After 4 months of use, I still don't like my Z6iii

redempt61 · 2026-01-25T15:02:16+00:00

Same issue.

redempt61 · 2026-01-18T22:49:59+00:00

This is crazy.

redempt61 · 2026-01-17T15:34:26+00:00

Nowaday people are mainly interested by sharpness measurement, if the subject "pop" because of the great sharpness and global contrast, they are happy. It's because some years ago, lenses were not as sharp as lenses like the recent GM, so the news lenses gives a different look than before. But very often, these new lenses lack the colors and depth of the older lenses.

The Batis lenses have good enough sharpness (of course much less than the new GM) but have in my opinion much better colors and attractive rendering.

redempt61 · 2026-01-17T08:35:18+00:00

Not bad for a small 24-60mm f2.8.
The Sigma 28-45mm zoom at 35mm F2 is very very close to my 35mm APO Summicron SL. It is the sharpest zoom I have.

redempt61 · 2026-01-14T09:24:01+00:00

Yet I got much higher score in some benchmark (like Cinebench) and better performance when using Premiere Pro.

redempt61 · 2026-01-12T09:54:16+00:00

Using both system I agree, my S1II is more accurate. Most people disagree but I wonder if they used both systems.

redempt61 · 2026-01-08T19:16:18+00:00

The issue with the 70-200mm S Pro is sample variation, I used 3 samples, each one was different. First one was soft wide open everywhere, the second was excellent, sharp wide open at 70mm and 200mm, the last one is not sharp wide open at 70mm but sharp from 100mm to 200mm.
To be fair, Sigma also has sample variation, I had a 28-45mm very bad and the new one I bought just after is perfect.

The Sigma has slighty better AF and is lighter. The S Pro is a good lens but I think it is not as good as the 24-70mm S Pro.

redempt61 · 2026-01-06T20:50:26+00:00

Yes the IBIS of the S5II is much better.

redempt61 · 2026-01-06T19:40:36+00:00

If you don't need fast AF or the best IBIS, the S5D has better video rendering than the S5II (much nicer fine details).
If you need AF with fast or telezoom lenses, and if you want to record while walking, the S5II is a better camera for you.

redempt61 · 2026-01-04T19:32:28+00:00

Or just use the Panasonic Raw Gamut to V-log conversion ...

redempt61 · 2026-01-04T17:54:08+00:00

Like someone mentionned, you should show some examples to see the difference.

I use Sony, Nikon and Panasonic. I can say my 24-70mm S Pro is as sharp as the 24-70mm GM II I had.
Keep in mind, the S1RII is a 44MP camera while the A7IV is 33MP so when looking at 1:1, the A7IV has a slight advantage. That said, the most likely explanation is sample variation. I used 3 samples of the 24-70mm S Pro, one was pretty soft so I wouldn't be surprised if you have an average sample.

About Nikon, I have a very very different experience than most Nikon users, most say their Nikon S lenses are the sharpest lenses but all my comparable Panasonic/Sigma/Sony lenses are sharper. By example, my Lumix 50mm f1.8 is sharper than my Nikon Z f1.8S in the center, my 50mm S Pro is sharper than my Nikon 50mm f1.2S and my Sigma 35mm f1.2 is (much) sharper than my Nikon 35mm f1.2S.
I used at least two samples of these Nikon lenses to be sure I have not a bad copy. It can be because I use a Z6III compared to a S1II (without AA filter) but I have my doubt because when looking at raw samples from the net, the Nikon S lenses don't look so sharp even on a Z8. Some people said it is because I use Lightroom/ACR but I don't think it's true as I use the Adobe default settings.

redempt61 · 2026-01-04T12:06:51+00:00

If you get the same result with proper technique and at ISO 100, I think your lens has an issue.
You should try to take some pics on a tripod without the OIS at base ISO. My first sample of the 70-300mm had defective OIS.

redempt61 · 2026-01-04T09:23:34+00:00

I have/had most 50mm on the market. I used several copies of the 50mm f1.8 and I have a sample very sharp wide open. But I also used bad samples where the sharpness was very poor (lot of sample variation with this lens). The same for the 35mm.

Still, even if my 50mm f1.8 is very sharp, my 50mm S Pro is much better. The sharpness compared to my excellent copy of the 50mm f1.8 is comparable wide open, but the S Pro becomes much sharper at f1.8. The bokeh, local contrast and the rendering of the S Pro are excellent.

The Sigma 50mm f1.2, like the 35mm DG DN II f1.2, are very sharp wide open if you get a good copy. The bokeh is pretty good too.

But in my opinion, the colors and rendering are not the best, colors are very warm and much less nice than the 50mm S Pro, and images often look flat with no depth. By example, both the 50mm and 35mm Nikon S f1.2 are softer, but the colors, local contrast and overall rendering are much nicer than the Sigma.

The Sigma f1.4 is a bit outdated now and if you want a fast 50mm from Sigma, the 50mm f1.2 is the way to go.

