IronFilm

The problem is that the artists are loosing in this new world of social media.
I recently caught up over coffee with a few filmmaker friends here in LA. All of them work pretty regularly shooting commercials. They told me last year that roughly 60% of their content was shot vertical with 40% horizontal. Even for the "traditional" spots, many times the clients didn't like the look of the sample video and asked if it could be made to look more like a "mobile phone" They claimed that they were going for a reality based, "Tik Tok" look. This made all of us sad.
I've been working with a client that has slowly been moving away from anything on his company website or YouTube and now I'm just shooting reels for him. I used to do nice little 3-6 minute mini docs and now he just wants 12-15 short 15 second clips. 

Sometimes going backwards can even "inspire your creativity"!
Tomorrow I plan to shoot some photos of a running race using my ex's old Nikon D90
 

I shot two short docs and part of a feature length doc on the GH5 and GH5s and wow, I’m surprised how often I miss those cameras. I had the GH5 with the Sigma 18-35mm and metabones speedbooster. And the GH5s had a few of the m43 Leica Primes and adapted Contax Zeiss glass, also on a speedbooster. Fast, small, light and pack able for air travel. Such a solid kit. Had the GX85 as my little BTS camera and would use it as a back up/3rd angle a lot on interviews. Or mount it up in the ceiling for weird overhead angles. Tiny little 4k beast with surprisingly good IBIS for back then. 
 
I do feel like we’ve lost something from that era. GH4 to S1H era was peak LUMIX. Everything back then felt well thought out and I was always blown away with the host of features. These days it’s different. I’m also hoping the S1Rii ends up being worth the purchase, I think it suits me and what I need. 

I will likely go back and forth on whether the S1RII appeals to me but I recently was reminded not to lust after gear. I've got an S1 and S1H currently and I bought an S5 and eventually an S5II hoping to replace these, sensing size and weight were the only real drawbacks of the S1 bodies. I sold both the S5 and S5II almost immediately, for usability reasons (worse viewfinder and screen) and because of the picture being over-sharp on the S5II.

I had somehow convinced myself that a newer camera would spark my creativity, as I am currently in a creative rut. This was misguided.

The S1 and S1H are still excellent cameras and they produce an image that feels special to me still. They also feel somewhat indestructible compared to the S5 style bodies. I used them primarily to film a major documentary, along with a GH5 and a slew of other cameras over the years including Canon C300 marks I & II, 6D & 5DIII.

In color correction, I learned how little the camera matters compared to what you capture, outside of the quality of life improvements and build quality (the C300II actually broke from use at the hot shoe mount). Even some quality of life improvements should be met with apprehension. IBIS has ruined some of my shots with weird motion artifacts - the days of a loupe and hand grip on my 6D netted some pretty stunning motion.

Among all the cameras I've shot with, I found the most usable camera overall was the GH5 - and if I was to embark on a similar documentary project today and had budget for a new camera, I'd probably lean towards a GH7 for its versatility and portability. I think the GH7 actually represents the most unique value proposition in Lumix's line - for run and gun documentary, with 32bit audio and a 12-60 or 12-100 lens, I don't think it can be beat. Of course, I don't want to go through the process of re-acquiring all the MFT glass and adapters I've now sold.

For me, the S1RII's reduced size and weight, improved high ISO performance, 32bit audio would be significant quality of life upgrades - but the trade-offs of higher heat sensitivity, lower battery, and a huge hole in my wallet would not be worthwhile. I mean, I'll want one, as is the case with every new camera I see, but will it actually improve my work? Not at all.

It's definitely within the spectrum of low / mid range when it comes to professional shoots. It's a common enough camera choice for reality tv / docos / corporate videography / etc 
 

Bzz wrongo
 
thats very nice of you, thank you. the reason i posted these is because just looking at the end result, i wouldn’t know which camera was used for what, and i get paid to be a dp (at least from time to time).
i would consider myself a bit of a hack tbh, but i have some rules/logic that i try to adhere to
- limit the color palette
- avoid white. Walls, clothing, props, etc. Off white fixes the issues with white in clothing and props, but off white walls still feel like theyre white. if you’re stuck with them anyway, try to get the art dept to cover them up or go for a color wash.
- i like trying to use as much hard light as i can get away with
- i try to frame for depth, looking for layers and shapes. If there’s multiple shots being shot per scene, theres a million slight positioning adjustments happening to get optimal looking distances between subject and camera. 
- visual language: per project i ask myself, what kind of lensing is appropriate? Is this a piece that feels more wide, medium, telephoto? What are the exceptions to the language/when am I able to break the rules? 
- when theres a limited budget (in my case almost always), i prefer the budget to go to art, locations and lighting. what’s the point of lomo anamorphics if you’re in a tiny ugly white walled room?
- i like the combo of a strong contrasty lut + slightly softer glass + strong diffusion filter

