Jimmy G

(One of my favorite reviewers,) Gerald Undone posts some of his initial findings with the SFU2 V-Log Upgrade which he picks up at the 5:44 (344s) Mark... Panasonic S1 AF Firmware & V-Log Tests / Does It Now Beat Sony? - YouTube: ...and it looks like the 10-bit V Log is going to be a welcomed addition (sky gradation retention) for my outdoor nature/wildlife shooting. Too bad the 60P 10-bit 4:2:2 can't be recorded internally, it kind of defeats the whole purpose in shooting handheld run-and-gun style while out in the field (literally, ha!). Hopefully the S1H will solve this?!

A Leah K. from B&H wrote me this morning informing that, "At this time the free upgrade will be available mid August." About 2-hours later I received my "DMW-SFU2 Lumix S1 Filmmaker V-Log Upgrade Software" receipt from B&H stating that it's a "New Item - Coming Soon 07/28/19". I guess I'll just have to wait and see when it actually arrives. :)

Hi Mattias, Well, my not being privy to the the fact that adapters might or might not be used in the various sequences at the time of voting (heck, there were pre-reveal speculations that there could well be cellphone cameras in the mix!) kept me (and others) from adding that possibility to my (our) assessments when voting. As part of my postmortem, er, "analysis toolkit" it was good to know that they were in the mix but there were too many sensor/lens combos and not enough samples of each for me to to consider adding that variable to my broad assessments and conclusions. FWIW, my fear going into this test (based on reading many of the incoming votes over at YT and here prior to my own sitting down to make my own evaluations and casting my own ballot) was that the reasons behind the numerous votes were going to be equally as random (or more) as the different camera/lens choices being presented and that coming to any concise conclusions would yield as many random interpretations...was it about the colors for this person? or the tints for someone else? perhaps the dog's pose for those folks over there? maybe it was it about the framing? or the resolution (for those who could tell)? or maybe even the focus? was it about the codecs? or the device viewed on? etc., etc., etc... My pre-vote hope, the whole while being, that you had some "method behind your madness" (an idiomatic phrase that might not translate well) and that "all will be revealed" in good time. So, when your own 3 conclusions turned out to be seemingly at a 90–180° variance to my own I was A. not unexpectedly surprised and B. presented with the challenge as to how to present my own findings as discussion points (and in a friendly conversational tone so as not to ignite some forum war. Ha!) as I truly wanted to hear the varying conclusions and viewpoints from my fellow posters here (and I did not wish to detract from the hard work you had put in. ). So I thank you for that enjoyable test and for your attention to my responses here. Thanks for harvesting and presenting that data, it's very informative (well, for me, anyway) for this test. Using, for arguments sake here (that everyone will kindly play along), that "half the computers were laptops and half were desktops" then, quite nearly 3-out-of-4 viewers participated with mobile devices while on-the-go and the other 25% viewed on a desktop-sized computer screen or larger. Sooo, what I get out of all of this is that there are some good fundamental lessons to be taken from your "blind test"...where visual production values are critical for the content producer (and their intended viewers) it clearly pays to invest in the tools that best suits ones needs and desires to attain those results, and conversely (and obviously) where visual production value (and audience) is non-critical there is clearly a lot (emphasis on "a lot"!) of leeway in ones choices for their production tools. Many thanks again for taking the time to produce these tests and results and for your willingness (along with the courage and confidence that goes along with that) to share it all here on the forum. (Trust me, your lessons went well-beyond the "blind test" for this yet-to-post-their-own-content-on-the-internet participant. :D ) Best online fun I've had all week! :) -JG

