Andrew Reid

This is the plan. I have shot some various formats today around the Tiergarten in Berlin... Most cinematic duck shot ever. Will upload later to a Google drive folder. I am very happy with it so far. There are a few quirks, nothing major. Finding myself nailing manual focus on the Voigtlander 40mm at F1.2. So the slightly lower-resolution EVF vs Z9 might actually help, as it has a bit of aliasing on the focus plane. The main LCD is sharp as tack. Mega detailed and bright. Small thing but you can't assign movie recording to the movie recording button. Better explain further... In stills mode the movie recording button acts as a func. button, none of the functions are to start/stop movie recordings in stills mode. So it's a good job it has that quick to reach stills/movie lever isn't it? Size is fine. Weight is barely any different to the Sony a1. I actually prefer the ergonomics especially in cold weather with gloves. Incidentally the a1 itself popped up later in the day on same shelf I picked Z8 from yesterday. For a good price too. It's a bit smaller, but it feels just that little bit more dated compared to the Z8 with just a little bit less charm. Still a damn good choice for under $4000 though.

Yeah I have heard it doesn't like the hand grenade cards. Which is understandable. Personal opinion: 8K is a cinema thing and 60p is video/TV. So not too bothered about the 8K/60p. 8K/24p I will definitely be using.

To be honest 6K H2.65 ain't to be sniffed at... It's very nice. I am sure it does have 24/25p.

Hopefully SLR Magic.

Ah, if you toggle Silent Mode it doesn't keep parking and unparking the IBIS when entering and exiting the menus. Much nicer. It does still do so when cycling the power.

🤯 So some early doors impressions of the Nikon... It's been out a while so I won't get into the specs again. The overwhelming impression is that Nikon are mad bastards. It's as if they have taken the Z9 and gone... right let's make this better and reduce price by a lot. Everything about it I prefer to the Z9. The price, the size, the newer features and firmware updates since launch which I am discovering for first time since I sold my Z9 a couple of years back. Size wise, it's barely larger than my EOS R5. Weight is impressive given the slightly oversized body vs the Sony cameras. It feels chonky but light at same time which is a nice feeling. I am reminded how well the Nikon Z mount filter stack works at fast apertures. The manual glass I have like the Voigtlander 40mm F1.2 VM is like a different lens on the Z8 compared to the EOS R5 and Sony a7 IV. The glowing edges are gone at F1.2 and less fringing too. F1.2 looks almost as good as F2! I have gone deep into the menus and decided that there's absolutely nothing missing. The different levels of compression for both RAW stills AND RAW video is refreshing especially coming from Panasonic where's there's only ProRes RAW with very large file sizes or uncompressed Cinema DNG on the Sigma Fp-L. Nikon with the RED patent clearly will lead the RAW video codec race for perhaps the next 10 years or more. I want to do a comparison in 4K (where you can toggle between pixel binning / oversampling!) between the higher bitrate N-RAW and 700Mbit/s smaller file size N-RAW. Of course ProRes RAW is also in there. No mechanical shutter doesn't seem to be a problem so far and you can make it do a cute beep when taking a shot instead of a tacky fake shutter sound. Rather a quiet or optionally silent stills camera than one with a loud average shutter clack... although I will one day miss the 'feel' of a quiet mechanical shutter with a satisfying heft. X-H1, Leica SL2, GFX 100, to name a few. There are still a few mechanical sounds coming from the Z8. And one of them is actually quite annoying... It parks / locks the IBIS mechanism to save power / protect the camera every time you enter the main menu. It parks it with quite a loud clank and unlocks with a similar clank when it activates again. Wish there was a way to turn that off without disabling VR. The only other mechanical part is the sensor protection curtain which comes down at power-off, but you can choose whether to have that off or not. The EVF is enormous. In optical terms the best I've ever used. In resolution terms, perhaps not the absolute most detailed but right up there. Can you use it for manual focus at F1.2 without peaking? Absolutely. There's not this feeling you are looking through a tunnel. It's smooth, high contrast, a big FOV flat with no distortion. The rolling shutter appears to be a complete non-issue and there's no crop whatsoever in 4K/120p. Not tried the 8K/60 yet. I have a few 512GB CFexpress cards to test. Got a feeling I might need to go bigger. I am glad I resisted the tempting Nikon Zf. Only thing I am unsure about is whether the Z8 shares the same level of locked-down IBIS performance in video mode as the Zf, as that was quite incredible. Also tested the Nikon 28-200mm travel zoom which has been reduced recently to around 650 euros. I am surprised how small it is and how light. Sure, it's slow at f4-6.3 but it seems pretty sharp and nifty as a shot getter. The 28-75mm F2.8 Nikon Z is also incredibly small and light for a bright zoom. Not tried the Sigma ART E-mount range yet via the Megadap adapter but those are next up.

BMPCC original was niche, but cheap. £1200 I seem to remember back in 2012? Sigma BF... best friend... is like the original BMPCC. Affordable niche artistic tool.

