I need a better computer option for video.

The 13” laptop thing is not great with Resolve, simply too much going on and both M1 machines are getting slower. Fine for stills processing, but video is pushing them.

I have a nice 27” Mac Retina screen out front of a sick iMac that will not update any more and is running soooo slow. I thought I would use it as a screen with a M4 Mini which can run into older (High Sierra) machines like mine and use them as a screen. It turns out mine is just not old enough by a few months. The good news for me though is it can still be upgraded a little in software and tech.

I had a chat with the tech in Apple and he thinks there is something going on with my iMac, maybe a faulty hard drive not just age, so I went home, investigated and found that for some reason it was backing up to and from Dropbox, the back-loading and my hard drive, reading as 356gb out of 1TB used, it is actually 100% full and every time I deleted stuff, it filled up again. No wonder so slow, but now much better.

So, more money for cameras.

What and why?

I would like to support and flesh out my MFT video choices, especially have a solid platform for the Hope series glass I am slowly collecting. The G9.I’s are perfectly capable backup cams if needed, but they are my wide angle lens stills cams and one is a little beaten up (I did however get some lovely footage out of one with the 7Art Vision 12mm and it seems a great fit for walking stabe).

I had my eye on a third G9.1 sitting in my local shop at $999au, but it went the other day, bargain missed or distraction removed, not sure yet?

An Image quality lift and/or cost to relevance are the main priorities.

Many choices, some logicial some sentimental, head, heart and gut choices.

The main thing is, I do not want it to get out of hand or have ridiculous special needs that I know will never be met. I would however like to leave a door open to a better baseline quality, something I have to be fair (V-Log and ProRes HQ at least).

It needs to make sense to my already convoluted eco system and add something, even if that something is not completely compatible with my Lumix stable, as there is plenty there, not just add another camera and I hope expand my options. This may seem weird on the strength of a couple of cheap cine lenses, but the reality is, I have justified high hopes for the Hope’s (!), but feel that just adding another basic Lumix video hybrid to the mix will only balance format numbers, not grow my space.

The GH5.2 was close.

This adds live streaming, a true video camera interface, the same batts and cage as my G9’s, 400mbs All-i and decent AF and stabe, but these are not so good that relegating the cam to MF/static use would be a shame. I am also keen on the slightly older Lumix look which I like.

I almost went this way before the S5 and it still haunts me. It seems to be a camera almost perfectly aligned to my real world needs at a bargain price, even more so now and a good backup to my other offerings.

I dabbled with the idea of the BGH-1, BM micro G2, even the Z-Cam E2, GH7 and others, but they all come with “considerations” or were too dear for their return and my real world needs. Even the G9II is only $2500au, which is a grand less than I paid was a chance, but too much of the same for the price.

The two that are calling, call me crazy, are the BMPCC 4k (P4K) and the GH5s.

Both have fallen away from the pack a little, but both companies are still supported them and they are true cinema-centric cameras. The BGH-1 was also in the mix, but fell away as it starts dearer and needs more, while offering the least overall.

To P4k is a better package than the BGH-1 for my needs, more complete out of the box, the BGH having a better processor than the GH5s, but the P4k has BRaw. The GH5s offers better than average MFT sensor performance for video in an inoffensive hybrid camera offering at abut the same price and actually needs nothing to go on with, so the best price.

One very revealing comparison, found chased up samples of BGH-1 footage, showed both the P4k and BGH side by side and two things came out. Even using basically the same sensor, the BM had much more highlight retention and more natural roll off and the colours looked less “digitally” punchy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0W1VqboEg0

More video good stuff or more hybrid praticality?

The GH5s has better low light performance and even dynamic range than the G9II, has decent AF, but no stabe. For under $2000au, it is good value and unlike the BM, it needs nothing. The thing I like is, it is a Lumix, so all will make sense.

The price of the P4k has held and the physical cam has not been overtly updated. This is in part to the reality that it was ahead of it’s time and it has a minor cult following as well as it’s design is fit for purpose then and now. Some complain about the screen, so get a monitor, the lack of stabe or usable AF (again, a cine camera, but it does have options), poor battery life, but again a ton of options.

The P4k good;

• Cinematic (real cinematic) colour, tonal roll-off and smoothness.

• Codecs including ProRes 422 HQ, BRAW etc. The straightest and cleanest line to these. BRaw gives me the most quality lift, with a clean and reasonably light footprint.

• The “key” to Studio edition DaVinci Resolve is included which is a double win, lifting my processing and aligning perfectly with the camera.

• It is known and supported and to be honest redundancy-proof. In this space, cameras like this stay relevant, because what they offer is always wanted and the shortcoming understood and even leaned into, so they avoid the constant hybrid upgrade pressure of better AF etc. Even the older model is still well loved and dates back over a decade. A decade of Hybrids has taken us to the GH7 which is only just in the true junior cinema camera class at it’s best.

• They are well enough made to be a decent second hand option (but no key).

• There is an L-mount equivalent so I can in future match all my lenses to the one camera system, just like my Lumix.

• I can add a Video Assist 12g for under $1000 which would net me a superior screen and BRaw for one of several other cameras (S5II into a P6K, G9II as GH7 equiv).

• Lumix cams are, it seems, decently compatible with BM’s as is especially in ProRes. The difference is more one of the BM having a different look, a smoother, more mature one, so a Lumix as B-cam only needs to match the colour, the extra cinematic quality thing is a benefit not a problem.

• For under $3000au, I could have two BRaw options over two formats.

My current static cam is the S5, but probably that is a poor alignment of that cameras capabilities to its potential. I could add a BMVA to that one and have closely matching machines, although the S5II is a better match.

The negatives are many, but any relevant ones can or have already been overcome in my kit. I do not think in this day and age there is much room for this as your only video camera in a mixed work space, too many little things that can be easily avoided by going in other directions, but in conjunction with a stable of Lumix cams, it is everything they are not and vice-versa.

The GH5s, already fading as I write this, but is the best option if I want to stay in Lumix only territory and cost is the main driving factor. A very decent video-centric Lumix that already has spare batteries and a cage, with a sensor capable of bridging the gap between MFT and full frame, all the nice stuff like wave forms and vector scopes, shutter angle and full V-Log with reliable AF (but no stabe) for under $2000au.

If I can lay my finger on one thing that still unsettles me in my video work, it is that feeling that all these hybrid cams are missing the point a little. True cinematic footage has that “special sauce”, that nearly indefinable look that more resolution, a faster sensor readout, great rolling shutter control, dynamic range and general smoothness.

There is an effortlessness that a genuine cinema grade camera brings, even a dated base model like the BMPCC4k. The combination of the very sharp Hope glass and smooth sharp BM may be ideal.

In other words, it looked more like a cinema footage.

So, where would it fit?

• Stabilising and movements? G9II.

• Video AF? Any mk2 Lumix or even EM1x.

• A light weight weather sealed run-n-gun kit? Any Lumix including the G9.I.

• Low light at the extremes of sensible? S5’s.

• Static or hand held cine grade footage? BMPCC4k.

• Maximum quality with choices and workflow advantages within that? BMPCC4k

• Wide dynamic range and white balance fixes for critical work? BMPCC4k.

I guess the questions are;

Is there anything the Lumix cams can do that the BM cannot? Yes, lots in the form of best in class stabe and AF, flexibility and hybrid needs.

Is there anything the BM can do that the Lumix cannot? In the realms of dynamic range and post processing and that special cinematic “mojo” that come with Braw or even ProRes.

When compared the difference in image quality and processing win out logically. Small qualms about the relevance of the camera in my work flow are calmed by the desire to have better IQ and smoother, more robust processing pathways.