Hi Mattias, Thanks for taking the time to put these test sequences together and for providing for feedback, I truly enjoyed the opportunity to put my senses to the test and see what the results turned up. My early conclusions, so far, is that I had clearly selected 2-of-the-3 4K sequences (K and E) as my favorites (sorry, even I. the BMPCC4K couldn't salvage a decent image out of the Kipon 40mm f/0.85 for my eyes! Haw!) and that the Tamron 17-50mm Di II VC was a common denominator with both of them. Contrary to your conclusions, the sensor clearly mattered first-and-foremost for my tastes. Also, the mediocre (IMO) Tamron lens proved itself sufficient for 4K (with a few caveats) when A. shooting wide open for a centered subject matter (as in the dog image) where all the peripheral lens softness is safely lost to the background blur and B. when stopped down to f/5.6 for the outdoor shot where it then does provide enough detail for the 4K (~8MP) resolution frame... Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II VC LD IF Lens Image Quality: https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=679&Camera=474&Sample=0&FLI=0&API=3&LensComp=0&CameraComp=0&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0 What I also learned from this test was that there is a world of quality difference regarding how well youtube's compression "plays nice" (or doesn't) with a camera's codec depending on whether one is shooting a static subject like your dog vs a scene with a lot of random motions occurring (like the lakeside scene) within the frame...the latter clearly suffering with image breakdown with that challenge. What puzzled me most about the, um, "popularity" results were the choices for those camera/lens combos that ended up topping the list. It would have been nice to know which device each respondent used to perform their test. As an after-the-fact request, (my not being that youtube savvy) is it possible to harvest that data using YT's "Devices Report" function?... Devices report - YouTube Help: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3044697?hl=en ...it would be interesting to learn if there was a correlation between viewing devices and voting selections (i.e. smartphones preferred abc, laptops preferred def, desktops preferred ghi, TVs preferred jkl)...as I mentioned in my previous post my iPhone 8-Plus defaulted to 360P and had to be manually overridden to play the max 720P and my non-retina iMac had to be set to forced 1080P. FWIW, I used the iMac and its higher resolution for my posted results as (IMO) it was impossible to make any meaningful assessments at the 720P on the phone. Short of having that data (and based then on my own limited test results) my only conclusion or advice, in regards to whether a camera's sensor matters or not, could be...if one's target audience is the 720P YT smartphone audience then one could easily and reasonably get away with a less-than-4K camera, and the lens choice will not much matter. And if one's target audience is the 1080P YT desktop audience then there is a clear quality gain to be had going 4K and one can then also choose the appropriate glass and apertures to suit their subject matter. Many thanks again for providing the challenge and the opportunity to learn something here, I had a lot of fun! :) Jimmy G

Hi Emanuel, Making no pretense in being familiar with Deleuze my take on (what I'll refer to as) the "grand philosophers" is that, in my experience, there has been an absence of conciliation with (what I'll describe as) the philosophies of the individual person. "Grand philosophy", in my opinion, is itself an art form that can be best appreciated and explored when there exists an abundance of leisure time and where there is interest for the individual. Lengthy tomes and their critiques require the time to consume. Wherein, most persons are engaged in the daily basics of survival (maintaining food and shelter) it has been my observation that in what small snippets exist of leisure time throughout their days each individual creates and adopts their own personal philosophies based on their life's experiences (whether they are cognizant of this fact, or not). Tying this into filmmaking I am hard-pressed to think of many films that have dealt with the subject matter of the, um, grander philosophies of human existence. Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Stranglove comes immediately to mind as a "dark comedy" narrative dealing with the then-new existential threat of global self-annihilation on a sunny afternoon... Dr Strangelove - Official Trailer [1964] HD Remaster - YouTube: Whereas, again in my own observations, most folks are interested and concerned with (and put aside the time for) the enjoyment of films which deal with the more-immediately-relatable-situations-to-their-own-lives philosophical and emotional interactions between individuals. "Shooting a fish in a barrel" for an example here, Shawn Levy's This is Where I Leave You provides a comedic take on the philosophical and emotional intricacies surrounding the lives of various family members while sitting Shiva for their late father/husband using an ensemble cast... This is Where I Leave You - Trailer - Official Warner Bros. UK - YouTube: To use your above quote... << It seems to me that what follows is the increasing complexification of the world, as more people are born (than those who die), and as more ontological levels of multiplicity emerge, which necessarily interact with others. Think of everything that one encounters in “virtual reality” or “cyberspace”, and the impact that these phenomena have on concrete social reality. Since the advent of the internet, the complexification of the world through increased multiplicity has accelerated." >> ...I take the contrarian view (>cough<, critique) that we humans (globally) are, due to these very technological "complexifications", engaged in a grand distillation of philosophies (both grand and personal) with this global dialogue. It's not just a philosophical conversation about one's own daily struggles to maintain food and shelter just to survive,, it's also the philosophical discussion about how everyone can survive, and, ultimately, the philosophical discourse about how all creatures sharing the ecosphere this planet provides can survive. I find these to be both perilous and very exciting times, indeed. My own imaging interests are mainly to document the lifeforms and environment I encounter, I am not a storyteller as my intention, so my lurkings here on this forum are mostly as a gearhead. My attendance in your thread (this) is merely as a lover of the conversations that surround this medium...and, well, as a life-long observer of personal philosophies. Thanks for putting Deleuze under my nose, I'll return the favor with my favorite philosopher... << I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. Excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's Walden. >> Best, :) Jimmy G

