ac6000cw

Sharpness seems very natural to me, although I am not at the level of pixel peeing as others around!
What I can say is that the Prores feels like Prores from a cinema camera.  So the files edit like butter, the grain is well captured and not removed / crunched, etc.  I've done quite a lot of low light high-ISO testing in the last few weeks and even up to ISO 12,800 the footage cleans up in post using temporal NR, which wouldn't work if the compression killed all the noise.
Punch-in focussing is available during recording, and pops up automatically if you touch the focus ring on a native lens, and has a custom amount of zoom.  I'd assume it's the same as previous cameras where you have an option to give you a punch-in box in the middle of the monitor, or for the whole monitor to show the punched-in part.  The focus peaking was also active within and outside the punched-in part of the screen.
The in-camera digital zoom is changed from previous models, and significantly improved at that.  It's quite different now.
Let's say I have my 9mm lens fitted.  I hit the button I have mapped it to (it's called Crop Zoom "CrZ") and it activates the feature, showing me the current focal length (9mm) and there are a bunch of ways to get it to smoothly zoom in and out, displaying the current equivalent focal length as it goes (10mm, then 11mm, etc).  
The function is integrated into the zoom controls for the powered zoom lenses too, so I think you can zoom in and it will zoom the lens in as much as it can and then (if enabled) it will keep zooming in with the digital zoom.
I thought the idea was it will keep zooming in until it gets to a 1:1 sensor read-out and then won't go any further, but the manual just lists some rather arbitrary zoom amounts.  With my 9mm lens, if I shoot with the C4K mode it will go to 11mm, but on the 1080p mode it will zoom in to 24mm.
In my tests I've found that the in-camera cropped images are free from artefacts, and I'd even zoom in/out during recording using it if I felt the need to.  
I'd happily use it for S16 cropping, or any other cropping you wanted.  Perhaps the only caveat is that if you wanted to crop more than the 1.3x it will do in C4K, or 1.4x in UHD, then you have to use the 1080p mode, and that mode seems to have a slightly different look to the images, a bit more like the OG BM cameras in that it looks like a lower-resolution sensor readout.  It's got a bit of that lower-resolution more sharpening look to it, rather than a higher-res-downscaled look to it.  It's subtle, but it's there.  It's still high-quality, but just compared to the 4K modes it's noticeable.
I've been doing lots of tests for my next ballooning trip, and these include low-light testing.  I figured I'd take my 14-140mm zoom for when the light is sufficient, and I'll take my new 9mm F1.7 as my ultra-wide, but was wondering if the 9mm could be my low-light non-wide lens as well.  
I did two tests.
The first test was an ultra-low-light test.  
I tested:
- GX85 with TTartisans 17mm F1.4 manual prime at F1.4
- GX85 with TTartisans 17mm F1.4 manual prime at F2
- GH7 with 9mm F1.7 at F1.7 (shot in C4K and cropped to be 17mm FOV in-post)
- GH7 with 9mm F1.7 at F1.7 (shot in 1080p and cropped in-camera to be 17mm FOV)
- GH7 with 12-35mm F2.8 at F2.8 and 17mm
- GH7 with 14-140mm at 17mm
- GH7 with TTartisans 17mm F1.4 manual prime at F1.4
- GH7 with TTartisans 17mm F1.4 manual prime at F2.0
- GH7 with Voigtlander 17.5mm F0.95 manual prime at F0.95
- GH7 with Voigtlander 17.5mm F0.95 manual prime at F1.4
- GH7 with Voigtlander 17.5mm F0.95 manual prime at F2.0
I reviewed all of them with just a 709 conversion, with NR/sharpening, and with tonnes of NR/sharpening.
This is a test of lots of things being traded-off against each other, as the slower lenses all needed a higher ISO, and the 9mm was sharp wide-open and brighter but also pulling from a smaller sensor area, but I didn't upload to YT so it's not a full pipeline test.
The result was that the Voigtlander won, the TTartisans at F2.0 was good, the 12-35 was good, but the 9mm was still acceptable and waaaaaay better than the GX85 + TTartisans wide open (which was what I shot the previous outing with and I found to be disappointing - the combo of the TTartisans at F1.4 combined with the GX85 ISO6400 was just a killer combo).  
I also tested the 9mm F1.7 wide-open vs the 12-35mm F2.8 stopped down to F4.0 against each other in good lighting and native ISO and using the 1080p in-camera zoom to match focal lengths.
I reviewed all of them with just a 709 conversion, with NR/sharpening, and with NR/sharpening put through my FLC pipeline (which includes softening the image slightly and adding grain).  I didn't upload it to YT either, so it's not a full-pipeline test but was a good indicator of it.
I found that the 9mm zoomed to 12mm was equivalent to the 12-35mm, at 18m it was noticeably softer, and at 24mm it was really noticeable and getting into vintage territory.  
I can post some stills if you're really curious.

