Lumix S5 II - Hands on and some thoughts on AWBL (Auto White Balance Lock)

Hands on with the S5II and the AFC human detect is great. The IBIS is great. The AWBL is great!
This was shot on the GH6 and I still love how it looks!
IG: / lyndonlabayan

[@JeffBourke]

AWB should lock by default on all cameras when you hit record. Nothing worse than dealing with it in post.

[@TopshelfJunior]

GH6 owner + S5ii owner.. DEFINITELY still keeping both cams. I do a lot of doc stuff so, I usually rock handheld on the S5ii and run the GH6 on sticks. The recording modes on the GH6 are just too amazing. I have my C1 C2 C3 setup as 48fps 60fps 120fps. Just turn the dial and I'm good !

[@fadetowhitefilms3714]

You got it! Footage looks awesome with it, and AF looks pretty snappy especially with that shot of Yuki 👌🏽

[@lyndonlabayan]

Hahah I did! Tyty.

[@mr.s4849]

Hey Lyndon! I recently shot an indoor hour long video with my S5 and S5ii (historic church with windows, mixed lighting--when clouds messed with the sun). I had AWB on both the S5 and the S5ii with settings seemingly the same. The S5 kept a cool WB shot through almost all of the hour, the S5ii however went from cool to warm back to cool throughout. It wasn't sudden, but I was wondering if you knew why it did that (besides being a different camera, I mean, is there a setting that you know of that I missed?) Thanks--as a Lumix M4/3 and full frame video shooter--I really enjoy your content!

[@photomoriah]

I am also software engineer and amateur videographer. And I also just get S5 mark II. I hope you to make good videos and good luck.

[@jjurii]

If you turn off Lock Hold with Fn Button, and you leave the setting "while pressing", will the camera lock it after the shutter is pressed and recording in video mode, until you stop recording?

[@deeharris8567]

nice test - i too thought the auto WB shift was a little slow on the s5 and just got he S5ii and it feels the same, although the AWB with flash seems more accurate on the S5ii. About 6-years ago I had an Olympus EM1 mkii, it had AWB lock. It was a great function and I'm glad to see it on lumix. I find most use for it with real estate videography.

[@OasisExplorer]

Where is the AWB function? How to enable the AWB lock on S52X?

[@DA-lp4rh]

@@OasisExplorer you have to assign it to a function button. You should find the AWBL in the image quality settings during function button assign mode.

[@OasisExplorer]

@@DA-lp4rh Yeah, that I already done but I thought there was simpler way like locking the exposure and WB once we press the record button so that we don't forget locking it once in a while which commonly keeps happening.

[@DA-lp4rh]

@@OasisExplorer sorry - not sure about any workarounds aside from making a mental note that your display screen has the AWBL lit up.

[@raksh9]

How did you correct/grade the footage? The colours are lovely.

[@lyndonlabayan]

Sorry for the late reply and thank you. I use Gamut.io's Lumix VLOG to 709 conversion lut and a mix of the Timbre and Adagio luts.

[@raksh9]

@@lyndonlabayan Thank you for the answer. I already have the Gamut conversion and Timbre LUTs, I'll look into the Adagio luts, too.

[@marin_real_estate_photography]

Thanks Lyndon. Your content is always enjoyable. I am glad you are making these videos on some of the less-hyped area of the S5 II (and other panasonic cameras). Really wish they had relased the S5 IIX this month as well. May seems REALLY far off when you are waiting for a camera that has, admittedley, moderate upgrades. I know you haven't shot a wedding with the S5 II yet, so this might be n unfair question, but here goes: Aside from continuous autofocus, where do you really feel the S5 II will be bettter than your GH6 in real world scenarios? I know the S5 II has great dynamic range and better high ISO / low light. Would you be shooting weddings at f/1.8 on the S5 II? Or shooting stopped down a bit / around f/4? And if that is the case, would a GH6 hooting on an f/1.8-ish lens be pretty much the same? Thanks in advance for sharing any thoughts.

[@lyndonlabayan]

Thank you! I... don't have an answer yet.. It's easy to say that outdoors and in daylight, I'd love to still be using the GH6.. I admit I have to really list out my priorities to get to an answer. I'll definitely get back to you on that one!

[@marin_real_estate_photography]

@@lyndonlabayan Thank you! I am mostly trying to figure out a three-camera setup for corporate / interviews and events. I currently have an S5 and an S1, and am wondering if I really need 4K unlimited recording in 10-bit, or if 8-bit would be fine (since the original S5 has a record limit in 4K 10-bit, but not in 8-bit, and the GH6 and GH5 II have unlimited in 10-bit). Thanks again.

[@DrWNoLs]

@@marin_real_estate_photography If you record audio in camera, one underrated feature is the S5ii has noticably better amps than the S5 and S1. I have all 3, and I notice it right away. It also has a wider range with a lower floor, allowing for -18 DB instead of just -12 DB. I think for interviews, it's a no brainer to get amazing face tracking AF w/ no pulsing, in case you dont want to set it to MF. It's easily worth getting as someone again, who has literally all 3 lol.

