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S5IIX Release day today 6/1/2023
- Thread starter AZ1
- Start date
I moved it here to the body section.
When I was in the buying process of my S5 II, I was also thinking about the S5 IIx, but decided against it, because I do not think that I need the additional features for my use case.
But if you need these additional features, the x is a bargain compared to the slightly higher price.
When I was in the buying process of my S5 II, I was also thinking about the S5 IIx, but decided against it, because I do not think that I need the additional features for my use case.
But if you need these additional features, the x is a bargain compared to the slightly higher price.
xaviergut
LMF-Patron
I am seriously considering the possibility to buy a S5IIx, because lately I am doing more corporate video stuff, but there are some things to consider in terms of extra money that you have to invest on, besides the 200€ price difference between the S5II and the S5IIx:
With the S5IIx You can record in the industry standard ProRes codec, but in order to do that you have to do it externaly to a SSD and you need a cage (100€ minimum, Kondorblue is 200€) to hold somehow the SSD and the extra cable. Meanwhile you cannot use the USB-C port for power delivery.
The file sizes are gigantic, at least 900 GB or a Terabyte, and external hard drives cost money. Are we talking about 1000€ or more..?
The other advantage is that you can record BRAW externally. But the Blackmagic video assist monitor costs 800€ (?).
What I mean with this comparison is that if a customer wants to make good use of the advantages of the S5IIx over the S5II, the difference in price is much more than the 200€ of the official price.
I find the S5IIx an excellent hybrid camera, probably the best in the market, but...
I don't need the industrial codecs to do video, I do corporate stuff, but with the S5II would be more than enough.
I think people should be aware of this "additional" costs. That's why I wrote this comment.
I do love the blackout design of the S5IIx however...
With the S5IIx You can record in the industry standard ProRes codec, but in order to do that you have to do it externaly to a SSD and you need a cage (100€ minimum, Kondorblue is 200€) to hold somehow the SSD and the extra cable. Meanwhile you cannot use the USB-C port for power delivery.
The file sizes are gigantic, at least 900 GB or a Terabyte, and external hard drives cost money. Are we talking about 1000€ or more..?
The other advantage is that you can record BRAW externally. But the Blackmagic video assist monitor costs 800€ (?).
What I mean with this comparison is that if a customer wants to make good use of the advantages of the S5IIx over the S5II, the difference in price is much more than the 200€ of the official price.
I find the S5IIx an excellent hybrid camera, probably the best in the market, but...
I don't need the industrial codecs to do video, I do corporate stuff, but with the S5II would be more than enough.
I think people should be aware of this "additional" costs. That's why I wrote this comment.
I do love the blackout design of the S5IIx however...
CharlesH
LMF-Patron Gold
I have the S5II and expect to ultimately move to the S5IIx for it's advanced video capabilities. But the S5II is very good already, and my experience with corporate video is that the S5II is should handle that application okay.
I'm looking forward to the S5IIX. It's due to arrive Monday. I did preorder the Kondor Blue PRO-BLADE SSD recording drive kit with handle. I'm not sure when it will be available. You would have thought on the day S5IIX was released, but apparently not. I also bought the Tilta S5II cage.
CharlesH
LMF-Patron Gold
Let me expand my earlier quick response to your post. First, yes, get the S5IIx. The cost is the same because for advanced video with the S5II (RAW) you need to add the Software Upgrade Key DWW-SFU2. And even then you don't get ProRes and SSD recording, nor the All-I codecs.
For corporate video you will probably want to use the excellent 4 channel sound from the camera. (Sound quality is more important than video quality for corporate video.) This requires the DMW-XLR1 microphone adapter. With this you should not need any other sound recorder; just whatever set of microphones you choose to use. This can cause a problem if you want to use a cage and handle, since the handle will interfere with the microphone adapter. Fortunately SmallRig makes a handle especially for this, so you can use a SmallRig cage along with the special SmallRig handle for cameras with top audio adapter.
Again, for corporate video, my experience is that it is normally inside with whatever lighting setup you choose to use. This is not very challenging from a video perspective, so the All-I codecs from the S5IIx should be more than enough. Panasonic All-I is quite good, this keeps the file size and storage within reasonable limits, and any video house can work with this format.
For more challenging video the choices are ProRes, ProRes RAW and BRAW. ProRes requires adding a SSD to the cage. The Kondor Blue handle kit is a problem because it interferes with the microphone adapter, so I'd use a more conventional SSD holder, such as from SmallRig. For RAW, I prefer BRAW with the BlackMagic Video Assist. This can give a very nice rig with a good monitor that can mount on the front of the rig's handle.
Good luck with whatever setup you choose to go with.
xaviergut
LMF-Patron
Thank you very much, Charles.
You are right, people often forget that audio is very important for video content creation.
Richard Wong
Well-Known Member
Yes agree there are definitely hidden cost we should consider. But if you are already thinking you may need the raw video output, or prores SSD recording, I would go for S5IIx.
Reason is, if it turns out you don't need either of them, you only "waste" 200€. But you still have the blackout design, livestreaming capability, and if you decided to upgrade to something better one day, the selling price of the S5IIx would be higher than the S5II and probably more demanding as well so you can get a bit of money back. So the actual cost of "SSD/BRAW" ready is not that much, especially compared to buying the S5II and end up having to sell it and get a S5IIx say in 6 months or 1 year's time.
xaviergut
LMF-Patron
thank you, Richard, for your advice!!