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There's a lot of whining about Panasonic not pushing hard enough in raw specs. Yet, many of these critics go silent when firmware updates completely transform the camera's usability. Panasonic focuses on features and tools that don’t generate the same hype as 4K 120fps or internal RAW—but they offer things like false color, shutter angle, and a lower price point. It’s just a different approach.

This is what will interest me the most going forward (and also why I skipped the S5II/x) and I won't be looking at any more reviews until the camera has been out in the world for a bit. We now know what the camera fundamentally is and can expect certain ranges of improvement via firmware over time. Some things such as rolling shutter values are locked in. It is what it is - a likely very good 4k camera with excellent high-res stills. (Was the ability accept timecode added via firmware later to the S1 or was it there at the beginning? I forget.) While I have also been frustrated with Panasonic's silence, etc. and we can go on and on about how late-to-the-party the S1RII (and Panasonic overall) is, none of that has much bearing to me in deciding whether this camera will keep me in the Panasonic fold or not. I can see the S1RII being my hybrid for events and other commissioned work and continuing with the S1 as my second 4k filmmaking body for the next number of years rather than jumping ship to some "big three holy grail" - all of which have loads of compromises in their own right. I look forward to hearing and learning from what users here will have to say about the image and other more tactile things.

I think people are being a lot more pessimistic than they need to be about this release and Lumix's future in general. As much as I am loathe to admit it, YouTubers are a big part of marketing these days and tons of them either went on the trip to Norway or were sent a camera to review, including prominent Sony, Canon, and Nikon shooters. Virtually all of them made positive videos about it. That's a move in the right direction, as far as marketing goes. The real professionals who did use the camera, including in real professional settings, were all extremely positive and compared it favorably to the competition while marveling at the price. It's a high resolution stills camera with excellent video features. A total 180 from what the original S1R was. Given what folks are saying and anecdotal evidence available, they seem to have things coming down the pipeline. They could be better at conveying that to us for sure, but there are enough hints out there. See: the new monitoring app. As someone that was very doom and gloom about Lumix for a while there and who still sometimes scratches his head about decisions they make, these are all positive steps. It's almost March. There are 9 months left in the year. Lets see what happens.

People were pretty hysterical about the Lumix S9 when it was first announced. Now it's a relatively popular camera that people have decided is underrated. Even non-Lumix users bought and use it. If you look beyond the influencer noise and listen to what professionals are saying, they're all praising the S1RII. I know it's easy for them to be drowned out by the dudebros who were flown overseas and then flooded YouTube with videos of them listing the specs excitedly interspersed with shitty JPEGS and slow motion clips they took, but they are out there and have good things to say. Among other things, Manny says he doesn't have fun using his other cameras (he is a Sony and Canon shooter) but he actually has fun using the S1RII. He wants to put it through its paces more, but after using it on a shoot he has a lot of good things to say. Cam Mackey set up a shoot with it and showed how he worked with it in post. It sucks that so many people make videos ABOUT cameras, as opposed to making videos WITH the cameras and then giving their opinions on what using them is like.

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Although I can be a bit negative about the current states of camera releases and so on, I just want to say how much I appreciate this forum. A daily fun read and fun to participate in. You folk have created a creative haven with a good technology knowledge, and this is very rare these days. I just provided the platform for it and a blog. It's striking how far it has gone thanks to you lot... I think there are cycles in human history, eras when good wins, eras when bad takes over. No guesses as to which era we are in as a world today. The camera community is a microcosm of reality. Go back 10 years ago and we had a camera community as a whole led by artists, photographers and filmmakers. Now we are in a different cycle, and I look at who is leading it with disdain. We have a bunch of gatekeepers who are all salesman cosplaying as journalists and artists because that's what the industry rewards and priorities with access. Client journalism has taken over from filmmakers and artists. How proud I am that this community is so different. In the face of such mainstream BS on YouTube. BTW - Do you remember when Jordan of DPR/Petapixel threw a big tantrum on this very forum and left for 2 years at the peak of the DSLR revolution / video, before returning with a nicey nice guy attitude like nothing had ever happened? It was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of EOSHD, from his side. I think when a filmmaker features your "content" on their blog it's a compliment and a good thing, not a leeching, or theft, right? But he was feeling insecure... attacked by my previous posts about the rise of the shills on social media. In order to feel targeted you first have to believe you are the victim. But if he stops to think about it and genuinely deep down considers himself the artist/filmmaker he always cosplays as, he would not have felt like a victim at all of anyone's push back against the shills and their excessive gatekeeping. Had he sympathized a little bit why I was "dumping on every reviewer", he wouldn't have had a problem with it. So in the end this tells us something important about influencers like Chris and Jordan - that they themselves sees themselves as defacto salesmen whose job it is to sell. It's their whole identity. So of course he felt particularly personally attacked. Even though I wasn't targeting him. In fact back in 2016 Chris and Jordan hadn't come to mind in my criticism at all. As creatives we need to push back when we see the over-commercialization of a space, or an online community. Don't be afraid to call these guys out.

