j_one

I've been waiting on Nikon to stop being the sleeping giant I've believed it to be in the video department since the D750 release, and from the IQ I'm seeing from N-RAW we might just have a contender for best video image out of a mirrorless hybrid body. I hope this isn't hype, so I'm waiting for more videos to surface. Color fidelity is outstanding. Image is detailed (cinema body league rendering) without looking mirrorless "sharp". DR isn't lacking. Highlights look serviceable..
 

The first thing OP mentioned was quality above all else. The other crucial information needed would the type of production setting/workflow the camera will be used in. OP also mentioned being prepared to manual focus, so this has me believe the shoots are more methodical and can allow for lighting around camera EI between takes, extensive grading, etc. For that, yes, get the Blackmagic 6k or Zcam offerings. Absolutely. These models are made for controlled sets and crew support.
But if that assumption is wrong, and you need anything that is even remotely related to the nature of snapshot shooting, you'd be better off with a sub ~$4k mirrorless system that offers usability perks (AF, IBIS, dual gain/ISO performance, battery life, form factor, and so on).

I've been experimenting with the Sigma FP as a quasi mini replacement for an 1st generation URSA Mini 4.6K shooting DNG.  My URSA has been declining in health with buttons not responding and the screen failing after 6 years. 
With the URSA Mini 4.6K I have an ingrained workflow with it's Gen 3 color science and the BMD Color Space and BMD Gamma.  The primary colors are accurate or at least what I've come to rely on.
Then with Sigma FP I transform the DNGs via the CST tool in Resolve from 'P3 D60' and 'Linear' to 'RedWideGamutRGB' and 'RED Log3G10' then transforming to REC709.  This gives me the feel of the Lift - Gamma - Gain tools that I like to use to render the color, contrast and saturation. 
Just in a few available light table top tests I was surprised at how well both files matched in color rendition.  I had seen some tests where the reds had shifted too orange on the Sigma FP (especially recording in BRAW and ProRes RAW) with identical ISO, white balance settings.  They do shift in my example but neither is perfect out of the box.
I attached two log like files below.
 

Sigma FP ISO 800 WB 5194 TINT 13.79

URSA Mini 4.6K ISO 800 WB 5194 TINT 13.79

A solid indie budget A-cam and a viable b-cam to other workhorse cameras. The improvements to the image alone get it in the territory of being taken seriously, especially the DR and color improvements. That's what folks have to pay attention to.
I believe the veydra/meike lenses were absolutely made for this camera and its design/function ethos. No other mount has cinema glass that small.
For the fluid small body run-n-gun style of shooting that benefits from phase detect af, pick up the OM-1 or earlier Olympus releases instead.

Also ProRes on GH6 seems to be much less image processing heavy so more organic image. No RAW tho.
Overall a great looking camera, the main "issue" I have with it is price.. M43 was initially affordable (GH2 retailed at $900!). 
Obviously the features are night & day.. but this general camera trend of each new model costing more is kind of annoying.

A solid indie budget A-cam and a viable b-cam to other workhorse cameras. The improvements to the image alone get it in the territory of being taken seriously, especially the DR and color improvements. That's what folks have to pay attention to.
I believe the veydra/meike lenses were absolutely made for this camera and its design/function ethos. No other mount has cinema glass that small.
For the fluid small body run-n-gun style of shooting that benefits from phase detect af, pick up the OM-1 or earlier Olympus releases instead.

Not just those considerations - also actors who can stay on their mark, who can repeat the scene multiple times without screwing up. I forget the film and the director, but I heard a tale about Bette Davis where the director told her 'we're going to track up the stairs and along the corridor in a continuous shot, then enter the room and dolly to a close up on your face, where a tear is just starting to form.' 'Which eye do you want the tear in?' asked Davis.

Long time since I have been on here but have kept up with what was happening here. I have seen the energy drain from you Andrew for quite awhile. A lot of people have left also on here that were old timers. This video shit is just so damn taxing, time consuming, and still pretty damn expensive with all the new stuff that in reality Are a good improvement over stuff just a few years ago. Yeah photography is probably the way to go if you don't get hung up on having f2.0 800mm lenses lol. It is what I have been doing more and more as of late. 
I am an older turd now than I ever was, going on 75. And I can tell you change or die, and I mean die on the inside. You have lost the fire but you are young enough and smart enough to figure out something that will re ignite your fire. Work for someone else for awhile, take the pressure off yourself, at least for now. Even in normal times this is hard, but now with this damn Pandemic it is just crazy hard. Good luck Andrew, hope what you want really matures sooner than later. Thanks for this site. Not many like it.

