MrSMW

I don’t know of anyone in my industry who does not shoot Sony.
Except me, call sign Maverick.

I don’t know of anyone in my industry who does not shoot Sony.
Except me, call sign Maverick.

I wonder how it compares with sales?
I imagine Sony & Canon still top that but wonder how Nikon & Panasonic sales have done over the same period…

Finally someone has done it
https://www.benro.com/en/prelaunch/NE1-nd-filter.html
It has a nifty bluetooth controller with auto-AE as well.
Curious to see how nice it is to use, but no word on pricing yet.

I had one for a while and whilst I didn’t much care for the video compared with my full-frame Lumix at the time (S1H), I did like the stills files, but most of all, the form factor; the weight, ergos, build and sheer ‘rightness in the hand’ of the thing.
Also the lenses, both the fast primes and the zooms.
If I was ever going to do 4/3rds, it would be the OM-1 without having to think about it.

There is something about his post about Rob Reiner that has really had a big impact on me.
I thought I’d become desensitised to the depravity, stupidity and contemptuous lies but this one is different.
Almost like a test of what he believes he can get away with and a test of how much people around him would let him get away with.
The answer to both of those is now, clearly, whatever the fuck he wants to.
 

Well in the newer cameras (S1II and S1RII) it opens up certain data heavy codecs that are not available in SD but I think with the S1R, it was more a case of having a more robust (and cheaper!) card option?
I had mine set up writing to both for peace of mind insurance but beyond that, no other needs.

Well in the newer cameras (S1II and S1RII) it opens up certain data heavy codecs that are not available in SD but I think with the S1R, it was more a case of having a more robust (and cheaper!) card option?
I had mine set up writing to both for peace of mind insurance but beyond that, no other needs.

"You reach a level where that 5% more cannot justify the 10, 20x the price."
 
true

Liked the results mine produced on the stills side and the 5k was special.
The only thing that annoyed me really was the different ergos to the S1H, especially the position of the on/off switch, but a great bit of kit and exceptional value used as is the S1H!

Liked the results mine produced on the stills side and the 5k was special.
The only thing that annoyed me really was the different ergos to the S1H, especially the position of the on/off switch, but a great bit of kit and exceptional value used as is the S1H!

Mid season report.
Actually, I am nearing end of season with just 2 more jobs to go this year until June next…which is quite normal for me.
The TDLR is I almost love it…
Why ‘almost’? 
I’ll get to that…
The Good =
The body design actually. Yes I would rather Lumix had moved to a body style more like the FX3, but I guess they thought that might scare photographers who expect a hump. Whatever the reason, it’s not as innovative as it could have been and despite not having a top screen, really is like a smaller S1H in the hand and IMO, that is a good thing. In my hands, with no battery grip or any other adornment other than the smallest Senheisser mic, it feels just right in terms of size, weight, build, comfort, ergos.
It’s a true hybrid. It would be even better with an internal electronic VND, but hey ho, maybe that will come with the S1H2? With 5x C1-5 custom settings and a simple photo-video switch, it’s fabulous for hybrid work. I don’t even use all 5 photo and 5 video settings, but have it set up basically as: landscape photo, portrait/candid outdoor, portrait/candid indoor and low-light, all with a starting f stop, aperture, WB, ISO and equivalent matching settings for video so it’s actually only one flick of a switch to flip between video and stills in any given scenario. Brilliant.
The sensor. 44mp. Perfect 👌 for me sweet spot between the more traditional 24mp and the 100mp of the bigger MF sensors. Suits both photo and video.
Video files and capability. I shoot 7.2k 30p open gate and the file sizes are not huge or slow to work with. With baked in conversion LUT, SOOC I love them. Yes raw would be even better, but an almighty faff and overkill for my needs. The open gate allows any number of crops, 30p a 20% reduction in speed on a timeline and the 7.2k quite a bit of scope for punching in etc. Having said that, not fully edited a finished production yet but I have checked and edited a few bits here and there and it’s even better than the 6K I was using before which itself was better than the 4K from Lumix FF cameras so thumbs up.
The Not So Good =
Battery life is pretty poor. I’ve always scoffed at people reporting poor battery life and never experienced it on any camera. Until now. It’s not great, but a spare battery in my pocket at all times is how I now roll and is what it is.
AF accuracy for video is good but not Sony level. Ditto for photo. Having come directly from an A7RV, I’d give the nod to the Sony for ultimate outright stills quality and AF, but the S1RII gets the nod for video and body.
I don’t think there is anything else other than I have a pair of them matched with the 35mm f1.8 on one and the 85mm f1.8 on the other.
The S9 is on lighter duties of video only, mostly longer than clips and sometimes even full length ceremonies and speeches and has only overheated once and that was on a very hot day in direct sunlight. The S1RII by the way, I have never even had a warning and has never got hot to touch, - just the usual warmth you might expect shooting a thing all day long. I may replace the S9 next year with an S1IIE for a bit more robustness and utility, but waiting to see if any S1H2 appears before doing that, if I do that. Almost certainly will trade the Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 for the new Lumix 24-60mm f2.8 next year as I think it will suit my needs better and appears to offer better AF and detail/rendering.
S5II soldiers on in its static role and just does what I need it to do. I do need to find a way to get rid of the battery grip and the heavy tripod however and working on that…
So ‘almost’ love it. It’s the battery life and good but not stellar AF plus the less than exciting body design that drops it 2 points for me so I’ll give it an 8/10.
Along with the Z8, probably the best all round hybrid camera available today? At least for my needs. Taking into account lens options and prices.

