When Panasonic launched the full-frame Lumix S series in 2018, it made one thing very clear: This wasn’t Micro Four Thirds (MFT). Beyond the apparent format change, the S1 weighed overflow 2 pounds — eclipsing most DSLRs — with a huge grip, viewfinder bump, and battery. There was no mistaking it.
The downsized Panasonic Lumix S5 flips that notion on its head.
At 1.5 pounds, the S5 isn’t just Panasonic’s lightest full-frame camera, it’s even lighter — barely — than the Lumix GH5, the company’s MFT flagship. It’s almost the lightest full-frame camera around, but it maintains a totally weather-sealed, magnesium alloy body.
Starting at $2,000, i feel the S5 is that the camera that a lot of Panasonic fans were hoping for in 2018. it's sized and priced to compete with the Canon EOS R6, Sony A7 III, and Nikon Z 6. The question now's whether it does enough to carry up thereto competition in 2020. Panasonic remains playing catch-up in some areas, but the S5 brings tons to the table that helps it stand out.
Design and handling
Smaller in every dimension than the GH5, the Lumix S5 may be a bold move for Panasonic and one which will little question have customers worrying about the fate of Micro Four Thirds. Personally, I still think MFT cameras have an area , and even the 3-year-old GH5 retains some advantages over the S5 when it involves shooting speed and video.
Panasonic Lumix S5
But there’s little question the S5 makes for an attractive full-frame upgrade for MFT shooters.
Although smaller, the S5, fortunately, carries over most of the buttons and dials because the S1, giving it a big amount of direct-access control. It’s down a few of buttons, but the larger change is that the removal of the highest LCD display, where you’ll now find the mode dial (interestingly, the mode dial doesn’t lock, but does a minimum of have strong resistance between positions).
Overall, the camera feels great. whilst someone over 6 feet tall with reasonably large hands, I found the S1 to be slightly too big on behalf of me , but the S5 is simply about perfect. the load savings is obvious , but it still feels reassuringly dense, a reminder that it's , indeed, a progressional-grade camera.
There’s also a replacement battery, because the S1’s humongous, 3,050 mAh battery literally couldn't slot in the S5 (it’s as tall because the camera’s deck height). The new battery is 2,200 mAh, but is rated for 470 photos (1,500 in power save mode), which is really about 100 quite an S1.
How is that this possible? Well, here’s where the bad news comes in.
The majority of that energy savings is probably going because of the lower-resolution electronic viewfinder (EVF), which has just 2.36 million pixels. To be fair, it’s still an OLED display and appears tons better than i used to be expecting it to, but compared to the stunning, 5.7-million-dot EVF within the S1 cameras, it's noticeably inferior. It’s usable enough, but in 2020, low-res viewfinders don’t belong during a modern $2,000 camera. I’m unsure why Panasonic didn’t a minimum of give the S5 a 3.69-million-dot EVF, commonly employed by many brands, which still would have left a clear spec gap between it and therefore the S1.
Auto focus and shooting speed
If there’s one thing that has been nagging Panasonic cameras for years, it’s a touch technology called Depth from Defocus (DFD). This Panasonic-invented autofocus system depends on lens profiles stored within the camera that hold information about each lens’s blur pattern, which allows the camera to work out if a picture is front- or back-focused. In other words, it knows which direction to maneuver the lens to realize focus, reducing hunting and speeding up focus time. It seems like a sophisticated process, but this is often how Panasonic was ready to overcome the standard limitations of contrast-detection autofocus.
It’s also never been enough to stay up with cameras using faster phase-detection focus. Sadly, that’s still the case with the S5 — but that doesn’t mean Panasonic hasn’t made some big strides forward.
For still photography, DFD now works far more reliably for continuous autofocus (AF-C). As Panasonic explained it to me, DFD doesn’t remain active during AF-C in older cameras because it required an excessive amount of processing power, forcing them to fall back on standard contrast detection. this is often still the case with the S1, S1R, and S1H. Most of the complaints with DFD might actually not involve DFD in the least , because it seems .
But those issues with processing appear to be solved. Now, in the S5, DFD stays active constantly in AF-C.
Subject recognition has also seen some pretty dramatic improvements because of updated algorithms. The S5 can detect bodies and faces at half the dimensions because the S1 — as small as 2.5% of the frame — and therefore the camera can now recognize a person's head break away the face and body.
This seems like a well, duh feature initially , but Panasonic told me that head-detection was pivotal in improving the general reliability of subject-recognition focus. Now, if the camera loses sight of a face, it can still stay locked on to the top , whereas the previous system had trouble shifting from face- to body-detection. (And if you’re wondering, yes, the S5’s AF improvements are coming to the S1 cameras later this year via firmware updates.)
