herein2020

I shot some quick test footage today just to test my workflow from end to end prior to a paying project. The S5 is so easy to grade, I haven't even read the official how to on properly exposing VLOG and I'm using a VLOG to Rec709 LUT that I don't even know where it came from so I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong. Also I really wanted to test lowlight and the dual gain ISO so I shot some night footage. Everything is hand held, I stuck to 29.97 to test the IBIS, also I was using the kit lens so I needed every bit of shutter speed I could get. The picture at 4000 ISO was noisier than I thought it would be considering it has dual ISO. Also, I edited the video on a 1080P timeline then upscaled it to 2K which is how I usually do it so that I can recompose and crop in 4K.

Its really quite simple, when you first set up the camera you pick MP4 or MOV and that's it, you never touch it again (at least that's the way I work). I set up mine to shoot MOV and typically shoot 4K30FPS and 4K60FPS. I never switch back to MP4 again. I do wish it had a codec filter like I've seen for the S1H where you can filter out frame rates and speeds you will never use. All I want to see in the codec options is 4K60FPS 4:2:2 10bit, 4K30FPS 4:2:2 10bit, and in case I'm shooting something longer than 30min I'll need 4K30FPS 4:2:0. As far as VFR, I never use it, basically the camera adds the extra frames in camera and in post if you play it back on a slower timeline it will be that much slower than the timeline. So if you shot something in VFR at 120FPS and place it right from the camera onto a 30FPS timeline it would play 4x slower. To get it to play at 30FPS you'd have to speed it up by 400%. I'm not a fan of the feature, most of the times it seems like its lousy quality and only available in 1080P. They probably had to lower the bit rate to nearly unusable due to heat, this is a tiny body and VFR has to be problematic where heat is concerned. Has anyone else noticed that the back screen seems to get blurry until you are recording video? I'm not sure if this is to save power or what, but after a few seconds if I don't push any buttons the screen seems a little blurry and out of focus. But as soon as I press record or half press to focus, the screen goes back to full resolution.

Are you referring to the frame rates? I was able to add them to my custom menu they are listed under Rec Quality. I was also able to add Rec File Format which lets you switch between MOV (H.264) and MP4 (H.265).

The upcoming firmware update will add shutter angle, raw 5.9K output over HDMI and a few other things. Currently it only offers shutter speed. I didn't know you can't add codecs to the custom menu, I haven't tried yet; I did that with the GH5 because I switch between 4K30 and 4K60 a lot. The Q button does pull up a quick menu on screen that includes the codecs...not perfect but at least its quick access. I noticed the battery was great too, When it got here in the mail it wasn't even half charged, yet I got to shoot some video clips, a few images, and spend an hr or so in the menus and the battery still hadn't died. I saw the reviews on the EVF too, I think it is decent and it makes sense; if they had to cut corners anywhere that was probably the best place to do it. I've never used a mirrorless for photography, so I guess I don't have anything to compare it to. I haven't sold my GH5 yet, I am waiting until I have the S5 fully kitted out with the lenses I need, and a cage. My main concern is the lens situation....I would love a compact 35mm T2 for cinematic gimbal work, a 14mm 1.8 for real estate gimbal work,, and that 50mm 1.8 prime for photography work.

