Global shutter sensors with no skew or distortion have been promised as the future of cameras for years now, but so far only a handful of products with that tech have made it to market. Now, Raspberry Pi is offering a 1.6-megapixel global shutter camera module to hobbyists for $50, providing a platform for machine vision, hobbyist shooting and more. 

The Raspberry Pi Global Shutter Camera uses a 6.3mm Sony IMX296 sensor, and requires a Raspberry Pi board with a CSI camera connector. Like other global shutter sensors, it works by pairing each pixel with an analog storage element, so that light signals can be captured and stored by all pixels simultaneously. 

By comparison, regular CMOS sensors read and store the light captured by pixels from top to bottom and left to right. That can cause diagonal skew on fast moving subjects, or very weird distortion on rotating objects like propellers. The video below shows the difference with plucked guitar strings. 

By eliminating those issues, the new camera allows for distortion free capture of things like sports or fast-moving industrial processes. The relatively low resolution isn't a problem, the company says, as video is usually downsampled before being fed into machine vision systems anyway. It uses the same C/CS lens mount as Raspberry Pi's 12-megapixel High Quality Camera, so you can attach 6mm CS‑mount and 16mm C-mount CGL lenses offered through the company's reseller partners. 

If you're interested but worried about delays, Raspberry Pi recently posted that it has been working on resolving supply chain issues. "We expect supply to recover to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2023, and to be unlimited in the second half of the year," it said in a December blog post. The Global Shutter Camera is now available to purchase for $50. 

It's been a long time coming, but Xiaomi is finally bringing its Leica-endorsed smartphones to the international market. Following their China launch back in December, the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro are going global at MWC, with Germany, France, Spain and Italy being some of their first markets in the west. As you'd expect, both Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagships now come with Google services pre-installed, but they are otherwise identical to their China counterparts.

The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro share similar-looking Leica camera islands on the back, but only the 13 Pro offers the much-hyped Type 1-inch sensor (Sony's IMX989; 1.6um pixel size) — arguably the industry's most powerful camera sensor at the moment — for its 50-megapixel f/1.9 OIS (optical image stabilization) main shooter. You also get a 50-megapixel 3.2x telephoto camera (75mm equivalent) with OIS and a 50-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (14mm equivalent).

As for the lesser Xiaomi 13, it comes with a 50-megapixel f/1.8 OIS main camera with a smaller sensor (IMX800; 1um pixel size), a 10-megapixel 3.2x zoom OIS zoom camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide (15mm equivalent) camera.

Both models share the same 32-megapixel f/2.0 punch-hole selfie cam on the other side. On a similar note, both phones offer two modes of capture — Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant — along with Google's Magic Eraser tool.

Xiaomi

The Xiaomi 13 series also comes in two designs. The 13 Pro comes with a curved 6.73-inch 3,200 x 1,400 AMOLED screen with vegan leather or ceramic back versions. On the other hand, the 13 packs a flat 6.36-inch 2,400 x 1,080 AMOLED display, which is surrounded by iPhone-like aluminum sides and complemented by either glass or leather back options. Both screens support a refresh rate of up to 120Hz for a slick scrolling experience.

Other noteworthy features include the 13 Pro's 120W charging (from zero to 100 percent in just 19 minutes for its 4,820mAh battery), the 13's 67W charging (38 minutes to fully charge its 4,500mAh cell), and 50W wireless charging, Dolby Atmos dual speakers and IP68 ruggedness for both Android devices. The 13 Pro starts from 1,299 euros (around $1,370), whereas the 13 starts from 999 euros (around $1,060).

Xiaomi

As a surprise for MWC, Xiaomi also announced the 13 Lite, which appears to be a variant of the selfie-centric Civi 2 sold in China. And no, there's no Leica involvement here. This model starts from 499 euros (around $530) and boasts dual front cameras (32-megapixel + 8-megapixel depth sensor) plus dual "Selfie Glow" LEDs for supposedly better selfies. It's powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor, and it also packs a 50-megapixel main camera (IMX766), a 20-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera, a 4,500mAh battery with 67W charging, and a 6.55-inch Full HD+ 120Hz display. This is all tucked into a 171g-heavy, 7.23mm-thick body, which obviously goes well with its "Lite" branding.

While popular with vloggers, Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras have been held back from true greatness by the lack of a phase-detect autofocus system. Finally, the company has rectified that problem with the launch of the S5 II. It has a new 24-megapixel sensor with phase-detect pixels that should get rid of the wobble and hunting that have plagued the contrast-detect AF on Panasonic cameras over the years.

To make it even better for content creators, Panasonic also brought over its new, more powerful stabilization system from the GH6. And you still get the powerful video features you’d expect on Panasonic cameras, like video up to 6K, monitoring tools and advanced audio features. The S5 II is also attractively priced at $2,000 – that’s $500 less than the Sony A7 IV and Canon EOS R6 II, its main competitors.

This is Panasonic’s first hybrid phase-detect autofocus system, so I was very curious to see how it stacks up against those cameras. I also wanted to see if it would let you leave your gimbal at home, as the company suggests in its ads. To find out, I took it around Paris and my hometown of Gien, France. 

Body and Handling

The S5 II’s body and control layout is identical to the S5, and that’s generally a good thing. At 740 grams, it is a bit heavier than its main rivals. However, it’s still a reasonably lightweight video camera that’s comfortable enough to shoot for a full day. 

It has a big comfortable grip, along with lots of manual controls that let you change settings without the need to dip into menus. It has all the controls you’d hope for like a joystick, dedicated AF control and more. The record button is placed on top so it’s easy to find when vlogging, but it would be nice to have a record button on front like the GH6.

Should you need to use the menus, Panasonic has nailed that part, with well-organized categories that make important adjustments fairly easy to find. It’s also quite easy to customize things, so as with any camera, I’d recommend doing that for your own workstyle. 

The 3-inch, 1.8 million dot rear display is the same one as before and is bright and sharp for video work. It of course fully articulates, so you can flip it around for vlogging, hold it high or low and more. The only drawback is that it can get tangled up with any cables, particularly the headphone jack.  

Luckily, Panasonic boosted the OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) resolution to 3.68 million dots from 2.34 million dots on the original S5. It's now decently sharp and clear, addressing one of my biggest complaints of the last model. 

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Another welcome update is two fast UHS-II card slots, rather than one UHS-II and one UHS-I slot on the S5. That allows for faster transfer speeds and more reliable backups, if you like to shoot video to two cards at once. It also now uses a full-sized, rather than a micro HDMI jack as before, making it far more reliable when using an external recorder. 

There are of course headphone and mic jacks, but the S5 II now offers 4-channel recording via the DMW-XLR1 hotshoe audio adapter, just like the GH6. It also borrows the latter’s audio interface that gives you a central hub for all audio settings. It doesn’t have a dedicated button like the GH6, but you can assign any function button.

Finally, the batteries are borrowed from the S5 II, and deliver up to 470 shots on a charge or a solid two hours of 4K recording.

