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Hey guys! Still finishing up my full review. Do you guys have any questions about it?

It's a comedy channel where the host does wildlife photography which almost entirely consists of the squirrels in his neighborhood and where he renamed "bokeh" to "toneh" to make fun of Mr. Northrup going too far with shallow DOF. If you're upset that he goes light on the technical details and doesn't produce Roger Deakins-level cinematography, I think you've missed the point. (And I definitely enjoyed Kasey's video as a standout in a sea of people reading spec sheets and basically shooting the exact same video as every other channel who got invited to Japan)

Theoretically a person could have a custom V-log to S-log LUT in their S5mk2 camera and be able to smoothly shoot alongside Sony cameras as well? Hmmm Could (kinda... half way) "fix" one of the other big negatives about the Panasonic cameras: "it is not Sony". As Sony is the dominant player in the pro market for anything low to mid budget (i.e. "not ARRI"). So very frequently you'll see a Sony Camera Op being requested, so that they smoothly integrate in with their existing workflow.

#1 wish: give us zero delay SDI output!! (they can go with DIN instead of BNC if they need to save space, no big deal, one of my old Atomos monitors already uses DIN instead of BNC) Oh snap! We posted this at exactly the same time.

So lets see.. 1. Big bright focking screen 4.5-5 inches. Yes, we want that, we need that. If you are making a cinema camera in your S-line it should have that. With a reworked menu and proper monitoring tools. 2. Ability to add gyro stabilization in post. Panny already have e-stab that works on top of their awesome Active IS. So why not give us an OFX plug-in that works in every editing sofware and brings stabilisation to the next level.. again! 3. Some proper video specs. FF6k60p should be a minimum high frame rate option I would think. 8k? Maybe but not really that important. 4k120p should be there as well. 4. RAW is imminent I guess just wish they would add BRAW. Not really holding my fingers for that but one can dream right? I dont even know what else would I need. Some top tier DR probably cutting into Alexa territory.

If you're starting from scratch, I can't think of any reason why I'd go for the a7mk4 over the S5mk2 (maybe there is some weird hyper niche reason "why", like maybe there has never been a underwater deep diving case made the S5 and exists instead for the a7mk4?? But I doubt that reason exists) The FX3/FX30 have a better UI for video shooting with, it's purpose built around that. And has the edge in image quality too. Plus has TC, that the a7 & a7S series cameras lack.

With 0.5s hdmi lag i don't need that full hdmi. If you put a consumet wireless on top like a Hollyland, it will even add up more. Top of the line Panny. S2H with open gate downsampled 4k60 with rolling shutter below 15ms, perfect HD up to 120p. SDI, internal NDs. More freedom to crop for S16, 16mm, 2/3 inch, 1to1 with full height of the sensor, all that up to its maximal framerates. 3200 Euro without internal NDs but with Sdi. S2HX with NDs for 4000 Euro. Dreamcam. Put that in a Eva body for 5500 Euro. Dynamic range is already top! Alternatively a S2H with downsampled 4k60 in FF with rolling shutter below 15ms, perfect HD up to 120, more love and flexibility for crop modes, the new AF system, low Hdmi lag. For 2900 Euro. @IronFilm S2H or S1H2 in 2025? That's darn late. Forget my wishlist!😂

The other big problem for Panasonic is there no upwards path to progress with the L Mount. Desperately there is an EVA2 with an L Mount that is needed! (so very sad that a EVA1 MFT never happened 😕 ) Seems the cinema camera division at Panasonic has been gutted, so I guess an EVA2 (of any sorts) won't be happening? If a future EVA1 sequel will never happen, and the LUMIX team have to step up to the plate, then perhaps a "Panasonic BS2H" is what is needed?? (an updated BS1H!) Apparently the boss of the cinema division now works in the LUMIX division, and I'd say that is very very very good news indeed! Gives me hope for a future "Panasonic BS2H" This BS2H could have dual SDI outputs (with zero delay, and independent), plus internal NDs, and that would make everyone very very happy. (plus of course keep everything good about the BS1H, and bring over all the goodness of the S5mk2)

Not that they are taking note, but to me the biggest improvement needed that I can't believe is still an issue is the HDMI delay. As long as the latency is this high it will never be able to be used in a professional setting. Both pulling focus and just monitoring in general is so much worse because of it.

