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All in all, I would just go with Cfast. Smaller/quicker/safer setup.

@majoraxisJust noting for those curious... The color plugin doesn't use LUT's, it uses color transforms. The nice part is it transforms to linear color before applying your adjustment, and then out to whatever you specify. So the white balance and exposure adjustments are actually correct, instead of incorrectly applied to non-linear data. Also by not using LUTs, it has none of the resolution or clipping problems that they would bring. The color plugin is another great reason to use Z Cam--outside of using Blackmagic color in Blackmagic's software, it's one of the best ways to maintain proper color management. (Pro-tip: for any footage, convert to linear for WB adjustments! It's the reason why "raw allows WB adjustments"... really being Raw has nothing to do with it, it's just that it's linear so it's mathematically correct. That and no compression artifacts, in the case of lossless raw.)

I wonder if the retail price for cameras over the last year or so has made people reconsider buying used? As great as they were, most folks simply aren't in a position to drop $3500 or more on the A7siii or S1H, especially during a pandemic. The truth is you can create your vision with pretty much any camera that has been released in the last 5 years (or older if you don't care about 4K!), or at least get close enough that you're willing to forgo the latest gear in favor of value. It might be hard to find a $200 camera that can do 4K and has a M43 or bigger sensor, but the fact that you can find one in the $300-350 range, and it's not that far off from what you need to spend $2000 or more for, is a pretty huge deal. The GX85 I bought for a bargain still holds its weight and if it weren't for my concerns with the M43 system as a whole I'd be prefectly fine using it with my G85 and GH5 for years to come.

But whatever you do, just don't let Jessica Biel on set....

In addition to what @mercer said, you should also get a few action cameras, put them in their waterproof housings, mount one as a helmet cam, one has a chest cam, and maybe one somewhere else, then just have everyone go nuts in shooting and run through the middle going from hiding place to hiding place. Film that in 120p and you'll have lots of close, slow-mo, wide angle "it feels like you're in the middle of it", shaky action footage. Shots like that can be great in the edit.

Idk... I would just stage most of it and then create money shots using a tripod/slider combo with a thick piece of plexiglass attached via rails so you can slide forward as someone shoots the plexiglass. Remember to get coverage... if you're shooting profile shots, the action and the paintballs can be real. If you're in the middle of the action, just pretend that they're shooting. Get cans of fog to disorient the action. Get a bunch of different shots using the slider/plexiglass combo so you can intercut them with the wider action. With the magic of editing... dissolves, normal/slow motion, etc... it should cut together fine and you'll have the perception of reality. You could also attach the barrel of a paintball gun under the camera, for some shots, for a video game type of POV shot. Hope that helps and good luck with your shoot.

Gotcha, so you think that would be enough to prevent paint from getting in and keep the camera from getting damage from force impact?

Well I meant either. I prefer using a gimbal but with the water housing that obviously would be too big or most likely cause problems, hence using a glidecam; I meant either one.

Yeah but would that mess up the balance of the gimbal?

I guess we could make it staged, but I still would want them shooting. I want to make it feel like its real and not staged. I saw some shots from the previous videographer who worked for them and it was very obvious that it was staged. Maybe not to the untrained eye, but to me it was very easy to spot. I'm thinking of using this, but trying to see if there is a more affordable option. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1608185-REG/ikelite_71475_200dl_underwater_housing_for.html

Are you shooting real games or staged? Can you wear high vis so at least nobody purposefully shoots at you? You could try one of those bags for snorkeling. Then you don't have to worry about paint getting in the camera. If you're worried about impact damage, you could put some socks or something inside the bag.

I wanted to add that I am now using the Z CAM Color Correction OFX plugin for Resolve, which allows me to adjust the exposure and transform it to look like REC709. I assume inside of the plugin, when you change the exposure, it applies the correct LUT based on the new exposure you set. This fixes what I did not like about using LUTs, which is having them not matched correctly to the exposure and look bad in the under exposed or near over exposed areas. The Z Cam Color Correction OFX plugin for Resolve as well as a version for FCPX, Z Cam LUTs and ZRAW plugin for Adobe Premiere and Scratch are available here: https://www.z-cam.com/lut/

Also, in that same price bracket I could entirely build out my audio wireless rig.

...I'd be "in" with that, as long as it records with audio, too! :)

100% Cfast all the way USBC is unreliable, introduces 3 points of failure

I'm not expecting one and quite frankly, I'm not bothered even if there is another or not. If anything, I wouldn't kick a further video AF update, but otherwise is what it is.

So now that the S1 is closer to the S1H, as a S1H user i'm wondering what kind of major update we're expecting to highlight a real difference between S1 and S1H ? I'd go with something like: 4k@120 fps, probably only in 420 8bits internal and 422 10 bits external.

After deep reflection, I've concluded that I want my lenses to weigh almost nothing, and yet have diameters like saucers and be almost 100% full-by-volume with bulbous glass elements. If anyone has seen that then please let me know immediately.

People who cheap out and buy a Blackmagic camera are also the same people who cheap out on their media... then blame the camera! Thus it is an important question you asked Robert ("what media exactly are they using??").

I had the edelkrone sliderone V1 (and headone V1). Typical Edelkrone build (and high price) but I didnt particularly like it. (Actually the first one I bought juddered but Edlekrone quickly replaced it.) It basically only works through the app and it was near impossible to set it to very long duration slides for timelapses. A couple of months ago I bought the ifootage nano. It really is so much more intuitive and easy to use - you dont really need to use the app for standard slides - it considerably cheaper too. I wish I had had a chance to use it more but am Covid constrained. Gerald Undone has done a good youtube review of it.

Unfortunately you find yourself in a small niche that not many of the brands are likely to cater to (due to my previous comment of it making the products prohibitively expensive/complex for the majority of users). I think you're likely left in a position where you need to decide whether you actually need the things you think you do (ie raw, 10-bit) for what you're doing, or whether they're just imaginary goalposts you've put up. What exactly is it that you think you're missing from the current generation of cameras, that would be better if you were shooting raw?

Too late for me now, I just pushed the button on a used S1H. Makes more sense in regard to pairing up with an S5, - both hybrid use, but about 90% video with the S1H and about 90% stills with the S5 with the lenses being interchangeable. I think even if Panny comes out with a GH6 later this year, for me specific requirements, it wouldn't make as much sense to use two different formats. I'd still like to see what it could be if it ever appears though...

If the GH5S had good AF it would have been an insanely popular camera I think for many creators. A GH6 with good PDAF and decent lowlight and features that rival BM Pocket cameras would be an insanely popular camera. If they added internal ND and PDAF to anything it would be an insanely popular camera. I would like to see it, because a GH6 with oversampled 4K, internal ND, PDAF, full vlog and one of those fast but cheap MFT primes would make a great b-camera for me and I suspect a lot of others. The total package would be small and fast to deploy

Can’t wait for their next gen camera. Literally only need to sort out 2 issues: - External monitoring: lag, soft image, SDI-out in body. - E-Mount that doesn’t suck. Viltrox nerfed the first iteration.

I don't know if you noticed @Lux Shots but there's banding in your picture? A big grey bar right through the centre. Or should that be gray and center? Anyway, I spotted it.

Too many people having too much time on their hands to look for the best and cheapest camera.

See the GH2 now going for prices I sold my GH4 for a year ago...