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Alexa Classic will give you 1 stop more dynamic range, better rolling shutter and a lot more weight 🙂 , compared to Panasonic S Series. cined.com has the measurements of Alexa Classic and some of Panasonic S Series in their reviews section. Nobody will notice 1 stop of difference in DR, when export format is REC709 with only 6 to 7 stops of DR. Difference in rolling shutter may be noticeable. Alexa codecs are ProRes at 1080p and ArriRaw at 2.8K. You'll get 95% of Alexa image quality with Panasonic S1/S5/S1H and a lot more in terms of IBIS, some sort of autofocus, much larger lens selection, 6K RAW, etc. There are even LUTs that will give you ARRI look / color science or at least very close to it. Some people don't realize that movies shot on Alexa are a result of the work done by a lot of high skilled professionals including colorists. Some just want to have this legendary weapon at their side. Can't blame them 🙂 But it will cost more than 4K in the long run, that's for sure. It's good to have this experience if you want to enter the industry at the higher end (movies, commercials, etc.).

All Arri cameras have the same dynamic range essentially. They all have the same sensor even the Alexa 65. They essentially stitch the sensors together. While RED for example uses completely different sensors for each camera. Its one of the great things about Arri, you know exactly what you are getting. The benefit is more the color than the dynamic range in my opinion. Arri 444 is 12 bit log which has more color information than 10 bit log or 12 bit linear RAW that Panasonic offers. Its 2.8k vs 6k if we are talking Classic vs Panasonic S1 though. I really don't care a lot about resolution which is why I am getting the Classic. Certain luts do a great job of getting close or even matching Arri 100%. It is kind of situation dependent though. Emotive color does a great job. Even with his luts though they are made to match specific light sources. The internal codecs are limited and ARRI imitations luts are pushing the color really far from its original starting point, often resulting in artifacts. RAW makes a big difference on the Panasonic cameras though and is really awesome to work with. I certainly wouldn't suggest most go out and buy an ARRI or any other camera, especially not if you are a hobbyist. As an owner/operator DP it was the right move for me and my specific goals.

BRAW is definitely a good alternative though. I am not a big fan of shooting 6k, though you can always opt for S35 4k.

The shipping said it was in customs then afterwards it said "returned to sender" now it says "ready for pickup" at the same city it originated from. I assume that means it was rejected by customs and sent back. There has been no update to the shipping or contact from the seller since Sept 23rd so I am just trying to get a refund at this point. I am somewhat bummed though the Alexa Classic realistically gives me everything I'd want in a slightly smaller package. I was using ProRes RAW which is virtually lossless. It's not as hard to match cameras it normal conditions but becomes trickier with mixed lighting or more difficult situations. That is where high end tends to shine more.

BRAW is not technically RAW. That's correct ! It is partially debayred in camera to workaround the RED patent and not pay royalties. But if you are not satisfied with BRAW, ProRes RAW is technically RAW and this option is available too for Panasonic S series. Don't see visually differences between BRAW and ProRes RAW. Colors are the same. Prefer to work with BRAW because it is integrated in Davinci Resolve so well. And has more options for compression. This review shows some of the differences between BRAW and ProRes RAW. BRAW coming out of Panasonic S1/S5/S1H + Blackmagic Video Assist 12G is 12 bit Panasonic V-Log. Colors should be 444, because it is RAW. Of course it's not possible to match Alexa Colors and S curve 1 to 1 with a LUT. Also noticed the magenta tint in the video comparison above. But it's close enough. And am not saying that Panasonic S1/S5/S1H is as good as Alexa. Agree with TomTheDP and already said that if you are in the industry or entering it, having Alexa experience will be beneficial. But for the rest of us Panasonic S1/S5/S1H + external recorder is more than enough. 🙂

Prores noise seems to look a little better too. Not exactly sure how to describe it. The fixed noise pattern doesn't go away unless shooting in RAW though.

Again that's silly. "If you don't need XLR on your wireless kit then why do you need XLR at all" is not a valid argument. If you don't understand why they're made the way they are and why those reasons don't apply to every other device then nothing I write will make you understand. Besides, as I stated, you can output to XLR if you choose to.

XLR will remain the standard for professional audio until a viable alternative is adopted by all the major companies. I don't have a ton of experience in audio studios but I've been in enough of them to know that XLR is the predominant connection to mixers (which are still used) and digital interfaces. If anything analog is experiencing a bit of a resurgence as some artists move away from the overly digital sound that has been popular for the last 15 to 20 years. A lot of the most popular vocal mics that are used today are older because of the sound they produce. Using wireless systems to knock XLR is silly/unfair. It's quite obvious why they don't use XLR given their size these days. Regardless it's still very common to connect the receiver to your camera or recorder with XLR. I do since I use the Panasonic XLR adapter. I'll continue buying XLR mics and recorders until a viable, widely adopted alternative pops up. I like my XLR mics.

It's the Classic, just the body with the gold mount plate. I already got a PIX E5 that I am going to use to record rather than try to get SXS cards. I am not a big EVF guy so I am ok without it. It does have the high speed license. I do have an XT coming from Russia with all the goodies. I kind of want to cancel it, as it was rejected at customs. I just don't want to deal with it at this point now that I have the Classic inbound. My only real desire for the XT is the Prores 3.2k. In reality the difference between the 2k on the Classic and the 3.2k on the XT is almost nothing.

Not exactly a full blown holiday but had a few days away so took the Osmo Pocket and the Freewell anamorphic adapter to test this theory out and these are grabs from 4K/24p videos. It does OK and its certainly unobtrusive enough in terms of carrying it and using it without attracting any attention. The problem with the Mark 1 though here is that the FOV isn't quite big enough (which is something the vlogging/selfie crowd didn't like about it) so you can end up shooting low and up which fucks the verticals up. The Mark 2 with its wider lens and its ability to use ND and anamorphic simultaneously (its either or with the Mark 1) is now showing me a lot of ankle.