New camera - Fujifilm

[Orey10m]

Nice pics! I almost went for a Fujifilm on my most recent camera purchase but went with the Panasonic GX85 instead. I had been looking at one for years and as I focus a bit more on video, and they can be had for pretty cheap, I went for it. I've been happy so far!

excited to see what else you shoot with it

here's some of my recent favorites

[ness]

Nice shots!  Congrats on your purchase. Hope it does well for you. 

I’m pretty much a stills guy at the moment. If some grandkids come along I’m sure I’ll venture into video. 

I’ve been very happy with my move to Fujifilm. Love the build quality, intuitive manual controls, film simulations and smaller form factor. Great images right out of the camera so I don’t need to spend a lot of time on the computer. 

Liked the system enough that I just today took delivery today of their X100V, a fixed lens (35 mm equivalent, so slightly wide) rangefinder-style camera. It’ll replace my pocketable point and shoot that shot craps a while back and be my grab-and-go camera. Controls and menus are nearly identical to my X-T3, so not much new to learn. 

Here’s the two of them side-by-side:

 

[Orey10m]

Nice! I think that fixed lens will be fun. Years ago I was really interested in the Sony RX1 I believe it was called. Full frame sensor and a fixed 35mm lens on the front. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

17 hours ago, ness said:

I’m pretty much a stills guy at the moment

Not much of a deck maintenance guy either😁

[ness]

38 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Not much of a deck maintenance guy either😁

I guess I was overdue for another one of those. 

[Flysmallie]

You guys need to post more pics/video. 

How does that GX85 work in low light?? I need to get more serious about video but it's mostly all low light situations. I've been looking at gimbals for my DSLR but the spaces I need to video can be a little tight and it would be nice not to be holding a huge camera rig. 

[Orey10m]

13 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

You guys need to post more pics/video. 

How does that GX85 work in low light?? I need to get more serious about video but it's mostly all low light situations. I've been looking at gimbals for my DSLR but the spaces I need to video can be a little tight and it would be nice not to be holding a huge camera rig. 

Stabilization

It's a great small-body cam, and it has in-body stabilization (IBIS) of the sensor that operates even in video mode. This should hopefully decrease the need for a gimbal, but perhaps not do away with it entirely. You can find examples of the IBIS on youtube.

If you're trying to hold your arm out into small spaces, at night(?)...probably going to be too shaky haha. If you can stabilize some with your body and proper "hand-held video techniques" then you should be fine. 

Additionally, with some lenses, like the two it comes with in the kit, they have in-lens stabilization that works in concert with the sensor stabilization. So all that makes for pretty stable footage. Again you can see comparisons on youtube (with/without stabilized lenses etc.)

Low light

Since it is a Micro 4/3s sized-sensor it is definitely smaller than the APS-C sized sensor mentioned in the Fujis above. Smaller sensor means less light, which means worse performance in low light conditions like you're describing. (not sure how much background you have here so I'm speaking as if you have none..perhaps you already know all this.)

Anyway, this could be combatted with a really fast (low F-stop) lens like a F1.7 or something. Panasonic 20mm F1.7 would be a good choice for low light. 

 

 

[Flysmallie]

Stabilization does help tremendously. That's why I like a gimbal. I currently use a Zhiyun Smooth 4 with an iPhone 7 and get pretty good results. But I think I will upgrade to their Weebill. These are not just basic gimbals, they offer a lot more control. And as ashamed as I am to say it the iPhone does a pretty good job. But I can't zoom out far enough for my taste and zooming in loses a lot of quality. Plus autofocus and storage issues. But I do like that I can stick it in my pocket.

I was hoping to keep holding out until I decide to make a plunge into mirrorless but I just spent too much on the DSLR so that's a little down the road. But I will still be able to use the Weebill for it. IBIS I understand, but I need the stabilization to be better than that. Most of the time it's a loud, dark, lots of people drinking too much, and I'm just a large guy trying to film a band while slipping through the crowd mostly unnoticed. Or at least not in anyone's way. Sometimes the lighting is spectacular, sometimes it sucks. But I do well enough that I usually can do whatever I want. 

[Flysmallie]