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It turns out I am a bit wrong. ... That Micro Four Thirds was dead. Well near me, the G9 II came down to a much more sensible 1299 so I thought I'd give it a try. This thing... oh my gawd. Feel like putting the rest of my gear in the bin! This little box of joy is pure art in the handheld 4K/120p mode (and also in 5K open gate). The colour science, slow mo and IBIS are so, so good. The new GH7 sensor is quite something. Beautiful filmic quality to it. And I thought IBIS was good on the full frame Panasonic cameras or Olympus OM-1 but this is taking the biscuit now. You can just stand there and get a completely static frame especially in 120fps. I keep putting shutter at 1 second for long expose stills, pin sharp...The first camera that can really lay claim to being a tripod killer, in my view. Then there's the image processing... It totally defies the price. The new sensor just looks so clean in low light and dynamic range is fantastic. The real-time LUTs look stunning here. No other Micro Four Thirds camera has nearly as good colour processing (except the more expensive GH7), so in this sense I prefer it even to the Olympus OM-1 with the lovely Olympus skin tones. In some ways it is better than a flagship $4k full frame cam... I am not joking. Not missing a full frame sensor that much to be honest. It has the dynamic range, the low light, the resolution, and with a fast enough lens... the full frame look as well. The Metabones Speed Booster 0.64x fits without scraping the sensor-box. Also, the EVF is enormous and totally defies the price. Criticisms? Autofocus is very lens dependant - it's still a bit rubbish with the older stuff and adapters. Also no ProRes LT like the X-H2... With two SD card slots, it limits you only to 1080p in ProRes mode which is a bit silly... but the high-res stuff is available if you plug in an SSD via USB. GH7 has an advantage there for sure. But in plain old 10bit H.265 the image is superb. I think this body design suits the smaller lenses too... You know I'm not the greatest fan of the S5 II body design, well it is growing on me here... Micro Four Thirds and small stuff seems to go well with the G9 II / S5 II body design. It starts to make more sense. The sharp angles cut in less, camera as a whole is lighter, the grip is sufficient for everything and it's got that "GH2 feel" when you put the tiny 20mm F1.7 pancake on there whereas the S5 II with the larger lenses doesn't have that same charm to it. I am inclined to say Micro Four Thirds LOOK is back too... It's an antidote to predominance of a super shallow depth of field in commercial work and Netflix. It really makes me want to fully commit again to the system as it just does SO MUCH, far more than any full frame camera remotely affordable. It does more than a Sony a1 II FFS!

OK, we open a DJI drone shop in one of the Canadian border towns and Americans come across, buy one but only take the controller back with them. As soon as they are over the border they message us and we switch their drone on, put it on the roof of the shop and then they fly the fucker over the border themselves.

Welcome back! Can you tell me your name? Where are we? What year is it? Good, good... You've been in a DOF-induced coma for the last 7 years. We'll contact your families and let them know you've woken up - they'll be very happy to see you!

I don't really know what to say.... The post I was replying to said they hadn't seen 9:16 displays in public so I shared some images. The fact you haven't experienced the need to deliver 4K 9:16 videos doesn't mean other people haven't. Why is everyone so interested in being an expert about what people they've never met are required to deliver for companies they've never heard of in other countries they've never visited?

They're everywhere, and are often just normal TVs rotated 90 degrees In shopping malls Some are pretty big Some are pretty tall too, presumably for narrower spaces Outdoors Bus stops In shop windows etc.

Don't forget that there is a silent army of people who are making work for clients. I am in a number of private groups with professionals (shooting corporate, advertising/PR, etc) and things like open gate are absolutely critical for those amongst them doing commercial work. I thought that Cams video on open gate was actually really good and explained it well. Basically every camera argument is people saying "I definitely need the things I use, and no-one needs the things I don't use".