I'm not surprised that BM hasn't made in-roads to the "full production" side of film-making.
There is a lot of hyperbole and irrationality when it comes to cameras and the economics of them.  Most importantly, to this conversation anyway, are:
Once you have enough cast/crew that you have to schedule your shooting days then you're probably paying enough (even just in logistics) that the hire of a high-end camera isn't that much of your budget so you can afford whatever camera you want I agree with @barefoot_dp comments about getting hired - if you're doing this to make money then start with that as the goal and work backwards, which looks like the FS7 or FS5ii are much safer bets BM makes cameras with great specs for considerably cheaper than the existing incumbents in the market, but this only really matters to people outside the above two situations, such as:
Amateur film-makers who are shooting micro budget films with people donating their time, so need to own a camera because they can't afford to book camera rentals and then have cast/crew cancel on them last minute when it's too late to get a refund on equipment hire People self-funding documentary work where the phone could ring and they need to get in a car and go in order to capture the action as it happens Film students or people who are producing their own projects and who will use their camera enough for it to pay for itself over a few projects Hobbyists who shoot at a moments notice or shoot a little each day for many days I'm a hobbyist, so I care absolutely about what things cost and all the technical and image quality aspects of a camera, but in a business it should be viewed in a completely different way.

The broader point is what it does to the duopoly of Canon and Nikon in that field and what implication losing that stranglehold may have on their future camera developments, particularly Nikon.
Having to try harder would be one implication.

Yes OK.

I think @IronFilm is right for narrative indie filmmakers. I can't speak for wedding/corporate/doc people, who may need more mobility, AF, and less rigging. I think even music videos tend to require more mobility than narrative.
In my experience, even the worst Blackmagic camera, the 2.5k EF mount, was preferable over the Panasonic and Sony mirrorless that I also used back in ~2015. The only thing comparable was 5d3 raw, which was unreliable and an even bigger PITA to use (and also more expensive, incidentally).
That said, obviously photo/video hybrids are a different class which does exclude things like the Pocket, or GoPros, etc, so it's a useful categorization.

To return to the original question in the post...
Ultimately, of course, everything is about money and with the WTO saying today that we are likely looking at 1930s Great Depression era levels of financial crisis when we emerge from this then its not looking great.
In such a time, you would think that realtive frivolity such as films, music, books etc would be the first to go but there has been a huge recognition during these lockdowns how much more difficult people would have found it to cope if they hadn't had those things to distract them so their importance has actually been amplified.
Whilst that importance means they will go on, they can't exist in a financial vacuum so budgets will inevitably be tighter as a potentially bigger appetite for content will have to be served from a much reduced overall sum.
As we are looking to financial times from the past then we might see TV processes from the past returning too such as when the BBC for example used to do a lot of live productions of drama etc.
There is some interesting stuff going on in much lower cost emulation of the virtual production techniques showcased in The Mandalorian and that will become very important in cutting costs. 
As with everything, change will bring new opportunities.
One of which might well be shooting background plates/modelling environments for productions using these virtual techniques to save on location shooting.

The S1 to the GH4 is too big of a jump IMO. Panasonic has tweaked their color science substantially since 2014 and pairing the two would be more of a headache than it's worth. The G85 will get you much closer, but really I would try to spring for a GH5. The 10 bit will be a huge help for you. If that's too much, then consider a used original Blackmagic Pocket. HD only, but it's great HD.
Remember, when matching cameras you often have to match the best image to the inferior one. Don't cripple your S1 - get something that can almost replicate it. Just my $0.02.

Technical Half-Life: Alyx is not HL3. 

Goal is to buy nothing but lights this year. I have a great image maker already, and access to other cameras. I really just need to up my lighting skills and kit. I'll see if I can stick to it.

DON'T COMPARE LENSES WITH DIFFERENT MAXIMUM APERTURES ON THEIR "WIDE OPEN" RESOLUTION!!!!   You wouldn't compare a 50mm F0.95 at F0.95 with a 50mm F3.5 at F3.5 would you?  The f3.5 lens would kill the faster one, but that's just ridiculous.
Lenses sharpen up when you stop them down, and the Voigtlanders sharpen up very well when stopped down.
Lenstip is the only site that has measured both in a way we can compare, and you'll note that the Voigt is behind the Leica on sharpness but not too much when you actually compare them at the same apertures - here's the Voigt:

and the Leica:

The Leica is sharper, but it depends on what you're looking for in a lens.  For example, here is a comparison between the Voigtlander 42.5mm f0.95 at F1.4 (RHS curves) and the Samyang Xeen 50mm T1.5 (LHS curves).  


