MrSMW

Agreed. A combo of 3 of those are my workhorses and although prices of used S1R’s have dropped considerably (and I am not even sure if they still make it?) I’d have…and do have, these over any camera listed above or any Leica. If I was a stills purist, the SL2 and S model could be really interesting, but nah, mid-high end gear I’d say. Certainly in terms of capability in which case both are high end.

Indeed and that is partly why I DO shoot weddings full-time. The combo of reward vs effort etc, I haven’t been able to find with anything else, including other genres of photo and video. I guess I am just suited to it whereas most folks probably are not…

I have two of those things….but they cost less than 1/2 that for the pair 🤑

Socialise? Nah, I’m that guy could live on a desert island quite happily. Which in a way is a bit weird being a ‘social’ photographer… If the black sheep and the lone wolf had a child, that would be me. I do have friends. Well one anyway. He’s not in the industry but has the same outlook as me.

The source is a camera company called Leica and the camera division of a company called Panasonic. They are quite well known. They stood on a stage together, recorded a piece (which I am sure they were reading off a flip chart) and put it out on their respective YouTube channels.

22 years…and counting. Not even close to a breakdown or divorce. There is no other option/future for me anyway, so maybe I compensate for that 😜

I think it sits right in the middle ie, is a hybrid and leans in neither direction. Hybrid is the present and future for a huge number of people, but especially event shooters like me. IMO Fuji know this fundamentally.

So many variables… Native or non-native lens. Prime or zoom. Full frame or S35. Type of AF selected: Fine-tuning of AF. Lighting conditions of subject, background, foreground (remember it’s contrast based). Distractions such as is there something ‘more interesting’ nearby waving it’s arms about? The user’s familiarity with the system. Perfect? Hardly but then we know that. Useable? All points above considered, definitely.

Pretty much the only thing I don’t like is the flip out screen over the tilt. The zoom looks interesting…but I hate zooms unless they are short and fast like Canon’s 28-70 f2…but then they are massive and weigh a ton. Had it not been for Covid, I would have been switching out my XT4’s for these. Not that I ever had XT4’s also thanks to Covid! But now, under different circumstances, there are options… OM-1 vs GH6 vs XH2s as hybrids is quite interesting. Right now, I think I’d go GH6 and I am surprised myself about that. But nothing happening for me this year at least as I’m quite happy with my current set up.

At risk of this turning into another AF thread (but when does talking Panny does that not happen?!) but err, not quite. Native is better and even then, some lenses better than others but the 24-105 is quite decent. I have had it tracking entrances/exits/confetti etc recently pretty well. Sigma doesn’t work quite as well but is not terrible. In fact it’s well above that and useable in most situations most of the time that are not intense forward tracking. But back on topic, what does it mean for the alliance? Well it’s a bit of an odd one alright as with Sigma they are the L Mount alliance which I suspect is more a lens mount sharing thing. L2 sounds more like an increased level of collaboration between Leica & Lumix regarding bodies, or at least the tech. Maybe we will see an identical body (or near as) but just with different branding just as we have done before with these two. Fuji and Hasselblad also did this with the Xpan. The main takeaway for me however was the evidence as it were that something full frame is in the pipeline…

Why? Leica make mirrorless ‘DSLR’ type cameras, the SL line in L mount as do Panny, so I’d expect them to continue? My hope is a mirrorless rangefinderesque on top of the brick options…

Sigma France won't lend me another. I tried a few weeks back and they said "non" so I went and bought a second Lumix S1R 🤪

...enter the L2 Alliance! Panasonic and Leica made a joint announcement that they are 'furthering' their collaboration. Quite what that entails, remains to be seen but I read it as thus: Leica I believe are pulling back from offering anything less than full frame and Panny don't and I can't see them entering the APSC arena. So I think that pretty much confirms there will be a successor to the full frame S line. The big Q is will they go PDAF... Regardless of individual opinion and it's been debated to death and back, the simple reality is camera brands sticking with CDAF, ie, mainly Old Panny Boy (because Leica has it's own special club) are being beat up with the AF stick. I suspect we won't see anything physical this year because the Leica SL2-S only came out last year (?) and the Panny S5 towards the end of 2020, but over the Winter for Spring 2023... Maybe, from at least Panasonic. What do I want to see personally? PDAF. Slightly smaller and lighter if poss and Panasonic have also said officially earlier this year this is something they are 'working on'. Other than that, 6k, 8k, 48k, blah blah blah, - I don't mind/care what it is as 4k 50/60p is already fine by me. No need to go crazy on the mega-pixies either. I'm more than happy with my S1R's 47mp and though could go back to 24, I'd like to see something between the two so somewhere between 30-35mp? Get the basics right and don't chase the on paper headlines. Just mash up the S1H, S1R and S5 with PDAF and they will have a winner on their hands. I would also really like to see an interchangeable lens rangefinderesque body from Panasonic. Otherwise, despite what some seem to think, it looks like there's a future here...?? Sigma was not mentioned I don't think. What that means, I don't know, but otherwise it would have been L3.

