I have been pondering my full frame path lately.
M43 is plenty for the vast bulk of my needs, all of them really, but sometimes it is nice to use a full frame to banish any real low light quality issues or for that different look. Most clients would not know, but sometimes the demons of self doubt do need banishing, often with a re-appreciation of the power of the “lesser” M43 format.
Terrible M43 quality, useless really and so inflexible!
I went back into full frame gently two years ago adding a bargain S5 kit and 50mm, then a few legacy lenses were scrounged up. Could have stopped there as the main priority to up my low light video, add unlimited recording (lets call it card or battery limited) and VLog were all addressed. My two G9’s could now be become handy B-cams.
This last Black Friday through to Christmas sales I picked up some full frame bargains (a pair of 7Artisan Spectrum cine lenses), then I possibly over-reached, finishing my trio of Lumix S-primes and an IRIX cine-macro, while also completing my M43 kit with the G9II. The G9II remains my best video camera (possibly my best camera overall), but now I have this full frame beast to feed.
The S5 came along when I needed it, a GH5II filler then the G9II would have nullified its need and the money put into some better M43 glass, but crystal balls are hard to come by.
A mixed kit is a benefit, but also a trap.
I now feel the need to field a hybrid run-n-gun full frame kit (camera and Lumix 20-60, 35, 50 and 85) and a cinema-video rig (camera and 7Art 35, 50 and IRIX 150). This is of course just an over organised me wanting more depth in this space and to be better prepared (avoiding constant re-purposing of the one camera). It all feels a little unbalanced at the moment. My greatest wish is to use two of my full frame lenses at once.
The L-mount Alliance may be a little patchy in offerings and still relatively young, but being an alliance, it is also full of variety with some interesting answers.
Contenders;
Another S5 Mk1 as the stills camera, because really, this is all I need and being the cheapest option allows a Black Magic 12G Video Assist, providing B-Raw as the real path to cinema grade recording if I need it, to still be realistic.
Basically a giant G9, the older DC-S1 as a stills camera with good video and potentially more. Many still feel it is a better stills camera than the S5 mk1 (some don’t) and with a paid upgrade it can be a better video camera, so it could be good at the right price.
A S5 Mk2 (not X). Better AF, a few more 4k features, some in camera 6k and better AF and stabilising are interesting, but the reality is, the G9II was bought for that and does both better and with better rolling shutter performance, slo-mo and above all, I have it. As a stills camera it is interesting simply for the tracking AF.
The Sigma FP as a purely video option, but problems with consistency may arise. A difficult camera to embrace or to forget, the FP is dated, but was arguably ahead of its time also.
I am not super keen to add a hero cam at odds with its supports, unless there is something compelling to add.
The S1H or BS1H ageing flagships. The S1H is a brute, uses a different battery like the S1, has little to offer over the S5 than All-i recoding. The BS1H is a serious video cam, but also has its own needs (no battery in the box, cage, rigging, no stabe, no screen), most of which I have addressed and to be honest there are plenty of rigging bits in need of use.
At the end of the day, neither of these will add video quality (an off board would add RAW, but that goes for most options) nor stills capability, possibly even going backwards there. They would just give me deeper video specs in camera and some other conveniences.
My current thoughts on building rigs actually sit opposite this whole cine-camera idea, but it is a different beast. To be honest, the potential of these cameras is over-kill in many ways, under done in others.
The BMPCC6k, which I must admit calls to me the least, but is the most direct route to B-RAW and a full Da Vinci Resolve upgrade. These factored in as absorbing the software upgrade and the 12G assist makes it a bargain, but again, like the FP, it has consistency issues with the rest of the kit.
*
At the end of the day, the most logical is another S5 Mk1.
The “old” S5 still has many fans. It would give me a non-rigged camera for still/hybrid video and a rigged one I could leave set for video only. The stills one would become my full frame B-cam or my low light specialist in my stills kit, replacing the older G9 when needed.