Video

Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras are primarily designed for video shooters, so let’s get into that first. The centerpiece of this camera is that new phase-detect autofocus, designed to eliminate the wobble or hunting that happened with past Panasonic models that had contrast-detect only autofocus. So how does it work for content creators

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As with other recent models, the S5 II’s system includes regular continuous AF modes along with subject tracking, for both humans and animals. However, it’s not as sophisticated as recent rival cameras like the A7 IV and EOS R6II, though, as it can’t track things like cars and airplanes, and doesn’t distinguish between birds and other animals.

Luckily, the capabilities it does have are on par with those models. It smoothly tracks subjects and has very little lag if they move toward the camera, for example. Face and eye detection is good, though it struggles a bit if the subject turns, and can’t track their eyes if they’re not reasonably close to the camera. It’s also not quite as sticky as rival models. 

Still, it generally tracks focus reliably for interviews, vlogging and other situations. More importantly, the pulsing, hunting and wobbling is completely gone, so you can now rely on the S5 II’s autofocus in most situations.

There is one caveat that may be important to some users. As YouTuber CameraOfChoice notes, the phase-detect AF works great at all 4K and 6K resolutions, and 1080 25p. However, the camera switches to contrast-detect AF at 10-bit 1080p 60 fps and 120 fps resolutions, along with 3.3K 422/10L 25p. I’ve reached out to Panasonic for more information, but if you use those resolutions frequently, you may need to look at a different model. 

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With autofocus issues mostly gone, the S5 II is a far more attractive vlogging and video camera thanks to its other powerful features.

You can shoot 5.9K video at 30p using the full width of the sensor, or full-width supersampled 4K at up to 30 fps. 60p 4K video is possible as well, but requires an APS-C crop and some loss of sharpness. The S5 II can also handle 4:3 anamorphic video at up to 6K using the full sensor width, or 3:2 “open gate” video that makes it easier to crop or deliver in social media formats.

There are few temperature-related time restrictions in any of these modes, thanks to the inclusion of a clever fan that only kicks in when you need it (below). Namely, there are no time restrictions on any video at 4K and below, including 1080p 120, while 6K is limited to 30 minutes. Panasonic is the only manufacturer to test its cameras at up to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit, so most users will likely never experience any problems. 

As with most Panasonic cameras, you can shoot 10-bit video with V-log to boost dynamic range. And it’s easier than ever to monitor V-Log. You can not only choose a standard Rec.709 output, but display your own custom look-up-table or LUT, too. You can even record those LUTs as your final video output, giving you unlimited “looks” and potentially saving time in post.

Steve Dent/Engadget

The main video drawback is the lowish data rates (200 Mbps and below) and the lack of any ProRes or All-I internal recording modes. There’s also no external RAW capture, though you’ll be able to add that later for a $200 fee. You can, however, capture other ProRes codecs to an Atomos Ninja V/V+ or BlackMagic Video Assist recorder. 

And that brings up Panasonic’s upcoming S5 IIx, announced at the same time as the S5 II. It’s priced at $2,200 and is mostly identical in terms of features. However, the extra $200 gets you not only RAW external video included but also ProRes capture to an external SSD via the USB-C port. With a small price difference to get such a useful feature, a lot of people might want to wait for this model.

Another terrific new capability is the updated in-body stabilization borrowed from the GH6. It’s now much better at smoothing out vertical step motion than the S5, though there’s still some side-to-side sway. It also has a “Boost IS” for handheld video where you don’t need to move, keeping shots locked off like the camera’s on a tripod. Can it replace your gimbal? In some cases, yes, but you'll have to work carefully as it still can't match a gimbal's smoothness.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Video quality is excellent, with extremely sharp 4K 30p and 4K 60p that’s just a touch less so. Colors are accurate and pleasing straight out of the camera, with natural-looking flesh tones. The 10-bit V-log video delivers a very solid 14+ stops of dynamic range, just slightly below Nikon and Sony models. That gave me plenty of room for extra creativity or to correct over- and underexposed shots. 

The S5 is also good in low light, thanks to Panasonic’s Dual Native ISO system. Don’t expect Sony A7S III-level performance, but the Dual ISO system really keeps noise down at ISOs as high as 12,800 or even 25,600. You’ll of course see noise when you boost shadows at those ISOs, but the grain looks quite natural. Anything below ISO 6400 has very little visible noise. One quirk is that it’s best to use ISO 4000 instead of ISO 3200, as the Dual ISO is set for ISO 640 and ISO 4000. 

As for rolling shutter, the S5 II is middling in this regard. It’s most noticeable in 6K or supersampled 4K modes, but not bad at all with an APS-C crop. I’d rate it as better than the higher-resolution A7 IV and about the same as Canon’s R6 II.

Finally, Panasonic offers a lot of ways to monitor video not seen on rival cameras, including waveforms and vectorscopes. Those features are very useful to video pros, helping them nail exposure and color accuracy. And as mentioned, audio is very easy to work with thanks to a dedicated hub to adjust settings, along with both line and mic inputs. 

Photography

Most people likely won’t buy the S5 II for photography, but it’s not bad at all in this department. It can handle bursts at up to 7 fps with the mechanical shutter or 30 fps in electronic mode. The buffer is quite impressive, as it allows for 200 shots in RAW before throttling – a full 6-seconds of uninterrupted 30 fps burst shooting.

At those speeds the autofocus largely keeps up, though it’s not quite as fast or accurate as the R6 II and A7 IV AF systems. As with video, the photo autofocus isn’t quite as smart or tenacious with subjects as Sony's A7 IV. Still, it’s much better than the contrast-detect AF of the last model and up there with recent Nikon and Fujifilm AF systems.

Despite the fast electronic burst speeds, the S5 II has limited usage as a sports camera. The rolling shutter would impact shots with fast moving subjects, unless you use it in APS-C mode. That’s a feasible option, but it reduces the resolution by half.  

Given how well it handles video, photos are a piece of cake for the image stabilization system. It locks things down so well that I was able to shoot down to a quarter-second or even less and still get sharp images

Despite the shift to a sensor with phase-detect pixels, image quality hasn’t suffered, with dynamic range just slightly below Sony and Nikon models. JPEGs offer a good balance between noise reduction and sharpness, while delivering natural colors and pleasing skin tones. If you want more control, the RAW photos dial up the dynamic range so you can claw back highlights or dig into shadows. 

As with video, it also excels in low light, with very little noise up to ISO 6400, nothing too objectionable at ISO 12800 and usable images at ISO 25600 if you don’t try to lift the shadows too much. Beyond that, the color grain in particular can get too harsh.

Wrap-up

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With the autofocus finally keeping up with rival cameras, Panasonic’s S5 II is an awesome full-frame vlogging and video camera option. Priced at $2,000, it’s also a very strong value proposition, particularly for video shooters.

Its primary competition is the Sony A7 IV and Canon EOS R6 II. Both of those cameras are better for photography, but the S5 II is much better for video and particularly vlogging, thanks to the built-in monitoring tools and superior stabilization. If you want a better match of photography and video tools, Fujifilm’s 40-megapixel $2,000 X-H2 is the best option – if you don’t mind stepping down to an APS-C sensor.

In fact, the S5 II’s greatest rival might be the upcoming S5 IIx. I’d argue that many people paying $2,000 wouldn’t hesitate to spend an extra $200 to get some pretty valuable features like ProRes SSD recording. Either way, it’s Panasonic’s best vlogging camera since the original GH5 and should rise to the top of many content creators’ shopping lists.