I saw this film in the cinema few days ago and I wanted to share a few short thoughts on this work, which I found extremely interesting for the balance between neorealist aesthetics and the use of natural light in complex urban environments like the markets of Taipei. The composition of the image and the dynamism of the camera manage to give a rare sense of immersion, keeping a consistent style for the whole film. It is a remarkable example of how cinematic language can work without huge technical equipment: in fact, the film was shot entirely with an iPhone. The choice of the iPhone 13 Pro Max was mainly due to the need to move with extreme agility and discretion inside the night markets of Taipei, contexts where a traditional crew with bulky cameras would have inevitably attracted attention and compromised the spontaneity of the scenes. By working with such a common and non-invasive tool, the director managed to adopt an almost documentary-like approach. Reading several articles and listening some interviews, the director gave several details: The film's aesthetics were built around the use of four iPhone 13 Pro Max cameras, integrated into a workflow that used the Beastgrip Pro system as the base for the rig. To achieve the characteristic anamorphic look and typical horizontal flares, the production used a prototype anamorphic lens from Beastgrip, paired with Black Forest diffusion filters to reduce the excessive digital sharpness of the sensor and give a more organic feel to the highlights of the night markets. On the software side, the shooting was managed entirely through the FiLMiC Pro app using the 4K Lux mode, a choice that allowed for a file with a wider dynamic range, which was later processed in post-production through advanced color correction in DaVinci Resolve. Seeing some BTS shots, this was really a run&gun configuration. An iPhone and a Gimbal et voila! https://thefilmstage.com/left-handed-girl-director-shih-ching-tsou-on-collaborating-with-sean-baker-and-seeing-the-world-through-a-childs-eyes/

All paid for by Pathé and everyone on the trip etched postcards home saying “Game Changer”.

This is one of the 485 reasons why I look at all the latest FF cameras and just shrug then go back to my MFT cameras. Life without camera GAS is a very different experience..

I'd still put the Lumix S5 as one of the best values when it comes to used full frame cameras. I know with the S9 being so cheap, and having notable benefits like better AF, some might opt to go for that instead but I think the image quality is nicer, and I prefer the size for handheld shooting, especially with larger lenses. It's also compatible with the XLR1.

Do you agree with my choices... And did I miss anything? https://www.eoshd.com/news/the-2025-hybrid-mirrorless-camera-rankings/ The 2025 camera rankings for video quality and value for money are in!

It's sad to hear this - the S9 seems to suffer with the same cost-cutting mechanisms of all smaller cameras. It's funny how consumer electronics mostly tend to charge a premium for smaller devices and yet when it comes to cameras the industry seems to regard small as being cheap and large as being professional.

I’ve been thinking about camera needs lately, and I feel like, at the most basic level, everything can be broken down into three main cameras. First is the do-it-all, high-spec work camera. This is the one you use when clients ask for serious specs like 4K/120p or even 8K, or when you just want the best possible image quality. Cameras like the EOS R5 II, Nikon Z8, Sony a1, or Panasonic S1R II fit here. They’re expensive, but they can handle almost anything. Second is what I’d call an “art camera.” This is for personal use, travel, street photography, and just having fun. Ergonomics, size, and character matter more here, but it still needs to shoot good 4K video and work well in low light. Think Fuji X-Pro3, X100 VI, Sigma fp or fp-L, or even the Sony RX1R if video isn’t important. These are the cameras you actually want to carry around. Third is the high-end smartphone camera. Like it or not, this one is essential now and fills a lot of gaps. Of course, three cameras don’t really cover everything for professional work, and budget changes things a lot. You can get very capable work cameras for well under $3k, like the Fuji X-H2S. And if I added a fourth “serious” category, it would be medium format, like the Fuji GFX line or Hasselblad. But in reality… things get out of control fast. I somehow end up with way more “categories,” like high-spec all-rounders, art cameras, retro digicams, CCD cameras, Foveon cameras, IR-modded cameras, impulse buys, cameras I bought twice, cameras bought to flip, broken cameras I’m fixing, run-and-gun small sensor bodies, weird stuff like Mavicas with CD drives, and compact CCD cameras with flash for that Polaroid look. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few. What camera “category” am I missing?