Maybe you can use memes instead, I put a GIF button in.

Depends which Sony camera. Which firmware of Metabones. Which mode. Which era. Which year. The Sigma MC-11 has been practically flawless since 2017. Metabones also evolved into a bullet proof experience. The same is not true for the S5 II in my experience, with the Sigma MC-21. It's ok, good-ish, but not at same level as Sony. Also using E-mount lenses on Z-mount with the Megadap adapter is like a native lens experience. But you can't bring any E-mount lenses to L. The flange distance is too long.

It's the only way to stand up against a fascist dictatorship, you can't do it like the democrats with their little slogans and signs, and Micro Four Thirds cameras... You have to have a warship, and a big bazooka on the front.

Am starting to feel we are maybe a bit off the S1R Mark II trail and half way to new zealand. Please remember the other users... They click an S1R II topic and want concise info about it. It's fine to have the occasional diversion in a topic but this stuff is taking it too far my friend. And it's not a one off. I don't speak for myself but for the average lurker. It is really annoying for them to have to scroll through so much off topic chatter.

I'm happy for him to go with his native language and we can have a button in the toolbar. But it's entirely up to him 🙂

I agree the original S5, and S1 have a lovely image. Both great for the price. 10bit codecs. S1R with 4K/60p only a 1.1x crop. They should be in my top 10 but I still don't think they suit as many people as an E-mount or Z-mount camera. Sigma Fp OG should be in my list as well but again it's more of a niche tool. The S5 and S1 practically have no autofocus to speak of. The non-nerds I speak to regularly complain about it and want to switch to Sony. The S5 also has a very pokey little EVF, which makes the S1 a better deal as they're both around 800 used. But the S1 compared to a Sony a7r III or a7 III is clunky... heavy, too large, bad AF, wrong mount in most people's eyes, and doesn't play well with adapters. Whereas the Z6 has the same sensor, very similar image quality, but much better ergonomics, is smaller, lighter, excellent AF, and I believe most people would pick the latter qualities over just having 10bit codecs.

I would love to know how EF to L-mount is better than EF to E-mount for autofocus performance. On all the contrast detect L-mount cameras Canon lenses are unusable even with the Sigma MC-21. On the S5 Mark II I had numerous issues and poor performance in low light. Tried the Commlite adapter and Sigma MC-21. Also the Novoflex EF adapter for L mount which was so bad I ended up covering the pins with tape and using it for MF. And once you try the Techart EA-9 for manual focus lenses you will never go back... it's so nice setting lens to infinity and using back-button for AF with something like a Canon FD lens or a small Leica M 35mm, especially for stills work and this is something you just don't have on L-mount, although there is a spin-off Fotodiox clone for Fuji X.

Has anyone got a translator?

Full frame fixed lens camera please, half price of a Leica Q OG.

Firstly in no particular order... Sony a7r III That 42MP sensor is not the same as the a7r II which brought 4K to the masses, it had some sort of significant update. Low light is much cleaner, less moire, and they sorted the colour science too. The only reason the a7r III doesn't get more attention is the a7 III is even cheaper for under $800 second hand, and although I prefer the lovely wide dynamic range 42MP sensor for stills, the a7 III has the edge in 4K with the oversampling and no aliasing. Panasonic S9 I am seeing this just nudge under 1000 quid used and I think that's a lot of camera you're getting. It may be in the form factor of tin of Spam but if you don't need an EVF, the best autofocus, or long record times, it'll give you a really nice image in 6K and has a fun factor too. Real-Time LUTs a great feature. Canon... got to choose a Canon You know what I think it's the EOS M6 Mark II. It's cheap and although it's a 'dead' mount I think it has something of a 'GH2' spirit about it and the 4K ain't terrible. Full frame camera however, I don't really know if there is one... R6 is still comfortably above 1000 smackers. And it's heavily cripple hammered for video. The RP and R8 I just think are a bit naff. If you think of one in the comments let me know. Full frame 4K, under 1000 USD. Olympus OM-1 I picked up mine in mint condition for 950 euros. Definitely the cheapest way to get such a wide feature set and stacked sensor. It does more than some $6000 flagship cameras! Plus the ergonomics and overall speed are superb. Sony a9 Again the cheapest way to get a stacked sensor, full frame this time. I have seen these go for just under £1000 which is crazy. For stills you're not lacking much even vs the a9 III. Autofocus speed and reliability is SUPERB. For video it has a very good image, but the lack of Picture Profiles / S-LOG cripple hammer to save the A7S II's neck (back in 2017) means it is a bit feature limited on the video side. The codec is actually quite good though, even though it's good old 8bit H.264 100Mbit. Fujifilm X-T4 The best image on any APS-C camera for the price be it stills or video. There's also the X-H1, but the X-T4 has a lot of big improvements... 10bit, faster, better RS, newer sensor, no crop in 4K, the list is quite long. Nikon Z6 This isn't just under 1000 but under 700. And for that price it's a steal. It has aged well. BIG AND DETAILED EVF. No crop in 4K. An excellent sensor with fantastic high ISO performance. No 10bit N-LOG internal but the Nikon Flat profile grades well, there's also EOSHD Z-LOG 🙂 That's all off the top of my head, and if I were to rank them it would be: 1. a7r II - because of the resolution, and the fact that E-mount has the best lenses and best adapters. 2. a9 - it's easily the fastest full frame camera for the price 3. OM-1 - All the modern features for cheap 4. Nikon Z6 - It's better than an a7 III 5. Panasonic S9 - Maybe the best video quality of the whole bunch but the stills side is too limited with no mechanical shutter, EVF and a mediocre AF system. 6. X-T4 - Still the best bang for buck APS-C choice in 2025. 7. Canon EOS M6 Mark II - Fun camera, 32 megapixel stills, ok 4K, great colour science and under $700.

