John Matthews

I was in Point and Shoots, Four Thirds, Pentax, M43, Sony E-mount (FF), then back to M43. For the most part, Sony E-mount cost me the most and was the most limiting (but that was before it became popular). When I moved back to M43, I could afford lenses again and experiment. As long as M43 is around and the gap doesn't become too large with FF (can't really imagine what that means, but if it's DOF and lowlight, it's not enough), I sticking with M43. If I were a pro, I'd own a GH6 and one or 2 S5 iix as it would make sense. The GH6 would give a something to walk around with and give excellent slow-mo capabilities. The S5 iix's at 6k and decent AF could be locked down. I think it would give some sweet results, albeit way overkill for the 99.9% of the views on social media. Je suis exactement dans la même situation !

Yes. I can understand that point of view. I don't have a business or ever expect I'll get paid for anything in photography of video. Concerning companies, Panasonic could also pull the plug on all their camera business, M43 or FF. I doubt their market share is much great than OMDS. So could Sony, Canon, Nikon, Fuji or anyone else. The only company that is family owned is Sigma. That's just business. Massively successful cameras might be a thing of the past; in which case, the cameras that are great now will most likely be great in the future too. l'm still quite happy with results from a GH2, results that will never diminish unless it breaks; in which case, I have a second one too. 🙂 My GH2 saw hundreds of hours of recording video over the past year- it just won't die!

I've been told that about the mark iii and the E-M1x, both are very nice. I love Olympus Pro lenses. When they came out, I really thought it was the wrong direction for M43, but now I own many (12-40, 40-150, and 17mm f/1.2) and I find them so premium in every way. I'd also really like a 12-100, but just can't justify it as I've already have so many M43 lenses. I'd like to see OMDS give us a few more tools and better slow motion. If they ever find a way to have internal NDs, it would be near perfect for me. For now, I've keep with the GH6.

For fun, I've been comparing the E-M1 ii to the GH6. Almost everything is better on the GH6, but the E-M1 ii has the edge in AF and maybe color in some instances. The DR on the GH6 in v-Log is insane though, albeit noisier than the E-M1 ii at base ISO (GH6 is at ISO 2000 with DR boost on). I'd also give IBIS a win for the GH6. I prefer the weight of the Olympus and it feels better with long lenses. If you're on a tight budget and want decent face detection PDAF with very decent IBIS, the Olympus is the way to go. I hear people talk about the variable bitrate on the Olympus as unacceptable, but I'd just say it's super efficient (for the image you get); so, you're going to save tons on media too. When shooting the GH6 at its highest settings (1900mbps), it becomes an absolute pig, hogging up every last bit of space you thought you had within days, not even months. The GH6, of course, roasts almost everything for slow motion at its price point; so there's that too. The Olympus is a detailed, nice color, stable, good AF, C4K, 24fps, one-trick pony.

Interesting. Neither my G100 nor my GH6 have "object prediction" as part of their settings. I'm also a "keep the subject in the center" type; so, I understand where you're coming from. I also have the 12-32 and it's been a regularly used lens. I've even been able to add the Panasonic wide-angle teleconverter on it and it works very well for video as long as you shoot in 4k, making it about a 24mm angle of view with IS (with my G100). The lens is also super sharp. The only bugaboo with the lens is the lack of a manual focus ring, but this isn't that big of a deal.

IMO, many people just do it to justify their FF cameras and f/1.2 lens. It can look lazy, stupid, and cliché nowadays. For me, I go for everything in focus when it looks good; otherwise, I aim for f/2.8-f/5.6 on S35 (f/2-f/4 on M43)- there's a reason this has been a standard for such a long time- it looks right and like the films I enjoy. I also use AF-S, but sometimes I try AF-C.

Good to know. I also have a E-M1 ii with PDAF in video. It's true that it just seems to work. Currently, I'm trying to test the best settings for limiting the pulsing on the GH6. What I've noticed so far is that when I do handheld anything, the pulsing isn't that noticeable. If there aren't any specular highlights or lights in the background, it isn't that noticeable either. So, I'm trying to figure out what works in other situations (most likely just MF). The thing is when AF settings become super complicated, I think I'd just rather go with MF all the time. I was so put-off watching Philip Bloom's "Manual Autofocus" video on Sony that I just said "screw it". What settings do you use on your G9? In what situation?

That's pretty much it. Messing around with my gh2, it would do CAF just fine with the right lens and simple background. The Achilles heel is of course the constant back-and-forth pulsing on highlights. The strange thing is that I rarely noticed it on my Olympus CDAF systems, only Panasonic DFD. Is it possible that Olympus figured it out but Panasonic never did, even with all the protests from users?

Does anyone else have any thoughts on the conclusions from Caleb Hoover's video concerning the GH6 and S5ii?

Olympus specifically made a feature for 20MP raw stills at 60fps with Pro Capture. Just press the shutter when you think you saw something and you'll get a bunch of RAW stills going back in time. This was available going back to the E-M1 ii (2016). However, it doesn't offer continuous AF.

It looks like the imaging-resource.com is now being forwarded to https://www.outdoorphotographer.com. I wasn't of that site before though. It looks like a lot of the content from imaging-resource is at the new site. I'm hoping I can find the lens review stuff as that was my favorite part about it.