Slashcam tested the S1RII. Full frame 6K 60p DCI gives exellent resolution downscaled on a 4K timeline with 15.6ms rolling shutter. 24-30p 8K is slightly better but with 22.8ms readout. Battery lasts 1 hour 39min of recording time in 10bit 4K 25p. They tested latitude of the Lumix being best of all Dslms, above a Nikon Z8, being close to the Dual Gain sensor of the C70 and C300 MKII. Best of Dslms means being about 1 stop better than a Z8, which was 1 stop better than a S1H which was slightly better than a Canon R8 in their latitude test. Dynamic Boost didn't show a better result. It stopped after 40min of recording because of heat and it performed increased rolling shutter. The SR1II looks like it has the guts of a great hybrid for 44MPix stills and for full frame 4K and 6K up to 60p and 8K30p with class leading latitude and above average battery life in video. Hopefully they will offer the 15.6ms readout for 4K/6K in 24p to 30p as well, like they did for 50/60p. I'm interested to see actual footage. This camera could be a great bang for the buck.

At this point, in an uncertain future video-centric model, I don't see how they can put in other video features while leaving the camera body unchanged since this one even though it has the fan seems to be capped. Maybe they really need to scale up to a box type camera

Agree on all points. Even at the 24ms readout of the other modes it's as good as the older LUMIX cameras and by no means a major issue for most work. I think RS on the S1H in open gate was at like 29ms. There are always tradeoffs and so far we are not at the point technologically speaking for 6k or 8k resolution for larger sensor readout speeds and that level of dynamic resolution. Nikons are really, really good but lack in DR and have noise. Like most people I am seeing that the S1Rii just shows us what the next Videocentric Lumix camera should be like if the Photocentric/Hybrid model is this good for video. If you stripped away all the extras and just looked at the basic specs, the S1Rii is a pretty solid upgrade. Yes it took too long and yes it could have been faster but we finally got 4k 60p in FF and people aren't happy. Amazing low light with really, really clean images with ultra fine film like noise/grain, 32 bit float, Anamorphic support, even better IBIS, high res stills. Internal Prores raw and can shoot to SSD. "BUT GERALD SAID THE ROLLING SHUTTER IS BAD" IT'S DOA."

Don’t get me started on DHL…

Yet they are happy to do it... They can't say no. They have to trade that little bit of credibility and trust each time to keep the megabucks rolling in. Far better to be an artist. Your store of worth is in the exchange beauty and creation of cinema, rather than in the negative slight of hand of a salesman... whether they are boxed into this position or don't have a choice is neither here nor there, it's what they are, and what they have chosen to be. The sad thing is all these influencers will have to keep on trading credibility and respect with every advert until there's nothing left in reserve and people's patience has simply run out. They are dispensable transient commodities whose ultimate destiny is at the whim of an online economy. Maybe they think it doesn't matter, that people will understand that it's just an advert and that the bills have to be paid. But one day they will end up on the trash heap, discarded and replaced by someone newer. Besides I really don't see the satisfaction in being this kind of influencer. It must be fucking horrible. To have to always sell yourself on demand to whoever is dangling the cash... Must feel like being a fully-clothed prostitute.

I've spotted an opportunity for you to be able to drop stuff off and stay within their DHL only policy ..

I love that their positivity/negativity is relative. An exact same feature in brand X that they called "game changer", they call it "good to have" in brand Y, even if the release date between the two is just 3 months. A cripple hammer limitation in brand X is "unfortunate" and the same thing in brand Y is like "if its important for you maybe this camera is not for you".

Is exactly the type of reviewer I neither trust nor follow. Or even bother to watch. Or non-working people, ie, folks whose only work appears to be reviewing shit on YouTube, but never actively using it for paid jobs. Or even fun. Reviewing for reviewing sake. Nah, not interested. Much more interesting reading folks opinions here!

Attention economy! Did you see the Northrup video on the S1R II, with the clickbait title "better than Sony and Canon"... How the turn tables. I wouldn't be surprised if he is just using this to bait Sony's PR team into giving him more attention. *Attention economy* I agree with you 100%. Yep, I sold my GH6 for less than £700. Indeed and although it was $1000 more expensive at launch than the S1R II is today, that Panasonic still does not have an answer to the 2020/21 flagship sensor technology in 2025 should concern us all. I don't know how much longer they can half-commit resources to this market without leaving it entirely. And add on top of that the uninspired design department, unimaginative marketing and unintelligent product strategy as a whole and I really do think Lumix is on the way out. S1R II just reinforces it if anything. That it came out before the S1H II as well... Means we have to wait even longer for the real hybrid filmmaking camera, which is Pana's biggest strength!! They ignore their strengths and deliver what nobody wants. Look at the S9... people were expecting the GH7 launch and they showed them that!! It's just dumb. Yeah cloning 5 year old Sony/Canon bodies but with worse AF seems to be the new Lumix strategy. From pioneers to copy-cats. I fully agree. Yes that's another elephant in the room nobody talks about, the S Pro lens range absolutely cannot compete with Canon/Nikon/Sony. All I can say is that it's a good job Sigma is carrying the whole thing, as left to Panasonic and Leica, L-mount would be seen as so expensive nobody in their right mind other than rich Leica users would go anywhere near it! The image quality is the least of the S1R II's problems. All looks good. But then so do 7 or 8 other full frame cameras.

