Shirozina

And that's a lightweight fluid head - the FSB4 is nearly 2.5 KG!

Probably nothing to do with it at all.

The IBS on Sony cameras doesn't suffer from this problem. Anyone who has used a gel stick to clean an A7 series with IBS will know that the sensor moves but is quite solid and isn't going to wobble around.

The sensor is still free to move around on the IBS floating mechanism even if you turn it off. If you have a GH5 test it yourself - shake the camera and you can hear the sensor moving (and watch it with the lens off).

The GH5 has real issues with the IBS when the camera is subject to harsh movements in that the sensor moves even when you turn IBS off.

You actualy get clients questioning your choice of equipment brands?????

Plenty of reviews out there

Try before you buy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3bciSxeRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-jOjQiq-6Q

The truth is that to get good smooth movement with a fluid head you need to spend a lot of money. Real fluid heads are not cheap and even entry level fluid heads are not great and require a lot of skill to get smooth motion esp with longer lenses. The stiffer the fluid head the smoother the motion but you then need very strong legs as the head will twist and rock the tripod leading to bounce -back at the end of moves. If you want cheap and light go for a non fluid head tripod and stick to locked off shots and if you need to follow action go handheld! I have this setup and unfortunately it’s not great . The highest setting on the head is too stiff for the legs unless you only extend the 2 larger sections - it will twist and bounce back at the end of a pan. Setting 2 is OK but you will struggle to get smooth pans unless you have a lot of practice. Have a look at the E-Image GH06 as a better head (don’t think and FSB6 is better as it has the same fluid cart as the 4)

I highly doubt anyone will be able to tell BRAW footage from 1:1 RAW - you will hit the basic limitations of the sensor, ADC etc before you hit the limits of the codec. RAW is pretty easy to handle esp in Resolve and in many ways easier than high compression internal camera codecs like H.264. Storage requirements are obviously a lot bigger but storage media is not a huge cost these days. I agree that shooting RAW on a camera like the P4k does not unleash hidden image quality that will turn you average looking footage into cinematic nirvana. RAW is just another codec - I've been using it for as long as I've been using a digital stills camera. It's nicer and more flexible to work with than jpeg but it's not a miracle codec.

Why on earth will people need to 'up' their grading skills because it's 'only' 12bit and not 14/16bit?

Why is it 'so bad' ?

ETTR if you don't want clipped highlights

It has it via HDMI out.

No way you can predict this from the specs

This has to be the funniest thing I have read on this forum for a long time?

No reply from Atomos still

Depends what the 'dust' is. It can be sticky and bond to the glass and no amount of air will shift it hence why a gel is my go-to tool. Never had a problem with dust between sensor and stack which I assume is a sealed unit. The OP's problem is typical of specs of foreign matter on the sensor cover glass given it's round shape. Dust in a lens - never seen this project it's shape on an image except on a very wide lens where dirt on the front element combined with enough DOF can show but the OP is using a long lens so again it all points to dirt on the sensor cover glass.

Oil spots? looks like out of focus specs of dust as per normal sensor marks. Never had any problems using a gel stick on my Sony cameras but I guess dust may be able to get between the filter and sensor?

The Ronin-S has the integration with the Panasonic cameras to control focus and trigger recording from the gimbal without touching the camera.

Those spots are sensor dust - a hair in the lens won't produce round shapes like that. How was it 'professionally calibrated'? - was this just the AF or did a tech adjust the lens elements? What camera are you using it on?

I've got an NPF sled with a dummy battery and extra power outlet so potentially I could power the P4k and a monitor but I reckon it may be too much power draw. I mount the battery to the P4k with one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andoer-Release-Monitor-Camera-Camcorder/dp/B01I68O4Q8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1548505496&sr=8-4&keywords=cine+lock I have a second mount on my Ronin-S so it's easy to move the battery. Be warned some of these mounts are not interchangable even if you buy 2 identical ones from the same brand.

BM RAW is not like other cameras RAW as it has a curve built into the data so it's not 'true' RAW in the same way that a still RAW from a Canon, Nikon, Sony etc is.

A few dust fibers won't degrade the image but I'd be more concerned at the softness at infinity which indicates it wasn't calibrated properly - yes return it!

The chroma subsampling is 4.2.0 and not 4.2.2 so potentially ( and depending on your subject matter and how you grade) you have less colour information to play with.