It would basically fill the perceived hole in my full frame kit allowing me to use combinations of those lenses, which is really the issue.
I have no fear of the sometimes forced S-35 crop, another cam with All-i**, or 4K/422/10 bit unlimited recording for most jobs** and have it covered when I do.
The S5 has 10 bit/422/1080/VLog/50p or 8 bit/420/4k/VLog/25p available with no catches, which are all above my base line*** and 10 bit/422/4k/VLog/30p with a time limit.
If one camera is limited, then does it matter if its running mate is the same? Which is to say in a round-about way, if I bought an S5II and felt held back by the S5, would I end up using the G9II or get another S5II anyway? If I deliberately hold back on getting more, then I will have two capable, matched cameras with the same limitations.
AF and stabilising are mixed blessings, with limited use anyway and I have the best version of those in the G9II, which was the dearest purchase of all.
With the G9 II, two S5’s and at a stretch my two older G9 bodies, I could relay multiple cameras anyway. None of these need a rest when they top out, just a micro stop-start after 30 mins (Panasonic cameras seem mostly heat-proof).
Just has a thought of a 6 cam, 8 mic band recording!
The reality is, if I were to shoot massive and long files, an off-board recorder would be needed and that would upgrade even my G9 mk1’s to RAW monsters with no recording limits (5x 12G BM Video assists???)
I have been doing a few tests with the S5 with stills AF. In single shot mode, it is as good as the G9 mk1, which is to say, it rarely misses and is quick in the form I would use it. In continuous mode, it is ok if the subject stays at roughly the same distance, but no, I would not trust it in high speed environments and the flutter is disconcerting.
For stills the S5 is a strong performer, good enough for me as I will probably not shoot serious sport with full frame. For video, manual focus and the stabilising heft of cinema glass mean I do not need to worry about S5II upgrades.
Would I use full frame for sport even if I had the S5II? In small doses probably for scene and portrait grabs and I have done that recently with decent results. My longest AF lens is an 85mm and that is unlikely to change.
So, codecs, recording time and bit rates sorted, AF is a non starter or sorted, stabilising is still top notch compared to most.
Both taken with the 85mm, which is really growing on me.
Basically, the S5 is enough, so I bought (another) one and got another kit lens for free.
It is a great base for a cinema upgrade (with a BM-VA or Atomos), partly financed by the camera being cheaper, does all I need in stills and is overall good value. The small HDMI plug is a pain, but I have work-arounds. It only matters if I use a screen anyway in a run-n-gun format, something I am drifting away from.
My general response these days is to go with what works and what I know does the job. I would not hesitate to buy another EM1x, a G9 mk1 or even an EM5 Mk1 in good working condition, because I know each works as needed in their space.
Hardly an old croaker, as little as a year ago the S5 was considered the best bang for the buck in its class (still is by many). For under $1800au I can get an S5 with a kit lens and there are few cameras on the market offering as much value.
Are there better, newer models? Yes, always, but these older cameras are often enough.
“Older” also seems a pretty elastic concept.
Not long ago many cameras were being replaced every six months, before that several years was plenty, before that half a decade or more and in the pre-AF period they were relevant for decades (many are still working today).
More recently we seem to be unhappy with 2-3 year old cams calling them out as old tech, when relative to the history of photography, they are brand spankers. Is this maybe because the average photographer/videographer is getting younger?
Some current stills cams are still using the same sensor models up to 10 years old are using, some more expensive video cams still lack the features the S5 has, so the only area it is beaten in many ways is by its own younger sibling, and not by much.
Of course I could just sell some L-mount lenses ;).
*Last sale season the S5II was sold with the 20-60, 14-28 and 50mm for the price of the base kit alone ($3200au), basically $2k+ off.
**Maaaasive files. Only the G9II has direct SSD recording and that is enough. What the hell would I do with several streams of high bit rate video and I guess when I do know, it will be in a different space.
***Which is 10 bit/422/1080/Flat/25p, which even the G9 mkI’s can handle).