Some of these youtubers use multi fake accounts on forums and L-M43-Sony rumors site to upvote themselves or downvote other people, this also allows them to have an army of virtual minions to support then even when they talk nonsense, like when the Hybridshooter said the IBIS of the A7III/A7IV was as good as on the S5/S5II. 2 years ago, he mixed up his accounts on L-rumors while responding to a guy, he quickly deleted his post, but sadly for him, someone made a screenshot before he deletes his post. Most youtubers must really be taken with a big grain of salt, even Gerald Undone who was really hard on Panasonic in the past and concentrated most of his reviews to point out the negative aspects of their cameras and lenses without talking too long about their positive sides. But for people using both Panasonic and Sony cameras , its bias was clear. However I must admit I'm a bit disappointed by Panasonic products since 2022. I use their cameras since a long time, I loved the GH4 and GH5 and I liked the S1, but everything after looked much less refined. The GH4 and GH5 had groundbreaking features and like the NX1, these cameras were ahead of their time. The GH6, althouht it had great color science, was a total failure. In Europe, the price was cut down by almost an half after only some months ... At this time they also changed their video engine making fine details in 4k looking like an oversampled 1080p, the S5II's 4k almost looked like smartphone footage, especially when using the 709 profiles and when the image was slightly underexposed leading to a waxy look when shoothing people face. I had absolutely not the feeling to use a Panasonic camera, this camera was really pointed toward influencers and smartphone users. So yes they have good IBIS and they have Open Gate, but still ... To come back about the S1RII, even if Panasonic fanboys are angry and even if they do the most they can to prove that everything is great and most flaws are not so important, the truth is this S1RII is the replacement of a 6 years old camera, and after 6 years Panasonic can't even reach the spec of the R5 from 2020 ? This is not serious, the R5 has much better rolling shutter, 8k internal raw without crop, and yet it is a camera from 2020 ! What we will get with the hypothetic S1HII ? During 6 years Panasonic used and re-used the same A7III sensor from 2018, so maybe we will just get a clone of the A7SIII ? I'm barely kidding. Now you can find the R5 for less money than the S1RII (in Europe the price of the S1RII is close to 3600€), and if you want something better, of course in spending more money, you can get the great Nikon Z8, even the cheaper Z6III looks sometimes most interesting than the new Panasonic camera. And what about the lenses, why Panasonic stopped to make new S Pro lenses since 2019 ? We only have one S Pro prime. I don't see the point to invest to the L-mount for most people at this point and the S1RII will not help. Since 2019, the wait to get a flagship camera was really too long, especially to get a camera "almost" as good cameras from 2020/2021. I'm afraid it will be a total failure like the GH6 and there is a big chance the camera will be much cheaper in some months. I hope I'm wrong. On the positive side (according to some reviews), the crunchy/smartphone looks of the S5II is not present in the S1RII, as well as the waxy skin texture. Like someone said earlier, it still can be a good upgrade from the S1 for people who are already heavily invested in the L-mount system.

This is just it. As of today, the new LUMIX is ‘the latest thing’ but tomorrow it won’t be. Not necessarily literally tomorrow, but probably within weeks as I believe the Sony A7V is up next and it will inevitably garner more adoration than the Panny. The influencers lurch like lemmings from one thing to another, but there will be a core of loyalists. I don’t remain loyal to any brand for loyalty sake but rather because they offer a combination of the best/least compromised tools that do the job I need them to do combined with the financial cost. It is arguable that the new Panny is not quite ‘flagship worthy’ in terms of build and I agree. It’s pretty good, but IMO, compared with what existed before within the brand and what else is out there, it’s not quite what I expected, but maybe has to be at this level for financial reasons? Thinking about it further, it’s more like a larger sensor evolution of the S5ii so really it’s an S5iiiR but I guess using S5iii so soon would suggest the S5ii is outdated and it is far from that. Spec-wise, it’s not far off what I expected. Personally, I would have preferred full-frame 6k 60p open gate. And stopped there. Make that fantastic and willfully ignore 8k even if the sensor can do it. At least with this model. And then the sensor. I wonder if they could not use the 61mp sensor or whether they could and this was a deliberate choice, but it’s an odd one of so to go from 47mp to 44mp after what, 6/7 years and call that progress. And yes, I am aware, more pixels is not the be all and end all but personally, for my own photography needs, I did want want more and 44mp is borderline for how I work and want to work. 60 or more is where I want/need to be and I know all the blah blah blah “on social media posts it’s irrelevant” etc but that comment is irrelevant to me because I wish to be able to produce work up to a standard set by myself, not opinion. So as a value proposition, is it good value? And is the brand dying? I think brand new, it’s not the best value option out there unless it suits your specific needs and you are already heavily invested in the L Mount system. I think its value will be used in 6-12+ months time. Especially 12+ months time. Would I buy one new? Yes, if I did not already own an A7RV and have all the glass I want for that. Do I think it’s as good owning S5ii and A7RV? No. Is the brand dying? Probably. A slow but inevitable silent death. The products are not crap. They are highly competitive and these last few days, the influencers are all over them but the simple reality of business is you have to be relevant 365 days a year, not for 'your week in the sun' once every few years. It is not enough. L Mount is a niche player. To be a successful niche player, you have to have something different and stand out for that, not by being ‘good enough’. Because it is not enough. If there is to be any kind of S1H successor, it will be received as the original was and every subsequent LUMIX camera has been, - news for a few days. Within L Mount, Leica exist because they play their design, build and heritage card. Sigma exist because they play their slightly crazy Japanese card. LUMIX play their slightly dull but worthy card. And that I think is the root of their issue and will be their undoing. You can fly out all the influencers you want (and you should), but the product HAS to be more exciting. Because if it is not, someone else WILL eat your lunch. Breakfast and dinner.

