Andrew Reid

The GFX100 is about 300-400g heavier than the SL2 or S1R, so depending on what small nifty lens you put on it, it could in total end up lighter than those. Good luck!

The GFX100 is the most misunderstood camera on the market. It's a full frame mirrorless camera, which just so happens to have an even larger sensor and the highest resolution of any mirrorless camera. In the full frame mode it is 60mp, like an a7r V. In the medium format mode, it is more like full frame+ rather than real medium format like a Hasselblad film camera, so the full frame lenses still work. Had it been an even larger sensor or a reflex camera with a mirror, of course you'd need to get the native lenses but really you don't. So that brings the cost down massively and opens up the creative possibilities more than any other camera I know. Also what people don't understand is that the smaller GFX 100S is a significantly cost cut version, which doesn't feel anywhere near as good. The OG GFX100 has the best build quality and ergonomics of any mirrorless camera, full stop. The size isn't too bad, and neither is weight a problem. It's closer to a Nikon Z9 than a RED. I also really like the top display and gunmetal blue, and the detachable viewfinder which the GFX 100S doesn't have. It becomes completely flat on top without it, which is somehow quite charming and brings the profile down. With it, the EVF is one of the best on the market - big, detailed, fast. With superb IBIS and on-sensor phase-detect AF it has all the bells and whistles. You put a humdrum 50 dollar M42 lens on there and it looks like a fucking Noctilux. And this is the part I don't understand - the lack of awareness for that, and the massive depreciation as if nobody wants it. This was a $10,000 camera when it came out, and it came out in the modern era not in the fucking 90s! At half that price apparently it didn't really sell, so second hand prices kept going down and down. Now it is less than the price of a Z6 III! It makes that camera feel like a complete toy.

They are 80 euros vs thousands, so it's a viable product. No shame in that.

It's like talking Panasonic in a Leica store!

Basic bitches.

Always liked the a9 image. It's crispy

Oversampled 7K or 6.2K footage at 3840x2160 has better fine detail only at the extreme end of a test chart, not so much in real-world. Pixel binned full frame 4K looks perfectly fine these days on most high-end cameras like the a7r V in full frame and GFX 100 even given the 9K to 12K resolution of their native chips. It is highly detailed in 99% of real-world subjects with the occasional bit of moire on things like shirts and fabric. They don't line-skip, instead on-sensor these cameras intelligently merge groups of pixels. It's not as good as a quad bayer sensor as data does get binned, but it's still a lot better than the 5D Mark II 1080p days. At pixel peeping levels of magnification, of course it's more noticeable than at normal viewing. So, even less of a problem in the end result on a big screen. Of course if the subject is extra tricky you can switch to APS-C on the high-resolution cameras and they will oversample or do 1:1 https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a7rv-review#VH

By advice would be to dump L-mount and get the GFX 100 with the Fringer EF adapter and Leica M adapter for GFX. It's glorious. The extra pizazz it brings to old SLR lenses when you find a good match, the XPan style wide aspect ratio mode, the massive sensor, the really good 10bit 4K, and the best build quality I have ever had the pleasure of, way better than the SL3 with it's terrible screen construction and dodgy on/off button (couldn't even get that right!) As an added bonus... the phase-detect AF works REALLY well with the Fringer EF adapter and the 50mm F1.4, which is hardly an expensive Canon lens, doesn't have significant vignetting on the larger GFX format sensor.

You really want the Sony a7r V rear screen instead, it's much nicer designed 🙂 3.5" would be good wouldn't it? Very brave to break out of that 3.2" maximum! So the old way of doing cameras was when Sony did: a7r for resolution a7 for basic model a7s for video and low light Now the thing is, resolution and speed can be done in one body = flagship a1 Video and low light are handled very well by the basic model = 24 megapixel stuff So they now really only need to do a high res flagship, and a basic model. No need for another s1r, s1... And on Sony side, arguably no need for another a7s camera now a1 and a9 III exist. Make the s5 series the basic model Make the s1h II the flagship high resolution fast 8K video and stills flagship. Sorted with just two cameras! Everyone happy. We can stop moaning. Lumix can profit $$$

Yes huge mistake, especially combined with the introduction of such large, expensive S lenses for L-mount. They were asking photographers and filmmakers to make heavy investments, replacing what they already had with something worse basically - at least in terms of worse autofocus. Canon EF users were not suddenly going to all run out and downgrade to an L-mount lens with contrast detect AF! It's a terrible decision by Panasonic. Something which could have killed their more serious ambitions in the photography market. In video terms, it also sank their lens range. AF is a must now. It has to be reliable and dependable in video mode. If anything, it works even worse in video mode on Panasonic's CDAF cameras than in photo! And this is the other mistake... for a brand with such a video following to fail so badly a video autofocus. The S5 II is still not quite there... Even though it's PDAF, it's way behind the latest Sony models.

