MrSMW

It was a Uperfect and cost about 1k. I also went with a Uperfect but a smaller, cheaper and less capable one. With even further hindsight, I should have spent a little more and gone for another identical Benq for my home away from home on wheels. It will do the principle job I need it to do however which is really just a display monitor.

No video evidence (well I do but I'm not posting it) but finished my final pre-wedding season AF tests and can report that the S5 with the 20-60 is in fact 'quite decent'. My final tests today were based on it being mounted on a tripod with the Sony ZV1 hotshoe mounted for comparison. It did pretty well and was mostly reliable with all the walking towards tests. Anything else is a breeze. Tripod, 4k 50p, Natural profile tweaked to my taste, one area AF + face, speed -1, sensitivity -3, f5.6 and shot at 20mm 35mm and 60mm. I was going to test the 24-105 also but in the end decided not to because the few times I need AF and the above combo, the 24-105 is shooting stills on my S1R so of no use to me whether it's better or worse! Some folks reckon it's actually better and I suspect it might be by a small margin, but the 20-60 is OK for my needs. The combo actually BEAT the ZV1 on one occasion and that was a mock exit where I 'walked up the aisle' and the S5 tracked me perfectly and the ZV1 decided the background trees were more interested. F**k you Sony Boy! My final conclusion is this entire season of 33 hybrid shooting weddings, I'm going with: S1R 90% stills, 10% handheld or monopod video. S1H 100% manual focus handheld, monopod or tripod (ceremony) video. S5, manual focus ceremony and speeches, AF entrances, exits, confetti etc, 100% on the tripod. I did use this combo 5th of last years meagre 5 weddings and the S1H + pair of S5's combo the 4 previous so know it well enough now. Just nailed down now what is being used where, how and with what lenses as a workflow based system. Juggled with the drone, ZV1 (BTS) and Action Go 2 (timelapse). Phew 😜 Bring on the rest of '22!

Indeed. I actually use MF over 90% of the time and with the S1H, close to 100%. The only time I need and use AF is with the S5, on a tripod, entrances, exits, confetti, ie, maybe 1 minute actual shooting time during a typical 9-15 hour shoot. The S1H I can't see being anything but MF this year as that's my more 'artistic', on me at all times, filmmaking camera whereas I class the S5 in it's use (as above plus entire duration ceremony and entire duration speeches) as my video camera. But...and it's the big BUT, that 1 minute or whatever per job when I need reliable AF is what counts. And based on my most recent tests, the S5 with the 20-60 with my current latest tweaks to the AF set up is not bad at all. In fact, it worked when my back up Sony ZV1 which has excellent AF, failed. Answer? Hotshoe mount the ZV1 on the S5 for those crucial moments and double-team it! Yep, I wouldn't trade my S5 for an A7iv as it's a sideways step and personally for me, if anything, a slight downgrade in various regards except AF. The business case for the R6 is very good for anyone with EF glass. Makes complete sense. As long as you can live with the potential or even just the fear of overheeating. I reckon I could take that punt if needs be and if I shot Canon, would use an R5 for 90% stills and 10% video and use a pair of R6's purely for video, but only one would run for extended periods of time so I could...pardon the pun, hot swap them if needs be. Providing they do bring out the next gen S1/S5 line, I'd say it would be suicide to do anything less so I'd expect the AF to not necessarily be PDAF, but simply 'really quite good and reliable', plus 6k 60p full frame would be my best guess. Probably asking a bit much for them to jump to full frame 8k 60p...and I personally don't want or need it anyway. I shoot 128GB SD cards and rarely have to use a second on any wedding day and that's over a typical 9-15 hour shoot. If it's been a pretty heavy day, I might swap the cards out before evening speeches because despite the bride assuring me, "oh it will only be 20 minutes", some 1 hour 20 mins later and the light has faded plus all my additional lighting has run out... 🤪

Hmmm…how about because then I’d need to change an entire system of 3 bodies and 5 lenses, lose a shit ton of money and need to learn a whole new system? 😜 Never say never though… I came very close to flipping to a new OM-1 system but it was too risky on several levels at this point in time. Like most if not all things, it comes down to compromise and my current compromises are: A. The tracking AF isn’t the best available. B. The S1 bodies are slightly larger and heavier than I’d like. C. I cannot for the life of me get a better looking result using log than I can using my tweaked Natural profile with a mild grade using Film Convert Nitrate…and I have followed meticulously (and played with for good measure) around 1/2 a dozen ‘experts’ instruction. I think maybe when this season is over, I will pay someone to edjumicate me with my own footage and show me the error of my ways. But right now, with a packed season about to begin, I have not been able to make it work so I’m going with what does work. For me.

