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It really is. It's the first kit lens that I'll often use professionally and not even bat an eye at the thought of it. It's not just "good for a kit lens" it's a good lens period.

The 20-60 is a awesome lens. It's one that really "makes the system". Wide angle at 20mm was VERY difficult to find; now, it's commonplace. This lens basically means you don't have to get a wide angle because the kit lens will do it! I already have one. Sorry.

Another thought, I really think it's down to the IBIS implementation. The GH5 has two IBIS modes, one that smoothes motion, and the other eliminates it creating a stationary frame. The normal smoothing one is how you describe, but it's the other one that's of interest. If you put it in that tripod mode, but then pan the camera, it keeps a stationary frame until you've moved it too far and it realises it has to 'follow' you, and if you keep panning you get the smoothest pans I've ever seen without sticks. The level of stabilisation is incredible. When you're doing it the feeling is a cross between pulling the frame through treacle and one of those time-warp things where reality is delayed (because it moves a second or two after you start, and then it keeps moving a bit after you stop again). I really miss that mode on the GX85, as it only has a normal smoothing mode, and if you hold it steady the frame sort of floats around randomly because it didn't completely eliminate all the motion. Interestingly, the OIS from the 12-35mm F2.8 on the OG BMPCC and BMMCC (which don't have IBIS) tries to keep a much more stable frame - if you hold it steady then it will have a much more 'locked off' shot with far less drift than the 'normal' modes from the Panny cameras. I haven't compared it between cameras, so it might be the lens, or might be the camera doing this. I think there could be a lot of benefit if they included several levels of smoothing on the IBIS mechanisms. Light, Medium, Heavy, and Tripod modes would be very useful I think.

Not really the car shots and so on that I'm thinking about - I quite like them to be a bit jumpy. It's the huge number of really impressive buildings I saw in the city that just cry out for long, considered, pans/tilts/combinations that you can really only achieve with a tripod and a good head.

Being lazy, my Sony 18-105 f4 (love the power zoom!).

Message me!

If anyone wishes to buy one for a very reasonable price, I have a spare 20-60. A battery grip also. About to offload some kit to MPB. EU only!

Yeah, it was the building pans where I noticed the IBIS artifacts. In theory gyro should do a better job here because IBIS is always playing catchup; it's very fast but the lag can produce noticeable artifacts. There is no lag with gyro, but there's a crop and you have to use a lower shutter angle (typically 90 or even 45 degrees) and then add back motion blur in post. The lower shutter angle is to counteract situations in which the camera is moving faster than the exposure time per frame; if you use a 180 degree shutter angle the camera will often be moving faster than the exposure time per frame and you'll get blurry images.

That is probably why my experience hasn't been too bad with the S5 AF, as I use the Lumix lenses. The S5II X is leagues better, for sure, but I've always found the S5's auto focus to be pretty decent once you realize the limitations. The only time I'd consider it unusable is in low light and when you shoot wide open with a faster lens and are trying to track a subject that is moving around a bit. With my event shooting though I'm not shooting wide open very often unless I really need the light, because I don't really need/want shallow depth of field.

Just picked up an S5 for 764 Euros to replace my GH2 for live streaming. I'm not sure anyone will notice anything meaningful on the other end, but damn, the image is great even at 1080p. I’ve decided to dedicate it to all my vintage glass. To celebrate, I found an absolute gem—the Pentax 28mm f/3.5 (K version, not the M version). I had that lens before but regrettably sold it (note to self: 'Don’t sell vintage glass for peanuts!'). I used it on the A7RII for about a year—it was great, but I can already tell Panasonic is definitely going to elevate my footage for video.

Looks great! Making the fx30 shine

But S5 and S1 have they same processing and image, right? @Beritar Doesn't the og S5 also sport open gate? Have you encountered pinkish blotches/posterization on evenly lit skin in Vlog 10bit 422 150mbit? It occured to me when filming skin with heavy makeup. HLG in that mode seemed without it. I always loved the GH5 in HLG in 10bit HD All-Intra btw. Beautiful image.

The S5 is a really great value, especially used. The AF isn't nearly as bad as people say, and manual focusing is a dream. There are better cameras out there but none of them are a better value. There has never been a better option for budget filmmaking IMO and I'd be hard pressed to say that any other camera out right now is worth the price difference on what you'd pay for this camera used. Think about what we paid for our first "real" camera and then think about how you can get a used full frame camera with pretty much every pro feature you could ask for for like $1000 USD used. 10 years ago my mind would have been unable to comprehend the value that is the S5 in 2024. I very much like my S5II X and will likely switch out my two S5 bodies for two S5II bodies in the next couple of years, but I do like the image out of the original S5 more. It's just really pleasing. No longer needing to color match them and enjoying the quality of life upgrades on the S5II outweighs the better image, but the S5II image is more than "good enough." I think I'll also end up probably getting an S9 as a personal/super low profile camera. It's actually nearly the perfect BTS/social media camera for my event shoots. Being able to hand it off to someone to film content for our IG, Facebook, and YouTube reels would be really great since it can shoot in open gate and be cropped for each platform.

Looks like full frame HD 25p is exellent on the S9, whereas on the S1H on has to choose Apsc for that, like also tested by that polish website and youtube channel, but four years ago.:) How is battery life on the S9? Any tests regarding overheating? I guess I could check myself but I'm asking in case if someone knows already.:)

Interestingly, in the Optyczne.pl 'Movie Mode Test' of the S9, they found some changes/improvements have been made to the video processing compared to the S5ii, so maybe that will turn up in a firmware update for the S5 ii? S9 test: https://www.optyczne.pl/94.4-Inne_testy-Panasonic_Lumix_S9_-_test_trybu_filmowego_Jakość_obrazu.html S5 ii test: https://www.optyczne.pl/70.4-Inne_testy-Panasonic_Lumix_S5_II_-_test_trybu_filmowego_Jakość_obrazu.html Z6 iii test: https://www.optyczne.pl/91.4-Inne_testy-Nikon_Z6_III_-_test_trybu_filmowego_Jakość_obrazu.html There are also some downloadable sample clips on the next "Summary and sample videos" page of the tests. The S5 ii is a 'good value' camera, making the best out of an old, slow (and cheaper) sensor which limits 4K60p to an APS-C cropped region of the sensor. The Z6 iii is nearly twice the price of the S5 ii and has very recent, much faster, sensor allowing full-frame 4k60p with low rolling shutter (and it supports internal RAW recording). It's not really a fair comparison. I had a play (in a camera store) yesterday with an S9 fitted with the APS-C Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC DN lens. Quite a nice combination at less than 800g total weight and I thought the handling was OK. As I normally shoot at 50p/60p the S9 would basically be an APS-C video camera for me anyway. Not sure yet if I actually want to buy one (versus other 'compact' possibilities like the ZV-E1, A6700 and ZV-E10ii, which have a much wide range of lenses available) so I think I might sit on the fence for a while and see what happens with the S9 pricing - in what has become quite a 'hot' area of the market.

As far as the FX30 goes - well it's an excellent little camera. Very easy to use, produces a nice image and with the latest update even has shutter angle! A few of the lower light shots needed some NR adding in Resolve, but nothing outrageous. For the video above I didn't use Cineprint. CST, NR, Balance, Contrast, A dab of Film Look Creator then out through the DVR Kodak 2383 D55 LUT, via a CST to Cineon.