Sony’s full-frame A7R IV was one of the best mirrorless cameras I’ve ever reviewed, so there was a lot of pressure on its successor. The company’s answer is the 61-megapixel A7R V, designed to deliver the maximum amount of detail for portrait and landscape photography.

Though it uses the same sensor as the A7R IV, the new model has been improved in nearly every other way. The processors have been updated to the same ones found on the 50-megapixel A1, allowing for faster autofocus and AI tracking and better video specs. Sony has also improved the stabilization, the rear display, EVF and more – all for the same $3,900 price as its chief rival, the Canon EOS R5.

Sony’s advanced technology has always been its superpower, but rival models from Canon, Panasonic and others have started to catch up. To find out if the A7R V is worth buying over other cameras, and even the last model, I took it out for some detailed testing. Spoiler alert – it’s one impressive camera.

Body and handling

Sony made some changes to the design of its full-frame mirrorless cameras starting with the A7S III, and the A7R V continues in that vein. On top of a slightly bigger grip, it has a number of improvements over the A7R IV, such as a new dedicated selector for video, photos and the slow motion (S&Q) mode.

By taking that function off the mode dial, it’s relatively easy to switch between photos and video, then change modes in each. It’s also possible to share some, all or none of the settings like shutter speed and ISO between photo and video modes using the customization menu. Sony also moved the record button from the back to a better position on top.

As with other Sony cameras, it’s intuitive and easy to use. Some people may find it uncomfortable to hold all day, though, particularly those with larger hands. That’s because the grip has some hard edges and a material that’s less cushy than Canon’s R5, for example.

A big new innovation on the A7R V is the rear display. Rather than a simple tilt-only screen like before, Sony has come up with a whole new system. It not only flips out, but also tilts – not just upwards like Panasonic’s similar system on the GH6, but also down and out as well.

On top of being better for vlogging and selfies, it also lets you move the screen clear of any microphone or monitor cables. It’s also better for photo shooters. Some people prefer a tilting display (for shooting at high and low angles), so the A7R V has the best of both worlds.

The A7R IV already had a very good 5.76-million dot EVF, but Sony made it even better. Resolution on the OLED panel is up to 9.44 million dots, though it drops when you focus or increase the refresh rate to the maximum 120Hz. Still, it’s now close to matching what you’d see in an optical viewfinder.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Like the A1 and A7S III, it has a pair of dual-format card slots. Each one accepts either UHS-II SD or faster, but far more expensive CFexpress Type A cards. The latter are required for 8K video and let you shoot photo bursts longer before the buffer fills.

Since the A7R V is now a much better video camera, Sony has seen fit to swap out the tiny and fragile micro HDMI jack for a full-sized one. Though still not up to pro standards, it offers a relatively secure connection and allows for more robust cables, as micro HDMI models are prone to breaking.

It has the same battery as the A1 and delivers exactly the same number of maximum shots on a charge, 530. That’s under lab conditions, though, and I got about double that in the real world. The USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port is PD compatible, so you can charge the battery and power the camera at the same time. It also comes with microphone and headphone ports as you’d expect, plus a wired LAN port and the ability to do zoom calls or livestream over USB-C via the UBC webcam standard.

Performance

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The A7R V has roughly the same burst speeds as its predecessor, 10fps in both mechanical and electronic modes, shooting C-RAW and JPEG photos. That drops to 7 fps when shooting uncompressed RAW files. While not super quick compared to Sony’s A1 or the Canon EOS R5 (both have stacked sensors), it’s not bad at all for a 61-megapixel camera. You can shoot about 104 C-RAW + JPEG files before the buffer fills, though that takes less than two seconds.

Sony is known for its brilliant autofocus, and the A7R V may be its best camera in this area to date. WIth 693 phase detect focus points (up from 567 on the A7R IV) the regular (non subject tracking) AF is uncannily accurate in all five area modes, delivering a large majority of sharp frames even with fast moving subjects.

Things get even better when you kick in the AI. On top of the excellent face, head and eye tracking, Sony has introduced a new body tracking mode. It works much like 3D motion tracking software used for animation, predicting the position of your head and eyes based on your skeletal structure. If it fails to track the subject’s face, it can also switch to their body and still grab sharp shots.

On top of humans, it can also track people, birds, animals, insects, cars, trains and airplanes. However, you have to select those manually – it would be nice to have an auto mode that lets the AI choose the subject like Canon’s EOS R6 II. It also has a touch-to-track mode that locks onto subjects more accurately than rival models.

Steve Dent/Engadget

In most of these tracking modes, the camera did a good job at focusing on the subject’s eyes. Failing that, it accurately tracked the head or body and still delivered sharp photos. The results were particularly impressive considering the high resolution that shows focus flaws in minute detail.

It sometimes failed to lock onto birds’ and other animals' eyes, though that’s something Sony could potentially improve with firmware updates. By and large, though, it nailed focus nearly every time, beating rivals by a solid margin.

The A7R V also has a new in-body stabilization system, boosting it from 6 to 8 stops with supported lenses, the same as what Canon’s EOS R5 offers. It was very good for photography, letting me take sharp shots down to a quarter of a second. That means you can shoot handheld and capture the streak of a car’s lights, for instance, while freezing the background. That being said. it falls a bit short for video as you’ll see soon.

Image quality

As it has the same 61-megapixel sensor, the A7R V delivers near identical image quality to the A7R IV. That’s not a bad thing, as the latter can produce stellar images. With the very high resolution and the lack of an anti-aliasing filter, only Hasselblad and Fuji’s 100-megapixel medium format cameras offer greater detail. If that’s not enough, you can use Sony’s Pixel Shift Multi-Shot and quadruple it to 240.8 megapixels.

With no low-pass filter, beware of antialiasing or moire that can crop up in detailed or repeating parts of an image. The high resolution means that the detail has to be very fine, however.

JPEGs are ready to share right out of the camera, with nicely tuned levels of sharpening and noise reduction. Colors are more accurate but perhaps less flattering to skin tones than Canon’s latest models. The system is particularly well tuned to sunny, blue-sky scenes, so the A7R V is a great option for landscape shooting.

Sony claims 15 stops of dynamic range, above Canon but perhaps slightly below Nikon. That gives you tons of overhead to edit RAW files, fix under- or over-exposed shots or tweak colors. Except for highly detailed scenes, I didn’t notice much difference between compressed and uncompressed RAW files.

The A7R V does surprisingly well in low light. At speeds up to ISO 6400, grain isn’t an issue. Noise increases considerably at ISO 12800, but images retain detail. Beyond that, they can get gnarly with large grained color noise. Still, for such a high-resolution camera, it exceeded my expectations in this area.

As it happened, I reviewed the A7R V at the same time as the 100-megapixel Hasselblad X2D, so it was a good opportunity to test two very high resolution cameras. Both use sensors that have the same size pixels, and both are likely manufactured by Sony. For many photos, it was honestly hard to tell the difference, which is not bad for Sony considering the X2D costs over twice as much.

Video

The A7R V is a pretty darn competent video camera if you understand its limitations. It now offers 8K at up to 24/25 fps, 4K 60p and 10-bit 4:2:2 video with S-Log3, S-Cinetone and HDR formats. The A7R IV had none of those features, so it’s quite a step up.

