L-Mount Alliance Owners Thread

I've not owned a camera for a few years but an injury has severely limited my options for hobbies and interests I can manage physically. So I've bought. Panasonic S5 with 20-60 kit lens and a Sigma 70mm macro. I have a quick question for any of the long term S5 owners, what software gives the best results from RAW files? I have a reasonable amount of experience with older versions of Lightroom and Photoshop and will subscribe if they're the best option.

I'm currently trialling ON1 and like some things about it but for some reason, that I can't quite explain, feel like I'm not really gelling with it. Capture One and the Skylum software are a bit more than I want to pay at the moment for software (I'd consider a subscription to Luminar Neo if people rate it) so the only other one I've seen is DxO Labs.

I'll mainly develop from a raw file doing, hopefully, minor tweaks to the exposure, WB etc. Sometimes I'll remove small unsightly objects and every now and again use the layers function.

Any suggestions which will give the best IQ and a similar workflow to lightroom? Am I best just biting the bullet and going for the Adobe Photography plan?
 
Hi @Soulman

I have the Adobe package with LR and Photoshop but I also use affinity V2 packages (wife got me as a gift). I use affinity for stacking macro shots (sigma 105 user) as I find it a lot easier to do. I also found affinity didn't have some of the lens profiles (may have changed now) but I use both of those and would recommend either. LR (the web based tool) makes editing so easy.

Affinity is a 1 time purchase and you can just wait for Adobe to be on sale on Amazon and buy a year then? It was about £68ish during black Friday.
 
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Adam-G said:
Caved in and ordered the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 DG DN Sports. Wanted a 70-200 2.8 but the Panasonic equivalent was consistently too rich for my tastes. Waited for the incoming Sigma on the horizon and I'm glad I did. Far cheaper and the reviews have been great.

Hopefully I'll post some shots with it soon!
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Do let us know how you find 200mm particularly wide open. Should be hopefully a nice lens
 
What would people's thoughts on adding a Panasonic 14-28 and 70-300 to the S5 and 20-60 kit? I'm not really gelling with the Sigma 70mm macro so would use the 70-300 to start with.

I'm not sure what I can and can't manage so want an all-round kit (landscapes, Motorsports, urban landscape, macro could all be options) that I'd perhaps add a couple of primes to at a later date
 
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@Soulman I think there are a few people using the 20-60 and the 70-300 as they cover a good range between them. I have both and can't really grumble about either. I also have the 24-105 F4 which has 0.5 macro and that's generally considered a great lens I believe.

I haven't tried the 14-28 myself so cannot comment.
 
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Finally got out for half an hour with the new Sigma 70-200 f2.8 DG DN.

As I've been sick for a week I only wandered to the bridge by my house but at least I got to see a little of what it can do.

Surprised me how light and manageable it was!

P1048181.jpgP1048097.jpg
 
Amazon have a great offer on the Panasonic 24mm f1.8 prime lens today, if anyone is after a copy. Just £479!
 
www.talkphotography.co.uk

Boxing Day Dogs

A few I shot this morning of all my furry friends. I could stay out all day snapping away with these boys.
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk

Some shots with the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 DG DN.
 
Adamcski said:
Anyone interested in the S5 II wex are doing the body only for £1699 plus £400 discount, so £1299.
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Clifton Cameras have it for £1249 with a discount code and I've been very tempted, but it's hard to justify over the original S5 at the moment. I think I'll probably get some more lenses and wait for a mark iii before I look at upgrading the body.
 
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CSB said:
Clifton Cameras have it for £1249 with a discount code and I've been very tempted, but it's hard to justify over the original S5 at the moment. I think I'll probably get some more lenses and wait for a mark iii before I look at upgrading the body.
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I've considered trading my M43rds kit in as it covers the cost with some cash back to me funnily enough, but do I do that, or go with my original idea of getting the sigma lenses (24-70 & 70-200) and the waiting to see if they bring out a new S1 mkii or S1R mkii.....sometimes it's the fear of missing out lol
 
Adamcski said:
I've considered trading my M43rds kit in as it covers the cost with some cash back to me funnily enough, but do I do that, or go with my original idea of getting the sigma lenses (24-70 & 70-200) and the waiting to see if they bring out a new S1 mkii or S1R mkii.....sometimes it's the fear of missing out lol
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I've had similar thoughts, my GH5 doesn't get much use lately, but I don't want to get rid of my GX80, it's a great travel camera. I might slim down my lens collection, but I'm holding out for the time being, the mft kit is still much easier to travel with, especially if I'm out on the bike or hiking. Fingers crossed that Panasonic release a new high spec range finder style mft body soon.
 
