High-res hybrid: Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII review
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Product photos: Mitchell Clark
The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII is the company's latest high-resolution full-frame mirrorless camera, now beefed-up with 8K video capabilities and improved autofocus.
Key features
- Full-frame 44MP dual gain CMOS sensor
- Up to 40fps continuous shooting with pre-burst capture (e-shutter only)
- 8.1K/8K video at up to 30p
- 5.76M dot viewfinder
- Flip-out and tilt rear screen
- ProRes 422 and ProRes RAW capture
- Capture to CFExpress Type B, UHS II SD or external SSD
- Multi-shot high res mode up to 177MP
- 32-bit float audio via optional XLR 2 adapter
The S1RII is available now with a recommended retail price of $3300.
Index:
- What's new
- What's new for video
- How it compares
- Body and handling
- Image Quality
- Autofocus
- Conclusion
- Sample gallery
- Specifications
- Press release
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What's new
New sensor
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Rather than the 47MP used in the original S1R, or the 61MP chip used in Leica's SL3, Panasonic has opted for a slightly lower resolution but faster sensor for the S1RII.
It features dual conversion gain on which, as usual on Panasonic cameras, you can manually select which of its two readout modes it uses, at intermediate ISO settings. Panasonic doesn't always disclose when it's using BSI technology, but in this instance it has confirmed it.
Its design means it's appreciable slower than the more expensive Stacked CMOS sensors, with an electronic shutter mode that takes 37.5ms (~1/27 sec) to read out in 14-bit mode and 20.2ms (~1/50 sec) in the 12-bit mode used for bursts and other quick-fire shooting modes.
Autofocus
The S1RII represents the second generation of Panasonic cameras to feature phase detection autofocus, with the inherent depth awareness that this brings. The company says it's significantly improved both its subject recognition and its tracking algorithms in the new camera, to bring its performance closer into line with the best of its peers.
The S1RII has algorithms trained to recognize the following subjects:
- Human
- Animal (Dog, Cat, Bird)
- Car
- Motorcycle / Bike
- Train
- Airplane
We're told it should be quicker at finding a subject and better at continuing to track it, even if, for instance, the subject turns away from the camera or is partially obscured. As before, you can choose whether the camera homes-in on specific details, such as the helmet of a motorbike rider, the nose of a plane or the eyes of an animal. Selecting the more precise focus position can lower the system's responsiveness to smaller, faster-moving subjects.
Cinelike A2 color mode
The S1RII gains a new 'Cinelike A2' color mode, in both stills and video modes. It offers a very gentle response, somewhere between the flat, DR-prioritizing Cinelike D2 and the punchy, ready-to-go Cinelike V2 profile.
Panasonic says the A2 mode's color response stems from work they've been doing in recent months. And it's perhaps worth considering whichpartners Panasonic has been working with, recently, to guess at the significance of the letter 'A' in the name. Unlike the camera's Leica Monochrome mode, any connection isn't made explicit.
Real time LUT
The S1RII gains the Real Time LUT function we've seen on recent Panasonic cameras, letting you create and upload color and tone-modifying profiles in format with a workflow that's already widely supported across the industry. The S1RII allows you to load up to 39 LUTs onto the camera, with the option to combine two LUTs with varying intensity, if you wish.
Additional LUTs can be created or downloaded via Panasonic's Lumix Lab app.
False color
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The S1RII becomes one of the first stills/video cameras to include a false color display option. This is a feature common in the video world, giving a mono preview with certain brightness levels highlighted in different colors, to help you recognize which bits of the image are clipped or near clipping and which areas are exposed as mid tones or at a level appropriate for light skin tones. This display can be used in boths stills and video modes.
Capture One tethering
The S1RII becomes the first Panasonic camera that can be shot, tethered, from Capture One, the popular studio software. We're told any decisions about whether to expand support to other models will depend on customer demand.
What's new for video
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The 44MP sensor means the S1RII has slightly more horizontal pixels than necessary to deliver UHD 8K (7680 x 4320) footage and a fraction short of what's needed to capture the DCI 8K's 8192 x 4320 resolution. Instead it offers what Panasonic called 8.1K (8128 x 4288), which conforms to the same 1.89:1 aspect ratio as DCI footage.
The degree to which the sensor resolution is suited to 8K capture is unlikely to be coincidental, and the S1RII offers the kind of extensive video feature set that you might expect from the company that brought us the GH series, rather than the pared-back list of options the original S1R brought.
It also includes everything you'd expect from Panasonic: the option to set exposure in terms of shutter angle, waveforms, vectorscopes, filtering or custom lists of video modes, four-channel audio and 32-bit Float audio via the optional XLR2 accessory, support for anamorphic lenses and a tally lamp to let you know you're rolling. The attention to detail goes beyond the addition of a big red button on the front.
Video options:
| Output dimensions | Frame Rates | Crop | MOV | ProRes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.89:1 modes | |||||
| 8.1K | 8128 x 4288 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | 4:2:0 | – |
| 5.8K | 5760 x 4030 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | 422/HQ | |
| 30, 25, 24 | 1.31 | – | RAW/HQ | ||
| 60, 50, 48 | 1.04 | 4:2:0 | – | ||
| DCI 4K | 4096 x 2160 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | 4:2:2 | 422/HQ |
| 60, 50 | 1.04 | ||||
| 60, 50, 30, 25, 24 | 1.52 | ||||
| 120, 100 | 1.10 | 4:2:2 | – | ||
| 16:9 Modes | |||||
| 8.0K | 7680 x 4320 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | 4:2:0 | – |
| 5.9K | 5888 x 3312 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | – | |
| 60, 50, 48 | 1.11 | – | |||
| UHD 4K | 3840 x 2160 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | 4:2:2 | 422/HQ |
| 60, 50 | 1.11 | ||||
| 60, 50, 30, 25, 24 | 1.52 | ||||
| 120, 100 | 1.17 | 4:2:2 | – | ||
| 3:2 Modes | |||||
| 6.2K open gate* | 6432 x 4228 | 30, 25, 24 | 1.0 | 4:2:0 | – |
| 4:3 Modes | |||||
| 4.7K | 4736 x 3552 | 60, 50, 48, 30, 25, 24 | 1.65 | 4:2:0 | 422/HQ** |
- Red boxes have a ProRes option.
* 8.1K and 7.1K open gate capture promised in future firmware
** ProRes 422/HQ only available up to 30p
The S1RII can also shoot Full HD (1920 x 1080) footage at any of the frame-rates and crops offered in UHD 4K mode, with the additional ability to capture 120 and 100p footage from the APS-C region.
Dynamic Range Expansion
The S1RII gains a DR Expansion mode, letting you capture an additional stop of highlight information in high-contrast situations. This can be activated in any of the movie modes at frame rates up to 30p, and can only be applied when shooting V-Log footage (where the response curve can easily accommodate different levels of DR capture).
| Base ISO | 2nd gain step | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard color mode | ISO 80 | ISO 400 |
| Cinelike D2, V2, A2 | ISO 160 | ISO 800 |
| HLG | ISO 320 | ISO 1600 |
| V-Log | ISO 200 | ISO 1000 |
| V-Log + DR Expansion | ISO 400 | ISO 2000 |
This is not the same system as the dual readout DR Boost function in the company's 25MP Micro Four Thirds camera. Instead it moves to a higher bit-depth readout, meaning there's a rolling shutter cost to engaging it. It also boosts the minimum available ISO, to prompt the use of a lower exposure, to capture that additional stop of highlights.
Open gate shooting
At launch the S1RII will be able to capture 6.4K footage from the entire 3:2 region of its sensor, downscaled from full-resolution capture.
Open gate shooting lets you choose and adjust your crop during post production. It also makes it possible to frame wide and then take both landscape and portrait video crops if you're trying to deliver to multiple different output platforms.
5.XK at up to 60p, 4K at up to 120p
Like the S5II models, the S1RII gives you the choice of 1.89:1 DCI 4K capture or 16:9 UHD 4K, or 5.9K or 5.8K versions taken from the same capture regions. All four are available as 10-bit footage, with 4K encoded with 4:2:2 chroma precision and the 5.XK modes in 4:2:0.
