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I've quoted this before during the G9ii saga but, yes, its right there on the front page of the Micro Four Thirds association official website. That was the point at which they changed from being "Alternative Music" to "An Alternative To Similar Types Of Music". They went from being The Smiths to being Coldplay basically. He is absolutely churning the content out at the moment for some reason. If you went for this version of the Zfc you could live in both an under $1500 world and a Barbie world simultaneously.

I've been saying that for the past 40 years and I almost mean it now.

As a full-time freelancer, it was a rough year for me. I made about 2/3 of what I did in 2022; it was the worst year I've had since 2018. I'm still trying to understand why. It was probably a lack of focus as I helped my wife through her cancer treatments, the last of which was in April (as far as we know, she is cancer-free). Also, I lost a large account -- a relief for my mental health, but it did account for a double digit percentage of my income over the past two years. And I took two personal trips, which meant turning down quite a bit of work (as they say, "take two weeks off, lose six weeks of work"). But yeah, it just felt really slow, especially the Fall/Winter. I've been watching the rise of AI and big jumps in smartphone technology closely, and I am wondering how much longer my skill set will be relevant. It may be time for a change soon, though I can't think of anything that I would rather do. Equipment-wise, I bought a second C70, two RF zooms, a Red Scarlet-X, and an M2 Mac Studio + BenQ monitor. I sold about 50 items that I just haven't been using. I probably have another 10 that I can let go of too. My new reel for 2024:

I don't think you're following what he is saying. Go back and reread.

FYI for anyone who is looking to go Z mount and has manual MFT lenses then there are a bunch of different dumb MFT>Z adapters for around £30-50 such as this one.

Subscription based versus €30 one off for LumaFusion seals it for me ! The mobile version of Resolve is worth a look and can also work with their SpeedEditor unit to get the same deal going that I've got with LumaFusion. To be fair, I had to invent that one myself ! No, its lag free. I've got Logic but being a gentleman of a certain age I prefer Cubase so I don't really use it. However, being a gentleman of a very certain age, I've recently re-bought a totally hardware solution in the form of the Roland VS-1880. I just much prefer the tactile hands on approach and for £100 its a lot cheaper than when I originally owned one 20 odd years ago ! I think its eminently feasible now. The new iPhone seems capable enough, LumaFusion runs on the iPhone too (and you can cheat with an HDMI out for a big monitor) and all the audio and music apps are up to it. Be a fitting tribute if you could find a way to do it on his behalf.

Goes off to check out Nikon Z30…

I've been doing a fair amount of editing on LumaFusion again recently since I got a new(er) iPad Pro. I've been using it with the interface that I created (but never released) to enable it to be controlled wirelessly by a Contour Jog/Shuttle controller. It turns the whole thing into more of a dedicated device and is far, far quicker to knock something together with, particularly as the new iPad blasts through content. LumaFusion does have the depth to it now it do everything including correction, multi cam etc etc but its not sat there in your face going "tweak me, tweak me!". It has the FCPX exporter plugin now if you want to send the whole thing to a FCPX for navel gazing/finishing but I haven't bought it as I haven't felt the need. The issue I have with the MacBook for editing is the same one that I have with it for doing music. It can do anything but I prefer the tactile immediacy of dedicated devices.

Leaving Bluetooth control out of it is a ridiculous decision. There are of course different ways to control it and yes it is primarily for broadcast but they must know full well that this camera is going to find its way into a lot of filmmaker's hands (hence why they've included the recording features) and in particular onto a lot of gimbals. Leaving out the option to control it without those other pieces of interfacing gear is real cripple hammer territory. If its in there but just disabled then they really should enable it toot suite. At least the original micro had the expansion port connector to enable controllers to be made for it.

Without a doubt. Now I don't mind a bigger camera... But... I don't care how many features you add, m4/3 is still m4/3, and the point of the system was small and economical... wasn't it? I feel like Panasonic hit its apex with GH3 as far as ergonomics and proper price goes. Starting with the GH4, they started chasing the wrong things. Both of those cameras fell completely off my radar. The a6700 is pretty impressive. As is the Z30, if we are to believe that Camera Conspiracies goofball. The real problem I have is that there is no camera under $3000 that is an upgrade for me, but I live an under $1500 kinda world.

