MrSMW

Which is a scenario I have considered, ie, book a 2 week bucket list trip to Japan and upon arrival, buy the new camera, bin the packaging, shoot the shit out of it, come home. And not pay the UK/EU import duty because we already get slammed for enough tax as it is so they can do one. And if any tax officials from the UK or EU are reading this, I do not actually have a flight booked and you can fuck off even if I did 😜

Well I go through phases of different combos and actually mostly use a Spider Holster belt AND a twin harness. The beauty of the hip set up is the weight is off your neck & upper back and on your hips, but with the added bonus that if you miss the Spider holster slot, the camera does not drop and smash into 62 bazillion pieces on the concrete floor, but dangles at the end of the strap instead. Plus you can push the camera against the strap for added stability. But…I don’t really like the harness system because it’s not great with a white linen shirt. Sooooo I have been using a 2 camera system on non-wedding days and my white linen shirts and then on wedding days, adding the harness over a navy blue shirt for that third camera. But going forward, that harness is now going into retirement as it’s strictly 2 cameras on me; one video and one stills with those other 2, strictly static. This allows me the illusion of being George Clooney at a wedding rather than a photographer at George Clooney’s wedding. And yes, I have also operated more than 4 cameras on a job… One ceremony, I had 7 🤪 Pair of GH5ii’s on a single tripod at the rear, one wide, one long. 3x Go Pros, one front left, one front right, one high up rear to one side in a tree. 2x stills cameras. Utter madness and never repeated, but you try shit and it seemed like a good idea right up until the point where it became a reality shit show 😂

I have juggled with so many combos, some of which have worked better than others and as a one man band, it always comes down to the same thing, - what is the max that you can do, and consistently, without tripping over yourself. The potential issue with 'minimalism' is that often there is no back up, but too much kit and as above, you risk over-complicating and tripping yourself up. Having 2 identical static video units being fed from 4 audio feeds is minimal set up, but maximum insurance. With a third roaming run & gun video unit, there is also extensive variety. Keeping it all within the L Mount family, adds a 4th option with the S1H being stills, but at a flick of a switch, becoming video. It's also the path of least investment financially and the fact that it is the least compromised option right now, it just makes utter sense. So I can carry 3 units on me (one each hip and one on a strap), but it's too much, especially when it was 3 different cameras re. ergos etc. There are still certain minimum's even applying the KISS principal, but this is as KISS as things can be for my needs. The S9 would never have worked in a 3 unit set up because of that limited recording time, but for several hundred 10 second clips spread over a typical 20+ hour job, perfect. Tiny Smallrig cage on it's way and will probably stick a small side handle on the side for handling purposes and even with Rode Micro shotgun, we're still talking well under 1kg for a 6k 30p Open Gate set up with near gimbal like stability, and that's a bit bonkers.

The decision has been made and the deed has been done, - I am once again fully L Mount. My return to Nikon for stills, was brief but hey ho. What have I just done? Put my Nikon Zf, Z6ii and 3x adapted E Mount Tamron lenses to one side for the moment and after I get back from my next trip, both of the Nikon bodies will be sold. The S1H has moved (once again) and back into the stills role, losing the battery grip as part of that process. This thing is supposed to be 'The Video One', and it is, but also a highly underrated stills camera that benefits (IMO) from having that OLPF. I've just ordered another (used S5ii) so will now be operating a pair of them, statically, for video usage, both paired with the 'cheapie' 20-60mm 'kit' lens and each with a Rode WG2. The final component for this year will be an S9. The S9 will be my run & gun lightweight unit paired up with the S1H for stills as my 'on me at all times' pairing. My only slight issue with this set up is that it remains a 4 unit scenario and I was determined to go to 3 units, but I can live with it as 2 of the units are identical static units. My previous issue had been 1 static and 3x units on me which was too much. Resolved that. Future? I'm waiting on any S1H/S1R replacement, expected towards the end of this year and for 2025 season. That will determine whether I retire the S1H and replace it with something more up to date, or I flip it for a Sony A7RV and use my 3x Tamron lenses. This Sony + Tamron is actually the dark horse in all this and currently is the best set up for stills and the more likely scenario because L Mount still does not have the glass for me. If within L Mount they do bring out a sibling to the new Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 such as a 45-90mm f1.8 or an f2.8 compact rival to the Tamron/Samyang 35-150, it will swing back in favour of keeping an all L Mount set up. But S9, preordered. Didn't see that coming but it actually makes huge sense.