Footage up to 30p is taken from the full width of the sensor using the full capture resolution, with a slight crop in to give 60p. 4K (in both flavors) is available at up to 120p with the addition of a further slight crop. Line skipping is used to deliver these 100p and 120p modes.
DCI and UHD 4K can also be captured at up to 60p from an APS-C region of the sensor.
| UHD | DCI | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crop | Rolling shutter | Crop | Rolling shutter | |
| 8K, 5.xK*, 4K 30/25/24 | 1.00 | 24.9ms | 1.00 | 22.4ms |
| 5.xK*, 4K 50/60 | 1.11 | 15.4ms | 1.04 | 15.3ms |
| 4K 100/120 | 1.17 | 7.3ms | 1.10 | 7.3ms |
| 4K/30 DRExp* | 1.00 | 31.7ms | 1.00 | 29.8ms |
Tellingly the rolling shutter rate in DR Expansion mode is consistent with the rate of 14-bit stills, which suggests it's based on 14-bit capture, explaining Panasonic's claims of greater dynamic range.
In turn, the 60p output's rolling shutter is consistent with the 12-bit stills readout rate. This stongly implies that the standard 24, 25 and 30p modes, which are slower than this but quicker than 14-bit mode are taken from 13-bit capture.
In addition to the conventional MOV compressed footage, the S1RII also lets you capture various resolutions in either ProRes 422 or ProRes RAW formats, both of which can either be recorded to the camera's internal CFExpress type B card or to an external SSD. ProRes RAW (with a choice of HQ or standard compression levels) is taken from a 1.31x crop of the sensor, whereas the ProRes 422 (again HQ or Std) is derived from the full-width 8.1K capture.
Forthcoming attractions
As usual for Panasonic cameras, the company has already given some details of features that are still being worked-on for the camera, and which it has promised will come in later firmware updates.
At launch the S1RII can capture open gate video footage at 6.4K resolution, but we're told 7.1K and 8.1K (native resolution) will be enabled in a later firmware update.
Similarly, the S1RII can currently output footage at up to 8K over HDMI but will gain the option to output a Raw data stream in 8.1K or 7.2K resolutions, at a later date.
How it compares
The new, more compact S1RII arrives in a market where you can choose between the high resolution Sony a7RV or pay more for the likes of Nikon's Z8 and Canon's EOS R5 II that are both high resolution and fast. The Panasonic occupies something of a middle ground: offering some of the speed of the faster cameras (a higher peak frame rate but with more rolling shutter), but at a lower cost than Canon and Nikon's Stacked CMOS cameras.
We've opted to include the Canon EOS R5 II in this table, but the Nikon Z8 ends up looking very similar in terms of areas of strength, if you were to substitute that in. We've also chosen the DSLR-shaped a7R V from Sony, rather than the smaller, less expensive a7C R, because the larger model more closely resembles the Panasonic in terms of form factor, viewfinder quality, shutter options and screen articulation. But if size and price are your biggest concerns, the a7C R is in the running.
| Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII | Canon EOS R5 II | Sony a7R V | Panasonic Lumix DC-S1R | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSRP | $3300 | $4300 | $3900 | $3700 |
| Pixel count | 44MP | 45MP | 61MP | 47MP |
| Sensor type | BSI CMOS | Stacked CMOS | BSI CMOS | FSI CMOS |
| Stabilization (IBIS / Synced) | 8.0 EV / 7.0 EV | – / 8.5 EV | 8.0EV / – | 6.0 EV / 7.0 EV |
| Max burst rate (Mech / E-shutter) | 10 fps / 40 fps | 12 fps / 30fps | 10 fps / | 9 fps / |
| Viewfinder res / mag | 5.76M dot OLED / 0.78x | 5.76M dot OLED / 0.76x | 9.44M dot OLED 0.9x | 5.76x dot OLED / 0.78x |
| Rear screen | 3.2" 2.1M dot Tilt + Fully Artic. | 3.2" 2.1M dot Fully Artic. | 3.2" 2.1M dot Tilt + Fully Artic. | 3.2" 2.1M dot two-way tilt |
| Max video resolution | 8.1K [1.89:1] / 30p | DCI 8K / 60p UHD 8K / 60p | UHD 8K / 24p | 5K [3:2] / 30p |
| Output options | MOV H.264 MOV H.265 ProRes 422 ProRes RAW | MP4 H.264 | MOV H.264 MOV H.265 | MOV H.265 MP4 H.264 |
| Storage formats | 1x UHS-II SD 1x CFe B External SSD | 1x UHS-II SD 1x CFe B | 2x UHS-II SD / CFe A | 1x UHS-II SD 1x CFe B / XQD |
| Flash sync speed | 1/250 sec | 1/250 sec 1/160 sec | 1/250 sec | 1/320 sec |
| HDR output options (Stills / Video) | - / HLG video | HDR PQ HEIF / HDR PQ video | HLG HEIF / HLG video | HLG Photo / HLG video |
| USB | USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) | USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) |
| Battery life LCD / EVF | 350 / 300 | 540 / 250 | 530 / 440 | 380 / 360 |
| Dimensions | 134 x 102 x 92mm | 139 x 101 x 94mm | 131 x 97 x 82mm | 149 x 110 x 97mm |
| Weight | 795g | 746g | 723g | 1,020g |
Despite being comfortably less expensive than its immediate peers, the S1RII's specs are competitive across the board. And while its video exhibits a fair bit more rolling shutter than the Stacked-sensor Nikon and Canon models, it significantly out-performs the Sony.
The a7R V's rolling shutter rate of 38ms means it can't deliver 8K/30, whereas the Panasonic can shoot 8K 30 and do so as fast as 24ms. This is respectable but not as impressive as the ∼13 and 14ms that the EOS R5 II and Z8 provide, respectively, from their much more expensive sensors.
Much of whether it's actually competitive, for both stills and video, will come down to whether the autofocus improvements are as significant as Panasonic promises.
Body and handling
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The S1RII uses a body based on the smaller S5II series, rather than the more substantial design of the first-gen S1 series cameras. This leaves it both smaller and lighter than its predecessor.
It has the internal fan from the S5II, with two small exhaust ports on either side of its viewfinder hump. This doesn't give quite 'GH series' recording reliability, but still allows the S1RII to record for extended periods.
However, while the body itself is similar in size to the S5II, it has a deeper hand grip, making it more comfortable to use with larger lenses. It maintains a row of three buttons along its top plate, immediately behind the shutter button, but omits the top plate display that the Mark 1 had.
Other losses in the move to the smaller body see the S1RII offer only a single function button between the mount and the hand grip, and the replacement of the two-position switch at the lower corner of the front panel by a large red [REC] button (whose function can be customized).
The S1RII also goes without a flash sync socket, but gains a dedicated Stills/Movie/Slow&Quick switch. Moving the exposure modes to the right of the camera allows the drive mode to be promoted to the top of the left-side dial, making room for shooting mode to occupy the switch underneath. Both mode dials have toggle lock buttons.
The removal of movie mode from the exposure mode dial in turn provides room for five custom positions on the exposure dial, each of which can be customized separately for stills and video custom settings. Position 5 on the dial can be used to access custom banks 5-10, if you wish, giving you a total of up to ten photo and ten video custom setting sets. Thankfully the camera's settings can be saved to a memory card and duplicated across cameras.
Rear screen
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On the back of the camera, Panasonic has adopted a similar screen layout to the one Panasonic used on its explicitly video-focused S1H: a fully articulated rear screen mounted on a cradle that tilts up and down. This means that stills shooters can use the tilt mechanism if they want to keep the screen on-axis (and can flip the screen to face inwards for protection, when stowing the camera), but video shooters can extend the screen out and tilt it away from the mic, headphone and HDMI sockets while shooting.
Battery
The S1RII uses the same 15.8Wh DMW-BLK22 battery as the S5II, a significant reduction compared with the original S1R. Despite this, it achieves a CIPA battery rating of 350 shots per charge if you use the rear screen and 300 via the viewfinder. The usual caveats apply to this number: most people get many, many more shots out of a camera than the CIPA rating (between two and three times the rated figure isn't unusual). To put it in context, 350 is a respectable figure and shouldn't leave you caught out during a busy day's shooting, but it doesn't have the confidence-inspiring duration that Sony's a7R V offers.
