aldolega

I'd be curious to see a GH4 vs. G85 shootout on moire/aliasing, and IQ in 1080p modes (because of the G85's much lower bitrate), especially for shots with lots of motion.
The reports of the EM1II being soft in every mode other than C4K has killed my interest in that camera.

I'd be curious to see a GH4 vs. G85 shootout on moire/aliasing, and IQ in 1080p modes (because of the G85's much lower bitrate), especially for shots with lots of motion.
The reports of the EM1II being soft in every mode other than C4K has killed my interest in that camera.

I think it all depends on what your desired end product is. If you want to deliver in 4K, at the maximum resolution a 4K file is possibly capable of, you will need an oversampled sensor to get there because of the resolution loss from debayering.
So at the minimum, an NX1 or A6300/6500... or more realistically, a FS7, C300II, Red, etc, when you consider how many compromises the NX1 or A6300/6500 have (rolling shutter, overheating, limited DR, slomo is FHD at best, etc).
So, still not "affordable" to most people looking to own the camera... even the vast majority of pro shooters, which are not yet (and may never be) at the point of realistically affording a $8-10K camera.
For all those shooters, and of course most enthusiasts and hobbyists, I think aiming to deliver a maxed-out 1080p file is more realistic, which is mostly achievable with the current affordable 4K cams. Even if my GH4 is only resolving maybe 3K because of debayering, that's still plenty to deliver maxed-out 1080p, even with a little bit of cropping or stabilizing. 

Port placement/interference and screen articulation type are two separate issues. Obviously the ports should be placed to not interfere with what the screen type is, this is even an issue on the GH4 for the headphone and HDMI ports. The 80D looks like it got it right, at least for mic and headphone as I recall.
Personally I greatly prefer the pivot style (GH's, G85, D5500, 80D etc) to the tilt-only (Sonys). Especially because I prefer a large rubber eyecup for my EVF, which makes the tilt style pretty much useless from above.
I think the choice of port location probably has to do with the internal PCB design, and not wanting to add the expense/complexity of moving the ports off the PCB. Doing so probably makes assembly more difficult, and introduces reliability and interference issues to deal with... not that that's a good enough excuse. I'd love to see the mic input on the right side of the "prism" hump, then you could have a super short cord up to the mic.

I find the GH4 1080p to be very good, great even. It's certainly not immaculate- I do occasionally get fine moire- and downscaling the 4K is definitely cleaner and higher-res, so I use that for regular-speed stuff. But I shoot a lot at >30p, probably half of my shots or more, so I use 1080p a lot. The 100mbps is definitely better than the 200mbps, except for extreme motion (deep DOF, subject and camera both moving rapidly), which again is a lot of what I shoot, so I end up using 200mbps quite a bit. But for moderate/normal amounts of motion, the 100mbps is cleaner and higher-res.
I agree about the 1080p bitrates being disappointing on the lower-end cams. I want to upgrade/sidegrade my GH4 to a G85, for the better ISO performance and the IBIS, but 28mbps at 1080 is not enough for what I do. So I'm considering adding an external 5" recorder, either a Video Assist or hopefully a Pix-E5. Not entirely sure I want to dick around with HDMI and more batteries, though. The VA is affordable to me, but would only do 1080, which is all I would really need I guess. While the Pix-E5 would be a perfect match framerate/res-wise, but is pretty pricey, and would probably be a bit redundant once I go GH5 next year.

I find the GH4 1080p to be very good, great even. It's certainly not immaculate- I do occasionally get fine moire- and downscaling the 4K is definitely cleaner and higher-res, so I use that for regular-speed stuff. But I shoot a lot at >30p, probably half of my shots or more, so I use 1080p a lot. The 100mbps is definitely better than the 200mbps, except for extreme motion (deep DOF, subject and camera both moving rapidly), which again is a lot of what I shoot, so I end up using 200mbps quite a bit. But for moderate/normal amounts of motion, the 100mbps is cleaner and higher-res.
I agree about the 1080p bitrates being disappointing on the lower-end cams. I want to upgrade/sidegrade my GH4 to a G85, for the better ISO performance and the IBIS, but 28mbps at 1080 is not enough for what I do. So I'm considering adding an external 5" recorder, either a Video Assist or hopefully a Pix-E5. Not entirely sure I want to dick around with HDMI and more batteries, though. The VA is affordable to me, but would only do 1080, which is all I would really need I guess. While the Pix-E5 would be a perfect match framerate/res-wise, but is pretty pricey, and would probably be a bit redundant once I go GH5 next year.

