John Matthews

13 hours ago, FHDcrew said:

I second that.  They seem to wear out fast too.  This summer when I briefly owned the S9, the rear dial just felt mushy and very easy to turn.  I recently tried a Lumix S9 at a bestbuy that seemed to be in good condition; the rear dial felt better.  And on a Lumix S9 FB group I've heard reports of the dials going bad and becoming less responsive.  A major reason I went Panasonic G9II instead of S9 this time around.  I also never really loved the Smallrig grip for the Panasonic S9; the grip felt lose half the time even when tightening.  With all this being said, the S9 is still quite the value for the money.  I think it smokes the Sony ZVE10II for example.

Yes. I haven't tried the G9ii, but I bet the build is in a different league; yet, the pricing of the S9 would indicate otherwise when it first came out. Not having that EVF meant to me they were not going to cheap-out elsewhere, but they gave us GX800-level buttons. I got the SmallRig cage and it does feel much better to hold and it has all those rigging options now. Still, it does have a lot going for it in terms of output. Personally, I thought it would be a major problem not going above 1/100 in artificial lighting, but it doesn't seem so.

10 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Needs to be lockable on the next gen camera…if there is one.

Plus more robust everything!

The 2 "cheapest feeling" cameras I've ever used (and there are many) are probably the Olympus e-p7 (which felt hollow) and the Panasonic S9. The S9's rear d-pad is simply ridiculous, feeling much more like a GX800 than anything remotely premium. It really needed proper front and back dials and go for buttons on the d-pad for a minimum. Also, give us similar buttons as on the other FF cameras. I would have also preferred a flip-up, not out screen.

On 12/27/2025 at 9:36 PM, ac6000cw said:

Minor point - the S9 *does* have a 3.5mm mic input jack (but no headphone jack).

Yes, that's what I meant but failed to write properly. I actually have that camera too.

18 hours ago, Andrew - EOSHD said:

It's a bit of a vanilla option when you can get a used S1 for same price which is same spec but a much more premium body, or pay a bit more and get an S9 with PDAF

This logic rings true for so many cases. "With just a little bit more you get" will make you end up at 2k. In this case (S5 vs.S9), I think some people would pay more for the S5 over the S9 (and it's PDAF) to not have the limitations of continuous lighting only and no indoor shots at high SS of 1/100 (no banding in PAL regions)... never mind the weather-sealing, mic port, better IQ (in 4k, especially with RAW) and EVF. Doing it all again and a lower budget, I'd probably get the S5D + 18-40 for 799 euros (new with 5-year waranty). After, I'd get some awesome Konica lenses.

I'm a little surprised that the S5 or S5D didn't make a mention. Pick it up for about 550 euros new and get one of those nice Konica lenses- you're ready to go for under 600. Get BlackMagic recorder and you'll even get B-RAW.

19 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Providing a five-year social media history to border agents may become a pre-condition to entry as part of the rise of fascism in America.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dz0g2ykpeo

The new entry-rule is doubleplusgood. Giving five-year socmedia record to Borderforce is only goodthink. Right citizens with nothing to hide welcome full truthcheck, for it keeps out crimethink, facecrime, and all ungood elements. Freedom is Strength, and more watch means more freedom.
The Party merely sees what all goodthinkers already show. Only unpersons fear oversight.

19 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Oh god.  That thing.  When online people complain about lousy footage with the cliche "was that shot on a potato"?  They're probably talking about the D90's codec.

Yes, I think even my Pentax K5 (the first ever capable interchangeable lens camera with built in, sensor shift IBIS) shot better video than the Nikon D90.

On 11/28/2025 at 6:06 PM, fuzzynormal said:

Surprisingly, I found the EM10iii footage the most pleasant looking color-wise when exposed correctly.

Not surprised. I love the video from this camera when I see it online. I love the footage in this simple family video. Shot in "muted" with FilmConvert applied on top. Kit lens.

I once filmed a wedding with a GX80, a Sony 1080p pro-level camcorder, a Nikon D90, and a Nikon D3400. It wasn't easy to match to say the least, but I was able to keep the story center-stage, not the crazy colors of each camera.

Now that many of the overheating problems are fixed, I can't wait to see all the videos saying Panasonic has fixed the issues. Oh wait, that might not attract the views.

