Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II is the model’s newest iteration in its in style digicam lineup, with many upgrades perfecting the present options and including new ones. Making it a tempting digicam for skilled photographers and videographers. The Lumix DC-S5 II has a newly developed sensor with PDAF built-in to finish the package deal. It can file as much as 6K open-gate movies with limitless recording time taking the assistance of the brand new cooling system. Let’s have an in-depth have a look at all these within the Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II overview.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II Review
This overview can be from the attitude of somebody who has labored with fundamental DSLR cameras for a number of years however has by no means held a premium and flagship mirrorless just like the Lumix S5 II. So let’s get on with the journey with me to discover the flexibility of the Lumix S5 II on each the pictures and videography entrance.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Unboxing
Before starting the overview, let’s crack open the field to see what else we get within the package deal in addition to the digicam.
- Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II
- Lens(es); 50mm Portrait, and 20-60mm Zoom
- Charging adapter
- Type A to C cable
- Neck strap
- Quick begin information and Warranty Card
Specifications of Lumix DC-S5 II
- Sensor: 24.2 MP CMOS
- Sensor mount: Leica L
- Stabilization: 5-axis sensor shift stabilization
- ISO Sensitivity: 100 to 51,200 (Extended: 50 to 204,800)
- Image Size: 24.2 MP (6000 x 4000), 96 MP (12,000 x 8000)
- Colour Depth: 14-bit
- Video Resolution: 6K, 5.9K, 4K, 1080p @ 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps
- I/O: Dual SD Card slot, HDMI, 3.5mm Microphone, 3.5mm Headphones, USB C
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Monitor: 3 inches LCD touchscreen
- VF: Built-in OLED EVF
- Battery: 2200 mAh
- Weight: 658 grams (Body)
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Design
The Lumix DC-S5 II is visually similar to the common Lumix DC S5, aside from a number of minor changes within the design. Panasonic deepened the digicam grip to make it extra regular in fingers whereas utilizing giant lenses. The shutter button angle is barely modified to compensate for the upgraded grip. There are a number of extra modifications within the digicam design that I’ve mentioned beneath.
A Cooling Fan
The digicam now comes with a fan to chill down the internals and permitting to file for longer. The vent is positioned proper below the Lumix branding on the entrance, and the exhaust is positioned on the left of the EVF. A few settings are offered to manage the fan velocity, which we’ll talk about later within the overview. I barely heard the fan noise whereas utilizing the digicam, which is sweet for noise-less recordings.
Splash Proof?
Despite the openings for the digicam, Panasonic ensures that the Lumix S5 II can deal with tough climate. You can wipe out the water splashes with a material and file your valuable moments. Another minor change is that the LVF sensor has been moved to the highest of the LVF window as an alternative of the underside aspect. This ensures not by accident auto-switching to LVF whereas utilizing the digicam show.
Panasonic elevated the dimensions of the joystick on the Lumis DC-S5 II, and now it’s an 8-way as an alternative of a 4-way earlier than. There is now a full-size HDMI port as an alternative of a mini HDMI which is an enormous enchancment for professionals. Despite all this, the digicam physique weighs 658 grams which is in step with fashionable mirrorless cameras.
Dials and Buttons
There are 5 dials, together with the one on the shutter button, to change between the settings rapidly. You can change these dials to toggle between modes or values in line with your wants. A pleasant contact is a three-button to rapidly change the ISO, WB, and Exposure. It will take a while to get used to the dials and buttons structure, however as soon as perfected, you will not must faucet the display screen once more to vary any fundamental setting.
Ports and Connectivity
Let’s speak in regards to the IO actual fast; the digicam has a big door on the appropriate aspect to carry two SD playing cards concurrently. The left aspect has a door to cover the microphone and a headphone jack. Below that’s one other flap that accommodates the full-size HDMI and a Type C port. On the underside, there’s a tripod mount and a battery door.
Well, there are some issues we didn’t like in regards to the digicam, like when utilizing the HDMI port, the monitor flexibility will get restricted. Another criticism is that there isn’t a tally gentle on the digicam; Panasonic compensates for this with an choice to put a purple border on the monitor to inform when the digicam is stay.
Overall I’m pleased with the design and construct high quality of the Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II. It is transportable, sturdy, straightforward to function, and may deal with unhealthy climate. With loads of connectivity choices and twin SD card slots, it’s a lifesaver for an expert.
My Take on Build Quality
I fell in love with this digicam the second I held it in my fingers as a result of all of the cameras I had used earlier than have been cumbersome and heavy. This digicam is ideal for my tiny fingers, and the grip will get further factors for consolation. I can simply attain nearly all crucial buttons, however repeatedly confused the recording button with the three buttons for WB, ISO, and Exposure.
A small change I’d recommend to Panasonic is so as to add a button on the rear dial to stop it from by accident rotating. I usually put my thumb proper the place the dial is and unintentionally switched it a number of occasions.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Display and EVF
The Lumix DC-S5 II comes with a 3 inches LCD touchscreen monitor. It has a excessive dot density to maintain the content material sharp and clear. The contact display screen is responsive, and the brightness is excessive sufficient to see the content material open air.
