MrSMW

Yes, I am more of a 200-400 metre kind of guy. But sherioushly speaking, I am a fan of the larger sensor, - the 40mp and above because it does limit the size & weight of the lenses I need to use. Back in Ye Olden Times, at 24mp or less, I would have been shooting with a 24-70 and a 70-200, but even a 24-70 is a bit of a chonker today for me and a 70-200, no thanks...which is why I like stuff like Tamron's 70-180 and their even newer 35-100. I've been using my Sigma 28-70 in hybrid zoom mode (which I think is an S1Rii only mode?) which allows you to set various levels to punch in. It's only on the Jpeg and the raw file is still the same size but it allows for better composition at the time with some scope for jiggery pokery in post and turns how I use that 28-70 into more like a 28-105...but a pretty compact and light 28-105. But then again, I've gone back to primes in recent months and much preferring them. I've been looking for the 'one & done' solution, ie, one lens and one body, but below a certain weight and size, it does not exist. The Hassie with the 35-100 was the closest and next best for me would have been either the A7RV that I used to have or the new VI or even the Nikon Z8 with something like the (adapted) 24-50 indoors and 35-100 out, but next to the S1Rii with 28-70 (as anything else in L Mount is too large or heavy), what would I really gain? Real world, nada. I tried the 28-105 from Sigma but it's another chonker so went straight onto the S5ii for static duty which is what I intended it for, but thought I'd give it a go on the S1Rii as a 'one & done' hybrid set up, but nah, especially as it needed a battery grip for all day use. A twin body with primes set up is on paper a heavier set up, but it's in the hands that counts and as I might have mentioned multiple times on this forum, I can't find a better solution. And it's not just from a technical stand point, - the thing is damn good in the hands and to operate. The size, the weight, the controls, the rear LCD. Yes I would prefer it if it had a prestigious LEICA badge on it just because and better still, if it was in some kind of rangefinderesque body a la ZR or FX style, but it is actually a joy to use. Also, those Sigma f1.4's, - I don't really care about those f1.2's as in how much shallow DOF does one really need and the f2's I used to own are nice, but the more metal (than the Lumix f1.8's) and actual aperture rings for me are the sweet spot. I was building a case for myself with the Hassie V primes and would happily have bought 3 of the things...if they sent me 2 bodies to 'try out and keep'.

So by my man mathematics, DJI must have given away 10x X2Dii units for every one they have actually sold. I get the marketing strategy behind getting maybe 10 or so units out to some key Photo World 'influensters', but holy macaroni, just how many of these things have they given away? Who knew that DJI were such a philanthropic company... Jealous? Moi? Insanely, - it's a dream camera for me, but at ballpark '12k' for the body and 35-100 zoom lens, I cannot make the financials work in my favour. Even if it also did video. Which it doesn't. Not even slightly. Why is it peak camera for me? It's looks, the brand heritage, the build, the feel, the handing, the menus and of course the image quality. Except not quite the image quality. I have downloaded files from a number of sources and expected to be blown away and drink some of that readily available on-line Kool Aid, except I wasn't. Yes, they are great and super-detailed...but so are those from my whatshouldbevastlyinferior LUMIX S1Rii. I have not been able to shoot the exact same scenes side by side, or any of my own stills with the Hasselblad because I don't have access to one, so can only go on similar type shots...and as above, I'm not blown away or seeing any magic. In fact, quite a few of the shots I have downloaded with human subjects, the focus has been slightly off which suggests to me 2 things: Thing A: The focus is slightly off. Thing B: What muppet was given this camera to test and why has said muppet not pixel-peeped their own images they have put out into the world to be pixel-peeped by other (lesser) muppets like me? I was also considering something Leica. Not as well as, but instead of as in something 'more' than my LUMIX's but maybe not quite Fuji GFX/Hasselblad 100mp level. But based on my findings, I've dropped the whole idea. Are there some extra-fine details or other such mojo coming out of these bodies? Possibly, but nothing real world to my eyes. Are they better designs, better built and have more brand prestige? For sure. Does it (the pics) all look the same on social media? Of course they do, but that actually isn't the point unless your sole intention is content creation and the tools are just tools, but for some of us creatives, the tools are part of the creative process. Anyway, the point is, I'm not sure whether the shark has been jumped here, but I suspect there is a maximum amount of shilling going on because come on, you received a 12k gift and you know full well that unless you sing it's praises and go light on the criticism, you are never going to be gifted the next model to 'try out' when that comes along. Nope, you will be off the Christmas Card list faster than writing to Santa and addressing him as You Fat Fucker. I think I only came across 2 or maybe 3 reviews out of about 30 that I have seen that had bought the thing with their own money and those reviews seemed a bit more balanced, but still almost exclusively positive...but then maybe some of those folks needed to validate their own purchase and also hope to be noticed by Mount Hasselblad and be in the next model gift club... My answer to all of this? I went out and bought a pair of f1.4 Sigma lenses to replace my LUMIX f1.8's, ie, another of the most marginal upgrades. But it's my money so... ... PS: Unless Hasselblad are reading this, in which case, you fucking rock 🤘and of course I'd love to receive one and here's my address.

