Mark Romero 2

All I'm saying is that I had my son second shoot a classical music trio (two violins and a cello) on the E-M1 II while I was shooting it on my S1 and we were both panning between the musicians or tilting up from the instruments to their faces to their hands, and while the Oly might miss focus once or twice for a fraction of a second here or there, with the S1, I ended up having to use manual focus because there were so many times where either it focused on the background (50 feet away), or it just focused on air somewhere between the subject and I. There were times when a white box would show up around the performer's face, demonstrating that the camera recognized there was a face in the frame, but it still decided to focus on an oak tree far off in the distance. Now, manual focus on the S1 isn't TOO particularly difficult, but it is a BIG camera and heavy, so shooting handheld and having to pull focus manually resulted in shaky footage, as my aging hands aren't particularly smooth on a good day, and by take five, I was pretty tired. I guess I am going to end up getting a native 20-60mm lens and use my S5 on my Weebill S so that I can use the built-in control wheel on the Weebill S to hopefully manual focus without having too shaky footage. Not looking forward to it though because while the S5 is MUCH lighter than the S1, the LCD screen isn't as good and the focus peaking isn't as good either. Oh, and shooting that classical music trio reminded me how much I dislike Sony 8-bit colors (I had my a6500 as my D cam... if I had used it for only close up shots of the instruments it might have been ok, but I can't seem to get any decent skin tones out of it. Don't know how Deadcode does it).

BTW: Saw a test from the S1H done by The DP Journey and he noted that shooting in 6K then downrezzing to a 4K timeline reduced more noise than shooting in 4K from the full-width 6K sensor. It wasn't night and day difference, but it was noticeable. FWIW.

Well... I can honestly say that I did buy an Olympus E-M1 MK II instead of a G85 / G9 / used GH5 due to autofocus concerns. On some projects I have my son second shoot for me, and I tried to get him to use my S5 and Panasonic 24-105 f/4, and it was so frustrating that I literally got on fredmiranda and bought the first E-M1 MK II I saw listed on there. And I actually WOULD sell all my Sony aps-c gear and invest in native L-Mount glass (or maybe a GH6) if I was more confident in the continuous AF of my S5 / S1 / GH6 cameras. I keep HOPING beyond hope that one day real soon Panasonic is going to release a firmware update that is going to fix everything.

Yes, you make good points, but I think that for Panasonic to really keep the line of GH / S cameras viable, they are going to have to reach a bigger market than just those that are doing narrative.

I know your comment was addressed to @MrSMW but if I may opine for a moment I think that the more recent Canon and Sony releases have certainly caught up (and in terms of AF, certainly surpassed) many of the features of the S1H. Me thinks that in order to stop losing ground to Sony / Canon / Nikon, Panasonic is going to have to (altogether now) improve their autofocus, and at least have full frame 4K 60p. I keep thinking of selling my S5 and getting either an R6 or an a7 IV and just using Canon EF lenses on them. The reason I don't is because for the R6, I am still nervous about the overheating, and as for the a7 IV, because it's a Sony. (I own three Sony cameras so I think I have the right to be flippant about this.) And on a more serious note, if I swapped the S5 for an a7 IV, I would just be swapping one version of cropped 4K 60p for another. Internal ProRes is great (as in the GH6), but I don't know how many wedding shooters want to bring along 20 CF Express cards and change them out every 10 minutes or so. Now that I think about it, not sure how many of ANY types of shooters are going to want to change out cards that much unless they are getting paid the big bucks. On the other hand, thinking about my Panasonic FF bodies, being able to shoot in 6K is real nice, the waveforms are nice, the numerous customizable buttons are nice, the IBIS is nice, the LCD screen and EVF are nice (except my S5, which is kind of mediocre...), the option to shoot in RAW if I ever decide to by a Ninja or BMD Video Assist is appealing, the default picture profiles are nice (even if you don't shoot in V-LOG).

Glad to hear they have been working out for you. In my experience, even the native Panasonic 24-105 f/4 has not been what I would consider dependable in those conditions (at least when shooting in V-LOG, which I use 97% of the time, unless I forgot to bring ND filters). I do use the One-Area Plus focus area and with Human Detect on (when shooting people / interviews). As for the Sigma Art lenses themselves, I think it is great that they are part of the L Mount alliance. I wish Tamron would join too, though.

Thanks for the explanation. Much appreciated.

What picture profile are you shooting in on the ZV E10??? I have an a6500 and shooting in S-LOG2 with pretty much any color gamut is an act of futility.

Thank you!

OK, then the question becomes: What button do you press to record video? Just the shutter button?