Hi Mattias, Just a few discoveries (that might or might not have a bearing on folks' evaluations) based on my watching your test on both a non-retina 27" iMac and an iPhone 8-Plus. The color rendition on the older iMac yielded a less color-saturated viewing experience than the iPhone's True Tone retina screen. Also, using Safari on the iPhone defaults to 360P and needs to be overridden in the playback settings to the max-available 720P for that combo, interestingly viewing on the the iMac via Firefox allows for 1080P resolution. Thanks for taking the time to put together this exercise, I've been having some fun since last night giving each camera sequence a going-over as a personal observation-test and learning experience. I much appreciate your patience in not revealing the answers quite yet as I'd be a bit miffed at missing out on the chance to thoroughly embarrass myself here on the forum with my forthcoming take on the matters... First off, can I say upfront that none of the clips wowed me IQ-wise on the lakeside sequences?! I'll get to that shortly... Two things that stood out to me immediately (and could have been separate tests in their own right) were, 1. for the dog sequence, "why one should never shoot their pet at point blank distance with a wide-open fast lens indoors for the sake of exposure" and, 2. for the shoreline sequence, "can anyone determine the actual colors of that canoe?" Ha! For aesthetic points only, 1. in that most of the dog's face is in focus due to a proper depth-of-field/aperture choice appropriate for the subject matter, goes to B, C, D, J and K...(L is actually focused on your pet's nose! LOL) and, 2. having not seen the original footage myself it's hard to determine whether youtube's compression is adversely affecting (read: compounding) the original compression for each sequence. Phew, having gotten all that out of the way, my IQ assessments (based on your "go by feel" criteria)... For the Dog sequence I found I was favoring the warmer renditions that showed overall deeper face focus with K being tops followed by C or G. (FWIW, A is lacking vital detail to my eyes, B would have been a contender except for the cold rendition, C would have been a finalist except for the DOF selection, D is showing too much in-camera sharpening, E might have won if the lens DOF was more subject appropriate and its color flatness seems workable for post, F had color overkill for my tastes and the DOF too shallow, H failed on colors being too rich for my tastes, I's DOF way too shallow for pet photography/videography, oofah, J has overdone detail and way too cold for these eyes, L has some nice detail, too bad about the nose focusing and shallow DOF.) For the lakeside sequence, none of the above...really. Just looking at the wooden planks atop the floating/bobbing dive platform reveal obvious codec breakdown across the different sequences (some handling it much worse than others...>cough< A, B, E, G, H, J) while viewing at 1080P, something that my eyes just couldn't ignore so I wasn't "feeling" any of them. Color-wise the three major fails to me were B, H and J for trying too hard to look like film emulsions. F is a blurry mess. B, D, F and I all lacking vital detail, conversely G and J being too crunchy with detail. C, D, F, G, H, and J all being too contrasty for my tastes or uses. And frankly (as mentioned) the colors on the canoe are all over the map and I dare anyone (with the exception of the OP) to know what its true colors to be! Ha! That I'd have to choose, then E for detail and shadow retention (giving me the impression that I might be able to do something with it), followed by L for seeming detail retention, and I for its codec (wood dock test) seemingly surviving YT compression. Anyhoo, them's my votes! :)

