Is Panasonic Leaving The Camera Market?

[herein2020]

1 hour ago, Video Hummus said:

Doesn’t matter what Panasonic does with their image they will always be at the mercy of Sony Semi. produced sensors. Sony imaging will always get first pick of the best sensors.

Look at the landscape today. We have 4 companies using the same 24.2MP FF sensor in all of their cameras.

Panasonic S5/S1/S1H, Leica SL-2, Sony A7III, Nikon Z6ii.

Im sure I missed some too!

Guess what company will get the new 36MP FF sensor first? It will be Sony with the A7IV. And then they will open it up to the rest of them after they sold half a million units.

As long as Panasonic cameras are perceived to have worst AF then their competition they sadly won’t make it. Everybody is 10-bit now with decent to excellent near unlimited ALL-I recording modes.

They have to improve their AF and do other things to set themselves apart and capture people’s attention. Maybe focus entirely on video? They have made almost no in-roads in the photo space with professionals.

I think it is a real shame too that they are in this situation, they offer every feature imaginable and then some. They put together some fantastic cameras but I really think they are too dependent on others to be successful.....sensors made by Sony, very limited selection of L-mount lenses, even their EVA body is dependent on the EF mount. The L mount "alliance" was the reason that I didn't buy the S1, S1R, or S1H, and if it weren't for the Sigma EF adapter I would not have bought the S5.  The release of the S5 made me go back and look at their offerings and that's when I discovered that there was now an EF mount adapter.

 I don't think they can just focus on video because hybrid is so important these days. Even though they already seem to be mostly focusing on video, the further they move into that niche I think the worst off they will be.  The FF space is very crowded and specs are very similar across all of them; if all  you do is listen to paid YouTubers you would never know the little details that really set Panasonic apart from the rest, simple things like dual slot video recording, the XLR module, WFM, 1/320 flash sync speed (S1,S1H,S1R), aspect ratio guides in camera, internal intervalometer that will  take more than 99 images, etc. etc. 

I think Panasonic has almost no inroads with photographers because they rode the m43rds train for so long and photographers are taught from day one that "real" photographers only use FF.  Then when they finally went to FF they ended up with sub par AF and a new lens mount that means expensive new lenses or loss in some functionality if you use adapted lenses. All the while the market is shrinking and Sony and Canon are pulling ahead in other areas. I just don't see any scenario here where Panasonic comes out ahead.

[IronFilm]

3 hours ago, herein2020 said:

even their EVA body is dependent on the EF mount.

I will forever rant against Panasonic for the dumb decision of not making a Panasonic EVA1 MFT. 
Purchased a Sony FS7 the other day, and the EVA1 couldn't even be seriously considered because of its stupid EF Mount. 
Now I'm more likely to buy say an a6600 or a7mk3 in the future, than a GH5/GH6 just so that I can start sharing lenses with the FS7
This was a problem of Panasonic's own making. 
(and they could have delivery the Varicam LT with a MFT base mount too, like the Sony VENICE does. And ditto why was the Panasonic DVX200 never offered as a MFT option? The rot in the lack of partnership with the cinema vs consumer divisions has been going on for many years)

[herein2020]

22 hours ago, IronFilm said:

I will forever rant against Panasonic for the dumb decision of not making a Panasonic EVA1 MFT. 
Purchased a Sony FS7 the other day, and the EVA1 couldn't even be seriously considered because of its stupid EF Mount. 
Now I'm more likely to buy say an a6600 or a7mk3 in the future, than a GH5/GH6 just so that I can start sharing lenses with the FS7
This was a problem of Panasonic's own making. 
(and they could have delivery the Varicam LT with a MFT base mount too, like the Sony VENICE does. And ditto why was the Panasonic DVX200 never offered as a MFT option? The rot in the lack of partnership with the cinema vs consumer divisions has been going on for many years)

I agree its a very odd mixture, when Panasonic only had MFT you had to buy EF lenses for their cinema cameras. Now they are finally FF you have to buy into the weirdest "alliance" imaginable where only the L mount lenses from Panasonic will give you the best experience and you still need to keep your EF glass for their EVA1.  The funny thing is now that they are FF you can finally share lenses between your EF mount EVA1 and S series camera but only if you buy the Sigma adapter. If Panasonic were to release a native L mount to EF mount adapter that also supported continuous AF instead of expecting everyone to buy their L Mount lenses then we might have an interesting combination. But then again, just selling bodies with no hope of selling lenses might make their situation even worse.