You also can set the brightness to computerized for higher usability with out aggressively hitting the battery. The monitor could be very versatile and might be swiveled, so you should use this digicam to shoot vlogs. A full-size HDMI presents flexibility when selecting exterior screens to your digicam.
The digicam’s show solely reveals a clear feed when linked to an exterior show. Also, it doesn’t lose tap-to-autofocus performance when utilizing the secondary monitor, which is tremendous helpful. Panasonic has additionally upgraded the EVF on the S5 II in comparison with the common S5. Now we get 3.6 million dots on the EVF, in comparison with the two.36 million on S5. It presents a whole lot of customization and changes, as you’ll count on from DSLR cameras.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Features
The Lumix DC-S5 II packs a ton of options that you could be not discover on some other mirrorless digicam from the competitors. For pictures, the Lumi S5 II homes the newest sensor from Panasonic, which continues to be 24.2 MP however now comes with a hybrid autofocus system.
Hybrid Auto Focus
It makes use of the Panasonic homegrown DFD (Depth From Defocus) AF and Phase detection autofocus; this new autofocus system was a lot wanted from the final iteration. This digicam also can seize a full 96MP picture by capturing 4 24MP stills by shifting the sensor, which is stitched collectively to present the 96MP image.
Up to 6K 4:2:2 Video Recording
Moving on to the videography, the Lumix S5 II comes with as much as 6K open-gate video recording in each MP4 and MOV codecs. Since that is an open-gate video, the side ratio can be 3:4, however in order for you the video to be 16:9, strive the 5.9K recording. The 5.9K decision additionally permits you to add a panning in post-production whereas retaining the small print within the video.
Easy Pan Shots
Another nice characteristic is Live cropping, out there right here to create a panning shot from the digicam routinely. So mainly, the digicam helps you to select the beginning and cease level from the body and select how lengthy the pan ought to be. Once all set, the digicam outputs a pointy 4K panning footage of the topic you might be working with.
Built-in LUTs
The Lumix DC-S5 II is an effective possibility for many who love to make use of LUTs of their movies. The digicam permits you to use LUT in Real-time to the video, so that you don’t have so as to add a LUT in post-production. You can add preset LUTs from the digicam or create a brand new one from the digicam settings.
Two SD Cards
The Lumix S5 II accepts two SD playing cards directly, so that you don’t have to change SD playing cards between shoots. You can customise it to avoid wasting footage on one card and movies on one other. Apart from this, you get extra customization choices to make use of the playing cards.
It is sweet to see Panasonic will not be slicing corners, as there is a USB Type-C port for information and charging. This permits to make use of the digicam even when the battery dies by straight plugging the digicam into energy by way of the type-C cable. It continues to get energy whereas recording movies in order that the battery received’t restrict you. We will speak in regards to the battery efficiency later within the overview.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: User Interface
The consumer interface on the Lumix DC-S5 II could also be baffling to anybody new to the DLSR digicam world. A number of actual options are hidden beneath layers of various settings menus. If it wasn’t for the digicam’s consumer handbook, I should have missed these superb options as a result of they’re hidden within the settings.
Panasonic should repair the menu layer to make all these essential options out there to the customers rapidly and effortlessly. Navigating via the consumer interface is a no brainer, and my internal nerd likes to discover settings in numerous devices to search out new options.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Still Photography
Lumix DC-S5 II is a hybrid digicam, and Panasonic has ensured it tops each skilled necessities. Starting from the digicam’s pictures mode, you get a few modes to step up your digicam recreation. It can seize a normal 24MP or a high-resolution 96MP shot in line with your wants. The high-resolution mode wants the digicam mounted to a tripod for sharp, high-resolution pictures.
There is a burst mode with a pleasant seize fee to click on a crisp image, regardless of the situation. A time-lapse shot mode and a stop-motion animation shot are additionally offered within the digicam. The stop-motion animation mode can output a whole video in order for you, which is nice for small tasks. And the Self-timer characteristic helps you to seize footage utilizing a timer.
An Intelligent Auto (iA) mode is offered for newbies who aren’t accustomed to tweaking the settings as per the state of affairs. This works for each video and pictures, however primarily it’s helpful for nonetheless pictures. It can detect about 8 to 10 conditions and dial the settings accordingly. A tiny characteristic that I really like about this digicam is for capturing portrait photographs. The digicam understands that the image you clicked is in portrait orientation, and when previewed on the monitor, the image is displayed in portrait orientation.
The Lumix DC-S5 II is a good photograph possibility, with superb sharp footage and an incredible dynamic vary. We tried each the included lenses to seize footage in all sorts of lighting situations. The samples listed below are cropped and compressed; you may test the unedited digicam samples to higher have a look at the picture high quality.
