Welcome back deep TV viewers it is Chris Nichols here we're coming to you from Beautiful Tokyo and we're here to play With the brand new Panasonic S5 II we're Very fortunate because I've got one to Shoot photos on but Jordan is also Filming this entire episode on another S52 and he's going to do it completely Handheld to test the brand new Stabilization system in these cameras Now the Panasonic S5 II is the first Panasonic camera now to have yes finally Phase detect hybrid Auto focusing it's Here so you know we're gonna be testing That quite a bit Jordan is going to be Shooting the episode using that Autofocus you'll have a first hand view Of how it's actually working as well Also I do want to say you know it's been Very generous of Panasonic to fly us out Here to put us up for this event and They are sending us home with the Cameras we grab some lenses that we feel We needed to test it as well so we have More time to test these at home but also Keep in mind that as DP Review Journalists we're regardless going to Make sure their video is honest we're Gonna talk about we like and don't like You know it's not going to influence us In any way and of course also as Journalists we're going to be sending This gear back when we're done with it [Music]
Foreign [Music] So let's start things off how we usually Do we're going to talk about handling on The Panasonic S5 II so it is actually Very similar to the S5 maybe not the Same build quality that you get with the Higher end bodies but it is weather Sealed and it is lightweight and Compact And we do like that so it does feel very Familiar but we do have some nice Changes we do have an improved Auto Focusing joystick on the back now we've Got both dual UHS 2 SD card slots same Battery we had before this is nice too We've now moved to a full HDMI port and We've got some other really nice changes Here so for video there's actually a fan Now built into the pentaprism area it Actually sucks air from just above the Lens mount and then dispenses it where The dials are located but it is actually Still fully weather sealed I do like This camera body it's got a nice grip it Is lightweight you've got nice control For white balance ISO and exposure comp Dual command dials but one of the main Weaknesses on the Panasonic S5 was a 2.36 million dot evf the problem there Was for its price point it was just a Little bit under spec now we've upgraded To a 3.69 million.evf and that's on par With its competitors okay so as I walk Backwards hopefully the new phase detect
Autofocus is doing a good job you be the Judge let's talk about what's at the Heart of the s52 the sensor so we still Have a 24 megapixel full frame sensor Very similar to the S5 this is Technically a brand new sensor because It's got a phase detect autofocus array Built into it but from what we can see It's got a similar readout speed to the S5 similar image quality still 24 Megapixels nothing wrong with that I Mean that's perfectly fine for the price Point of the camera but we're not really Seeing any improvements in overall image Quality now of course if 24 megapixels Isn't enough for you we still have the Similar high-res shooting mode that we Found on the Panasonic S5 this is where It will combine multiple images stack Them together it does have motion blur Compensation and you can get up to a 96 Megapixel be quiet karasu a 96 megapixel File out of this camera and so in that Regard as long as you've got a tripod You can get more detail now that's all Well and good but to be honest now Considering we have an improved in-body Image stabilization system on this Camera I would have liked to have seen Like some sort of handheld high-res mode You know like we see on the gh6 so That's unfortunate we don't have that so The in-body image stabilization has been Improved here on the S5 too and actually
It seems to be very stable Jordan's Going to talk about the video Implications of that but I've been very Impressed with the photo implications so I shot a couple photos here to see how Slow shutter speed I could go down to I Shot the 7200 F4 at 105 millimeters Because that has image stabilization in The lens as well and I get the sync is I Was able to get down to about sixth of a Second sharply once I went down to third Of a second things just started to fall Apart but that's pretty impressive then I went I shot the sigma 105 macro that Does not have is so there's no sync Going on and in that particular case I Was still about 13th of a second getting Good sharp shots so overall it's an Improvement if you've got sync is but It's an improvement regardless Jordan I Know I've actually it's like 30 times Today but are we actually rolling out We're rolling we're rolling okay because Yeah the lack of a tally lab I think Honestly in this day and age is pretty Silly chef teleumps and everything and It's driving me crazy okay I trust you So how does the s52 perform as far as Fast shooting goes well it's pretty Similar to what we've seen before in Electronic shutter mode you can push up To 30 frames per second however we don't Find the readout speed very good on this Particular sensor it's not that fast so