On 11/22/2025 at 8:49 PM, Andrew Reid said:

For those web content creators who consider 8K a bit mushy for Youtube work🙂

 

Dude, my infomercial will be future-proof! In 10 years, humans will evolve and they'll be able to see that 12k detail on their phones. Adapt or die, man!

9 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

The best looking film I ever made was in 1080p on consumer cameras before I really was trying to do a hell of a lot with color grading.

I love 1080p footage. To make 4K look good, you have to throw all kinds of filters at it. I can’t even imagine 8K, let alone 12K — that’s just crazy territory. Even 4K already shows every skin pore, sucking all the magic out of the image. 1080p still hits that sweet spot where the detail supports the story. Hyper-sharp 4K, 8K, and 12K just end up turning the story into “look how ugly that person is.” The narrative goes in one ear and out the other.

I can’t help wondering if there’s some level of collusion between computer manufacturers and camera companies. What if 1080p was always “good enough”? That would be a huge let-down. Why buy a new computer if a 10-year-old one can do just as well — aside from saving ten minutes on an export?

Granted, with a 12K sensor, I imagine moiré would disappear for good, giving you an incredibly clean 1080p file if the downsampling is done properly.

This is how I name all my footage:

2025-11-23_16-49-13_S5M2.MOV

I do this with a free app called XNviewMP. This has served me well for finding date, time of day, and camera.

Here's the renaming template: {Creation Date[Y-m-d_H-M-S]}_S5M2

On each import, I can select the last template used for a particular camera. I just use the Finder for finding files.

For photos, it's a little more complicated: 

{EXIF:Date Taken [Y-m-d_H-M-S]}_City_Country_{EXIF:Model}_{EXIF:Focal Length}mm_F{EXIF:F-Number}_ISO{EXIF:ISO Value}_{EXIF:Exposure Time}

10 hours ago, ND64 said:

They're already closing down their pro services, and no way they invest in a zero growth business when they kill their own zero growth businesses.

I don't think is actually a sign of much anymore. It has more to do with stream-lining the European division. Panasonic is already a partner for ARRI. If they have the cash, that would be great though! Then again, why would they need that? They've already got ARRI Log in their cameras! How could they improve- they already have the best? Maybe they should just give us that S1Hii? Anyway, ARRI closing factories is more about Hollywood than a dysfunctional company.

3 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Summary = the sky is not falling in after all.

We still wait to see however if the S1H ever gets replaced.

I haven’t watched the hour and 20 minute video as I’m not that interested but I would guess that kind of thing would neither be confirmed nor denied and a vague, “things to come/watch this space” at best?

It actually makes sense. He mentioned that European sales are up and that it wasn’t efficient to have each country running its own Pro Service. A single centralized service for all of Europe is logical—after all, it is one market, and one service center is enough to cover it. Plus, the European market benefits from a 5-year warranty, which is far more generous than what’s offered in the U.S. That level of coverage is already considered enough by U.S. standards and makes American pricing less competitive, whereas European prices for other brands are often higher anyway.

I also get the impression that they’re preparing to offer additional types of services in Europe.

18 hours ago, Phil A said:

To be honest it's the less than stellar but fast & small third party lenses that I crave. For Fujifilm you have the Viltrox f/1.4 & f/1.7 primes. For Sony you have a ton of smaller lenses like the 24 f/2.8, 35mm f/2.8 or 40mm f/2.5 but also again third party AF lenses from Viltrox, TTartisan, etc.

Viltrox joined L mount a little later than those other systems, but I'm certain lenses will start appearing quickly.

19 hours ago, Phil A said:

I realize that the 1.8 primes from Panasonic are great, but they're not checking my criteria, I'd prefer them optically a bit worse but smaller with more character.

Totally understand. There are valid schools of thought here: 1) the data image, change in post; 2) WYSIWYG. I also lean more for the latter, especially for stuff I'm too lazy to edit.

19 hours ago, Phil A said:

I remember when the vision for mirrorless cameras was that you could get lenses at the same performance at a smaller size... and now nearly everything that releases is a really big, technically ideal lens at a high price. I used to like lenses like the EF 50mm f/1.4 USM which were okish but had interesting rendering over the great but huge Sigma 50mm 1.4. Guess I'm just an old man yelling at clouds. 

