kye

I have the Sigma on my X-S20. Amazing little thing, almost never used other lens after getting it. Should be the template for newer m43 zooms - if Sigma could do a 18-50 F/2.8 covering APS_C with this size, a small 12-35 f/2 or even f/1.8 is doable.

Yep, and a small and fast zoom lens (yes, it extends when powered on, but to carry is much smaller.

And being a zoom, for me, is a big differentiator compared to the X100 and GR. Much more versatile, and for the target groups, don't having to worry to change lenses is a huge selling point.

Never used a MK II - have the MK I, and it have a huge problem: the worst JPEG engine that I've ever saw in m4/3. Beside the usual green cast of the GH4 generation, it is mushy as hell. But the RAWs without problems, same as every m43 camera; but having to post-process takes a lot of the charm.

From waht I've heard, the MK II have the same JPEG pipeline of the OG G9 - hence the better Panasonic color science of that time. Having a touchscreen mitigates a bit the absence of a af joystick - I used it a lot in the GX85 and GX9, a joystick is better, but lcd touchpad is close.

@kye

I used your hue adjustment technique as a starting point. I think that improved it a lot, no more pink/magenta from the Sony. Might have went too far though. I still have hope for the FX3 as an A cam. 😅

Actually, the XH2S and P4K are great options when combined with the LUTs/powergrades from Juan Melara:
https://juanmelara.com.au/products/bmpcc-4k-to-alexa-powergrade-and-luts
https://juanmelara.com.au/products/x-h2sfuji-to-alexa-powergrade-and-luts
Juan is a working DP and colourist, and is one of the most knowledgeable colourists online, especially when it comes to matching complex transformations.  I've bought from him before and had good experiences.  The A/B results speak for themselves too.
Here's the Fuji A/B shots, and the P4K ones match even better.


 

Yeah I purchased his luts, as well as emotive color(probably more precise), and the trendy Phantom luts.

Controlled and properly shot/graded side-by-side Alexa 35 vs iPhone comparison..  
It looks great but (spoiler alert!!) it's not as good as the $110K camera package, especially when pointing into the sun..
 

Interesting and comprehensive analysis of GoPro from an economics / business point of view.  It's 43 minutes long, but is in plain English and well constructed.
It's interesting how they've managed to stabilise in the last few years and are now segmenting their lineup, which seems to be strategy that protects them from smartphones and other market pressures.
Pity they didn't do that a decade ago...

You can't, that's only on iPhone 15 Pro (Max)

@bjohn, you need to get a digital camera that looks like a film camera such as the Nikons Df and then she'll never be able to tell if you're being responsible shooting digital or being evil using film 😉

My partner works at home several days per week and in her employer's office the rest of the time. When I buy camera or video equipment on eBay I try to time the shipment so it arrives when she's not here. Doesn't always work out that way, though. But she pays so little attention to my equipment that she doesn't even notice when I'm using a new camera or lenses. She has her own obsessions, although they're cheaper.
The only resistance I've encountered from her is my re-entry into the world of film (photography, not video). She views it as a waste of money but especially as an avoidable environmental impact, from cradle to grave (manufacturing the film, distributing it to retailers, processing it, and ultimately disposing of the negatives). Lots of materials and energy use, all of which could be avoided if I stuck to shooting digital. Some people argue that the environmental footprint of a new digital camera is much larger than that of an antique film camera and hundreds of rolls of film, but if you already own a digital camera that's not the way to look at it: every roll of film has an avoidable impact. I agree with her about the environmental impact and I try to limit my film photography because of it, but I love shooting film enough that I continue.

My year 11 English teacher decided that there wasn't enough life education in school, so he told us stories, and let us sleep in class, but still taught us what we needed to pass the tests.
One recurring theme he'd tell us stories about was how he'd get away with buying hifi equipment and smuggling it into his house without his wife finding out.  The most memorable one was how he got away with buying a pair of large subwoofers, which were about 1 meter/yard cubed each.  
Here's the procedure he recommended:
Buy them, but have the store hold them until you can arrange a good delivery time Subtly arrange for your wife to be away overnight (e.g. concert tickets for her and a friend to something she'll like but you won't and then a "girls night" stay at a hotel afterwards) Arrange to have the subwoofers delivered as soon as she's gone Put them in the corners of the room Cut some plywood to cover the sides of the subwoofers that aren't against the wall, so it's not visible Cover over the ply with a nice tablecloth and have it go all the way to the floor Put a pair of matching fancy trays and a pair of plants your wife likes and put them on top When your wife comes home, tell her you bought her some plants, if she asks about the boxes, just say they're boxes but change the subject After a few months, remove the false boxes and adjust the cloths so they don't interfere with the subwoofers, and wire up the subwoofers Only use the subwoofers on very low and only when she isn't home After another few months, you can start using the subwoofers while she is home, but only very very subtly If she ever notices, say they've been there for years and act surprised she doesn't remember - immediately start talking about their specifications and history of the company so that she is eager to change the subject I enjoyed his English classes.

