All Activity

There are already C50 vs ZR, FX3, S1ii videos out there and the R6iii uses the same sensor as C50 so that'll already tell you quite a bit. Z mount adaptability is definitely what's making me consider going Nikon. If I go with the ZR I would get the megadap for Sony & EF lenses. This short test seems very positive about EF glass on Z body: On the other hand, if I go R6 mk3 I'd probably dump my 50mm f1.2 & 35mm f1.4 and go with the RF 45mm f1.2. Gaining open gate is huge and its a true hybrid with EVF and mech shutter so that's where I'm leaning atm.

Yeah I totally get you on the C50. Without IBIS it’s a tough sell for any hybrid or handheld doc setup. Such a shame because that form factor is so right otherwise. I’m actually the opposite on shooting style these days. My eyesight’s slipping a bit, so I rely heavily on the EVF for framing and just use the rear screen for settings and quick checks. In that sense the FX2 body design is near perfect, that tilting EVF paired with the big6 menu on rear display is brilliant. But they completely wasted it by putting that old slow A7 IV sensor inside. The rolling shutter kills any handheld motion, which makes no sense for a cinema body. That’s also why I have low hopes for the A7 V. Sony can’t risk undercutting the FX2 and FX3, so I doubt we’ll see internal RAW, open gate or even 6K/8K included. They’ll probably save that for an eventual FX3 Mark II. I’m still keeping an eye on the ZR though. Bloom just dropped a lengthy review yesterday and his conclusions matched what I felt in my short time with it: gorgeous display, excellent RAW image quality, but odd handling and UI, plus that horrible baked noise reduction that makes the compressed codecs look soft and full of artifacts. It’s a fascinating camera, but definitely one that still feels like a work in progress. Canon’s not perfect, hardware is dull but at least with the R6 III they’ve finally built something balanced and forward thinking at a realistic price. In many ways it totally outperforms the much more expensive R5 mk2 which is a complete change in strategy and a good one.

Nikon Zr hurts as it just seemed such an obvious move for Panasonic, they were well known for both the rangefinder-style form factor and the video features. There should have been a Panasonic Zr before a Nikon... The S9 was not it. On the one hand photographers are crying out for rangefinder style small bodies, which Panasonic did so well in the Micro Four Thirds days. The GX80 and GX9 are so much in demand now that the used prices are constantly going up...they are 6-10 years old! So what do they do... They go and launch one with no EVF and no mechanical shutter which is the surest way to piss off photographers imaginable. And on the other hand video folk are really in love with the Sony FX3 for some reason and the smaller form factor, FX2 is very nice for example with the nod to the latter mentioned stills features missing from S9. So Panasonic instead of doing an FX3 clone like Nikon and Canon... Go off on a complete tangent and do nothing. Not even an S1H Mark II. Instead we have the overpriced S5 bodies otherwise known as S1 II and S1R II. Great image quality and features but completely wrong marketing and design concepts.