FFS, got to be THE WORST 'soft' launch ever as I have never heard of this until 2 minutes ago...and been in the market for something like this for months to replace my broken LUMIX 70-200mm f4!! Just bought the Sigma 28-105mm f2.8 to do the job instead not really needing 200mm but would have preferred 150... Hey ho, might consider it for next year but spent up now having just made the decision to exchange my LUMIX f1.8: 18/35/50/85 and spare Sigma 28-70 for the Sigma f1.4 trio of: 20/35/85 I was considering a different camera for stills for 2027 but dropped the idea after downloading some files and trying them earlier today...

But speaking of ‘peak camera’, what would be a future, ‘next gen’ option for me, not because I needed it, but because I wanted it? A better built, chunkier, fully articulated rear 4 inch LCD, spec of the S1Rii, ‘S9ii’ body. Essentially take the whole internal spec and articulation of the S1Rii and pop it in and on a ZR/FX style body. Now that truly would be a Thanos with all the stones camera for me!

It’s never sorted! Well it both is and it isn’t… For circa 15 years, without any manual or handbook, I have been exploring hybrid capture as a one man band and there have been; limits (earlier on), many (many!) dead ends and of course compromises. 2026 has been the first year I can truly say, yep, I can no longer find fault. Further tweaks, for sure, one of those being possibly…and even though I have just got it, swapping the gimbal and L10 for the Pocket 4 P. But for the main stuff, as things stand, there are no ‘better’ options, only sideways moves. The S1Rii is quite simply, in my opinion, the best hybrid camera, or put another way, the least compromised, but I’d stick with the former and say best. The combo of; size, weight, picture quality for both stills and video, at a flick of a switch, is superb and more than enough for my needs. The fact that it’s in essentially a modified S5ii body has proved for me to have been a good choice. Yes, I still prefer the S1H body, but the reality is the difference in size & weight is an entire prime lens so… The S5ii just gets in with job, - a workhorse static unit, but in other uses, really is not real world far off the S1ii. The S9 could be better built IMO, but the quality of the output offsets some of that for me and as mine is in an XLCR full cage jobbie, it’s actually bigger and heavier than the S1Rii, even with a Smallrig half cage…which is why it lives on a lightweight tripod. Nope, the tweaking & twiddling will never be over, but 100% there is nothing further I ‘need’ to do and scrapped previous plans to try 3 slightly different set ups for the rest of the season as they were primarily based on using the Sigma 28-105 for stills, but I’m done with lenses much over 500g for all day handheld work and a lens like that, for all day use, really does need a battery grip, especially if continually rotating into a portrait orientation and back and it’s that combo really that makes it undesirable to me, ie, it’s 2kg+ combo compared with something a little over 1/2 of that.

Well that was an easy decision… Put the battery grip on one of the S1Rii’s and then the 28-105 and… …immediately took both back off and put the prime back on. The battery grip is being returned and the 28-105 getting welded on to the S5ii with battery grip that lives on a chunky medium-weight tripod. NOT ever going back to any big zooms or anything that requires a battery grip. The best system (for me) at this current time is the one I’ve been running.

