MrSMW

For 10 years I have been traveling globally shooting docs and magazine content. Years ago I streamlined everything down to 3 cameras plus mobile phone. Similar to your categories above but trying to reach a modular “swiss army knife” style of kit. I got pretty streamlined at one point with crop sensor cameras and speedboosters all sharing the same mount. 
1. The do it all 6k/8k flagship but focused on video. Maybe rigged up with Raw recorder as needed and bigger IO unit for better audio. 
2. The high res stills camera that still shoots solid 4k or better video. 2nd angle in interviews and used for product photos or studio portraits. Photographing media and printed materials for later use in documentaries. 
3. High end compact street cam. Third angle for interviews when needed and BTS. Nice to have as a backup in the camera bag in case something goes wrong with the other gear. Pocketable and fast for intimate and candid shots. Stealing low light B-Roll and mounting up in the rafters for high angle shots or in car interiors.
4. iphone 15 pro camera for BTS and quick stuff in the moment. Rigged up next to the A cam for vertical social media stuff. 
it’s nice being able to have 3 lenses and crop modes for S35 to give you a multitude of focal length options. Pair that with speedboosters and you can really cover a lot of ground with a small bit of kit. 
I would now add the Vlog cam as necessary these days so either the iphone does that job or maybe a Osmo pocket 3/4 in addition to the above. 
 
These are combos I’ve been playing with. 
 
Lumix S1H
Lumix S1R
Lumix S9
 
Fuji GFX 100ii
Fuji X-H2s
Fuji X-M5
 
Sony A1
Sony A9iii
Sony ZVE1 
 
Leica SL2
Sigma FP-L
Leica Q2
 
Sony A7CR
Sony ZVe1
 
 
 
 
 
 

I suspect the OP is a bot, but it’s an interesting question nonetheless.
I only need one type personally and that is a compact, hybrid, hi res monster because with that I can do it all. And am, so 😛

I’d prefer the OM-1 for stills and the S9 for video but the OM-1 is a vastly better built bit of kit.

I’d prefer the OM-1 for stills and the S9 for video but the OM-1 is a vastly better built bit of kit.

Bring back the 80’s, the single best decade to have lived, even though those of us who lived through it (age 9-19 for me) did not realise or appreciate it at the time.
I think we reached peak civilisation around Friday October 3rd 1986.
I’ll take the 70’s (rose-tinted nostalgia maybe) next followed by the 90’s (weren’t so bad) and then if I had to, 2000-2010, but since then, it’s been part living, part existing, part having to work out how the fuck to constantly adapt, but more recently, working on how to exit from it all. Not in a terminal way, - just get out of the system and all it’s BS as much as possible!
I don’t hate on the World. I just can’t be bothered with it…

Seeing this a lot in the wedding industry; a few shaky clips of Super 8 digitised and people go nuts for it.
Same as for a handful of blurred OOF images. I have couples asking for it but there are lines I won’t cross for the sake of my artistic soul.
Unless they want to pay me a lot more money and then the devil can have it…but sadly they won’t pony up for that so go elsewhere.
People have ever-increasingly short attention spans and values.
For instance, just 2 years ago, I had 100% take up from clients offered a free book from their wedding. Only 5 acknowledged receipt, never mind thanked me for it. I was selling these books just a few years prior for €500 and after stopping that due to massively dwindling sales to the point where it was a PITA, to do so, brought them back as a relatively low cost (to me) marketing exercise.
Last year, approx 95% take up of the offer (all they have to do is confirm current address which I already have and contact number in case the courier needs to contact them) and even less acknowledgement of receipt.
End of this year, just 12 months later, just 4 of this years clients ‘accepted’ a free ‘€500’ professionally printed book from their wedding and not a single one acknowledged receipt, never mind any kind of gratitude.
It’s a shit show; attention spans, attitudes, just basic manners and going back to ‘The Game’ (but the bigger one as in the entire industry and what you have to do to simply survive) I’m happy I’m on a countdown to get out of it because whilst it’s not exactly ‘soul-destroying’, the joy of any of it is being sucked out of it year on year.
I’m not a doom & gloom kind of guy, but the whole World is a bit of a shit show and getting worse so I am actively pursuing avenues to be an increasingly lesser part of it.
And I just found out, Santa Claus is not a real person! 

