The Panasonic Lumix S5II, the smallest fully featured L-Mount full-frame digital, gets some useful extra features in the firmware upgrade. It applies to both the S5II and the S5IIX cameras. The S5 family of camera offers high performance but with a saving of size and weight when compared with the Lumix S range and Leica’s SL2. With the reasonable price tag, these cameras are truly the starting point for anyone wishing to enter the L-Mount world for the first time.
Here at Macfilos we own both the original S5 and the S5II and continue to be surprised by the performance and image quality. The cameras pair successfully with Panasonic’s lighter zooms, such as the S 20-60 mm f/3.5-5.6 and the S 24-105 mm f/4 Macro OIS. For Leica SL owners, the Lumix S5 cameras can be the core of a compelling “second body” outfit.
Hi-res and focus improvements
Among the improvements are faster switching between viewfinder and LCD. In addition, Panasonic has added the handheld hi-resolution mode, introduced in the recently announced Panasonic Lumix G9II micro four-thirds body. In hi-resolution mode, the speed can be set to a maximum of eight seconds with the long-exposure noise reduction applied. Because both the S5II and S5IIX feature in-body stabilisation, Panasonic has included a new “handheld hi-res mode” to enable recording pictures in higher resolution even without the use of a tripod. With the latest firmware, photographers can capture 96MP hi-res stills while shooting hand held.
A further new feature, “AF-Point Scope”, allows greater magnification of the focus position when using autofocus. On the manual-focus front, Panasonic has improved the MF Assist feature. This now permits 20x enlargement to achieve maximum sharpness in focus.
In addition, the Panasonic Lumix S5II firmware update includes various bug fixes and what they term solutions to “stability issues”.
Download
Download firmware S5II version 2.2 and S5IIX version 1.3 from the Panasonic website. Here you can also find version 2.7 for the older S5, although we do not have details of the changes at the moment.
More on the Panasonic Lumix S5
More on the Leica-inspired L-Mount Alliance
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