sanveer

I think you are right on the money, I only have one XH2s which I got mostly for a one client, The bulk of my video work is on the Lumix's.
After the firmware crisis, I never fully trust the AF and have opted to always manually focus.
I also agree with you, Fuji just abandoned the XH2s, they could have at least given us shutter angle, waveforms..... anything via firmware!
I know they probably want all of us to run out and buy an Eterna but that's just not the right camera for what we do so no thank you.
 

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/4979409121/sony-a7-v-video-studio-scene

I just read a report that in retaliation to Greenland threats, European leaders are planning to introduce trade blocks with America, and part of that is a potential voiding of American patents. What could this mean for the camera industry? Suddenly everyone can put compressed raw into their cameras without having to argue with RED? 
https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0119/c90000-20415649.html
"The mechanism would allow immediate retaliation, including punitive tariffs, market bans, financial sanctions, and the suspension of U.S. patents and licences, without recourse to the United Nations or the World Trade Organization."

Definitely; that's where the 12-35 2.8 and DJi 15mm 1.7 will show their strengths for me.  The lenses haven't arrived yet, but the camera came with the 12-60mm 3.5-5.6 kit lens, so definitely in the ball park with size and weight.  The thing is so darn light; it actually feels extremely comfortable and balanced attached to the larger body style.  I could be fine with a sigma 18-35; funny thing is even that feels somewhat light to me, as I am used to having to carry around my Atomos Ninja V for anything 10 bit.
 
Yes, yes, yes.  The only reason I have a great idea now of what matters to me, is because at this point I've shot a lot of projects, and have done so on multiple different camera systems.  So along the way, I've learned what matters to me.  I'm not going to notice a 1/2 stop DR difference; some grainy footage (as long as the grain isnt ugly) doesn't bother me terrible. Sometimes I like it.  But I do value great stabilization, as the way I shoot I end up spending a good chunk of my time finessing post-stablization to achieve the type of camera movement I want while keeping things completely handheld.  I have a solid handheld technique down, but on most cameras it is still not perfect.  I always hold the camera losely, usually shoot wide, and do a great heel-toe walk or body sway.  But I always need to post-stabilize.  I end up trying the stabilization options in Davinci Resolve.  If that doesn't work, I render that clip out to Prores and import it to After Effects just to apply Adobe Warp Stabilizer, as it is a bit better in my experience.  Once I get the result I like, I export.  The beauty of the G9II is that when you combine the fantastic IBIS with e-stabilization high, I get quite close to the result I get after all of that post stabilization process...but this is just the footage out of the camera.  It saves me a lot of time.  And I can even add a drop of warp stabilizer on top to make it perfectly smooth.
 
Another big advantage for me, its effectively doing what Gyroflow does but all internally and paired with the best IBIS ever.  I've tried Gyroflow.  I've used it on some FX3 footage I shot for my buddy's wedding film company.  I've also rigged an iPhone to my Nikon Z6 as well as used the Senseflow A1.  Its a nice solution.  I figured I'd love it; its the same concept of what normal post-stabilization does (which I always use ALL THE TIME).  Big difference is it is using true camera motion data; so the results should be perfect right?  Well yes, but you need to shoot on a high shutter speed.  And I found that even on the Sony FX3, where Gyroflow can work with IBIS on, the crop was often still fairly large.  And the workflow is lengthy.  With the G9II, I have a minimal 1.255x crop with e-stab on high, and because its working fully in tandem with the phenominal physical IBIS system, its very stable AND I can zoom the lens mid-shot and it works fine (can't do this with gyroflow on most setups).  AND I can keep my shutter at 1/50 because the physical IBIS system is doing 80% of the work here.
 
