BTM_Pix

The G9MK2 with the ARRI matte box. If I'm going to have an oversized small camera then I might as well keep the additional gear in equal proportion.

Anyway, I've pre-ordered one.

For me, at least, its not to do with the relative differences between the G9 and G9MK2, it is the difference in what has happened in the six years between their launches. I'm not talking about the difference between a Panasonic camera and then a Sony camera coming along a few years later which made it look a bit too big here. I'm talking about Panasonic themselves bringing out a camera which made it look a bit too big. Before the S5, the G9 was still too big by the way but after the S5 ? Cameras do not have to be so small that you can shove them up an earwig's arsehole, they just have to make some sort of sense. It has to have something that differentiates it, to me at least. The Sigma Fp makes sense on being smaller than an S5ii whilst still having a FF sensor, it makes sense by being modular and most of all it makes sense by shooting RAW. The S5ii makes sense over the Fp on having IBIS, DPAF and internal 10bit recording. So I can see the sense in both in terms of them co-existing and then choosing to take the compromises of either depending on the situation or needs. Exactly like how MFT made sense against APS-C (and to some extent FF) DSLRs when it was a compact system for many years before the goalposts got moved. If the next Fp had IBIS in it but grew a little bit to accommodate it then I'd be fine with that because it would make sense. If they did a version at the same time that was APS-C let alone MFT but in the same case though, I think I'd be stroking my chin at that one. So, when it comes to the G9MK2......can you make it make sense for me? If you are going down that path then ARRI themselves should equally be culpable for slow playing some of their own releases, no ? Or for charging £1K for a basic matte box. I'm struggling to feel that that is them giving us all that they could've given us. Panasonic, like every other company in this world, can do whatever the hell they like, so the only judgement from me is on the merits of the camera. If anything, I'm judging them in a positive light for the S5ii.

I wonder what you are more likely to find in most homes, an Ikea Billy bookcase or a Canon EF24-105mm f4? Its a close call, I reckon. They shifted so many of them in bundles with the 5DMK2 amongst other cameras because it was absolute bargain as an additional price standalone let alone versus buying a 24-70mm f2.8. Do they do the same with the RF version ? Because that would be the way forward to chuck those in with the camera as a bundle with the lens being at 50% of what it would cost extra which is exactly what Panasonic are doing with the S1 with their 24-105mm As it stands, its the fat part of £1300 for the RF24-105mm which is just not appealing at all. The Z and L mount both have the same problem to some extent but the third party range is what gives the other two the advantage not to mention E mount which just keeps motoring along with options everywhere. Of course, there is the massive back catalogue of EF to adapt onto RF but, unlike Nikon with the F mount adapter, this is nothing unique as all the other mounts can do that too. If I bought an RF camera, I definitely think that it wouldn't see a native RF lens for a very long time and thats probably been enough to keep me away so far as I can do that with everything else but also have affordable native glass too. As it stands, the most flexible mount is Z mount (primarily due to the unique ability to have F mount with full AF) closely followed by the E mount. E and L mount currently have the best options in affordable fast native lenses and Nikon are catching up. The key to that, of course, is the 3rd party support most notably from Sigma.