Leica M Typ 240... 2012, this was before Panasonic got more involved with making Leica's stuff. I'll give this a 10/10. The whole motherboard slides out really easily. I baked it in the oven to bring it back to life from completely dead. The solder needed a reflow apparently. 200 degrees C at 7 minutes did the trick. Custom chips all over the place. Utterly beautiful mechanically and in terms of the quality of connectors, cables, lots of metal parts and brilliantly designed internals. Next up another older camera, Nikon D700. Very impressive motherboard with separate analogue to digital converters. Probably why the colour science still has the edge on the newer sensor designs with their inline on-chip A/D. Nikon own branded chips. By contrast in the newer Leica Q... It's actually a Samsung. And the lens relies on a LOT of digital correction, so it's certainly not in same league as a Leica M when it comes to the quality of parts or optics. End result in terms of the images is very nice though. We'll call it the Samsung Q. Onto Fuji now and I have fixed an X-Pro3 and the old X-Pro1. The original had a lot of Fujifilm's own CPUs inside. It's very well made but has a lot of traditionally soldered wires on the mainboard, old-school style. This continues with some of the newer models too. X-Pro3 was an easy fix, a ribbon cable (FPC) had come loose where the sensor plugs into the mainboard. Some tape over the socket had shrunk in the heat and pulled it ajar. Pictured above is the X-Pro1 circuitboard, it's more proprietary whereas X-Pro3 looks a bit more generic on the inside. Here is an oven bake of a Panasonic LX15 mainboard... The components can withstand very high-heat and usually cold solder joints are responsible for a wide range of issues. Unfortunately in this case I made a mistake with the stop watch and the card slot fell off 🙂 Here is a sensor with hot mirror... the IR cut filter glows pink in this shot. If you remove it you get an IR capable camera and can also shoot normally if you add the IR cut filter to the front of the lens instead. I think this sensor is from my Lumix LX100 II or could be Sony RX100, I forget 🙂 Now onto Sony and their smaller cameras are too tightly packed. FPC cables develop cracking over time as some of the metal is folded and bent too tightly to fit the smaller bodies. This is an RX100 and it's very common to see these fail on the cable that connects the lens. A relatively easy fix actually and replacement FPCs are $5 on Aliexpress. But I don't rate Sony's quality as highly as Fuji or Panasonic so far. Onto Canon and I have had a very bad experience so far with their modern cameras. The DSLRs were much better made (i.e. 5D Mark III which was easy to tear down and remove the OLPF back in the day!) They use extremely fragile FPC connection sockets and the ribbon cables themselves are brittle and cheap. Sometimes a few bends and they tear. Doesn't make for a stress free repair that's for sure. In contrast to Panasonic, with the lovely GX80 it's in a different league and take a bit of extra abuse by an amateur repairer. I've done a lot more than what I have time to post today but probably will do a deeper look at stuff for YouTube or the blog. I rate as follows the brands then... 1. Leica (the extra cost is noticeable on the inside) 2. Panasonic (they know how to sensibly build a camera and logically lay out stuff, and they don't scrimp on component quality) 3. Fujifilm (high repairability score and robust, sensible designs) 4. Nikon (high repairability but many of the newer cameras not up to high-standards they set during DSLR era) 5. Sony (they try to pack in too much) 6. Canon (really quite terrible, cheap cost cut components, and badly laid out) Stay tuned for more. I do this just for fun, and really enjoy it. Plus now I have a oven baked Leica 240 to play with 🙂

I would HATE to lose Panasonic from cameras. I have all my fingers crossed this is not the case.

It's a move away from "Pro" in the marketing of cameras. Part of this is because they know Lumix has no chance vs Canon, Sony and Nikon with press agencies and in the professional sports market. The autofocus situation never allowed them a toe in the door let alone a foot. But I also think it hints at something deeper. When Samsung withdrew from the camera market they also heavily cut back on pro marketing and support first. Not that Samsung's own PR people were aware of it (even days after the NX1's cancellation they thought they were still in the camera market!) They were fired shortly after.

Yeah they should price the s1ii in the nikon zr ballpark. Or even less.. Now the canon r6 iii also seems pretty nice and even that camera is cheaper then the s1ii.. Nikon and canon are much more known and if the camera's somewhat similar people are choosing canon or nikon, just for the name alone.

These look really good. Looking forward to the comparison video's of the nikon zr, canon r6iii, panadonic s1ii and I guess still the sony a7siii. (Would get the s1ii for the ibis, nikon zr for the monitor and IQ(but fear the datarates), hope the r6iii has similar IQ as the zr and good ibis, and the a7siii/fx3 is still somewhat industry standard which has benefits like lots of good luts available). + I still own a bunch of EF glass which really works well on panasonic. (Adapting it to sony kinda sucked back in the day, nikon not sure, canon should be pretty flawless I guess)

Agreed. I have a hard time thinking that in the modes of the S5ii, somehow we're getting systematic overheating on the S1rii. Granted the processor and sensor are different, but Lumix, who is known for testing their cameras well, would have not released it had the thermals been off the wall.

