sanveer

NX1
A7s mk1,
GX85, GH2, GH6, LX100mk1, S1H
Any Sigma foveon, agreed

If anyone wants to have some retro CCD fun then I have found a fun little bargain for you...
https://www.wexphotovideo.com/olympus-e-500-digital-slr-camera-body-used-3242908/
This is using the same Kodak CCD sensor tech as the M8, just a slightly smaller chip at 2x crop vs 1.5x.
The colours and grain are a thing of filmic beauty and it has the rather lovely Olympus colour science in JPEGs too.

You might want to have a look at the Xreal range 
https://www.xreal.com

Hi Andrew exciting to see you have the x14u as well! I've started writing a Xiaomi 14 Ultra mod guide to maximize its MotionCam Raw Video potential. It's far from complete yet (still many questions unanswered xD) so all input is welcome 🙂. P.S. I've been reading your blog posts since forever and read new articles the same day they're posted. But I don't look in the forums that much, found this thread by coincidence. Would love to one day read a full blog post, featured on the front page, about your experience and experiments with the x14u! 😁

Feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone where Gerald releases a glowing review of it, while Lumix users are stressing out about it before using it. It's usually the opposite!

LX10 in photo raw is very nice. If it had 10bit HLG for video, it would be a perfect pocket camera, even moreso with an evf. I don't enjoy slippery phones for taking images, billions of people do though. I love the 24 to 70 F1.4-2.8 zoom on the LX btw. A 24 to 50 zoom coupled with a 1 or 1/1.5" sensor would be nice and a mechanical focus wheel as well. Afaik only a few phones offer the latter. Is that right?
Are these your shots? @Andrew Reid
Nice images and colours. @Cosimo   Colors remind me of GH2 palette when in use of skilled hands. Old school digi vintage look by oldschool 8bit masters like Martin Walgren or Andrew Reid.:) That reminds me how much of imagelovers GH2 users were when creating their pieces. I barely find any good stuff shot on recent cameras. The destruction of vimeo didn't help that I guess.
 

Surely the gymfluencers will be flocking to the S1Rii after that recent magnum opus ?

These kind of posts are always my favorite. Thank you for sharing!

I have a new setup and pipeline and I'm really happy with it.
GH7 shooting V-Log in C4K Prores 422 internally, at around 500Mbps 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 lens for daytime, 12-35mm F2.8 for night-time K&F True Colour 1-5 stop vND Pipeline in Resolve: CST to DWG as working colour space Plugin for basic shot adjustments Film Look Creator for overall look (and for taking the digititis out of the image) ARRI709 LUT to get to 709 output I went on a walk on Monday to test the full setup, and it was a crazy hot day (37C/99F) and direct midday sun, so seriously challenging conditions.  Here are a few grabs (be sure to click-through rather than viewing the preview files embedded in the post).










