Panasonic S5 User Experience

[herein2020]

1 hour ago, Thpriest said:

Anyone using the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 with the MC21 on the S5?

Or the Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6?

And a question about flashes! Do the Godox O (Olympus/Panasonic) flashes work on the Lumix S line?

EF-S lenses will not work on the S5. Even though the S5 has an APS-C mode for video it did not seem to make a difference, you could still see the lens barrel in the image I even tried PIXEL:PIXEL mode (no idea what that mode is but it sounded interesting) and I still couldn't use the EF-S lenses.

I don't know about the Godox O line but I can tell you the Godox C line (Canon) works with the S5. I'm not sure about the TTL features since I never use TTL and only shoot manual flash but the Godox C multi flash triggers and the flashes themselves mounted to the hotshoe work just fine. I'm waiting for Lightroom and Photoshop RAW support for the S5 to start testing the photography features. I don't feel like hacking the metadata just to process the RAW images.

[MrSMW]

7 hours ago, herein2020 said:

I'm waiting for Lightroom and Photoshop RAW support for the S5 to start testing the photography features. I don't feel like hacking the metadata just to process the RAW images.

It’s been there for a few days now, just update your software!

[herein2020]

8 hours ago, MrSMW said:

It’s been there for a few days now, just update your software!

Thanks for the info. It must have updated sometime in the last few days automatically because I was able to drag in a RAW file and edit it, I hadn't checked in awhile. The few stills I've shot so far with it look pretty good, especially considering it was just the kit lens. This camera just keeps getting better; now I need a few good sunsets to really test the DR with my Canon EF 16-35mm F4 L lens.

Here is a quick landscape sunset shadow recovery test that I shot while waiting for RAW support.

 

[MrSMW]

Yes I have wavered over whether it’s my ‘one ring to rule them all’ camera...or in my case 3 bodies as that’s what I need, but there’s more than ‘enough’ for it to be so for me. Best camera I have owned and used to date.

Not that I am buying any more bodies right now as tomorrow here in France, we are back into at least another 4 week lockdown and I don’t have any need anyway until April ‘21...if that even happens and with these crazy times, who knows.

My only remaining question is how will it work with a fast native prime and as I am not investing in the 50mm f1.4 because it is; too big, too heavy, too expensive and not a focal length for me, but I am looking forward to that 85mm f1.8 that is supposed to be coming next month.

Actually 2 questions, the second being how will the whole eventual kit of 3 bodies + 5 lenses work on a real wedding day...but by then it will be too late as I will have spent the cash. But only if weddings are properly back on!

Not anticipating any issues however as I shot weddings in 2012 on a pair of X Pro1’s on original firmware and the AF on those things was like a snail on mogadon. And the S5 is in another league, albeit not the same league as Nikon or Fuji and never mind Canon or Sony.

I had 3 other hybrid projects lined up; a glassworker, an upholsterer and a classic car restorer, but all now on ice due to Covid and not even allowed out to photograph the autumnal leaves which will all be gone by December 🤬

[herein2020]

32 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Yes I have wavered over whether it’s my ‘one ring to rule them all’ camera...or in my case 3 bodies as that’s what I need, but there’s more than ‘enough’ for it to be so for me. Best camera I have owned and used to date.

Not that I am buying any more bodies right now as tomorrow here in France, we are back into at least another 4 week lockdown and I don’t have any need anyway until April ‘21...if that even happens and with these crazy times, who knows.

My only remaining question is how will it work with a fast native prime and as I am not investing in the 50mm f1.4 because it is; too big, too heavy, too expensive and not a focal length for me, but I am looking forward to that 85mm f1.8 that is supposed to be coming next month.

Actually 2 questions, the second being how will the whole eventual kit of 3 bodies + 5 lenses work on a real wedding day...but by then it will be too late as I will have spent the cash. But only if weddings are properly back on!