The biggest difference I notice between 8 and 10 bit footage is that 8 bit has splotchy chroma variation. I believe this is a result of the encoder rather than inherent in bit depth, but it's been visible on every camera that I've used which natively shoots both bit depths. In this quick example, I shot 60 Mbps 4:2:0 UHD Rec 709 in 10 bit H265 and 8 bit H264, and added some saturation to exaggerate the effect. No other color corrections applied. Notice when zooming in, the 8 bit version has sort of splotches of color in places. All settings were the same, but this is not a perfectly controlled test--partially because I was lazy, and partially to demonstrate that it's not that hard to show a 10 bit benefit at least on this camera. I do, however, agree with the initial premise, that 8 bit does generally get the job done, and I generally also agree that 8 bit 4k downscales to a better image than native 10 bit 1080p.

Panasonic showed their hand with the G9ii about how they view the new generation of MFT cameras really. Depending on your point of view its either an S5ii with a tiny sensor or a G7 in a massive overcoat but the net result is the same in that its just not size appropriate to where everyone wants to see MFT. So the "new" GX85 will not be coming from Panasonic. But it is there in cameras like the a6700 or even the Nikon Z30 both of which have excellent fast primes from Sigma to balance the body size with the lens size but more importantly can shrink that further by deploying the secret weapon of the TechArt adapters to open up the M mount lenses. Even on the Fp, using M mounts like the 35mm f2 7Artisans I have here produce very comparable total package sizes than if you were using MFT lenses with similar speed. The huge difference with using E or Z mount cameras is that with the TechArt you get full AF of these MF M mount lenses as well as being able to do the same trick with an intermediate adapter for other compact lenses such as the Nikon Series E stuff. With the e mount you can also use the wafer thin MFT to E mount adapter to mount any existing MF MFT lenses on to it like Meike cine primes etc. If I was looking for an upgrade to a GX85 then I'd be giving the a6700 with M mount a serious look.

Looks like the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4k G2 (or M4K as @mercer has coined) has started shipping - I saw a quick video from someone earlier this week, but now Will von Tagen has received his, and promises to rig it up and take it out into the world, so we'll be able to see how it fares. Here's a video showing the menu system and giving some initial comments towards the end of the video, which are very positive.

Photographing The Mauritania Railway: Backbone of the Sahara - The American Society of Cinematographers (en-US) (theasc.com) https://theasc.com/articles/photographing-the-mauritania-railway-backbone-of-the-sahara

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but glad your wife seems to be on the other end of her cancer! Well, your loss of work cannot be do to your skill set! That is some of the nicest work I've seen posted on this site! Really top notch! I love the Super 8 film/emulations and the B&W baseball footage! Is the C70 your workhorse? I'd love to know every camera used for every shot because we all know it's all about the camera... Btw, I'm pretty sure I still owe you a c-mount test. It's been a rough year for me and I have considered giving up on filmmaking altogether. I've definitely shifted a lot of my effort back to writing and I've been working on some audio dramas. With that said, I did get a chance to go out and shoot a little over the holidays and I am getting the bug back, so we'll see. I have a bunch of stuff to sell... cameras and lenses but I'd like to do that c-mount test with the BMMCC before I sell it. Does the C70 have a S16 crop mode? Also how do you like the Scarlet?

What intrigues me is that the Z mount does offer the possibility to hoover up all of the customers who are disenfranchised with MFT but have a large lens collection that they want to keep using. Which I suspect even from gauging comments on here is a fair number of people. JVC with the LS300 showed that you can have an APS-C sensor sat behind a fully electronic MFT mount and the flange distance difference is there to enable an adapter to Z mount. The Z30 is not too far out of GX80 territory size wise and is actually smaller than something like a G7 so it would be nice little platform as a transitionary camera from MFT should such an adapter appear as people would have the option of dipping their toe in the Z lenses if they felt like it or just keeping going with their MFT ones. Well, maybe not this version of the Z30 as it is only 8 bit internal.

At some point M43 was about small bodies and small lenses. Now, it's about is about bodies with more features due to the smaller sensor and "smaller than FF" lenses. This must change because FF sensor will inevitably catch up to the features and cost less than the M43 sensor. The M43 lenses will probably be smaller, but it won't take other manufacturers long to make smallish, f8 versions that compete with the M43 lenses.

This is the sort of thinking that logically should end up in the "fuck it I'll get a Z8" category. I'm with you on transcoding but indeed increasingly the faff of any kind of NLE. I'm quite interested in whether people felt they were more productive when they had hardware devices, as in camcorders and tape decks. The immediacy of coming home, getting the tape out of the camera and then putting it in your playback deck and assembling it onto the recording deck had a lot going for it in terms of productivity. Maybe if we had equivalent hardware devices now instead of everything going into the multi purpose computer it might be more enjoyable to actually edit things. And would stop the fall down the rabbit hole of tweaking the bollocks off every single shot.

