Canon to Panasonic: The Move to Lumix S5II for Wedding Photography

Small, fast, light, responsive. No, I’m not talking about myself here, but my new camera system. After a whole career, and longer, with Canon, I have jumped ship. Not to Nikon, not to Sony, not to Fuji, but to … Panasonic. Wait, what? Don’t they make microwaves? And TVS? Yes, they do, but they also make cameras. Strap yourself in; this is a long post which details why I, a lifelong Canon shooter, have moved to photographing weddings on the Lumix S5II.

I have shot with Canon DSLRs and, more recently, their mirrorless cameras since moving over from their film cameras in the early 2000s. My history with Canon cameras goes something like this

• Canon R6
• Canon 5D MKIV
• Canon 5D MKIII
• Canon 5D MKII
• Canon 5D
• Canon EOS 20D
• Canon EOS 10D
• Canon EOS Rebel (film camera) This is the camera I shot my first wedding on, back in the summer of 2003. I still have it in the back of our guest bedroom wardrobe.

So I have a long-standing history with the Canon brand, over more than 20 years. I have been interviewed by Canon twice, one of which you can read here and the other, from the March 2020 edition of PhotoPlus magazine, here

Switching from Canon R6 to the Lumix S5II

So what made me jump ship to a different camera brand? And why now? 

When the R6 was released, wedding photographers went crazy for it, particularly the focusing system. I invested in two R6 cameras in late 2020. This was a bold and expensive move given that I’d just had more than 25 couples postpone or cancel their weddings for that year, and the wedding industry was in complete lockdown at that time. A blessing in disguise, given I couldn’t get hold of adapters for another 2 months. And here is the magic, seemingly innocuous, word that leads me on to one of the main reasons I have changed camera systems.

The adapter. Needed to enable the EF lenses to work on the R cameras. Whilst some photographers ditched their EF lenses and invested in the new RF ones made specifically for the camera, I did not. The reasons for this were multiple:

• size
• weight
• ergonomics
• cost.

Size, weight and ergonomics are all rolled into one ball.  If you know me, or if I’ve shot your wedding, you’ll know that I’m tiny. 5ft 1 and with hands smaller than my 10-year-old nephew’s, the weight of the 2 cameras and lenses I have hanging off me for 10+ hours at a time is important.

The cost was less of an issue for me, although I did resent the fact that to replace my EF lenses with RF ones would cost me over 10k, and my EF lenses worked perfectly well and didn’t need changing. Putting my EF lenses on an adapter added 1.5 inches to the length of the camera, making it front-heavy, and unbalanced, but this is the option I went for for the 2021, 2022, and 2023 wedding seasons.

Canon’s refusal to allow third-party lens manufacturers from producing autofocus lenses for the RF mount.

My workhorse lens was always the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8. The RF equivalent is almost 100g heavier, and 13mm longer. This may seem marginal, but over a long wedding day, coupled with the added weight and length of the adapter, it all adds up. The barrel was slightly wider too, and it felt uncomfortable in my hand. I hired the RF 24-70 2.8 and also the much feted 28-70 F2 lens (which weighs a whopping 1430g, almost 300g more than my new camera & zoom together). I took the latter to a wedding and took it off before the ceremony had even begun. It was so heavy, and I had RSI-type niggles in my wrist for a few days after that. It doesn’t matter how great a piece of kit is, if it’s too unwieldily, it’s not going to work.  

At the time of writing this post (June 2024), there are still no 3rd party lenses for the RF mount, as Canon has banned this. The RF mount has been out since 2018, and many UK wedding photographers moved to the R6 or R5 cameras in 2020, and still the range of RF lenses is considerably lacking with huge holes in it. Canon has moved incredibly slowly to release an adequate range of RF lenses and remains the only major camera manufacturer to not allow third-party lens makers to produce fully supported lenses for its mirrorless cameras. This means unnecessary compromise when it comes to what to shoot with, and something that was bothering me.