I just don't agree that the L-Mount is all that weak on lenses. The f1.8 prime set from Panasonic is incredibly and their f2.8 zooms are as well (though big, heavy), plus great f4 pro lenses (16-35, 70-200) and nice affordable, high-quality lenses (24-105mm, 70-300mm, and now the new 14-28mm). And Sigma has an incredible line up of DG DN lenses now, whether you're looking for f1.4 primes (20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 85mm) or f2 primes (20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 65mm) or unique/small lenses (24mm f3.5, 45mm f2.8, 90mm f2.8) small but fast zooms (16-28mm f2.8, 28-70mm f2.8) or the standard 24-70mm f2.8 and 14-24mm f2.8 zooms. Agree that Sigma needs an 50mm f1.4 DG DN and Panasonic could use a couple more f1.4 primes (24mm and 85mm), but it's a pretty darn full lineup and you could do almost every type of work with native L-Mount lenses - easy. My problem is not knowing which to buy - The Sigma "i" series or the Panasonic f1.8 set - both are amazing.

Got myself a 5d mkii yesterday. @Tim Sewell I went to buy a 24-105 f4 in great condition. I picked that lens up personally from the seller. Before I texted him if he would sell his 5dii for cheaper, which he had on offer as well. He replied he would talk about it with me in person when i pick up the lens. Well, he sold the body to me for 150EU, 22000 clicks on the shutter only, like new condition! I thought to get the 24-105 for my Fs700 with a speedbooster. Now i also have this beautiful classic camera, the legendary 5dii at my hands. Immediate love. Something the S1 still doesn't do for me. Now i gonna get a nifty fifty 1.8 for no more than fifty. Gonna love some awesome Dslr photo fun. My first digital Dslr. My first Canon L lens. Love it!

I have a Ninja V that sees almost no use. The BMMCC would at least give it some life. 😂 Given the need to rig the camera a bit because of the battery, it really doesn’t matter much beyond that to me since the Ninja on a top handle isn’t cumbersome with other rig bits. Still kicking myself for a missed auction back in fall 2021 that closed under $500 with a couple m43 lenses, full cage setup and a ton of accessories. A perfect starter kit. Grrr. cheers chris

Well I just bought a 5D mkii, with a view to getting another, to relaunch myself into the wedding stills trade this year. Fairly impressed so far...

Yep, that is the only consideration to make. For just 200 more, the S5 II X seems to be the best way to go. I honestly would have expected them to have external raw options in the S5 II since the s5 already has prores and b-raw support.

I won't post the video because I know Andrew really, really doesn't like him, but Tony Northrup tested the S5II's autofocus with the Sigma EF to L adapter and it worked really well.

And, ironically, the AF of my X-S10 is kinda of ennerving me now... (please Panasonic, make a rangefinder S5 II, even with some capped video specs - spoiler, will not happen, hehehehe)

Me after watching all the S5ii coverage... "Panny boy... you did it!"

I think your biggest challenge with the Micro would be finding SD cards that work. There are a few; the cheap Kingston ones have worked for many people but mine only lasted a year; I then spent the big bucks on two Angelbird 128 gig cards and those have been rock-solid reliable so far. I also have a stash of the original Sandisk cards that were approved for this camera but there's always the worry of what to do when cards start to fail. At that point I'd switch to an external monitor/recorder and just shoot ProRes.