Nice piece this. I'll give him a sub.

Hmm, what could this possibly be telling them? (S1H Mark II is not enough - they need a Cinema line, and a mirrorless line, and a compact cinema camera) I would also like a Similar to FX3 cutting out warship. Micro Single Form cameras like the GH7 or the Macro Single Form cameras like S1H? Lost in translation this part! No thanks! Are users really asking for 8K/120p or is this all in Panasonic's head? Translation... the pro AV department was basically closed and remaining staff merged into the consumer division. Well an unknown date in the future is better late then never I suppose!!

Will it be 7 years again?

Depends on the person of course but these are not generally regarded as significant features. The Pixel Shift hi-res I believe has been added in firmware already. The live-view composite stuff - do you mean for stills? You can do that in post. Waveforms, false colour, the screen is too small for this not to be a mess. This is what you should use an external monitor for and the screen on the back of a mirrorless camera should always be clutter free so you can feel and see exactly what you're shooting creatively. I don't use peaking for same reason. Anamorphic modes, yes Nikon and Sony need to come to the table there, I think they consider it too much of a niche though! 100g heavier oh dear my back is breaking.

Nice for the 2.3x crop mode on the Z8 Now all they need to work on is a decent release mechanism on these thin adapters!

Not even AI can do that 🙂

I know I wang on a lot about the Z8 but if any camera underscores exactly where Panasonic have gone wrong, it's that one. 1. Nikon have formed a close custom-sensor relationship with Sony Semi. Panasonic have not bothered, they have gone in as a customer taking stuff off the shelf. 2. Both Panasonic and Nikon have had to start afresh with a new mount. Panasonic had a head start. The L-mount Leica SL came out ages ago. Yet it is Z-mount that attracts me most, as a long-time Panasonic and Micro Four Thirds user. Why is this? The Leica-M mount autofocus adapter from Techart. The Megadap Sony E-mount adapter. The complete lack of any requirement for me to suddenly invest trillions in native mount lenses. Thank you Techart and Megadap. Thank you Z-mount for having the physical and technical attributes that make it so flexible. 3. $3000 mint condition used camera vs $3600 new. OK, so the extra $600 gets you an S1R II but there's no point because it's worse than the $3000 mint condition camera. That's partly because of point 1. Panasonic's off the shelf sensor is behind what Nikon put out 3 years ago with the Z9 which formed the basis for the cheaper Z8. 4. Need and desire issues... I don't exactly have the creative need for what's on offer from them. Again that comes down to the fact that the Z8 and Sony a7r V exist and have done for more than a year! 5. Loss of unique selling points. Again, apart from anamorphic modes, Panasonic don't have much that isn't offered elsewhere. Even Fuji has open gate now. 6. Autofocus. It's been a shitshow. The late introduction of phase-detect AF has softened the blow a bit but it still doesn't work reliably enough. Especially with adapters like the Sigma MC-21. 7. Internal RAW codec situation is iffy. ProRes RAW has crazy large file size and there's no other choice. Panasonic should have at least licensed BRAW for it. Again the comparisons here with Nikon are relevant, due to the REDcode patent situation where clearly Nikon have the upper hand in future development of internal RAW video codecs. 8. Marketing. The Z8 is not pigeonholed with an H, an R, or an S. It is clearly a D850 replacement. This means flagship performance for less money than one. Now this is a philosophy Panasonic have clearly tried with the S1R II and in terms of the specs sheet they have almost succeeded in matching Canon's 2020 model, even down to the overheating. 9. Marketing. The S1R II is sold as a hybrid, when it is the S1H which is supposed to be the hybrid. The S1H Mark II release date continues to be highly speculated at, so why would I buy the S1R II for hybrid use if it might be made obsolete in 6 months by an S1H II? 10. Marketing. When the social media brigade were jetted out to catch hypothermia in Norway, I was not kept in the loop as a long time high profile Panasonic customer, and it was the same for the GH7 launch and S9. I can't help but feel a little bit personally insulted by not so much even a demo camera to try at home, or an email with someone saying Hello, or perhaps an offer to do some feedback / interviews. Point 10 however in no way makes me more or less biased when it comes to the objective reality that Panasonic are fucking up.