A new DMW-BG2 battery grip is also available to fit the S1RII. It adds a second battery in the grip, and is designed to allow hot-swapping of batteries: the external battery is used until the battery door is opened, at which point the camera switches to using the internal battery until a new battery is inserted in the grip. The grip also allows the camera to use both batteries simultaneously, for high power-consumption combinations such as capturing high bit-rate video to an external SSD.
Image Quality
Ourtest scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes to see the effect of different lighting conditions.
The results are pretty positive. In terms of detail capture, the S1RII performs as we'd expect, capturing less detail than the61MP Sony a7R V but withno meaningful difference vs the likes of the Canon EOS R5 II, Nikon Z8 or its own predecessor.
There'sa fair bit of moiré visible in various places suggesting there's no anti-aliasing filter. But it's not significantly more pronounced than in most of its rivals, suggesting we were just unlucky that we got to see some artefacts in one of our real-world shooting. If anything, looking around various high-frequency targets in the scene, Panasonic's JPEG engine seems to be doing a pretty good job of suppressing the effects of moiré.
In terms ofcolor rendition the Panasonic looks a lot like its immediate peers, with no significant differences in most colors, compared with its peers. The light skin tone patch is perhaps a fraction more pink than Canon's rendering, but there aren't any nasty surprises: something backed up by our experiences of shooting with the camera.
Noise levels seem competitive at low to moderately-high ISO settings but it looks likenoise reduction is being applied to the Raws at the higher ISO settings, with distinct blurring of the noise patterns. JPEGnoise reduction strikes a pretty good balance between noise suppression and detail retention, but gets a bit overwhelmed at the highest settings.
Dynamic range
The S1RII's sensor is a modern design with dual conversion gain; it has Panasonic's 'Dual Native ISO' function that lets you decide exactly where the switch in modes happens, but atdefault settings, it's at ISO 400 that the switch happens. Sure enough, if youbrighten an ISO 320 image, you'll see it has slightly more noise than images shot at ISOs above that point, with the same exposure.
The further you venture intothe ISOs from that low gain mode, the more noisy you'll find the very deep shadows (this is exactly the read noise that using the higher gain step minimizes). So the widest possible dynamic range is encountered at ISO 80, but if you're tempted to underexpose in low light, to protect highlights, you shouldn't venture below ISO 400.
The S1RII has a lower base ISO than its predecessor, so you can't make a direct comparison (the new camera receives 1/3EV more light), but even with that slight discrepancy, it'sresults seem comparable. It's a competitive result, even compared withthe best of its peers.
High res multi-shot
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Shot using hand-held multi-shot mode. Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 | 26mm | F8 | 1/250 sec | ISO 80 |
While wegenerally haven't found high-resolution multi-shot modes to be particularly useful, they can help you capture a bit more detail in the right circumstances. The S1RII has one of the best implementations of the feature, too, with both tripod and handheld modes and the option to compensate if your subject moves a bit at the cost of resolution in that area. Perhaps most importantly, the processing happens in-camera; you don't have to manually combine the shots later on in desktop software.
It's pretty apparent that the Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII is built around the IMX366 sensor from Sony Semiconductor. So we see a sensor withdual conversion gain giving lots of dynamic range at base ISO and well-controlled noise once you move to the second gain mode. Its BSI design means its high image quality should be maintained right to the corners of the image, as it means the pixels can reliably receive light from more acute angles than on older FSI sensors.
Autofocus
Autofocus operation
The Panasonic S1RII features a revised version of the phase-detection AF system introduced with the S5II cameras. It can detect and track more subjects than the S5II supported at launch, and Panasonic promises it's both quicker to find focus and more tenacious in terms of tracking.
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| The S1RII's button layout puts all your autofocus controls close at hand. |
The interface will be familiar to anyone who's used a Panasonic in the past ten-or-so years: pressing the AF Area button on the back of the camera brings up a row of seven icons representing the different AF areas the camera offers. Pressing upwards on the four-way controller or joystick then lets you choose whether the camera should look for a recognized subject near your chosen AF area. Pressing the 'DISP' button lets you select which subjects the camera looks for.
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| The S1RII's autofocus menu gives you a lot of options from a single screen. |
There's a twist, though: the S1RII can either be set to use its focus tracking system or it can be set to track a recognized subject but, unlike most modern cameras, these are separate functions. The upshot is that if you want to focus on a non-recognized subject for one shot, or the camera fails to find the subject it's supposed to recognize, you'll need to disengage the subject tracking: the S1RII will not fall back to its generic tracking system.
This is disappointing as the S5II has now gained the ability to detect all the same subjects as the S1RII, but its subject recognition is built on top of the generic tracking system, so the camera will fall back to tracking AF, making it more flexible.
AF interface
The interface generally does a good job of managing multiple subjects without overwhelming you with information. In most AF area modes, it'll only draw a box over the recognized subject nearest your selected area. If you move the point over another subject in the scene, it'll instantly snap the box to that subject instead. It's responsive enough that it doesn't feel like you're missing out by not having all the recognized subjects highlighted.
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When the S1RII finds faces, it can do a good job of sticking with them. In this scenario, it was able to track someone who started out walking straight-on towards the camera but who ended up at an angle to it without losing track of them or jumping to the person next to them. Lumix S Pro 24-70 F2.8 | 35mm | F4 | 1/200 | ISO 80 |
If you prefer, you can use the 'full area' tracking mode. In this mode, the camera highlights all the recognized subjects, letting you select which one you want to focus on using the joystick or touchscreen. The boxes do jiggle quite a bit, though, and can sometimes flicker on and off, which isn't the most confidence-inspiring user experience and means a tap of the joystick doesn't always select the subject you wanted.
Autofocus performance
Our experiences with the S1RII were distinctly mixed: when the AF system works, it can be very good, but overall, we found it to be appreciably less reliable than we've come to expect from the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras.
We found the camera's AF Custom Setting Set 3 mode was better at tracking the subject than the defaults, which frequently lost track of it if it changed speed as it approached the camera. The custom setting, which is designed to handle unpredictably moving subjects, increased success in following the subject around, but the camera usually still struggled to keep it in focus as it changed speeds.
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The subject recognition mode is more successful at tracking the subject and keeping it in focus; using AF Custom Setting Set 3 upped this dependability further. While the camera couldn't respond quickly enough to the subject's approach-rate changing to get every shot in focus, unlike the generic tracking it recovered quickly enough to give a good hit rate.
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
Testing the camera in a variety of settings suggests the S1RII's AF performance varies much more with adjustment of the AF Custom Settings than we've become used to with other brands. Generally, we consider Set 3 to be a good starting point.
Perhaps the most concerning behavior, though, was one we've seen in other recent Panasonic cameras, where very occasionally, tracking AF will fail to find something to focus on at all and will simply present a red flashing box and make no further attempt to focus. This is offputting enough to undermine our faith in the reliability of the camera, probably out of proportion to how often it occurs. Just knowing that the camera will sometimes fail to focus and make you wait a few moments is an unpleasant thought to have lingering in the back of your mind and not something we're used to encountering on a modern camera.
Conclusion
By Mitchell Clark
| What we like | What we don't |
|---|---|
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The S1RII is very much a hybrid camera and we'll be looking into its video handling and performance at a future date. But for now we're going to assess the stills side of the camera.
Image quality is, as you should expect from a modern camera, very good. The out-of-camera JPEGs are attractive, and the Raws seem to be both detailed and flexible when you process them. The S1RII gains Panasonic's LUT options, giving you essentially endless customization options if you want to develop your own 'look.' And, while we tend to find multi-shot high res modes quite limited in their value, the S1RII has probably the most usable implementation.
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A 177MP image, produced using the hand-held multi-shot mode. Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 | 21mm | F8 | 1/500 sec | ISO 80 |
We were also impressed by the S1RII's body and handling. It has a more comfortable grip and retains a good level of direct control and customization without these control points getting too cramped, despite a move away from thelarge 'professional' style body of its predecessor. It's only really button backlighting that goes missing in the transition, but the updated tilting/articulating screen more than makes up for that, in our opinion.
Our biggest concern with the camera is its autofocus system. While AF tracking is an improvement from previous Panasonic cameras, its performance is still well behind that of its competitors. That's combined with Panasonic's unusual decision to separate general tracking from subject recognition, which makes the camera slower and less dependable to use. The battery life also isn't great, considering its pro-level aspirations, though that can be mitigated with Panasonic's battery grip, which supports hot-swapping.