For me the biggest benefit is not having to synch audio in post, and my main setup is with a cage, the adapter, and a wireless lav receiver bolted to the cage. With that setup there are no wires. I've even had a client who wanted to walk and talk and I managed to get the adapter on the cage and everything balanced on the Ronin S while carrying an audio bag and keeping the receiver in the audio bag. Not very elegant but it worked. I also have had the GH5 on a tripod and used the wired setup plenty of times. Last but not least I've used a wireless mic the adapter and the receiver to do some impromptu interviews at events. I do have a MixPre but that's for bigger events with multiple speakers. I'm not sure that the sound is any better than the Tascam, but I love the convenience. I literally just carry the adapter, a 20' cable, and a lav mic to every hybrid shoot even if there are no plans for audio in case the need arises, I didn't do that when I used a Tascam because it was one more thing to charge, worry about in the heat, etc. For the AF...I really don't understand who is using AF that much in video, I've tried it on the C200 (turned it off immediately), tried it on the R6 (it got lost when filming a group of dancers), etc. I just don't trust it for video, no matter who makes it. I get it if something is moving fast towards you and you don't have a focus puller, but there's so many tricks to keep things in focus manually, and so many scenarios where MF is very easy that I personally don't get the AF concerns. There's a few times on a gimbal where I wish I had AF, but I feel like there's no guarantee AF would have been reliable anyway in those scenarios. I have the Sigma 18-55 on my C200, it is too loud as well in AF....unusable with an on camera shotgun mic. Yet another reason I like MF. Awesome work, the quality is incredible. The opening scene alone blew me away....you can actually see through the open door and the interior at the same time, and that's not even using CLOG? My GH5 would have never done that. I'm not even sure about the C200. I can't imaging what this camera will do with even better lenses. Very nice camera work as well, if it would just stop raining here in FL, I'll be able to get out and shoot.

I have the sennheiser g4's, they are great, I'm not an audio guy but I set them up once and have never touched their settings since then. I put the batteries in them and go. Iv had them work through walls, over a hundred feet away, etc. Iv never had interference or had the audio drop.