For Pannyboy it's a step in the right direction at least! I hate the game, but more Sony, Canon, and Nikon shooters saw Lumix related content that they normally wouldn't see. Whether that persuaded any of them into giving Lumix a shot or not is unknown, but it's a start and it shows that they realize they need to move beyond the bubble and try to attract users to their system. I get the frustration and criticisms, especially when they were leading the way in innovation for so long, but it's still a quality release that is pretty aggressively priced. As a user myself who is constantly looking at the big picture, especially when it comes to a systems longevity, I'm cautiously optimistic for the first time in a while. For the better part of 15 years Lumix has done right by me. Most of those years were great, and totally changed the way my business was run and how I work. In recent years they've struggled; the delay between the GH5 and the GH6 was a frustrating period with subpar releases and mostly silence. They're taking steps to address that, though, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Can be a good test for CIA recruitment. Look at the chart for only 8 seconds and close your eyes and anwser the question "in which modes 60p 4:2:2 is available?".

Indeed. S5iiR would be more logical than S1Rii as it's far closer to an S5ii than the S1R, but hey ho.

From the reviews seen so far there is everything and nothing. GU tested it in "lab mode" and slaughtered it. He was smart to report the bugs to Pana who fixed them for him via fw updates. Other youtubers reported problems found by GU but they didn't get the updates and didn't even know they existed. So people who look at their reviews think it all sucks. For example, some say AF is not up to par. If you look at Richard Wong's review the AF is perfect and aligned with Sony. He has fw 1.0. he is the only one who tested extensively on animals and cars and there are some smart features. Other youtubers have tried it on real projects or real use cases and there is very little criticism and they speak very highly of it. Moving the camera left and right like crazy and screaming that the RS is terrible or claiming on paper that having only 12 stops without DR is like swearing in church, seems like bullshit to me. The beloved 5DMKII ML had 9 stops of DR and yet everyone was wetting their pants. In short, lab is one thing and reality is another. BTW the same youtubers who now blast the S1RII are the ones who would hate an S1R that we like a lot.

I have done a lot of business with MPB over the years and around 50% of the time something is always going wrong. I find that I simply can't trust them any more. MPB were once a sponsor of EOSHD, we had a really good relationship. So the experiences are all more recent and in my opinion things have gone right down hill. Sent some stuff to be traded-in in Berlin, and asked if it was ok to drop it off at the door since I live 20 minutes away from them. First time they said yes, sure. So rather than trust the post, I dropped the box off myself. But at the warehouse, just a metal door and no staff, so you can't make a habit of it. Why they don't have a proper physical drop off point let alone a walk-in store for a shop of their size and trade volume is beyond me. As if they can't be bothered to get an extra 3 or 4 staff. Then in predictably ironic fashion they lost a delivery via DHL, more on that in a minute. The condition rating "Excellent" is one of the other problems... they seem to place a lot of quite heavily used and sometimes faulty stuff in that bracket. I know because I have received it! Once I had a camera with a faulty HDMI port, no mention of it in the description. Another time, a Leica M Typ 240 which you'd think they'd spot the broken dial on. Apparently not. This was in the UK, but be it Berlin or EU they're all the same company... although you wouldn't know it, because the Europe-wide MPB website staff refuse to talk to you if you ordered from the DE website, even though it's in the same building, same stock, same warehouse, with same people in it, in the same city. So DHL lost the package they sent out with at least 900 euros worth of gear in it. So after a week of the tracking showing it hadn't moved in Berlin despite going from Berlin to Berlin, I got in touch. They were quite unsympathetic and told me to wait 14 days. So come nearly a month later without my stuff (part of it my OWN GEAR which was sent back as part of a trade-in I didn't use as they quoted far less than promised for it), on 17th Feb I asked them to investigate. This guy, I use the term lightly as he's more a fucking bellend from my perspective, then replies back immediately and says he's opened a Lost in Transit case with his security team, who will presumably now open a case with DHL. So I come back 10 days later for an update and find they never bothered even doing that, they simply forgot. So it's now over a month without the gear, and I have about 2500 euros worth of open trade with them that they want to send in for a quote via, yes you guessed it, DHL... no drop off possible any more. They really seemed to have gone downhill and I don't think their hiring philosophy or getting workshy depressed part-time photographers is doing anything much for their operations side... maybe get some staff who are able to communicate and carry out basic procedures on time, that would be a start.

