How interested are you in a GH6 anymore?

[NorBro]

Panasonic always made amazing cameras but not having that reliable AF is so big because of the production value videos have these days.

Like even 5 years ago, it wasn't as crazy as it is now. I mean, normal vlogs on YouTube look like short Hollywood, blockbuster films.

So adding any kind of camera movement into your work - no matter the camera - really helps to keep you in that dynamic, commercial-like world.

Now of course you can still move with and fly Panasonics, but it's harder because it's constantly a struggle with what's in focus unless you're at f/8+ outside.

[filmguy123]

That makes sense, and yeah therein lies the friction. Well, I'm bouncing the idea in the back of my head. Maybe by the time it stops bouncing, Panasonic will have caught up in AF, or Canon/Sony won't be outclassed by Panasonic in so many metrics that matter to me.

[NorBro]

I suppose EF-RF glass would adapt more smoothly for quality AF?

With cinematch, maybe picking one up would be worth it as an AF shots only camera. Oh man, that sounds like a gateway drug. I'd much prefer Panasonic to just flip off the cartel and bring DPAF to S1H mk ii.

Depends on the lens, but you don't want to do that.

filmguy...I have spent a small fortune on buying and selling equipment like a lunatic, so I hear you loud and clear.

But you really want the best modern RF glass if you're going to go in on a RF system for AF.

It's going to hurt...it's going to hurt a lot.

I'm about to buy a RF 15-35mm f/2.8 and I am in pain.

[filmguy123]

I suppose EF-RF glass would adapt more smoothly for quality AF?

With cinematch, maybe picking one up would be worth it as an AF shots only camera. Oh man, that sounds like a gateway drug. I'd much prefer Panasonic to just flip off the cartel and bring DPAF to S1H mk ii.

[NorBro]

Canon vs. Sony is alive and well, so it really depends on who you speak with.

I'm 100% biased and I'm all in on Canon's RF mount.

[Note I say RF mount because I expect others to use it like RED is now, and eventually Blackmagic.]

[filmguy123]

I actually was researching a Canon R5 vs R6 this morning. My wife has an old 7D and I thought, maybe I can convince her to upgrade to the new R series. Sneak another camera in here, you know. For science.

I think my hang up is, my workflow is pretty streamlined when you're all in one camera family, and getting another set of batteries and chargers and adapters, and another camera bag to store it, and matching cameras in post... it all feels like a distraction. Where I am wondering if I just hold out for a few more years, AF will arrive on Panasonic in full force eventually. I've done the dance of switching back and forth between Mac & PC, NLEs, etc. and it's always kind of a PIA.

But I do resonate with the creative freedom of AF, I could really get a lot more dynamic shots. My shooting style has been dictated by technical limitations, I've always appreciated solo op with lots of movement so in many ways it seems a natural fit. My EF are all manual focus Milvus, except for the APS-C Canon 17-55 I inherited upon marriage and 70-200 f/4. So I'd also need a few more lenses. And another UI to mentally move back and forth between. I guess Cinematch would make camera matching pretty easy, but still.

If I were to step outside Panasonic for a go, Canon or Sony? For canon, R6 or R5? For Sony, A7SIII?

[NorBro]

I'm serious...(and not saying it to make you feel bad).

In 2016, I sat in front of a 1DX Mark II with bokeh lights in the back and just waited for it to fail.

I moved in...I moved out...I looked for any possible hint of it freaking out and it just stayed put.

That's when I knew it was ready...and I knew my camera life was changed forever.

[And others likely knew with the 70D - first DPAF camera - three years earlier which I didn't use/try because it was HD-only.]

[filmguy123]

Stop it Norbro

[NorBro]

Once you go [real] AF it's something that mentally changes you.

You can go back to MF, but you just can't help to have a wisdom, a new insight into video production that you didn't have before.

It's extremely liberating to be able to trust a machine to do its job pretty darn well (like track faces while the human concentrates on exposure and framing).

[filmguy123]

I guess I am a Panasonic fan boy. SHOOT.

Honestly I've thought about mixing it up. I have a lot of EF glass that will adapt to whatever. Buy an EF to E mount and EF to RF adapter and go dabble with Sony/Canon. Or go check out blackmagic... but there's never been a clear enough reason, for long enough duration, to do that outside of AF (but then I don't have the glass (most of my EF glass is manual), and I've shot manual for a decade now... sooo...)

[NorBro]

You've been a Panasonic-guy for as long as I can remember!

[filmguy123]

Yeah I do the same, no reason not to pre-order the second it goes live. Shoot first, ask questions later.

I'm more excited about the GH6 than I've been about any other camera for a while, mostly because several years ago when I got some big gigs I was super stoked to blow a ton of cash on higher end gear, and then got disillusioned working with it. Kind of a PIA. But the GH5 just didn't look good enough, even though it was WAY more fun and easy to shoot with. The GH6 really closes the gap and looks "good enough" and I say that as someone who's historically been pretty particular about image quality. Pretty much ever camera out there today is over it's awkward teenage years, they all look really nice today, to the point that I have accepted that 99% of people don't care at all and are just focused on the content. So I might as well enjoy working.

Sounds funny but for a longer shoot, I usually use my EasyRig minimax even with the S1H. The extra 1-2lbs with glass over a GHx camera makes way more of a difference than I'd have thought on paper. And changing lenses with full frame is harder. With GH I wear a lens belt and change my lenses with one hand, but I simply can't do that with a milvus lens. It slows it all down. But I started shooting everything on S1H because the quality wasn't good enough for me on GHx and I just can't wait to have both be a viable option now. For anything fast paced, it's the GH6 - no easyrig. Handheld. Woot woot. It actually makes working on stuff comfortable and much more fun. For anything where I have more time, I'll bring the S1H and GH6, since the GH6 has functionality the S1H doesn't.

Poor EVA1, all it gets used for is tripod interviews with VIPs so they don't ask too many questions about why they "didn't hire their nephew with a DSLR". Actually I really like the EVA1 image with a Black ProMist 1/8 and Milvus glass, the DR is gorgeous and in some ways it outclasses the S1H image, though it's a give and take. But it is slow and cumbersome to work with and my style doesn't lend that well to cameras without IBIS. And I don't need the internal audio since I'm a 32-bit float and Sound Devices pre-amp junkie, can't ever imagine recording an important interview direct to the EVA1 instead of through my mixer, but the mixer works just as well with S1H/GH6 so....

[NorBro]

Okay, it's back to #2 again...I'm done with this, I promise.

So how about that auto-focus...

[NorBro]

Thank you for confirming, but that didn't last long; the GH6 has been bumped down to #5. lol

The system possibly updates faster than I thought it did, and maybe even does so based on canceled preorders.

I almost always preorder cameras I'm interested in in seconds, and then do the research. But then cancel most of them, so maybe others do as well, and these kind of "sales systems" reflect that in almost real-time.

[filmguy123]

I am able to replicate Norbro's results, but the nuance of course is we don't know how their algorithm calculates. I doubt it's by raw sales numbers. Likely it is some combination of what is selling the most over the recent rolling 5-10 day period (or 30 day period), weighted against an all time sales figure, using some method to weight and calculate those into a final dynamic ranking.

Point is... at best it tells us the GH6/OM-1 are doing decent with pre-orders, but not much beyond. But that is interesting in and of itself, you know, for water cooler talk.