Yes I remember this - Macgregor a very talented film maker was quite active on DVXuser back in the day

Classic BTM... haha! I must admit, I'd really like a ZF but I'll have to wait a couple years for that one. You're right, though about Panasonic... they used to be punk rock, now they're Rick Roll. He really is making a lot of videos. Camera Conspiracy can be a bit much, but I appreciate the shorter videos compared to others that force a 20 minute video out of a 10 minute subject. With that said, I'm probably going to buy another GH6. I didn't love it the first time around m, but I think I was being too picky and I have a different... use-case for it now. Honestly, I'm kinda tired of all cameras right now.

This film was quite famously shot with the Sony F35! Thus was already discussed a lot by folks such as us on various forums.

Its curious. Panasonic has 2 Inexpensive Netflix Approved Lumix cameras, namely the BGH1 and Panasonic Lumix BS1H box cameras. Both are great for the price, even if they have a few minor hiccups (moiré, HDMI lag etc). Somehow they were meant to replace it's other cinema cameras, at a much lower price point. But that project didn't really take off, maybe mostly due to the modularity and the lack of great autofocus. Panasonic needs to have the G9ii, the S5ii and S5iix Netflix Approved. And ensure that they improve their marketing greatly. I feel ever since the GH4, which may have been the first 4k consumer camera (apart from some Nikon one), Panasonic hasn't marketed their 4k filmmaking cameras enough. They haven't communicated things properly to the right audiences, and their supply chain is still very off from Canon, Nikon and Sony. All this while, Panasonic should have marketed their cameras as Indie Filmmaking Cameras, targetted at low budget film projects. They should have targeted film schools, film festivals and film contests online. I also feel Panasonic needs to work with Sony, like Nikon and Fuji, to create a Prosumer Camera, that will address every issue with its Prosumer Cinema Lineup (mostly autofocus, even better lowlight, and more shooting frame rates and resolution options). And those two sensors should be in the majority of its M43 and Full Frame sensor, for atleast 3 years.

The M1 is pretty amazing. I guess the issue is with the algorithms. Those need a lot more work than what is currently with them.

I have an M1 iMac; so, I don't have the latest and greatest, but does really well with FCPX. The problem is, after several hours of processing, I can't really tell much of a difference except for compression artifact in 4k. At least the M1 is super efficient. It does decently with aliasing (electrical wires in 1080p), but moiré is another beast apparently. In fact, I don't know any consumer software that fixes it. The biggest fix for moiré is more resolution out of camera (and even then, without a low pass filter you'll have some frequency with it).

Oh ok. That's very curious. I guess it means that the software isn't prepared for processing by the majority of hardware for higher resolutions. Its way too hardware intensive. It's strange that moirè (and other artefacts) aren't corrected too. It can't possibly be too complicated in algorithms to fix it.

I have version 3.1.11. I have had excellent results deinterlacing and slightly upresing 540i 60fps footage to 1080p 60fps. However, when I take 4k or even 1080p footage and try to improve, it's almost never worth the energy (time and electricity). This software is still in its infancy- it doesn't even correct moiré- a major point.

Ok. Andrew (who owns the forums) prefers that if people post links and videos that they also include other information as well, so that the forum is a place of discussions rather than just everyones bookmarks. What was it about this project that inspired you? How is this relevant to how you (or others here) might work? What things can we all learn from it?

Very Interesting tests. The image holds on pretty well. Has anyone worked on Topaz Labs' or other similar software. Maybe upressed 8-bit 4k to 8k, and then increased bit depth to 12-bit when downressed to 1080p. Or is that only exaggerated claims of improving image quality?

YES, someone else that also gets this! As a 50:50 stills/video shooter myself, only photographers really get just how important shutter sound (and button feel) are when it’s your job. It was awful on the OG S5 and that carried over to the S5ii. I love my S5ii for video but for stills, the S1H is in another league. I could have, and wanted to build a system around 3x S5ii’s, but the shutter sound plus the lack of lenses for my specific needs, has meant I cannot. I genuinely think that Panasonic potentially has the best all round hybrid cameras in the S5ii and the S1H and they just need to merge the two into one for the ‘perfect’ camera, ie, the focus system of the S5ii in the S1H! Actually my ‘perfect’ camera is a mashup of the; S5ii, the S1H and the Sigma FP with Tamron lenses, specifically the 35-150mm f2/2.8 and 70-180mm f2.8 If only, for those lenses, it’s Sony or Nikon bodies only…which is why I have skipped off back to Nikon + Tamron for stills.