They cannot have NOT looked at it as the older 18-35 had a 50-100 sibling, but maybe it’s a case of the longer lens didn’t sell well or they think it’s covered somehow with the 28-105 and Samyang’s 35-150? Or it’s on the pipeline… Up until just a few weeks ago, the pairing of their 28-45 1.8 and an ‘imagined’ 45-90 f1.8, was end game for me, but since I went back to the pairing of 2 primes, mostly the 35 & 85 f1.8’s, I’m moving more towards the opinion that I already have my ‘end game’ set up because I ask myself, what would I really gain with a chunky twin zoom set up over what I have now? A bit of range; 28-45 vs 35 and 50-100 vs 85 and yes, that would be welcome, but do I really want that weight & bulk? Probably not. I’m still interested, but I think it would only be on the basis of instead of working primarily with 2x hybrid units, going back to having 1x stills dedicated and 1x video dedicated, in which case the use of zooms would be a necessity or I really would lack any kind of range. On a single body, the 28-45 would be perfect for indoor and low-light work and something like a 45-90, perfect for outdoor. I’m talking stills or video because that pairing would work dedicated to either on a single body paired with my second S1Rii paired with either the 17-40 dedicated to video or the 28-105 dedicated to stills. We’ll see. Consistency is a massive factor and on my journey of shooting gigs solo hybrid with equal parity between stills and video, I haven’t had much stability until this year, the first I have had the same system from start to finish. OK a couple of necessary workarounds as in mid season, I broke my S9 and had to use the L10 in it’s place and juggle a few other bits of kit around and then broke my 70-200, plus playing with the set up within the set up, but consistency of familiarity with the overall tool set. Ideally, I don’t want to be doing any fiddling in 2027 and run a full season with the exact set up I start it with. If Sigma pop out something akin to this 45-90 f1.8 with internal non-extending zoom over the Winter or Spring, then that game is almost certainly on. If they don’t, I think it will be the primes locked in for the season and the 28-105 f2.8 goes into the static role which is really what I intended for, replacing the slower, unnecessarily long (and broken) 70-200 f4.

50p on the S1Rii’s, S9 and L10 but don’t really do much slow mo these days. I shoot 25p on the S5ii as what I shoot with that I would never need to slow down. Supposedly better AF shooting 50p over 25p but not sure if it makes much difference? I suspect I will prefer the 28-105 more for stills than video and my favourite video lens is the 17-40mm f1.8 APSC crop lens. 25-60mm FF equivalent with a DOF wide open more line f2.7 but retaining the light gathering capability of the f1.8 it is, pretty compact and non-extending zoom. I did like the 28-45 f1.8 full frame lens but a bit of a limited range, especially for it’s size and weight and so replaced it with that 17-40 which I MUCH prefer, but you have to be happy to shoot cropped/S35…which I am and on the S1Rii allows you to shoot 4.7k 50p in a 4:3 ratio crop, so even ‘better’ than open gate. I would flip back to the full-frame 28-45 f1.8 and use it as an indoor/low-light lens, but ONLY if Sigma bring out a longer focal range sibling such as a 45-90mm f1.8 with internal non-extending zoom…but no signs of that so I’ll stick with what I have. One of my 4 set ups I am playing with is next weekend, S1Rii plus battery grip plus 28-105 dedicated purely to stills and the other S1Rii with the 17-40 which with e stab switched on gives a focal range equivalent to 36-84mm which is a preferred outdoor range for me. It’s the set up I am most interested in along with my twin S1Rii plus any choice of 4 primes including; 18/35/50/85. The former is bigger and heavier, but offers a bit more range at any time with the stills and the latter is pretty compact and low weight…and just works so the 28-105 will probably end up on my S5ii, but we’ll see…

Mid season update… Well it’s more towards the end of the season actually with my 4th to last job happening this weekend… Never did swap one of the S1Rii’s for an S1ii in the end and had a rearrangement instead which has proved to be nigh on perfect for my needs. My pair of S1Rii’s I put back into workhorse hybrid unit roles and that is where they excel with superb photo & video results matched with primes or zooms. Not quite Sony levels of AF, but otherwise I cannot find fault with them other than perhaps battery life could be a little better, but they are hardly trash in this regard and battery swaps every now and again are hardly a big deal. I have a battery grip arriving for one of them to try with a new lens, the Sigma 28-105 f2.8. I’m not 100% sure whether I will use this lens next year on one of these bodies or on the S5ii replacing the 70-200 f4 which is broken (dropped it and knocked out the OIS so it doesn’t work in any capacity anymore and need something longer than the 28-70 it’s currently stuck with). Otherwise it’s: S5ii for longer static stuff. It just works and does not have hissy fit meltdowns when it gets a bit hot and as we have had multiple heatwaves this Summer… S9 for shorter static stuff that requires a quicker set up. Capable of some pretty long takes as long as it’s not too hot. It did about 30 minutes though on sticks in direct sunlight, 35 Celcius the other day so hats off to it. Unlike the L10 that had a meltdown after less than 10 minutes…but is proving to be great as a dedicated gimbal camera and outside of work, is a great EDC/travel camera. So 4 jobs left this year with 4 slightly different set ups coming, but feel this set up is now very mature. I still look at some of the Sony lenses with envy, but I can’t see any system change at this time being anything but a sideways move, ie, maybe gain in one area but would lose in another and as above, this set up just works for my needs so anything I do now is more tweaking for the sake of tweaking than any actual need.