I use Premiere. And I feel outdated 🤪

Yup, very few 'reviews' etc out there in YouTubeLand. Couple of in depth web reviews etc, but the problem with this camera is almost all of the content is initial review stuff and not from people who have actually invested their own money and used properly. There's a bit more FP, having been around longer, but FP-L not so much. Unless you can understand Japanese. Quite popular in Japan!

It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison between the FP-L and the S5…and I could have done that with my loaner last year, but didn’t. Playing around, I felt it was about comparable, ie, the S5 when fine-tuned is reasonably decent whereas the FP-L, at least on original firmware (and I don’t know if there have been tweaks since?) wasn’t as good as my old XT3.

That is pretty much the sum of it for this user… I’d also like a little less size & weight which is the second gripe many have with the S line and in an interview I read with one of the head honchos over at Panny a few months back, he basically stated they were working on that. Whether that meant a further development in the S5 line or that the S1 line might go on a slight diet, remains to be seen, but I can imagine that even just a 10% reduction combined with greatly improved AF would be a bit special. I also think these days, they wouldn’t have to worry too much about spending money on marketing, - just build the thing, put it out there and if it’s ‘a bit good’, the hype train will market it for them.

Looking more closely, I can see it now, moving from left to right over some dunes.

I’d call that more ‘camel’ than ‘beige’.

Along with ensuring you maximize the capture in the first place, ie, not hanging it all on fixing in post. But otherwise yes, pretty much all cameras for some time have the potential in this regard and the choices really come down to; badge, ergos, build, size, weight, price and yes, some elements of the spec, but otherwise…

I tested one last year and almost pushed the button but for the lack of 4K 50p. And a tilt screen. And IBIS. And a mech shutter, but apart from that… But seriously, as a pure cine machine, I think it would be great. I almost very recently considered one with the Panny 24-105 f4, mainly because I had the lens and for the OIS and then done the aftermarket tilt screen. But then I asked myself, over my S1H…and decided nah. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it and what Sigma do next…

I don’t use the video side of my S1R’s too much to be honest Andrew. My set up is: S1H 100% video, cine lens S5 100% video, tripod longer duration stuff, any tracking elements. S1R’s primarily stills but will flick over to video if there’s a need…such as there was the other week when I had an oh shit moment and a full card in the middle of something with the S1H and spare card was in another building across a lawn. No problem, just flipped to the S1R and shot it hybrid. I can’t remember off hand what options it has for video as I shoot the natural profile. It’s all packed away for tomorrow’s shoot but can check back soon on that. Otherwise great bit of kit and SL2 was the other choice as you might remember when you were selling yours. Less than 1/2 price SL2. I picked my first one up, mint/basically unused off a colleague for 1600 euros. The second off MPB for 1700 euros ‘excellent’ but more like new to me. I don’t like the position of the on off switch or the orange top screen lighting, but otherwise it just feels right in the hand, robust, does the job. Superb files.

I made the S1R my 'FP-L'. Bigger and heavier sure, but; better handling, IBIS, 4k 50/60p (albeit 8 bit), tilt screen, mechanical shutter so banding isn't ever even a consideration. But I do love the idea of an FP...just for my needs, it's neither FP or FP-L much as I wish it. Please please please Panny, if you do bring out a next gen S line, also add a rangefinderesque body into the line up. A rangefinderesque version of the S1R/S1H = phwoar in my book 😀 Or Sigma please please please make a next gen FP and address at least some of the main concerns. I think the e:shutter only can be got around by more processing power a la Z9, the handling can be by aftermarket stuff so not a 'real' issue, but the tilt screen would make an enormous difference (I know there's an aftermarket jobbie, but honestly, could you be arsed/risk it?) and for me, 4k 50p is my go to. Fingers crossed for something from someone, some time in the future...

I was going to suggest the Meike S35’s…until I read this! I looked at all the options and came very close to the DZO’s which are slightly smaller and lighter and of course the full frame Meikes are slightly bigger and heavier than the S35 line, but that’s what I chose. Bigger and heavier than I’d like, especially as they need to be adapted for my use, but that brings the benefit of being able to use Fotodiox’s VND ef to l Mount adapter, so worth it. To me. Makes for a big old near 2.5kg lump with the S1H but for me is an outstanding combo. Having said that, only shot 1 job to date with the setup but have 3 within the next 10 days…

He does some very good stuff with lighting. I was looking for a replacement last week for a light panel of mine that stopped working so went on Da Toob for some insight... Dozens of 'reviews', mostly unboxings (wish those things would die) of the intended light panel used indoors in low light...where of course it's going to work! But Markus was the only one I could find actually testing the thing how I'd want to use it. Outside, in full sunshine. Inside, in low light was a given, - I wanted some real world evidence how something was going to work with a back-lit subject around sunset. Answers provided.