didn't play it. But anyway, we. We went to London, Austin and I. We flew on Thursday evening. We left Philly at 6:40 on Thursday evening. And you arrive in London at 6:30am Their time. So it's like a six hour flight.

[B]

So do you guys, like, sleep on the plane or when you get there or you just, you miss a night.

[A]

It was an absolutely packed plane. So it was an extremely full plane. Steven.

[B]

I love that.

[A]

Extremely full.

[B]

We have an extremely full plane.

[A]

And I was next to a guy, next to a guy who was way too tall, so his legs were a little. He had nowhere to go. But it didn't interfere with my sitting, so it was fine. But maybe I zonked out for a little bit, but not really in terms of sleep. We got to our hotel and I took an hour and 20ish minutes to sleep because we had to shoot at 10:45 and I was out. Man. When I woke up, when my alarm was going off, I was like deader than. Because I must have been in a super deep sleep and I was just.

[B]

Because you didn't sleep well.

[A]

Right. So I got my hour and a half, got up, went, spent the entire day, did our shoots, did our thing, didn't feel bad at all. Felt great.

[B]

Do not miss that.

[A]

Went to bed at like 11 o' clock at night, got back up, you know, slept a little extra than I normally would, and then didn't go to sleep till after midnight the next night, which was the night before he went home. So we got there Friday morning and we flew out Sunday at 10am Nuts. And the comments that I get from people is like, you crazy. You fly a road around the world in your country and you go to only two days.

[B]

I'm one of those people. I say it every time.

[A]

Yeah, but what else am I supposed to do in London? What do you mean what else am I supposed to do? We went there for a specific thing. We went there to photograph, make a trip out of Wimbledon. And do what? For what purpose? Do what? Yeah, explore London to do what? Why?

[B]

I'm not even going to say it because you're. I can't talk you into that kind of stuff. What, what are you exploring? What am I going to see?

[A]

I'm not working. I want to work. I want to create.

[B]

Sounds like so much fun. Let me go travel across the world for two days and come back and not actually get to explore London.

[A]

Six hours. It's the same as going to remind

[B]

you of a press event. Honestly, like when we go to an event and we don't even leave, like the hotel room half the time, if

[A]

we had something new to play with, then it's a different story. If we had secret cameras, we would then spend more time in those locations and we would go do something. But we had two days. We had two days.

[B]

It could have been more than Two days is what I'm saying.

[A]

I don't want it. So you want to know the reason why this one didn't end up being more than two days? Because I'm going away again on Thursday. So I didn't want to come home on Tuesday and be like, I got a day before I have to leave again. And we had content to make Steven. This was like Undone. We had stuff to get done. We filmed two videos yesterday. We're doing a podcast today. I'm interviewing Undone today. All the funded photographer stuff showed up today. I have a business call today, and I have to pack today to go away tomorrow.

[B]

Well, today you have a lot going on, but usually you don't. That's kind of what I'm getting at. Like, fuck you. You're making excuses. Like, well, it was because I have a lot of stuff. Well, but you do this every time.

[A]

No. Did I stay in Japan? Japan.

[B]

That's different.

[A]

How? How? How?

[B]

Because it wasn't on your dime.

[A]

It was. I paid to stay longer.

[B]

You didn't pay for the flight.

[A]

I didn't pay for the first class flight that can and paid for us? No, I didn't pay for the flight, but I didn't pay for this flight because I used miles. I used miles for Stephen and I.

[B]

And I think Japan is different because it's somewhere you've never been, you've never explored. You've always wanted to go there. Yeah, but that honestly is one of the only times you've. Besides the time you went to Poland. You know, when we went to Poland and Germany and. Where else?

[A]

Poland. We went to Poland.

[B]

I mean, that time, like, we actually did explore things. Auschwitz, Birkenau.