If I'm going to rely on a mechanical Shutter with continuous autofocus I'm Getting seven frames per second with Locked off autofocus I can push that to Nine these are respectable numbers for The price point but you know I think It'd be better just for casual Sports And Wildlife photography so I know the Big headline feature that everybody Wants to know about is the phase detect Hybrid Auto focusing system this is only Our first day we got three more days Here and I really want to do some night Shooting as well see how it performs There but I'll at least give you my Initial findings so first off single Autofocus fantastic as always it's still Basically relying on its DFD system Which was very quick and very accurate But for continuous autofocus I love the Fact that I no longer have those Panasonic focusing Jitters that's all Gone it feels very much like the Experience you shoot with any of the Other high-end hybrid autofocusing Cameras and so that so far has been Quite smooth I have been testing quite a Bit the human face eye detect that's Working really well you know it'll Prioritize the eye then go to the face Then if it doesn't have that it'll do The whole torso so that's been working Pretty well animal detect's been working Pretty well on the birds that we've seen
Here not too much wildlife in central Tokyo now the auto focusing interface is Basically the same as the S5 very Familiar to Panasonic users I'm not the Biggest fan of Panasonic's aesthetic Display for eye focusing these great Crosshairs on the I'd far prefer just a Bright box right on the eye that it's Focusing on but you get used to it However I will say that the autofocus Hit rate has been very good I'm finding It very easy to predict where it's going To go again none of those Jitters are There and so I'm really enjoying that Experience seems very accurate seems Very quick we got to do more testing as I mentioned we got a few more days Besides I know you really want to hear More about the video features of this Camera so let's go to Jordan now and he Can explain that to you Okay that time lapse transition means We're now in day two so it's me Jordan To talk about the video capabilities of The S5 too and I know you just want to Hear about autofocus but I want to get My watch time up so first we're going to Talk about some of the other new Features on the s52 now while this is a New sensor in the s52 that's just to Accommodate the new phase detect Autofocus points on it performance is Very similar to what we saw with the S5 Previously so that means you do get 4k
Up to 60p but unfortunately it does have To jump into a super 35 crop when you Use that we get 1080 recording up to 180 Frames per second but quality is a Little dodgy on that but good 1080 Quality up to 120 frames per second now 4K up to 30 frames per second is over Sampled so you're going to get very Sharp video very good low light Performance but it also gives you the Option to use a super 35 crop with any Of the 4K modes that's what Chris is Shooting me on right now and that is Going to degrade your image quality a Little bit but you will get better Rolling shutter performance and that's a Real drawback with this sensor rolling Shutter as you can see here air can Still give you some very weird diagonals And I really wish they'd upped the Readout speed on this sensor okay so if You're interested in doing raw video Well then the s52 is not going to be for You unlike even the original S5 which Gave you the ability to record external Prores raw out of its crummy micro HDMI Port this will not kick out any kind of Raw video but really interestingly what Panasonic is doing is they're releasing A separate Model A little bit later it's Going to be called the s52x Unfortunately we don't have one to test Here but what that's going to unlock is The ability to do external prores to an
External recorder but also you can Record standard prores video in a Variety of frame rates and resolutions To an external SSD it's an extra premium On that it's going to be 200 more but I Think this is kind of smart if you're a Photographer or videographer who's not Going to take advantage of any of those External capabilities then you get a Less expensive camera with the standard S52 so just like its precursor the Panasonic S5 II is a 10-bit camera that Does record using the full v-log profile If you're recording log but it does gain A few tricks from the gh6 so you now Have the ability to load dot Cube Luts Onto the camera and it'll now support up To 10 instead of the previous three Luts It's just a nice all-around upgrade Extension impact the I guess Chris asked Me to say uh let's talk about Open Gate Recording that's a feature that I Absolutely love on this camera that has Been carried over from the S5 it can use The full 24 megapixel 3×2 sensor to Record video which gets you around 6K Recording and it's so useful for Reframing your shot I mean here you can See very easy for me to pull a nice 16 By 9 frame out of it but then I can also Get some nice vertical video out of it As well as you can see right here and Sometimes it's just nice to have that Boxier frame especially if you want to
