MurtlandPhoto

It's nice to see this full admission, but I think everyone figured that out the moment the GH3 was released. Panasonic took massive strides to make that camera everything that a hacked GH2 was and more. Definitely seemed to have inspired them to big change.

I'm in love with my A7iv. It sorta of surprised me TBH. I've been making some major kit changes and decided to dip my toe into Sony with the A7iv just to see how I liked it. Within just a few days I was convinced that Sony was the right path forward for me and sold everything to rebuild my kit with the A7iv and A7s iii. No regrets whatsoever other than I wish I'd gone this route a little sooner. The two cameras pair really nicely together, both with some unique features that make it worth having one of each. With all factors added in, I do think the A7iv is the better all-around video camera for most people's needs.

My testing went flawlessly. I was using a Rokinon Cine DS lens—not vintage, but certainly fully manual. No black screen. The gyro stabilization works really, really well in some circumstances. Not so well in others.

Did you try swiping from the right of the screen to access the lens data menu? There you can manually input the lens focal length. I would think that would work for fully manual lenses. I plan on doing my own tests shortly.

For what it's worth, I'll be the second critic to say this. I shot with Panasonic cameras for over a decade starting with the GH1 and owned every GH camera through the GH5s. I then owned the S1 for about a year. I molded my shooting style around the strengths and limitations of Panasonic cameras with AF being their biggest limitation. The S1 was the best of the bunch. I worked within the limits of Panny's AF: well lit situations, with simple movements, usually in 60p, with middle apertures (f/4, f/5.6). Even then the AF only worked OK... I had to be hyper attentive to what the focus was doing to make sure it wasn't going awry. I thought it was good enough, even though I knew it was limiting how I could use the camera. Then I switched to the Sony a7iv and it was a complete revelation. The AF is incredibly accurate, fast, and feature-rich. It works so well and is so intuitive that I have no reservations about using it for any scenario: wide open, poor lighting, fast movement, complex frames. It just delivers the goods. It allows me to take my focus (pun totally intended) off the AF and turn more attention onto sound, exposure, framing, action, and everything else. Switching to a camera with great AF made me realize how much I was compromising by using a camera with poor AF. Old schoolers might call it lazy but I don't care. I've been reinvigorated to create new things because now this critical feature has been unlocked for me. I wish Panasonic could have done it for me, but nope.

Why not just get the Pro then? All the Pockets have the gyro already.

The tech itself is very interesting, but I'm most excited about the implementation directly in Resolve. All of Resolve's tools are sooooo quick and light, so it will be awesome to have this resource available without having to pay the toll of computer slowdown (fingers crossed) compared to other solutions.

That's been my sense as well. It seemed clear when they released the Broadcast G2 with the 6K sensor and specs. I think I remember Grant Petty saying essentially they couldn't source any more of the original Broadcast sensors so they cannibalized the 6K ones for that line.

I think the major issue is that the defined, specific minimum frame rate (and lesser extent resolution) RED used in their patent is the standard for an entire industry that existed for a century before RED. Not a great analogy, but it would be like Tesla patenting electric cars capable of going over 65mph while the U.S. interstate system is largely built for that exact speed of traffic with combustion cars for over a century.

It's insane to me that such broad ideas can be patented. No need to outline specific tech or software or whatever. Just the idea.

As I understand it, Blackmagic has openly provided the means for any NLE to read and work with BRAW, but they won’t allow camera manufacturers to record to BRAW unless they have a formal agreement e.g. Panasonic.

Perhaps I should rephrase. I think there's a true, scientific definition of DR and then there's the marketing definition of DR. The latter has always been squishy for most manufacturers with some taking more liberty than others. My understanding is that ARRI is much more conservative and "real" with their marketing definition of DR. I believe they claim the original Alexa sensor as 15 stops. So, if they say this new sensor has 17 stops I take them at their word that it is two stops better.

This is statement is true of basically every other camera company except ARRI.

Woah, this is a really good observation. It feels really likely BM would mark the anniversary with another disruptive camera. I've felt the Pocket 4K/6K/Pro cameras are the spiritual successors to the BMCC/4K and not really the OG Pocket. So maybe there's some room for a new, true pocket camera. Otherwise, maybe they're going to do some sort of Ursa Micro. Either way, I think there are holes in the "lower" end of their lineup. On second thought, with it being NAB and with BM doing all sorts of amazing things with their ATEM line, maybe they're going to release a PTZ camera with some really nifty features... disrupting more of the broadcast space than the cinema one.

A simple CST in Resolve to the original BM Film gamut and color space gets it 90% of the way there in 4 clicks. The last 10% comes from the s16 sensor size. In the end, the creature comforts of the P4K are just too great to ignore for me personally.

I'm inclined to agree with you. I think Patrick Tomasso said it best in his review (I've watched too many reviews to keep track)... essentially the GH5 was an absolute powerhouse because it could do things no other system could really do at the time. Now things have changed and full frame has caught up and surpassed in all the ways that matter to most shooters.

Agreed. Gerald kinda stuck his neck out there, but I think he’s right: if ultimate image quality is your primary goal, m43 isn’t the right choice plain and simple. The GH6 is the very best the system can offer and it’s still not as good an image as the entry level FF S5. Still, it’s a superrrrr compelling camera if you’re fully invested in m43.

There's a bunch of interesting little features to this thing, but the biggest thing for me is the addition of h.264 and h.265 internally. Personally, that has always been the #1 factor in deciding whether I take my Panasonic kit or Blackmagic kit for certain jobs. This blurs that line completely.

I was waiting for someone to post this 🙂 I think this could be Blackmagic's most compelling camera to date. It is their first do-everything camera: cinema, corporate, broadcast, live event and streaming. The price is just right.

This is a really good point.

Refurbished items often come with warrantees of their own making them a bit safer than just straight up used copies. I definitely recommend buying used or refurbished from any of those retailers in addition to Adorama. I've had great experiences with all of them. The used prices are often a little higher than you'd pay buying direct from another person, but you get the security of solid return policies and reputations.

Obviously the best value savings is in used lenses. They don't get replaced with new models every couple years and don't become "obsolete" when they do eventually get replaced. For cameras, I have a system I've developed lol. Cameras below $3000 I will buy brand new on day one to maximize the useful life and the return on my investment. Cameras more than $3000, I will mostly wait for a used body to appear before buying. But, obviously there's a balance between price and age that needs to be reached. I swap out cameras wayyyy too often TBH, but since I stay in the ~$3000 range mostly I'm never too deep underwater lol.

I too have been using a small camera lately to fly under the radar. I went with the Osmo Pocket. It's perfect for home videos and BTS stuff on set.

Funky looking thing, but the versatility of an integrated gimbal is probably gamechanging for some people. I'm pretty intrigued.