Canon EOS R5 Mark II: Two-minute review

When I originally wrote my Canon EOS R5 review, I called it the brand’s “best ever stills camera”. Four years later and I'm going to have to repeat myself – this time, however, I have to take it a step further and say that the EOS R5 Mark II is also Canon's most versatile camera yet.

There are quite a few significant differences between the two R5 generations that makes the Mark II feel more like an entirely new series rather than an upgrade. In fact, it has more in common with the Canon EOS R1 than the EOS R5, with the two new flagships sharing the headline features. So, essentially, what the Nikon Z8 is to the Nikon Z9, the R5 II is to the R1 – a smaller, albeit higher-resolution, version.

While the sensor resolution remains at 45MP, the R5 II now uses a stacked design that enables speedier readouts to minimize rolling shutter distortions, just like on the Nikon Z8. This, however, has resulted in a slight loss of dynamic range compared to the R5, but not so much that it will bother most photographers in real-world use.

The R5 II gains a second imaging processor – working in conjunction with the Digic X chip, the Digic Accelerator enables burst speeds of up to 30fps when shooting RAW, with an additional 15 frames available with pre-recording enabled. The Nikon Z8 tops out at 20fps in RAW.

Speed aside, the autofocus accuracy here is also better than what I experienced with the original R5 and, during my testing, the Mark II was more than ready to take on a challenge straight out of the box. In fact, I think the AF performance here is better than the Nikon Z8, which is my daily shooter. Not only has Canon improved its AF algorithm, it’s also added a couple of new features that make it really hard to miss a shot – you can select specific people to prioritize as your main subject in People Priority mode, while the new Action Priority feature uses deep-learning algorithms to tell the camera when a specific action is about to take place and automatically shift the focus point accordingly. The latter, however, is still a work in progress with only three team sports supported at launch.

Canon has been using Eye Control AF in its pro sports cameras – namely the EOS 1D X Mark III DSLR and the EOS R3 – but it’s now available on the R5 II. While it’s been improved in some ways, it’s still hard to calibrate it for all users.

Also new are a couple of AI-driven features that allow you to edit shots in-camera. The Image Upscaling feature can enhance resolution by 4x, after which you crop it in-camera to zoom in closer to a distant subject. It’s a handy feature to have, but only works for images shot as JPEG/HEIF and can be impractical for some photographers in the field. Photographers who find the need to push the limits of a camera’s ISO performance will be glad to know there’s a Neural Network Noise Reduction feature built in that can be employed, but you will need to shoot in RAW for this feature to work and the processed file is then saved as a JPEG.

Video specs have also been improved, with the R5 II capable of shooting 8K/60p clips (versus 30fps on the R5) for up to 120 minutes with a new Cooling Fan Grip. Importantly, Canon’s C-Log2 – the video encoding option previously only available in the brand’s cinema cameras – is now supported on the R5 II, offering better dynamic range and easier color grading compared to C-Log3.

Where it falls short compared to its predecessor is battery life. Despite a new high-powered LP-E6P pack, it’s only rated for 630 shots compared to the 950 that the LP-E6NH was rated for in the R5. To be fair, though, it is powering the new features and the higher speed.

Of course, new features come at a cost, but if they all do what they say on the tin, then it could be argued that the R5 II would be a worthy investment despite a higher price. What makes it even more so is that this camera truly does make pro photography easy and, given it can handle any scenario, it's a remarkably versatile shooter as well. Thankfully, though, Canon has priced its flagship well, with only a 10% increase over the launch price of the EOS R5.

Canon EOS R5 Mark II review: Release date and price

• Body-only price is $4,299 / £4,499 / AU$6,499
• Available since August 2024
• Three optional grips: Standard BG-R20, battery BG-R20EP and cooling fan CF-R20EP

With a body-only suggested retail cost of $4,299 / £4,499 / AU$6,499, the EOS R5 II is quite competitively priced. It’s slightly more than the R5’s body-only launch price in some markets (which was $3,899 / £4,199 / AU$6,899 in July 2020), and that’s to be expected given the slew of updates it’s got over its predecessor.

Aussie photographers, though, should be overjoyed if they’ve been holding out for a worthy upgrade from an older camera, especially since it’s cheaper than the Nikon Z8’s launch price too ($3,999 / £3,999 / AU$6,999). That said, it’s now possible to find the Z8 at discounts of about $700 / £450 / AU$1,000 – making it a compelling alternative to its Canon competition.

The R5 II was slated for an August 2024 release and is now available to purchase from authorized retailers in the US and Australia, but is still listed as a pre-order in the UK at the time of publication.

It’s possible to also pick up a single-lens kit for $5,399 / £5,749 / $AU$7,999, which bundles the RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens with the R5 II.

For the first time for any camera maker, Canon has also released three optional grips that can be purchased separately, which includes a Cooling Fan Grip ($399 / £549 / AU$829) that improves video recording times but lacks the vertical control layout. For that, you’ll need to opt for the Battery Grip that will set you back $349 / £489.99 / AU$699.

• Price score: 4.5 / 5

Canon EOS R5 Mark II review: Design and handling

• Small changes to top plate control layout
• Improved blackout-free 5.76m-dot OLED EVF with Eye Control AF
• Under-camera cooling vents keep the body slim

At first glance it’s easy to think the EOS R5 Mark II body is identical to its predecessor, but there’s one change Canon has made that makes me rather happy – the power controls that were on the left of the top plate on the R5 are now a ring around the Mode button on the top right of the Mark II. This means it’s a lot easier to switch the camera on and off in one hand. The old power wheel is now the toggle to switch between stills and video capture.

The one other minor change on the top plate is the new hot shoe cover. The R5 test unit that was sent to me for review in 2020 didn’t have such a cover, so this is new to me and I love the clean design – it makes the top of the R5 II look… well, ‘unblemished’ is the only word I can think of to describe it. As much as I like it, the cover is nigh impossible to release. I spent a lot of time trying to get it open and failed, meaning I wasn’t able to get a peek at the hot shoe during my few weeks with the camera.

The rest of the control layout remains exactly the same as on the R5, which is a wise move as Canon’s designs have always been intuitive. It is, however, oh-so-slightly heavier than the older camera, tipping the scales at 26.3oz / 746g. That’s lighter than the Nikon Z8 (32oz / 910g) and more in line with the Sony A7R V. It feels comfortable in the hand during long periods of use, even with the beefy RF 24-70mm f/2.8L standard zoom and RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM telephoto lenses that I used for this review.

Another small but significant refinement is the 5.7 million dot OLED viewfinder – Canon says it’s twice as bright and blackout free. While I can’t vouch for the ‘twice’ part, it’s definitely a significant difference compared to the R5 and I prefer it over the 3.69m-dot EVF on the Nikon Z8. The new EVF also inherits Canon’s Eye Control AF that debuted on the EOS 1D X Mark III. This feature tracks your eye movements as you scan the scene through the viewfinder and shifts the focus point accordingly.

As with all Canon cameras, build quality is excellent. The R5 II features a magnesium-alloy chassis with a fully weather-sealed exterior, and the controls are robust. That said, I found the rear wheel movement on the R5 II a little clunky compared to what it feels like on the R1, where movement is nicely dampened and rotation is smooth.

Everything else from a design standpoint is standard fare for a pro camera – an illuminated top LCD display, a textured AF joystick on the rear and dual card slots. One of these supports a CFexpress Type B device while the other supports a SD card with UHS-II speed, but you’ll need to invest in the former if you want to take full advantage of the R5 II’s speed.

Filmmakers will appreciate the fact that the EOS R5 II has a full-size HMDI port (the EOS R5 doesn't) and a tally lamp to indicate when you're recording. Moreover, key shooting information can be displayed on-screen.

There are also cooling vents on the camera's underside and they do an admirable job of keeping temperatures down when shooting high-resolution clips. In fact, temperature regulation is a lot better here than when I first tested the R5 (which was prior to the firmware updates that improved recording times). That said, I found that the R5 II can begin to get warm even when shooting constant bursts with Servo AF engaged, something sports photographers will likely need to do, but the temperature warning that appears on the display (or the EVF) never went beyond the first bar during my testing.

Naturally, there are both mic and headphone ports, plus USB-C for charging. The battery is an improved LP-E6P unit, which delivers up to 640 shots on a full charge, although that number will be a lot higher if you're capturing lots of high-speed bursts. Case in point, I ended up shooting over 8,000 frames during one testing session before the battery life dropped by three-quarters, but I couldn’t do much more as my 128GB CFexpress card was full.

