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IMHO the biggest issues with the S1ii is that it wasn't badged as an S1Hii, with Netflix Approval, an added top control panel, and more unique design features (moving or multi angle EVF, 4inch LCD etc). It seems everything about it is superior to the S1H, including dynamic range, exposure latitude (?), rolling shutter, weight etc.

I sympathise deeply - well done for getting through it. I shot a number of trips with a nice camera + smartphone + action camera, and only in the last few months did I shoot my first trip where every camera had colour management support. Matching footage from multiple older/budget cameras that don't have log profiles and colour management support is perhaps one of the hardest challenges in colour grading. Not only are the colours and gammas a challenge, but matching sharpness and NR and compression artefacts are also things that can make clips stand-out from each other. I've lost count of the number of times I spot a 1-2s clip from an action camera spliced into a high-end production based solely on how much sharper it is than the rest of the footage, which could all be avoided with a simple low-strength small-radius blur to take the edge off. Obviously ultra-low-budget docos are often subject to using whatever cameras are available at the time, and docos often need to use more rugged cameras like action cameras etc to survive different conditions, not to mention dealing with footage from other sources. To me, a camera has to be pretty bad or pretty ill-suited to make it worthwhile to break consistency with the other material already shot. As much as you can, pick a camera, pick a few lenses (or just one lens), do your due diligence to get familiar with them, and then just get on with it. It's only when you can see past the camera and the lens and the filters that you'll be able to see what you're pointing the camera at.

Having just bought an S1ii I can agree that the price is high for most people. In my case I got it with the 24-60 2.8 for 3800 which is about 300-400€ less than buying both separately. With the 3 jobs I had over the last 3 days I’ve paid it off (once I sell one of my S5iis). So it’s all relative, if it’s a tool that makes money (whilst making my life easier in my case), then maybe it’s good value?

🤷‍♂️ but as with the OG S1R and it’s 47mp sensor (Tower Jazz was the speculation at the time?), that was unique to the brand, the 44mp S1RII sensor is Panasonic’s own apparently and totally unique as far as I am aware? IMO, it has that mojo that the S1R had in that there is something unquantifiably special about it. I think most reviews/reviewers go mainly off the spec sheet and very very few have proper Panasonic full-frame history/experience but those that actually go and shoot the thing properly, know. I’ve shot 8 weddings spread over 24 days, stills and video with it now and can see immediately when I drop the files on a timeline, how much better they are than those of the S5II/S9. And this is no “because I have one” fanboy hallucination, because I have near zero brand loyalty and if I think something else will do a better job, I owe no company or brand anything. Plus have no YouTube channel, have ever received a free piece of kit or anything, so simply user feedback opinion. Define ‘better’. It’s one of those things that is not any single thing but the sum of several smaller things… As above somewhere or perhaps the other Lumix thread, ‘less muddy’, not that the material coming out of the S5II/S9 is muddy, but using words, it’s the best I can do. I’d throw up some sample footage myself for download except I only shoot log with the baked in Phantom conversion LUT for workflow purposes but the comparison with S5II/S9 is the same because that is what I have done with those cameras since I had them. The pricing was a bit too high straight out of the gate, but I picked mine up for £2700 which was acceptable compared with any kind of brand swap which I looked at which would have been anything from 5-10k based on my needs. So did I remain ‘brand loyal’ purely on cost then? Nope; cost + familiarity/continuity + capability, but starting afresh today, I’d go Nikon with adapter E Mount glass.

Here’s a quick review.

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I'm talking about in cinema, there's no use case for it. Sports yes.

Did they finally revert to the original S1 image, and drop the over-sharpening?

I had to squint very hard to see the review amongst the advertorial at DPReview. Nice firmware updates and nice specs. Pity about the stuff Panasonic can do nothing about... - L-mount is a not such a popular mount compared to Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z and Fuji X / GFX, despite having been released 2nd after Sony - The price is wrong, it should be at the Z6 III level - The competition is really fierce and has a very big loyal user base eager for more - A7 V will outsell the S1 II massively and the EOS R6 Mark III specs are really competitive with not a cripple hammer in sight, Nikon with REDcode, Fuji with the best sensors - All the others have moved into Panasonic's video niche in a big way, so now Panasonic must stand apart without their biggest unique selling point (GH4 days are long gone) I don't wish ill to Panasonic but they have majorly fucked things up in the camera market and all those great specs and generous firmware updates won't save them It's all the marketing and planning team's fault, not the engineers. For the loyal ones, enjoy the S1 II and S1R II, they're great cameras even if they won't sell very many.

