MrSMW

The price difference is indeed a bit nuts. The S9 IMO, should be €£$999 body only. With the little Fuji, I'd go straight for the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 Not much bigger but 2 stops faster at the long end which is also slightly longer. The lack of IBIS is the only niggle for me which is why I'd go for the XS-20 if I was in this market. But at just over 300g body costing under 900 that can shoot 6k open gate and Braw externally? That's a bits nuts innit?! Pro tool, I'd still go S9 though. But then I'd go S5ii (as I did) over S9...but that is just my use/needs case.

Well I was a bit of a Fuji fanboy for almost a decade starting with the OG X100 right up to and ending with the XT3. Was going to then be XT4 and had a pair on preorder but Covid got in the way and the LUMIX S5 came along and I had little kit at the time so a switch to a 'full frame XT3' made sense to me. I could easily build a system around the XH2 and XH2S today but it would be a sideways move so not going to happen, even though the new 16-55mm f2.8 looks very promising. If I was looking for a personal camera, this new baby boy could have been a contender, though I think I'd go Ricoh GRiiiX for a bit of fixed lens purity over a slowish zoom. Tougher call vs the S9 because depending on your needs, the S9 is a more capable camera as long as you can live without the mech shutter and are happy to pay a lot more. I think where it gets most interesting is Fuji's film sims vs LUMIX's custom baked in luts and both have a pano mode I believe? For me, it would come down to the system I was in so as primarily a LUMIX user for video and Sony for stills, as a personal camera, I'd go S9 or ZV-E1, but if I was with Fuji, I'd actually spend a little more and go for the XS-20. Or even XE4.

Yes, a case of they would have been damned either way and I agree it's a better way of doing it, ie, have a limit...but allow it to be switched off at the users risk. It probably would have been better though if they had launched it with this. And with the 18-40 lens... But hey ho.

I would actually be happy and buy an S5ii with nothing more than an updated soft release shutter mech as in terms of feel and sound. I’d prefer to also have a higher res screen as a bonus, but they could stop there and call it a S5ii.001 and I’d be a happy boy. Stick a larger sensor in without sacrificing low light capability or DR, happier still. Beyond that, zero actual needs.

‘Anti-social media feeds’ 😂 but also 😢

Out of those though, I'd only need to pick up the new zoom having 3X S5ii bodies and it would be my pick regardless as it is actually better in almost every way over the S9. Pity there is no real dinky Sony lens if I do pick up that ZV-E1 next year as intended which for work purposes would have the Tamron 20-40mm f2.8 welded to it. For a walkabout/travel, Tamron 28-75 f2.8 I also have would cover my needs but then again, my A7RV is not much bigger or heavier but far more capable so I'd take that with it's 61mp cropping ability. But sorry, polluted this thread with more dirty Sony talk. I will go wash my mouth out after just mentioning once more, especially for stills, the A7RV is an INSANE quality vs compact size camera 😉

The cables I get. The lack of a dedicated battery charger annoys me. I can’t plug in my cameras whilst working. But I am probably a minority.

The lens does not interest me but exactly why plus the record limit, that I put it as a ‘lukewarm’ release. Not bothered myself with it not having a viewfinder or hotshoe or for that matter, a grip as I fixed 2 of those immediately with a slim fit SmallRig cage. Well grip and cold shoe and have not used an EVF in years. The cage adds barely any weight or size but transforms the handling and to some extent, the build. If LUMIX do pop out a sequel to the S1R, I would almost certainly pick one up again (an S9) to use as a sidekick with a smaller wide on it for both stills & video, just not as my main unit. But as an ‘S2R’ looks ever less likely now and because I am with Sony for stills since early this year, a ZV-E1 will fill that same role in 2025.

So basically, if we wait long enough, we will get an S2H plus the bonus of better air quality. I'm in.

This is the key to it for me also. ’Influencer’ is a bit of a dirty word to some and has some negative connotations of being nothing more than a shallow paid shill and that is the case with some if not many, but not all. The key to it would be collaborating with the right people. But they NEED to shout to survive. It’s just how shit works these days. And yes, they do not necessarily need to say what it when though a roadmap would be nice but at least have the courtesy to let your professional heavily invested users know that (if) a next gen model is coming. This recent launch has highlighted that because the community are talking about it left right and centre as a negative and LUMIX are not in a position to have much if any negativity. As above in this thread, they are so close… S5ii/x = good release GH7 = good release S9 = lukewarm release S5D = WTF release No pro lenses in a while (not too bothered as Sigma has picked up some of that slack) Actual most recent lenses = a manual f8 pancake and now a pretty slow compact short travel zoom? Firmware updates = pretty good I’d be happy if they just used the S1H body and stuck the guts of the S5iix in it and called it an S1Hx. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

Not giving up, not personally anyway as in I don’t see a scenario where L Mount does not form 75% of my kit as it presently does and for probably the next couple of years… But disappointed. I thought the S9 was a pretty OK release and it’s an even better tool now, despite buying and returning one pretty quickly. (A third S5ii just made more sense). Mainly disappointed not so much there has been no replacement for the S1R/H, but that they are not giving any indication whatsoever re. the future. It’s not game over yet by any means, just not looking so positive longer term.