Morning folks, I hope all is well.

I wondered if I could pick fellow L mount users brains on the s5ii.

I have some older m43rds gear that just isn't being used frequently at all and have pondered trading this in against a new S5ii before it becomes worthless.

I used the M43rds gear for my holiday photography and was originally planning to upgrade the G9 to the new G9ii...but now that camera is effectively sat in the S5 body I feel its not worth it, as I may as well just take the S5. So, my thought process was...trade the M43rds in, get the new S5ii and move the S5 to holiday use. The original S5 with the 20-60 and 70-300 would be my travel stuff then.

I would then have the S1 and S5ii for my photography stuff and the S5 sit in my "going away bag" and used when needed. I wont get rid of my S1 or my 24-105mm F4 as they fell within the 3 year warranty upgrade - so are good until somewhere in 2026 (irc) and you lose so much trading that I'd rather keep hold of most kit and use it till it dies.

So, what does the new S5ii have that the S5 v1 doesn't bar the AF? Have they ported over the live comp mode yet, and what about 6k photo mode where you can grab stills from the video (I like this)? The S5ii I would hope to use to capture better images of my little imperial shih tzu running around. She is about the same size as my size 12 shoe, and the S1/S5 do struggle here (hence using 6K photo a lot). I watched a G9ii video where they showed you the AF working and it looked great, is the S5ii then same?

Is it worth upgrading to the S5ii or should I wait and see if there is a new S1 mkii for example (although no doubt it would be more expensive). I could trade the M43rds gear in and grab a new S5ii without parting with any cash...

Cheers for any thoughts / advice
 
I use my S5ii for lot of dog photography and the AF does a much better job than my original S5 at keeping up. I'd guess, with the right AF customisation I hit around 85% on the S5ii compared to 60% on the S5 once it's locked on to a subject.

The AF system isn't as advanced as on the G9ii in terms of subject tracking options. There is speculation that this will be implemented on the S5ii as the processors in both cameras are similar, however due to the sensor size difference it could be harder to implement.

Live view composite is now present. 6K photo mode has been replaced with electronic shutter burst modes of 30fps (Raw, full sensor output). I'm quite happy with my mechanical shutter output so I've only tried the 30fps a few times but it works well.

I'd expect the S1ii to be overkill for the majority of hobbyist users. I'd guess the extra £1000 I expect it to be would be paying for a higher mechanical burst mode, higher res video codecs and higher video framerates which are overkill for the vast majority.

Video wise, the S5ii has better slow motion implementation, more 4K codecs. The S5iiX has more advanced video functions like recording direct to SSD in Apple Pro Res etc - I'd expect this to be an S1ii feature too. That camera is really not on my radar for the outlay compared to what I shoot.

I shoot video a little and the new 6K opengate is a godsend on the S5ii, this is plenty for me. I don't need all the additional S5iiX codecs and functionality and unless you're working on pro productions, I doubt you'd need them either.

If you've got any S5ii specific questions you think of, always shout. I've been using it for a year now and I'm super impressed. I'll post a few of the dog shots I've managed to get with it below shortly and tag you :)
 
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thanks @Adam-G

I am just a hobby tog so not worried about making a living from things. I just have a lot of gear sitting around doing nothing that I could perhaps turn into a better camera, especially for the dog photos.

I am not interested in video, I use my phone or Gpro to do that...a lot of the video side of things goes over my head.

Does the S5ii put a little box around the animals eyes when focusing?

Worst case, it would also clear out a lot of my boxes as I keep everything that comes with cameras and lenses, so I would gain a lot of storage space back lol
 
Adamcski said:
thanks @Adam-G

I am just a hobby tog so not worried about making a living from things. I just have a lot of gear sitting around doing nothing that I could perhaps turn into a better camera, especially for the dog photos.

I am not interested in video, I use my phone or Gpro to do that...a lot of the video side of things goes over my head.

Does the S5ii put a little box around the animals eyes when focusing?

Worst case, it would also clear out a lot of my boxes as I keep everything that comes with cameras and lenses, so I would gain a lot of storage space back lol
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Honestly, if you do get an S5ii I would try shooting some video. The stabiliser is another improvement from S5ii to S5 that I forgot. You can get almost gimbal like footage handholding it on most lenses. This is great for handholding in photography at slower shutter speeds too. Lumix IBIS is the best in the business.

The video output, even on the standard, already graded profile is insane.