I had the E-M5 iii, which is about the same and it was great, but a little too big. I think it's more of a "one and done" type camera, great at everything. I've moved on from that and now I have my "does everything camera" and a "small as you can get camera". The GX800 is 270g and the OM-5 is 414g, but it has everything. On the OM-5, I don't want an EVF, but it gives tonnes of value for only 144g and a little bulk. I almost prefer the EP-7 at only 337g (but still has bulk). One reason I've moved away from Olympus is that I find Panasonic and Olympus hard to match in post. Then again, even some Panasonic cameras are hard to match.

I have a gx800 that I dropped and now the screen doesn't work at all. Today, I figured out how to connect via wifi and use it with my phone. I just shoot in 4k photo mode with everything locked in, including with tripod. The overheating is a serious handicap, but when you think of how long you'd get with film, it's not so bad. Still a good choice for distance shots or a crash cam. I really wish they'd make a new version of it with better thermals and full-sensor readout with PDAF and a mic jack... it would be a winner.

Also "firmware updates" are synonymous with "new bodies" in Sony land.

Unfortunately, I also only have the lite version. Just so you know, you might get even better results from Topaz Video AI.

It's been a challenge to find relevant content on a second angle. Primarily, it's a backup, as I do with most of my gear. I use my iPad pro for taking notes and it's become the most essential part of my online classes, making them much more like one-to-one in person classes. I admit the GH2s are especially for dialing in my exposure and look. This way, I avoid the "webcam" hot highlights on my face- doubt my students care though... it's just me. Yes, I use 2 cameras for the possibility of stills, which are less important to me, but still important. I just haven't found a way to capture a moment without using 2 cameras. I used the GH6 with the Pany 9mm and the G100 with the Oly 17mm Pro. I find the setup is still too heavy for 25+ minutes. My NDs are also too big and heavy. The GH6 grip and the tripod grip for the G100 saved the day. Once again, here's another case for small cameras and lenses.

I took out the GH6 today on my annual Easter egg hunt... basically it was the same conditions as last year when I took out the E-M5 iii. The footage was similar on both cameras, but I'd give the overall image results to the GH6 due to dynamic range (DR boost on and V-LOG versus flat on the Olympus). The AF had fewer misses with the E-M5 iii (continuous on both). IBIS was probably a draw. I should also note that my footage seemed good on the Olympus because I wasn't operating 2 cameras at the same time (G100 with selfie grip for photos in the left hand and GH6 in the right hand for video). I find that "hybrid shooting" just means you get some good videos and some good photos of the moment, but never both and that's why I'm moving into one-handed cameras now.

Thanks for you response. I actually had a technical question: what's the difference between the terms "pixel binned" and "line skipped"? On many Panasonic cameras, my understanding is that the 1080p image is devised of 4x4 or 6x6 blocks of pixels to make one pixel. This is unlike the GH6 which "down-samples" a 6k-ish image to 1080p. Personally, I don't see a huge difference in quality, maybe just moiré patterns (but that could just be the processing). With the A7rii 1080p (FF) image, it did line-skipping which left many more aliasing and moiré problems... still, it wasn't bad. With the GH2's HDMI, it offers a 50i image output, but the Atem puts it back to a 25p image that looks decent without any interlacing. I suspect it's simple due to the AVCHD codecs of the day when 25p wasn't actually possible, only 50i. My RX100 (mark 1) had something similar. So what exactly does "pixel binned" mean?

I still use 2 GH2's for live 1080p 25fps stuff... English classes that I get paid for. Super happy with them and they seem good enough when used with an ATEM Mini. For personal stuff, I use the GH6 and a G100 for travel. I'll be selling my E-M1 ii this next week if I can get 400-ish Euros for it. The rest of my cameras are either film or just broken broken.

Yep. It's about the money, not the content.

Petapixel has got to be one of the most product-pushy websites in the photography world. I reckon they push a new product every 2 or 3 posts. The site is unusable without an adblocker (although that might have changed... I use an adblocker). Am I the only one who finds that Chris and Jordan going to Petapixel quite a strange choice if they were hoping for any degree of non-bias in their reviews? Also, the user-base (in the comments) seems so toxic. Petapixel is just a blog after all or maybe they're changing?

In France during the Black Friday week, Panasonic offered 400 euros cash back, a SanDisk Extreme 1tb SSD, and an extra year of warranty for 1579 euros. The deal was available for about 2 days from selected online stores. The price sent up to 1779 with 200 euros cash back after, then 1979 euros. On this forum, people were bitching about not getting the GH6 initial deal and how Panasonic's marketing practices are suck because they didn't get the deal. Essentially, that's it.

Or do you mean local fraud department?

I thought I'd let everyone know that Panasonic did send me a SanDisk 1tb SSD and gave me 400 euros off the 1579 Euro Black Friday price. It's one of the best deals I've ever received for a new camera with those features. I'm super happy with the GH6 and its unique features. It really goes to show that pays to jump on those Panasonic Black Friday deals as some people were not as lucky as me.

Sorry... I meant "single shot AF", which is what the "S" refers to. "C" refers to "continuous AF, or servo mode". "Single point AF" is refers using just 1 point for the focus. Single point focus is the most accurate. Face/human/eye AF is also very accurate as long as it chooses the correct person, etc but the camera is doing some of the work. With single point AF, you tell the camera exactly where to focus. Four people off in the distance (4 meters away), it might not matter so much. I would NOT use ALL AREA. 1 AREA, or single point is what you want.