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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.

Yes, Now you understand my frustration and my initial rant? And that table is for one camera. Imagine you upgrade camera and your HHXXYY lens doesn't work as expected anymore. Hey, and they are an alliance!

MYPANASONIC ? That would be 6 more letters to fill in with my black sharpie than I already have to and 6 too many. They are not going to change the camera brand from LUMIX. Maybe for some kind of service, but not the brand itself. Unless they have been smoking some serious grade shit and/or are ‘seeing someone’ for their personal difficulties.

This name screams "consumer". You just don't replace "pro" with "my" if you're targeting professional shooters. But nothing is impossible with Panasonic marketing team. However ditching Lumix brand is bigger mistake. Unlike Canon/Nikon and even Sony, their customer base are 80% video 20% still users, and all of them call their cameras Lumix. But marketing aside, they're facing a economic challenge they exacerbated themselves with not being fully committed to low budget segment of the market. The reality is pro folks don't upgrade their tools very often. You need enthusiasts/younger generations to keep the cash flow. But they just updating the high end full frame cameras. M4/3 is perceived as dead. L mount APSC is nowhere to be seen. LX compact in GX7 resurrection era? None.

R63 is looking good here in terms of colors and texture. It is not going to set any records for DR, but it has a nice filmic noise pattern and the DR is perfectly fine for its class. It would be a great camera to carry around town, especially if you are already in the Canon system:

I'm really not sure what to make of it. Apparently, the North American service is still up. In Europe, they're transitioning to "My Panasonic". Maybe, and this would be a good thing, they're getting rid of the Lumix name, suggesting more of a commitment from them. If not, they're either restructuring/streamlining (good?) or winding down operations on a service that wasn't profitable in the first place (maybe for all the manufacturers). From the perspective of pros, if they don't have a priority turn-around on a device, it could be a problem, but maybe it's just not a thing anymore. Maybe just have backups and go with the slower service?

I hope that’s not the case - I mean somehow Pentax is still kicking around, (thanks to the Ricoh GR 😅).

I think it's the beginning of the end for Lumix.

Yeah, they are the Alice people rebranded. A project that leaves their original customers behind and launches a "new" one. Lots of cases in Kickstarter, or in case of software it could be called "Luminar move"... Very different from, like, the Pixii project.

I will say, all of this is confusing — Sean (of Lumix Live) spent about five minutes talking about Lumix Pro Services just today. Either he’s not aware of what’s going on, or I’ve completely misunderstood. But if he isn’t aware, it really doesn’t look good… and here he is still promoting it while their doors are apparently closing in 25 days. That's communication for you!

Fair point.

Ugh. And to make it even worse, they don't use human-understandable names for the lenses, but use model numbers. You know, for all the people who say "I'm gonna shoot this with my H-H014." Plus they put NG for all of the Olympus lenses - wonder if that means that I was wrong about the ones that I thought went to linear when you engaged the clutch or whether it just means that Panasonic couldn't be bothered to check them. "I'd like to manually focus this, but first let me consult the table in my user manual to see if manual focus works with this camera/lens combo..."

Big markets of sports, journalists, news agencies, they need fast troubleshooting, fast lane repair, and so on. It does look like Panasonic has given up targeting these customers and will only be focusing on consumers, content creators and enthusiasts with future cameras. So does that mean no more high-end or pro cameras? (Could explain lack of S1H Mark II)

The situation is worse than I thought, and this information is hard to find. The last column is hidden at the bottom of this table. The table is different for every camera body. This is for GH5MII https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/gh5m2.html Regarding the Summilux 25mm F1.4. The first version (H-X025 - 300USD used) doesn't support Focus ring control (ufficial Panasonic name for this basic operation) Only the second version support it (HA-X025) .

LOL. Why not just say that in the first place then?