[A]

Oh, thanks, Stephen. You got to bring up the Auschwitz and Birkenau. I'm just saying, like, that you took us to. We took a short train ride. We didn't take the train. I didn't want to take the train to Auschwitz.

[B]

I know.

[A]

I did take you. I'm like, steven, we're going to explore the history. Look, I didn't want to spend more time, mostly because I didn't have anything else I wanted to do. And I don't want to take Austin away terribly too long because, you know, he's getting backlogged and making content. And three, I have to go away. So anyway, went to London, I learned, so went to an AFC Wimbledon soccer match. I know people think it's football, but I've googled it. The word soccer originated in Europe, so they used to use it. So whatever soccer Football, call it whatever you want. I had a great time. I got a photo story. Austin was filming the whole process. I was definitely down in the dumps. After the first half, I felt like I hadn't gotten good images and I had to challenge myself because I just thought I wasn't doing a good enough job. And, you know, I get very down on myself, but then you know it all. And I said to the camera, it takes one good shot to turn it all around. And so the second half came and I tried something different. I went into the stands where the big supporters are for them, the ones that yell a lot. And I embedded with them. I got a goal that happened and I was right there for it to happen. I went center behind the goal to try and get these other interaction shots. And they turned out really well. And then I was really happy the next day. And Austin's like, oh, wow, your moods. I'm like, yeah, my moods are directly what?

[B]

You're a different person.

[A]

Yeah, when I'm happy, I'm happy. When I'm not happy, I'm not happy,

[B]

which is 95% of the time.

[A]

But I ended up being happy. I did discover what the favorite word of the fans was that are in the stands. Do you want to know what the favorite word is, Steven?

[B]

You probably can't say it on here, but you say it. See you next Tuesday.

[A]

Cunt.

[B]

Yeah, I figured cunt.

[A]

No, every other word was like, you fucking cunt. You suck. Get off the pitch, you cunt. And I was like, hey, I feel like I'm at home.

[B]

And the F bomb is just part of the regular vocabulary there, right? It's not really considered a curse.

[A]

I walked up to some five year old and he was like, fuck you.

[B]

Because I don't think they bleep like the F bomb. I've been watching SNL UK and they're just dropping it left and right and it's like, oh, I guess they can do it over there.

[A]

The moral of the story is people make a big deal out of these short trips that I tend to take. And it's like, well, the difference is I have the ability to do this. And the majority of the world, unfortunately, they have a job and they have to plan well in advance to take a thing that separates them from the thing that is their job. I love what I do, so everything that I do is a part of my work. I love it. So that's why I don't mind doing it. I think it's fantastic to be able to fly over to London do that. And I came home and I'm like, this is great. We did two and a half days in Paris. I was like, this is great. Maybe it was three days. And I was like, I've had enough.

[B]

Two days there, two days there, two days there, two days. Hey, how was London? You know, I landed and came back.

[A]

We were actually in Wimbledon, which was pretty cool. We went to the Wimbledon where they play Wimbledon tennis at the All England Club. And I bought my dad a jacket. And I bought the kids all stuff from the AFC Wimbledon merch store. I get them a full kit. I got myself a jacket. And I got you nothing. Hey, guess who's calling. Steven.

[B]

Who?

[A]

See?

[B]

Hello, dad.

[C]

Hello. Is it Thursday morning? No, you don't. You do your podcast on Thursday.

[B]

He's not wrong.

[C]

Not on Wednesday.

[A]

Yeah, but I'm going away tomorrow.

[C]

Oh, that's right. So you're doing it today.

[B]

Yeah, going away for two days.

[A]

Okay. What can I help you with? You're on the show.

[C]

I'm so glad I don't have anything to add to the wonderfulness of your existence and your show.

[A]

Great conversation.

[C]

Anyhow, just to. To let you know that I got a phone call that came to my phone.

[B]

Good to know.

[C]

So I just wanted to let you know that it does work.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And it has a B and a P, and if it comes up B, that's the number. 9393 that it comes up on.