I do. Or at least I suspect I do and that is an FX3ii is coming and that WILL have all the ‘missing’ video stuff that is not in the new A7V.
The FX2 is a bit of a Frankencamera (I quite like the concept but not quite the execution) possibly to use up a lot of old sensor stock but 🤷‍♂️
The new A7V is not meant to be a video-centric camera but a stills orientated hybrid, same as the IV was.
If they had allowed 6k and left the gate open etc with it, other than the body type, what incentive would there be for any new FX3ii…which I think is certainly coming because although they have had some criticism lately, this is Sony and something  they do perhaps more than any other company, is churn out cameras.
Very good silent shutter mode on this new A7V for wedding shooters! Not enough to tempt me personally but it’s a really solid stills/hybrid unit at the new price point for such things. 

Photo and video.
So many so-called reviews are really just biased opinion pieces that are all about getting views, sponsorship and ad money, rather than authentic unbiased guides, but that is just how it is.
I think anything around that pixel count will deliver similar results whether it be Nikon, Canon, Sony or Lumix and never tried a 100mp medium format Fuji or Hassie and it would be quite interesting to shoot one or the other back to back.
On-line, unless told or pixel peeped to a high magnitude, I doubt anyone could tell and for me personally, there is a sweet spot of professional pride in my craft as it were and for stills that is FF and for video FF or APSC and possibly even 4/3…

I'm of a more ramshackle mentality, but even my loosey-goosey philosophies hit a limit. 
fyi, this particular doc was about people that are trying to help conserve raptor migration through SoCal.  So, lots of bird shots.  Which we don't really do, nor have done.
The whole thing became kind of a production experiment.  We were only answering to ourselves so we could take risks like that.
The scope of the project kept changing, but the finances never did.  There was very little money in our pockets, and what we did have we needed to save for travel.  And being a seriously-non-affluent-filmmaker, it basically came down to a make-do-as-we-can process.  Our personal finances, as well as the various situations of the shoot, were all over the place.  
We were borrowing/renting lenses and gear in a very haphazard way. Sometimes it worked.  Mostly it did not.  Meanwhile, the stuff we had in our own collection was inferior.  For instance we used a POS Vintage Photax 500mm w/2x extender for an entire season to get a lot of the BIF shots.  That was an insanely unfortunate thing to do, but it's what we could afford to have on hand.
The biggest bitch was not having a real tripod.  We truly wished we had friends/colleagues that could have let us use a pro Sacthler or Miller.  More than willing to carry some sort of hefty rig into the wild if it would've allowed smooth shots when filming at a +2000mm FF equiv.  That FOV reach is f'in hard to control. 
As a side note, it was pretty wild running around with birders carrying equipment that was so expensive and professional while us "filmmakers" were often using, basically, consumer toys to grab video.
At the end of the day, the images are passable by a certain standard, but when you pixel peep you can tell it's all held together with spit, bubblegum, hopes, and prayers. "f8 and be there" was the mantra we had to talk ourselves into and accept.  "The best camera is the one you got." 
...That sort of thing.
 

