After a few consumer model cameras from various brands, I got my first professional, or some would say semi-pro camcorder, the Sony HDR-Z1. You could switch it from the old 420 pal DV to the new HDV1080i. Rushed out to shoot in the new HD format only to get it home to find my computer was too archaic to deal with it. So, I had to upgrade, then stick a firewire card in it just so it would talk to the camera. But, wow, nice image.
Then the trend for using DSLR cameras for both photography and video kicked in around 2010, Great you could swap lenses, build rigs and have more control, it shot in 1080p, so none of that old flickering when you pressed pause, and you had the bonus of a good photography camera. I decided on the Canon range, first buying the 7D followed shortly by the iconic 5D mk ii.
Around 2018 I went to work producing thevideo and photography for the comms department of Renishaw, a FTSE 250 engineering and technology company. As this was a new role, I got to choose the cameras I wanted. Things had moved on from the 1080p DSLR days to mirrorless 4K cameras which also now had a log profile for film makers built in. Log gives you more control over the image in post-production, so you could be a bit more creative. The popular camera to do this at the time was the Sony A7s ii, so the Sony ecosystem was where we invested, getting a further A7R ii and iii cameras along with an 18-105 lens a few primes.
In early 2024 I left Renishaw to take a break and work on a few personal projects before starting Gillett Media. I walked into the local WEX camera shop with the intention of staying with Sony and purchasing the A7iV. It was suggested to me that I should consider looking at the Panasonic Lumix range as they were just bringing out new cameras that could rival, if not beat the Sony’s, especially for video functionality. A weekend looking at YouTube run-throughs and comparison videos I decided to go Lumix. Ultimately this was due to the lower price point, though there was a bit of me that wanted to try something new.
My first purchase was the Lumix S5iix and later the S1ii when It came out. I have also bought the general purpose 24-105, 20-60 and the 50 and 35mm primes.
These are both 24mp cameras able to shoot 10bit 6k open gate video with the S1ii able to do 4k at 100fps. I have decided I didn’t need the extra megapixels that the S1iiR provided as the portrait and event photography I do doesn’t warrant it, and the file sizes of 44mp raw images don’t half use up drive space. The lower megapixel count also means it is a faster camera able to burst shoot at up to 70 per second with the electronic shutter. I can’t see how that will be useful to what I do, though I will play with some fast-moving product photography and see.
Though I am sure I would have been happy buying into the Sony ecosystem I am loving the Lumix cameras. I am liking the way they feel in the hand. Their stabilisation, especially on the S1ii is exceptional. I am loving using V-log, for me it tends to work better with all-purpose LUTs than the Sony S-log 2 and 3 profiles I used to shoot in. 6k open gate is great and really allows you to choose where the final edit will come from. I tend not to need to export in more than 4k 16:9 or 1080 9:16 so there is plenty to play with. There is also an option capture in apple pro-res, to an external drive on the S5iix and internally on the S1ii. I don’t really need to do this in my line of work, though you never know what the next client may need.