Dpreview released their S1II review today, holding off on a gold rating solely due to the camera's price... Andrew isn't alone in his criticism of Panasonic. I was expecting to see the price come down a bit already. If the firmware truly resolved the overheating issues the camera was having, I think the only issue remaining is the poor H264/H265 output of the camera I've been reading about. And the lack of clarity on when / what the S1HII will be... Still, its becoming a more compelling package.

It's been done. The water damaged stuff requires a whole next level of repair skill though.

Director Lav Diaz has shot films on the GH3, GH5 and GH5s before. Occasionally when he has more funding or is chasing a particular aesthetic he works with 16mm film or a pro digital cinema camera. I had assumed this was one of those times, based on the international star and the generally stunning image. It's a wonderful and thought provoking film with some of the most memorable cinematic imagery of the year. The tech was more than capable in the right hands.

I think it CAN be the most important choice for SOME films, but for MOST films, I genuinely think it matters less now than ever before. I'm not going to say that the ARRI Alexis 35 doesn't have a place and that everything can just be shot on a GH7 or FX3, because that's not true at all either. But how many of them could have been shot on something else and not been any worse for the wear? One of my favorite films of the year is "The Long Walk." It's shot on the ARRI Alexa 35 with Panavision anamorphics (just like the much uglier "Terrifier 3" I mentioned in a previous post!) and looks very good. But if you had switched that ARRI Alexa out for something else, I don't think it'd have had any impact on the film because the acting and story was that good and was what stood out the most about the film. That's not a reason to NOT to film with an ARRI, but it's an example of how less important it is today than ever before. "28 Years Later" is one of the highest grossing films of the year and was shot on an iPhone. Can anyone honestly say that it would've been more successful, financially or artistically, if it'd been shot on an ARRI? Probably not. Conversely, you can't really say that "The Conjuring: Last Rites" would have been less successful if it had been shot on something other than an ARRI, say a PYXIS or lower end Sony.

Hey Andrew, how about this one? Would be quite the deal if it could be fixed. Camera is about an hour from me so I am tempted to experiment. Otherwise an expensive paperweight. Salt water damage is probably up there with one of the worst things to do dona camera.

I'd lime to know why the GH7 was used for this particular movie/documentary. Practical reasons regarding size? Cost? Absolute technical image quality? We just don't know. I also think camera choice is the most important reason any creator is going to make, aside from script. If the piece doesn't look right no one will watch it, even if it's Citizen Kane Part Deux. That's why some Hollywood creative trios are almost set in stone: director-writer-photographer. If I go to an IMAX I expect to see something spectacular. If I go to the cinema for an indie doc, my expectation changes. If I turn on my TV and watch channel 6 I pretty much expect soap opera visuals.

Finally someone used trees as resolution test chart instead of his own face

GH5 GH4 EM10iii OM-1 5Dii XPRO2 XT-5 P1100 DSC-RX10 iPhone15 iPhone12 Xiaomi12 Ultra DJI Mavic Pro GoPro Hero All those different cameras were used to make our latest indy documentary on-and-off over the last 3 years. We finally finished post-production (for real this time) last month. Not to mention all the different ridiculous vintage lenses and modern lenses employed along the way. So that happened. My advice? Yeah, don't use so many cameras...and then try to make all that cohere somehow with no legitimate color grading skills... Surprisingly, I found the EM10iii footage the most pleasant looking color-wise when exposed correctly.

Hi guys I got good deal on this Isco pre 36 I have few prime lenses I can use my questions is hand be the best way to mount this lens to taking lens do I need clamp I hear I can use step up rings what would be best option Thansk

I think people are mistaking pretty with good cinematography. There’s good cinematography and there’s bad cinematography, and then there’s cinematography that’s right for the movie. In this case it looks right for the movie.

And when he also did a test of standard Vlog vs Arri log, the standard Vlog looked a lot better to me. Someone else and I forget who now (but it was someone UK) also did a side by side between the S1II and S1RII and all though he made a case that the S1II was better, about 90% of the comments including myself, disagreed. I was playing with building a new custom non-log profile based on a download from LUMIX Lab, but heavy rain has stopped play 😒 Agree as it stays on and there is less risk of touching the glass and getting fingerprints on it or having to put it somewhere safe every time. I also had mine flip down rather than up as it looked less crap. I might go back to it now I back to primarily shooting one video designated unit as I could make a VND work better with that, but as above, was working on a non-log profile with an ISO of just 80 which in most scenarios, would remove any need for ND. But ground to a halt thanks to the crap UK weather...

