Chrad

Raw is phenomenal ... but not worth dealing with beta firmware and buggy implementation.
Cancelling my preorder ... going to add the GH5s to my Leica SL.
 

It's not really a cinema camera though. It's going to be annoying especially with the low battery life, you will want to do a lot of power cycles in the midst of shooting with it.
Now you can always rig it up with a big brick of a battery but you know what I think of doing that to "Pocket cameras".

DR is impressive and combined with art lens is just poetry all over it 

Hard to buy that. There are barely any M43 sensors on the market. Is there really another out there with the same oversized dimensions and dual ISO that we somehow haven't heard about?

+2
We'll see huge consolidation and what happens now will decide who will be the new Canon and who will be the new Pentax in 5 years.
The reasons that I think the third category is small-screen and enthusiast content is that more and more people are producing video content for online and many of those will need multiple cameras for interviews, and even if you can use your phone for one of them you're probably not going to buy two other phones for the other two angles, although you might just use last year's and the year before that. Everyone wants a wedding video, an engagement video, there are now clandestine proposal videos being shot by photographers hiding in bushes nearby (I kid you not) and this trend will continue as the first world economies change from manufacturing to services economies. Social media and human vanity and sentimentality aren't going away.
The other segment of this market is cashed-up enthusiasts. Every office building has a dozen or more people who own a 5D and 24-70 F4, not because it's got the FF look, not for the low light, but because they earn 100K a year, like photos and want "the best" or "what the pros use". It will take a long time for the answer to those criteria to be "use your phone". Don't forget that photography is an art that people think comes from the camera.
"That's a lovely photo, you must have a great camera".
This alone might be Canons entire profit margin - selling the same camera that took the lovely picture to the person that wants to buy the ability to take similar ones on holiday or at the park.

An interesting read:  http://www.focuspulling.com/bmpcc4k-learning/
For example, "Bob insists that the Pocket 4K’s sensor is not the same manufacturing part as the one in the GH5S", Bob being Bob Caniglia of Blackmagic Design.
Also, on P4K ("Quattro Kappa" for Italians) memory cards and SSD, USB-C variants, audio XLR and 4 mics on the camera, bluetooth remote control, Extended Video, dual ISO, shutter angle vs. speed, window(ed) shooting, etc.

To those awaiting your Pocket4K's.....stock up on LPE6 batteries!
So far I've only used the camera with the battery that it's supplied with but the camera chews through it at an alarming rate. Also, the battery meter with the supplied battery is not very reliable at all. It jumps around from 1/2, back up to 3/4 then flashes red for less than a minute and dies. The first few times I used it, the camera died when the meter showed more than half remaining but with a few discharges and charges of the battery, I think it's getting better. I haven't done any real tests to test record time but I got less than an hour of powered up time before it died. I was shooting outside though, with the screen at 100% brightness (more on that below).
The manual states that the battery meter can be set to show a remaining percentage with supported batteries but the BMD battery does not seem to be supported as I only have the option to show the battery graphical icon (unreliable) or voltage. I have four Wasabi 2600mah  batteries arriving on Monday so will test with those.
In direct sunlight, the screen is not really usable. At 100% and with a LUT on it makes it a little easier to see, but it's highly reflective and not quite bright enough especially showing a flat Film Log image. I'll need to make a shade for it, but then with it not being tiltable will mean that II'll have to hold it at eye level when shooting with is not comfortable and doesn't lend itself to steady shots. 
BTW, sorry, I wasn't able to do the sound tests yesterday. The inbuilt mics sound pretty good and you only really hear the fan if you are in a dead quiet room. I should be able to do it on Monday.
So far, the battery and screen issues are disappointing BUT I am absolutely LOVING the images the camera is producing. The images are very detailed but not too sharp (a good thing!).
I have shot with most DSLR's out there from Sony Aseries, Panasonic GH series, Fuji X-T2 and have never seen any Hybrid cameras produce the images the Pocket4K does.......and this is just shooting ProResLT to an SD card as thats all I had on me at the times.
 
 

There's a popular adage in Brazil which ironically says some people love to have fun with someone else's dick.
These announcements for six months later in time remind me that Brazilian saying.
 