• Design score: 5 / 5

Canon EOS R5 Mark II review: Features and performance

• New People and Action Priority modes
• In-camera editing features
• 15 frames of pre-recording

I’ve already listed the R5 II’s feature set at the start of this review, including the new stacked design for the sensor and the second processing unit that aids in maintaining the camera’s speed. Between the two, the R5 II is capable of rattling off at 30fps using the electronic shutter with autofocus engaged, and at a decent 1/160 second. While this helps with keeping rolling shutter distortions down to a minimum, a stacked sensor can reduce dynamic range, which is the case here, but it’s so insignificant that it would hardly be an issue in real-world use.

Buffer memory is better compared to the older R5, with the Mark II capable of saving up to 93 frames (or 3.1 seconds of capture) when shooting RAW to a memory card at 30fps (compared to 83 for the R5) or 230 RAW frames (or 8 seconds) when at 12fps (versus 180 with the R5). Buffer memory is over 1,000 frames when shooting JPG/HEIF, although I found that shooting constant bursts at 30fps in any format can bring up the temperature warning and slow the camera down a smidge.

Despite that, the speed the R5 II offers is great for sports and wildlife photographers alike, and the additional 15 frames of pre-capture means it can be quite hard to miss a shot – that’s an extra half second of captures. Paired with what I think is arguably the best and easiest-to-use autofocus system in the camera world, the R5 II makes pro photography incredibly simple.

And I do mean ‘simple’. Straight out of the box, the camera is ready to shoot, but engage either the new People Priority or Action Priority modes and sports photography becomes incredibly easy – all you need to do as a photographer is get your framing right and the camera will do the rest.

People Priority takes face detection to the next level and is ideal for team sports or wedding photography. Within the camera’s menu system is the option to ‘register’ a face… or 10. You'll need to take a head shot – and it doesn’t even have to be perfect – or capture an image of the person(s) from the internet to Register People Priority. Depending on the order you capture the faces, the camera prioritizes them from 1 (most important) to 10 (least important) and will focus on the people within the frame with the highest priority.

I didn’t get to try it with the maximum of 10 people during my testing, but it worked with pinpoint accuracy with three people in the frame. I also found that if a person with the highest priority within a scene only has a tiny fraction of their face turned to the camera (aka in partial profile), the R5 II will automatically shift the focus to the next highest priority face if it’s more visible. On the other hand, if a non-registered person appears in the frame, the camera can stick with the main subject even if only the back of the head is visible. That is intelligent autofocus indeed!

Action Priority is perfect for team sports that have a spherical ball in constant play but, at launch, Canon only has this feature set up for three sports – basketball, football (soccer) and volleyball. Using deep-learning algorithms, Canon has figured out how to ‘teach’ the camera to recognize body movements so the focus can shift to a player who either has the ball in possession or is about to get it. That means the R5 II can, in theory, predict where the ball is going next and focus on the right ‘moment’ rather than on a specific player.

I say ‘in theory’ because I didn’t get the opportunity to test this mode out on the three preset sports, but my colleague based in the UK got a chance to test Action Priority using a pre-production camera unit at a basketball game and it seemed to work then. That said, three sports is very limited and it would be great if Canon can start adding more (not just those with spherical balls) as quickly as possible. In fact, it’s the same case with the EOS R1 too, and it's as yet unclear whether the balls need to be a specific size to trigger the camera's response (aka, will it handle sports like tennis or cricket – that use smaller balls – just as well?).

There’s no easy way to switch between the two modes without delving back into the menu system, but nearly all the buttons on the camera can be customized. For example, I swapped the AE Lock button to trigger Action Priority and set the AF-On control on the rear panel for People Priority mode. I also set the M-Fn function to trigger Eye Control AF.

Speaking of which, this is the only autofocus feature on the R5 II that I had trouble with. While my colleague was suitably impressed, I just couldn’t get the calibration right – I even reset the camera to try again and failed. And this is despite Canon claiming they’ve made improvements to the Eye Control AF that makes it easier for people who wear glasses (like me) to use it. Seems like this isn’t an isolated problem as others have reported a similar issue.

Even without Eye Control AF, the R5 II’s autofocus and tracking is excellent and Canon has improved low-light AF sensitivity to -7.5EV (compared to -6EV in the older model, although the Nikon Z8 is effective at -9EV). The native ISO range remains steady at 100 to 51,200, or 50 to 102,400 expanded. While noise is very well controlled up to ISO 6400, even images shot at ISO 12,800 are usable if you don't need to crop in to zoom. And if noise at this high ISO is an issue for you, Canon’s new Neural Network Noise Reduction feature can help – it can denoise selected images in-camera by up to 2 stops as long as they're RAW files.

Within the Playback menu settings is the option to Process RAW Files, where the noise reduction editing feature is nestled. There are three options to choose from – Low, Standard and High – and they can be utilized in a pinch to cut down on some grain. The processed file is then saved as either a JPEG or HEIF.

I'm uncertain why Canon choose to enable this processing for RAW files only, and I'm hoping a future firmware update will allow for JPEGs/HEIFs to also be edited in-camera in the same way.

In a similar vein, if you want a higher resolution version of a particular image, you can upscale it in-camera to add up to 4x the pixel count using AI to extrapolate the image’s EXIF data, creating stills of up to 180MP from the original 45MP shot. While this is an excellent option for landscape photographers, it turned out to be rather impractical when shooting bursts. Pro sports and wildlife photographers will end up with so many shots that it could be hard to find the specific one you want to select to be upscaled.

Thankfully Canon has thought of that and you can select a range of images to upscale, but that will eat into your memory card’s free storage. Moreover, I found that Lightroom (my go-to image editing software) struggled with the larger files, crashing four times before I was able to view them – and this is on a MacBook Pro equipped with Apple’s decently powerful M3 Pro processor.

The main caveat for this feature is that it only works for JPEG/HEIF files and not RAW. Perhaps this will change down the line via future firmware updates, but it's still handy to have.

In terms of video, the R5 II is a powerhouse, with better heat management than its predecessor. Without the Cooling Fan Grip, Canon says the R5 II can shoot up to 18 minutes in 8K/60p RAW internally when ambient temperature is about 23ºC / 73ºF, although during my testing I managed about 4 minutes before I got the temperature warning, then another 2.5 minutes before the temperature gauge went into the red. Another minute later, the camera stopped recording with the warning that no more footage could be captured until the camera cooled down. That’s just 7.5 minutes but, to be fair, the ambient temperature was 26ºC (78.8ºF) and I was standing in direct sunlight.

Recording times increase as the resolution is lowered, with the possibility of up to 45 minutes when shooting 45K/60p without the fan. If you invest in the Cooling Fan Grip, there is theoretically no recording time limits with the fan set to high.

While not all the exciting features on the R5 II work as well as Canon would like us to think (I’m referring to Eye Control AF here), and there are dedicated hybrid cameras that handle pro filmmaking better, it’s really hard to fault the R5 II when everything else makes taking great shots really easy.

• Features & performance score: 5 / 5

Canon EOS R5 Mark II review: Image and video quality

• Gorgeous colors but slightly lower dynamic range
• Great details and sharpness, even in shadows
• Top notch video results

Not everyone needs a high-resolution camera but many prefer it. With 45MP on tap, there's more than enough sensor resolution here to suit most photographers, and having fewer pixels compared to the 61MP Sony A7R V and the 45.7MP Nikon Z8 means the Canon can handle speed better than some of its competition.

Even on a pre-production model of the R5 II, I was able to get excellent results, with colors that I personally find pleasing, plus focus and subject tracking practically pinpoint perfect. And that performance was just as impressive when I tested the final production model.

It’s been really hard to find fault with the results of the R5 II, despite the limitations of its stacked sensor design. As I’ve mentioned previously, this gives the camera its speed but comes at the cost of a little bit of dynamic range. I didn’t have the older R5 with me to do a direct comparison but, in my real-world testing, I found this compromise to be so small, even when shooting with the electronic shutter, that it’s hardly worth commenting on. Unless you plan on significantly cropping an image, the resulting noise in darker areas will not be a problem because of the lower dynamic range.

Otherwise, images shot using the R5 II are sharp, with very reliable autofocus and subject tracking performance – meaning all a photographer needs to think about is composition.

I also pushed the R5 II’s ISO sensitivity to see how well it holds up at the higher end of the spectrum and was suitably impressed. While there is some noise at ISO 6400, it’s hard to discern unless you crop significantly. Even at ISO 8000 or 12,800, the noise is decently controlled and, if in a pinch you think there’s too much visible graining, the option to use the Neural Network Noise Reduction feature is there… as long as you’re shooting RAW. And there are always photo editors like Topaz Photo AI that will help reduce the grain.