As things move forward, I'm understanding that most of the manufacturers are producing for the optically "perfect" image because they can. We're not seeing those headline lenses so much anymore like that Nikon 50mm 0.95 brick to showcase their engineering prowess. If they do that, it's to give us affordable lenses at previously unthought of focal lengths or smaller sizes. Lumix has a boring set of lenses that work very well and they can be workhorses, just nothing really amazing or ridiculously small (i.e. 14mm f/2.5, 20mm f/1.7). They insulted all of their users with that 26mm and I want to go back in time and erase its existence.

Ok. They addressed Lumix Pro Services in Europe:

Starts at 23m39s

Basically, less is more.

45 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Agree ^ mostly...

The only area really lacking for me is the space between 100-200mm where there's a bit of a gap.

Between Sigma & Panasonic themselves, they have it covered with primes ie, for most peoples needs, most of the time, those f1.8's.

Sigma offer their f2's which have a bit more 'character'.

Sigma also do the f1.2/1.4's and Leica do their stupidly priced offerings.

The zooms are all very good. In fact I can't really think of a bad L Mount lens other than that stoopid f8 thing they launched with the S9.

The only thing missing for me is a either a longer sibling to the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 (such as a 45-90mm f1.8) and/or a rival to the Sony 50-150mm f2. A 50-135mm f1.8 with internal zoom would be appreciated and if Sony can do the slightly longer 50-150 with f2, then Sigma could probably pull off an f1.8.

I know the Samyang 35-150mm exists but it's not got the greatest rep and has been hit with the ugly stick. Or is the ugly stick.

As things stand, I am probably going to trade my 35mm and 50mm for the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 because although it's obviously bigger and heavier than either, it doesn't require a choice of lens but a twist of the wrist and optically is just as good based on my experience.

I don't really like the 18mm though. It has a great rep but for me it's too wide. I don't really like anything wider than 28 but it has its uses in certain situations, so I need to keep it.

It's just above 50 I have the issue... I

I don't want or need a 70-200 but something within that 50-150 would be so much better (as long as it's not the Samyang and preferably does not extend when zooming) but I'd settle for even 90mm as above.

I guess it depends on what you’re looking for. I’ll give Panasonic credit for their primes — the other makers feel more like wannabes than real contenders when it comes to consistent size, look, feel, and output. Canon seems unwilling to let third-party manufacturers do what they want, probably out of fear. Sony, on the other hand, seems to cripple third-party lenses for no real reason. Nikon offers some 1.4 primes, but they’re a bit all over the place — not ideal if you’re looking for a cohesive lineup.

Only Panasonic has released a true roadmap of lenses, much like a publisher releasing a series of books that all share the same design and cover style. Other manufacturers are putting out books of all different shapes and sizes. That’s fine for the average user, but if consistency is what you’re after, it’s hit or miss.

Sony is all over the place — they started with a mount made for APS-C! Meanwhile, Panasonic and Leica developed one of the more recent mounts, designed specifically for full-frame. Leica has their set of APO primes — arguably the best lenses they’ve ever made — though at a crazy cost. Panasonic and Sigma, on the other hand, are pushing out lenses at a relatively fast pace, including some truly unique focal lengths that have never been done before, like the 20–200mm.

2 hours ago, Phil A said:

Because I consider the L mount to have a quite unattractive lens selection (no small lenses, nearly no 3rd party lenses) I don't see why one would spend so much more for the Panasonic if you're not already well into their ecosystem.

It's not that bad in L-mount. We now have a small 40mm F/2 from TTartisan, but it could be better. Most of the lenses from Panasonic make a lot of sense- a full set of clinical 18, 24, 35, 50, 85, 100mm lenses at f/1.8 (except for the 100mm). They're the same size, rendering, in-camera corrections, usage and everything you'd expect. No other camera maker has that. The zooms are also great. Sure, no Tamron, but should that be the deal-breaker?

Personally, I'm no longer going for "clinical and sharp". Give me anything with character- that's what I want; set yourself apart a little. Clinical = boring in my book. Still, I have many of the primes, but I almost always take out the vintage stuff when shooting for myself (not a pro).

Also, mark my words, L mount will win in the end with lens selection.

What lenses are you after?

29 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Probably the more likely scenario, but at the same time, even the biggest of companies seem to make the most monumental mistakes.

I think they're acting either conservatively with a wait-and-see approach. IMO, they're waiting to see how the S1 series sells. Based on that and the market/competition, they'll act or not.