S1RII 4k60p is supersampled, only 4k120p is lineskipped, so for it to have same rolling shutter as lineskipped R5/R5ii 4k60p that is quite impressive. And DR on R5 is really nothing to write about. I can have more DR in nature profile than R5 with clog3, that one thing I really noticed when I change from S1 to R5 years ago. Panasonic is really pushing for the DR rather than speed like the competition which used stacked sensor at expense of DR hit. I hope the next one will be more on speed though, as after using R5 for 4 years I kinda get used to the crappy DR

Slashcam tested the S1RII with 22.8ms in 8K without dynamic boost. Latitude and dynamic range was tested being the same with DRE mode on and off. S1RII in normal mode comes close to the latitude of the impressive C70 and C300MKII DG sensor, making it best of all Dslms in latitude. 15.6ms readout in full frame 4K/6K 60p btw. Idk how professional testers can get it so wrong. Shills without thrills is what i call this kind of youtube reviews.

FWIW, I'd say that if Jordan is grouchy about Lumix, it might be more in the category of being more critical to the ones that you love. He's a long-term Panasonic shooter and he and Chris have been doing most of their videos with Panasonic for years now. I can't remember if Jordan's main camera is currently the G9 II or the GH7 - I think it's the latter. I'd be cautious with even putting faith in those folks, though - they're in a different categories than the straight-up shills, but I also can't remember a time that Media Division didn't like a camera that somebody gave them - and a company who gives them a camera for review can also be relatively sure in most cases that it'll be used to film some slick footage, often with a robot arm, that will look great for their marketing. This is why I'm much more a fan of getting a general pulse of real end user feedback vs putting too much stock in what YouTubers say. Gerald Undone is also the one who made a huge deal of Z Cam leaving a file in an unusable state (though you could send it to Z Cam and they'd fix it for you) if the camera lost power while filming and how it was completely unusable on a professional set for that reason, etc. His followers got so obnoxious about it that Z Cam finally had to invest engineer time in building a tool into the camera to recover the files instead of building features that 99.999% of the users actually cared about. By that point, a bunch of us had been successfully using our Z Cams for at least a couple of years without the dreaded power loss problem (partly because it supports redundant power - plug a V mount into the DC in and put a small NP-F on the camera, no danger of power loss). That and, y'know, just about anybody I know who shoots isn't a complete idiot and swaps the battery when it gets down to 20-30% (or at least gives the heads-up that after this shot, we need a swap - sometimes you let it get a bit lower so you don't break the flow). At the time, a few other vendors that he reviewed favorably also had problems with potentially-corrupted files if you yanked power while the camera was recording. He just didn't think to try it because most hybrid cameras don't make it easy to do that, vs an exposed np-f on the back of the camera. That whole thing was really similar to what you're saying about him preloading the complaints about rolling shutter. I can't remember, but if he treated that like the battery problem, he then went on to mention it every 15 seconds for the rest of the video, even when talking about unrelated stuff. In the case of Z Cam, he also then went on some big thing about how people felt "attacked" because they were Z Cam fanboys - which might have been true of some people, but the rest of us were just irritated that every time we mentioned our camera, some zombie would lurch out of the shadows to moan "what... about.... power.... losssssss??????"

This for me is where I think so many of the so called ‘influencers’ have got it wrong and that is short term gain with zero medium, never mind long term plan. Other than rose tinted spectacles. I have no idea how much folks really make from YouTube other than unless you are pretty big, it can’t be too much surely? And whilst you can maybe sell free gear on a for a profit, if you don’t use it, you will have to because you can’t eat it or use it to pay your electric bill or mortgage. The other thing that makes me laugh is the folks who maybe were in the industry…but for 5 minutes and then decide to jack it in for 5 minutes of fame. And for the vast majority it will be 5 minutes and the ‘fame’ is not much more than a temporary shallow ego boost. I have far more respect for those for whom YouTube etc is a sideline hustle, ie, they make the greater proportion of their income from having a real paying job that has a little more stability. Or maybe I’m just an ageing fuddy duddy who is out of touch. Possibly… The bottom line is I like and support folks who make content because they feel someone else might be also interested. I dislike folks who make content for content sake because they either make money from simply making content or think if they make enough content, they will eventually make money. The reality though is I suspect somewhat grey and the more ‘artistic’ types sharing for the right reasons get swept away by the masses spouting garbage. In a fair and just world, the cretins would all lose in the end, but it’s not a fair world is it?

