stephen

Reviving the topic Most people talk about DR only as a camera parameter but you quite correctly understand it as a process Here is my answer: In short most of the time limiting part is the display (smartphone, computer, etc.) / theatrical screen or other media. Plus the color space in which we export. Camera DR is just one part of the puzzle. We have DR of: 1. The scene we are photographing or shooting in video. 2. The camera or recording device. 3. The medium that displays the recording being photographic paper or computer display or thearical screen or smartphone display. For point 1: A lot of times the scene has itself limited- dynamic range - 3-4-5 stops. For point 3: DR is related to the light intensity / brightness of the display medium. Traditional theatrical screens have only 100 nits of brightness and as result only 5-6 stops of DR. Traditional computer screens 300-400 nits which give us 6 to 7 stops of DR. Only HDR LCD screens and theatrical screens with laser projectors can show HDR video or imagery where color space allows for a wider dynamic range and medium is capable to reproduce this DR. In HDR video we can see up to 10 stops of DR. Since REC709 color space was introduced to deal with SDR TV screens it is also limited to 6-7 stops of DR. If we watch REC 709 footage on a HDR LCD screen we are still limited to those 6-7 stops. In this case limitation comes from the color space in which video has been exported. That's why a camera with limited DR - only 8 for LUMIX GH1 can look perfectly OK. In case exported footage is in REC709 it will need only 6-7 stops of DR. Where do the rest of camera DR go if we export in limited 6-7 stops of DR ? They are compressed / mapped to those 6-7 stops of the exported footage. Few more details in the shadows or highlights or both. Higher camera DR gives us more LATITUDE. You will often see latitude test go together with tests of for DR. Fuji Velvia which I used extensively in the past and was the top film emulation for landscape photography had only 6 stops of DR and 1/2 stop of latitude. If your photo was 1 stop underexposed or overexposed it was practically ruined. You have to wonder how people were able to shoot such a film and appreciate the results 🙂 When we talk about film DR we should always specify which emulsion we are have in mind. Now what happens when you have a scene with large dynamic range - 12-13 or more stops but your camera and / or export color space are limited to 7 ? Or you want to export in HDR (10 stops) but camera has only 8 stops. Some of the stops will be lost and the result will be lost details in the shadows or highlights. As one Hollywood colorist put it: "Your highlights are blown up? Who cares !!!" We don't watch a video or photograph like a scanning device from top to bottom, pixed by pixel. We look to a part of the photograph or video which is important and draws our attention. This part needs 5 stops DR to be displayed correctly and not always. 2 more stops for shadows and this is still enough for the vast majority of what we shoot and display. A limited dynamic range of the camera is not a problem as far as the important part of the scene is exposed and lighted correctly. More stops of camera DR gives us more LATITUDE and comfort in post production. Camera dynamic range becomes more important if we intend to export in HDR. That's all. In general DR and all technical aspects of picture quality fall under one philosophical category which I forgot the name: When contradicting statement about something are both true (correct): For example in this case: DR is important and DR is not important. Both are true. In practical terms ask yourself how many times you've heard somebody exiting a movies theater say: "Nice movie but I wish the DR was more " 🙂 On the other hand if we ignore those technical aspects we still will be stuck in black and white film emulsions with 5 stops of DR. Here is a great video from an Austrian photographer which goes into details about DR. It is by far the best explanation and structured answer about DR I've seen. Well worth your time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYOr6t8llgc And this one too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWGIjXutyKU

Yes, 2 new cameras coming in the next 3-4 months. The video oriented one expected in April may have Nikon Z6 III stacked sensor. Plus S1R II preorders are more than expected. Good news for Panasonic / Lumix. I hope Panasonic / Lumix will have more success and market share in camera business.

You can always use optimizations and make timeline with NR and lots of color grading play in real time. For Example - Top Menu ->Timeline -> Timeline playback resolution -> Half or even Quarter. In most cases Half or 1080p from 4K would be enough.

This is logical, you are most likely right. There were rumors about possible DJI L Mount camera coming. Not sure I am willing to wait and see what this camera will bring. The risk of being disappointed again still exists. In some of the videos about Nikon Z6 III that I've watched was mentioned that you can choose Panasonic V-Log gamma for Nikon NRAM video footage in Davinci Resolve and color grade accordingly. In general I think it would be a matter of time to find a way to color grade Nikon NRAW quickly and effectively and get the picture I want. Good thing about Nikon NRaw is it could be more compressed than ProRes RAW as Andrew mentioned and it could be imported directly in Davinci Resolve. There is no need for transcoding. Panasonic S5 II X is great, have no complains. At the end I may keep this camera and use it with manual focus and canon EF lenses. Problem is how long L mount will live. This is what worries me. At this point I am still not convinced L Mount will have a long life . Of course I may be wrong. Current Panasonic announcement was not convincing and it looks future Lumix S1H will not come next month. Maybe it's time to move for me, we'll see.

Same for me. Being exclusively Panasonic (S1, S5 IIX) for cameras and heavily invested in L Mount for lenses (mostly Sigma), decided that unfortunately it is time to switch. I hate doing this but Panasonic's future and L mount's future in general looks shaky for me. IMHO Andrew's thoughts and analyze are correct and my gut feeling too. I am OK currently with S5 IIX, cameras comes and goes but I am afraid L mount lenses value will go down too as time passes. Better to act now and save some money while I can. It will be a combination of Nikon Z and Sony FE for cameras with FE lenses exclusively. Maybe one Nikon zoom. We'll see Option 1. - Nikon Z8 mostly for video and some photo + Sony A7R III or Sony A7 IV mostly for photo and some video Option 2. - Nikon Z6 III mostly for video and some photo + Sony A7R V or Sony A7 IV mostly for photo and some video. Also interested in hearing Andrew's first impressions and opinion about Nikon Z8.

