New article made by Panasonic marketing department on DPReview

Panasonic told us that the S5's autofocus has been improved by a number of fundamental changes. Part of it comes from improved subject recognition. This is based on deep learning (an algorithm trained to recognize specific types of subject) which helps the camera know what to focus on and to not refocus away from it. For instance, teaching the algorithms to recognize human heads when they're looking away means the camera understands it doesn't need to find a new subject or refocus when the face it had recognized suddenly 'disappears.'

Another part comes from re-writing the AF code to make better use of the available processing power. During the development of the S5, Panasonic's engineers discovered they didn't have to lean on the machine-learning trained algorithms for both subject recognition and movement tracking: they could combine the machine-learned recognition with their existing, faster, distance and movement algorithms, which freed-up processing power to run the process much more frequently.

Finally, other software improvements allowed the entire AF system to be run faster: providing more up-to-date information to the processor. The combined result of these changes, for stills shooters at least, is much improved autofocus with less reliance on the trial-and-error hunting of contrast detection AF. This, in turn, reduces the focus flutter in the viewfinder, making it easier for a photographer to follow the action they're trying to capture, so you get an improved experience as well as improved focus accuracy.

To be short - for our practical purposes Panasonic AF did not improved in years.

All Panasonic flaws come from the time of private agreement and ditching their own sensors. Sony saw the fundamental weakness, so included point requiring Panasonic not to use phase based AF in the supplied sensors. Such way famous DFD came to existence from the deep areas of the brain of their marketing department.

I know that people inside Panasonic told them that they need to license and make their own (as Samsung and Sony did) dual pixel like AF for all new sensors. But top management wanted to save their face at all costs (very important in Japan!) and not to show that they made big error.

I know that people inside Panasonic told them that they need to license and make their own (as Samsung and Sony did) dual pixel like AF for all new sensors. But top management wanted to save their face at all costs (very important in Japan!) and not to show that they made big error.

They should have learnt from the "IBIS is not needed, OIS is much better" days - after they finally gave up of that stubborn attitude it became a big selling point to Panasonic.

Let's hope also people that want to continue to sell those cameras at over inflated price will eventually leave...

The S series is not by any means a bad camera, just the price makes no sense for Panasonic as they are the late comers to the FF party. They need to sell camera bodies at very low and attractive price, it's the only way to create the customer base to then sell high margin lenses. But it seems they prefer to extract every single cent from any (few) camera they sell. Not a smart move in my view; yet I still consider Panasonic the best choice in terms of quality and reliability over Sony, Canon and so on.

Part of me still wants the S5 even with it's flaws. When I pixel peep I find the IQ of the Panasonic S1 to be some of the best, so figure the S5 will be the same. I don't know if it's due to a lack of phase detection or Panasonic has some talent in the IQ department. Anyone have some opinions on that? I really wish AF and the EVF were better and I would have preferred FF 60FPS. For lack of those I'm hoping for a price drop.

Samples

https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_s5_review/preview_images

Test

https://www.lesnumeriques.com/reflex-hybride/panasonic-lumix-s5-p59303/test.html

I bought it as well. Image quality is stellar and IBIS is great, I watched a lot of S5 reviews on youtube, some of them are full of bullshit, obviously biased.

@yaz72 Do you have any update on the stabilization VS the A7III?

Also, what are the powering options for this camera? Are DC couplers available? Can it be powered from USB without a battery in the compartment? I know that there is no contest vs the A7III phase detection, but since all my lenses are manual I am starting to consider this model.

@Scot thanks for the useful information. I did watch your video about linear focusing and find it very interesting how far they have come along in that area. Part of the reason I stayed with manual lenses was because linear focusing by wire was so unpredictable before.. and still is in many other cameras/lenses.

I know about focus peaking, but in the A7III there is a useful feature to help with manual focusing: The user can "punch in" the image, I believe x4 or x7 times, even while recording, to accurately focus by closely looking at edges and such. Is there a feature like this on the S5?

Lastly, and this is an impossible one: Can the S5 (or S1 for that matter) able to APS-C crop on the fly? basically.. while recording? Thanks!