I decided a while ago to concentrate on only using M43 for video and my full frame kit for stills.
The logic was sound enough.
My two “best” video cams are the G9II and GH5s, one because it has the highest specs and capabilities (best stabe, AF, BRAW output and internal codecs), the other because it is a dedicated video hybrid (dual ISO, lots of video stuff, BRAW out).
The S5 and S5II both have issues for me with video. One is older and not a great AF option (neither is the GH5s, but it is the “static” cam), the other lacks BRAW-out without an expensive firmware upgrade.
For stills, they add that golden promise of super high ISO performance, but I have found there are plenty of other issues.
Lots of nice Autumn files this year, good testing for the new lens……………..
……..and this from M43, which is technically it’s equal (at least).
The first issue I have, partly me and partly me underestimating my M43 gear, comes from the real benefit of higher ISO performance and depth of field in full frame. I have found I can drastically under expose a file shot at ISO 6400 and still get back a clean file, but over exposure is less certain. I have little fear of a shot 2-3 stops over in M43, but do not like the S5’s files I do the same with. If used at ISO settings ver 6400 (my M43 limit), over exposed files turn to s$#t and underexposed ones do run out of legs.
Using M43 in super low light, lenses wide open with a little extra post applied, as well as the beneficial difference in movement blur, depth of field and knowing my cams, makes me feel a lot more comfortable with M43.
S5II, 85mm ISO 6400 f2. The human AF was pretty good, usually picking the most centred, forward facing person, but not always.
EM1x, 75 f1.8. More a matter of grab and move on, no lag, no uncertainty. The colour is different, more down to my handling of Olympus and Pana files (the G9’s also give nice indoor colour). Funny that the M43 has shallower depth from the same place with basically the same depth of field and lens length math!
Issue two is handling. I shot some sport the other day and to give the camera (S5II) it’s due, it did not miss many, but the shutter button was squishy, the processes laggy and the whole thing felt detached. I have felt this with old G9’s, but they have DFD AF, so an excuse, but the S5II just feels like a poor fit for sport. I switched between the S5IIK and an EM1x and the difference was massive.
To add to that, the G9II did a bit of light duty the other day shooting some sport while my video subject was off court and it felt for all the world like an EM1x with a nicer screen! So, my best video cam is my logical future replacement for my stills cams, maybe even the right one now for indoor, low light jobs.
Issue three is banding. The two S5’s are my worst cams for banding. I have been caught a few times in familiar locations I thought to be ok. Banding in video is an easy fix, shutter speed and frame rate are built around it, but for stills, I now just go “noisy” shutter more often than not. I work close and in sensitive environments. My subjects have learned to ignore me, but noisy shutters on big cameras with big lenses (see below) may undo that.
Issue four is lenses, they are huge and really, really limit my bag and work flow options, often for little benefit. I have stopped packing a single full frame cam as a low light handler, the M43 f1.8 lenses do it well enough and are much smaller. I had hoped the 28-70 would fix this, but it is still similar in size to taking a M43 cam with 40-150 f4, which I do, but struggle with two bigger cams.
I bought a 28-70 f2.8 Sigma so I could have zoom flexibility with decent background blur for scenarios like the one I faced last month, a cramped red carpet arrival shoot with a slow zoom that rendered way too much ugly background. The range was ideal, the speed good and the lens has been satisfying, if not mind blowing.
This was the night I decided to buy the Sigma (or similar) after needing to mask out the background of every single file with my slow kit lens. Would the extra flash grunt offered by M43 with an F2.8 aperture have been better? Most likely. I was impressed by the S5II’s AF, not a miss recorded, but the G9II would at least match that.
Issue five is depth of field. Some of the benefit of the full frame high ISO performance is lost when fast apertures are applied. The reality is f1.8 is often too shallow on a full frame. On a M43 cam, it acts like f2.8 (by magnification) and I use them wide open as needed, f2.8 zooms in good light, f1.8 primes in low. With FF, I am struggling to find a usable balance and if I lean towards safe depth, the benefits are largely lost. This also effects flash use, the ISO benefit vs more actual power in M43 (from wider aperture).
Issue six is the reality that if I switch more to FF for sports, my next long lens will be my dearest or if not, may not add much at all. The 70-200 f4 Pana or 100-400 Sigma are both good options (both bigger than my 300!), but slow and short in reach by my current standards and with the S5II camera’s lack lustre performance for action, I can see myself drifting back to M43 when I can.
Regrets?
As I have written before, the 10-25 and 25-50 f1.7 zooms on a pair of G9II’s with maybe a Sirui anamorphic set would have been the ideal video hybrid kit in hind-sight, cheaper, cleaner, more efficient, but that option was not on the table at the time.
The S5’s are good when I need a simple V-Log pairing, they are easy to use and if it were not for the BRAW thing, I would be tempted to use them for video only and all my M43 for stills (GH5s for low light?).
I am tempted to list the full frame kit, but I know that they do offer potentially better extreme low light and are both capable video cams (with known exceptions). I have the boxes, the gear is spotless and I got some bargains, so no massive loss. High ISO is a genuine benefit in video, the GH5s only offering one option (but enough?).
A re-configuring of my video kit would be to go back to the GH5s/S5.1 combo, the S5 being a decent hand held cam (the OSMO gimbal as backup) but enough. Both are BRAW capable, both less useful as stills cams, they share the same batts etc, then use the G9II and S5II as hybrids. It all feels a little pushed, but makes some sense.
I must admit, I feel having a foot in full frame land feels right, but M43 is not dead to me by any measure. If anything, it is stronger by comparison.
I may just upgrade the S5II, which would make it and the GH5s the logical pairing, the G9II then gets released for stills and the S5 mk1 as the hybrid?
A mess that can be fixed, I just need to see the path.