Full width 4k 120p is a major difference of GH7 to S5 II X. It's a much faster sensor. It also has the dual readout circuit ala ALEXA in the High Dynamic Range mode. And it is an improved, new sensor vs GH6 with new processor. The S5II X has a lot of cropping going on the full sensor width to do anything higher than 30fps. Also I think the EVF is better on the GH7? So still a lot of advantages but people want full frame and can get it cheap, so that's what's hurting the GH7 the most rather than any defects in the spec sheet. The S5II X is an odd one, it's not flagship material, it's an S5 II with a better ProRes license. They chose to split the cameras into two models to avoid having to pay Apple for what basic S5 II owners and photographers weren't using. The GH7 is the flagship in Micro Four Thirds mount. The S1H II would be the flagship if we're talking L-mount but of course it appears to be AWOL. They would have had to decrease the profit margin or up-the-price on the S5 II had they not done this, for the ProRes licensing reasons mentioned earlier. You can hardly accuse Panasonic of being bad value for money sub $2500 my friend.

The GH6 did have a short life. They have not been releasing a GH camera every 1-2 years since 2009. Up to GH4 it was a regular cycle, but then was a larger gap of 3 years to the GH5, and then between GH5S and GH6 of 4 years (5 if you don't count GH5S as a 'normal' release - more it was aimed at bigger productions, not so much the usual consumers, with the removal of IBIS for example being very good when it's rigged up on Top Gear or the Grand Tour episodes and a low light boost much in demand too. GH6 has had the worst depreciation of all the GH cameras, 2022 release a year later in 2023 halved in value already second hand ($2k to $1K) and then boom the GH7, and it's now worth only $750... so early adopters of the GH6 have had it pretty damn rough. I don't follow the logic of that! You need to do both. This is pretty normal, you can say that about any camera today... Again sorry to disagree but this simply isn't the case, there's no high-end camera full stop since the last decade and we're now half way through the next one. This is a long time for enthusiast Lumix photographers to wait for a new $3k flagship like the S1R Mark II isn't it? So it's not just the high-end production people who are waiting, and the S1H II has more broad appeal than just pros. Eh? Why? They clearly have a licensing agreement already, for the GH7 and no logic or evidence to suggest future cameras above the GH7's positioning won't get the same. The question is will the even be the next cameras.

Exactly. I don't understand the paranoia at Panasonic about future plans. Why hide. What will Canon do? Act like "Oh no" Panasonic is coming out with a new S1 Mark II, we better abandon our plans and react in case Lumix overtakes us, and copy their niche camera which is on 0.01% market share! LOL! Just fucking communicate with your customers and reassure them that it'll be worth waiting for, tease the new direction and roadmap, make people think twice about jumping ship or buying that new Nikon Z6 III... DO Something!

Not really the same latency at all. The Nikon Z9 came out in early 2022 with stacked sensor tech, 8K RAW and high resolution. We are now nearly in 2025 and Panasonic has no answer. Canon released the original EOS R in 2018 and followed up just 2 years later with the EOS R5 in 2020, with what is still even today one of the best next gen sensors in terms of fast readout speed, 8K with no crop, 4K/120p and oversampled 4K from 8K, the specs are on par with the best stacked sensors from Sony and Nikon. In 2021 Sony came out with the a1, again a next gen sensor. The a7s III also has a next gen stacked sensor, and came out even earlier. So no, Nikon did not leave the shelves filled with old sensor tech for 6 years like Panasonic have. Different latency. And remember the S1H was nearly $4k when it came out in 2019... With a sensor from 2017 similar to the basic a7 III, yet worse without PDAF. So you could say that the S1H as a flagship, although I like it very much, is fucking ancient in sensor terms... The bottom line is that no other camera manufacturer has a current flagship model with a 7 year old sensor in it from a mid-range system camera, and contrast defect AF. Fuji X-H2 is a 40MP 8K next gen sensor, and X-H2S is stacked. Canon EOS R5, R5 II, R5 C... all flagships with latest sensor tech and have been on sale for 4 years in case of the original models! Even god damn OM have a stacked sensor! And they are a zombie manufacturer! Nikon has the Z8, Z9 flagship sensor tech. Sony we know. Pentax and Panasonic are the only ones who can't seem to be bothered to utilise the latest Sony sensor technology for profit $$$ Pentax because their customers don't really need it and Rioch themselves would rather do a DSLR like it's the 1990s or something. And Panasonic because they are completely revising or scrapping their S series above the S5 and entry level. Or it's a prelude to a complete stop.

