Leaderboard

I'm totally serious on this forum. I get what you are saying here, we totally need to know what we are getting into with our gear before making purchases. From your original post though, I got the impression that you were wanting to know the little 1-3% differences in actual sensor usability effected by stabilization and such. To me I'm baffled by why that would make any real world difference to anyone. Wasn't trying to be mean or anything, just was truly curious. These days I do my best to try to rent for a day before making a purchase, there is nothing like a little personal quality time with a camera to see if it will work for my workflow.

I assume it's for the same reason the GH5s has no IBIS - for use in 'crash cam' situations where the high G-forces and vibration would upset (and potentially damage) the IBIS mechanics, introducing worse picture distortions than you'd get without IBIS. I think they're primarily intended for situations where the camera is used in a fixed position and operated remotely (like, I assume, in BTM_Pix's picture above) or in 'hostile' environments where they are cheap enough to write-off if the worst happens. They're just aimed at a different part of the market compared to the S1H - and if some are selling 'used for close to what they were new' that suggests there is decent demand for it (the non-IBIS GH5s has also held its used value quite well).

I actually got over €150 more from MPB when I sent them my S1H. Also, for another item, they increased the value/quote and they did not need to do this so to me that is the sign of a fair company. I bought my S1H for something around 2.5k and sold it for 900 so the total cost was 1600 for its life with me. It was used on 60+ paying jobs so worked out at a cost of around €27 per job turning over an average of ballpark €3.5k per job. OK, there was other kit used as in other cameras and lenses, but compared with say renting, €26 per job for a piece of kit like an S1H is bonkers cheap! Not per day as each ion my jobs are an average 2 days, but per job, so more like €13 for aq day's 'hire'. A major difference I guess vs the 'casual user' of photo gear and working pros is that we don't actually pay for anything we use. Ever. Some of us do however throw away a but more than we might otherwise but as long as you don't swap brands every other week...

I've been on this forum a long time, and I've never seen any indicator in this thread or anywhere else that @Benjamin Hiltonis trolling, or is anything other than a decent guy. There are a couple ways to look at it imo. I'm a very procedural person, in that I conceptualize end result as a function of the inputs. If I know the inputs, I plan the output in my head, and that's how I approach a shoot. On the other hand, I know people who have no idea how big their sensor is, but also produce better films than I do. They look through the lens and know what they want. If the end result looks good, who cares if you're using 40% of the sensor? Neither approach is wrong. But I do believe that products should have accurate and complete specs.

Watching the Olympics and seeing the bullet time replay systems they had set up at most of the events, I thought that Olympic Broadcasting Services must have bought shit loads of them and it might spark a resurgence, albeit niche, of interest in them. On closer inspection, they were Z-Cam. Considering that Panasonic are an actual sponsor of the Olympics, that must’ve been a kick in the knackers.

Yeah, that makes sense, I get it. But really some of the crop modes punch in almost 40%...!!! That's no joke. And after cropping in the newly advertised high frame rates like 120p and 240p modes turn to mush and are totally unusable so in the end, just a marketing gimmick. Lastly, everyone these days online is being sold on the full frame sensor for video in the consumer space and I constantly hear people laughing at micro 4/3 and APS-C cameras and thinking they have no value. I feel like it would be enlightening to a lot of newbies to see that their ZV-E1 is actually only shooting 10.2 megapixels for video and already cropped in on the full frame sensor to even achieve the measly 3840x2160 UHD. And then when you apply dynamic active stability you have a 30% crop in on that. So it's even more than Super 35 and those specs aren't advertised by Sony.

I just got a FX30 last week and I'm finding the AF almost magical! Of course, this is the first camera I've had with anything close to state-of-the-art AF, but it's really revelatory how well it works.

And they aren’t exactly cheap still retailing around 3.5k new and 2.5k used whereas S1H’s can now be had for under 1.5k. I guess due to volume and whilst you can arguably rig up the box better, it has less real world features than the S1H.

That's exactly it and pretty understandable, but I get your point!

And that is exactly where it ended up. I liked the S9 but did not love it. I didn't need to 'love' it but I asked myself the question, was it better than a S5ii and the answer was no. I asked myself if it was as good as a S5ii and the answer was still no. I asked myself if there was any single thing I preferred about it over a S5ii and came up with nothing. There was just a constant nagging at the back of my mind that it's a single card slot plus it does not have a fan and why would I use that when there was a better alternative? And to a lesser extent, the weight and build. I found it a little too light and just felt like a toy in my hands. OK, had the cage arrived in time, they would have helped with the handling and build feel, but this would have made no difference to the lack of a second card slot or a fan. And yes, I knew all of this prior, but thought I'd at least give it a go, especially if it was not going to cost me anything just in case the real world experience threw something up. It didn't but only highlighted the flaws. So I sent it back for a full refund. I would have kept the S1H for the rest of the year at least, but instead took the opportunity to add a third used S5ii as that made the most sense and though that cost more than trading the S1H, less than the S9. As far as a full kit, I am officially done. It just works. I could not find a better viable alternative based on what is available in 2024. I am sure it exists but I'm not interested because what I have now, for the first time ever, really does just work. The future though as in 2025... That one is down to Lumix or L Mount as a whole... At some point, I would rather just use one brand/mount and I have built a kit that could really go either way as in currently it is L Mount for video and Sony for stills, but could be purely L Mount or Sony for everything. There are really only 2 future scenarios now that will trigger any change to one single brand and those are, in the blue corner, the next gen body from Lumix combined with a longer version of the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8, or in the red corner, the rumoured 28-105mm f2.8 from Sony. I have a self-imposed max 1kg rule on lenses this last year...UNLESS it's a genuine 'one and done' scenario and then I could make an exception. 28-105mm f2.8 on a 24mp sensor? Nope. 28-105mm f2.8 on a 61mp sensor which can crop to 42-157.5 @ 26mp? Yes please. As long as it does not exceed 1.5kg. If Sony do indeed pop that one out, all in on Sony next year is a viable option. If Lumix pop out a 60mp S2H for next season it's an option... If Lumix pop out a 60mp S2H for next season and Sigma something like a 50-100 f1.8, then it's goodbye Sony. I don't really care either way and none of it is a necessity because in the absence of either of the above scenarios, I would quite happily just stick with what I have right now, ie, any further change now, has to bring something quantifiable to the game.

