jimmy462
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 p.1 #10 · Thinking about Panasonic S5 | |
Dave_EP wrote:
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for the reply. It's a mix of many different things.
I've never really liked Canon's colours, they continue to cripple their cameras, especially their video division. The shadow noise and dynamic range always left me less than happy.
Nikon lenses turn the wrong way! I guess I got used to it, but the focus breathing on the 70-200 used to drive me nuts and again, the shadow noise was painful at times. Video has never been Nikon's strong point either and the reviews of their mirrorless cameras don't inspire me.
I don't care for Sony bodies. They don't seem as responsive, the menus are less intuitive (than Panasonic) the ergonomics just didn't sit right with me. I don't like the Pentax or Fuji systems either.
I enjoyed shooting with the GH4 and a borrowed GH5 cameras a while back, found the AF to be "good enough", the menus were intuitive, the resulting images pleasing, though it did take a little time to dial in the settings I wanted for raw, but nothing too drastic.
I like that Panasonic don't really cripple the cameras to protect their video division and generally produce very reliable products. I also like their manual focus features (assuming it's carried over from the M43 line), the vector scopes, zerbras, virtual horizon, the live histograms etc.
So why not got with Micro-Four-Thirds? The systems are smaller, lighter, can take some amazing shots and the GH line is 4K, with maybe more in the highly anticipated GH6. Well, three reasons. The first is aspect ratio. I prefer 3x2 over the 4x3 aspect ratio. Cropping a 4x3 to 3x2 loses pixels from an already lower pixels count sensor. Second, while M43 systems have improved their low light performance, they still aren't quite up to FF capabilities. Third, DOF, while you can work around many things, it *is* harder to isolate subjects with M43 than with FF, given the same parameters like time and distance. I found that I had to step back further (not always possible) and use longer lenses to get the same isolation. OTOH, having more DOF was sometimes a blessing, so it's not all bad I suppose
Things I to want to shoot? I would sum that up as "memories". Travel, the family, the dog etc. I'm never going to shoot sports, or BIF etc. I have a phone camera for quick capture the memories of grandkids running around if needed.
As I said above, I have no desire to go back to shooting professionally, though I may contribute a little more to my now very ageing stock library if the right images come along.
I had thought about just sticking with the phone camera, but when ever I try to print anything remotely large, the images just fall down more often than not, oh, and the aspect ratio isn't native 3x2 either! With 24MP I could happily print the A4, A3 and A2 sizes that I used to print 10 years ago. With a phone, that's much harder. Can it be done? Yes, Apple have shown large posters made on an iPhone, but they don't show the professional lighting etc that went in to making it viable, which wouldn't be there in the "making-of-memories" events.
So, that's about where I'm at. I don't want to spend the serious 5 figure sums I had invested (say) 10 years ago, I'm just looking for something capable of creating sharp images, including in lower light, and some good 4K+ video when appropriate. ...Show more →
Well, for sure the, um, "entry fee" into a new system is a serious consideration for anyone finding themselves less-than-happy with their current gear or looking to explore options or features not found within their current company/product choices. Ergo my curiosities as to your processes of elimination and selection towards the S5.
My path to Panasonic was similar to yours when my sweetie and I decided to try out a pair of their FZ1000's for our casual local bikepath hiking adventures a few years back, we found that we very much liked the comfortable and well-thought-out ergonomics, the intuitive menu and interface system, and the spot-accurate and lightning-fast DFD AF system, and I was thrilled to be able to finally explore shooting in 4K!. I was still toiling with the Sony system at the time (a6300, a7R, a7SII) for those video additions and found that that little Panny was finding more time in my hands than any of those other cameras. So when the G9 was announced we made it a point to check out the camera at the PDN Expo and the rock-steady DUAL-IS performance with their 100-400mm lens and EVF clarity both stunned me...a handheld package that performed better than my cumbersome and unwieldy Canon 5DII with a Sigma 300-800mm being toted around on a gimballed tripod for field work! She was thrilled to find a lighter system than her crop-Canon/Tamron-150-600 and we got her into those, um, "shoes" upon release!  I followed her shortly thereafter into Panasonicland when the S1 arrived. Two happy shooters, we!
Speaking of image colors, we're both quite happy with what Panasonic is currently providing (an early P&S of theirs exhibited neon-ish greens, ouch!) very natural with no obvious/egregious bias, for me, much better than the overall bluish cast to the Sony's and not so over-emphasized with the, er, rosy's as those Canon's for skin tones. Of course, all subjective to one's tastes and preferred starting-points when capturing images. I did a lot of image comparisons prior to those purchases with RAW and JPEG files found at both Imaging-Resource and DPR to see how the files looked and handled, a practice I highly recommend to anyone looking into a system.
As for your concerns for shooting in poor lighting conditions methinks you'll be quite pleased with the Dual ISO performance of the S5, being able to comfortably shoot clean files at ISO 4000, 6400, and even push to 10000 or beyond as needed, has been a game-changer for me and I generally set my S1 camera to 4000 on most days (sunny and cloudy!) as my starting point just for the shutter speed boost when shooting birds and such...it's that good.
As for printing, not my expertise, perhaps someone familiar with handling those files for that purpose will chime in?!
Anyhoo, keep us posted on what you decide...always exciting times when moving into new gear!
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