@Django the ‘crippling’ I was referring to (for want of a better term) was the lack of IBIS in the C50 killed it for my needs and the rear LCD on the R6iii. Not that the latter would have saved it for me but the C50 had HUGE appeal to me but IBIS is absolutely fundamental to me. And the Sigma BF, yup, it’s a piece of jewellery. I really hoped they would have developed the FP and added a couple of features it was missing for me such as IBIS and a tilt screen. Re. the ZR, I also think it’s a bit overhyped at the moment and has a few missing elements, but for price especially, has been the ‘best’ overall release of 2025. At least so far, - Sony are popping their next A7 out later this month if the smoke from the Dolomites is correct and they may pull a surprise? My interest and commentary is more an impartial one. I’m 99% happy with the gear I have but at the same time if something else comes along that is quantifiably better (for my needs) and it’s financially doable, I am going to at least check it out. Right now, I’d like the C50 body and spec but with the ZR screen, (the size & res of it anyway but would prefer a tilt or fully articulated) with with Z or E Mount and the IBIS and video tools of LUMIX. Maybe one day someone will get it right for me and it all exists, just not in any single brand or camera! The closest is probably Nikon…

More blogging... So i bought an ipad 13 inch m3, i know there's a 4 out and the 5 is coming. Couldn't really justify the cost of the ipad 4 and couldn't be bothered waiting for the 5 and the cost of that little beastie. However i wanted something that had the " extra chip / processing on board for video" and the m3 has it i believe. Curious has anyone else got an ipad and what do they use it for ? Apart from a couple of pictures of some roses i haven't done much with it. Waiting for a cage to arrive to give it some protection before i let it out into the wild... Hard to believe this thing is only 5-6 mm thick. So far i'm pretty happy with it, but you'd expect that with any new toy.. Apparently it doesn't have the best screen apple make, but i reckon its still a very nice screen. Sooc er... Ipad i mean. I'm no pixel peeper apart from wanting to know what to expect. Thats about as far as i take it. Colours seem ok to me and there's some out of focus happening but that might be from the close focus i reckon but still pleasing i think. I can't watch much on the iphone 13 apart from some youtube occasionally or if i have just used the iphone to capture some video as its always in my pocket and convenient, sad but true. The Ipad 13 inch is much more watchable from my perspective, others may disagree. I got the 13 inch just for the extra screen real estate and so far I'm not disappointed. I initially bought it to help with reading sheet music as my music station has outgrown the desktop and is now 6 meters removed from where it used to live. I did consider adding a second screen run from the desktop. however its a beast of a computer and its overkill to run it just for music practice and i figure there's other options available that i can use the ipad for as well. May need to purchase one of those microfiber cloths, a cotton rag seems to struggle and leave lint or fibers. I also bought an extra small rig 17mm threaded adapter plate, i'm hopeful that i can mount to the cage i bought and attach some lenses for additional fun.. the neewer probe lens does an ok job for a camera phone, i mostly use it with the iphone 13 in a cage. Not impressed with the flaring but its manageable and it does suck up alot of light, but it is one third or less the price of a real "probe" lens.

Does anyone know if the body and the button layout are identical to the Mark II? Have any shilltubers said anything about it?

Nope. Approx 20 days of shooting with temps up to mid 30 Celsius and cameras get warm, especially in direct sunlight as all black bodied cameras do, but not a single overheating warning, never mind a shut down. No lock ups either. Well might have been one now I think about it but had more than that on my A7RV I had prior and a none issue. Most of the overheating talk is from; folks unfamiliar with the camera in the first place + use age of non-recommended cards + incorrect heat management settings + tests deliberately designed to cook the thing and so combined, well yes, you probably will make it have a meltdown but real world shooting with proper cards and set up? Err no. Actually, 99% of the overheating talk is people talking about overheating who do not have and have never had or used the cameras and are in reality expelling more hot air than the cameras do!

Quite possible, but if Panasonic wants to continue with Lumix and it makes money and takes money from Sony, I don't see really any changes. I understand this one. Have you had any problems with the S1rii locking up or overheating? I heard someone say that the other day. Maybe they fixed it. I'm not a pro and I'm still fully enjoying the S5ii. These days, I'm more interested in lenses, especially vintage and MF ones. I should be getting the Laowa 28mm f/1.2 in a few days. There's something about the wide and shallow look that attracts me. That lens seems to be the widest, brightest. I was really hesitating between it and the Konica 28mm f/1.8 UC, which is still one of the most unique 28mm on the market. Maybe, I'll pick up both.

