MrSMW

I've been shooting weddings for 20 years now. 21 technically, but last year doesn't really count with 1/25, but... For the last 10 years or so, in hybrid format. Initially more like 100% photography + 10% video for the first year. Then 100% photo + 20% video the second. 100% photo + 30% video the third. You get the picture... Each year, I have played with different kit and at one point I was operating 7 cameras on my own. Madness! After the above, I had a word with myself and went back to the less is more approach with only one blip in 2019 when I bought a pair of DJI Pockets but that only confirmed that less is more and sold them. I replaced both with the DJI Action, but I then found myself using it for the sake of using it because I felt I had to so sold that. I'm now fixed on just 2 bodies, 2 zooms and a couple of primes to do everything plus my Sony ZV1 as a general backup piece of kit in my bag other than for ceremony & speeches where it will be rolling at a different angle, never intending to be used, but providing a worst case scenario safety net of video and audio. The result of all this is it means I enjoy what I am doing much more because beyond a point, kit just gets in the way.

Moved to ‘sitting on the fence’. I’m less interested in a pure ciné camera and more interested in a video centric hybrid. The final spec vs cost vs Panasonic S5 will decide for me. And yes I know the humble S5 is not it’s competitor but it’s the camera that currently ticks more of my boxes than anything else. Second place is joint Fuji XT4 and Sony A7Siii with Fuji losing points due to lack of lenses that suit my needs and Sony on being ‘only’ 12mp and price. We are still at least one single component away from my ideal spec, my S5 in two areas: video tracking AF and no internal ND or at least drop in filter. The FX3 is certainly shaping up to be less of a contender than it was a week ago when it was heading for near dead cert territory. The lack of any form of ND, internal or drop in is the biggest disappointment. If the speculation/rumors are true...

ALL my weddings are paid gigs! But for video with this one not. It was a typical multi-day coverage job for me back a few years back when I offered 100% photography coverage with the option of adding on video. I have been offering hybrid coverage in a growing capacity for over a decade and in the last few years, it has become my principle coverage option and it hasn't been possible for the last 2 years to book me for any prime date for anything but as A: it's what I prefer to do and B: it doesn't make any financial sense for me to not to. For this job, they had not paid for any kind of video coverage or actually want it but were quite happy for me to do so if I wished. So I did with the little Sony, handheld most of the time, occasionally on my freestanding monopod and rest of the time, really was in my back pocket. No one paid it any attention. No one does to anything much I do anyway as I work alone, ie, never have assistant or second, never mind third photographer/videographer and if booked as the photographer (previously), have not worked with a videographer in over 6-7 years. Ie, my footprint as a single hybrid shooter has always been as low as it can be. Then there is how I act, dress etc. Pretty low key. I don't under or over dress. I don't run, I don't shout, I don't stand on ladders, or crawl or do anything that suggests I am anything but part of the event, more as a guest than working. Of course during the ceremony, most realise I am doing a job because while they are all sitting, I'm standing off to one side and capturing it, but most think I am a family friend and pretty much no one realises I am ever doing video because none of my kit looks like a video camera. And then there is the kit which is as minimal as I can make it, so no big zooms lenses, massive battery grips, huge flash guns. I don't even own a flash and haven't used one in years and even then, only off camera for dancing etc after dark. All that aside, I just find it liberating to do anything with the least amount of kit because I really do believe in that regard, less is more. I just watched part of a YouTube video on 'how to shoot a wedding' but had to stop after about 10 minutes as the 3 muppets clearly were out of their depth and a case of the blind attempting to lead the blind. When it takes 3 people with identical kit to shoot a static object for over 10 minutes, I have to question whether they even understand what weddings are about. It's not stuff but people. Anyway, I am going off on one a bit so will stop there other than yes Kye, it's all about compromise. For me the compromise is always about how small/minimal can the kit be before it stops doing what you need it to do and becomes for the sake of doing something just because. It's what took me to Fuji from Nikon nearly a decade ago and then has sent me to Panasonic S5 right now...except 20/21 have been in limbo and not sure when anything will start back up...and keeps me interested in what is coming. Not because what I have will not do the job, because it will, but if there is something better that suits my needs, in the overall scheme of things, the cost is not that much different spread over several years of turnover. Turnover... I wish, but a distant memory right now 🤪

I love the look of it and it's compactness. My ideal previously was something like the Sigma FP. The A7Siii ticked every box for me except 12mp was not ideal for me from a stills POV. Not a deal-breaker, but I'd prefer 20-30mp. The lack of an internal ND if that is true would be the biggest disappointment. There still isn't anything that exists that makes me see past my S5, the only criticism being ultimate AF capability. The only thing that looks wrong to my eyes is the distance of the grip to the lens. The pics/vids don't show the thing with a lens but just looking at it you can see how tight it's going to be. Could be an issue for hand use...

