MrSMW

Please please please Andrew will you consider doing a subscriber only tutorial on your awesome studio lighting set up? Also, I’d like to get that sponsorship for my own channel. Good job. Off now to look at wooden grip wonder cameras of yore…

Didn’t the 4/3 line get an AF tweak also very recently? Maybe/hopefully something there also as that’s about all that would interest me. Working with raw (video that is, for stills, always) is a bit above my pay grade and needs. But then having said that, I will consider anything if I think it will add some kind of value.

That was my experience, the f2’s were not great in CAF with the 35mm being the worst offender.

I know I sound like a fanboy, but for me/my needs, it is basically perfect other than the less than stellar tracking AF. Maybe could be 10% smaller and lighter? The Leica SL2 is the closest to the perfect size & weight combo for me. I would have rather it did not have big white LUMIX lettering on the front. I blacked it out on my S5 before the SL2-S came out 😉 But really, for my run & gun, as it is, straight out of the box, hybrid needs of high quality stills (raw) and at a flick of a switch, excellent SOOC 10 bit 4K 50p, there is nothing…nothing, else out there.

Don't tell anyone, but since getting my S1H, the S5 just doesn't compare in any area except maybe size and image quality. Build, handling, controls, the way everything clicks, shutter sound (sublime), rear screen articulation (the best rear screen ever designed) & resolution, EVF and actually, I quite like the weight of the thing which is basically 1kg/2.2lbs and gives a good stable platform for handheld work. And in regard to the whole size and weight thing, it's smaller and much lighter than my old Nikon D3S's, especially when you added in the 24-70 and 70-200 they went armed with...and then compared with the Sigma 35mm and 65mm f2's that are my new lenses of choice, no contest in the size & weight department. The S5 is going to static longer form duty with the Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 for all video work and when not doing video work, it will be my stills 'special' such as sticking on the 20-60mm for the wide end or the 85mm for longer stuff, or if I really need it, the 24-105mm f4 in APSC crop mode for it's long end up to '160mm' reach. Plus it is my other 'personal' camera. The Sony ZV1 is for family trips etc, but going say hiking in the mountains, the S5 with the 20-60 is the one. I'm a fan of the entire L Mount system, but especially the S1H and Sigma glass. I like the S5 but love the S1H and will be getting another as soon as the working/funds situation allows.

For sure. Also on what device, - phone, ipad, laptop, monitor, big screen TV? Is it a back-lit screen or not? Is it calibrated? What environmental conditions are you viewing in? And then there is how we each see and perceive colour etc... So many variables... I've long since stopped taking into consideration anyone else's opinion, - not colleagues, clients or even the wife's. The best thing you can do IMO is shoot and present to please yourself and if it's not for personal use only, no reason why not to and if it is for clients, book clients who like and want what you do without any of their own input. Unless you are happy/need to shoot to specific client needs, which is fine and equally valid. In 20+ years, with over 1000 clients however, I have never had a single one ever question my presentation, grading (photo or video) or any other visual factor. At least not after the fact. I have had maybe 4 or 5 that have asked certain questions prior to booking and then either did or didn't (book) and I have no idea how many have dismissed me without any conversation or even awareness on my part that there was something they did not like. But who cares if you are hitting targets. Yes, the odd wedding client, usually a mother asking why there are only 37 pictures with her in them but there are 38 with the other mother...because she's counted, or the very occasional soundtrack question, but this has nothing to do with the visual capture or processing. I did have one bride comment once that her pink bridesmaids dresses looked a different shade of pink to the actual material in my photos and the difference was exaggerated in; outdoor photos in the sun, outdoor photos under/in green trees, indoor photos with fluorescent tube lighting, indoor photos in a marquee with purple uplighters...but you know, life's too short to try and have a conversation explaining that what you are looking at is not, 'a dress', 'a colour singular', 'your mother', but tens of thousands of different coloured pixels... 🤪

Somewhere between the two, but if I had a gun to my head and had to choose one, I'd go with A. But B shows his face a bit better. B looks a bit 'thin' and more towards the yellow/green whereas A edges a bit towards the magenta? Of course when you put any 2 images together, these characteristics are enhanced.

