stephen

Lab test 🤔
The result may very well be the result but it’s only real world use case that I am personally interested in.
I’m sure lab tests are of most interest to serial brand swappers who flip their camera bodies on a regular basis.
I bought mine for the AF and fan and as long as the rest is ‘real world’ more or less the same as the old S5, that’s good enough for me.

I took this path more than a year ago for several reasons.
    1. BRAW. Using BMPCC 4K realized how good BRAW is  
            - various degree of compression and file size
            - ability to adjust white balance
            - great support in Davinci Resolve,
            - smooth playback, scrubbing and editing
One of the main reason I've choose Panasonic, instead of Sony or Canon was support of external BRAW recording. Only Panasonic and Nikon cameras had it. But Panasonic support is better as it gives you 6K and no line skipping, auto focus was not a problem for me because can use manual focus for 100% of what I shoot
The other reason was price. Even then Panasonic S5 almost new from the box but second hand costed me 1100 Euro. Cheaper than BMPCC 4K which new came at 1400 Euro. If we add speedbooster and monitor price is also pretty much comparable to Panasonic S5 + Video Assist
    2.     BMPCC 4K is great but it's difficult to shoot without external monitor. Maybe it's just me but without a good 1500+ nits monitor which sits at 45 to 90 degree to the top of the camera or camera + cage + top handle it was really difficult and painful to shoot. In general I find that the most convenient, practical and useful setup for professional or serious shoots is camera + cage + top handle + monitor. It adds weight which is good for stability and it makes shooting so much easier. If we add the monitor to BMPCC 4K, then in terms and weight and size Panasonic S5 + BM Video Assist, suddenly became almost identical to BMPCC + monitor and even more compact in terms of length. Panasonic S5 can be used on most gimbals, BMPCC 4K on just a few. If I stayed only with BMPCC 4K had to buy a new gimbal. Sometimes it is great to be able to shoot with one small camera and lens, similar to the reporter style of Henri Cartier-Bresson. But BMPCC 4K is not good at this. It lacks EVF and is too big in length. Panasonic S5 on the other hand is. For those shoots I can skip the recorder and use 10bit 4:2:2 internal codec which is also very good or simply put the recorder in a bag and have a small and tiny HDMI cable hanging on the side.
    3. BMPCC 4K sensor size. I used Metabones speedbooster x0.64 and in term of DOF and bokeh this camera and setup were great. However crop factor is kind of weird - 1.21, can't use my primes lens sets on their specific focal length. No big deal but still kind of problematic. With Panasonic S5 any vintage lens has exactly the same focal length / angle degree it was designed for.
Panasonic S5 + BM Video Assist 5'' 12G solves most of BMPCC 4K shortcomings like poor battery life, lack of EVF, IBIS and smaller sensor size. Plus it is a great photo camera on it's own. Plus it could be used without BM Video Assist 5'' and will still give great image quality.
Shortcomings of Panasonic S5 + Video Assist: Micro HDMI, always kind of problematic, needs special attention and mini cage with a clamp to hold it on place or micro HDMI to HDMI adapter clamped to a cage as well. You need a bigger bag in order to be able to put camera and recorder together as one piece but same is true for BMPCC 4K + monitor. You have to start / stop two different devices.
In general I find  S5 + BM Video Assist to be more convenient and enjoyable camera setup than BMPCC 4K + monitor + speedbooster. New S5 II solves the micro HDMI port problem and adds tracking auto focus. Can we call it cinema camera ? Yes, with BRAW it certainly is capable to deliver high picture quality.