Steve Dent/Engadget

There are some asterisks, though. The 8K video has a 1.24 times crop, while 4K 60p has a 1.24 times crop with pixel binning. 4K 30p video is uncropped, but also uses pixel binning. The only way to get supersampled video is with a 1.5 times APS-C crop. That, however, is limited to 30 fps. 120 fps video is only available at 1080p.

That said, Sony has done a good job with the pixel binning, so it doesn’t look significantly less sharp than the APS-C video supersampled from 6.2K.

Now that it supports 10-bit capture, the S-Log3 video is far more useful than on the A7R IV. You’ll see less banding once you grade it, and the 15 stops of dynamic range give you extra room to push blacks, pull back highlights and tweak colors. As with photos, hues are natural and accurate, and the A7R V is decent but not awesome for video in low light.

The A7R V now has the best video autofocus system, too. It’s nearly foolproof, locking onto subjects quickly and accurately even in chaotic circumstances. Shooting one scene with three people, it stayed locked onto the main subject even after he moved positions around the frame. All the AI features mentioned for photos work for video, so it can track animals and other subjects nearly as well as humans.

Steve Dent/Engadget

The updated stabilization isn’t nearly as good for video as for photos. It’s good for handheld video if you don’t move around, nicely smoothing out any hand shake or small motions. However, any rapid movements or walking will cause jolts that mar the video. Panasonic’s new S5 II is much better in this regard.

You might be thinking at this point that the A7R V is actually a solid video option, but it’s held back by one thing: excessive rolling shutter. It’s particularly bad at 8K and full-frame 4K, with any camera movement setting off a jello-like effect. The best case scenario is in APS-C mode, but you’ll still need to be careful not to whip the camera around.

Still, the A7R V is fine for most video shooting. If you’re mainly looking to shoot video, though, I’d get another camera. For instance, Canon’s EOS R5c or the Nikon Z9 are better, if you need 8K and can tack an extra thousand or two onto your budget. If 4K is fine, Canon’s new $2,500 EOS R6 II or the $2,000 Panasonic S5 II are better and a lot cheaper.

Wrap-up

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Sony is once again on top of the high-resolution full-frame camera market with $3,900 A7R V. Image quality and detail are outstanding, autofocus is second to none and the updated video capabilities are a great addition for hybrid shooters.

As mentioned, Sony’s main rival is the 45-megapixel Canon EOS R5, which offers lower resolution and better video capabilities, but suffers from overheating issues. The 45-megapixel Nikon Z9 is also a more capable video camera, but costs $1,500 more, and Nikon’s $3,000, 45-megapixel Z7 II is $500 less but has inferior autofocus and video.

None of those models come close to matching the A7R V’s resolution, image quality and exceptional AF, though. Given that, plus the massive video improvements, it’s now the best high-resolution full-frame camera on the market, by far.

Canon is adding a new, more affordable entry point into its RF mirrorless camera ecosystem. Alongside the full-frame EOS R8, the company unveiled today the EOS R50, an APS-C RF mount camera that will start at $680 when it goes on sale later this year. Canon didn’t send over a full spec sheet, but judging from the information the company did share, the R50 could quickly become a go-to for many beginners.

The camera features a 24.2-megapixel sensor capable of capturing uncropped 4K video footage at up to 30 frames per second. The R50 can also shoot 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second and S&Q-style slo-mo footage at up to 120 frames per second. What’s more, Canon claims the camera can capture a full hour of continuous footage. Despite its modest price, the R50 also includes the company's excellent Dual Pixel autofocus technology, with built-in subject detection for people, animals and vehicles. Best of all, the tech is available for both stills and video.

Canon

You don't get any log modes, but it does have HDR PQ which also gives you 10-bit video — not bad for a budget camera. Other video features include a microHDMI port for external video, both microphone and headphone ports, and UVC compatibility for direct webcam streaming. 

Burst shooting speeds are great at this price as well: 12 fps in electronic first-curtain shutter mode (there's no full mechanical shutter) and 15 fps in electronic shutter mode, both with servo AF. It'll only capture 13 C-RAW+JPEG files in a burst though, likely due to the slow UHS-I SD card support. There's no in-body stabilization (IS) at that price, but it can use the IS built into lenses or digital stabilization (with a crop) for vlogging. It also has an OLED viewfinder, which many cameras in this price range don't, though resolution is fairly low at 2.36 million dots. 

Canon

At the same time, Canon is expanding its RF lens lineup to add new crop sensor glass. The RF-S55-210mm is a compact telephoto lens with a full-frame equivalent field of view between 88mm and 336mm. It features a variable f/5 to f/7.1 aperture, four-and-a-half stops of built-in optical stabilization and close-focusing capabilities. The RF-S55-210mm IS STM isn’t the fastest option in Canon’s RF lens stable, but it does add some much-needed choice on the APS-C side of things.

At $680 for body-only, the R50 slots under the EOS R10, which was previously Canon’s most affordable RF mirrorless camera. Effectively, the R50 is a more capable version of the EOS M50 Mark II that’s less than $100 more expensive and doesn’t limit you to Canon’s dead-end EF-M mount system. It’s also competitive against Sony’s ZV-E10 and Nikon’s Z30, which cost about the same but don’t offer an electronic viewfinder. The EOS R50 will arrive later this year. In addition to selling the body on its own, Canon will bundle the camera as part of a Content Creator Kit that will ship with a microphone, 18-45mm kit lens and grip for $800.

Canon has put Sony and its other rivals on blast with the launch of the $1,500 24-megapixel EOS R8, its cheapest full-frame camera yet. Released alongside the $680 R50 APS-C model, it's targeted to photographers and video creators on a budget. However, it's got some impressive features like uncropped, oversampled 4K video up 60 fps, shooting speeds up to 40 fps and Canon's excellent Dual Pixel autofocus. 

On the photography front, the R8 can shoot at up to 6 fps with the first-curtain electronic shutter (like the R50, there's no fully mechanical shutter) or a whopping 40 fps with the electronic shutter. That sounds great, but rolling shutter may be an issue in electronic mode for fast moving subjects. It can capture up to a very respectable 100 C-RAW + JPEG files at a time to the single UHS-II card slot. The autofocus systems looks strong, using Canon's Dual Pixel AF along with AI subject detection for people, animals and vehicles. 

Canon

For video, you can capture 4K video up to 60 fps with 6K oversampling, or Full HD at up to 180 fps — quite impressive considering the price. Editing-friendly ALL-I capture is supported up to 4K 30p with a 470Mbps data rate. It supports up to two hours of continuous recording with no 30-minute limit, though 4K 60p and 180 fps Full HD shooting times are thermally limited to around 30 minutes. You can shoot 10-bit HDR PQ or Canon Log-3 video, so this would be the perfect budget vlogging camera if not for the overheating situation. It also has focus breathing compensation (for select lenses).

The main thing missing compared to the $2,500 EOS R6 II is 5-axis in-body stabilization. However, it does have optical stabilization with supported lenses and Canon's Movie Digital IS, which works in concert with lens stabilization. 