The problem with RF lenses and EF lenses

I will use my 85mm lens as an example. For years, I’ve used the EF 85mm f 1.8 lens. For me this was perfect; it was small, light, and fast enough, both in terms of focusing speed and aperture. Whilst there were lenses with much better low light capability, the EF f1.4 and the EF f1.2, they weighed considerably more and the trade-off for me was not worth it. Once I moved to the R6 camera, my options were keeping the EF lens and using an adapter, or buying the RF 85mm f2 macro or the RF 85mm f1.2. Given the latter weighs a whopping 1195g, 3 times what the EF 1.8 weighs, I gave the macro f2 a go. Its macro capabilities meant it wasn’t fit for purpose as it just hunted for focus when you shifted the focal plane. I sold it quite quickly, briefly dabbled with a Samyang 85mm 1.4 and an adapter (communication issues between it and the camera meant it also got sold) and ultimately went back to the EF 1.8. 

So for the past 3 wedding seasons, I have been using R6 cameras with EF lenses and adapters, and the odd RF pancake lens. My frustration has grown with each passing wedding season. Frustration with the lack of lenses, the weight, and just a general feeling of stagnation that came from all of this. I was still happy with the work I was producing for my couples but felt limited by my kit, and with no roadmap from Canon, didn’t know when or if things would change. 

Leica & Nikon for Wedding Photography

My husband, Steve, who’s a wedding photographer and filmmaker, shoots Leica. Moving to Leica was never going to happen (size, weight, cost), but it did spark many conversations about alternative systems.

The catalyst moment came in late 2023, when I was contacted by Nikon and invited to an event they were hosting in Lanzarote in January 2024.  I didn’t attend, largely because it clashed with the The Wedding Industry Awards National Finals awards night in London, for which I am a judge for the photography category, and also flying to another country for something that wasn’t work isn’t an environmentally responsible thing to do. However, I did take them up on their offer of borrowing some kit for a month. I turned down the offer of a Z8, as my dad shoots with this, and I know from handling his just how big and heavy it was for me. So I took a loan of a Z6II (the new Z6III had yet to be released), and a Zf with an array of lenses. I really wanted to love the Zf, with its retro, film-camera feel, but sadly the ergonomics weren’t right for me, and so it went back. And so I never fulfilled my dad’s lifelong dream of me shooting with Nikon 😉 

(Mid-July update – the Z6III has been released and Nikon has contacted me to see if I would like a loan of it …. this is on the back burner for now but I may well take them up on this at the end of wedding season, just out of curiosity.)

L Mount Alliance – partnership between Leica, Sigma, and Panasonic

Whilst all this was happening. Steve had been reading up on the relatively new Lumix S5II. Lumix is part of the L Mount alliance, a partnership between Leica, Sigma, and Panasonic, whereby they all share the L mount, allowing the lenses to be interchangeable between the cameras. Mostly used by videographers, I read all I could on the Lumix S5II, and in mid-January, I hired a camera to see how I got on with it. Ergonomically, it was great. Small and light. One of the complaints in a Youtube review was that it felt uncomfortable to use and the ergonomics were wrong. For someone with large hands that would be true, but for me, it was perfect.

Along with being ergonomically suitable, the Lumix S5II is so highly customisable that you can set it exactly how you want it.  I am not a lover of change and have never been a photographer who is always lusting after the latest gear, so learning a new system was not something I was enthusiastic about, particularly after being with the one brand for so long. I persevered and made myself learn a little every day, getting the camera set up exactly as I wanted it. As luck would have it, I’d intentionally not taken any wedding bookings for March and April as I wanted to focus on my training for the London Marathon, and so I used this time to get fully acquainted with the system, and get the editing of the files right so it looked like my work, and couples would not feel they were getting something different than what they had seen on my website.

Fast forward to May 2024, and the start of my wedding season. It was a big thing for me, using a new camera system, and although I had put in all the prep and was confident using the system, I must confess to packing my full Canon kit in a bag and leaving it in the car, ‘just in case’. My first 3 weddings allowed me to do that as I drove to all of them. The jumping-off point was my last wedding in May, on the banks of Loch Lomond. I took the train so taking back up Canon kit wasn’t an option. I didn’t need it, the Lumix S5II performed perfectly. 

Rediscovering Creativity with Lumix S5II Wedding Photography

So how is the experience of using the Lumix S5II on a wedding day?  I feel fresh, and creative, and have a certain sense of freedom that comes from not being restricted by my kit. I don’t feel physically fatigued at the end of a long day, and the cameras are snappy and quick to focus and have a completely silent mode for when needed. The files are lovely to work with, huge dynamic range. At present, my kit bag consists of the following:

• 2 x Lumix S5II bodies
• Sigma 28-70mm f2.8
• Sigma 24mm f1.4
• Lumix 85mm f1.8.
• Godox V860III for Panasonic/Olympus
• Godox TT350o.