[B]

Excellent information.

[C]

And the other one is a personal language.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Okay. Go back to your podcast. I hope you have tons of listeners because you deserve it.

[A]

All right, thanks. Bye.

[B]

That was very nice.

[A]

So real quick, what my dad is talking about is he wanted to keep his landline. He just sold his house, our childhood house, which we did a video with Austin going to the house and doing a walkthrough that will be coming at a later date. But my dad wanted that phone number to be transferred. And it's a landline, but you can actually have it ported over to your cell phone on whatever network you're on. And we helped him get that process done. So now when he gets a phone call to that original landline, it does come in to his cell phone. So he is set. That's the one thing he wanted to make sure when he moved, he had.

[B]

Is that a newer thing? The past 10, 20 years?

[A]

Like, oh, yeah, you couldn't take your phone number with you? Okay, moving on. So the other day I put out the shopping spree video that we did at B and H. Now this is a video I derived of before Austin was. Was fully. Not before he was hired, but before he started officially. It was supposed to be his first video. Yeah, I wanted us to go up to B and H in January as soon as we got Austin and then like buy all of this gear for him to get him started. But it took a little bit of time with B and H and us to coordinate it, so it happened a little later on. So the whole premise of the idea is that B and H has more than just cameras. And it would be great because Austin needs a lot of gear to get started, that we work out something with them to go make a video. And I bought all the stuff. I had to pay for it, of course, but then we did a sponsored video, so then I make money that way. You, when you make. When you have these businesses, it's about you. You gotta be smart on how you do things. And so this was, I thought, a great idea. It benefits us because it, you know, we can get paid to make a video which helps us buy all the gear that we ended up needing for Austin and it gets B and H payboo promotion done. And I. The comments are very good, except for the other couple comments that you get. And I will read one which I commented back to Stephen.

[B]

Oh, geez.

[A]

Yeah, these guys. I commented to a bunch to a few.

[B]

You really should not repost them.

[A]

I should repost them? Looks bad. On who? The people?

[B]

On both of you? Yes.

[A]

I call them douchebags. Okay. Anyway, this one comment came in and these comments are just so stupid. I really enjoy your videos and the way you critique different topics, but there comes a time when modesty must coexist with environmental concerns. Environmental concerns? The fuck are you talking about? You're coming after me. Environmental. Yeah. I don't recycle. I don't recycle. How about them apples?

[B]

How dare you.

[A]

Your video for BH was simply out of touch and completely disconnected from the reality of ordinary people like myself. No.

[B]

What, normal people don't buy 19 grand worth of gear?

[A]

Well, first off, that's not even that much worth of stuff.

[B]

Not even.

[A]

Okay, when you run a business. You telling me that when someone starts at a new company, they don't have to get a new computer? They don't have to get the supplies to get the job done?

[B]

I can say from a corporate standpoint, most of those new computers are old, recycled, shitty computers that you're not everywhere. Not everywhere, no.

[A]

And I got to set him up for success.

[B]

It's a different World what we do for sure. Granted, we could definitely get it done on a much cheaper budget. For sure.

[A]

Yeah, But I'm going to explain that. Why it wouldn't make sense to do it on a cheaper budget in the meantime, also, but just being ordinary, you know, out of touch with reality. It's not out of touch with reality. This is the reality of what it takes. You think MKBHD isn't buying a whole bunch of computers and stuff for his employees? Or that Linus tech tips running his massive YouTube channel isn't buying the right tools, the right servers, and spending a lot of money? He talks about it all the time.

[B]

Oh, yeah, of course.

[A]

Yeah. Anyway, the haughty, arrogant way you spend your money disgusts me. This isn't even spending on me. This is my fucking business. Okay? You fuck. It's a shame my dad's not listening right now. I know. It's your money and you can do what you want with it. Good taste and modesty were simply not welcome. I encourage you to continue making good videos and stop being a slave to your folly. Louis, what the fuck is a folly? I don't know what maybe they're saying a slave to your followers, but none of this has anything to do with that. I hired Austin. Austin needs the right tools to succeed. $6,000 worth of what he needed is a laptop. That laptop is a three to five year laptop.

