The New Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R – Could these Full-frame Mirrorless Cameras be Cameras of the Year? [video]

A Post By: Caz Nowaczyk

In this video by Art of Photography, he gives us a first look at the testing of the new Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R full-frame mirrorless cameras.

This is a preproduction look at the camera, so all images are jpegs coming straight out of the camera with no editing done at all. All noise reduction features were switched off in the camera to show how good the noise reduction features of these cameras are too.

The video focuses on:

Image quality

outstanding. Color rendition and contrast are great. Worked well with portraits, still life, low light.

Autofocus

Autofocus is an area Panasonic has struggled with over the years, but this is one of their best autofocus systems. Uses contrast detection autofocus. Very usable in most situations. Additional processing layer for Autofocus. This is the technology that drives or defines what they call AI Autofocus. Defines object recognition, animal recognition, face recognition etc. detection. So while the Autofocus is not perfect, the way the technology works means that Panasonic can work on improving Autofocus and update them as Firmware.

Shooting video

Low light performance and Panasonic dual IS image stabilisation

Best image stabilisation used on any camera. Great for low light situations – Low light performance is one of the best features of this camera. It performs beautifully right up to 12800 ISO. Low noise even with the noise reduction features switched off.

Pixel Shifting

Pixel Shifting feature takes 8 images and shifts the sensor around so you end up with a really high resolution image of up to 180mp. In reality, this feature is only limited to still life shooting. If anything moves around in the image it doesn’t work well. So may not work well for landscapes where there is any wind or trees moving. This may be something that Panasonic can work on to fine-tune.

Ergonomics

The cameras are quite large but very easy to use. They are lighter than the Leica SL. When using all day it does become heavy. This can work well when hand-holding for video because the camera doesn’t shake as much. If you are a photographer who wants to travel light, these cameras may not be for you.

It is a very quiet camera, even using the mechanical shutter.

Is this the perfect Panasonic camera?

While this camera is amazing it still has a couple of weak points, mainly the Autofocus system and the Pixel Shift technology.

Also, the fast continuous shooting mode uses 6K film shooting that you can then take stills from. This means you can only use jpegs, which for many photographers is not ideal.

However, overall, both the Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R are are very exciting cameras.