Panasonic S5 II (What does Panasonic have up their sleeve?)

[MrSMW]

15 hours ago, Thpriest said:

I am going to invest in those flip up filter things. I have the Xuma magnetic things which work fine with one camera but now I have a harness with 2 cams the VND has been knocked off a couple of times as it hung by my side!

Yep, tried the magnetic ones a while back and just nope. They are too prone to getting knocked off unnoticed!

[hyalinejim]

I've gone for a set of 3, 6 and 10 stop K&F Concept regular magnetic NDs. So far so good! Haven't managed to knock them off yet - I guess they are slimmer than a vari ND.

I also have a vari ND but want to have the option of not having to deal with the polarisation effect.

[BTM_Pix]

On 5/28/2023 at 7:04 AM, MrSMW said:

Having said that, I have a Bordeaux city centre wedding in a couple of weeks and still need to work that one out… 🤪

I did a few matches in Bordeaux during Euro2016 and stayed at quite a nice site called Yelloh Village which was in gear dragging distance of the stadium but a bit outside the city.

It looks like even unfolded your trolley of gear would fit on the back seat/in the boot of car so even though it is out of town I'd be tempted to base yourself at the site and then get a cab to the venue to do the gig and then back again when its done.

That way you've got easy access door to door to the venue wherever it is without having to be bothered about finding suitably sized safe parking nearby or trundling through urban environment with a trolley full of gear, particularly on the way back late at night.

Its about a €35-40 round trip in a cab to the very centre of the city so its only another €15-20 on top of what it would cost for secure parking if you could find one without the height restriction.

 

[zerocool22]

The price of the Raw update over hdmi for the s5ii is kinda ridiculous if you compare it to the s5iix, why would one choose the s5ii + raw update over the s5iix because then the price would be very similar..

[MrSMW]

I think the only reason someone might choose the none X version is they could get a used one for 500 less than a brand spanking new X.

Also, if you bought one a few months back and now fancied the upgrade, you might pay that 200.

Or you don’t like the all black look..and some do not. 

The X for me doesn’t have a single thing over the vanilla ii that I need so it would purely be for aesthetic reasons!

[MrSMW]

3 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

and stayed at quite a nice site called Yelloh Village

Yes, already researching that place…

For this particular job, I could do it all with the contents of my backpack so the bit of kit not shown, is the missus’s electric fat bike.

It weighs about 35kg / 75lbs, but folds in half and fits nicely in the back of the van.

I could then either Uber in and out each day or ‘pedal’.

It’s mental how effortless it is to ride and even as a pretty fit guy, I have zero chance against her on either of my pedal only power bikes!

19 euros each way by Uber and the client is happy to pick up the tab. Rich Americans 😉

[BTM_Pix]

6 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

For this particular job, I could do it all with the contents of my backpack so the bit of kit not shown, is the missus’s electric fat bike.

I used to use a very not folding one for the Tour when I couldn't park close enough to the position I wanted to set up in.

This is my 2012 setup during which I managed to inadvertently find myself actually on the course itself Mr Bean style when I was getting into the village to get into position.

After covering his "interesting" acceleration up Alpe d'Huez the following year, I like to think my efforts convinced Chris Froome on his choice of bike.

That was the year of the failed RED EPIC-X hybrid experiment so with the amount of weight in those bags (not to mention the rider) its amazing the thing moved at all.

22 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

I could then either Uber in and out each day or ‘pedal’.

I can confirm from personal experience that if you are doing final checks of your gear and find you've left your Apple ethernet adapter at the previous match then, electrically assisted and shouting "fuck, fuck, fuck" as kick off approaches, you can get to FNAC in about 8 minutes from that site, so should be about 15 into the city centre.

[MrSMW]

Surely I will be crying “FNAC FNAC FNAC!” which is fluent French for “fuck fuck fuckedy fuck!” ?

When it comes to camera stuff in big city France anyway…

[MrSMW]

In other news, after cancelling my pair of S5iix preorders, I made a final (honest guv) decision re. final 2023 line up…and just ordered another (used) vanilla S5ii.