I took this path more than a year ago for several reasons.
    1. BRAW. Using BMPCC 4K realized how good BRAW is  
            - various degree of compression and file size
            - ability to adjust white balance
            - great support in Davinci Resolve,
            - smooth playback, scrubbing and editing
One of the main reason I've choose Panasonic, instead of Sony or Canon was support of external BRAW recording. Only Panasonic and Nikon cameras had it. But Panasonic support is better as it gives you 6K and no line skipping, auto focus was not a problem for me because can use manual focus for 100% of what I shoot
The other reason was price. Even then Panasonic S5 almost new from the box but second hand costed me 1100 Euro. Cheaper than BMPCC 4K which new came at 1400 Euro. If we add speedbooster and monitor price is also pretty much comparable to Panasonic S5 + Video Assist
    2.     BMPCC 4K is great but it's difficult to shoot without external monitor. Maybe it's just me but without a good 1500+ nits monitor which sits at 45 to 90 degree to the top of the camera or camera + cage + top handle it was really difficult and painful to shoot. In general I find that the most convenient, practical and useful setup for professional or serious shoots is camera + cage + top handle + monitor. It adds weight which is good for stability and it makes shooting so much easier. If we add the monitor to BMPCC 4K, then in terms and weight and size Panasonic S5 + BM Video Assist, suddenly became almost identical to BMPCC + monitor and even more compact in terms of length. Panasonic S5 can be used on most gimbals, BMPCC 4K on just a few. If I stayed only with BMPCC 4K had to buy a new gimbal. Sometimes it is great to be able to shoot with one small camera and lens, similar to the reporter style of Henri Cartier-Bresson. But BMPCC 4K is not good at this. It lacks EVF and is too big in length. Panasonic S5 on the other hand is. For those shoots I can skip the recorder and use 10bit 4:2:2 internal codec which is also very good or simply put the recorder in a bag and have a small and tiny HDMI cable hanging on the side.
    3. BMPCC 4K sensor size. I used Metabones speedbooster x0.64 and in term of DOF and bokeh this camera and setup were great. However crop factor is kind of weird - 1.21, can't use my primes lens sets on their specific focal length. No big deal but still kind of problematic. With Panasonic S5 any vintage lens has exactly the same focal length / angle degree it was designed for.
Panasonic S5 + BM Video Assist 5'' 12G solves most of BMPCC 4K shortcomings like poor battery life, lack of EVF, IBIS and smaller sensor size. Plus it is a great photo camera on it's own. Plus it could be used without BM Video Assist 5'' and will still give great image quality.
Shortcomings of Panasonic S5 + Video Assist: Micro HDMI, always kind of problematic, needs special attention and mini cage with a clamp to hold it on place or micro HDMI to HDMI adapter clamped to a cage as well. You need a bigger bag in order to be able to put camera and recorder together as one piece but same is true for BMPCC 4K + monitor. You have to start / stop two different devices.
In general I find  S5 + BM Video Assist to be more convenient and enjoyable camera setup than BMPCC 4K + monitor + speedbooster. New S5 II solves the micro HDMI port problem and adds tracking auto focus. Can we call it cinema camera ? Yes, with BRAW it certainly is capable to deliver high picture quality.

They need to ditch this ridiculous "pocket" design. I hope they release an updated 4K version of the real pocket camera. Also, a Komodo-like, modular box design w/ built in NDs. 6-8K. I don't expect autofocus or any cutting edge technology, but they can make these relatively simple changes. 

When I decided to ditch Sony for good - and when I decided to ditch Micro 4/3, I was bummed at all of the system lenses that I had and sold for not enough money so I've decided that for now, for the most part, I'll just get EF lenses and adapt - the Canon adapter for the R5 autofocuses about as well as I need and I also get the bonus of having a built-in ND filter tray so I don't need to bring other ND's with me.

The only exceptions will be lenses that are totally unique to a system (800mm f/11!), lenses that have some truly major improvement for a given system (the RF 70-200 f/4L is shockingly tiny and still pretty good), and GFX lenses (some EF lenses work fine on GFX, some don't - plus every GF lens I've used (except the 80/1.7) is freakin' incredible).

Anyway.  This strategy makes jumping systems easy once the vendor gets complacent.  I moved to Sony mirrorless from Canon years ago because EF bodies stagnated and they kept releasing new cameras that were the same as the last one, but with only one or two spec bumps where Sony was going crazy with improvements - not to mention the first A7s was mindblowing for low light on a consumer camera.  Then...  Sony started releasing a bunch of ho-hum updates... and Canon suddenly had the R5 which, aside from early overheating shenanigans, is incredible...  by mostly having lenses that work with every camera, I won't get stuck to a system where the vendor decides to stop innovating because it's hard to move away with thousands invested in lenses.

Anyway.  EF lenses are often not the greatest, but also are often good enough for anything I need.  I strongly suggest the strategy to everybody!

(Also, adapt all manual focus lenses to Leica M mount and you'll only ever need Leica M adapters for your cameras)

In ALL of the direct heads to heads it looked better as did the SOOC colour science and as for the IBIS…

The latest firmware people were sent seems to have improved the IBIS (less wobble in the corners with wider angle lenses) and auto focus performance. Given not everyone mentioned that in their videos indicates they maybe weren't using the latest update? 

