Panasonic is caught between a rock and a hard place. Despite having some very capable mirrorless hybrids, they are the only major camera manufacturer not to offer a digital cinema camera. Yes, you could make an argument that companies like Leica and Hasselblad also don’t make digital cinema cameras, but they have never made one, whereas Panasonic has.
There’s a ton of clickbait titles on YouTube and social media about how Panasonic’s latest LUMIX full-frame cameras are annihilating the competition. While specification-wise they do offer certain features that some of their competition doesn’t, Panasonic, at least in my opinion, is currently still in a difficult position.
It’s important to put into context why Panasonic, despite its latest releases and firmware updates, finds itself in the position it is.
You buy into an ecosystem
Firstly, with mirrorless hybrids, you are buying into a lens ecosystem. If you have been using a Sony or Canon camera for years, you probably have a lot of native glass you have invested in. Now, here lies one of the problems Panasonic faces. It doesn’t matter how good a camera you announce, you are going to have a very, very hard time convincing someone to switch over to another brand if they need to unload all of their glass and buy new lenses. As a camera manufacturer, once you have someone invested in your lens ecosystem, you essentially have them hooked. As mirrorless hybrids are not overly expensive, most users will have spent a lot more money on lenses than the camera body. In the case of Canon and Sony users, they probably have glass that they use on their digital cinema cameras and their mirrorless hybrids.
Most people who are already using Sony or Canon, and have been for years, are not going to suddenly switch over to Panasonic, regardless of the features they may offer. That’s the reality.
L-mount
The other problem Panasonic faces is that L-mount is not as popular as other mounts. Panasonic was arguably very slow to release L-mount lenses, and again, this led to potential buyers not wanting to invest in the system.
Even though Leica/Panasonic had a mirrorless mount way back in 2014, it took forever to gain any traction. It was originally called the T Mount and was used on the Leica T camera. It wasn’t renamed the L-Mount until 2018 with the release of the Leica SL.
The L mount alliance consists of Leica Camera, SIGMA, Panasonic, Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH, and DJI.
Just like most other mirrorless mounts you can use other lenses through adapters as it has a 20mm flange distance, which is exactly the same as the Canon RF mount. The Nikon Z mount is 16mm, and the Sony E mount is 18mm.
Sony jumped on mirrorless very early on, and that is why there are so many lenses and the widespread use of the E mount. Nikon was very smart with its Z mount. The biggest advantage Nikon has with its Z mount is that, because the flange depth is so small, it is very easy to adapt other lenses, including Sony E mount. This allows you to have AF capabilities using Sony E mount lenses.
No upgrade path
The biggest glaring issue Panasonic has is that they have no upgrade path. Because they no longer have a cinema division, where does a potential user go if they want to move to a digital cinema camera? Canon, Sony, and arguably even Nikon, RED, Blackmagic, and Fujifilm offer this in some form or fashion.
Banking on the content creator boom
On the flip side of the argument, because of the content creator boom, you could make a case that Panasonic doesn’t need to make digital cinema cameras, and that not having any is actually helping them, as they don’t have any products they need to protect. This allows them to throw everything but the kitchen sink into a mirrorless hybrid.
Specifications don’t mean as much as people want you to believe
The reality is, people use certain cameras for a variety of reasons, and as we all know, specifications don’t make or break a camera. Usability, lens choice, reliability, upgrade path, etc., all factor heavily into purchasing decisions.
Late to the party
Timing has also been an issue for Panasonic. They always seem to be the last ones to show up at the party. In the early days of the GH series, they were always one of the first to arrive, bearing gifts that other party attendees didn’t bring. They then arguably held onto M4/3 for too long, while other companies moved forward with APS-C and full-frame offerings.
It doesn’t matter how good your camera actually is
I would make a strong case that the S1H was way ahead of its time in terms of the feature set it offered when it came to video capabilities. Back in 2019, nothing came close to it, but it wasn’t a massive success. Again, L mount was not a popular mount; there was a lack of lenses for the system, and the camera had pretty poor AF performance, which is important to a lot of mirrorless hybrid users. In saying that, if you didn’t use native glass and instead went with a PL mount adapter, the S1H was, and still is, an excellent camera. I still own one to this day.
What I am trying to say is that it doesn’t matter how good your mirrorless hybrid camera is; if you haven’t been able to get people into your native lens ecosystem, and you don’t have a clear upgrade path, you put yourself into a difficult position.
Look, I am not trying to bash Panasonic in any way. I think their latest releases offer very good bang for your buck. I am simply trying to put some perspective on the hype and the position the company is in.
