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New blahg post. https://www.eoshd.com/news/whats-best-out-of-the-new-releases-comparing-the-canon-eos-r7-r10-fuji-x-h2-panasonic-s5-ii/

Yes that's because XH2S uses a stacked sensor capable of 14-bit readout under 30fps. Going above or using Flog1 drops the readout to 12-bit delivering lower RS. 4K120p goes as low as 3.9ms. If you add to that 6K open-gate and chunky ProRes codec options, you have one of the most solid IQs in mirrorless. This to me makes XH2S best bang for buck camera for ultimate IQ.

I like the written blogs, there are not many like yours. They are often worth reading whereas the videos get drowned out in the Youtube torrent. There are some great options out there. I’m thinking of selling my S1, which I really like apart from the weight and AF, to get a S5mk2 for those very reasons. I really love my Panasonics, the only thing I have been missing was the AF (old eyes) and that seems to have been solved. I’ll keep my S5, even though I prefer the S1, as it makes more sense having 2 cameras the use the same batteries and cards. Friends have the Canon R6 and it’s a great camera too. The R6mk2 looks even better other than the price. The FX30 looks very interesting if you are only doing video although I can’t say I have enjoyed using Sonys.

I can see this point for a commercial operator, but resale value has never played a role in my camera purchase decisions, nor do I consider a camera an "investment" when making a purchase. I tend to use my cameras for 10 years or longer if I can, at which point I'm more likely to give them away to a student than to try to sell them anyway. When I owned cars I did the same thing: I ran them for 10 years or 250,000 miles, whichever came first.

Yeah this is a shootout that I want to see, I do miss my 5D III. If I can find one for a bargain I might pick it up and compare it to the S5 II. The micro jitter of the 5D III is something that I do not miss though, but locked off it might be interesting.

Yes you can, up to 16 LUTs can be imported and can be baked into clips, or just used to display. True for fx30 and fx3.

The 5D III doesn't pixel bin in Magic Lantern 3.5K RAW It is a S35 crop of the sensor (1:1 readout) with no binning or line-skipping. And yes, it's bloody amazing.

Thank you for the great 2023 summary. I still believe you have some of most insightful eyes on the internet. Breadth and context. Bought an early S1, thanks to you. You are better in print. A clarity and conciseness. Maybe editing cycles. You know ‘practice’, and all that. Or maybe just skill with the printed word. But the world changed. Like for an owner of a vinyl store. Only one move there: high end, obscure, collectible, or promising sonic nirvana. Not so easy for blogs. On YouTube, still finding your voice. The “dunk & snark” is fun but not really the basis for a “trusted brand”. And kinda of “one shot”. Making fun, once, is the truthie humor a comedian finds. We laugh. Twice, (well, in cameras) everyone starts to think “mean”. And a shortage of worthy and recognizable targets. Hard to imagine dunking on Gordon Laing. Parody perhaps. Dunking? No way to make friends. Laing and Undone, both do the work. Just started down the YouTube path earlier. Eh, and a little more checklist oriented. The early days of DSLR had lots of subtle details to be revealed. A maturing market, with slower camera releases, well tricky to navigate. After many years of grateful reading, why this first post? (excuse: no addl. insights) You are a nice guy and probably nicer in person than your blog might suggest (always thought you had an edge). My first clue was some trade show interview (not yours) and I was like, “Hmm, would really like to have a beer with this guy.” Not what I expected. Your early USP: more reverence for film like qualities than pixels. And of course, “I can’t believe the vendor treats their users this way!” You idealistic hope that capitalists will see the light is quite charming. In that Don Quixote way ; -) I too am tired of Canon’s market segmentation. I’ve gone on too long without really helping. Ouch. Really? Yup. Oh well, have to, as they say, “give it a go”. So… Consider the sub-brand “Romancing the Frame”. Might be room. Simply loving a few frames (or setup). Really loving it! Passion is a quality everyone can related to. Not a music video, just loving a few frames. Different than “Every Frame a painting”. Mere mortal setups. In pawn shops, bathrooms, a tired alley, a ticket counter. With characters. Real characters. Yes, every online film class has one or two of these. The opportunity: a deeper focus on sharing the joy in both finding and creating. Of course, with music. Not just discovering, but also building a visual quality that didn’t exist. Consider: This Frame — The Make-Over Edition. Closer to the roots of EOSHD. Film look from a then cheaper 5d. Check out Ulysses Aoki. Only 39.k subs, but 996K view in three months on “This $200 camera shoots infinite film like photos”. Reminds be a bit of you and your early B-roll. Your offering: some combo of lighting, filters, profiles, LUTS, diffusion, flags, and used cameras. Concise quick takes & tricks. Passion + hard work is how any filmmaker gets there. And you’ll have to let your inner romantic, out for a stroll more often. (maybe watch some old Graham Kerr, Galloping Gourmet. Yeah, right. ) Lots of less conflicted sponsorship options in lighting. Many lights good enough. No lens lock-in, etc. Any new (online personality) direction is going to take some serious work. Casey Neistat kinda work. He still does it. Not just insights spoken to a lens. One reason for the move back to NYC is probably the B-roll. Checkout the comments on “The Problem with New York City. He’s an entertainer, not a reviewer, but he does the work. (Max Joseph taught him to edit) Think you get the idea. I realize this is just suggesting finding a tighter focus on “infotainment”. And more work. Might not be you. Doubt I helped. You probably knew all this. Please consider all these words just a long winded way to say “feel ya”. Wishing you all the best. And indeed, wish I could buy you a beer (in person). Cheers, (and with gratitude)

