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So, it's a 9-20mm f/2.3-3.2 variable aperture lens equivalent at 155g. Would I get that for a small M43 camera? I’m not so sure. The current kit is the 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (with IS) at only 70g. I almost like this equivalency game in reverse—somehow, M43 is even more impressive. The GM5 already offers so much more than the S9, especially for photography, and it's way lighter and smaller. If we’re after small, Panasonic messed up the format. They should have put a GH7 sensor in there with a proper shutter and hot shoe. Again, it was a marketing snafu, in my opinion.

It sure is ugly, but I don't care as long as it takes great pictures, which it does. 🙂

Wow, that is one funky looking camera!

Yes a lot to like in the S9, my vision for Panasonic is just more ambitious - we want them to take customers off Canon and Sony, and compete on cutting edge. The new strategy has its merits... Micro Four Thirds topping out with phase-detect AF on the GH7 is a nice surprise, I'd thought they'd cancel after GH6. The focus on small full frame bodies and lenses to replace Micro Four Thirds is a clear new direction... 18-40mm lens on an S9 is an able replacement for a Micro Four Thirds cam. But Panasonic risk losing the halo effect on the high-end stuff unless they get the S1H Mark II out soon at very least. S1 is probably dead, the S5 series has replaced it. The S1R is probably dead, the Leica SL3 has replaced it 🙂

I don't see anything wrong on this release TBH... Only lacks 4K 120fps. But, you have no time limit if you need. Promising dynamic range on FF small and lightweight form factor. 5.9K recording from HDMI + anamorphic 3536x2656/50p there, affordable price... Well, I even think I will be tempted myself to buy it, one of these days ; ) After all, it will match the inventory of fine glass for my 6K FF Blackmagic camera too!

Let's look at the bright side now... The LSI and firmware keeps being developed, this is a good sign as they are expensive to do. Panasonic may have cut the budget but at least they are still getting access to the latest chips, new encoders, ProRes, and so on. Also, both the GH6 and GH7 had brand new sensors, seemingly not from Sony - perhaps this indicates a switch to OnSemi, makers of the ARRI ALEXA 35 sensor, or even a switch to a joint-venture Panasonic managed fab. This would explain a delay for the flagship full frame cameras with new full frame sensors, if they cannot just pick a Sony up off the shelf. The S9 was certainly a lukewarm move... The lovely but niche Sigma Fp has shown that there's not a particularly mainstream demand for very small full frame cameras, as the Sony a7 stuff is small enough for most but with the extra features you need such as an EVF and IBIS. The S9 is also a very cost driven product, when you pick one up in your hand you will realise it. But again there's the new processor and firmware, with extensive LUT support and latest gen phase-detect AF. The S5D is of course the strangest move imaginable, but it also could have a positive connotation... The S5D is born of a collaboration with DJI who are in the L-mount alliance. It could be a sign that DJI and Panasonic are developing a closer relationship with the intent to produce a full frame DJI mirrorless camera with L-mount. DJI are an extremely innovative company and this could really be quite a special beast if it was to come to market next year along with a Panasonic S1H Mark II with a similar sensor (and huge DR) to the ALEXA 35. So I've not lost hope yet, just a bit concerned and worried because nobody least of all me wants to see a diminished Panasonic presence in the camera market. One of the great things about the Japanese is that they have largely avoided the monopolies and duopolies and mergers that you see in the US tech sector... Does one country need 6 or 7 camera companies all taking sales off eachother? Probably not, but it is good for us.

I am not sure i understand what kind of movie you actually have in mind. I am with you that due to the recent streaming wars the market is oversaturated at the moment and this boom is over but on the other hand my watchlist is growing longer and longer with great films and series. And of course that's not the fault of the EOSHD Forum - but the forum has been a great documentation of the change that has happened in the recent years.

