I bought this at Best Buy at the time it came out and then also bought a 16-35mm lens from B&H as well. Having the 20-60mm is nice to have a back up semi-wide angle lens that also gives me a little more reach.
Camera’s I Owned or extensively tested:
Sony DSC-RX10 II
Panasonic GH4
Panasonic GH5
Panasonic S5
Sony A7 IV with 16-35 f2.8
Sony A7s III with 16-35 f2.8
Panasonic GH6
& Now the Panasonic S5ii
I use this for video for work but also want to shoot some good photo’s here and there for work and for pleasure.
Let me just say this Panasonic S5ii is the best camera I’ve ever owned for these reasons.
1. Autofocus- On par with the Sony A7 IV I owned briefly but had to sell due to overheating. The older Panasonic models just couldn’t keep up. I really wanted to love the GH6 and it’s an amazing camera but the Autofocus was the deal breaker. I miss some aspects of the GH6 like 4k 60pfs and 120fps with no crop but that is about it.
2. No Overheating Ever! This fan is soo cool. I often shoot 6K Open Gate/3:2 for 3-4 hrs at a time. I shoot a 20-30 minute vid, take a break for a few min and shoot another 20-30 min vid over and over for 3-4hrs. The Sony A7 IV could only shoot the first one and then it would overheat on the second. Instead of taking 3-4 hrs to shoot my vids it would take 5-6 trying to cool down the Sony. Even worse is it shuts down mid sentence so it really throws you off your game when you turn it back on.
3. 180 degree shutter! This is so key. I never screw up a shot because the shutter angle is always perfect.
4. Picture Quality- I could never easily grade my Sony but it is soo easy to color grade the S5II. Especially after the 2.0 Firmware update. The image quality is exceptional based on what I’m used to and after the 2.0 Update the Real Time Lut with VLog requires very little editing in post. Shooting in 3:2 6K Open Gate gives me soo much room to zoom in as well as shoot for social media. I could do that pretty well with the GH6 but not with this much image quality.
5. This is a great picture camera. Maybe not as good as my old A7iv but it’s really great for being such a video beast. There are soo many cool features like the 96mp stills feature, astrophotography feature and many others that just make this more camera than most at this price point.
6. Sound Quality is amazing. Panasonic just does better sound than anyone else at this price point. It just sounds soo good with external mics vs. Sony. Its a pain to reduce the 4 channels of audio to 1 like most clips in Premiere Pro but It’s worth it to have this kind of audio.
7. Camera Build is top notch. Panasonic makes a camera the just feels durable. Most other cameras I have tried from Sony just don’t feel as sturdy. I trust this a lot more.
Some drawbacks:
1. Less Lens Options than most. Panasonic and Sigma offer a lot of lenses but with Sony and Panasonic M43 the choices are almost limitless. I never feel like I can find my perfect lens.
2. Using an external monitor takes the display info from the on camera monitor. I have to use 2 monitors instead of one so I can see the display info on the front and back monitors. I often shoot by myself and film myself so I need to see what’s happening. I wish Panasonic would fix this so it displays on the in camera monitor and the external monitor.
Other than that I don’t really have any serious complaints. I’ve never had a camera that came so close to doing everything I need. I hope that in the years to come Panasonic and Sigma offer a ton more lenses and the next firmware update gives me dual display read out and life will be perfect. This really is a once in a decade kind of camera. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Amazing camera so far only had it for about three weeks or so but I can say that the picture quality is amazing as a beginning photographer try and understand full frame cameras. This has been the perfect camera to start with . Amazing video, the auto focus is very, very nice. Next time when I buy a camera I’m definitely going to buy it from Best Buy again because the customer service was amazing and also help me understand what camera is right for me and this is the perfect beginners camera. I bought a few lenses with it already got a bunch of accessories . I would highly recommend this camera.

Sony shooter for a long time and recently switched over to Lumix. This 1000% replaced my Sony a74 for video work. The video features packed into this camera for the price is realllllly hard to beat. The VLog color profile + ability to shoot prores raw has been the easiest color grading I’ve ever encountered. I’m not a colorist by any means and this platform made it easy to get work done. The Pictures are also very nice and on par with Sony/Canon in a similar price range. Overall This is my go to video camera for client work before I reach for my Sony.

Allow me to share with you my approach to photography.
In the past, I owned a Leica SL, which was an incredible camera that I miss dearly.
However, it had a major drawback in that it was too bulky and heavy to carry around comfortably.
Subsequently, I owned a Panasonic S1R, which was also a large camera, with too much megapixels for me.
It performed admirably with manual lenses and slow-motion footage, but I found its autofocus capabilities to be lacking.
Recently, I acquired a Panasonic S5 II, which feels significantly smaller and lighter in the hand,
making it much easier to carry around. The 24MP image sensor is perfect for me, and the camera produces vibrant images with great contrast
that approach the quality of the Leica SL.
My slow shooting typically involves using Contax Carl Zeiss manual lenses, along with a few of Leica M lenses.
I take my time and use the focus peek assist to zoom in on the subject and capture a great shot.
The EVF on the S5 II is excellent and the focus assist works flawlessly.
The option to edit and add manual lens information is also an incredible feature that saves me the trouble of having to remember or guess which lens I used.
The camera performs exceptionally well in low light conditions and images shot at ISO 6400 look impressive.
As the father of four active boys, I have often been disappointed with the autofocus performance of previous cameras.
Thankfully, the Panasonic S5 II has an excellent phase detect focus system, allowing me to start using L-mount lenses and capture perfect moments of my boys running and playing.
Although I haven’t tried the video options yet, according to reviews on YouTube they seem to be outstanding.
The flip screen adds a lot of value for self-blogging.
Overall, I am thoroughly impressed with the Panasonic S5 II performance, particularly considering its reasonable price point.
Panasonic has created a perfect system, and I am pleased to have it in my photographic arsenal.