I dream of having a tool of this magnitude. Being serious, as someone who really does not want to rig out his cameras as after all, I am a hybrid shooter, the larger, clearer and brighter the rear LCD is, the better because I shoot exclusively with the things. It’s also why I prefer a tilt over a flip out. Fully articulated works better for me for the stills side, but tilt for video. Hopefully all cameras in the future will increasingly work on having these physical features which probably benefit more folks than massive pixel counts or bloated codecs. Less grading is financial boon to the small business as time saved is time that can be put to use elsewhere, or increase profitability. That is what draws me to the Red codec, but as things stand, that storage costs defeats any savings for me, but the grading time is a draw…

But but but but the Z6iii doesn't have a 4 inch rear LCD 😜

I’m also curious why they make some of the decisions they do (all brands) but I’d for sure have made the ZR a little more pro and it need not have been that much bigger (heavier perhaps) and charged 500-1000 more. Full size HDMI, heat sink, fully articulated screen….and a lighter Red codec would have offset some of that extra weight. The latter is a joke just in case any pedants are reading and wish to point out that firmware has zero weight 😉 Although I have one (two actually though one has no audio currently) S9’s, I would have preferred that to have had a more robust build and a mech shutter but hey ho, maybe on V2… Everything…or at least most things, seem to be built to a budget, yet cost a lot comparatively. I’d rather pay a moderate amount more and have something disproportionately better, but maybe that’s just me being in a minority.

Had it for a year. Sold it. It wasn’t for me. OK outdoors but too slow indoors/low light and I’m not a fan of lenses that extend when zoomed out unless it’s a very small movement such as with the Sigma 28-70 but would much prefer internal zoom and that is a very high priority for me. I have the 70-200 f4 (the lens I traded the above for and it’s a ‘better’ lens but obviously a completely different focal range) but it’s currently not working. Dropped my camera bag and it hasn’t worked since and suspect it’s the OIS… Back to the ‘affinity’ though, us working pros have a different criteria to the enthusiast in that we don’t shoot on a whim, but because we earn a living from doing so. We literally can’t afford to have less interest on any given day and a lack of enthusiasm for any tool probably means we should at least be considering another option! Then there is familiarity and boredom. Familiarity is of course a good thing and there is always a learning curve with any new tool that can be a bit of a PITA. I’m always tinkering with a tweak here and a tweak there such as yesterday, disabling the red video button when shooting stills because I’m sick of catching it when flipping to portrait orientation and thereby not only wasting time and a possible split second opportunity, but it’s even more annoying when it’s a bit of crappy upright video! I have also finally found a baked in LUT look that I trialled this weekend which gets me SOOC something very close to the final image with virtually zero grading required, - combo of many factors including; the stellar image the S1Rii puts out over any other LUMIX camera since the S1H, lens choices, blending 2 different LUTS in camera; one specific conversion and one other at a certain percentage, with exposure and WB choices all pre-saved on the custom mode dial. That’s massive for me for workflow and can only come from familiarity with the tools in real world working scenarios, ie, whenever I test this stuff at home, it pretty much never works due to all kinds of reasons but mainly it’s tricky to replicate my working scenarios as anything other than work scenarios! Familiarity means the tools get out of the way allowing you to focus on more important stuff that is purely down to YOU, ie, subject, composition, DOF yada yada yada. And then there is boredom which is a lot more subjective and can often be combined with GAS. GAS is probably the wrong term as my interpretation of it is more stuff generally so ‘desire’ might be more appropriate as in which do I desire the most, an S1Rii or an SL3-P? No contest but when we take desire out of the equation, it’s a bit like that, f*ck/marry/avoid scenario, the SL3-P is the first, the S1Rii is the second and the ZR is the third, for there simple reasoning for me, that the latter has too many flaws for my requirements and I know I’d resent her compromises quite quickly. Any Nikon; ZR, Z6/8/9, the Megadap E Mount lenses are for me biggest draw, but only ‘equal’ to me the L Mount equation I am already in ie, would only ever be a sideways move at this time and sideways is really only viable of you have cash to burn. For me, it’s never been about a search for some kind of holy grail setup because it doesn’t exist. It is however getting very close and I just need the love child of a ZR with Lumix internals and Sony glass…

