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Andrew Reid

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Everything posted by Andrew Reid

  1. Do they actually look so much better especially when you're looking at Youtube footage?
  2. C-AF is very good, as in as fast and sticky as a latest Sony camera. The subject detection isn't as good though, it's not as reliable as the best in class systems. It keeps seeing faces on my camera shelf. Who knows maybe my lenses have become sentient? There's a neat trick I've found for the video mode... You can make the 1/2 function switch act as a stills/video mode toggle. So one click to go between the modes rather than rotating through the mode dial to Movie. You can also assign the 1.4x crop-mode to a function button to quickly get a second focal length in 4K with no loss of detail. Nifty.
  3. The one in the middle doesn't need to exist though because it has no grip, costs $2000, has a tiny EVF from 10 years ago, and the OM-1 is much better for half the price (used, mint). Still would take a PEN-F updated with OM-1 specs but they have to stick a proper EVF in it, as the PEN-F is all about the rangefinder style handling.
  4. Yeah it's the silence which is the problem, and the poor communication. We still have nothing to hang on, and it has sucked all the interest and appeal out of the Panasonic high-end stuff. Many have simply moved on, myself included. I just can't see what the appeal would be, however good the S1H II might be, of having to buy loads of L-mount lenses and a new camera when stuff like a used $3500 Sony a1 or Nikon Z8 exists and is more speed, specs and image quality than I'll ever really need. Even if Panasonic add an internal ND to the S1H II, and do a smaller body, and price it at $3500, there's still the problem of what lenses to put on the front. And you know what, I think they know this. Which is why they have left the high-end camera market to Leica.
  5. Unlike the metal jackets, I bet the Shackelton still gets made in Bangladesh by people on $1 per day. At least with the cameras the person who chisels the block of aluminium is probably on a bit more than that. I hate the fashion industry with a passion, they are truly dismal hypocrites.
  6. I reckon Sony / Leica pair-up does have a nice ring to it doesn't it? It's a Sony sensor they are using anyway so may as well cut out the middle man. It's most likely more cost effective to do this as well? Sony could build a very nice Leica Q, as they already have done similar cameras with the RX1 series. Sony would not cannibalise Leica's L-mount lenses with their own range either. It would be bad for Panasonic. But then Panasonic are more committed to green energy like batteries and digging up all the lithium for them in epic quantities. Truly a planet saving initiative.
  7. Doesn't look like she eats many crisps. There should definitely be more thin lenses. I have become allergic to heavy stuff. I mean look at this pair... So much more fun than your average worktool + heavy work zoom
  8. So iPhone prices then 🙂 You can get the 12S Ultra instead for under 600 euros used, and the 11 Ultra still holds up very well with the not quite as big as 1" sensor. I don't use it as a daily driver phone due to being locked into Apple. But the camera really is very special. The Leica computational modes are lovely.
  9. I'm still rooting for Olympus, it's just that OM is a very different company. Sony's highly respected VAIO laptops ended up with them... and where are those now? OM-1 all the way for me. OM System will never be able to better it. The Japanese private equity firm inherited Olympus OM cameras in 2020. Since then 5 years have passed and they have not been able to do anything meaningful. The OM-5 was a rebadged E-M5 Mark III, and the OM-1 Mark II was a firmware update. Now the OM-3 is a parts-bin raid with the top dials from the E-M5 Mark III bin and the colour mode filter from the PEN-F! How much longer can they continue to recycle the old stuff, rather than make their own cameras, with new ideas, news sensors and technology? The crazy thing is that JIP just bought Toshiba for $15bn. They are not short of funds. JIP are a bank with megabucks. And they cannot even be bothered to spend peanuts for some much needed camera development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Industrial_Partners
  10. Olympus were doing this level of build quality on stuff for $700. The E-M5 Mark II and Mark III. The E-M10 Mark III and IV... All had similar, if actually slightly better quality, feel and ergonomics than the new OM-3. And that was nearly 10 years ago. So for $2000 and 10 years later you'd expect some progress. Where is it? How is it better than a used OM-1 for $1k? Of course it's not. I was being sarcastic. The irony is a bit lost on you isn't it. The fact remains that OM System is not Olympus. They are basically a shell company with contractors outside of Japan. Whereas Olympus had actual engineers and a sizeable R&D budget, as well as having stamped their footprint on world photographic history for the best part of a century. If that doesn't matter, I don't know what to say to you. Enjoy your Chinese OM-3.
