Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5, Kid's Play

Re-Living The CCD Sensor: Five frames with a vintage Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5, an ultra-compact digital camera with a 16.1 MP CCD sensor.

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If you are nostalgic about going back to the days of the vintage CCD sensor, with a very low budget to start with, take a look at the 2012 Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5 as your optimal choice. The S5 comes with a 16.1 MP CCD sensor, a 28-112mm equivalent 4x optical zoom lens, Mega Optical Image Stabilisation, Sonic Speed AF, and iA shooting mode that makes picture taking as easy as can be. The camera will adjust the automatic settings for Intelligent ISO Control, Face Detection AF/AE, Intelligent Scene Selector, and Intelligent Exposure. It's almost kid's play.

With a weight of only 115 grams with battery and a size that is just slightly bigger than a credit card, the 13mm thick Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5 is extremely light and small and easy enough to fit in your pocket. Controls, with a 2.7 inch TFT 230k dot LCD screen and buttons on that include a d-pad with a menu in the center, playback, delete, mode, and the zoom rocker is equally easy. The d-pad gives you access to exposure compensation, timer, display, and flash, as well as a means to cycle through the menus.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5

I enjoyed my time running around with the camera and liked it very much, but ultimately, as I posted earlier, I found a fantastic new use for the S5, which is now a product-shot camera for my online side hustle. Fantastic!

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G.Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2.8 Wide-Angle, First Impression

Vintage Lens Test - Five frames, putting the Olympus G.Zuiko 35mm 1:2.8 wide-angle through its first impression test.

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My first tryout with the very compact and lightweight all-glass and metal wide-angle G.Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2.8 lens, as introduced by Olympus in 1972. As indicated by the ‘G’ designation which shows the optical design of these early version lenses, the lens is a 7-elements in 6-group construction. The optical design designation was dropped for later versions of the lenses. Newer versions of the lens are reported to have a longer body length and weigh significantly heavier.

Olympus E-P5, G.Zuiko OM 35mm F2.8

The lens, considered for its high sharpness, contrast, and color rendition, is also acknowledged with low distortion, and vignetting, and handles flare well with the hood attached, is highly recommended, among others, for landscape and architectural photography. My test unit here, however, is not in the best of condition. It came with some dust and had a tinge of circular haze along the periphery of one of the inner elements.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5, A New Use

Re-Living The CCD Sensor: Finding a new use for a vintage ultra-compact digital camera, as a product shoot camera.

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Found a new use for the ultra-compact Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5, an ultra-compact which I acquired recently. The camera, introduced in 2012, is just slightly bigger than a credit card in size, comes with a 16MP CCD sensor, a 28-112mm (35mm equivalent) Leica DC Vario 6 elements in 5 groups, with 3 aspherical elements lens, and weighs 112 grams with battery. As reflected in the images I am posting, I am testing it out here as a product-shot camera for my online side hustle.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5

While my first couple of tests with the camera for normal imagery were decent enough, with photos that are crisp and clear, and almost technically perfect, I do feel that there is still an aspect missing from the images that I have yet to put my fingers on. I instead turned to other things that I could put the camera to good use, and product shots seemed to be an answer. The testing continues...

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5, A Second Look

Re-Living The CCD Sensor: Testing out the vintage ultra-compact Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5 beyond its first outing.

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A second look with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5. Images were shot in Normal Picture mode from just outside the front door, transferred to my desktop image editor, and tweaked with Auto Tone Correction, Crop, Tone Curve, Brightness & Contrast, and Unsharp Mask.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-S5

The images look good, sharp and crisp, almost technically perfect, but is that all there is? I have a gut feeling that there is still something I have to discover with the camera, whatever it is...

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