MrSMW

Oh and @herein2020 re. the 85, it can lock on and remain locked on unless being asked to track forward or backwards motion. What specifically do you need it to do?

Well I had a go with the 85 yesterday and tried it at both f1.8 and at f2.8. I really should have given it a go at f5.6 but didn’t think of it. Anyway, f1.8 gave pretty much the same result as f2.8 and it was OK. If the 20-60mm the other day at the long end and f5.6 was maybe 80-85% in focus for 2+ minutes, then the 85mm managed about 50%. At times, it stayed in focus for an entire sequence and then the second time, wandered off like a distracted child for no apparent reason. My single biggest issue is not getting the camera to lock on, it’s why it has to wander off?! I’ve seen a few reports that the 24-105mm f4 is the stickiest of the lenses available but don’t have one to try. I will repeat the test next time and alternate between the 20-60 and the 85 and see what happens. Oh and I ran a battery of + and - settings and couldn’t improve upon -1 and -1. The two wedding specialists I know of use respectively; Russell Kent-Wotsits (UK) -1 and -3 White in Revery (Merica) +1 and +1 ...according to what they have stated on YouTube, but may of course changed since. I suspect the Sigmas are not going to do as well but if any stand a chance, it will be the newer dg dn designated models designed for mirrorless and not adapted for mirrorless from DSLR designs as the rest are. Having said that, the APSC 56mm f1.4 I tested was utter shite so doesn’t bode well... No way am I buying a Sigma until I have tested my free 45mm...whenever it shows up...

It's called 'progress'. Whether we like it or not. Maybe evolution is a better term than progress. The one thing I am sure of is that cameras will not simply cease to exist overnight, but will instead be gradually replaced by something else. For sure people are printing less because they simply do not value it as they once did, mostly because more convenient options are increasingly available. It just is what it is and I personally just need to ride out 10-15 more years in the industry. I've never been interested in tech but the tools I need to do the job I need them to do and no more than I need them to do. 6k...never mind 8k? Nah. I like 4k and arguably even that is possibly overkill but for me it's the right balance. I hate changing kit also, I like familiarity. Right now, I am in a kit changing phase. It's not the best time, but then what is the best time? When it ceases to work or do the thing you need it to do is the answer. And this is something that bothers me right now and that is do I invest (more) in something more future-proof that will give me maybe the next 5 years of work, or spend less and look at it as more like a 3 year proposition. Right now, the cheaper/3 year option is in pole-position, mostly because I don't have the funds. If I had the funds, instead of S5's (which are superb by the way), I'd be looking at Canon R5 for stills and C70 for video...but needing 2 stills bodies + lenses for all 3 bodies, realistically, I'd be looking at 20k instead of less than 10k. But what's that got to do with phones? Everything and nothing. Maybe in 5-10 years, all of this current camera tech will be replaced by phone tech. Who knows...

Right, well I got so pissed off with both the eye/face detect and the tracking option, I wondered if there was anything else I could do. I tried everything from trying to create a timelapse of motion instead. I could. It was awful. I tried 6k mode and that kind of worked, but when it lost focus, it never regained it. So before finally biting the bullet and moving to Sony for my video (AF) needs, I thought I'd just try all the options that are not supposed to work. Such as 225-area AF. And it pretty much worked. At least good enough for my needs based on this one test. The kit and settings were: S5 + 20-60mm @60mm and f5.6, 4k 50p, 1/100th, variable ND, Natural profile (individual settings such as contrast & sharpness turned down mainly), 225-area, speed -1, sensitivity -1. Unless I happen to have hit upon the best all round settings for this kind of capture...which I doubt, I think there is still room for slight improvement... Really, the only area I have to play with now is the speed & sensitivity settings which I have played with extensively using pretty much every combination of pluses and minuses available, but only in the face/eye and tracking mode. I could test with the 85mm f1.8 and will when I get some more sunshine so I can back or sidelight as on a wedding day I can't control any of that such as if the bride is walking down the aisle at an outdoor ceremony with the sun behind her, that's what I have to work with, so my kit has to pass worst case scenarios. But the latter is not critical, ie, the 85mm f1.8 not working 100% in this kind of scenario would be a bonus rather than a need because as long as I can get a few seconds of it locked on...which I can, in any scene, it's enough. So AF summary based on my experience/testing and needs: A. For stills, it's not in question. It's not the fastest but it's reliable/accurate. That's an easy pass. B. For static video, ie, the subject is people doing things such as; hair, makeup, eating, drinking, talking, wedding ceremony etc, which is 95% of my coverage, it's again, an easy pass ie, this camera does not have a problem with anything like that other than in very rare situations, ie, is pretty much as reliable as anything out there for this kind of thing. C. For tracking AF, based on my above test, it's not 100%, but it's good enough for my needs for those 5-10 sequences on a wedding day (bride entrance, couple exit, confetti walk, couple walking shots, entrance to meal) provided I can replicate (and maybe even improve upon) what I managed in the video. I have been quite desperate to make this thing work, just as I once was moving from the Nikon D3s to Fuji X Pro1 with it's garbage AF. Why? Partly sheer bloody-mindedness, but also because the camera and sytem very much is just right. Top of the list are video quality and stills quality and it's as good as anything and better than most. The size & ergos and build are just perfect with the Smallrig L bracket to just bring the size and weight up a little. The lens options that are beginning to appear and more so in '21 are excellent. I'm still waiting on the complimentary Sigma 45mm f2.8 (I have been battling with Panasonic but it appears I have now won, probably just to make me go away) and that will be my next major test. I'm hoping the Sigma(s) will work for me in the hybrid role. I'm sticking with the Pan 20-60mm for all tracking pieces regardless and it's also my wide-angle stills lens so retains a place in my bag regardless. But I am really interested in the 35mm f2, the 65mm f2 and the 105mm f2.8 macro as these mirrorless designed lenses would complete a perfect line up for me. Various tests have shown however that within L Mount, native works best but we'll see and if the Sigma route doesn't work out, I'd be disappointed but more than happy with Panasonic's own new f1.8 lineup.