I think it might actually be Cam Maquis, who later became a leading part of the French Resistance movement. In the middle row I think I can see Hugo Knows Foto with his undershirt on which his wife has embroidered “I Shoot Daguerreotype“

The bottom right dude, is that the notoriously dageurreotype-shy, Louis 'Rolling' Shutter?

I’d prefer the OM-1 for stills and the S9 for video but the OM-1 is a vastly better built bit of kit.

Bring back the 80’s, the single best decade to have lived, even though those of us who lived through it (age 9-19 for me) did not realise or appreciate it at the time. I think we reached peak civilisation around Friday October 3rd 1986. I’ll take the 70’s (rose-tinted nostalgia maybe) next followed by the 90’s (weren’t so bad) and then if I had to, 2000-2010, but since then, it’s been part living, part existing, part having to work out how the fuck to constantly adapt, but more recently, working on how to exit from it all. Not in a terminal way, - just get out of the system and all it’s BS as much as possible! I don’t hate on the World. I just can’t be bothered with it…

I don’t know about when you’re in Reality only needing three cameras but here in Delusionville it’s eight minimum.

Seeing this a lot in the wedding industry; a few shaky clips of Super 8 digitised and people go nuts for it. Same as for a handful of blurred OOF images. I have couples asking for it but there are lines I won’t cross for the sake of my artistic soul. Unless they want to pay me a lot more money and then the devil can have it…but sadly they won’t pony up for that so go elsewhere. People have ever-increasingly short attention spans and values. For instance, just 2 years ago, I had 100% take up from clients offered a free book from their wedding. Only 5 acknowledged receipt, never mind thanked me for it. I was selling these books just a few years prior for €500 and after stopping that due to massively dwindling sales to the point where it was a PITA, to do so, brought them back as a relatively low cost (to me) marketing exercise. Last year, approx 95% take up of the offer (all they have to do is confirm current address which I already have and contact number in case the courier needs to contact them) and even less acknowledgement of receipt. End of this year, just 12 months later, just 4 of this years clients ‘accepted’ a free ‘€500’ professionally printed book from their wedding and not a single one acknowledged receipt, never mind any kind of gratitude. It’s a shit show; attention spans, attitudes, just basic manners and going back to ‘The Game’ (but the bigger one as in the entire industry and what you have to do to simply survive) I’m happy I’m on a countdown to get out of it because whilst it’s not exactly ‘soul-destroying’, the joy of any of it is being sucked out of it year on year. I’m not a doom & gloom kind of guy, but the whole World is a bit of a shit show and getting worse so I am actively pursuing avenues to be an increasingly lesser part of it. And I just found out, Santa Claus is not a real person!

I think the goal is to record once and have a frame that can be cropped to work with both landscape and portrait edits.

An increasing trend in marketing today, is not necessarily being the best or the most reliable or the most anything except being the most popular. The cult of ‘vote for me’ is taking over. The ‘game’ is knowing that but whether any of us choose to play, is up to us, but without question, we are missing out on a share of the pie if we don’t make an attempt to at least sit at the table. This more a situation for the small to medium sized business. Larger corps operate under different rules and for the private individual, it is irrelevant if you use social media or not. Social Media, visually anyway, is vertical. Personally, I despise social media whether it be Facebook or Twitter or TikTok or Whatever, but if as a small business operator, I actively chose to not participate, it would be completely fair for anyone to point their finger at me and state, “your business skills are lacking”. Current status = working on it. Can we get back to talking about cameras again now?

