Well, it looks like the announcement is going to be coming quite soon. After the recent photo leak, a complete set of specs for the Panasonic Lumix S5 Mark II has also been leaked. Also, we now know what the differences will be between the S5 Mark II and the S5 Mark II X. The big news though is that, yes, Panasonic finally seems to be putting Phase Detect Autofocus into a mirrorless camera.
This is good news for the future of Panasonic shooters, who’ve often complained about Panasonic’s proprietary DFD tech that only works with Panasonic lenses – and it not really working at all, really, when shooting video. The addition of phase detection autofocus appears to be the single biggest difference between this and the original Panasonic Lumix S5, but there are a couple of others.
If you want to see the complete leaked specs, you can see them embedded below, but here’s the basic rundown.
- 24-megapixel (6,000 x 4,000) CMOS sensor
- 14+ stops of dynamic range with V-Log
- 5-axis IBIS (5 stops)
- 6K 30fps video (200Mbps LGOP 4:2:0 10-Bit)
- C4K 60fps (4:2:2 10-Bit)
- Image plane phase detect AF / Contrast AF
- DFD (Depth-from-defocus) technology
- -6EV – 18EV AF sensitivity
- ISO 100-51,200
- Extended 50-204,800
- Dual native ISO: Normal 100/640, V-Log 640/4000, HLG 400/2500
- 1/8000 – 60 sec shutter (mechanical and electronic)
- Continuous shooting: 9fps (mechanical) 30fps (electronic)
- USB 3.2 Gen 2
- Card slots: Dual SD (no mention of speed)
- Dust and splashproof
- Dimensions: 134 x 102 x 90mm
- Weight: 740g
Overall, it appears to be very similar to the original S5 except for two key aspects. The first is that you can now shoot 6K video at 30 frames per second (even if it is only 4:2:0), and the second is the addition of phase detect autofocus – which, in the grand Panasonic scheme of things, is a pretty huge deal. It’s only something that Panasonic shooters have been begging for, for at least three or four generations now.
Hopefully, this finally means that not only will Panasonic get decent autofocus when shooting video for those that need it, but we’ll also get improved stills performance with non-Panasonic Micro Four Thirds lenses. Sticking with SD card slots seems a bit odd. There’s no mention of speed, so whether we’ll get a pair of UHS-II slots, or one UHS-II slot and one UHS-I slot like the original S5 is currently unknown.
Panasonic Lumix S5 Mark II … by DIYPhotography
As for the Panasonic Lumix S5 Mark II X… Well, it appears that it’ll be largely the same as the regular S5 Mark II, with one notable addition. It will support Apple ProRes video recording. Why this is a whole separate camera model and not just a paid firmware update for the regular S5 Mark II, I’ve no idea, but that appears to be the difference between the two. Asobinet does mention that the S5 Mark II X supports tethering over ethernet, though, so perhaps there are physical differences between the two, too.
As per the previous leak, the Panasonic Lumix S5 Mark II is expected to be released in February (although an official announcement might come sooner), with the S5 Mark II X expected in June. We’ll let you know as we find out more.
[via Asobinet]