I won't post the video because I know Andrew really, really doesn't like him, but Tony Northrup tested the S5II's autofocus with the Sigma EF to L adapter and it worked really well. 

Here is a hint that on this event Panasonic (and DJI) will present LIDAR type of auto focus tech. Saw on one of the pictures the guy from MAKE. ART. NOW. youtube channel. He doesn't use Panasonic cameras but had an extensive review of LIDAR tech on DJI RS3 gimbal and also reviewed DJI Ronin 4D. He is more connected to DJI than Panasonic. So DJI seems to be involved and it will be most likely a joint event and presentation. Lets see :)

Here is a hint that on this event Panasonic (and DJI) will present LIDAR type of auto focus tech. Saw on one of the pictures the guy from MAKE. ART. NOW. youtube channel. He doesn't use Panasonic cameras but had an extensive review of LIDAR tech on DJI RS3 gimbal and also reviewed DJI Ronin 4D. He is more connected to DJI than Panasonic. So DJI seems to be involved and it will be most likely a joint event and presentation. Lets see :)

Here is a hint that on this event Panasonic (and DJI) will present LIDAR type of auto focus tech. Saw on one of the pictures the guy from MAKE. ART. NOW. youtube channel. He doesn't use Panasonic cameras but had an extensive review of LIDAR tech on DJI RS3 gimbal and also reviewed DJI Ronin 4D. He is more connected to DJI than Panasonic. So DJI seems to be involved and it will be most likely a joint event and presentation. Lets see :)

Use 180 degree rule and in most cases stabilization in post works fine. But of course it is used to smooth and compensate for small movement and jitter when camera itself is panning or moving rather slowly. I try to use proper technique while shooting in order to get stable footage at first place. Most of the time shoot handheld without gimbal. One of the keys to get stable footage without gimbal or IBIS or IS in lens is to use heavier rig (2-2.5 kg). The other is to use good technique, lots of tip and tricks. For example with top handle and 35mm or wider lens can even do short walks.
For long walks or runs will not shy away and use gimbal. Still proper walking technique is needed as gimbal can't compensate for up and down movement.
BMPCC 4K/6K Giro stabilization was kind of disappointment for me. In all tests normal 'warp' stabilization in Resolve worked better than gyro. Unfortunately there is no substitute for good shooting technique and heavier rigs or gimbals.
My observations are that in the professional video/cinema world nobody complains about camera size or rigs. You either go after ultimate picture quality (whatever this for you is) or convenience. I often watch this video about DP Hoyte van Hoytema and Christopher Nolan.
Why Christopher Nolan & Hoyte van Hoytema Films Everything In Camera & IMAX
Impressive how big the iMax 70 mm film camera is. Somebody has to help put it on Hoytema's shoulder. Аs they say: Go big or go home. 🙂

Speed booster from the link doesn't have electronic contacts, S1 won't crop the picture. Camera won't know what kind of lens is attached. S1/S5 do the crop with ASP lenses when they have electronic contacts and are recognized by the camera.
However I don't think it's a good idea to use FF with speed booster on a FF body. At least you need to try it first.
Recently bought a relatively good and cheap Chinese lens with positive reviews:
https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-syoptic-50mm-1-1/
Never had such a fast lens and wanted to try one for photography. For video such a shallow DOF is totally unusable. For photography it was a disappointment too. It's a specialized tool only for portraits but at f1.1 it is soft and very difficult to manually focus. Almost any good 50mm f1.4 performs better than this one at f1.4.  Other f/1.1 or f/0.95 don't differ much.
If you are after ultra/super shallow DOF type of lenses try LAOWA 35mm f0.95 or 45mm f0.95 or Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f0.95. I know people who similar to me bought some of those lenses used them for some time for portraits then sold them. It is really a special tool, you definitely has to like this type of look.

Also did a test. Here are some observation:
1. It doesn't work with lenses that don't have electronic contact with the camera. Gyro data is there but after applying gyro type of stabilization in Resolve got a black screen. This may be a bug in the beta version but it's unlikely. Seems logical that software needs to know focal length of the lens.
2. Can it replace gimbal while walking ?  Short answer - no. OK to stabilize simple panning or static shots. With 60p + slow motion in post it can give almost gimbal like results. Good if you want to have a hand held like shots and feeling without the jitter. Still having a good shooting technique is essential. Unfortunately lens IS can't be used in conjunction with gyro stabilization. It is one or the other.
3. It doesn't compensate for up and down movement or does it in somehow subtle manner.
4. As already said and demonstrated it needs 45 degree shutter angle to work best which is not OK for me. Apart of slow motion and simple rather slow pans and static shots when shooting at 180 degree shutter angle it won't be practical.
5. Easy to apply in Resolve. As fast / slow as other types of stabilization in post.
6. Expect with time and new Resolve versions Blackmagic to give more control options to gyro type of stabilization.

