If you’re the owner of one of Panasonic’s Lumix S5II and S5IIX cameras, you might be happy to know about their newest firmware updates.
Panasonic has released firmware for both cameras for an improved shooting experience, better camera performance and major changes to photo and video sharing.
With the updates, the Panasonic S5 II can be updated to version 3.0 while the S5 IIX gets bumped up to version 2.0. Both of these downloads for the cameras will be available as of April 21.
In terms of shooting performance improvements, these updates will give the two Lumix cameras Real-time AF recognition for assorted objects including cars, motorcycles and animal eyes.
They will also improve AF detection for human subjects and for better consistency among multiple subjects in a single shot.
Another improvement will be a new High mode, which delivers electronic correction to heavy shaking during shooting. This should be helpful for users taking photos while moving.
For video, there will be perspective distortion correction, which addresses the kind of distortion that happens during video recording at a wide-angle focal length.
Panasonic also claims that the above will further boost the quality of its E-Stabilization thanks to its combination with Active I.S. technology.
Finally in terms of notable shooting performance updates, the S5 II and S5 IIX will given a SH pre-burst drive mode via this firmware. This will cause the camera to start recording image bursts even before a user fully presses the shutter.
This feature will save 1.5 seconds of images at half-press before full shutter depression and normal shooting even start.
Perhaps just as important as the recording and shooting improvements in the new firmware will be its new cloud features.
Specifically, the new firmware will let both cameras integrate with Adobe’s Frame.io cloud workflow software through Camera to Cloud (C2C) technology.
This C2C/Frame.io integration lets the S5 II and S5 IIX work with Adobe’s Frame.io without the need for accessories of any kind. It’s also worth noting that Adobe CC subscribers have access to free Frame.io accounts
The main benefit of C2C is that it lets photographers upload their images and videos to the Adobe Cloud automatically for instant sharing and collaboration with others.
For pro photographers working commercially in the field, the benefit of the above should be obvious.
Thanks to the new firmware, the two Lumix cameras can achieve the above cloud sharing through either WiFi or via USB tethering. RAW and JPEG photos can be shared along with low-bit-rate proxy video, which is itself a new feature for the two Lumix cameras.
Panasonic adds, “This empowers creators to receive remote real-time feedback during capture and enables collaborative editing among production teams using their preferred creative software,”
If you own one of these two cameras, then you can download Lumix S5 II Version 3.0 firmware or S5 IIX Version 2.0 firmware for free from Panasonic’s Lumix customer support page as of 9 P.M Eastern Time on April 21.
