FHDcrew

I second that. They seem to wear out fast too. This summer when I briefly owned the S9, the rear dial just felt mushy and very easy to turn. I recently tried a Lumix S9 at a bestbuy that seemed to be in good condition; the rear dial felt better. And on a Lumix S9 FB group I've heard reports of the dials going bad and becoming less responsive. A major reason I went Panasonic G9II instead of S9 this time around. I also never really loved the Smallrig grip for the Panasonic S9; the grip felt lose half the time even when tightening. With all this being said, the S9 is still quite the value for the money. I think it smokes the Sony ZVE10II for example.

And this camera has the nice thick V-LOG image we know and love. Could decently shift WB in Davinci Resolve (using Chromatic Adaptation node) WHILE at 12,800 ISO and everything seemed clean to me. Panasonic really have made the end-game MFT cams with this and the Gh7. I love the body size. Yes its larger than say the older G85/gh5/gx85 gang. But it feels very compact with a small lens, yet i know if i put a big lens like the sigma 18-35 on here it would balance out. Seems very versatile.

Ended up spending a bit more and getting the Panasonic G9II! Found it for a good price. So far seems like the end-game camera for me. Only have done a few tests, but I kid you not ISO 12,800 is not awful on this thing and cleans up rather easily with some Temporal Noise Reduction in Davinci Resolve. Stabilization? Wonderful. E-stabilization high doesn't crop in that much, and it is rock solid. I love all the framerate and resolution options and open gate will be nice to have. And its so dang comfortable with MFT lenses. It came with a 12-60mm 3.5-5.6 lens; not a bad lens. It has a great range and has OIS so I get Dual IS. I will likely sell for the 12-38 2.8 though. But I think since this camera doesn't suck in lowlight, I can live with the 12-35 2.8 and save a lot of size and weight over the sigma 18-35. Build quality noticable step up from the Lumix S9. This camera is so good!!!

I do wedding films and some other freelance videography professionally and feel the extra frame rate options and better high ISO performance in the long run will be worth it. So this means I’m not trying the underrated Olympus EM1X 😔but still super hyped.

Picking up the g9 II today.

Decided to get the best of both worlds and splurge for a used Panasonic G9II. A cheap gh7. Got the gold build quality and ergonomics and decent high ISO performance and great IBIS etc etc etc. Just makes so much sense for me as an a cam.

Question for you guys. OM1 with 12-40 IBIS performance vs Panasonic S9 with e stabilization on high. What is better?

Maybe will do that. Seems like a fairly affordable setup, the OM1 plus 12-40mm. I keep going back and forth with cameras at a rapid pace haha. May be best to rent tbh just to figure out what I really want.

Something interesting I’ve found, my most common deliverables are actually 2:35:1 and 9:16. If you want to deliver both horizontal and vertical and frame for 2:35:1, you end up with some solid headroom for vertical stuff. Decent alternative to open gate IF you are making 2:35:1 content. I get that 2:35:1 is def a personal preference and there’s a lot of work that has to be 16:9, but I’ve found that can work well. I get it though. Open gate is useful.

Fair point.

Yep. Modern Panasonic full frame bodies make amazing super35 cams. I’d be interested in re-trying the S9 with the Sigma 18-35; found an EF lens adapter that does NOT force APSC mode….which means you can use e-stabilization high as a super 35 crop and get steady cam caliber stabilization while retaining the full Super35mm FOV…when I had the S9 I used a Viltrox adapter that forced the APSC crop with the sigma 18-35…so to use it on top of the e-stabilization high made the crop almost 2x MFT level…what’s crazy is the image was still very clean and detailed and lowlight was still good; noise was very organic and pleasing at high ISO even when cropped in so far. I only really disliked the build quality. That darn rear dial felt so flimsy. And hearing that they failed all the time…no thanks. I’ve pretty much settled at giving the Olympus EM1X a shot though; I believe the Metabones 0.71x does work with PDAF in video. I’ll be trying that first. EM1X + Sigma 18-35. If I hate it, maybe will get an S9 again. I’ll make a new thread with my thoughts when I get the camera. Gonna extensively test the 8 bit OMLOG400 as well as ProRes RAW to my Atomos Ninja v. So stoked to try this camera. Might be perfect for my needs. And seems build quality is apparently legendary top-tier on the EM1X. But yes, my Nikon Z6 OG as well as all of my F mount lenses and FTZ adapter were boxed and shipped to MPB the other day. Onto EM1X land.