My year 11 English teacher decided that there wasn't enough life education in school, so he told us stories, and let us sleep in class, but still taught us what we needed to pass the tests.
One recurring theme he'd tell us stories about was how he'd get away with buying hifi equipment and smuggling it into his house without his wife finding out.  The most memorable one was how he got away with buying a pair of large subwoofers, which were about 1 meter/yard cubed each.  
Here's the procedure he recommended:
Buy them, but have the store hold them until you can arrange a good delivery time Subtly arrange for your wife to be away overnight (e.g. concert tickets for her and a friend to something she'll like but you won't and then a "girls night" stay at a hotel afterwards) Arrange to have the subwoofers delivered as soon as she's gone Put them in the corners of the room Cut some plywood to cover the sides of the subwoofers that aren't against the wall, so it's not visible Cover over the ply with a nice tablecloth and have it go all the way to the floor Put a pair of matching fancy trays and a pair of plants your wife likes and put them on top When your wife comes home, tell her you bought her some plants, if she asks about the boxes, just say they're boxes but change the subject After a few months, remove the false boxes and adjust the cloths so they don't interfere with the subwoofers, and wire up the subwoofers Only use the subwoofers on very low and only when she isn't home After another few months, you can start using the subwoofers while she is home, but only very very subtly If she ever notices, say they've been there for years and act surprised she doesn't remember - immediately start talking about their specifications and history of the company so that she is eager to change the subject I enjoyed his English classes.

One of the most useful pieces of technical advice that has appeared on this forum.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately depending how you look at it, the skill to get in now doesn't need to be as high anymore. Even many people at very lofty levels of the film industry are not as skilled as they used to be. 

DP's can utilize high resolution color accurate monitors to see what they are getting rather than light metering. Cameras are so sensitive now you don't need crazy light fixtures. A lot of big budget shows are now are using mostly small LED fixtures combined with natural lighting. There's certainly a level of skill still required especially on the biggest of productions but it's become less and less. 

Think about changing a 35mm film mag vs digital media. Same with getting good results shooting 35mm film for a wedding vs digital. Night and day 

I’m guessing one of the camera brands involved as showing a lot of variance would have been Fuji as they had a very optimistic idea of how much light there was when I was using them side by side with Nikons.
 

Add one more reason:
If (like me) you already own a couple of the original Micro Cinema Cameras, you can buy this one and your spouse/partner will never notice that you bought (yet) another camera.
Seriously, though, for me this is an interesting option because I already have everything I need for it (cage, monitor, bigger external battery (the one Dmitry Shijan made), but it would give me much better low-light performance than my Micros which is important for some of likely situations in my case.

Actually, here's my nomination for best-bang-for-buck camera nowadays - the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 just announced by BM.
Here's why:
It's tiny, and fits the entire ecosystem of the previous Micro models, including battery type (Canon LP-E6) It can record BRAW up to DCI 4K60 to USB-C....    so you don't need a big expensive external recorder, you can use any old HDMI monitor you like! BM specifies 13 stops of DR, the same as all their previous cinema cameras, and up from the 11 stops they quoted for the previous Micro Studio camera It has AF (it won't be fast, but the previous BMMCC didn't have AF, and the OG BMPCC one was quite useful) It's $995! So, it's smaller and cheaper than the P4K, but appears to only have one native ISO.  Interesting.

Based on a presumption of the ISO/Gain relationship between the P6K and the Ursa Broadcast G2/Studio Camera 6K Pro (which are both P6K in different form factors) then I would expect the same relationship between the P4K and the Micro Studio Camera 4K G2.
So, 0dB and 18dB would equate to the Pocket 4K's dual native ISO values of 400 and 3200 respectively.
 