Play with anamorphic lenses just like a Lot of other Panasonics the anamorphic Support is fantastic the stabilizer can Take the squeeze factor into account to Stabilize properly and you'll see a De-squeezed image right through your Viewfinder it's extremely handy I can See myself using the open gate recording On this all the time Chris what did I Say was it racist so I always say audio Is just as if not more important than Video and there are some nice new audio Editions here but because audio is so Important that means this is a terrible Location that you picked Chris and we're Going to go somewhere else come on So the gh6 introduced a lot of really Cool audio features and a lot of those Have been carried over now to the s52 Most importantly we can record four Channels of audio into this using their Xlr1 XLR audio adapter that'll get you Two XLR inputs and then you can use the Three and a half millimeter stereo mic Input on the body for your third and Fourth audio tracks also the gh6 brought In their new audio interface now on the Gh6 it had a dedicated audio button you Could tap the s52 unfortunately doesn't Have that but you can assign any of your Custom buttons to bring up the audio Interface just makes it very quick and Easy to change all of your audio Settings in this price range I think
This is the best audio setup you can get In a full-frame camera Chris already Mentioned that this camera has a really Smart design for the fan and if you go Into your custom settings there's the Ability to have the fan constantly Running or you can adjust how fast it's Going and at what point it kicks in now We do get unlimited recording in 4k up To 40 degrees celsius but this camera is Capable of doing some higher resolution Record so I'm going to cut to Future Jordan who's done some overheating tests Take it away future Jordan oh hello Future Jordan here To talk about overheating if you do use Some of the more demanding record modes So I don't have access to 40 degrees Celsius it's actually freezing cold in Canada right now but using the 6K 32 Open gate recording I was able to record For an entire battery and there was no Overheat warning on it at all so unless You're shooting an extremely hot Climates which I can't test I don't Think you'll have any issues with Overheating even using some of those More demanding record modes after using The S5 II for almost a month I've made a Few discoveries that Jordan from the Past was unaware of first of all if You're recording in those high-res modes Like the 6K open gate and you plug an External monitor into the camera then
You are going to lose the subject Detection autofocus so if you're relying On those two features working in Conjunction I don't know if it's a Processor limitation or what they aren't Going to work together but also since I Tended to stick to using autofocus when I was filming in Tokyo when I actually Switched over and shot some stuff with Manual focus I was delighted to find That much like the gh6 this has the Ability to punch in and check your focus While recording whether you're in manual Focus or auto focus mode and it does Seem to be a much sharper display when You punch in than what we saw in the gh6 Making this feature quite a bit more Usable but let's go back to past Ignorant Jordan and see what he has to Say One of the biggest upgrades on the s52 Is we've got an entirely new algorithm For the in-body image stabilization when You're recording video and I've always Found the S Series stabilization quite Good especially compared to a lot of the Full-frame cameras but the micro four Thirds cameras were still quite a bit Better in my opinion what we're seeing Now is I think they're very nearly at Par the S5 does a really great job of Controlling vertical bounce in the shot But we do still get a little bit of Horizontal side to side movement that
Can be a little bit distracting and this Is very good I'd put it up side by side With some of the Olympus om system Cameras that I consider the real Benchmark but also they've dramatically Improved the Boost is Chris has switched Over to it right now and this is Designed for when you don't want any Movement in the camera a perfectly Locked off shot like what we're doing Right now and it looks like it's on a Tripod if you're not planning to be Walking with the camera the Boost is on This makes it the best stabilized camera I've ever tested so as soon as the Briefing on this camera started Panasonic has been touting their new Phase detect autofocus touting how it's Going to be such a great option for Video so you'll get rid of that wobbly DFD autofocus system we've been putting Up with for years so let's talk about How it actually functions so Panasonic Has basically left the video autofocus Interface unchanged just like they did On the Stills side of things but what We're seeing here is just a much more Decisive system especially when we're Doing like talking head stuff you can Set it on the human face eye detect and It's actually doing a really good job of Picking your initial subject and Sticking to it overall for this kind of Stuff we're presenting to camera the
