With the A1, Sony was the primary to introduce a high-resolution hybrid digicam that was equally adept at stills and video — however boy was it expensive. Nikon and Canon adopted that template with the R5 II and Z8 fashions that provided related capabilities for much less cash, however these had been nonetheless nicely north of $4,000.
Enter the S1R II. It’s Panasonic’s first digicam that may not solely shoot as much as 8K video on the firm’s normal excessive requirements, but in addition seize 44-megapixel (MP) images in speedy bursts. And in contrast to its rivals, the brand new mannequin is obtainable at a extra affordable $3,300 — half the value of Sony’s A1 II. On the identical time, it’s a large improve over the unique S1R.
The primary catch is the dearth of a high-speed stacked sensor discovered within the different fashions, which may trigger some skewing in each pictures and video. As I found, although, that tradeoff is nicely price it for the cheaper price and movie high quality that matches its competitors. All of that makes the S1R II Panasonic’s finest digicam but and a really tempting choice within the high-resolution mirrorless class.
Design and dealing with
The S1R II is just like different current Panasonic fashions just like the GH7 when it comes to the design and management format. It’s a lot lighter than the unique S1R at 1.75 kilos in comparison with 2.24 kilos, so it’s much less tiresome to hold round all day. As for dealing with, the large grip has a ridge the place your fingertips sit, making it almost unimaginable to drop. The rubberized exterior is simple on the arms, although not fairly as good because the R5 II’s softer materials.
I’ve at all times preferred Panasonic’s controls and in that regard the S1R II will be the firm’s finest mannequin but. Together with a joystick and dials on the highest entrance, high again and rear, it has lockable mode and burst taking pictures dials on high. You additionally get a devoted button for images, video and gradual and fast (S&Q) modes, every with separate settings. There’s a devoted autofocus change, video file buttons each on high and entrance, a tally mild and a number of programmable buttons.
The menu system is equally good, with logical color-coded menus and submenus. You can even quickly discover your most-used features within the fast menu. All of that allowed me to shoot images and video with out fumbling for settings. You can even absolutely program buttons, dials and the fast menu to your individual preferences.
The rear show is nice for content material creators and photographers alike. It tilts up and down to permit for straightforward overhead or shoot-from-the hip pictures and in addition swivels out to the facet so vloggers can conveniently movie themselves. It’s very sharp and vibrant sufficient to make use of on sunny days. The digital viewfinder can also be glorious with 5.76 million dots of decision and one hundred pc magnification, matching Canon’s R5 II and beating the Nikon Z8.
Battery life isn’t a powerful level, although, with 350 pictures on a cost or simply 280 when utilizing the digital viewfinder — far under the 640 pictures allowed by the R5 II. It additionally solely permits simply over an hour of start-and-stop video taking pictures. Nevertheless, Panasonic’s non-obligatory DMW-BG2 battery grip doubles endurance and in addition permits for battery hot-swapping.
The S1R II helps each SDXC UHS II and far quicker CFexpress Kind B playing cards, whereas additionally supporting SSD seize by way of the USB-C port just like the S5 IIX and GH7. The latter two storage strategies allow taking pictures in high-bandwidth RAW and ProRes to maximise high quality.
Panasonic additionally included a full-sized HDMI port together with microphone and headphone jacks. For the absolute best sound high quality, the non-obligatory XLR2 accent permits you to seize 4 channels at as much as 32-bit float high quality to cut back the potential for clipped audio. And eventually, the S1R II is Panasonic’s first mirrorless mannequin with a protecting carbon fiber curtain that comes down to guard the sensor, similar to current Canon and Sony fashions.
Efficiency
Though the original S1R might solely handle an anemic 6 fps burst speeds, its successor can hit 40 RAW pictures per second in silent digital mode, beating all its rivals — although taking pictures at that pace limits high quality to 12-bit RAW. To get 14-bit high quality, that you must use the mechanical shutter for burst taking pictures which tops out at 9 fps.
Nevertheless, the Panasonic S1R II doesn’t have a quick stacked sensor like rivals. The result’s rolling shutter that may be an issue in some circumstances, like taking pictures race vehicles, propellers or golf swings. Nevertheless, it does outperform many different non-stacked high-resolution cameras like Sony’s A7R V and Panasonic’s personal S5 IIX in that space.
Pre-burst seize is now obtainable and begins while you half-press the shutter. That allows you to save as much as 1.5 seconds of images you may need in any other case missed when you absolutely press the shutter button.
With an overhauled phase-detect autofocus system and a brand new, quicker processor, the S1R II options Panasonic’s quickest and smartest AF system but. It might probably now lock onto a topic’s face and eyes faster and comply with their actions extra easily, whereas additionally detecting and mechanically switching between people, animals, vehicles, bikes, bikes, trains and airplanes. I discovered it to be quick and usually dependable, however it’s nonetheless not fairly as much as Sony’s and Canon’s requirements for pace and accuracy.
Panasonic boosted in-body stabilization to eight stops. That’s almost on par with rivals, although Canon leads the way in which with 8.5 stops on the R5 II. Nonetheless, it permits you to freeze motion at shutter speeds as little as 1 / 4 second in case you need to blur waterfalls or transferring vehicles when taking pictures handheld.
