Panasonic S5 II excellent entry point for UW from Nauticam

The L-Mount has been slowly making progress

Nauticam has a housing with the classic N120 mount that is reasonably priced

https://www.nauticam.com/collections/panasonic-mirrorless-housings/products/s5ii-underwater-housing-for-panasonic-lumix-s5ii-x-camera

The lens choices thanks to the efforts of Sigma, a decent selection of native lenses and the compatibility with Canon plus some WACP-1 WACP-C and WACP-2 options make this camera an excellent full frame entry point

I am already invested into Sony now and I prefer a bit more megapixels for other purposes but no doubt Panasonic will bring a high resolution camera with PDAF

At a bit more than A7C you can get an almost professional grade camera that can do video and still at low cost and with a low cost housing and plenty of lenses

Very good news

For photos I don't know but for video it isn't an entry level FF camera. it's on par with A7SIII and Panasonic has accustomed us to absolutely professional performance and features on the video side.

I would say its a very good hybrid camera with strong focus on video functions but just from the specs it can't compete with the A7SIII which offers 4k60 and even 4k120 without crop and way better rolling shutter performance.
Its nice to have some features but for Video I thinks its a better version of the A7 IV. 

15 minutes ago, JYk said:

I would say its a very good hybrid camera with strong focus on video functions but just from the specs it can't compete with the A7SIII which offers 4k60 and even 4k120 without crop and way better rolling shutter performance.
Its nice to have some features but for Video I thinks its a better version of the A7 IV. 

I would agree. It reads the sensor too slow and it is APSC crop. However what is surprising is that you can get a really good rig at least than the A7IV

Panasonic 20-60 comes as kit lens it is very good behind a dome for general video

Sigma 105mm £649 excellent for macro 

Use canon 28-70 for WACP-C

Use Canon 8-15mm fisheye

Other options in the 16-35mm space if you really want a rectilinear lens

This is very good value and you get a proper camera not an A7C with high resolution EVF and LCD

4K apsc cropped IMHO is better for underwater video. slow sensor reading is a nonexistent problem for underwater video.

11 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

4K apsc cropped IMHO is better for underwater video. slow sensor reading is a nonexistent problem for underwater video.

APSC crop is not better and brings the need for different lenses just for video 

The only real option is Canon EF-S 18-55mm with WACP-C but no wet mounts for N120

This from DPG... Firmware is available for the GH6 but i believe it will be available for the S5II & S5IIx as well. 

Panasonic has announced that firmware version 2.3 for the its videocentric GH6 and S5 will be available from next week, and there are two new headline features that will excite serious underwater filmmakers using the flagship Micro Four Thirds camera.

Firstly, the firmware update adds external 12-bit Blackmagic RAW video recording to Blackmagic Design Video Assist 12G HDR monitor/recorders over HDMI. You’ll be able to capture BRAW footage in 5.7K, Cinema 4K, Anamorphic (4:3) 5.8K, and Anamorphic (4:3) 4.4K. The Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR will also require a corresponding firmware update.

Panasonic says that when shooting BRAW in 5.7K at 60p or 50p as well as C4K at 120p or 100p, it recommends that the codec quality of your Video Assist 12G HDR be set to a constant bitrate of 5:1 or lower when recording to an SSD or a constant bitrate of 8:1 or lower when recording to an SD card.

The other headline feature is the ability to output 4K at 120p or 100p to an external device over HDMI. A previous firmware update, version 2.0, had already added the ability to output 4K/120p RAW to an Atomos Ninja V+ monitor/recorder (recorded as Apple ProRes RAW).

Available from July 10th, firmware version 2.3 will be available for download from Pansonic’s website. If you want to know how the GH6 fares underwater, check out DPG Photo Editor Matt Sullivan’s take on the GH6 in Nauticam’s housing.

Thanks to Nauticam Italy, my friend Rosario Scariati had the chance to test the S5 II in Nauticam housing.

He used a Sigma MC-21 and Canon 8-15 mm with dedicated Zen mini dome. He liked the results and he reports that AF was perfect. he tested the new Supe D-Pro strobes too.

Some photos and original link.

https://www.facebook.com/rosario.scariati/posts/pfbid0u4jYNxxMsiezbbWUJq5gWqnummoGwqerk866VPA5c55qw14JXyKotYxYSmKNKuNul