Andrew Reid

Some of the smaller L-mount lenses off the top of my head. There are loads Yes Panasonic made a stupid mistake with the F8 pancake, they wanted something maximally small and cheap. Whereas something like the Sigma 35mm F2 is a much more exciting choice, or a Panasonic pancake with equally fast aperture. Panasonic are messing up on the lenses side, although the recent zoom is an interesting choice it's still very slow. That said I don't get the obsession with rigging up these small bodies. We had it with the Blackmagic Pocket OG when that came out... People adding huge amounts of gear to it. I can only assume it is only there to look more impressive at work. Rather than for any genuine creative purpose. The S9 is in my opinion a really creative tool... How about it gets used bare bones like that?

Ah yes you're right, and SL2-S does a RAW video output over HDMI. SL2 and SL2-S biggest downsides are the weight, and lack of articulated screen. And some might say that L-mount lacks the range of stuff you can put on a Sony. But I think for $2.3k either the SL2 or SL2-S are great options for hybrid shooting, but very different to something like an EOS R5 C as well, which makes life easier for video shooting professionally. Whereas the Leicas are nicer as personal cameras.

What about the S9 as a video cam? Nobody complains that you can't add a flash to a Blackmagic Pocket Camera

It's definitely not aimed at traditional photographers with their flash guns as a main camera (maybe as a second body). Cinema and storytelling are the main purposes of the S9. With it being so small and light I think it defeats the purpose putting a flash on top, or anything else for that matter! The goal here is a full frame sensor in the palm of a hand, nimble, quick and discrete, no fuss, cheap. The very essence of what a GH2 was back in the day, but now it's a vastly higher-spec and larger sensor. You can use it with crop sensor lenses no issues. It even has a photo crop mode for shooting 3k RAW stills for example. In that sense and for Super 16mm it packs into the deal one of the main selling points (for me) of the micro four thirds cameras... that is to say... the Kern Switar 26mm F1.1 That lens is the work of a space alien. So to have the best of S16 and S35 and full frame optics in one body, and such good low light capabilities, that is very nice for natural light shooting. Now on the other-hand you could say Panasonic are missing out on a big market by not making a more traditional high-end photography camera to rival something like a Nikon Z9. And you'd be right. But obviously, at £1k this ain't it. Why would it be? Maybe in time there will be a higher-end version with new sensor, EVF, mechanical shutter, weather sealing, and tilt screen rather than fully flippy. I hope they do that as the concept is fundamentally great for the price.

You can save 100,200,300g it doesn't matter, it depends mainly on what lenses you're going to use with it. Some these can add 2kg, and are obviously the wrong choice. But with the small manual focus M mount stuff from Voigtlander or a smaller autofocus Sigma prime it makes much more sense and you feel the weight saving over the S5 II which is already itself incredibly light compared to the S1H. It is true that when you put it side by side with your average Sony a7 body, it's not significantly smaller or lighter - it is not a GM1. What it is, is an S1H in a Leica Q size camera with interchangeable lens mount, 10bit 6K and IBIS. It could also be considered a strong alternative to the Sigma Fp since it has the all important articulated screen and IBIS. One thing it is not, is the same as all the other mirrorless cameras... and that is a good thing. I admire the speed and simplicity of it, and the burned in LUTs. And the palm of hand descrete handheld shooting as pioneered by the GH1. It is in that mould. IBIS makes it even more capable for handheld enjoyment, as adding a tripod defies the point of it being small and light. The fun factor is huge with this trust me. It feels amazingly fast and responsive during a shoot. Sure there's no EVF, mechanical shutter, but I can't think of much else the S5 II offers for photograph aside from those two features? So to say it lacks numerous features is overplaying it a bit in my view.

It is the Fotasy C-LL adapter I use... Infinity focus is ok. 3.3K is the resolution at the crop required for Super 16mm on the Panasonic S9 and S5 II. But you also need to enable IS + E stabilisation HIGH to get from 1.6x 3.3k to over 2x This is to avoid a vignetting which moves about with IBIS. And the image is 4:3, close to the 1.65:1 of an actual Super 16mm film camera, so you have to crop it in post if you want 16:9 and so on.

3.3K 4:3 10bit 422 Super 16mm crop mode C-mount lens adapter for L-mount Pleased to report - No vignetting.

