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So I went with the A7R III of course 🙂 The reasoning goes like this... It was 1160 euros, and the A7 IV would have been 1750. Quite a big difference. The A7R III is a 2018 camera, and in those first EOSHD reviews it remember feeling it was a big step up from the already very good A7R II, because Sony had introduced new ergonomics, new battery, new colour science... And now they have done so again 6 years later, and the a7 IV of course has completely new Creative Styles and menus... plus 10bit and S-Cinetone, which you'd think I would consider a must-have. Thing is I don't. The new menus aren't a selling point, they're a bit of a mess. The new colour profiles are pretty decent, but I am more used to maximising what you can get out of the old ones with EOSHD Pro Color. And the A7r III when set up right has some serious mojo... Maybe a bit of a harsher highlight roll off than the A7 iv, and it doesn't grade as well in S-LOG3, but there is a part of me that doesn't care and just wants to shoot. I tested both side by side for about an hour in the shop, sat down around a table... The a7r III autofocus was as good as I remember it... Can't really see any major improvement on the a7 IV. I tried the Clear Image zoom for Super 16mm c-mount lenses and the Super 35mm mode on the a7r III and again there was no shortcoming, and no clear advantage for the a7 IV. That's quite an important feature for me as I like the look of my c-mount stuff. When it comes to 10bit and more dynamic range I have the GFX 100 and S1H. When I need really good AF in video mode and stills - the a7r III does the job admirably. My a7r III will be mainly for personal stuff, stills and video - with emphasis actually more on stills whereas the S1H takes up some video duties. The video mode on the a7r III really is no slouch... I find the image really very nice in 4K full frame and S35. It also has 1080/120fps which is a nice bonus for such an aging model. The a7r III also has a small edge over the a7 IV in low light, in both video and stills, even thought it has a higher megapixel count (42 vs 33) and is 6 years older... quite surprising. Ergonomics wise, the a7r III is smaller, slimmer, and has an equally good EVF - you don't notice the higher res panel in the A7 IV very much as the resolution of the live-view feed doesn't quite make use of it. So I feel good about saving the 500-600, and will one day get back into the modern Sony cameras... but for now the a7r iii does the job perfectly fine. I'd like to get an a1 again one day... When it comes down under 2.5k then I will strike. It's hard to see how they will ever better it, without a complete change in concept and technology. By the way, I really do prefer the tilt screen on the a7r III over the social media friendly twizzle screens of late. The a7 IV just didn't feel as good to shoot with somehow, when the screen is opened up at the side off axis. There's also no advantage in RAW quality for stills. I appreciate the image in video mode is that bit better... A bit more dynamic range in the creative styles, a better codec, and S-Cinetone is nice to have as well. So a pure videographer's needs may differ and that extra 600 might be worth spending. Let's see if I regret the decision by this time next week 🙂

MPB

Try MPB? You won't get as much as in a private sale, but you'll definitely get it! https://www.mpb.com/en-uk

I filmed recently on a Sony a7iii with modified slog2. Color mode set to ITU709. Graded with. Resolve CST. Nail your white balance and your skin tone is honestly really solid. Sony 8 bit does have legs in 2024.

Does it play Holiday Lemmings?

Which, on current form, you will immediately spend on this !

First post is checked by me, and if I don't like it... banned forever 🙂

In France, I'll buy and sell on leboncoin.fr.

I agree. (For the OP) The best quality video mode is 'C4K' (DCI 4096 x 2160) at 24fps - the other 4k frame rates only support UHD which is noticeably softer. The E-M1 iii is not much more expensive second hand now and has better video C-AF and IBIS. Video quality is the same as the E-M1 ii. You need to use 10-bit mode on the OM-1 to get the most detailed video - then it at least matches the E-M1 ii/iii C4K level of detail but offers 25 & 30 fps as well as 24 fps (and the UHD is pretty much as good). Downside is that 10-bit is HEVC only and either OM-Log or HLG - no 'normal' picture profiles or adjustments. 8-bit UHD & C4K is about as detailed (i.e. a bit soft) as UHD on the E-M1 ii/iii.

What about the FX30? OK, not FF... : ) Mine is coming from FL to NJ nowadays and IMO it is the best bang for the buck capable of 4K 120fps without overheating... ; ) Well, I'd dare to say, not only to my book LOL ;- )

I bought an A7Cii + 20-70 F4 G purely for travel use, and its since become my main camera for everything. The jump in AF quality over the A74 is notable.

The a7IV comes off pretty well in this video. Mind you, so does everything he shoots with !

I would go for a second hand E-M1 II over either of those. They are very cheap now and in some ways even better than the OM-1. The sensor readout is more detailed in 4K. The E-M10 III shoots 4K whereas E-M5 II shoots absolute mud. It was dodgy in video mode even for 2014 standards! If you absolutely can't justify an E-M1 II for 100 bucks more, the E-M10 III is the one to get. Canon Rp is a disaster, stay away from that for video. It feels awful to use and crops like hell.