+1 on 1.5x APS-C/Super35 sensors for the M4/3-mount, truly the solution, using established film-stock language, that would provide for smaller and lighter camera/lens systems vs FF, IMHO. M4/3-sensors (aka: ~110-film-size) can then be the "crop" version for that mount system. And, finally, some manufacturer, please...an FZ2000(2500)/RX10-style (read: all-in-one, non-interchangeable wide-to-zoom lens, fully sealed body/lens, body+lens IS) with an M4/3 (or, yes, even an APS-C!) sensor for us run-and-gun nature/wildlife shooters for whom changing lenses in the field is a recipe for disaster! (Sooo close, Panasonic, with the GH5/G9/100-400...sooo close to perfection...too bad about that GH5S omitting IBIS, though, Ha!) But, hey, I'm just some "lowly" enthusiast who, so far, only volunteers his retiree's time and resources with posts to the eBird/Macaulay Library... Macaulay Library – A scientific archive for research, education, and conservation, powered by you: https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/ ...so it's unfortunate to read about JVC's (and/or any other manufacturer's) decision to not solicit or investigate (or even filter-out) non-pro/non-paid voices for their imaging/video needs and interests. Edit: So, how about it, JVC? An MILC M4/3-mount APS-C camera to shake up the marketplace segments?! ...with a global shutter, of course! :D

IMO, no better place to start learning about "making something out of something" with no more than a camera and a mic for outdoors sport activities than Warren Miller's work... warren miller - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=warren+miller ...first hit there (this morning) brings up... . . . Like There's No Tomorrow Official Trailer - YouTube: ...and ought to get anyone's juices (creative, and otherwise) flowing! As for travelogues, a personal fave of mine (again, just camera and mic and whatever nature gave them on any given day for light and adventure) and a personal "repeat go to"... 180 South HD Trailer Official - YouTube: ...great reminders for me that there's a world of personal adventures to be had and that I need to get up off my ass and go do something! Hope that helps. :)

If not "being only h.265", what would you have preferred? (i.e. RAW, H.264, ProRes, etc., etc.?)

If, by "kills it", you mean it in a positive way, I'll agree with that sentiment as I would love to try shooting birds and wildlife at high frame rates. Fwiw, I wrestled with a decision between the GH5 and GH5S throughout the springtime and part of my balance and trade-off arguments I had with myself were "no-low-light w/ IBIS w/ 180fps" vs "low-light w/ no-IBIS w/240fps". In an odd-but-fortunate way the impending arrival of the S1 helped break that stand-off by changing one of my scale factors with "low-light w/ IBIS w/ 180fps" and so I went that route, instead. Although, should a later firmware inclusion of 240fps (or even 250/25, 300/30, ha!) arrive for the S-series cameras it be would be most welcomed from Panasonic...especially, of course, all frame rates with audio! (Hint, hint.) I'm not a fan of the rig-it-yourself-box design of these Z-Cam (and similar style) cameras for my own usage (DSLR-style fella here), but if their arrival helps put market pressure to deliver such features on DSLR/MILC cameras, great news all around...I'm a big fan of win/win/win! :)

Wish I could accommodate your wishes here but my #1 desire is for a global shutter, first and foremost, beyond all other desires...in a consumer-priced camera...yes, consumer-priced...just like my first serious movie camera, the consumer-priced, Super-8 shootin', Canon 1014XLS, from back in the late-'70s, which gave me all that glorious global shutter real-film look because, well, it was film. Y'see, I'm getting older now, going to be on Medicare in a few short years, so I sure do hope it's in the new S1H, or a GH6 (like it should have been in that 5D Mark II and a7S II I spent all that damn money on! ha!)...global shutter, yep, that, would make me smile. :)

What I'm hoping for here is that they've added to the thickness of the S1 size to accommodate better thermal control while still maintaining IBIS (like should have been done on GH5S, IMHO) while allowing for a fully-articulated screen that doesn't bump into the HDMI or headphone cables (it would be great to be able to monitor from the left side and front of my S1!). Also, it would be nice if the EVF housing protruded a wee bit more off the back vs my S1, too (for those of us with bigger than average honkers). Alternately, I'm thinking it just might turn out to be a 1DX-style camera with built in grip to handle an extra battery. We'll find out soon enough. :)