Bottom line is: Good to have one more option for BMPCC line of cameras for hand held shooting but it has many limitations and won't replace tools and technique required to stabilize shots. It is not a game changer. This explain why it was not introduced with fanfare but rather quietly between lines by Blackmagic.
On a side note : With new firmware BMPCC 4K menus look now nicer. A lot of minor improvement to a 4 years + old camera. Well done Blackmagic !
Blackmagic already carved a solid place in cinema cameras business making RAW video available at a low price point. Camera picture quality is great, build quality not that much, but I guess this is the compromise to make for the low price point. If they come with a more compact and solidly build bodies and put a mirrorless mount in next generation of cameras this will be a step in the right direction even with expected price hike.

Also did a test. Here are some observation:
1. It doesn't work with lenses that don't have electronic contact with the camera. Gyro data is there but after applying gyro type of stabilization in Resolve got a black screen. This may be a bug in the beta version but it's unlikely. Seems logical that software needs to know focal length of the lens.
2. Can it replace gimbal while walking ?  Short answer - no. OK to stabilize simple panning or static shots. With 60p + slow motion in post it can give almost gimbal like results. Good if you want to have a hand held like shots and feeling without the jitter. Still having a good shooting technique is essential. Unfortunately lens IS can't be used in conjunction with gyro stabilization. It is one or the other.
3. It doesn't compensate for up and down movement or does it in somehow subtle manner.
4. As already said and demonstrated it needs 45 degree shutter angle to work best which is not OK for me. Apart of slow motion and simple rather slow pans and static shots when shooting at 180 degree shutter angle it won't be practical.
5. Easy to apply in Resolve. As fast / slow as other types of stabilization in post.
6. Expect with time and new Resolve versions Blackmagic to give more control options to gyro type of stabilization.

Bottom line is: Good to have one more option for BMPCC line of cameras for hand held shooting but it has many limitations and won't replace tools and technique required to stabilize shots. It is not a game changer. This explain why it was not introduced with fanfare but rather quietly between lines by Blackmagic.
On a side note : With new firmware BMPCC 4K menus look now nicer. A lot of minor improvement to a 4 years + old camera. Well done Blackmagic !
Blackmagic already carved a solid place in cinema cameras business making RAW video available at a low price point. Camera picture quality is great, build quality not that much, but I guess this is the compromise to make for the low price point. If they come with a more compact and solidly build bodies and put a mirrorless mount in next generation of cameras this will be a step in the right direction even with expected price hike.

Will also test over the weekend. The beauty of this method is that we can do stabilization with gyro data in Resolve. Newer Sony cameras also have gyro data but stabilization is done in another program. It's additional and time consuming operation.
More that 3 years after a camera is out they keep updating the firmware and adding new features. To a 1000$ camera (BMPCC 4K in my case). Stabilization with gyro data is almost a game changer.  Hope it will work nicely.
How not to like Blackmagic.  😀 

Will also test over the weekend. The beauty of this method is that we can do stabilization with gyro data in Resolve. Newer Sony cameras also have gyro data but stabilization is done in another program. It's additional and time consuming operation.
More that 3 years after a camera is out they keep updating the firmware and adding new features. To a 1000$ camera (BMPCC 4K in my case). Stabilization with gyro data is almost a game changer.  Hope it will work nicely.
How not to like Blackmagic.  😀 

WOW ! Really.  My plan was to sell BMPCC 4K, since Panasonic S5 became my main one. Now have to  pause and think again. 🤔 A little crop is really not a problem if it saves me the efforts to carry and use a gimble for some of the shots.
 