The G9 ii is much larger and over 50% heavier than an OM-5:

The obvious M43 alternative (larger and heavier, but not as bad as the G9 ii) is a used OM-1 - almost a steal at it's current sub-£1000 used prices in the UK for what you get in a rugged, weather-sealed, reasonably compact body.
And of course as MrSMW said, there's the S9 at sub-£1000 new, but that's not weather-sealed nor has an EVF.
It's the lack of a compact M43 body with PDAF, 4k50/4k60 and excellent video IBIS that drove me to buy an S9 - my first ever non-M43 MILC (after 13 years of buying M43 cameras and owning a sizeable lens M43 collection).
That said, the E-M5iii/OM-5/OM-5ii series aren't really aimed at the video-user market - they are primarily lightweight, small, weather-sealed stills-orientated cameras with a bit of retro style (which is an OM-System self-confessed niche, really).

Something that's worth noting/remembering is that the 'Flkr Decrease' setting can be used to fix the shutter speed to 1/50, 1/60, 1/100 or 1/120 (180 degree shutter for 24/25, 30, 50 or 60 fps video) when you press the video record button in stills/photo mode (which forces the camera into 'P' mode, irrespective of what the stills/photo setting is). This workaround gives you shutter priority video with auto aperture and, if you want, auto-iso - it's 'photo' P mode with fixed shutter speed, basically.
I find this really useful for 'instant hybrid' shooting - press the shutter button to take stills (in whatever mode you have set) or press the video record button to shoot shutter-priority video - no need to move the mode dial.
From the manual:

Hehe, I got lucky paying 250 for mine with the 12-32 and a Lumix bag. These bags are highly fashionable in certain groups of clumsy professor photographers.:) The combo usually goes for 350 with the lens. I got my first one eight years ago and paid around 430 for the body. It's still going strong, even without the backwheel which quit on me a few years ago. My favorite lens with it for photo is the 14mm pancake. I also liked using my Oly 45. But it's silver and kinda shiny for street. Planning on getting the Panny 42.5 F1.7. I also got a G3, a cute and small but solid plastic fantastic Dslm style camera. It's the dslrish sister to the GX1. The latter also going for higher prices than a few years ago. GX85 is the best of them all imo for a variety of reasons. 4K video is still great for being 8bit and Rec709. But you know that of course. @John Matthews I just had to get my second one for that nice price and I am looking forward to do a photo tour with two cameras and lenses.

Something that's worth noting/remembering is that the 'Flkr Decrease' setting can be used to fix the shutter speed to 1/50, 1/60, 1/100 or 1/120 (180 degree shutter for 24/25, 30, 50 or 60 fps video) when you press the video record button in stills/photo mode (which forces the camera into 'P' mode, irrespective of what the stills/photo setting is). This workaround gives you shutter priority video with auto aperture and, if you want, auto-iso - it's 'photo' P mode with fixed shutter speed, basically.
I find this really useful for 'instant hybrid' shooting - press the shutter button to take stills (in whatever mode you have set) or press the video record button to shoot shutter-priority video - no need to move the mode dial.
From the manual:

I think it’s great.
Another camera that could have been great but isn’t so I have utterly zero interest in and therefore will not be spending any money on.
Keep it up camera industry, you are doing good and keeping my money firmly in my bank account 🫡

Went hot-air ballooning and if there was ever a challenge for shooting, this was it.  Extreme low-light and extreme DR from hugely bright light-sources.
They say you can't take bags in the balloon, and it had been really wet weather, so I decided to go small.  I took the GX85, TTartisans 17mm F1.4 for the low-light, Laowa 7.5mm F2 for an ultra-wide, and the 12-35mm F2.8.  I was a bit cheeky and took a sling bag and kept it under my jacket.  The requirement is that nothing is loose in the basket and that you can hold on with both hands for landing, so I figured my bag under my jacket was basically the same as having a big pocket.
It's a crazy early start.  We arrived in the field before first-light and they started setting up in pitch darkness guided only by torches.  I started shooting at F1.7 and needed ISO6400 at first to get any kind of level on anything except their torches.  I shot on the 17mm at F1.7 and gradually reduce the ISO until the balloon was mostly inflated, then swapped to the 7.5mm for a few wide shots, and then swapped to the 12-35mm F2.8 and it was time to get in the balloon and off we went.  
I also shot with my iPhone 12 mini for some quick shots using the ultra-wide when I didn't want to change lenses, and also as we were approaching landing, as I had put the camera away in anticipation.  It was super-foggy and the pilot ended up having to land early and for a while we were going pretty close to the treetops so I'd put my camera away when he told us that he'd be landing at the next opportunity.
Frame grabs..  mix of GX85 and iPhone, put through a quite moderate FLC pipeline.