I find the GH4 1080p to be very good, great even. It's certainly not immaculate- I do occasionally get fine moire- and downscaling the 4K is definitely cleaner and higher-res, so I use that for regular-speed stuff. But I shoot a lot at >30p, probably half of my shots or more, so I use 1080p a lot. The 100mbps is definitely better than the 200mbps, except for extreme motion (deep DOF, subject and camera both moving rapidly), which again is a lot of what I shoot, so I end up using 200mbps quite a bit. But for moderate/normal amounts of motion, the 100mbps is cleaner and higher-res.
I agree about the 1080p bitrates being disappointing on the lower-end cams. I want to upgrade/sidegrade my GH4 to a G85, for the better ISO performance and the IBIS, but 28mbps at 1080 is not enough for what I do. So I'm considering adding an external 5" recorder, either a Video Assist or hopefully a Pix-E5. Not entirely sure I want to dick around with HDMI and more batteries, though. The VA is affordable to me, but would only do 1080, which is all I would really need I guess. While the Pix-E5 would be a perfect match framerate/res-wise, but is pretty pricey, and would probably be a bit redundant once I go GH5 next year.

I find the GH4 1080p to be very good, great even. It's certainly not immaculate- I do occasionally get fine moire- and downscaling the 4K is definitely cleaner and higher-res, so I use that for regular-speed stuff. But I shoot a lot at >30p, probably half of my shots or more, so I use 1080p a lot. The 100mbps is definitely better than the 200mbps, except for extreme motion (deep DOF, subject and camera both moving rapidly), which again is a lot of what I shoot, so I end up using 200mbps quite a bit. But for moderate/normal amounts of motion, the 100mbps is cleaner and higher-res.
I agree about the 1080p bitrates being disappointing on the lower-end cams. I want to upgrade/sidegrade my GH4 to a G85, for the better ISO performance and the IBIS, but 28mbps at 1080 is not enough for what I do. So I'm considering adding an external 5" recorder, either a Video Assist or hopefully a Pix-E5. Not entirely sure I want to dick around with HDMI and more batteries, though. The VA is affordable to me, but would only do 1080, which is all I would really need I guess. While the Pix-E5 would be a perfect match framerate/res-wise, but is pretty pricey, and would probably be a bit redundant once I go GH5 next year.

I agree about the waiting game. If they fix the IBIS in the G85 I'll probably be perfectly happy shooting with that, with an external recorder, through the end of the summer. And who knows what Sony will do.
If the rumors of the GH5 price being around $3K are true, I think that will put a bit of a dampener on the excitement for it. I think it needs to be no more than $2500. $2000 would be pretty killer. And at any of these prices, IBIS is a must.
If Sony does an 8-bit 4K60 A7III, at say $2000, or the A7S/RIII is 8-bit 4K60 at the same price as the current R and S, or goes 10-bit at say $4K, the GH5 may not be as much of a coup as it would have been all by itseld in Q1.

I agree about the waiting game. If they fix the IBIS in the G85 I'll probably be perfectly happy shooting with that, with an external recorder, through the end of the summer. And who knows what Sony will do.
If the rumors of the GH5 price being around $3K are true, I think that will put a bit of a dampener on the excitement for it. I think it needs to be no more than $2500. $2000 would be pretty killer. And at any of these prices, IBIS is a must.
If Sony does an 8-bit 4K60 A7III, at say $2000, or the A7S/RIII is 8-bit 4K60 at the same price as the current R and S, or goes 10-bit at say $4K, the GH5 may not be as much of a coup as it would have been all by itseld in Q1.

I agree about the waiting game. If they fix the IBIS in the G85 I'll probably be perfectly happy shooting with that, with an external recorder, through the end of the summer. And who knows what Sony will do.
If the rumors of the GH5 price being around $3K are true, I think that will put a bit of a dampener on the excitement for it. I think it needs to be no more than $2500. $2000 would be pretty killer. And at any of these prices, IBIS is a must.
If Sony does an 8-bit 4K60 A7III, at say $2000, or the A7S/RIII is 8-bit 4K60 at the same price as the current R and S, or goes 10-bit at say $4K, the GH5 may not be as much of a coup as it would have been all by itseld in Q1.

Of course they're not native 4K, not even phone screens are 4K in that size yet. Personally I think 1080p is plenty for 4", especially with a loupe, as long as it can accept a 4K signal. Are there even any 4K on-camera monitors in any size yet?
It would seem Neway is Ikan's manufacturer. On Personal-View you can get the 5" for $289 and Vitaliy just put up a 5.5" version, with an ugly rubber bumper cover ala the newer Shoguns, for about $400, that has waveform, vector scope, false color etc. 
I'm actually surprised none of the Chinese brands have come out with an affordable 5" loupe, for the Video Assist, PIX-E5, and these cheaper 5-inchers. I did just express this on P-V and Vitally said they're working on it, though.

I had a tripod tip over several years ago and my original VideoMic took the brunt of the impact. I emailed Rode to see how much the replacement parts would be, and how to order, and they sent out what I needed, for free, and it got to me in two days!
I was very happy, but figured I just caught a CSR in an unusually good mood. Then I broke a foot on one of my VMP's a couple years ago, and they had the same exact response!
Really great service, and I've yet to find a 3.5mm on-cam mic that comes close to the VMP. Whenever I get around to going wireless, the RodeLink is at the top of my list.

