Geoff_L

57 minutes ago, ND64 said:

A lot of EU regulations happened in that period tho, and regulations are costly. 

Yes but not to that point where we are at now, right? I'm looking to buy a car right now, and I've read several times on a french reddit sub dedicated to cars, stories of people selling their cars several thousands € more than the price they paid for it 2 or 3 years ago. The used market is absolutely crazy.

I think that what we witness now in the camera industry (more higher hand models that cost more and more) also applies to cars etc. The new Dacia Bigster (that name... I read it everytime with a Monthy Python type of accent ahah) starts from 25.000€, base model with wheels and steering wheels and the motor from a moped (yes it a lot cheaper than, say, a Rav4. But there is a world of difference between both, and Dacia reliability went downhill recently). Skoda prices have also risen significantly.

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

I just think action-cam stuff belongs on a different website, and a different forum.

EOSHD is about mirrorless cameras, cinema cameras and occasionally the odd smartphone.

It's not about extreme sports shooting.

And what about gopro as odd cinema camera replacement to shoot dwarfs extreme barrels sports😬

Cool, one step closer to completely unburden us, humans, from all those unnecessary skills of ours.

.

11 hours ago, MrSMW said:

Zero issues.

To be fair, my issues have not so much been with MPB but with DHL regarding pick ups and deliveries.

Because so many drivers are sub-contractors these days and get paid peanuts, in more rural areas, they skip as many of the more distant collections or deliveries with the latter often being dumped at some collection point 10-15km away, or undelivered with claims that the recipient was not in to sign.

But in recent times, it seems these sub-contracts have been taken over by the post office and they simply deliver or collect on their normal rounds.

MPB themselves have downgraded me on a couple of items I have sold to them but have equally, upgraded quite a few.

Prices can be a bit all over the place and based on what I am not sure.

At one point a year or so back, Canon R3's were well over 5k and as a result, I decided against and bought something else...only for the prices to go under 4k within weeks. I pondered that for a while and made a business case for Canon, but all units were sold out by then and when they had new stock (I set up an alert), back over 5k again!

I had same condition S5ii trade price of around 1k one week and below 700 the following week...

My 3 lenses that completed this years kit though, all exactly as expected and will be in use in a few weeks time.

Good to hear thanks 🙂
Concerning deliveries, I can certainly relate as I've lived most of my life in rural areas in the French mountains. I worked at a public administration which was open from 8 to 17, and I remember experiencing the infamous "recipient was not in to sign" ahah. Drove us crazy, especially the reception secretaries who often stayed on expressly during lunch time in order to collect parcels. But back then it was still "La Poste" who was in charge (often relying on temporary workers though).

I've lived abroad for the last 3 years and have just moved back to France, and I kind of discover this wave of "sub-contractor drivers". I can see them jumping from door to door in their Hertz renting van and sometimes using an old "La poste" jacket who has seen more sunsets than Michel Drucker (I hope you picked up our national running jokes 😅). Still, I'm temporary located in a city and they seem to do a great job from what I see and hear (and I've had only nice and "friendly" encounters with them). Just feel annoyed for them when i see them carrying a mountain of Prime boxes for the old timers next door who appeared to have been hooked with the almost hidden check box "click here if you're absolutely sure that, despite the fantastic offer on Prime, you want to say no to such an incredible offer, and at the same time, no, we've changed our minds, if you click here you solemnly declare your willingness not to refuse what we've said and you've probably now forgotten." on the Amazon page prior to pay your order.

Anyway, we'll see. I now only have to decide on what gear to buy !

On 4/2/2025 at 10:21 AM, MrSMW said:

Well I just ordered the 3 new used prime lenses I need for this year for my S9, an 18, a 50 and the 85.

I'd rather have gone for the 100 over the 85, but as they are about twice the price...and those 18's aren't exactly cheap!

Let's hope my delivery turns up!

It's DHL rather than MPB from this point forwards and with delivery they are usually 'OK', but absolutely terrible with pickups.

So, how did it turn out? I might order from them (delivery to France also), but not really sure...