Canon

Other features include a micro-HDMI port that supports up to 4K 60p, mic and headphone ports, an LP-E17 battery (no CIPA battery life provided yet) and USB webcam support. The 3-inch, 1.62 million dot display flips out for vloggers, but the OLED electronic viewfinder is a low-end unit with 2.36-million dots of resolution.

Despite the low price, there are no red flags I can see on the R8 (pending a full review, of course). At a full $1,000 below the R6 II, it looks like a great camera particularly for vloggers and content creators. Canon also introduced a budget full-frame kit lens, the RF24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM, selling by itself for $300. The EOS R8 goes on sale in the spring of 2023 for $1,500, or $1,700 with the aforementioned lens. 

After releasing two previous models, Hasselblad seems to have finally nailed the compact medium format camera with the X2D 100C. With a 100-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor that doubles the resolution of the last model, it promises incredible image quality and a stunning design. However, it also has limited autofocus abilities, no video and a large price tag. So is this just a luxury item, or is it good for serious photographers?

My pro photographer friend Nathanael Charpentier wanted to find out. He was interested in seeing if the X2D could help him take more creative photos compared to his current Sony A1 and A9 cameras. At the same time, he was looking to use it in select situations to complement, rather than replace his existing setup.

The X2D is obviously going to work well and take great shots in a controlled studio environment, but Nathanael wanted to test it in more challenging scenarios like live events. As such, he photographed a theatrical group, several professional scenarios, musicians and an evening out – with both the Hasselblad and his Sony A1 for comparison. I also took it myself to test in low light, for landscapes and more.

Body and handling

The X2D is bound to draw comparisons to Fujifilm’s 100-megapixel GFX 100S. On the one hand, Fuji’s model has more advanced technology like eye- and face-detect AI autofocus. However, the Hasselblad offers a better industrial design, handling and build quality.

Physically, they couldn’t be more different. Where the GFX 100S looks like other Fuji mirrorless cameras but larger, the X2D is sleeker and more modern. It has nearly the same design and controls as the X1D II and X1D first introduced in 2017, with a few refinements. That’s great, as the body is both beautiful and practical. There are a few usability quirks, though.

The control layout is sparse compared to the GFX 100S and most other modern mirrorless cameras. It has front and rear dials for primary settings, along with ISO/white balance, mode, power, exposure lock, display and menu buttons. They’re generally responsive and have a high quality feel.

It’s relatively light for its category at 895 grams but still quite heavy. Luckily the big, non-slip grip is nice to hold and makes the X2D comfortable for all-day sessions. Ergonomically, it’s generally easy to use, but I missed having a joystick to move the AF point. That has to be done using either the display or the dials, which can be awkward.

The menu system is equally simple. The main settings are available on one screen, and everything else has its own category, like focus, exposure and general settings. Again, it’s easy to use, but some extra manual controls would help if you need to make adjustments on the fly.

Where the X1D II had a fixed display, the 3.6-inch, has a 2.36-million dot touchscreen. It’s the only way to change many settings, so luckily it’s bright, sharp and reactive. It does tilt up, unlike past models, but only 70 degrees which is insufficient for very low shooting angles. It’s also blocked a bit by the large protruding viewfinder (EVF) when you’re looking straight down.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Speaking of, the OLED EVF is another strong point. It has a sharp 5.76 million dot resolution with a 60 fps refresh rate and a huge 100 percent magnification. It even offers an electronic diopter adjustment for folks who wear glasses, which proved to be effective and kind of cool. Setting it is like taking an eye test, as words come into focus.

On top of the CFexpress Type B slot, the X2D has a built-in 1TB SSD, enough to hold over 3,000 RAW and JPEG shots. It’s easily fast and spacious enough to hold and transfer the enormous images. I never even used the CFexpress slot, except as a backup – but it’s also nice to have a high-speed card slot for rapid transfers.

With 420 shots, battery life is better than on past models, but still on the low end, and that figure is reasonably accurate in our experience. Luckily, it supports PD 3.0 fast charging up to 30W, so you can get a full charge in about 2 hours and run it on AC power in a studio. Still, I’d recommend extra batteries and the optional dual-battery charger, which costs $155 extra.

Steve Dent/Engadget

If you are shooting in a studio, you can use Phocus’s app (on Windows or Mac) for remote triggering and photo organization. It does offer exposure bracketing, but doesn’t have a live view or any way to change settings.

Finally, while the X2D 100C is well made, Hasselblad doesn’t say if it’s weatherproof, So for landscape shooting in bad weather, the GFX 100S might be a better choice as it’s rated by Fujifilm for dust and splash protection.

Nathanael: My first impression was around the handling. I found the ergonomy to be very good. It’s quite heavy, but it has a great grip, so you always have a good hold on it. It was easy to change key settings like ISO, shutter speed and aperture, but moving the autofocus point could be a bit awkward. Once I got used to the controls I was able to shoot pretty quickly.

Performance

With a new processor, the X2D starts up much quicker than before (2 seconds compared to 4 seconds) and is considerably faster in general over the X1D II. Hasselblad also has three new series V lenses (the 38mm f/2.5, 55mm f/2.5 and 90mm f/2.5) that are designed to focus three times faster than past models when used with the X2D’s new hybrid AF system.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Speed isn’t what the camera was built for, but it can manage about 3.3 images per second (in 14-bit mode only), which isn’t bad considering the 215 MB RAW frame size. However, photographers won’t be buying this as a sports camera and most will likely only ever use it in single-shot mode in order to get full 16-bit images.

Where past models had contrast detect autofocus only, the X2D finally has superior hybrid phase detect AF. The implementation, though, isn’t ideal. The single small AF point often wasn’t precise enough for the extremely shallow depth of field. And other than a setting to make the focus point slightly larger, there are no other AF options like area, etc.

Eye and face detection isn’t available either, though Hasselblad has indicated that it’s coming in a future update. Engadget has reached out to the company to find out when that might be happening.

In any case, Nathanael wasn’t too fussed about perfect AF and often preferred manual focus, and that works very well. Like other mirrorless cameras, it has a magnification system that kicks in when you operate the focus ring manually. However, it’s the best implementation I’ve seen – the high sensor resolution allows for a large 100 percent zoom, and it’s very clear on the high-resolution display. At the same time, the improved focus clutch on the new V lenses makes fine focus adjustments quite easy.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Hasselblad’s famous mechanical leaf shutter built into the lenses keeps noise and vibrations to a minimum and allows flash sync up to the maximum 1/2000th speed. As with Fuji’s GFX100s, the electronic shutter isn’t really usable for most moving subjects due to the extreme rolling shutter.

Finally, the X2D is equipped with a new stabilization system developed from scratch by Hasselblad for the large sensor. It allows for a claimed seven stops of blur reduction, compared to six for the GFX 100S. That allowed us to take sharp pictures at shutter speeds as low as a fifth of a second – no mean feat with such an exacting sensor.

Nathanael: I shot almost exclusively in manual focus to start with. It didn’t bother me because there are several tools to help a lot with that. When you turn the focus ring, it really zooms in, and you can clearly see the focus. Later on, I learned all the quirks of the autofocus and figured out how to make it work better, so I started using it more often. At the end, I was mostly taking sharp photos using a mix of manual and autofocus, depending on the situation.