  11. Ah that is indeed a lot hotter. I'd rather that than the Nikon Zf. I find the problem with all these retro digicams though is the build quality just isn't up to snuff. The Zf is far below what Nikon were doing in the DSLR days with stuff like the D7300. Feels so much cheaper. If they can increase the quality of materials, buttons and dials again... They could really do justice to a digital Nikon S3
  12. The little girl looks like how I look at the camera shop windows. From basket-case to basket manufacturer, that suits Panasonic. I think with all the Tesla batteries, they'll be ok without TVs and cameras. Unless somehow the cameras justify their reduced presence by being relevant to other divisions... like AI imaging tech, and as a way to keep hold of their imaging engineers. Panasonic could still turn things around this year by... Higher-end S9, with built in EVF and new sensor, no crop 4K/60, and a nifty fast readout to make it more usable without a mechanical shutter for stills. S1H Mark II with stacked sensor, 8K, but as small as a Sony a1. S1 Mark II which sits above the S5 Mark II, but actually has a soul and looks like a proper camera or a Fuji. But we all know none of this is going to happen at this point 🙂 If it was, it would have already!
  13. Hmm. Have you used the Xiaomi 14 Ultra? Now that is a proper Leica camera phone.
  14. I wish I could say I am invested in L-mount at the moment... But I'm not. It would take something seriously special to tempt me back into the system now. They have just gone so long without the new Panasonic cameras, I had no reason to buy any lenses. And without any native lenses, a big investment is needed to make full use of an S1H Mark II or whatever's next. Not for me. I'll pass.
  15. Canon will come with two new cameras this year, a retro mirrorless RF mount body and a high-end compact named the V1. This is an interesting move as it would be first new large sensor compact for quite a while. But the excitable rumours seem to have misunderstood what the V means. Whereas G is the proper high-end compact range, V is a hateful little line that already has a V10 in it https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PowerShot-V10-Vlogging-Starter/dp/B0C4XSM4YM/ It's very expensive and basically resembles a webcam. It had a 2 inch... yes... that small in 2023, at a piffling 460,000 resolution as if it came from 2005. It had a fixed 18mm equiv. F2.8 prime lens and 1" sensor... but not the good Sony 1" stacked sensor... it was a cripple hammered 15 megapixel version. This year's new V1 will just be a repeat of this with a slightly larger sensor. What interests me about the current demand for compact cameras is stuff like this... Back in 2010 Canon released the G12 which is currently one of the most popular CCD compacts lusted after by Gen Z... It fetches upwards of $350 on eBay now. Just 2 years later however Canon made a Micro Four Thirds Canon Compact, the G1 X and that would be the final "golden era" Powershot G digicam. After that they sadly moved away from the G10/G12 style body onto the G1 X Mark II which had the design panache of a wheelie bin. The G1 X Mark III is the most recent, but with a slow lens that doesn't really make use of the APS-C sensor. As you can see the G1 X had a sensor actually as close in size to Canon APS-C as it was to Micro Four Thirds. Almost as tall, at least, in a 4:3 aspect ratio. It has the popular Gen-Z fun factor features.... you can close the screen and use the optical viewfinder, pretending that it's a disposable camera.... built in flash... RAW and for selfies the screen can turn around. This is a really underrated camera today if you can pick one up for cheap. Shouldn't Canon be doing more stuff like this rather than updating the V10?
  16. https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Magnetic-Smartphone-Bluetooth-Compatible-Shooting/dp/B0CFPJXXM6/ The same thing is 30 quid on Amazon. Which leads me to a crafty sneaky idea... What if we were to put a red dot on that? And buy 90 or so?
