MrSMW

I ran a pair of them for a couple of years and they were beasts…but the noise they made was horrendous in a quiet church where I’d squeezed the priests bollocks for permission to shoot on the basis I was discrete. I never had one, but I think the Canon equivalents were even louder?! I’m a big fan of damped shutter buttons and sound these days and the S1H is sublime in this regard. And people think the S1H is big. Not compared with a D3s it isn’t!

This is a topic I have also been giving some thought to…just not Pentax. That thing is FUGLY 😜 I keep going back and forth on Leica (or Hasselblad, but that REALLY is beyond my budget!) in rangefinder M format (but could I really be bothered) or SL2, but in the end, keep coming back to the same conclusion which is… …at this moment in time (since 2021, all ‘22 and what will be all ‘23), the Lumix S1R with Sigma Contemporary glass, is my ‘Leica’. I’ve made a business case for all kinds of slightly left field cameras for my stills work from Fuji X Pro3, through Leica CL and Fuji X100 and Sigma FP plus various Leica’s, but keep coming back to the same conclusion and that is for my work and needs, S1R is where it’s at. The only viable current option I am considering is maybe chopping in my pair of S1R’s for another S1H. If I make any change this year, that would be it. Prices are dropping on them now, especially since the S5ii pitched up but other than the AF, the S1H still kicks it’s arse in all departments. Z9? Had a business case for that and if I only needed to shoot stills, D850. Easily. My choices are always defined by 2 factors: work + needs for that work. I just can’t justify toys. I’ve had a GRiiiX in and out of a shopping basket so many times it’s a sickness. Must go check MPB for used S1H’s… 🤪

OK, ‘smart phone of your choice’, I just happen to have an iPhone12. My purchased used, 2 generation old phone is not offended if you prefer an alternative option 😗

My vote is to formally change the term ‘creator’ to that of ‘shitter’ from this point onwards. But being serious for a moment and playing devils advocate, I think there is room…a need even, for ‘content creators’ alongside the more traditional titles of photographer, videographer, filmmaker etc. Ultimately, we are defined by what we do/produce rather than the titles we give ourselves. Now I do have 2 creators that need to go for their morning walk in the woods…

Another thought is there is quite often a very valid alternative to these ‘of the moment’ cameras. Other than the shutter, the XE4 is arguably more capable essentially trading that shutter for the ability to swap lenses and there are some superb f1.4 Fuji lenses. Alternative to that other king of the ‘EDC’ camera, the Leica Q2 and the X100V, is the Ricoh GR3 which comes in 2 focal lengths and is much more compact than either. I am a big fan of all of them but… well, iPhone 12. My EDC makes calls and does other stuff… Convenience is the word.

I think it’s both justified and utter BS. Justified because the combo of style, size, output (more stills than video) makes it one of the most desirable cameras ever made and the X100 line has been my ‘desert island’ camera ever since I preordered one of the very first in the UK back whenever it was (2011?). If it just had 2 card slots and a slightly less nose heavy/bulky teleconverter, it would be near perfect. The WAC, is great, though 28mm is not that much over the standard 35 but 50mm has reasonable more reach. What is missing for me making it an ideal twin camera (stills) set up is nothing longer than 50mm without using the digital crop or cropping in post. The 28mm WAC on one with a 70/75mm TC on a second body would be my shoot it until I die set up for my low-key mainly documentary approach and in 2013, I did shoot an entire season of weddings on just a single OG X100. But it’s also utter BS because due to TikTok, people have been buying it just because other people are buying it, as a ‘lifestyle accessory’ over anything else. And that is twattery of the highest order in my book. I really despise ‘cameras as jewellery’ 😏