10 bit internal, 4K 60p in the case of the XT3. Extra battery life, bit of extra grip/heft and IBIS with the XT4. Great picture, video and stills.

Me also, followed by the XT4 at a slightly lower price point and then I’d go XT3 over Z6 unless IBIS is a must, but for everything else, the Fuji.

Feel free to comment whether it's, "wow, amazeballs!" or "compared with my Sony, it sucks balls".

Oh and PS: after the AF video, there are the 3 most recent mini-commercial/promo pieces I shot on the S5 for various local artisans just prior to Lockdown 2 here in France if you are interested.

Today's AF test, posted below, but otherwise I ain't saying nothing at this time other than...pretty much SOOC, lockdown scruffy beard, mostly making a muppet of myself. We are only interested in the actual AF and whether there is any pulsing and not the colour or if it's 'cinematic as fuck' etc. Password = EOSHD

I remember discussing the decline of the high street cinema circa 1988/89 when I was at art college and doing an advertising campaign in order to support the cinema. I used Jaws as my visual with the caption 'Big Fish, Little Fish' referencing the big screen vs the TV. And that was 30 years ago. But then they said 'the talkies' would never last about 100 years back... I think we can all agree on one thing and that is the experience isn't what it once was.

The following puts the whole cinema vs home big screen into financial perspective at least, for me (apart from the fact the cinemas are currently shut and we are still in lockdown!). As a family of 3, there are 2x Marvel movies we have not seen; Civil War and Dr Strange. We'd like to see Star Wars Rogue One again. Plus both seasons of The Mandalorian. Whole lot, this next month, 8 euros/dollars, ie, a single months subscription on the Disney+ channel which I will then unsubscribe from. Own home, no travel, no parking costs, no queues (and in France, you can't pre-book tickets so if it's popular and you get there too late...after driving 1 hour to get there in the first place, you might just have to watch the turkey movie instead), no specific time scales, the ability to pause, your own food at a decent price and no risk of food poisoning, comfortable seating. The list goes on... And no, we don't have some fancy 'home cinema' room, simply a 55" 4K TV that cost about 600 euros we got last year after 3 years of no TV and it's in our living room with no fancy surround sound or anything. A future of no bricks and mortar cinemas has nothing to do with the movie industry. Nothing. And it does not mean you have become some kind of introverted hermit if you don't make a monthly visit to your local fleapit cinema, ie, it's not the end of society as we know it.

Pretty much the S5 spec in a bigger body at 2.5x the price. I already took some matte black paint to the large white LUMIX lettering in my S5.

Ready to lose the act of going to the cinema? I have already lost that. Ready to lose the movie making industry? No and that isn’t happening as it (the filmmaking industry) has increasingly less to do with those big over-priced buildings full of people noisily eating and their phones pinging every few seconds.