@PannySVHS - Check Zeek's channel on youtube. He has good tutorials how to shoot raw video with EOS M.  Lots of tips and tricks.
You work all the time in live view mode that ML hack gives you. Histograms are used to measure exposure but I have found they are not perfect. If there is a strong source of light in the frame, measurements are not accurate and number misleading.  But it's RAW you have at least 3-4 stops of latitude for exposure, so no worries if exposure is not perfect. Just make sure you don't burn the highlights. With ML RAW hack I always tend to underexpose a bit especially if there is light source in the frame as a lamp for example. The opposite of what most people advise, ETTR and so on. 
in 1080p it is easy, you have correct live view on screen. Crop mode is very problematic as live view is a black and white image with 1fps refresh rate. According to Zeek you can now use external monitor for framing in crop mode but this never worked for me. 1080p has lots of moire and aliasing, crop mode is beautiful but difficult to shoot.
At the end frustration and quirks led me to the point to abandon  EOS M and ML RAW and sell the camera. Hopefully you'll have a better experience. 👍

@PannySVHS - Check Zeek's channel on youtube. He has good tutorials how to shoot raw video with EOS M.  Lots of tips and tricks.
You work all the time in live view mode that ML hack gives you. Histograms are used to measure exposure but I have found they are not perfect. If there is a strong source of light in the frame, measurements are not accurate and number misleading.  But it's RAW you have at least 3-4 stops of latitude for exposure, so no worries if exposure is not perfect. Just make sure you don't burn the highlights. With ML RAW hack I always tend to underexpose a bit especially if there is light source in the frame as a lamp for example. The opposite of what most people advise, ETTR and so on. 
in 1080p it is easy, you have correct live view on screen. Crop mode is very problematic as live view is a black and white image with 1fps refresh rate. According to Zeek you can now use external monitor for framing in crop mode but this never worked for me. 1080p has lots of moire and aliasing, crop mode is beautiful but difficult to shoot.
At the end frustration and quirks led me to the point to abandon  EOS M and ML RAW and sell the camera. Hopefully you'll have a better experience. 👍

I only see LUMIX surviving if they implement PDAF on par with Olympus or better. That is the bottom line. It's 2022 and every camera out there worth a damn is track focusing fairly well (except Fujifilm).
I always wondered what exactly Leica contributed to the L-mount alliance except for the mount. They jointly (perhaps) help with development of the LUMIX PL lenses but beyond that Leica SL and SL2 internals are all from Panasonic with the color engine done by Leica.
Perhaps Leica agrees to invest more of their profit from their $7000 re-skinned S1R into the alliance going forward. 

Maybe a hint of what's coming: S1CK A.F.
https://www.l-rumors.com/lumix-ambassador-makes-another-easter-egg-teases-the-launch-of-a-new-camera-with-sick-af/
If Panasonic wants to survive in photo/video mirrorless camera world, good tracking auto-focus is a must. Having in mind that inside Leica SL-2 and SL-2S is most likely the same Panasonic processor that is in S5/S1/S1R/S1H, IBIS and so on, it is more than just Panasonic survival but Leica's also. Announcement makes sense. 
Happy with my Panasonic S5 and S1 but it's good to know that L mount and system has a future.
It would be great if Blackmagic joins the alliance. Blackmagic need a mirrorless mount covering FF for their next gen cameras.

Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN has almost 0 breathing and manual focus is smooth for a focus by wire lens. With latest firmware that gives extra control over focusing similar to Panasonic lenses it is almost perfect for video. Was pleasantly surprised. But it is relatively big and heavy 🙂

Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN has almost 0 breathing and manual focus is smooth for a focus by wire lens. With latest firmware that gives extra control over focusing similar to Panasonic lenses it is almost perfect for video. Was pleasantly surprised. But it is relatively big and heavy 🙂

Would rather put a new camera in series of practical tests shooting scenes that typically shoot, rather then set expose based on some assumptions. Those assumptions may not be true. We have no idea how exactly a particular manufacture is interpreting the RAW data from a given sensor.

If we have to believe this test:
Sigma FP shooting raw video handles underexposure much better than overexposure. Some people interpret the Sigma RAW video as BM Log and then do CST (Color space transform) and claim this is the way to extract more dynamic range to the full potential of the sensor (12.7 stops). CDNG files from Sigma RAW video according to them  give lower dynamic range.
Have similar experience with Canon ML RAW video on hacked Canon 5D Mark III and Canon EOS M. There is ETTR function in the hack and multiple people advice to do ETTR in order to reduce noise when shooting at HIGH ISOs. In practice at lower ISOs (and high as well) risk of burn in highlights is quite high. Canon RAW CDNG files are handling underexpose better than overexposure. I was able to recover at one occasion 4 or 5 stops of underexposure due to forgotten VND for daylight when shooting at night. As result when shooting Canon ML RAW tend to underexpose half a stop, and almost never go for ETTR. And like the results and footage better.