Ha, just been going through a similar kind of quest really… I have a decent desktop PC with a 25” Benq monitor. I have a new 14” MacBook Pro for work on the go. I shoot 50% stills and 50% video so both of equal importance. All was fine ‘on paper’ until I tried editing video in the MacBook. Screen real estate. It has nowhere near enough! So I bought a 15.6” portable monitor to use on the road (I work out of my caravan/travel trailer roughly 2 months per annum) which solved the issue as rather than a ‘mirror’, I have set it up to keep Premiere Pro tools on the MacBook and the actual video window full screen in the monitor. But then we hit another problem which is it is impossible to calibrate them to be the same. I use Xrite and you cannot calibrate a MacBook Pro with it so what I have done and do is as follows: 1: Calibrated my desktop using Xrite. 2: Manually calibrated my second monitor to resemble visually as close as is possible, it’s bigger (and better) desktop brother. It’s not perfect, but not too far off. 3: The MacBook itself I can’t get anywhere near like the second monitor or the Benq, so what I am doing instead is: A: Doing the assembly work on the MacBook Pro on the road, but stop short of grading the project and instead… B:…wait until I get back home to my office and then transfer the project to my desktop PC and do the colour grade, final tweaks, export and upload etc. Conclusion. With hindsight, I would probably have been better off going with a Mac Mini and so when I get home, plugging that into my big Benq. But it’s no biggie and the only real difference is a portable HD between the 2 systems. When my PC finally needs to be consigned to the scrap heap, I will go Mac in the studio which will provide better consistency. I have only one other option to try and that is when I get back from a job, connect the MacBook itself to my Benq. I’ll work out the most efficient and best workflow as this year progresses…

Yes I can see how that would affect you so it always comes back to the same 3 choices: 1: Give up and don’t try and fight the tide. 2: If you can’t beat them, join them. 3: Remain a beacon of resistance. I face similar choices in my business as I am well aware that newer, cheaper folk come along and approach the same venues & planners I am in with and say, “hey, I’m half the price of that guy and for every booking I get that you punt my way, I will give you 10%/x amount”. Even with some of my more rock solid venues and planners, someone gets in at some point and I drop off their radar as the work dries up. Ultimately no one gives a shit, except for ourselves. It’s just business and it has always been a fact for thousands of years that you have to go after your slice of the pie, then defend that slice as hard as you are willing to, but the one thing you will never win against is the tide. Maybe it’s not enough to occupy the moral high ground and keep your integrity but I think there is (an argument for doing so) and it then becomes a case of being niche and not mass market? I dunno and am just musing really while I loll about on a Saturday afternoon in my deck chair…

All I know about any of my cameras is that they all came with dynamic range included. ’It’ could be 7 or 17 for all I know. Are the files SOOC good to work with? Yup. Can I give it a light grade? Check. Job done, regardless of what the number someone says something is.

I’m both really smart and really stupid rolled into a single package 😛

I have 2 responses to that and they are: A: If you can’t beat them, join them. (Generic ‘you’ and what the majority seem to do, ie, mostly sip from the same can of Kool Aid) or, B: Rise above or even simply ignore the noise in the first place. I’m more of a B personally in that I consume a fair amount of what's out there, leave my thumbs up if I lasted the distance, commented if I felt I had something worthy to add, but never criticize or thumbs down anything. At least unless it was total balls and a line had to be drawn in the sand. It’s never really bothered me what the other fella is doing. Unless he’s doing it to me personally and maliciously and in a very misguided manner as he/she has no idea the comeback they are heading for ☠️ Life’s both too short and full of far more interesting things IMO.

I quite like Mr Huff and his understated enthusiasm, especially for Leica and Sigma products…though I think he might have gone off Leica recently, or for a while. Personally I don’t care what any of them get or receive from any brand. Whether they are a brand ambassador, a paid shill, an unpaid shill, a genuine enthusiast or a complete fuckwit, I take it all with a pinch of salt and make my own mind up. I think with Huff he can be a little bit ‘kid in the sweet shop’ at times over new kit, as so many can be, mainly only finding the new good stuff, but you need to live with something long term to get a more balanced picture.

It has always worked for me Kye…and it seems it still does!

I’d like to see the next model in two identical versions internally but one with a built in grip. That way we’d all have choice!

Back to Natural with a light grade using Nitrate! I’ve now tried so many different combinations and the conclusion I have come to is: The look I like the most is lightly graded Natural. The most consistent approach is lightly graded Natural. The most efficient workflow (especially important to me this year) is lightly graded Natural. I can sometimes get a better result using a more time consuming and faffing about log workflow, but for that word, ‘sometimes’. Maybe it’s just me, but for my needs & tastes, it’s a no-brainer. Plus AF is way better shooting profiles so seals the deal. I tried to be a better person, honest!

Slightly jealous of the 35-150mm f2-2.8 OK, it's a bit of a beast, but as a 'one and done' lens... I think I'd need to add a grip to balance something like that properly, but then there is a certain appeal to me of 'built in' grip bodies such as the R3 and Z9.

