Panasonic Lumix S5 II vs S5 IIX: what’s the difference and which is right for you?

Introduction

Panasonic launched its Lumix S5 II mirrorless camera back in January and now, as promised, it’s been joined by a sister model, the S5 IIX. We’re going to look at the features and differences between the two cameras so that, if you’re deciding between them, you can choose the one better suited to your needs.

The differences between the cameras all pertain to video, but it’s not a simple case of ‘S5 IIX if you need video, S5 II if you don’t,’ because the S5 II is already a highly capable hybrid camera it its own right. So join us as we delve into the distinctions.

What the S5 II offers

First we’ll look at the Lumix S5 II. It’s been available since January 2023 and is a mid-priced video/stills hybrid camera in the style of Nikon’s Z6 II or, more approximately, Sony’s a7 IV and Canon’s EOS R6 II. These four camera vary slightly in how extensive or usable their video feature sets are, but at heart they’re all very capable stills bodies. We’ll look at the camera first in terms of its stills shooting.

The S5 II represents a major shift for Panasonic, being the first of its cameras to incorporate distance-aware phase detection autofocus. This overcomes one of our biggest concerns about the first-generation S models: although they were pretty good at continuous AF for stills, they would give a pulsating image in the viewfinder while focusing that could be off-putting as well as make it difficult to keep the camera trained on your subject. The move to phase detection remedies this.

It also gives a boost to the latest version of one of the first AF systems to include AI-trained subject recognition, which makes the S5 II a more competitive stills camera than its predecessor. Combined with an image stabilization system that can co-ordinate with stabilized lenses to give up to 6.5EV of correction and a 3.68M dot OLED finder with 0.78x magnification, the S5 II looks to be on par with its peers from a stills perspective.

There are also modes such as multi-shot high res mode and live view composite, which can be useful if you like to take the very specific types of image each is useful for.

S5 II Video

Like its immediate rivals, the S5 II isn’t just a stills camera. Its video specs are, in many respects, up with the best in its class. It’s informative to compare it with Panasonic’s own, explicitly video-focused S1H: the S5 II offers an awful lot of the same capabilities.

For instance, it’s the only camera in this class able to output video from its full sensor region, offering a 6K ‘open gate’ option in 3:2 aspect ratio. Likewise it’s the only camera at this price to include a fan for extended recording times in warmer conditions. Further options include 6K in 16:9 or 1.89:1 video aspect ratios or UHD or DCI 4K taken from this 6K capture. All these modes are offered in 10-bit, giving very usable Log footage or the option of HLG output if you want out-of-camera footage for playback on HDR TVs.

Panasonic has added an ‘Active’ IS mode that offers a greater degree of correction when moving with the camera, which even the S1H doesn’t have.

However, good video is increasingly common across this part of the market and the S5 II’s 24MP doesn’t have especially fast readout. It’s appreciably faster than Sony’s a7 IV (which wouldn’t be our choice for video despite apparently strong specs), but still slow enough that it has to crop in to deliver 4K 60p. As always this makes it harder to achieve wide-angle framing and means a loss in quality and increase in noise.

But factor in unusual features like support for shooting with anamorphic lenses, 4-channel audio (with an optional adapter), waveform displays for setting exposure and vectorscopes for understanding color and the S5 II is a very, very capable video camera.

Who’s it for?

Like the Canon EOS R6 II, Sony a7 IV and Nikon Z6 II, the S5 II is a general-purpose, do-everything full-frame hybrid camera. This $2000-$2500 class has become home to a series of Swiss Army knife cameras, which offer fast enough shooting and strong enough AF to lend themselves to a bit of sport, high enough resolution for most photography and a range of video features to let you shoot footage that looks good on even the largest 4K TV.

Essentially they’re do-everything cameras for enthusiast photographers whose needs don’t push them into requiring anything more specialized, such as pro-levels sports AF or high-resolution capture. Only the S5 II’s rather slow burst shooting rate of 7 fps with continuous AF and mechanical shutter (it’s 30 fps in e-shutter mode), sees the Panasonic give any ground to its peers.

It’s a very strong all-rounder, losing out in resolution to the Sony but delivering less rolling shutter, packing in options such as pixel shift high res that the Canon lacks while also under-cutting it on price.

More than ever, it’s lens ranges that make the difference between brands, unless you have really specific needs or preferences.

What more does the S5 II X bring

So, if the S5 II already offers one of the best video specs in its class, what has Panasonic added to the S5 IIX?

The most obvious addition is the ability to capture video with less compression. This comes both in the form of All-I codecs (where each frame is retained, rather than just data about the differences from neighboring frames), and ProRes 422 or 422HQ capture. These higher quality settings include very high data rate options, so the S5 IIX also offers the ability to write directly to external SSD devices (up to 2TB) over its USB-C socket.

