FHDcrew

I actually mean Andrew’s profile. I downloaded it so have a copy. I didn’t love the Phantom LUT; used neutral on my friend’s FX3 footage. IDK, he wants a very clean white grade which is great, but the skin tends to lean heavy magenta which I need to correct for. My personal work is a lot more stylized so maybe it would look better in that context.

I’ll have to give this a try on my S9 for an upcoming shoot! Will let you know my thoughts.

Had one of my first intense shoots with the S9; this was a concert with a well-known rapper in the Christian Music scene. Used the Panasonic S9 with my Sigma 18-35 (haven't sold it yet). So was using the APSC crop mode; honestly this is a great faux-APSC camera, image quality still phenominal and noise performance isnt bad. I filmed using the 3.3k 4:3 mode which is lovely and allowed me to really easy make a 9:16 edit while still framing for 16:9 or 2:35:1 as well. It's nice too that I can do 48p or 60p without a FOV increase. I am content with this mode so don't have a massive urge to sell my Sigma 18-35 and get proper full frame glass. Eventually i will though. Double aspect ratio markers on the S9 is sweet; I had a 2:35:1 AND 9:16 aspect ratio marker going at once making framing for both mediums so easy. IBIS is so good; I filmed 90% with e-stabilization set to high; this did crop pretty heavy but you forget about it when shooting, and the performance was so good I rarely had to post-stabilize and could easily replicate gimbal tracking shots with a heel-toe walk and holding the camera a bit loosely. The cage and hand-grip definitley helps, and I don't find the camera to be uncomfortable; the Sigma 18-35 is definitely front heavy, but the setup is still a lot more comfortable than my old Z6 with the Atomos Ninja V bolted on. I will say over time the smallrig handle seems to come slightly loose so i have to tighten it every now and then, but when not shooting I also tend to hold the camera in one hand by the grip. Other notes: Battery life is great. Only used two batteries for the entire shoot filming multiple concerts over a few hours. Didnt' even fully run through the second. Lack of viewfinder is not a dealbreaker for me as I only do video; screen could use to be a bit brighter but still usable in direct sunlight. The rear dial feels so cheap; you can easily nudge it half-way between its click points. I don't like it. At least it's very functional. I do find the function button placements to be good, and i can efficiently change settings. A joystick would have been cool. Lack of hot-shoe a non-issue for me as I am 98% video. If I really need it I can whip out my Nikon Z6 for photo work. Camera never overheated once, and it was a very hot day. Definitely love this camera. I do see myself picking up an S5 II on ebay down the line, but I don't see myself ever needing anything better; just would like weather sealing and a more robust build. But the S9 is still totally usable as an A-CAM and can work really well in that capacity if your needs are comparable to mine. Given that I paid $860, its easy to overlook the flaws of this camera.

Camera is in my hands. Feels a lot more premium with the cage. Good way to beef it up as an a-cam without feeling like a huge rig. My weird plan was to rock the sigma 18-35…i already own it and it covers 24-35mm roughly on full frame. But the darn viltrox EF to l mount adapter, while great, forces the camera into an apsc crop no matter what I do. Thinking of selling it and snagging a used canon 16-35 2.8 l or 24-70 l EF.

Might be worth a shot though what I land is still an amazing deal for just the body. Might give it a go though.

I think this S9 will fit my needs perfectly. Electronic shutter doesn’t bother me, as I do video 99.99% of the time. I still have my old Nikon Z6 I can whip out for the very few times I get asked to do photo work.

Liquidation auction are overstock, b-stock, Amazon returns etc so there’s always a chance for something to just be missing lol.

Typical liquidation auction weirdness, the S9 body is in great shape other than a small scuff on the lcd, but the 20-60mm lens is entirely missing from the packaging lol…still a good deal as is still around $400 less than the body only S9s sometimes sell for on eBay. My EF lens adapter comes tomorrow then I can do some proper tests and first impressions. Will share those.

After 4+ yrs of shooting on my trusty Nikon Z6 I decided it was finally time for an upgrade. I wanted internal 10 bit and better IBIS. I felt I had pushed my Z6 really hard and taken my due diligence to use it on tons of shoots and really make the most out of it, so upgrading felt fine to me haha. Originally got a Canon R7 and Sigma 18-35; I filmed a lot on a Canon R5 and loved it. I equally love the r7, decent lowlight for a crop sensor, great ergonomics and image, really fun camera to shoot with. But then I found the deal of a lifetime…a Panasonic S9 AND the 20-60mm for only $700?!?!? How?!?!? I’m fortunate to have a good reputable liquidation auction in my area and they happened to have the Panasonic S9 open box with this lens up for bid. I bid on it and won and am picking up today; if I love this camera, I return or sell the Canon R7. If I prefer the R7, I can literally sell the Panasonic for a profit. But seems like such an insane camera for the price even what it normally goes for on eBay. But $700 for this pair is insanity; I could sell the kit lens if I wanted to and be paying under $600 for an S9 body haha…now we are almost in what used to be Panasonic G7 pricing territory (my first camera). So pumped for this camera; I can overlook its flaws for how cheap it is for me. I never been use an EVF and I don’t take photos enough to really miss the electronic shutter or lack of a hotshoe. For me the excellent IBIS, full frame, lowlight, 6k open gate etc etc make this camera appealing. I ordered the smallrig cage with a grip; this will be my a-cam and I might keep my OG Nikon Z6 as a b-cam, since with the ninja v its full frame 10 bit image will match well with really any camera I get. But yeah, can’t get over how good of a deal this thing is. Picking it up from the auction today, will make a more detailed comparison post against my R7 and document what I decide to keep.