Not anticipating any issues however as I shot weddings in 2012 on a pair of X Pro1’s on original firmware and the AF on those things was like a snail on mogadon. And the S5 is in another league, albeit not the same league as Nikon or Fuji and never mind Canon or Sony.

I had 3 other hybrid projects lined up; a glassworker, an upholsterer and a classic car restorer, but all now on ice due to Covid and not even allowed out to photograph the autumnal leaves which will all be gone by December 🤬

Here in the USA it is getting bad again as well but I don't think they will go into lockdown again. Even without a forced lockdown, I'm starting to decline more jobs as this thing worsens.

I would love for the S5 to be the one body to rule them all as you say, but I just can't get around the lens situation and AF. I have so many EF lenses and they work great on the S5 except for continuous AF which I use for photography; I shoot a lot of runway fashion shows and it is critical for that type of shoot. I do still love my 5DIV so for now I'm just going to stick with that for photography and use the S5 to replace my GH5 kit. That will let me reduce my kit since I won't need to carry MFT lenses. I'll probably never buy any L mount lenses, unless their AF improves to the point to where I think it would be worth it for gimbal work.

Instead of buying all of the bodies for that test wedding, I don't know about in France...but here in the USA I would just rent all of the extra equipment I would need and add that cost to the client's invoice. That would let you see it all work together without actually buying any of it. I rent all the time when I need a lens that I don't have or the client wants additional camera angles. On hand I typically only have 1 body for photography, 1 for time lapses, 1 for small videos / B roll (S5), and one for higher end commercial video work (C200).  Anything beyond that and I rent whatever is needed and charge the client the rental fee.

[MrSMW]

No chance of renting here in rural SW France.

Paris or other big city maybe but not here.

My set up going forward really is 3 identical cameras, 5 lens options including 2 zooms and all working on a single day as hybrids:

35mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8, 45mm f2.8, 20-60mm and 70-300mm. Three of which don’t quite exist yet...

Also have the drone (Mavic Air) a tiny bag of audio gear, 1 carbon tripod, 1 freestanding monopod, 1 lightweight light stand and 1 dimmable & directional LED and that is it. OK, a couple of spare batteries and a power bank plus some ND’s but that really is it.

All fits in a single 30 litre backpack except the monopod which fits in my hand.

It’s the minimum I need for providing photo & video at a wedding, event or for my documentary commercial work with the essence being I get out of the car and pick up 1x backpack, 1x monopod and still have 1x free hand to lock the car but not shake hands with people as we don’t do that any longer.

But then I might want to go into the mountains and shoot a 96mp raw landscape and can also do that with the S5 and the lenses I have (or will have) for proper work.

I have found that for stills it’s as accurate as anything out there...but not tested that at a wedding of course and no amount of testing or other work can really test gear like a wedding!

[herein2020]

On 10/29/2020 at 2:31 PM, MrSMW said:

No chance of renting here in rural SW France.

Paris or other big city maybe but not here.

My set up going forward really is 3 identical cameras, 5 lens options including 2 zooms and all working on a single day as hybrids:

35mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8, 45mm f2.8, 20-60mm and 70-300mm. Three of which don’t quite exist yet...

Also have the drone (Mavic Air) a tiny bag of audio gear, 1 carbon tripod, 1 freestanding monopod, 1 lightweight light stand and 1 dimmable & directional LED and that is it. OK, a couple of spare batteries and a power bank plus some ND’s but that really is it.

All fits in a single 30 litre backpack except the monopod which fits in my hand.

It’s the minimum I need for providing photo & video at a wedding, event or for my documentary commercial work with the essence being I get out of the car and pick up 1x backpack, 1x monopod and still have 1x free hand to lock the car but not shake hands with people as we don’t do that any longer.

But then I might want to go into the mountains and shoot a 96mp raw landscape and can also do that with the S5 and the lenses I have (or will have) for proper work.