The R6 Mark III has IBIS, so that point’s off. Canon’s lineup is just segmented now: the C50 is the pro cine body, while the R5 and R6 series are prosumer hybrids. I’ve tried both the ZR and R6 (mk2) back to back. The ZR looks cooler and that big screen is gorgeous, but ergonomically it’s kinda average: very thin, shallow grip, no EVF, cheap buttons and a menu system in dire need of a revamp. Lack of DCI, open gate and meh exposure tools on the ZR is what bugs me most. Overall I still really like it for its streamlined compactness and big display but it's clearly a first gen product. The Canon feels faster, more natural, and better balanced once in hand for hybrid usage. That said I admit the R series design language has zero mojo compared to the cine oriented C50, FX or ZR, but the R6 III is far from crippled. It’s balanced, feature complete, and a solid proposition in today’s mid tier hybrid market. The real genius move I think is launching it alongside that super affordable 45mm f1.2 where other brands keep pairing slow zooms as their kits. Side note but speaking of sex appeal the camera that really had me drooling at the shop was the Sigma BF. Totally unpractical form over function design but that heavy solid unibody paired with minimal clever UI make it one of the most unique and oddly inspiring designs in recent times.

It’s a bit small and lower res in 2025 I think… As someone who will not rig out beyond a cage and a mic and only uses the rear LCD, 3” and 1.6 million dot isn’t great, especially when the ZR has 4” and over 3 million dot screen. OK the Nikon is a bit more cine orientated and the Canon, more hybrid, but I know which I’d choose between the two. Canon just don’t seem to be innovating enough or if they do, still cripple hammering too hard. Looking at you C50. The bodies are also looking more and more old hat unsexy plasticky blobs, even if they are well built. No IBIS is a very hard sell in 2025 to the more mass market. Or maybe they don’t need to sell to the more mass market/prosumer? What do I know… Canon, as it always has been for me, just don’t have that ‘want it’ buzz about them and it was Nikon who used to always seem to play second fiddle to them, but looks like Neekon have jumped them in recent times.

Ah, the forgotten LUMIX. At least by me, but whenever it is mentioned and I am reminded of it, I start to think how I might get and use one. But then I remember it needs rigging out with at least a screen and it dies for me. I suspect for at least the run & gun brigade, the flatter and wider ‘rangefinderesque’ body style is more desirable in 2025? Folks don’t want to rig out which is why the ZR is so popular, the RED association aside, - it’s all about the form factor and that 4 inch screen. It’s the wrong screen of course and should be fully articulated so it can remain behind the body and in line with the lens, but it seems we can’t have everything 😏

I think your current GH7 set up is giving you all of the cinema already, but an S9 could be an exceptional full frame option in a pretty small package. There’s a new TT Artisan 40mm f2 which suits it perfectly and is cheap and has ‘character’. It’s decently sharp and contrasty but also has a certain glow to the highlights reminiscent of a subtle mist filter. Sharp of course is not necessarily a desirable requirement for ‘cinema’ but it’s something that is easier to dial back than add. The main appeal of this set up for me is it’s pretty small and pretty small means more likely to take it everywhere and use it and it has that ability to be both a personal/family camera and decent cine camera as you wish. I had been using mine as an A/B cam for work but now repurposed it as a personal/C cam with either the Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 for cropped video or when I pick it up, this new TT Artisan. Also toying with getting a Thypoc Simera or two for my slightly more pro S1RII’s and turning my S9 back into my working B cam purely for autofocus situations. Options options options…