Yup! That's why I rated it as one my camera releases of note from 2023: 
 

It's late 2023 already?? Where did the year go!! Scary, scarier than Halloween was. 
Just limiting ourselves to cameras released within the past year? 
The easy top three cameras of note for me released in 2023 are: 
Sony FX30 (came available for sale in stores later 2022, so just barely-ish squeaks in here if you look at the past 12 months or so). Is the latest S35 cinema camera from Sony, and also their most affordable one ever!
The L Mount camera from Blackmagic. Finally, another mirrorless mount cinema camera from BMD! Been a long time since the P4K was released. 
Blackmagic Design Micro Studio Camera 4K G2. It's a big upgrade from the previous Micro Studio Camera, especially for film shooters as it's now so much more than "just a studio camera". If you're an OG BMPCC user who thought the BMD "Pocket" 4K was too big for you, then this Micro Studio G2 is the upgrade for you! Plus it  is cheaper than ever, is priced at sub US$1K, even cheaper than the Pocket 4K. Don't be fooled by the "Studio" in its name, yes it is packed full of studio specific features, but in a way this is also their new "Micro Cinema G2" camera as well. 
 
Opening it up to any cameras that exist? Then "it depends", just whatever is suitable for the job at hand. 
Even a super old Sony EX3 might be the right buy for me these days. 
Although I think I'm going to sell my Sony FS7 soon, and just not buy anything else for the foreseeable future.  Juggling working kinda full time in the Sound Dept plus studying CompSci full time too, means there simply is not enough hours left in the day to devote to chasing down camera gigs too and developing my craft. I've done very little of that this year. 
And I think if I ever do try to take the camera side of things (rather than an exclusive focus on the Sound Dept) more seriously, then I think I'll be doing one of three options: 
1) just shooting ultra low budget indie drama stuff, not really caring too much about the money, simply doing it for the love of it, and whatever 
That means buying one of: 
Going fully nuts and getting an ARRI ALEXA Classic, splurging an amount that doesn't make any financial sense at all (but the Alexa Classic is so dirt cheap these days, it's not that much to indulge in as a hobby passion. Many people spend more on golf / fishing / drag racing / Ironmans ) 
Going more sensibly low budget with a Blackmagic (be it a dirt cheap P4K or BMD Micro Studio Camera G2, or a secondhand URSA Mini Pro) 
Or continue my love affair with CineAlta, and get a dirt cheap Sony PMW-F55. 
2) going into the multicam live streaming niche, this probably is where the overlap of my skillset / personality and business opportunities overlap to make the most sense from a financial perspective 
Which means one of these options:
Buying up a handful of old Sony EX3 cameras on the cheap (maybe mixing in a few other Sony models, such as my Sony PMW-F3 that I'm stll keeping)
Buying a handful of BMD Micro Studio G2 cameras. Gives a better image, gives me 4K as well. Integrates nicely with the BMD ATEM ecosystem. But it could be marginally more expensive for the whole setup, once you've rigged out the Micros with everything. And I have a lot of questionable suspicion about if even brand new BMD cameras will be more reliable than secondhand old Sony PMW-EX3 cameras. Plus a Micro vs EX3 looks less "impressively pro" at a conference / sporting event, if you care at all about client impressions. (which do actually matter a lot) 
3) going hardcore into some ultra techy geeky niche, that has relatively little competition. Such as 360VR filmmaking, although sadly 360VR turned out to be a fleeting fashion fad which these days there is no interest in. (maybe it is not too late to jump onto the hype of virtual productions such as The Mandalorian used? But that's more about massive time and money investment into computing power / workflows and huge LED walls. And not at all about cameras you'd be buying for it) But if I was to go into 360VR, then I'd do one of: 
Multiple Sony RX0mk2 cameras, for the first ever 4K 10bit and waterproof multicam rig for 360VR
Multiple ZCam E2-M4 bodies, this seems like a fairly well proven and very low cost option for high quality 360VR filmmaking. Definitely the safest bet option out of all of these I'm listing in the 360VR category. 
Multiple Sony FX30 bodies, a bit higher cost than the E2-M4, but I get to carry on a love affair with CineAlta into the 360VR world. However, this is an unproven configuration nobody else has done. And the body form factor is much more awkward than the body E2-M4 bodies. 
Multiple BMD Studio G2 camera bodies, another unproven configuration that nobody else in the world has done. But their form factor should be ideal for this, and might make for a better image quality (or at least a more familiar workflow for productions, an equally important consideration, or arguably is an even more important) than the ZCams have. But, one big benefit of this choice is I could also use these multiple Studio G2 camera bodies for multicam live streaming! Multiple revenue sources? Just need to swap out the UWA MFT lenses for B4 zoom lenses with adapters.
Multiple Panasonic BS1H camera bodies, this is the dream! It would be a low light monster, the best the world has ever seen with 360VR filmmaking (although... this means this is also an unproven configuration, as nobody has ever attempted this. But the BS1H form factor is at least good for this). Although, this is the most expensive option by far! However, the BS1H has seen such a massive drop in price recently, that if I could get a little bit of funding behind me for a 360VR web series, then this could be a viable option to go with. 
 

