newfoundmass

35 minutes ago, Chamsom said:

Canon is playing a marketing strategy. They get beginners with a cheap 50mm and then now you're stuck in their proprietary system paying multiple times that amount. I think they might take the low profits on that in exchange for absurd profits as the user grows with their system.

 

I understand, but it doesn't change the point. 

The L-mount's weakness, re: lenses, is on the telephoto side. Panasonic lenses tend to be significantly bigger than their Sony counterparts. Panny lenses also tend to be a bit on the more expensive side, BUT they are very well made. 

HOWEVER, those 1.8 primes are real nice and I very much like how they are all pretty much the same size and weight. I just wish they were either cheaper, or faster. While their build quality isn't as nice, one thing I like about Canon is how affordable their 1.8 primes are. Their 50mm 1.8 is only $149.99 while Panny's 50mm 1.8 at $374.99 (Sony's is $248 FWIW.) 

I think in the next year the lens gap will close. Right now they're where Sony was 5 or 6 years ago, when lens selection was a big negative for Sony. 

Again, I won't post the video cause I know Andrew isn't fond of him, but Kai W. also did tests with the Sigma adapter and Canon EF lenses and the results were excellent. It's at about the 22 minute mark in his video. Quite impressive. 

2 hours ago, D Verco said:

You might enjoy his comedy but it's a cop out to excuse his garbage reviews as comedy. 

Walking around the suburbs with a camera at arms length, squinting at a 3" screen doesn't qualify as real world usage or review worthy. 

He openly admits he has no clue what he's doing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

49 minutes ago, herein2020 said:

Truly incredible camera, they took what was already my favorite camera and made it perfect by fixing the AF. I do hope its not too little too late. If that AF system had shipped with the original S5 there is a strong possibility I would be all in on Panasonic right now for both photos and video. 

I am still not sure though if CAF works with the Canon EF adapter, if not then EF lens owners would still need to buy L mount lenses to really take advantage of the AF.

I watched Gerald Undone's review of the S5II, the one big thing I wish he had tested was the additional stability option which was Boot IS option which I believe uses AI and additional processing for stability.  I really wanted to see if it was anywhere near GoPro's level of stability.

I think the perfect hybrid might finally exist and it is the S5II, my absolute only gripe would be having to buy L mount lenses and for me having already gone all in on Canon its too late for me to turn around. It is definitely a great time to be a photographer and/or videographer no matter what system you choose.

Did you watch the Tony Northrup video? He used the Canon 24-70 f2.8 with the Sigma adapter, and it worked really well I thought. He moved back and forth, did the "put the object in front of the camera to focus" deal all these people love (that I hate), and had it wide open because he's all about da TONEH!

17 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Watching the microwave over his shoulder after he put on the 24/1.4L, it sure looked a bit like it was pulsing to me, similar to what I'd expect from their previous cameras with DFD.  It's not a surprise since (as far as I know), the MC-21 doesn't advertise supporting PDAF with Canon lenses and I'd be shocked if it did.  I'd be less shocked if it supported it with Sigma EF lenses.  I seem to recall that the MC-11 supported PDAF with Sigma lenses on Sony E, but I ditched all of my Sony stuff a while ago.

Maybe we watched different videos, because I didn't notice much, if any pulsing at all. There was focus breathing, which was more obvious than when he was using native lenses, but that has more to do with the Canon lens and the fact that Tony insists on shooting wide open due to his love of toneh. 

44 minutes ago, D Verco said:

This guy hasn't made any quality work ever. At least Gerald has the technical side down. This guys has neither. 

He's funny when he's not being an anti-vax/conspiracy weirdo. I've actually learned a bit watching him use cameras that he doesn't completely know how to use, as it has helped show limitations other channels overlook, among other things. 

It looks like you will be able to upgrade the S5II to get some (but not all) of the features of the S5II X.

Also Geeky Nerdy Tech is in Australia, where it's summer, and says there's no overheating issues, which is nice.

I won't post the video because I know Andrew really, really doesn't like him, but Tony Northrup tested the S5II's autofocus with the Sigma EF to L adapter and it worked really well. 

1 hour ago, Amazeballs said:

Its kind of cool to see that Pana have sent a review copy to Camera conspiracies 🤤

The fact that new Pana AF is beating the shit out of Canon AF is kind of amazing. Did not expect that.