He is to me. 
Also, welcome on your increasing visits to hermit-town.  It's nice here.

It’s a great combo 👍

An increasing trend in marketing today, is not necessarily being the best or the most reliable or the most anything except being the most popular.
The cult of ‘vote for me’ is taking over.
The ‘game’ is knowing that but whether any of us choose to play, is up to us, but without question, we are missing out on a share of the pie if we don’t make an attempt to at least sit at the table.
This more a situation for the small to medium sized business. Larger corps operate under different rules and for the private individual, it is irrelevant if you use social media or not.
Social Media, visually anyway, is vertical.
Personally, I despise social media whether it be Facebook or Twitter or TikTok or Whatever, but if as a small business operator, I actively chose to not participate, it would be completely fair for anyone to point their finger at me and state, “your business skills are lacking”.
Current status = working on it.
Can we get back to talking about cameras again now?
 

They're everywhere, and are often just normal TVs rotated 90 degrees
In shopping malls


Some are pretty big

Some are pretty tall too, presumably for narrower spaces

Outdoors

Bus stops

In shop windows


etc.

It looks like even the eagle is wondering why you aren't holding the camera vertically.

An increasing trend in marketing today, is not necessarily being the best or the most reliable or the most anything except being the most popular.
The cult of ‘vote for me’ is taking over.
The ‘game’ is knowing that but whether any of us choose to play, is up to us, but without question, we are missing out on a share of the pie if we don’t make an attempt to at least sit at the table.
This more a situation for the small to medium sized business. Larger corps operate under different rules and for the private individual, it is irrelevant if you use social media or not.
Social Media, visually anyway, is vertical.
Personally, I despise social media whether it be Facebook or Twitter or TikTok or Whatever, but if as a small business operator, I actively chose to not participate, it would be completely fair for anyone to point their finger at me and state, “your business skills are lacking”.
Current status = working on it.
Can we get back to talking about cameras again now?
 

If you're trying to market yourself in 2026 and beyond you need to create content for social media otherwise you're nowhere near maximizing your potential, both in promoting yourself AND generating revenue. 
Here's an example that's very specific to me: I run a professional wrestling company. We release video of full matches and generate revenue from that. Individual matches can range anywhere from 5 minutes to over 30. These videos might get a couple thousand views in the first two weeks and generate $2-5 in revenue. However, in those same two weeks, we can release a 15 second vertical clip from the same match and get 50,000-200,000 views and generate $20-100 dollars for that short/reel. So we're generating substantially more from those shorts than we are for the full matches. 
Aside from the direct monetary benefits, every clip we post promotes the company and our upcoming events, which also drives ticket sales. It has also gotten the attention of local sponsors who help pay our expenses in running events and event planners and organizers who hire us to run events at breweries, festivals, fairs, and other community events. We were hired by almost a dozen people this year to run matches at events, generating tens of thousands in revenue for us. Social media and vertical video made that possible. We're a pretty hot local brand because of it. 
It's a totally different game when you leverage social media. Vertical video, and having a camera that can film in a way that allows you to re-frame your footage for whatever destination you're creating content for, is a huge deal and a game changer. If you're producing long form content and shorts/reels and aren't using a camera with open gate, you're making your life harder than it needs to be AND putting out content that is visually less pleasing for the people watching it vertically.

I think @MrSMWmeans the social media game.

You can post all the content you want, but if you're not posting content in the way people want to view it (vertical) then you might as well not post it at all. The difference in viewership is massive, whether it's the algorithm simply not serving up non-vertical content or people just swipe away from it.
If I can film something that can both be used for long form traditional content AND social media vertical content, then I definitely will prioritize cameras that allow me to do that. Open gate is very advantageous feature for those of us who have to create content for both.