I think the G9 flew under a lot of people's radar on the video side as they didn't really care about it because it was all about the GH5 at that time. The GH5 though did get the same "not keen on the direction of travel for MFT size wise" from many people but it got away with it because of the video specs so everyone was prepared to accept it. The issue now though is not necessarily just that the G9Mkii has the video specs that have aroused interest so its under the microscope (or not actually considering the size of it) a lot more but that what has changed from 2017 when the original G9 was launched. At that time, there was no FF camera from Panasonic. Or indeed an APS-C one. So if you wanted to get their flagship camera then it was what it was and you had no choice. In that respect, the increased size was actually something that helped them as in "it is arguably the best MFT camera around, therefore its obvious that it is this big" etc. However, two years later, they did have a FF camera and that was even bigger which actually preserved that "tope of the range must be bigger" conceit for both cameras and still made it appear the MFT compact system ethos was in play when looking at them in comparison. That was all well and good until the S5 came along because then the whole compact system alternative fell apart because it was actually bigger than the full frame camera. With the Mark2 versions of the G9 and S5, they are now identical of course so, for me, the fact that the G9Mk2 is fractionally smaller than the G9 is moot because as soon as the S5 came out then the G9 was too big anyway. In my view, it got away with it because there was no FF camera from Panasonic at the time and then when one did show up two years later, it actually helped the perception of the G9 because it was also somewhat on the chunky side. As demonstrated by the S5/S5ii. Irrespective of the existence of their full frame cameras, I'd still say the G9 (as I said even from the GH3 onwards) was pulling MFT into the wrong direction for me compared to what they had been doing even in DSLR shapes. (NB before the "ah but the top panel display" comments start its worth remembering that the G9MK2 doesn't have one now either) An optimist would say that at least they've marginally cut the size of the G9MK2 from the MK1 and that is a sign of progress back towards the compact system ethos but its the things that have happened around it during those six years that effectively make it an increase in real terms. So, I'll say it again that this is a fine camera but ultimately the problem with it is that the S5ii exists. Panasonic really finding their way with their FF cameras has coincided almost in lock step with them losing their way with MFT cameras.

Not sure why they would get into a market where everyone and his dog seems to be convinced that their current products will render that market obsolete to all but a dwindling niche of people. It would be like Tesla making a petrol driven car. Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Leica and RED have all tried to make phone based cameras to reach a prosumer/pro market of film makers and photographers. It never ends well. In the case of RED, it was up there with the ET cartridges in the landfill episode in terms of "lets forget that ever happened" failure. I don't even think that Apple are that arsed about selling the software for creators anymore as long as everyone is using their hardware to run everyone else's apps. Whatever profit they were making on FCPX that they now lose to Resolve they can easily recoup with the price gouging on RAM etc. Apple are currently sat on a cash pile of $165 Billion. Set against the entire worldwide market for cameras this year of $5 Billion. When you can release incremental updates of your products every year and still have people worshipping at your feet at the product launches, I'm not sure there is much motivation there to get a piece of a market that - despite our obsession with it - is actually only comparable to, for example, the sewing machine market.

They are a necessary evil with a lot of gear but I'm no lover of the Sony batteries either really as with the ones I have it would be quicker to charge up a submarine. However, you can use a dummy NP-F battery adapter like this to power it from a USB-C QC outlet. Still somewhat clunky of course.

If you have an iPhone 8 or above, the Acsoon SeeMo can do the trick (and a couple more like recording and streaming( for around €160. https://accsoon.com/accsoon-seemo/ Official video here but there are a lot of user reviews on YouTube who in general seem to not completely hate it.

FM3 was the smaller one but they were only released at the turn of the 2000s so if its further back then it was likely to be the FM2. The Zf is actually just about the same weight as the F3 at 710g so well within your weight criteria !

I hope that unlike the Z9/Z8 that Nikon have got their supply act together otherwise it could be a long wait to get one even at the new price. It looks to have the same/similar processing clout in it as the big cameras so who knows whether that might be an option further down the line. Unless RED have got a super specific patent on "RAW video shot at above 23.89999999 fps inside a camera shell that looks quite reminiscent of classic SLR cameras from the 20th century made by a manufacturer whose name begins with N and who were founded on 25 July 1917 at roughly midday local time". Because they might well have 😉

I'd have to buy one first to enable her to reject that offer. Although I'd be in the right place as MapCamera do now have a fair few used ones in stock for around £2600 following what I'm guessing are a slew of trade ins for the new version !

6K from 8K oversample, 8K ProResRaw out only... Who knows really. They've just put out an MFT sensor in a FF body so anything is possible with them. I'm reading that in this voice. Some savings in cost, some savings in space etc. Primarily though it is the allure of a single object form for a lot of people and that, like the DP series and Leica with the Q, the performance can be absolutely tuned to that lens. If they don't crack the nut with that FF version of the Foveon sensor and have to stick with APS-C then if they can get some higher sensitivity from it (even up to say ISO1600) then I could see them doing the same as the original DP series but using their faster APS-C trio of 16mm, 30mm and 65mm f1.4 lenses to combine to bring that range into a more broadly appealing package. Releasing another Foveon with whole f2.8 lens and maximum ISO200 of the DP2m isn't going to stop the Fujifilm X100 party for most people, irrespective of the outright image quality.

