MrSMW

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…)

Actually that has always been the case and nothing new there as in the subject has always been the primary interest. However, you would have thought folks would appreciate the highest quality versions available but it’s this part people don’t seem to give a shit about. Or rather some do and always have done, but in ever-decreasing numbers it seems. The bottom line for those of us in the industry is can we survive by doing nothing any different or should we play the game a bit more? I’ve always been resistant to playing the game for the sake of it and conform at a fringe level, but even with just 6 years to go, I’m thinking about doing a little more of ‘giving the crowd what they want’ so my next and last 6 years are not a downhill slope. Adapt or die as they say.

Ah well no idea then! Possibly one of those ‘lost in translation’ games things…

I went there in my 20’s and even then felt out of place and out of time. The 1920’s was probably my era…

Has to be pixel-pixel which on a large sensor is not far off APSC crop. This was the case on the 47mp S1R when the best I could calculate was about 1.6-1.65 crop? In 5k (same as it is for me when I shot 4k with Lumix), I simply selected slightly wider lenses and actually appreciated the longer reach so for instance, my Sigma 28-70 I treated as a 42-105 and on the S1R, around 50-115? Now I shoot 6k OG, but find my 28-70 workhorse is often too short so considering the new 28-105 f2.8 for next year. But of course it’s bigger and heavier and zooms more and aaaaargh, do I even need 6k OG or should I just go back to 4k cropped? Rhetorical question. I really like the SOOC lut burned in 6k OG footage so not sure I could easily go back… I am sitting on my fence waiting to see what gets announced as that will possibly determine what I do as it’s all part of a bigger picture. No needs, just some ‘would likes if the options present themselves’. An S2R to Leicas SL3 as the S1R was to the Leica SL2 is top of my list. An S2H second. An extension of the S5ii line not so much. Anything else, I doubt it.

I don’t know if it’s so much suspicion as that folks have the attention spans of gnats and swipe & scroll is how we role these days. Guilty myself, but not if I am looking at or for something very specific. I don’t think it is something that can be fought however. Better tp pick small battle you can win than all out war you cannot. Sun Tzu (maybe…)

That is about the sum of it unless we are talking movies, series and advertising. Most businesses seem prepared to have any old shit as long as it’s cheap. Or free. And plenty are happy to work for free because it’s a foot in the door innit? And I think it’s happening increasingly in wedding video land… Social media is full of folks gushing about any old shit and actually they seem to genuinely love rubbish over anything crafted. So I’m just counting down the next 6 years and I’m done because I can’t change the situation and am not prepared to dumb down in order to conform. And I think I can squeeze out another 6 seasons… And when I say ‘counting down’ and ‘squeeze out’, I don’t mean coast, or not care, but rather keep putting out the highest quality content for the duration of my career both for myself and my clients. But yes, it’s ‘everything’…quality, prices, attention spans…dumbing down in general.

Similar to the original S1R but max 30fps. That was a really nice image SOOC. Actually, it might have been 4:5 or something but anyway, it was very nice. But I hope if this is a hybrid they do something about the shutter feel and sound as S1R and S1H are sublime. The S5ii’s is shit by comparison and the rear screen res not exactly great. Better than most Sony’s but nothing to write home about. We’ll see…

8k camera vs 6k internal raw with a decent codec and internal VND? Hmmm, I reckon filmmaker/videographers would go the latter almost 100%. The great unwashed however, well yes, they might think they want all the k’s they can get.

Which is why I am also considering 100mp sensor cameras as then 3 primes could become 2… But that would be a serious investment and if I did it, have to see out my career.

I should add that this is not some pointless pontificating but something I am seriously considering doing which is going back to a ‘fixed lens point & shoot’ for my stills work. Except I am looking at it as having a single prime for indoor work and a single prime for outdoor with a specialist lens for ceremonies & speeches. Would this be a ‘better’ option than my current 3 zoom set up? No, not ‘better’ as in it would not be as flexible, but would actually tick boxes in a more purist direction without really sacrificing anything. I’ve never been a fan aesthetically of anything wider than 28mm so 28 would be my indoor lens as it pretty much is already. Outdoors, I already was a big fan of the 40mm look but for certain things, prefer anything from 65 to 90mm. I have shot outdoors with just 65mm and it worked pretty well actually so it’s currently a hypothetical toss up between 40 or 65. If I went 65, that means the ultra compact super slick Sigma 65mm f2 which is one of my all time favourite lenses. That could then be paired with it’s 90mm f2.8 sibling, another sublime compact lens. The only thing with Sigma is they do not have a 28mm in the Contemporary line and I like things to be in a system. But otherwise it would simply be a case of having as I do now, crop mode on a custom button with stills of almost identical file size. So: 28/42 + 40/60 or 65/100 + 90/135 Arguably, this is NOT a purist single focal length approach and technically it isn’t but at the same time, it is not constantly swapping lenses, but rather moving through phases after many hours from one focal length to another and then having 2x working focal lengths at any one time. I’m thinking of it as a ‘Purist Plus’ approach 😉 It’s an option with HUGE appeal for 2025 because I use zooms for more practical reasons, but I lose something in the process by doing so.

And the pic above is to demonstrate the fact that you cannot pocket either of the things unless you have pockets like Matt Granger.

So I finally watched a Q3-43 video and I have to say I REALLY like it. Except for various deal-breakers… 1. Body/form factor. Is it ‘nicer’ than my A7RV? Yes, but not in the same class ergonomically. 2. Does it have the insurance of 2 card slots for paying work? Nope. 3. Does it have a tilt screen good for portrait orientation shots? Nope. 4. Does it have a bigger or better sensor than my A7RV? Nope, it’s the same. 5. Does it have better AF? Err nope, nowhere near as good. 6. Does it have a more desirable badge? Ding ding ding! Without question. 7. Is that badge worth the €4500 it would cost me to downgrade my current workhorse to the Q3-43? Not even close as much as I like the thing (the 43) as an object of desire, that is all it is.

Well I have my fingers crossed for next gen models of the S1H and S1R and anything less than at least one of these is going to be pretty disappointing. If it’s something like this S5D as in D for Dumbed Down (should be double D), the community will fall about with laughter and Lumix’s stock as a brand will take another knock. I don’t ‘need’ either of these cameras. I have everything I need with my mix of 3x S5ii and single A7RV, but if I can in 2025, I would prefer to have both video and stills in a single system for various obvious reasons. I have ruled out going the full Sony route. For stills great, but the video side just doesn’t do it for me. We’re very close with L Mount now… Lenses are now there. Just. Bodies though, mostly it’s just an S2R for me, that poor (but smarter) man’s Leica SL3 that I would need to go all in. We shall see…

Is his name Andreas or something, because if so, not watched his post but it came up as a suggestion on my YouTube just yesterday. But yes, this would make most sense. I'd rather see a MF 100mp version myself (I know, who needs 100mp huh...except read above, Crop City here we come) but if it's a 'new' sensor size, well it probably is FF because I doubt smaller than APSC is an option because the crowd want mp's and k's. And they have had smaller before and may still do so with certain compacts etc.