So cracked my 3 camera, no lens change matrix:

S5ii + Sigma 16-28 f2.8

S5ii + Sigma 28-70 f2.8

S1H + Lumix 70-200 f4 

Happy with that. And getting my black Sharpie out tomorrow 😬

[Beritar]

22 hours ago, Framed_By_Dan said:

Yes I'm on the latest firmware. I was very keen to see what the 6K/5.9K looked like...glorious! Anyway, yes I think bringing the highlights down might be my own undoing, thinking it's "better" in a way when it's probably not. Just knocked it back a touch to -1 to see if that helps. Boosted saturation back a touch too, I find when underexposing the colour tends to disappear so anything I can do to negate that helps.

I do like Cine V, colours are nice especially skin tones, but still just a touch too punchy for my liking when I am grading on top later. I use a slightly tweaked Cine V for quick turnaround jobs where no grading is required. 

I agree, 6K/5,9K on the S1 is just fantastic. 
Yes Cine-V is great for skin tones, I use this profile when I want nice skin tones or when I shoot in low light since the GH4, usually I bring the contrast down a bit and the image looks great.

[Thpriest]

17 hours ago, MrSMW said:

In other news, after cancelling my pair of S5iix preorders, I made a final (honest guv) decision re. final 2023 line up…and just ordered another (used) vanilla S5ii.

So cracked my 3 camera, no lens change matrix:

S5ii + Sigma 16-28 f2.8

S5ii + Sigma 28-70 f2.8

S1H + Lumix 70-200 f4 

Happy with that. And getting my black Sharpie out tomorrow 😬

How’s the Sigma 16-28? I’ve thought about getting for my video lens on the S5mk2. I shoot mainly 4k 50p at weddings so it’d be a 24-42 more or less which is fine for me as I prefer wider lenses for video.

The Sigma 28-70 would be my photo lens on the S5

[MrSMW]

It's really good. 

Despite being in a PAL region, I've switched over to shooting 6k 30p and 4k 60p and my second S5ii paired with the 16-28 is set to shoot exclusively 4k 60p so will be that 24-42mm equivalent. Which is great as the '24' for me, is for dancing stuff and the '42' is for everything else which = entrances, exits, gimbal couple stuff. So I only think of it as being a 24 or a 42.

The other two cameras and lenses are set up as 6k 30p exclusively, so their respective lenses to me, photo or video, are what they are supposed to be, ie, 28, 70 and 200. I don't shoot anything in between, just the extreme ends of any/all zooms, ie, single lens, but 'twin prime' set up.

 

[ade towell]

On 5/22/2023 at 8:24 PM, deezid said:

I have some more good news and spoiler alert: You may want to get the paid RAW update.

BRAW is now completely fixed it seems. No more sharpening, no more filtering and mushy textures.
Instead more texture, both luma and chroma than recording internally and at least 1-2 stops of more usable latitude since the shadow areas are clean now and highlight recovery seems to give one extra clean stop of highlight range.

 

BRAW with highlight recovery

 

Internal H265/H264/ProRes

This is great news although may cost me more money if it works the same on the upcoming S5ii firmware upgrade. Wasn’t interested in ProRes RAW but I love working in Resolve and Braw seems to offer a nice simple workflow with all the benefits of RAW on certain projects when needed. Look forward to more of your observations

[zerocool22]

12 hours ago, ade towell said:

This is great news although may cost me more money if it works the same on the upcoming S5ii firmware upgrade. Wasn’t interested in ProRes RAW but I love working in Resolve and Braw seems to offer a nice simple workflow with all the benefits of RAW on certain projects when needed. Look forward to more of your observations

Exactly, I am so bummed out about buying the s5ii now I know I could record braw to ssd with the s5iix.

[PannySVHS]

@zerocool22 You can stay cool, Braw is over hdmi only, to an external recorder. 🙂 That´s with both, the S5II and the S5IIX as well.

