MrSMW

I concur and have had the RX100v and currently have the ZV1.

Well 2 weddings in approx 2 weeks time, 1 remaining Sep that has not postponed/cancelled and ditto 1 Oct so the absolute max for this year will be 4 from what should have been 30. Still better than last years 1 single job that actually happened! The only thing you don’t have really with another S5 is unlimited recording which personally doesn’t bother me, even with a church ceremony as at a convenient point, I just press stop and then immediately start again. Or you can just drop to 8 bit I think which for something static…?? An S5H with even a modest AF improvement would be killer…except Panasonic Lumix continue to frustrate me in a couple of areas… The AF, or perception of, is of course their principal Achilles heel. The negativity and misconception especially on YouTube is so grossly wrong but Panny have done nothing in my eyes to address this. Which leads into their marketing in general, but especially with YouTube which just cannot be ignored or underestimated these days. Compared with all the other major brands, they are by far the weakest in the area of marketing. Add AF to marketing and no wonder their sales are lowest if the big 5. And then these 4 prime lenses… 85 first was a bit odd. I would have gone 35, 50, 24, 85…or better still, just launched them all together. WTF is taking so long?! Had they been available, I would have bought all 4 and used the pairing of 24 + 50 indoors and 35 + 85 out. They look visually a bit crap, but the performance is superb, especially for the money. But I have been driven into the arms of Sigma. Drop .2 of a stop in aperture, but real world the f2’s are the same. Looks are a personal thing, but IMO they visually look superb as is the quality of image coming out of them. The 28-70 gets mixed reviews. It seems the Sony users/reviewers seem to rate it anywhere from average to good but L Mount users as good to excellent. I love it and use it as a twin prime lens using it only as a 28 or a 70 indoors (takes some self-discipline!) or in APSC crop mode outdoors as a ‘40mm’ or a ‘105mm’ with the crop only being in camera and then in post if you want it (with stills) because of course with raw, you are getting the FF file to work with. It’s not quite as ‘jewel like’ as the 35mm f2 or 65mm f2, but not far off and the zoom extension is very minimal. I hate externally zooming lenses! In conclusion, as I said above, Lumix continue to frustrate me as a company. On paper and I think in reality, they do have the best pound for pound cameras currently available in the S5 and the S1 line, but they only have themselves to blame sales-wise they are not sitting at the top table with Sony & Canon.

I have read in several places that I cannot quote…because I can’t remember where, that the S1H has a different sensor to the S1 and S5 (and obviously the S1R). The available info all seems a bit sketchy and Secret Squirrel when it comes to sensors.

If it was my decision, I’d go pair of S5’s as I prefer to use matching kit for all the reasons…except in my case that would be a pair of S1H’s with the S5 moving into the role of static longer stuff mainly. But with this year as it is, I am still running the ‘mismatched’ pair of S1H and S5. I did a 10 hour event a few weeks back exclusively with the 24-105 and really liked the combo…except for size. This was hybrid coverage and for the video side especially, handheld throughout, the OIS + IBIS combo was brilliant. I then did an actual wedding myself! A real actual wedding after 46 postponed/canceled jobs, albeit just a small local affair. I went with the combo of 28-70 as my primary lens on the S1H and 20-60 on the S5 and shot 95% of the day on the former, the S5 and 20 end only being for a handful of super wide shots. This was a stills only job. But in approx 2 weeks, I have some proper weddings finally… A 3 day hybrid job followed by a 2 day stills only event and I have nailed down my kit combo now for these as follows… On the right hip, pulling video biased duty, is the S1H with Sigma 35mm f2 indoors switching to 65mm f2 out. Because I shoot 4k 50p, these lenses are more like using a 50mm and a 100mm which is the perfect fixed focal length indoor/outdoor pairing for me. On the left hip, pulling stills biased duty, is the S5 with Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 pretty much all the time except when I need a wide angle when I will switch it for the 20-60. With another 3 more jobs max the rest of this year, I can’t justify another S1H until next Spring and then the full line up will be: S1H with Sig 35mm f2, hybrid. S1H with Sig 65mm f2, hybrid. S5 with either 20-60, 28-70, 24-105 depending on specific need such as in the hand for occasional wide angle stills or mainly static, unmanned, on a tripod recording up to 30 mins. There is no place in my bag for the Sigma 45mm f2.8 and probably not the 28-70 either which is a shame as it’s probably the best all round lens after the 24-105, but I prefer primes. I don’t think I’d use the 24-105 at weddings and really only keeping it in the car as an all purpose backup lens and for personal landscape work in the mountains. The only potential change to the line up might be if Panny popped out an SH2 or an S5H for sale before the end of March 2022, but otherwise another used S1H it will be and I will run the above combo at least all of ‘22 and ‘23 for three principle reasons: 1: I am sick to death of playing around with various combos of kit which I would have been well past if this year (and last) had not been so shit, ie, the process has been dragged out far too long due to lack of opportunity and lack of finances. 2: Other than being less than stellar with forward and backwards video tracking, there is nothing else I need or want either within the system itself, or from any other manufacturer. 3: I am a big believer in nailing down the most minimalist kit that you can and then getting so familiar with it, using it becomes second nature and gets out of the way of the process of stills and video capture. OK, I need another coffee, that was a lot of typing on a phone!