I have found that for stills it’s as accurate as anything out there...but not tested that at a wedding of course and no amount of testing or other work can really test gear like a wedding!

The rental houses there don't ship you the equipment? They don't have any good local ones here either, I just get everything from lensrental.com (no idea where they are located) and they ship it to me a few days before my project starts.

Your setup sounds really compact, I keep evaluating my kit to try to get it down to that size. I think I can bring my kit down to a single backpack with the Canon 5DIV, S5, EF to L mount adapter, EF 24mm F2.8 for the S5, EF Sigma 50mm F1.4, EF Canon 70-200mm 2.8L, EF Canon 24-70mm F2.8L, EF Canon 24-105mm F4.0L, a few ND filters, S5 XLR module, lav mic, Sennheiser G4 wireless transmitter and receiver, and maybe fit the Mavic Pro with 4 batteries, iPad, and remote.

Where everything gets bulky is when I also need to bring my tripod, monopod, Ronin-S gimbal, studio strobes, light stands, beauty dish, 300W video lights, flashes, diffusers, etc.  I also have a Canon Rebel T6S that I use for timelapses and a GoPro setup for underwater footage. Not that every job needs all of it but sometimes it does.

I think the S5's AF would be perfectly fine for photography but that would mean I'd need to buy L mount lenses which I'm trying to avoid. One day I may ditch the C200, 5DIV, and Canon Rebel, and go with 3 or 4 S5 bodies and L mount lenses, but for now that sounds more costly than I am willing to spend so I'm stuck for now with my odd mixture of equipment, but I'm used to it since the only thing that really changed was the GH5 was replaced by the S5.

[MrSMW]

France isn’t the UK, never mind the US and just isn’t set up for rental.

A website here for 90% of businesses is something to display a phone number for you to call.

And then if it was even possible, what do you mean you want it delivered?!

Otherwise, sounds like you have to cover a lot more bases than I do @herein2020

I have always at least tried to be something of a minimalist and build my kit on the bare minimum that I can get away with but without compromising the end result.

Some might argue that you need X, Y and Z but I counter that with that by the time you have finished setting half of it up, the opportunity is gone.

So whilst the S5 or any Panny, does not have blazingly fast AF, it doesn’t need it for my line of work. Fast enough and accuracy is more important as is my ability to work, act and react without the gear getting in the way.

As above, my rule of thumb is simple and that is if I cannot walk from my car with everything I need for the job, I don’t need it.

I haven’t used flash in over 5 years now and in the last few years, have reduced my LED lighting down to one single unit and one lightweight light stand, no modifiers, brollies or anything. Have not missed it even slightly in 100+ jobs since I did.

I could go even more minimal with less bodies and zooms, but using 3 bodies means that if one went down on a job, I could get away with 2 for the rest of the day but if I only had 2 to start with, I couldn’t do the job with 1.

But it’s individual needs though.

It did make me laugh a few years back when I only shot photography and I used to watch videographers faffing about needlessly with kit that took an age (in comparison) for one single (of hundreds of clips) shot that no one would have missed. So many instances of kit overload to ‘get the shots’...except they were missing far more than they were getting.

 

 

 

[Lux Shots]

On 10/28/2020 at 6:25 PM, Thpriest said:

Anyone using the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 with the MC21 on the S5?

Or the Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6?

And a question about flashes! Do the Godox O (Olympus/Panasonic) flashes work on the Lumix S line?

I use the entire Flashpoint system, and they really do work great! I use the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 and the Zoom LiOn.

[Lux Shots]

On 10/28/2020 at 6:25 PM, Thpriest said:

Anyone using the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 with the MC21 on the S5?

Or the Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6?

And a question about flashes! Do the Godox O (Olympus/Panasonic) flashes work on the Lumix S line?

I use the entire Flashpoint system, and they really do work great! I use the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 and the Zoom LiOn.