Still very early days though. Video is a proxy for AI's understanding of reality... in terms of a world simulator. Physics, perspective, light, and a lot more. In the future it won't just be generating two dimensional eye-candy but immersive simulations which are interactive like video games. And the fine grained control over the generation of this sort of content is going to be a very powerful thing, where the director's vision can be put out into this world in a very precise way fully under human supervision, and leaving a lot of room for direct human intervention and editing. It's fascinating that the AI revolution has started in the same way as the earliest mainstream computer software. First with text commands only Then with a graphical UI like Premiere as we see with Sora Giving rise to rich multimedia, video streaming and 3D worlds It really shows something fundamental to mathematics. That the innate thing about it is that it evolves language into worlds. Makes me think that universes and reality are simply an expression of mathematical language. And that the universe itself - our world - is a kind of computer simulation. (My Sora wishlist btw... https://fullframe.ai/2024/02/21/the-ai-directors-wishlist-features-filmmakers-need-from-openai-and-sora)

No, Zf and Leica SL2 for a bit extra.

The more I use mine the more dictionary definition of underrated this thing gets Best with small M mount prime lenses, or LTM...doesn't have to be fancy For autofocus best with a small Sigma L mount prime like 35mm F2 Smallrig grip is a must. The LUT feature gives everything on the display more impact during a shoot, stuff simply looks beautiful and exactly as you intended... and it's so immediate... And in general the camera is so fucking nimble and fast. Then there's the minimalism of it... the simplicity. It is truly one of those cameras that gets out the way and leaves you to enjoy shooting. Yes, build quality could be more high-end... yes, wish it had a mechanical shutter and an EVF... but really thats where the complaining ends as it has everything else and then some, and what it doesn't have like a stacked sensor, you can't reasonably complain about because it cost me a shade over £1000 (open box deal). Really glad they did not scrimp on the battery, it takes a big chonky one. If it had a powered hotshoe they could have sold me an EVF to go on the top... but for now I'm using the RX1 optical finder from Sony...

It does not need the use of DIS. It just bangs in. I also see that they have added ability to one-touch toggle between stills and video mode on a function button like SL2. That's much better than before where you had to hit Mode, then Info.

Ah so it has a "Movie Cropping" feature in the menu which seems to do a hefty crop in the 2x to 2.7x region So Super 16mm made it to the basic bitch cripple hammer edition after all

That is indeed a handy feature. C-mount to RF adapters seem hard to come by. Is the flange back distance too long? The 25mm and longer c-mount lenses are happy on 2x crop Micro Four Thirds. You can record 4K in 2x crop on the EOS R5 basic bitch edition with a few tricks I think. First enable 1.6x crop APS-C mode of course which gets you close. Then do the additional crop from DIS in enhanced mode. The 4K image will be softer upscaled from 3k (maybe a bit less?) but should still be nice. Is there no Clear Image zoom on these cameras like there is for Sony?

Basic bitch in the house. The price was 2300 euros / £1999. I like to think of it as £1999 as that sounds better. The store in Berlin also had the Z6 III but I preferred the R5 as it's still a higher-end camera, plus the Z6 III has a few iffy and ugly attributes on the body where cost cutting is evident. The picture in 4K is so similar nowadays between cameras, so it comes down more to feel and ergonomics, and what exotic features get thrown into the mix. How good is the EVF, the screen, build quality, grip, styling, soul, autofocus and so on? Well on the EOS R5 it certainly feels like you're at the BMW end of things rather than Renault. Not that I've anything against the French. By the way the IBIS with manual focus lens adapters appears to be improved in firmware version 2.0 if you have DIS enabled as well. Better than I remember it on the EOS R3 anyway. The EOS R5 C was definitely tempting and may yet appear behind an advent calendar door before Christmas. Problem is it is 2900 euros, and that's cheapest I can find it in Berlin anyway. So whilst still a bargain, the basic bitch R5 is a sweeter deal. It's also an excellent hand warmer.

What are these on the EOS R5 C... Camera profile files, or can you load custom picture profiles like custom LOG curves? Looks groovy.