The thing with narcissists is they will voluntarily add themselves to any hitlist like Jordan did, it's all about them, it reveals how they see themselves as pretend-artists in an industry that prefers to reward the grifter over the creative at every opportunity. I think he has an insecurity complex because there's no visual talent to justify him being anything but cosplay.... no artistic substance, stubbornness, or interest behind the eyes... these people lack the self-sabotage ability to speak out like an artist would about various topics and issues. That's because any sane person would put their career first, well a career psychopath would anyway. It takes a certain amount of eccentricity and weirdness to buck the trend doesn't it? What's good about the current forum here... all this talk we do it because we consider it relevant and worth talking about or debating... We are not thinking about our careers and attention economy. Whereas the masses don't push back, they don't debate, they're mainly just are fed things for popular consumption, and there's a lack of appreciation that it's the art of cinema and photography that's the whole point of it all... no point in such powerful cameras and tools existing for any other reason, who the fuck needs 8K to shoot advertorial content for the web? And maybe the insecurity of people like Chris and Jordan or the Northrups comes from the fact that it isn't important what some fucking ex-camera store salesman thinks... not important enough to justify their celebrity status anyway. Eventually they will get tired of pretending to themselves. They're not important enough to justify earning more than a teacher, nurse or psychologist. Not important enough to make them a gatekeeper of public opinion and online content. Certainly not important in the grand scheme of things where art is remembered, cinema is remembered, camera reviews filled with mediocre shots of frozen landscapes, very quickly forgotten. I just think we can do better and here on this forum we sometimes prove it. We are not uncritical. We are not being spoon fed. We don't particularly look up to prominent and famous influencers on Tik Trump, or hang off every word Fro Knows Shit All says, and we are capable of judging the ex-stock photography models. No talent behind the lens... you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink. This is why I wish the camera companies would wake the fuck up, it is not selling cameras. If anything it is an unappetizing circus of shit. Off-putting. These fucking marketeers have been to some of the most beautiful and cinematic places in the world only to come back with nothing but mediocrity. I think it's really bad for sales, really uninspiring marketing. It has come along as a new thing, had some success and now it's time to move on. At the moment it seems to be all the camera companies want. The rise of tame client journalism, and creative mediocrity. They look down on us. They think mediocrity as a gold standard is what makes the normal guy on the street think he can be an artist too! I just think we need a much tougher push back against the camera companies and their marketing idiots. I am going to start myself. A message will go off to key Panasonic contacts soon, and point out that they're doing it all wrong. I don't care if I am ever invited or given access again, I think the push back has to start with me. It's not going to be Northrup doing it is it? They have completely undermined, rejected and neglected what really sells cameras... art, artists, people who can actually shoot, like you guys.

Jordan always hates on Lumix too. They think they are slick and coming across as being informative and objective but they slide in little comments here and there and tiny little digs. In the latest video Jordan tried to throw shade at the S1Rii because it didn't have the 8k open gate ready at launch. He reviews a beta test camera with pretty insane specs for the price point and then takes points off for extra free features the camera will get later with a firmware update? WTF? Gerald does it too. He really changed the whole perception of the S1Rii with his decision to focus so much on the rolling shutter right at the start of the video. I'm not saying the RS is good but it's not that far off from the S1h/S5ii open gate and it's better than the Sony A7RV 8k, another photocentric camera with 8k video. If you read the comments on other videos everyone is just referencing Gerald and why the S1Rii is "dead on arrival" for them due to the "unusable" RS. Other reviewers showed real world use of the camera and didn't ignore the RS issues but they included it in a fair and unbiased way. Gerald opens with the camera with the Dynamic Expansion Mode turned on in 8k and went straight to the slowest readout speed of 31.7 and talked about how bad that is... "One of the worst of most cameras he's tested". But if you turn DRE off you get 23.5ms in 8k 24. "But dynamic range suffers". Again... Panasonic gets dinged for added features like DRE and those "extras" are seen as compromises and coming up short as opposed to a feature they generously gave us. A lot of it is the fault of LUMIX and their terrible marketing department who have a decent product but keep loosing time and time again in the popularity contests. It's not enough to just have a "good" product anymore, you also have to convince everyone who are being sold a "decent" product and being told its "amazing". Ed Prosser and Media Division along with Zach Mayfield and others do a great job. Some of the shills could learn a thing or two from the YouTubers that just use the gear and report back, instead of trying to "INFLUENCE" gag,\.