[B]

Well, case in point, my laptop is about 5 years old at this point, and it was a very expensive laptop then. And it's still running.

[A]

And Dan is on a studio M1.

[B]

It's getting close to needing a replacement, but honestly, I could still get by easily for the next couple of years. It might just be a little slower than the current model.

[A]

So got Austin, that got Austin set up with the external DAS drive, that dash storage. That's something that's gonna last, hopefully knock on wood, for years to come. You get all the memory cards, the card readers, all of the integral things that are important to making his job a success and easier and making it more efficient. If you buy the right stuff once, they say, like hurt once and whatever the other term.

[B]

Buy once, cry once.

[A]

Yeah, buy once, cry once. Buy the best of the best. With honor, sir. Because it's actually cheaper than buying something shitty and needing to replace it with the thing you should have bought in the first place. My dad has always talked about buying the right stuff.

[B]

Me and you are very similar on that front. Definitely big on the. I'd rather spend a little more once. Like I said, buy once, cry once, than have to buy a shittier product. Seven times that just because you can't afford it.

[A]

I remember going and working at Alan's camera and someone comes in and drops 20 grand on a, at the time, maybe like a D300 and a 200 to 400 lens, which was like 10 grand and a bunch of other lenses and accessories. Because they were a doctor or a lawyer and they wanted to shoot birds and be into photography. I didn't sit there and be like, like, oh, how dare you spend your money. I was like, wow, that's insane. I could never do that. But you know what? We can now because we're a business and we're smart about how we spend our money. We buy the right stuff so that we can not have to replace the right stuff.

[B]

Well, and what people don't see behind the scenes is we had a much bigger wish list for Austin that we narrowed down to that final list. Because obviously if we had all the money in the world, we probably would have bought in 50 grand worth of stuff or something like that. But. But you have to be reasonable.

[A]

There's monitors we bought, monitors we bought. And I'm talking about for the camera, you know, a display, Atomos monitor. You know, the stuff adds up. But if you look at six thousand dollars for the laptop and another thirty some hundred dollars for the external storage, you're looking at $10,000 between just those two items. It's like, these are things that are five, 10, you know, three to five years or more products. So what a fucking stupid comment is the moral of the story.

[B]

I mean, what he doesn't know is it's simply a. So it's all free.

[A]

Oh, it's all free.

[B]

Free.

[A]

It's a write off. Who pays for it?

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Like, I hate when people tell me it's a write off. Like it's still money. Like when my accountant's like, hey, did you donate to any charities? I'm like, no, no, you're still out

[B]

money at the end of the day.

[A]

Yeah, sure, I get a discount of maybe a 37%, whatever bracket I'm in of like taxes. But you're still spending out of ten grand. You're still spending 6700. That's why I don't believe when an account is like, you need to spend more money at the end of the year. And then people just wastefully buy shit. It's like, if you don't need it, don't buy it. Look, it brings down your tax bill. I'm like, yeah, But I still had to fork over $6,000. It would have been less if I didn't. So anyway, that's just a fr. Anyway, whatever moral of the story is it's actually a really good video. The watch time on it is 12 minutes, which is very good. That's a very good. I think people enjoy those videos that we've been doing with Austin because they're more free flowing. They're more me just having a conversation with the people at home and it's just a fun little watch.

[B]

Agreed. Yeah, I mean with. With some decent editing and chopping out the. The dead air and stuff like that, it ends up being a. A pretty solid watch. And I'm glad that we can get those videos done. Like I mentioned before, the you know, videos that you really want to do while we still continue to do more the search long term videos. More the technical stuff as well.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

So a little bit of everything. And then obviously we have the topical stuff in photo news fix.

