IronFilm

Gentlemen,
I think we can all agree that at least the FF aesthetic exists and it is all shallow DOF. Youtube told me so!
 
 

I've already said that "magical" is my own summarization of how people seem to describe their imagined "medium format look" since requests for any sort of functional definition seem to result in things that are demonstrably false or claims that the look is ineffable.
So this special term which defies all definition, but is to be considered useful in discussion must be pure magic.

m43 or 43 is a cool format actually. ff camera bodies can be very small now, but the lenses are not so easy to scale down. m43 lenses are really cute. also, in the photo world, m43 especially Olympus cameras and lenses are used for birding or other wild life niches, which makes sense very much. 
43 lenses are not so smaller than the ff or apsc lenses, but their iqs are great, especially Olympus shg lenses, very very beautiful iq. 

Hell, I get excited about my camcorder (VX-980)- and that's even smaller than 1", AND it crops in on that too. The one thing it does that my GX800 and S5ii don't do is basically remove wrinkles on faces (without doing some beauty effect). For older people, they would much rather look at a "smoothed" effect. Although it gives a detailed image, it doesn't do it with such confidence as the GX800 and S5ii do. Also, if I hand my wife my S5ii, she's immediately overwhelmed (and I completely set it up for her). If I hand her the VS-980, she knows exactly what to do.

I know some of us have been harsh on the S9 regarding the recording limits, but it's important to remember that a 15 minute limit in 6k open-gate is still nothing to sneeze at. That would be the equivalent of a 1500 foot reel at 24fps, something unheard of even in the 1990s. Also, you'd need a minimum of 2-5 minutes to change the reel. Can a 15 minute recording limit get the job done? Yes. You'd probably be fine with 5 minutes or a 400 foot reel. By the way, the dynamic range, detail, and workflow would also be way better. We're spoiled.

I forgot to mention that, back in the day, the cost of 1500 feet of reel would be roughly the equivalent of the cost of one Panasonic S9, not including the development. Also, to get the camera to be quiet enough for dialogue, you'd need a blimp only adding to the complexity. None of that on the S9! Good times.

That's it, - I am buying 6 of them.
Actually, not seen any reviews yet and I need to do so before pushing this button...

I agree! It's quite frustrating. 
Why can't people just accept each format for what it is?? 
Heck, if we saw a BMPCC 2.0 released which has an even smaller sensor than the GH7, I would still be excited about that. 
And we shouldn't be hating upon it specifically for the S16 sized sensor. 
Sure, we might complain about the lack of modern day affordable S16 cine lenses! That we could use on the BMPCC 2.0
But that's a totally different question to complaining about the S16 sensor size itself. 

I agree! It's quite frustrating. 
Why can't people just accept each format for what it is?? 
Heck, if we saw a BMPCC 2.0 released which has an even smaller sensor than the GH7, I would still be excited about that. 
And we shouldn't be hating upon it specifically for the S16 sized sensor. 
Sure, we might complain about the lack of modern day affordable S16 cine lenses! That we could use on the BMPCC 2.0
But that's a totally different question to complaining about the S16 sensor size itself. 

I had one of those deals in France. It was just too good to pass up in November of 2022. When you wait and buy, you usually don't end up losing that much when you sell it back. However, what happens when you love the look of the camera?
With the GH7, it looks as though Panasonic has addressed EVERY problem there was with the GH6 with the exception of a chunky body, but many people like that too. The image is 98% of the image of the S5ii (with the right lens), but you have that screen which is so much better than the flip-out only screen on the S5ii- it's a major usability issue. Also, there's the high frame rates. I currently have the Olympus 17mm f/1.2, a prefect lens for that body... we'll see in November. I will probably dump the idea though if a M43 small camera comes along because I'm still a believer in keeping the format relatively small and that is not the GH7.

