The Panasonic Lumix S5 has now officially broken cover with a pre-announcement and full launch date, following the appearance of a leaked teaser image this morning.
Panasonic says an online launch event for the full-frame mirrorless camera, which is expected to slot below the existing Panasonic Lumix S1 in both size and price, will take place on Wednesday, September 2 at 10am ET / 3pm BST, which works out as midnight on Thursday, September 3 AEST.
That's pretty much it for information so far, though you can see the image that was leaked earlier today by Nokishita and the event information on Panasonic's holding page. Panasonic says more info will be added on that page and on the official Lumix Instagram account in the run-up to the launch.
The teaser image doesn't give us a huge amount of info about the Panasonic Lumix S5, but earlier leaks have revealed that the full-frame camera is likely to be significantly smaller and lighter than the Panasonic S1. In fact, if the rumors are correct, it'll be 33% smaller and 38% lighter.
This is good news for those who've previously coveted the Lumix S1's video skills, which include the ability to shoot 4K/60p video and in-body image stabilization (IBIS), only in a body that doesn't weight over 1kg.
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A mini Panasonic Lumix S1
What else can we expect from the Panasonic Lumix S5? The other rumored specs are something of a mixed bag.
According to earlier leaks, the full-framer will include a 24.2MP full-frame CMOS sensor, a vari-angle touchscreen and dual native ISO. The latter is particularly helpful in low-light situations, as it effectively gives the sensor an additional native ISO range to help reduce noise in gloomier scenes.
Slightly less exciting are the rumored 2.36-million dot EVF, which is even lower resolution than the one on the Panasonic Lumix G9, and the 7fps burst shooting. The Panasonic Lumix S5 is also rumored to include the contrast-based DFD (Depth by Defocus) system, which we've previously found to be inferior to rivals – though we'll hold judgement until September 2 on that, in case Panasonic's made any developments there.
Overall, the Panasonic Lumix S5 is shaping up to be an exciting addition to the fight for the crown of best full-frame mirrorless camera. We know all about Panasonic's video credentials from the likes of the Panasonic Lumix GH5, so if it can pull off something similar for those who need that larger full-frame sensor, it could be a fine alternative to the likes of the Canon EOS R6, Nikon Z5 and rumored Sony A5.
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