I appreciate the gear focus that dominate most discussions, but the nuggets of information and techniques like these are golden. Thank you.
In order to create layers of depth/separation? Or another reason?
I’ve found having a lot of small cob units with spotlights or dishes to highlight subjects, coupled with big soft sources (panels, lite mats, 8x+ frames etc) to fill ambient are a solid go to when creating depth for interiors.
Nice one. Should I get in the habit of building a look/monitoring lut for each project? 

Christopher Frost spent some days with one and shows a somewhat detailed navigation through the interface.
 
 

About as low end as the Ursa Cine 12K, yes.  😉
Just about all of the cameras that he mentioned are likely to have some representation at the local short film contest/festival I just wrapped up.
(Also add Komodo/Komodo-X and Ronin 4D which I can say from personal experience are also represented)

Of course. I do think @Andrew Reid is spot on in pointing out that the S1RII’s physical design is uninspired. Even if all else remains equal, LUMIX desperately needs to find their video-centric camera body format. Sony’s FX line is walking off with that segment, even without including open gate. 
 
I do believe that there’s a sizable market still hanging out sub-$5K, and BMD could quickly walk away with a large slice of the pie. What they don’t cover, the FX line covers very nicely. The Sonys are feature-rich and maximalist in terms of including hybrid type features on top of the video-first format. BMD sits in an interesting place where they keep things simple/straightforward in a way that is heavily focused on streamlining cinema work. They're still building up trust on reliability and build quality, but there’s traction on that front… and at some point, the price point with what they offer is just too good to ignore.
 
the 12K is $7K, and the Pyxis? Almost 1/3rd that price. I find it hard to believe they’re not aiming to land something in the middle, just a touch over $4K. You’re on a good track with the S35 cut-down of the 12ak sensor. I also wonder about simply binning the existing sensor, to keep the data rates within reason for basic cards, and the processing needs within the means of a lesser pipeline, and the cooling requirements down.
Presumably BMD could also do RGBW with a larger photosite arrangement, to bring the resolution down. 
 
It’s pretty obvious that the 12K is “look what we can do,” and it’s gonna trickle down over time. Again, I hope it spurs LUMIX and others to push for better CMOS tech, because they’re all capable of building good cameras. I do really like what LUMIX has put out on a number of occasions. The S1H was the only camera to put a proper OLPF on the IMX410 until Pyxis just recently. The GH5S with dual native ISO and V-Log L in such a small form factor was a true joy to work with. And the GH2 had a really lovely look back in the day.
 
The S1RII is sitting in a very strange zone. High resolution. High readout speed. The big standard color and dynamics that come with decent Sony CMOS these days. It’s not a bad camera. It’s just not remarkable either. 
 
I guess I’m just glad the last couple years I’ve pivoted to buying glass, because I don’t feel like I’ve missed out on any cameras in that timeframe.

Right, I am getting myself sponsored by NordVPN and Bingoplus.com because whenever I am on Bingoplus.com which is the only on-line betting platform I use for all my on-line bingo needs, it is always whilst using NordVPN and I wouldn’t trust anyone more for my on-line privacy than Nord.VPN
Thanks NordVPN!
Thanks Bingoplus!

FWIW, I'd say that if Jordan is grouchy about Lumix, it might be more in the category of being more critical to the ones that you love.  He's a long-term Panasonic shooter and he and Chris have been doing most of their videos with Panasonic for years now.  I can't remember if Jordan's main camera is currently the G9 II or the GH7 - I think it's the latter.
 