[Lux Shots]

On 10/28/2020 at 6:25 PM, Thpriest said:

Anyone using the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 with the MC21 on the S5?

Or the Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6?

And a question about flashes! Do the Godox O (Olympus/Panasonic) flashes work on the Lumix S line?

I use the entire Flashpoint system, and they really do work great! I use the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 and the Zoom LiOn.

[Lux Shots]

On 10/28/2020 at 6:25 PM, Thpriest said:

Anyone using the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 with the MC21 on the S5?

Or the Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6?

And a question about flashes! Do the Godox O (Olympus/Panasonic) flashes work on the Lumix S line?

I use the entire Flashpoint system, and they really do work great! I use the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 and the Zoom LiOn.

[Lux Shots]

On 10/28/2020 at 6:25 PM, Thpriest said:

Anyone using the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 with the MC21 on the S5?

Or the Canon 18-135mm f3.5-5.6?

And a question about flashes! Do the Godox O (Olympus/Panasonic) flashes work on the Lumix S line?

I use the entire Flashpoint system, and they really do work great! I use the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 and the Zoom LiOn.

[Lux Shots]

Ooops!

[newfoundmass]

On 10/29/2020 at 2:04 PM, herein2020 said:

Here in the USA it is getting bad again as well but I don't think they will go into lockdown again. Even without a forced lockdown, I'm starting to decline more jobs as this thing worsens.

Same. It's incredibly frustrating, because I'm in a state that actually did well (Vermont) but I can't go to any of the neighboring states for work without having to quarantine because they didn't do so well. And even if I could, it's not worth the risk to myself or my loved ones. 

[herein2020]

8 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

Same. It's incredibly frustrating, because I'm in a state that actually did well (Vermont) but I can't go to any of the neighboring states for work without having to quarantine because they didn't do so well. And even if I could, it's not worth the risk to myself or my loved ones. 

I'm in one of the worst states in the country (Florida) the only good news is I'm not in Miami so yea I've been declining most jobs that are indoors or groups of people. Fortunately there's still some work that doesn't fit those categories but definitely far less than before.

[Mark Romero 2]

On 10/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, herein2020 said:

EF-S lenses will not work on the S5.

That seems kind of strange...

On the S1, if you put an EF-S lens on the MC-21, the camera will automatically default to APS-C mode, both for stills and for video. In fact, you can't get out of APS-C mode.

The exception to the above is something like Tamron EF-S lenses since I guess even their crop lenses had the EF mount. 

[herein2020]

1 hour ago, Mark Romero 2 said:

That seems kind of strange...

On the S1, if you put an EF-S lens on the MC-21, the camera will automatically default to APS-C mode, both for stills and for video. In fact, you can't get out of APS-C mode.

The exception to the above is something like Tamron EF-S lenses since I guess even their crop lenses had the EF mount. 

Maybe it will change with a firmware update, it would be really nice to use EF-S lenses as well since I have two at the moment. In the menu it has an APS-C option which doesn't make sense to me since Panasonic doesn't make any crop sensor lenses so I assume the APS-C mode was meant for another vendor's lenses but I'm not sure if Panasonic considers APS-C to be a 1.5x crop or Canon's 1.6x crop. Also, the APS-C crop option is only available in the video menu, not the photography menu. 

[Mark Romero 2]

10 minutes ago, herein2020 said:

Maybe it will change with a firmware update, it would be really nice to use EF-S lenses as well since I have two at the moment. In the menu it has an APS-C option which doesn't make sense to me since Panasonic doesn't make any crop sensor lenses so I assume the APS-C mode was meant for another vendor's lenses but I'm not sure if Panasonic considers APS-C to be a 1.5x crop or Canon's 1.6x crop. Also, the APS-C crop option is only available in the video menu, not the photography menu. 

Which EF-S lenses do you have that aren't working?

[MrSMW]

6 hours ago, herein2020 said:

Panasonic considers APS-C to be a 1.5x crop

This.