While video quality is also very good, I doubt pro creators will opt for the R5 II – there are other hybrid cameras, like the Panasonic Lumix S5 II or the Sony A7S III that would be better suited for professional videography. Still, if it’s 8K video that you’re after, I think it’s as good as the Nikon Z8 / Z9, if not better. And with better recording times out of the box than its predecessor, the R5 II can be a worthy investment for hybrid work.

It uses the full sensor to shoot 8K/60p and 12-bit RAW footage internally, but there are a few different resolutions and frame rates to shoot from if 8K is overkill for your needs. You can shoot in either DCI (17:9) or UHD (16:9), with a bunch of codecs to choose from. Perhaps the best news for videographers is the addition of Canon’s C-Log 2 custom picture profile. This has, so far, only been available on Canon’s EOS cinema cameras, but it offers better dynamic range and more natural colors compared to C-Log 3, which makes it easier for video creators to color grade and produce more appealing visuals.

There is now no 4GB video recording limit and, during my testing, I had no issues with heat buildup with video clips of 50 seconds to 1-minute in duration when shooting in 4K. the temperature gauge, however, will appear on the display (or EVF), which I found handy, as it's a visual indication of how warm (or hot) the camera is getting with use.

Image stabilization for video and stills is also quite impressive. While I’m not a good videographer at the best of times, I struggled to hold the R5 II steady with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM telephoto lenses at 500mm for durations of over 10 seconds, but found it a little easier to handle at 300mm.

• Image & video quality score: 5 / 5

Should I buy the Canon EOS R5 Mark II?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the Canon EOS R5 Mark II

• Tested over a period of three weeks; paired with RF 24-70mm f/2.8L and RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lenses
• Used to shoot mostly wildlife with high-speed bursts and Servo AF engaged
• Captured several video clips to test frame rates and resolutions

Having already tested the original R5, and as a current Nikon Z8 user, I am in a unique position to judge the R5 II as it gives me a couple of different points of comparison.

I had the Canon EOS R5 Mark II for about three weeks for this review and did my best to try it out in different scenarios. While there weren't any local sports to capture during my testing period, I pushed the camera's speed limits by capturing birds at a waterbird refuge. I also took the camera on a whale-watching cruise (sadly the humpbacks weren't very active on that day).

This was done with the camera set to capture at 30fps using the electronic shutter and Servo AF engaged. I used some of these images to test the upscaling feature.

The waterbird refuge is also where I did most of the video testing, using the birds as my subjects.

I also captured some urban landscapes as single shots. My testing of the stills including some indoor captures to test the ISO performance, and I used this to see how well the camera's built-in noise reduction feature works.

Read more about how we test

[First reviewed September 2024]

Panasonic Lumix GH7: one-minute review

At first glance, the Panasonic Lumix GH7 is identical to its predecessor, the Lumix GH6. The two cameras’ bodies and control layouts may be the same, but Panasonic has spent the two years since the GH6’s arrival working out any kinks and building on its strong showing. The result is the GH7, a multi-talented mirrorless camera with no great weaknesses.

The GH6 had a dizzying range of video options, plus a built-in cooling system that allows for unlimited video recording; great connectivity, fast continuous stills shooting and incredibly effective in-body image stabilization. All of these things remain the case with the GH7, but its new sensor improves image quality, and its new phase-detection autofocus system fixes the one area where the GH6 felt noticeably behind the times.

It’s not the perfect camera, of course. The cooling setup makes it fairly bulky by Micro Four Thirds standards, with its body weighing more than the full-frame Panasonic Lumix S5 II, and its battery life still feels a bit stingy by modern standards. But it’s tough to find any truly significant faults, and given that the price is the same as the GH6’s was at launch in 2022, it feels like great value for money too. Bang for buck, the GH7 is one of the best video cameras available. 

Panasonic Lumix GH7: release date and price

• Available now
• $2,199 / £1,999 / AU$3,899 body only
• Also sold in a kit with 12-60mm lens

The Panasonic Lumix GH7 is available now, with a list price of $2,199 / £1,999 / AU$3,899 body-only. It can also be purchased in a kit with a Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F2.8-4 zoom lens for $2,799 / £2,499 / AU$4,899. That’s the same list price at which the GH6 was launched a couple of years ago, so I have no complaints about Panasonic’s pricing decisions here.

• Price score: 4.5/5

Panasonic Lumix GH7: design and handling

• Body and control layout virtually identical to GH6 
• Fairly bulky for Micro Four-Thirds camera
• Articulated swivel-and-tilt touchscreen
• Built-in fan cooling system

If you’ve used the GH6 you’ll find the GH7 pleasingly familiar. In fact, the two camera bodies are essentially the same – put them side by side and the name tag on the front is the only way to tell the difference. That’s not a bad thing by any means, although I will say that the GH7, like its predecessor, is bulky by Micro Four Thirds standards. At 25.4oz / 721g, the body is heavier than the full-frame Lumix S5 (26.1oz / 714g); it’s a chunky 138.4 x 100.3 x 99.6mm in size too. So, if you’re expecting its small sensor to result in a lightweight and easily portable camera, you’re going to be disappointed.

Still, I found it manageable, and it’s also important to note that MFT lenses are generally much lighter and smaller than full-frame L-mount lenses, so you’ll likely be reducing the overall weight by opting for the GH7 over a full-frame model. I also like the fact that it remains dust- and splash-proof, if not officially IP-rated or guaranteed to remain undamaged if it does get wet or sandy.

The built-in cooling system is the main culprit for the bulky build. As with the GH6, it sits at the rear of the camera, behind the screen, and uses a fan to suck in cool air and blow out warm air. This system is essential for one of the GH7’s key selling points, though: its ability to record unlimited 4K 60fps video clips. With many cameras limiting 4K clip duration due to overheating (and some requiring a lengthy cooldown period after the forced shutdown), I think the advantage of that cooling setup is a fair trade-off for the extra weight and size.

As with the GH6, the 3-inch screen is excellent: not only does it flip out and swivel, it also features a two-stage tilting mechanism that enables you to move it away from any cables that might be plugged into the camera. Even if it didn’t originate on the GH7, it’s still probably the most flexible screen design I’ve seen on a mirrorless camera.

The control setup is great too, with plenty of easily accessible buttons. The highlight for me is the fact that there’s an extra record button on the front of the camera, which is something content creators who spend a lot of time filming themselves will appreciate. There are also front and rear tally lamps, making it immediately clear if you’re recording or not.

Connectivity remains as impressive as on the GH6. There’s a full-size HDMI output (capable of carrying 5.8K RAW video to an external recorder), USB-C (capable of recording directing to an SSD right out of the box), 3.5mm mic in and 3.5mm headphone out. There’s also a hot shoe for flashguns and accessories, while the dual-card storage setup has one CFexpress Type B slot (required when recording videos with 800Mbps or higher bit rates) and one SD slot.

There’s no USB-C webcam function here, which seems to be a Panasonic quirk, but you can live-stream directly from the camera to YouTube Live or other RTMP-based services if you wish. Both the USB-C and Wi-Fi connections support this.

• Design score: 4/5

Panasonic Lumix GH7: features and performance

• New phase-detection autofocus system
• Excellent in-body image stabilization
• 14fps continuous shooting
• Short-ish battery life
• 32-bit float audio recording (with XLR2 mic adapter)

Perhaps the biggest feature improvement in the Lumix GH7 is the addition of a hybrid autofocus system that includes phase-detection autofocus, replacing the pure contrast-based autofocus setup of the GH6. Where the GH6 could still hunt somewhat when attempting to lock on to a subject, the GH7 is deadly accurate; it locks on quickly and stays locked on, making life for vloggers and YouTubers who self-shoot significantly easier. It’s a major improvement over the GH6, bringing the GH7 in line with its competitors on the autofocus front.

The autofocus system can be set to recognise and stay locked onto humans faces and eyes, humans in general (which includes body shapes), animals, cars, motorcycles, trains, and airplanes. The menu gives additional control over how it behaves too, and overall it feels like a great system for content creators.

The GH6’s in-body image stabilization system was excellent, and the GH7’s is just as good; and if you don’t mind a slight crop to your video, the additional electronic stabilization improves things further. Mount a lens with built-in OIS and things gets even better, with the systems combining to deliver an almost gimbal-like experience when shooting handheld. Again, it’s something vloggers and content creators will adore, as they can self-shoot beautifully stable walk-and-talk videos with little more than a GorillaPod or similar handle.

