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Haha. Sold my GH5 and bought an Olympus EM10iii. That's definitely a "Downgrade" to a $300 cam. I went the opposite direction.

Thanks for the detailed replies Mark and Mr SMW. Definitely moving towards the 50mm Lumix (helped by it being the cheapest!). Also intrigued by experimenting with a cheap manual vintage lens as long as I can work out what adapter I would need. I have noticed occasional warpy edges with IBIS on the 20-60 but only in quite extreme situations (i.e. zoomed right in and high wind making staying still impossible) and even then you had to look for it to notice it. Does anyone use the other image stabilisation features on the S5? I have always stuck with just IBIS.

As a fellow wedding pro my take on it is, providing you can, is to wait a couple of months. Why? The OM-1 and GH6 will have been properly out in the wild for a while and we will have a much better idea what these 4/3 flagships are capable of. In APSC land, the XH2 should at least have been announced. Also, I’d give old Panny Boy a chance to see if anything to succeed the S1 line is on it’s way. S5 possibly too soon but the S1 is either going to get replaced or junked. Personally, if they can get the AF sorted, they have the basis for arguably the ‘best’ system. Current S5, S1H and S1R user.

It’s one of the ‘better’ AF lenses for sure, if not the ‘best’. I haven’t seen warpy edges ever with this lens and only shoot 4K 50p, but yes, seen folks vlogging while bouncing along a mountain track and their warpy edges. Must be because it’s in crop mode I guess? But my whole shooting style is static and don’t do camera movements so…

Dual ISO is not the only way to achieve low-light advantage. The GH6 looks like it will be a good solution for low-light and dynamic range. Even the GH5ii was a genuine improvement in low-light by the looks of things. DR Boost on the GH6 starts at 2000 ISO, so most of the time low-light is not going to be a problem. It's not miles away from the GH5S really.

I personally upgraded to the S5, you can read about my S5 User Experience here. But in the end the AF was finally its downfall for me. I have a large collection of Canon EF lenses and CAF is not an option when using the EF adapter; buying L mount lenses was not an option to me due to their cost and the fact no other mainstream camera system uses them (ignoring Sigma and Leica here). The one time I tried to shoot a project with one of the native lenses I got for free (the Sigma 45mm), the performance was absolutely terrible; pulsing, missed focus, etc. completely unusable. I, like you, absolutely depended on IBIS, to me it was a lifesaver since I shoot 90% handheld, with that being said I never try to walk without a gimbal, all of my handheld work was using only body movement or completely stationary. Due to shooting handheld, I skipped the GH5S, the C70, and eliminated the R5C as possible upgrade options. This year I absolutely had to do something about the AF, so I took the plunge and picked up the C70. So far it has been absolutely incredible; those internal ND filters, DPAF, and CLOG2 are truly game changing for me. You can read about my C70 User Experience here. I still shoot 90% handheld but I have discovered with Lens IS and some post stabilization in DR is almost as good if not as good as IBIS. I also outfitted the C70 with a cage and handles, and worked on my handheld technique a bit more. The C70 is also heavier which further helps with stability. Even with all of that, it is still more difficult to get IBIS like stability but it is possible. For your scenario where you are shooting weddings, a lot of wedding footage is slowed down in post anyway so that would add even more stability to your shots. I am shooting and delivering in real time and it still looks as stable as IBIS shots when I use proper technique. I will admit it is also kind of nice not having to worry about IBIS wobble with wide angle lenses.

Yes, it is noteworthy, but it would be good to see some tests where the magnitude of the streaks is known. ie, are the streaks 10-stops below the bright part of the image? 20-stops? 30-stops? If we knew that then it would be easier to know which situations you might encounter a problem and which you wouldn't. This is the GH6 XYLA21 chart from CineD, and the curve from the brightest patch to the noise floor (the curve on its left) looks like it drops away into the noise floor pretty quickly, so I'd imagine that for the streaks to be visible above the noise floor maybe 1/4 of the width of the frame from the brightest areas (as in the image you showed) then the highlighted areas must be well above 13 stops or so above the flag. That seems obvious considering the flag is pretty dark and the windows are completely blown to hell, so who knows how bright they actually are.