There is an R5/R6 user experience thread so I figured it was safe to start a Panasonic S5 user experience thread. I've only shot with it for a few hours, mostly setting up (and learning) the menus and I know there are already endless YouTube reviews, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on my experience so far; completely unbiased, unsponsored and as someone who will use this camera for everything from music videos to weddings and if all goes well I might even use it for photo shoots. Since there is so much that I like about this camera I've decided to just put my dislikes first because it is such a short list. The Grip - This is my biggest dislike. holding the camera is so uncomfortable. The grip is really shallow and the strap mount sticks out and digs into your hand when you are holding it in a landscape configuration. Not so much a problem with video for me since I use the back display, but using the viewfinder for images is very uncomfortable. I'm going to try getting a dual battery grip to see if that improves it. The R6 by comparison feels like it was custom molded for my hands. The Lens Mount - I knew this going into it, but there are so few native Panasonic lenses for this camera that I will have to use an adapter which I hate doing. I know more lenses are coming but they are very expensive and everything I've read says the Sigma versions focus very slowly. I would love a Voigtlander fully manual 35mm lens for gimbal work like I have for the GH5. I have no idea yet what I will do for photography or if I will ever trust this camera for paid photo shoots. The Battery - I don't understand the battery at all. It fits the GH5 and has contacts for the GH5 yet for the S5 the contacts are on the other side? Why didn't they do what Canon did and simply make a higher capacity battery with the same contacts? Not only are spare batteries impossible to find right now, this means all of my GH5 batteries won't work in this camera....so annoying. Ok, short list over now lets get to the stuff I care about that made me realize this was truly the camera for me. I first ordered the R6 and returned it (horrible user experience for my needs) so I am going to kind of compare my experience with the S5 to the R6 since they probably kind of are targeted to the same buyer and since it is hard to ignore the Canon hype machine even when you know about the R6's overheating issues. No Overheating - Ok we all know that but I had to put it out there anyway. This was the number one reason I returned the R6. The S5 on the other hand shoots glorious 4K until the card fills up (some limitations of course for 10 bit and 60FPS but it does have unlimited modes). Even if the R6 didn't overheat you would still hit that 30min limit and every single 4K mode overheated. Dual Slot Video Recording - The S5 gives me every option I could want and even a few I don't care about. The R6 will only record to a single slot. Electronic Level Meter - The S5 has it....of course, and it actually stays on while recording video. For some crazy reason the R6 disables the electronic level from showing on screen while recording video. XLR Audio Module - As annoyed as I am at Panasonic for the battery situation, the XLR module from the GH5 works with the S5 so all is almost forgiven. The R6 of course has nothing for XLR. I tested the module today, the S5 recognized it instantly and the audio was perfect. Free VLOG - Ok "Free" is a very generous term, but it does not cost extra. And this is real VLOG not some flavor that just flattens the profile, unlike the R6 which currently ships with CLOG. Canon said CLOG3 was coming in the future, but who knows if it will actually include the R6 or when "the future" really is. Body Quality - The S5 actually feels slightly lower quality than the body of the GH5, but that could be because it is lighter and smaller. Regardless, the quality feels way better than the R6. Sync/Desync Photo/Video Settings - It took me a long time to find, but it is possible to separate the photo and video settings and you even get to pick which ones stay synced with the other. When running and gunning you want shutter angle, VLOG, etc for video and shutter speed, Natural profile, etc for photos. You can set it so that they are completely separate, not all cameras let you do that and even the R6 did not let me pick which settings to keep in sync (i.e. keep just ISO the same between the two). Dial Position - It is great to have the video mode and Manual photo mode side by side on the dial. The R6 had them at literally opposite ends of the dial....very annoying. Dedicated Buttons - There is a dedicated ISO button and a AF/MF switch on the lens. The R6 had neither. I use the AF / MF lens switch all the time, its the fastest way to be 100% certain all of the AF stuff is off, especially if you are switching between photos and video. Video Footage - The footage out of the camera so far to me in with my very limited testing is incredible, I didn't think Panasonic had it in them. The colors are perfect to my eyes, the codecs are super easy to play back in VLC and actually easier to edit in Davinci Resolve than the GH5's footage. Both 4K60FPS and 4K30FPS play smoothly even after color grading. So far the footage grades as easily as the R6 footage with the added benefits of not needing proxies. Codecs - You get to pick H.264 or H.265 and still get to shoot in VLOG and 4:2:2 10bit. For some crazy reason Canon with the R6 forces you to shoot in H.265 if you want to use CLOG. I will happily sacrifice a little storage space to never have to try to edit H.265 again. Manual Focus Features - I hated the focus rings on the Panasonic MFT lenses, they were non linear which made manual focusing nearly impossible. I ended up getting manual Voigtlander lenses instead. Panasonic has fixed that big time; not only can you now pick linear you can even pick how many degrees to go from stop to stop. I think the R6 let me pick linear but not the focus throw. I do miss Canon's 3 little triangles when manually focusing, to me that's still the best MF guide in the industry. On my S5, focus peaking doesn't seem to work; its on but I can't see it so I have to play with that some more. Timelapse Photography - Ok I had to throw this one in there. Maybe other cameras have this, but this is literally the first camera I have ever owned that lets you do a time lapse in body without an intervalometer AND that lets you take more than 99 images. That's always been a pet peeve of mine for most cameras. Wireless Flash Control - Another pet peeve of mine answered by Panasonic, it can wirelessly control up to 4 flashes without needing an additional transmitter. Of course I'll never use this feature since I already have a complete flash system, but for someone starting out this means even less gear to lug around and to buy. Big Red Recording Box - Who hasn't thought they were recording when they weren't? I turned on the big red box right away (as soon as I found it). This is great, and will definitely help in the future. The R6 of course didn't have this. LVF Button - I didn't understand how important this was until I shot with the R6. It was so annoying in the R6 to have to pick view finder or back screen display. If you picked view finder you had to go into the view finder and navigate back to the setting to change it back. If you picked auto, the screen kept shutting off on me when the camera got to close to my hand or body. Maybe you could map a custom button but I like leaving all of them at their defaults. For the S5 if you want to turn off the viewfinder sensor just press the LVF button...switch to just the VF press it again, switch to auto press it again. So easy to disable/enable one or the other. Auto mode is terrible, switches off the screen all the time if anything gets near the sensor. Here is my neutral list, either I don't really have an opinion yet either way, or I haven't tested the camera enough to feel good or bad about it. Photography Capabilities - I'm still kind of neutral on the photography department. All I have is the kit lens and didn't have time to try the photography part. If it comes even close to the R6's photo performance that will be good enough for me. My Sigma adapter gets here Friday so I will be able to test it with my Canon lenses. Auto Focus - I never used it in the GH5 but this time around it is different because I want to try the photography features as well. In my brief testing, the AF worked fine for photography. It still has the hybrid AF option where you half press the shutter button for the initial focus then can fine tune it using the focus ring so that's good enough for me for video. Menu System - It is improved a bit over the GH5 but still nowhere near as intuitive to me as Canon's menus. I think once I set up my Favorites menu it will be fine, but there's so many features I'm having a hard time finding some of them. I never did learn the GH5's menus, I just created a video Favorites list and that's all I use. My 5DIV is a different story. Final Thoughts - This camera makes me wish I was a travel photographer/videographer. It has so many uncompromised features that would be so useful when traveling that you could practically literally bring just this camera, a wireless flash, XLR module, a few lav mics, variable ND filters, a small video light, travel tripod, and shoot just about anything photo or video. I'm already thinking about projects that I want to shoot with this camera vs the R6 where all I could think about was if it would even make it through the shoot.