Unfortunately the S5 IIX only does 1080 ProRes internal recordings. I hope they add 2K ProRes as well! Because that's a very common resolution with ProRes. And SD cards can handle 2K. (and the SD cards is why it doesn't have 4K ProRes, and records to an external USB drive instead)

Thanks for all your comments. I decided I'm going to go with Z6 and might get a Ninja 2 or Star for 10bit video. I just prefer the handling and EVF of the Z6. Actually had the Z6 last year and returned for another camera... it's been a camera gear disease for a few years now.

Yes, supposedly.

Welllllll..... you kinda sort of ish get half of that for less with the Panasonic S5mk2! 😉

Just like you pick the appropriate FoV to tell the story that needs to be told for that shot, you also need to pick the appropriate DoF that matches what the film needs. Once you've got that equal for both, then compared to the FX30 any FF camera is going to be at a one stop disadvantage (all else being equal). The other alternative is ignore the resulting DoF difference between the two cameras, make the 1st AC hate you, make the Art and Location Departments' work go to waste, and let the actors be lost in the bland blurred space they're in. Moral of the story is: you can't only look at a FF cameras' strengths while totally ignoring their handicaps. To make it fair comparison when discussing the noise performance that has to be taken into account. If you don't need to work with other people (i.e. Sony shooters!), and don't need TC (I work with that on basically every shoot! Very very very rare I don't), then it sounds like the S5mk2 is the perfect camera to shoot with for you!

Just better rolling shutter and 4K60fps Full Frame (I don't think we will see 120fps with a 20MP+ sensor). I was not so impressed by Gyro stabilization on the A7SIII, the new Panny stabilization looks way better, no need to use very high shutter speed, no crop, no post processing, no resolution lost.

Looks like S5mk2 is the very easy answer for OP's answer! Except they want it secondhand... well, coin flip then in getting either the Panasonic S5mk1 or Nikon Z6

The C200B is on sale at B&H right now. I think it's $2400.

Damn! That's an amazing bargain. Guess the Nikon equivalent would be a D700 or maybe a D600. Kinda want to get one myself. But nah, I'll just wait a few more years until a D750 or D500 hits that price instead! 😉 If they just drop another 50% or 75% then it will be possible.

I saw some of what looked (to me) like pulsing, but as I said, it seemed pretty consistent with their other more recent DFD cameras - and that's not a bad thing. DFD on their more recent cameras got dangerously close to usable (from what I've seen). You're right that it's also worse/more noticeable with an f/1.4 lens. It'll be interesting for sure to see I'm wrong and the MC-21 actually supports PDAF in some way (as far as I can tell, it does not support it on my Sigma FP-L, but the FP-L is also one of the quirkiest cameras I've ever owned). Anyway, having PDAF on a popular L mount camera that's probably gonna sell a lot is likely to inspire one of the adapter makers to make it work with EF mount lenses. 🙂 As far as CC being an anti-vax/conspiracy weirdo, I've always assumed that was part of the joke. I'd be really bummed if it turns out that's serious... Humor is subjective, of course. I'm not gonna bother arguing beyond that. 🙂 I'm still subscribed to Kai, but a lot of his stuff hasn't been doing it for me lately so I end up skipping a lot - and given that like 4 of my other subs already had up long-form reviews of the camera (which were largely redundant after I watched the first one!), I didn't bother. I'll go check out the AF section after writing this comment, though!

Truly incredible camera, they took what was already my favorite camera and made it perfect by fixing the AF. I do hope its not too little too late. If that AF system had shipped with the original S5 there is a strong possibility I would be all in on Panasonic right now for both photos and video. I am still not sure though if CAF works with the Canon EF adapter, if not then EF lens owners would still need to buy L mount lenses to really take advantage of the AF. I watched Gerald Undone's review of the S5II, the one big thing I wish he had tested was the additional stability option which was Boot IS option which I believe uses AI and additional processing for stability. I really wanted to see if it was anywhere near GoPro's level of stability. I think the perfect hybrid might finally exist and it is the S5II, my absolute only gripe would be having to buy L mount lenses and for me having already gone all in on Canon its too late for me to turn around. It is definitely a great time to be a photographer and/or videographer no matter what system you choose.