I would like a digital Contax G2 please.

The stuff that wins most competitions is the “why didn’t I think of that?” material. The problem is most of us never do think of it. I know my limits and winning an international short film comp is beyond my skill set 🤪

I thought it had to be shot on a Lumix camera? I could be wrong and can't be arsed to read the rules as I won't be entering, - my skillz are not good enough to win anything, I'm a realistic bloke 😜

It is a bit weird no soundtrack, but a good prize. It is a combo I am seriously considering and all I would need for many years, especially the longer of the new lenses which for me would make my 2 ‘perfect’ focal length primes in one single lens.

There are. In France, they have dropped over 500 euros in the last 3-4 months alone. I think they were a decent price when new (around 4k) but with ‘as new’ examples now pushing 2.5k, an absolute steal. I have lusted after a Leica SL2 since it came out and more recently the SL2-S, but have come to the conclusion that the S1H is just the better camera even without the 2x price difference. Compared to everything else on the market, there just isn’t anything that comes close for my requirements. As long as you don’t need ultra-reliable forward or backward motion AF tracking, especially with non-native glass or with apertures faster than f4 (ie, with say the Panny 24-105 @ f4, it’s pretty decent). It would be a brave man or woman who took one to the Olympics.

Agreed. Intent, technique and execution will be what will achieve this look, not so much the actual choice of tools or autofocus.

The drop in between lens and body system is the best IMO. I’d like that option for L Mount very much.

Interested to see what the GH6 will be but the strongest contender for my third (and final) body for what will now be 2022, is another S1H. Though if an ‘H’ version of the S5 came out as the S1H is to the S1, I’d be all over that.

I didn’t watch it all 😉 but looks more like a requirement for; one body, one prime, one tripod and not autofocus to me…which will help you enormously with the budget.

It should do very well. I may have now had postponed or cancelled 45 (and counting) weddings, but shot various other projects and events and it’s great. OK, it became my B cam for both stills and video after getting the S1H, but the output is basically the same. I hope it went well.

Paid up member of the 90% club here. The extra 50% of; time, effort and sometimes money to get that last 10%, just is not worth it to me, especially as no one but yourself really notices what that ‘extra’ 10% could have been. Life’s too short. Or to coin a very British phrase, I can’t be arsed.

World first, right there. And there is video evidence!

Dammit. I was just heading down the bookies to put a quick tenner on this and...too late, the results have already been announced 🤑

A summary could be as follows... Who do you rate? Is it someone you has a track record in your opinion of reporting without too much bias or rose-tinted spectacles and actually has a proven track record of doing things in a similar way to you? Or are they just A. N. Other reviewer who quotes specs and opinions, never seems to shoot with the gear to back up their opinions and it's virtually if totally impossible to find any evidence of their work other than YouTube videos 'reviewing' other kit? I quite like Chris & Jordan, but only as a bit of entertainment. I wouldn't make a business purchase based on their opinion. I like Gerald. I think he's a pretty straight up guy. I wouldn't call him a filmmaker and he appears to make most if not all of his living from YouTube. And there's nothing wrong with that. And then you have McCanon and his bajillion wannabees with their 2 minute intros featuring themselves jumping off one wheels and gazing off into the distance before showing you their latest meaningless 'cinematic' B roll.. Again, no problem with that, there's a market for it and they are entitled to be sheep if they wish. I like the folks that are full-time photographers and filmmakers who simply take the time to make content every now and again, part of which at times, is gear review.