I think the problem is that the 24-105 has always been considered (by manufacturer’s, more a ‘kit’ lens than a ‘pro’ lens. Like many, I prefer lenses to be as small and light as possible (which is why I love the Sigma Contemporary line of primes and compact zooms and for me are the sweet spot of lens in all regards) and I do like my Lumix 24-105 in terms of the quality of image that it puts out, but it’s back up and/or my all weather lens. The reality is, for my use, f4 is just too slow for around 30% of my use case. If Sigma or Lumix was to produce something like the Tamron 35-150, even with a constant f2.8 aperture, I’d be all over it. Even something ending at around 120mm would be fab. I’d even be extremely happy if a ‘pro’ 24/28-105mm f2.8 with internal or very short zooming came out though the compromise would be size & weight, it would be a compromise I could live with. The reality of the Tamron 35-150 is that it is what I would call a ‘compromise lens’ (they all are to one degree or another) and for me would require a battery grip or the handling on even a short shoot would be awful, never mind a 15 hour gig. Going a bit off topic here, but hey ho… 🤪

Ditto. Sort of… Quite a few times, at certain events, I have run with the combo of; single body + 24-105 f4 shooting FF stills plus cropped video and it is very liberating. The only thing I don’t like about it is the size/weight and the relatively long extension of these mid to larger zoom lenses. Twin body plus multiple lenses enters the chat… For 2023, for stills, I have settled on the 28 + 65 indoors and 28 + 90 outdoors. For the video side of things, 28-70 but shooting S35 so ‘42-105’ and using that small & light and barely extending zoom, only at the extreme focal length ends, so just ‘40’ or ‘105’. I have pretty much always used zooms this way, ie, treated them as twin primes. I just wish they were all internal like my Sigma 16-28. A compact 70-200 would be very welcome and I have been tempted several times to switch to Sony, not because it’s Sony, the YouTubers camera system of choice, but because of 2 lenses: Tamron 20-40mm f2.8 Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 MUCH prefer Lumix and these lenses can also be adapted to Nikon (looked at a pair of Z9’s but the reality is I cannot do my job with less than 3 bodies and currently use 4) but it’s just not justifiable. But if it were feasible…and in some future year, maybe it will be, I could build a system around these 2 lenses that tick all my boxes except size & weight with the larger Tamron.

The camera you have and nope, for YT output any finer nuances or differences will be crushed to death in the compression.

If the former happens, then surely the local fire department will need to be on standby? 🔥🚒🧯 Regarding the latter, not necessarily… I would not put it past any company to encourage sales of any item and then pop out an upgraded direct replacement shortly after…

For me, the actual camera bodies remain consistent regardless of any shooting situation. The only physical variables that I change are focal length choices and lighting with the latter very much depending on the specific scenario such as: Church ceremony, although it’s a reasonable length thing to shoot, setting up any form of lighting would be a step too far. For me. But a low light entrance or exit, or any other low light ‘run and gun’ situation, I might use an onboard video light. Other more static situations in lower light such as say bridal prep, I might use a bounced constant light source, or a spot for something like speeches. Otherwise as above, the actual camera ‘choice’ remains constant regardless, so my only choices are focal length and lighting, plus some in camera choices such as shooting log or a profile.

Another thing that made me laugh about dry boring lab tests, is I had literally just watched a 6 minute film that someone had shot and CRAFTED using the S5ii. The camera was just one component and pretty much ANY camera of the last 10 years would have produced a near identical result. But anyway... 🤪

Lab test 🤔 The result may very well be the result but it’s only real world use case that I am personally interested in. I’m sure lab tests are of most interest to serial brand swappers who flip their camera bodies on a regular basis. I bought mine for the AF and fan and as long as the rest is ‘real world’ more or less the same as the old S5, that’s good enough for me.

Have something that you can market in the first place and then marketing marketing marketing.

Ha! Absolutely zero thought or planning just ‘stand there a sec, look left, look right, walk towards me’, just so I had a single piece of log footage to play with. A lot of work to do you and then I’ll make a lut from whatever end grade I come up with for the stills work that is always the other 50% of the equation. But thanks for the kind words 👍

First attempt at grading Vlog. Well first proper attempt and with the S5ii because I have tried in previous years with the S5 and S1H and always ended up going back to first the Natural profile and then the Flat profile. This was with Gamut's (old, I need to download the latest version) re709 conversion and then my grade on top. 4k 50p S35 crop footage shot with Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 APSC lens.

