The Lumix S5 for Wedding Photography in 2025
How does the lumix s5 stand up to full wedding days?
I have been using a dual Lumix s5 Setup for over a year now and have now shot over 20 weddings with this setup. I have found that this camera has a lot going for it, I have found very little glitches or issues. I use mostly Sigma Art prime lenses for 90% of the day I use the sigma 28mm 1.4 Art and the Sigma 85mm 1.4 Art (DG DN Version).
I will list a few pros and cons below but I honestly couldn’t recommend this camera enough. especially when budget is taken into consideration.
Lumix s5 with the Sigma 28mm 1.4
Reasons to buy
Image quality - I absolutely love the image quality from the Lumix S5, the dynamic range allows room for error and the colours straight from the camera make editing a breeze.
Weather sealing - I have had 3 or 4 outdoor weddings this year that have been torrential rain I have done nothing to protect them and there has been no issues, other than the touch screen no longer responding until it was wiped. Because of the type of weddings I tend to do this is fabulous.
Low light/hi ISO - This absolutely blew me away when I took my first wedding into lightroom from the camera. Up to ISO 8,000 is great and even Iso 25,600 has been useable when needed.
Function buttons - It’s great that the Lumix S5 has so many function buttons as you are able to change the function of almost any button on the camera.
Light body - The lumix s5 is so light, when paired with lighter lenses it can be a real pleasure to shoot with.
Price - In the used market the Lumix S5 genuinely has unbeatable value, I was blown away by the price of this in the uk on sites like MPB and WEX Photo Video.
Things to look out for…
Sensor Readout Speed My biggest issue with this camera is the readout speed of the sensor. When shooting with the electronic/silent shutter, I find banding even at very slow shutter speeds. I always do a few test shots before a ceremony against white walls to see how the banding is, and usually have to shoot at around 1/50 to stop it completely. This is usually fine in a ceremony, as the IBIS is awesome in this camera and there doesn’t tend to be too much movement during the ceremony.
Autofocus Honestly, the autofocus always seems to be listed as the biggest issue with this camera, but I find it to be pretty solid most of the time. However, in dark conditions like the reception, it struggles a bit due to the lack of contrast. I do find, however, if you use an old-school small focus point rather than letting the camera make the decision, it’s not actually that bad.
Battery Life Again, calling this a weakness is probably wrong, but that is probably a testament to how good the Lumix S5 actually is for photography. Between my two cameras, I go through around 6-8 batteries on a full wedding day, from prep through to the reception.
Grip I feel the grip is a little small sometimes, especially on long days using heavier lenses like the Lumix 70-200 2.8. I haven’t got around to buying the battery grip for this camera yet, but I think it will be my next purchase.
Viewfinder I was a bit disappointed by the viewfinder on this camera when I first started using it. Coming from the Fujifilm X-T2, which came out in 2016, the Lumix S5 felt like a downgrade in quality. Coming from Nikon DSLRs before that, I still like to put the camera up to my eye rather than use the screen unless shooting at lower angles.
Shooting Speed 5 fps in Continuous AF is quite slow in today’s market, but honestly, I have never felt like I needed more. In fact, when I had the Fujifilm X-T2, I used to dumb it down a bit from 11 fps to 7 fps.
Lumix S5 with the Sigma 28mm 1.4.