[A]

All right, let's move on to the whatever. It was a good video. It's stuff that Austin needed. The last thing you want to do is make it difficult for your employee to be successful. If I make his job harder, it costs me more money because now it's taking him longer to do shit, which means we don't get shit out into the world. That's just a stupid mentality that Luis had or whoever the hell left that comment. Grow up, punk. Yeah, GoPro. I remember last week GoPro's like, we're still figuring out what our prices are gonna be. Whatever, dude. Right now the mission one line consists of three cameras. A basic, a pro. And then the ILS, which is a four has a micro four thirds mount on it. It starts at $599. The basic one is $600 for a GoPro. And then the other two models are each 699. Now remember, the Pro model has a lens. It's like a 14 millimeter equivalent, whatever F2 something equivalent. But it that it has a fixed 14 millimeter. And then the one doesn't come with a lens at all. So you need to put a lens on it. Isn't it funny? That's like. Well, I guess I was going to say that it has an exposed sensor, but so do all our mirrorless cameras at this point.

[B]

I assume it comes with a body cap of some sort.

[A]

I just think $700 is. You're venturing. You're veering into territory where a real camera starts to come into play.

[B]

So you were saying like $1200. Last week on the podcast you were throwing crazy numbers out there for the iOS.

[A]

That's because I'm on out of touch with reality. Steven.

[B]

I am surprised that the base model came in at 600. I was thinking it was going to be more in line with the Hero Black versions or the current Ace Pro 2 and the DJI Osmo versions which run around 4, 450. But it seems like the Hero Blacks are not going to be discontinued and they will live on and probably take up that $400 price point. While these are more the Pro flagship versions starting at 600 and ending at 700. Also I'm surprised that the Pro 1 and the iOS version are the same price. I thought the iOS was going to be a little more like maybe an extra hundred bucks.

[A]

But it doesn't have the lens.

[B]

It makes sense what you're saying. Like that doesn't have a lens but it does have the mount. I guess it evens out in the end. Still, $700 for a little action camera with a 1 inch sensor is a big ask.

[A]

And the thing I say in Photo News Fix this week is like I'm seeing all these people blowing it up on AT nab. They're like oh, I can attach this cinema lens to it. That's massive.

[B]

I'm like buy a regular camera then

[A]

buy a real camera. Cuz what's the. That's not an action camera anymore. It has a real lens on it. It's so amazing what you could do. And yeah, it's only manual focus because it doesn't have auto focus. I'm like you could go out and buy an R50V. That's a, that's a crop sensor camera. That's $619. No, it's not an action camera but it has a bigger sensor than a 1 inch sensor by far. You could get away with that and then put lenses on.

[B]

It also shoots log 10 bit 422 like all similar, you know, resolutions.

[A]

Yeah, I, I just, I just think that it's, I think this is a fail. I think GoPro is in trouble with this one and I just think that we're going to see a bunch of influencers coming getting paid by GoPro to promote how amazing it is. And look what I can do with this interchangeable lens version. I'm like I don't care about your 1 inch sensor camera and you could go get a ZV E1. You could go get any of those ZV E30s or whatever the hell Sony makes Or even Nikon. You know, there's just. I just think it's a stupid, stupid premise.

[B]

I mean, I do think there is a very small niche market for it. Like in, like I said, a crash camera or places that you can't fit, but at that point, again, like you can't put the biggest lens on it anyway, so.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

It almost renders the ILS version pointless. And again, you're dealing with a 1 inch sensor, something like the R50V that has APS C at least and dual pixel AF and manual focus. I keep forgetting about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

[A]

So it's just like whoop dee doo. It's got great processing. Yeah, it has a little sensor whoop dee doo. You could do 8k30 open gate on a 1 inch sensor, who cares? And I'm not. And don't like come at me and be like, you just don't get it. No, I'm trying to look at it from a dollar cost averaging, you know, because I overspend people's money, clearly. But there's a better choice now if you want just the Pro version for $700, I guess, if the quality is good. But we know that DJI most likely and Insta360 are probably going to have their own one inch versions come out. In fact, they already have one inch cameras. The Insta360 is teasing their Luna camera which has two lenses and is a gimbal camera just like the DJI. What? Osimo Pocket.