In retrospect I took the complete wrong equipment and used it in the wrong way (so, it's business as usual!) but the FLC pipeline really took the footage to the next level, and I used just enough strength on the film emulation to get rid of the digital look to the images.
Here's a comparison.
Grade (same as above):

SOOC:

The GX85 has super-whites so despite being SOOC that image is actually slightly clipped in-post and some highlights can be recovered, which the FLC grade has done, but you get the idea.  The SOOC is with the GX85 default profile and has much more of a video look to it, despite being pretty good compared to other similar cameras.
If I was to take the same equipment again, I'd lean into the darkness and just use the 17mm at F2.0 where it cleans up and use the GX85 at something sensible like ISO1600.  This would have the early shots as perhaps being unusable, but it would mean that the torches the crew used wouldn't have been clipped (I clipped them in favour of exposing what they were shining on).
We're going to go again later this year, and for that I plan to take the GH7, 9mm F1.7 and 14-140mm F3.5-5.6.
This will be a much larger setup but if I use a neck strap then I only have to have one lens in a pocket and so I won't need a bag at all.  I just bought the 9mm F1.7 and it's sharp wide-open, so apart from having AF, it is both an ultra-wide as well as a low-light lens.  I can crop in-camera and/or in-post to get a tighter FOV, but you don't normally need long focal-lengths when it's that dark.
The more I use this FLC pipeline the more I like it.  If I'd have shown these images to my 2018 self, I wouldn't have believed me when I said that it was me that made them.  

Means I can also leave my diffusion filters at home 😄
I don't think its that bad actually.

Or I could just stick with my Zf 

Good point 🙂(it did go lower than £1299 recently from a some sellers - see the red line below).
From https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Panasonic/Panasonic-Lumix-S-Cameras/Panasonic-Lumix-S5D-Camera-with-28-200mm-Macro-Lens

...and for the S9 + 18-40 kit over the same period - https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Panasonic/Panasonic-Lumix-S-Cameras/Panasonic-Lumix-S9-Camera-with-18-40mm-Lens:

Arri?

Re. S9 lens options (and being a 'zoom' rather than 'prime' person), now the 24-60 F2.8 is out, the obvious hole in Panasonic's full-frame small/light zoom range is a longer focal length companion to the 18-40 collapsible zoom e.g. a compact 35-90. (Like the 12-32 plus 35-100 pair they introduced to go with the smaller M43 cameras years ago).
The current 'reasonably compact' FF zoom range mounted on the S9 (from the left, 18-40, 20-60, 28-200 and 24-60):

I don't know the 'industry definition' of it, but I would think a 'locked down' or 'locked off' shot is just that - the camera can't/doesn't move at all. If you pan a camera, it's a 'panning' shot (tilting is just panning it vertically instead of horizontally, so I guess comes under the same name).

I don't know the 'industry definition' of it, but I would think a 'locked down' or 'locked off' shot is just that - the camera can't/doesn't move at all. If you pan a camera, it's a 'panning' shot (tilting is just panning it vertically instead of horizontally, so I guess comes under the same name).

I still have my G7 -- I got rid of my GH1, nice though it was back in the day, but kept this little camera; the simplicity of using it remains an attraction. This was my first camera test with it:
 

AFAIK, up to at least 60p, the GH5/GH5ii/GH5s/G9/GH6/GH7/G9ii read out the whole sensor width and sufficient height to allow high-quality re-sampling/processing down to (e.g.) FHD and UHD, which probably helps with moire suppression. And yes, the high pixel density versus lens resolution also helps (plus diffraction softening at smaller apertures).
I like reasonably chunky grips too - it's a major reason why I've never bought an E-M5 iii or OM-5 (and bought used E-M1 ii and iii instead, despite the larger size and weight).
I've got a Sirui grip for the S9 (which is deeper than the SmallRig version), but if I've got the 20-60mm kit lens on it I don't add the grip as there's enough lens barrel to sit nicely in my left hand. The grip is useful with the 18-40mm lens though.

Note the link embedded in the first post is partly fake, so I assume it's a scam post from a new user.

Here's the original video. Of course, this is for testing purposes only as I don't usually shoot like this. I just wanted to see how stable I could make the G7 and see how fast it could reacquire focus once in a settled position. What I learned is the smaller you make the AF box, the faster continuous will reacquire focus. I just went from subject to subject, placing the framing where the focus point was. I doubt the footage of my Panasonic VX980 would have been better, just WAY noisier.
 