To elaborate a bit for those who don't understand what I meant, corner warping happens when a camera uses five-axis stabilization to stabilize an ultra-wide angle lens. It doesn't happen with three-axis in-body stabilization. When using the Lens-stabilization option of the Panasonic IBIS system, it allows the lens to stabilize in three axis, and the camera stabilizes in two axis. Thus reducing the corner warping.

The bulk of my work is real estate stills and video. I actually DIDN'T buy the Panasonic 16-35 f/4 because it doesn't have LENS stabilization. I am instead using a Canon EF 16-35 f/4 L because it does have LENS stabilization, which helps reduce corner warping at wider focal lengths. For 4K 60p (which is aps-c sensor area), I use a Canon 10-18 STM IS, again, because it has lens stabilization. I am using this on a gimbal as well (Weebill S). It works pretty well at avoiding corner warping.

Thank you for the reply. My thought is (and this is if I ever get back in to shooting weddings, which is undecided at this time) would be to use it on a gimbal on the S5 at 4K 60p, so hopefully the crop and faster shutter speed helps with the AF and the crop to 30mm equivalence helps with the warpy edges. Fingers crossed.

So I am thinking of getting the 20-60 and using it similar to how you are using it, On a gimbal for continuous AF at 60fps and I have to ask: How reliable is the continuous autofocus in that situation? I guess if all else fails, I can plug my Weebill S gimbal in to the S5 via USB cable and use the follow focus feature. But it would be great to have at least SOME autofocus ability. Also, when shooting at 20mm but in 60fps, it would have an equivalent focal length of 30mm. is that tight enough to get rid of the corner warping from the IBIS? I have seen people vlog with the S5 and 20-60 at 20mm in full frame mode and the corner warping is pretty hideous. So I wonder if shooting in aps-c would reduce / eliminate it.

You left out the most important department: craft services

That's Yankee for: "You are correct, sir!"

Well... there isn't really a "normal range." Maybe it would be around 3 feet if you are having a conversation with someone??? (I mean, in times when we all aren't social distancing). Don't know if this matters, but if I remember correctly, the field of view of ONE eye is supposed to be about 45mm. I don't know what the field of view of two eyes is supposed to be. But I would imagine that it is NOT 90-degrees. I think that the prime lens would be light, but 85mm is kind of tight and it MIGHT be a bit more wobbly. Generally, lens-based stabilization becomes more important as the focal length gets longer (and also ultra-wide but that's a discussion for later). Sure, they tend to be sharper, have less abberations, less distortion, less flare, etc., In general, they are "better." But some lenses might be too sharp. That's why you will often find discussions on this forum about either vintage lenses with "character" or about using diffusion filters. What program are you using to edit / color grade? I know it is a bit of a hassle, but I usually transcode my footage from 4K to 1080p in resolve as proxy files, and that makes editing that much easier. Then when exporting, you can turn off proxy file use so that it renders from the original 4K files. Even if you wan to export in 1080p, you will get better quality. Of course, if you shoot in 4K 50 / 60p, you will have to deal with the crop. Plus it takes up time and extra space to create proxy files. I can't say which lens to get, but I would suggest that you do get at least a 50mm prime in some sort of configuration, at least just to mess around with. You can get a vintage manual focus / manual aperture 50mm prime from Minolta / Pentax / Olympus / Canon / Nikon for around 30 US dollars and then add a manual adapter for $12 or so.

I think if you already own the 20-60, then maybe something on the longer end of things. As the 20-60 gets slower as focal length gets longer, there will be more of a difference (in terms of changing ISO or DOF amount) as the aperture on the 20-60 gets smaller (i.e., the more you zoom closer to the 60mm range, the more aperture gets closer to f/5.6). The other option is to think about what your most used focal length is (far easier to do with stills where the captured metadata includes focal length), and then buy a prime lens for that focal length. Unless... you plan on shooting a significant amount of 4K 60p / 50p, which uses an aps-c crop, in which case you are going to want a prime than is wider than you might normally use). Anyway, that's the way I think about it.

Yes, and he has been using panasonic cameras for years, owning a GH5, a couple of GH5S bodies, a GH5 II, and an S5. He has another channel focused on guitars ( intheblues ) and he has mentioned that he uses his Panasonic bodies and lenses on that channel. So I do tend to put more emphasis on what he says regarding AF.

