135 Format on the way

From my history of photography 

Over the years, I've handled a lot of different camera bodies in various formats.  The first camera I used was a 6x6 box camera using roll film.  I've used very technical cameras since then and with the digital age, I started again.  Since 2004, I've been using Four-Thirds and micro Four-Thirds, both Olympus and Panasonic.  I tried Nikon for a bit, but it was a pain, moreso than during the film era.  Fujifilm made my favorite film cameras, along with Olympus and Mamiya.

I've photographed sports with Four-Thirds and micro Four-Thirds equipment starting with the Olympus E-1 in 2004.  Back then, it was hard to believe that digital cameras would be good enough.  Now, it's difficult to believe that young people are using film cameras or that Pentax and Rollei have developed new film cameras for sale recently.

Back to the present

I just ordered a Panasonic S5 Mk II with 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 and 50mm f/1.8.  The Amazon 5 payments thing got my attention.  Getting it the next day was surprising.  I guess they didn't want me to have time to think about canceling the order.

It's new for me, but this body has been out long enough to have firmware version 3.1.  Panasonic finally admitted that they needed to provide Phase Detection AF, instead of their hit-or-miss Depth from Defocus technology that was introduced on the GH4.  I didn't like DFD then, and while it's become better, it will never be good enough.

I was looking at another micro Four-Thirds body, an Olympus E-M1 Mk III, which was good and then, there was a Panasonic G9 Mk II trade-in special that was incredible, marking it down US$600 and then, adding your trade-in value.  The G9 Mk II also has PDAF.  They did the same with the GH7.

The problem with micro Four-Thirds is that we don't know when it will end.  135 Format is claiming a lot of the market finally, as mirrorless bodies have taken over in a big way.  I got involved with micro Four-Thirds back in 2012 with the GH3.  At one point, I was taking an Olympus E-M1, Panasonic GH4, GX8, and GM5 to skate parks with me.  Now, I only have the GM5.

Panasonic to Panasonic

The S5 Mk II is about the same size as the GH4.  It's not huge, but it is bigger than the undersized Sony bodies that are difficult to hold but becoming better.  It's certainly bigger than most of the 135 Format film bodies from the 1970s, except for the Nikon F2.

The lenses seem small, but again, they're bigger than equivalent lenses in the 1970s.  However, nothing back then was weather-sealed and not much had auto focus.  The Polaroid SX70 was the first camera I sold (I was in camera sales for a while) with auto focus, and auto exposure was just coming to cameras later in that decade.

I'm charging the S5 Mk II battery right now.  Instead of a separate charger, they have a USB type-A to type-C cable, and a power adapter for AC current.  The light atop the body signals that it is being charged.  That is also the light that signals a connection to the phone app.

The menus are familiar but much has been added since the GH4 or GX8.  It's going to take a while to get the settings right.  I need to set up the custom settings, so that it uses Natural, instead of Standard, and Raw instead of JPEG.  I also need to set a video mode, 1920x1080 at 60p.  While I have computers to handle 3840x2160 or 4096x2160, I don't want to record 4K video.  I found that you must set file format MP4 for 1080p, unlike what I did with the GH4.  MOV format is reserved for 4K and C4K.

I need to order an SD Card for storage.  I have a few around here somewhere, but they're older.  This body uses UHS II cards for speed.  There are two slots but I don't need to fill both.  I'm also considering third party batteries.  There is a brand called Wasabi with a charger and two batteries for US$39.99.  I can't imagine that they'll last a year, but for my casual use, that shouldn't be a problem.  My official Panasonic GH4 batteries were still going after three years.

How much does anyone need?

I've watched a few videos about the S5 Mk II and how it compares to Sony and Canon.  Why don't they compare it to Nikon?  I'm not sure.