The bottom line for me in 2024 is that there are quite a few options for my needs that just a few years ago there was not and my main priority now can be summed up in 3 words: Smaller Lighter Faster (combined acronym, SLF) Plus I NEED to go from 4 to 3 units. Despite my previous interest in the Z6iii and 99% certainty, I would be preordering, I am going to backtrack on that now and say I will not be. And it's not the Z6iii fault as it is everything I expected it to be and need it to be. Rather, it is a realisation that when I listed the pros & cons for an alternative option, the alternative option beat it in almost every regard. Plan B it is then...

That pricing in Europe is a bit controversial isn't it? €3k which is quite a big step up from the Z6ii and not too far short of the Z8... I wouldn't NOT buy something that fitted the bill purely based on cost, but what I thought for me was a foregone conclusion, I'm actually having second thoughts over now... Nothing so much to do with the Z6iii per se but more because I have a couple of alternative options lurking in the background and now when it comes down to pushing the button, I'm sitting on the fence a little longer. Hmmm...

That's it, - I am buying 6 of them. Actually, not seen any reviews yet and I need to do so before pushing this button...

Absolutely. I've always started with the finished result and then reverse engineered it when I see so many 'shoot the shit' out of it and then see what they have got to cobble something together from. It's called vision. Actually, I say 'always' but that is not actually true... I started off having zero clue and then progressed steadily towards 'shooting the shit out of it and seeing what I have to then cobble something together' to in the last 10-12 years, actually 'reverse engineering' based on vision. For stills it's been a fairly easy process. For video, harder. For hybrid, hardest. The single biggest issue? The tools as in not quite having the right tools for the job so the tools do without question play a part, but as has always been and will always be the case, simply having the best kit is not enough.

The tools we have at our disposal are quite frankly ridiculously good. The weakest link in the entire chain is the human one. By far.

Some times, some things, have a certain kind of magic. You can’t always quite determine or define why, but it exists. It’s usually a sum of it’s parts that combines to more than something else/less. If you can see it and feel it, even if those around you do not, it exists. Anyway, GH7 colour science… It does look quite different to the GH6. If…IF, I was to move back to M4/3 for video, I was thinking to help keep the costs down, to pair a GH6 (because they are fairly ‘affordable’ used now) with a GH7 but nah, could not be bothered dealing with that difference. Though possibly could tweak the hue & sat in camera to make them match and then, SOOC, they would be as close as you would not notice.

Being serious, looking forward to Monday. Rarely do I preorder a camera and half my gear I buy used, but based on considerable user experience and my needs…and on the assumption that it will suit my needs perfectly, I can’t see why it will not be that ‘no-brainer’ for my needs. Second choice would be a used Z9 and although I prefer the battery grip built in approach, it is still considerably heavier than a Z6iii will be with battery grip and the spec of the Z9 is arguably a little more than I need. My only ‘concern’ is a Lumix S1H replacement with Samyang 35-150 will almost certainly come out at some point and it makes more sense for me to have a fully L Mount set up, but there are no signs of the former… And why a ‘S2H’? Quite simply the best camera from a user experience I have ever owned, video AND stills. But it’s not that big a deal me using L Mount for video and Nikon for stills and I’d rather do something this year than not as currently juggling 4 cameras is problematic…

Which is exactly how I’m using mine. Originally for the former and now with the latter. No regrets over ditching the gimbal. None at all. It’s not like I was ever a big gimbal user anyway, but after going through 3 of the damned things and never enjoying any of them…in fact they were an utter PITA, now loving the ‘custom C3 gimbal setting’ on my S5ii at the flick of a switch. Using the 28mm wide end of my Sigma 28-70mm, in S35 mode, it’s more like around ‘50mm’ or something and early days, but suits my limited needs.

In my ideal world, that is how I would work as would pretty much any pro. For my line of work, mainly weddings, and shooting hybrid 100% of jobs, I don’t because it’s not practical, so I have a ‘go to’ instead. 5600 outdoors and indoors in very well lit (natural light) rooms and 4000 indoors less well lit rooms or after dark. I’m chasing one thing and one thing only and that is consistency. I’ve tried auto WB a couple of times and nah, it can change multiple times within the same scene and can be even more of a disaster than having the wrong WB. Consistency, for me anyway, that is the thing.

It looks like a camera. That’s one box ticked 😜

Right now, it’s probably the S5ii. You can adapt at least Canon lenses, but not sure about anything else. Definitely not anything ‘new’ such as Sony E, Nikon Z or Canon RF. The IBIS though is first rate in my opinion.

Indeed. Just because you can does not mean you should! So many YouTube channels are getting to the point where they are just grasping now, pumping out content for the sake of content. But I suppose if you have nailed your colours to the content mast, the beast needs to be fed!

But when you realise you lost your charger and you have a wedding in 2 days and live in a rural location… It’s a convenience.