If the S1RII was everything Panasonic promised it would be, this would be a very different conclusion, especially given just how much cheaper it is than its high-res peers. But while it's a very capable camera, especially for video, the autofocus system and performance make a compelling argument to spend the bit more for one of its competitors if your shooting includes action and movement. While it may be possible to fix some of those issues with firmware updates, at the moment we don't feel the S1RII stands out enough to get one of our awards.
Scoring
Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category.Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.
Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII Category: Semi-professional Full Frame Camera |
Build quality Ergonomics & handling Features Metering & focus accuracy Image quality (raw) Image quality (jpeg) Low light / high ISO performance Viewfinder / screen rating Optics Performance Movie / video mode Connectivity Value | PoorExcellent | ||||
Conclusion The S1RII is a hybrid camera that offers solid detail capture, pleasing JPEGs and plenty of video capabilities, but its autofocus system isn't the best for capturing action and movement. | |||||
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Compared to its peers
TheCanon EOS R5 II and theNikon Z8 are the S1RII's main competitors. They offer similar image quality and hybrid capabilities, though they don't have the excellent tilting/articulating rear display and can't deliver multi-shot high-res images out-of-camera. Both, however, have better battery life, deeper buffers and lower rolling shutter rates for shooting video or stills using the electronic shutter. We also find their autofocus tracking performance to be more capable and user-friendly, as they both fall back to their still quite reliable generic tracking systems when there's no subject to detect. You'll certainly pay for the extra speed and reliability, but it's probably worth it.
Sony'sa7R V also has a very capable autofocus system, though it trades speed for even higher resolution. If you're looking to do video or shoot faster-moving subjects, the S1RII is a much better pick, as the a7R V reads out quite slowly. However, it produces even more detailed photos, which may be useful depending on what you're shooting.
Sample gallery
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Gear in this story
Comments
I see no mention of Live View Composite shooting mode. Was this feature not in the S1R II at the time of writing this review?
"Live Composite is a unique feature that blends light trails together in camera. I’ve used it to photograph both star trails and fireflies and have always loved the results . . ." -https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/mirrorless-cameras/too-many-hybrid-cameras-skimp-on-photo-features-but-the-panasonic-s1r-ii-may-have-finally-gotten-the-mix-just-right
I am a big fan of DPReview, a follower from the Phil Askey-era. Lots of useful information. But I never was a fan of the conclusions and the bit childish ‘medal awards’-thingy. Yes, some conclusions are useful, some not so much, but the awards are more often than not misleading.
This review is a good example where you can see that the reviewer actually decides for you what’s important (in a reaction he says: “We focus on tracking so much because we find that it's a really enjoyable and versatile way to shoot . etc”. Of course there is some truth in that, but it assumes that we all have the same needs and methods. Photography is very much an individual almost personal experience. Be it pro or amateur. So my advise would be, read the review and focus on what’s important to you, skip the conclusions and ditch the ‘medal’ (oh, it’s not given in this review, even better) and get your hands on the camera if you are interested and try it out. I did and liked it very much. A happy user now.
IMO, they were pretty favorable when they ranked this camera and the review was very mild when comparing with others I’ve seen. Even though this the modern flagship for Panasonic, many would argue that it has technology from yesteryear, specially on the stills side, and this is a hybrid camera. On the flip side, it has many advantages and features for video keeping in line with the company’s video direction and is probably one of the most versatile hybrid cameras when it comes to video. But, IMO, they undermined it a little when they didn’t put a stack sensor. However many would say they would prefer it this way.
In the end, I agree with you on this: people should see this review and focus on what they need and if this camera is for them, and not the camera brand specs war…
All best
Why does this feel like an intermediate model? I guess this means Panasonic is now working on a new flagship 8K (or better) model with faster readout (stacked sensor or partially stacked) and better tracking autofocus. So, the next generation will be the one to buy for L-mount. Costing more, but more versatile.
Dear Panasonic, could you please simplify your model names?
Firstly why not just Panasonic, instead of Panasonic LUMIX?
… and then what?
- DC-S1II
- DC-S1IIE
- DC-S1RII
- DC-S5II
I know you can do it! … S9! 😀
Thanks! Yes, I think there could be more cross-thinking between cameras and cars:
- some car brands moved from numbers/letters to names, which is rare with cameras (but there was an Olympus Trip!);
- trim levels often use classic terminology: GT, Cooper, S, etc.: cameras could adopt more explicit trim terminology, too
- car models come with different engines and trims: few cameras offer this although LUMIX does, indeed!
- car companies often integrate different brands which share components…
Whatever…, food for thought!
Summary: I'm mystified by reviewers' consensus (including DPR) about the S1Rii's supposed achilles' heel: poor autofocus. I have no hesitation about using the S1Rii even in challenging lighting.
Event: Last week, a jazz concert in a private club
Lighting: Ultra-crappy low light deliberately worsened by a stage bathed in a medium dark blue light, imitating a dark, 1930's jazz club.
I shot 220 raw images w Sigma's 28-105 f2.8 L, most F2.8, handheld, ISOs 1600 to 6400. Half w/o flash.
The images (private--not shareable) were great. 95% or more had sharp focus. Results were similar to shooting Canon R5M2 + RF 24-105 Z f2.8 lens in the same venue. The SIGMA lens lacks stabilization (in body only), weighs 45% less than the Canon (having lens + in-body stabilization). Both kits produced similar results in terms of focus, detail, etc.
Neither camera slowed me down or exhibited focus or usability issues such as slow focus or focus hunting.
I don't see the problem.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you were shooting a relatively static subject in low light? We would expect pretty much any modern mirrorless camera to handle that kind of scenario well.
We focus on tracking so much because we find that it's a really enjoyable and versatile way to shoot. It lets you focus on your composition and the action in the scene without having to think too much about moving the AF point to where you want it. That's especially true if the thing you're trying to take a picture of is moving. It also happens to be one of the places where cameras can still pull away from each other; for most brands, single-AF and most forms of continuous AF are quite reliable these days.
You're using the camera in an unchallenging situation for a modern high end mirrorless system. Things like weddings where people are moving/dancing with changing lighting situations is much more of a test and one where a camera failing to autofocus is a non starter when making a purchase decision. As a stills camera the s1rii is a good quality camera where frequent and erratic movement are not present, a caveat that none of its direct competitors have to make.
Good AF tracking is an industry standard! That’s what Sony revolutionized with FF mirrorless and its “Real Time” tracking and it has been one of the measuring dimensions reviewer find the most important! And it has been like that for years now!
So I’m mystified at why you’re mystified about DPR testing AF and stating that it’s not as good as the competition!
But if it suits you, great! It’s not like it’s a huge difference, but DPR noticed a difference and they reported it, that’s what gear reviewers do!
All best
I’ve been using the Panasonic Lumix DC-S1RII for a few months now, and I’m blown away by the image quality. The high-res hybrid sensor delivers incredible detail, and the handling is superb for both photography and videography. Definitely a game-changer for my work!
Given that autofocus is the "deal-breaker" that prevents this from receiving an award, it would be nice if there's a way to objectively compare autofocus between models, brands, and generations. On the main page, there's a story about Elsa Garrison using a 1DX Mark III. Would the continuous autofocus on the S1RII be considerably worse? If so, by what measure?
Same goes for the Canon R1: how much "better" is it than the R3?
Did you use S pro lenses on any of your testing at all? If not all this work is invalid as every other camera test DP review does uses first party high end glass. You are comparing this camera with $800 lenses to others with $2200 lenses. It's not fair for auto focus or image fidelity. Also only electronic shutter is available in the test chart for some reason, obscuring this cameras actual performance further...
This situation has me doubting the integrity of these reviews, undermining all this hard work. Are we going to see A75 tests using a Sony kit lens? No? So why on earth would anyone think it's ok to use the $500 20-60 lens for testing on a high resolution body? It's so insulting.
Yes, all of our autofocus testing is done using S Pro lenses. When Ishot a wedding with it, I used the S Pro 24-70 F2.8, as noted in the article.
Compared to the big two gold standards (Sony/Canon), the biggest flaw of Panasonic is the lack of HEIF files for photos. Even Nikon has HEIF files.
