ac6000cw

I've PM'd you 🙂

I own the lens (bought used a few years ago, don't know how old it actually is). I haven't used it recently, but yes, from memory the power zooming is reasonably smooth but my copy is a little bit noisy (but quieter than the Pana and Oly pancake PZ lenses) - from comments I've seen, there seems to be some sample variation in noise levels. I can't remember what the focus breathing is like. Do the BM cameras apply the lens distortion and chromatic aberration corrections? It'll be a few days before I can do it, but I could put it on my OM-1 or G9 and upload a short test video if that would help you decide?

IIRC, around the time of the GH6 release (18 months ago), there was live stream/press discussion with some senior Panasonic people, where one of them basically said that including PDAF hardware on the sensor would have delayed the sensor development too much (for the GH6 timescale). So my take on it is the sensor in the G9ii is effectively the 'fully developed' version of it, and the GH6 has an intermediate version without the PDAF hardware capability. I think it would have been commercially crazy to not launch the GH6 with PDAF if they could have - they'd have sold more in the intervening months at higher street prices. We'll have to wait and see, but I think there just has to be a GH6ii or GH7 soon.

I've just watched/listened to the PetaPixel (Chris and Jordan) and Geeky Nerdy Techy YouTube reviews, and both of them reported that at room temperature anything below 4k120/4k100p mode recorded until the battery died (which I think for 4k60p was around 1h 20m - 1h 30m). 4k120p overheated after about 25-30 minutes. So pretty good I think. Interestingly Jordan said the G9ii might become his favourite everyday video camera - it would be a bit ironic if the G9ii turns out to be a serious GH6 killer, despite being supposedly aimed at stills shooters... Both reviews said the automatic (versus manual on the GH6) 'dynamic range boost' function works well, and also the IBIS is extremely good (as in 'best we've ever used').

One thing I am a bit surprised at is not upgrading the viewfinder - it's the same 3.68M dots resolution as it's predecessor, whereas the OM-1 has a (really nice to use) 5.76M dot panel. I also have to agree with dpReview's comment:

Initial review and specs on dpReview - https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dc-g9-ii-initial-review-the-g9-series-matures

Yes - most of the camera manuals I have say something like 'recording times may be reduced in high ambient temperatures'. I wonder if some of this is because the R5 situation bought the general issue to the attention of a lot more people (as it was discussed ad-nauseum at the time)? Consequentially influencers & reviewers now have it on their 'must test it and/or say something about it' list - and of course they tend to choose the most computationally demanding video modes to test overheating, rather than the modes that probably 95% of users might choose day-to-day. I assume it's just that making the camera smaller and lighter (combined with a long enough features list) probably sells more product than putting a fan in it (to make it more appealing to a minority of video-orientated customers). I know a reasonable number of people who have and use reasonably 'serious' cameras, but mention to them that I use mine a lot for video and the reaction is often almost 'what's video' or that they have no real interest in shooting it... I'm sure the design engineers could fix the thermal issues, but if that would make it noticeably larger and more expensive they probably get overruled by the product management & marketing side of the company (unless it's a hybrid camera that's very much aimed at video users, e.g. like the GHx, S5iix and S1H). Even the (original) G9 has a 10 minute 4k60p limit whereas it's very close relative the GH5 has much longer record times...

...Or even put IBIS and PDAF in a version of the G100... (but the GX80/GX9/LX100 are much better looking cameras from a style point-of-view). If Sony can sell small, expensive and thermally-compromised cameras I'm sure Panasonic could if they had the right product...

As the G9ii looks like it's using a version of the GH6 25Mp sensor with PDAF added, a GH6ii/GH7 is probably not far away... As an OM-1, G9 and GX80 owner, I'm not really interested in the G9ii, but a GX80/GX9/EM5/OM5 size camera with mic jack and the 25Mp PDAF sensor inside would be very interesting!

Now released: A7C ii - https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a7c-ii-initial-review-not-so-small-improvements A7CR - https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a7cr-initial-review-high-resolution-in-a-small-package Sony certainly seems keen on filling every niche they can with a camera...

If Premiere supports VST audio plugins, could you use a delay plugin to time-shift one of the audio clips to fix the phasing issue, instead of shifting it directly on the timeline? Another thought is that there are auto-align/auto-phasing VST plugins around, designed specifically to deal with multi-mic phasing issues in a multi-track mix e.g. like this one from Melda - https://www.meldaproduction.com/MAutoAlign (Note I've never used that particular plugin, but I use other Melda plugins so I happen to know it exists). Alternatively (but more work initially) could you fix the phasing issues as you do already, then export the fixed & mixed audio for the clip to a WAV file, then put it onto the timeline to replace the original audio for the clip (then group it back with the video)?

I've worn varifocals (every day) for longer than I can remember - at least 10 years. As MrSMW said, the first time you wear them it takes a few days - at least - to adapt to them (and some people don't like/can't adapt to them). Personally I really like them and wouldn't have anything else now. I always buy the varifocal lenses with the largest usable lens areas (near, mid, far) the optician offers - it makes a big difference to the usability. They are often the most expensive but for something I use all day, every day I think it's worth it. Much better to spend the money on the lenses than expensive fancy frames, IMHO. It's like buying pro-grade camera zoom lenses versus kit zooms - the performance is less compromised. Like MrSMW, I use the Specsavers chain in the UK - this is their guide to varifocals - https://www.specsavers.co.uk/glasses/glasses-lenses/varifocals (I use their 'Tailor-made' lenses) Note it's more critical for varifocal lenses to be positioned correctly in relation to the eye pupil than single-vision lenses, so make sure the optician adjusts the frames to suit you when you get them.

Yes, I usually do that just to get decent looking 1080p when it's played, irrespective of the original source material. In case anyone is interested, this is an example FFmpeg command line to process 4:3 PAL DV into 1440x1080p H.264 at 20Mbps using the Intel QSV encoder (command should be all on one line, input=PAL_DV.avi, output=PAL_DV_1080p.mp4): ffmpeg.exe -i PAL_DV.avi -vf estdif,scale=1440x1080:flags=lanczos+accurate_rnd+full_chroma_int+full_chroma_inp,unsharp -c:v h264_qsv -preset veryslow -b:v 20M -c:a aac -b:a 256k PAL_DV_1080p.mp4

Another thing with YouTube, if your source material is 25 or 50 fps, is that only 720p and higher playback resolutions support those frame rates, so to get a source-matching playback fps you have to upload at a minimum of 720p (but I'd suggest 1080p like Kye has). For PAL DV, I normally use FFmpeg to de-interlace (using 'estdif'), upscale, sharpen and encode to H264 1080p 50fps files before I edit it. Because (by today's standards) DV tends to be horribly noisy, you need to use a decent bitrate to keep the H264 1080p quality decent - otherwise the noise creates too many compression artefacts.

A6700 'Film mode' test now on optyczne.pl - https://www.optyczne.pl/79.1-Inne_testy-Sony_A6700_-_test_trybu_filmowego.html - with downloadable video samples 4k resolution test: Full HD resolution test: