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This is the kit for my trip to Korea coming up. The BMMCC is slower to shoot with, but I think I'll try and make it the main camera of the trip. Equipment: BMMCC GX85 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 12-35mm F2.8 primes: 14/2.5 and 7.5/2 and 17/1.4 and ~50mm F1.4 iPhone The Helios 58mm F2 is pictured, but I might end up taking the TTartisans 50mm F1.2 instead. Still deciding. The BMMCC will benefit from the OIS in the zooms significantly. I only have a couple of old Wasabi LP-E6 batteries, and so far in my testing I'm getting about 1h45m of battery life, with it not really mattering if the camera is on standby or recording. I think when I'm there I'll probably buy some more batteries. Pics:

The S1H Mark II, and the other new S1 cameras should be here by now. Interestingly the Leica SL3 has arrived already. This is a camera that is engineered by Panasonic with Leica, and very much Panasonic in terms of electronics and firmware. The S1R Mark II has not come along with it. Instead Panasonic have given us two lower-end cameras, the S5 Mark II and S9. EOSHD looks at what's going on in Osaka. Read the full blog post: https://www.eoshd.com/news/is-panasonic-rethinking-high-end-full-frame-mirrorless-line-up-the-missing-cameras-of-2023-24/

Too many productions are too dark IMO... We are currently watching 2 series on Apple TV; Servant and The Lady In The Lake. My missus keeps asking why no one ever switches any lights on in their houses. And can she have subtitles on because some characters speak with such muffled and mumbled voices... "It's high level art dear, you don't understand". In reality, I think it gets pushed too far sometimes and that is to the detriment of the viewer.

To go back to the old argument about “what I like and what the customer asks for....” This post by Filippo Chiesa on FB says it all. I'll translate it for you on the fly even though it's easy to do with Google. Also interesting are the comments to people who insist on their preferences and the responses from who pay the bills every month with his work. https://www.facebook.com/1370200475/posts/10232791406232061/ From comments section:

It is close to perfect and the image still stands up today as one of the best you can possibly get. But it would be nice to have even a small update, like: Less heavy, a bit smaller Phase-detect AF In-camera LUT feature Stacked sensor for 4K/120p

I am guessing a few things are happening. Panasonic is trying to get rid of the old 25MP FF sensor inventry. Which is why the S9. It's a good camera for the price and sensor size, but it has some issues which Panasonic doesn't want in the next generation of FF sensor. Panasonic needs a New Sensor greater than 24MP and Way Less than 60MP (somewhere around 40MP if it wants 8k). That sensor would make it to most of Panasonic's FF Lineup. It has to be excellent for Video, and have Reasonably High Resolution for Photo. Rolling shutter shouldn't be too bad, and it needs a huge variety of frame rates and resolutions for video. My guess is, after Nikon's working with Sony, Panasonic too is trying to ensure it gets a custom sensor, with design and features almost exclusive to Panasonic. Also, it probably doesn’t want to have the exact same or similar models at Leica, so that the market is better spread out between the two.

Everything except this: A camera design and production is a lengthy process. You don't redesign and produce a camera in six months and probably not even a year.

Dirty contacts was the first thing I suspected, but that wasn't the issue. And that lens works perfectly on my OG BMPCC. It has had the same behaviour consistently on the BMMCC ever since it happened the first time. It's not a dealbreaker; during my trip I simply stopped trying to focus before hitting the record button and focused afterward. But I did notice focus drifting at times and fortunately I had some other lenses with me (all manual) so I finished my trip with those. I remember seeing similar comments from other users on the Blackmagic forum. What's weird is that it happened all of a sudden; I hadn't done any firmware updates or made any other changes. It makes me think it's the lens that's the problem, but it does work reliably on the OG Pocket.

@kyeone word of warning: a few years back when I was shooting with my BMMCC in France, the camera started behaving weirdly with the Panasonic 12-35 zoom. Aperture control worked, but it would defocus the image as soon as I hit the record button and I'd have to refocus. I've read other accounts of this happening. I only use manual lenses on that camera now. I have two BMMCCs and haven't tested the Panasonic on the other; I should do that. But the other reason to use all-manual lenses (with a manual aperture ring) is that adjusting the aperture electronically via the BMMCC's menu will drive you mad unless you have a remote. I have the One Little Remote, which works well for this, but it's incompatible with my larger battery sources (it shuts down the camera randomly).

Pretty much. Over the years, I have used various bits of kit that most would consider not being 'pro' in a pro situation and to be honest, it's always been with a bit of risk! By nature, I don't like change and am not really a gambler or even much of a risk taker, but quite conservative...but at the same time, have pushed the envelope a few times when it comes to kit... Shot an entire season of stills on a single OG Fuji X100. Shot an entire season of video on a single Sony RX100V. It fills me with horror to think about that now 😵 But at the same time, I have still had to push trying to find the balance as a one man band shooting 100% stills and 100% video, by trial and error. Video is now just nailed as in the tools I need for the job. Between the S9, S5II and S1H, all do the business almost equally in terms of being able to produce the end result. It came down to which was the least risky. The S5II is the least risky IMO as it has the equal best AF and moderate (of the 3) weight, but sacrifices rear screen quality and a tiny bit of outright image quality. The S9 risks the most and by quite a margin, ie, potential for overheating and single card slot and lacks the ability to slot into any other role as well as anything else I have. It's the least 'pro' camera of the 3 and by some margin. The S1H though is like that old soldier that is not too old too retire, is vastly experienced and can not only keep up with the youngsters on the battlefield, but move past them. It can slot into any role with ease; run & gun, long static duty, stills... It just keeps 'soldiering' on. Nailed, based on the current lineup available from LUMIX. That combo also on the used market is just nuts. If I was going to build a budget 3 camera hybrid set up today, I'd go with that.

Yes I agree completely. For you it would be more like a "D-Camera" emergency back up that lived in the bag and came out for casual stuff and if one of your other three other bodies went down. For me too if I'm really being honest. I'm still undecided as well TBH. Prices are creeping down on a lot of great cameras right now. Fujifilm X-H2s - $1750 used. GFX 100s - $2750 used. Sony A1 - $4,000 used. ZVE1 - $1,700 new on sale. So many great options and we are actually quite spoiled with options compared to 5 years ago. I've been tracking things all month as I gear up to either switch systems (after 14 years with Panasonic) or add additional Lumix bodies. One of the reasons I really follow your posts is because I'm in such a similar spot. I guess many of us who are waiting for a S2h, S2r are felling the same thing. I hesitate to buy any older S bodies at this point because of all the new upgrades of late... Even at these bargain prices and knowing that, S1h for Video A- Cam S1r for B-Cam and stills S5ii for autos and IBIS will do the trick.

Of course, my friend!😂 Yeah, so true. I find I check out photography stuff even when at a thrift store or garage sale. You never know there might be something cool even though I already have more than enough gear. So I have a new parameter/rule for myself. Use what I can and if it falls short of what I think I need, I have to get creative to make up for that. One example, I have two wide lenses that vignette on the D16. An 8mm and a 6.5mm. I've been looking for some super wide C-mount lenses that don't vignette. Very few were ever made and they are asking over $1000 for them. So, as I want to do some shoulder mount work on my next project and want to go wide for that, instead of justifying to myself to spend a lot of money on expensive lenses, I'm going to get creative and use the lenses I already own and just mask to a slightly narrower aspect ratio to cover the vignetting. (I've decided to use The Golden Ratio of 1.618:1.) So something that was because of a financial limitation now will influence the look of the project and might even make it "better" in a way than what I was thinking of before.