A near-perfect creator’s camera if money is no object

After a six-year wait, Panasonic’s S1 II is lastly right here and there is a lot to unpack. As you’d anticipate from this firm, it’s creator-centric with as much as 5.8K ProRes RAW inner video recording. On the similar time, it’s Panasonic’s quickest full-frame photograph digicam ever with 70 fps burst speeds and diminished rolling shutter distortion because of the brand new partially stacked 24-megapixel sensor. And with an AI-powered hybrid part detect system, autofocus is not a weak level because it was with the unique S1.

There may be one challenge although, and a stunning one for Panasonic: the worth. The $3,200 S1 II is just like Nikon’s Z6 III, proper right down to the partially stacked sensor and inner RAW video. Nonetheless, the latter is a few $700 cheaper and may often be found on sale for even much less. Since Panasonic typically undercuts rivals, that places the S1 II within the uncommon place of being overpriced subsequent to the competitors. After testing it for the final month, I’ve discovered that whether or not it is price it will depend on your priorities.

Dealing with and design

The S1 II shares its glorious physique design with the higher-resolution S1R II and the cheaper, non-stacked S1 IIe. It’s significantly lighter than the unique S1 at 1.76 kilos and far smaller as effectively, each of which make it much less burdensome. It’s additionally simple to carry because of the massive ridged grip. Nonetheless, it’s extra angular and has a more durable rubber pores and skin than Canon’s rival EOS R6 II, so it’s not fairly as snug over lengthy capturing periods.

The superb management structure makes the S1 II a breeze to make use of. It has all of the buttons and dials you want they usually’re effectively positioned — significantly the joystick and management dials. There’s a devoted swap for photographs, video and gradual and fast (S&Q) modes, and every has separate changes so that you received’t combine them up. It additionally has a devoted autofocus swap, two video document buttons (high and entrance), 10 different programmable buttons and a tally gentle.

I hardly ever wanted to seek for settings because of the logical color-coded tabs and easy-to-use fast menu, each accessible by contact or the joystick. Panasonic additionally made it easy to program buttons, dials and the short menu to your private preferences and it lets you save them to a reminiscence card as a backup.

The S1 II’s digital viewfinder is vibrant and sharp, matching the Z6 III with a decision of 5.76 million dots and 0.78x magnification. The rear show not solely swivels out but additionally tilts up and down for overhead or hip-level images. Compared, Nikon’s Z6 III display screen doesn’t tilt, so it’s not as versatile.

As with the S1R II, battery life isn’t a powerful level right here, with solely 360 pictures on a cost or 320 when utilizing the EVF. To be honest, that matches the Z6 III precisely (and Panasonic’s non-stacked S1 II is barely barely higher at 380 pictures), however Canon’s cheaper R6 II has greater than twice the battery life at 760 pictures.

As a way to seize RAW video, the S1 II has a CFexpress Kind B card slot together with a slower SDXC UHS-II slot. Just like the S5 IIx and GH7 (and a number of other Fujifilm fashions), it additionally helps high-bandwidth RAW video seize to an SSD by way of the USB-C port.

The S1 II comes with a full-sized HDMI port that helps Blackmagic and ProRes RAW seize. You additionally get mic and headphone ports, and you may seize 32-bit float audio by way of the elective XLR2 accent to scale back the potential of clipping. Lastly, the S1 II has a carbon fiber curtain that comes down to guard the sensor like current Canon and Sony fashions.

Efficiency

The S1 II can hearth bursts at a pedestrian 10 fps in mechanical shutter mode, however helps an outstanding 70 RAW photos per second with the digital shutter. And for those who’re anxious about skewed photos, don’t fret. Distortion is minimal in digital mode because of the partially-stacked sensor that has a speedy readout velocity of round 12 milliseconds. That’s quick sufficient for sports activities or wildlife images, until the topic strikes very quickly.

Pre-burst seize, which begins while you half-press the shutter, can also be out there on the highest speeds. That permits you to save as much as 1.5 seconds of photographs you may need in any other case missed when you absolutely press the shutter button. The buffer is a bit small, although, so you possibly can solely seize about three seconds (220 pictures) on the 70 fps velocity.

The hybrid phase-detect autofocus is the very best of any Panasonic digicam I’ve examined up to now. Nonetheless, it’s not but as much as Sony and Canon’s requirements for velocity and accuracy, and falls a bit wanting Nikon’s Z6 III. In the event you’re capturing a fast-moving topic on the most burst charge of 70 fps, you may even see quite a lot of out-of-focus photographs.

The S1 II helps a number of AI modes — together with animals, birds and automobiles — on high of human eye-tracking modes. I had blended success with these because the digicam had bother locking onto the eyes of some birds and marine mammals I shot on the Vancouver Aquarium. Nonetheless, it was higher with extra typical animal topics like canines, cats, horses and geese. Panasonic additionally launched an AF mode known as City Sports activities that improves monitoring for breakdancing, skateboarding and parkour. I examined that mode with some skate boarders on the highest burst settings and noticed a excessive share (90-plus) of in-focus pictures.