  17. Finally managed to get the GIF button working on the forums... There will be a £70 per month fee but only for Leica M11 owners.
  18. Nice idea, unpleasant pricing strategy. Did you see the Leica jacket they released? I think it's around £1000 for an anorak.
  19. There are rumours that Leica are unhappy with Panasonic and might scope out a deal with Sony in future. Leica own the rights to L-mount so they can keep that and still go Sony, they don't have to take E-mount as well. Panasonic of all the camera companies aside from OM Shit and Ricohdear are most in danger of being really on the rocks. Like I say just one activist shareholder away from being less of a sentimental business. Less of an enthusiast enterprise, more of a topic of euthanasia.
  20. That is definitely an improvement over the OM-3! 🙂
  21. Since I got lucky on a mint OM-1 for 900 euros, so about 750 quid... I thought I'd see what the best modes are for video. The 4K/60p and 8bit are indeed softer, but not end of the world softer if you set IBIS to mechanical only and turn off DIS. Rolling shutter is remarkable, something like 5ms? OM-LOG is a bit funky. Too much macro blocking in the shadows (on the colour chart in the blues you can pixel peep it). Bitrate too low? Hybrid LOG Gamma mode however fairs a lot better to my eye. Higher black level like Canon LOG. Grades better. Better tonality in the highlights. HLG 10bit 100% crop (graded): OM-LOG 400 100% crop (graded): It feels like to me that OM-LOG is being clipped in the NLE. The blacks are more crushed than in Hybrid LOG Gamma. Highlights as well seem to clip really harshly.
  22. I don't mind that it has the stacked sensor, but yeah - the price should be under the X-T5 as a maximum. Instead it is Nikon Zf prices! Olympus OM-1 has a lovely EVF... £900 for a mint one of those, or £1700 for the OM-3? It's a no brainer. Yeah they should have fixed this, 2 years ago with a firmware update on OM-1. Still the same now! If you take a look at my other thread, I think they should fix OM-LOG as well so best to shoot Hybrid LOG Gamma 10bit on the OM cameras. £1299 maximum, PEN-F body (exact same), OM-5 sensor, better EVF panel, larger back screen, and better video mode, that would have been a bit less shit but still not good enough to suddenly cause OM System take sales off Fuji X mount or Nikon. I think they are doomed to be honest.
  23. There are definitely loyal Micro Four Thirds folk out there, but even for them it is a stretch isn't it! The other problem is you can now get an OM-1 for about £900 Which is definitely the better option. Bonus is that you get the much nicer Olympus badge, not to mention much better EVF, grip and ergonomics. I think the OM-1 makes sense with a small Pana 15mm 1.7 or Olympus 17mm 1.8 as an alternative to something like a Ricoh GR III or X100 for street photography. It's mega fast, great AF, great IBIS, small and light, with proper non-Sony ergonomics. The other issue with the OM-3 is that the X-Pro series exists. So if you want the retro style ergonomics, and small lenses that's definitely an option. There's also the Panasonic GX8 and GX85. Needless to say they are far short of 2 grand, which is nice! Then there's the 75 full frame and APS-C cameras as competition, for the people who prefer larger sensors - which is almost everybody. Personally I like to have both MFT and FF because of my unusual selection of lenses, some of which i bought twice by accident. I also like APS-C Fuji cameras as I am an addict. Then there's the Sony RX1 for 600 quid on eBay, which fulfils the small camera role quite well I think. It has a Leica M quality lens and is smaller than the Leica Q. The OM-3 is just yet another re-housing job on the E-M5 Mark III. They are trying to get the parts to last for about 10 years before they sell up or something. We are talking about a bank here not a camera company. If Chris Nichols and dime was asking for a retro OM-system camera, I think that shows the extent of it, creativity wise... Had he heard of the PEN-F? Fujifilm X-Pro 3? Nikon Zf? Nikon Zf-C? X100 IV? It is hardly a gap in the market is it? The YouTuber's also seem to really like the design aesthetically, which tells you everything you need to know about salespeople.
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