Those images look great, I wish the video was more useable too. I returned it today, I really needed a body that could do it all.....for me the S5 turned out to be that body. I do wonder how the S5 photography quality stacks up to the R6, I've never considered Panasonic for photography before.

Do any current S5 owners know how the USB-C port works for data? Multiple reviews have stated it can be used for power or data but I can't tell if you can record images and video straight to a USB-C storage device.

Yes I think the cell phone is really hurting this industry for events. My next least favorite trend is somehow in my area wedding photographers are paid more than wedding videographers. These days it seems like the videographers are hired as an afterthought and only with whatever funds are left over from the wedding photographer. I've turned down multiple requests this year because they had no budget and every one of them had already hired their wedding photographer. I'm with you for this year.....I cancelled my C70 order, I had so many low budget clients approach me in the past few weeks that I decided its better to wait and see. Instead I am getting the S5 as a gimbal camera / B cam and if I get a shoot that could use the C70 I'll just rent it.

I figured out what happened, the last line in their specs on screen was the 60FPS options and the video went behind my taskbar on my desktop so it was covering up that last line. My S5 gets here today, and the EF adapter should be here Friday. I do wish the GH5 batteries worked with it since I was not able to order any additional batteries.

Exactly, I always laugh at people who say IBIS is useless or real cameramen don't need IBIS. The reality is its great when its needed and the best part is it can be turned off when its not needed. When I am shooting real estate videos with wide angle lenses on a gimbal the last thing you want is IBIS on. It is much better to stabilize in post than to try to stabilize wobbly IBIS footage (i.e. impossible). On the other hand when I am in the middle of a big event and need to hand hold some b roll footage with a tiny GH5 then for me at least the footage would be unusable without IBIS. Even with IBIS, proper technique, a cage, top handle, and mic, my GH5 is simply not heavy enough to get rid of my shakiness. The C200 is a different story, I love hand holding it with the cage, top monitor, top handle, V mount battery, Canon battery, Canon grip and I added a second grip to the left side. After I tuck that battery under my arm I feel like I can shoot anything handheld. I think IBIS and AF are both very overrated for video but both are great tools in scenarios where they work well. I always like having more options (as long as I can also turn them off) then not having an option that would make my life easier in a certain scenario.

Wait...did I read their spec sheet right? Even the S1H does not do 4K60FPS internal yet the S5 does?

Are you in the US? My S5 is on order and I had to do the same thing. What was annoying was that on the registration page they made it clear that supplies were limited, first come first served and that there was no guarantee that you would ever actually get the lens. They also said on the page that even if they did ship the lens to you it would not be until Nov at the earliest. Has anyone tried the Sigma L mount to EF mount adapter yet? I've been reading that the AF gets even worse with the adapter. I don't care about AF for video but planned on using it for images.

Those are great shots, if I shot sports or fast moving objects the S5 definitely wouldn't have been my choice. I look forward to seeing how you like the S5, I plan on using it as my GH5 gimbal cam replacement and as a b cam to my C200 on bigger shoots. I'm even cautiously optimistic that it may serve as my A cam on smaller hybrid photo/video shoots. Never thought I would say that about anything other than a Canon camera but like @Andrew Reid stated....it seems like Panasonic is one of the few companies offering everything people want (except AF) and I don't use AF at all for video. Everyone raves about the Canon's AF but it was shockingly bad when trying to film a dance group this weekend with the R6. It kept getting lost when they did certain moves and would lock onto an audience member in the background until I tapped the screen. I switched to MF after the first take. I think good AF definitely has its place, but for most of my work every time I've tried it it fails.