Camera has done an excellent job and It's human detect mode the only time it Struggled with the human subject is when Both the camera was moving and the Subject was moving and the distance has Changed rapidly it would just be a Little bit behind the subject take a Moment to catch up where we noticed a Few more issues is when you're following Non-human subjects the camera almost Hesitates for a second before it starts To smooth pull Focus no matter what your Focus transition speed settings are I Think this is probably something they Could iron out in firmware but I did Notice it several times if you've got The time to set it up this does have the Excellent Focus limiter that we first Saw in the gh6 and this lets you specify The range that the camera is allowed to Focus within and it works very similar To the gh6 make sure the focus is more Consistent but now we don't have any of Those DFD wibbly wobblies while it's Working within this range if I were to Compare this to the focus of other Cameras in the price range I would Certainly put the autofocus here above The Nikon Z6 which I find quite Inconsistent or above something like the Canon EOS Arc and an EOS R6 which has a Tendency to constantly jump to the Background in your shot I do think the Sony A7 4 is just a speedier and more
Consistent autofocuser but it's also Quite a bit more expensive if we're Looking in the same price then this s52 Is certainly better than the A7 III That's available around that same price And it's certainly more than competitive Now if you're looking around this price You might notice that there's a GH 6 Available for a very similar price and That's a micro four thirds sensor as Opposed to the full frame we have here Well I think they really do both have Their place the gh6 has the much faster Readout that's going to give you 4K 60 4K 120 without a crop if slo-mo is Important that's definitely the way to Go as well you'll get all kinds of Higher data rate options but if you're Looking for a run and gun camera Especially in low light the S5 is Clearly going to be the better option There and if you compare it to any of The other full-frame cameras in this Market just in terms of video Functionality the S5 is the better way To go we've got waveforms custom Lots Open gate recording if you love video The S5 is the direction you should be Going [Music] Okay so let's talk about autofocus Performance now that I've had a few days To play with the S5 II here and really Try different settings so first off I'm
Going to say I already like the Experience of having the phase detect Hybrid that's a noticeable Improvement How did it actually perform though well It's a good first attempt and actually What I will say is especially when set To response of autofocus it did a really Good job of just pointing the camera Having a subject come into the frame and Immediately zapping to that subject and Getting a good accurate shot it also did A really good job for static portraits Where I don't find I'm really getting Back focusing or eyelash focusing very Often however moving subjects even Tweaking the settings trying to get the Autofocus to be stickier it was decent But not perfect we did have an okay hit Rate but you'll notice that there are Still quite a few shots where it's just A little bit out of focus or it tends to Be even just behind the eye I got a lot Of Jordan's beard not a lot of his eye When he was running towards the camera I Tried this both in tracking autofocus And in zone focusing and I still got Very similar results so the last thing I Want to mention is I got a chance to Test the camera in quite low light Situations and actually I found the Autofocus thing to be a very similar Experience whether I'm out during the Day or in pretty low light situations so The basic story here is that Panasonic
Has taken the S5 platform and now They've updated it to be very Competitive and very comparable to the Contemporary cameras in its price point Especially now that we have that phase Detect hybrid autofocus we don't have That disadvantage anymore image quality Again very similar to the other cameras In this price range autofocus Performance now frankly very similar as Well you know maybe I would say it's got A slight Edge over an icon z62 very Similar to Sony A7 III maybe the Canon EOS R6 is a little bit more effective With face eye detect autofocus and its Hit rate but you know again it's very Comparable but one of the only Disadvantages I will say it doesn't have A great burst rate seven frame per Second in mechanical shutter mode with Continuous autofocusing many of the Other cameras can beat that but overall We do have a pretty competitive platform Here with an Ibis unit which is very Stable only the Canon comes close it is Clearly better than what Nikon and Sony Offer for their in-body image Stabilizers we have a recompetitive Package for a photographer though if I Want a more consistent autofocus Performance I could spend more money and Go to the A7 IV or the Canon EOS R6 Mark II those would certainly outperform this Very clearly but they are more expensive
Cameras so why would you then buy this What's the strength I think it's really If you want to do hybrid photo and video Work because as a video camera this Camera is well above anything else in Its price point even very comparable to Quite a bit more expensive options in The video world and that's really the Reason why you might want to take a hard Look at the S5 version too anyways I Hope you guys enjoyed that please leave Your comments below don't forget to Check out our sample Gallery at Dprivery.com you can see the shots that We took here in Japan and judge for Yourselves Instagram Twitter please Subscribe to the Channel please click That notification Bell but we're sad to Leave Japan when you see us again we'll Be back in Calgary for another episode Of deep your view TV Thank you
