AGENDA
NEWS
TAKE THE WIDER VIEW A wallet-friendly ultra-wide zoom from Panasonic is here – the new Lumix S 14-28mm f/4-5.6 Macro that’s ideal for sweeping landscapes, with macro capability for close-up work. It will cost £880/$TBC when it goes on sale in February. The optic has 14 elements in ten groups including one aspherical ELD (extra-low dispersion), one aspherical, three ELD and one UHR (ultra-high refractive index) element. Aspherical lens elements enable sharp detail and incredibly smooth bokeh, while the three ELD lenses suppress chromatic aberration. It weighs just 345g/0.76lb and has a minimum focusing distance of 15cm/5.9in through its entire zoom range. For video, the lens has micro-step aperture control for smooth exposure changes as well as a mechanism to suppress focus breathing. The response and sweep of the manual focus ring can be adjusted. The lens boasts both a dust- and splash-resistant design with a fluorine coating applied to the front element to repel oil and water. There is a 77mm filter thread, too. The 14-28mm optic features the same overall length and position of control parts as other budget zoom lenses in Panasonic’s S range, the 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 and 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro. panasonic.com
Panasonic drops a stealth bomb From its matte-finish body to its blackened badges, the murdered-out
Panasonic Lumix S5 II X is the latest full- frame mirrorless designed for filmmakers. It’s heavily based on the S5 II camera we test this issue, using the same newly developed 22.4-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor and imaging engine, with hybrid phase detection autofocus for the first time. But it improves significantly on spec for making movies. Both the S5 II X and S5 II shoot internal 4:2:0 10-bit 6K in 3:2 and 5.9K in 16:9 at 30fps, plus 4:2:2 C4K and 4K at up to 60fps, with a low-profile heat management system that allows for unlimited recording times. But the X is also capable of recording all these formats in Apple ProRes internally up to 5.8K, as well as MOV and MP4 like the S5 II. The X’s recording rates reach 800Mbps as it shoots in All-Intra, where the S5 II tops out at 200Mbps since it’s limited to the Long GOP format. When switching to S&Q mode, the X can record in 4:2:2 10-bit, while the standard cam is limited to 4:2:0 – still in 10-bit. And a unique feature for full-frame mirrorless cameras is that the S5 II X can record to an external SSD drive via HDMI or USB. It also supports Apple ProRes Raw video output to Atomos monitor/ recorders. It seems the S5 II will be able to export its footage as Raw if users buy a firmware upgrade. The S5 II X offers both wired and wireless IP streaming and USB tethering, which are absent on the cheaper model.
DARK MATTER The blacked-out Lumix S5 II X looks cool and has improved spec for making movies, like Apple ProRes
The S5 II X is a higher-spec camera for filmmakers, yet only costs £2299/$2199 – not a ton more than the £1999/$1998 S5 II. The X model will go on sale in the spring, while the S5 II is on sale this month. Both include 14+ stop V-Log/V-Gamut colour, as well as a new real-time LUT function enabling grading LUTs to be uploaded to an SD card and directly applied in-camera rather than in post-production. Waveform monitoring, vectorscope and zebra pattern all feature, as well as 48kHz/24-bit audio recording from an external microphone, with high-res 96kHz/24-bit recording via external XLR microphones using an adapter. The cameras now have a full-size HDMI Type A terminal and high-speed USB 3.2 Gen 2, and wireless has been improved with 5GHz Wi-Fi joining 2.4GHz to provide speedy, stable communication with smart devices. There are two UHS-II card slots and the 2200mAh high-capacity battery can be recharged via mains or USB. Both cameras are dust and splash resistant.
“The S5 II X can record to an external SSD via HDMI – unique for full-frame cameras”
7
PROMOVIEMAKER.NET
Powered by FlippingBook