Hi Andrew, etal, There's an interesting entry in the DC-S1 User Manual on Page 136 which lists the following information regarding 6K and 4K Photo Modes... [Rec Quality] [6K/200M/30p] [Luminance Level] [0-1023] (when 6K photo recording) [Rec Quality] [4K/150M/60p] [4K/100M/30p] [Luminance Level] [0-255] (when 4K photo recording) ...which by my reading indicates that the data rates for 6K Photo are coming in at 200Mb/s@30P and 4K Photo at 150Mb/s@60P and 100Mb/s@30P. Curious if this was accurate I pulled up one of my 6K Photo Pre-Burst clips in VLC and the Media Information window indicates an Input bitrate of 196452 kb/s (i.e. 196.452Mb/s) and a Stream bitrate of 192570 kb/s (192.570 Mb/s) using a "MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265) (hevc)" codec employing a "Planar 4:2:0 YUV 10-bit LE" format. :) Jimmy G

Oh sure, I'm 2-weeks in with an S1/24-105 kit and the rumor mill is already alive with some newer gear?! Ha! If true I hope it has a fully-articulating screen ala GH5/G9 etal, a full ±3 Diopter, audio for all high-speed frame-rates, and, most importantly, a global shutter...just a few key items missing on my new camera. Oh yeah, if it turns out that the sensor exceeds the 33MP needed for 8K (like the S1R), at least incorporate an 8K (4320p) PHOTO mode...it would be real nice (and likely look a whole lot nicer, too) to lock down the camera, shoot a whole lot wider, and pan and zoom the frame for 4K, than to fight inertia with the camera/lens for sudden wildlife motion while watching the codec self-destruct into a juddery mess! "Pretty please?!" :)

The S1 User Manual states that the 6K PHOTO crops are as follows... 3:2 6K Photo = 5184 x 3456 4:3 6K Photo = 4992 x 3744 ...the 4K 60P is an approximately 1.5x crop at 3840 x 2160. FWIW an actual 1.5x crop of the 6000 x 4000 sensor would equal 4000 x 2666.67 but I've not seen where Panasonic ever states that they use this aspect ratio. Interestingly, that 1.5x crop would equal 10.67MP in APS-C size, coincidentally very close to the 10.2MP count of the GH5S albeit, the latter, in MFT size and with smaller 4.51 micron pixels. More interesting, to me, was that the (larger) 5.93 micron pixels in the S1 yield a 22.77mm-wide physical frame when shooting 3840 x 2160 4K/60P which falls neatly in between the 24.89 mm-wide size of Super 35 and the 21.95 mm-wide size of Academy 35mm, basically giving one a "Super35, low-light, GH5S" built/hidden inside the S1. :)

Folks here sharing experiences with all sorts of recording gear... Taperssection.com - Index: http://taperssection.com/ :)

Since going digital in the early mid-'00s (Canon 300D > 30D > 5D2 > 7D) my search for "the perfect fast, low light telephoto zoom" led me to the obvious (and apparently only) choice on the market, the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG APO HSM. This was a non-stabilized (OS, in Sigma parlance) lens that, while not quite Canon L-prime sharp, produces excellently sharp images with beautiful bokeh with smooth and swift AF... Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM Lens Review: https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Sigma-120-300mm-f-2.8-EX-DG-HSM-Lens-Review.aspx Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG IF HSM APO Lens Sample Photos and Specifications: https://pbase.com/cameras/sigma/120-300_28_ex_if_dg_hsm_apo ...you don't mention a budget but one can find these used in the ±$1K range. (This lens has seen optical design improvements over the past 10-years with an OS version and now the OS Sport version...I've owned all 3 and currently still have the one listed above (it still sees use!) and the Sport, the Sport now being my go-to tele on cloudy days or when I'm looking to shoot at shorter distances.) On the GH5 (by my math) one should see an effective FOV at the long end of 384mm at f/1.8 when using a MB 0.64x Speedbooster, otherwise straight-through it's an EFOV of 240—600mm at f/2.8 with the 2x crop. To manage its 5.7lb. heft I employed (still do, actually) a Manfrotto NeoTec 685B trigger-release monopod (~30–67" working height with removable rubber foot with a retractable ball foot that reveals a spike foot) with their 322RC trigger ballhead combo with their 357 quick-release plate system that provided latch-and-twist-lock-free height and angle adjustments for quick-and-solid positioning. The combined maximum height here put(s) the EP at better than the 6-foot mark. As for a mic selection, I've recently outfitted my sweetie's G9 with Panasonic's DMW-MS2 mid-side stereo shotgun mic that the camera can "talk to" (there are Special Mic menu settings to adjust it's field angle)...the wire for this mic can be wrapped around the front, CCW from the hot shoe, keeping it neatly out of the way from the camera's controls and away from one's forehead! (And, just to add to the mix here, her tele-zoom choice is the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm which provides Dual-IS so she doesn't need a tripod or monopod.) Anyhoo, these choices work well on our end, I hope this was helpful. Keep us posted as to what you decide. :)