24 Megapixels isn't a lot in 2024, especially with Fujifilm's APS-C sensor having 40 MP.  I don't need more and I suspect few people need more, unless they're working professionally.  In that case, they should be using Medium Format.  Lower pixel counts require you to be more careful.  I've been working mostly with 16 MP and occasionally with 20 MP.  I'm sure 24 MP will be fine for me, especially with a dual-gain sensor.  I was using ISO 3200 as my upper limit of acceptable photos for micro Four-Thirds, ISO 4000 for the Nikon D7200, and I expect ISO 6400 will be the reasonable limit for this sensor, but I might push it to ISO 12800.

Thinking about APS-C, there is such a mode, similar to what Nikon does from FX to DX.  It likely works with L-mount lenses that are connected electronically, rather than with manual lenses.  I was thinking about one of the fisheye lenses that are available.  They're mostly the same as the micro Four-Thirds lenses but with a different mount.

I keep thinking about the day in April 2004 when I bought the Olympus E-1, 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5, and 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5.  I spent about US$3000 and this S5 Mk II kit cost about US$2249.  I didn't get a telephoto zoom of any kind with the S5 Mk II, unfortunately.  That would have cost at least an extra US$1000 right now for a Panasonic lens.  Having two lenses that overlap isn't great, but night shooting is possible.

Five Months of Solo Leveling: Arise?

 We're still going?  It feels as though most of us are close to being pushing the limits.

One new character and a couple of new weapons.  More mechanics.  Are you excited?

Using all of the coupons, I got a couple of Sung Jinwoo's weapons through Draw, so now, they have at least one Advance.  I needed those upgraded.  Things are moved a bit in the interface and the shop lag is much better.  I'm not sure why they need to animate all of those labels, but at least, the animation is quicker now.  Lag starting in Red gates seems less now.  Sung Jinwoo would always seem to take longer to start moving than the Hunters did.

Another Gaming Mouse Bites the Dust

 I can't really be this aggressive, can I?

I'm replacing my ASUS ROG Strix Impact III with a Steel Series Aerox 5.  It's been almost one year since I bought it to replace my Corsair M55 RGB Pro.  I broke the left mouse button entirely.  I blamed that on a combination of Genshin Impact and Honkai:Star Rail.

At the same time I bought the ASUS mouse, I bought a Steel Series Rival 3.  Each was around US$30, which isn't much, especially for a gaming mouse.  I've been using the Rival 3 on my M1 MacBook Air, even though the trackpad is excellent.  I have a few games I play and the whole set of buttons makes playing much easier.

A couple of weeks ago, Solo Leveling: Arise was updated and suddenly, it was taking me 3-5 clicks for a click to register.  I noticed that there was a visible lag in movement.  Using the Rival 3, I was still getting some of that, but not as much.  I don't expect anything like that to change because of the Aerox 5.  I'm not sure what the developers are doing, but maybe they haven't had enough sleep.

Being able to see inside the shell of the mouse is interesting.  I don't know that I needed something this fancy, but it was US$20 off and I hoped that it would be more durable.  However, I'm not likely to ever buy a mouse for over US$100.

 Back in 1991, I bought an IBM L40SX, which was an Intel 486SX (486DX without math coprocessor) laptop computer with just enough storage and RAM for Windows 3.0.  It was available on HSN for 25% of the original US$6000.  I bought a Logitech Trackman laptop trackball for about US$150 because there was nothing else at the time and it hung in the gap between the numeric keypad and the case.  Today, there are plenty of choices, and good trackpads are part of the laptop computer.

In any case, another little journey has started and I'll see how well this Aerox 5 performs.  I suspect it will be fine.  My other Steel Series products have been.

After trying it with a few games, including Solo Leveling: Arise, the Aerox 5 has been responsiveness than the previous mousies.  I had to change some settings on the side buttons because it's much to easy to tap the forward side button with my thumb.  It was sending the F3 key and changing settings while I was playing.  The mouse is a bit bigger than expected, but I'm sure that I will adapt.  The cable is sometimes a pain, but the responsiveness wouldn't be the same using a wireless mouse, especially one with an adapter using an extra port I don't have ATM.