Possibly just my imagination, but the S5ii seems to have an even higher build quality? Just setting it up and noticed a few other minor updates such as the better placement of the LCD/viewfinder auto sensor and of course it has the fan, plus the 30 min recording limit lifted (in most modes) so isn’t all about the AF!

‘Spectrum’ not ‘Vision’ which are the faster, but cropped versions 🙈

Didn't Panasonic announce they were NOT going to be making any more compact cameras? Or has that decision been reversed? I wouldn't say no to an LX100iii if I was looking for a compact... Anyway, I've been spending money on lenses 🤪 I've had the Meike 50mm T2.1 for EF with the Fotodiox EF-L VND adapter for a while and used it a few times and liked it except for the size and weight, the latter especially which with the adaptor makes the total weight of 2.8lbs or 1.25kg...which is a bit weighty all day long off a camera strap along with a pair of S1Rs!! And that is 2.8lbs/1.25kg on top of the weight of the S1H which is already about the same on it's own. So I stopped using it partly because of that and partly because it was only one focal length. But the other day, I started watching a few 'budget' cine lens reviews and came across the 7Artisans APSC T1.05 range. These looked good...but then I found the smaller and lighter T2.0 'Vision' range and a set of 3; 35mm, 50mm and 85mm for 1250 dollars delivered. Button pushed. I will probably have to pay some import duty but still, a bit of a bargain for a set like that. So when they turn up, that is final final FINAL line up of bodies and lenses for this year which will be: Stills (plus if needs be, some additional video B roll) S1R + Sigma 16-28mm f2.8 (indoor) or 28-70mm f2.8 (outdoor) S1R + Sigma 85mm f1.4 Video S5ii + Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 (APSC lens) on gimbal and static duty S1H + 35/50/85mm T2.0 cine lenses for all other filming work. I would still like to end up with 3 identical bodies at some point as it will make several aspects of my work so much easier, but for now at least, this should be a 'perfect' combo for me and my specific needs. S1H successor with PDAF...?? 🤩

If I could wave a magic wand and do a zero fuss swap, ie, just wake up tomorrow with everything taken care of, it would be mighty tempting… It would work for me, but only as a sideways step and I’m very happy with the kit I have. But starting from scratch would be another matter!

Nothing wrong with that. In fact everything ‘right’. If Panny had not brought out the S5ii when they did, I would have flipped to Sony and gone for a pair of FX30’s for video and an A7V for hybrid (but mainly stills). No system is ‘perfect’ but if you can’t make any one of them work these days, it’s you, not the tools!

That is a bit odd… why is only C4K not affected? It is my standard anyway so that is good and this year I am switching from the Flat profile to log with some extensive testing coming up ahead of my main season.

The ZV1 was intended as my personal camera…but I think I took it on a trip just the once…and preferred the images coming out of my phone which at the time was an iPhone 8. OK, with a bit more effort, I could have got more out of the ZV1, but it was after that trip I just decided nah. But that is just my use case, as they say, YMMV. If I was going somewhere very special, I’d just take my most capable and compact camera of the time, which for the last couple of years, would have been S5 and now S5ii with my Sigma 28-70 zoom. But for 99% of the time, for me, phone.

For me, this kind of thing has been more about ease of use rather than ultimate quality of output. Like most, I don’t go anywhere without my phone. I’m not going to shoot a wedding on it, never mind a serious film, but the simple fact is as much as I like the idea of a compact EDC, my phone is my EDC.

This is my ‘issue’ with raw to date… A: How much faff and storage and work would I need to do to use it? B: Do I even ‘need’ to? The answer is right now, not really. But do I want a more ‘cinematic’ (whatever that is) image? Yes. Not so much for my clients but more for my own craft pleasure. So intrigued by raw, but will only use it if there is an actual benefit and it’s in camera and easy to use.