B&H had a remarkable deal on Open Box GH6 starting last spring and it lasted until late this winter. I bought one last spring for $1299 and it was brand new. B&H does that some times... I guess they're clearing out inventory. Stupid me, I returned it. I was going to buy it again if it dropped to $1099. Over the holidays it went down to $1199 but I didn't bite.
I really liked the CineLikeD and the monochrome profiles. VLOG was good, but I was trying to lean on the DR Boost which created some pretty harsh chroma noise in the shadows. At first, I hadn't noticed it until @BTM_Pixpointed it out to me and then I couldn't unsee it. I was so stoked about the DR Boost concept of the camera that I stupidly got annoyed with the cam as a whole. Now I am regretting it big time because although the GH7 is vastly better, I don't really want to pay the extra money for it. BTM also recommended the cheap Meike 25mm lens and it was a treat to use with that cam and I've always wanted to test out the Pan/Leica 15mm 1.7. If I can find a deal on a GH6, I may bite. Great camera otherwise! If not, I'll wait to see if the GH7 drops a little by the holidays.

I just had a look at my GH6 footage that I took before selling it and I must say it looked great! It has a super organic feel to it and loved the colors in just Standard profile. I also tried shooting in Vlog quite a bit, but Standard really did it for me. I took it to the French Alps last summer and it performed so well for photos and video. Sure, it didn't have PDAF, but when you learn to work around it, it's really no big deal. Honestly, I hope to have a similar opportunity with the GH7.

To add, in this instance, the GH7, a smaller sensor camera, has a few major advantages over any larger sensor camera in its price range... internal ProRes Raw and ProRes HQ, 32bit float audio, a LogC curve, probably the best IBIS, and the best tilting/articulating LCD mechanism that I have ever used.

Granted the title of the thread is "Panasonic GH7". However, invariably with any camera release that is not full frame, the discussion goes only to sensor size and how inferior the sensor is because it's not FF. It's quite ludicrous.
This might sound crazy, but usually have better discussion about aesthetics, creativity and productivity with ChatGPT. Sure, it can be predictable sometimes, but I seem to always learn something and it can point me in the right direction. When talking to humans, it would seem there are always games being played: Trolling, Sock Puppetry, Brigading, Flame Wars, Sealioning, Astroturfing, Gaslighting, Spamming, Doxxing, Dogpiling, Shitposting, and Griefing. With ChatGPT, you never have the feeling you might lose something and true discussion can actually happen. I know, it's a sad state of affairs, but that's life on the internet. Fortunately, there are people don't do any of those things.

So... the GH7... yeah... a pretty cool camera...

If you're shooting raw at anything less than the full resolution, then of course there will be a crop!
This will be true for any camera. Could be Panasonic, ARRI, RED, Nikon, Canon, whoever! It's a law of physics / maths / the universe. 
Want to shoot at a low resolution but with the full sensor? Then choose anything else but raw. 

@lsquareif you want a scratch mic with your DWM-XLR2 to get decent-ish ambient audio, then get the Deity SMic3S if on a very low budget, or the Sanken CSM1 if on a medium budget. 
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1830582-REG/deity_microphones_dtm0304d11_s_mic_3s_short_shotgun.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1404643-REG/sanken_cs_m1_super_cardioid_short.html 
Unless they're specifically doing 360VR videos, or maybe some other niche usage (I dunno, creating audio library with lots of different format options??) then usually ambisonics is not a good idea for ambient recordings. 

@lsquareif you want a scratch mic with your DWM-XLR2 to get decent-ish ambient audio, then get the Deity SMic3S if on a very low budget, or the Sanken CSM1 if on a medium budget. 
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1830582-REG/deity_microphones_dtm0304d11_s_mic_3s_short_shotgun.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1404643-REG/sanken_cs_m1_super_cardioid_short.html 
Unless they're specifically doing 360VR videos, or maybe some other niche usage (I dunno, creating audio library with lots of different format options??) then usually ambisonics is not a good idea for ambient recordings. 