Oh and as it’s an XT3 body, the 18-55 is a bit of no-brained as it has OIS!

Did I have?! XF

Terrible pulsing AF! For whatever reason, the 23 and 50 F2’s seem to suffer much less. Video-centric lenses is a Fuji weakness IMO. Maybe with an XH2, they might make something, but who knows… To tempt me back, I’d need the glass as well as the body and for me right now, somebody else does it better. Dustin, 18-55 then and as I said before, only consider anything else if that doesn’t work for your needs.

I suspected that would probably be the case in most circumstances and the principle reason why I did not go that direction. But...and this for me was THE sticking point, what about in 30+ degree celcius (shade) heat for typical 9-15 hour events here in SW France? I shoot for hours extensively in direct mid-afternoon sun and suspect both R5/6's might melt under such conditions. I was shooting my S1H last week in 23 degrees C which itself is not that hot, but with the direct sun combined with the camera generating heat, the camera was quite hot. Never shut down and even the cooling system set to auto did not kick on once. I'd have needed to test it really and renting kit in these here rural parts is pretty cost-prohib. Anyway, good to hear it's working for someone as I'm sure it does for many. Otherwise, L Mount AF is not horrible, it's just inconsistent at forward or receding tracking 🤪

Just to add, when I talk about f4, for me it's more a low light thing than shallow DOF 'issue'. F4 is f4 for light gathering regardless of sensor size (though that one will be debated forever in some quarters) but equivalent to f6 in FF terms re. shallowness of DOF. I'll take a faster aperture over a higher ISO if I can and this for me has always been the issue, the smaller the sensor, but anyway... I'd be tempted to just go 18-55 and ONLY if it flags up any shortcomings, look beyond that. Depends on your needs... I have an f4 zoom for my FF camera and on anything other than a very bright day, it's not for me for indoor use. 2.8's are better/borderline and 1.8's and faster, night and day difference. It also depends on your screen, EVF or LCD resolutions. Not that they directly affect image quality, but how you see things when shooting and f4 at a higher ISO on my S5 vs f1.8 at a much lower ISO on my S1H, again, night and day difference and as you age and your eyesight gets steadily worse, anything we can claw back is a good thing!

As you know Dustin, the XT3 was my workhorse for 2 seasons. I would say the outright best AF lens was the 18-55 but for me, as a long end zoom user, f4 was too slow and I didn’t like the variable aperture in principle. The 16-55 was probably the best lens for video native to Fuji. A bit too sharp, but a 1/8th mist would solve that and as they now come in variable ND flavour, this world be my first choice without question, effectively covering from 24-83mm in FF terms. Fave zoom however was the Sigma 18-35 f1.8. A bit chunky, especially with the adaptor and lacking a bit in reach forcing a change to a longer prime when needed, but delivered my best results. Fujis own 23mm and 50mm f2 both good but 35mm f2 not, Avoid the faster primes for anything but manual focus, especially the 56mm f1.2 Best cheap AF lens is Canon’s 50mm f1.8 which costs about 100 $£€. Not the quietest but surprisingly good AF. It would do a little rack dance and then lock on which I could live with. If you can work with a 75mm equivalent focal length, which I could bring a 50-100mm man. Little experience of Viltrox etc but the one unit I had, had a very loose aperture ring which drove me nuts.

We’ve discussed this before but most if not all cameras seem to be artificially gimped somewhere, but the ‘somewhere’ seems to be different with each brand so you pick your compromise. I’ve never been a Canon fan or user (other than a compact about 10 years back) but seriously considered an R6 for video and an R5 for stills. Still happy I didn’t make that choice on a number of levels and chose my compromise elsewhere. How does the R6 compare to the S5 then Andrew?