But yeah.  Moral of the story is shooting lots and lots of stuff has made me realize what matters most to me.  The G9II seems to really hit that.  Again, I used the Nikon Z6 for 4 years.  I've also filmed weddings on a Sony FX3 with nice Sony G master glass.  I filmed very extensively for one organization with a Canon R5 and EF glass.  This past summer I bought a Canon R7, then a Panasonic S9, then sold both.  So I've tried enough cameras and shot enough to know what works well for me.  I'd fully agree that a lot of what camera youtuber's claim are the big time differences are not always as important as they seem; for me, the wonderful IBIS of the G9II and the minor crop in e-stabilization is way more useful than a full stop of DR improvement when you already had great DR in the first place.  Etc etc.
This is a concert I filmed and edited this summer on the Panasonic S9.  I haven't had a chance to film anything substantial on my G9II...but this is close.  It's a super weird setup I sort of wound up with over the summer...The Lumix S9 with the Sigma 18-35...in the Super 35 crop mode WITH E-stab on high.  So basically a 2x crop MFT level at that point.  But I still found the image to be very nice.  More importantly, with some careful walking, I got the images to be this stable and a lot of these shots have NO post-stab applied.  Colors were very rich.  G9II is even better because again the crop is lessened in E-stab high and the physical IBIS is better.  And build quality smokes the S9; that was something I did not appreciate about that camera.
 
A short clip from a concert I filmed, with the aforementioned Lumix S9 setup.  Again, no post-stabilization.  It is just so smooth.  Makes all the difference with how I like to film.
 
More handheld with the Lumix S9 setup.  This has a bit less "gimbal-push-in" shots and a bit more regular handheld shots.  With e-stabilization high, it has a perfect balance struck, where you can walk and move the camera such that it looks like a steadicam, or you can just handhold it for regular stuff and it looks as stable as a cine-cam weighted down.
 
This wedding trailer was with my old Nikon Z6 setup.  Combo of Davinci post-stab and Warp Stabilizer.  Outside, I cranked my shutter speed very high to help.  I used RSMB to add motion blur in post.  While this worked, I had to spend extra time stabilizing in post and tweaking things if it was not perfect.  This is all but eliminated now with the G9II.  Also, half of this video was shot on a Nikon F-mount 24-85mm 3.5-4.5, entirely at f/4.5.  I reckon that looks pretty close to what the Panasonic12-35 2.8 will look like; @kyelet me know if I am wrong since you've used that very lens I think?  But anyways, its enough DOF for me.  That being said, if you like more, totally get it.  Nothing wrong with that.  End ramble haha.  

I really like the idea of the time travel dial
A really elegant way of switching the look.
Good to see the Super 8 / Bolex form factor make a come back as well.
Fuji of course, now should do a high-end version of this with Cinema DNG.

As many of you will have guessed, I’m not a rich teenage kawaii girl so take my opinion on this camera with a grain of matcha.
What I am though is a member the unspoken demographic for it which is the jaded old photographer with a bad back.
So I’m not her, I’m not you and you aren’t either of us so I’m predicting your mileage will vary wildly.
Which is a good thing.
I enjoy it for what it is, a genuinely pocketable holiday camera that makes me take silly snaps with far more frequency than I would do with a “real” camera because I’ve long since understood that holiday doesn’t mean assignment.
Anyway, some silly soft, noisy snaps I took with it.

Could I have taken these with my phone and at likely better quality ?
Of course but the question is would I?
No, because getting my phone out of my pocket and wrestling with it like a wet fish when I see something interesting is not my idea of using a camera.
 
 

@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.

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.

 

Sad news about Rob Reiner, and his wife, gifted photographer, Michele.
The President says he died due to "Trump derangement syndrome" and the "anger he caused others".
Writing in a social media post:
"[Reiner] has passed away together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome".

"He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J Trump"

Obviously, I find this troubling on so many levels. A real insight. That he can't even write RIP to one of Hollywood's greatest or send condolences to his family without making it all about himself and implying that Reiner had a mental illness.
I think it's time for anyone who voted for him to take a bit of a step back from politics (if capable of that) to think about what they have done and who he is. And if after that you still can't bring yourself to snap out of the cult, but you still happen to be a forum member here I would like to ask you to leave. Hopefully you have already.
In contrast here's how Ben Stiller remembers the Spinal Tap director, who like Rob had a comedian father...
https://x.com/BenStiller/status/2000441874662961291
"He came out form behind a huge comedic shadow of the great Carl Reiner and being a tv actor to being a a great director who made an incredible run of movies. Spinal Tap is one of the best comedies ever made - and the list goes on. He was a kind caring person who was really really funny."
Now there are reports coming from gossip outlets that Reiner and his wife were murdered by their son Nick who is now in police custody.
What a shocking Hollywood tragedy and just an awful way for such great souls to go out, who have given us so much.
Go and see Spinal Tap 2 everyone.
RIP Rob & Michele Reiner.

