Panasonic announces a new LUMIX full-frame Mirrorless camera: LUMIX S5 — But What Is It?

It started as a mysterious tweet, but now it’s official: The Panasonic full-frame LUMIX S5 is on the way. Here’s what you need to know. 

A few months back, many were unsure about what the future held for camera production. Due to manufacturing issues, in-stock models started to sell out with no restock date, and many announced and soon-to-be-released cameras were delayed, and, of course, video and photo events ground to a halt.

Then, one by one, we started to see new additions burst onto the scene, like the widely speculated Canon R5 and the Sony A7SIII (which seemed like it was never going to released). Even Blackmagic came out of the woodwork to casually drop the Ursa Mini 12k.

There has been some speculation about a new full-frame model on the Panasonic front, one that might further cement the company’s commitment to its full-frame L mount line. Still, nobody had officially seen or heard anything regarding the new model—until yesterday morning.

A Twitter user — Nokishita_c — who routinely breaks camera rumors, tweeted a teaser image of the S5. And then, early this morning, Panasonic made it official with a concise press release:

A New LUMIX Full-frame Mirrorless Camera to Be Unveiled at the Online Launch Event

Panasonic is pleased to announce that they will hold an online launch event for the new full-frame mirrorless camera LUMIX S5. It will be unveiled at this page on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020, at 14:00 UTC.

Panasonic is committed to meeting the passionate demands of all creators through its LUMIX brand, and the new LUMIX S5 is one of the embodiments of this commitment. More information will be added and updated here and the official Instagram account @lumix. 

That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now the fun (or tedious) part, is trying to figure out where this model will fit in with their S1 line. Will it supersede the S1 models, or will it be offered as a more budget-friendly alternative? If so, it could be the cheapest full-frame mirrorless camera from 2019-2020 on the market. 

At the moment, the S1 line sits as follows.

• S1H — Video first – $3999
• S1R — Photo first – $3699
• S1 — Mix of both video and photo – $2499

Will the S1H still be Panasonic Lumix’s top draw? 

Will the S5 be released as a more budget-friendly full-frame camera within Lumix’s full-frame line, or will it surpass the S1 line altogether, so it doesn’t overlap with a series that is performing well?

While we’re not in the business of reporting rumors, the same Twitter user who broke the teaser image yesterday also released the proposed specifications sheet for the S5. It looks like it’s going to be a smaller model, but one that inherits many of the core video functions of the S1. Perhaps a model for videographers looking to increase their Lumix L-mount arsenal, but one that doesn’t have as much form factor and can be used in tighter circumstances.

At the moment, that spec sheet is unconfirmed, and, until it is, we’ll leave it as a rumor. But you can be sure we’ll be reporting on the S5 come September 2nd.

And hey, before you try to save the teaser image and increase the brightness, I’ve already tried. No secrets to be found.