Same post 3x times 🤔🤪🤨

Possibility, but probably not yet…if at all. All companies have a lifespan. That’s just a historical fact. I don’t think it’s quite time yet for Panny Boy. I am sure they are working on a successor to the S1 line as development time takes years. They probably started that right after the S1/R/H launched, but these things also evolve based on all kinds of factors. When? Well that’s the question I would also like to know as it has a large bearing on where I go and what I do with my own set up because I am actively considering next years kit which is a question of timing + cost. Realistically, I can’t see them announcing any next gen S1 until at least this Autumn if not later. Or at all. I do think they will give it one more shot at least but unless they get the AF up to par, the bean counters will pull the plug on at least the full frame camera division because I do not believe that in this market they can compete otherwise. I don’t care if it’s PDAF or DFD as long as it works. The jury is still out on the AF of the GH6 with some parties saying it is better than the S5 and some saying it isn’t. I’ve seen a few tests (decent ones) and it looks little different to me, but as I always say, it’s good enough for 95% of my needs but that remaining 5% use case cannot be ignored as it is an important part of every job for me. I have absolutely nailed down my entire kit requirements on paper re. a system as a whole, bodies and lenses and as things stand, the closest to that ideal is actually an OM-1 4/3rds based system. Which I would have laughed at just 2 months ago, but is what it is.

Possibility, but probably not yet…if at all. All companies have a lifespan. That’s just a historical fact. I don’t think it’s quite time yet for Panny Boy. I am sure they are working on a successor to the S1 line as development time takes years. They probably started that right after the S1/R/H launched, but these things also evolve based on all kinds of factors. When? Well that’s the question I would also like to know as it has a large bearing on where I go and what I do with my own set up because I am actively considering next years kit which is a question of timing + cost. Realistically, I can’t see them announcing any next gen S1 until at least this Autumn if not later. Or at all. I do think they will give it one more shot at least but unless they get the AF up to par, the bean counters will pull the plug on at least the full frame camera division because I do not believe that in this market they can compete otherwise. I don’t care if it’s PDAF or DFD as long as it works. The jury is still out on the AF of the GH6 with some parties saying it is better than the S5 and some saying it isn’t. I’ve seen a few tests (decent ones) and it looks little different to me, but as I always say, it’s good enough for 95% of my needs but that remaining 5% use case cannot be ignored as it is an important part of every job for me. I have absolutely nailed down my entire kit requirements on paper re. a system as a whole, bodies and lenses and as things stand, the closest to that ideal is actually an OM-1 4/3rds based system. Which I would have laughed at just 2 months ago, but is what it is.

Possibility, but probably not yet…if at all. All companies have a lifespan. That’s just a historical fact. I don’t think it’s quite time yet for Panny Boy. I am sure they are working on a successor to the S1 line as development time takes years. They probably started that right after the S1/R/H launched, but these things also evolve based on all kinds of factors. When? Well that’s the question I would also like to know as it has a large bearing on where I go and what I do with my own set up because I am actively considering next years kit which is a question of timing + cost. Realistically, I can’t see them announcing any next gen S1 until at least this Autumn if not later. Or at all. I do think they will give it one more shot at least but unless they get the AF up to par, the bean counters will pull the plug on at least the full frame camera division because I do not believe that in this market they can compete otherwise. I don’t care if it’s PDAF or DFD as long as it works. The jury is still out on the AF of the GH6 with some parties saying it is better than the S5 and some saying it isn’t. I’ve seen a few tests (decent ones) and it looks little different to me, but as I always say, it’s good enough for 95% of my needs but that remaining 5% use case cannot be ignored as it is an important part of every job for me. I have absolutely nailed down my entire kit requirements on paper re. a system as a whole, bodies and lenses and as things stand, the closest to that ideal is actually an OM-1 4/3rds based system. Which I would have laughed at just 2 months ago, but is what it is.

99% certain it will be, “or…” I just can’t see Panny Boy popping out a new S5 in what has been under 1.5 years since it’s launch. If anything, the S1 line would come next and possibly they might merge the two as they have mentioned size themselves before. Plus the GH6 just came out and it’s a competitor for the S5 for sure. Other than the OM-1, it’s the most compared pairing. I think it’s just lower than desired sales, especially compared with Sony. I have zero evidence of that, just opinion. That is a cracking deal however!

I boarded up my windows a couple of years back.

