Panasonic Lumix GH5S review

Panasonic’s new mirrorless camera is designed for video first and stills second, so what does this mean for photographers?

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There are two sides to the GH5S’s performance: its physical operation and its image quality. Physically, it’s fast and responsive. Panasonic doesn’t use on-sensor phase-detect autofocus points; instead, it has its own DFD (Depth From Defocus) system, which feels every bit as fast. One of the advantages of the smaller Micro Four Thirds format is its smaller lenses, which means in turn that the focusing elements within the lens have less inertia and can react more quickly. 

It’s a little less impressive in continuous shooting mode, where a combination of screen blackout and the relatively modest frame rate with continuous autofocus puts it at a disadvantage to true sports cameras like the Panasonic G9.

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