EOS R5 pros: Battery takes less of a hammering in video mode Better AF in video mode Choice of pixel binning mode available in 4K (more power and heat economical in this mode vs HQ) Cheaper second hand by about 800 euros Thinner, no fan or vent IBIS More commonly available so easier to find All the same image quality basically as the Cinema EOS version Lots of firmware updates Overheating no longer a big thing (and was partially fake to begin with - thanks Canon!) You can still use digital IS + Optical IS + at same time turn off IBIS to help with warping (I think) EOS R5-C Pros: Looks sexier 8K goes up to 60p RAW with new battery Digital IS + Optical IS avoids warping effect of IBIS Longer continuous run times in top quality modes for interviews, events, etc. 4K/120p is a bit less noisy (I thought the 4K/120p was oversampled from 8K but appears it is same pixel binned quality as basic bitch R5) Sensor & processor runs cooler Lots of fancy video features that I never use Video menus Wider range of codec options Proper slow & quick modes EOS R5-C however has some cons: The delay in switching modes, even though it's been reduced Missing IBIS is a downer, especially not good for stills shooting I don't have much need for the extra fancy pro video features like waveform, etc. I prefer to look at what I'm shooting and not have so much crap on the display I don't need 8K/60p The battery doesn't last in video mode on the EOS R5 C, ideally needs external power solution and heavier rig So basic bitch R5 it is?

Some new YouTube from me. So we have the woke Snow White movie, which has the most hated trailer in film history apparently. And The Creator which of course we know about. I resisted the temptation to run out and get a Sony FX3. Will I manage to resist buying tickets to the Wicked musical though?

Which Fuji does that? Is it that newfangled X-M5? It's odd isn't it? Sony are one of the biggest manufacturer of LCDs so they only have to buy their own fucking screens! The cakes dry up as they are stood for ages in a very dry air conditioned room... Exactly like their customers

First you criticise their cakes, then you shoot video with the Elmarit-R. The purist spirit of Leica has been broken on many layers Is that a helipad behind you or a fountain? Herr Schulz probably designed that fountain as the pump clearly has too little power to run the water at full pressure

Can I just say, that is one awesome duck photo. Nice mod and interested to see more.

At least the waiter doesn't send you a snarky email later in the evening pointing to Leica's terms and conditions on the fucking German website. "We don't guarantee functionality with anything that isn't 5 grand, sorry about that" L-mount alliance... what a mess... The only way it could be a less productive alliance would be if the USSR gets involved! It is a pity Sony closed their store at Potsdamer Platz, as I actually used to enjoy being insulted there 🙂 Once I took my Fuji X-T3 and told them how to make a decent viewfinder. Then went upstairs and meddled with their PS4 BTW these posh stores really should invest in some fucking chairs. The amount of standing up that is required to take their insults is ridiculous and the free coffee can't be enjoyed as there's not even a coffee table I said to the sales woman, how about you get some chairs (in more polite phrasing of course as I am a very calm and polite person) She said sternly with a snarl... There isn't enough room! And proceeded to walk off through the massive open floor space.

Yeah it was tough to finally come out of the daze of the Canon DSLR cripple hammer era into what you thought was a completely fresh start with amazing video capabilities, only to have Canon make it unusable for anything serious and with such a devious tactic as well. That said, they have recovered admirably and now that you don't have to part with $4500 for one, it makes a lot more sense. There are not any other 8K RAW full frame 4K 120fps cameras available for $2300 on the second hand market. The Nikon Z8 is too new and still $3500+, the Z9 is hovering around $4200 and the Sony a1 is still very much in demand around the same 4k mark... So the R5 having the advantage of being an old and common tool has depreciated very nicely. Now the R5 II is out the quantities of EOS R5 will flood onto the used market in even greater numbers and we could be seeing it going down to around $1500 in a years time. Agree with you about the IBIS, it's the one thing that lets it down but as the well respected EOS R5 C (C stands for non-cripple hammer edition) shows maybe it's possible to get by without it. The EOS R5 C drives the sensor at 8K 120fps by the way... The 4K/120p is oversampled! How Canon came up with this fast of a sensor when it isn't even a stacked design blows my mind.

2024 Leicaman is the man who doesn't realise he's using a Panasonic.

Missing the EVF, it would be such a lovely thing if it had one. There's an a7c for 999 euros behind the advent calendar in Foto Meyer... But not got the same charm, or has it??

It's like the very start of a director's career... A little bit of control over some minor productions, and then the skillset / toolset gets greater and greater, until you're painting a masterpiece. All about that UI The model will evolve naturally but the UI can be fucked up! I can see happening in the future a 3 or 4-way battle of AI software like the NLE wars between Adobe, Apple and Avid.