Go to shoot with your GH5/GH5S, a7III, X-T3 today or the upcoming (for very soon I hope) P4K and... that's it : )
Discuss the potentiality of your tool today. We never know how short life is. Let's stop with all that usual mantra or yet more nonsense.
Digital tech already arrived to the world of pictures, mature in 2018, no excuses anymore  : P c'mon why bother with other girls?
Other than 4K 120fps or better AF for those who love Panny perhaps, your gal complies your standard (Trust me & mark my words, E : -)

Just keep doing you, man!
The level to which brainless, artless social media whores have taken over representing creativity online is truly horrifying. Beyond shameful brand and corporate alignment, these folks have rendered the pursuit of art into a series of meaningless life hacks that give uncreative consumers the illusion of creativity. Want to be a great photographer? Strive for bokeh! Take long exposures of shorelines! Orange and teal everything! Lift those shadows to a mid-tone gray and vintagize your images by 30%! Consider these five tricks to make your photos look like [insert useless Instagram celebrity]! HDR it!
As with many dreamers, I used to believe that the internet would democratize the publication of art by empowering artists. It has—technically—done that I suppose, but what few considered until it was too late (for art, journalism, hell—the truth!) is that it would cheapen and destroy creativity by putting a good-enough facsimile within reach of any slob with a phone without them needing to actually learn the craft.
The good news is that cultural shifts come in waves that are eventually met with backlash. The hyper-shilling is already showing cracks and it’s fairly young. People in my country are witnessing the fatal outcome of celebrity worship via our presidential nightmare. I think we’re nearing a tipping point where authenticity will be highly valued again and I want folks like you to be around to reap the rewards! 
 

To be honest, their supposed PR "missteps" isn't even a legitimate concern for me. I don't get the complaints. The camera that should clearly cost at least 5,000. And they charge 300 for a software with lifetime upgrade that competitors are milking for several times more, or ridiculous monthly subscription. The camera's coming out in less than a month!
It's feels odd to me to say this about a camera company, but I've become a big fan and evangelical of Blackmagic and their ethos. Picking a fight with Blackmagic over PR "missteps" is like castigating one of the small handful in the room who gives a shit about democratizing cinema tools for filmmakers, all because they didn't say hi to everyone in the room. 

I recommend David Lynch's Inland Empire. Shot on Sony PD-150s with noise and blown highlights everywhere, but it works for the surreal horror vibe of the film and shows that the ugly imperfections of DV can make for a pretty special look. 

Cinematographers use diffusion filters on the Alexa and it’s only 2.7K, 3.3K at open gate. The problem is camera resolution has been decided upon by monitor and TV manufacturers. Now if you don’t shoot 4K, your image supposedly doesn’t have enough resolution?
In my opinion, I think a Pocket 2 could have had a 2.5K image and be equally as appealing. 4K at this price point, is usually best for downscaling, so it will be interesting for me to see what the downscale looks like from 4K P2 footage.
But for the most part, I’ll shoot 1080p at the two base ISOs, on a clean sensor, with cheap SD cards. I already have a bunch of Canon batteries for my 5D3, so if battery time is bad (I suspect about 30-45 minutes) I’ll just swap them out. I’ll get a Rode NTG mic, and maybe a couple XLR lavs, for in-camera audio and have an amazing little, run and gun cinema camera... no need to rig up this little beast.

They said at the press conference that they get asked about the Pocket 2 in every interview, so they didn't want to do NAB this year without showing it, and they felt ready to unveil it because the camera is finished. It just needs to be mass produced. 

Out of likes for today... but I agree. I think this is the perfect form factor. The 12-35mm lens isn’t that large of a lens, so this is still relatively small... smaller than a GH5. The grip looks comfortable and the screen seems to be improved. IMO this is a true run and gun cinema camera. If you don’t need OIS, this camera and the 20mm 1.7 or c-mounts... or even a Speedbooster and ai-s lenses will be a compact package compared to what else is available on the market with these specs.

I don't think they are mutually exclusive either.
Its more the GH5s that has the problem as far as I can see.
Prices of a used GH5 are currently dipping below £1.2k and will be further deflated by the time the Pocket 4K  actually arrives to be more or less a flat £1k.
If you add in the value of the full version of Resolve then that means you could have a GH5 AND the Pocket 4K with Resolve for pretty much the same price as the GH5s and Resolve.
In that scenario, where I could have the best of both worlds in terms of a highly featured and capable all rounder AND a cinema oriented one for the same total price (especially as they share a common lens system) then I'd really struggle to choose the GH5s over that.
 

A still is probably going to be a much more useful takeaway from a casual shooting environment than a video clip. A good still is more easily singled out and more easily presented to an audience. A video clip usually needs to be contextualised by other scenes surrounding it, or it can feel aimless. There's a lot more work involved there. Generally I'd agree with the consensus that video is better used when you have an idea (or are committed to finding the idea) behind what you are shooting. 

