Panasonic S5 II assessment: The complete-frame vlogging digital camera you’ve been ready for | Saga Tech

WWhereas fashionable with vloggers, Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras have been held again from true greatness by the shortage of a part detection autofocus system. Lastly, the corporate has mounted that drawback with the discharge of the S5 II. It has a brand new 24-megapixel sensor with phase-detection pixels that ought to eradicate the wobble and jitter which have plagued contrast-detection AF on Panasonic cameras through the years.

To make it even higher for content material creators, Panasonic additionally introduced its new and extra highly effective stabilization system to the GH6. And you continue to get the highly effective video options you’d count on from Panasonic cameras, like as much as 6K video, monitoring instruments, and superior audio options. The S5 II can be attractively priced at $2,000, $500 lower than the Sony A7 IV and Canon EOS R6 II, its essential rivals.

That is Panasonic’s first hybrid phase-detection AF system, so I used to be very curious to see the way it stacked up in opposition to these cameras. I additionally wished to see if it will allow you to depart your gimbal at residence, as the corporate suggests in its advertisements. To search out out, I took him round Paris and my hometown of Gien, France.

Bodywork and Dealing with

The physique and management format of the S5 II are similar to the S5, and total that is a superb factor. At 740 grams, it’s barely heavier than its essential rivals. Nevertheless, it is nonetheless a fairly light-weight camcorder that is snug sufficient for a full day of recording.

It is obtained an enormous, snug grip, together with loads of handbook controls that allow you to change settings without having to dive into menus. It has all of the controls you’d count on, like a joystick, devoted AF management, and extra. The document button is positioned on prime so it is simple to seek out when vlogging, however it will be good to have a document button on the entrance just like the GH6.

If you must use the menus, Panasonic has nailed that half, with well-organized classes that make vital settings pretty straightforward to seek out. It is fairly straightforward to customise issues too, so as with all digital camera I like to recommend doing it on your personal model of labor.

The three-inch, 1.8 million-dot rear display is identical as earlier than and is vibrant and sharp for video work. After all, it is totally articulated, so you’ll be able to flip it over to vlog, maintain it excessive or low, and extra. The one downside is which you could get tousled in any cable, particularly the headphone jack.

Fortuitously, Panasonic elevated the decision of the OLED digital viewfinder (EVF) to three.68 million dots from the unique S5’s 2.34 million dots. It is now decently crisp and clear, addressing certainly one of my greatest complaints in regards to the newest mannequin.

One other welcome replace is 2 quick UHS-II card slots, as a substitute of 1 UHS-II slot and one UHS-I slot on the S5. That permits for sooner switch speeds and extra dependable backups, if you wish to document video to 2 playing cards directly. It additionally now makes use of a full-size HDMI connector, moderately than a micro one like earlier than, making it far more dependable when utilizing an exterior recorder.

After all, there are headphone and microphone jacks, however the S5 II now provides 4-channel recording by way of the DMW-XLR1 shoe audio adapter, identical to the GH6. It additionally borrows the audio interface from the latter supplying you with a central hub for all of your audio settings. It would not have a devoted button just like the GH6, however you’ll be able to assign any operate button.

Lastly, the batteries are borrowed from the S5 II and supply as much as 470 pictures on a cost or a strong two hours of 4K recording.

Video

Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras are primarily designed for camcorders, so let’s get into that first. The centerpiece of this digital camera is the brand new phase-detection autofocus, designed to eradicate the wobble or wobbling that occurred with earlier Panasonic fashions that solely had contrast-detection autofocus. So how does it work for content material creators?

As with different current fashions, the S5 II’s system contains common steady AF modes together with topic monitoring, for each people and animals. It isn’t fairly as refined as current rival cameras just like the A7 IV and EOS R6II, although, as it may well’t monitor issues like automobiles and planes, and it would not distinguish between birds and different animals.

Fortuitously, the capabilities it has are on par with these fashions. It tracks your topics easily and has little or no lag in the event that they transfer in the direction of the digital camera, for instance. Face and eye detection is nice, although it struggles a bit in case your topic is popping and you’ll’t observe their eyes if they are not moderately near the digital camera. It is also not as sticky as rival fashions.

Nonetheless, it usually tracks focus reliably for interviews, vlogging, and different conditions. Extra importantly, tapping, in search of, and wobbling are utterly gone, so now you can depend on the S5 II’s autofocus in most conditions.

There’s a caveat which may be vital to some customers. As YouTuber CameraOfChoice factors out, part detection AF works nice in any respect 4K and 6K resolutions, and 1080 25p. Nevertheless, the digital camera switches to contrast-detection AF at 10-bit 1080p 60fps and 120fps resolutions, together with 3.3K 422/10L 25p. I’ve contacted Panasonic for extra info, however if you happen to use these resolutions regularly, it’s possible you’ll must look into a unique mannequin.