The results that could be achieved from it. I shot an entire 3 day wedding with just it and at times a monopod just to see for myself if it could be done. Struggled a bit after dark, but otherwise not bad and what I enjoyed most was it’s ridiculous size. I then took it to the Faroe Islands and shot a 3 day project on it, again, just for fun. The ZV1 should be even better being even more video centric, but other than basic testing and set up is gathering dust until I can get out. Yes, the Backbone mod, that was it. I looked very hard at that before choosing the ZV1 because it was an out of the box solution to my backup/travel/personal needs. If times had been different and financially better and I was prepared to swallow the huge import cost... Least fun was the 2 times I tried a gimbal. I really don’t like working with anything more than small(er) cameras if possible and compact lenses. Even my XT3 kit was a bit much by the time I had added: monopod, powerbank, adapter, Sigma 18-35 and tried the Ninja V but it brought me the opposite of joy. And don’t get me started on sliders... Less is more to me provided it can do what I need it to do.

My funnest camera was probably my Sony RX100V. I missed that little pocket rocket so much I bought a ZV1 a few months back to both replace it and to be my backup. If times were better, I would have liked to have played with a latest spec GoPro with some longer lenses.

Nah, I suspect you are far from wrong but someone, somewhere probably did! Actually, as a hybrid shooter it wouldn’t bother me that much and is not a dealbreaker as a decade ago, I was perfectly happy with Nikon D3’s and they were 12mp. Nowhere in low light compared with the Sony and weighed as much as a juvenile cow, but 12mp was actually fine. The sweet spot for me these days is really 20-30.

Sigma FP a good stills camera? On which planet is this? Don’t get me wrong, I love(d) the concept and it can make great images, but a good stills camera it is far from! I’ll give you the S1H though! The S1’s and the S5 are underrated in this department and I get a bit tired of reading half-assed ‘reviews’ that say the S5 especially is somehow limited as a stills camera, but fail to explain how/where. It’s not. It’s bloody good. As long as you don’t need 365 frames per second or anything very fast paced, so real world. But I digress and as Steve says above, we are speculating on mostly rumors in regard to this latest unicorn.

No they wouldn’t. I would, but they definitely would not know or care. It or similar (XT3 though) may well be an option and it will come down to timing. The latest and greatest may be an option but only if it makes sense at any given time.

I'd rather have the IBIS, but it wouldn't be a deal-breaker at that spec!

I meant in actual physical looks, - the grey of the FX6 in an FP body with a grip stuck on it, but actually FX6 and A7C. If they get this right (for my needs), then I think I’m going to go full in on Sony and a pair of these because I’ve resisted Sony so hard (other than the compacts and currently have a ZV1) because resistance is futile. Sony are The Borg of the camera world right now. It will also come down to when my niche destination wedding market gets going again in France because I am very limited on kit right now with just my S5 and a couple of lenses. As soon as we are within 1 month of that happening, I need to spend as there is zero rental option here for my needs so it’s going to be a case of going with whatever best suits my needs at the time and living with it for a few years. The longer that takes to happen, the worse for my financial situation but better for the potential kit available; FX3, GH6, XH2 et al. But right now, hats off to Sony as they are well out in front in most regards and ultimately badges/brands don’t matter to me, only capability.

I will take an internal variable ND over IBIS every single time. Stab options include Catalyst Wotsit or mono/tripod. This thing looks VERY interesting, - the love child of the FX6 and the Sigma FP.

I’ll take 2 please. Seems to me like Sony are now getting more things right then anyone else.

If you squint, really hard, an L can look like a 2?

No to an internal SSD also but a MASSIVE yes to an electronic variable ND. Next best option would be a drop in solution between the lens and body. I wish there was an option for my S5 for this as I need both a VND and to retain a lens hood so have glued a slimmer aftermarket hood to my variable ND so I rotate that instead/at the same time.

Maybe it's just the way I see things and what I'd do, but I have never understood this kind of mentality in any business, ie, not telling your potential customers what's coming. This industry is one of the worst offenders. If I was a hobbiest, I wouldn't care so much and would be quite happy to see what comes along whenever that may be and make my purchase decisions based on that. But for business users, we like to plan and cost things because ultimately these things are tools to us. At least with Fuji, they have recently confirmed an XH2 will be coming. Just what and when, remains to be seen. We know that Canon and Sony will bang out cameras year on year and whilst they might not always suit our purposes or having overheating issues, we just know that any investment in Sony or Canon lenses is a good one. Nikon...meh. They are beginning to slide now and just making follow on products that lack some of the features those they are following (Canon and Sony) have. But Panasonic... FFS Panasonic. There's a reason why you only have a 2.8% share of the FF camera market and it is mostly due to your AF...or at least it's perceived AF (which is excellent for stills, but most do not realise that) and you have excellent ergos, build, menus, photo & video quality...but you have more secrets than Secret Squirrel (and he had a few). My best guess is they believe they are protecting their interests, but I think they are mostly pissing people off. I've said it before and I stand by it. If they do pop out a GH6 any time soon and it doesn't have PDAF, I think they are headed down the toilet because just about nobody will buy it Where that would leave L Mount is anybodies guess and that in itself just needs one more tweak and that's the fecking AF for us non-manual focusers who make up 99.9% of the real world. Rant over.