One space the place Panasonic tops its rivals is stabilization. That’s been boosted to eight stops (barely wanting the R6 II’s eight and a half stops), which allowed me to shoot at shutter speeds right down to a half second and nonetheless get sharp pictures. And as I’ll clarify shortly, the S1 II is peerless in relation to video stabilization.

Picture high quality

I’ve been impressed with Panasonic’s colour science of late, discovering that it matches Nikon in delivering among the most color-accurate photos of any system. By comparability, Canon’s photos skew hotter, and I really feel that Sony fashions just like the A7 IV lack some accuracy, significantly with blue-green colours.

The S1 II delivers pleasing JPEGs with a pleasant steadiness between sharpness and noise discount, although the latter can get overly aggressive at excessive ISO ranges. RAW photos supply loads of element in gentle and darkish areas of the picture, letting you tweak and proper to a effective diploma. Understand that utilizing the digital shutter in burst modes reduces RAW bit depth from 14 to 12.

The draw back of any stacked sensor is extra noise, and the S1 II isn’t any exception. That is most obvious at increased ISO ranges the place the digicam reveals a bit extra grain than Panasonic’s S5, which has the identical decision however isn’t stacked. That mentioned, the S1 II has about the identical low-light prowess because the Z6 III and beats most absolutely stacked cameras.

If the native 24MP decision isn’t sufficient, the S1 II affords a high-resolution mode that captures eight photos with a barely offset sensor place and composes them right into a single 96-megapixel file (both RAW or JPEG). I used to be capable of take sharp photos in that mode with out using a tripod because of the S1 II’s glorious in-body stabilization system.

Video

The S1 II doesn’t shoot 8K RAW just like the 44MP S1R II attributable to its decrease decision. Nonetheless, it does help 5.8K 30 fps ProRes RAW, open gate full sensor video and tremendous slow-mo (4K 120p) — all with far much less rolling shutter distortion. Due to that, I believe this can be a higher digicam total for creators.

After all, the S1 II affords 10-bit video in each MP4 and Quicktime codecs on high of RAW. Panasonic’s V-Log can also be on faucet to spice up dynamic vary, and because of a current firmware replace, you possibly can pay $200 to get ARRI LogC3 to match that firm’s professional digital cinema cameras.

With that very same firmware replace, the S1 II now helps 17 body facet ratios (up from 10), and permits simultaneous show of as much as three frames directly (in contrast to the LogC3 replace, these are free). That can allow you to shoot open gate, as an example, whereas seeing how the picture will look in each vertical and horizontal facet ratios.

Total, video high quality is excellent with sharp oversampling, glorious colour accuracy and first rate dynamic vary. The latter will be elevated utilizing Panasonic’s dynamic vary enhance possibility, though that successfully doubles rolling shutter distortion. With out the setting enabled, skew from rolling shutter is barely a difficulty with whip pans or very fast-moving topics.

Video AF is stable, conserving topics in focus so long as they don’t transfer too shortly. Face, eye, animal, city sports activities and car detection work effectively, although you’ll see a bit extra accuracy and velocity on Canon and Sony’s newest fashions.

The S1 II affords higher video stabilization than its rivals, although. Optical stabilization offers good outcomes for handheld video, whereas digital stabilization (EIS) offers gimbal-like smoothness at the price of a major crop. As with different current Panasonic fashions, the S1 II additionally affords “cropless” EIS that corrects nook distortion when utilizing large lenses, whereas additionally lowering rolling shutter.

Because of a built-in fan, overheating is never a difficulty with the S1 II. The one time I ever noticed an issue was with 5.8K at 60 fps and 5.1K open gate recording, when the digicam shut down after 50 minutes and 40 minutes respectively. That’s nonetheless glorious for a small mirrorless digicam. These limits are eradicated, by the best way, for those who document to an SSD by way of the USB-C port.

Creators might surprise how the S1 II compares to Nikon’s Z6 III. The latter affords extra RAW choices, with the selection of 5.8K Nikon RAW (N-RAW) at as much as 60 fps slightly than simply 30 fps. Each supply related video high quality as they use the identical sensor. The Z6 III has barely higher autofocus, however the S5 II has superior stabilization and dealing with. Lastly, the S1 II has some good professional options like timecode, waveform monitoring and professional audio. I’d say the S1 II is barely higher for video shooters, however the Z6 III is considerably cheaper.

Wrap-up

Panasonic’s S1 II is a strong hybrid digicam, and if it wasn’t so costly, it will be a no brainer for creators. Nonetheless, Nikon’s Z6 III has practically the identical video capabilities, is a greater digicam for images and prices not less than $600 much less, so I’m inclined to suggest that mannequin for many customers.

Another choice at a cheaper price is Panasonic’s new $2,500 S1 IIe, which was introduced concurrently the S1 II. It has the identical physique and largely the identical function set, however makes use of the non-stacked sensor from the S5 II, so rolling shutter is extra of a difficulty.

In the event you favor images, the higher-resolution S1R II is a greater possibility and prices simply $100 extra. Nonetheless, for those who’re a video professional who wants options like time code, ARRI LogC3 and superior monitoring or audio options, the S1 II is a stable alternative. These of us would possibly wish to watch for a sale although.