After 8,000 Hours with the LUMIX S5iiX, Here’s the Truth — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00So, I've been shooting on the Lumix S52X
2. 0:02for over the last 2 years since 2023.
3. 0:05And this has been actually my workhorse
4. 0:07camera for a long, long time prior to
5. 0:09the S1 [music] Mark II. And let's just
6. 0:11say because of firmware updates, this
7. 0:13does not feel like the same camera I got
8. 0:15back in 2023, this still feels fresh and
9. 0:18brand new. Well, apart from the dust and
10. 0:21dirt over the years of using it. In this
11. 0:23video, I'll dive into the things I
12. 0:25absolutely love and adore about the
13. 0:27Lumix S52X, some of the cons, and what I
14. 0:30would be looking forward to in a S5 Mark
15. 0:32III. So, without further ado, let's dive
16. 0:34in. The first thing I want to touch
17. 0:35point on is going to be the colors and
18. 0:37the image quality. Vlog is probably one
19. 0:40of my favorite color profiles to color
20. 0:42grade. It's really, really extremely
21. 0:44easy to work with. It's easy to achieve
22. 0:46the results you want. And I've worked
23. 0:49with RED, I've worked with Blackmagic,
24. 0:51I've worked with Sony, I've worked with
25. 0:53even Nikon, the ZR footage. And I think
26. 0:56the Lumix footage, granted, I'm really
27. 0:58used to using these cameras and know how
28. 1:00to color grade them. But even when I
29. 1:01first started off into color grading
30. 1:03different things and working at
31. 1:04production house that uses primarily
32. 1:06Sony cameras back in the day, I felt
33. 1:08like the Lumix V-Log footage
34. 1:10specifically was just much easier to get
35. 1:12the final image look that I was trying
36. 1:15to search for at the end of the day.
37. 1:17Also, on top of that, what I love about
38. 1:19Lumix cameras is you can actually import
39. 1:21your own custom conversion LUTs or added
40. 1:24look LUTs or different things like that
41. 1:26and actually use a conversion L as a
42. 1:29viewing L assist. So, what you see on
43. 1:31the back of the LCD is actually going to
44. 1:33be 98% accurate [music]
45. 1:36when you are looking at the computer.
46. 1:37So, what you see on the back of your
47. 1:39screen almost looks very close to
48. 1:42identical to what you're viewing by just
49. 1:44inputting your own viewing lots and
50. 1:46using whatever you're actually going to
51. 1:48use instead of what the [music]
52. 1:49basic default viewing lots and viewing
53. 1:52assist LUTs that come with this camera.
54. 1:54I highly recommend that I have my own L
55. 1:56pack and if you want to get a free V-log
56. 1:59L, there will be a link in description
57. 2:00for that as well. The second thing is
58. 2:03autofocus. The Lumix S52 and the S52X
59. 2:07was Lumix's first go at phase detect
60. 2:09autofocus and also they've had many
61. 2:12firmware updates making it better and
62. 2:14better. Granted, it's not the same as
63. 2:16Sony touchandgo. There is a little bit
64. 2:19more of a workaround to make sure that
65. 2:21you get the best autofocus. If you know
66. 2:23what your settings are, you know how to
67. 2:25dial in your settings, you can have the
68. 2:27autofocus stick 98% of the time. And I
69. 2:30have an entire video explaining this.
70. 2:31So, if you are interested in seeing
71. 2:33that, there will be a link right there
72. 2:34as well. But the autofocus has by far
73. 2:38impressed me. Thirdly is going to be the
74. 2:41workflow. There is a couple things I
75. 2:44absolutely love about the S52X, but I
76. 2:46love because of firmware updates, we
77. 2:48keep getting more and more improved
78. 2:50workflows. This is from proxy recording
79. 2:53MP4 light, which I all my videos is MP4
80. 2:56light on an S52X. Every single one for
81. 2:59over the past year has just been MP4
82. 3:01light for my talking head camera angles.
83. 3:03We also have realtime L for JPEG photos
84. 3:07and having things be the colors be baked
85. 3:10into the videos or baked into the
86. 3:12images. We open gate with multiple frame
87. 3:15markers. Being able to shoot for
88. 3:18vertical and horizontal at the same time
89. 3:20without having to push the camera back
90. 3:21to get extra headroom. You can keep it
91. 3:24where you normally do. So, you're not
92. 3:25messing up any of the compression ratios
93. 3:27and different things kind of like that.
94. 3:29And the last thing I love about the S52X
95. 3:31is the reliability and the continuous
96. 3:33improvements. The Lumix S52X, like I
97. 3:36mentioned in the beginning of this
98. 3:37video, back in 2023, this was a
99. 3:39completely different camera to the
100. 3:41camera that this is right now. We had
101. 3:43the massive April 2024 update, adding
102. 3:46animal autofocus, car, motorcycle, the
103. 3:48proxies, camera to cloud integrations.