Last year was my relatively low-spend year - other than disposables, only some upgrading to my audio kit and a bucket of hard drives for archiving. This year I think I will make one targeted camera purchase, which could come soon. Looks like the S1 has been discontinued in Japan and Panasonic might make an announcement as early as next week. So... Fuji's X-S20 it mostly likely is! I am a hybrid shooter - genuinely as much photo as video although I make more money with video. I had been with Fuji for ages until I sold off everything to purchase a newly released S1 and subsequently an S5 as a second cam. If it hadn't been for the S5ii's retention of that miserable-sounding mechanical shutter, I likely would have replaced the S5 for the improved PDAF, better 6k, etc. I have also REALLY been missing a smaller camera that I can have along with me for pleasure (even smaller than the S5 and my clunky-adapted Canon 40mm). I've been missing being able to be tethered to Capture One for product photography (no joy for the Panasonics). I'm surprised by how much I miss the less shallow dof/more light gathering ratio per aperture that an APSC can provide for certain shooting situations. I played with a few Flog2 files and found them readily matchable to Vlog and nice to work with in their own right. Great on a gimbal. Better autofocus than what I have. I'd still have a the full-frame S1 for its advantages and I'd ditch the S5 for this lighter, more 6k capable, flexible B/A cam... I'm thinking this $2k spent (X-S20 + Sigma 18-50) less whatever I can get for the S5 and additional bits will round things out really well and be a bridge camera (in a sense) that actually extends the life of my S1, which for robustness, record time, quiet shutter, etc. I love, and get me another year plus with it before finding a used whatever-Panny-releases-soon a year or so from now to replace it. Isn't a treatise of justification just grand? Sorry for thwarting your intention, OP.

I really appreciate everyones insight here, extremely valuable to my thought processes. Something I should bring up - I am no longer doing any type of work that would require 2 bodies and for what I want my "new life" with this camera to be is as rigged-down as absolutely possible. To me; that means no external batteries, no monitors, 1-2 lenses max, rode lavs + rode shotgun and thats about it. Hopefully it would fit in just one backpack. My commercial days are entirely done, and while I would LOVE to have many bodies for different uses, which is exactly how I USED to live with Canon DSLR's and Blackmagic's or C200's I just do not have the mental bandwidth for it anymore. I am grateful for the idea though! I know it's the best way to live, but I need to make some compromises.

he mentioned his work in a nano flash subforum and said that 8 bit xdcam codec is surprisingly good for post. but 50 mbits 8 bit 422 long gop for post for a pro series soap opera, really hard to imagine. it also reminds me how lucky we are now, we have so many good cameras and free resovle and cheap led llights. i really think crop mood with its true lossless ml raw and dirty cheap cameras can make things happen. it is just buried in so many good choices now. it is also unfortunately or fortunate to have a dp as a true full time career, since no barrier is left.

Its not compulsory 😄 Or even either or. I was just making the point that M mount is a route for keeping lens sizes compact and in proportion for both small bodies but also in general for those occasions where you want to remain discrete. For everything else or all other times or somewhere in between you can use the E mount with native lenses. With the a6700 being APS-C then this gives you access to smaller AF lenses than FF. If you use the Sigma ones then they are exactly the same size as the MFT ones so you gain the bigger sensor and the better balance as the camera has a bit more heft and of course the step change in AF and internal 10 bit. Admittedly, it might go on fire but for those first ten minutes it will be a dream. Well, here is interesting and an object lesson in not taking everything says on the internet at face value ! This is the Nikon version and as the Sony version also has a mark 2 version then I had presumed that this would be included on that one too. However, it doesn't explicitly state that it does or it doesn't so it would have to be confirmed by someone who has the new version and if it didn't at launch has it been addressed with firmware. So, unless someone chimes in who actually owns a v2, I'd take it that the Sony version likely doesn't have continuous AF-C in video mode. It certainly does in stills mode but thats moot for most people (I use the original version with an A7Rii purely for stills as a (very) poor mans Leica M10 with AF).

It's close, but the Sigma with one of the smallest lenses is 637g! Yes, you get FF, but the GX850 with the 20mm is only 356g and much smaller. Also, the Sigma can't even do flash photography. I can sell all my M43 gear and have sold most of it. I'm only left with the small (and less expensive) stuff. The fact is that I enjoy shooting my GX850 and I want a more modern replacement. Concerning Canon, I just don't trust them (R5) and I'd certainly never buy anything RF- too expensive, too closed. It's a company that will only change if there's a scandal by pushing the cripple hammer too far (R5). I wouldn't not buy the G100D. I had the G100 and shot a ton with it for a year. If the G100D actually has a significantly better EVF, I might buy it. Unfortunately, I think that was a seriously lazy update to a camera that has really sold well. What camera do you take with you everywhere?