So by picking up an S1RII, you get outdated jpeg, worse image quality and heavier files.
PS: I don't shoot RAW, I just want to view my photos on my 10-bit HDR screen, and jpeg/RAW with preview of 8bit is not enough. 10bit HEIF is the absolute minimum.
Not interested in RAW. a 14-bit RAW is displayed as an 8-bit jpeg preview on the screen. Only a HEIF file is displayed as 10-bit 4:2:2.
RAW is not suited for my work.
Your 10-bit HDR display cannot actually display any 10-bit information in HDR. You don't understand what any of this means.
good news, finally, jpeg makes really no sense anymore for mac OS users
Better news: The S1RII now supports 10-bit HEIFs as of the V1.2 update; we'll be sure to note that in an update.
While it is entertaining to read giants of the forum battle each other around technicalities of sensor spec implementation I find it hard to get an idea about the ergonomics of the S1RII with regard to adapted manual lenses.
Exit "focus peak" by half press is not a given at Sony or Canon. That feature would make this camera more useful and fast focusing in manual mode.
Lens profiling and transfer of lens info to Exif, and combining with Panasonic's "LUT". Are we there yet?
What happens internally when using crop zoom and what are the options regarding file size, crop,steps besides the APS-C cut?
I understand this is a very niche request but the "good enough" High Res image quality camera body that shows more love for adapted lens users will win my $, tarrif or not.
Given the simplity of cameras compared to some other consumer tech items and the number of years they have been in manufacture why is it that there isnt a single camera that gets everything spot on.
The S1RII seems to be a bad omen for the future of Panasonic's cameras:
- It's not really in the high-resolution camp (of the Sony A7R series, for example)
- It's not really in the high-performance camp (of the Nikon Z8 and Canon R5...)
- It's not really in the hybrid camp (of the S5ii-x or Canon R5C...), in no small part because it lacks active cooling and overheats.
Instead, the S1Rii is in a no-man's land of compromised mediocricy. For someone who doesn't care about 44 vs. 24 MP, it offers few advantages over the S5ii, but an equal number of disadvantages: worse AF, overheating, worse battery life, higher price.
If this is Panasonic's flagship, it means that the company has given up the idea of being a true competitor to Sony, Canon and Nikon in full-frame mirrorless. Instead, Panasonic is resorting to a niche of affordable video-centric cameras - similar to how Pentax at some point gave up competing with the big brands and resorted to a small niche in the camera market.
Alfonso, Nikon do well because their Z8 gives you 90% the performance of the top end Sony and Canon equivalents for a much, much lower price. The AF and EVF in it are both fantastic, you would know if you tried it. Nikon will still be the go-to for birders and 2nd only to Canon for many professional applications.
The Z lenses are also mostly all fantastic without even considering their generally low prices. Nikon also have the best ~$2000 camera in the Z6III and they will have the best entry level full frame camera too when the Z5II comes out. I am not a Nikon user but they are doing a lot right and very little wrong.
Hope this helps!
The camera has actually cooling however with the amount of rolling shutter it has you can really only use for talking heads with fixed position and things that move slow. I do agree this camera does many things but it is not number one in anything except functionality it does have many features but to most users those are gimmicks and do not strongly influence a purchase decision
Example it takes 40 fps however it is a 12 bits and it only goes for 1.7 seconds whats the use of that?
EVF that you mention is actually not such a big issue as it seems I have 3 cameras with 3 different resolutions, the small one is really bad, the camera with the same evf of this one is perfectly adeguate and the one that has a larger resolution is good but at the end when you shoot at 240 fps the viewing quality drops anyway.
I think that overall this camera is a nice upgrade for lmount users but it is not going to win over anyone that shoots another brand therefore not increasing panasonic market share.
I surely don't know what Panasonic is thinking, but someone over there has a death wish to let two generations of an otherwise fantastic camera get hobbled by AF issues (and be a little noisier than absolutely necessary). I had the S1R for a month. It wasn't for me, but I always hoped Version 2.0 would do the trick. I would consider this camera if starting afresh, but it doesn't seem, once again, that it's worth the switchover costs to a new system. For me.
@dpreview staff the table of burst rate is incorrect
The 10 fps mentioned are not comparable with the other cameras as the exposure is not calculated and the bit depth is reduced. It is true that the Sony A7R V also reads at 12 bits at 10 fps and the live view is lagging but each shot has its own full exposure calculation. The highest burst rate this camera can sustain at 12 bits with full exposure calculation is 8 frames per second. Panasonic has made it diabolical to understand their manual. At 10 fps the camera has exposure fixed to the first frame and no live view while focus is calculated each time. For reference to have live view 14 bits raw and full exposure calculation you are at 5 fps against the 7 of the A7R V. I don't know the canon system but here is the demonstration that panasonic AF is slow compared to others and take more processing time hence the camera AF is subpar
No, it keeps Full AFC and Tracking AF when it's 7 shots - 14 Bit
When it's 9 shots, it has AFC but no Tracking - 14 Bit
Since there isn't that much difference between 9 and 10 frames per second, it's reasonable to assume that this camera is capable of up to 9 frames per second in 14 bits.
I'm currently using the s1r2 for broadcasting, and Tracking is similar to Sony's retard AF, so it doesn't mean much
I think you don't know much about the a7r5 burst mode either
The a7r5 burst mode also has H+ mode and H mode
And when shooting lossless compressed RAW
The fastest burst speed is 7fps, and in hi mode it is 4fps mode
The 7fps mode is blackout-free, but as you know, blackout-free is physically impossible for cameras that use mechanical front curtains like the s1r2 and a7r5.
In the end, the S1r2's 14-bit 9fps burst mode is the same as the a7r5's 7fps burst mode
They both shoot uncompressed RAW files, have fake blackout free, and all live view is shown in post view.
The S1RII H+ mode not only looks at previous frames like the Sony H+ mode but has exposure fixed to the first frame so it does not match Sony H+ functionality and therefore is not comparable.
At 7 fps it does take 7 frames but focus is estimated regardless of your setting in the release option
So the comparable modes to the H+ on the A7R V is for the S1RII H with Speed Priority both cameras shoot 12 bits and do exposure calculation and none have live view where Panasonic has 8 and Sony has 10 fps yet the Panasonic focus is estimated
And the other mode is M corresponding to H on the A7R V where both cameras have live view, focus at each frame and calculate exposure Panasonic has 5 fps and Sony 7 fps
in essence Panasonic lags 2 fps from the 61 megapixels Sony camera
Uncompressed RAW is not part of the equation here both have lossless compressed raw. Sony only has that option but it is legacy and panasonic never had an uncompressed raw
Not at all
Live view is supported in AFC mode at 14bit 7fps by Panasonic too
When selecting image priority mode in H mode, we can have 7fps live view
And in H+ mode, we have post view black free mode, but when selecting image priority mode, we have 9fps no live view and no exposure mode
It seems to me that you are intentionally writing your comment to find faults.
And actually, the noise reduction of RAW intervenes from 6400.
Lastly, Canon's r5m2 shows the image while going through its own correction in all RAW sections, but no one mentions it or cares about it. Why? Because the actual image quality is good.
Many people feel good about the RAW file of S1R2, but if you are the only one who thinks it is not while pixel-peeping, whose opinion is more correct?
In H+ the exposure is fixed to the first frame so it is not comparable to the sony or other cameras
It looks like panasonic had to come up with something to match the competition and their camera cant quite get there so they started removing functionality
In essence you have the burst mode overriding your release and many complicated modes that takes half hour to understand the manual
In essence the H+ mode is faster than H just because it takes away exposure calculation. Now why would you want to do that? You start your burst in a dark zone then while panning you go in a bright area and the camera clips
Nobody else does anything like that its weird and confusing my GH7 and other panasonic camera just have an H mode this is just a trick so they hit the 10 FPS of the competition they should just eliminate it from the menu and play it fair
I clearly stated in the comment that it is H mode
The A7R5's continuous shooting is up to 7fps in 14bit depth no matter what mode you use
Live view mode works at 7fps as you commented
The s1r2 is also 7fps in H mode (when everything is possible in AF-C mode)
If you expand to H+ here, you get fixed exposure on the first frame and post-view blackout free
I'm not trying to fight you
But you said that the s1r2 can only do 5fps in live view mode, but I'm trying to correct that
The s1r2 is also 7fps in live view mode like the a7r5, and if you give up the exposure part, you can shoot at 9fps with 14-bit depth
That's all. Of course, I find this complicated burst mode difficult, but
If you interpret it positively, it seems to give you a variety of choices.