We wanted democratisation of the art of filmmaking not so much the business of it. It is important in the business end to always have demand outstrip supply. When anyone can pick up a cheap piece of kit and go and shoot adverts, then you have a problem. Evidently not everyone can pick up a cheap piece of kit and shoot something artistically interesting, so it's still of value to do that. The problem with that however is that you have to be very fortunate to make any money doing so. The film industry has put group-think, profits and franchise filmmaking before creative interest, and is now struggling with an unappealing product that is watered down and too much in abundance, i.e. mediocrity in creative terms now passes for the gold standard as long as it has a high production value and gets made by one of the big streaming channels. It doesn't grab people's attention in a world that is very demanding on one's time and attention. This isn't the fault of the EOSHD Forum btw. There's the technology side which is causing the supply and demand problem in the low-end of production and the lukewarm content, oversupply of material killing the high-end of production.

We all, myself included, were hounding Lumix about the GH6. Their silence was deafening at the time. Eventually what they released was a pretty decent camera, but one that also simultaneously left many of us underwhelmed. Then a few months later the G9 II comes out with PDAF. It was terribly confusing for users and, in many ways, self-sabotaged their own flagship camera. Was the GH6 rushed out to be a stop gap because the community was pressuring them so much? I don't know, but it kind of looks like that with hindsight. It would also kind of explain why they were content with not fixing some of the ghosting issues that people had, which was not a typical response from a company that has very much been attentive to users and known for improving their cameras even years after their release. If that was what happened it could've been avoided with more communication. Laying out a road map would've saved them from releasing a camera that would be overshadowed almost immediately and made almost irrelevant within a year. People just wanted to know what the future held, whether they should stick with Lumix or look towards a different system. The other companies don't have to convince people that they will be around for the long haul. Lumix does. Lumix also needs to increase their market share. The way to do that is to collaborate with users (and, I hate to admit it, try to win over the influencers) and be more transparent. That includes telling people that follow ups to the S1 lineup is in the pipeline instead of just absolute silence.

I agree. They have a real opportunity here to listen to the makers and continue to give us the specs we’re after. LUMIX has always given us so many features for the price and supported cinema features early on. Even maybe forcing some of the other brands to offer things they wouldn’t have. If they doubled down on that and started being more transparent they could foster a real creative community around their products that would spread to consumers at large. The Sony products are sterile and efficient tools but overpriced and lacking a lot. There’s no reason why LUMIX couldn’t have put out an FX3 and FX30 and dominated like the days of the DVX100. But it’s all about marketing and a plan and creating more around the brand. They are so close…

The lack of new S Pro lenses since 2020 and the fact that they use the same IMX 410 sensor since the S1 in 2019 (a sensor from 2018 introduced with the Sony A7III) is very concerning to say the least. I like my Lumix cameras and lenses but honestly, I really think about switching to Nikon and adapting my FE lenses on a Z6III and Z8.

I also went for the analogue route this summer. Feels so much nicer to have a 50D and a 150 Euro camera with a nifty fifty on the beach than thousands of euros of equiptment. Manual Focus though...

I started with a GH4, then 2 GH5 bodies, they worked pretty great, went off to Fuji XT-3 as I was hoping to have one system for both Photo and video. Didn't work out and this was when Lumix had the big FW for G9, so bought 2 G9 and a bunch of lenses, went to GH6 (x2) from there. Ended up selling all my M43 once the S5iix was released, as the future was FF and PDAF, and I'm currently on 2 S5iix bodies and a mess of lenses as I had to buy APS-C for Crop 60P and normal range FF glass, I don't Love the S5IIx but they work fine so I guess I'll keep using them till the pro FF bodies arrive, But when will that be? then the GH7 comes along with PDAF, so do I sell everything and go back to GH7? Or sell everything and go Sony??? This is where Lumix has left me personally. Looking back, I can say that my GH5s and G9s just worked for what I did and served me very well. GH6 and beyond just don't have the same Mojo for me personally!

Yeah, it's definitely geared towards remote control. For a run-n-gun setup, by the time you add the zoom demand, it's now larger than the P4K, which is truly saying something. I genuinely don't know what I'll do for my next trip, although the likely option is to keep the same setup as there's nothing out there that is better without also having massive downsides or a massive cost associated with it.

In that case, I'll replace the video with something with more value to the DJI discussion 🙂