Another strong area of performance is shooting speed. When you’re shooting stills using its mechanical shutter, the GH7 can capture continuously at a brisk 14fps – and that’s with autofocus enabled. Switch to the electronic shutter and the speed goes up to 75fps with manual focus and 60fps with autofocus. That’s very fast indeed.

Battery life, on the other hand, is one of the GH7’s weaker aspects. In my experience, a fully charged battery was only good for around an hour of video recording, so you’ll want to pack extras if you’re planning a long day of shooting, although it’s worth noting that the USB-C port allows for easy on-the-go recharging and constant power supply too.

There’s another feature which I think deserves mention, even if it’s only available for users who buy the optional XLR2 microphone adapter: the ability to record in 32-bit float audio, which is a world-first on a mirrorless camera. 32-bit float is an audio format with much wider dynamic range, making it less prone to clipping and much more flexible when it comes to post-production adjustment. What shooting in raw is for images, 32-bit float is for audio.

• Features and performance score: 4.5/5

Panasonic Lumix GH7: image and video quality

• Same 25.2MP CMOS image sensor as G9 II
• 5.7K 30p ProRes RAW HQ internal recording
• 4K 120p and FHD 240p slow-motion video
• Supports real-time LUTs

It wasn’t long ago that journalists and influencers in certain quarters were declaring Micro Four Thirds dead, but the GH7’s image performance is definitive proof of life. Like the triumphant Lumix G9 II launched earlier this year, the GH7 uses Panasonic’s new 25.2MP CMOS sensor, and its imaging performance appears to be largely identical.

In spite of its relatively small size, this sensor delivers excellent quality for both video and stills. While I’d still opt for a full-frame camera like the Lumix S5 II over the GH7 if I was primarily shooting in low light, the GH7’s Micro Four Thirds sensor feels like it can go toe-to-toe with the best APS-C cameras in any lighting condition, mostly thanks to a Dynamic Range Boost setup that captures and merges two outputs in parallel.

The GH6’s sensor had the same Dynamic Range Boost setup, and while I personally encountered no great issue with it during my own review of that camera, many users complained of major problems in very high-contrast conditions. This seemed due to the fact that the base ISO started too high, and the result was the appearance of unsightly horizontal streaks. That’s been fixed now, thankfully, and you can pretty much shoot in any situation without experiencing anything except a mild bit of noise at higher ISOs.

Whether you’re recording video or snapping photos, there’s a huge dynamic range here considering the sensor size. Images are bursting with detail in both bright and darker areas, and the general color science and look of Panasonic’s standard shooting modes is as good as ever. For users who want to wring every bit of dynamic range from their videos, shooting in V-log gives you a whole extra stop according to Panasonic, taking the full range to over 13 stops (it’s over 12 in standard modes).

I don’t have the space here to detail every one of the plethora of video shooting modes available on the GH7. What I will say is that it’s a truly impressive lineup that caters to all levels of video creator (as was the GH6’s before it), including 5.7K 30p Apple ProRes RAW (with a staggering 4.2Gbps bitrate), 5.8K 30p/5.7K 60p 10-bit 4:2:0 MOV and C4K 120p 4:2:0 MP4. Like many Panasonic cameras it also offers ‘open gate’ recording, which captures video using the entire surface of the sensor – all the better for cropping to your desired aspect ratio in post-production.

The camera can also record 4K at 120fps and Full HD at 240fps for smooth slow-motion playback, both with audio included – although users should note that the Dynamic Range Boost is disabled for any recordings over 60fps, which does detract slightly from the image quality of high-speed recordings.

Panasonic has made it easy to apply LUTs in-camera too, allowing you to ‘bake-in’ LUTs to your photos and video as you shoot them. You can use the preset LUTs that come on the GH7 or add your own. The easiest way to do this is with a smartphone and the Lumix Lab app – the app lets you download LUTs made by Panasonic or other users and transfer them to the GH7, where they can then be accessed via the menu system.

• Image quality score: 4.5/5

Panasonic Lumix GH7: testing scorecard

Should I buy the Panasonic Lumix GH7?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Panasonic Lumix GH7: also consider

How I tested the Panasonic Lumix GH7

• One week review period
• Vlogging plus run-and-gun videos
• Used with two lenses: Leica 12-60mm F2.8-4 and the Leica 9mm F1.7

I tested the Panasonic GH7 for a week, using it in a wide range of scenarios: vlogging at home with a tripod and while walking around town with the help of a Joby GorillaPod; taking snapshots and landscape photos; and capturing b-roll footage in a range of different formats and frame rates. I used two Panasonic lenses during the review process: the Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm F2.8-4 zoom and the Leica DG Summilux 9mm F1.7 wide-angle prime.

First reviewed July 2024

Sony ZV-E10 II: two-minute review

The ZV-E10 II is a highly recommendable compact vlogging camera. Its diminutive size is deceptive, as it houses a number of key components and features that are shared with Sony’s pricier and more advanced APS-C cameras.

This camera is built around the proven 26MP Exmor R sensor and BIONZ XR imaging engine combo, which is capable of producing crisp 4K video from an oversampled 6K readout. One of the biggest upgrades over its predecessor is that the ZV-E10 II is capable of recording videos in XAVC HS/XAVC S 10-bit 4:2:2 color up to 4K/60p with a data rate of up to 200Mbps. To take advantage of its dynamic range and color upgrade, it also comes with S-Cinetone and Log recording, along with the ability for users to upload a maximum of 16 LUTs via the Creators’ App, which can be baked into footage for quick delivery. It’s a much less elegant approach to deploying custom looks compared to Fujifilm’s famous film simulations or Panasonic’s seamless Real Time LUT and LUMIX Lab solution, but it’s a welcome addition to Sony’s entry-level offering all the same. It can also record proxy files in XAVC HS HD or XAVC S HD with a max data rate of 16Mbps, despite only having a single UHS-II card slot. The ZV-E10 II offers a strong set of features for what is ostensibly a beginner/vlogging camera. 

However, considering that it’s built around the same sensor, processor and power platform as the A6700 and FX30, it’s a shame that Sony wasn’t able to include the 4K/120p video recording that’s available in those cameras, even if it came with a time limitation and the same 1.58x crop. It’s also disappointing to see that the mechanical shutter in the ZV-E10 has been ditched, meaning the ZV-E10 II is electronic shutter only. But with that said, the readout speed is fast, which will significantly negate the impact of rolling shutter in both video and stills. In terms of stabilization, the camera body has no sensor-shift IS, so you’re restricted to Optical Steady Shot (Standard) with compatible lenses or Active SteadyShot, which comes with a hefty crop. Alternatively, you can take advantage of Sony’s free Catalyst Browse desktop software, which uses gyroscopic metadata for the camera to stabilize your footage and reduce rolling shutter effects even further. The software works incredibly well, but it’s an extra step that some may find tedious, especially some people in the target audience for this camera.

As you might expect, the autofocusing capabilities of this camera are second to none in its price range, and much better than those of rival APS-C cameras from competitors; the upgraded 759-point PDAF system finds subjects with ease and tracks them stubbornly. Like the ZV-E10, the newer model has a maximum continuous firing rate of 11fps, but with a more advanced AF system your ‘keeper’ ratio from mode shooting is going to be higher. Product focus mode was one of the standout features in this camera’s predecessor, and it works better than ever with this new model. When activated by pressing the trash icon, the camera will intelligently detect and seamlessly pull focus to a product when it's held up, then return to the person’s face when the product is lowered. It’s a unique feature that makes this an ideal camera for social media content creators who do tutorials, product reviews or promotions.

In terms of design, the ZV-E10 II is almost identical to its predecessor – the button layout is unchanged and the form factor will be familiar to owners of the older model, and while this camera being slightly larger and heavier, you couldn’t describe it as large or heavy relative to the competition. I like that it has a decent-sized grip, despite being super compact, and it feels great to hold and shoot with. Due to its size there’s no EVF, which may turn off some beginners who are more inclined towards photography – they might want to spend a little more and pick up the A6700.

Having only the articulated screen to compose shots on isn’t a problem, but it did become a bit of a struggle on sunny days, as I didn’t find it bright enough, even on its maximum setting. I also found the default Shooting Screen UI cluttered, but you can (and really should) make adjustments to the look and feel of it in the menu. To Sony’s credit, I love the fact that the whole UI rotates when you shoot vertically, making it a little bit easier to see your settings, whatever orientation the camera is in; it’s a small touch, but a nice one. Speaking of touch, the ZV-E10 II also adds direct touch as a means for changing settings and selecting subjects for the AF to track, touch functions not available on the ZV-E10. Again, it’s not a huge feature, but it significantly improves the functionality of the camera over its predecessor.