Some people might want a burst mode with 12-bit depth, and actually get a bit faster continuous shooting settings.
No that’s not what i said
The A7R V does 10 fps at 12 bits with afc and exposure calculations but the S1R2 only does 8 in the same equivalent settings equivalent mode is H speed priority
When the A7R V does 7 fps at 14 bits setting H the S1R2 in mode M does 5 fps with live view
The 7 fps H mode of the S1R2 again has to be discarded because the camera is not in live view
Panasonic in their desperate attempts to match competitors are making a total mess of burst modes.
They should clean it up remove this useless H+ mode and go back to the old way it was done in the GH7 and other cameras
I don't understand why you are shooting in burst mode with M
H mode can do live view mode at 7fps
I am using this camera with version 1.0
From what you have posted on the forum, it seems you are using a pre-production product, what on earth do you know about this product?
H mode and H+ mode are completely different modes.
Are you saying this while using AF-S mode?
In AF-C mode, live view is possible at 7fps
No I got totally confused by this H+ mode which as I said should be completely removed who cares of 1 extra fps if the exposure is fixed?
Once you get rid of that the situation you basically have 8 fps at 12 bits and 7fps at 14 bits which make you wonder why would you loose bit depth for an extra fps
So compared to the A7R V you are correct 10 vs 8 at 12 bits and matches 7 the H of the A7R V
The instruction manual of the burst is simply diabolical
https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/dscoi/DC-S1RM2/html/DC-S1RM2_DVQP3245_eng/0050.html
That's what I've explained to you so far
When using AFC tracking in 14bit on a7r5 and s1rm2, they are both 7fps
You originally claimed that s1r2 is 5fps, and that s1r2 with 5fps is lower than 7fps on a7r5
However, burst mode fps in live view on both are the same
You keep bringing up the claim of 5fps in M mode, so it was a wrong claim from the beginning
In the end, a7r5 and s1r2 have the same continuous shooting speed of 7fps in 14bit.
Even if you exclude H+ mode, you are mistaken in thinking that you are bringing the fps of M mode without using H mode. H mode also supports live view.
When I bought the Z9 the AF was very buggy. Focussing on eyelashes instead of the eyes, not focussing on the background that required manual focus twist to activate the AF, 3d tracking losing the subject and so on. Since Panasonic is known for their firmware update policy and the S5II works very well I have all the faith in them to improve and fix the AF problems. It would be fair to test it again in a while after firmware 2.0.
O and the sensor is not noisy at low ISO at all, on the constrary. It has far better noise performance as my Z9 for example. Just test it, image quality is great.
I think people are really narrow-minded when it comes to the reasons why they dislike this camera
Compared to the Z8 and R5m2, the DR difference is about 0.5~0.6 stops
This is similar to the difference in DR between crop bodies and stacked cameras
Generally, in the range of iso 500~6400, crop bodies show a DR difference of about 0.7 stops compared to stacked body
So, you're saying that the difference between crop bodies and stacked bodies is similar, and when people say this, they can't refute it.
Then some people will say that there is very bad rolling shutter
We need to distinguish exactly about rolling shutter
The rolling shutter of the s1rii is largely caused by the "oversampled" elements
The a7rV is currently not even comparable in terms of rolling shutter
Canon's R5m2 does not have an oversampling mode
If the S1Rii could have firmware update to turn the oversampling option on or off, rolling shutter would be more stable than it is now. Also overheating will be solved
And Panasonic fanboys should also reflect
You keep comparing this camera to the S1R, so how were the sales of the S1R?
It was big and solid, but it was burdensome for actual users and sales were low.
Wasn't it miserable? I don't know why you keep recalling the bad body back then.
And comparing S5m2 and S5m2
S5m2 models do not oversample in video recording
Therefore, much less heat is generated than S1r2
The reason there was no heat generation in the s5m2 is because it shoots at a lower bitrate, and the video function of the s1r2 generates heat because it utilizes high pixels and video functions.
We must always live with thought
In Nikon Z8's video function, H.265 video supports 420, not 422. For general video shooting, S1r2's 422 mov is much more useful.
There are detailed differences between each camera model,
and to say that this camera's rolling shutter is too bad,
we need to know what makes the rolling shutter bad.
The specs on the paper are not everything.
Finally, if we look at it objectively,
The Nikon Z8 would be great for sports photography, wildlife, or bird photography with its relentless 20fps RAW on the stacked sensor.
The Canon R5m2 is no exception, especially for action-packed videos, where the sensors with high readout speeds will produce cleaner images.
However, for landscapes, pure portraits, or subjects that are not moving much, the S1r2 and a7r5 would be better.
The same goes for video. For videos with little action and handheld shooting, the S1r2 would be a pretty good choice.
I have been disappointed that this camera could not produce the performance at base ISO that I was expecting. It is still a Sony Semiconductor Corporation (separate entity from Sony Consumer Electronics who is their customer) sensor and the datasheet indicates this sensor should completely use the bit codes. So why is the camera so noisy at base ISO? Has panasonic put too much stuff around it that cripples peak performance? This camera was never going to compete with stacked sensors of Sony and Nikon nor the Canon fast ones but should have matched the Sony range in peak dynamic range performance
And it does not...
This is simply not true. If you use the right software you’ll see image quality is really good, especially noise performance.
What exactly is not true? At base ISO this camera is 1 stop more noisy than other ones I have and that is a fact regardless of software. Panasonic knows that and has not put any highlight protection to the camera also clips easier. It does a better from ISO 400 however at 3200 they put in noise reduction which is really crazy. You have a camera that does well from ISO 2500 is a very small envelope and does not fit landscape photography
Z8 is a stacked sensor it does things this camera cannot do a better comparison is the older z7ii which is way cheaper than this
The sensor of this camera at base iso is not an improvement on the sony a7rii and a7riii. If I want an A7RIIIA that net of subject recognition has similar or better autofocus to this camera I can get it at half price
Fyi i have had and still have Panasonic cameras and I dont spare criticism to anyone sony nikon canon all have their challenges nothing specific to Panasonic
It has taken them years to come up with this and as the review says it didnt fix their critical flaws and when it comes to image quality didn’t beat models 7 years old
I do not disagree that Lumix has some really good features in fact it is the most feature rich full frame camera on the market. In order to be a really attractive proposition it needs to fix caf tracking without detection and the noise performance at base ISO. I can understand autofocus is not five minuted however I am puzzled at why the camera at base ISO is a step back something must be going on there
I know very well how P2P works as I have provided data for the following Panasonic cameras
GH5M2
GH6
GH7
S5
S1RM2
I have also provided data on other cameras from other manufacturers
Firstly we need to make a distinction between stacked sensor and back illuminated sensor like the S1RM2
There is no point comparing the S1RM2 with the Nikon Z8 or the Sony A1 because those cameras have benefits and speed the S1RM2 can’t make such as real time blackout free evf in burst
The comparison is with Sony A7R series and with nikon Z7 series and with other panasonic cameras at high resolution
The S1RM2 lags from all of those between 0.3 and 0.6 which you would wonder if it is really something you can see by your eye
The answer is 0.6 starts to be noticeable 0.3 is not
No it does not lag behind at all the camera peak dynamic range is 11.6 vs 11.08 of the S1R2. That it is higher in high ISO zone is not that important for landscape that is more an event low light situation but that is not the specialty of any of those cameras. This camera is also cheaper today and we can say the autofocus is on par. At the end the people that do video will be ok with another camera either an S5II or a Sony A7S3. Who want max dynamic range will get a Sony A7R V. Who wants speed will get a Nikon Z or Sony A1. Who wants to get the S1RII? A jack of all trades but master of none and that is why it did not get a dpreview award
I find absolutely nothing interesting with this camera other than the articulating rear screen.
I am guessing this is a Video camera for video guys that also want the ability to take some quality high resolution photos? As a photographer that may occasionally take some video it appears I am obviously not the target market for this camera.