1 hour ago, MrSMW said:

Sorry for wasting everyone's time 😘

Ahah, absolutely not! Haven't posted here for a while, but I visit and read every day. And I have to say I enjoy following your journey/"péripéties" (plus, being a French myself and living abroad, there is something nice to spot your little "expat rants" 😁 ).
It reminds me I'm not the only one to be completely entangled in these gear considerations! I've been without a camera for the past 3 years, except my phone and my wife's LX100 and A6600 I can borrow from time to time (I'm compensating in the meantime with audio stuff, using my Zoom F3 and AT BP4025 + Clippy EM272 for nature ambient sound).

And now that I have spared enough money to afford new gear, I'm conflicted between my past experience and what I want, like you with your S1H example. The cameras I used for the past 10 years were X-T2, GH4, Z6 and Pana S1. My experience and my use case (photo + video, often in the mountains) asks for lightweight gear and limited footprint. Loved my S1 for all it's qualities, but it was a pain to use due to the size and weight and resulted in it often left at home. The cameras I enjoyed the most using were X-T2 and Z6. So now, I'm eyeing either a Z6 iii or a Z8, like really, but the size of Nikon lenses + Z8 deter me a bit. Yeah, I almost bought the Z8 with the EU rebates, but decided against after reading my field notes from my last "expeditions", finding myself complaining too much about the S1 size and weight 😆And reading your experience now with the S1H, I'm glad I did not choose this path.

If I rationalize a little and look at my needs, Sony makes the most sense, especially with the new 16-25 f2.8 and 24-50 f2.8 zooms (+ the primes, the new 70-200 f4 macro v2 etc.). But I'm not a fan of using my wife's A6600, and the joy to shoot is really far from what I recalled with Fuji and Nikon. I also eyed Canon, with the R6 ii, but only the 70-200 f4 is interesting to me, their lens line-up lacking, amongst others, wide-angle primes (like the Viltrox 16 1.8 for Sony and Nikon, or even the 20mm 1.8 primes in both mounts).

So, yes, it helps me reading your brainstorming and back and forth!

Hi everyone,

Hope you don't mind that I share with you this new documentary about Blade Runner ("Blade Runner, beyond the fiction). It's available until June 26 and broadcasted on the French/German channel "Arte". You can watch it in French or German, subtitled, or in English (there are also subtitled in Spanish and Italian). I believe you can't watch it outside of Europe, but with a good vpn...
It was pleasant to watch, and I know many here especially @Andrew Reid could also be interested. Scott, actors and people who worked on the film are interviewed and share their views, their opinions on the impact of the movie and what it forecasted of our present.

https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/089086-000-A/blade-runner-au-dela-de-la-fiction/

Cheers !

Well, another one concerning the R6...He explains that the camera warns for overheating without being hot (while the R5 got really hot). Worst, he did not figured out how to cool it down, as the camera is not hot, so no indication of where he needed to... cool it, hm (this is what I understood, but maybe I got wrong, my English understanding being far from perfect). Hm, Andrew's assertions come to mind, the R6 being far from the R5 in terms of embarked technology prone to overheating. So, basically, you have to shoot in 1080, and cross your fingers for a firmware update.
Too bad, this camera is really appealing to me and tick a lot of boxes on paper. But it is really hard to justify for the asking 2600€ (!!!) body only price.
 

14 hours ago, Snowfun said:

Yes, I live in Saariselka in Northern Finland (250km north of the arctic circle)  over the winter. The downside of aurora filming in Finland is the lack of interesting scenery! The fjords and water of Norway offer so much more.  A lovely part of the world! Enjoy - let’s hope we get decent activity and clear skies.

Oh nice ! Indeed, not the impressive scenery as some parts of Norway but, seriously, a true winter wonderland ! That is my favourite thing in winter : forests of snow trapped trees, big cold, more clear skies, northern lights... You must spend great winters there ! Plus, the eastern boundary of Finland is a paradise for wildlife if you are into that.