My notes and impressions - while shooting:
Setup was GH7, 14-140mm lens, vND, and a wrist-strap and that's it I used the integrated screen, showing histogram, zebras, and focus-peaking to monitor I used back-button focus to AF before hitting record, so no AF-C going on while shooting (and randomly changing its mind about what to focus on) All shots were 14-140mm at F5.6 for constant exposure The K&F 1-5 stop vND had enough range, when combined with the DR of the GH7, so I never needed to change settings, despite going in and out of shadow (and even inside, which isn't included in the above images) The vND had a much more consistent sky and colour render than my old (crappy) vND, so I'm really happy with it I did ETTR and bring images down in post, but my tests indicated that V-LOG is very linear so there are a good few stops of latitude there The "tripod mode" of IBIS, which locks the frame completely, was very effective (despite me being hot and not having eaten for hours) and I could hand-hold past 70mm without it needing to drift, and even at 140mm (280mm FF equivalent) the shots will be fine with a bit of stabilisation in post (C4K on 1080p timeline) I shot about 18mins of footage in about 1.5 hours, camera was on most of the time with screen at full brightness, and didn't get any notifications about the battery, and didn't look to see how much was left since I have a spare My notes and impressions - in post:
I chose a Film Look Creator preset and then just messed with it for maybe 10 mins, while scrolling back and forth through the footage, and I deliberately pushed the contrast to create a really strong sense of the contrast between the beating sun and the deep shadows Shots had exposure adjusted (obviously, due to ETTR) and some had contrast lowered and a few had slight WB tweaks, but that's it I never felt like I was fighting with the footage, and it didn't feel like work when creating the look..  I've shot with a lot of cheap cameras with tiny sensors and you always feel like you're trying to make gold out of lead, but playing in the FLC was more like choosing between a large range of high-quality options I used another copy of the FLC to adjust exposure etc per shot, with it set to not impart and 'look'.  The advantage of that is that in Resolve there is a mode (Shift-F) that maximises the preview image and gets rid of the GUI except for the vertical toolbar on the right-hand-side where the DCTL and OFX plugins are, so it's a way of getting almost a full-screen view but keeping the controls visible..  very useful if you don't have a control surface or a second monitor handy. I'll talk more about my thought process and how I got to this setup in a later post, and also go into some of the technical stuff (DR, high-ISO, etc) but more importantly than that, I finally feel like the tech has come of age.
What I mean by that is that I now have a setup where:
I can shoot with a conveniently sized setup that doesn't need a rig and is ergonomic to use It has the right usability features, such as histograms, zebras, focus-peaking etc internally The monitor is bright enough The GH7 plus lenses (14-140mm F3.5-5.6 and 12-35mm F2.8) are long enough and fast enough to shoot what I see, without being too large, heavy, or prohibitively expensive It has enough spec that it can deal with almost all the situations that I actually shoot in, with enough DR for the sun, enough ISO for night-time, and fans so it doesn't overheat before I do, etc It shoots internally using a colour space and codec that don't look cheap/amateurish and make me think about upgrading It doesn't fight with me in the colour grade Resolve and the Film Look Creator are able to easily give me the flexibility in post to match images and correct any weaknesses from shooting (e.g. if there's a bit of movement when shooting hand-held at 140mm) Resolve and the Film Look Creator are able to remove the 'digital/video' look and instead give me a range of options that don't look artificial and most importantly, contribute a feeling to the footage without distracting from the content of the images (this is, after all, the entire purpose of what we're doing here.....) For the first time it feels like I'm getting the results I want because of the equipment I have, rather than in spite of it.

To save you bothering to watch that video (as pretty as the visuals are) here is what it ended up being about.

Am sure this is the first and last time I'll ever see rifles being used to construct a diff frame!
As on the weekend I was working on a friend's little short film, he was the Director / DoP / Writer / Editor / Gaffer / DIT / 1st AC / "Everything" (even acting in some of it!), except for Sound (which I of course did. Although I helped out a little teeny bit sometimes in other areas too, such as lighting). 
Due to the nature of the shoot (almost no crew, basically no budget, and out in the middle of nowhere) we had very limited amounts of gear at our disposal. So while a couple of combo stands with a proper diff frame was constructed for the first scenes of this film we shot down at the beach (which even that took a fair bit of hiking through the bush to get to), later on when we went further up the hill/cliff, then the heavier stuff was ditched. As wasn't viable to keep on carrying everything with us (and even a little dangerous? A little further on up from here is where one of our actors ragdolled their way down when they slipped and fell. Luckily they're still ok! Pity that moment wasn't caught on camera).
Thus you see the improvised situation here! Making the best out of what we had at hand in the moment. 

https://www.l-rumors.com/hot-panasonic-will-announce-a-new-lumix-l-mount-cine-compact-camera-in-april/
 
Maybe now everyone will leave the poor S1Rii alone…

If you wait a month or two, the S5 will probably be on sale new at B&H for $999. It's hit that price a few times in the past  6 months.

