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I've chosen to believe that it's Olympus' attempt to outflank the Japanese regulations. --And that the off-spun OM business will eventually end up back under the "Olympus" umbrella one day when the political opportunity is viable. (They've been known to pull corporate shenanigans) Meanwhile OM are positioning themselves into a more niche market of outdoor photography enthusiasts, so maybe they'll be able to make a go of it there? Hard to say with consumer imaging technology. But, man, if they can make in-roads against Canon with all the 'birders' out there in the world, perhaps! I also like to think OM is a more nimble company that has a better chance of surviving because of this. Wishful thinking? Regardless, it's cool that their cameras are getting recognition from the folks here on this forum. Same. I hate large field packages. Done enough of that in my life and whenever the gear bag gets too big I start to get frustrated. There's a reason a GM1 with an Pentax Auto110 prime lens is my avatar!

Indeed, they could, and I had concerns last year, but especially over whether the next gen S5 had good AF. I for one would have 100% ditched L Mount if they had not ‘fixed’ the issue both in reality and in the public eye, as though my requirement for good AF is minimal, for 5-10% of my work, it is essential and the non-PDAF approach was not reliable enough. But they sorted it and I believe they are now experiencing greater sales. OMDS though, no one really knows who they are. Well of course a tiny minority do, but there is literally zero history or provenance and people do tend to buy stuff they know the brand name of whether it’s as good, better or worse. Brand names sell. I’m a big fan of the smaller independent companies though, the Sigma’s, the Black Magic’s and a future landscape with more of these and fewer giants would be welcome. As a business, one of the decisions I need to keep in mind is the cost vs return and balancing the books as it were. From a purely business POV, I would have near 100% faith in the more established players such as; Sony, Canon, Nikon, Fuji being around for at least the foreseeable future, but the future of Panasonic’s camera division may have hung in the balance over the success (or not) of the S5ii. I suspect it may just have saved them, but that is pure speculation on my part. OMDS though… Bought the remnants of a once mighty camera company. Brought out a camera almost certainly designed by that former company, but my fear would be if they can no longer market that companies heritage, they have to stand on the merit of their own product. And no matter how good that product may be, if folks do not buy it in sufficient quantity because they have “never heard of it”, then it could spell disaster. Bottom line for me would be a dead brand/product line with zero updates, that may very well last for the duration of said products lifespan, ie, until they break or wear out, but then might require replacement with an entirely new system including lenses and ancillaries etc. There’s always some kind of risk/compromise however, so… Sometimes I wish I was a millionaire or there was a rental company next door to my house so I could spec my best set up with all the brand options and shoot them back to back to then make a proper real world informed decision. But as I am not a millionaire and live in the rural French countryside, I can’t 🤣

The deal-breaker for me when considering a switch to an OM-1 based system for all my work was my concern whether they would even remain in existence as a company beyond this last ever ‘Olympus’ badged release. However, I think if my priority was building as ‘micro’ a kit as possible, it would be based around using these bodies. The GH6 is undoubtedly the better video camera. The S5ii is the sweet spot for me with ‘equal’ IBIS and AF of the OM-1 and the video chops of the GH6 whilst offering full frame stills in a body barely bigger or heavier than either and if you are selective with your lens choices… But out in the jungle, that OM-1 has a really high level of robustness and I really liked that 12-40 as an all purpose lens! Such a capable, chunky but small combo that just felt right in the hands…but just not enough for my needs as an entire system.

For fun, I've been comparing the E-M1 ii to the GH6. Almost everything is better on the GH6, but the E-M1 ii has the edge in AF and maybe color in some instances. The DR on the GH6 in v-Log is insane though, albeit noisier than the E-M1 ii at base ISO (GH6 is at ISO 2000 with DR boost on). I'd also give IBIS a win for the GH6. I prefer the weight of the Olympus and it feels better with long lenses. If you're on a tight budget and want decent face detection PDAF with very decent IBIS, the Olympus is the way to go. I hear people talk about the variable bitrate on the Olympus as unacceptable, but I'd just say it's super efficient (for the image you get); so, you're going to save tons on media too. When shooting the GH6 at its highest settings (1900mbps), it becomes an absolute pig, hogging up every last bit of space you thought you had within days, not even months. The GH6, of course, roasts almost everything for slow motion at its price point; so there's that too. The Olympus is a detailed, nice color, stable, good AF, C4K, 24fps, one-trick pony.

I once accidently left the stabilizer of my Canon zoom on and it messed up my dolly shot. Many, many, many years ago.:) So yes, turn that thing off! I like to remember that it was an accident though when I left mine on.😂

It has a great feature set for the purpose but, for me, more so as a holiday camera. The magnetic mounting pendant is very good for staying in the moment of what you are doing on holiday whilst still filming. The pre-record function is particularly good for using it in that way as you won’t actually have to worry about missing anything. Let’s face it, trying to do holiday videos with a “real” camera is a pain in the arse for EVERYONE concerned and is actually a contradiction in terms as it’s no holiday when you are titting about with lenses and ND filters and offloading footage. Let alone carrying it all and making sure it’s safe. It always ends up with the bulk of the footage coming from the first day and tailing off to nothing after a few days as it’s too much hassle to keep up. The AI editing is good too not just for taking out the tedium of doing editing but likely for taking out the tedium of the actual end result for whoever has to watch your holiday videos. No full size HDMI port means it will be a hard pass for a lot of people on here of course.

I'll chime in with a contrary opinion and a dark horse suggestion: Weathered sealed OM (Olympus) cams/lenses shooting 4k 8-bit --probably considered sort of low-end these days, right? OM cams definitely fly under the radar with videographers, but they have some useful features. The color and images look dang nice straight out of the camera, the cams aren't big, you get really good IBIS, and the file data sizes are relatively small. OM's target demo is pretty much nature shooters, so they build their gear for outdoor use. Be careful though. The video image might not be as 'meaty' as you'd like it to be if you're used to other pro cameras or doing a bunch of drastic coloring in post. Still, the wife and I are currently doing a nature doc and we're happy with what we're getting. ND... Man, that is the shortcoming on all hybrid cams though.

Just saying there exists proper Panasonic cine cameras with V-Log etc. An L-mount BMD cam would have different log and color science so not really an upgrade path to Panny users imo. I do wish/hope Panny comes out with an (L-mount) EVA-2 or something..

Amendment to the above: 120P 4K is NOT an S&Q setting. It is a normal option for XAVC HS, along with 60P and 24P. Thus, audio is recorded. There are two bitrate options: 200 Mbps and 280 Mbps. Both 10bit 422.