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

I have my S1RII’s set up with:
[4.7K] 4736x3552 (4:3)
50.00p, 300Mbps (4:2:0 10-bit LongGOP) (H.265/HEVC, LPCM)

Why APSC when it’s a full-frame camera?
INTERNAL zoom Sigma 17-40mm f1.8 which with the crop factor for APSC and for standard EIS, makes it a 28-66mm FF equivalent lens and all factors considered, this body with this lens, is a sweet spot for me; cost, size, weight, ergos, file sizes, quality, workflow/bake in my LUT, 1:2.4 pano crop for my films and 9:16 for my socials…
The image out of the S1RII is superior to that of my S9 side by side when I shot them 6k. Every frame on a timeline, I can see which is which immediately.
For me it’s camera of the year, no question.

I have my S1RII’s set up with:
[4.7K] 4736x3552 (4:3)
50.00p, 300Mbps (4:2:0 10-bit LongGOP) (H.265/HEVC, LPCM)

Why APSC when it’s a full-frame camera?
INTERNAL zoom Sigma 17-40mm f1.8 which with the crop factor for APSC and for standard EIS, makes it a 28-66mm FF equivalent lens and all factors considered, this body with this lens, is a sweet spot for me; cost, size, weight, ergos, file sizes, quality, workflow/bake in my LUT, 1:2.4 pano crop for my films and 9:16 for my socials…
The image out of the S1RII is superior to that of my S9 side by side when I shot them 6k. Every frame on a timeline, I can see which is which immediately.
For me it’s camera of the year, no question.

Indeed.
Attention spans get ever shorter and if you don’t play the game, you are not in the game.
Whether you like playing said game is irrelevant, - just a necessary evil.
Being able to make 2 forms of content relatively easily from one source is the quickest (and cheapest) way to achieving this and why Lumix cameras especially excel, - multiple frame markers.
I have mine set up for 1:2.4 + 9:16 with a 75% blackout and it’s 👍👍

Indeed.
Attention spans get ever shorter and if you don’t play the game, you are not in the game.
Whether you like playing said game is irrelevant, - just a necessary evil.
Being able to make 2 forms of content relatively easily from one source is the quickest (and cheapest) way to achieving this and why Lumix cameras especially excel, - multiple frame markers.
I have mine set up for 1:2.4 + 9:16 with a 75% blackout and it’s 👍👍

I don't wanna come off as defending the YouTubers BUT vertical video (shudder) was a lot less important in 2017. In 2026 it's super important. For those of us who release long form content, but also need to create reels/shorts from that same content, open gate is very important because people are more inclined to swipe away if content isn't vertical for reels and shorts. I hate it with every fiber of my being, but that's how a lot of people consume their content now.

I think there has been some decent kit launched this year, but nothing groundbreaking and indeed, some veritable bargains on the used market.
My pick, for my needs, is still the S1RII (1 new at discounted price and 1 used) plus a used S5II and a new (discounted) S9.
If I was making a case to myself for Nikon, it would be a Z8 + ZR set up.
For Sony, A7RV + FX30’s…and they have the best glass options.
Canon is far too expensive a flip for me and I find the glass for my needs too limiting but the new R6III looks the most interesting out of all the bodies.
Which leaves Fuji. I think I could make a used GFX100 work plus a couple of XH2’s but I prefer other options more.
Love the OM-1 but not going back there.l for various reasons.
Cameras of the year for me are:
1: S1RII (best suits my needs)
2: ZR (wish it had a fully artic screen)
3: S1II (R model has more for me)
4: R6III (great spec, dull body, expensive system)
5: S1IIE (still thinking about getting one to replace my S9 which I love but isn’t quite robust enough to be my primary unit)
Wishes for 2026 (other than World peace, various prominent political figures falling under a bus, personal lottery win etc) would be for a replacement for the S1H in an FX3/30/ZR body style with a fully articulated screen plus a longer focal length sibling to the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8, such as a 45-90mm f1.8 with internal zoom.
 

I, for one, would like to welcome Zhiyun's marketing team and/or their spam bot to this forum.
As to that specific light, if it doesn't come in an ugly leather case and have Cam Mackey's signature all over the light and all of its accessories, is it even worth considering?

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…