Andrew Reid

49 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

To focus on Jordan/Chris for a second, in one of their recent videos (I can't remember which), the sponsor was a memory card maker (I think OWC) and the ad spot was them comparing that company's V90 SD card to a competitor's V30 or slower SD card and talking about how much faster it was.  You could just about see on their faces how much they disliked themselves for doing it since they knew perfectly well that a comparable V90 card from a competitor would probably be about the same in performance.

Yet they are happy to do it... They can't say no.

They have to trade that little bit of credibility and trust each time to keep the megabucks rolling in.

Far better to be an artist.

Your store of worth is in the exchange beauty and creation of cinema, rather than in the negative slight of hand of a salesman... whether they are boxed into this position or don't have a choice is neither here nor there, it's what they are, and what they have chosen to be.

The sad thing is all these influencers will have to keep on trading credibility and respect with every advert until there's nothing left in reserve and people's patience has simply run out.

They are dispensable transient commodities whose ultimate destiny is at the whim of an online economy.

Maybe they think it doesn't matter, that people will understand that it's just an advert and that the bills have to be paid.

But one day they will end up on the trash heap, discarded and replaced by someone newer.

Besides I really don't see the satisfaction in being this kind of influencer.

It must be fucking horrible.

To have to always sell yourself on demand to whoever is dangling the cash...

Must feel like being a fully-clothed prostitute.

It takes a special kind of Kermitting to wind me up as a love camera shopping more than life itself.

But MPB have managed it, on about 5 separate occasions now in two countries, which is an achievement Gonzo himself would be proud of.

I think posting off thousands of euros of gear to a warehouse 20 mins bike ride away is daft.

Especially if the post is on strike or it's DHHelllll.

Their staff are so bad at communicating or making you feel valued. They let me drop stuff off once, and then dodged the question and refused to answer when I wanted to do it a second time. How about catering for this demand of 20-30 high-value customers per day wanting to do business with you and open a fucking counter!

I don't care if it has Miss Piggy herself behind it, it's better than losing $$$ to the post!

Although I can be a bit negative about the current states of camera releases and so on, I just want to say how much I appreciate this forum. A daily fun read and fun to participate in.

You folk have created a creative haven with a good technology knowledge, and this is very rare these days. I just provided the platform for it and a blog. It's striking how far it has gone thanks to you lot...

I think there are cycles in human history, eras when good wins, eras when bad takes over. No guesses as to which era we are in as a world today. The camera community is a microcosm of reality. Go back 10 years ago and we had a camera community as a whole led by artists, photographers and filmmakers. Now we are in a different cycle, and I look at who is leading it with disdain.

We have a bunch of gatekeepers who are all salesman cosplaying as journalists and artists because that's what the industry rewards and priorities with access. Client journalism has taken over from filmmakers and artists.

How proud I am that this community is so different.

In the face of such mainstream BS on YouTube.

BTW - Do you remember when Jordan of DPR/Petapixel threw a big tantrum on this very forum and left for 2 years at the peak of the DSLR revolution / video, before returning with a nicey nice guy attitude like nothing had ever happened?

It was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of EOSHD, from his side.

On 3/9/2016 at 5:35 AM, Jordan Drake said:

Hey Andrew,
After all the dumping you've been doing on every reviewer, I was surprised to see my video at the top of your blog post. But hey, we all need content right?

I think when a filmmaker features your "content" on their blog it's a compliment and a good thing, not a leeching, or theft, right?

But he was feeling insecure... attacked by my previous posts about the rise of the shills on social media.

In order to feel targeted you first have to believe you are the victim.

But if he stops to think about it and genuinely deep down considers himself the artist/filmmaker he always cosplays as, he would not have felt like a victim at all of anyone's push back against the shills and their excessive gatekeeping.

Had he sympathized a little bit why I was "dumping on every reviewer", he wouldn't have had a problem with it.

So in the end this tells us something important about influencers like Chris and Jordan - that they themselves sees themselves as defacto salesmen whose job it is to sell. It's their whole identity.