As always, it depends on your use case and needs, but if it was me, I don’t think there is that much/enough difference between the 24 and 35mm f1.8’s and the 20-60mm ‘kit’ lens. In fact, I prefer the 20mm FF ability even if it’s f3.5 over the 24mm f1.8 and this is what I specifically use this lens for: Stills = 20mm wide angle Video = ‘30mm’ 4K 50p So I personally would skip both of the above and be looking at the 50 or 85. 85 or somewhere round about that is a staple for me as a photographer. In crop mode 4K 50p, it becomes like a 127.5mm and is far too long for my needs. I did shoot an entire styled wedding Shoot indoors and out with it last year, just because, but the 50 would have been better. I used to think (without much thought) that 50mm was a boring focal length, but in recent years have grown to appreciate it. My go to focal length for most things these days is now 65mm because it’s got just that bit more reach and compression than a 50, but isn’t so tight indoors like an 85 can be. Ultimate portrait lens/focal length? Nope. Something longer is always going to be more flattering. Goldilocks focal length for many things a lot of the time? For me it is. Conclusion: I’d go for the 50mm as it is more flexible than the 85mm for most people, most of the time and as mentioned above, the kit lens at the longer end, is getting a bit slow. Outdoors in decent light, pretty decent shallow DOF if that’s your thing, but once the light levels start dropping, as good as the S5 is in low light, an f1.8 is significantly better. I’m a big fan of f1.8/f2 lenses and IMO, they are the sweet spot of; useable shallow DOF, low light capability, size, weight and price. So you can keep your f1.4’s and as for stuff like f1 etc… 😜

Well... there isn't really a "normal range." Maybe it would be around 3 feet if you are having a conversation with someone??? (I mean, in times when we all aren't social distancing). Don't know if this matters, but if I remember correctly, the field of view of ONE eye is supposed to be about 45mm. I don't know what the field of view of two eyes is supposed to be. But I would imagine that it is NOT 90-degrees. I think that the prime lens would be light, but 85mm is kind of tight and it MIGHT be a bit more wobbly. Generally, lens-based stabilization becomes more important as the focal length gets longer (and also ultra-wide but that's a discussion for later). Sure, they tend to be sharper, have less abberations, less distortion, less flare, etc., In general, they are "better." But some lenses might be too sharp. That's why you will often find discussions on this forum about either vintage lenses with "character" or about using diffusion filters. What program are you using to edit / color grade? I know it is a bit of a hassle, but I usually transcode my footage from 4K to 1080p in resolve as proxy files, and that makes editing that much easier. Then when exporting, you can turn off proxy file use so that it renders from the original 4K files. Even if you wan to export in 1080p, you will get better quality. Of course, if you shoot in 4K 50 / 60p, you will have to deal with the crop. Plus it takes up time and extra space to create proxy files. I can't say which lens to get, but I would suggest that you do get at least a 50mm prime in some sort of configuration, at least just to mess around with. You can get a vintage manual focus / manual aperture 50mm prime from Minolta / Pentax / Olympus / Canon / Nikon for around 30 US dollars and then add a manual adapter for $12 or so.

i was happy enough to see dune on the big screen. However to be honest, i'm a bit blasé with all the batman / spiderman remakes. I realize its hard o come up with novel material and i do enjoy them for two hours of entertainment value, but it seems alot like groundhog day to me. glad you enjoyed it but i reckon i'll wait for the dvd to come out.

Hi Kye, wow, what an in-depth look into this camera...methinks you're very interested to the point of becoming a future owner?! 😉 I'll reserve my points to "output quality" as each of the internal mechanical aspects and features of the camera will appeal (or not) differently to individual users. To that end, you've covered quite nicely (and better than I have been able to do) the need for wider dynamic range when shooting outdoor environments...the f/stop range on a typical sunny day is just too much for 8-bit Rec709 to contend with for those of us who need/desire/require that the sum of our frame includes everything from the brightest clouds and specular highlights to the detail and vibrancy going on in the shaded regions. Our eyes capture all of that and I have never been ashamed to ask for and seek out equipment that gets me closer to being able to capture that same natural view. I laugh every time I hear/read someone say that this is niche...no more niche than what I came to expect from my old love, Kodachrome 25! LOL Getting to understand how HDR and 10-,12- (14-, and 16-) bit imaging can help "get me there" has been a challenge up to now...hard for any of us to realize the benefits of these things when viewed on SDR monitors! Ha! Enter my new M1 Max Macbook Pro with its HDR panel, I've devoted this year to finally educating myself on what is possible (and desirable) with the 10-bit footage I've been accumulating with my S1 for the past few years...in fact, I've decided to hunt down a used Ninja V just so I can become familiar with using 12-bit ProRes RAW at learning what it might and might not be "most practical for" for my style of nature shooting. Clearly, not every situation calls for such bit-depth or, even, DR and learning those lessons through shooting will help educate and inform me as to when varying codec choices are called for...all the more reason for my wanting it all internal to the camera (GH6 and future releases), call up a Custom setting and off one goes, er, shoots, no fuss no muss (f*** external recorders, really, I mean that from the bottom of my heart, Panasonic). Anyhoo, I thought this article and the accompanying two videos would be of particular interest to you (and to all our fellow folks trying figure out the whens and whys and needs for HDR and high bit-depth)...a two-part interview with Kevin Shaw, CSI and founder of the International Colorist Academy (ICA), where he demonstrates where and how the benefits of HDR acquisition come into play... Is 2022 the Year You Buy Into HDR? - Frame.io Insider https://blog.frame.io/2022/01/17/hdr-in-2022/ ...a college-level education from someone who knows. 😉