Emanuel

There's a lot of whining about Panasonic not pushing hard enough in raw specs. Yet, many of these critics go silent when firmware updates completely transform the camera's usability. Panasonic focuses on features and tools that don’t generate the same hype as 4K 120fps or internal RAW—but they offer things like false color, shutter angle, and a lower price point. It’s just a different approach.

Great post man, my vote to stick it! :- ) 
At times, I even think to myself that a disclaimer urges to pop up to avoid armchair opinion makers out there...

I've used all of those actually! I built a live streaming business with the Sony PXW-Z90 almost 8 years ago. It was the best option at the time, because of the SDI connection that we could output to our switcher. Originally I wanted to use GH5 bodies but I wasn't confident in HDMI or the HDMI to SDI process in a fast paced sports environment. Locking SDI to SDI seemed like the way to go. Plus every other mirrorless option at the time, minus Lumix, had overheating issues so they weren't an option. The Panasonic AG-DVX200 was also briefly considered, but at nearly $5000 each it just wasn't gonna happen.
I really liked the PXW-Z90 at the time. Today though, it's not good enough in low light for event coverage, in my opinion. Today the footage LOOKs video-y, with poor colors, roll off, and dynamic range. They're still used by my old company, and for several other smaller pro-wrestling companies, and I just don't think the footage looks very good compared to what you can get from even a low end mirrorless camera these days.
I rented a FZ2500 when I was considering it as B and C cameras to my GH5 years ago. Not bad, but the G85 bodies I was using were still better. 
Gimme a power zoom I can buy once and use on whatever new Lumix body I upgrade to in the future and I'll be a happy camper.

Maybe this is your excuse to buy a Panasonic FZ2500? (or an older model)


Has a S16 sensor, with a 24-480mm equiv. F2.8-4.5 lens
Has v log, built in ND, and the camera can capture both DCI and UHD 4K, with even a 10bit 422 output. Aside from it being an odd DSLR format vs the usual video camera ergonomics, it's a not too bad camera for lower budget event coverage? If you need a powerzoom, it's the best Panasonic has to offer unless you go for the more expensive Panasonic HC-X20, or the even more expensive Panasonic DVX200 (except, it is dirt cheap secondhand now), or a frankenstein configuration. or a much more expensive option such as the Panasonic AJ-CX4000GJ (funnily enough, it is has a 4/3" sensor in it! So it's kinda-ish like "Panasonic's top of the line MFT camera", but without a MFT mount, it has a B4 mount)"
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1532968-REG/panasonic_aj_cx4000gj_b4_interchangeable_lens_camera.html (you too can have one for the low low price of $25K)
Personally though, if I was doing that kind of live event coverage (one with a modest budget, small but bigger than the smell of an oily rag) where big zooms during a shot matters, I'd be going with a Sony PXW-Z90V (or  maybe Sony PXW-Z150 if I see a bargain for it. Or both! This type of shooting often uses multiple cameras). 

Nikon beating Panasonic to releasing a video focused power zoom for their full frame cameras was not something I expected...
C'mon Pannyboy~!

I agree on more power zooms. But is also important they be parfocal, or close to it (like many of Sony's zooms). I recall that many Panasonic zoom lenses were decidedly not parfocal (and DFD focusing did not help).

I have the PZM thingy for the 18-135mm EF-S, and is a lot of fun!

Very fair.

Unless you're Matt's doctor, though, his weight is really not your concern.  If he has health problems, it's up to him to decide if he'll talk about them or not.  This thread was a lot better when it was trolling people about Dave Bautista and/or Perry Farrell.
Let's focus instead on his lens reviews where he does a portrait shoot with it stopped down to like f/13 which will be diffraction limited on just about any modern sensor!
Or on his thing where he has to bring 43 and 250 lenses in like 43 suitcases when he goes on trips!  Instead of, like, a couple of GFX 100 II bodies and a decent selection of Fujinon glass!  And if he really needs extreme telephoto, swap that out for any modern 61 megapixel body and the same focal equivalents as above + extreme telephotos.
Or his pockets.