So of course he felt particularly personally attacked. Even though I wasn't targeting him. In fact back in 2016 Chris and Jordan hadn't come to mind in my criticism at all.

As creatives we need to push back when we see the over-commercialization of a space, or an online community.

Don't be afraid to call these guys out.

40 minutes ago, Fairkid said:

I have only had one bad experience with them when I sent a them a good lens and they told me it had water damage so they offered a paltry amount. I asked them to send it back and the lens came back to me with a lot of new play in the focus mech and they had lost the lens hood! Leica lens so the hood was worth a bit.

Is this why they sent you the box of chocolates?

It's a shame isn't it, as their range of gear is incredible. Well designed website, all well photographed, fast shipping (when it doesn't go missing).

I know DHL being shit isn't MPB's fault, but you'd think they would try and at least care. I had several emails simply go unanswered over a period of a whole week and these were the polite ones before I had to start shouting at them, which sadly seems necessary for them to do anything apparently!

8 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

The complete brainless twats that run these businesses never fails to amaze me.

Indeed, I mean for a start having a prime location and warehouse in Berlin but failing to open a proper walk in camera store for the 4 million people on your doorstep is a bit of a red flag when it comes to management.

"Despite our efforts with DHL, we have been unable to track your package. As a result, we have now escalated the matter to an official investigation of the missing package."

Unable to track... no shit! Tracking hadn't moved for 3 weeks when I alerted them to it. 10 days just to tell me what we already know.

"Our internal security team will be in touch with you shortly to request additional information and documentation that will help us resolve this case."

What can I provide them that I haven't already... pathetic redundant procedures.

They sent the fucking parcel anyway, not me.

"Please note that the full investigation and outcome may take up to 30 days."

By which time it will be over 2 months since the delivery was supposed to arrive.

"Your cooperation is essential during the investigation process as we may require additional information. Please provide us with the requested information promptly to ensure an effective investigation. Please note that while we conduct our investigations carefully, the outcome does not guarantee a successful claim if the package is deemed lost."

Ah how very reassuring MPB, thank you very much.

Depending on the country, I can highly recommend WEX and I've had good experiences with RCE Foto in Berlin, can walk in and exchange gear / buy gear / get paid cash the same day with a proper store and they offer pretty fair prices too, better than Calumet or MPB in most cases.

MPB started off as a really well organized business. Not sure what changed in recent years but when it goes wrong with MPB now it REALLY goes wrong. Their staff just seem to sit on their hands and can't communicate.

With MPB in the UK I had to haggle for ages just to get them to honor a voucher which was promised in exchange for keeping hold of a camera with a fault which wasn't part of the condition rating or as described.

And then other times they have gone above and beyond, they're so unpredictable.

I have done a lot of business with MPB over the years and around 50% of the time something is always going wrong. I find that I simply can't trust them any more. MPB were once a sponsor of EOSHD, we had a really good relationship. So the experiences are all more recent and in my opinion things have gone right down hill.

Sent some stuff to be traded-in in Berlin, and asked if it was ok to drop it off at the door since I live 20 minutes away from them.

First time they said yes, sure. So rather than trust the post, I dropped the box off myself. But at the warehouse, just a metal door and no staff, so you can't make a habit of it. Why they don't have a proper physical drop off point let alone a walk-in store for a shop of their size and trade volume is beyond me. As if they can't be bothered to get an extra 3 or 4 staff.

Then in predictably ironic fashion they lost a delivery via DHL, more on that in a minute.

The condition rating "Excellent" is one of the other problems... they seem to place a lot of quite heavily used and sometimes faulty stuff in that bracket. I know because I have received it!

Once I had a camera with a faulty HDMI port, no mention of it in the description. Another time, a Leica M Typ 240 which you'd think they'd spot the broken dial on. Apparently not.

This was in the UK, but be it Berlin or EU they're all the same company... although you wouldn't know it, because the Europe-wide MPB website staff refuse to talk to you if you ordered from the DE website, even though it's in the same building, same stock, same warehouse, with same people in it, in the same city.