Do flappy mirrors even work in space? 😂

I've always been a big Panasonic supporter but I'm going to say it... Panasonic need a kick up the arse, they are going to lose even their most loyal customers. It is simply not good enough what they are doing and the total lack of vision. I still can't get over that Panasonic made this BIG play of going full frame, the death knell of their only successful mirrorless mount (M43), only to leave the first gen models standing around on shelves for nearly SIX YEARS leading their most loyal and early adopting customers wondering if they've given up. The camera market has barrelled ahead with higher and higher prices, the top-end Sony flagship cameras have doubled (from A7r II $3k to a1 $6k) in the space of 8 years. The margins in cameras and lenses seems to me to be enormous, especially compared to most consumer electronics... and you look at the build quality of today's stuff and it's quite frankly shit. Look at the Nikon Z6 III... Great camera, but it's not a D500 is it? It's not even equivalent to what Nikon were doing at the close of the DSLR era for mid-range enthusiasts. Then you look at some of the lenses for £250... And they have plastic mounts. It's a fucking joke. They are scrimping on a fucking aluminium ring. There are no aperture rings, let alone full metal and glass builds like in the Ai-S days and haven't been for a long, long time. It's descending into a Japanese racket and if it wasn't for Sony's sensor division, the camera industry would be Canon, and Blackmagic, and probably fuck all else. It is high time they showed some business acumen and respect for customers, and dealers. Panasonic is a mess. Look at the opportunity of the LX100... Better than Fuji X100 in several ways, a miraculously small camera with GH4 sensor, Leica F1.7 zoom lens on the front for 700 smackers... And they still fuck it up. No version with a prime lens. No attempt to develop the form factor, with the nice retro dial. No M/43 version, also retro styled like the original LX100 was. Why? An entire market gone up in smoke as they didn't try. S series... Entire market gone, as they didn't try. First gen cameras unevolved, unloved, sat on shelves for half a decade. S5 II and S9 are badly marketed... And cannibalise Micro Four Thirds like hell. They have always tried to give us decent value for money. It seems they had no choice to me. They didn't have a successful mount... as in EF successful. They didn't have a competitive range of full frame primes. They don't seem to have their own sensors. No spec-leading cameras to rival Canon, Nikon and Sony - at least not for any length of time after initial launches had been and gone. In all sorts of ways, their products have been badly planned and badly marketed. Even the good stuff... GH2, GH4, S1H... It was all superseded within months by Sony or came just after a major Sony release with some sort of better spec. In the case of the GH4, just as Panasonic had given us a 4K mirrorless, out came Sony with the full frame 4K bunch... A7r II and A7S II. With the S1H... everyone was invested in the A7S II and E-mount lenses, and then Sony made a Mark III for good measure. With the S5 II... It's basically just an a7 III competitor about 4 years too late. And the less we say about contrast detect autofocus the better. Panasonic can either get a development announcement out of some seriously impressive flagship tech, or they can leave the market. There's not a middle way. It's do or die for them now in 2025.

Z6 III is next gen sensor and under $2500. If you count second hand market, so is EOS R5! Current generation of sensor is so good, it's hard to see where they go next. I mean, a Sony a1 II is not exactly going to go obsolete any time soon. There is simply no reason for Panasonic to wait. Hell, buy the old stacked sensor from 2017 (Sony a9) and get to work.

There's the Nikon Df for screw-drive AF-D lenses and Ai-S. I considered getting it once but now you can get a used D4 for less, with the same sensor.

You think camera companies make profit from selling used gear?! 🙂 The store shelves are what matter... And fact is, DSLR is dead as a dodo. Customers not interested. The few that are, are well served by eBay. Why the heck would the camera companies want to cannibalise and undercut their mirrorless range by making a DSLR and new F-mount lenses? I consider this discussion a bit stupid to be honest.