Coincidentally, Shane from Geeky Nerdy Techy came out with a new video describing his "best practices" for focusing on the GH5 II and the S5 (as well as the older GH5 and GH5S). it is definitely worth a watch: I don't think there is a 1:1 macro lens for L Mount... maybe Sigma has one. But in general, the continuous autofocus of sigma lenses is pretty bad (for video, at least). Viltrox makes some Extension Tubes for L-Mount now, so that should get you pretty close to 1:1 macro (you might have to use multiple tubes). The problem with extension tubes is that you lose light / have to raise your ISO / lower shutter speed. you might be able to adapt a macro lens. I think Sigma made old DSLR macro lenses in 70mm and 105mm??? In which case, it might be best to find them in a Nikon mount and then buy a Nikon F to L-Mount adapter. The issue is the ADAPTER must have a way to adjust the aperture of the lens, since I believe those lenses don't have aperture rings on the lens. Tamron also made a 90mm f/2.8 and I think Tokina has a macro lens around 100mm and f/2.8 All of those would need an adapter that could adjust the aperture and would be manual focus. Then there are vintage manual focus lenses from Olympus and Nikon and Canon and Pentax and Minolta.

I really like the shots in that video from the GH6. I could see myself slapping on the Lo Contrast Neutral LUT (there is an example at the end of the video) for real-quick turnaround stuff.

As far as I can tell... If the face moves out of the focus area, their face will still be "tracked," meaning their will be a white box around the faces (or faces if there are more than one person in the shots but no in the AF area), but the autofocus will give priority to what is in the AF area box. why use it? Say you are holding doing a product review in your living room and the camera is focusing on your face. You hold up a nice shiny lens / camera / whatever in front of your face (obscuring your face) and the camera should focus on the item. With the Human Detect AF, the camera MIGHT focus on a photo on the wall in the background of someone's face. I don't think it is a night-and-day difference in terms of accuracy. But more of a backup. If the person puts on sunglasses or a mask, or their are shadows falling on their face, or for some reason the AF system stops recognizing their face as a face, then if they are still in the AF area box, the camera will still focus on them. Also - and I have zero proof this is the case - I think that using the AF One Area just helps the camera AF system "concentrate" as it were. I don't know the scientific / engineering terms, but just that the AF system is less likely to get distracted. I don't want to get too negative on the system. Josh Cameron makes a lot of videos about the S5 and S1, and he seems to get good results using continuous autofocus with the 20-60 and 24-105 lenses. There are a few others that seem to be able to get usable results. There are many times when 85% is going to be more than good enough. For my needs, if I really need something to be in focus, I just have to go with either AF-S or manual focus for now. I would love to pick up a prime like the 24mm for use on a gimbal shooting 4K 60fps (which is in aps-c crop mode) and use it in af-c, but I am a bit reluctant to buy L-Mount glass if the AF isn't going to be improved significantly through updates (or new camera models). And as @MrSMWmentioned with his S1H, I would just set up my S1 as either manual focus (or single af) on a tripod, press record, and walk away, letting it record long events / interviews from a static angle.

Worse than that I had it actually "crash" my camera. The tracking box turned red (it is supposed to be yellow) and autofocus stopped. Couldn't change to a different autofocus mode, either. had to turn off and restart the camera. Not as far as I can tell... maybe if there are two different faces in the one area box it might??? But normally you can't "confirm" focus on a face by touching the facial recognition box or by pushing in the joystick.

It might depend on how the AF is reacting to the subject you are shooting. If it is pulsing, then you would want to turn the sensitivity and speed down. Also, for the best results I have gotten from continuous AF, I usually use one-are (or one-area plus) and turn on face detection. If you are using the first AF mode, which is face recognition, you should either tap on the face you want to track, or use the joystick and push in on it to track that particular face. (the same thing for the Tracking AF mode, although I don't find the tracking AF mode all that reliable at all). You want to "confirm" the face by tapping or using the joystick push in (as mentioned above) in case there are multiple people in the frame and then the camera will know whose face to focus on.

It's probably fine for holidays. Although If I had young children around three or four, I don't know how good the AF would be at following them around. I am sure that my significantly older Sony a6500 or Olympus E-M1 MK II (with firmware 3.0 or later) would track them FAR better. Is the S5 a professional camera? Well, I would say there a significant amount of professionals using it to make money (including yours truly), if not as an A cam, at least as a B or C cam. It is a good jack-of-all-trades camera, IMHO. If the continuous autofocus was brought up to the level of Sony or Canon, or the new OM-1, it would be an absolutely great camera. Paul Byun has made a couple of good videos about his experience as a commercial videographer using the Continuous AF and he has found it useable, but he has made some compromises that, to be honest, kind of offset many of the great benefits of shooting on the S5 or S1 cameras (e.g., shooting at 60fps, shooting in aps-c crop mode, shooting in a profile with higher contrast, shooting on primes at f/2.8 instead of f/1.8, etc.,). So they aren't terrible cameras, and as you said, work great for non-critical work. But they really are just a reliable continuous autofocus system away from being the perfect camera (at least in my experience).