I had the Sony AX100 for that kind of thing but sold it and replaced it with it’s tiny brother, the Sony ZV1. Same sensor, unlimited recording (if you set it to do so), constant faster aperture, but doesn’t have the same zoom reach obviously. If weddings start up for me in the second half of this year, it will be on a lightweight tripod doing full length ceremony and full length speeches. Next year however, it will go to backup as my S5 will take over that roll. 30 minute limit in 10bit I know, but that’s OK as I will just stop/start at an appropriate moment. Battery life is utter trash however, but easily fixed with a small power bank and a Smallrig clamp on the tripod. The AF is great and you cannot trust the AF on the AX100 camcorder…as I found out on one job! Manual focus from that point onwards! Unless you really need the long zoom, some of these compacts or bridge cameras can do the same job? In the Sony camp, the RX10 line is again the same 1” sensor and I had the last one before they went silly with the zoom for the same purpose and that also worked well. For me though, the ZV1 was ‘the answer’ all things considered. Makes a great personal travel camera also.

Smaller?! Does that exist? Sigma FP maybe, but no screen or EVF? Nothing FF I don’t think, maybe APSC otherwise it’s M4/3 but the smaller you go sensor-wise, the less capable the low-light but you can mitigate some of that using ultra fast glass. Love me a bit of environmental ranting though, Greta Thunberg fan eh?

The fella in the pub assured me that the trade for my low mileage Ferrari was fair. OK, they look like ordinary jelly beans, but I am confident they are something much more.

Willing to trade for some magic beans?

I actually wish for that and took a look the other week to see if there was anything ‘vintage’ I could adapt. There wasn’t. As expected. That 10-25 is massive though isn’t it? I hadn’t realised it’s size. OK, primes it is for me then. Shot a job the other day entirely on the Panny 85mm f1.8 and though in crop mode (4K 50p) the equivalent of a 127.5mm lens indoors was ‘a bit tight’, easily the best quality footage compared with my other lenses. The 50mm version is becoming available shortly and then hopefully the 35 and 24 soon. Stick a 1/8th mist VND on each and I’m sorted. Small, light and for me, the perfect DOF.

I have had 2x Go Pros a DJI Action and 2x OSMO Pockets. None of them got any real use. I guess I'm not really an 'action camera' person so instead, for anything like that, either would use my iphone 8 or my Sony ZV1. Really, my Sony ZV1 is my 'action' camera, but even that doesn't get that much use.

What phone do you have? Waterproof case for that...?

After the S1H, nothing much compares for me! The EVF is in another ball park obviously but the LCD quality is also significant, especially in brighter light.

Well, opinions are subjective of course and I am more of a prime man than a zoom one, but this is a very nice zoom. The 28-70mm f2.8 feels compact, solid, well built, not plasticky. It is some super hard matt plastic but it almost feels metallic...difficult to describe really, but it's (much) nearer the premium end of the scale than the cheap end. From all the reviews I have seen and read, it's the L Mount users who seem to rate it more than the Sony users. The bokeh and rendering. I'd class it as 'very nice'. I'd call it smooth and cinematic yes, but a little vintage/character in there? I will have some dedicated video work with it I can show in a few weeks, but client embargo on all my recent shoots until then. I should add I have been using it with a 1/8th Pro Mist with the S1H which has an OLPF and combined, this takes some of the sharpening down and adds some softness...without the result being soft. You know what I mean. As a run & gun combo, no cage, no monitor, no gimbal, no nothing, I think it's a superb 28-70mm FF or 42-105mm crop set up, pretty much SOOC with just a little tidying up in post of a few elements, but have not had to 'fix' a single thing other than warp stabiliser to a single clip, last 3 jobs. The IBIS is stellar. Tomorrow I actually have a pure video job. Not had a pure video (as in no stills job) with this system so it will actually be the first dedicated shoot, so that should be interesting for me because I can focus on it 100% instead of 50%...

Yes L Mount and the ghosting issue is with all early models below a certain serial number. It is apparent as far as I understand it when strong light hits the lens at a certain angle. I’ve had a few examples of ‘not as respected’ results and after my next 2 jobs are in the bag, this Sunday and Monday, I will send it in as I will have a window to do so.

I might be way off here but what about something like the Jackery 1000? Can't buy anything more powerful than the 500 model here in the EU at the present time so I went for another companies 500 model. It's principally to charge all my batteries and run my laptop when I am 'off grid' at or between jobs in my mobile office/bathroom/kitchen/bedroom AKA my caravan.