Thomas Smet
Veteran
The HDMI port is debatable to be honest. There is a massive percentage of DSLR users that will never once use the HDMI port. Even with the GH4 needing a external recorder for Vlog I absolutely hated using it with a external recorder. It was used on occasion out of necessity but I happily used the camera as is 90% of the time with the built in profiles like Natural. Once the GH5 added internal 10bit 4:2:2 that kind of killed the dire need for external recording. There is now only a marginal reason to record externally and for most not really worth the hassle.
Some people don't mind lugging around an external monitor and the full size HDMI port is more robust. The micro port is very flimsy and can break easily. Part of that is on how rough some users are with cameras and part of it is the fact that its just a really delicate port. You really should use some kind of HDMI clamp on a camera with a micro HDMI port. Another thing I hated about external recording on the GH4. I needed a cage and HDMI clamp to use the Ninja Blade safely. Once decked out it was fine but cumbersome.
It is a bummer the S5 only has a micro HDMI port but I think the target audience was to make a more compact camera with FF stills quality and amazing out of the box 10bit log video. Panasonic was likely targeting those that wanted a compact design to use as is and therefore much less likely to ever both using the HDMI port. The port is there for those who really want to use an external recorder and for those if they use a cage and HDMI clamp it will be perfectly fine. There is no quality difference from micro HDMI other than its very fragile and can break easily. Use a clamp and it will likely be perfectly fine for those rare users that will use an external recorder on the S5. I think the only logical use is ProRes Raw outside of those that want a better screen for focus. It doesn't make as much sense to record ProRes externally from the S5 vs the internal 10bit format which is very solid. There are some that really want ProRes instantly for their workflow and that's totally fine and the S5 with a cage/clamp provides that perfectly. As much as I would love to have ProRes raw I still don't think I ever want to bother with a external recorder ever again. The S5 is really about having a compact hybrid camera that does amazing stills and video and ready to either at any moment.
I also wonder how many with a GH5 that use a external recorder don't use some kind of cage/clamp or at least a cage with a clamp option. I bet the percentage is very tiny.
Some people don't mind lugging around an external monitor and the full size HDMI port is more robust. The micro port is very flimsy and can break easily. Part of that is on how rough some users are with cameras and part of it is the fact that its just a really delicate port. You really should use some kind of HDMI clamp on a camera with a micro HDMI port. Another thing I hated about external recording on the GH4. I needed a cage and HDMI clamp to use the Ninja Blade safely. Once decked out it was fine but cumbersome.
It is a bummer the S5 only has a micro HDMI port but I think the target audience was to make a more compact camera with FF stills quality and amazing out of the box 10bit log video. Panasonic was likely targeting those that wanted a compact design to use as is and therefore much less likely to ever both using the HDMI port. The port is there for those who really want to use an external recorder and for those if they use a cage and HDMI clamp it will be perfectly fine. There is no quality difference from micro HDMI other than its very fragile and can break easily. Use a clamp and it will likely be perfectly fine for those rare users that will use an external recorder on the S5. I think the only logical use is ProRes Raw outside of those that want a better screen for focus. It doesn't make as much sense to record ProRes externally from the S5 vs the internal 10bit format which is very solid. There are some that really want ProRes instantly for their workflow and that's totally fine and the S5 with a cage/clamp provides that perfectly. As much as I would love to have ProRes raw I still don't think I ever want to bother with a external recorder ever again. The S5 is really about having a compact hybrid camera that does amazing stills and video and ready to either at any moment.
I also wonder how many with a GH5 that use a external recorder don't use some kind of cage/clamp or at least a cage with a clamp option. I bet the percentage is very tiny.