So DHL lost the package they sent out with at least 900 euros worth of gear in it. So after a week of the tracking showing it hadn't moved in Berlin despite going from Berlin to Berlin, I got in touch. They were quite unsympathetic and told me to wait 14 days. So come nearly a month later without my stuff (part of it my OWN GEAR which was sent back as part of a trade-in I didn't use as they quoted far less than promised for it), on 17th Feb I asked them to investigate. This guy, I use the term lightly as he's more a fucking bellend from my perspective, then replies back immediately and says he's opened a Lost in Transit case with his security team, who will presumably now open a case with DHL. So I come back 10 days later for an update and find they never bothered even doing that, they simply forgot.

So it's now over a month without the gear, and I have about 2500 euros worth of open trade with them that they want to send in for a quote via, yes you guessed it, DHL... no drop off possible any more.

They really seemed to have gone downhill and I don't think their hiring philosophy or getting workshy depressed part-time photographers is doing anything much for their operations side... maybe get some staff who are able to communicate and carry out basic procedures on time, that would be a start.

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

Some of these youtubers use multi fake accounts on forums and L-M43-Sony rumors site to upvote themselves or downvote other people, this also allows them to have an army of virtual minions to support then even when they talk nonsense, like when the Hybridshooter said the IBIS of the A7III/A7IV was as good as on the S5/S5II. 
2 years ago, he mixed up his accounts on L-rumors while responding to a guy, he quickly deleted his post, but sadly for him, someone made a screenshot before he deletes his post.

Attention economy!

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

Most youtubers must really be taken with a big grain of salt, even Gerald Undone who was really hard on Panasonic in the past and concentrated most of his reviews to point out the negative aspects of their cameras and lenses without talking too long about their positive sides. But for people using both Panasonic and Sony cameras , its bias was clear.

Did you see the Northrup video on the S1R II, with the clickbait title "better than Sony and Canon"...

How the turn tables.

I wouldn't be surprised if he is just using this to bait Sony's PR team into giving him more attention.

*Attention economy*

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

However I must admit I'm a bit disappointed by Panasonic products since 2022.

I agree with you 100%.

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

I use their cameras since a long time, I loved the GH4 and GH5 and I liked the S1, but everything after looked much less refined. The GH4 and GH5 had groundbreaking features and like the NX1, these cameras were ahead of their time.
The GH6, althouht it had great color science, was a total failure. In Europe, the price was cut down by almost an half after only some months ...

Yep, I sold my GH6 for less than £700.

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

The truth is this S1RII is the replacement of a 6 years old camera, and after 6 years Panasonic can't even reach the spec of the R5 from 2020 ? This is not serious, the R5 has much better rolling shutter, 8k internal raw without crop, and yet it is a camera from 2020 !

Indeed and although it was $1000 more expensive at launch than the S1R II is today, that Panasonic still does not have an answer to the 2020/21 flagship sensor technology in 2025 should concern us all.

I don't know how much longer they can half-commit resources to this market without leaving it entirely.

And add on top of that the uninspired design department, unimaginative marketing and unintelligent product strategy as a whole and I really do think Lumix is on the way out.

S1R II just reinforces it if anything.

That it came out before the S1H II as well... Means we have to wait even longer for the real hybrid filmmaking camera, which is Pana's biggest strength!!

They ignore their strengths and deliver what nobody wants.

Look at the S9... people were expecting the GH7 launch and they showed them that!!

It's just dumb.

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

What we will get with the hypothetic S1HII ? During 6 years Panasonic used and re-used the same A7III sensor from 2018, so maybe we will just get a clone of the A7SIII ? I'm barely kidding.

Yeah cloning 5 year old Sony/Canon bodies but with worse AF seems to be the new Lumix strategy.

From pioneers to copy-cats.

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

Now you can find the R5 for less money than the S1RII (in Europe the price of the S1RII is close to 3600€), and if you want something better, of course in spending more money, you can get the great Nikon Z8, even the cheaper Z6III looks sometimes most interesting than the new Panasonic camera.

I fully agree.

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

And what about the lenses, why Panasonic stopped to make new S Pro lenses since 2019 ? We only have one S Pro prime.

