Beritar

I'm more and more interested by the Nikon Z system. I'm a hardcore Panasonic GH and S user but I'm disappointed by the S5II and the S5II(X), they improved the AF and the IBIS a lot, but the image quality in video is not there anymore for me. The only advantage they have compared to other system is the IBIS now. Of course the 24-70mm, 70-200mm and 50mm S Pro are great lenses, but where are the 24,35,85,135 S Pro ? And I don't even speak about f1.2 lenses.

Do you shoot with the standard profiles or in V-Log ? A lot of people don't really see the difference in V-Log, but the standard profiles are really much worse, especially in 4K or C4K, a very bad mix of over-sharpening and chroma noise reduction. This is why I use most of the time 6K or 6K Open gate V-Log on the S5II. But on these resolutions, the IBIS is much worse than on 4K and C4K... Walking while recording is very difficult because the cameras makes more "jumps".

Each time I apply blur to my footage on the S5II, it becomes unatural, some textures look good and some don't. The sharpness is not the only issue, like I said. The S5II/X have more spatial chroma noise reduction, leading to loss of colour detail, like in skin texture and foliage, about a value of 20~25 in Resolve is required to match the S1/S5 chroma detail to S5iiX. But yes some people are prefectly fine with the internal output of the S5II, especially if they don't crop a lot inside their videos, but to my eyes, the S5II internal recording is really not as good as the S1, S5 and S1H. I am not even talking about the standard profiles in 4K or C4K, one of the worst image I've seen between every Panasonic cameras I owned (almost all since the GH4), the difference with the S1,S5,S1H is huge, very excessive sharpening and smoothed out details (I think I've posted some videos about the issue).

Yes the image is much nicer in my opinion. But outside of the AF, the IBIS of the S5II is also better, I can almost walk with the S5II with my 85mm S, you really can't on the S1 and S1H. And some features are great on the S5II too, like the zoom while recording. I hope the new S1II/S1HII will get the best of the old and new Gen.

You can't use H264 with 5,9K/6K/Open Gate. I don't see any crushed black on the GH6 between H265 or H264, the crushed black is only with Prores, it's because the levels are not set correctly.

If you blur the S5II, it will not get the same level of details of the S1. And vice versa, adding some sharpening on the S1 footage still make it nicer than the S5II. The S5II shows really harsher edges + more spatial chroma noise reduction, nothing comparable to when you add in camera sharpening in the S1 or when you add sharpening in post in Premiere or Resolve. I don't understand why Panasonic messed up their internal video engine like this, they were so close to perfect before. I don't want my image to be soft, I want details, but organic details, unprocessed. If I want a soft image, I still can shot in 1080P and upscale it. This is where I'm lost when I see some people buying 6K or 8K camera to finally destroy most of the fine details to look like 1080P footage I think the S1 has a really good balance between organic and sharp. For me it is still one of the most underated hybrid camera. The case of cameras like the S1H are different, they don't blur anything digitally, and while they make the image softer for both photo and video, they are most of the time free from moiré while still having a lot of details.

Agreed, it is not because PDAF because the external BRAW is flawless. However, unlike you, I see the difference with the first S cameras almost each time, maybe because I use big screen with high resolution, I also crop a lot inside my 6K video to make some effects. Yes V-log is less impacted than the standard profiles like you can see in the comparison, but for me it still not as good, it also has more spatial chroma noise reduction even in V-log.

For those who are interested by the difference of the fine details rendering (internal recording) between the S1 and the S5II in 5,9K. V-Log, ISO 4000, sharpness and NR at 0, internal recording, 10 bits, same lens, same settings : The S1 has at least the same level of detail but looks more organic. The S5II on the contrary, has rougher edges. Natural, ISO 1250, sharpness and NR at -5, internal recording, 10 bits, same lens, same settings : This time the difference is much worse with the standard profiles, it looks like smartphone footage, of course there are more details than on smartphone (even with 8K smartphone), but they are really over-sharpened. On the S5II, I never use 4K and C4K because they are even worse, especially with the standard profiles. But using the 5,9K/6K or Open Gate mode decrease the IBIS performance, it's very noticeable while walking (of course ambassasors never test the IBIS with these modes). I really hope the rumored S1II and S1HII will improve the video engine of the S5II.

I agree, I always shot 4K 8 bits on my GH4/G80/NX1/GH5/GX9/S5 and I never had serious issues. I'm forced to use 4K 10 bits on the S5II everytime though, because V-log (while not as good as the first S5) has nicer details rendering than the standard profiles.

Not so much. My wife uses Sony cameras, I'm not a fan of them but I like some FE lenses so I use them occasionnaly ... Otherwise, I only use M43 and Panasonic L mount (I also have my good old NX1 and NX500).

Yes, on M43 it's hard to get the same look than a FF 35mm f1.4 or f1.2. I have the 35mm GM for that, awesome lens, ultra sharp wide open with nice bokeh, and not so large and heavy. It's one of the best lens I ever used. I would love to put this lens on my Panasonic S cameras ...

Sadly the 20mm f1.7II is still very noisy, but at least the AF-C is not bad on the G9II !

The AF-C is relatively fast on the G9II, it's very surprising :

The 25mm and 45mm Oly Pro lenses are even heavier than the 50mm and 85mm f1.8 S. But yes both the Oly share similar size and weight. Technically, you can say they are close to f2.5 for DOF and Bokeh, they are also less sharp wide open than the S 50mm and 85mm Panasonic FF. But their bokeh and rendering are great, and we can't get the same IBIS quality, the same rolling shutter and the 4K 120fps when using the S lenses on the S5II.

For sure, the 50mm f1.8 S is much smaller with the S5 or S5II. Very sharp lens, almost clinical, with good bokeh at short to medium distance. But the G9II with the PL 25mm is still nicer to use (smaller and lighter) and has IMHO better character : And just for fun, a comparison with the little 20mm pancake 😅 :