[B]

The Pocket 4.

[A]

Yes, the Pocket 4. Those are one inch sensors. So they already do it. And that's a more viable market because more people buy those things. Because dudes, does everybody need an action camera? Is everybody jumping off a fucking cliff? Wait, hold on.

[B]

Back to insta360. I know we hinted at that last week. I think you were saying, like, I guarantee they've been working on a Pocket version themselves. Lo and behold, NAB comes and they basically announce the Luna Ultra and the Luna Pro, their versions of the Pocket camera, one of them being a dual lens version, just like the rumored Pocket 4 Pro is going to be. So I'm curious what the specs are. They haven't like officially announced it, they just have it like behind glass. And a couple creators have been showing it off, but.

[A]

And I'm tired of these creators, I'm tired of these ones. I mean, yes, you know, from a business standpoint we'll work with insta360 and make sponsored videos, but it's just like they're like, we can't tell you anything about it, but my God, it's got 10 bit video in a camera like this. I'm like, guys, can we just be real? So I just think that this idea that just because they put a micro 4/3 mount on a GoPro with a 1 inch sensor that all of a sudden makes it a unbelievable product from a creative standpoint. I rather go buy the R50V and take the RF lenses and put them on there. Like, I just think that's a better quality camera, a better choice. No, it's not an action camera. But look, you don't really need the action cameras for just about everything. I do like the fact that you could take it down to 66ft underwater straight away. That's kind of cool. But most people aren't going 66ft underwater.

[B]

Again, very, very small niche market for, for this type of camera.

[A]

Let's move on to some of the rumors that have been rumored this week. Canon. I almost said Canon Alpha rumors. I constantly do that. Canon rumors for like the last month has been reporting that there will be R8V R something V, this V and they had no idea. But now they are saying that Canon on May 13 is releasing an R6V and it basically has the same specs as a C50 because it has the same sensor and the same specs as an R6 mark 3. When it comes to stills and of course basically video, they're claiming it's 7k open gate, but that it will have IBIS.

[B]

See, I am very surprised they're saying it has Ibis because if it's part of the V lineup, just like the R50V, those cameras don't have IBIs. Now there's only been one, you know, interchangeable lens camera that's part of the V lineup, which is the R50V. But usually they follow suit. And just like the cinema series, like the C50, C80, C70, C400, whatever, none of them have IBIs. I assumed all the future V cameras were gonna be the same way. Granted, I do think the R50V, that was a major misstep from Canon not including Ibis, especially for a creator and not like a, a cinema version of a video centric camera to not have IBIs. That was crazy. Now I'm glad that this camera is rumored to have IBIS at this point. But then it's like what's going to separate it from the R6 III minus snow EVF

[A]

maybe price point we're going to have to see. We're going to have to see if it's real, what the price point comes in at. Because having three cameras share the same sensor, you're getting into territory of like overdoing it like GoPro did back in the day with way too many options.

[B]

It becomes a very busy lineup. And I've talked about how I feel about busy lineups. Now if this comes in at say $2,000. Yeah, two grand or less, maybe 2,200, I could see it being a hit. But if it's 2,500, it's way too close to the R63 and renders it pointless in my opinion. And obviously it's not going to be more expensive because then you have the C50 and that would be really odd to fall in between the R63 and C50. I don't know. I know when he Canon Rumors was first posting about the R8V, he specifically said, I don't think it'll be an R6V type camera. That's what the C50 basically is. I completely agree on that. But now they're saying R6V, so we'll see. Also, I'm assuming it's going to be a much bigger body than the R50V because I guess it's going to have to take the LP E6P battery to power that, unlike the LP E17 that powers the R50V. And it will probably have a much smaller grip like that boxy R50V as well. Will it have a mechanical shutter? I question that.

