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I thought @Andrew Reid’s piece was excellent. Useful insights. The rest of the thread proves one thing - we are all looking for different things from our cameras/tools. “Brilliant” that we have so many to choose from. I’m enjoying my Siii.

I'm still thinking about maybe switching to Sony or Canon for better AF in video cause I am often shooting as a one man band, and AF would be very appreciated. But I can't help thinking that my Panasonic S1H and even my newest S5 after the future firmware has still the edge in video besides AF and slow motion: - much better color science - much better IBIS - better video tools (waveform, vectorscope, shutter angle, etc) - a unique LCD implementation (tilt and swivel) - 6K (though I don't really use it that much but still) - very useful S35 crop mode in 4k and even pixel pixel in 1080p - no overheating whatsoever - better tactile implementation (Sony improved it a lot but still not the same quality as Panasonic and Canon) - 4k DCI - better ergonomics (arguably Panasonic has the best ergonomics of all the hybrid full frame cameras, and I say this as a former A7III and Canon EOS R owner) - Possibility to choose linear focusing and even the length throw with native lenses from Panasonic and Sigma recently wich is not possible on Sony lenses - better hybrid usability if you need to shoot stills and video - Timecode - Real anamorphic recording modes - ProRes RAW up to 5.9K (up to 4k in the Sony) - Etc. So yeah I'd be glad to have a better AF, but truly giving up all those things I listed before, it feels like I would downgrade in some ways. @andrewreid what do you think of the comparison. As of now, what would you choose between those two?

You can find S1 second hand with some warranty left for 1500 E/$. So even you have to pay for the V-Log upgrade it is still a very good deal. Panasonic S5 vs S1. In my opinion it boils down to one or two major differences. 1. Do you want a smaller lighter camera or not. How important this is to you. How often you will use it on a gimbal ? 2. Are you planning to record most of the time internally 10bit 4:2:2 or externally to ProRes RAW. If it is externally then S1 is the better option. It has Full Size HDMI. For S5 you'll have to add a bracket and a clamp for the micro HDMI cable. Once you do this (and have HDMI cable plugged in) flip screen becomes unusable, rotation is blocked by the HDMI cable. And S5 weight and size with bracket and clamp equals S1. Looked at several clips from S1 shot at internal V-Log 10bit 4:2:2. Skin tone come always reddish after color space transform in Resolve and Red color is a little bit off in general. So it requires some work at post. Not quite as nice as BMPCC 4K BRAW. So for me plan is to use external recorder most of the time. And in this case S1 seems to be the better option. For internal recording would probably choose S5. Flip screen is useful and Micro HDMI doesn't matter. Downloadable V-Log clips at first two links. Panasonic S1H compared to Sigma FP at third link, how red color looks on both (after 2:12, compared at 3:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGqrGCz_l-k&t=230s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Al-tIFXFuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQJkcTd82Uo

I went Z-Cam earlier this year. I was planning to go with the UMP G2 but then Covid happened and all my work dried up so that went on hold. When it started up again, I decided to grab the Z-Cam E2-S6 instead as it covered a lot of the same bases (my prerequisites were Prores, 4K100p, Internal ND & v-mount power option) for a lot less money. It was also a small, lightweight package that I didn't have to spend half a day prepping/packing/charging/rigging before a shoot. This was important for me as when bookings started to come back, they were a lot different and instead of being multiple-day crewed shoots plus travel they mostly became local half-day affairs with no other crew. I needed something where I could instantly say yes when I'd get called and asked to do a 3-hour shoot the following morning, and still know it would be worthwhile and effortless and that I could get everything prepped in time easily. The camera sits on my desk or shelf and when I have a small shoot, I just put a battery on the charger the night before and then I'm good to go for about 6 hours of shooting - no other prep required. While the camera has served its purpose for this - especially once I had a decent handheld rig - It has its shortcomings. The eND kit which I ordered in May is still backordered so I'm stuck with rectangle filters for now (in a Tilta mini matte box). Some of the controls are clunky. Audio is a pain - the mini-XLR breakaway cable I have does not fit when using my v-mount plate, so I've got a Zoom H5 due this week, which I plan to mostly use a mixer & pre-amp (rather than purely as a recorder). I've had a few producers ask me what camera I shoot with and they've never heard of the Z-Cam - though luckily this didn't lose me any of the jobs because most of the work lately is local and I'm in a regional market so I'm often their only option (unless they want a hybrid shooter who can't do sound or lighting). The image is fantastic though. I don't shoot charts or do tests, but for actual in-the-field performance it is great - there's never been a time when the image quality has been the limiting factor in any way - and there's not many cameras under $10K where that can be said.

Well it does excel in quite a few departments. Full frame 4K/120p from a full pixel readout is unheard of at the moment from anything else this size or price. The autofocus is pretty much leading the way. The low light capabilities are also class leading. The weaknesses are few and far between. I've not been a huge fan of Sony lately, but credit where it's due.