Just created a new thread showing that the rec709 profiles in these cameras are more flexible in post than most people think: Posting this here for easy reference, and because these small cameras likely only have 8-bit rec709, but I think this isn't nearly the barrier to getting good images than most people believe it is. It's also why I shoot in auto-exposure and auto-WB.. making small changes to every shot is a very simple operation and a much better outcome than me setting this stuff manually and then forgetting to adjust it later and getting some shots horribly wrong! For those who think that adjusting exposure and WB in post is a sign of bad film-making, every colourist I've seen allows for making small exposure and WB changes as a first step in their grade and I've heard several say that it's something they apply routinely, even on professionally shot productions. Same as NR, which is routinely applied, completely contrary to YT wisdom which suggests that visible noise means the camera is defective. I hope this test will encourage people to look beyond the forum/YT "wisdom" and be free to get the most from their equipment.

Don't need to buy anything this year, I have more cameras than talent. Unless of course Blackmagic or Panasonic release an L mount 8K. That will help take my lack of talent to whole new levels and will be more clearly defined.

2/3" crop/sensor estate is not too shabby at 2.8. If you watch Harisson Krafts videos you might possibly not feel so sure about the RX100 3 to V being the winner in the image quality department. @John Matthews The lens looks magical at this aperature on the LX15 throughout all focal lengths. It sports the same sensor as the RX10 1,2,3 afaik. Crop in 4K mode did not hinder me to film some of my best personal footage ever with it. The cake is in the pudding of the lens. Processing in 4K is just as good as on the GX85. I still need to experiment with profile settings a bit more, but I would leave saturation untouched, noise reduction and sharpness all the way down though. I have started to treat it like a S16 F4 camera. I got two of them but only with one battery for around 120 Euro from a youtuber. Heck of a two camera deal. 🙂 At 200 Euro used price I would still consider it a good purchase for image tinkerers. One needs to massage the image in Davinci a bit and save some presets and secret sauce for best effect. But that´s half the fun of it.

Today we had an early xmas lunch (to avoid the conflicting invitations on the 25th) and I shot it with the GX85 and 12-35mm F2.8. Shooting was really fast and not under ideal conditions (massive window which is often backlighting people) but it did a great job. Here are a few random stills, SOOC - zero editing. Standard colour profile, with -5 Contrast / Sharpening / NR and 0 Saturation. People often lower saturation in-camera but I push my grades to have lots of saturation so I prefer to have the camera do the 8-bit conversion and compression on stronger saturated colours so that I'm not boosting up a weak colour signal in-post. When I grade it I'll be softening it up, fine-tuning the colours and adding some colour grading secret-sauce but for a someone shooting a family gathering with an 8-bit camera while also being part of the festivities, the images really speak for themselves.

Hopefully this means a simplified and more unified product line. Looking at their fixed-lens camcorders the last few years, they would have one or two "prosumer" models that were 99% the same as one of the "professional" models; apparently this was done because the "prosumer" model was handled by the Lumix/consumer division, and the "professional" model was handled by the pro A/V division, and I guess both needed to show they had produced something. I think fewer, better models would work better. With the S5ii and G9ii sharing a body, maybe some consolidation is already happening. I would assume that this means no EVA-1 replacement anytime soon, if the S1H replacement has the internal ND they patented a while ago.

This was tonights project. Just for fun...

Mavo LF has a faster readout, downsampled 4K 16 to 9 with 16ms. It allows 75fps at 6016x2520 according to slashcam. Prores 4444 is a joy to grade from my experience.

You bet! : P Take a look on the minute 00:43-00:45 LOL ; ) REVIEWER (yadda yadda mode directly from YT official channel) The surprise is here!

The SJ20 looks great, looking forward to its launch.

LOL LMAO What else? : D NOBODY here realizes what you meant with such cheap crappy marketing in anything other than as trying to make us uneducated for this purpose. To say the least. Really. Need to not underestimate your audience over these pages, I'd tend to be glad to say not only this community but special this one ; ) The point is simple: sounds pathetic, mark it wherever you like. Pure nonsense.

Got the first SJ20 actioncam and compared it with GoPro hero 12. I can't believe it so amazing night shoot!

What a book! 😂

Looks fine to me.