[A]

That's a good point.

[B]

Will it get the C50's vertical video option now? The R50V in my opinion made a little more sense since it had upgraded video features like 4K60 tally lights. It had an updated video menu with better slo mo and 10bit 4:2:2 options. It added a headphone output, USB C output, 2 hour record time. All this stuff that made it better than the R50 for video. But the difference here is that the R63 has all of that already. It's already an incredible hybrid video centric and photocentric camera and I highly doubt it's going to have more than what the C50 offers. It reminds me of the ZV E1 from Sony where it's basically a stripped down version of the R6 III. The ZV E1 was like a stripped down version of the A7S3 and it came in around $1,000 less than the A7S3. I don't think this is going to be a thousand dollars less, but I think it's going to be again $2,000, $800 less maybe. But if it's not, I just don't know where this is going to fall in that lineup. And it's going to be a very weird busy lineup. So if we do have it at that $2,000 price point, you'll have that the R6.3 at 2800 and then the C50 sitting at around 3900 which that, that makes sense. But again, any difference fluctuation in price, we'll see.

[A]

I just. They must know their numbers much better. Obviously they are business. They know their numbers very well. They know who's going to buy how many of these they're going to buy, what market they're targeting and why someone would go with that over going with an R6 Mark III. Like they, they just know it. I. Yeah, that's above our pay grade.

[B]

They're also saying it's going to come with a powered zoom as a kit lens like a 20 to 50 F4L IS, which is interesting and I'm curious what that kit is going to cost.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. And the other rumor that popped out the other day was from Sony Alpha Rumors, who has been saying for months that a 100-400-F4 zoom lens was on the way. And they've officially basically said that they were wrong. We got bad information from a general reliable source is what they had to say. So now they're claiming that Sony is going to release at some point a 100 to 400 4.5. Now I know there's photographers that want a 100 to 400 F4 and they would like that. But there's going to. There would be size and weight involved with that. And a 100 to 445 sounds like something, something that is more manageable and probably something that would be more affordable for the general people who used to have a 100 to 400 that was a 45 or a 56 to 71 or whatever it was or 6 3. And it just seems to potentially make sense if that's true. 100 to 445. But I'd be curious to see the difference between 428 and a 400 at 4.5 if that is going to be noticeable, if that is real.

[B]

Yeah, the original 100 to 400 was a 4.5 to 5.6 or variable aperture.

[A]

And I took that to Kenya this year, last year.

[B]

And you found that to be a pretty good focal length, focal range.

[A]

I thought it was an amazing focal range. The lens Itself was definitely one of the super older one of their older lenses because it doesn't have the same focusing speed, it doesn't have the same shooting speed, it doesn't have that same zhush out of the glass that the newer lenses have.

[B]

Yeah. And I have no problem at all it being a 4, 5 versus 4. That to me makes no difference really at all. We're talking third of a stop like it. To me it's just an F4. It's the same.

[A]

Same thing basically.

[B]

But what's it going to cost? You know, because the current 100 to 400 variable aperture 1 is about 3 grand. On sale for 2700. I'm gonna guess a little more. Being that constant aperture and an updated lens in Today's market, maybe 3,500, give or take. The old one was a G master as well. I'm assuming the new one will be a G Master. We shall see. But that is going to be a pretty stellar all around sports wildlife lens for sure.

[A]

Yeah. I think the people that have, you know, if you have a 200 to 600, obviously this isn't for you. But I do feel like that 200 to 600 needs to be replaced because

[B]

I don't think this is a direct replacement for that. Obviously there's already 100 to 400 and this is the Mark 2. I guess. I guess it will be a Mark 2 because it's going to be a totally different aperture.