My Take on Photography
Photography will not be my factor, so after testing the digicam’s pictures capabilities, one factor I noticed is that there are quite a few modes for pictures on this digicam. It might be difficult for a pictures beginner like me to find out the perfect mode and settings. On a optimistic observe, I actually loved the i.A. mode, because it routinely selects the perfect settings based mostly on the state of affairs.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Videography
Panasonic has perfected the digicam’s video capabilities as a lot as nonetheless pictures. As talked about earlier within the overview, the digicam can seize as much as 6K open-gate movies, which is incredible for professionals. This helps to mess around with zoom results whereas conserving the output at 4K decision.
Another decision that may assist the professionals a bit extra is 5.9K. The digicam information the 5.9K decision within the 16:9 side ratio, making it much more useful for professionals to work on. The movies might be recorded in each MP4 and MOV requirements, however MP4 solely helps as much as 4K.
The digicam can seize movies with 4:2:2 subsampling which is superb for individuals who work with inexperienced screens. This not solely helps the chroma-keying but in addition enhances the general colors of the video. Panasonic has added one other essential characteristic within the digicam that film makers will like to have on a compact digicam like this; Shutter Angle.
Live Cropping is one other characteristic I really like about this digicam; it creates a clean pan shot with out even shifting the digicam. This characteristic lets you choose the beginning and finish factors from the entire body. Then relying on the period, the digicam routinely creates a 20 sec or a 40-sec pan shot.
Doing so doesn’t have an effect on the video high quality or decision; you will get this shot in full 4K decision. My internal nerd wished to do that characteristic and created a pan shot of some motion figures on the desk. The video got here out silky clean, and I beloved how the digicam stored all the things in focus. People who work for promoting companies would love this characteristic for his or her product video shoots.
My Take on Videography
Once once more, the Lumix S5 II has impressed me with its in depth vary of choices and options for video recording. I instantly started exploring all of the video modes and ended up capturing video samples with nearly each mode.
Among my favourites have been gradual movement, stay cropping, and cease movement. What’s even higher is that the digicam output of stop-motion seize as movies. However, I need to point out that finding these modes within the settings is kind of difficult; they need to be simply accessible to the consumer.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Hybrid Auto Focus
One criticism that each digicam fanatic had with the common Lumix DC-S5 is the absence of PDAF. Panasonic listened to them and constructed PDAF into the sensor for higher autofocusing, conserving its signature Depth From Defocus autofocus system. Hence, we obtained a greater autofocusing system within the Lumix DC-S5 II.
While there are tons of focusing modes and customizations offered within the digicam, we had a tough time figuring each mode out and ended up testing each single mixture. We concluded that whereas autofocusing does work, it really works finest solely in well-lit environments. It’s not good when capturing indoors with folks and devices in the identical body. We additionally discovered that the autofocus monitoring will not be very correct both; the digicam shifts the main target to something with the identical color as the topic.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Stabilization
The Lumix DC-S5 II comes with a 5-axis in-body stabilization which helps to maintain the video secure. It also can benefit from lens stabilization to additional improve the stabilization. Panasonic has considerably improved the stabilization within the S5 II, which is clearly seen within the outcomes.
Panasonic went all the best way and added an IS enhance characteristic that helps when capturing handheld. This locks onto the scene and stabilizes the video at that time. The output could be very secure; you may test it within the pattern from the Google Photos hyperlink.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Battery and Charging
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II is constructed for steady recording no matter video decision. The solely two issues that may restrict the digicam from doing so are the storage and battery. The package deal has a 2200 mAh battery that lasts properly over an hour with steady recording.
The digicam can be powered straight by an influence supply utilizing the Type-C port. Once depleted, the battery might be charged straight by way of the digicam or with the charger. The battery takes about an hour to get totally charged by way of the digicam. Overall there’s a want for battery optimization for longer capturing time as a result of the digicam loses battery rapidly in standby mode.
Pros and Cons
After spending my time with the Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II, listed below are the Pros and Cons to summarize the overview:
Pros
- Up to 6K open gate video recording
- Hybrid autofocusing system
- Dozens of video recording options
- Great stabilization
- Solid splash-proof design
Cons
- Autofocusing nonetheless wants work
- Underwhelming battery efficiency
Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II: Final Verdict
The Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 II is a flexible digicam with a stable splash-proof design that excels in nonetheless pictures and videography. With the addition of PDAF, the digicam nonetheless struggles in low-light and complicated environments. The Lumix DC-S5 II comes with 5-axis in-body stabilization. The battery life is respectable however could possibly be improved.
I like to recommend this digicam to anybody with prior expertise working with mirrorless cameras and would like to up the videography recreation. But in order for you a digicam just for pictures, I recommend you go for a less expensive possibility and purchase some good lenses and equipment, with the cash saved.
Check out our different opinions:
You also can observe us for fast tech information at Google News or for suggestions and methods, smartphones & devices opinions, be a part of GadgetsToUse Telegram Group or for the newest overview movies subscribe GadgetsToUse YouTube Channel.