That is pretty cool, it seems like there is more than meets the eye when comparing the R5 and R6. I think if the R6 had even 1 4K mode that didn't overheat it would be far more useable. When the timer got down to 5min I tried switching out of CLOG thinking maybe H264 would add more time (no go), then I dropped down to 4K30 and it only added 2min. I guess I just had to experience everything first hand to decide it wasn't for me. There's only so many reviews you can watch until you have to see for yourself. Based on my R6 experience I cancelled my C70 preorder, am returning the R6 and ordered a Panasonic S5. For my particular use cases the S5 ticks every box (dual slot recording, XLR audio via adapter, no overheating, 4K60, H264 video files, useable photography features, etc.). I think if the R5 offered dual slot video recording and Canon offered an XLR adapter for it along with the one mode that does not overheat that would have been enough to make me consider the R5. Video recording redundancy and audio is pretty big for me. I have no doubt that I would have enjoyed the photography features.

Well it is official for me, I'm going to return it. I probably won't even keep it past the weekend. The countdown timer is completely unbearable; shooting video with this camera feels like one of those outdoor shoots where it can rain any minute and ruin the shoot; except this is how it will be every time I use it. It can't replace my GH5, 5D4, or C200, and it can't even be a reliable C cam so it has no place in my gear bag. Just shooting BTS footage today with a mixture of clips and photos and I managed to get the overheat timer down to 5min. I tried changing the date and pulling the battery but the time remaining didn't change. To my touch the body was barely warm and the ambient temp was around 78F. The only good news is that the overheat timer did seem to recover pretty quickly after the camera was turned off, it went back up to 10min within a few min of being turned off. This is with FW 1.1.1. I think calling the R6 a hybrid is generous when its video features are less reliable than my 4yr old 5DIV. Basically for me this camera will never pay for itself, and I will always need to bring something else as a backup if it is a true hybrid session so there's no point in keeping it. I know this thread is supposed to be about the user experience and not the overheating but in real world hybrid use the overheating ruined the user experience for me.

Were you in CLOG on the R6? That makes a big difference, I've read it is 8 bit H.264 footage until you turn on CLOG. I didn't test 4K30FPS at all or non CLOG. H.264 should be fine because NVIDIA cards can HW decode but need the CPU for H.265, my CPU was hovering around 70% and DR was playing the footage at around 5FPS until I created proxies. I do think Canon needs to add an option to use CLOG with H.264 like the C200, this would be the best of both worlds as long as you properly expose and WB on set. Speaking of CLOG, it really needs CLOG3, my Canon CLOG3 to REC709 LUT did not work on this footage, it was way oversaturated and the colors shifted a bit as was expected, so now I'm hunting for a good Canon CLOG to Rec709 LUT. Even with my terrible setup (kit lens, probably not properly exposed, no proper CLOG to Rec709 LUT), the colors, ease of grading, final look, skin tones, and highlight roll-off, was better than anything I have gotten out of the GH5 except under perfect conditions. Below is a quick screen grab from the shoot. For exposure I just turned on 95% zebras, watched the histogram, and dialed it down right below the zebras for the sky, the sun was setting in the background and in the display the sky looked blown out, on the WFM it shows clipping but I was able to bring back some of the details in the sky anyway. With the GH5 I'm pretty sure I would have lost the sky and it would have been difficult to match the skin tones. I wish I had a side by side but this was very quick and impromptu. The shot below was using CLOG, 4K60FPS, on a 1080P timeline cropped in by 60% in DR for framing, and the finishing LUT was from Noam Krolls LUT pack