Has Panny boy ever implemented anything that wasn't at a top level though? Obviously it has gotten significantly better, but when you look at their implementation of IBIS, for example, it was always class leading. Even autofocus, before everyone switched to phase detect, was better than or at least on par with the competition (minus Canon and their PDAF, which beat everyone.) At this point I pretty much expect Panny boy to deliver on whatever new tech or improvements they make.

Me after watching all the S5ii coverage... 

"Panny boy... you did it!"

Yeah, I never bothered trying out my c-mount lenses for that reason and have debated selling them. You'd think it would be pretty easy to implement crop modes like BM has done, but I'm guessing they just don't see the demand or appeal.

So I just completed a trade with MPB and I actually am quite satisfied. What really impressed me is that they actually paid me MORE than the original quote, because they judged that my equipment was in better shape than I did! So in addition to getting a S5 I actually ended up getting about $200 more!

I made a bit less than if I would've sold it on eBay or myself, but it was so easy and convenient that it was worth it to me. Just thought I'd share.

😉

4 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

Here is an example for you - Tamron 28-200 2.8-5.6 which in m43 equivalent would be 14-100 1.4-2.8 and its only 550 grams. You just cant get anything similar on a MFT system. Olympus 12-100 F4 weights the same. F4 vs 1.4-2.8 pretty substantial right? Or Samyang 24 1.8 - 230 grams (12mm F0.9 on MFT - good luck finding such a lens at this weight envelope and with a working AF). Even Tamron 17-28 F2.8 weight 420 grams - again, nothing similar on MFT. So in terms of weight and size - I dont see any real advantage except telephoto, though I guess Tamron could start making F8 lenses which would be resonalby compact (like Canon did). 

You're comparing lenses that don't exist to ones that do. A f2.8 is a f2.8 regardless of whether the lens is M43, APS-C or Full Frame. You can add all the qualifiers you want, it doesn't change the fact that the full frame equivalent to most M43 lenses are substantially heavier AND more expensive. Let me know when you find a 24-70 with a constant f2.8 that is even remotely close to the 12-35 f2.8 in weight. Ditto the 35-100, or the 100-300mm f/4-5.6. 

4 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

So again, if someones wants DOF than MFT is not that exciting.

It's easy to get shallow DOF with M43 except when shooting ultrawide unless the lens has a close focusing distance. It is insane that people discredit an entire system in part because it isn't easy to get enough toneh.

3 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

I really dont see much of the size advantage for m43 xameras this days. Take a Sony a7c coupled with Samyang tiny primes or Tamron zooms and m43 just cannot compete. Yes they need to minimize the cameras but the lenses.. its physics, they wont be able to do anything about it. And yes, not eveyone is obsessed with shallow DOF anyway. For macro shots its a problem actually. But I think with current advancements in deep learning/neural networks it might be soon achievable to blur the background in post, we can already do it with depth maps in Davinci and if you already have some background separation with a natural bokeh it should be easier to expand on that with AI produced one. 

A lot of us don't like Sony cameras, and there are no comparably small full frame versions of the 12-35 and 35-100. For the 12-30 it's 305 g vs. 835 g for full frame equivalent. The 35-100 is 357 g vs. 1480 g for the full frame equivalent. Once you get into telephoto primes you're dealing with a significant size difference again compared to their M43 counterparts.

It's always weird when people insist there's no size advantage when I'm both a M43 and full frame shooter. There is such a huge difference, not in the bodies, but the lenses. 

I haven't given up hope on M43, and I still believe in the promise of it, but Panasonic needs to push the boundaries of size/specs. To me a camera the size of the GX85 with the abilities and performance of an upgraded GH5 II would be very tempting. 

The performance gap has narrowed between M43 and full frame, with IBIS being the main advantage at this point. But the added weight of lenses that I've had to deal with, I can't say that I enjoy that one bit. It's why I kept a GH5 and some lenses for my 3 camera kit. I didn't truly appreciate how tiny the 12-35 and 35-100 were until handling L-mount lenses, let alone the tiny lightweight primes! 

The ball really is in Panasonic's (and OMD, I suppose) court. If they offer a compelling option I think it can be successful, but I think it requires a compete re-evaluation of what they think M43 can be. 