Tim Cook has always been a mess, he's just been sufficiently hidden from public view; most of the time.
Did you know that Steve Jobs hated Cook? Massive chunks of Steve Job's biography were censored by Walter Isaacson, after Job's death, to conceal this from the  public. There's an investigative piece on it, here: https://vo.lc/The-Execution-of-Steve.html 
Cook is also a child-slaver. His is personally-evidenced knowingly using children to manufacture Apple products. Note that this is different from Apple's prior use of child slaves, because, until Tim Cook turned up, Apple had not been directly, knowingly, complicit. [Source: Business Insider]
The real reason these Apple executives are jumping-ship, however, has nothing to do with technical problems at Apple. Instead, they are getting ahead of a much bigger scandal, which will likely sink the company. 
Here I quote from an article by a Guardian award-winning writer who was a journalist for both The Times and The Telegraph newspapers; and worked at BBC radio. The journalist knew Steve Jobs personally, and worked with him. This is from the article:
"Tim Cook abuses children. This is well-documented. The extent to which he abuses children is to be determined by a court, and the process by which he will be brought to trial for his repeated abuse of children depends on your capacity — as the message on Steve Jobs' desk, pictured at the top of this page, reads — to "THINK". Your inclination will be to turn away."

"Tim Cook has, bizarrely, never had any identifiable partner of any sort. Readers will note that this was also the case for notorious pedophile, Jimmy Savile. This is not of course, to draw any comparison whatsoever between Tim Cook and the notorious pedophile Savile. Any attempt at such a direct comparison would (as it was with Savile) be met with such violent legal repercussions from the child-slave-traders at Apple that nobody would dare write such a thing. Perhaps we should not even think it."

"Many reporters, after Jimmy Savile was exposed, congratulated themselves on having kept silent for years out of fear of being sued, and all the children who were raped in the interim were also delighted at the reporters' cowardice. Weren't they?"

"The problem is that the entire, disgusting edifice of Silicon Valley relies on our fear. What happens if we're not scared? What happens if we stop treating the child-slave-trader Tim Cook as royalty?"
Source: The Execution of Steve, By Chris Stevens / Phoenix Kaspian, 16th January, 2024.
Note that the journalist's article has been up for almost two years, undefeated by Apple's legal team. Apple is the richest company in the world.
You do the math.
Apple is cooked.

I've been thinking for a while that, internationally, Hollywood is going to get cooked by the 'new' USA. Think how many of the biggest movies over the years have been predicated on the notion that the USA are, once you get down to it, the good guys, the freedom guys, the justice guys - how does that notion survive in a world shown, daily, evidence of resurgent American fascism, cruelty and opression.
Even in those movies where the US state is engaged in bad stuff, the day is saved by upright American patriots (with great teeth) - but IRL, where are those patriots? We're now aware that they're not to be relied upon to do that.
So how does a global cultural hegemony based on an vision of the US as that shining city on the hill survive the revelation that the shine is an illusion (obviously many of us already knew that it was a tortured myth anyway, but the grotesquery is now so pronounced it's unignorable even to the millions of normies who make up the entire international audience for Hollywood's product)?

It is and it isn't.  A little history reveals otherwise.  Honestly, humanity's default mode seems to welcome oppression.  And why not?  It's intellectually easy.  Many peoples don't like trying to be more smarter.