I've been having a hard time getting excited about these newer bodies. Really, it's more about 4k120fps (if anything). I just cannot justify that kind of expense as a hobbyist. RAW isn't for me. I'm much more excited about lenses now, but even with them, they're becoming too similar across brands. I don't know why, but they're also becoming boring. The Chinese lenses seem to be where the more unique looks are coming from.

37 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

The bottom line is there isn't really anything else I want (certainly nothing I need) but if I could choose just one single thing for my S1RII's it would be the same kind of mech as it already uses, but the screen size, res and brightness of the ZR screen. But that would then require either a larger body or a different type of body so I'm dreaming...

I have a really hard time thinking that the ZR will be viable on the beach in summer with MF lenses. After the GX800 and S9, even though they can be bright, the EVF is non-negotiable now. Maybe I'm getting old.

15 hours ago, MrSMW said:

PUSH THE FUCKING BOAT OUT.

OR DIE!

What happens if you know the boat has a hole in it and you know it's going to sink if it's out there? This might be the more realistic situation for Panasonic.

They have the camera, but does it make sense at the price they can make it for (and still make money)? Or, perhaps even more likely, they can make a few of these awesome cameras they've designed, but there are some sort of tooling or production issues that prevent making a lot of them at the right price.

I remember @Mattias Burling posting this. I always wondered if he tried to repair or even open that RX100. Starts at 1m39s.

15 hours ago, ac6000cw said:

They had an FX2-like body design (including a flip-up, multi-angle EVF) 9 years ago in the form of the GX8 - https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dmc-gx8-review/3

The GX7 had it too. I had one and loved it. The GX7 Is also had the flip-up screen rather than the flip-out screen of the GX8.

10 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Nope. Approx 20 days of shooting with temps up to mid 30 Celsius and cameras get warm, especially in direct sunlight as all black bodied cameras do, but not a single overheating warning, never mind a shut down.

No lock ups either. Well might have been one now I think about it but had more than that on my A7RV I had prior and a none issue.

Most of the overheating talk is from; folks unfamiliar with the camera in the first place + use age of non-recommended cards + incorrect heat management settings + tests deliberately designed to cook the thing and so combined, well yes, you probably will make it have a meltdown but real world shooting with proper cards and set up? Err no.

Actually, 99% of the overheating talk is people talking about overheating who do not have and have never had or used the cameras and are in reality expelling more hot air than the cameras do!

Agreed. I have a hard time thinking that in the modes of the S5ii, somehow we're getting systematic overheating on the S1rii. Granted the processor and sensor are different, but Lumix, who is known for testing their cameras well, would have not released it had the thermals been off the wall.

11 hours ago, MrSMW said:

For me the future of LUMIX lies in; A. will we see an S1Hii and B. if so, what will it be?

Quite possible, but if Panasonic wants to continue with Lumix and it makes money and takes money from Sony, I don't see really any changes. 

22 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Being totally honest, clean sheet tomorrow morning, I’d pick Nikon without hesitation, for my needs, but I think LUMIX/L Mount would still be in second place and really loving my S1RII’s which are arguably the best tools for my specific hybrid needs available today.

ZR vs S1RII for stills? Zero contest, easy LUMIX win.

I understand this one. Have you had any problems with the S1rii locking up or overheating? I heard someone say that the other day. Maybe they fixed it.

I'm not a pro and I'm still fully enjoying the S5ii. These days, I'm more interested in lenses, especially vintage and MF ones. I should be getting the Laowa 28mm f/1.2 in a few days. There's something about the wide and shallow look that attracts me. That lens seems to be the widest, brightest. I was really hesitating between it and the Konica 28mm f/1.8 UC, which is still one of the most unique 28mm on the market. Maybe, I'll pick up both.

9 hours ago, ND64 said:

This name screams "consumer". You just don't replace "pro" with "my" if you're targeting professional shooters. But nothing is impossible with Panasonic marketing team.

I understand. On the other hand, they could just call it Panasonic Pro Services and it would be completely seamless.

I can’t help but feel there’s something going on behind the scenes, though. You’re right — moving from Lumix Pro Services to My Panasonic just doesn’t make sense from a user’s perspective, at least in my opinion. I smell a rat — the whole thing feels a bit fishy.