104. 3:51Then back in 2024, we got the 39 LUTs.
105. 3:54We got the two LUTs. We got the opacity
106. 3:57sliders. We got the Lumix Lab app, the
107. 3:59Leica monochrome being able to connect
108. 4:01to the XLR2. Then fast forward to even
109. 4:03this year, January 2025, we got airplane
110. 4:06and train autofocus, multiple frame
111. 4:09markers, and different things like that.
112. 4:11And it continues even just maybe a month
113. 4:13or so ago, we finally got Lumix Flow on
114. 4:15the S52X. So, it's been really cool to
115. 4:18see the last two years, this camera
116. 4:20continuing to be a completely different
117. 4:22camera than the one camera that was
118. 4:24released. And then on top of that, this
119. 4:26camera is built like a tank, pinning
120. 4:28this out in the sun, any situations.
121. 4:31I've never had this camera overheat on
122. 4:33me once in any situations. With all that
123. 4:36said, there is still a couple cons I do
124. 4:38have with the S52X. The first con isn't
125. 4:41just with the S52X, but almost all Lumix
126. 4:43cameras with face detect autofocus
127. 4:46because of all of the different tracking
128. 4:48modes from airplane, train,
129. 4:51motorcycle, human, animal, and then the
130. 4:53different modes within that. What I
131. 4:56really hope Lumix is going to implement
132. 4:58going forward is some type of auto
133. 5:00subject tracking just so we can select
134. 5:03that and then it'll auto subject track
135. 5:05whatever the subject is in the frame.
136. 5:07The second con I have with this is the
137. 5:09digital sharpness on these cameras.
138. 5:11These cameras are just digitally more
139. 5:14sharp in comparison to contrastbased
140. 5:16autofocus Lumix cameras back in the day.
141. 5:19Mostly because there is no LPF filter on
142. 5:23this camera whatsoever. Granted, with
143. 5:25that said, even like this image, it
144. 5:27looks naturally soft because I'm using
145. 5:29some type of white diffusion or opaline
146. 5:32filters, which you can actually pick up
147. 5:33from Condor Blue, but any type of
148. 5:35diffusion filters at a 1/8 or 116th
149. 5:39really kind of minimizes that
150. 5:40altogether. Or Kari has opaline filters
151. 5:44that you can now actually put into these
152. 5:46cameras and be able to have an OPF and
153. 5:48make your image just naturally [music]
154. 5:50be a little bit more soft and less
155. 5:52digitally sharp. My last con is the HDMI
156. 5:56lag on this. Granted, if you do turn off
157. 5:59the sound and you just need a monitor,
158. 6:02you're not externally recording raw,
159. 6:04there is no issues whatsoever. I there's
160. 6:07barely any lag [music] if you have the
161. 6:09sound turned off and you just are using
162. 6:11a monitor and you don't need sound where
163. 6:13rolling to that monitor. Granted, if you
164. 6:16want to use this camera with an external
165. 6:18monitor like the Atomos or the
166. 6:19Blackmagic uh video assist monitors and
167. 6:22you need sound, then there is a
168. 6:24significant HDMI lag delay. But again,
169. 6:27you could just turn off the sound and
170. 6:28kind of fix that solution right [music]
171. 6:30away. And lastly, what do I think Lumix
172. 6:32should do for the S5 Mark III?
173. 6:34Ultimately, what I personally recommend
174. 6:36is use this exact same body style. Maybe
175. 6:40have a slight improvements with the back
176. 6:42shutter dial by moving it slightly up so
177. 6:44you don't accidentally hit it with your
178. 6:45thumb. Different things like that. But
179. 6:47use this exact same body. Take the Lumix
180. 6:49S1 Mark II sensor in specs and pit it in
181. 6:53this camera. Have the dual SD card
182. 6:55still. Maybe we'll be able to record
183. 6:57ProRes RAW via the SSD, but I think just
184. 7:01taking [music] that camera's specs and
185. 7:03sensors, pin it in some type of less
186. 7:06desirable body like this one, [music]
187. 7:08and have that camera sell for 22 to
188. 7:11$2,400 would make an absolute killer for
189. 7:15a Lumix S5 Mark III. Anyways, I would
190. 7:18love to hear your guys' thoughts on what
191. 7:19you think of the Lumix S52X or what you
192. 7:22guys are hoping to see in the Lumix S5
193. 7:24Mark III. If you do want to see my video
194. 7:26comparing the Lumix S52X versus the S1
195. 7:29Mark II, well, check out that video
196. 7:31right there. YouTube recommends you
197. 7:32might like this video right here. Until
198. 7:33the next one, guys. Peace.