One of the ZV-E10 II’s USPs is its built-in three-way capsule microphone, which sits along the top of the camera. The unique design helps to isolate audio when the user is speaking to camera without external audio capture, whether holding the camera up vlogger-style or speaking from behind the camera. Sony says the latest version is “intelligent”, and should do an even better job of delivering clear audio. I didn’t have the previous model at the same time that I was testing the ZV-E10 II to compare the two, but I can confirm that the audio quality that’s recorded by the ZV-E10 II’s built-in mic system is good – it will be adequate for most quick shooting scenarios in public, and should certainly suffice for more controlled situations, such as shooting in a studio, although for the best results you’ll want to stay close to the camera, as it's not designed to pick up your voice from a distance. For higher-quality sound recording you have the option of inputting third-party audio sources through the 3.5mm socket. Alternatively, the camera’s digital multi-function hot shoe supports audio data transfer, allowing you to connect a Sony hot shoe mic like the ECM-G1 or a more advanced audio solution such as the Sony ECM-W2BT wireless microphone.

Live online content creators will enjoy the fact that the ZV-E10 II makes it easy to get connected and stream via a wireless network connection or USB-C, at up to 4K/25p with a max bitrate of 38 Mbps. Full HD streaming goes up to 60fps, and it’s also possible to record to the camera while streaming, which is handy for redundancy.

The ZV-E10 II is a camera that covers a lot of bases for content creators who have begun to experience the limitations of a smartphone and need reliability and quality in equal measure, but in a package that keeps things simple. If you can go without a viewfinder and can tolerate overheating limitations when shooting 4K video, the ZV-E10 II is well worth your consideration.

Sony ZV-E10 II: release date and price

• $1100 / £950 body only
• Available from July 10 2024
• Can be bought as a kit with the new Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 II $1200 / £1050

The ZV-E10 II is available to pre-order from July 10th, 2024, with sales starting at the end of July 2024. It can be picked up for an RRP of $1100 / £950 body only or for $1200 / £1050 with the new Sony E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 II as part of a kit. That’s a pretty big price hike from the Sony ZV-E10. 

• Price score: 3.5/5

Sony ZV-E10 II: design and handling

• Body is almost identical to previous model
• Features higher-capacity NP-FZ100 battery
• Vari-angle touchscreen
• Digital multi-function hot shoe

The Sony ZV-E10 II is a very compact camera, measuring 4.5 x 2.65 x 2.1 inches / 114.8 x 67.5 x 54.2mm and weighing 13oz / 375g. It’s almost 10mm thicker, a couple of mm wider and 32g heavier than its predecessor.

The increase in size is in order to accommodate the NP-FZ100 battery, the same battery used by Sony’s APS-C flagship model, the A6700, as well as most of its recent full-frame E-mount cameras. This also means the memory card slot has been shifted over to the left of the camera body, sandwiched between the microphone and USB-C port at the top and the headphone and micro-HDMI socket at the bottom. The door cover of the UHS-II card slot locks into place and is easy enough to unhinge, even if you’re wearing gloves.

Its 3-inch flip-out articulated screen swings out smoothly and slaps back into place with a reassuring clasp. However, I didn’t like the fact that when the display is flipped all the way out it doesn’t sit flat – it’s at a slight angle. This means the screen doesn’t directly face you when flipped forwards, and it makes composing straight images at extreme perspectives frustratingly inconsistent. Another slight annoyance for me is that I found that some of the buttons and the zoom toggle are too easy to activate by accident, which occasionally led to missed shooting opportunities when trying to capture unanticipated fleeting moments. I do really like the dedicated photo / video / S&Q mode switch at the top of the camera though.

A lot of useful and commonly used settings are buried within the menus, but fortunately Sony makes it relatively easy to curate a custom page under ‘My Menu’. Another positive is the fact that many of the camera’s buttons can also be customized for both photo and video modes, which gives you a lot of flexibility, and some time spent configuring your buttons and creating your own menu should pay dividends in improving your experience of using the ZV-E10 II. A final design touch that I’m a fan of is the inclusion of a red tally lamp on the front of the camera, just above the alpha logo, which turns on automatically when you press record. There’s also a red frame indicator that can be turned on and off to reassure you that you’re recording.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Sony ZV-E10 II: features and performance

• Best-in-class phase-detection autofocus
• Solid battery life
• No sensor-shift stabilization
• Overheats when recording 4K/60p
• Unique 3-capsule microphone array

The Sony ZV-E10 II stands on the shoulders of one of Sony’s most popular Alpha models ever, in the original ZV-E10 – and given that its predecessor doesn’t have a lot of competition, Sony arguably didn’t have to release an update this year. However, while there are a good few meaningful improvements overall, the ZV-E10 II isn’t perfect. Let’s start with the challenges.

As a compact camera with no fan, I wouldn’t expect the ZV-E10 II to deliver unlimited recording at maximum resolution and frame rates, and it turns out that it doesn’t. I found that the camera consistently overheated and shut down while recording 4K/60p video after 24 minutes, even with the screen flipped out which can help to disperse heat. I was able to get it to start recording again by rebooting the camera, and it rolled for another five minutes before stopping for a second time, then it would cut out repeatedly after a minute or two until it was left to cool down. When the overheating issues began the camera became very hot to the touch, and it wouldn’t function normally until it had cooled down; for reference the ambient room temperature was 70F / 21C. I experienced no overheating issues when filming in Full HD resolution.

Now that we’ve got the drawbacks out of the way, let me say that the ZV-E10 II shines when it comes to autofocus, although that’s a given when it comes to Sony cameras. The AF is quick and reliable, which means you can focus on capturing the content you want, whether it’s stills or video, and the camera will take care of the rest. It’s also much easier to shoot remotely and share your content, thanks to improvements Sony has made to the Sony Creators’ App experience. When paired, the ZV-E10 II has the ability to transfer content between the camera and your mobile device via 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi. The process is quick, and far less frustrating than previous iterations of Sony camera/app file transfer that I’ve used.

When shooting Raw+JPEG you can get 30 frames at 11fps with AF-C in continuous burst mode, before buffering begins to kill your joy while you wait for the camera’s single UHS-II card to write – this is a camera that will be suitable for capturing brief bursts of action, but not extended sequences. If you want an easy way to slow down longer action sequences, shifting the camera into its dedicated S & Q (slow and quick) function is as simple as flicking a switch. The S&Q mode allows you to capture and view slow-motion video in camera, without sound. However, I’m disappointed that the ZV-E10 II maxes out 4K at 60fps, while its higher-end stablemates, with the same sensor and processor, offer up to 4K/120p.

I was impressed by the staying power of the ZV-E10 II. I could comfortably get through a day's photo and video capture thanks to the inclusion of the larger FZ-NP100 battery. It’s a cell that’s rated for roughly 550 shots, which is a lot for a camera in this class. The previous ZV-E10 was already a standout performer when it came to battery life, and the new model raises the bar further still.

• Features and performance score: 4/5

Sony ZV-E10 II: image and video quality

• Same 26MP sensor as pricier FX30 and A6700 models
• Much improved video codecs
• No in-body image stabilization means shakier video footage

The ZV-E10 II’s 26MP sensor delivers beautiful JPEGs in good light, and usable images in low light, while its raw files provide a good amount of dynamic range for pushing shadows and recovering highlights when needed.

In terms of its movie mode results, the introduction of 10-bit video, something that most of the competition offers, is a great benefit for people who have the time to grade their footage. Having greater color flexibility, including the addition of the S-Cinetone picture profile and log recording, opens up this camera for more professional uses, and I would happily use it as a B-roll camera, mixing in clips with footage from a higher-end Sony camera. At its best, 10-bit 4:2:2 4K/60p footage out of the ZV-E10 II, oversampled from its 6K readout, is reasonably gradable and looks clean when the ISO is kept below 6400. In video mode the ZV-E10 II has a maximum sensitivity range of ISO100 to 32,000, but beyond ISO6400 color shifting and noise starts to get distracting.

The lack of sensor-shift image stabilization is a miss here. However, when the camera is paired with an OSS Sony lens, footage is respectably stable, even if it can’t match the steadiness of a Lumix or Olympus alternative. Sony does have an ace in its hand with its Catalyst Browse desktop software though, and if you have the time and inclination you can achieve footage that’s stable enough to rival video captured with a dedicated gimbal.

