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I love Panasonic cameras, but I have a cold shard of hatred in my heart for whoever thought up the idea of releasing a camera as capable as the GX80 with terrible internal audio and no mic input.

I've owned both cameras (GX80 and E-M5 iii) for 2 years each. If you compare the image and audio only, I feel the GX80 has a slightly better image more often than the E-M5iii, but the audio is no comparison. The GX80 has usable audio until you film the same thing with the E-M5iii as you cannot hear the ibis working in it. On the GX80, you hear the ibis and focus motors if you have them going. Still, both have better audio than the GX850. Also, the continuous AF performance is night and day with the GX80 with the E-M5iii outperforming it in every aspect. The EVFs are also light years apart- way better on the E-M5iii. The GX80 does feel chunkier though, but no weather sealing.

I've not owned/used an E-M5 iii (played with one a few times), but I have owned the very close relative E-M1 ii, so this is based on using that camera and what I know about the E-M5 iii. Gains: MIc input (and better sound from the on-board mics). Better IBIS. No-crop 4k at 25 & 30p plus (excellent) C4K at 24fps (only). Good (IPX1 rated) weather-sealing. OLED viewfinder. All-I 200 Mbps compression option for FHD, otherwise it's max 50 Mbps IPB for FHD, 100 Mbps for 4k and 237 Mbps for C4K (all VBR). Simple/quick switching between stills and movie mode via the 'function lever' on the back. More physical buttons and dials, including a front function button. Lots of control programmability. The 'Super Control Panel' (Oly's equivalent of the Quick Menu) is nice/very useful. Losses: It's basically a plastic body (to keep the weight down - it's slightly lighter than the GX85), so maybe doesn't have the more premium feel of the GX85. The FHD video is soft. The video compression isn't as good as Panasonic at similar bitrates. Weak tripod mount. Restricted choice of focus areas in video (compared to stills). The Olympus menu system...(but you get used to it eventually). You can't save several custom video setups (only custom stills setups). If you press the video record button in a 'stills' mode it always uses P mode (irrespective of the current stills settings). Flip-out screen on E-M5 iii versus tilt on GX85 - a personal preference thing.

The cheapest choice with the biggest feature set is going to be a used Olympus E-M5 iii or E-M1 ii in my opinion. Both of those offer fantastic value unrivaled for their size (especially the E-M5 iii. The gotchas on both of them on the used market is the questionable usage of glues on their outer shell. The E-M1 ii often has the rubber coming. The thumb rest on the E-M5 iii often comes off and you need to be careful with not putting too heavy of a lens on it as it has a fragile tripod mount.

Needs to be a DSLM. Also, we don't talk about action cams anymore on this forum. 🙂

It's not IBIS - it has OIS in the lens (standard SteadyShot) plus optional electronic stabilization (active SteadyShot, with a crop). It's very good in 'active' mode, but it's not up with the best stabilization from Oly/OMDS/Panasonic.

Stumbled across this feature film which came out quite recently that was shot entirely with the Panasonic G7! Tease trailer: Trailer:

I've been following this thread and now have a related quandary myself. This summer I'm taking my 15yr old son to the Cambridge Folk Festival - an event I used to attend yearly 'back in the day', but now only manage to visit to coincide with my decade birthdays. Anyway. Naturally my thoughts have wandered into possibly making some kind of film - it would seem a waste to go somewhere where there'll be loads of colourful, noisy and interesting stuff going on and not, TBH. Obviously I don't want to take my FS7. Even stripped down (the camera, not me) I wouldn't want to be carrying it around with me the whole time and I'll be camping, so there'll be nowhere secure for it either. Also there's a distinct possibility that the odd tipple might come my way! The obvious answer would be my GX80, but the sound - as we all know - is abysmal and there's no mic input either, so I'd have to record externally. Will I remember to start recording? Did I mention the tipple situation? I've had a play about with my EOS m and the newish crop_mood Magic Lantern build. It's an excellent build, but I'm still getting the odd bug-out and since my idea for a film includes vox pops, I just don't feel it's reliable enough. So option one is GX80 and I'll spend GBP170 on a Zoom F2 for the sound, or I trade in the GX80 for around GBP200, then spend <GBP400 on a different small, interchangeable lens camera that will give me a nice image and an audio input. Question is - what? All suggestions gratefully received.

Underwater LX-10 in 4K (with less glass in front of the lens)

I’m working on a new reel and website. I had a weird year. Jan 23: got fired from my full time job feb - sept 23: got fairly depressed due to being rejected after around 350 job applications. at the same time i tried out freelancing while searching for a new job, done a little decently paid corporate work, a lot of barely paid and unpaid work as a dp, gaffer or colorist on short films and music videos. oct - dec 23: got lucky due to a cinematography bootcamp i followed and ended up working as a DIT on a feature. income wise it ended up being almost the same as 2022, so hopefully the freelancing thing will pick up more steam. I’m going to try making some spec ads with some directors i know this year, so we could get work that way.

Just a 3d render and a guy with nervous hands. Fake vertigo inluded.😂