Price point IMHO is half part of their strength. And how reliable their product is, an extra reason why we never put them out of our radar. - EAG

To focus on Jordan/Chris for a second, in one of their recent videos (I can't remember which), the sponsor was a memory card maker (I think OWC) and the ad spot was them comparing that company's V90 SD card to a competitor's V30 or slower SD card and talking about how much faster it was. You could just about see on their faces how much they disliked themselves for doing it since they knew perfectly well that a comparable V90 card from a competitor would probably be about the same in performance. Chris also is always going off on how much "better" modern mirrorless lenses are than older DSLR lenses - which, y'know, for some things, maybe - especially if you have a camera that corrects certain aberrations in software... but the whole thing just seems like a play to steer people toward spending money on spending money on shiny newer lenses vs just buying completely acceptable (and in many cases beautiful) older lenses. Like, is the RF 50/1.2L sharper and better-correct in some ways, especially wide open, than the EF 50mm f/1.2L? Probably. On the other hand, I've had my EF 50/1.2L for about 15-18 years and any time I see something that I've shot with it, I'm not thinking "Man, if only that lens could be 10% sharper..." Anyway. The sad part for me isn't the existence if big-name YouTube personalities acting as a third-party marketing division for the camera companies. The part I find sad is that people who devour everything they say hook, line, and sinker. They'll show up on camera forums and lament that the company won't give a free company to their favorite influencer so that they can see "what this camera can really do." For the cameras that influencer does receive, they make a nice-looking video that looks... basically like all of their other videos with other cameras and they talk in glowing terms about the bullet points in the press kit that the manufacturer provided them. They declare that this camera is the one, the gem in their filmmaking crown, and that they will use it for all of their work henceforth. And two months later, there is another video about how they are switching to the next camera that they were provided. "R5 Mark II, why I switched" "Goodbye Canon, Hello Z9!" "Pyxis, the camera that will finally replace my Z9" "I'm moving on from Black Magic!" It also gets annoying because they will harp on how some feature of the camera/sensor is the most important thing for making a "cinematic" image (don't get me started on the useless term "cinematic") - and then their followers will start showing up to any discussion to declare that whatever camera is being discussed is unusable because it doesn't have that feature. When the Pyxis was announced, I made some joke about the specs of it - something like "Glad to see that BMD finally came out with a camera in 2024 that matches the specs of the Z Cam E2-F6 that came out in 2018." The response: "Does Z Cam have OLPF?" Just as long as the preorder pipeline is filled, the YouTube influencers have done their job. It's all about building the hype. It's kind of crazy how good a job they've done of making that a thing and how many people don't even wait until the camera is in the hands of real users before they start lining up to preorder stuff! I generally prefer to wait until real users get the camera - there are exceptions - the last time I did something like that was the GFX 100 II - since it was all but guaranteed that I'd get it. My GFX 100 was pretty beat up after years of travel, I have a lot of Fujinon glass, and the new one was small enough to travel with me.

Indeed - the most cameras that I had in life were Panasonics and for me is by far the most intuitive, as the ergos.

Did I miss something or this new flagship has basically the same specs as my 4yo R5? (4k120, 8k30, 45mpx stills)? Does not look very interesting. Even the price, idk, if you can throw $3K in a camera you can probably throw $4K. It's not like this camera is $850. Their lenses don't seem great. A 16-35mm F4 for the same weight as my 14-35mm F4? The only thing I miss with my R5 is a little more DR from stills. D850 is by far the best full frame in the world for landscape DR, and yet new bodies have poorer DR with their stacked sensors. Appart from that, it's pretty much perfect.

@berkenboom As an S1 user, the reasons I would go this route (and very well might) rather than the better-valued S5II: 44mp (which you note) perhaps better autofocus and perhaps better stabilization finally a good implementation of switching between photo and video modes - huge of me finally Capture One tethering - significant for me On that last point, I doubt C1 tethering will be added to older cameras. I don't think this is a firmware issue so much as a Capture One/Panasonic issue and given the fairly vocal lobbying a bunch of us have pushed toward C1 over the years with no visible response other than "not enough demand", I rather expect that they will not look back at existing Panasonic bodies but might be willing to look forward here on out.

They need to watch this on YouTube next time.

He also made a few mistakes regarding certain things such as the C-AF beep cannot be switched off. I highly doubt that. And menus, - no one really likes anyone else's menus and he's a Canon/Sony boi so... He says he is going to make a couple of other videos about a few things but I can tell you the end summary now which is he wouldn't spend his own money on it over a Canon R5ii or a Sony A7anything_recent_or_imminent. They should have asked me to go. I could have had a free S1Rii/S5iiR. Except I don't have a YouTube channel. Or rather I do, but my cat video has yet to go viral.

D'oh! I meant S5. Thanks for the correction. 😅 For sure - make.art.now is a big Ronin 4D user which makes sense for his day job of extremely high-end real-estate videos and the occasional TV interview. I'd keep in mind, though, that this interview which was full of glowing praise for the Ronin 4D was sponsored by DJI themselves. I'm guessing that the camera's use in the film was organic, but as soon as DJI caught wind of it, they offered to throw a pile of money at the DP and Gibson to have them say just how well it worked. Though their experience is, from the 4 shoots where I've used the camera now, very true to my own - a well-thought out camera with good ergonomics (provided you have some way to mitigate the weight!) that comes out of the bag and starts making really nice footage immediately - and one of the only gimbal setups where "I'm swapping lenses" doesn't lead to tears and screams of anguish from the rest of the cast/crew. (Sorry for the topic drift, I just really like mine and I'm not fortunate enough to have DJI paying me a bucket of money to say it)

Hey, hey now! No putting words in my mouth!

