Leaderboard

I also despise it, the form factor is terrible. Poor balance, top heavy, overcomplicated, poor battery life, unreliable, wobbly cable, you name it... And the advantage is minimal, the main use case for a rig is to make it look more fancy... in front of clueless clients.

I must have lower standards because my immediate impression of the OM-1 that I had was of a very robust design and construction. Possibly the single best camera all factors considered; size, weight, ergos, feel of materials used, buttons, dials etc…that I have ever handled. If I didn’t have the specific needs I have, without question it would be my camera of choice. And when I say ‘specific needs’ I mean can it shoot stills at the level my A7RV can? Nope. Video like my S5ii? Nope. Be the all-rounder like my Zf? Nope. But it’s still a very special and underrated camera IMO.

S1s were introduced in 2019. The A1 in 2021 and in 2024 the new iteration with the A1II. Panasonic still standing still. Everything has happened in the meantime. But with cameras already on the market like this, the Z8 and Canon's new R's, what does Panasonic have to invent to keep up? If indeed a second generation of the S series ever comes out, how long ago did they start designing? The market seems to be flying by comparison.

Not to nitpick but. The photos are wonderful and so are the almost static shots but the cheetah chase doesn't seem like a good choice to advertise the autofocus. There are several moments that are heavily out of focus. I have seen much better done by wildlife operators with Red and manual focus. It seems to me that the operator's handle is beyond question. Edit: I'll put my hands out: they might be in focus but they look blurry because of the heat emanating from the ground. IMHO not a good example anyway.

In France, Panasonic "deals" are way worse than last year. The "too good to pass up" offers aren't really there. Too bad. Maybe they made their quotas for the year and they're letting others take the hit in potential profits.