4 hours ago, SRV1981 said:

Great questions. I live in NY and heat isn’t an issue!   Mostly run and gun docs for education and sports. Some sports and travel too personal not professional work.  The biggest concern for fx30 is the ISO performance vS A7iv and poor photo ability in fx30. 

I think the FX30 does pretty well in low light. But I think you'd be fine with the A7IV. 

I'm biased towards the S5 though. 🙂

What kind of video are you doing? Will you be filming long takes? Do you live in a warmer climate? The A7IV does have some overheating issues. However, if you aren't shooting long takes (say longer than 30-45 minutes at a time) or aren't in a hot climate, you'll probably be fine.

The FX30 eliminates overheating issues like that, which is why you'd want to go that direction if you're primarily a video shooter. It's a video ("cinema" 😏) camera, so it's meant to be a reliable video camera.

Yeah, at this point in camera development I think resolution is less an issue you'll have and really just shooting at an appropriate shutter speed and hitting focus is what you'll need to worry about.

8 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Can it be done? Yes and I'm surprised more are not doing it.

Especially for social media use. The examples above aren't amazing by any stretch, especially given the lighting, but the performers will often geek out over the shots and use them on their social media accounts too. No one seems to notice, or really care, that they are stills taken from a video file. Most people at our level in pro-wrestling are using pictures taken on phones, and I'd argue our stills from videos look better than most pictures taken on a phone because they still have the characteristics of a larger sensor image.

4 hours ago, SRV1981 said:

If most photos are of athletes and friends and family (some motion but mostly static), could a user prioritize video in a camera and pull screen grabs for social media and a few prints ?

I would say, if you're not a pixel peeper, then absolutely. Motion though might be a problem, depending on your shutter speed. Here are some stills I took from a pro-wrestling event I filmed on the 3rd that I used for promotional purposes on social media. These are from 8-bit 4K 30p video files using a 180 degree shutter angle shot on the S5 with zero editing outside of the watermark. We don't have a professional photographer taking photos (a lot of pro-wrestling events of this size don't since it's not in the budget) so we use stills like this instead. Obviously they aren't perfect, but for social media they are more than adequate, and depending on the shot a 4x6 print would be fine. Static subjects will of course work even better!

It should also be noted that 4K & 6K photo modes on Panasonic cameras are essentially just video files that allow you to pick a frame.

11 minutes ago, SRV1981 said:

what’s the most challenging part of manual focus for run and gun you think? I was considering a7iv, xh2s, and s5

The most challenging part is just getting used to manual focusing. It can be intimidating at first, but it's really not that difficult. It's pretty easy with focus peaking and with cameras that allow you to set the focus to linear so that you can repeat focusing consistently (a very underrated feature of the S5 after years of using the GH5.) 

Manual focusing is such a rewarding experience, at least it is for me. I like that feeling of control. 

On 12/29/2022 at 3:21 AM, MrSMW said:

Marginally…in some cases. 

Some of the Sigmas are in fact better!

I do think L Mount has one of the strongest lens lineups available now with perhaps only Sony having stronger?

Not including old(er) ef Mount.

If the new rumored AF is good, then ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest we’re going to have an extremely strong system.

This is speculation, but I'm guessing the primes do better than the zooms? I really debated picking up two 28-70 f2.8 but I ended up getting two of the 24-105 f4 Panny lenses because of the ability of having dual IS.

5 minutes ago, SRV1981 said:

Why fx30 over a7iv? 

I think a lot of folks would go with the FX30 over the A7IV because it's more video focused and won't overheat. It's a very compelling option if you're not obsessed with full frame. 

If the X-T4 had better IBIS and didn't have the recording limits I probably would've switched as I was in decent position to do so when it came out. Then COVID dragged on and killed my year, so I am glad I didn't! But I am quite fond of those Fuji colors straight out of the camera, though I am pretty pleased with the S5's colors. I'm glad that I ended up with the S5.

The X-T4 has IBIS, but it's not very good. If you decide to go that route I'd honestly probably just get the X-T3 since there wasn't much different between the two outside of that.

I'm biased, but I'd go with the S5. I prefer the look of the video out of the three, and it takes very good photos too.