[@marin_real_estate_photography]

@@DrWNoLs Thanks for the reply. I am holding out until may (as best I can) because the IIX appeals to me with the possibility to record ProRes or record to an SSD via the USB C. A week or so back, someone locally was selling a GH6 for US $1,300 with low hours, and I thought that a good three-camera setup would be S1, GH6, and an S5 II (and sell my original S5). I hesitated, and it was snapped up. Oh well.

[@DrWNoLs]

@@marin_real_estate_photography I honestly prefer H265 to Prores. One thing I'm suspcious about too is the S5iix will have 5.8k prores. Why 5.8k? It's supsicious because on the S5ii, I already noticed 5.9k vs 6k has an ever so slight crop on the 5.9k. I use the 6k mode only to avoid that. Definitely depends on the workflow, but I find H265 to be the future because computers are getting better and better to handle it, and it's a joy to record on SD cards vs bigger setups (SSD isn't bad, but I have a blackmagic video assist and that thing is clunky lol).

[@maxie6990]

wow Auto WB lock is my dreammmmmmmmmmmmmm

[@Paulsonjc]

is that sigma 18 35 f1.8 canon on your lumix camera? Also which lens did you use for that broll shot of your wife having chips? Those colors look stunning

[@tempo120]

Would u choose a7iv or s5ii for weddings?

[@Cimagery]

Curious, why wouldn't you just set your WB manually? Is this just a faster application to use the AWB to set itself then lock it?

[@NewCompVisuals]

It really bugs me they reserved this feature for the S5 II models and didn't add it to the S5 and S1. It's been on Sony and Fuji for many years. Not like it takes a better processor to lock in WB, it already does AWB continuously. Gatekeeping... SMH

[@sudipchand2371]

Does af works in 1080p all slo motions.. ?? Heard other KZbinrs saying its not PDAF ??

[@karikaru]

Is that the 24-105 on your s5ii? If so, how do you like the handling of the two together? I know some people complained that the 24-105 was a bit front heavy on the s51

[@lyndonlabayan]

Yes, all the test footage was shot using the 24-105! The lens on it at my desk is the Sigma 18-35 adapted with the MC21. As for the 24105, I think it's fine but only because I think the adapted Sigma 50-100 is heavy... so in comparison, I think it's light. I don't own any of the native f2.8 lenses so I'm wondering what I'd think if I ever got to compare it to those. EDIT: I said 25, I meant 24

[@thabo5799]

Native lenses are too expensive to justify a purchase when sigma does very good equivalents for half the price. Minimal differences between sigma and native too 😊

[@lyndonlabayan]

@@thabo5799 True!

[@imranalijafar]

Hi Lyndon . Does pixel to pixel works in 4k as well or is it only available in HD?

[@lyndonlabayan]

Hello! I just checked and I can see and select both APSC and Pixel|Pixel when in 4k and DCi 4k.

[@imranalijafar]

@@lyndonlabayan great i have been trying to get this confirmation for months

[@mfjae]

your intro sounds like that computer/voice-over on snakes communication device from metal gear sold 5

[@judsonbertoch7928]

I'm really befuddled by Dual Native ISO. I watched a number of videos (most for Sony) cameras but still am not sure how to set ISO anymore (both photo and video) on the S5ii. I get how it works in theory but not in real life applications. Plus all the Lumix KZbinrs assign the Dead ring to ISO and then proceed to show you how clean the images ares up to 51k. Is this something you would be interested in covering in one of your videos?

[@lyndonlabayan]

I can't promise I can give a perfect explanation but I'd be down to talk about how I approach ISO on these cameras. Dual native and not! Thanks for the suggestion... stay tuned!

[@fanjan7527]

Basically it means that there are two ISO points that will give you a clean image. Your base ISO and a high ISO. Usually when you go higher in ISO, things become noisier. WIth Dual ISO, the ISO noise will clean up again at this higher ISO spot. For example, let's say the two base ISO's for the S5ii is 100, and 4000. If you need to bump your ISO (photo or video) to get the right exposure, and you end up at say 2500ISO, rather go to 4000ISO and adjust exposure with shutter/aperture/ND-filter cause it will be less ISO noise than ISO2500.

[@jjmontana9451]

how do you lock the Auto White Balance? is it working in stills?

[@robertpearson7963]

Following.

[@jjmontana9451]

@Robert Pearson let's not sub or follow if he don't reply. 😆

[@robertpearson7963]

@@jjmontana9451 I figured it out, hold the small button/ front of camera and it will give you options. It’s also buried in the menu.

[@ashutoshsharma328]

The auto wb and auto exposure is much quicker on sony

[@andersistbesser]

Not true at all