Nikon / Vimeo have joined up to hand out $30k funding each to lucky filmmakers.
https://vimeo.com/shortfilmgrant?utm_source=MKT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=en_CA-vimeo-grant-3-12-2025&utm_content=btn&utm_term=ApplyNow&ET_CID=5558147&ET_RID=1080819395
You get the use of a Nikon Z8, Z9 or RED cameras too.
Will be interested to see what comes out of this.

I want them to make a FX3 killer with low noise 5k sensor, 120fps, active cooling, and RED codec/log. But they won't. They're much smaller a company than Sony, and have to spend the limited R&D budget on upgrading the current line up. And they have to ramp up their glass business too; they have much work to do: filling the gaps in still lenses, and develop cine lenses (they got curiosity from cinema community, now they need their attention). 

Even a Viltrox lens looks good thanks to her!

I mean, she can stand up in a car, but she ain't Sydney Sweeney.
 

"Rolling shutter doesn't matter to me"
"Dynamic range doesn't matter to me"
It's like the Pope breaking down and saying Christmas doesn't matter to me!

I’d rather have a phone inside the Sigma BF.
But I bought a RED Hydrogen so what do I know… 

While the translation is difficult to read and there are not a log of details, we can expect to see S1H and more compact cameras from Panasonic.  Below are a couple of the comments from the interview.
https://qicai.fengniao.com/537/5378995.html
In terms of market demand insight, Panasonic is keenly aware of the trend of recovering demand in the fixed lens camera market. With the increasingly powerful cell phone photography function, the competition in the cell phone market has become more and more intense. Fixed lens cameras have become an important direction for cell phones to realize differentiated competition due to their unique functional characteristics, such as the long focal length function, which opens up new possibilities for cell phone photography. Based on this market change, Panasonic is looking forward to the fixed lens camera market and is actively planning the introduction of new products. Although it is not yet possible to determine the specific time of the release of new products, it can be seen that Panasonic in this field has launched an in-depth thinking and layout.
In addition, Panasonic in the LUMIX S1H follow-up product planning is also actively exploring the LUMIX S1H as a positioning of the creation of film cameras, in the market has a unique position. With the continuous development and changes in the field of movie micro camera, Panasonic has received a large number of opinions and suggestions from various parties. In terms of product form, there are different expectations from users and the market. Some want the product to be similar to the FX3, cutting out the warship section and focusing on movie and video functions; some prefer to keep the micro-single form while strengthening the video function; and others expect to make it a square camera similar to the FX6. In terms of functional requirements, 8K 60p or even 8K 120p video shooting and built-in ND filters have become the focus of users' attention. In order to better meet the market demand, Panasonic merged with its professional-grade system imaging division in 2024, integrating the technical resources of both parties and engaging in deeper and closer discussions with technicians. Although the launch date of the next generation of the LUMIX S1H has not yet been determined, it can be seen that Panasonic is fully committed to the development of this product, and is striving to bring users an even better tool for movie creation.
 

Just watched it - some quite interesting development background stuff, e.g. how the 'cropless' stabilization works.

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.
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.
Given what folks are saying and anecdotal evidence available, they seem to have things coming down the pipeline. They could be better at conveying that to us for sure, but there are enough hints out there. See: the new monitoring app. 
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.

Apparently Matt Frazer hints that the S1H successor is still in the picture. And that Panasonic has an interesting lineup planned (for other models also to be introduced). 

In that video posted below he says he's lost about 35 kilos just by not drinking alcohol and "being drunk" almost every day for the last "20 years".
A year later he's lost about 15 kilos more, by the look of the picture I posted.
In total, about 50 kilos in less than two years.
That's 110 pounds or almost 8 stone for you guys in the UK hehe

I believe he had brain surgery a few years back. I don't remember what exactly the problem was. He's clearly fighting something. There have been others too on YouTube. It reminds me to make more efforts to eat healthily and take care of myself that much more. Life is so fragile. I send my good wishes his way.