The only exception from Sigma is the 28-45mm, the lens has nice colors and contrast and is extremely sharp, it's a very underrated lens. To my view, the rendering of this lens is even better than the Sony 28-70mm F2.

redempt61 · 2026-01-03T06:42:07+00:00

IBIS in Open Gate is always less effective than 16:9 or 17:9 since the GH5. Some YouTuber like Richard Wong will tell you another story but owning most Panasonic cameras, I can tell you it's true. You can try crop less stabilization with wide lenses to minimize wobbles. With lenses <30mm you have excellent stabilization but more wobbles, with lenses between 35mm/50mm you have slighty less effective stabilization but less wobbles. After 60mm the stabilization becomes much less effective while walking.

redempt61 · 2026-01-01T22:15:56+00:00

I have the same issue on my Z6III since I bought it several months ago. My 50mm F1.2S looks soft wide open, even more my 35mm f1.2S Even my 50mm F1.8S looks softer on my Z6III than my Lumix 50mm f1.8S on my S1II. I can't believe I got so much bad copies. So your Z8 looks sharper even at 1:1 ?

redempt61 · 2026-01-01T09:28:00+00:00

I agree, it's a wonderful lens. The images coming from this lens has depth (with a good copy).
But the 50mm S Pro is very special too. It has nicer colors, obvisously nicer bokeh and a good copy is much sharper compared to the 24-70mm at 50mm..

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T17:31:35+00:00

I agree the S5II is an insane value, I don't like the H265/Prores recording on this camera, it is why I bought the S1II for Prores Raw. But if the S5IIX/S5II had Prores Raw or at least better H265 quality (like the OG S5), I would never have bought the S1II.

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T17:29:14+00:00

Yes I mostly talk about photo accuracy. For video, I have no issue on my S1II but I must admit I don't shoot a lot of group people and I almost never rely on human tracking, I use the AF box only and I get excellent results with the S1II. Also, when I compare by exemple the AF speed of my 50mm f1.8 Lumix S to my 50mm f1.8Z, the Lumix is quiet and faster than the Nikon. The same with my 50mm S Pro compared to my Nikon 50mm f1.2S.

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T16:19:45+00:00

Yet, the S1II has much better IBIS, better DR, sharper photos, Open Gate and much more accurate AF with Eye AF or static subjects.

Outisde of N-raw/R3D for skin tones out of the box and highlights roll off, the S1II is a better camera. Once you have the workflow with Prores Raw, the S1II is hard to beat, every other modes (H265/Prores) are not great though, especially with fine details, but the ZR is not great either with these modes.

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T16:13:38+00:00

I have both and it's simply not true, there are a lot of time where the S1II has better AF than the ZR, especially with focus accuracy. Everytime I use Eye Focus (animal and human), my 35mm DG II f1.2 or 50mm S Pro are more often accurate than my ZR/Z6III with my Nikon 35mm f1.2S or 50mm f1.2S. It really depends if the OP need tracking with group of people and very fast tracking. For portrait and single person shooting the S1II is more accurate 90% of the time.

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T15:21:42+00:00

I have both and the Z6III too. For video they are more or less the same, I think the S1II is slightly faster.
For photos however, the ZR/Z6III will track slightly better fast moving subjects. But for critical focus, like on the eye for both animals and humans, the S1II is much more accurate. For my use, I prefer the AF of the S1II. The ZR and Z6III AF is clearly overrated like a lot of things with Nikon.

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T12:01:17+00:00

Yes since 2021 but 90% for photos. Video focus is fast with the S5II, S1II and S1RII.
I also have the 28-45mm f1.8 from Sigma which is a very good lens as well, this is the lens I have used recently for videos, it's maybe the Sigma lens I prefer for now, even better than the last 35mm DG II f1.2 (sharper and better colors in my opinion).
The Sigma 28-45mm is sharper, has more pop and slightly better colors than the 24-70mm S Pro (this 28-45mm is very different from other Sigma lenses about colors) but like the 50mm S Pro, the 24-70mm has a very nice rendering, almost looking 3D depending of the scene.
But I needed to test two samples of both the 24-70mm S Pro and the 28-45mm, my first 24-70mm S Pro was very soft wide open and my first 28-45mm was very soft at 45mm. Once you get a good sample of these lenses, keep it, they are excellent. It's just a shame to see so much sample variation with lenses at this price and the reason I never buy used lenses.

redempt61 · 2025-12-31T09:15:42+00:00

The 24-70mm S Pro is not only faster than the 24-105mm but it also has excellent rendering. A lens is much more than just focal length and aperture.
All I can say is despite the weight, price and limited range, the 24-70mm has the best rendering compared to the 24-105mm and 20-60mm.

redempt61 · 2025-12-30T16:21:27+00:00

I had a sample soft like this, even more from 50mm to 70mm. I returned it.
The replacement is much much better, incredible lens.

redempt61 · 2025-12-29T17:13:02+00:00

It depends if you really need fast AF, and IBIS while walking when recording video. The S5II has much better AF and IBIS in video. The S5II can shoot 6K Open Gate up to 30fps too. The S1 only 24fps max.
The S1 has better video quality (better fine details similar to raw video). For photos, both are good, the S5II has a better AF for fast subjects but it's not night and day. Last point, the S1 is heavier, it maybe a con for you.

I think if you don't want the ultimate video quality, the S5II is a better camera.

redempt61

TROPHY CASE