Ok, so I couldn't just keep sitting here thinking the R6 might work for what I need and the C70 was overkill so I came up with the perfect plan that ended up with me owning an R6. I have the C70 on pre-order but it won't ship until Nov. The R6 was available at a local retailer and the retailer lets you return the R6 for up to 30 days after purchase with a 15% restocking fee. So this sounds perfect to me, I get to "rent" the R6 for a fraction of the price of a normal rental house for 29 days which gives me time to cancel my C70 pre-order if the R6 is perfect for my needs, or I can take it back before the 30 days is up and still be on the list for the C70. Anyway, I've now had it less than 4 hours and there are already some things I don't like about it that I thought I would be able to live with, and some other surprises that no one on YouTube mentioned Overheating - yes it really is a thing. It was 78F today and the remaining available time on the timer hovered around the 10min mark for most of the day. I was doing a lot in the menus, taking a few images, and shooting a few clips and had had it set to CLOG and 4K60FPS which is my normal shooting setup on the GH5. I never hit the overheating limit but staring at the timer completely ruined the shooting experience for me. I can't imagine being on a paid shoot and all I can think about is if it will overheat. It shipped with FW version 1.1.0 and I upgraded it to version 1.1.1 after shooting during the day so I will test some more over the weekend to see if it gets any better. For everything I liked about the camera, the overheating was just this huge problem that overshadowed the whole experience. Electronic Level - I am a bit of a fanatic about having a perfectly level horizon so I didn't think anything of it when the electronic level came on in video mode as expected. What I truly can't understand however is why it turns off when you start recording. This completely blew my mind.....while recording is the main time I need to know if it is staying level. Also, a lot of other useful information leaves the screen as well. I like to verify right after pressing the record button that all of the settings are set properly....well a lot of them disappear from the screen while recording, things like frame rate, color space, etc...things I like to glance at while recording in live view. XLR Audio - I tried to tell myself this wasn't that big of a deal but I literally have a weekend of shoots lined up and all of them require audio. I'm already trying to think how I will handle it for the weekend. With the GH5 I just throw on the adapter, put a wireless lav on the client and we are set. Editing - Just like everyone else stated, editing these files are a nightmare. You will need to transcode. I have a 14 core CPU, RTX2080Ti video card, Davinci Resolve Studio, and NVME storage....doesn't matter, DR couldn't play the files until I created proxies. Dedicated Buttons - I found myself really missing the dedicated ISO button from my 5DIV and especially the MF switch on the lens. I know you can remap buttons but I don't like doing that, I like to keep everything default and use the Favorites menu. I also miss the flip switch that immediately got you into video mode or photo mode on the 5DIV instead of rotating the dial past all of the other presets that I'll never use. Build Quality - The build quality is also lower than I expected. I expected it to be on par with the GH5.......its not, let alone the 5DIV. For the price I paid the build quality is a disappointment. The video image quality does look amazing, I'm sure I didn't expose properly and I didn't have a Canon CLOG to REC709 LUT so I did some quick hand grading; oh and I had the crappy RF 24-105 F4-F7.1 kit lens, but what came out of the camera despite all of this was nothing short of incredible. I also took some quick images with it and of course they were what I expected from a 1DX sensor, so no complaints there. Speaking of photography that side of the house is rock solid. No complaints there, and thanks to this camera I am finally sold on using an EVF for photography. The EOS R had noticeable lag when panning and just didn't look right to me; the R6's EVF had no noticeable lag and felt a lot more natural. I truly do not know what I will do yet, I can say without hesitation that with my very limited testing the R6's video quality blows the GH5 out of the water....but there's so many compromises in so many other areas especially with the overheating that I don't know if it is worth it. Lets not even talk about the fact that it does not do dual slot video recording and still has a 30min recording limit. It also seems like even after all of the discussions about overheating I still don't understand....from a cold start the R6 only shows 15min of recording time for 4K60FPS. I did test it and the overheat warning came on at 20min but it kept going until it hit the 30min mark. After turning it back on it refused to let me start recording again and did not return to 15min available until about an hr later.

Good to see Nikon still trying...how many feet do they have in the grave 1 or both? Nothing about Nikon feels like they will survive this one.