I'd be cautious with even putting faith in those folks, though - they're in a different categories than the straight-up shills, but I also can't remember a time that Media Division didn't like a camera that somebody gave them - and a company who gives them a camera for review can also be relatively sure in most cases that it'll be used to film some slick footage, often with a robot arm, that will look great for their marketing.
This is why I'm much more a fan of getting a general pulse of real end user feedback vs putting too much stock in what YouTubers say.
Gerald Undone is also the one who made a huge deal of Z Cam leaving a file in an unusable state (though you could send it to Z Cam and they'd fix it for you) if the camera lost power while filming and how it was completely unusable on a professional set for that reason, etc.  His followers got so obnoxious about it that Z Cam finally had to invest engineer time in building a tool into the camera to recover the files instead of building features that 99.999% of the users actually cared about.  By that point, a bunch of us had been successfully using our Z Cams for at least a couple of years without the dreaded power loss problem (partly because it supports redundant power - plug a V mount into the DC in and put a small NP-F on the camera, no danger of power loss).  That and, y'know, just about anybody I know who shoots isn't a complete idiot and swaps the battery when it gets down to 20-30% (or at least gives the heads-up that after this shot, we need a swap - sometimes you let it get a bit lower so you don't break the flow).
At the time, a few other vendors that he reviewed favorably also had problems with potentially-corrupted files if you yanked power while the camera was recording.  He just didn't think to try it because most hybrid cameras don't make it easy to do that, vs an exposed np-f on the back of the camera.
That whole thing was really similar to what you're saying about him preloading the complaints about rolling shutter.  I can't remember, but if he treated that like the battery problem, he then went on to mention it every 15 seconds for the rest of the video, even when talking about unrelated stuff.
In the case of Z Cam, he also then went on some big thing about how people felt "attacked" because they were Z Cam fanboys - which might have been true of some people, but the rest of us were just irritated that every time we mentioned our camera, some zombie would lurch out of the shadows to moan "what... about....  power.... losssssss??????"
 

I've spotted an opportunity for you to be able to drop stuff off and stay within their DHL only policy ..

It takes a special kind of Kermitting to wind me up as a love camera shopping more than life itself.
But MPB have managed it, on about 5 separate occasions now in two countries, which is an achievement Gonzo himself would be proud of.
I think posting off thousands of euros of gear to a warehouse 20 mins bike ride away is daft.
Especially if the post is on strike or it's DHHelllll.
Their staff are so bad at communicating or making you feel valued. They let me drop stuff off once, and then dodged the question and refused to answer when I wanted to do it a second time. How about catering for this demand of 20-30 high-value customers per day wanting to do business with you and open a fucking counter!
I don't care if it has Miss Piggy herself behind it, it's better than losing $$$ to the post!

The real challenge is that until very recently, proper full frame sensor tech has been extremely stagnated. Even Canon, who make their own sensors, went bigger and ditched their lauded DGO in the process. Sony, who makes most everyone else’s sensors, hasn’t done much since shifting to BSI. Panasonic had Dual Native ISO, now it’s been an option for everyone to leverage lately. But ultimately, if you want a 24X36mm video sensor, it’s gonna top out at ~13 stops of DR (maybe half a stop more than that thanks to some highlight recovery and/or noise reduction.) The market has tightened up, sure, but the core technology has also provided very low motivation for existing users to upgrade. Most of the changes have been in tertiary areas like autofocus and ergonomics. Those are important in some contexts, sure, but they’re not paradigm shift improvements. That’s what is needed for market share to shift in a company’s favor.
 
I have a small amount of hope for LUMIX from two things: the shuttering of Varicam, which moved their team into the LUMIX department, and the recent (even if half-baked,) collaboration with Arri. Both bring an insight into a camera ethos that differs from what LUMIX have been releasing up to this point. Arri has also been feeling market shrink, which could mean a window of opportunity for LUMIX to deepen that relationship and do something interesting in concert with Arri. But the window is probably only 2-3 years at the very most, thanks to the elephant in the room:
 
BMD’s 12K RGBW sensor has just demonstrated a paradigm shift. If you already have some cine batteries and the right memory cards, you can have that thing shipped, powered, and recording blindingly impressive footage for only $7K. That may seem expensive, but not when it is very nearly on par with an Alexa LF. And the real kicker-time-ticker? It ain’t gonna get MORE expensive, I can tell you that for certain. BMD surely has a roadmap already in place to reach economy of scale with that tech, and we’ll likely see it in Pyxis/Pocket price point cameras in under 5 years. 
 
Everybody else better hope Sony’s sensor development team has been saving something in their back pocket, because now’s the time, or everyone’s going to get outplayed in the not so distant future.

Same.

I was disappointed early on but after seeing the low light capabilities and really clean (low noise) video I'm once again considering it. I think I fall into the small niche category of people this camera is perfect for.