No to both. Although there is correction in Resolve but this will predominantly be live use so that is out of the window. However, I'm not 100% sure yet whether used with the new Micro Studio 4K whether (like the P4K and P6K) you can post produce the higher quality version in Resolve from the automatically generated project file that the ATEM ISO creates with the camera's BRAW files. I see no reason why not but this is BM so quirks are part of the lifestyle ! Thanks. I'm not concerned about flat out image quality as the power zoom trumps that for this particular application but the distortion makes me curious so a non-corrected RAW to jpeg conversion would be great if you can possibly manage it.

The one thing I do know is that it has an actual threaded release on the shutter button so we can all dust off our air release bulbs ! Nikon state that it is "Designed with a leaf switch for a tactile and responsive shutter release experience". Of course, they aren't going to say its shit are they but I suppose its promising that they have actually referenced it, implying that it is "a thing" and that they feel they've addressed it. I'd be inclined to be hopeful that there will be a new Lumix S with the internals of the Leica Q3. I mentioned it in the other thread but their announcement last year of working together on a new mirrorless system makes me suspect that the Q3 is the fixed lens version and the new S will be the interchangeable lens version with the Leica SL version following along behind. Which would mean 8K as a headline feature. Sigma ? Who knows. The Foveon version of the Fp has been stuck in development hell for a few years now so you'd think it was time to crap or get off the pot with that one. A mark 2 version of the Fp would likely have to have IBIS in it and PDAF to make a dent in the wider world outside of those (like me !) who love the Fp and tolerate its quirks. The thing with Sigma is that its a family business so they can be really agile in changing direction if they feel like it and they are relatively leak free so they could just come out of nowhere with something unexpected. They could quite easily enter the full/fuller frame compact fixed lens market and make updated versions of the DP line with non-Foveon sensors and their contemporary lens line grafted on to them. An Fp-L (which already has PDAF of course) with say the 35mm f2 integrated would have a lot of appeal as the poor(er) man's Leica Q.

With this new Micro Studio Camera being 4K but the requirement for ATEM only being HD (for most people as the 4K versions of ATEM are quite a few multiples more expensive !) then a clear image zoom style function in the camera would be ideal to extend the range. Sadly, BM are not into that kind of stuff !

I droned on about it extensively in the Z8/9 thread but the mount versatility is what gives it an edge for me over L mount. After chickening out on getting a Z8/Z9 and getting the S5ii, I've got a bit of a concern about the adaptability of the L mount. I had a nagging doubt at the time that something was amiss with regard to electronic adapters for the L mount but I suspected that it would change over time because its popularity was relatively recent anyway and would take a while to be stimulated further by the success of the S5ii. The two warning signs were even Sigma's own EF>L mount not working on all Leica cameras and the situation with Fotodiox with their "DO NOT USE THIS ON A LEICA CAMERA!!!" warnings for their EF>L adapter. The third probably should have been that prior to the L mount alliance, there was only one company making an EF>L adapter and it was very clunky, very unauthorised and very expensive. There are two adapters that I want for L mount which is the Meike EF>L with the slot based variable ND filter that they do for every other mount and the TechArt PRO Leica M> L with AF adapter which they do for Sony and Nikon. Neither of them have appeared and they don't appear to be anywhere on the horizon either. Meike have released a version of the variable ND adapter for L mount to mount PL mount lenses on it so its not like they can't machine the mount or anything like that. I'd have thought in terms of sales, the EF>L version would've been far more lucrative. Which brings us on to the TechArt PRO adapter.... I am at a complete loss as to why they make a Z and E mount version of the M mount with AF adapter and yet don't do one for what you would think would be a lucrative and captive audience, namely actual Leica shooters wanting to use their collection of M mounts on their new L mount cameras but with the added bonus of AF. If you are a long time Leica M user and are looking for something with video features but bigger photo resolution then the 61mp Sigma Fp-L is right up your strasse anyway with the basic M>L mount adapter. With a TechArt PRO M>L to give you AF on those lenses as well it would be a huge draw. And yet they don't do one. The L mount gives a bit less room (2mm) to play with than the E mount but the little mice they have running round wheels to drive the motors are already tiny and you would think that they could shave off some casing to make it fit. All in all, my uninformed conclusion is there is something weird (or possibly litigious) about the L mount AF system that is stopping these sort of adapters being released. It doesn't give me buyers remorse completely about the S5ii and going semi all-in on the L mount but there is no doubt the Z mount is the king of adaptability and had this camera been out a couple of months ago then I'm pretty sure I'd have opted for it instead. As I said at the time, there is no other mount that can give you full AF of F mount, E mount, EF mount and AF of most manual lenses (stacking M to F,FD,M42,C/Y etc) like the Z mount can. I only had a brief period with the E mount adapter on a Z9 and it was more than adequate. By which I mean surprisingly good. There are quite a lot of tests on YouTube of the Megadap, including one from Grays Of Westminster who are a very, very long established Nikon only dealership in London. Quite surprised to see them do one - as well as the TechArt Pro M>Z as well by the way - as you'd think they would only be interested in flogging you native lenses but perhaps a sign that they see this as the best way to shift Z mount bodies in greater quantities than they were doing when it was only the Z6 and Z7. Fotodiox have now also entered the fray with an E to Z adapter too.