It’s been and still is quite a polarizing situation. I suspect, as has been the case with DFD AF, there has been a lot of negative hype regarding Xtrans from people who gave it little or no time. Personally I had zero issues with it. Either because it suited me more than some others, or perhaps because I took the time. Probably both. It’s taken me a lot of time and effort to get my Lumix colour to a level I like as much as Fuji, but the length of that time has mainly been down to Covid reducing my workflow by 90%. But otherwise I think you can extract more from a FF S1/S5 file than you can any Fuji Xtrans. I can definitely report moiré from the S5 sensor, for stills anyway. The only wedding I didn’t also shoot video last year, I shot a pair of S5’s and by the law of sod, it was shiny suit day! I’m not sure if this is 100% true or not and I have no evidence either way, but I believe using a 1/8th mist reduces or eliminates moiré as it takes away some of that digital sharpness.

For me it’s only partly the megapixies… Going from APSC Fuji XT3 26mp to FF S5 24mp, I noticed a marginal difference but nothing I would call a quantifiable advantage. In fact, I’d give the nod regarding colour to the Fuji files, but that could just have been familiarity with a system I’d been working with for a long time. But the S5 had/has I reckon a good 1 stop low light advantage. The S5 purchase for me was really against an XT4 where for me in more areas, the S5/L Mount system, edges the Fuji. The files from the S1R are whole other level though. Quantifiably above 24mp FF. I have tested and used the ‘quad’ thing but the reality is it’s for certain types of landscape and studio work, not weddings. The question though re. 47mp over 24mp is would the client notice? Nope, but I do and there’s an element of professional pride and craftsmanship. I could go back to 24mp FF easily enough and maybe even 26mp (or more) APSC and APSC/S35 is the sweet spot for me for video, but I’d really struggle with going 4/3rds for stills. But if anything was going to convince me, it would be GH6 or OM-1.

I’d be quite happy to not see it or it’s like appear. Just my personal opinion, but I don’t come here for political talk. I did contribute to that thread but then thought better of it and stopped. Like Andrew says, it never ends well!

Yup, moiré can often be a wedding suit issue and when you have a whole row of fellas in them. All day… The S1 for me is the least desirable of the FF bunch followed by the S1R, but the S1R has a place in my kit because it’s stills capability is right up there with anything. It’s superb in that regard and because I paid just 1500 euros for it…!! The S1 though is not as capable as the S1H for video, equal for stills and not as small or light as the S5. If I had to pick one for everything for all 3 bodies, then the S1H. Easily. But for pure video requirements, maybe the GH6 equals or in certain areas, beats the S1H. I don’t think any 4/3rds can for stills however and it’s 50% of what I do. No kit and a reasonable pot of cash, I might go GH6 for video…but then then it doesn’t have a OLPF so actually maybe I wouldn’t. Conclusion for me is that the GH6 edges the S1H in pure filmmaking terms but the S1H probably wins for wedding videographers.

Indeed and one of the absolute bargain cameras of recent times. I never went from mine to the XT4 as I thought I would, a mixture of timing due to Covid and the launch of the S5. OK, I would rather have the battery of the XT4 and it's IBIS, but otherwise would rather have an XT3 for it's rear screen. I absolutely hate hate hate (and hate is a strong word) these flippy out rear screens. Tilt up, tilt down, in-line with the lens. Job done. It's one of my 2 big grievances with the S5: A: The non-damped shutter which the S1H and S1R have. BIG for me as a photographer. B: The flip out rear screen which I absolutely hate. BIG for me as a videographer. It keeps coming back to the same thing for me and that is no camera company currently makes my 'perfect' camera. Panny for me has be the combo of the S1R/S1H/S5 with tweaked AF as a whole, but no single body is quite right. The closest out there however. They need to have a threesome and make a child. Fuji frustrate me with my preference for the rear screen of the XT3, but the battery and IBIS of the XT4. Maybe the XH2 will solve this... OM System OM-1 ticks all my size, weight and video specs, but has a question mark over it's stills capability for my needs. Ditto the GH6 as in the video spec is even better, but for stills... I'd need to test it but don't believe it would match an S5/S1 never mind an S1R. Canon too expensive and too problematic with the overheating issues. Not really a Sony fan, but the A7iv paired with an FX3 comes closest, but the cost man, - at least double the price of my current set up to achieve what, better AF, but that's about it. Nikon. I like Nikon. They were my tools of choice for the first 10 years of my career. Film and then digital and if they can get the spec of the Z9 into the next gen Z6 and Z7, it could be an option. Leica. Great quality of video (SL2-S) and stills (both SL2 and the S), but lacking any form of tilt screen which would frustrate me as a run & gun hybrid wedding shooter. Plus the cost is waaaaaay above my pay grade. At least to go full system. Sigma? The FP-L ticks several boxes but has more boxes un-ticked than any other manufacturer. IBIS, tilt screen, 4k 50/60p, twin back up card slots, not good enough e:shutter only... How much can you give up to use something before it won't do what you need it to do no matter how much you want to like it? Ultimately it's always about compromise somewhere. I think we're so close to eliminating it, at least for my needs but not quite yet.