If you're trying to market yourself in 2026 and beyond you need to create content for social media otherwise you're nowhere near maximizing your potential, both in promoting yourself AND generating revenue. Here's an example that's very specific to me: I run a professional wrestling company. We release video of full matches and generate revenue from that. Individual matches can range anywhere from 5 minutes to over 30. These videos might get a couple thousand views in the first two weeks and generate $2-5 in revenue. However, in those same two weeks, we can release a 15 second vertical clip from the same match and get 50,000-200,000 views and generate $20-100 dollars for that short/reel. So we're generating substantially more from those shorts than we are for the full matches. Aside from the direct monetary benefits, every clip we post promotes the company and our upcoming events, which also drives ticket sales. It has also gotten the attention of local sponsors who help pay our expenses in running events and event planners and organizers who hire us to run events at breweries, festivals, fairs, and other community events. We were hired by almost a dozen people this year to run matches at events, generating tens of thousands in revenue for us. Social media and vertical video made that possible. We're a pretty hot local brand because of it. It's a totally different game when you leverage social media. Vertical video, and having a camera that can film in a way that allows you to re-frame your footage for whatever destination you're creating content for, is a huge deal and a game changer. If you're producing long form content and shorts/reels and aren't using a camera with open gate, you're making your life harder than it needs to be AND putting out content that is visually less pleasing for the people watching it vertically.

A timely piece as I’m looking to upgrade from my Fuji x-s20 in terms of bigger body, and I need better IBIS. Love the image but again hate the form factor and IBIS. Also have a 2019 6-core intel MBP so don’t need huge files or raw at the moment. Would the OG S5 offer me better ibis than my current kit? The thought of trying a GH5 is tempting as well as I would then probably have 500 I could spend on a couple nice primes, maybe more vintage glass.

Open gate for professional work is a real time saver. I had to film a series of interviews with football players for a bank here in Spain with was released in vertical and horizontal formats. 6K open gate gives so much flexibility. I vote for my Lumix S1ii as new camera of the year, for me at least. I think the Lumix S5 and S5ii are incredible bargains on the secondhand market.

@stephen Thanks for the heads-up on the iPhone raw Cinema DNG app. Is it by the same people (or associated) with Motion Cam? Phones are not meant to replace mirrorless cams for video, and the file sizes in the raw video apps are of course enormous. But you have to admit the image is rather lovely and it's fun to play with. I like that it is open gate with optional 18fps mode, you can get very close to a vintage super 8 look with that. Interested to compare it to Blackmagic Video app LOG in terms of the unprocessed look though.

I have my S1RII’s set up with: [4.7K] 4736x3552 (4:3) 50.00p, 300Mbps (4:2:0 10-bit LongGOP) (H.265/HEVC, LPCM) Why APSC when it’s a full-frame camera? INTERNAL zoom Sigma 17-40mm f1.8 which with the crop factor for APSC and for standard EIS, makes it a 28-66mm FF equivalent lens and all factors considered, this body with this lens, is a sweet spot for me; cost, size, weight, ergos, file sizes, quality, workflow/bake in my LUT, 1:2.4 pano crop for my films and 9:16 for my socials… The image out of the S1RII is superior to that of my S9 side by side when I shot them 6k. Every frame on a timeline, I can see which is which immediately. For me it’s camera of the year, no question.

Indeed. Attention spans get ever shorter and if you don’t play the game, you are not in the game. Whether you like playing said game is irrelevant, - just a necessary evil. Being able to make 2 forms of content relatively easily from one source is the quickest (and cheapest) way to achieving this and why Lumix cameras especially excel, - multiple frame markers. I have mine set up for 1:2.4 + 9:16 with a 75% blackout and it’s 👍👍

I don't wanna come off as defending the YouTubers BUT vertical video (shudder) was a lot less important in 2017. In 2026 it's super important. For those of us who release long form content, but also need to create reels/shorts from that same content, open gate is very important because people are more inclined to swipe away if content isn't vertical for reels and shorts. I hate it with every fiber of my being, but that's how a lot of people consume their content now.

You're right, better images... but they're not 2025 cameras.