Panasonic has carved out a good name for itself in the video market. It is good to see they are continuing to target this market with extensive video capabilities rather than try to target the very crowded one camera for everything market.
"The Canon EOS R5 II and the Nikon Z8 are the S1RII's main competitors. They offer similar image quality and hybrid capabilities, though they don't have the excellent tilting/articulating rear display or the ability to process high-res multi-shot in-camera."
True statement, technically, but a bit misleading as phrased re the Canon R5 II, because it not only doesn't have the ability to process high-res multi-shot in-camera, it CANNOT even take them -- the feature was removed from the "II", and Canon substituted an awful "A.I." hallucination of supposed extra detail. Worse than nothing.
pixel shift RAW samples?
pixel shift jpeg all have shutter blur at high frequencies
iso 3200 is the best of them
Up until recently (possibly even today), we haven't been able to process the pixel-shift Raws in ACR. Now that we're able to open them, it's clear that even the Raws have the motion artifacts you spotted. It's not shutter shock – the multi-shot mode uses e-shutter – so it seems like we haven't been able to get the tripod stable enough to get the camera absolutely still despite weighing it down.
As such, we've pulled the Pixel Shift JPEGs since there's a chance they don't reflect the absolute best that the camera can do. I'm not sure if there's a way we can reshoot it that will give it a better chance, but we'll think on it.
It seems Panasonic has licensed the 5th generation of Sony PDAF subject detection. Currently the Sony a1II is using the 8th generation of their PDAF subject detection.
Other brands have licensed such as Nikon/Canon/OMsystem seem to have licensed the 6th generation Sony subject detection AF.
Sony is being very secretive about their licensable AF algorithme. It's hard to get info on it.
It seems Panasonic is suffering from weak processors that don't allow them to license more recent Sony AF systems. Their G9II, S5II have a very long reboot time, and the new Leica L2 engine is not good news for IQ enthusiasts.
both PDAF, dual pixel AF, quad pixel AF all are Sony patented and Sony owned.
BTW subject detection on sensor has nothing to do with PDAF or DPAF, it's just the algorithm that recognises shapes as birds/humans/train/cars/etc. It' all Sony semicon products that are licensed to others.
"US10440936B22015-08-252019-10-15Sony CorporationLivestock registration system and registration method for livestock"
"US11636745B2 *2020-02-242023-04-25Sony CorporationDetection of animal intrusions and control of a repellent mechanism for detected animal intrusions"
"US20230410556A1 *2022-06-212023-12-21Sony Group CorporationKeypoints-based estimation of face bounding box"
On sesnsor subject detection, are all Sony semiconductor products.
When buying sensor from sony semicon you can "option up" your sensor and unlock subject detection by licensing it. Just like you add options such as cruise-control, air conditioning on your car.
It's not a coincidence that all camera manufacturers from Fuji, nikon, canon, Pana, Om system all started to get subject detection, at the same time
Olympus was one of the first to develop their in house car/train detection, but when they sold out to JIP, coincidently some of their IBIS and vehicle detection patents ended up in sony's hand
I haven't seen more recent scans, but when on-sensor phase detection arrived (with Sony's camera business being something like the forth camera maker to develop a system), the implementations between different brands were physically different, even on sensors sourced from Sony Semiconductor, suggesting the IP was not coming from Sony.
Olympus developed eye detection several years before anyone else had it. Similarly, Sony brought animal detection but Olympus introduced the much broader subject recognition modes beyond that, and different brands have introduced different subject recognition types at different times (with Sony's cameras rarely being at the forefront).
So I'd be interested to see any evidence that anyone is licensing PDAF IP from Sony Semiconductor (the chip supplier) or AF algorithms from Sony's camera business.
Nikon has had on sensor PDAF since the Nikon 1, which was introduced in 2011. Sony didn't introduce the A7 until 2013, and didn't have on-sensor PDAF until 2014 with the A7II.
If you want to use the beautiful Sigma I-series lenses but one of Sony's flaws (or an accumulation of them) is a red line then the L-mount remains the only way to go. This camera provides a good, higher-end alternative to the S5 II without spending Leica money although the S5 II remains the best value around for FF mirrorless, in itself a great advert for the L-mount.
Unless you are fully committed to the L-mount, wouldn't the Z8 be a better option? Especially considering it is almost the same price.
As a photographer, I don't see why choosing the S1R III would be better in any way. Of course, if you are already invested in L-mount lenses, perhaps jumping ship is unnecessary unless you require better autofocus and better buffer performance.
I can get the Nikon z8 from an official distributor, for 3.2k euros, the pana actually sells for a few hundred more... maybe z8v2 is coming? :)
As a landscape photographer and Nikon APSC user myself, here are couple of reasons I would consider this.
I don't need stacked sensor/speed/video. I like this sensor.
Very lightweight Panasonic 28-200 and Sigma 16-28/2.8 combo is better and much cheaper for me than anything Nikon has.
A VERY good features/price ratio! Lets face it, most of us will never use 60FPS. But we are made to pay for stacked sensors. This camera looks to be cleverly designed. I would buy it if I still was using L mount. (Switched to MFT last year).
No need to keep comparing it to real stacked sensors, why not compare it to Canon R5, R6, R6II, NIkon Z6III at least for sensor speed. Seem to be at best 2x faster than Sony's glacial offerings.
Makes little sense to compare high resolution cameras to lower resolution ones (apart from R5), both are aimed at different needs, and of course lower resolution cameras have inherent potential to read sensor faster, so again, makes no sense.
It would be useful, now cameras support such fast memory cards and USB speeds, to have the actual throughput tested. Do the 3 cameras with 10Gbps USB actually reach higher speeds than the 5Gbps one, plus do any of them get close to the fastest CFE speeds (or even really fast SD V90 260MBps-ish write cards, which is over 2Gbps).
Good quality...good price....what's not to like when you're not hooked to a brand? Maybe the limited (third party) lens and (third party) accessory choice?
Well said! For $3,300, this is an extremely compelling option for a video shooter, or a landscape photographer.
The "What we don't like" column clearly suggest that this isn't the camera for sports and wildlife, but was it ever intended to be? For example, Panasonic didn't fly reviewers to an NFL game for their press event.
@M Lammerse , with Sigma being part of the L mount alliance there are no shortage of lenses :-) with no restriction such as Sony not allowing fastest frame rates etc
https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Sigma/Sigma-L-Mount-Lenses
The review of the autofocus is so damning when the Z8 and R5 exist.
Sure, you have access to the great and less expensive Sigma glass, but if you can't trust the autofocus, does that glass matter?
I was really hoping to rent this an a 300-600 for a wildlife trip but now I'll just get a megadap.
So it lags behind everyone except maybe Fuji? I still struggle to put this kinda thing into context TBH... Like is an S5 II at least as good as an A7R III? Still worse than that? Closer to a Z7 as suggested? Worse still? Does it beat an old DSLR at C-AF?
I know AF testing is a PITA and I appreciate anything DPR does in this regard, bike tests, etc... But in isolation it's hard to figure out how stuff ranks, let alone how usable it is. Knowing it's worse than the best isn't always the most useful metric...
I totally agree! As someone that's into sports and action photography, I find this isolated analysis to be hard to compare. If there were repeatable metrics (i.e. percentage hit rates, number of sharp frames per second, etc), it would be easier to digest these segments of the reviews.
If someone had $3,300 to spend, what's the best C-AF performing camera (new or used).
I think Z8 is a relevant comparison because it's been just a little more with discounts vs the S1RII MSRP, but the ridiculous tariff situation in the US could make it even weirder.
Anyway, yes, I agree with you guys that a more objective comparison would be helpful. However, in lieu of that kind of analysis I think so many of us analytical people would like (including me), just the phrase "Our experiences with the S1RII were distinctly mixed: when the AF system works, it can be very good, but overall, we found it to be appreciably less reliable than we've come to expect from the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras." is disappointing and certainly a turn off for me.
Oh yeah, I was curious how it stacks up and I asked a question about the S5 II below along the same lines, but I'm spoiled in that regard. I didn't wanna bring personal brand choices into it but I did shoot Pana in the (distant) past, their tracking seemed more effective than their C-AF then (pre-OSPDAF days), maybe that's flipped...