[MrSMW]

Exactly. The only real difference other than one being blacked up, is that one can record all-I and the other has a paid upgrade to record braw externally.

I personally think they missed a trick with the x but at the same time, suspect it was deliberate as their are S2 models coming some time ‘soon’…

[BTM_Pix]

14 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

The only real difference other than one being blacked up, is that one can record all-I and the other has a paid upgrade to record braw externally.

The recording to SSD and ProRes of the S5iiX (with a minor mention of the connect to phone for streaming) are big differences that might persuade me if I was looking to buy an S5ii.

Not that I am of course as I'm completely adamant that I'm not interested as I am dead set on a Z9/Z8/A1/X-H2S purchase next week.

Absolutely nailed on.

Not going to waver in the slightest.

Honestly.

[Phil A]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:33 PM, MrSMW said:

I think the only reason someone might choose the none X version is they could get a used one for 500 less than a brand spanking new X.

Also, if you bought one a few months back and now fancied the upgrade, you might pay that 200.

Or you don’t like the all black look..and some do not. 

The X for me doesn’t have a single thing over the vanilla ii that I need so it would purely be for aesthetic reasons!

In Switzerland a new S5II from a store is 1763 CHF while the S5IIX is 2599 CHF... so hard to justify the price difference, considering what you can get for the 200$ firmware upgrade... so I guess with some luck, one might get a used S5II for 1000 less than a new S5IIX at this point.
But I have to agree that I feel like there's a big opportunity missed by not having BRAW to an SSD instead of to an external recorder.

[MrSMW]

1 hour ago, BTM_Pix said:

The recording to SSD and ProRes of the S5iiX (with a minor mention of the connect to phone for streaming) are big differences that might persuade me if I was looking to buy an S5ii.

Not that I am of course as I'm completely adamant that I'm not interested as I am dead set on a Z9/Z8/A1/X-H2S purchase next week.

Absolutely nailed on.

Not going to waver in the slightest.

Honestly.

Oh yes, forgot about the SSD... 🤪

And what it came down to in the end for me was I only wanted the S5iix over the standard 5ii for personal aesthetic reasons, otherwise it doesn't offer a me a single thing I want or need.

I'd add a Q3 into that numberbet soup. And surely, an X2D100C should be added into that mix? Not for it's video capabilities of course, because it has precisely zero, but just because it is an image making beast.

But I am honestly honestly honestly happy with my body and lens line up now.

It took some sorting out along with shooting modes and all manner of factors, but I have the whole kit and caboodle now nailed down from shooting through edit to delivery.

Until anything future L Mount appears in the wild whether it be Lumix, Leica or Sigma... 

But even then, it will need to be something pretty special as there is currently nada on my shopping list in terms of needs or requirements.

Well, except for I'd still like Sigma to make me a constant aperture f2.8 50-150mm or even just a Contemporary version of the 70-200mm f2.8.

Otherwise spent up and done for '23!

 

[Geoffrey]

S5 user here and a bit late to the party (been using the camera!) and only just aware for the S5ii. I am not much of a technical type but have enough interest to skim read through this whole topic.

Cut to the chase, from what I have read I am not seeing a compelling reason at present for me to upgrade to an S5ii. Would the forum agree given what I say below?

I use Cine D2 profile a lot, have little interest in LUTs and the like (at the moment anyway), find the AF on the S5 generally good enough for my needs (though something a bit more reliable in certain situations would be nice), love the image quality,  look and ergonomics of the S5, still shoot mostly in HD (though guess that will change) and audio is very important. As an audio person generally I don't get why people are so excited about 96KHz as it is way OTT and unnecessary; 24bit is way more important. I mostly record audio to a Tascam device (XLR) mounted under the camera with a minijack output of it into the camera as a backup (currently on a three mic setup - COS-11D radio mic and a stereo DPA spaced pair).. My whole setup is designed so I can carry the camera with one hand and do everything alone, so the DPAs and radio receiver are mounted on top of the camera. Have the 20-60mm kit lens and a 50mm fixed one but mainly use the former for its versatility.