Agree on all points.
Even at the 24ms readout of the other modes it's as good as the older LUMIX cameras and by no means a major issue for most work. I think RS on the S1H in open gate was at like 29ms. There are always tradeoffs and so far we are not at the point technologically speaking for 6k or 8k resolution for larger sensor readout speeds and that level of dynamic resolution. Nikons are really, really good but lack in DR and have noise. 
Like most people I am seeing that the S1Rii just shows us what the next Videocentric Lumix camera should be like if the Photocentric/Hybrid model is this good for video. 
If you stripped away all the extras and just looked at the basic specs, the S1Rii is a pretty solid upgrade. Yes it took too long and yes it could have been faster but we finally got 4k 60p in FF and people aren't happy. Amazing low light with really, really clean images with ultra fine film like noise/grain, 32 bit float, Anamorphic support, even better IBIS, high res stills. Internal Prores raw and can shoot to SSD. 
"BUT GERALD SAID THE ROLLING SHUTTER IS BAD" 
IT'S DOA."
 
 
 
 

People were pretty hysterical about the Lumix S9 when it was first announced. Now it's a relatively popular camera that people have decided is underrated. Even non-Lumix users bought and use it.
If you look beyond the influencer noise and listen to what professionals are saying, they're all praising the S1RII. I know it's easy for them to be drowned out by the dudebros who were flown overseas and then flooded YouTube with videos of them listing the specs excitedly interspersed with shitty JPEGS and slow motion clips they took, but they are out there and have good things to say.
Among other things, Manny says he doesn't have fun using his other cameras (he is a Sony and Canon shooter) but he actually has fun using the S1RII. He wants to put it through its paces more, but after using it on a shoot he has a lot of good things to say. 
Cam Mackey set up a shoot with it and showed how he worked with it in post. 
It sucks that so many people make videos ABOUT cameras, as opposed to making videos WITH the cameras and then giving their opinions on what using them is like.

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.

For Pannyboy it's a step in the right direction at least! I hate the game, but more Sony, Canon, and Nikon shooters saw Lumix related content that they normally wouldn't see. Whether that persuaded any of them into giving Lumix a shot or not is unknown, but it's a start and it shows that they realize they need to move beyond the bubble and try to attract users to their system. 
I get the frustration and criticisms, especially when they were leading the way in innovation for so long, but it's still a quality release that is pretty aggressively priced. As a user myself who is constantly looking at the big picture, especially when it comes to a systems longevity, I'm cautiously optimistic for the first time in a while.
For the better part of 15 years Lumix has done right by me. Most of those years were great, and totally changed the way my business was run and how I work. In recent years they've struggled; the delay between the GH5 and the GH6 was a frustrating period with subpar releases and mostly silence. They're taking steps to address that, though, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. 

In fact, I've just bought one Mark II unit upgraded to work with AF @120fps and my FX30 for a bargain... Less than 70 bucks! :- )

I've been trying to use Reddit more lately and explore different communities but wow... makes me really appreciate our group here. You can see the different age groups represented in various social media platforms and it sure is eye opening to hear from Millennials and Get Z as opposed to Facebook Groups. Instagram is useless now at this point. Youtube and Reddit really show how strange the industry and marketing have become. It is great that we have more transparency and technical knowledge as buyers. I feel for people in sales these days when the average consumer can come into a location, (If there even is a brick and mortar store anymore) and already know the specs and sale prices of everything. But the power of Youtube shills is pretty abhorrent and how quickly the younger generation is swayed by certain people for better or worse... I'm so tired of the clickbait thumbnails and "Why I'm Leaving X" videos. It's like walking unto a used car lot or a cheap department store. 

Thanks for this space Andrew. I came here to buy your "Anamorphic PDF" years ago and have been a fan ever since. This forum helped me Learn to adapt my Kowa and Elmoscoppe II, decide to get the GH4 and metabones speed booster combo and then the GX85 as a little B cam. I've sold at least 5 other people on those devices after they saw my footage and didn't believe it was m43. This shift in Panasonic and the industry in general has been sad, I agree. I miss the old days. I wish they would just listen to us and give us the camera everyone wants. Even if Sony is holding out on the better sensors I still feel like there is a way to come up with products that are better thought out. 
Honest reviews and opinions aren't rewarded in this world like they used to be so I know it's been a long and hard road. 

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). 

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.