On my last trip I shot with the GH7 >> Voigtlander 42.5mm F0.95 >> Sirui 1.25x anamorphic adapter, and was really taken with the images, which remind me of 90s/00s cinema. But the setup was big, heavy, and didn't have as much shallow DOF as I wanted as I was shooting a lot of compositions at a distance without having many/any things in the foreground. Optically it's equivalent to a 68mm F1.5 on FF. A good horizontal FOV, although it's a 'between' amount and I would go wider and crop rather than going tighter. Physically it's large and heavy, weighing 2.1kg 4.6lb and with the 82mm front gave me very little stealth factor, further justifying shooting street with such a long focal length. Despite me shooting in busier areas and stopping when I first come upon a composition, people clocked me very frequently. In terms of the brief, I think that I want: - similar horizontal FOV (H-FOV) - shallower DOF - similar softness (the Voigts are nicely soft wide open, taking off the digital edge beautifully) - funkier bokeh, preferably stretched consistently vertically rather than swirly / cats-eye - smaller / lighter - not thousands of dollars I'm pondering how to get there, I've figured a few potential pathways... Vintage speedbooster - GH7 >> Speedbooster >> ~50mm F1.4 I already own a M42-MFT speed booster, which combined with a ~50mm F1.4 lens would give a 71mm F2.0 FOV. This is slightly deeper DOF but is only a AUD200 or so, and when combined with an oval insert, can give great bokeh. This is a proof-of-concept shot with a M42-MFT speed booster and a 50mm F1.8 lens with a couple of bits of paper stuck to the rear lens element: This is definitely a vintage / funky approach, but isn't so fast. This leads us to the elephant in the room, which is that while MFT is excellent at a great many things, very shallow DOF isn't really one of them. We are using a 0.71x speed booster already but need to decrease the crop-factor further. Vintage speedbooster + wide-angle adapter - GH7 >> Speedbooster >> ~50mm F1.4 >> Wide-angle adapter If we add a 0.7x wide-angle adapter (WAA), we end up with a crop factor of 0.995, which is essentially FF. This seems promising as TTartisan noticed that everyone-and-their-dog wanted a longer telephoto lens to go with their M42 Helios, and gifted us an M42 75mm F1.5 swirly bokeh master. Combined with the SB + WAA that gives us a 75mm F1.5 which is a bit longer than I'd want, but is interesting. BUT, and it's a big but (I cannot lie) Spherical wide-angle adapters seem to be universally rubbish. I bought two ultra-cheap WAA and they were rubbish (when shot with a fast lens wide-open anyway) which is to be expected, but recently I snapped up a Kodak Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 0.7x 55mm adapter, which should be a fine example of the breed, and it was also pretty rubbish. Certainly, more 'vintage' than I am looking for. Subsequent research lead me to conclude that people stopped making these adapters once the mirrorless revolution happened and people stopped using fixed-lens camcorders. I'd be happy to be proven wrong..... However, there is one type of wide-angle adapter that is available with modern optical standards, and that's the anamorphic ones, which leads us to... More anamorphic - Blazar Nero 1.5x anamorphic adapter This is probably my ideal anamorphic adapter in many ways (but one) as it's smaller and lighter than the Sirui, isn't quite as sharp (I don't mind) and has more squeeze to-boot. If I use it on my 42.5mm Voigtlander lens it widens the HFOV compared to the Sirui (not ideal) and also doesn't change the DOF. If we combine its 0.667x HFOV boosting with my 0.71x speed booster we get a crop factor of 0.95 - wider than FF! So, combined with that 75mm F1.5 TTartisan lens, that's a 71mm F1.4 equivalent. Compared to the 68mm F1.5 we started with that's only a slight improvement in DOF, and only a slight improvement in size and weight, but we've paid the better part of AUD2000 to do it. ...and for that kind of money, we can just buy a FF camera. Go Full Frame - but what to buy?? Remembering our original goal, the option that stood out to me was the Lumix S9. It's small, has a flippy screen, and is within consideration at around AUD1500 used. The OG S5 is similarly priced and I hear it has some good mojo. There might be others too. Ideally, I'd go with a smaller body, as if I'm paying this much for a new system, starting with a GH7-sized body seems counter-productive. The S9 is very similarly sized to my GX85 and here's a comparison of sizes... [GH7 + Voigt 42.5/0.95 + Sirui] vs [GX85 + SB + 50mm F1.8]: The weights are similar - those setups are 2110g vs 800g - more than 2.5x the weight. In terms of lens options, this is a world I am unfamiliar with, but considering we've just blown most of our budget on the body (and spare batteries etc) lenses can't cost too much. Considering I am inclined towards cheap/funky/vintage MF lenses, I figure the options include things like: Vintage 50mm F1.4 lenses (like a Takumar) on a dumb adapter The swirly 75mm F1.5 TTartisans on a dumb adapter The 7artisans 75mm F1.4 in L-mount These aren't shallower DOF at all! FF is a lie! (I kid.. well sort-of anyway) Even if I spring for more expensive options like a 50mm F0.95 that still has deeper DOF due to the shorter focal length, and it doesn't look like F0.95 lenses for FF are affordable for anything other than 50mm. If I start adding serious weight again with things like a Sirui 150mm T2.9 1.6x and then attach my 1.25x to it, I'd end up with a 150mm T2.9 2x anamorphic lens, which has a HFOV of 75mm T1.45, but the combo weighs almost as much as my GH7 rig does in total! No wonder the replacement series from Sirui were made from carbon fibre! Perhaps the only real jump in shallower DOF is to combine FF with an F1.4 prime and an anamorphic adapter, like FF + MF 85/1.4 + Sirui 1.25x adapter which would give an HFOV of 68mm F1.1, which is definitely faster. If this was the S9 then it would be smaller and lighter, but is still 75% of the weight and most of the size of my GH7 rig. But I suspect there are better more 'inventive' options. I want cheaper and lighter and I'm willing to 'pay' for it in image quality (actually I'd PREFER less sharp glass with more funk) so there have got to be other paths too. One I can see is to continue the speed-boosting pathway with a L-mount speed booster like 0.71 EF-L / FD-L / PL-L / NIK-L and then pair it with a ~100mm FF lens that might have a greater than FF image circle and not only get a shallower DOF but also get to see some funk at the edges (or even the actual edge of the circle which might be really cool). Unfortunately vintage 100mm F1.4 lenses don't seem to be common or cheap. My current leanings are to accept defeat and just go with the [GH7 >> M42-MFT SB >> oval cutout >> vintage 50mm F1.4 Takumar] option, which gives a 71mm F2.0 FOV, and only costs a couple of hundred dollars.