The quote is from Panasonic themselves, it is the writer that is making an illustrative comparison with the Fuji and Sony models so I'm not sure a conclusion can be drawn from that. It is more complicated with Panasonic because unlike those two with FinePix and CyberShot or Canon with Powershot etc, they don't have a differently named sub-brand. Lumix is the name whether its the LX10 or the S1-H so it makes it less clear cut what exactly it is they are stopping doing compared to, say, Sony announcing they are stopping all CyberShot models. The proof of the pudding will be in if they make anything other than an interchangeable lens camera again as I suspect that is what they are referring to. They have also walked away from a successor to the king of their fixed lens cameras which is the FZ2000/2500, which is a great shame.

I feel seen ! The last wedding I went to a few months ago had announced a complete ban on posting pictures online and as a consequence no one took any pictures at all, presumably because if they weren't able to post them in semi-real time then they had no value at all. As a consequence, the only person that had any images at all was this old duffer. I tell a lie, there was one person who ignored it which was the groom's sister who took the position that her brother and new sister-in-law aren't exactly Jay Z and Beyonce so there was no embargo with Hello magazine to honour.

I'm only reporting it, not agreeing with it as my own position. The LX10 and LX100 are not to you or I or anyone else on here that owns them something that a smartphone can replace like for like of course. But to the wider public, the ship has sailed for virtually all of them that might have bought a compact camera as they are happy enough with their phones. Thats the position that Panasonic are taking. Funnily enough, in the past couple of months, I have offered my daughter both my LX10 and LX100 when she has gone on trips to places that I have thought merited more than a phone but she's been "thanks but no thanks". We are going to Tokyo at the end of next week and I've upped my loan offer to my Sigma Fp or Leica T but she is still not interested. I don't think she is an outlier either, even though she is over 30 so she has grown up around "real cameras" from my work, let alone what anyone 25 and under must be like. What is the demographic at the present time for YouTubers though? I'm guessing its nowhere near as youthful as it once was and far more affluent too. TikTok is where the younger generation are and they have grown up without "real" cameras. They don't mind paying €1500 for a phone that they can run their entire life on (particularly as they all pay monthly for it anyway) but dropping that amount on a camera that brings them a marginal gain as they would see it is a tough sell. Before we even get to the aspect of whether the current financial climate makes that even viable. The distance from capture to audience is absolutely minimal and that is something that camera manufacturers have failed to grasp and act upon. I've said it on here before but even with the absolutely fastest cameras, highly optimised workflow with the fastest cards, readers, computers, transmission infrastructure etc then by the time I'd got an image edited and away onto newspapers and published (even online let alone the printed versions) from pitch side was glacially slow compared to the kid sat behind me on the terraces with his iPhone. Real cameras are just not equipped to compete with that and with the dwindling attention span of the creators and the consumers it just doesn't appeal to them. YouTube content was too long so they went to YouTube shorts and now that is too long they're on TikTok. And its worth bearing in mind that actual "content creation" as we would describe it is a niche anyway so longer form, more thoughtful, content is now a niche within that niche. Requests for advice about getting a camera from my family or friends that even 5-7 years ago were still pretty frequent have now dwindled to absolutely nil. This could be because of the terrible advice I gave them but that is another matter and I'm sure they would all be happy with those Sigma DP2-Ms if only they concentrated on technique a bit more 🙂 I'm not advocating what Panasonic have done with leaving the compact market but I do understand it. Camera manufacturers did themselves absolutely no favours in terms of compact cameras by the obsession they all shared over not giving cameras like the GX80, RX100, LX100 etc etc a microphone input.