Sounds like a good method. 

I didn't use the color chart in a precise way, it was held closer to the camera, probably a 6ft difference. Plus I shot the color chart about 20 minutes later. That said I'd still imagine it being closer than it was. It was a room with Cyan walls, so there is a lot of tinted light going on. I am going to try it again today and make sure I do it properly and see if it makes any difference. 

A normal shooting situation would involve more pure lighting. 

Skitones are a large reason I choose to shoot with an Alexa or at least RED. Every time I have done a mixed camera situation the colorist comments on how nice the Alexa/Red skin tones look compared to 10 bit DSLRs. 
 

It does have two but with it being made for broadcast it is expressed as gain (0db and 18db in this case).

Actually, here's my nomination for best-bang-for-buck camera nowadays - the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 just announced by BM.
Here's why:
It's tiny, and fits the entire ecosystem of the previous Micro models, including battery type (Canon LP-E6) It can record BRAW up to DCI 4K60 to USB-C....    so you don't need a big expensive external recorder, you can use any old HDMI monitor you like! BM specifies 13 stops of DR, the same as all their previous cinema cameras, and up from the 11 stops they quoted for the previous Micro Studio camera It has AF (it won't be fast, but the previous BMMCC didn't have AF, and the OG BMPCC one was quite useful) It's $995! So, it's smaller and cheaper than the P4K, but appears to only have one native ISO.  Interesting.

Of course, there is a third option beyond smartphone and normal camera.
That option would be to leverage its existing tech but compromise on the thickness of the device, and include multiple cameras with various different focal lengths, light the Light L16 did.  (The L16 tried to stitch the camera images together, which didn't work well, and isn't what I'd recommend.  But it did show that you can get 16 smartphone sized camera modules into something very compact, with potentially spectacular dust and water-proofing.)

As we saw from the Venice video I posted yesterday, the main camera is broadly a good option but the other cameras tend to suffer significantly from lack of light.
If they had extra thickness they could use the same size of sensor for all the cameras, and combine it with faster lenses.  There are F1.4 smartphones out there, but we all know that lenses can be built much faster than that.  Imagine a device that's sized like a large smartphone but with the thickness of a modern camera body without the lens, and has an array of cameras including 16mm FOV, 24mm FOV, 50mm FOV, 100mm FOV, and 250mm FOV, all capable of 8K60, and all at F0.8.  Shooting all resolutions and flavours of Prores in Apple Log of course.
If Apple made a dedicated camera, it would have to be completely superior to their flagship phones, and would also have to appeal to the masses who want improved imaging and are willing to pay for it, BUT would have to fit the Apple philosophy of being elegant and simple to use.  I don't think an FX3-ish or Alexa-ish device with Apple written on the front would do that.

Yes fair enough. It's definitely got saturation coverage on the sites and channels we al look at, but I haven't seen Sony pushing it in any way. And Sony had zero influence in the production of this movie on any level. There's no way a marketing tie-in has occurred that would dictate the choice of camera. Also there was an embargo on mentioning the camera until after release, and the film bombed lol.
I think the channels are just insatiably curious about what happened here and the crew are prepared to talk.
I noticed poor old Atomos doing an interview with Oren though, trying to get some publicity while they stave off bigger issue like avoiding being delisted on the ASX. Viva ProRes Raw! (Ironically an Apple codec but you wouldn't know it).
Edit: I could be misunderstanding the marketing comments. It has definitely played into the marketing of the film, but with caveats such as after the release. And ultimately that marketing would never dictate the choice of the camera.