In purely lens terms, ie, not considering any camera body or brand, 28-50 is perfect for me indoors so either Sigma’s 28-45 f1.8 or Sony/Canon’s 28-70 f2’s are ‘perfect’ other than size, weight & cost. There is the compromise but for the way I work, it is a case of: A. 2 bodies + 2 primes vs B. 1 body + 1 fast zoom Now of we redo the size, weight and financials, we are in the parity ballpark, so it becomes a case of which option do we prefer, - the single larger heavier unit, or bouncing between two smaller & lighter set ups? I am currently in scenario A but in other seasons have worked with scenario B. Pros & cons to each! Outdoors, my ‘perfect’ focal range is 50-100 with a smaller (but essential need) to go as wide as 28 and as long as 150. A 70-200 doesn’t work for me, even if an f1.0 landed, it would still be a hard nope. Too long, not wide enough. The 28-105 is the closest in L Mount right now if I remove the Samyang 35-150 from the equation. First of all, it’s bit really an f2 other than at the widest end where really it is just an f2 35mm, but a massive and heavy one. I’d rather have the Sigma 28-105 for outdoor work and crop a bit and for indoor, as things stand, the Sigma 28-45 f1.8. This is my most likely scenario continuing with L Mount next year which is also my most likely scenario as things stand for reasons already mentioned, namely, I am already invested in the system and happy with it other than some lens niggles. I am pretty sure if Nikon had got the ZR right for me in just 2 further areas; a fully articulated rear LCD (or even just a tilt) and had a 1/4 size Red codec, it would have been a done deal. I began my career with Nikon and was was with them for 9-10 years and still have a certain, perhaps nostalgic affinity with the brand. Fuji was almost another decade and I could easily jump that way for stills, but not video and I have niggles with their lenses for my stills needs as it would be GFX in that regard and there are no rangy fast zooms so it’s a no go for me. I have zero affinity with Canon though always loved the idea of an R3…but nah, that really would be an entirely new system for me. I’ve been in and out of Sony various times and could go that direction but there is something slightly lacking I cannot quite put my finger on and the best I can come up with is that word ‘affinity’ again. They have ALL of the lenses and I really like the FX style bodies but still… And so L Mount… Leica, for all its criticism and arguably elitism, probably does have a difficult to quantify ultimate quality edge in stills over Lumix, but worth the money? Probably not real world, but does have other merits… SL3-P over S1Rii purely for stills? Hell yes. Entire S1/S5/S9 range over anything else in the same price bracket for video? Hell yes. Leica, Lumix & Sigma for lenses generally, yup they have it. This is just an early morning coffee ramble really. Another 8 months will determine following 5 years for me…

I’ve come close to pushing the ZR button a few times now and there are really only 3 things that have prevented me doing so… 1. The file sizes of that Red Raw codec. Apparently N raw is the next best option and there are of course some ‘workarounds’, but until there is a compressed version that maxes out at no more than 1000 mbps, it’s just too much and one of the principal draws of this camera is the Red codec. 2. I’m not unhappy with L Mount. In fact the opposite except for one factor and that is the absence IMO of equivalent lenses to Sony’s: 28-70 f2, 50-150 f2 and Tamron’s 35-100 f2.8. It’s ‘almost’ worth switching just for these lenses alone, but that last word, ‘alone’, but alone is not enough and lenses aside, everything else that L Mount, specifically Lumix offers, beats that of Nikon & Sony. 3. I still have hope that from within the L Mount Alliance, over the coming Winter and next Spring, either (or even both) a rangefinderesque camera will appear from either Lumix or Sigma and at least one rival for one of the lenses above, will appear. Unlikely to be a Leica, but next gen FP a possibility and even more likely, an S9ii? 4. Bonus reason, - switching not only costs money, but there is always a settling in period with any new system that frustrates. So my set up now just works, I have it and I like it and as above, my only real crit is with regard to certain lenses, but the ZR body style just appeals to me and I would like that rear LCD, but ideally as a fully articulated unit which is a bit of a missed opportunity IMO.