When it came time to pick a new system I bought into something that was leading in that regard though, which isn't a humble brag, I genuinely think that when subject recognition and tracking are seamless and reach a certain effectiveness level they can change how you shoot, and in effect how you frame. DPR hammered that home years ago and it seems it's still a big divide.
The best thing about Panasonic is their regional pricing policy. When I bought my Canon R6 I almost switched to Panasonic because the European price of the S1 was $1100 less than the R6 with the same msrp at the time of release.
I didn't switch to Panasonic because I have a lot of EF glasses, but now I feel a bit stuck with these old EF lenses. Wierdly enough, those 1.8 primes from Panasonic with protection are much closer to my heart, wallet and needs than any lens Canon has made in the last 7 years. And Panasonic also has Sigma...
It's a good, well-balanced camera, not very fast, but very functional. But Panasonic needs to move more and release more different cameras and lenses, entertain photographers and videographers with different useful and unique innovations. If the brand takes a break, allows itself to be forgotten, then it can turn into a Pentax before it realizes it. Brands like Panasonic need to remember that oblivion is always nearby.
Is the S5 II any better at tracking/recognition overall or is it simply the fallback to standard tracking (from subject recognition) that makes it friendlier to use? You'd certainly hope Pana implements that here, using a camera like that is what sold me on a competitor when DPR/Rishi kept bringing it up 5+ years ago... It's so much easier.
The subject recognition seems improved, it's less obvious whether there's any improvement in general tracking. But in terms of usability the S5II is better because it will use general tracking if it can't find a subject it recognizes (or, more importantly, when it temporarily loses its subject).
The handheld hi res and in-camera image stacking put this camera above peers for high res imagery. Which is the whole point of having tons of megapixels isn't it? No silver for that part alone?
We didn't think so, because you still only get the full benefit with static subjects, which makes it too niche a feature to decide our overall recommendation.
We do highlight that it's probably the best implementation the body of the review, in the pros and cons and in the conclusion though.
Does this camera feature focus bracketing & stacking? To use for boosting depth of field in macro shots for example. If so I would not have learned it from reading the review.
We don't believe the S1RII makes its case strongly enough to be a 'this should be on your shortlist' camera for enough people for it to earn a Silver award, as things stand.
We tried to stress its strengths, including its handling and multi-shot modes, but we don't believe they're significant enough, for enough people, to earn it a Silver.
If they're valuable to you and your shooting, then it's understandable you'd reach a different conclusion. Our reviews are as much about trying to provide you with the information to make an informed decision as they are about expecting you to agree with our conclusions.
But, irrespective of what other reviews and reviewers might think, these are our honestly-held opinions about the camera's utility to the target user.
I would argue that all of your cons are related to video/and tracking fast moving subjects. Aren't those deciding on these hi res sensors after something else? E.g. the multi shot being well implemented likely would get you most of the way to medium format in both dynamic range and resolution.
Also, doesn't the algorithm work well to not ruin the shot for moving subjects?
Personally would love them to keep working on in-camera image stacking but believe doing this has more dividends to pay in m43 where there is more headroom to gain in dynamic range and sharpness.
I'm not a market for a flagship, high-res, Full Frame camera, but I think this model or any of its rivals would be perfectly usable for me. If you force me to choose, I think I'd go for the Nikon Z8: It seems to have just about a little bit more of everything or at least the stuff I care about.
I'm already invested in the Z system too and Nikon's firmware updates for their flagship cameras is awe-inspiring,
I noticed the subject lighting in the continuous-shooting video varies markedly between shots, I assume due to the foliage surrounding the path Richard is riding on. Are these the same conditions you use to test other cameras? Also, do you happen to know if the same inconsistent tracking behavior occurs in more even lighting?
It sounds like you're talking about the autofocus rollovers? If so, then yes we've tested plenty of other cameras there, though we obviously can't control the weather – in winter we generally aren't able to shoot in sunlight like we did with this one.
You can see how it performs under flatter lightingin this article, though – we did the majority of our AF Custom Setting Set 1 testing on an overcast day, and the generic tracking completely lost track of Richard in most of our runs. We did do a Set 1 run on the same sunny day as we shot the Set 3 ones and got the same result.
This LUT with "endless personal styles" sounds very good.
I am still looking for an ideal body for adapted so called legacy lenses.
I read somewhere that Panasonic allows for custom input of only 9 :-(.
It would be great if one could input an equally endless list of "known" non-CPU, MF lenses in the camera to choose from (so not only to input a focal length for IBIS, which would be included) and if that relevant user input lens information was viewable in the EXIF information of the resulting pictures.
Then add to each of the MF lens profiles a couple of those "LUT" , specially adjusted for that lens and I can forgive Panasonic for the lesser autofocus performance.
We still do them, but as the last sentence of the review says, we don't think this camera stands out enough from its competition to get one.
@HaroldC3 Scoring systems are hard. We havea whole page explaining how the scores are calculated and what the awards mean, but essentially, if a camera gets Silver it means you should definitely consider it if you're shopping for that class of camera. If it gets a Gold, we think it should be at the top of your list.
The S1RII is a very capable camera, especially in the categories that our numerical scoring system measures. But at the end of the day, we think that most people looking for this kind of camera would be better served by the other options on the market, which is why we didn't give it an award.
It didn’t perform sufficiently against its competitors to earn this accolade.
But Fuji gets those awards for their APS-C cameras. You have to be aware that a those awards hold only value inside of their own "class of camera". If you would directly pitch a Fuji vs a Z8 / A1 / R5 II / A7R V / R6 II or whatever they would probably not get gold awards either. Can't speak for all APS-C cameras but at least the Nikon and Canon ones are not on the same level as their full frame cousins, therefore competition is easier for Fuji.
But sure, I would happily agree that all of this rating involves a lot of "gut feeling". I'm still pretty amused that a R5 II is rated worse than a Z8. :-D
How can you possibly reach the conclusion that people will be better served by another camera before you review the video capabilities of the camera? You seem to be imagining that people "looking for this kind of camera" don't care about video, but that is clearly untrue for a large segment of the market. While this camera is supposed to be tilted a bit more towards photography, it is still a hybrid camera. Many photographers also shoot video, and will care about its video capabilities relative to the competition. Especially given that this is Panasonic, the camera may well have some superior video functionality that some are willing to trade off against other characteristics. To reach an overall conclusion before you compare the camera's relative video performance strikes me as premature (to put it kindly).
Will we eventually get video test charts? Without them the review is incomplete
We plan on shooting those, yes. But probably not until the update that adds the rest of the resolutions / modes.
Is there an app that will process raw high res files or are we stuck with using the jpegs?
@no reflex Up until very recently, you weren't able to process them in Adobe Camera Raw. However, as of the April update you can.
Correction: The sensor IS state of the art for stills photography given its great low light abilities.
I have had this camera on loan for a few days and the autofocus is impressive
I could track my black hamster at 1/200 f/2.8 ISO 3200 with the lumix 100mm macro and get most shots in focus
I could not get shots and had more miss with my Sony A1
Also tracking without subject detection now works. Let alone the fact that subject detection is better than my Sony A7CII
Thanks. Your Torture by Hamster Test (THT) with pictures and explanation in another thread I can't remember where exactly should become the industry standard.
It was one of the most interesting Hamster-on comments I have read.
The idea of testing failing on-eye-focus-lock when the hamster gets going in the wheel is one thing, then how fast one can switch to throw over board the AF in favor of MF is another.
This is an S5-IIR . The S1 series is officially dead it would sadly seem ..
it's sad because the S5II body style and grip is not very comfortable. It has good button placements and excellent customisability, but the grip is not pleasant to hold.
Mechanical shutter and buffer of an A7RIII. No top LCD. No backlit buttons. No resolution increase. No EVF increase. S5 body. S5 battery. Yeh it’s an S5R.
Everyone's body is different, but for what it's worth, I like holding the S1RII much more than the original S1R.
The reduced body is a plus for small and weak hands and a big minus for those with normal hands. Ergonomics in general also suffers and it no longer looks like a flagship but rather a middle class. The camera is somewhat controversial looks like the older brother S5II but no more. Rolling shutter is excessive. And the price does not seem low, rather the opposite. Dynamic range for video, what, will everyone use it to the fullest? This is essentially an advertising ploy. Focus is again somewhere at the end of the tail in comparison with the R5II Z8(9).
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