Nah, it's not a event like it used to be. This is what we also do. Have done for years, for a long time prior to this year. The simple fact is, things change. We don't do lot's of things that we used to do either because they have been replaced by something as equally valid, or even better, or the 'old thing' just lost it's sparkle. Cinema was very much a 20th century thing, but it's been in decline ever since because it is competing with so many other things and the cinema industry itself has allowed that decline. It just is what it is. If I had the choice today to go to a large multiplex with it's overpriced everything, or a small local restored Picture House, I'd choose the latter every time. But very few exist. The other thing for me is during the 20th century, the movie was the bigger as in longer experience, ie, the Daddy of filmmaking, but in the 21st C, it has been equalled if not exceeded by 10 hour movies split into 1 hour instalments with production values that match or exceed. It's called evolution and you can't fight it and sometimes, you perhaps shouldn't try.

You also? I’m also waiting for yet another remake of Charlie’s Angels. I think @Trek of Joy said it above and that is Covid-2020 has only accelerated the demise of The Big Screen. Personally, I would rather watch movies at home these days because the ‘traditional’ experience is mostly over-priced and unpleasant. I can’t think of a single valid reason to ‘go to the pictures’ these days. Not one. Other than rose-tinted nostalgia. I wish it was otherwise. This has nothing to do with the film industry though, just consumption.

Like Nikon, I don’t think any time soon. Based on nothing but pure speculation/opinion.

There are of course other options and I’m no fan of subscription software but I use around 4 or 5 of the Adobe products as a suite and so somewhat reluctantly I persist!

All good stuff and thanks!

OK, I’ll give that a go. Thanks.

Face tracking works very well as expected in 4k 25p on the little Sony, but 1080 100p is dreadful. Revising my plan from shooting 1080 100p to 1080 50p in order to keep the face tracking! Just in case anyone is interested 😉 Just need to work on matching Sony 1080 50p footage to Panasonic 4K 50p on the same timeline... I appreciate it's not going to look 'the same' but I only need to get around 10 sequences in the ballpark/as close as so not too worried. One day, I'll just have to get a Sony A7Siii but at around 7x the price (with no lens), it will have to wait until 2022! Or maybe by then, we will have a FF PDAF Panasonic...

OK techies, what is the best way to do this? 90% of the material I will be using was shot in 4k 50p because I like to slow a lot of stuff by 50% on a 25p (PAL) timeline. The other 10% will have been shot 1080 50p (plus a tiny amount 1080 100p so I can slow it 4x in post, - mostly dancing, flashing lights etc that hides a lot of noise, artifacts etc). Is it as simple as grabbing the edge of the frame and dragging it until there is no black showing and then export the entire production when I have finished as 4K, or is there a better way? Lot's of mixed info on the web, so thought I'd ask here. I'm using Premiere Pro by the way. And no, I don't wish to change my software thanks 😉

Well, at this point in time, it’s pretty limiting what I can do as all work is still cancelled and it’s only work that really shows the true capability. That being said, pretty superb. My only ‘criticism’ would be I would have preferred an aperture ring and all metal construction, but on the positive side... A full set of identical 24, 35, 50 and 85mm lenses with the same filter size. They are compact and light. Optically superb, silent, very fast AF. Designed specifically for hybrid use. And just touching in the AF thing again, it’s ONLY the walking towards and walking away that is not 100% and I have really only tested in sunny, backlit conditions as I have tried to replicate my real world working conditions. For everything else, the AF was fine pre-firmware. I shot 3x hybrid commercial jobs without issue. OK, the occasional mis focus but that might have been me getting to grips with the kit as much as the tools. For stills alone, absolutely no need to question this system. Contrast detect tends to be a fraction slower than phase and the gap widens with burst shooting, but it is accurate. I haven’t had a single OOF picture that wasn’t me. In other news, my ZV1 arrived yesterday and looking forward to testing it later today. It just needs to pass the walking towards and from test in backlit outdoor lighting...which will be interesting at 100fps because eye and face tracking doesn’t work...but we will see. I think it will still beat the S5 in this specific regard and if so, earns it’s place in my kit.

I really like these also, - big fan of Sigma, but... My 'but' is for Sony, fair enough, but as a Panasonic user, we are getting identical sized body, mount and aperture; 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. Meanwhile, every Sigma is a different size and 3 different apertures. I think if I was on Sony E Mount, I'd be seriously considering the F2's and it would be better still if they added a 90mm f2 into this range. There is already a recent release 105mm f2.8 so no need to go there, - that seems like an excellent lens, but there's a hole otherwise between 60-105mm with this range. Visually they look great and from a tactile perspective, by all accounts equally superb. I reckon they's be superb most of all on a Sigma FP2...

I think so Mark. At least I know what I am giving up and believe it’s my best option for my needs. Good price, under 600 euros.

Maybe if the GH6 is not happening and instead, Panasonic are dumping 4/3rds in favour of only offering L Mount. If a GH6 does not appear very soon, this is what they are doing almost certainly and it makes sense despite the fact that it will piss off 4/3 users.