[tcbyrd]

This is a great example to me why production and broadcast equipment is and may always be so different. I'd never even consider something like an RX-10 camera when what I need is 4 cameras attached to a live switcher genlocked to the same timecode.

I went back and forth on this balance for years. I wanted that large sensor look and feel, with great full-frame lenses, but trying to use it live was a nightmare workflow. This was before Canon started making the C series that mixed the world of a camera with an EF mount that also had SDI I/O. I tested those, but still couldn't trust them in a live broadcast, mainly because of the lack of a parfocal lens I can focus remotely. I think with cameras like Blackmagic's Ursa and some more "prosumer" lenses that are parfocal we may be getting closer to having the best of both worlds, but I haven't researched that in a couple of years.

Broadcast optimized gear is like having Kubernetes. Everything built for broadcast talks SDI/NDI so it's generally possible to operate or at least monitor the device remotely. Then you have routers and mixers designed to modify those video feeds in real-time with as little latency as possible. One of my first gigs in broadcast involved learning how to remotely white balance cameras from the control room or patch the output of one video feed from a satellite truck into a monitor on set, while also recording that same feed in a completely separate room. I've also spent time doing "documentary style" and film production and was amazed at how different everything was, and how some workflows that are super straightforward in a newsroom are basically impossible with things like GoPros and DSLR setups.

[namibj]

Shouldn't parfocal be trivial to handle in software these days with motorized zoom and autofocus? Even without actually using an "auto"-focus behavior?

[kuschku]

It is possible, and that's how broadcast lenses implement it. Sony even sells a 500$ super35 lens that's parfocal (the SELP18105G which was the kit lens for the FS5).

The same compensation behaviour can be done in reverse to prevent focus breathing (and yes, that 500$ lens does that, too).

Sadly outside of Sony's 18-105G, 18-110G and 28-135G, most lenses for mirrorless or cinema cameras are designed to be manual and don't even attempt it.

[eternityforest]

That always confused me a bit too. Maybe it has to do with people who still want direct physical control?