This is Z6iii, but maybe Sony cameras have similar IC for boot.

I have the flip VND. Very happy with it. For years I used magnetic VNDs but the flip is miles better. If I’m indoors and using flash I just take it off. I had loads more photos that were keepers! I feel so much more confident in the AF, especially with flash, as the camera is just quicker. I sometimes found I’d be a split second behind with the S5ii which meant I had more shots out of focus or with the subject pulling a funny face. Very happy so far. Let’s see how today goes.

When S1RII came out I played also with the files Connor Maccaskill provided and they did look nice and cleaner compared to S5II footage I had captured during previous year or two. Still, as I already had my foot firmly in the Nikon Raw camp, did not want to pay the difference to change back to Panasonic.

Something else I forgot to say was the difference between the S5II/S9 video and the S1RII is how clean/nicer the latter is. Working with all 3 on the same timeline, especially with lower light stuff, it’s very clear which is which because the S5II/S9 footage whilst not muddy, seems muddy when compared with that coming from the S1RII. This is partly why I have moved the S9 into a very limited secondary role where along with the S5II, they will be responsible for pretty much just 3 scenarios resulting in 3 pieces of footage, albeit in the case of the S5II, that means full length wedding ceremony and full length speeches. Anyone using these cameras together will probably confirm the same difference.

That ability to flip between stills and video is great…as long as you either: A. Don’t mind using an ND for stills. Personally I do mind. B. Or don’t mind cranking the shutter for video. Personally I don’t mind and last 3 weddings I shot with zero ND and did not notice any difference to the quality of the video other than the image quality was better than the previous 3 jobs shot with a VND. C. Or use a flip up or magnetic filter and I have tried both and didn’t care for either. I think one of the beauties of shooting video with the S1RII is base 200 ISO in log (and 160 with ARRI log C but personally think Vlog looks better most of the time bit could make a better base if also baking in a LUT) meaning less requirement for using ND anyway. I have however decided to go back to having separate bodies for stills and video because it just works better for me, with less kit, more range, near zero lens swaps. On that basis, I currently have one of my S1RII’s dedicated to stills with the 28-70 with hybrid zoom (28-105 and still achieving 18mp stills at the long end) enabled for outdoor use, with the 35mm f1.8 as my low-light indoor option. The second S1RII I bought used came with the Arri Log preinstalled and I have this one paired with the 17-40 crop lens (and with EIS enabled it’s giving me a FF equivalent range of approx 28-66) as my dedicated run & gun video unit, with 18mm f1.8 as my wide angle FF option, especially for indoor low light, tighter scenarios. S9 has had a stay of execution and I have welded the 85mm f1.8 to it and mounted it on a lightweight tripod as my sniper video unit, plus is serves as a back up to any or all of my 3 main cams. The 3rd main cam being the same S5II workhorse with the 70-200 f4 on heavy tripod for all my static and long form capture stuff. I also have the 50mm f1.8 in reserve for it for tighter, lower light, indoor scenarios, so all bases as covered as they can be. But going back to the video/stills settings, being able to have I think 9 dedicated stills settings and 9 video at the turn of a single dial is fantastic. I only have 4 settings set up and these are; outdoor landscape, outdoor people, indoor lower light and indoor/outdoor extreme low light as in after dark, each with appropriate ISO ranges and WB etc. It’s crazy really how good this kit now is and the S1RII might not be my favourite camera of all time, but it is easily the most capable and zero complaints other than yes, I would have preferred the more rangefinderesque body style (and hope Panny makes one or at least a Leica Q3 43 rival) and average at best battery life. And obviously, the 4” screen a la ZR would be very welcome, but I’d personally want it with the S1RII style mech and not flipped out to the side. I’d prefer just tilt even to flip out to the side! Best video quality I have had out of a camera and it’s pretty robust with equal image quality to the best I have ever had which was Sony A7RV. As a pure stills camera, I think the A7RV does still have the edge being honest, but it’s a narrow margin and as a hybrid, the LUMIX comfortably tops it. Not updated the firmware yet but that was very welcome. I hope your shoot goes as well tomorrow.