Interesting. Have they officially announced the partnership? If anyone can threaten the Japanese camera companies it is indeed DJI. They even bothered to turn up in Berlin last week at IFA whereas the Japanese camera companies didn't... Well, Panasonic sort of did with ONE GH7 and TWO S9 in a tiny corner with some microwaves and washing machines. What DJI had on show was seriously impressive. It is however getting more complicated for Huawei and DJI to get the latest silicon. For me it is a no-brainer for DJI to do a mirrorless camera of some description. It could also be that Huawei will want to use the Hasselblad brand (currently licensed out to Oppo) on their smartphones. So the partnership makes sense on that front too.

Video quality on the E-M10 III is much better than E-M5 II.

Maybe it's a huge BS buy it fits perfectly in our discussion https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/i-missed-that-crazy-rumor-dji-and-huawei-partnership-withe-the-possibility-of-launching-a-new-mirrorless-camera-system/

You are asking a pastry chef to become a pizza maker. No it doesn't work. These companies will die like this. The market changes because someone else comes in from next door and routs everything. That's what happened with Apple in the world of telephony. None of Apple's current competitors in smartphones existed before the invention of the iphone. Look what happened to Nokia. A company has to come in and break the rules from the outside. Current camera manufacturers are only capable of reiterating themselves. It is in the nature of things.

@zlfan you use an impressive range of cameras! It would be useful and interesting to see, as requested by @Benjamin Hilton, some images from them to put your comments in context.

Unfortunately, as someone who has exactly zero market segments catering even remotely to what I want to do, I have to go to the mountain rather than waiting for it to come to me. Pairing it with a VA seems a sensible move for a Resolve native like me. Obviously lots of details are still unknown and you'd want to look over the details before the rig was really optimised, but such a thing would make sense. I guess we'll have to wait to really get any solid info in order to evaluate it. Having the GH7 sensor in such a form-factor would make a lot of sense, and with some interface changes these two might be the BS1H and BG1H - the chassis look identical. I know a guy here in AU who does corporate stuff that just picked up a second BS1H to go multi-cam and he got it new for AUD1900 / USD1282. He'd been watching them like a hawk and kept seeing more and more deals and he held out pretty long and pounced at that price. I think that might have been from Amazon AU but can't be sure. My comment about the size comparison wasn't necessarily a criticism. If Panny built a camera that could handle the heat and data rates from a FF sensor and the physical stress of a professional standard FF lens mount and then just changed the sensor board over for the MFT one it's likely to mean that there's more engineering headroom than a purpose-built MFT camera might have. Anyway, this is all armchair daydreaming. My likely path is that I won't know what I want or have a clear idea of my priorities for a long time and when combined with my personal rule to not buy anything unless I have clarity, I won't be buying anything for a long time. Plus, the BMMCC is hardly a slouch, so the motivation to upgrade would be pretty low intensity anyway.

Sadly, that seems to very much be the case. There has been some innovation but it never seems to sell and the market seem to like conservative as much as the manufacturer. Maybe, or instead, wake up some of the others. Indeed…unless again, as above, other more progressive companies act as a wake up call and the sleeping giants are woken finally and called to action. Or go extinct one by one.

As I wrote here the problem is all in the marketing department that should be sent to Siberia immediately. It is clear that these two products are aimed at a professional niche audience (evidently filling some broadcast market gap) since even the web pages are on the Pana pro site and not Lumix. No event, no influencers... Even the technical features are listed almost mysteriously. A sign that it is not aimed at the classic Lumix audience. The problem is the timing. You almost sneak out such a product while your entire Lumix user base has been waiting over a year for the new iteration of S1 models. Suicide. Now half your Lumix customers think you're finished. I repeat: siberia, siberia!!!!

It's very odd what Panasonic have prioritised over releasing the S1 Mark II, S1R Mark II and S1H Mark II. They have updated the G9, because that's an insane best seller of a camera isn't it? And it really was crying out to be updated in an S5 Mark II body, hence G9 II and it is now languishing at something like 58th in the sales chart for 2024. They have updated the GH6, as the GH7 being part of a dead system is obviously more important than an S1H isn't it! And now we have the new box cameras, aimed at the cinema market which is currently in a huge downturn, maybe Panasonic want to capitalise on the raving success of the first box cameras, which sold a mammoth 5 units. At this rate we are going to see a Panasonic CM1 Mark II, a GM1 successor (S9 anyone?) and a sequel to the long line of sales chart toppers known by their initials G... as in G100, the vlogging camera. The S9 really nobody wanted it, I don't know why it exists. The GH7 I can just about understand, I'm glad the GH series will die AFTER getting autofocus and not before. The G9 II doesn't need to exist, just use a GH7. The S5 Mark II probably should not have come out BEFORE the S1 Mark II. The box cameras, I really couldn't give a hoot about. Somebody wake me up when Panasonic rejoins the camera market and stops messing about.

And the box camera came after the S1H last time? Maybe there is a market for the box camera, I don't know, but YouTube isn't exactly asking for it, but what do I or they know... I doubt it as it's 4k only and there's no way they will release any S2H as 'only' 4k as they will be laughed out of business. Reads to me like an update of the BS1H but with PDAF and lower dual native ISO's of 400 and 2000 vs 640 and 4000 of the B/S1H. It's all a bit odd...unless I am missing something?

Announcement given half-heartedly. Almost as if they were ashamed. Panasonic's marketing should be fired on the spot.

Now serious, - where is the S2H and the S2R eh Lumix?