In practice, the S5’s autofocus worked well most of the time and that i immediately noticed the improvements in AF-C and subject tracking. Sadly, it remains faraway from perfect. DFD is exceptionally fast, but it occasionally will miss focus for no apparent reason. Also, if you zoom while focusing in AF-C mode, this may throw the camera off, causing a big focus delay albeit the topic hasn’t moved. It’s best to line your zoom before half-pressing the shutter to avoid this, but some fast-paced situations simply won’t leave that.
Autofocus also can’t continue in burst shooting. The S5 tops out at 7 frames per second, dropping to five with continuous autofocus. So AF-C focus has improved, but you can’t push it very far.
This is one area where the Panasonic GH5 outranks the S5. The Micro Four Thirds camera can increase to 12 fps, or 9 with AF-C. I don’t know why AF-C performance is so dramatically different between the S series and G series.
DFD also will leave videographers wanting, a minimum of YouTubers and vloggers who depend upon autofocus. As Panasonic explained it to me, DFD can’t operate any faster than the refresh rate of the sensor. In photo mode, Panasonic can turn that up to 480 frames per second. But in video mode, where the sensor is actively recording and reading out pixels, it tops out at just 30 fps, or 60 in APS-C crop modes. that provides DFD a fraction of the samples to figure with, and autofocus predictably suffers as a result.
Still, the S5’s video autofocus has been improved over the S1 cameras. i used to be ready to test it side-by-side with an S1H, and therefore the S5 tracked my face and eyes far better as I moved throughout the frame (the S1H was about unusable). However, it still struggled once I removed of direct light, or if I got too on the brink of the camera too quickly. Compared to the incredibly good autofocus on Sony cameras, the S5 still doesn’t pile up , despite notable improvements. Fortunately, it's other video features that redeem it, which I’ll get to later.
Image stabilization and high-res shot
The S5 uses a redesigned sensor-shift stabilization system to suit its smaller body. Fortunately, it’s still an honest performer, rated for six .5 stops of shake reduction with a compatible stabilized lens, just half a stop shy of the S1. I don’t think there'll be much of a real-world difference. With the 20-60mm kit lens, which isn't stabilized, I shot right down to 1/6 second with impressively sharp results, but 1/3 second was suddenly within the unusable zone. As always, performance will vary from shot to shot and lens to lens, but don’t expect a seconds-long handheld exposure to return out sharp.
A bit more surprising is that the S1’s 96MP high-resolution mode also made it into the S5, turning the modest 24MP camera into a resolution monster. that creates this the sole $2,000 full-frame mirrorless camera with a pixel-shift resolution mode. If you've got a tripod and non-moving subjects, you merely can’t get more resolution anywhere near this price. (You also can use it for moving subjects where motion blur is desired, like waterfalls or light trails, but resolution will only be boosted in non-moving areas of the image — considering the moving areas are blurred, that’s probably not an issue).
Panasonic’s implementation of high-res shot is additionally more user friendly than Sony’s (which is merely available on the A7R series), because it processes the file in-camera and delivers either a RAW or a JPEG. It doesn’t require any special software, and you'll review the high-res composite right the camera’s monitor.
Image quality
Panasonic stressed the S5 uses the precise same sensor because the S1. meaning 24 megapixels and no optical low-pass filter. A low-pass filter, just like the one used on the S1H, softens the image subtly to combat moiré, a drag I saw when reviewing the S1 that's still a possible concern with the S5. Personally, I’d rather have a rather softer image than the danger of moiré, since the difference is minimal, but that’s me. Most manufacturers are opting to forgo low-pass filters lately .
I haven’t been ready to view the RAW files yet, but supported my experience with the S1, there should be nothing to complain about. That camera delivered excellent performance all around. One new feature is Live View Composite, which merges the highlights from a sequence of long-exposure frames to create light trails while controlling ambient light on non-moving subjects. It’s great for meteor trails, and in contrast to similar modes in other cameras, it can actually save the composite as a RAW, which is pretty neat.
The 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens is a stimulating optic. i prefer the focal distance , which starts at a way wider angle than most kit lenses, but the variable maximum aperture poses a drag for shooting video. Unless you don’t lock it down at f/5.6 or smaller, your exposure will change as you zoom.
Fortunately, i used to be also ready to test the S5 with Panasonic’s 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 Lumix S Pro lenses, provided for this review by Lensrentals. While almost laughably large on the S5, theses lenses are gorgeous and reveal what the camera is actually capable of. because of Leica and Sigma, there are many exceptional L-mount lenses to settle on from — but avoid the Leicas if you wish having money.
Video
As a video camera, the Lumix S5 is sort of a pickup . It’s not flashy or fast, but it works reliably and you'll trust it to urge the work done.
In a time where overheating complaints have taken center stage, because of issues primarily with the Canon EOS R5 but also the video-focused Sony A7S III, Panasonic has taken a conservative approach with the S5, but its features are mostly what’s expected during a $2,000 camera. There’s no 6K, as found on the S1H, including 8K or 4K/120. It shoots 4K/60, but not from the full-frame, which may be a bit disappointing but no different than the S1H.
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