Marcio Kabke Pinheiro

Talking about the X-S20 itself - since I was a CDAF m43 user before (my first 2 PDAF cameras were the X-T20 and the X-S10), I could be easily impressed, but I'm liking a lot the camera. Must confess, more than I expected.

Was in a music festival this weekend. First test (and one of the reasons that compactness and discreetion are top priorities for me): festival stated that "professional cameras" are forbidden. Attached the 55-200mm on the camera, facing down the ThinkTank bag, only the back of the camera visible. Security saw the size of the camera, did not even bother to ask to take a look. 🙂

Shooting music festivals is a scenario that I'm used to - but, again, using m43 cameras. Always got good results, once even was published on the official Franz Ferdinand instagram channel. Face detection with m43 usually could not detect the face from distance, but single point usually worked, and with low light and bad stage lighting I usually switch to manual focus, focus on the mic stand, put the focus a touch farther and get good sharp photos.

The X-S20 not only got the faces all the time, but 90% of the time, find the eye of the subject, at 200mm, even with the singer occupying half the frame. With daylight and stage lighting. Never had so many keepers in a concert. And one of the singers and the festival channel already published some of the photos. 🙂

It is another league from the X-S10.

Made two videos, but since I recorded in 6.2k 10bit 4:2:2, will need to work with proxies, and I'm still a beginner in Resolve, will need some spare time. Tested with the internal mics in Auto level, could see that the bass is distorted, was a experiment to see the levels needed, but apart from that the sound was good for internal mics (much better than all my GXs and the FZ1000). AF again was getting the eyes 100% of the time, will see the precision at the footage.

Still have to test it more, but my doubts about having to go to Sony to get good AF were killed. From the tests that I saw with screen recorders with the A7CII, A6700 and some other cameras, I see minimal differences. For me, ths one looks like a keeper.

Lol, kinda is. But the camera was hot to touch only under full sun continuously; in shade, or in the music festival that I was, it got barely warm. For me use (20 min clips maximum), did not need a fan at all - bought it just for the low price and as a preventive measure.

But again - if the back of the camera was metal, probably it would never overheats. Guess that Fuji was worried about someone melting the LCD, but it was just a case to show a message to open the LCD screen when the temperature get above some level.

Call me impressed, the little thing works.

Could not reproduce exactly the same conditions - the sun moved and I had to transfer the camera to the window around the 20 mins mark, hence it had a little bit of more air. But was under the sun, became very hot as before.

The Ulanzi fan was used on full speed. If the footage is long, good idea to use it plugged on a power bank / USB charger, with 25 mins the internal battery was around 50% (then I plugged it in). 

The yellow warning appeared on the 25 min mark, and the red around 33. And the camera never shutdown until the 128gb card is full, on the 46 minute mark.

The integrated temperature meter was kinda useless - yellow on the 39oc, red on the 42oC. 

Another bad thing - even with the back film applied, the suction cups do not work very well; pressed the fan a bit to stick from time to time. Needs some "baby caring" in a tripod, and for run and gun it will fall for sure. In the Fujifilms, I would mod it to use the srews that the camera have.

To summarize, it works for tripod use, even a bit better than I expected. But have some caveats.

Call me impressed, the little thing works.

Could not reproduce exactly the same conditions - the sun moved and I had to transfer the camera to the window around the 20 mins mark, hence it had a little bit of more air. But was under the sun, became very hot as before.

The Ulanzi fan was used on full speed. If the footage is long, good idea to use it plugged on a power bank / USB charger, with 25 mins the internal battery was around 50% (then I plugged it in). 

The yellow warning appeared on the 25 min mark, and the red around 33. And the camera never shutdown until the 128gb card is full, on the 46 minute mark.

The integrated temperature meter was kinda useless - yellow on the 39oc, red on the 42oC. 

Another bad thing - even with the back film applied, the suction cups do not work very well; pressed the fan a bit to stick from time to time. Needs some "baby caring" in a tripod, and for run and gun it will fall for sure. In the Fujifilms, I would mod it to use the srews that the camera have.