I take all reviews with a pinch of salt. All launch reviews with a very big one because of course they can say whatever they like, as long as it is mostly positive. Then there are the reviews that happen later by 'smaller' channels normally that have bought or loaned the gear. These I take with a smaller pinch of salt. Smaller because I'll still make my own mind up thanks.

You would have to ask Netflix 😜

As long as you don’t expect it to be a replacement for a gimbal, it’s superb. The IBIS on my S5 is good. I like to shoot subjects pretty statically ie, rarely track, pan, zoom or anything but allow my subject to provide any and all movement. On the S1H, it’s fantastic. If I use an OIS lens, it’s not far off a tripod and unless you cock it up, you just don’t notice any movement. In fact you don’t even without an OIS lens. I was previously an XT3 and freestanding monopod user. I am now handheld (other than long static stuff that needs a tripod obviously) and I am so much faster and have so much more flexibility to just shoot and not faff trying to get the height and the angle and the level or even to get the thing standing up by itself on an uneven surface. Gamechanger is an overused term. For me, in this instance, it isn’t. It is 100% a gamechanger.

Digressing very slightly, I rewatched The Talented Mr Ripley last night. Other than a skinny pre-Bourne Matt Damon, it hasn’t really dated other than in 2 areas. The first is the titles etc. They were/are very much of their time. The second thing was whilst it will have been shot with a cine lens, the quality of the grain/film stock was really noticeable and the night scenes almost laughable in how much they struggled to get any kind of useable light. I’m just thinking along the lines of old camera with modern lens vs new camera with older lens. I would take new camera with older lens every time and there are some really great modern, affordable (relatively) cine lenses with character. Sigma, Meike, Irix, Fuji et al. I just think we are at that point now where there is still no single ‘perfect’ camera as there is at least one compromise with all of them, but what utterly fantastic photography and filmmaking tools do we have access to, in small packages, accessible and not at outrageous expense! I couldn’t make use of a Cooke if you gifted it to me! (I’d sell it and buy an entire real world kit and go on holiday when such things are allowed again).

Well there is your problem right there. This does not exist with native Panasonic lenses or Sigma glass. Sigma is not quite as fast or accurate but it’s very little difference. And the thing about CDAF is it is a little slower by it’s nature than phase, but more accurate. For stills, there just does not need to be any issues. For général video use, not really either as long as you use the system properly and just take that little bit of extra time. It’s the fast paced stuff where it can fall down. Stills I don’t know (I wouldn’t use anything adapted personally) but for anything video, I’d only trust manual focus for adapted lenses. in short, you are asking it to fight a battle it cannot win.

I for one wouldn’t disagree with you. Stupid stupid stupid contrived business decisions that really do not deserve rewarding…but at the same time, for most users real world needs, I couldn’t disagree with you and it would be in a race…which it would likely win, with the XT4, for being my choice if the S1H didn’t exist. The win would be mostly down to the glass options.

My current pairing of S1H and S5 for hybrid use with mostly Sigma Contemporary lenses are not under-appreciated by me! I haven’t had a wedding for 11 months now (and that was the first after 9 months without one…and as someone who normally shoots 25-30 a year) but I have been shooting a number of small commercial projects plus 6 ‘styled wedding’ shoots in the last few weeks and the quality of both the stills and the video blows me away every time. I still haven’t quite nailed down my exact in camera settings or exact combo of lenses etc, but very close now… The one thing I do know is that there is no other system I’d rather be using right now. The FP I wanted to love but wasn’t for me, but their lenses are. I like the idea of Leica but the reality is I’d rather have my S1H over both the SL2 and the SL2-S. No tilt screen is the main deal-breaker for me. The future… I’d like to see an S5H, ie a ‘pro’ level spec S5. The level of tactility, the screen (the way it articulates and the resolution) the build quality; the way things click and turn, the shutter sound, the EVF…the S1H is easily the best camera I have ever owned. Easily, it is just on another level. Except for tracking AF where it’s on another level. A level below other camera brands. But fortunately, although I do use AF, tracking forward motion (where it’s least reliable) is less than 5% of my needs so that is my compromise. If Panny would just build an H version of the S5 it would be perfect for me. But is it (S5/1) under-appreciated or are others just over-rated? I suspect less of the former and more of the latter.