Image Quality

The X2D’s greatest weapon is the new 100 megapixel, backside illuminated sensor – likely the same one used on Fujifilm’s GFX 100S and its own H6D-100C. For reference, the pixel size on the X2D is 3.76 micrometers, the same as Sony’s 61-megapixel A7R V. You can shoot JPEG, 10-bit HEIF or 16-bit RAW photos.

Hasselblad says that dynamic range exceeds 15 stops, which is more than any camera I’ve ever tested. The company also uses what it calls “Natural Color Science” to provide accurate and pleasing hues.

With all that, the X2D delivers the best images I’ve ever seen straight out of a camera. Color rendering is superb, and of course images have more sharpness and detail than nearly every other camera on the market. That’s aided by the new XCD V series lenses, which deliver incredible sharpness all the way to the edge of the frame.

Low-light performance is formidable for such a high-resolution camera as well. Grain is well controlled up to ISO 6400, and while it’s far more noticeable at ISO 12800, picture quality is still excellent. Beyond that, though, grain starts to become noticeable and distracting.

The 16-bit RAW files provide incredible detail and nuance. They can be pulled and stretched in post by a large amount, making them great for pros who do a lot of post-processing. Lightroom worked well for the editing I did, though you’ll need a reasonably powerful computer to handle those enormous file sizes. All that being said, you often don’t need to do much to photos as they look amazing straight out of the camera.

Nathanael: The image quality is really impressive. As soon as I took the first photos and looked at them, I said “wow!” There’s almost no need for post processing. One thing I like is contrast. With the X2D I can take contrasty photos, but they still have tons of detail. And you get incredible dynamic range in low light.

Wrap-up

Steve Dent/Engadget

The X2D is Hasselblad’s best X System camera so far, thanks to improvements across the board but especially with image quality. It now reigns supreme in that area, besting Fujifilm’s rival GFX100S by a good margin.

Yes, the X2D is expensive at $8,200 and the lenses are also sky-high at $3,700 each for the two I tested. That said, it’s not a giant leap over the $6,000 GFX100S and is relatively cheap for a Hasselblad. Plus, it’s designed mostly for pro photographers who would see it as a working tool.

More importantly, how does Nathanael feel about it?

Nathanael: In a way, it’s a return to “real photography,” where you manually control every aspect, even the focus. At the same time, I found it could handle tricky non-studio work. I would only use it in certain situations, like during pre-wedding preparations of the bride: make up, hairstyle, dressing — because those are aesthetic moments where you have more time. I'd also use it for photos of the nuptials. However, for critical live work, like the marriage itself, the A1 and A9 would remain my primary cameras.

It's certainly an outstanding portrait camera, with gobsmacking resolution and image quality. And another thing, when you arrive to shoot with a Hasselblad, it's noticed by astute clients. It seems like nothing, but it does give extra credibility that you don’t get with other cameras.

So that begs the question: Is it really worth it, or not? Because it’s quite the investment, $8,200 (8,700 euros) for the camera and another $8,000 or so for the lenses. But my feeling is, better equipment lets you take better photos, which helps attract a superior clientele. But that only applies if the camera truly brings something extra to the table, and the X2D really does that.

Adobe's Camera to Cloud system, which can upload footage from cameras to the cloud (shockingly enough), is now available without the need for additional hardware. In what the company is calling an industry first, the tech is integrated into RED's V-Raptor and V-Raptor XL cinema camera systems, which can directly upload 8K RAW footage to Frame.io. The only other thing you'll really need is a high-bandwidth internet connection.

Swift cloud uploads should let post-production teams start work on the footage quickly, wherever they may be located. Adobe suggests this can save production companies time and money. It previewed the RED Camera to Cloud integration at Adobe Max in October, noting at the time that Fujifilm's X-H2S mirrorless camera would also be able to upload RAW photos to Frame.io directly.

Adobe says more than 6,000 productions are already using Camera to Cloud, which until the RED integration required another piece of gear. Now, anyone who happens to have a V-Raptor camera can try it out. Direct Camera to Cloud uploads will likely remain the domain of professionals for now (the V-Raptor starts at $24,500), but here's hoping Adobe brings the integration to other cameras soon.

In addition, Adobe announced at the Sundance Film Festival that a beta version of an AI-powered video editing tool is opening up to more users, but not everyone just yet. The web-based Project Blink pinpoints people, objects, dialogue, actions and sounds in video and makes them all searchable. When the AI finds the relevant section, it creates a new clip. You can copy and paste text and the tool will slot in that part of the video.

Among the new features and upgrades include more audio tags (which flag elements like applause and laughter) and the option for users to upload as many files as they wish thanks to infinite scrolling in the library. Project Blink isn't the only text-based video editing tool around, however. Other companies, such as Descript and Runway, have developed their own versions.

Sony and Canon are locked in a pitched battle for the full-frame mirrorless camera market, and Canon’s latest salvo is the $2,500 EOS R6 II. It’s not just a key rival to Sony’s like-priced 33-megapixel A7 IV, but gives Canon the opportunity to rectify overheating flaws in the otherwise excellent EOS R6.

The new 24-megapixel sensor promises more resolution and image quality than the 20-megapixel R6. It also offers faster shooting speeds, improved 4K video specs, an improved viewfinder and more. The competition in this category is getting tough, though. Panasonic also recently announced the $2,000 Lumix S5II and $2,200 S5IIX, its first cameras with phase-detect hybrid autofocus.

I saw the R6 II last last year in prototype form, but I’ve now got my hands on the final version. Can it keep up with the competition, and are the overheating issues solved? I tried it in a variety of shooting situations to find out.

Body and handling

Canon has experimented with the controls of past cameras, introducing things like a touch bar, but users didn’t like it. Fortunately, the R6 II uses Canon’s tried and tested form factor, with buttons, dials and the joystick right where you’d expect to find them. The grip is big, comfortable and has a rubber-like material, giving a sure hold with no discomfort even after a day’s use.

There are a few welcome changes over the R6, though. The power switch is now at right for easier access, with a “lock” setting that prevents accidental control activation (you can specify which controls to lock out).

Canon also introduced a dedicated photo and video switch. Flipping it changes all the settings for each button, as well as the main and quick menus. If you flip from photos to video, though, it uses whatever is set on the mode dial (M, S, A, P, etc.), so you have to remember to change that. All other settings, though, remain separate.

As before, it has a fully-articulating 1.62-million dot display that makes the R6 II useful for vlogging, selfies, etc. And Canon has updated the EVF from 2.36-million to 3.67-million dots, matching the A7 IV and getting rid of one of my biggest complaints about the original R6. It’s not quite as sharp as the 5.76-million dot EVF on the X-H2S, for instance, but it’s relatively sharp and fast with a 120 fps refresh rate.

Where the R6 had a single fast UHS-II card slot and a slower UHS-I slot, the R6 II now has two UHS-II slots. Unlike the A7 IV or Panasonic GH6, though, it lacks any kind of a CFexpress card slot which does affect burst speeds and video capture options.

It uses the same LP-E6NH battery as before, but endurance is up significantly from 510 shots max on the R6 to nearly 760 on the R6 II. I’ve taken well over 2,000 shots in a day (with a mix of electronic and mechanical shutter), and shot video for nearly two hours.

