MrSMW

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.

Well if they can somehow improve DFD to something close to PDAF, then in one sense, that will be good. But...and it's a big BUT, the problem Panny have is the whole lack of PDAF thing is just one massive negative for them. It doesn't matter that in the real world, the CDAF works just as well as any PDAF for stills and is actually more than pretty decent for video use in anything but consistent tracking. The reputation for 'crappy AF' already exists and probably the only way they can truly squash that is by going PDAF if only for marketing purposes. But as has been discussed before, whether they can actually implement PDAF is another matter, but the fact that L Mount partner Sigma has just done that with the FP-L, suggest to me it's not an insurmountable obstacle. We shall find out at some point fairly soon I imagine...

I think it’s more likely than not likely on the basis that the photography community is literally screaming at them to do so and also because the GH6 cannot be a GH5iii. I would still rather have an S5H though!

Hmmm, OK, not much appeal to the pro photographer or serious filmmaker, but maybe the other 99% of the market actually like and want this kind of thing? I dunno... It wouldn't be for me but if it sells by the bucket load and makes millions whilst at the same time, some so-called 'pro camera' sells like a dumpster fire, which is the 'better' camera? I'd take a Fuji every single day. IMO, Fuji are the undisputed king of APSC. Yes, Sony and Canon have a foot in that camp as does Nikon, but it's really only Fuji who are competing with FF cameras on a similar level. I would have zero issues going back to APSC if it was with Fuji. And they had the glass I would want. But they don't at this time, so it ends there. FC? Fight Club? Nikon Fc picks a fight with a Fuji XT4. Fuji XT4 knocks out the Nikon with it's first punch. Nikon does not get up off the canvas.

I wouldn’t call it terrible either, merely ‘OK’.

I heard a rumor that Panasonic have been in discussion with the Jedi Council (after The Dark Side, Sony, told them to, “go do one”…the evil bastards) in regard to potentially using The Force in order to improve their autofocus. Above is a pic sourced by @kye that supports this. Never mind PDAF, it’s TFDAF we want.