The GH4 can record internally while outputting over HDMI, but only in 8bit mode, not 10bit.

Seems extremely unlikely to me when the GH5 is due out in two months. Why would they want their $700 camera to be more competitive with their probably-$1800-2000 flagship?

Assuming it's shaky-cam style like the first, I can't think of many cameras worse than the A7s/A7sII. Jello city!

Assuming it's shaky-cam style like the first, I can't think of many cameras worse than the A7s/A7sII. Jello city!

Another thing to consider is how you'll be lighting and shooting- would you be better off getting two or three cheaper cams, lighting/blocking differently, and shooting multi-cam? There's a member here named Andy Lee who's shooting a feature with a fleet of Panasonic G6s, each rigged with Nikon glass. Usually using 2-3 cams per scene. There's a thread here somewhere with some BTS pics to illustrate what I'm talking about.

I would start with finding a cage that fits the camera well. Then you have a solid base to add your other stuff- rail mounting, a top handle, EVF or monitor mount, shoulder pad and handles, etc. Ideally you can find or rig something that lets you bolt your speedbooster's tripod foot down, to eliminate flex/play. If you do that and have a good lens support on the rails, out at the front of your lens, you shouldn't have any flex or misalignment in your optics when moving the camera or pulling focus.
Smallrig stuff is great, well made and affordable, with a wide variety of stuff (that unfortunately you have to wade through on their site to find exactly what you need).
Gini stuff is great too, real Gini stuff that is, there was some confusion a few years ago with one of their distributors going off on their own and putting the Gini name on cheap Indian crap. Make sure you're getting actual Gini stuff, made in Korea.
The Fotga DP500IIS or the newer DP500III are both good affordable follow focuses.

I would start with finding a cage that fits the camera well. Then you have a solid base to add your other stuff- rail mounting, a top handle, EVF or monitor mount, shoulder pad and handles, etc. Ideally you can find or rig something that lets you bolt your speedbooster's tripod foot down, to eliminate flex/play. If you do that and have a good lens support on the rails, out at the front of your lens, you shouldn't have any flex or misalignment in your optics when moving the camera or pulling focus.
Smallrig stuff is great, well made and affordable, with a wide variety of stuff (that unfortunately you have to wade through on their site to find exactly what you need).
Gini stuff is great too, real Gini stuff that is, there was some confusion a few years ago with one of their distributors going off on their own and putting the Gini name on cheap Indian crap. Make sure you're getting actual Gini stuff, made in Korea.
The Fotga DP500IIS or the newer DP500III are both good affordable follow focuses.

Taking the rear shroud (which is what interferes with the speedbooster) off of the Canon 17-55mm f2.8 is pretty simple and easy. And 17-55 is a much more usable range for general work than 24-70, 24, or even 10-18 (although the 10-18 would be a perfect partner to it).
I would definitely stick with the Pocket-specific (.58X power) booster though. The Blackmagics have a thinner filter stack over the sensor than regular m4/3 photo cams, and the BMPCC and BMCC boosters are engineered to accommodate for this, while the regular m4/3 boosters are not.

The C300 is 6lbs with everything- side grip, top handle, screen, cards, battery. The UM4.6K is 5lbs before adding a viewfinder, top handle, big ol' V-lock battery (and mounting plate!), or cards.
The C300 takes regular CF cards- much cheaper than CFast- and at 50mbps, versus even whatever the lightest ProRes the Mini will do (~200mbps?), they'll go a lot farther.
This isn't even getting into low-light, battery run-time, or reliability issues, where the Canons will easily trump the BlackMagic.
"Just turning an ND filter" sounds great until you need no ND at all, and can't stop your shot because you're filming something that won't wait for you.

The C300 is 6lbs with everything- side grip, top handle, screen, cards, battery. The UM4.6K is 5lbs before adding a viewfinder, top handle, big ol' V-lock battery (and mounting plate!), or cards.
The C300 takes regular CF cards- much cheaper than CFast- and at 50mbps, versus even whatever the lightest ProRes the Mini will do (~200mbps?), they'll go a lot farther.
This isn't even getting into low-light, battery run-time, or reliability issues, where the Canons will easily trump the BlackMagic.
"Just turning an ND filter" sounds great until you need no ND at all, and can't stop your shot because you're filming something that won't wait for you.

That would be the absolute worst camera in this price range for the stated needs... no NDs, super high media and power costs, heavy, and he wouldn't even be able to get it up and running for less than $6K anyways.
It sounds like the C100II would be the best option, maybe with a recorder for slower shoots. C300 doesn't seem at all worth it with the C100II still being cheaper.
FS5 being a close second, or even first pick, depending on how important super slo-mo and 4K is to you. Or how useful the variable ND would be on your docs (I imagine in bright sunny Mexico, seamlessly moving from inside to outside without skipping a beat or going super-deep-DOF, would be pretty useful).

I plug/unplug the MicroUSB on my smartphone probably eight times a day, have been for years, and I've never had it fail. Sony's jack is probably just cheap and/or poorly designed.