Not giving up, not personally anyway as in I don’t see a scenario where L Mount does not form 75% of my kit as it presently does and for probably the next couple of years… But disappointed. I thought the S9 was a pretty OK release and it’s an even better tool now, despite buying and returning one pretty quickly. (A third S5ii just made more sense). Mainly disappointed not so much there has been no replacement for the S1R/H, but that they are not giving any indication whatsoever re. the future. It’s not game over yet by any means, just not looking so positive longer term.

Half of the industry seems to have jumped the shark at the back end of this year…

Without question, if I had a blank slate, I’d buy either Sony or Canon now. Maybe Nikon, but mostly likely Sony. They may not be the most exciting and are lacking in various areas, but so many options and combos that can be put together. For stills, for my needs, I have already found the best combo (IMO) available ok the market based on a single body plus 3 lenses. For video, ditto but with L Mount. But would I invest in L Mount today? Absolutely not because it does appear very much now as Andrew says, they are soft-quitting the marketplace. Leica is too expensive and Sigma look like they are just focusing on glass now so it does look like: Leica = high end bodies LUMIX = low to mid bodies Sigma = lenses As a business user with a clean sheet start, absolutely no way I’d invest in a product line that I had no faith I could grow with over the years. But it is what it is. A bit sad really…

Yep, it’s a bit of a yawn fest… S5D? Umm, yeah, that one is going to absolutely fly off the shelves… The kit lens. OK as a little travel thing I guess but only if you shoot in good light and don’t mind variable aperture. Some LUT stacking firmware and I think an option to remove the record limit on the S9 and cause it to melt at your own risk.

I've just come back from a long dog walk mulling all of this over and come to the same conclusion that I have had for some time and that is I would like and hope LUMIX do something substantial, whether it'a announced today (unlikely it seems now) or in 3-6 months, but it doesn't really bother me if it's never. I just don't need to make any significant changes to my system other than for next season, I am almost certainly going to switch out my Sigma 28-70 for the new 28-105 because I feel I am lacking a bit at that longer end. On the stills front, ideally, I'd like to at some point bring it all back into one system; L Mount, but if there is not going to be any genuine successor to the S1R or S1H, I'm probably going to pick up a ZV-E1 as a secondary/slash back up stills camera, primarily for it's low light capability. But I could live with...and have been living without any of the above most of this season and it just works so no actual real need. I would not like to see LUMIX pull the plug and just die however. Regardless, I'm not going to simply dump everything and jump ship because as I keep saying, for the video side of my needs, L Mount does it best.

I suspect it is because Canon & Nikon are THE established camera names. Sony is just everywhere. Fuji is more the 'photo enthusiasts' brand, ie, not so much folks who buy a camera just because they think they need or want a camera (because they buy CaNikon and these days, Sony), but the folks who are actually interested in photography. LUMIX though, as I have already ranted (yet remained brand loyal for 3 years now) just are not on the radar. It's like they live in some kind of bubble isolated from what is going on in the rest of the world...

The single biggest problem IMO with LUMIX is they just don’t make any hype off their own backs. Any hype that does exist comes from a handful of vocal users. Just one example is the Olympics. Every Olympics do ‘we’ really need a new camera? Probably not, but how much do the likes of Nikon and Canon hype it? What hype re. anything is there ever from LUMIX? Just like shit quality pictures etc on social media that we are talking about on another thread, to 99% of people, the quality isn’t the thing. How popular something is perceived to be is. The more popular something is, the ‘better’. It’s a popularity contest. They need to get this into their thick skulls. And even if they do have something coming, it’s possibly too late now because whilst the product might be A grade, there’s no hype! 😏

We need 360 Live installing on the Lumix Bros phones and then we’d know for sure. Land of the rising sun, then S2R and/or S2H. A branch of WEX somewhere Southern UK, some derisory piece of crap no one was asking for.

Having said that, even if they do not announce and never make another camera for me, I’ll most likely stick with L Mount for at least another 2+ years because it just makes more sense than any other option and is already ‘peak camera’ for my needs. And I am already with Sony for stills.

That would be my concern. Or rather, is my concern as in it sends a sign that at least at this time, they no longer wish to compete in the mid/upper end of the market and people like me then think, well I can’t invest any further and may just jump ship sooner rather than later whilst I can still get something out of it financially. So if there is not one single juicy thing announced, then yes, I’d have concerns over this and much as I find Sony somewhat boring, I don’t think there is any chance of them stopping.

Well as they are part of the L Mount Alliance, they have a huge lens option right there, so it’s just a body they need.

Interested to see what DJI may do. Not interested in anything Toneh has to say on the matter.

I also think that Tim. I think there was a bit of a bounce back, “yay, war is over, let’s have a party” and then the reality kicked in that nothing was the same as it was and a lot more damage had occurred than most initially realised. But as has been mentioned, these things tend to go in circles, or at least have peaks & troughs. Where we are at the moment I am not entirely sure but not at any peak, nor in any trough, but are we trending up or down? I suspect down what with everything going on in the world right now…and I am no tin hat pessimist, but rather that’s my gut feeling. I would like an adapted Delorean take me back to the 1980’s please…

Lumix needs to work harder on their trickling then! (Unless there is nothing worth trickling…)