Yes that's another elephant in the room nobody talks about, the S Pro lens range absolutely cannot compete with Canon/Nikon/Sony.

All I can say is that it's a good job Sigma is carrying the whole thing, as left to Panasonic and Leica, L-mount would be seen as so expensive nobody in their right mind other than rich Leica users would go anywhere near it!

2 hours ago, ita149 said:

On the positive side (according to some reviews), the crunchy/smartphone looks of the S5II is not present in the S1RII, as well as the waxy skin texture. Like someone said earlier, it still can be a good upgrade from the S1 for people who are already heavily invested in the L-mount system.

The image quality is the least of the S1R II's problems. All looks good.

But then so do 7 or 8 other full frame cameras.

1 hour ago, newfoundmass said:

I think people are being a lot more pessimistic than they need to be about this release and Lumix's future in general. As much as I am loathe to admit it, YouTubers are a big part of marketing these days and tons of them either went on the trip to Norway or were sent a camera to review, including prominent Sony, Canon, and Nikon shooters. Virtually all of them made positive videos about it. That's a move in the right direction, as far as marketing goes

WOW What is this groundbreaking new marketing technique?

Tell me more!

1 hour ago, newfoundmass said:

The real professionals who did use the camera, including in real professional settings, were all extremely positive and compared it favorably to the competition while marveling at the price.

It's a high resolution stills camera with excellent video features. A total 180 from what the original S1R was.

As someone that was very doom and gloom about Lumix for a while there and who still sometimes scratches his head about decisions they make, these are all positive steps.

It's almost March. There are 9 months left in the year. Lets see what happens.

Overall it's a positive step but the elephants in the room are hard to ignore...

2020/21 spec, delivered 4-5 years too late to challenge Sony, Nikon, Canon, Fuji.

Sony has the a1, which you can get on eBay for not much more than the S1R II.

Nikon has the Z8.

Canon has the original EOS R5 which is the cheapest of the lot if you buy cameras like a normal person... i.e used!

Fuji has the GFX 100, again cheaper than the S1R II.

This Panasonic does not exist in a bubble.

I love the low light performance, open gate and Realtime LUTs. I am sure the EVF is almost as good as the original S1R.

It's just getting harder and harder to justify buying one and investing in the Panasonic ecosystem.

Maybe the trick is to ignore the wider market and marketing stuff, and just take it as it is (specs wise).

Oh and the ergonomics, style and fun factor do nothing for me... I wish they'd add a bit of personality to proceedings and innovate on the control scheme of our beloved cameras.

Also, a larger screen wouldn't go amiss.

And I still think the Sony a7R V has a big advantage in size and ergonomics over the S1R II.

20 minutes ago, ND64 said:

Can be a good test for CIA recruitment. Look at the chart for only 8 seconds and close your eyes and anwser the question "in which modes 60p 4:2:2 is available?". 

Haha

It's as perplexing as Panasonic's marketing.

"Yamane san I have a great plan, let's turn up 7 years late with something almost as good as the competition... but not quite"

7 years in a fancy oven only to find the heat was off!

Here's why

https://www.eoshd.com/opinion/panasonic-s1r-ii-great-spec-dying-brand/

Media Division the only one who isn't a shill.

Surprisingly good low light performance, and the rolling shutter can vary quite a bit.

However for me, the specs are the least of the S1R II's problem.

It will fail on the market.

14bit sensor mode 31ms 8K rolling shutter.

12bit sensor mode 24ms 8K rolling shutter.

The year is 2025.

Canon solved this problem in 2020 (R5) and Sony in 2021 (a1), also Nikon too.

So we now have to assume Panasonic have retreated from the cutting edge or at least are giving the impression that their cameras are underperforming relative to the competition.

This is a flagship camera and it should really be better.

We also now have the partially stacked Z6 III with the very fast readout speeds.

On the overheating side, that's another sign Panasonic have cheaped-out with the less-than cutting edge semiconductor tech inside.

That said, the price is $3000 not $4000 or $6000, right?

But then again... what is the fucking point of this camera.