I skipped over the G7 and went from G5 to G6 to G80, but I shot some of my favourite footage with the G6 in Standard profile at 1080p50 (28Mbps AVC) - the highest quality it could shoot. There was definitely something about the image that those older 16MP sensor cameras had, which seemed to have got lost in the G80 (despite it having nominally the same 16MP sensor). But eventually I decided I could live with the size and weight of a G9 and entered a whole better world of image quality and stabilisation performance...
Comparing the G9 and my recently acquired S9 - I think 4k50p on the G9 is much less prone to aliasing/moire and the sharpening isn't overdone, but the stabilisation is better on the S9 (as is the dynamic range handling in difficult conditions). Otherwise, which one I might choose to take out would depend far more on lens choices and overall kit size/weight for what I was intending to do - either can produce excellent video (my abilities are more the limiting factor!).
(Straying away from Panasonic, if I was forced to choose just one camera to keep and use out of my current collection, it might be the OM-1, but only because it has a blend of abilities that fit my preferences and needs combined with 'good enough' video quality).

A few interesting quotes from the BCN web page where the chart orrginates from (my bold):
Nikon is basically going for a 'pile it high and sell it cheap' strategy in the full-frame MILCs - but as the last to enter that market, they probably don't have much choice when up against Canon and Sony (Panasonic is almost a niche player but could easily suffer collateral damage from the battle).

Sure, and if they aren't releasing any new cameras, then that's unlikely to change.  The pros and cons will remain constant!  😅

I have now imported my iPhone footage and put it through the same FLC pipeline as my GH7 footage.  
As you may recall, I shot the "home video" parts of the trip with my iPhone 12 Mini, and part of the goals of the new FLC pipeline is to be able to improve the iPhone footage and match it better with the GH7 footage.
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with both the images and the user experience.
With my phone in my left-front pocket and GH7 in my right-hand, I could extend the pop-socket out, pull my phone out, shoot with it, then put it back, all with my left hand and not having to even turn off the GH7.  Having the ability to swap from shooting with the GH7 and 14-140mm to an ultra-wide in seconds is great when you want to capture the action in real-time:


It has surprisingly good handling of real-world DR:


It allows for quick and unobtrusive shooting in restaurants and cafes:


which also gives some background defocus which is nice.
...and it is great for shooting in very cramped or crowded situations:


I struggled shooting in the Myongdong night-markets just because the GH7 was so conspicuous and just not well designed for such things, however the iPhone worked quite well for those chaos-and-people-everywhere shots, and was great for shooting situations at point-blank range:



In retrospect I wish I had shot more whimsical footage with it throughout the trip, but that's a note for next time.
In order to see how the FLC is contributing to these images, let's compare some of the above shots to how they would have looked with a simple CST workflow (I did a CST to DWG, matched exposure, then CST to 709-A).
FLC:

709-A:

FLC:

709-A:

FLC:

709-A:

I find that it takes the digititis out of the images quite a bit.
Another thing it does is hide some of the limitations of the iPhone too.  Here's a shot I took from out the train window.  It's obviously a very low-light shot and the iPhone NR was probably set to "armageddon".
709-A:

FLC (with a touch of sharpening):

Anything in post that applies across all your shots will help to unify them, and so having a slight softening applied to all the footage, as well as similar colour treatment, can really help to smooth things around any rough shots.  I created my own powergrade using FLC I called "50mm" because I took the grain and softening settings from the 35mm and 65mm presets and set things to the mid-point between the two, effectively emulating a 50mm film process.  I have more work to do, including working out what settings give what results once the footage has gone through the YT compression, but it's a start.

In 1988 I wasn't too displeased with the result, though...

That’s honestly my favourite bit!
They need to have a proper hardcore mode where you can only “carry” four rolls of “film” with you and use the app like Pokémon Go where have to go and find a virtual chemist or photo store nearby to get another roll when you run out.
I’d make these virtual shops have opening hours as well !
Would be a big fan of the app making you have to load the “film” into the app in the dark and you then having to do all your “developing” in the app with the screen having a faint red glow across it.
You could even use the gyro sensors in the device to make you have to agitate the “film” to develop it.
I wouldn’t even be averse to you having to post off for a code when you’ve shot a roll of  “film” using a reversal simulation and then having to wait a week to get a code back that will unlock the roll and develop it with a non changeable preset process.
 

I see so much negativity towards Lumix right now, but the S5ii X is my favorite camera I've ever used despite my criticisms of it, I was very impressed with the S1Rii when I used it for a day, and I think the S9 is a very compelling option especially if Lumix creates smaller lenses like they've said. 
I've even seen more YouTubers switching to Lumix cameras; while that isn't important to me, it's a sign that they are making some headway.
I'm not saying people's criticisms aren't valid. If they aren't the right tool for you then they aren't the right tool, but people are writing off cameras based on specs instead of actually using them. 
Maybe these S1 successors will suck. It's very possible. But as of now, no one who has actually used them has said anything, nor have they made their way into the paying public's hands who can give an unbiased review.