To summarize, it works for tripod use, even a bit better than I expected. But have some caveats.

Have one here, still did not tested it - I think that today I will.
 

Just tested it on my X-S20.
 
 

Panasonic announcing PDAF in a firmware update for the GH6 next month like this.

About size: if I work with still / video, the G9II will not be a problem at all. But as an amateur, using on the streets or travelling - yep, attracts attention.

And about form factor (and since it would need a completely new retooling): big attracts attention, too small is bad to hold. Ideal: big grip with small body. Since small cameras with larger grips always get complaints about "pinky" finger without support, and since I agree that thickness of the camera does not attract attention and almost nobody complains about it...why not make the Sigma Quattro H style the other way around?


Make the grip tall, and the body smaller. The battery could be slimmer and taller, making room for components  / IBIS / EVF on the body. The camera part that is "seen" on hand would be small.

One problem: would not stand up by itself on a table. Just make a sliding "feet" on the opposing side of the grip - it even could be double duty as a port cover.

About size: if I work with still / video, the G9II will not be a problem at all. But as an amateur, using on the streets or travelling - yep, attracts attention.

And about form factor (and since it would need a completely new retooling): big attracts attention, too small is bad to hold. Ideal: big grip with small body. Since small cameras with larger grips always get complaints about "pinky" finger without support, and since I agree that thickness of the camera does not attract attention and almost nobody complains about it...why not make the Sigma Quattro H style the other way around?


Make the grip tall, and the body smaller. The battery could be slimmer and taller, making room for components  / IBIS / EVF on the body. The camera part that is "seen" on hand would be small.

One problem: would not stand up by itself on a table. Just make a sliding "feet" on the opposing side of the grip - it even could be double duty as a port cover.

Yep - but not so much when it is a "rangefinder"-esque camera. That's why I prefer it, not because of nostalgia.

But...no new GXs, no Oly Pen-F II (the E-M5s / E-M10s do not attract too much too), Fuji dumbed down the X-E4 and probably will never put a IBIS on it, the X-Pros are beautiful but kinda big, the Nikon Z30 lack an EVF and IBIS...it is a shame that only Sony makes rangefinder cameras with EVF, IBIS, good af and good video.

I really hope that you're wrong, but your points make sense and it might simply be how the economics play out.
I'd hope that even if they released an updated GX camera, they could retain the same body/battery/EVF/etc, but offer improved bitrates / frame-rates / profiles.  A GX95 that took advantage of most/all of the modes on the new sensors would be wonderful.
In terms of the idea that smartphones killed cameras of this size, it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how things work, but one that the industry seems to make time and again....  the idea that serious people want a large camera and people who want a small camera don't want quality.
I shoot with the GX85 and iPhone 12 Mini, and I can assure you, the difference in image quality is night and day.  What do I mean by night and day?  I mean, the image quality of the GX85 shooting at night is better than the iPhone shooting during the day!

Maybe the BURANUS?

"Where the black magic happens" 😄

Maybe the BURANUS?

"Where the black magic happens" 😄

Maybe the BURANUS?

"Where the black magic happens" 😄

And about size: my last mft camera (and the best, loved it) and my current APS-C camera.

The one on the right have 6.2k open gate 10-bit 4:2:2, in H265 or All-I. 4k60 with a 1.1x crop. 1080p120 fps (did not count the 240fps option because is crap), a huge battery, and PDAF (in fact, the AF works much better than I expected, after the last firmware update).

Lenses? Yep, the Fuji branded ones are bigger, but not so much. And a Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 is the same size of the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8, even being made for a larger sensor - yep, don't have OIS, but IBIS takes good care of it, and is even much cheaper. The Nocticrons are small, too.
 
MFT should be the perfect EDC / travel cameras. Newer lenses should take the Sigma zoom route - ditch the OIS and make a 12-35 f/1.8, or a smaller 2.8. Compact f/3.5 zooms. Pancake primes. Make them cool - just look the X100v lesson.