I get why they did not include IBIS and maybe there is a space/manufacturing reason and I am aware many filmmaking purists would turn their noses up at such modern frippery…but then there is the factor that for every ‘purist’ you might please (who could simply not use the option or it would make zero difference to their use case regardless) is the nine other sales they didn’t make due to the omission. I was very interested in the box format also but the lack of stability killed it for me. Some folks will say simply use an OIS lens but the reality is less than 5% of lenses have any. Or use a gimbal or tripod. We don’t always want to! I’m not saying that every piece of kit ever made should be a ‘jack of all trades’ and it’s not just Lumix, but sometimes some brands really do limit their sales and potentially entire brand with some of their decisions. But what do I know… Pretty sure though that neither of Lumix’s boxes sold well because you never hear about them. I’m sure they sold a handful but no way could they have been any kind of success. Hopefully they have learned from that and will either produce something with greater appeal, or at least make the box as or more appealing than the more trad design. I do wonder sometimes who makes these decisions in these multi-million (billion) dollar companies when the man in the street says, “well that’s a bit shit”. And does not buy it.

Man, I can't tell if you are just trolling with your comments on this forum or if you are serious? Here's why... Spending $2,000 - $6,500 on a camera and not knowing that the features you thought you were getting are compromised or different than advertised because they are buried in the fine print somewhere. That you are able to shoot in 4k/60p but only with terrible rolling shutter and artifacts and a 2x crop into the sensor. Because you bought a full frame camera because you read online that it was worth it for various features but now when you go to use in in the real world it crops into APS-C mode and behaves like the other camera you were looking at for $1,000 less and all your lenses have a different field of view. You don't own any fast wide angle lenses and now you need to rethink things because you bought the camera to use your full frame fast wide angle lenses. Sony's most extreme image stabilization on some cameras crops in like 40% on the sensor. That means you are shooting with an area almost Micro 4/3 sensor sized. Try to find that information easily on a Sony website or YouTube video. I know why they don't disclose things right up front and it's pretty obvious it's because they want to list the features to sell the camera and kind of bury the details about how or why it works. The headline is the 8k or 240p and the brand new shiny thing, meanwhile you have to wait for some honest YouTube reviewer to actually go through things and tell you what's ACTUALLY useable and not just a gimmick. The Sony Burano as an example. The HD 120p feature on a lot of new cameras... Just garbage image quality but looks great on paper.

Because when I shop for cameras I want to know what FOV my lens will have. And in general it's good to list basic specs of things, similar to how microphones list their max SPL (would I still buy it if the max SPL were 1 dB lower? Probably).

I would strongly discourage trying the ZV E1 for a shoot like this, too many usability issues. The FX30 is a fantastic camera for what you are trying to do. I don't have experience with the C200, but I can attest that the FX30 should meet all of your expectations. Good usability, great autofocus, plus all the other stuff you would want in a camera. Also don't forget that rental is an option, might be able to save a lot of money that way, or put your money into a really nice lens or two

Can I ask why it matters to you?

I think you're overthinking it. When I see Panasonic and Sony putting all of their flagship tech from 4-5 years ago into smaller and cheaper cameras, (S5ii, S9, ZVe1, ZV10ii, A6700) I just see them offloading parts before they debut something else. We've all been waiting for a S1H successor and so anything less feels disappointing. They've taken too long on all this though and that's part of why it feels like a big nothing burger. Also the fact that they are all having to chase after a different market than our demographic and the different needs of Get Z/ Gen A

Yeah r5's 4k120p is all-I only, so in terms of practicality R5II is massive improvement on that. R5II's 4kSraw for 25p/24p is like 350mbps, that is much more manageable vs R5's 8k only raw with huge 1700mbps. But then again not having card to test is a bummer, really keen to see how it fare with c70's 4k raw.

I agree. Crop in each mode is an easy thing to precisely measure and communicate to potential buyers. Even when the crop is specified by a manufacturer, it's almost never more than 2 significant figures, nor do they specify whether they are listing horizontal, vertical, or diagonal crop. Sensor readout speed is another one that is easy to measure, and should be on the spec sheet for every mode.

A cajun band here in town (Montréal) asked me to shoot some video of them at an unplugged street concert last Sunday. The weather was dodgy, with thunderstorms in the forecast, and they just made it through their first set when the first drops of rain began to fall. But I managed to get some footage; they asked me to do a 1-minute compilation and a 3-minute video (which I'm still working on). Here's the 1-minute version, shot on BMMCC with Angénieux 17.5-70mm zoom.