All-I codecs, but you might not need them.

Good. Back to "Panasonic and what they have up their sleeve." ... not M43 vs. FF. Thank you!

Ok. Can you cover 16mm-ish to 600mm (FF equiv.) in under 1kg with ANY single FF mount kit? How about 2kg? 3kg? That's what I'm saying. There are lenses in M43 with simply with no equivalency in FF in terms of weight. When you do find a lens, you won't find the other lens you need in the same mount.

I really don't get the reason why people who have FF cameras are so disturbed by the mere existence of M43. Can't we let M43 be M43 and FF be FF- it's all good. If you like the image format and size, great! Why does one have to be inferior? They both do things that the other cannot do. I think there's the inconvenience. It would seem that people want simplified answers- bigger sensor, more megapixels, high bit rate, etc. I'm not saying those thing don't matter, but there are other things too. Cameras have ergonomics, exposure tools, ports, EVF's, image fidelity, etc. None of that is "Full-Frame" or "xx megapixels" or "intra-frame compression". So many cameras produce great images these days, even good enough for Hollywood. After, it becomes the best tool for the job and needs.

You're comparing lenses that don't exist to ones that do. A f2.8 is a f2.8 regardless of whether the lens is M43, APS-C or Full Frame. You can add all the qualifiers you want, it doesn't change the fact that the full frame equivalent to most M43 lenses are substantially heavier AND more expensive. Let me know when you find a 24-70 with a constant f2.8 that is even remotely close to the 12-35 f2.8 in weight. Ditto the 35-100, or the 100-300mm f/4-5.6. It's easy to get shallow DOF with M43 except when shooting ultrawide unless the lens has a close focusing distance. It is insane that people discredit an entire system in part because it isn't easy to get enough toneh.

@John Matthews GH5II in GX80 size please, with it´s absence of digital oversharpening, 10bit 4k60, S16 mode and all the other goodies. Thank you! 🙂

Yep but I don't care. Function over form every day of the week. 'Filmaking' has become all about the pose factor recently. If the way a camera looks deters you buying it tge your priorities are wrong and I'd question your ability too.

It basically seems like Sony has been holding out on PDAF for Panasonic cameras for years and they are finally letting them license PDAF on a sensor that is older and that Sony will probably never use again - so why not milk it for some more money since Panasonic's only big gripe against it is the bad AF? To be fair, that sensor is gorgeous on Panasonic cameras (not so much Sony's), and the S1H still has the best 24fps IQ of any mirrorless camera out there. IF Panasonic can dramatically improve the HDMI latency (full-sized, yay!), add internal ProRes, and the AF is as reliable as some of the competition, The S5 II will be very tempting - especially around $2000-2200... It's basically an S1H but much smaller, cheaper, better codec (ProRes), and much better AF (ostensibly). And when you look at it that way, sounds pretty sweet to me. -- I am curious what they are going to do with the S2H (or S1H II) though, as that camera will have to feature 120fps 4k, no crop, probably 8k, internal ProRes, and so many other video goodies. It almost seems like they should just make a BS2H and soup-it up to the max and go all out on video and then the S5 II can be their hybrid.

Nothing. Except if you are a hybrid shooter like me with a prime and flipping between stills and video all day long! That 28mm…well the framing was great for those stills, but then I flipped to video and it’s more like 42mm and I can’t back up to match as I was already backed up to the wall! ”So just shoot FF or APSC!” Well I could but I like what I get from my Lumix cameras so I work around it by having cameras and lenses dedicated to certain things at certain times. It is a workaround but one I can live with if I have to and for most of the video side, I actually use a 28-70mm f2.8 to which I have just added a 16-28 giving me options more like 24-42mm and 42-105mm and I tend to use the wider angle as my indoor lens and switch to the longer zoom as my outdoor. I then only use the extreme ends (as if they were twin primes) so indoor I shoot 24 and 42 and outdoor 42 and 105 which as with any focal lengths you become used to, gives you a ‘look’ that you just know how to work with. I have the above set up with the S5 dedicated to indoor (and gimbal outdoor) and the S1H outdoor. This is possibly where I might just trade both cams for one single S5ii and keep my S1R’s…

That is an unambiguous and obvious clue to what we all been waiting for the past 5 years! Hurray comrades!