In addition it offers ‘Raw’ video output, that can then be encoded either as ProRes RAW by Atomos recorders or as BRaw by Blackmagic devices. The camera can output 5.9K 16:9 footage from the full width of its sensor at up to 30p, or 1.89:1 footage from a 4.1K ∼APS-C region at up to 60p. There’s also a 4:3 APS-C mode for users of anamorphic lenses.

The S5 IIX also adds an array of direct video streaming options that are absent from the S5 II. The camera can broadcast directly to services such as Facebook Live and YouTube via Wi-Fi to a smartphone (up to 1080/60), USB tethering to a smartphone (up to 4K/30) or over a LAN cable (up to 4K/60). This allows for all manner of direct broadcasting of events and lectures from wherever you find yourself needing to connect from.

Who’s it for?

The easiest way to understand who the S5 IIX is designed for is to understand why it’s a distinct model. Panasonic’s explanation is that it wanted to offer a model with even higher video specs but didn’t think that a majority of people would need them, nor want to pay for them. Indeed, the company sees the S5 II appealing even to those who never shoot video. Unsurprisingly its presentations for the S5 IIX are skewed toward videographers and hybrid shooters, rather than primarily stills photographers. It also sees the buyers as high-end and pro users, rather than mid-to-high-end enthusiasts.

In the latter group, even keen amateur videographers will be fine with the Long-GOP footage the S5 II outputs, and won’t gain a lot from the additional data required for All-I compression. Likewise, the amount of data and the additional work created by shooting Raw video isn’t necessary for most applications.

For those users who do wish to adopt a Raw video workflow, there is a $200 option to upgrade the firmware of the regular S5 II to add this feature, but you don’t get the rest of the S5 IIX’s features, such as All-I compression, internal ProRes 422 (/HQ), streaming or SSD support.

The alternatives

No other stills/video camera offers quite the S5 IIX’s breadth of video features. Fujifilm’s APS-C X-H2S perhaps comes closest, with 4K/60 capture, internal ProRes capture and the option to add a fan. It’s slightly more expensive, despite its smaller sensor, but that sensor is a Stacked CMOS design that gives better rolling shutter performance.

Alternatively there’s the APS-C FX30 in Sony’s cinema line. It’s more video focused and has no mechanical shutter, making it less suited to stills. Again the sensor is smaller, but then the Panasonic has to crop down to APS-C for its 4K/60 mode, so the Sony could have the edge overall if you use that mode a lot.

The other obvious rival is Sony’s full-frame FX3: a larger-sensor version of the FX30, capable of full-width 4K/60 or 4K/120 with a very slight crop. It’s more expensive but offers anamorphic support and a wide range of codecs including All-I compression, it also tends to come with a top handle with built-in XLR adapters. Again there’s no mechanical shutter, making it less suited to stills and, like the FX30 and X-H2S, there’s no option to record to SSD.

In short, if you’re looking for a full-frame hybrid camera that can take great stills but also allows for professional-level video workflows, the Panasonic S5 IIX could be the sweet spot.

Why the wait for the S5 IIX?

Panasonic made the unusual decision to announce both cameras in January while making clear that the S5 IIX wouldn’t be available for a number of months.

The company says it needed more time to develop and validate the X version, and didn’t want this to delay the mainstream model. It’s worth noting that Panasonic only added BRaw support to the S5 II – for anyone who’d paid for the Raw output firmware – on June 13th: the same day the S5 IIX was released.

However, since the X offers some features that can’t be added to the S5 II, Panasonic said it didn’t want anyone to rush out to grab an S5 II, only to be frustrated when a camera that suited them better appeared. The company won’t be specific about any hardware differences between the two models, but says it’s not possible to upgrade an S5 II to full S5 IIX spec using firmware: if you want the streaming capabilities, SSD support and access to All-I and ProRes internal encoding, you’ll need to buy the X.

Summary

The S5 II and S5 IIX represent a pair of interesting additions to the market: a solid hybrid camera with very strong video specs and an even more video-focused option for those people primarily looking for a video camera.

This is a very different approach from Panasonic’s rivals. Sony has introduced an array of video options through both its FX cinema line and its ZV vlogging range, while Canon’s more expensive EOS R6 II doesn’t have all the S5 II (and X’s) video bells and whistles but uses a sensor capable of 4K/60 from its full width.

If the S5 IIX gives us any hesitation, it’s the use of the 24MP sensor. Panasonic says it’s a new chip with faster readout but our provisional measurements showed its video to have similar rolling shutter to the S1H: good but not great.

Ultimately, though, for both S5 models it’ll be the performance of the autofocus that dictates how good they are, as dependable AF is a tremendous benefit both for photographers using the S5 II and videographers looking to exploit the Active I.S mode to run-and-gun. We’ll be putting this to the test in the coming weeks, to see how both cameras perform.