With a lot of the autofocus points gone, the S5 II is a way more engaging video and vlogging digital camera due to its different highly effective options.

You possibly can document 5.9K video at 30p utilizing the total width of the sensor, or full-width super-sampled 4K at as much as 30 fps. 60p 4K video can be potential, however requires APS-C cropping and a few lack of sharpness. The S5 II can even deal with 4:3 anamorphic video as much as 6K utilizing the total width of the sensor, or 3:2 “open door” video making it straightforward to crop or ship in social media codecs.

There are few temperature-related time restrictions in any of those modes, due to the inclusion of a sensible fan that solely kicks in whenever you want it to (under). That means, there aren’t any time restrictions on any video at 4K or under, together with 1080p 120, whereas 6K is restricted to half-hour. Panasonic is the one producer that assessments their cameras at round 105 levels Fahrenheit, so most customers will doubtless by no means expertise any points.

As with most Panasonic cameras, you’ll be able to document 10-bit video with V-log to extend dynamic vary. And it is simpler than ever to watch V-Log. You can’t solely select a typical Rec.709 output, but additionally show your individual customized lookup desk or LUT. You possibly can even document these LUTs as your last video output, supplying you with limitless “appears” and doubtlessly saving time in submit.

The principle downside to video is the low information charges (200 Mbps and under) and the shortage of inner ProRes or All-I recording modes. There’s additionally no exterior RAW seize, although you’ll add that later for a $200 charge. You possibly can, nevertheless, seize different ProRes codecs into an Atomos Ninja V/V+ or BlackMagic Video Help recorder.

And that brings up Panasonic’s upcoming S5 IIx, introduced concurrently the S5 II. It’s priced at $2,200 and is sort of similar when it comes to options. Nevertheless, the additional $200 will get you not solely included RAW exterior video, but additionally ProRes seize to an exterior SSD by way of the USB-C port. With a small value distinction to get such a helpful characteristic, many individuals might need to look forward to this mannequin.

One other nice new functionality is the up to date inner stabilization taken from the GH6. It is now a lot better at smoothing out vertical step movement than the S5, although there’s nonetheless some side-to-side rocking. It additionally has a “Increase IS” for handheld video the place you need not transfer, holding pictures locked in like a digital camera on a tripod. Can it substitute your gimbal? In some instances, sure, however you will should work rigorously because it nonetheless cannot match the smoothness of a gimbal.

Video high quality is great, with extraordinarily sharp 4K 30p and 4K 60p, that is solely barely much less. Colours are correct and pleasing straight from the digital camera, with natural-looking pores and skin tones. 10-bit V-log video provides a really strong 14+ stops of dynamic vary, simply shy of fashions from Nikon and Sony. That gave me lots of room for extra creativity or correcting overexposed or underexposed pictures.

The S5 additionally does effectively in low gentle, due to Panasonic’s Twin Native ISO system. Do not count on Sony A7S III-level efficiency, however the Twin ISO system actually does hold noise down at ISOs as excessive as 12,800 and even 25,600. Certain, you will see noise whenever you crank up the shadows at these ISOs, however the grain appears fairly pure. Something under ISO 6400 has little or no seen noise. One quirk is that it is higher to make use of ISO 4000 as a substitute of ISO 3200, as Twin ISO is about to each ISO 640 and ISO 4000.

As for the curler blind, the S5 II is mediocre on this regard. It is most noticeable in 6K or super-sampled 4K modes, however not dangerous in any respect with an APS-C crop. I would charge it higher than the upper decision A7 IV and about the identical as Canon’s R6 II.

Lastly, Panasonic provides some ways to watch video not seen on rival cameras, together with waveforms and vectorscopes. These options are very helpful for video professionals, serving to them enhance publicity and colour accuracy. And as talked about, it is a breeze to work with the audio due to a devoted hub for tweaking settings, together with line and mic inputs.

Images

Most individuals in all probability will not purchase the S5 II for images, nevertheless it’s not dangerous on this division. It might probably deal with bursts as much as 7fps with the mechanical shutter or 30fps in digital mode. The buffer is fairly spectacular, permitting for 200 RAW pictures earlier than throttling – a full 6 seconds of uninterrupted 30fps burst taking pictures.

At these speeds, autofocus is basically maintained, although it is not as quick or as correct because the R6 II and A7 IV AF programs. As with video, the photograph autofocus is not as good or tenacious with topics because the Sony A7 IV. Nonetheless, it is a lot better than the contrast-detection AF of the final mannequin, and on a par with current AF programs from Nikon and Fujifilm.

Regardless of the quick digital burst speeds, the S5 II sees restricted use as a sports activities digital camera. The rolling shutter would have an effect on pictures with fast-moving topics, until you employ it in APS-C mode. That is a doable choice, nevertheless it cuts the decision in half.