Looks fantastic.
Any interviews with the cinematographer / crew out there?
They used Panasonic GH7 + Lumix 12mm F1.4 for most part
https://www.eoshd.com/news/in-ny-and-la-theatres-january-major-new-movie-magellan-is-shot-on-the-panasonic-gh7/

Thank you for sharing, Andrew. This is looking great. I will watch it as soon as they show it in the cinemas over here. I am still curious to test a GH5 MK II due to it been tested by slashcam for displaying great rendering of texture and offering one of the best 4K images of any dslms out there in that regard. Its optional 1.4 crop mode makes it a great digital 4K S16 cinema camera. GH7 in 4k pixel per pixel mode might be closer to 16mm crop though. I would love a M43 sensor sized lumix pocket cinema camera with flexible cropping, like S16 1:1.66, S16 4:3 with full Super16 width, 2/3" 1:1, you name it. And while you are at it, Panny please give it an internal ND and still keep the EVF and great battery life plus full size Hdmi.:)

SSD review says 256GB and 512GB Lexar Professional Golds get up to 85C and the 2TB card only to 63C. In the same review Delkin Black 512GB is the coolest at 39C.
I have had no problems with 2TB Lexar Professional Gold in Z6iii at 25C in direct mid day sun, but 6k50p NRaw may not be as taxing to the camera and card as Panny’s 422 H.265.

it started happening faster in hotter conditions, 24-27C, but still happens at around 20C. 
When I narrowed it down to the card being the issue, I would just leave the camera running on my table while doing post work, and would regularly fill up the card or run out of battery with the Delkin or OWC without any warning, but with the Lexar card about 10-12 minutes in, the heat warning sign would come on, and it would terminate recording in about 20 min or so.
PS Should add the cards that cuz thermal issues for me are 128GB gold Lexar Cards
 

They must have needed to buy that 24 megapixel sensor in such large quantities, the 7 different models were a necessity.
And by the time the year is out, it might turn into 10!

Thom Hogan:
"Nowhere in Panasonic's press releases or marketing information I've seen so far do they actually seem to know how to market their six different 24mp cameras (S1II, S1IIE, S5II, S5IIX, S9, and BS1H). In the S1IIE features list the sensor is listed as "inspired by the performance characteristics of the Lumix S5II," which tells you nothing. Those of us in the press these days are dealing with AI driven press releases, but I'm failing to even see the I in Panasonic's. Nothing tells me which 24mp camera to buy, let alone why I should buy it instead of Canon's, Nikon's, or Sony's. This feels like "stuff the channel and see if it sells" product management, not clear, user centric marketing."

I have no idea why Panny chose to go the expensive route for their cameras.
Up until the GH5 their products offered the biggest bang for the buck (GH5s was catastrophic bc it started this whole upward pricing trend).
Now? Not so much. GH6-7 were considerable costs upfront for anyone, let alone indie filmmakers.
Their FF lineup has been all over the place regarding prices. Why would anyone buy this new camera when the S5II and its different variations was released just some months ago? 
It makes NO sense whatsoever and makes us long for the GH-1-2-3-4 pricing and innovativeness. 
Every single one of the original GH cameras had some sort of innovation that differentiated it from the rest of the Canon-Nikon-Sony parade. All of that was lost with the move to FF.
A true fall from grace.

How did topic turn out to be? Seems like this is best camera in the market right now?

I guess that people must have been complaining to Panasonic that the S9 was too affordable and they really needed the same thing, but more expensive.  😉

In an unregulated state, all the money will go to the owners of the AI built on stolen data (from creatives without compensation) and no working person will have money. It'll be like the 1920s again, and remember the tariffs then made the US depression spread worldwide, leading eventually to World War II. After which a period of relative decency began, until the 1980s where all the money more and more were given to the fewest of people, leading eventually to Brexit, Trump, the Russia-Ukraine war. All of these phenomena since the 1980s happened because the multimillionaires and billionaires want to have all the money and keep it too.
 
Adapting is the same as capitulation which makes working people the equivalent of slaves. All the money will go to the techno-oligarchs and their criminal politician friends.
 
The only way to solve the problem is to make AI models based on stolen data illegal and erase them or give due compensation to the creators of the original teaching data that was used to make the model, and tax billionaires so that they end up with only the money that a decent life requires. This would restore fairness and decency in society and good lives to ordinary people.

Had a fun time trying out my X-M5 micro cinema rig on a low budget, 3 day music video shoot last week. No overheating or issues of any kind shooting 6.2k prores raw in open gate mode to an Ninja V+. Insane what this little guy can do for an $800 purchase (body). 
 
 

That is all.  Thanks for coming to my TED talk.