“Panasonic GH5 ($500) – still a great image and feature-set, however lacks open gate / phase-detect AF and RealTime LUTs” Oh, also the gh5 got an amazing update late in the game 2017 that brought 5k opengate. I shot a lot of doc footage in that mode for a project in 2022 and it was very, very sharp. 200mbps data rate as well. So sharp I was able pull some really high quality stills from the video shots. https://www.eoshd.com/news/shooting-5k-h-265-panasonic-gh5-new-open-gate-mode/

I work on a daily live national pop culture program - and while we are theoretically a terrestrial radio program first and foremost, realistically speaking we are a multi-platform program that is consumed as a traditional radio show, a podcast on Apple, a video podcast on Spotify/Youtube, and there are a lot of people who ONLY know our program via the video reels we post on our IG account. The program is captured with 3 Sony PTZs, and guests joining us via Zoom are patched into the convo by our digital producer who is also our live switcher, who is also framing each person (up to four guests, including the host) for our Youtube/Spotify podcasts AND our IG reels... so yes, Open Gate would prob be a helpful option for our digital producer/switcher/editor to have in post.

Yes. I haven't tried the G9ii, but I bet the build is in a different league; yet, the pricing of the S9 would indicate otherwise when it first came out. Not having that EVF meant to me they were not going to cheap-out elsewhere, but they gave us GX800-level buttons. I got the SmallRig cage and it does feel much better to hold and it has all those rigging options now. Still, it does have a lot going for it in terms of output. Personally, I thought it would be a major problem not going above 1/100 in artificial lighting, but it doesn't seem so.

I just freaking bought this thing. I so agree with you. The camera is unbelievable for the price. I genuinely will never need anything more than what this camera has. Lowlight was quite impressive. And I'm coming from having shot on the OG Nikon Z6 for nearly 4 years; that camera was very good in low light. Like "lets shoot a wedding reception at 25,600 ISO" level good. And on this G9 II...you can actually use it at 12,800 if you are fine with some somewhat pleasing grain, or just denoise the image in Davinci. Cleans up easy. Colors are VERY thick. Dynamic range is great. IBIS is the best I've ever used. E-stabilization high is amazing and crops less than 1.3x according to my tests. Planning on getting the Panasonic 12-35 2.8 OG and the 25mm 1.7 and pairing those two together for a nice compact kit. I think its the most underrated camera of 2025. A real steal. Also I consider this camera to be a real tempting alternative to an FX30.

I second that. They seem to wear out fast too. This summer when I briefly owned the S9, the rear dial just felt mushy and very easy to turn. I recently tried a Lumix S9 at a bestbuy that seemed to be in good condition; the rear dial felt better. And on a Lumix S9 FB group I've heard reports of the dials going bad and becoming less responsive. A major reason I went Panasonic G9II instead of S9 this time around. I also never really loved the Smallrig grip for the Panasonic S9; the grip felt lose half the time even when tightening. With all this being said, the S9 is still quite the value for the money. I think it smokes the Sony ZVE10II for example.

I love it’s size, it’s weight and it’s capability but as a pro tool, it is sorely lacking. I have used it as my primary video unit on a couple of occasions and the result has been great…mostly, - too many times I have jogged those dials etc though 😏 I would like to see a second gen, but for now/2026, I have relegated mine to back up/spare apart from one single use case (locked on to grooms face for bridal entrance…which seems a bit overkill to have a camera dedicated to and then packed away but 🤷‍♂️) and so it stays. For now.

Hezekiah Northrup is somewhere in the background too. He's just hard to make out because the photo was taken just a few weeks after he invented Bokeh.

Needs to be lockable on the next gen camera…if there is one. Plus more robust everything!

It’s a pity about the multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred.

Now that you mention it, every time I log in to this place, somewhere in the background, I can hear ‘Midnight, The Stars And You’…

My first thought was "I bet Rosco or Lee have something like that, but maybe not in the right size" and after a few minutes of searching, I found something from Rosco that's like that, but not in the right size. https://www.adorama.com/ro1081102024.html So there's hope, maybe that or searching for "graduated center filter gel" or similar would get you closer! Another thought would be to make something like the soft focus disc for an some types of large format soft focus lens - some examples here: https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?49632-Recommendation-for-Soft-Focus-lenses-for-4x5/page2 It wouldn't be exactly the same as varying the opacity of the film like in a gradient, but you could make an aperture that has a hard edge in the center with the edges around it perforated, but with the density of perforation decreasing toward the edges. It'd almost certainly introduce some interesting aberrations.

