MurtlandPhoto

My gripe with some of the tit for tat comparisons is they almost always ignore the reality of switching costs for folks with established kits. Would a Sony A7iii shooter looking for a higher resolution upgrade be persuaded to switch to the S5Rii versus the A7Rv? Most of the time, probably not. It's hard to get people to switch systems with one camera body, for good reason. Personally, I switched back to Panasonic after 2 years with Sony. The thing that clinched it wasn't actually Panasonic—it was Blackmagic! 

For those folks looking to start buying into their first camera system Panasonic offers the best value setup both new or used. Some people prefer to buy new things in general so a used Z8 being the same price as a new S5Rii is irrelevant. And, if they don't mind used, Panasonic is an even further better value.
 

What Panasonic really needs is consistency moving forward. It's been a long time since the original S1R and S1H. Release these cameras and establish some sort of regular rhythm to firmware updates and new bodies in the future and they'll regain customers over time. But, one amazing camera wouldn't do it. A good system will.

I'm honestly a little shocked at the reception to the camera on some forums. It provides a fair bit of upgrades to both the S5ii and the S1R while still staying at a lower price point than the competition, and even it's own predecessor. It seems to me that every brand's offerings are more or less the same with little differences here and there while also offering their own distinct competitive advantages. I can't help but notice that many folks want Panasonic to do everything Sony or Canon does, PLUS their own thing. Or that these manufacturers have running checklists that they compare and contrast to each other line by line when developing a camera versus largely doing their own thing. 

I preordered the S1Rii so my bias is clear, but as someone heavily invested into the Lumix S system I can't see this as anything but a solid camera for their lineup.

3 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I've also had the opposite experiences that some have had, where I'll send something in rated at one thing only for them to rate it higher and pay me more than quoted. Other than MurtlandPhoto, have these bad experiences been in Europe?

I should clarify that I’ve mostly had very positive experiences with MPB and still use them on occasion. All the good experiences are why the bad ones were so surprising. I’ve had several instances of them paying more than initially quoted as well; that’s always a nice feeling.

1 hour ago, Fairkid said:

I have only had one bad experience with them when I sent a them a good lens and they told me it had water damage so they offered a paltry amount. I asked them to send it back and the lens came back to me with a lot of new play in the focus mech and they had lost the lens hood! Leica lens so the hood was worth a bit. In their defence they paid for me to have it serviced and paid for the hood. I sold it to a small shop for decent money in the end. 

Are you 100% sure they sent you back your lens and not another copy of it??? Either way, that's messed up.

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

They are also missing a trick by not recognising, never mid rewarding repeat customers.

Agreed. I've purchased and sold a bunch of stuff with them and am a model customer on paper. But, there was a time I felt it appropriate for them to extend some good faith my way when I needed something shipped before a trade in was completed. No dice. A smaller shop would definitely have done so with the relationship we had.

4 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

The condition rating "Excellent" is one of the other problems... they seem to place a lot of quite heavily used and sometimes faulty stuff in that bracket. I know because I have received it!

I've experienced this both ways with them, too. Once I bought an "Excellent" condition camera only to receive a dust and grime covered beater. That was a quick return. 

Ed Prosser has the best video-focused review I've seen thus far 

20 hours ago, Benjamin Hilton said:

Yeah I'd have to say that while I love the form factor of the FS7, there is a huge leap in mojo from that generation of imaging to the next with the C70, A7SIII and so forth. It's just a richer cleaner image overall

Agreed. I recently bought an FS7ii and despite how great the ergonomics are, I just wasn’t happy with the image no matter what I did. I’m spoiled by the current generation of cameras.

There’s been a few instances of Blackmagic doing a large price drop seemingly completely out of the blue. Their official reason has always been that they lower the sticker price when their cost of manufacturing drops, whether by economies of scale or something else. No idea if it’s true, but they’ve done this type of thing before and I love it.

P.S. They also have marginally raised prices on things recently due to supply chain shortages where many other manufacturers haven’t. To me, that points to some truth that they have strict profit margins to maintain without much wiggle room.

On 1/19/2025 at 12:13 AM, John Matthews said:

If M43 truly dies, it'll be because of squandered opportunities by Panasonic and OM System, especially in the compact market as Fuji has seemingly stolen the market. It turns out "small and functional" should have been the end-game, not the class-leading features that they came up with.

My take has always been that Panasonic should have prioritized a smooth m43 to full frame transition for customers. Having a blended ecosystem would help both thrive. As it is now, customers have to choose FF or m43, often with FF perceived as having most of the benefits. I think the first round of FF cameras should have had a m43 crop mode with faster readouts and frame rates. And, the mount Panasonic developed should have somehow been compatible with m43 lenses via an adapter. This might have meant messing with the flange distance which maybe reduced compatibility with other lens mounts, but ensured more people within the Panasonic system would have less switching costs.

It boggles the mind

I just wish it had a hot shoe for flash (and I guess a mechanical shutter if that's required for it). That would make it perfect candid camera for parties and family get-togethers for me.

3 hours ago, QuickHitRecord said:

Cinematch?

+1 for CineMatch. I use it on every multicam shoot.

No mention of external raw, but hints that maybe it's PDAF. Interesting tradeoff versus the BS1H. 

I use MediaInfo. It will do exactly what you need. It's been super useful for me identifying random video clips from other videographers at my day job. 

I'm game to compare it to the Phantom luts if anyone is interested. Those have been marketed as "Alexa-like" 

29 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

I’m guilty of getting lenses; then, selling them and buying them back.

Dead to rights with me, too.

28 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

I still think a decade later there still hasn't been a sale as good as those US$500 BMPCC cameras!

The BMPCC was already soooo cheap for its time that the fire sale made it an absolute no-brainer 🙂

I bought one. I couldn’t resist at this price, which I’m sure was Blackmagics hope for many people. I’ve been completely out of the BM ecosystem for a few years but the Pyxis got me starting to reconsider. Now this has pushed me into the deep end 😂 

9 hours ago, kye said:

Further to this, I watched a few past videos from Blaine yesterday and this video (while quite chaotic) gives a bunch of pretty interesting examples of how using a Film Emulation of some kind combined with some of the basic Resolve tools can give quick but very effective results:

Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the way he treats Resolve..  he shows that if you know a few techniques then you can get in, make some good adjustments, get a great result, and get out, and move on with your day.

It's sort of a rare counter-example of the impression that Resolve is finicky and takes hours and hours, which almost all other colour grading videos give, but isn't true.

At it's most basic, you can just apply a LUT to every clip and then make basic adjustments in a node prior to the LUT on each clip and can get great results in a really quick way.  This is the way that film-makers grade when they want a result, rather than the way that colour grading YouTubers grade when they're making a YT video about some nuance or other.

The section from 5:00 on with the test shots shows that even if the shots weren't filmed well at all, you can get great results quickly with just a few quick techniques.

I love the way Blaine constructs his videos. Zero fluff. Just tips and tricks the whole time.

My big light is the Smallrig 450D. I love it. It's well-built and super bright when I need it. That said, most of the time the brightest lights I need are 300w. 

Anddddd there's the box camera!

This might be the single largest release lineup Blackmagic has ever done. There's like a dozen new pieces of hardware plus DR and firmware updates. Craziness.

It's interesting to see the minuscule amount of hype around this Blackmagic livestream compared to the BMPCC4K in 2018. It's a ghost town here today.

Just now, Anaconda_ said:

m.2 slot under the screen by the looks of things.

Good catch! New EVF too. The body design is looking very similar to the existing Ursa Mini?