I think they are sisters?

I've used all of those actually! I built a live streaming business with the Sony PXW-Z90 almost 8 years ago. It was the best option at the time, because of the SDI connection that we could output to our switcher. Originally I wanted to use GH5 bodies but I wasn't confident in HDMI or the HDMI to SDI process in a fast paced sports environment. Locking SDI to SDI seemed like the way to go. Plus every other mirrorless option at the time, minus Lumix, had overheating issues so they weren't an option. The Panasonic AG-DVX200 was also briefly considered, but at nearly $5000 each it just wasn't gonna happen. I really liked the PXW-Z90 at the time. Today though, it's not good enough in low light for event coverage, in my opinion. Today the footage LOOKs video-y, with poor colors, roll off, and dynamic range. They're still used by my old company, and for several other smaller pro-wrestling companies, and I just don't think the footage looks very good compared to what you can get from even a low end mirrorless camera these days. I rented a FZ2500 when I was considering it as B and C cameras to my GH5 years ago. Not bad, but the G85 bodies I was using were still better. Gimme a power zoom I can buy once and use on whatever new Lumix body I upgrade to in the future and I'll be a happy camper.

Maybe this is your excuse to buy a Panasonic FZ2500? (or an older model) Has a S16 sensor, with a 24-480mm equiv. F2.8-4.5 lens Has v log, built in ND, and the camera can capture both DCI and UHD 4K, with even a 10bit 422 output. Aside from it being an odd DSLR format vs the usual video camera ergonomics, it's a not too bad camera for lower budget event coverage? If you need a powerzoom, it's the best Panasonic has to offer unless you go for the more expensive Panasonic HC-X20, or the even more expensive Panasonic DVX200 (except, it is dirt cheap secondhand now), or a frankenstein configuration. or a much more expensive option such as the Panasonic AJ-CX4000GJ (funnily enough, it is has a 4/3" sensor in it! So it's kinda-ish like "Panasonic's top of the line MFT camera", but without a MFT mount, it has a B4 mount)" https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1532968-REG/panasonic_aj_cx4000gj_b4_interchangeable_lens_camera.html (you too can have one for the low low price of $25K) Personally though, if I was doing that kind of live event coverage (one with a modest budget, small but bigger than the smell of an oily rag) where big zooms during a shot matters, I'd be going with a Sony PXW-Z90V (or maybe Sony PXW-Z150 if I see a bargain for it. Or both! This type of shooting often uses multiple cameras).

Very fair.

Unless you're Matt's doctor, though, his weight is really not your concern. If he has health problems, it's up to him to decide if he'll talk about them or not. This thread was a lot better when it was trolling people about Dave Bautista and/or Perry Farrell. Let's focus instead on his lens reviews where he does a portrait shoot with it stopped down to like f/13 which will be diffraction limited on just about any modern sensor! Or on his thing where he has to bring 43 and 250 lenses in like 43 suitcases when he goes on trips! Instead of, like, a couple of GFX 100 II bodies and a decent selection of Fujinon glass! And if he really needs extreme telephoto, swap that out for any modern 61 megapixel body and the same focal equivalents as above + extreme telephotos. Or his pockets.

Nikon beating Panasonic to releasing a video focused power zoom for their full frame cameras was not something I expected... C'mon Pannyboy~!

That ^ is Dave, well known camera reviewer and influencer. Normally ends his reviews by smashing the kit to pieces. And here is a pic below after he went on the Matt Granger diet.

'the animal' dave batista has clearly cut down on his massive steroid + hgh intake. word is he wants some 'normal' movie roles i ran into him at my gym in LA years ago when he was at his biggest, and my trainer knew him and introduced me, and i gotta tell u.... you cannot imagine how huge he was. this is a golds gym in LA. many muscled up guys. hes standing next to my trainer who was 6'2" 235 and he absolutely dwarfed him. he ~WAS~ like an animal, the wrestling nickname was appropriate. fwiw he was SUPER nice so i like him lol

Who the heck is Dave Bautista? The singer from Jane's Addiction?

I believe he had brain surgery a few years back. I don't remember what exactly the problem was. He's clearly fighting something. There have been others too on YouTube. It reminds me to make more efforts to eat healthily and take care of myself that much more. Life is so fragile. I send my good wishes his way.

Good for him! Takes a lot to recognize you have a problem. Still, he looks a lot healthier (and younger) in that video than he does now. Sometimes people who lose weight tend to go overboard.

I agree on more power zooms. But is also important they be parfocal, or close to it (like many of Sony's zooms). I recall that many Panasonic zoom lenses were decidedly not parfocal (and DFD focusing did not help).

I have the PZM thingy for the 18-135mm EF-S, and is a lot of fun!