And when he also did a test of standard Vlog vs Arri log, the standard Vlog looked a lot better to me.
Someone else and I forget who now (but it was someone UK) also did a side by side between the S1II and S1RII and all though he made a case that the S1II was better, about 90% of the comments including myself, disagreed.
I was playing with building a new custom non-log profile based on a download from LUMIX Lab, but heavy rain has stopped play 😒
Agree as it stays on and there is less risk of touching the glass and getting fingerprints on it or having to put it somewhere safe every time.
I also had mine flip down rather than up as it looked less crap.
I might go back to it now I back to primarily shooting one video designated unit as I could make a VND work better with that, but as above, was working on a non-log profile with an ISO of just 80 which in most scenarios, would remove any need for ND. But ground to a halt thanks to the crap UK weather...

That is the sum of it.
Enthusiast weighing up A vs B vs C vs what they already have, yes, even 500 is a BIG difference.
Business user however, turning over 50k+ PA, it's still 500, but 1% of gross turnover and 50k is a very small business. And that is based on 1 year so if you can use something for 3+ years on say a 100k turnover, it's a difference of near zero consequence.
3k camera on 3 years at 100k = 1%.
The difference being if it's a tool that makes you money and if that tool can also save you time, or improve your output in some way such as maybe it's more flexible such as open gate, or any other factor that works for you, then it becomes an asset. A depreciating asset (as all this stuff is), but the cost is not that big a consideration.
Maybe but maybe not because it would need to have 'more' really (as you suggested), so it would have been wrong to badge it IMO as an S2H, even though, based on current evidence at least, it may very well be the replacement for the S1H that we have got.
I always thought they would go a 2 model route and said so on this forum, but I thought they were going to make the S1RII (should have been badged S2R) and an S2H, the S2R with the Leica SL3/Sony A7RV sensor and then the more video-centric S2H.
Instead we got what we got and for me, the pick of them is the S2R S1RII, and though it's a good body, would rather have seen something more innovative such as the ZR style body with 4" screen but articulating like that of the S2R S1RII.
If...and it's a massive if, they do come out with a replacement for the S1H, I think if they go for this body style with that kind of rear screen, it would be a monster hit for Lumix.

🤷‍♂️ but as with the OG S1R and it’s 47mp sensor (Tower Jazz was the speculation at the time?), that was unique to the brand, the 44mp S1RII sensor is Panasonic’s own apparently and totally unique as far as I am aware?
IMO, it has that mojo that the S1R had in that there is something unquantifiably special about it.
I think most reviews/reviewers go mainly off the spec sheet and very very few have proper Panasonic full-frame history/experience but those that actually go and shoot the thing properly, know.
I’ve shot 8 weddings spread over 24 days, stills and video with it now and can see immediately when I drop the files on a timeline, how much better they are than those of the S5II/S9.
And this is no “because I have one” fanboy hallucination, because I have near zero brand loyalty and if I think something else will do a better job, I owe no company or brand anything. Plus have no YouTube channel, have ever received a free piece of kit or anything, so simply user feedback opinion.
Define ‘better’. It’s one of those things that is not any single thing but the sum of several smaller things…
As above somewhere or perhaps the other Lumix thread, ‘less muddy’, not that the material coming out of the S5II/S9 is muddy, but using words, it’s the best I can do.
I’d throw up some sample footage myself for download except I only shoot log with the baked in Phantom conversion LUT for workflow purposes but the comparison with S5II/S9 is the same because that is what I have done with those cameras since I had them.
The pricing was a bit too high straight out of the gate, but I picked mine up for £2700 which was acceptable compared with any kind of brand swap which I looked at which would have been anything from 5-10k based on my needs.
So did I remain ‘brand loyal’ purely on cost then?
Nope; cost + familiarity/continuity + capability, but starting afresh today, I’d go Nikon with adapter E Mount glass.