Somehow missed this one. Dual gain conversion (DCG) in RAW video for android smartphones : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVj6JYXF14M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlBN7vOwEnw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f36q0F-ZtdI Plus some great smartphone RAW video color grading (10bit RAW no DCG): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LHLDKIEBe0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6mPoJ5NpoU

Seems like a pretty good incentive for a company to never make a camera with those features 😂 If Panasonic make an S1II in the BS1H body, it might be the last camera I ever buy.

For me the future of LUMIX lies in; A. will we see an S1Hii and B. if so, what will it be? If there is one in the pipeline and it’s a banger, it won’t ‘save’ the brand anymore than it would for any other manufacturer as it’s a much bigger picture than that, but as a (pro) consumer of this brand, it will at least have demonstrated their short term commitment. Also we have to remember that the sky was falling in on Nikon just a few short years ago and they were utterly doomed…and at the end of 2025, they are the industry darling. Financially how any of them and doing and what their short, medium and long term goals and outlook is, probably even they don’t really know and Panny are probably on the shakiest ground of all, but had a fairly big surge, at least amongst the community bros this year so… Being totally honest, clean sheet tomorrow morning, I’d pick Nikon without hesitation, for my needs, but I think LUMIX/L Mount would still be in second place and really loving my S1RII’s which are arguably the best tools for my specific hybrid needs available today. ZR vs S1RII for stills? Zero contest, easy LUMIX win. For hybrid? LUMIX wins again. Run & gun video? Could make a case either way but unless shooting R2D2-3CPO raw, I think LUMIX has more advantages. As an outright cine camera, maybe the Nikon. As a brand for the short & medium term, probably Nikon is the safer bet, but depending on how invested you already are. Will this pro services thing have any bearing? Well as a pro with Panny for nearly 5 years now, wasn’t even aware of its existence so… 🤷‍♂️

Add faster sensor readout to that mix and 32 bit support and its likely the last camera I ever buy.

So is this also a cinema camera, or is the screen too small?

I understand. On the other hand, they could just call it Panasonic Pro Services and it would be completely seamless. I can’t help but feel there’s something going on behind the scenes, though. You’re right — moving from Lumix Pro Services to My Panasonic just doesn’t make sense from a user’s perspective, at least in my opinion. I smell a rat — the whole thing feels a bit fishy.