Being serious, looking forward to Monday.
Rarely do I preorder a camera and half my gear I buy used, but based on considerable user experience and my needs…and on the assumption that it will suit my needs perfectly, I can’t see why it will not be that ‘no-brainer’ for my needs.
Second choice would be a used Z9 and although I prefer the battery grip built in approach, it is still considerably heavier than a Z6iii will be with battery grip and the spec of the Z9 is arguably a little more than I need.
My only ‘concern’ is a Lumix S1H replacement with Samyang 35-150 will almost certainly come out at some point and it makes more sense for me to have a fully L Mount set up, but there are no signs of the former…
And why a ‘S2H’?
Quite simply the best camera from a user experience I have ever owned, video AND stills.
But it’s not that big a deal me using L Mount for video and Nikon for stills and I’d rather do something this year than not as currently juggling 4 cameras is problematic…

At the risk of jumping in on a question that was basically made for @IronFilm, if your goal is to capture ambient sound as a 360 degree soundscape, you probably want an ambisonic microphone.  Look into something like the Zoom VRH-8 or the Rode NT-SF1.

it’s a trick to understand optics and basic math?
jesus fucking christ man
if any of you gave as much shit about making, or working on interesting art on here and sharing it instead of jacking off your lil dingdongs over new gear, resolutions, different starting point looks of shitty fucking sensors, or being mentally insane about 24 fps this place could actually have interesting discussions. 
 
I fucking hate gear. i fucking hate lenses, cameras, shitty lights, cables, rigs etc. Sadly its necessary to understand at least some of it, as it is a means to an end to create what i actually want to create. i suggest others to view it same way. Or learn color grading, like kye said. That has generated a bit of income for me from time to time.
 

No, this is ignoring everything I've said.  Obviously the same lens on different sensor sizes at the same FOV will look different.  That's not controversial.  The point is that the FOV and DOF of a 12mm f/1.4 lens on a M43 sensor will be nearly identical to that of a 24mm f/2.8 lens on a full frame sensor.  Will the specific characteristics of the lenses influence the overall look?  Sure.  If the 24mm f/2.8 is from the 1970's, it will certainly look a bit different from a 12mm lens made in 2018.  But that has nothing to do with the sensor size.
As I already said, I have done plenty of side-by-side tests over the years.  If you believe that a bigger sensor is really giving you a different look, that's fine.  I hope you enjoy it.  It's just not a position that is supported by any actual facts.

Nope.  You're flat-out wrong.
The only meaningful difference that has been presented is in the characteristics of different lenses which is real, but has nothing to do with medium format.  Pentax 645 lenses look different from Mamiya 645 lenses which, in turn, look different from Mamiya 7 lenses, etc.  They don't have a unified and monolithic look.  They won't have the same look when adapted to work with your digital camera, with or without any sort of focal reducer.
You could say "I like the look of Mamiya 645 lenses with a Kipon focal reducer on my full frame camera."  That's totally valid, but if you say "Now my camera has the medium format look," you sound ridiculous.  Your camera has the look of Mamiya 645 lenses, nothing more.  People won't magically feel like they can now "walk into the image" and it won't be any more 3d than anything else.  Using a bigger sensor, likewise, won't make the image more 3d.

Right, but that is proving my point.  There is no medium format look.  Maybe there are dozens of medium format looks depending on which lens set somebody chooses, but with a definition like "it means different things to different people," you might as well be saying "I prefer a cinematic look" or "I prefer something that looks more filmic."
And of course not all lenses have the same character, but my point is really just that by the definitions given, I have actual large format and medium format film cameras that don't achieve the "medium format look" (as described by people here) and I have smaller sensor cameras that have a real chance of getting there instead, depending on which lenses I put on or whether I mount them on the back of a LF field camera using a vintage lens.
And of course 8mm film and any modern-ish phone camera, not just the iPhone 4, will look substantially different.  This is, again, a place where there are a number of characteristics which are fairly common among 8mm cameras/film, including 18fps, gate weave, huge grain, and a response curve typical to the film being used - some of which could be simulated on the phone and some not so much.