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 costly. Nikon and Canon adopted that template with the R5 II and Z8 fashions that provided related capabilities for much less cash, however these have been nonetheless properly 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 common excessive requirements, but additionally seize 44-megapixel (MP) pictures in fast bursts. And in contrast to its rivals, the brand new mannequin is accessible at a extra affordable $3,300 — half the worth of Sony’s A1 II. On the similar time, it’s a large improve over the unique S1R.
The principle catch is the shortage of a high-speed stacked sensor discovered within the different fashions, which may trigger some skewing in each photographs and video. As I found, although, that tradeoff is properly value it for the lower cost and movie high quality that matches its competitors. All of that makes the S1R II Panasonic’s finest digicam but and a really tempting possibility within the high-resolution mirrorless class.
Design and dealing with
The S1R II is much like different latest 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 practically inconceivable to drop. The rubberized exterior is straightforward on the palms, although not fairly as good because the R5 II’s softer materials.
I’ve all the time preferred Panasonic’s controls and in that regard the S1R II could be the firm’s finest mannequin but. Together with a joystick and dials on the highest entrance, prime again and rear, it has lockable mode and burst taking pictures dials on prime. You additionally get a devoted button for pictures, video and gradual and fast (S&Q) modes, every with separate settings. There’s a devoted autofocus swap, video document buttons each on prime and entrance, a tally gentle and a number of programmable buttons.
The menu system is equally good, with logical color-coded menus and submenus. You can too quickly discover your most-used features within the fast menu. All of that allowed me to shoot pictures and video with out fumbling for settings. You can too 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 simple overhead or shoot-from-the hip images and likewise swivels out to the aspect so vloggers can conveniently movie themselves. It’s very sharp and vivid 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 photographs on a cost or simply 280 when utilizing the digital viewfinder — far beneath the 640 photographs allowed by the R5 II. It additionally solely permits simply over an hour of start-and-stop video taking pictures. Nonetheless, Panasonic’s elective DMW-BG2 battery grip doubles endurance and likewise permits for battery hot-swapping.
The S1R II helps each SDXC UHS II and far sooner CFexpress Kind B playing cards, whereas additionally supporting SSD seize through 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 elective XLR2 accent permits you to seize 4 channels at as much as 32-bit float high quality to cut back the opportunity of 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, identical to latest Canon and Sony fashions.
Efficiency
Though the unique S1R may solely handle an anemic 6 fps burst speeds, its successor can hit 40 RAW photographs per second in silent digital mode, beating all its rivals — although taking pictures at that velocity limits high quality to 12-bit RAW. To get 14-bit high quality, you should use the mechanical shutter for burst taking pictures which tops out at 9 fps.
Nonetheless, 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. Nonetheless, 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 accessible and begins if you half-press the shutter. That allows you to save as much as 1.5 seconds of pictures 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, sooner processor, the S1R II options Panasonic’s quickest and smartest AF system but. It could actually now lock onto a topic’s face and eyes faster and comply with their actions extra easily, whereas additionally detecting and routinely switching between people, animals, vehicles, bikes, bikes, trains and airplanes. I discovered it to be quick and customarily dependable, however it’s nonetheless not fairly as much as Sony’s and Canon’s requirements for velocity and accuracy.
Panasonic boosted in-body stabilization to eight stops. That’s practically 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 wish to blur waterfalls or shifting vehicles when taking pictures handheld.
Picture high quality
Photograph high quality is excellent with element pretty much as good as rivals, although understandably wanting Sony’s 61-megapixel A7R V. Colours are as correct as I’ve seen on any latest digicam, matching and even beating Canon’s glorious R5 II. My professional photographer buddies took quite a lot of photographs with the S1R II and located it barely superior to their Sony A1, noting that they hardly ever wanted to white stability in submit.
Because of the dual-ISO backside-illuminated sensor, low-light functionality is great for a high-resolution digicam, with noise properly 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 a great job retaining element whereas suppressing noise, however will get overly aggressive above ISO 6,400.
If 44MP isn’t sufficient, the S1R II presents a high-resolution mode that captures eight photographs with a barely offset sensor place and composes them right into a single 177 megapixel file (both RAW or JPEG). It could actually supposedly be used and not using a tripod, although I discovered I needed to stay very nonetheless to get first rate photographs when doing so.
Video
The S1R II is Panasonic’s finest mirrorless digicam but for video, albeit with some caveats I’ll focus on 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 highway through a firmware replace), making it simple to shoot all forms 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 principle draw back: rolling shutter. The S1R II is definitely a bit higher than the S5 II in that regard, with a complete readout velocity 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 in the event you whip the digicam round or movie fast-moving objects. Nonetheless, 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, largely in a picture's highlights. Enabling that characteristic makes rolling shutter worse.
Ought to you should cut back rolling shutter, you may merely disable DRE and not using a huge hit in high quality. And taking pictures 4K at 60p minimizes rolling shutter in order that it’s practically 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 excellent with out DRE although, significantly in the event you’re not taking pictures in vivid and sunny situations.
Video AF can also be robust, protecting even quick-moving topics in focus. Face, eye, animal and car detection work properly, although once more, the system isn’t fairly as dependable as what I noticed on Sony and Canon’s newest fashions.
The S1R II presents extra stabilization choices than its rivals, although. Optical stabilization supplies good outcomes for handheld video, whereas digital stabilization (EIS) smooths issues additional . Cranking that as much as probably the most aggressive excessive EIS setting supplies gimbal-like smoothness however introduces a major 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 appropriate nook distortion typical with large angle lenses whereas additionally fixing skew. I discovered it labored very properly to cut back rolling shutter even for fast pans and strolling, which can assist alleviate such considerations for some creators.
So sure, rolling shutter wobble is worse on this digicam than rivals just like the R5 II. Nonetheless, there are methods to work round it. If minimal skewing is a important characteristic 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 so far, providing an incredible stability of images 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 principle draw back is rolling shutter that primarily impacts video. As I discussed, although, it received’t pose an issue for a lot of content material creators and there are workarounds. Except for that, it delivers excellent picture and video high quality whereas providing revolutionary options like cropless digital stabilization.
In the event you want much more decision, Sony’s 61MP A7R V presents barely higher picture high quality. And if rolling shutter is basically a difficulty then I’d suggest Canon’s R5 II (although that mannequin does value $1,000 extra) or the Nikon Z8. Do you have to wish to spend significantly much less, the Canon R6 II and even Panasonic’s S5 II or S5 IIx are strong picks. For different hybrid shooters, although, Panasonic’s S1R II is a superb alternative.
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