Is it to make mainstream working pros swoon and dump their Sony a1 or Nikon Z8 and move over to L-mount at the cost of $20k in lenses and a new camera?

Does Panasonic think this is realistic? I don't.

So is the point to make a truly unique "artisan" tool aka Sigma and Leica to capture a niche with a high margin to justify lower volume sales?

No, because then the S1R II wouldn't look like a fucking dumpling or some sort of office tool would it?

So I think it will struggle to attract either a niche customer or a mainstream one, and might even struggle to attract Panasonic's existing customers like me.

I am really lukewarm on it!

3 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Fashioned from a single piece of aluminium, internal storage, minimalist controls…

It’s basically a full frame rebirth of the original Leica T isn’t it ?

Well, minus an SD card slot or optional EVF.

They are mad bastards and I salute them for it.

At first I thought they'd gone and done an APS-C camera.

Nice that it has an updated sensor and the full pixel readout 6K. Sigma Fp 4K output was a bit scratchy looking.

No word on Cinema DNG?

Worth a new topic! I'll split this one and can continue there with the BF.

This is the perfect niche camera

It's exactly what you do when you are not trying to do a Sony Clone like Panasonic are.

There's no point Sigma trying to do a mass appeal Sony a7 clone and they know it - they know they can't compete in the worktool business with Canon, Nikon, Sony.

So why not do something fun instead. Perfect.

I do wish they would put IBIS and EVF in there, or at least in a higher-end version.

But it has far more sex appeal than the Panasonic S9 doesn't it?

\

Looks real to me!

On 2/20/2025 at 1:02 PM, Walter H said:

Triple agree regarding no S5 body and the importance of ergos. Maybe quintuple agree.

It looks like Panasonic are trying to copy Sony and do a one-body design suits all as in case of a7 series.

So looks very much like it will be in the S5 mould with extra buttons.

It will be a pity if that means losing the top-LCD display.

Styling wise, ergonomics wise, they seem determined to make something quite charmless.

I'll forgive Panasonic if they get this right in a big way, offer something really nice that rivals the Z8 but with real-time LUTs and a mechanical shutter.

But merging S1H with the S1R series doesn't make sense.

Let's hope there is an S1H Mark II also on the way with a lower 6K megapixel count and better low light, plus the other video goodies like ergonomics more suited for filming and e-ND of some sort.

Then things might actually move forward in a creative way not just in terms of higher numbers on a sheet of paper.

44 megapixel I am fine with, rather have the speed than the difference between 44 (8K at Sony a1 Nikon Z8 standard) and 61 (also 8K but cropped and horrific rolling shutter)... in terms of stills 44 vs 61 we are talking 8K vs 9.5K... So not too much of difference even if you're cropping @MrSMW?

44-50 is a sweet spot I reckon.

JUST PLEASE NOT IN AN S5 BODY!!!!

I have a G1X Mark II with about the same M/43 size sensor from Canon back in the day, it's got a nicer lens (in my opinion) with the F2.0 wide end, and they have sacrificed that for the ultra wide 16mm equiv. zoom, and sacrificed the telephoto reach as well which is a pity.

Other than that I think the V1 is better than expected, very nice feature set - ND is usable for video I take it?

Not bad.

Pity the cripple hammer fell so hard on the camera in Europe and the US that it doesn't exist!

So a Nikon Z8 clone then?

1" is a known pre-existing sensor size for Canon and Sony customers (aka G7X and RX100 series).

And also smartphone users (flagship 1" phones).

So 1.4" is easy to understand, a bigger number, easy to do the marketing.

Micro Four Thirds is not just a sensor size, but a system. So it would be very confusing to bring the rival system terminology into the mix.

10 hours ago, John Matthews said:

I've been watching quite a few negative "reviews" or just people sharing their thoughts on the OM-3 (because they weren't given one to review). I've never seen so many comments saying basically "yeah, it's expensive and not innovative, but I'll buy it anyway".

Yes - stupid consumers with too much money = inflation

1 hour ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

That all sounds pretty good for a compact!  Let's see where the hammer hit it.  😉

F5.6-F7.1 lens 🙂