Nice theme, I think. Simply, I need a more complex language to express - or, better, striving to express - more complex thoughts and feelings.
To be honest, I don't think that photography could be (for Westernian type of mind) in all extensity - repeat: in all extensity - form of art as great literature or classic music. Yes, it has precious dignity of skills and taste and knowledge. Yes there are great photo testaments of compassion and capability to extricate significant moment from banality - and as so, help to better experience the world. (And yes, I little disagree with Susan Sonthag and agree with Walter Benjamin.) Maybe it is similar to haiku poetry.
But it is impossible to express - or, better - to completely involve, as sort of full-senses initiation, other man in haiku as in, say, Beethoven's Eroica.
Further thinking, it seems to me that photography maybe is much more closer to sort of feeling/thinking/expression of Eastern mind? There always existed that wonderful feeling for moment, for profound non-ego encounter with mistery of nature and existence.
Western greek/judeochristian civillization and state of mind always relayed on inner and outer drama, complexity, struggle, personality - and its picks of art and distinctive philosophy are such that can embrace world of turmoil complexity, as in Servantes, Goya, Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, Beethoven-to-Mahler/Shostakovich symphonies...
Probably that's the reason why I'm longing for video/movie as language, greatly respecting type of mind and spirit that stay behind profound photography masters.

When i started shooting (stills) all i did was grab the camera walk around the city where i live and try to look for interesting things happening around me and i do remember the feeling i had when i actually captured something nice! And at the time i was using medium format so i only had 12 chances to get something awesome, and i really miss the ritual of going out shooting and then developing those rolls just to find what came out of it, they werent always the best picture one could take but it was my own personal ritual which i think i will go back to.

Someone on my facebook feed earlier called filmmakers who prefer film to digital "hipsters" and basically idiots for wanting to shoot on film. I don't see anything wrong with Soderbergh wanting to try something different. I love my digital cameras, but I've also shot Super 8, and I have some 16mm waiting to be shot. I'll probably shoot something with my iPhone at some point, because it seems like it could be fun. I guess I'm a fucking hipster for wanting to keep filmmaking fun for me. No one ever questions an artist for switching from water color to oil, when clearly they could just paint everything the same way because there's no NEED to use anything else.

Seen "Inland Empire"?
"28 Days Later"?
"Pi"?
The thing with ambitious film directors is that they go places for their stories without strictures.
Automatically assuming that a film is "less" based on IQ is unfortunate understanding of the craft, imho. 
I'm going to go out in a limb and guess that the storytelling in Soderbergh's film might have a little more emotional heft than whatever y'all did back in the day. 

Entry level "Feeder models" are essential to the future of the MFT system.

Without new blood coming in, there will be fewer people to buy the GHx releases of the future. 

Killing the GX8 and its potential upgrade makes a lot of sense. 
The camera market is shrinking. Panasonic don't need a pro and enthusiast DSLR style body, a pro and enthusiast rangefinder, pro and enthusiast compacts, and now specialty offshoots of the GH line as well. It's overkill. 
I don't think the GX8 sold well, and if the G9 really is replacing the G85 as has been rumoured, they need to focus something on the lower end of the market. Pushing a few models that each have a specific section of the market in mind makes way more sense than releasing a whole bunch that trample on each other's intended demographic. Makes it harder to market too. 

the extra $500 is the "you know you fuckin want it" tax.

That is pretty much exactly what I expected.
I see some are not happy that it isn't the match of the better FF cameras in low light but I would say it looks amazing in low light FOR an M43 sensor.
The other stuff for video is why you should buy the camera, that it is competing with some better APSC sensors for low light is the bonus.      I can see some adding a GH5s to a GH5 for lower light (than the GH5) instead of a A7sii with a GH5. 

Different companies have different priorities for their reputations. (and companies can also misjudge the impact of compromising in one area over another)

Sony is gunning for "small" and "full frame" (which leads to overheating and poor battery life, that is their trade off)

Panasonic is gunning for "reliable" and "long battery life".

Small/FF certainly is popular with hobbyists!

Reliable/battery is popular with professionals!

#potstirring 
hahahaha! Ok, I'll give you a point or two there.  

6K anamorphic, very true! Is hard to count the cameras on your fingers that can do this for sub $10K and need more than one hand. 

ETC mode? Been around since GH2
IBIS? Common as chips. 
Articulated screen????? Ditto!!! Even more so.