What I got out of that clip was a good argument for considering one's resolution as another, um, "film stock" choice (along with, oh say, Picture Profiles) based on one's shooting intent and delivery intent. For a "15 Jump Cuts of handheld footage for a 44-second quick-turn-around video of "My friend rocking his Electric Skateboard" intended for cellphone consumption on YouTube" (which will not be critically viewed, and will likely be forgotten by the time the viewer reaches their subway stop! Ha!) he makes a good argument for one to consider shooting cheap and fast with not only one's gear choices but also with one's resolution choices (with the caveat, "where applicable"). IMHO. However, if one's shooting intent and viewing intent is for considered consumption where the viewer is taking-in the entire scene while expecting high quality footage (read: commercial shoot, weddings, sports/action showcasing/highlighting, cinematic content) on larger 4K (or even, HDR-capable) screens then to my tastes, shooting at 1080 or 720 might/would work if tossed in "here and there as artistic cutaway shots" but not as the primary resolution choice. Case in point, it's very clear and obvious to me when these GH5S scenes drop to 1080 for slow motion vs the 4K main content... Surprising Results Filming with GH5S from Panasonic - YouTube: ...well, my 2¢ on the matter.

Well, if the following information from Sound&Vision is correct... << Virtually all films are currently mastered for video on monitors having P3 color primaries. Those primaries are converted to Rec.2020 based coordinates, but the color values are identical, leaving the consumer with Rec.2020 color that only extends as far as the P3 color gamut within it. >> ...from... Colors in Space | Sound & Vision: https://www.soundandvision.com/content/colors-space ...then it sounds like one could actually use a DCI-P3-capable HDR TV as a monitor to grade their HDR content for DCI-P3 delivery? ...or am I missing something both obvious and important here? -HDR-noob

I found this chart (originally posted in 2016, but which has apparently been updated with newer 2018-19 HDR TV models) with tests comparing DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 capabilities of various TV displays available in the U.S. market (sorry, that means no Panasonic HDR TVs listed)... Wide Color Gamut Coverage of TVs: Rec.709, DCI-P3, Rec.2020 - RTINGS.com: https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/picture-quality/wide-color-gamut-rec-709-dci-p3-rec-2020 ...so it's looking like that if one's target is to correct for Rec.2020 then the TV-as-editing-monitor market is not-quite-there, yet. Which then raise the question in my (new-to-HDR) mind, is there any sense to just correcting to DCI-P3 for now (if one's NLE allows), since that's all anyone's target audience can maximally enjoy here in early-2019?

Hi Jordan, Thanks so much for jumping in here with that info, nice to hear from someone with the gear in-hand! It's truly helpful to know for my application shooting long-telephoto birding/wildlife... It had not gone unnoticed to me prior that the S1R @ 47MP would (if it could, and now we know it can!) be able to produce an APS-C 1.5x crop image of about 20.9MP and the S1 @ 24MP a 1.5x crop at ~10.7MP, giving these two cameras the abilities to effectively shoot at nearly the same crop magnification factors and pixel densities as their G9/20.3MP and GH5S/10.3MP 2x-crop cousins! Where this comes in handy for this fella is knowing that I can (basically) have the benefits of two-cameras-in-one when shooting solo (as is most often the case) in the field. Need the tight 4K clip with my 300-800mm Sigmonster? Shoot crop. Need the wide establishing shot? Pop on the 24-35mm and shoot 4K FF! Great news there! FWIW, I was a hair's-width away from taking a ride to NH this weekend to pick up a used CL GH5S but had questioned the wisdom in that decision if it turned out that these new S-Series cameras had crop-shooting capabilities. I'm in that camp of folks who were quite miffed to learn (at the time) that Panasonic did not include Dual-IS capabilities in the GH5S so it now comes as welcome relief to know that the S1 can get me to the high-ISOs I need, and provide me the crop factors for the FOVs I need when shooting long, and provide me with the dual image stabilization I've come to love with my sweetie's G9 when going wide! Glad I decided to pass on that camera and do a little more homework on these new FF cameras! Now, if only we could convince Panasonic to give us a proper video-orientated FFer with a right proper flippy screen instead of that limiting tilty screen! Sometimes I like to monitor from the left, sometimes from the right, sometimes from above, sometimes from below...Sabé, Panasonic? And >cough< GH5-esque in-camera scopes while they're at it, too! Thanks again for taking the time to provide that info! :) Jimmy G