🤷‍♂️ but as with the OG S1R and it’s 47mp sensor (Tower Jazz was the speculation at the time?), that was unique to the brand, the 44mp S1RII sensor is Panasonic’s own apparently and totally unique as far as I am aware?
IMO, it has that mojo that the S1R had in that there is something unquantifiably special about it.
I think most reviews/reviewers go mainly off the spec sheet and very very few have proper Panasonic full-frame history/experience but those that actually go and shoot the thing properly, know.
I’ve shot 8 weddings spread over 24 days, stills and video with it now and can see immediately when I drop the files on a timeline, how much better they are than those of the S5II/S9.
And this is no “because I have one” fanboy hallucination, because I have near zero brand loyalty and if I think something else will do a better job, I owe no company or brand anything. Plus have no YouTube channel, have ever received a free piece of kit or anything, so simply user feedback opinion.
Define ‘better’. It’s one of those things that is not any single thing but the sum of several smaller things…
As above somewhere or perhaps the other Lumix thread, ‘less muddy’, not that the material coming out of the S5II/S9 is muddy, but using words, it’s the best I can do.
I’d throw up some sample footage myself for download except I only shoot log with the baked in Phantom conversion LUT for workflow purposes but the comparison with S5II/S9 is the same because that is what I have done with those cameras since I had them.
The pricing was a bit too high straight out of the gate, but I picked mine up for £2700 which was acceptable compared with any kind of brand swap which I looked at which would have been anything from 5-10k based on my needs.
So did I remain ‘brand loyal’ purely on cost then?
Nope; cost + familiarity/continuity + capability, but starting afresh today, I’d go Nikon with adapter E Mount glass.

New firmware dropped today, apparently S2 cameras no longer catch fire and several 8k open gate tests have been shown to outlast battery life.
No mention of the latter being improved and maybe they sneaked something in there in that regard as it’s less than I am used to and my only real criticism of the camera.
New Sigma 17-40mm f1.8 landed for me personally also.
So far, so good.
Internal zoom, hurrah.
Not big nor heavy, hurrah.
Bright f1.8 constant aperture, hurrah.
Hybrid zoom works with 4k 50p and there is a 422 all-intra mode, albeit at 800mbps, another lower one at 600mbps and a long gop 420 at just 200mbps and most likely going with that with the new Cinelike A2 profile that is not as flat as the D2 or as punchy as the V2.
With the hybrid zoom enabled plus the standard level (ie there is a higher level with more punch in) EIS engaged, gives a good FF equivalent range of 28-66mm which is perfect for my needs.
I think we’re going to get along beautifully and should do exactly what I needed which was to reduce kit (bodies, lenses, lens swaps etc) down to a more compact level.
The proof of course will be out in the field but it’s a mild evolution than any kind of revolution after 5 years now with LUMIX, so not expecting any surprises…

And when he also did a test of standard Vlog vs Arri log, the standard Vlog looked a lot better to me.
Someone else and I forget who now (but it was someone UK) also did a side by side between the S1II and S1RII and all though he made a case that the S1II was better, about 90% of the comments including myself, disagreed.
I was playing with building a new custom non-log profile based on a download from LUMIX Lab, but heavy rain has stopped play 😒
Agree as it stays on and there is less risk of touching the glass and getting fingerprints on it or having to put it somewhere safe every time.
I also had mine flip down rather than up as it looked less crap.
I might go back to it now I back to primarily shooting one video designated unit as I could make a VND work better with that, but as above, was working on a non-log profile with an ISO of just 80 which in most scenarios, would remove any need for ND. But ground to a halt thanks to the crap UK weather...

