12 Sept - what a day!

[crowecg]

Sounds like 12 Sept is going to be a big day for announcements.  There’s Apple’s iPhone event, a Fuji X-summit, a Panasonic announcement and I think I even saw something about some big car announcements too.

 

I think they are in a few different time zones, so the various announcements will probably be spread out over the day (or the following day for those of us in Australia or New Zealand).

[Dallas]

Panasonic? Hmmm... might be a G10, I reckon. The G9 is very long in the tooth now. 

 

Apple can go fly a kite. I am developing an intense dislike for that company, which has made me feel very conflicted since almost all my tech is Apple (and most of it is older than 10 years, or fast approaching that age). 

[crowecg]

And there is a Sony pro-video announcement that day too.

[crowecg]

8 hours ago, Dallas said:

Apple can go fly a kite. I am developing an intense dislike for that company, which has made me feel very conflicted since almost all my tech is Apple (and most of it is older than 10 years, or fast approaching that age). 

It can be frustrating as their hardware is good quality stuff, which you are demonstrating by still using it after so long.  There can be things for both sides of the obsolescence argument - whilst PCs can still run some 20 year old software, it can be hit and miss on whether it will work and requires windows to have a rather bloated code base.  Apple’s regular clean out of old code (often helped by a change in processor architecture) makes things more efficient but if you are using specialist software from a small developer who decides not to update it, you are stuck.  
 

whilst the new Apple architecture will scare some people because of the lack of upgradability, they are certainly impressive performance and power consumption.  I’ve done some comparisons over the past year or so and found my iPhone SE will outperform most of the ‘business’ laptops in my office. I’ve also compared an M1 Pro MacBook Pro against some ‘portable workstation’ (various HP Zbook) and whilst it is possible to configure the Z book with better graphics options than the MacBook, the MacBook will beat the Z book up to at least i7 and with a fraction of the power consumption.  

[Dallas]

My gripes with Apple currently revolve around their arbitrary crippling of features that are designed to force you into upgrading your hardware. 

 

Example, I have a 2018 Mac Mini i5, which is apparently the last Intel Mini they made. I bought it in 2020 to replace my 27" iMac. It really annoyed me when the M1 came out at roughly 60% of the price I had paid for my Mini, but that isn't the thing that peeves me the most. What truly irritates me is that they are deliberately preventing this machine from having full use of the Universal Control feature which will allow me to use the same input devices on other Macs. I can partially use it by extending my desktop to my iPad, but I can't extend it to other macOS computers. 

 

Now here's the really annoying thing; on my indomitable 2012 MacBook Pro, which I have managed to get Monterey running perfectly on using the Open Core Legacy Patcher, this feature works just fine. I can use the same input devices on an even older 2010 Mac Mini (also running Monterey, albeit not nearly as well as the MBP), yet the most modern of my Macs simply can't because Apple has decided that this is verboten. I am using Symless' Synergy 3 at the moment to run the same mouse & keyboard between them all, so that software has made my life easier, but it is a tad temperamental. 

 

I will at some point get a silicon Mac, but for now I stew in my own juices.  

[crowecg]

Also rumours that Nikon will be releasing a Zf, full frame manual dials type of camera, but that will be a week or so later, possibly on the 20 September.

[crowecg]

On 09/09/2023 at 00:35, Dallas said:

Panasonic? Hmmm... might be a G10, I reckon. The G9 is very long in the tooth now. 

 

Rumours are calling it g9II and also mention a couple of new lenses to go with it.

[crowecg]

Fuji announced the expected GFX100 II and a few lenses, a portrait and two tilt shift.  They were pretty focused on speed, making a big thing of the 8fps together with video up to 8k.

 

As well as the stuff due out over the next couple of months, there were a couple of lenses added to the road map, a power zoom for video, and most interestingly a 500mm telephoto!  They seem pretty certain that the speed will be of interest to wildlife and sport photographers.

 

if only they also had a 500mm telephoto for X mount!

[crowecg]

2 hours ago, crowecg said:

Rumours are calling it g9II and also mention a couple of new lenses to go with it.

Due 3pm uk time, so another couple of hours to wait for that and Apple not due until around 10am pacific time, so I’ll not see that until tomorrow morning.

[Dallas]

 @GrahamWelland will be interested in that 500mm for safaris.  

[crowecg]

On 13/09/2023 at 14:25, Dallas said:

 @GrahamWelland will be interested in that 500mm for safaris.  

Yes, that will certainly be an interesting one, especially they haven’t even hinted at anything close in X mount.

[Dallas]

The new Lumix G9 ii looks to be interesting with its 100MP hi res mode available in handheld now. I doubt I will be buying another MFT camera in the future. Not that there is anything wrong with them, just that support for the brands here is very poor. Still can't buy an OEM battery for my two G9 bodies.  I will probably build a new system in the Fujifilm marque over time. 

[crowecg]

And the Nikon Zf landed overnight.  Looks quite nice.