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S9, S5, S5ii/x, S1Rii... what's next?

These sizes will not come back again. Vintage lenses have been designed for the resolution and requirements of film.

Not for a digital sensor, not for modern AF and not for enlarging it to 200% in Photoshop.

No matter where you look, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Panasonic, Sigma, Leica. All newer lenses are bigger than the vintage lenses for film of the same company. The only exception is Leica M, but these are manual focus.
Sony, Nikon and Canon have them already and the L-mount is several millimetres narrower than the Z and RF mounts.
 
There are no small lenses in Z mount. If you think about the 40mm or 26mm, these are hige compared to the vintage versions. The Z lens mount is too big, therefore all Z lenses will be very "thick".

Which Sony lens do you find smaller than the Sigma i-series FFL?
 
The Z 26/2.8 is small, even if it's fatter because of the size of the mount. It extends from the mount far less than virtually all L-mount lenses. Sony have a trio of 24mm, 40mm and 50mm f/2.5 lenses that are very nice and small. Any of them would be welcome in the L-mount system.
 
I predict (for what that's worth) that we are witnessing a secondary effect of Panasonic's emphasis on hybrid bodies.

Think about it. The S1R, S1, and S1H was basically a horizontal split. All three were pro-level bodies, each with a different emphasis in the stills/video spectrum.

Now we have the S1RII and S5II, both hybrid. If Panasonic were to introduce a third tier hybrid body - call it the "S0" - that was a true professional hybrid, we end up with a vertical segmentation, instead of horizontal.

S5II = mainline hybrid.
S1RII = "pro-sumer" premium hybrid.
S0 = true professional grade hybrid.

Give the S0 a 50 MP stacked sensor, a big buffer and true CFExpress write speeds, a bigger body & battery with better thermal management, timecode stamping and whatever else the video folks need, and I think both the pro sports shooters and pro-video people would be happy. Although I admit the anti-alias filter on the S1H might still be missed for video on a 50 MP sensor. Not sure about that one.

That could be a an excellent three-tier hybrid body system which forms the core of LUMIX L-mount.
 
That could be a an excellent three-tier hybrid body system which forms the core of LUMIX L-mount
For sure. A couple of the reviews of the S1R mkII have hinted at that with a bit of nudge nudge wink wink in regards to the upcoming body. Shane from Geeky Nerdy Tech is one that stands out in my less than stellar memory
 
For sure. A couple of the reviews of the S1R mkII have hinted at that with a bit of nudge nudge wink wink in regards to the upcoming body. Shane from Geeky Nerdy Tech is one that stands out in my less than stellar memory
Even Gerald U said it would dominate the market with a stacked sensor...
 
I predict (for what that's worth) that we are witnessing a secondary effect of Panasonic's emphasis on hybrid bodies.

Think about it. The S1R, S1, and S1H was basically a horizontal split. All three were pro-level bodies, each with a different emphasis in the stills/video spectrum.

Now we have the S1RII and S5II, both hybrid. If Panasonic were to introduce a third tier hybrid body - call it the "S0" - that was a true professional hybrid, we end up with a vertical segmentation, instead of horizontal.

S5II = mainline hybrid.
S1RII = "pro-sumer" premium hybrid.
S0 = true professional grade hybrid.

Give the S0 a 50 MP stacked sensor, a big buffer and true CFExpress write speeds, a bigger body & battery with better thermal management, timecode stamping and whatever else the video folks need, and I think both the pro sports shooters and pro-video people would be happy. Although I admit the anti-alias filter on the S1H might still be missed for video on a 50 MP sensor. Not sure about that one.

That could be a an excellent three-tier hybrid body system which forms the core of LUMIX L-mount.
Would this result in enough additional sales to gain significant market share?

You only have two options to survive longterm:

a) a minimum market share /sales to finance R&D etc.

b) only high premium segment, so you can finance R&D with fewer sales.

Leica's strategy is obviously b. I do not think that Panasonic want to follow the same strategy as Leica.
Therefore Panasonic will IMHO follow strategy a.

This does not mean, that there will be no S0. But only if they also will bring a sub-S5ii model (price &features) on the market. With an EVF.
 
Now we have the S1RII and S5II, both hybrid. If Panasonic were to introduce a third tier hybrid body - call it the "S0" - that was a true professional hybrid, we end up with a vertical segmentation, instead of horizontal.

S5II = mainline hybrid.
S1RII = "pro-sumer" premium hybrid.
S0 = true professional grade hybrid.

Give the S0 a 50 MP stacked sensor, a big buffer and true CFExpress write speeds, a bigger body & battery with better thermal management, timecode stamping and whatever else the video folks need, and I think both the pro sports shooters and pro-video people would be happy. Although I admit the anti-alias filter on the S1H might still be missed for video on a 50 MP sensor. Not sure about that one.
I'm not really buying this, that there is going to be a S1Hii (or a S0). Of course I could be wrong, but Panasonic has invested so much in the S1R II to be their Flagship camera, it doesn't make sense to me they would immediately invest even more to introduce a new and improved Flagship camera. This would undermine their investment in the S1R II, plus the price would be quite a bit higher so it would sell to a smaller crowd with diminished return on investment. The S1R II is close to a perfect photo camera and close to a perfect video camera. And at a super competitive price. The video guys are going to love the S1R II, Gerald Undone be dammed, and it will sell well.

Remember I'm coming from an A1. Why would Lumix go to a stacked sensor and suffer reduced dynamic range and maybe lower image quality? The current sensor is optimum for most situations. And I operated with the S1H for quite some time, and I only used synced timecode a couple of times - and that was just to show it could be done. My S1H suffered moiré now and then, maybe not as much a camera without a low pass filter, but to me the best control is for the operator to change shooting angle or range to control moiré. Also, moiré control is different for different situations, and it would be a mistake for Lumix to use the same low pass filter as the S1H. RED video cameras have interchangeable low pass filters - for some future camera Lumix might want to do this.

It seems to me Lumix should work on upgrading the S1R II, do what it can with firmware upgrades, but for hardware upgrades bring them out with model upgrades, the S1R III, the S1R IV, etc. The next model, maybe a couple years out, could have a larger and faster buffer to better handle sports and wildlife, and maybe better battery life. And on and on. That way they have one Flagship camera that keeps getting better and better.
 
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