Something else I forgot to say was the difference between the S5II/S9 video and the S1RII is how clean/nicer the latter is.
Working with all 3 on the same timeline, especially with lower light stuff, it’s very clear which is which because the S5II/S9 footage whilst not muddy, seems muddy when compared with that coming from the S1RII.
This is partly why I have moved the S9 into a very limited secondary role where along with the S5II, they will be responsible for pretty much just 3 scenarios resulting in 3 pieces of footage, albeit in the case of the S5II, that means full length wedding ceremony and full length speeches.
Anyone using these cameras together will probably confirm the same difference.

That ability to flip between stills and video is great…as long as you either:
A. Don’t mind using an ND for stills. Personally I do mind.
B. Or don’t mind cranking the shutter for video. Personally I don’t mind and last 3 weddings I shot with zero ND and did not notice any difference to the quality of the video other than the image quality was better than the previous 3 jobs shot with a VND.
C. Or use a flip up or magnetic filter and I have tried both and didn’t care for either.
I think one of the beauties of shooting video with the S1RII is base 200 ISO in log (and 160 with ARRI log C but personally think Vlog looks better most of the time bit could make a better base if also baking in a LUT) meaning less requirement for using ND anyway.
I have however decided to go back to having separate bodies for stills and video because it just works better for me, with less kit, more range, near zero lens swaps.
On that basis, I currently have one of my S1RII’s dedicated to stills with the 28-70 with hybrid zoom (28-105 and still achieving 18mp stills at the long end) enabled for outdoor use, with the 35mm f1.8 as my low-light indoor option.
The second S1RII I bought used came with the Arri Log preinstalled and I have this one paired with the 17-40 crop lens (and with EIS enabled it’s giving me a FF equivalent range of approx 28-66) as my dedicated run & gun video unit, with 18mm f1.8 as my wide angle FF option, especially for indoor low light, tighter scenarios.
S9 has had a stay of execution and I have welded the 85mm f1.8 to it and mounted it on a lightweight tripod as my sniper video unit, plus is serves as a back up to any or all of my 3 main cams.
The 3rd main cam being the same S5II workhorse with the 70-200 f4 on heavy tripod for all my static and long form capture stuff. I also have the 50mm f1.8 in reserve for it for tighter, lower light, indoor scenarios, so all bases as covered as they can be.
But going back to the video/stills settings, being able to have I think 9 dedicated stills settings and 9 video at the turn of a single dial is fantastic. I only have 4 settings set up and these are; outdoor landscape, outdoor people, indoor lower light and indoor/outdoor extreme low light as in after dark, each with appropriate ISO ranges and WB etc.
It’s crazy really how good this kit now is and the S1RII might not be my favourite camera of all time, but it is easily the most capable and zero complaints other than yes, I would have preferred the more rangefinderesque body style (and hope Panny makes one or at least a Leica Q3 43 rival) and average at best battery life. And obviously, the 4” screen a la ZR would be very welcome, but I’d personally want it with the S1RII style mech and not flipped out to the side. I’d prefer just tilt even to flip out to the side!
Best video quality I have had out of a camera and it’s pretty robust with equal image quality to the best I have ever had which was Sony A7RV.
As a pure stills camera, I think the A7RV does still have the edge being honest, but it’s a narrow margin and as a hybrid, the LUMIX comfortably tops it.
Not updated the firmware yet but that was very welcome.
I hope your shoot goes as well tomorrow.

And your prediction is correct! A huge difference in responsiveness in general and so much easier to use when switching between video and photo. I felt it worked a lot better with my Godox flash as well (I’m still pretty new to flash). I feel I have way more “keepers”. The screen and evf are great. I had it on for 5 hours pretty much non stop with no problem although it was probably only about 20 degrees in the venue.
Tomorrow I have another similar event (video and photo) and on Saturday anther event with photos only. I think they are going to be a lot easier to manage than they would have been with the S5ii. I would probably have had 2 S5iis, 1for doing photo and 1 for video. Now I can do the same with one camera!

You won’t be buying tickets to my new feature, ‘Escargot!’ then will you?!
It’s a 5 hour documentary about the life of garden snails in rural France and with every ticket sold you, you get a free lettuce.