Seems like lots of new affordable modular cinema cameras have come out, with some cool specs like 4K120 or 4K60 10-bit, etc.... or even just getting FF video without a crop, overheating, or crippled codecs. So, who is going modular? How are you finding the transition? My most recent acquisition was a BMMCC and my first modular setup, and I found that getting used to having a separate monitor, needing multiple batteries, cables and cable management, as well as having to rely on a rig just for ergonomics were all a bit of a PITA actually. Plus, despite the BMMCC being really small, and paired with a tiny monitor, the whole rig gets large pretty quickly. and considering that we can't talk about modular cameras without showing awesome pictures of rigs, here's the BMMCC in my sunset configuration:

Have smartphones overtaken the best medium format cameras for dynamic range? This is a comparison that should worry everybody in the camera industry. Full blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/fuji-gfx-100-loses-to-huawei-p40-pro-plus-smartphone-for-dynamic-range/

With more LIDAR AF Add option popping the AF on Pana will be non issue, especially if u use cine or anamorphic lens, the AF from camera is not going to power those manual only lens. And most mirrorless AF lens is really bad at manual focusing, its good that Pana have the option to select focus through/non linear etc.

Had you used DR400 for 2 stops extra of dynamic range? I think the DR200 and DR400 are one of the gems of Fuji that almost nobody is talking about. It works in a similar way to DRO on Sony or HTP in Canon, it uses a lower ISO and it increases the shadows electronically (so it does add noise to the shadows) but I think that the processing done by Fuji is pretty good and in daylight and lower ISOs, 640 for DR400 you can get an image with the exact same dynamic range as F-log without using a log profile. And the extra noise in the shadows is pretty much the same noise that you'll get with F-log or HLG. At higher isos the image become too noisy but keeping it low, it's beautiful. The tonal mapping done by Fuji in DR200 (1 stop extra) and DR400 (2 stops extra) gives you a very organic looking high dynamic range image. And the MOST IMPORTANT PART is that it works with VIDEO. The X-T3, X-T30, X-T4 have it, i guess the GFX 100 must have it. It's not the exact same as exposure bracketing, but using ETERNA profile, shadows -2, highlights -2, DR400 you can get a pretty amazing dynamic range. Unless necessary, of if someone asks for it for color grading, for a lot of works, I pretty much don't shoot log since using the DR modes. It would probably still not match the Huawei but you'll get 2 extra stops if dynamic range! This is a feature that I never see people talking about Fuji for video. Here are some stills from video.

So much hate for Sony here can we all just be friends? 😊 ps I love you all

Everything is a matter of opinion, but on one hand you have dozens of 'reviewers/content creators' unboxing a product before (sometimes) going outside and waving it about...and then you have filmmakers: Entirely shot on the S5 with the 20-60mm f3.5-5.6 and the 85mm f1.8 YouTube won't do it justice...

Thanks for sharing Andrew. I just don’t agree with these people who say the A7SIII is safe, boring and not exciting. It’s baffling to be honest. I took it on a 6 day trip to Turkey to film a trilogy of music videos. I almost rather effortlessly acquired an immense amount of footage, beautifully exposed in the sun with crisp, detailed imagery. The experience was extremely liberating. Now I’ve got the 1st video in edit, the footage is such a joy to grade. It’s easy to get a great image with any look you want. The only downside being the non- All-I codecs being impossible to edit natively. So I got a Ninja V. Back to my point. This is not a boring or safe camera. This is a camera that’s been tuned to precision with absolutely no handicaps for 4k shooting. None whatsoever. No gimmicks. No cripple. Nothing. And no other camera on the market can claim this. To me it’s the most exciting camera I’ve used in a long time, because it sets me completely free. Interestingly, I did pre-order a C70 which also looks great. I’m now debating whether to get another A7SIII and be done with it.

Setup times are important, putting a monitor on your camera when you pull it out of your backpack does take some time and you might loose a cool shot + its not fun, I would rather be tempted to leave the camera at home/hotel. Putting it away in your backpack with the monitor still attached it might hurt the sdi/hdmi connector. But I do really like the komodo, if I did this thing full time I would def get one. And get a bunch of other cameras as well.

Again, the lens is the most important part of an image

Impressive. And how is it for video? Probably cannot do all these tricks on the fly in video mode yet and still look great. But... Give it a couple of years and it will be able to. Computational cameras are the future. And everyone will have an alexa micro in their hands in a couple of years. With probably a lot of tools that aid regular folks to make better shots.

Yes of course it's multiple frames at different exposes fused together. Tap the shutter button and it's done for you, by a neural network no-less, with AI. And certainly more than just 3 frames fused together, due to the speed of the sensor. The GFX 100 burst isn't fast enough for this to work. It does show that small, fast smartphone sensors can overcome shortcomings like dynamic range, with computational photography. They have never been able to beat a medium format camera, massive 44x33mm sensor with 100 megapixel before. The Huawei is the first to do this.