Naturally, it has microphone and headphone ports, along with a “next-generation” 21-pin digital interface at the hot shoe (Canon has shown images with the Tascam XLR2d-C audio interface and its newly launched Speedlite EL-5). Sadly, it uses a fragile micro instead of a full HDMI port. That’s unfortunate considering the RAW video output, as micro HDMI cables (and ports) tend to be fragile and finicky.

In terms of connectivity, you can run the camera off the USB-C via the power delivery feature. It also offers Bluetooth 5 and 5GHz Wifi, and you can use it directly as a PC or Mac webcam over USB-C using the built-in industry-standard UVC and UAC video and audio drivers built into Windows and MacOS.

Performance

Steve Dent/Engadget

As I saw in San Diego while shooting sports, the R6 II is fast. It can fire bursts at 12 fps with the mechanical shutter, which is already a touch faster than the A7 IV. However, switching to electronic mode brings that pace up to a frenzied 40 fps, making it the sportiest full-frame camera in this price category by far.

Using electronic mode means you’ll shoot fewer shots though (it also impacts the quality, but more on that shortly). You can get about 75 compressed RAW/JPEG frames before the buffer fills, and fewer with uncompressed RAW. In mechanical shutter mode, by contrast, you can shoot around 1,000 compressed RAW/JPEG frames before it stops, or about 140 uncompressed RAW photos.

Speaking of the buffer, an interesting new feature is the Pro Capture mode. If you activate that setting and half press the shutter button, it will continuously record and store several seconds worth of photos in the buffer. Then, when you full-press the shutter button, you’ll capture a few seconds of action that occurred right before you did so. The idea, of course, is that if you weren’t quite quick enough, you’ll still get a shot.

Rolling shutter is well controlled, about half that of the original R6 and significantly less than the A7 IV, as you can see in tests performed by Gerald Undone. I’d hesitate to use it for fast-moving sports at full-frame, but it’s very minimal in cropped 1.6x mode.

The Dual Pixel autofocus on the R6 II is also quicker and more reliable than the R6. Using it in single-point mode with no face/eye detection, it could keep up with the 40 fps burst speeds, missing just the odd shot. In 12 fps mechanical shutter mode, I rarely had a shot out of focus. In this aspect, it’s nearly on par with the EOS R3, which uses a stacked sensor.

Steve Dent/Engadget

There are 4,897 focus detect positions for photos and 4,067 for video, with up to 100 percent coverage depending on the lens. That means you can track subjects even at the edge of the frame. Selecting a subject is relatively easy using the multi-controller joystick or touchscreen.

On top of face and eyes, the R6 II can detect people’s bodies, plus animals and vehicles, including motorcycles, cars, trains and horses. It also comes with a new auto-select mode that lets the AI choose the subject type. It can also track user-selected subjects not in those categories.

While it can occasionally get confused by the background, the R6 II is good at locking onto human faces and eyes. It’s a bit less dependable for animals and other subjects. Tracking fast-moving subjects works well, though I had to dive into the settings to boost speeds for quicker movement. Touch to track works well if the subject is well defined, but isn’t as reliable as face tracking.

In general, autofocus is excellent and second only to Sony. As mentioned, I shot thousands of images per day at Canon’s shooting sessions (on a prototype camera), and most of them were in focus, with very little fiddling required on my part.

Image Quality

The new 24-megapixel sensor (neither backside illuminated nor stacked) is the biggest improvement in this camera, offering improved image quality, better low-light sensitivity and more. Images are of course sharper, but Canon has also boosted the dynamic range, allowing for improved image quality as well.

JPEGs have good levels of detail without excessive sharpening. Color accuracy is good and skin tones more pleasing than other cameras I’ve tried recently. If you want to boost quality a bit but not shoot RAWs, you can also shoot using the 10-bit HEIF (high efficiency image file) format, which offers a wider color range and less likelihood of banding.

With an ISO range of 100-102400 (50 to 204800 expanded), the R6 II is actually better than the original R6 in low light, despite the extra resolution. I had no qualms about shooting at ISO 12800 using some light noise reduction, and even ISO 25,600 images were usable if I exposed correctly. Anything above that had low usability, however.

RAW images retain extra detail, especially in shadows. That makes images easier to edit should you underexpose them. It has perhaps a bit less dynamic range than Sony or Nikon full-frame cameras, but it’s still very good. Beware that dynamic range drops in electronic shutter mode, though, as the R6 II shifts from 14-bit to 12-bit capture – so that extra speed does come at a slight loss in dynamic range.

Video

The EOS R6 II offers supersampled, full-frame 4K video all the way up to 60 fps. By contrast, the A7 IV and Panasonic’s S5 II both crop 60p video. Much like the A7 IV, 10-bit quality is available only in C-Log3 mode, with 8-bit in the regular video modes. That’s too bad, as regular 10-bit video provides extra headroom in shadows and highlights, without the hassle of applying LUTs or doing other color correction. All resolutions are available in 1.6X crop mode, with just a slight loss in sharpness.

You can do super slow mo in 1080p at up to 180fps, though the footage is barely usable. It’s more acceptable at 120fps, which still slows the action way down. And finally, you can shoot up to 6K in 12-bit ProRes RAW to an external Atomos Ninja V+ recorder. That delivers the best quality and easiest-to-edit video, if you don’t mind the hassle.

With the original R6, heating issues were a showstopper for many. You could shoot no more than 40 minutes of video at 4K 30fps, or 30 minutes at 60p. On top of that, you had to wait at least 10 minutes for it to cool down, and then you could only shoot for another 10 minutes or so.

Fortunately, those problems are largely gone. I shot supersampled 4K 30p video for nearly two hours until the battery died with no heating issues. In 60p supersampled mode, Canon says you can shoot for up to 50 minutes and get back to shooting again more quickly and for a longer time.

Steve Dent/Engadget

Those numbers are actually conservative, as I was able to shoot 4K 60p for over an hour (albeit, in 50 degree F temperatures). If you start and stop 4K 60p capture, there are no problems. If you really need continuous 4K 60p video, get another camera, but otherwise overheating issues are largely gone.

Quality is excellent, with sharper video than the competition at 4K 60p. Dynamic range in CLog3 mode isn’t quite as good as Sony’s A7 IV or the Panasonic S5 II, though. Much of that is lost in shadows, so it’s better to slightly over than underexpose when shooting C-Log3. It’s nothing you’d notice for regular non-log video, though.

Low-light video is good at ISOs up to 6400 and you can get away with 12800 if you’re careful with exposure. If not, boosting shadows can create some serious noise. Still, it’s one of the better full-frame cameras in low light, making it useful for things like concerts or plays.

One unfortunate omission compared to rivals is the lack of easy-to-edit intra-frame (all-intra or ProRes) codecs. That makes it pretty much mandatory to convert to ProRes or another format afterward, as even fast editing systems don’t like LongGOP. Sony’s A7 IV, meanwhile, supports all-intra capture at up to 600 megabits per second, which is one reason it has a CFexpress Type A card slot.

Video autofocus is a strong point for Canon. With single-point autofocus for run and gun shooting, interviews and the like, I rarely had out-of-focus shots. Human face and eye-tracing is incredibly reliable for videos. It stays locked on the subject and keeps them in focus as they move, though again, Sony’s A7 IV is slightly quicker.