The Xeen resolution is abysmal, yet it's on B&H for USD$1795 and those who shoot with it found it fine, and it didn't seem to really be that bad in tests...
The Xeen at T1.5:

and at T4:

It sharpens up sure, but you're hardly looking at the first image and crying about how it's so terrible and unusable.
We have to stop thinking like internet stills photographers who seem to only talk about sharpness, and start to learn from practicing cinematographers who love the softness of vintage primes and older lenses.
@midloch I'd say go for the 10.5mm because you've said you like the less clinical look of your 17.5mm, and the 10.5mm lens should be the same.  Also, 10.5mm is slightly wider.
I have the Voigt 17.5mm and 42.5mm lenses and went with the 7.5mm Laowa F2 lens because I wanted the extra width, but otherwise would have gone with the 10.5mm  

I got the 4/3 panaleica 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 OIS with adapter on my bmpcc, for $300. Not quite LX100 spec but the lens peaked my interest, I was curious when I heard about the "leica rendering" and great IQ for a zoom. No speed booster glass in the way, super sharp, and OIS for my pocket via 4/3 adapter electronics, at least no more micro jitters
 
Cons: it's big and heavy for m43 system, autofocus is useless, and the OIS is pretty dated in performance especially for video use. Otherwise...yeah. leica rendering indeed. Just good glass.
 
Cheers

Downvoted for this comment?
Tough crowd.

To answer your question I'm shooting internal profiles at the moment. Have not dabbled in external recorders. It's a pretty robust internal codec and I love the colors. Handling and AF has been fantastic for me. The expense of XQD cards and lack of native lenses are the biggest issues right now I think.

But I really don't care because the color is spot on with what I want it to be. Shot with Wolfcrow's settings. 
120 fps 1080p Edited


4K 30 fps Straight out of Camera

No idea what's the **best** but I really like the A7s image. It's my belief that many who look for the elusive *cinematic* image are really looking for dynamic range and potentially, nice rolled off highlights. Stabilisation would be an A7sii. There are many things not to like about these cameras but the image and just as importantly the sound quality is fantastic.

I know several people who have a Red, they don't make anywhere near the money back from them, and didn't expect too. Bought them to "make their film better" And the few films independent made that have been shot on a Red have all had terrible scripts. So what I'm saying is maybe sacrifice a little less camera for a LOT more script. A lot of cameras are good enough to make a very good looking feature film nowadays, including any camera made by Blackmagic, and even down to cameras such as Panasonic GH. 

The camera has one job, process an image. If it needs 3-4 minutes work per image just to make people look normal.. that's not exactly awesome imo.
It's like whith the white balance in Slog2. Defenders always claimed that setting the right WB needed extra time and effort and that is perfectly normal.. yeah no.. in every other camera on earth it's a basic setting that takes two seconds and always has.
I love Sony cameras.
I've bought many, way more than Canons. And I can get really nice looking images and colors out of them, no problem. But doing it fast, efficient and consistent compared to CaNikon, PanaOly, or even Pentax and Leica.. not so much.

Yes, the camera got kicked on internet for it's lesser level AF compared to the competition. But, still, I am probably going to buy one, cause it almost ticks all other boxes for me. I was looking at everything else : canon eos R, nikon Z6 again, Sony a7iii, 5D iii raw, fuji xt3, bmpcc4k... The S1, for my use, could be the best balance. For that, I am ready to sacrifice a bit of af, as I do not shoot high speed sports stills or critical one man band videos, weddings or vlogs.
I played with a G9 a month ago and, whoa, what an experience. Only the joystick is poorly placed if you have little to average size hands. Otherwise, everything feels great, I felt like a happy carpenter with the right tools !

I bought into the numbers and spec game that Sony played for a couple of years (2015-2017). Used the A7s, A7rII, and FS5. 4K! 40+ megapixels! 240fps!
I call these the dead years. 
Yes, I got some good stuff with them and thanks to a great colorist, was able to grade some films so that it looked great. But the day to day shoots, the general travel photos, the one-man band work, the portfolio of work that doesn't have professional colorist attached to it just isn't even in the same ballpark image quality wise as something from a Canon or Panasonic. 
While you use a Sony, you don't really realize that there is something off - you just get used to it. My wake up call is when I looked at old, 8-bit HD footage from my Canon 60D that I shot in 2012/2013. It just looked so much nicer, natural, and beautiful. Quickly tested out some new systems, felt the same about the footage I was capturing on those, and dropped Sony as quick as I could.
Still love Canon and think they have the best CS and best image right out of the box, but Panasonic is very close and also give you the specs that Sony does. So, it's Panasonic for me right now. Maybe if Canon give us a 10-bit C100III with RF mount and a pro-body EOS R with 2020 video specs, they could come out ahead. But feels like Panasonic is the company that will give us what we want spec-wise while also giving us high image quality and color.