If we look at S1R II as a photo camera with some advanced video features, then yes it is good. I would choose it over Sony A7R V. As a hybrid camera that can do both video and photo well it is not at Nikon Z8 and Canon R5 II level as those two have lower rolling shutter. Nikon Z8 price is the same, Canon R5 II is more expensive. S1R II rolling shutter at 6K and 4K 24p/30p is 23ms. Compared to S5 II (21ms) it is basically the same. Not interested in 8K. I am disappointed because was expecting similar to latest Canon and Nikon rolling shutter performance, sensor with faster readout times and improvement over the previous generation. Being also more at the video side I am not sure that 4K 60p and 120P are enough for upgrade. Maybe later when price goes down. I am beginning to realize that at this point in time only Canon and Sony as sensor producers are safe bet in the long run. Gerald Undone mentioned that Panasonic should consider giving as an option a line skipped version for 6K and 4K 24p/30p in order to improve rolling shutter performance. Line skipped 6K on a 4K timeline may look good. 4K 120p already does the like skipping apparently. We don't know what are the reasons for Panasonic to choose this sensor. I've heard before that Panasonic may not have access to all sensors Sony semiconductors produces. S1R II has a lot of nice features lets hope sales will be good. There is a more positive balanced review from Media Division. On at least one 8K and mostly static shots I already can see rolling shutter effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4_oyevhTc8

Yes, just watched Gerald Undone's review. Video capabilities for me can be summarized with one word - disappointment. I expected a fast sensor and it turns out this is not true.

Like most here I am happy with S5 IIX. Rolling shutter is not a problem for what I shoot, 24Mpx are enough for photo and don't need 8K for video. I though that with S5 IIX can finally forget about cameras, relax and enjoy taking photos and videos. Now with all specs and some photos of Panasonic S1RII out, can feel GAS pressure increasing 🙂 Guess it is human psychology. Always wanting more. 🙂 Apart of the body which is basically a copy of S5 II, everything else is as I was hoping to be. Shutter closes to protect the sensor when changing lenses, Sony A7R V style LCD, 5Mln dots viewfinder and a switch for photo/video. Lack of top LCD screen is not a problem for me and third party grip to extend slightly the handle can solve potential issues with body ergonomics. Well done Panasonic. The best part about S1R II is that Panasonic is still in the game. We had some doubts after the long wait. I hope they stay longer in camera business, not only because I've bet on their camera bodies and L Mount in general but also because having more choices is always better for us users.

Rolling shutter should be in the range of Sony A1 and Nikon Z8: 8K 24/30p - 14.5-15.5 ms, 4K 120k - 4.8-6 ms. Interesting part is 4K 24/30p where Sony A1 achieves 8ms while Nikon Z8 keeps steady at the same 14.5 ms. 4K 24/30p in APS-C crop should be lower than 10ms. The general consensus is that 14-15 ms is good enough. 8-9ms is Arri Alexa Classic territory. Nothing to complain at. Image in the video and article shows camera body top that we've never seen from Panasonic. I am not sure if this image is representative to the real camera. For me slightly smaller and lighter that S1 / S1R body would be perfect. Having the same body as S5 II for a high end flagship camera doesn't make sense, that's why IMHO this won't be the case with S1R II. If they put also 5mln dots viewfinder from previous generation (S1/S1R) or similar plus a switch for video / photo settings similar to Nikon Z8, Z6 III and Canon R5 II, then I think they will have a really good higher end camera. Panasonic always gave more for the same amount of money than the big 3. Merging S1/S1R line with high end video specs does make sense, they need this camera to compete with Nikon Z8 and Canon R5 II. Panasonic doesn't have any high end specialized video camera in contrast to Canon, Nikon and Sony. It would make sense the second camera expected this year to be much more video oriented, probably internal e-ND filters or some high end video cameras features at more accessible package.

One of the rumored specs says: mechanical shutter - 10Fps. Aha ! Here is what else more S1R II will have compared to Nikon Z8. It will have a mechanical shutter. Panasonic will get off the shelf sensor - IMX366AJK, while Nikon Z9/Z8 uses IMX609AQJ apparently modified IMX366AJK specifically for Nikon to have low readout times for photo, in fact lower than in video. I think photo users will like the mechanical shutter.

It practice it is the same resolution. I don't see this being a problem for Canon with R5 II and Nikon with Z8, Z9. Only Sony can afford to have that many cameras. Panasonic have obviously chosen to have better video specs instead of higher resolution for photo. For me it is the right decision. I am curious to see will S1R II have internal RAW video recording, similar to Nikon Z8. If yes which codec it will use. ProRes RAW like in GH7 ? Will S1R have something more than Z8 ? Otherwise I see no reason for Nikon users or even new users to choose Panasonic over Nikon. I have the feeling those two new FF cameras will be make or break it for Panasonic in camera business.

I can see only one reason not to use Sony 61 Mpx sensor and go with lower megapixel one: faster readout times. We will know soon.

Here is an answer from a pro colorist / editor. It will give you a perspective and a cool tip how to edit any footage on a not very powerful computer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olvTKnLJCJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTes9KkwmME According to another of his videos, 12K BRAW is so well optimized that it can play without a problem on a Macbook Pro 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ShXVTiGD80

Panasonic S5 II + BRAW vs BMPCC 6K Pro FF - as expected practically no difference in image quality. Downloadable source files are available too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuzKtL8p5M8a

Realistic assessment of iPhone 15 pro with Apple Log vs pro Camera in good lighting conditions. Good review and tips IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SiqKfm-8kA Everybody is trying to push some LUTs but you don't need them There is an official Apple Log to REC 709 transform LUT and CST in latest Davinci Resolve that supports Apple Log and works very well