Well, we've owned a number of Panasonic cameras dating back to their ZS3 and I've always maintained bookmarked links to their product pages as an easy find for their Firmware Updates, Manuals, etc., so there's never been a need to have to go searching for something when they've historically always conveniently provided all of this information and software in one expected location...ergo my point of the (again, IMHO) "poor job" in these regards with the release of their biggest flagship camera ever. FWIW, in my 32-year career in corporate telecomm experience I can tell you that if the "higher ups" in my former employers business became privy to such a level of non-performance from their web marketing team for their premier product line that that group would most assuredly be, er, "taking a meeting" with the bosses first thing tomorrow morning to explain the, um, "situation". Me hard?! Hardly! Ha! Anyhoo, thanks again for the link...I now have a better idea how the "Image Area of Video" menu functions (p.238-239) operate (from my earlier post)...you're my hero today! :)

Hi PrometheusDM, Thanks for the heads up on that, and for the link, seems I've been staring at a blank wall over at the U.S. web page for the S1... LUMIX S1 Body, Digital Mirrorless Camera with 24.2MP MOS Full Frame, L-Mount Lens Compatible - DC-S1BODY - Panasonic US: https://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/lumix-interchangeable-lens-ilc-cameras/DC-S1BODY.html ...where there has only been tabs for Features and Support where the Support Tab has remained unpopulated with any information whatsoever, unlike what one would see at, oh say, the GH5 page... LUMIX GH5 4K Mirrorless ILC Camera Body - DC-GH5KBODY - Panasonic US: https://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/lumix-interchangeable-lens-ilc-cameras/DC-GH5KBODY.html ...where manuals and firmware are readily accessible. Again, to my point about Panasonic doing "a fairly poor job" (again, IMHO)...what, are customers to somehow magically guess that maybe they've hidden the manuals on their Japan site?! Haw! Lest folks think I'm being too unfair or a wee-bit critical, truth is, I'm a big fan of seeing success in others...however their marketing department is doing them no favors here "stateside". Anyhoo, thanks again for the link...looks like I've got some serious reading ahead! Peace, out. :) Jimmy G

Just so happened to to have the "cans" on my head when I clicked on your video...I truly love the audio landscape you created here. Also, I found the color choices for your world engaging. Thanks for sharing this here. :)

The S1 can be manually set to shoot video in either FF or APS-C crop, as seen at the 11:15 mark in this video from the kind folks at CVP... Panasonic S1 | In Depth Review - YouTube: ...which they claim "will allow creatives to use Super35 or APS-C lenses". However it's not clear to me (nor do they explain in that video) as to which video rates (e.g. 4K 30?, FHD 60?, etc.) allow for that choice between these two frame sizes. Also, based on that same fleeting sequence there seems to be a user-selectable Pixel-by-Pixel (dimensions also user-selectable?) aspect ratio, as well. In all of my online investigations into this camera I have only seen mention of this capability in this video. The function is located in the "Others (Video)" menu and has apparently escaped detection by other reviewers of this camera. FWIW, Panasonic, themselves, have done a fairly poor job (IMHO) up to this point (as of this writing) in not providing prospective buyers with a full, downloadable User Manual for these new S-Series cameras. Perhaps one of our fellow EOSHD posters already using this camera can investigate the above functionality and report back here as to how and when it actually works or doesn't?!