Picture high quality
Photograph high quality is excellent with element pretty much as good as rivals, although understandably in need of Sony’s 61-megapixel A7R V. Colours are as correct as I’ve seen on any current digicam, matching and even beating Canon’s glorious R5 II. My professional photographer pals took quite a lot of pictures with the S1R II and located it barely superior to their Sony A1, noting that they hardly ever wanted to white stability in put up.
Due to the dual-ISO backside-illuminated sensor, low-light functionality is great for a high-resolution digicam, with noise nicely managed as much as ISO 12,800. Past that, grain turns into extra problematic and shadows can tackle a inexperienced solid. JPEG noise discount does job retaining element whereas suppressing noise, however will get overly aggressive above ISO 6,400.
If 44MP isn’t sufficient, the S1R II affords a high-resolution mode that captures eight pictures with a barely offset sensor place and composes them right into a single 177 megapixel file (both RAW or JPEG). It might probably supposedly be used with out a tripod, although I discovered I needed to stay very nonetheless to get first rate pictures when doing so.
Video
The S1R II is Panasonic’s finest mirrorless digicam but for video, albeit with some caveats I’ll talk about quickly. You may seize as much as 8K 30p 10-bit video at a fairly excessive 300 Mbps, near what Sony’s far costlier A1 can do. Higher nonetheless, it helps oversampled 5.8K ProRes RAW video internally with no crop for optimum dynamic vary, or 4K video at as much as 120 fps. Lastly, the S1R II is able to “open gate” 3:2 seize of the complete sensor at as much as 6.4K (and 8K down the street by way of a firmware replace), making it simple to shoot all kinds of codecs without delay, together with vertical video for social media.
A few of these resolutions, significantly the 5.9K 60 fps and 4K 120 fps modes include a slight crop of about 1.1x and 1.04x, respectively. 4K 120 fps additionally makes use of pixel binning, which introduces a lack of decision and different artifacts like rainbow-colored moire.
That takes us to the primary draw back: rolling shutter. The S1R II is definitely a bit higher than the S5 II in that regard, with a complete readout pace of about 1/fortieth of a second, or about 25 milliseconds at any of the complete sensor readout resolutions (8K or 5.8K). That may end up in wobble or skew when you whip the digicam round or movie fast-moving objects. Nevertheless, it’s acceptable for normal handheld taking pictures.
One complication is Panasonic’s dynamic vary enlargement (DRE) that reinforces video dynamic vary by a cease, principally in a picture’s highlights. Enabling that function makes rolling shutter worse.
Ought to that you must scale back rolling shutter, you’ll be able to merely disable DRE with out a huge hit in high quality. And taking pictures 4K at 60p minimizes rolling shutter in order that it’s almost on par with stacked sensor cameras, whereas nonetheless providing high-quality footage with only a slight crop.
As for video high quality, it’s razor sharp and coloration rendition is correct and pleasing. Dynamic vary is on the excessive finish of cameras I’ve examined at near 14 stops when taking pictures with Panasonic’s V-log, permitting glorious shadow and spotlight restoration, particularly in DRE mode. It’s nonetheless superb with out DRE although, significantly when you’re not taking pictures in vibrant and sunny situations.
Video AF can also be sturdy, maintaining even quick-moving topics in focus. Face, eye, animal and car detection work nicely, although once more, the system isn’t fairly as dependable as what I noticed on Sony and Canon’s newest fashions.
The S1R II affords extra stabilization choices than its rivals, although. Optical stabilization gives good outcomes for handheld video, whereas digital stabilization (EIS) smooths issues additional . Cranking that as much as essentially the most aggressive excessive EIS setting gives gimbal-like smoothness however introduces a big 1.5x crop.
Together with these, Panasonic launched one thing referred to as “cropless” EIS. That setting takes benefit of unused areas of the sensor to right nook distortion typical with large angle lenses whereas additionally fixing skew. I discovered it labored very nicely to cut back rolling shutter even for fast pans and strolling, which can assist alleviate such issues for some creators.
So sure, rolling shutter wobble is worse on this digicam than rivals just like the R5 II. Nevertheless, there are methods to work round it. If minimal skewing is a vital function then don’t purchase the S1R II, however it shouldn’t be a difficulty for many customers, significantly at this value.
Wrap-up
The S1R II is Panasonic’s finest hybrid mirrorless digicam thus far, providing an amazing stability of pictures and video powers. It’s additionally the most affordable new digicam within the high-resolution hybrid full-frame class, undercutting rivals like Canon’s R5 II and the Nikon Z8.
The primary draw back is rolling shutter that primarily impacts video. As I discussed, although, it gained’t pose an issue for a lot of content material creators and there are workarounds. Except for that, it delivers excellent photograph and video high quality whereas providing progressive options like cropless digital stabilization.
In the event you want much more decision, Sony’s 61MP A7R V affords barely higher picture high quality. And if rolling shutter is absolutely a difficulty then I’d advocate Canon’s R5 II (although that mannequin does price $1,000 extra) or the Nikon Z8. Do you have to need to spend significantly much less, the Canon R6 II and even Panasonic’s S5 II or S5 IIx are stable picks. For different hybrid shooters, although, Panasonic’s S1R II is a superb alternative.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/panasonic-s1r-ii-review-an-excellent-hybrid-camera-thats-cheaper-than-rivals-163013065.html?src=rss
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