Reviewers: S5 Claims of AF Improvements Real This Time

The regular pattern over the past half decade is for Panasonic to release a new camera claiming improvements to its Depth from Defocus (DFD) autofocus system that finally put it on par with the phase detect systems used by all of the other major manufacturers. And part of this pattern is for reviewers to love those cameras, except for the DFD bit, which proves to be fairly far behind the competition. But this pattern may be upset with yesterday’s launch of the S5, which reviewers are finding does indeed show great improvement in the DFD autofocus.

We may be experiencing the peak of quality of video camera reviews, with Gordon Laing, Gerald Undone, and DPReview TV providing startlingly-dense assessments in short, digestible formats. The Gerald Undone video does review the S5 autofocus using an external recorder, however, and this apparently goofs up the speed with which DFD operates, so that part of the review may be discounted some versus the other two.