I have to ask....is this for video or photos and if for video you don't have any overheating concerns? I would think the new C70/C50 would be great for this type of work (clearly that's what Canon thinks too which is why they crippled the R5). After all of the discussions I still don't know if there are any 4K modes in the R5 that never overheat. The side-by-side pic with the GH5 is fascinating I don't think anyone else has posted that. I didn't realize the R5 is actually that small. For the AF issues since you are outside you couldn't just MF and stop down to F11 or something like that and focus at the 50% distance mark?

I am fortunate that I do not do this full time or right now I wouldn't even be considering a C70 with the way the market is right now. Very few photographers/videographers in my area that I know do it full time, except for a few of the larger production shops there's just not enough money in it to quit your day job. I know what you mean about the cost of the C70, I've done the numbers; I guess it just irks me when I bring $20K of equipment to a shoot for a client that is complaining about $400USD. The only thing that pays real money in my area is corporate video work (interviews, promo videos, etc.) which doesn't come along that often especially now. Those are crazy numbers to me, I'm in the US and its definitely better here at least in the larger cities if you do it full time. Many days I feel though that photography and video really are a dying art. I think I have met maybe 1 or 2 total photographers/videographers who do this full time because there is just no money in it. The cell phone has completely killed this market and now pictures are rated by how many half naked women are in them or how popular the people are in them vs the artistic composition or technical complexity. A cell phone video horribly exposed with no audio of Kim Kardashian will be viewed by more people than a Hollywood blockbuster with a $50M budget. You think that until you are here in the US. I could technically afford those things but to me I still treat this as a business, and I know buying all of that gear that will not pay for itself would not make sense business wise. I do love gear as much as the next person and have to fight the urge all the time to buy new things; if customers paid more I wouldn't hesitate to buy more but the reality is most customers just aren't willing to pay for quality these days. Another bad trend in my area is that customers are more willing to hire a wedding photographer vs a videographer and when they do hire a videographer it is with whatever is left over from the budget for the wedding photographer. So these are the things I think about when something like the C70 comes along.

I definitely know its value....I think my problem is getting customers that agree with me and are willing to pay for it. That's a major problem in my area, customers who want everything for nothing and they all seem to have a friend who just bought a camera that will do it for free. But...I digress, that's another rant for another day. The C70 does look fantastic, it still feels too much like a C200 replacement for me vs. a GH5 replacement.

I agree, a lot that can go wrong...lets not forget trying to find a piece of dust or dirt amongst all those layers of glass. The current ND filter adds a slight shift to green, but it's fixable in post, the image is also a bit softer but it works for the cinematic look.

I think most of the cinema cameras from most of the big companies don't have it. I know the EVA1 and FS7 have it but I don't think the Reds, Arris, etc. have it or the FS9. With Canon you don't get a digital spirit level until the C700. I had something similar happen, I had a beach scene in the middle of the day for a music video and used a variable ND filter that I had tested the day before and was sure it was up to the job. After shooting the scene and loading the footage into DR there was a distinctive x pattern in the footage. Nothing I did would completely remove it. In my previous day's testing the sun wasn't as bright as at the beach so I hadn't needed to turn the ND filter up that far. Long story short I sent the customer the completed video, did what I could in the color grade to try to remove the x, and waited for the negative feedback. Turns out she loved it and no one has ever said anything about it. The worst part about it is I have no way of preventing it from happening again unless I buy another variable ND filter or switch to fixed filters. I have to just guess at where the pattern starts to show and it is impossible to see until after the LUT is applied in post. This particular ND filter does not have hard stops so I can't even mark where it starts to show. Now I use it only as a last resort for events and use fixed ND filters for music videos. Onboard ND filters are amazing and I still smile as I push the ND filter button on my C200. People who dismiss the onboard ND filters as adding major value to a camera have probably never used them. I still might cancel my C70 pre-order, at least until work picks back up; the camera will still be available. Maybe the R6 will have improved to the point to where it is viable again (who am I kidding), now that Panasonic has seen everything that is coming out they can make the GH6 even better, or maybe the C50 is really all I need at a lower price point.