Speaking of protests there are massive strikes in the UK and hundreds of thousands of people on the streets. Very little coverage of these people parading through the streets of London demanding better pay. Yet during Brexit, Nigel Farage could turn up with 12 people and a dog, and be all over the BBC News. "Man of the people" that he is. The BBC has a problem. It's main role is to report factually, objectively yet clearly some facts are too political and too inconvenient to air. If the BBC came out and objectively labelled Boris Johnson a compulsive liar, it would be a statement of fact. Yet they won't as it will obviously be seen as a political opinion. Regardless of whether certain people are proven liars and lawbreakers, facts seem to cease to be impartial when they're about the personal.

Hero 11 shoots "IMAX": Yes, the true IMAX aspect ratio (1.43:1) from the full Hero 11 8/7 sensor (and 10bit color). The uploaded video has no horizontal bars, nor are sides cutoff - there is just more vertical resolution, useful for filming large spaces like Grand Central Terminal. Looks great on Apple Pro laptops, which are less widescreen. 5.3K resolution is more than some (ARRI) IMAX-approved cameras. No, this does not make me Christopher Nolan. Thank you for your cooperation.

What I'm seeing so far from S5ii leaves me cold when it comes to SOOC standard look. Typical clinical look. But maybe demos with other profiles will change my mind. And there is always LUT support, a great feature for custom SOOC looks. GH6 has ProRes which is such a great chunky codec and that dual gain sensor so probably the best IQ of a Panny mirrorless. M4/3 also opens up the door to so many interesting lenses. Its a real shame it didn't get PDAF, hopefully a G6 mk2 is in the works.

The S5II is certainly a very disruptive camera at its price point. Panny has solved its Achilles heel and is now a serious contender in the FF hybrid market. It remains to be seen how reliable this first-gen PDAF is but the tests so far seem promising. 6K open-gate is super dope. On the downside 4K60p is in S35 crop mode and 120p FHD. Rolling shutter is also average at 21ms. A7IV has a very similar slow sensor with the same 4K60p crop and even worst RS. No 6K but higher 33MP stills. Has cool things like breathing comp and clear image zoom. R6II should also definitely get a mention, especially in the US since it is priced the same as A7IV. It is still the only camera in its class that can shoot 4K60p no crop. 6K ProRes RAW external. 16ms RS. Best AF imo. Very easy to grade Clog3. In my opinion R6II destroys A7IV due to the above advantages and should be the direct competitor to S5II. Finally OP did mention "image feel" and SOOC color science. This is were things get subjective. My personal preference is by far for Canon. Sony second with their latest gen CS. Panasonic third, its not bad or anything but I just find every single SOOC Panny footage kinda dull and vanilla. Same thing with the Panny lenses. They're very sharp & accurate but lack any type of mojo. Clinical is what I'd call the Panny look. Now this is just my subjective biased opinion, and some people actually like sharp & accurate colours/lenses. In the end I always look at lens options and again this is somewhat subjective but for first-party options it is Canon/Sony for me. Sony for their Zeiss range and Canon because of all the affordable EF legacy lenses but RF is also solid and the non-L series RF are quite affordable. I'd probably go Sigma if I were on Panasonic.

What about it? It isn't even a close contest. Why are you comparing them? Seems rather unfair to the Sony. Couldn't you be kinder to Sony and say ask for a S5mk2 vs FX30 comparison instead?

Equalize for the artistic choice in DoF, and consider which has the more practical 2nd ISO, then you'll realize the FX30 is the better choice in low light. That's correct. The hatred for the FX30's rolling shutter is a red herring just because they can't come up with anything better to criticize the FX30 over! As the FX30 is too perfect. Meanwhile many of the other popular recommendations (such as the a7mk4) which have just as bad or even worse rolling shutter you'll never hear a peep out of them object to their rolling shutter performance, it's just ignored as "acceptable". It's a double standard.

FX30 still does 28 megapixel photos, and does pretty decent photos if you don't mind the biggest drawback of an electronic shutter (and no EVF). Meanwhile for video, the FX30 is massively massively better for filming with than any of the a7/a7C/a7R/a7S series cameras. It's not even close.