What is Lumix thinking?!

[John Matthews]

7 hours ago, Davide DB said:

 

Any question about upcoming release? (The elephant in the room)

Nope. Those questions were all deflected like water on wax.

On other news. You now can pay for framing guide from Canon to the tune of $120. Oh yeah, you have to send your camera in too (and pay for shipping). Tell me, are there any companies that offer that offer framing guides when you buy the camera?

[eatstoomuchjam]

When I read about the Canon frame guide cost, I figured there was probably a business opportunity for somebody who would print custom frame guides on static cling film or something similar.

[Andrew Reid]

Sean is more senior in Lumix's marketing than people think.

The idea for Lumix Live was well meaning, but there's something wrong, as they barely get 800 to 1.5k views per live broadcast.

https://www.youtube.com/@LumixUSA/streams

This points to a lack of joined up strategy and not making use of their overall reach as such a big company with so many social media channels.

Or perhaps the content itself is just not compelling enough.

As the main social media marketing guy at Lumix USA, Sean probably has to shoulder some of the blame for that.

The strategy isn't working.

 

[Andrew Reid]

Also, to be fair to Sean... They haven't given him very much in terms of resources for these broadcasts.

As an official company spokesman, the first videos were done from his bedroom.

Which shows how little these large corporations invest in their staff, even senior ones.

[newfoundmass]

Yeah, my criticisms are directed toward Panasonic/Lumix as a whole, not at the staff who are doing the best with what they are given. There isn't much Sean can do without permission from the higher ups.

 

[Andrew Reid]

Mine too, and in that video Sean says there's a proper camera coming but of course nobody has any idea when.

He is against the regular 2 year release cycles and things like that.

Here is the big problem for Panasonic though...

Even if they do come out all guns blazing with an S1H Mark II, it's doubtful they'll fit an ND filter behind L-mount, and most customers will be even more locked into a rival lens mount like RF or Sony E than they were 6 years ago.

So the S1H Mark II could be really really good...

It could be a stacked sensor 8K camera and nobody will really care as they won't have any lenses for it.

If it is to be truly radical, new sensor technology, groundbreaking specs, under $3500 and cutting edge fundamentals like autofocus, then Panasonic's margin will be thin and people still won't buy it due to the lens mount, although this way it might get some of the faithful to upgrade from their Lumix S1H OG.

And it's the same problem with the S1, S1R successors.

I think Panasonic's problems run deeper than we care to admit on this forum.

I think they're fucked.

[IronFilm]

On 12/22/2024 at 1:13 AM, Andrew Reid said:

With a lens? I don't think so.

Some of those closed eBay auctions are coming with a kit lens. 

But if not, just pick up a nifty fifty from a dead mount for less than twenty bucks. 

 

[John Matthews]

I think most would agree that Panasonic's underperforming given their technology.

Personally, I think they're in year 2 or 3 of a five year plan to find a direction for M43. M43 needs a smaller, great-performing body. This could be a money-maker opportunity for them.

L-mount is their future, like it or not. They might not be that far off from the holy grail of the internal electronic ND filter. We'll see. If they can, it's not going to be with a Sony sensor. They'll need to design it themselves.

 

5 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Some of those closed eBay auctions are coming with a kit lens. 

But if not, just pick up a nifty fifty from a dead mount for less than twenty bucks. 

 

I'm fully behind the idea that those Chinese Amazon specials are really just scammers/slave drivers and e-waste abusers. Amazon and/or government should crack down on them. It's not right or fair. They're taking massive amounts of money away from the camera industry and the used market. I do think there should be some cheaper options for consumers, but this is why we have used cameras. There are so many sub $100 cameras (with lenses too) out there with less than 10000 clicks on them. All of those blow away this unethical e-waste for photography; for video, use your phone.

[MrSMW]

43 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

L-mount is their future, like it or not. They might not be that far off from the holy grail of the internal electronic ND filter. We'll see. If they can, it's not going to be with a Sony sensor. They'll need to design it themselves.

I don’t understand why they haven’t already.

It’s not as if they are a small company and I think are actually even slightly bigger than Sony?

Surely with the boffins that they have, it’s a case of reverse engineer someone else’s internal ND and one of Sony’s sensors and then make your own version?

Isn’t that formula exactly how Japanese companies got their start after WW2 by making knock off copies of Western manufactured items and in more recent times, China has taken over that role?

Of course Japan has moved on to now make exceptional quality items and China is not far behind, but they started out a lot of their bigger manufacturing companies by copying.

Or is it a case with Panasonic that their camera division, LUMIX, is too small and does not have the R&D budget for this?

And if that is the case, sometimes you have to speculate to move ahead, ie, gain more market share and momentum.

I have a theory about business that I have applied to my own for over quarter of a century and that is there are 3 types.

Those that don’t do enough. They were and are fucked from the moment they started up.

Those that give it 100%. They will never go beyond a certain point and sometimes even backwards because…

The third type gives more than 100% simply in order to stand still and maintain market position and it’s only those that go well beyond 100% that actually truly succeed. Other than by chance (such as they are a bit shit but get a lucky hype break anyway).

But what do I know…