The S5ii has eye tracking for animals, however it does not show on the display. You currently just get a generic box around the animal, however it has been confirmed by Sean on Lumix Live sessions that eye tracking is occurring in the background and my results support this. The G9ii has these boxes which is why there is rampant speculation they are coming to the S5ii. If it is possible (and I'd hazard a guess it is), Panasonic will implement it. They are fantastic with their firmware updates.
 
Adamcski said:
I am just watching some YT videos where they explain the animal eye is shown on the preview of the image taken, not necessarily on the screen when framing which uses a box?
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Yeah, you just get the box at the moment rather than the crosshairs over the eye.

I believe they'll be able to implement it though because of a few things:

* Processor being the same new gen processor in both S5ii and G9ii

* The eye box is technically already present on the S5ii - this was their first phase detect implementation so I'd guess the new functionality the G9ii has is due to development time rather than overall capability

* As the eye box is already present, I don't think it's going to take up too much additional processing power to write a display call into the code to make it visible to the end user.

That's the assumption of an IT professional though, not a camera manufacturer so take it with a pinch of salt. The good thing is, I have such confidence in the S5ii and it's ability to grab the eye, I don't need the comfort of seeing the box any more. If they do implement it, it's a nice to have but the thing just works. A really good bit of kit.
 
CSB said:
That is a fantastic photo, very well done!
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I got incredibly lucky with this one! It was my first burst of the day and I didn't have time to check the exposure, I just aimed and fired because I could see how joyous the little guy was. Unfortunately it was far brighter than the day before at the beach so I ended up with what looked like a blown out mess on my rear display.

Pulled it back in Lightroom and miraculously the over exposure was fixed. It's only one of two of my own photos that live on the walls of my house so I'm grateful the photo gods smiled on me that day.
 
I spoke with WEX Bham earlier and one of the guys there talked me through all the differences between the S5, S5ii and G9ii. He even stated the G9ii may have a slight upper hand AF wise due to the type of system and smaller sensor having faster read speed. I think I will start getting everything packed up in the boxes and make my way over there (time allowing) over the weekend.

If I am lucky, the trade in value will be enough for me to bag the S5ii with the 14-28 lens and I can trade back the 85mm it comes with as I have that already.
 
Adamcski said:
I spoke with WEX Bham earlier and one of the guys there talked me through all the differences between the S5, S5ii and G9ii. He even stated the G9ii may have a slight upper hand AF wise due to the type of system and smaller sensor having faster read speed. I think I will start getting everything packed up in the boxes and make my way over there (time allowing) over the weekend.

If I am lucky, the trade in value will be enough for me to bag the S5ii with the 14-28 lens and I can trade back the 85mm it comes with as I have that already.
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A wise decision!

Yeah, I'd expect the smaller sensor to be more efficient. M43 has some great advantages with slow mo video framerates, less rolling shutter and that kind of thing due to faster read out speeds and of course greater reach due to crop factor.

If I was filthy rich I'd probably grab a G9ii or and OM-1 to experiment with for wildlife photography - great cameras.
 
Well, when my kids are a little older, say 5 years time I plan to take them on safari (with their mom obviously) so that may be when I look at getting something M43rds related for that specific trip...but that is a fair few years away.

Trading the M43rds now at least lets me recoup some of the costs I laid out over the years.
 
Adamcski said:
Well, when my kids are a little older, say 5 years time I plan to take them on safari (with their mom obviously) so that may be when I look at getting something M43rds related for that specific trip...but that is a fair few years away.

Trading the M43rds now at least lets me recoup some of the costs I laid out over the years.
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Makes perfect sense. If I have anything that isn't getting a lot of use, I sell it or trade it ASAP. So much technology depreciates in value rapidly there's zero point to it sitting in a drawer.

How do you find your 85mm 1.8? It's one of my absolute favourites.
 
Tulipone said:
I have never really gotten on with mine. It seems too long for a useful prime to me.
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I really like it for street/architectural reflection stuff. You get a really lovely compression that draws attention to important background elements.

Also, I use it for the majority of my dog stuff - I'll be using my new 70-200 2.8 (when my replacement reaches me) going forward more I expect but it's been a wonderful stop gap and I've had some good results.
 
@Adam-G

Just wondering what settings you have used on the S5II for AF for your dog pictures.

I picked mine up yesterday but haven't set it up yet (mom was taken to hospital) so I'm going to be sat at home today (waiting on hospital news) so I can delve into the settings. I've looked at YT but most videos on there are about video settings.
 
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