I think most of us would love to see a dedicated digital cinema camera from Panasonic, but I just don’t see that happening anytime soon.
No Digital Cinema Camera Division
Panasonic’s Digital Cinema Camera Division no longer exists, and there is now just LUMIX. This essentially means that you aren’t going to see any digital cinema cameras from Panasonic, unless they suddenly decide to make one under the LUMIX brand.
Panasonic announced the AG-AF100 Micro 4/3-inch video camcorder back in 2010. It was the first ‘affordable’ digital cinema camera to have features like built-in ND, and it was essentially an evolution of the LUMIX GH series.
Panasonic then arguably dropped the ball, and there was never an AG-AF100 replacement. Sony, then Canon, came in with the F3 and C300, respectively, and Panasonic stood in the wind. This was very strange given Panasonic was the first company to put features such as 4:2:2 10-bit recording and HD at 60p into mirrorless hybrids. Instead of running with these capabilities and making another digital cinema camera, they stood still, and Sony and Canon raced way past them. In Panasonic’s defence, they were a little hamstrung as at the time they weren’t making APS-C or full frame sensors and they were putting all their chips on M4/3.
The other problem was that, because of the whole DSLR revolution and the runaway success of cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D, shooters wanted something with a larger sensor.
It wasn’t until 2014 that Panasonic announced the VariCam 35 (AU-V35C1), which had a Super-35mm 4K MOS sensor for 4096 x 2160 (17:9) image capture. It had a claimed 14+ stops of dynamic range and could output 4K images up to 120 fps. While this was a good camera, Panasonic didn’t have any entry path for users to work up to a VariCam 35. It was also fairly expensive at the time, and it was being positioned to take on the ARRI Alexa.
Panasonic then came out with the VariCam LT two years later in 2016. This was an excellent camera, but it never took off because it was very late to the party. By the time this camera was announced, the Sony FS7 had already been out for more than two years, and Canon’s C300 Mark II for more than a year and a half. It was arguably a better camera than both the FS7 and C300 Mark II, and arguably a competitor to cameras like the Sony F5/55 and ARRI Amira.
In 2017, Panasonic brought out the EVA-1, which was arguably their first affordably priced digital cinema camera since the AG-AF100. Again, it was very late to the party, and so many shooters were already heavily invested in the Sony and Canon ecosystems.
Just like the Varicam 35 and Varicam LT, the EVA-1 never really took off.
One of the biggest hurdles Panasonic has had to overcome is that they haven’t had an “affordable” digital cinema camera since the AF101 and the EVA-1. This creates a problem because, unlike Sony, Canon, RED, and Blackmagic, there hasn’t been anything to upgrade from. For instance, back in the day, if you were a Sony FS700 owner, you may have upgraded to an FS7, if you were a Canon C100 user, you might have upgraded to a C300, and so on. These companies have always had a camera you could upgrade to as you potentially evolve in your career. With Panasonic, it’s almost like they have had to start from scratch.
Panasonic’s big dilemma is not just how to attract new buyers but also how to lure away loyal users of Canon, Sony, and Blackmagic cameras. When you start talking about cameras in the EVA1 price range, shooters generally are not likely to replace their camera every time a new model comes out. If you are an owner/operator, you want to try and get the most out of your investment as possible, especially if you are spending significant money. If you have bought a camera in the last two years, you are unlikely to be upgrading to something new unless that camera offers key features you didn’t previously have, and now need.
For the EVA1 to have gained traction in the market, it couldn’t just be another camera that was as good as its competition; it needed to be better. This was the harsh reality because you need to convince potential buyers that the camera is either substantially better than what they already have or better than the existing competition. Back in 2016, if we look at say the C200, Canon already had a substantial base of C100 and C300 owners who were looking to upgrade. Introducing a new camera in the Cinema EOS series that is already familiar to your customer base is a far easier sell.
Panasonic did release the BGH1 in 2020, but that arguably wasn’t what you would classify as a digital cinema camera, and it certainly wasn’t a EVA-1 successor. This was a fairly niche camera, and Panasonic did follow it up with a couple of similar form factor offerings, none of which made any traction in the market.
Where to now?
Where does Panasonic go from here? That is a good question. Panasonic’s global market share, when you look at mirrorless hybrids, is only around 5%.
Maybe the rumoured S1H II will be the camera everyone has been waiting for, but with the recent firmware upgrades to the new S1RII and S1II, what is Panasonic going to do to differentiate that camera?
What are our readers’ thoughts on Panasonic? I would be interested to hear in the comments section below.