• Image quality score: 4/5

Sony ZV-E10 II: testing scorecard

Should I buy the Sony ZV-E10 II?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Sony ZV-E10 II: also consider

How I tested the Sony ZV-E10 II

• I attended a pre-brief presentation, followed by one-week review period
• I paired the camera with the new Sony 16-50mm PZ OSS F3.5-5.6
• I connected the camera to the Sony Creators’ App

I had a short week with the ZV-E10 II, so my testing opportunities were slightly limited. However, I have experience with its predecessor, as well as the Sony A6700 and FX30, which share the same sensor, processor and battery as the ZV-E10 II, so I’m familiar with the capabilities and limitations of its core components.

The first thing I did when receiving the camera was conduct my endurance tests, which include battery run-downs and heat management. I set the camera up on a tripod in an ambient temperature environment of 70F / 21C, and left it filming continuously while connected to mains power and on battery power alone.

I took the camera out with me on a couple of walks and to a couple of daytime and evening events, using the Creators’ App to transfer and share images on the go. I performed sound-quality tests in a small studio environment, as well as in the street.

First reviewed July 2024

Panasonic Lumix S9: two-minute review

There's much to like about the Panasonic Lumix S9. It inherits superb video features from its pricier sibling, the Lumix S5 II, and squeezes them into a smaller, colorful body. 

It boasts a 24.2MP full-frame sensor, open gate 6K video recording (taken from the full height and width of the 3:2 aspect sensor), the option to automatically set a 180-degree shutter angle, and one of the best performing image stabilization systems for shooting video on the move. 

Beyond its bigger sibling, the Lumix S9 also brings Panasonic's lesser-known Real Time LUTs color profiles to your fingertips. Fujifilm's Film Simulations have been trending, but Real Time LUTs color profiles are next-level, with no restriction on the look you want. 

Once you're connected to the new Lumix Lab app, you can import a number of Real Time LUTs profiles directly on to the Lumix S9, including a variety of excellent looks made by Panasonic's network of professional creators. This is color grading made easy for photo and video. 

Design-wise, the Lumix S9 is primarily a video camera, and at $1,500 / £1,500 (Australian pricing TBC) it offers incredible bang for buck. The reason Panasonic has been able to drop the price from the $1,999 / £1,999 Lumix S5 II is simple – this is a much simpler body, and a colorful one at that, designed to appeal to young creatives. 

This is no photographer's tool, despite the excellent-quality 24MP stills: the Lumix S9 doesn't have a built-in viewfinder, or a hotshoe for mounting optional accessories, such as a flash or EVF. The coldshoe is instead limited to other accessories such as an external mic, or even a top handle.  

I missed having a viewfinder. Much of my testing was conducted in bright sunny weather and the flip-out touchscreen isn't the easiest to see under such conditions. 

In bright conditions you can't be fully sure if the Lumix S9 has locked focus on to your subject, you just have to trust it does. To be fair, for the best part it does – the S9 has Panasonic's best ever autofocus system, with human and animal subject detection and both with options for face and eye detection only, or for bodies, too. 

We're missing a headphone jack to monitor audio, which feels like a misstep for a video-focused shooter. You can activate on-screen audio monitoring which gives some indication of audio levels, but there's no easy way to properly monitor sound.

In essence, this is a full-frame camera for beginner filmmakers who want to point-and-shoot and trust that the camera will capture excellent visuals and audio, and for the whole experience to be as close to using a smartphone as possible.

To an extent, the Lumix S9 is successful in its mission. It's visually appealing, small and simple, brings lovely photo and video color profiles to your fingertips and the app is a nice touch, even if it could do with some refining.

However, considering the target market, I'm not entirely convinced this should be an L-mount interchangeable lens camera, rather a fixed lens compact with a tiny wide-angle fast aperture prime lens – much like the Fujifilm X100VI.

It's really hard to make tiny full-frame lenses, and the new pancake lens announced on the same day as the S9, plus the compact zoom in the pipeline, hardly excite. The smallest fast aperture L-mount prime lenses dwarf the camera and I'm not sure beginners will want to mess around with multiple lenses in the first place.

Design-wise, Sony's ZV-E10 feels like a better bet – with its smaller APS-C sensor and lenses, plus a decent grip. All being said, the Lumix S9 does a lot of things really well, new things, too, and we'll have to wait and see if it hits the mark with young creatives.

Panasonic Lumix S9: release date and price

• Body-only price is $1,499 / £1,499 / Australia TBC
• Available from June 2024
• Launched alongside the Lumix S 26mm F8 pancake lens, which costs $219 / £219

The Panasonic Lumix S9 is available in four colors: Dark Olive (pictured, below), Classical Blue, Crimson Red and Jet Black, and costs $1,499 / £1,499 body-only, or $1,799 /£1,799 with the decent 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, and $2,249 / £2,249 when bought with Panasonic's new travel lens, the 28-200mm f/4-7.1. The camera is available from June 2024, and Australia pricing for all of those options is TBC. 

There's no word yet if the Lumix S9 will be available as a bundle with either of the newly announced lenses, the new 26mm f/8 pancake lens or the 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 compact zoom in development. The pancake lens, which only weighs 2.04oz / 58g, costs $219 / £219 and also ships from June 2024, while the compact zoom is coming later.

At launch, the Lumix S9 is Panasonic's cheapest full-frame camera yet, although the Panasonic Lumix S5 II / S5 II X that shares much of the same tech but in a higher-spec body, is often on sale for a similar cost.

Panasonic Lumix S9: design and handling

• Newly designed body is Panasonic's smallest full-framer yet
• No viewfinder, hotshoe or headphone jack
• Vari-angle touchscreen
• New compact lenses on the way

The Lumix S9 is Panasonic's smallest full-frame camera yet, measuring 126 x 73.9 x 46.7 mm / 4.96 x 2.91 x 1.84 inches. It's not the smallest full-frame camera around – that award goes to the Sigma FP, plus the Sony A7C II is smaller by a whisker.

The body might barely be a handful, but it still needs a lens, and even the smallest full-frame L-mount lenses currently available – excluding the new 26mm F8 pancake – dwarf the Lumix S9. Throw on the excellent 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 and the depth is increased to 133.9mm / 5.28-inches. 

A thumb grip goes some way in providing a secure hold, but with no hand grip you'll probably need to support the camera with both hands, or kit it out with a third-party grip. Relatively chunky lenses are the challenge in handling small full-frame cameras like this – the all round feel is better with a camera like the full-size Lumix S5 II. 

In an ideal world, the Lumix S9 would have a fixed prime lens around the size of Panasonic's new pancake lens, but with a much faster maximum aperture – the Fujifilm X100VI approach. Panasonic could then also install a built-in ND filter, and ultimately create a truly compact video camera that also shoots much better video than your phone.

Still, if you don't mind the size of lenses like the 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 and 50mm F1.8 – both of which I had with the camera for this review – then you can make some excellent quality video.

There's the question of which tasteful color variation you will pick: green, red, blue, or an all-black option for those playing it safe. For now, Panasonic's lenses remain all-black; there's no color-matching kit lenses.

Control layout is super simple and beginner-friendly: on the top there's a shooting mode dial, video record button, exposure compensation, shutter button and control dial. We get a limited number of ports: mic, USB-C and mini-HDMI, but no headphone jack.

As a small, video-focused camera, there's no viewfinder nor the option to add one, while the coldshoe mount can hold an accessory like an external mic, but it won't connect directly to a hotshoe flash.

The 3-inch vari-angle touchscreen is decent, albeit hard to see in bright light. I couldn't find the option to activate a red border to clearly indicate when the camera is recording video, or even a tally lamp – inexplicable omissions for a small, video-focused camera.

In-camera menus are fairly-well laid out. If you select the video mode on the top dial, then all of the photography settings disappear in the menu, helping you access video options much quicker.

You'll want to customize video options to get started, for example setting the 'Shutter Speed / Gain Operation' to prioritize shutter angle to automatically apply the 180-degree shutter angle for smooth video footage. This handy option is not available on a lot of other pricier video cameras.

A new LUT button on the rear gives quick access to the unmatched variety of color profiles, which can be uploaded to the camera via the Lumix Lab app in addition to those already included. I went for 'Platinum Steel' by Sam Holland for a moody vibe with soft skin tones, among others.

Panasonic wants to create a camera and app experience that's easier than ever. From my brief time using the Android version of the Lumix Lab app, the jury is still out. Connection is faster than most, but the app can still be awkward to navigate, and appears to be limited to file transfers and uploading LUTs profiles. There could be more than this, including remote control.