But they gone in the opposite direction. 

I often wondered what would come first, Panasonic putting PDAF in an MFT camera or aliens being discovered.
Based on whats going on in Mexico today it looks like Panasonic just about won that contest.
Maybe the aliens had them under an NDA.

I’ll preface this by saying that that is some spec and it will likely be a very decent camera.
However….
A smaller sensor inside a smaller body with smaller lenses at a smaller price was the whole raison d’etre of the Micro Four Thirds system.
The clue was right there in the name.
Panasonic seems to have looked what BMW has done since it acquired the Mini and thought “yeah, that’s the path for us too”.
In a world where their own full frame S5ii exists, let alone the compact APS-C feature laden cameras from all the other manufacturers, I don’t get where they are coming from with their latter day MFT releases and, in my opinion, they have completely lost their way with the system, particularly in terms of attracting new adopters.
Even for the old guard, you’d have to be pretty attached to that native lens collection to go in again.
Panasonic seem to have a borderline kinky reluctance to refresh the two cameras that would actually cause a resurgence in the ideology of the system as well as sales.
Namely, the GX80 and the LX100.
Putting a mic jack on them and giving them 10 bit 4:2:2 internal and VLOG would be a piece of piss for Panasonic and they could sell them all day long at their equivalent launch prices.
They might have to push the boat out and put IBIS in the LX but I don’t even think that is a deal breaker.
I’m at loss to where they are getting their market research from that’s telling them there is. Bigger demand for small sensor cameras in large sensor bodies at large sensor prices.
 

That would be super-cool....
but I'd prefer a PDAF GX95 🙂 

My Ulanzi fan just arrived. Must admit, is a cute little thing - all metal, bright little display, and the flow generated is more than I expected.

And the two questions I have about it were solved:
- The suction cups will really stick to the back of the cameras? It came with two adhesive stick that you put on the back of the camera, and the suction cups will adhere to that.
- How it measure the camera temperatue? There is a sensor in the bacl (looks like a infrared one) to mesure the surface temperature.

Will try to do some teste when I have some spare time.

My Ulanzi fan just arrived. Must admit, is a cute little thing - all metal, bright little display, and the flow generated is more than I expected.

And the two questions I have about it were solved:
- The suction cups will really stick to the back of the cameras? It came with two adhesive stick that you put on the back of the camera, and the suction cups will adhere to that.
- How it measure the camera temperatue? There is a sensor in the bacl (looks like a infrared one) to mesure the surface temperature.

Will try to do some teste when I have some spare time.

My Ulanzi fan just arrived. Must admit, is a cute little thing - all metal, bright little display, and the flow generated is more than I expected.

And the two questions I have about it were solved:
- The suction cups will really stick to the back of the cameras? It came with two adhesive stick that you put on the back of the camera, and the suction cups will adhere to that.
- How it measure the camera temperatue? There is a sensor in the bacl (looks like a infrared one) to mesure the surface temperature.

Will try to do some teste when I have some spare time.

My Ulanzi fan just arrived. Must admit, is a cute little thing - all metal, bright little display, and the flow generated is more than I expected.

And the two questions I have about it were solved:
- The suction cups will really stick to the back of the cameras? It came with two adhesive stick that you put on the back of the camera, and the suction cups will adhere to that.
- How it measure the camera temperatue? There is a sensor in the bacl (looks like a infrared one) to mesure the surface temperature.

Will try to do some teste when I have some spare time.

My Ulanzi fan just arrived. Must admit, is a cute little thing - all metal, bright little display, and the flow generated is more than I expected.

And the two questions I have about it were solved:
- The suction cups will really stick to the back of the cameras? It came with two adhesive stick that you put on the back of the camera, and the suction cups will adhere to that.
- How it measure the camera temperatue? There is a sensor in the bacl (looks like a infrared one) to mesure the surface temperature.

Will try to do some teste when I have some spare time.

There is an app called "Sensor Logger" for iOS that works well for me.