[A]

Oh, it's totally different. It will be internal or external. Zooming is another thing to think about.

[B]

Was the original internal, the 100 to 400?

[A]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's external.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

I know I used it and I don't remember.

[B]

Well, the 200 to 600 is internal.

[A]

That's internal.

[B]

I ask but I do agree that that needs to be updated. But I don't think this is even close to a replacement because that extra 200 millimeters is a big deal.

[A]

But I think that A constant aperture 100 to 404.5 is going to be, if it's real, super sweet. And I think it's going to be a highly sought after lens because it's not going to be $10,000 like a 100 to 400 F4. I saw some people like, you're crazy to think it would be 10 grand. I'm like, guys, the 200 to 4 hundreds were super expensive. Like what is a Canon 200 to 400? Actually let me look up Nikon 200

[B]

to 400 is 10 grand. But keep in mind, that comes with a built in TC, right?

[A]

A used 180 to 400 Nikon with a TC built in is $6200. Knew that was a $10,000 lens. So people telling me that, I'm crazy for saying that. Just again, people are out of touch with reality because they don't know their numbers.

[B]

Granted, again, these doesn't have a TC building.

[A]

No, it doesn't have a TC built in, but it doesn't. It doesn't matter. Like a 100, a 2, a 100 to 400. If there's a 100 to 400 f4. It would have been a $10,000 lens, period. It just would have been.

[B]

You think even without a extender?

[A]

Yes, even without a teleconverter built in because. Yes, just because. I think it would be a 9. 10. Yeah. In this, in this world, a $10,000 lens.

[B]

But 100 to 400, 4.5 won't be.

[A]

No. Because it's a 4. 5. There's a huge difference. There's a huge difference in the amount of glass in the 4. In the F4 versus the 4. 5. There's been major. The glass is so different. The size and weight. The 200 to 400 canons that we have in the basement are so big. They're like the size of a 400. 2.8.

[B]

20 year old lenses.

[A]

They're not 20, they're 15.

[B]

All right, old lenses.

[A]

But look at my 100 to 302.8. That's a big lens. So I just.

[B]

That's a 2E. That's different. A 2E way, way different.

[A]

I just think going from f4 to 4.5 allowed them to shrink, would allow them to shrink it even more. So but if it's real, hopefully we get our hands on it and we get to test it out and share our findings with you. But if it is real, I think that is a really good solid option because does. What's Nikon have like a 445?

[B]

They have a. Yes, a prime 400. We've called them premium primes in the past. I love that they do that with the 445, the 663 and the 863 as well.

[A]

Right. But having this would be pretty good because one to four is versatile. And for people that love to crop, you know, they'll still need to crop because the bird, the purple headed cock gobbler, will be too far away. So those are the rumors this week, Steven.

[B]

Lots of rumors, lots of things.

[A]

Lots of stuff. Lots of stuff to talk about. I yelled at a bunch of things and yeah, I gotta get ready to talk to Gerald. Undone. I gotta eat my lunch first.

[B]

I gotta get ready to fly to Africa for two days and come back.

[A]

Africa? Steven, I'm going to Antarctica for two days. What are you talking about?

[B]

Antarctica?

[A]

No, I'm going to the moon. Stephen. Saying you guys went to the moon and you were only stayed for an hour. How dare you? Why?

[B]

It's like saying you flew around the moon and didn't land on it. What?

[A]

Yeah. Why did you guy around the moon? Artemis, once you went to the moon and you came right back. What a waste.

[B]

I mean, it was all faked in a Hollywood studio anyway. So.

[A]

Yeah, because I can talk to those people. Those people are fun to talk to. I won't even. I won't even do it. But yeah. So that's it, guys. That's 194 raw talk. All right guys, thank you very much for listening to raw Talk. Episode 194. Jared Polinfro knows photo dot com. See ya.

[B]

Bye.