Panasonic Lumix S9: features and performance

• Superb in-body image stablization
• Panasonic's best phase detection autofocus 
• Battery life is a respectable 470-shots (depending on lens)
• Single UHS-S II SD card slot
• New Lumix Lab app

The Lumix S9 is well supported by Panasonic's best ever autofocus and image stablization performance, both inherited from the Lumix S5 II. 

The S9's bigger sibling was the first Panasonic camera to utilize a hybrid autofocus system, with snappy contrast detection autofocus primarily for stills, and smooth phase-detection autofocus for video, featuring subject detection modes that cover human, animal, car and motorcycles. 

Human and animal detection autofocus can switch between prioritizing face and eye only, or face, eye and body, and in general works really well. 

Image stabilization performance is outstanding. It's possible to shoot sharp photos handheld with shutter speeds in the seconds, while handheld video footage on the go is super smooth – smooth enough for moderate action that you can avoid using a gimbal. 

There's just a single SD card slot with support for the faster UHS-II type, and you can capture up to 120 images in the continuous high burst shooting setting, which maxes out at 8 frames per second with continuous autofocus employed. This is no action photography camera, but it's hardly a slouch. 

Battery life is also decent, especially considering the diminutive size of the camera. According to its CIPA rating, the S9 can squeeze out up to 470 shots from a fully charged battery, or 100 minutes of continuous 4K / 60p video recording. 

Then there's the Lumix Lab app, which at the time of writing is compatible only with the Lumix S9. In my experience using a Google Pixel 6 and the Android version of the app, pairing the camera is quicker and more reliable than most other rival apps. 

In the app you get quick access to a range of Real Time LUTs color profiles. A number of Panasonic's creators have loaded some of their own publicly available and free to download LUTs in the app's Creator gallery, and I've found a look for just about every scenario. 

I've included a high-contrast street photo taken in London with the Lumix S9's standard color profile, and then applied a free 'Platinum Steel' LUT which suited the scene (see above).

Sadly, video capture times are severely limited, capped at just 15 minutes, and further reduced to 10 minutes when shooting in 6K. This is presumably to avoid overheating given the Lumix S9 lacks an internal fan, as opposed to any limitations in the camera's performance, including its processor power and card's read and write speeds.

Most people won't shoot individual clips for longer than 15 minutes, but knowing that you can in any situation is one less thing to worry about, whether that's recording speeches at an event or lengthy vlogs.

Panasonic Lumix S9: image and video quality

• Superb video features including open gate video recording up to 6K / 30p
• Real Time LUTs color profiles are supremely versatile
• New MP4 Lite file format
• Up to 14-stops dynamic range in V-log color profile

With practically the same sensor and video spec as the Lumix S5 II, you can be assured that the Lumix S9 captures superb quality video, plus sharp and punchy 24MP stills. You can read more about the image and video quality to expect in our Lumix S5 II review.

What the Lumix S9 tries to do differently is bring Panasonic's Real Time LUTs to the fore, through quick access via a direct button on the camera's body and the Lumix Lab app, through which you can easily upload any one of a vast array of color profiles for just about any shooting scenario. 

You can create your own color profiles and save them to the camera, or simply take advantage of the profiles already available through the Creator's gallery in the app.

There's also the matter of a new MP4 Lite video format. It maxes out at 4K, 10-bit 4:2:0, but produces files that are around 40% smaller than regular MP4 files, which are also available in the S9. However, for best quality video, you'll probably want to shoot in .MOV format in 4K 4:2:2 10-bit or 6K 4:2:0 10-bit, even if the file sizes are much bigger. 

Whether it's a light and easy ready-made MP4 Lite video with Real Time LUT applied, or 6K 10-bit video in the V-log color profile with 14-stops of dynamic range that needs to be graded afterwards, there's video quality for every level of ability and shooting scenario. 

How I tested the Panasonic Lumix S9

• Two brief sessions, including a street photography walk 
• Paired with the 26mm pancake, 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 and 50mm F/1.8 lenses
• Paired with the Lumix Lab app

I've had a fairly brief time with the Lumix S9 so far, including a London street photography session and a more leisurely time at home and on launch day. I still have the camera at home and will be continuing to use it ahead of the full review. 

I've been shooting both photos and videos, and tried pairing the S9 with the Lumix Lab app to play around with various Real Time LUTs color profiles and making quick edits to photos, among other things. 

During the London session I was briefly able to use the S9 with the only copy of the pancake lens available in the UK, plus I've had more time using the camera with the 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 and 50mm F1.8 Panasonic Lumix L-mount lenses. 

First reviewed May 2024

Leica might be best-known for its legendary M-series rangefinders, but for the past decade it's also been building a modern full-frame mirrorless system called the SL series – and the new SL3 is its most fully-evolved model so far.

Unlike the Leica M11 and Leica Q3, which are built around a compact, tactile shooting experience, the SL3 is a modern brute that wants to be your professional workhorse. It still has classic Leica hallmarks, like minimalist menus and a design that harks back to the Leica R3 SLR, but it combines all of that with modern all-rounder specs.

The main upgrades from 2019's Leica SL2 include a 60MP full-frame CMOS BSI sensor, a Maestro IV processor, phase-detect autofocus, a tilting touchscreen, 8K video, a CFexpress Type B card slot (alongside an SD UHS II one) and a slightly smaller, lighter body.

Leica says that its 60MP sensor is the same as the one in the Leica M11 and Q3, but is engineered slightly differently – which means it has a base ISO of 50 (going up to 100,000), rather than 64. In other words, the SL3 is like the Q3's bigger brother, with its studio-friendly body giving you access to the dozens of lenses available for its L-mount.

But since the original Leica SL arrived in 2015, the full-frame mirrorless camera space has become fiercely competitive. So with incredible cameras like the Nikon Z8, Sony A7R V and Canon EOS R3 all vying for your attention, is the gravitational pull of that red dot still as strong for pro shooters in 2024?

I spent a couple of days with a Leica SL3 in Wetzlar, Germany to find out – as always, the answer depends very much on your priorities (and your bank balance)... 

Leica SL3 release date and price

• The Leica SL3's body-only price is $6,995 / £5,920 (around AU$11,435)
• The SL2's launch price was $5,995 / £5,300 / AU$9,900
• It's available to buy right now at Leica stores and its online store

As always with Leica, the SL3's cost-of-entry is high. And like most cameras, it's quite a bit higher than in 2019, when the SL2 first landed.

The SL3's body-only price is $6,995 / £5,920 (around AU$11,435), which is somewhere between 12%-16% pricier than the SL2's original price, depending on where you live.

The SL3 is by no means the most expensive Leica camera around – the Leica M11 Monochrom, for example, costs $9,195 / £8,300 / AU$14,990 (body only) and only shoots in black and white. But this does mean that the SL3 is now much pricier than the Leica Q3 ($5,995 / £5,300 / AU$9,790). 

That's a completely different kind of camera, but the SL3 is also battling for your attention alongside full-frame Nikon Z8 ($3,999 / £3,999 / AU$6,999 body-only), which looks like a comparative bargain.

Leica SL3: design and handling

• New 3.2-inch tilting touchscreen, but no fully-articulating display
• Leica SL3 design tweaks make it 69g lighter than SL2
• Still has magnesium alloy body with IP54-rated weather sealing

Leica's SL series have always felt reassuringly expensive in the hand and the SL3 is no different – it feels like could survive a run-in with a Cybertruck. 

It's a bit of a functional brute compared to stablemates like the Leica Q3, but if you need a hybrid workhorse for stills and video, the SL3 is now one of the best camera bodies around.

Leica has made a few tweaks to the SL series' design in this third-generation, mostly for the better. For a start, it's shaved off some weight – the SL3 is 69g lighter than its predecessor. At 769g, it's still a pretty weighty mirrorless camera, but that puts it somewhere in between a Sony A7 IV and Nikon Z8.

The biggest departure from the SL2 is the arrival of a tilting 3.2-inch touchscreen. Leica hasn't gone as far as adding a fully-articulating display, which it said could have compromised the SL3's bomb-proof build quality.

While videographers might be disappointed about that, the tilting screen is a welcome addition for photographers, giving you the option of shooting from the hip and low angles. It's just a shame it only tilts in landscape orientation, and not when you flip the camera round for portraits.

In the hand, the SL3 is still a satisfyingly solid hunk of metal. Mirrorless cameras don't come built any better than this – the magnesium and aluminum chassis balances nicely with some of Leica's weighty glass (like the Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 I tried it with), and the tweaked grip and its rubberized indent still feel great in the hand.

The SL3 still has IP54-rated weather sealing too, which means it can handle being sprayed or splashed with water. I haven't yet taken one to Antarctica, but there really aren't any weather conditions where you'll have to worry about the SL3.