So, shouldn't money be raised and gave to magiclantern, in order to reform the past team and hack this to give us something usable 😄 ?
Concerning the "it is not a professional video camera" argument (or excuse), something is worth mentioning : at forums, especially dpreview, everybody was complaining that canon gave the camera to videographers/ youtubers to review, thus the first infos we had were almost only on the video side of the camera. They were desperate to find a proper photography oriented review. In France, one of the biggest video youtubers came back to canon, from sony, and was given the r5 to make videos, review, long lives etc.
So yeah, "not a professional video camera", but, as Andrew said, a heavily marketed "video camera", gave to videographers by canon to review.

23 minutes ago, Snowfun said:

Where do you go to do this filming? 

Norway for the most part, and Sweden (mostly in the mountain region between Sarek National park and Abisko). But as I will soon move to Norway, I will be glad to discover Finland (where you are I believe ?) !

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Interesting, I hadn't yet read that the S1 IBIS beat out the Z6 IBIS
 

At least, by comparing z6 + 24-70 f4 and s1 + 24-105. I find a lot more micro jitters with the former combination. I have similar scene to compare them with, especially static shot with wind, and the S1 footage are better in that regard.
That was the top feature that sold me on the s1, and it did nit disappoint! 
I know what I will loose by going the a7s iii route, but the gain are more important to me (especially lenses, extreme low light, and less bulkiness).

42 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

So based on youtube reviews the A7S III its IBIS is worse then the R5, what about the panasonic s1? I am planning on using EF lenses btw. Is the ibis system of the A7S III still the same as the A7III/A7S II? (which wasnt that great vs gh5/S1H)  

IBIS on S1 is really incredible. It was better than my former Z6, which was better than A7iii in many tests. I read that it is on par with the GH5 one. With careful use, plus a dual-is enabled lens, like the 24-105, plus a touch of digital stab with resolve, I had almost completely locked-on shot. Using EF lenses is not good, really. You'll find a MC-21 compatibility list (from many user reports) here : https://www.tttphotography.com/sigma-mc-21-ef-l-lens-adapter-compatibility/
I used it with a Canon 100-400 L iii and a 50 1.8 stm. Franckly, the 100-400  performs very well, even with the TC 1.4 iii attached. The 50 1.8 is so so, so does the 200 f2.8 ii I also tried (it goes back and forth before acquiring AF). To keep in mind : no continuous AF with this castrated Sigma adapter.
In short, for photography, it is miles from what we can see with Sony and Sigma MC-11. For video, it is a bit useless, outside the "single AF" before shooting type of use. There is a new electronic adapter (viltrox if I remember, but not sure) ; I read that is better than Sigma on many lenses.

 

I just watch the latest Armando Ferreira's video and... this is really unbelievable, really... I am debating between R6, A7Siii and Z6 and, for a hybrid still/video use, the R6 and R5 seem more and more of little interest. Basically, after a video filled with overheating problem experiences, their sum up, as I understand it, is : R5 4k HQ is great, but it overheats ==> so you are forced to use regular 4k, which is bad ==> so the R6 comes to the rescue, as its 4k is better than the regular R5 one ==> but it also overheats ==> and so on... (and all that, I believe, without a heavy photography use between video takes !)
I still have time to make a decision, but it's a shame as the R6 is a sweet spot if you don't need high mega pixels sensor but good high iso performance and good videos...

I am a stranger to the Sony system (last cameras were Fujis, Nikon Z6 and Pana S1), but not to the "colour war" as we can't watch YouTube or browse forum without being drowned into it. Anyway, I like to remember that the last season of  "A Skier's Journey" serie was shot years ago on an A7S ii. I believe the makers are really talented story tellers and know what to do with an image. The serie was highly praised and, honestly, concerning, colours, hm...
As I am contemplating the new A7S iii for these type of content (+ real time northern lights), this is just a remembering...

18 minutes ago, Ashit Tandon said:

Hmm.. The Sony actually looks as good if not better than the R5 in this comparison video

 

Yes, I agree and, finally, with the overheating issue, we have an explanation of why canon skintones tend to the red 😁

1 hour ago, gethin said:

Agree. The z6 is nearly this. But the af is totally amateurish, as is the codec. 