Good for him! Takes a lot to recognize you have a problem. 
Still, he looks a lot healthier (and younger) in that video than he does now. Sometimes people who lose weight tend to go overboard.

That ^ is Dave, well known camera reviewer and influencer.
Normally ends his reviews by smashing the kit to pieces.
And here is a pic below after he went on the Matt Granger diet.

'the animal' dave batista has clearly cut down on his massive steroid + hgh intake. word is he wants some 'normal' movie roles
i ran into him at my gym in LA years ago when he was at his biggest, and my trainer knew him and introduced me, and i gotta tell u.... you cannot imagine how huge he was. this is a golds gym in LA. many muscled up guys. hes standing next to my trainer who was 6'2" 235 and he absolutely dwarfed him.  he ~WAS~ like an animal, the wrestling nickname was appropriate.
fwiw he was SUPER nice so i like him lol

Who the heck is Dave Bautista? The singer from Jane's Addiction?

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.

From the reviews seen so far there is everything and nothing.
GU tested it in "lab mode" and slaughtered it. He was smart to report the bugs to Pana who fixed them for him via fw updates.
Other youtubers reported problems found by GU but they didn't get the updates and didn't even know they existed. So people who look at their reviews think it all sucks. For example, some say AF is not up to par. If you look at Richard Wong's review the AF is perfect and aligned with Sony. He has fw 1.0. he is the only one who tested extensively on animals and cars and there are some smart features.
Other youtubers have tried it on real projects or real use cases and there is very little criticism and they speak very highly of it.
Moving the camera left and right like crazy and screaming that the RS is terrible or claiming on paper that having only 12 stops without DR is like swearing in church, seems like bullshit to me. The beloved 5DMKII ML had 9 stops of DR and yet everyone was wetting their pants.
In short, lab is one thing and reality is another.
BTW the same youtubers who now blast the S1RII are the ones who would hate an S1R that we like a lot.

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?". 

Personally, I don't care about RS anyway so it's a non issue for my way of filming.

But some things feel rushed in a way that they made it more complex it needed to be. For example, you can use our dual native ISO but if you want DR Boost you now have new base ISO settings. It feels counter intuitive to calculate small things like that while shooting for a gig. In a way it reminds me of the GH6 when it came out, in which you had to film in 2000 ISO when using with DR Boost on. Then a year later the G9II comes out and its like "dude just set your ISO level and I will boost the DR for you no matter what".

And what's with the 120fps tops? Even my old S1 can shoot 180fps in FHD (crappy image but still).

However, they finally have no crop up to 4K60, the moire issues of the past are non-existent and the beefy colour rendering (subjective) coming out of the image is more than welcome. I like the fact that they stuffed in every little thing they could, with not much left to be desired.

I don't know/care if it's going to make Sony or Canon shooters swap, for me it's a safe upgrade path from the original S1 series.

It does have active cooling (AFAIK the same system as used on the S5 ii).
But it's having to deal with a lot more heat due to almost 2x the data rates if reading the full sensor area (compared to the S5 ii), and 8K video is 4x the pixels per frame vs. 4K video so the processing and encoding pipeline is working much harder. Based on the review comments and RS results, the less-than-8k video is oversampled from 8k capture, so probably great quality but a lot of heat to deal with (and short battery life).

TBH I think overheating performance (let alone DR + low light) and price under $2.9K (€2.762 from my supplier) without VAT (for professionals, not consumers) for such small form factor (under 800gr!) are both a must : ) How come not having an active cooling system along with? Or a cheap semiconductor route instead, as Andrew mentions? 
60p up to 5.8K is the price to pay for?
Other than that, imagerie coming out from such features combo like IBIS + their same hybrid AF, once more this time for a 2nd round and turn to follow the S5 II, look like pretty hard to resist and stellar to me... I'll probably see myself to bite : P Who not, sooner or later? : X 




https://petapixel.com/2025/02/25/panasonic-s1r-ii-first-look-the-ultimate-hybrid/
 