Beyond its new screen and lighter weight, the only other design changes are more minor future-proofing tweaks. There's now a new CFexpress Type B slot (alongside a standard UHS-II SD slot) to support 8K video, plus an HDMI 2.1 Type A port for video shooters. 

Inside, there's also now a larger capacity battery (2,200mAh, compared to 1,860mAh one inside the SL2), but this doesn't translate to more shooting time. In fact, with a CIPA standard rating of 260 shots (compared to 370 shots on the SL2), battery life is one of the SL3's main weaknesses.

In more positive news, the SL3 retains the 5.76-million dot OLED EVF (with 0.78x magnification) from its predecessor, and that certainly hasn't dated. It's still an impressive part of the shooting experience, helping you stay connected to the scene with its clarity, color reproduction and 120fps refresh rate.

On the top of the SL3, there's a new dial on the left and a very handy 1.28-inch monochrome display for quickly previewing your shooting settings. Round the front of the camera there's arguably the most important design feature of all – the L-mount bayonet. This gives you access to a huge range of lenses from Leica, but also the likes of Panasonic, Sigma and Samyang – in total, there are now 84 lenses to choose from.

One other nice design touch is the new illuminated power button on the back, which replaces the traditional switch. This doesn't serve any great functional purpose other than making the SL3 feel more modern, but it's the kind of attention to detail you don't often get from other manufacturers.

Similarly, the SL3's refined menu system (complete with new icons) is an example for others to follow. It's clean and simple, with nice touches like the separate photo and video modes, and is a stark contrast to Sony's 'kitchen sink' approach to software menus.

Leica SL3: features and performance

• 60MP CMOS BSI full-frame sensor, like the Leica Q3 and M11
• New phase-detect AF system, alongside contrast/object detect AF
• Can now shoot 8K video and ProRes (in 1080p)

Given the Leica SL2 was launched back in 2019, you'd hope that its successor would get a sizable imaging upgrade – and that's certainly the case. 

The SL3 has a 60MP CMOS BSI full-frame sensor, which is a tweaked version of the one inside the Leica Q3 and M11. While that resolution is handy for cropping later, you also get 36MP and 18MP modes to help boost the buffer during continuous shooting and save on memory space.

Leica says this sensor gives you an extra stop of dynamic range compared to the SL2 (15 stops, compared to 14), but a more obvious upgrade is the Maestro IV processor and its improved autofocus system.

The SL series has never had class-leading autofocus, partly due to Leica's close relationship with Panasonic (which, until last year's Panasonic Lumix S5 II, had refused to embrace phase-detect autofocus). But the SL3 finally offers a hybrid AF system, combining phase-detect AF (good for video and moving subjects) with contrast-detection and object detection. 

In my brief time with the SL3, its subject-detection worked well and reliably locked onto human eyes, producing a good hit-rate. But animal detection was still marked as being in 'beta' on my sample, so this will need more testing – and overall, it's fair to say that Leica is still playing catchup with the likes of Sony for autofocus, rather than surpassing it.

The other benefit of that Maestro IV processor is that it supports the camera's CFexpress Type B card and, consequently, some video upgrades. The SL2 was already Leica's best ever video camera and the SL3 steps things up with 8K video capture. 

This will be a pretty niche mode, though, as it tops out at 30fps with 4:2:0 10-bit color sampling. More useful will be the SL3's 4K/60p and 4K/120p video modes, which you can shoot with 4:2:2 10-bit color sampling for editing flexibility. Combine that with the camera's full-size HDMI port for external monitors and timecode interface, and you have a powerful, professional video camera – which hasn't been very common in Leica world, until now.

Another bonus for shooting handheld video (and stills) is the Leica SL3's five-axis image stabilization system, which gives you five stops of compensation. That's far from the best we've seen – the Sony A7R V's system is good for a claimed eight stops – but it is still an important difference from the original SL, which had no stabilization. It's also ideal if you want to use an SL3 with Leica M glass using the M-L adapter.

In my tests, I was able to shoot handheld down to 1/4s and get usable results, so it's definitely a useful feature, particularly for shooting in low light. Another quality-of-life upgrade are the SL3's speedier wireless transfer speeds, which use a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi MIMO tech to fire full-size DNGs to your phone in only two or three seconds.

That's quite a big jump up from the SL2, which took around 20 seconds to transfer a DNG file, and it worked well in my tests (as you can see above). The Leica Fotos app itself is a suitably premium experience that's a cut above the efforts from most camera manufacturers, and these transfer speeds make it a breeze to get a raw file onto your phone for a quick edit.

The SL3 isn't a sports camera – and despite having a larger buffer capacity than the SL2, its top speeds for continuous shooting have taken a slight dip compared to its predecessor. 

Its top speed is 15fps, which can manage for a few seconds before the buffer fills up, but it can naturally go for longer if you drop down to 9fps or 7fps. You can also get better results by choosing the 36MP or 18MP resolution modes, so there are options – just don't expect it to match a Canon EOS R3.

My biggest disappointment with the SL3 was its battery life. I'll need to do some more controlled tests, but during my brief time with the camera I was barely getting above 200 shots (plus some video) per charge. Its official CIPA rating is 260 shots per charge and Leica is rolling out new firmware (version 1.1) soon, so hopefully that might improve things. But prepare to carry around a USB-C charger or spare batteries.

One other strange anomaly is that the SL3 doesn't support Content Credentials, a new industry standard for protecting the authenticity of digital images. That's a little odd considering the older Leica M11-P debuted the feature last year, but Leica told us that "the reason is that the development of the SL3 was already advanced when this technology became mature".

Because Content Credentials requires a dedicated chipset, this also can't be added to the Leica SL3 via a firmware update. But Leica did add that for "future cameras it's our aim to integrate" the AI-combatting tech.

Leica SL3: image and video quality

I took the Leica SL3 for a spin with the Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 lens, which is a sharp, fun partner for the camera. The option of using Leica glass is clearly one of the main draws of the SL3, but whatever you pair it with, you'll get some hallmark Leica character in your images.

Like the Leica Q3, the SL3 captures tons of detail in its 60MP DNGs. I'll need to spend some more time with them to see how far they can be pushed in editing, but the early signs suggest you can recover an impressive amount of shadow detail from the SL3's raw files.

Those files also have bold, vibrant colors, more so than the JPEGs, although they're also a touch noisier than some full-frame rivals. In my early test shots, noise starts to appear from ISO 1600 and is particularly noticeable at ISO 6400. Still, this isn't necessarily a problem – in fact, the grain is frequently attractive (depending on your tastes) and gives the SL3's photos a filmic look.

Video quality looks similarly pin-sharp at lower ISOs, although the SL3's autofocus seemed to struggle a little more with moving subjects in this mode. I'll need to test this more on final firmware, alongside the 8K mode, before making any conclusions. But my early impressions are that the SL3's image and video quality will be comparable to the Leica Q3's, which is certainly no bad thing.

Leica SL3 early verdict

The full-frame mirrorless camera world has changed a lot since the original Leica SL landed in 2015 – and while the competition is now red-hot between Sony, Canon and Nikon, the Leica SL3 still manages to carve out a unique spot for itself.

While it can't match a Nikon Z8 for outright performance or value, the SL3 is a refined, professional workhorse with incredible build quality. Its simple, clean user interface puts most other cameras to shame and it's now a very competitive – if not class-leading – modern hybrid camera for shooting photos and video.

The special sauce of Leica's distinctive image rendering and lenses are added bonuses, although I hope its disappointing battery life is improved in later firmware updates. Right now, you'll need at least two batteries to last you a full day of intense shooting.

If that isn't a deal-breaker for you, then the SL3 could be the combination of modern mirrorless power and classic Leica minimalism you've been waiting for (even if your bank manager feels very differently). We'll bring you our full review very soon.

Leica SL3: how I tested

• A day-and-a-half of shooting at Leica Park in Wetzlar, Germany
• A mix of studio, low light and environmental shooting

I used the Leica SL3 for just over a day continuously during a visit to Leica's HQ in Wetzlar, Germany. I've taken sample photos in raw and DNG formats, although I'll need to spend a bit more time with the latter (on the SL3's final firmware) for our full review. 

I took a variety of handheld shots are different shutter speeds to test the effectiveness of its in-body image stabilization, and also took its new phase-detect autofocus and buffer for a spin during a fashion photo shoot.

My only lens during testing was the Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 lens, which was a great companion if not ideal for all shooting scenarios. I also ran the battery down to empty to test its stamina shooting a mix of photos and videos.