New year New Phase: 4th january

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here but what's wrong with 4K@60p being APSC? Full of S35 cinema camera out there.

https://www.l-rumors.com/fully-leaked-s5ii-s5iix-and-14-28mm-specs/ Looks like that the X have ProRes and IP streaming functions. Still, strange to have a specific model just for that.

Personally I think the Panasonics are some of the best looking cameras out there but it’s not important. What’s important for me is that the evf and the af are top notch and that the af works flawlessly with Sigma lenses as well. I’ll even forgive a 4k 50p crop if they’ve got the rest right.

Looks matter I think, to a degree, in regard to overall ownership and enjoyment, but to me are one of the lowest considerations. If a camera was say round pink plastic and had the word BARBIE on it, yes, I might deduct points, but the difference between one black box and another is marginal. There are some very sleek designs out though such as Hassie X2D and I love the film Contax G2. By comparison, the Panasonics are arguably 'a bit dull' as are many of the Sony's but I actually love the look and form factor of their FX3/30.

Seriously? Who the hell cares and why. It's a tool, if its nice to use and produces great images, what does looks matter?

Blacked out LUMIX logo a la Leica SL2. I like that. I used a black sharpie on mine just to make them more subtle 😁

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fth2fgJZVCivr61XP4oW4bf4e-0fku9I/view DC-S5M2 24.2 megapixel CMOS sensor AR coating Sensor shift type dust extraction unit 14+ stops in V-log JPEG / RAW / MOV / MP4 H.264 / H.265 6K 30p 200Mbps LGOP 3.68M dots OLED viewfinder 0.78x 120fps Free-angle monitor 3.0", 1.84M dots Image phase detection AF / Contrast AF DFD Technology AF -6EV - 18EV ISO 100-51200 Extended ISO 50-204800 Dual Native Normal ISO 100/640 V-Log ISO 640/4000 HLG 400/2500 Mechanical shutter 1/8000 - 60 sec. Electronic shutter 1/8000 - 60 sec. Continuous shooting speed Mechanical: max. 9 frames sec. Electronic SH 30fps H 9fps USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 HDMI A 3.5mm microphone Headphone SD Card Dual Slot 5GHz Wi-Fi Bluetooth 5.0 2200mAh battery Battery grip DMW-BGS5 Dustproof and drip-proof Size 134 x 102 x 90 mm Weight 740g DC-S5M2X Full-size sensor with 24.2 effective megapixels 6K30P video (full size)/4K60P video (APS-C size) Supports Apple ProRes recording IP streaming function support (Wi-Fi, USB, wired LAN) LUMIX S 14-28mm F4-5.6 MACRO Lens construction: 14 elements in 10 groups (1 aspherical ED lens, 1 aspherical lens, 3 ED lenses, 1 UHR lens) Minimum focusing distance：0.15m Maximum magnification: 0.5x (at 28mm)/0.25x (at 14mm) Filter size: 77mm Size：φ84 x 89.8mm Weight: 345g Dustproof, drip-proof, and low-temperature resistant specifications

Here we are...

We may know by the end of this week as more leaks come out.

To those who still complain on lack of IBIS... Here is a test made without it on the inexpensive RF 24mm f/1.8. It's not the R5C but just for the sake of it shows how it does the job done though, eventually more suitable than any wobble/jerky artifacts for poor handheld work anyway.