Steve Dent/Engadget

As with photos, it also offers reliable animal and vehicle tracking, with the same “auto” mode that lets the camera’s AI choose the subject type. Overall, the R6 II is another reliable Canon camera in terms of video autofocus – something I think is really important for most video shooters, especially vloggers or documentary filmmakers..

Canon beats all rivals in rolling shutter. It’s noticeably better than on the Sony A7 IV, even in fully-downsampled mode. In 1.6 crop mode, it’s barely detectable, even if you whip the camera around. Like bad autofocus, excessive rolling shutter can ruin shots, so for me this is another key feature.

In-body stabilization is fine for stationary handheld shots or small movements. Anything more can be jerky, even in enhanced digital IS mode, however. The R6 II is about the same as the A7 IV in this regard, but Panasonic’s new S5II has massively improved stabilization designed for video and looks like it will beat both cameras.

Finally, Canon has introduced a digital focus breathing feature, much like Sony has on the A7 IV. This allows you to “rack” focus from one subject to another without either changing in size, by essentially using digital zoom to counteract the optical zoom. It works well, but only with a handful of lenses for now.

Wrap-up

Steve Dent/Engadget

Canon’s $2,500 EOS R6 II is a formidable hybrid mirrorless camera, with fast shooting speeds, accurate autofocus and strong video capabilities. The overheating issues have largely been fixed, unless you really need to shoot continuous 4K 60p full-frame video. The main downside is a lack of dynamic range compared to rivals.

Sony’s $2,500 A7 IV has more resolution but slower shooting speeds, particularly in electronic mode. Rolling shutter is a more serious issue on that camera as well. On the plus side, it offers slightly better image quality and autofocus that’s a touch faster.

Panasonic’s $2,000 S5 II has slightly better video specs, but it remains to be seen if autofocus can keep up. The S5 IIx, coming in May, looks like a better mirrorless camera for video and it's less expensive at $2,200. And finally, if you’re willing to drop down to an APS-C sensor, the $2,500 X-H2S has a stacked sensor and better video chops, but slightly inferior autofocus. If you shoot both photos and video equally, I’d choose the EOS R6 II over all those models.

Though popular with videographers, Panasonic's mirrorless cameras have always been at a disadvantage to Sony, Canon and other rivals due to the inferior contrast-detect-only autofocus. Now, the company has finally introduced its first cameras with hybrid phase-detect AF (PDAF), the full-frame L-Mount S5II and S5IIx. They're designed to make focus "wobble" and other issues a thing of the past, while also introducing improved video and photography features.

Both cameras have an all-new 24.2-megapixel sensor with 315 contrast and 779 phase-detect AF points. The new chip features Dual Native ISO with a range of ISO100-51200 (50-204800 expanded), and Panasonic has also introduced the new L2 Engine that processes twice as fast as before. That allows for additional performance and less rolling shutter distortion. 

I've yet to test the cameras, but Panasonic seems confident that its new PDAF system can keep up with rivals, speed- and reliability-wise. It said that the AF can now works in conditions that had previously been a challenge, including tracking, multiple people, products, backlit conditions and low light. 

Panasonic

The company also introduced a new in-body stabilization system called Active IS, designed to shoot video while walking. It said the system can compensate for "even significant camera shake, approximately 200 percent more than conventional systems" with select lenses. If the claims are accurate, Active IS could make the new models ideal for vlogging. 

As before, they can record 6K "open gate" 3:2 video (4:2:0 10-bit internally), 4K 30p supersampled video using the full sensor width (4:2:2 10-bit), 4K 60p with an APS-C crop and FHD at up to 120p with a 1.5x crop. 

However, they're significantly improved over the original S5 when it comes to record times. Where the S5 was limited to 30 minutes at 4K 60p or 4K 10-bit 30p due to heating, the new models have no recording time limitations at any resolution. Panasonic achieved this by adding a small cooling fan in the enlarged EVF hump. 

Panasonic didn't improve the S5's 200 Mbps data rates for the internal MOV and LongGOP formats on the S5II and S5IIx. However, the S5IIx does support internal SD card recording up to 600 Mbps in All-Intra (All-I) mode, so it appears to be limiting the capabilities of the S5II.

Panasonic

Both cameras offer Panasonic's V-Log as well as V-Gamut recording options that deliver up to 14+ stops of dynamic range, according to the company. It has a LUT view assist for easier monitoring, as well as the ability to apply your own LUTs in real time — an industry first, Panasonic says. 

Other than the fully blacked-out body, the S5IIx has some interesting features not found on the S5II. You can record to the USB-C port, much as you can on the GH6 via a recent firmware update. Formats supported include All-I, ProRes 422 HQ and ProRes 422, all in 10-bit. That includes 5.8K (17:9) at up to 25p (1.6Gbps) and C4K (4,096 x 2,160) at 60p with an APS-C crop (1.9Gbps). That will require some kind of rig to mount a USB SSD, but those already exist and aren't tremendously expensive.

In addition, the S5IIx will output full-frame 12-bit 5.9K 30p (16:9) ProRes RAW video, along with cropped 12-bit 4K (actually 4,128 x 2,176) and 3.5K (3,536 x 2,656) video at up to 50p externally to an Atomos Ninja V+ HDR monitor-recorder. Both cameras also offer S&Q and HFR recording, letting you capture at high frame rates and either output at the same speed for HFR or get slow-mo in the S&Q modes. 

There are a number of other improvements over the S5. The EVF resolution has been boosted to 3,680K dots compared to 2,360K on the last model, removing one of my biggest complaints. It now offers a full-sized HDMI rather than a fragile microHDMI port plus a USB 3.2 Gen2 (not Gen1) slot, and has two UHS-II SD slots instead of just one. The EVF's eye-detect sensor has been moved up to reduce accidental activations, and the joystick now supports 8- instead of 4-direction operation.

Panasonic

Otherwise, it has much the same layout as the last model (including the fully-articulating display) and is about the same size and weight. It supports 4-channel audio via the same XLR microphone adapter, offers a variety video assist functions (wave form, vector scope, zebra, anti-flicker), Lumix Tether for remote USB shooting and wireless streaming via USB tethering (S5IIx only). 

Finally, photography clearly isn't this camera's raison d'etre, but it does offer 7fps RAW shooting speeds in mechanical mode and 30fps in electronic mode with AFC enabled — up over four times compared to the previous model. And with the phase-detect AF, focus should be more accurate when shooting bursts, meaning fewer blurry photos.

That takes us to the most interesting part of these cameras, the pricing. The Panasonic S5II is going on sale this month $2,000, making it cheaper than rival full-frame models like the Sony A7 IV and Canon EOS R6 II — and it's no longer deficient in the autofocus department. While the S5II doesn't come with external RAW video, you'll be able to update to that feature in the future via a $200 firmware update. Panasonic also upped its native lens count to 14 with the launch of the Lumix S 14-28mm F4-5.6 Macro lens arriving in March for $800.

Meanwhile, the S5IIx will arrive in May 2023 for $2,200. It not only has has the RAW video, but also supports USB-C capture and live streaming, features the S5II will never have — for just $200 more. Panasonic says that's because the former is designed for vloggers and the latter for video pros. Frankly though, if I was a vlogger and interested in the S5II, I'd try to find the extra $200.