It's not so much for the output that folks use or want more K's in their life, but for the starting point in terms of sheer quality, or the 8k downsampled to 4k sensor use, or just the ability to punch in either in post, or even using a prime to get the equivalent of 2 focal lengths out of 1 single prime. French TV is utter shit and I've seen some Spanish so can imagine Italian 😂 Hurrah for Netflix!

Right now, I suspect if the general public could only buy the GH5 or the S5 (ie, no other cameras existed on Planet Earth), more than 95 (95.39% to be precise) would opt for the full frame camera because it's: Full frame. Slightly smaller/lighter (real world there's nothing much in it) and yes, most of the FF lenses are monsters but the 20-60mm and 85mm are not bigger or heavier than their 4/3 counterparts and there's more coming. It's more recent. Much more recent. But still hasn't had a review on DP Review. The slackers. Without PDAF though, they might as well not bother. Internal electronic ND would be VERY welcome.

I want to hear prolific use of the term 'game-changer'. Milk it while you can because in a few months, they will be announcing their 8k camera. As in their $8k camera.

I can't see a scenario where I would ever be shooting 8k but if it means 120fps 4k and decent AF, that will do me.

I hope it is not US$3K, or even $2.5K The GH5 already at sub $2K was setting a record for the most expensive cameras Panasonic ever released when it came out. Well I hope it's all under $1k...but being serious, I don't think an XH2 is coming this year as anything but possibly an announcement towards the end of the year, but Fuji say they are committed to making one. I'd expect it to be circa $3k unless it's something totally 'different'. The GH6 has more chance of arriving this year (I think there might be some news in an updated thread elsewhere?) and maybe is more likely in the $2-2.5k price bracket? But big jumps are not necessarily out of the question, just look at the Sony A7SIII and Canon EOS R5 which now look like absolute bargains next to the Sony A1. It is all a bit concerning however, these seeming huge price increases because as someone who currently operates with 3 bodies..though could move to 2 through use of zooms, I can't really as a small business, especially in these current climes, realistically consider bodies at 6k a pop, plus glass. I'm perfectly happy with my S5 other than the AF tracking question which I will not fully be able to answer until I have actual weddings and then it will be a case of either, yes, I can live with that for the next 3 or so years, or whether I just go for the safer bet which is the XT4, or whether either company pops out the curve ball that is the XH2 or GH6. Much as I'd like a GFX100S, not only is it overkill for my needs, it doesn't actually meet my needs. The new Sony does (meet my needs but is arguably overkill but fairly future-proof, as much as anything can be), but I'd be looking at 15k+ to go in that direction and that to me is 5 years of kit. But as I keep saying, not an immediate concern because although on paper, I still have 17/18 paying gigs booked in for this year, the first/next in just over 2 months, the reality is I don't think there is going to be anything (for me) until Summer at the soonest and by then most of my remaining booked jobs will have bailed. So no particular rush here, but like many, I'd like to know what's coming so I can plan and make informed purchase decisions. Unlikely I know, same as it ever is!

If the next 2 announced are less than half the price, ie $3k top XH2 and GH6, some balance will be returned to The Force.

Thanks @SteveV4D makes sense. So because I shoot with the intent of being able to slow down by 50% pretty much every piece of footage (except the full ceremony and full speeches which isn't), I shoot 50p being in a PAL region. My S5 I think is shooting downsampled 6K which is probably why the stills look so good and also because I'm shooting at 1/100th of a second? 6K 50/60P would be better, but I don't think there is an AF camera that can do this? Various cinema cameras and the BMP6K etc, but no what we'd call hybrid/DSLR type cameras? Having said that, if I move more into this territory and won't have to flip between stills and video or do both at the same time, I could fully exploit manual focus. And then there is this aftermarket gaydar tech that has various possibilities.

A couple more questions because I am not very techy and don’t mind admitting I don’t know the answers and these are: Are all 4K screen grabs basically the same size, regardless of whether the screen grab is from a 4/3, APSC or FF sensor? Or is there an advantage to using a larger sensor and say a 50mp over say a 24mp? 6k mode on my S5 is rubbish. OK, to be fair, it does make very nice pics, but in regard to AF tracking, it’s worse than in video mode. In normal stills mode, it’s very good however. 6k video would obviously make for better stills however and 8k even more so, but I tend to shoot for slow motion and 6k 60p might exist (?), but 8k is probably pushing it for me in many ways. So the question is now not whether you can or should...because I have proved to myself that the results from my S5 screen grabs are indistinguishable from Jpegs from raw files...for today’s ‘normal’ use, but which cameras might excel at it?

If I was going back to Fuji...and at this point in time, I am not, there are a couple of options I’d consider but primarily: XT3 on sticks for video with a pair of XE4’s for stills. But more likely, a pair of XT4’s hybrid use. Can’t see a scenario for the XS10. Really only interested in seeing what an XH2 might be and that other mythical beast, the Panasonic GH6. If anything will sway me in any direction for a few years, it will probably be one of those two. But as both are currently unicorns...