Ok that is a fair point. And I do agree it’s useful. I briefly owned a LUMIX S9 and sold it for financial reasons. It was a bit of a weird setup cause I had a sigma 18-35 so I used it as an APSC camera. But the 3.3k 4:3 open gate mode plus aspect ratio markers I’ll admit was incredible. The Panasonic S9 is a pretty excellent faux-APSC camera.

So valid haha…and I remember 8 years ago not very many people even cared about the 5k open gate on the gh5. Now a camera is “so useless” if it doesn’t have what the gh5 has had for YEARS…the marketing agencies (oops I mean YouTubers) deem it necessary for clicks.

Has anyone had success with the Viltrox EFM2 and an Olympus PDAF body in video? I may still order the EM1X. I want to get the sigma 18-35 and speedbooster. But if AF doesn’t work I’ll need to get the Olympus 12-40mm 2.8 instead.

Cancelled my EM1X order. I was definitely interested, but turns out Viltrox speed boosters don’t work in video AF on Olympus bodies 😕 I am contemplating a G9 II instead or simply holding out with my Nikon Z6 for a while more. End tangent. I don’t wanna derail this thread haha.

Hahahaha yep. I’m iceman and I shoot on Nikon

They do fit weddings very well. Having the dual native iso at 12,800 is a good way to fake having an internal ND filter cause when you go inside you can just put the ISO at 12,800 and leave the ND on lol

But yeah soooo many wedding filmmakers I’ve met use FX3s

Well count me as second then…I’m a wedding filmmaker and shoot on Nikon…and pretty soon will be shooting on Olympus unless I last minute decide I want a Panasonic G9 II instead of a cheap used EM1X I’m about to buy.

Well I just ordered an EM1X, sigma 18-35 and speedbooster off of MPB. Trading in my Nikon Z6 setup so I am almost breaking even. Will update the group on my thoughts on the camera. Seems like a beast.

The FX3 really is the 2025 version of what the C300 was in 2012…every…human…is…using it. I’ve met multiple talented wedding videographers who shoot with it. So many use it. It’s ubiquitous.

@Andrew - EOSHDhows the EM1X 8 bit hold up for grading?

Interesting; I'm tempted to pick one up. "Side-grading" from my Nikon Z6. I gain insane IBIS. I already own an Atomos Ninja V...could throw it on for prores raw when I truly need the color depth. Sigma 18-35 w/speedbooster would bridge the lowlight gap a fair bit. Camera seems like a joy to shoot with. I take it it is super comfortable in the hand too.

The EM1X seems like such an underrated beast. Does the image hold up well in 8 bit? I’m sure the IBIS performance is legendary. @Andrew - EOSHDdo you think the EM1X IBIS outdoes the Gh7? Or at least is comparable?

Also if I upgrade my camera body sometime soon it will very likely be the Panasonic G9II. I’d save a few hundred versus a gh7 body. Just love the form factor, high frame rate options without having to crop, autofocus and class-leading IBIS. I’ve also heard that the e-stabilization high mode doesn’t crop in as much as previous cams. I briefly owned a LUMIX S9 this summer; sold it and reverted back to my OG Nikon Z6 for financial reasons (Nikon Z6 is still going strong though here in 2025 I’ve got no “need” to upgrade even IQ wise). Loved throwing it into e-stabilization high but it gave me a near-apsc crop from full frame. From eBay I’ve heard, the G9II doesn’t crop in as much in this mode. id get a g9II, metabones 0.64x, and a sigma 18-35. I figure I’d get good lowlight performance from that setup; seems the g9II and gh7 don’t suck in lowlight and having an f/1.15 in terms of light gathering would be sweet.