With the day itself upon us, Cyber Monday deals are coming in fast, with some awesome deals to be had on camera gear.
Right now, the Panasonic Lumix S5II is over $700 off at Amazon — that's a huge discount given this is a brand new camera (and the best one we've tested this year). This deal includes a Lumix S 50mm F1.8 prime lens, all bundled for under $1,750.
For context, this is a camera specced for professional videographers, and it'll also be ideal for many professional photographers too. At this price, it's going for the price of a lower tier enthusiast camera! You'll want to snap up this deal while you still can, as stocks of the camera body are getting low on Amazon.
The Lumix S5II and S5IIX are two of the best mirrorless cameras around. Very little separates the two, save for a few extra video features on the X model (some of which can be added to the base S5II via a paid firmware upgrade). In my Lumix S5IIX review, I absolutely fell in love with this camera and nearly gave it 5 stars, save for a few minor issues. It's easily been the best camera I've tested this year, and as the editor of the cameras section here at Tom's Guide, I can also say it's been the best camera of 2023 we've seen in general.
The S5II is designed as a video first 'hybrid' mirrorless cameras. 'Hybrid' means it's designed for both photos and video. But make no mistake, the S5II's main purpose is video. Not only that, this camera is designed for people shooting video to a professional standard — whether they're an enthusiastic online content creator, serious filmmaker, or anywhere in between.
And it has the specs to boot, shooting in up to 6K at 30p with a huge range of resolutions, formats, compression types, bitrates, LUTs and output options. This means that the S5II allows filmmakers to completely tailor and streamline their production based on their quality, workflow and storage requirements. That may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is.
The S5II shoots beautiful stills and video, in large part thanks to a large full frame sensor and lovely color rendition from its image processor. It's built incredibly well and controls are sensibly laid out, plus there's a very intuitive menu system. The S5II features a fantastic IBIS system, as well as an upgraded AF system over the original S5, using Panasonic's latest hybrid phase and contrast detection AF (this fixes one of the main flaws that the first S5 had on paper).
There are very few drawbacks to this camera, but some do exist. Its battery life is chief among them — 370 shots in a market where cheaper rivals regularly shoot over 750. The AF system, while much improved over the original S5, is still a little spartan versus, say a Canon EOS R6 Mark II, which has a wider range of detection modes.
That said, for under $1,750 including a 50mm prime lens, this is a professional-grade camera going for enthusiast-tier money, and this deal is my favorite of all the Cyber Monday camera deals so far. Grab an S5II at this price while you can.