And don’t get me started on Amazon deliveries… Next or even same day in some UK cities, but min 3 days on anything it seems with Amazon.fr Hey ho, at least the weather is great. Except it hasn’t been. But apart from that… 🤪

Well it’s official now and we (those of us that are interested) have a date with units supposed to be available to purchase within a month. Living in France, that will take a little longer as stockists whether brick & mortar or on-line will have to wake up and say, “Huh? What? A new camera? No one told us”. Well they did, - just because they sent the info by email and not fax, does not mean Nikon HQ didn’t send it. But I digress. I can’t see me not pre-ordering a single unit to replace my current stills combo of Z6ii and Zf. Something like 15 shooting days into the combo, the simple summary is I need a single stills camera and not a pair and the capability of the Zf in the Z6ii body would be perfect as neither individually are ideal for my needs, the Z6ii just being too slow and the Zf being an ergonomic pain in the arse. Alongside my all L Mount set up for video, it will be the first time I will be able to say I am finally happy with the combo of bodies and lenses for my needs. And then, post season, November onwards, depending on what Lumix does with any S1 replacement, there are 3 contenders going forward: A. All Nikon B. All L Mount C. Continue with the combo of Nikon + Tamron for stills plus Panny + Sigma for video, but maybe get an S9 to replace the S1H just to lighten the load which is the only requirement I still have. Spec-wise, we have (for my needs) already reached the point where all boxes have been ticked. My last remaining aim is to streamline and lighten the load wherever I can. With Nikon + Tamron, I have achieved that so just need to do that now with L Mount. Or not. We shall see…

No one knows other than Nikon. Or anyone out there testing a pre-production model, but no indications that that is even happening. It can’t be far off though surely?

I kind of get it, yet hate it at the same time. It’s this mix of proactive and reactive in what is supposed to be a declining market so economic restraints. But as a small business user, I want to plan much longer in advance. Camera and lens announcements, until they actually happen, tend to be mostly speculative and based on rumor. I get it from their point of view, re. competitors etc, but I would rather see timelines for stuff so I can at least do some strategic planning. Take this year for instance. At the end of 2023 I already knew I had too much kit as in the combo I needed to do what I needed it too do, was too big and heavy with too much juggling. Could I make any different choices within L Mount over the Winter of 2023 into 2024? No, so had to come up with a better plan before my season started in 2024. Do I have the right kit this year? Kind of… Better than last year, but still too much juggling to the tune of 1 too many cameras, so I both want and need to go from 4 to 3. Can I do it with L Mount? No, not as well as with someone else. Would I prefer it to be with L Mount? Yes, but with zero indication of a replacement for the S1R or H other than pure speculation, I cannot make the business decision I would prefer to make. And if X is not available yet, then fair enough, but I’d just like a little official idea of when so I can either: A: hold off and wait for X, or, B: make an alternative course of action. It’s not just old Panny Boy, (though the GH6 was the longest ever camera to appear) but all of them. They all probably have very good business reasons, but I don’t have to like that. And don’t.

You only got the free camera…sorry, the loan term loan until they never asked for it back, after you engaged in their sordid practices. This is what’s necessary these days to be part of this scene.

Maybe, but I still reckon they had some folks pegged for a double launch and others just for the S9. Not that I really care and I’d go if asked! Japan is No. 1 on my bucket list and if I had to do a couple of days work but had my flights paid plus a couple of nights covered but had to stump up the rest for my ‘own’ time, I’d be fine with that. Maybe I should up my YouTube game so I stand a chance of the S2whatever launch? By the law of sod, they will probably then go and do it somewhere like Paris which is just 2 hours by train and I have been like a gazillion times…

A bit of ‘everything’ really… Also that intangible can’t quite put into words, but is a thing, ‘look’. I have always just found M4/3 stills to be a bit meh. I noticed the difference when I moved from Fuji APSC to Lumix FF. Nikon FF has another tiny edge over Lumix FF, at least at 24mp with supposedly the same sensor. So I don’t go much for the technical analysis of why something is less or more, but more an instinctive/immediate, “I like this better or this not as much”, without too much concern as to why it may be so.

As in if I 4/3 I would almost certainly go GH7 over G9ii because it’s only €300 more! Because the difference between FF and APSC is noticeable to me and the gap between FF and M4/3 bigger still. And I am a pretentious artiste. There are levels… Video for me = M4/3, APSC, or FF Stills for me = FF or Medium Format Having said that, AI such as Topaz or PureRaw such as I use can do wonders, but as a *cough* craftsman, I’d know and it would make it for me more of a job than a craft. Making craft beer in your own small distillery vs working as one of hundreds at the Carlsberg factory? That’s how it is for me when it comes to the stills side of my business. The video side can remain Carlsberg though 😂