Add to your list 15ms readout.  (And 13.5 stops dynamic range in stills minimum)

 

 

I had a z6 before my actual Panasonic S1. I believe, with the latest firmware update, the af is miles ahead than what it used to be. @Jordan Drake rates video AF very highly, and I came across comparisons with the A7iii, and the z6 is not extremely far from it (at least for my needs, which exclude eyes af, and also compared to my S1). For the codec, same thing, it punches higher than its weight. In fact, I am right now browsing "old" footages I took with it, and play with them in resolve to compare with my S1 10bit. The nikon flat profile, as frequently reported, is very good. Sure, as you point out, it is weak compared to other offerings, but it quite good. To be honest, as I browse my old footages, I find more pleasing images than with my S1. I don't know, despite the very robust specs of the S1, and the image quality, there is something in the Z6 image that I find lacking in the S1 (a bit of "soul" maybe). So yes, if nikon could raise the next Z models to the level of offering of the competition (codec and better AF like you said), it could be a beast.
I forgot about the lenses, but the Z line-up is really good, and more interesting  for me than the RF and L. Plus, as I shoot with tele, the 300pf and 500pf have no competition...

Ps : the battery problem on the S1 drove me crazy, to the point I am gonna get rid of it (plus the overall bulk and the af, that I now need, and I did not back when I bought it), and i am contemplating going back to the Z6 of entering the Sony system.

OK, I think I have enough of this ! Just picked up my S1, turned it on, check the battery indicator : 64%.
Great, so I mount my 24-105, turn the camera on, and start to play with the autofocus. 1 minute later, the camera shutdown with "low battery" message. I took a picture, cause the lcd displays this message, while the small top screen displays 3 remaining bars !
This is crazy, and I think I'm gonna get rid of it asap. I can only use 30% of a battery, which weight 110gr !! I accept the weight of the system, but carying multiple 110gr batteries that power my camera for only a small time... might as well buy a canon R6 : the overheating would let me shoot more than pany s1 and its batteries ahah.

No, seriously, I might go back to a nikon Z6 + a dedicated video camera (bmpcc4k, gh5s...). Oh, wait, why not a R6, as I will soon move to live to the arctic (no joke 😄) !

A dumb question for the vnd adapter users : is there a covering removable part for when you do not want to use the vnd (I think in a photo/video use) ) ? Thanks !

Great, thanks Andrew ! Now, let us hope Panasonic will do the same for the S serie !

17 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

That´s a tricky one for professional projects or projects where others rely on dependable tools. @Geoff_L Thank you for your input! I will see what I will do with mine. Image and ergos and mount are just too good to let go. Will give me some thinking and maybe some tinkering, if I keep it. cheers

You are right, I am not a pro (yet 😄 ) so I will wait to see how the situation evolve... but I will have an eye on the next canon bodies, because half of my lenses are EF. As you said, image and ergos are so good, and Sigma will surely announce more lenses, so waiting may be a good thing. The camera has no problem other than that (ah, yes, the sd card door... feels unfinished, as many have reported, but I fixed it by using a smallrig cage eheh).

Oh, and on the photo side, because I use it for 50/50, it is a pure joy also !

Someone raised again the problem in the facebook group : https://m.facebook.com/groups/330013897545969?view=permalink&id=681491229064899&anchor_composer=false
 

There are already many answers... Something is really wrong with Pana S serie and batteries !

yesterday, I put a freshly charged battery in my s1 and grabbed a notebook. I will monitor what's going on every day or ywo days !

Some news :

I did not really use my S1 for weeks, but let a battery inside. Do not remember the % of the battery when I put it in, but I regularly checked the remaining juice while grabbing the camera from time to time. Last week, When we discussed the problem here, I checked and the battery indicator was at more than 20% remaining (and weeks before more than 30/40%). I just checked it, now, and "no battery power remaining", the camera stopped. So, I think there is indeed a real issue (the guy at dpreview, in the link posted before, investigated it more), we are many to face this, and my 5 batteries are originals and not used a lot.

Very annoying, because the camera uses a lot of power and dries the battery quickly. So having 20% cut from the battery's full power is not very good...