They have. The Z9 is the replacement for that. Everyone at the Olympics has switched to mirrorless, all the sports pros are now R1, R3, Z9, A1. D780 was the update... Basically a Z6, with same autofocus in live-view mode. They'd be mental to do another when you can use Nikon F-mount lenses on Z mount. By the way you know they discontinued F-mount lenses don't you? Same with Canon and EF. No more being made... ever. Which means no need for any more EF or F-mount cameras either.

It's an update to the G95, and they have given both these cameras USB C. That's necessary to comply with EU law and for them to continue to ship.

Did the R&D budget get slashed by 90% or something? Reasons not to panic: They brought out the GH7, new sensor and all Firmware team is going full pelt... In-camera LUTs, phase-detect AF, lots of new features S5 II and S9 were pretty decent for the price G9 II is a nice Micro Four Thirds swan-song New L-mount lenses have continued to be released Other things give more pause for thought: The total lack of rumours or leaks about new serious cameras, such as the S1H II The big 5 year gap Leica SL3 - basically a Panasonic with a fancy badge - came out nearly 12 months ago and still no S1R II Unresponsive in face of major new products from rivals So my conclusion is that Panasonic have partially quit the market. They have quit the high-end camera market, and will leave that to Leica. And in my opinion the affordable stuff... compacts, Micro Four Thirds, S9, etc. is going to be quite short-lived before they pull out entirely. I hope I'm wrong. Either way, making people believe you're poorly committed to L-mount (and high-end cameras in general) is a very bad marketing strategy.

Because M is where the profit and sales are. It's a success, going back decades. If you look at all the L-mount cameras they are hardly selling.

You are correct, they blew it with the marketing... And sort of with the product design, because had it looked a bit more serious with an EVF as well, it would have done very well. Only Panasonic can take something as powerful as an S1H, with an image that good, give it to us for $1500 and make a big fuck up of it. That you can soon get it for under $1k used is indeed a steal. The advertising is trying to capture a market that is perfectly happy with a high-end smartphone or a Sony ZV

So much good stuff for Sony FE at the moment... Tamron with the 20-40 2.8 and 35-150mm f2 monstrosity, Sony's own lenses (GM) expensive but bloody good, and the low-price non GM ones are performant as well. Techart AF adapter for all manual focus lenses is a game changer for me who wants character + convenience at same time, why bother with manual focus on another camera when you can bang it on the adapter? Nikon Z is similar, widest range of adapters, including to Sony E! The most flexible in terms of flange back distance, Nikon's own lenses are a mixed bag but all the nice Sigma Sony stuff is usable with the Megadap adapter for $250. So to the rest... Canon RF doesn't seem to be holding back the cameras at the moment, does it? I think things are starting to change though. RF line-up is dogshit. Either massive and hugely expensive, or cheap and shows it. There is absolutely no middle ground whatsoever. There's a total lack of third party options and adapters too. The autofocus Techart Leica M adapter doesn't exist either. Fuji have no full frame lenses, and the GFX lenses I avoid even though I'm a GFX 100 owner. That's because of the clinical perfection of the damn things, and the price. The 50mm F3.5 pancake is good, but the rest I would honestly pass over for SLR stuff and manual focus, get the right match and they work really well. On X mount, things are better... I've always liked the Fuji XF range and now there's some nice Sigma options as well, best APS-C lens mount by far but it ain't full frame. L-Mount, let's just say it's a good job they have Sigma on board because Panasonic and Leica don't know what the fuck they're doing. Micro Four Thirds mount, with Olympus gone and interest fading in the format, the writing is on the wall. What a great 15 years it has been though. Voigtlander Noktons, Speed Boosters, great options from Panasonic and Olympus, they had such a wide ecosystem even in 2014 in the good old GH4 days, wider than anyone even Sony E mount... And they now have no choice but to bin it! We see how fast a mount can die... Do many people still use Canon EF lenses on a metabones adapter? That was such a dominant system, and similarly for Nikon F mount and their DSLR lenses... Some fantastic stuff in there, no longer gets used. Future predictions: - Sony and Nikon are on the path to domination and will over take Canon - Leica will focus on M mount - M43 will be officially discontinued due to lack of lenses and mount support - Panasonic/Sigma/Leica alliance will break up... Each will go their own way - Canon RF will continue but they will not achieve the domination that EF mount did in the long run - Fuji GFX and X will continue, but long term it's a bit less clear