Obviously paid firmware upgrades have been a thing since the Gh4 days...but a subscription model is so annoying.

RIP us actually getting to use what we own lol. Yes Arri is amazing, yes the Alexa 35 is wonderful, yes these prices are totally fine for large film groups or people renting. But now Arri is putting some features as "upgrades" such as Anamorphic desqueezing and ArriRAW support...and yes, they offer these in weekly/monthly subscription models...hoping this does not trickle down into future cameras that are much more affordable. Sick of subscriptions.

It’s not overstated, they can look incredible in the right hands.

Imagine if MotionCam RAW worked on this…

Exactly the current info is a mess with half of YT saying it’s the same as a simple CST while the other half (shills) are like “omg your LUMIX s1 II is a baby Alexa and and and it’s different cuz cuz cuz arri engineers tweaked the color look look but my affiliate LUMIX sent me this camera for free”

I’ve heard some people (mainly the YouTube shills) say it’s the next best thing since slice bread. Others have said it’s no better than the Davinci Resolce Arri Log CST lol

Understandable. Not the smallest camera in the world lol.

Literally he is so underrated

We should revive this what cool stuff is everyone making right now?

Even the freaking c100 II and original A7S look incredible in the right hands.

And the difference now is nothing like what it used to be. When we leapfrogged from lineskipped Canon t2i mush to GH4 clean 8mp 4k readouts, those were some huge IQ improvements. Everything now feels so tiny, what I really do care and appreciate about with modern releases is workflow, ergonomics, things that contribute to my enjoyment of shooting. And I do see genuine advancements. That’s what matters to me.

Haha nice I just bought a Nikon F 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 as a dirt cheap zoom lens for my Nikon z6. Gonna post about it in the lenses topic but yea f4 is often plenty. Yepp. I was networking with a wedding videographer the other day and showing her some of my work, she was asking me if I shot in SLOG3 when like half the videos I sent her were in 8 bit flat on my Nikon z6, but they were color graded in davinci to improve the highlight rolloff etc lol they did not end up looking different from lots of people’s videos they’re produced on FX3s. Really does come down to how you use the tools and seems that we’ve had sufficient tools for quite a while. I still don’t think I have reached the limits of what my 7 yr old Z6 is even capable of haha. Again I also think a big reason in people’s minds that they think the current crop of cams looks so much better than the stuff we had in 2017/18 (or heck even 2015 with some of the stuff I’ve seen from the Panasonic GX85 lol) comes down to skill. YouTube reviewers are much better in lighting, grading, editing etc than they were when say the A7iii was released. Yea there are totally very real advancements and I’m not discounting that these advancements can be extremely helpful, but I think so many older cameras are capable of a wayyy better image that I used to think…and that a lot of people on YouTube still think.

I love this

Yes…it destroys our contentment with the gear we already have haha

Probably bored. I would be too if I was doing those reviews for that long lol. Still tho.

Absolutely, I agree and would say its a draw between Lumix and Nikon for the best value and innovation right now imo. I feel super secure a a Nikon Z6 shooter knowing that my current camera has aged really well and continues to fit my needs, and when I need (or want) to upgrade I can easily get a Z6III (or heck even a Z5II is fantastic), use all my current f-mount lenses, use my Z6 OG as a bcam and have a camera that's super competitive. And I'm so impressed at all of Lumix's stuff; the freaking S9 for $1k used is killer, the S5II is cheap and darn near perfect, and the S1 II basically flawless. LUMIX and Nikon really are the top dogs right now. But back to the main topic...it seems there are so many aspects of the brand deals that are not disclosed well. Like this entire Craterr thing. When was that ever made clear in a video ever?!?! "Yo this camera manufacturer sent me this camera for free but dont worry this is my unbiased opinion" just does not cut it anymore. When I watch the 'popular' camera youtube, i start to feel the lie that my current gear is inadequate...but its funny because then when I'm actually shooting and editing i totally forget about that and end up feeling really comfortable shooting on a camera I have been using for 4 years...and as my skills improve so do the results I'm able to get out of the camera. I am getting better results out of the Z6 8 bit flat than I used to out of the 10 bit NLOG Prores from the Ninja V...and I literally had a post on this forum from 3 years ago deeming the 8 bit flat "unusable" with "terrible highlight rolloff". Well a few small tricks in Resolve and I was able to just roll off the highlights more in post which really mitigates that problem haha, and I can get the color/image to a really nice point in the internal 8 bit...