After spending far too much time in the G9ii thread bemoaning MFT, I'm now hypocritically looking to buy another MFT lens so after some opinions about this one if anyone here owns it. It caught my eye during the demo from BMD about the new Micro Studio Camera4K as it has power zoom controllable from an ATEM and I will be using it on the exact same camera (and/or Pocket4K) controlled in the exact same way. Power zooms are thin on the ground for most systems but I have the Panasonic 14-42mm and I'm interested in this one for a slightly wider range but also because from what I've seen it is a lot less clunky when zooming than the Panasonic. If anyone is using it in the same capacity with an ATEM controlling it then I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts but if anyone just uses it as a general lens then I'm interested in that as well in particular its longevity. It is likely that I will be getting a reasonably old used one for cheap as I don't want to throw much money at it. This means a bit of a leap of faith as I won't have the ability to test it in the way I'm going to use it and won't easily be able to return it (I'll only briefly be in the country I'm buying it in) so if there are any horror stories regarding zoom motors going rough etc then that would be good to know. I'm also interested in if anyone has used it with a BMD camera (original Pocket or new) if there is a lot of distortion at the wide end that, of course, is not corrected in those cameras. Thanks

To be fair, the Godfather was a right fucking mess before he stamped his White Balance skill on it.

My Df has a broken rear LCD screen so I extend the retro experience fully to having to wait until I get home and "develop" the images before I know if they are OK or not ! Leica want $8K for that experience with their screenless M10D so I feel like I'm winning.

I'd certainly welcome any of those although with the latter two I'm not sure Panasonic are interested in anything compact with an integrated lens any more in view of this quote from them last summer : "We've halted developing any new models that can be replaced by a smartphone" https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/Panasonic-Nikon-quit-developing-low-end-compact-digital-cameras#:~:text="We've halted developing any,for photography enthusiasts and professionals. The tie in with Leica which they re-affirmed last year would probably preclude them from producing anything fixed lens wise either to not tread on the Q line. Speaking of which.... The Leica Q3 does point the way to what one of those might have spec wise, certainly the 8K aspect. The re-affirmation of their tie up last year as referenced in that piece above says they are jointly developing a new mirrorless camera and I'd suspect that the Q3 is the fixed lens version of that and the mark 2 versions of the S1 will be the first interchangeable lens versions of it, followed by the SL3.

It is certainly an "interesting" choice thats for sure and its a bit like a car having one of those skinny spare tyres. They tick the "does it have two card slots" box but open up the newer question of "are they both adequate though?". My Leica T has internal memory which is a boon as it gives you extra storage space if you fill the card up but also provides you with security against the "oh shit I've left the SD card in the reader at home" which I have actually done ! Absent of new cameras offering the same internal storage (and why not by the way) and trying to keep the size down then its a pragmatic choice but it is heavily dependent on the real world requirements of the files its generating and how the implementation is in terms of control. What is the minimum write speed for h265 10 bit 4K would be the obvious question. Is there a sufficient buffer in the camera to be able to offload at the slower speed (a pre-capture in reverse) ? Background copying from the SD to the MicroSD to make it a managed overflow option? Foreground copying from the SD to the MicroSD? Jpegs to the MicroSD and RAWs to the SD? When all that is known then we can move it from "strange and also silly" (which on the face of it would be the case) to a best case of "strange but yeah OK its workable". In terms of strangeness though, it still isn't in the same ballpark as the fundamental one of putting a small sensor in a full frame body 😉

Nikon have just announced the $2K full frame Zf which is in that vein for compact full frame. Ironically, the Z mount is so adaptable that it is able to take MFT lenses too ! (Albeit dumbly)