Ended up spending a bit more and getting the Panasonic G9II! Found it for a good price. So far seems like the end-game camera for me. Only have done a few tests, but I kid you not ISO 12,800 is not awful on this thing and cleans up rather easily with some Temporal Noise Reduction in Davinci Resolve. Stabilization? Wonderful. E-stabilization high doesn't crop in that much, and it is rock solid. I love all the framerate and resolution options and open gate will be nice to have. And its so dang comfortable with MFT lenses. It came with a 12-60mm 3.5-5.6 lens; not a bad lens. It has a great range and has OIS so I get Dual IS. I will likely sell for the 12-38 2.8 though. But I think since this camera doesn't suck in lowlight, I can live with the 12-35 2.8 and save a lot of size and weight over the sigma 18-35. Build quality noticable step up from the Lumix S9. This camera is so good!!!

Hm, it seems to me rather like Jean-René douze-fps but I could be wrong!

That sounds like a good decision to me 🙂 I own the original G9 and if the ergonomics worked for me I'd almost certainly own a G9 ii - but they don't... (same with the S5/S5 ii and a few other cameras I've considered). The modern trend for relatively thick, squared-off bodies means they don't fit nicely in my right hand, so I can't easily reach the front and top buttons without having to change my grip while recording hand-held.

Go to Times Square or Tokyo and you'll see endless 9:16 screens playing (presumably 4K or higher) video. They're massive screens. We're kinda derailing this thread, but it's silly to argue that open gate isn't a benefit for a lot of people. It's cool if you don't need it, but others do.

I'm pretty sure that in 1927, as photography became more accessible, all the great scientific and mathematical minds of the time converged in Paris and after a fortnight of rigorous collaboration they proved mathematically that one can, in fact, never have too many cameras.

You posted multiple photos of kiosks displaying photographic stills which was not relevant to the conversation at hand. Had you shown an example of 4k video being displayed vertically on topic with the current conversation I would have been interested in further discussion. In no way did i ever say or claim to be an expert in anything so please do not put words in my mouth. I was simply sharing my experience of delivering content professionally for numerous production companies in Los Angelas and Tokyo. if you don’t find that relevant, feel free to disregard. Funny, i was asking honestly if anyone has been delivering in vertical 4k delivery and you proceeded to interject for some reason despite having no relevant addition to the conversation. I also wonder why so many people need to respond and feel the need to play the “expert” and contribute nothing meaningful?

Oh shit, I have too many cameras.

Is this why they alegedly rebranded the Osmo Pocket 3

I currently own an E-M1 iii and OM-1 (mk1). I'd just get a used OM-1 and the 12-40mm F2.8. It's just a great combo for handheld video. If you want even better stabilization, use the 12-100mm F4 instead as that supports Sync-IS (Oly/OM equivalent of Dual-IS), but it has the downside of extra size and weight. Having recently acquired a Pana S9 I still think Oly/OM has the best stabilization - it's almost uncannily good sometimes - but the S9 runs it pretty close most of the time. Main difference for me is that the S9 needs more decisions about which stabilization modes to use in a particular situation, whereas with the OM-1 + 12-40mm I usually enable sensor + e-stabilization (M-IS 1) to minimise corner-warping and set the stabilization level to +1 and let it work out the rest for itself. With the 12-100mm the Sync-IS means sensor-shift only stabilization (M-IS 2) is much more usable at the wide end and stabilization level 0 is usually enough (which is more flowing/less sticky).

The iPhone 17 Pro selfie camera has a square sensor, and when using the default camera app there's a button that swaps between it recording a 9:16 video and a 16:9 video. I don't know if you'd rate it as a "real" camera or not though!