PS: Something I guess I like to see going with them... they usually try to bring some cherry to the top, most of their tradition is that, more than any other brand except Blackmagic IMO who tend not to leave any rabbit out of their hat for next time, hence my hat. 
Their newer is their best can certainly be a good motto. 
I am sick of a few minutes before overheating, when it's supposed a professional use even being a hybrid one, no excuse, it's not a smartphone! You can go and burn in hell, shame on them, Canon and Nikon... They play games on us... Makes little to no sense to my book to say the least :- )
 

Some comments reported that on the line skipped 4K@120p  AF is DFD only

Nice idea, unpleasant pricing strategy.
Did you see the Leica jacket they released? I think it's around £1000 for an anorak.

I'd go for both FX30 and Osmo Pocket 3... Just sayin' ; )
Other than that, P4K and Ace Pro 2 are a must no less : )
My current fav ones.
 
Without mention some other speciality captures devices or...
Blackmagic 6K FF... with this, you're set on the Aussie manufacturer camp : D works like a charm straight to those who always claim for stabilised stuff ;- )

So you know when the famous lead singer dies but the band wants to carry on...


 

Olympus cameras were some of the most beautiful ever.
Both in terms of feel, build quality and looks - they were all very lovely. Better, in my opinion, than many of Fuji's attempt at 'classic' style cameras.
The PEN-F was a lovely design... here's a reminder of that...

I still have mine, and even though the OLYMPUS OM-1 (the final true Olympus camera by their Japan engineering team) has surpassed it in every way, I'll never part with it for stills.
(Such a shame they never did a 4K 10bit PEN-F).
Well the PEN-F and OM-1 are even more special now because we know they were the last goodbye, the sunset over Mount Olympus, the pinnacle of 75 years of camera history and the best evolution of the entire species, which is now extinct.
So the OM-3 after all these years since Olympus fell, is the first 'real' OM System camera as in a fresh concept, new body, a new camera from the Japanese investment bank or whatever the fuck they are.
Clearly it shares none of the DNA design with the Olympus cameras, it looks like a contractor on Blackmagic street, Singapore, at best a design office of 5 accountants have raided the parts bin of an E-M5. Where's the fucking grip? Have they even tried this thing with their own lenses especially the larger zooms?
Why isn't it a rangefinder style body like the PEN-F, where does it sit in the range between the OM-5 and OM-1 (as it seems to offer nothing different to either of them in terms of specs)?
Why does it have a viewfinder hump when it's supposed to be different conceptually to the OM-5 / E-M5 III?
As an aside I really hate the design language of all the text, "OM SYSTEM" is far too much to be cramming onto the front of the viewfinder, and the OM-3 logo is too far over with a huge negative space at the edge making the horrible square shoulder look even more drawn out than it is.
And the back is also really 'off' in terms of proportions...the layout upsets my eyes.
So we can safely say the OM-1 was the peak, also the E-M1 X.
This is a different company, not the same designers, not the same Olympus staff, maybe not even one engineer carried over.
Very sad to say, but OM System are history, they will not be able to survive with sup-par products and designs in such a competitive camera market. How can they even compete with Fuji let alone with the rest?
RIP!
Proof that camera design... indeed all design... is art... and cannot simply be mimicked by the talentless.

A power tool and a camera had a baby!

I love the IQ of my FS7. Nice chunky 4K 10-bit XAVC-S. You can bake in LUTs. I really don't see much difference in specs to the current Sony cams (FX30, FX3, FX6 etc) aside for extreme low-light. Ergonomics are great for shoulder mount, its a workhorse. I keep mine because Sony is used everywhere in pro use and it gives me work. Don't really feel a need to upgrade. That being said for personal hybrid projects I prefer Canon/Nikon. I'd recommend R5C or Z8 if you're a hybrid shooter. Personally I'm thinking of going for R5 mk2 mainly because of Clog2 and tiny bitrate SRAW, total game changer. Guess a C70 would be a good cop, great form factor with NDs and long battery life with that DGO sensor, only caveat is the image is a little too soft for my taste.