My old, everyday Canon kit was

• 2 x Canon R6 bodies
• EF 24-70mm f 2.8
• EF 85mm f1.8
• EF 135mm f2
• EF 35mm f1.4

with the same Godox flashes but the Canon version. In addition to this, I had the tiny RF 28mm 2.8, the RF 16mm 2.8, and the RF 50mm 1.8.

My workhorse lens has always been the EF 24-70 f2.8. Now I have switched to the Lumix S5II, I have the choice of the Leica 24-70 f2.8 or the Sigma 28-70 f2.8. I’m finding the Sigma to be perfect, it’s so light, much smaller, and weighs almost 500g less than the equivalent Canon set up. You can see on the images below just how much smaller it is.

Using Leica lenses with the Lumix S5II

I now also have available to me all of Steve’s lenses: a Leica 24-70mm 2.8, a Leica 90mm f2 Summicron, and, from the Sigma contemporary line, a 45mm f2.8 and a 24mm f3.5. The last 2 lenses are tiny and perfect for the dance floor. Recently, I photographed a wedding in the South of France and one in North Wales, and Steve shot video on both of these. I used his Leica 24-70mm f2.8 for both weddings. Some images taken on the Lumix S5II with the Leica 24-70 are below

I waited until shooting and delivering all of May’s weddings before deciding to stick with Lumix. I needed to know that I felt proud of the work I was delivering and that my couples were happy. I’ve included some feedback from couple’s whose weddings I have shot on the Lumix, and I think it’s safe to say that they’re happy. 

“Lyndsey, thank you so much for sharing such a fun, gorgeous, silly, beautiful and hilarious slideshow. Ned and I sat on the sofa last night and watched it over and over again. It is magical and there really are no words to justify how truly special and perfect the slideshow is. Thank you so much for being part of the day and capturing it so beautifully. All those funny moments we were part of but especially the ones we missed are so nice to look back on and laugh and cry about. It was the best day of our lives and we can’t quite believe we have such incredible photos to keep looking back on. It’s so beautiful. I’ve told you many times now how talented you are (!) but it’s worth telling you again that you are just the best! We are beyond happy with all the photos. They really are perfect. Thank you. “

Harriet & Ned – married May 2024 at Trinity Buoy Wharf

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“WOW! They’re fantastic. We are love love loving them!!!! Gary will be after 1-1 tuition, he can’t stop talking about them and all the details and emotion of the different shots. “

Beth & Gary – married May 2024 at Cameron House, Loch Lomond

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“These are incredible!! Just when we thought we were off the wedding high this brought us right back. I love all the little moments and reactions from the guests, there’s so much fun and humour in the images. “We have absolutely loved seeing and sharing the photos, and have had some amazing feedback from our guests. THANK YOU! 

Hannah & Ali – married May 2024 ay Owlpen Manor

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“Lyndsey, the photos are AMAZING! They are absolutely brilliant, we couldn’t be happier. Absolutely love the one of us sat down having a moment with everyone cheering behind us!! What a great shot. Had no idea you were taking that??Also love the confetti one and 3 pizzas with Eilidh’s cousins…they are so brilliant! “

Eildh & Ben – married May 2024 in the Cotswolds

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“We are gobsmacked at how beautiful these are. We were just tearing up looking through them. Really can’t thank you enough. And looking through these photos we feel so bloody thrilled and lucky that you were there capturing the day. “

Jules & James – married June 2024 at Euridge Manor

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To sum it up, since moving to the Lumix S5II, I feel invigorated and creatively stimulated again. My everyday kit bag has got smaller and more streamlined. I can shoot long days (I’ve had two recent 14-hour weddings) and not feel broken by the end of them. In terms of image quality, the images are sharp, with very little colour noise at high ISO, and incredible dynamic range. The focusing methods are myriad and there is something for everyone, no matter the genre, but I have settled on something simple, almost taking me back to the 5D MKIV and back button focus. I am not relying on eye focus or face detection, and this is allowing me to be bolder and more intentional with my compositions again. By removing all the bells and whistles, it’s just back to composing an image, and knowing the camera will capture the intended scene.

I hope you’ve found this post on my move from Canon to Lumix interesting. If you are a photographer and have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch – I’ll be happy to hear from you.