A Compelling Proposition!

Panasonic pioneered the mirrorless market with its G1 camera that sported a Micro Four Thirds mount.

- Hoshang Billimoria

Panasonic Lumix S5 II ₹189,990 (body only)

NOTE: Panasonic supplied us the camera only with the charger and battery; hence there is no 'In the Box' section.

The G1 also won Panasonic its only SP Camera of the Year Award. The success of mirrorless was never in doubt. However, the 64 million dollar question was whether mirrorless cameras should have smaller sensors (read Micro Four Thirds), medium sized sensors (read APS-C) or full frame sensors (read 35mm equivalent). The success of Sony with its full frame sensors opened the doors to others. Panasonic decided to hedge its bets and in 2019 launched the full frame S1 and S1 H. The cameras boasted excellent build quality and advanced video capabilities. However, their large size and weight combined with an average autofocus system limited their success. The S5 launched later was lighter and cheaper but autofocus remained an issue. Panasonic has rectified the autofocus issue with the new S5 II and S5 II X. SP had the S5 II on review and the results are detailed below. The S5 II X is aimed at videophiles and has even more advanced video facilities in the form of compatibility with recording format Black Magic B-RAW and streaming functionality.

The S5 II we received was coupled with the new Lumix 20 -60 mm f 3.5 – 5.6 zoom that accepts 67 mm filters.

Design & Build Quality