Panasonic Lumix S1 II in-depth review

What is the Panasonic Lumix S1 II and who is it for?

Panasonic has thrived on its reputation for video innovation in mirrorless cameras. Its GH series Micro Four Thirds cameras were the first to show mirrorless’s capabilities for filmmaking. For many content creators, the Lumix badge became synonymous with advanced moviemaking tools. 

But for stills photographers, there’s always been a sense that the cameras weren’t quite perfect. Old-school contrast detection AF, frame rates that felt a step behind and sensors that weren’t stacked made them a less compelling buy.

The new Lumix S1 II changes all that. It’s the first truly convincing full-frame flagship from Panasonic. It’s not just for filmmakers, but also for photographers who want speed, image quality and reliability. With a new partially stacked sensor, vastly improved autofocus and a resolution of 24.1 megapixels, the S1 II finally brings stills performance up to the same high level as its class-leading video features. And it adds some other truly tasty features too.

Panasonic Lumix S1 II sensor

At the heart of the new Lumix S1 II is Panasonic’s first partially stacked, back-side illuminated CMOS sensor. It might not carry the cachet of a fully stacked design, but the difference compared to the older Lumix S5 II is huge. Readout speeds are more than twice as fast. Rolling shutter artefacts are massively reduced. And, vitally, you get blackout-free high-speed bursts.

The S1 II can shoot photos at a blistering 70fps with the electronic shutter or 10fps mechanically. Buffer limits mean the fastest modes are best used sparingly. Even so, puts it in the same conversation as Sony’s A9 III. For sports and action shooters this speedy new camera now deserves some serious consideration.

It’s also curious that Panasonic doesn’t offer more mid-range burst speeds. You can shoot at 10fps or leap all the way up to 70fps, but there’s nothing in between. Nonetheless, future firmware updates might address this.

Panasonic Lumix S1 II resolution

For more deliberate subjects, Panasonic also offers a 96-megapixel, multi-shot, high-resolution mode. By shifting the sensor one pixel at a time and combining four frames, you can generate files with extraordinary detail. This is great for landscapes, still life and product photography. Cleverly, the camera can even detect moving areas in the scene and substitute single-frame data, to avoid ghosting.

Resolution isn’t everything, and Panasonic has opted for balance. At a relatively modest 24.1 megapixels, the S1 II delivers detailed, flexible files without the penalties of massive data loads or high-ISO compromises. Dynamic range is excellent, with plenty of latitude in the Raw files, and colour rendering is rich but natural.

Low-light performance is another strong suit for the S1 II. Thanks to the included dual native ISO technology, still images are clean and usable right up through ISO 6400 and beyond. Meanwhile, lower ISO settings reveal exceptional detail levels. Panasonic’s new Venus Engine processor does a superb job of controlling noise while keeping textures intact.

JPEGs are attractive and punchy straight out of camera, with a choice of looks and the ability to load custom LUTs if you want to fine-tune. But it’s the Raws that really impress, holding together beautifully in post-processing. For stills shooters, this camera delivers in almost any lighting conditions.

Panasonic Lumix S1 II autofocus

One of the biggest complaints about the earlier Lumix S1 bodies was their reliance on contrast-based AF. This dependence felt hesitant next to phase detection systems from Sony, Canon and Nikon. But now that problem has finally been consigned to history.

The new autofocus system, which was debuted on the S5 range, combines phase detection AF with Panasonic’s proven contrast-based algorithms. There are 779 selectable AF points that cover most of the frame, and the subject recognition has been trained on everything from people and pets to cars, planes and even urban sports such as skateboarding.

In real-world use, focus acquisition is snappy and tracking is reliable. While Sony and Canon might have a fraction of an edge in the fastest, most erratic action, Panasonic has closed the gap. For portraits, street and general purpose work, the AF is fast, confident and accurate.

Beyond speed and image quality, Panasonic has baked in a host of other clever touches for photographers – such as pre-burst shooting that can capture up to 1.5 seconds of action before you press the shutter, ideal for unpredictable subjects.

Panasonic Lumix S1 II design and handling

Physically, the S1 II borrows much from its sibling, the recently released S1R II, which offers 47-megapixel resolution at the expense of speed and video spec. 

The new S1 range shares a rugged magnesium alloy body, full weather sealing and controls that feel solid and purposeful. At 718g body only, it’s not the lightest in its class. Nevertheless, the grip
is deep and comfortable, and the layout is logical.

The 5.76-million-dot OLED viewfinder is excellent – it’s crisp, bright and responsive – and the fully articulating rear LCD makes composing at awkward angles simple. Tally lamps on the front and back are a nice touch for video.

Battery life is rated at around 370 stills or over two hours of continuous 4K/60p video. That’s adequate, rather than class-leading. But USB-C charging and power delivery support mean you can keep shooting all day with a power bank. And a cooling fan prevents the camera from overheating.

While Panasonic’s menus are deep, they allow a great degree of customisation, so you can set up the camera exactly as you like. But you’ll definitely want to set a good few hours aside to go through every option.

Panasonic Lumix S1 II video

Video capabilities remain a hallmark of Lumix, and the S1 II pushes higher. It can shoot 6K/30p open gate across the full sensor, 4K up to 120p with a small crop and even 1080p up to 240fps.

It supports internal ProRes and ProRes Raw recording to CFexpress Type B cards, external SSD recording via USB-C and offers a dizzying array of gamma options, including V-Log and even Arri LogC3 via a paid firmware update (£179). For hybrid shooters, that means broadcast-quality video in the same body you rely on for stills.

Footage shot in Arri LogC3 can easily be converted to your choice of looks from the Arri library, which has more than 80 high-quality styles. Sadly, the Arri setting is for video only, and not for stills.

Panasonic has also introduced Dynamic Range Boost, which can push usable V-Log dynamic range to 15 stops. Unfortunately, this is at the cost of a slower readout and visibly more rolling shutter. Filmmakers can choose DR Boost On for latitude in static or slow-moving scenes, or Off for action with tighter readout times. However, DR Boost doesn’t work for high frame rates and does raise the ISO to 1000, so you’ll need some ND in most cases.

The Lumix has a dual native ISO sensor that really comes into play when Boost is switched to on. Essentially, it reads the sensor twice – one reading from the high gain circuit and one from the low – then combines them into HDR footage. This is what slows down the readout. The two native ISO settings change according to which codec and gamma are used too.

They really do work, with the lower setting bringing greater detail and colour, while the higher setting nicely reduces noise. 

The result is that video is flawless at low ISO settings, very clean up to ISO 3200 and decent higher than that. It’s a great sensor and has a lot in common with Nikon’s Z 6III partially stacked sensor, with a higher video spec.

What makes the S1 II stand out for filmmakers are things like its 6K/30p open gate recording, which captures the entire sensor area – great when reframing and for vertical workflows.

The latest firmware adds multiple frame guides at once. This means you can frame with a clear view to what a vertical or horizontal crop will look like in post. For content creators who might need to produce both versions for social media, this is great.

As well as the 4K/120p with the 1.24x crop, in 5.7K you get up to 60p with full sensor width capture. Or try 4K or C4K downsampled for up to 60p in amazing quality. Meanwhile, 1080p in 240fps gives super slow-motion, and audio is captured too.

Internal codec choices include All-Intra, Long GOP, Apple ProRes and ProRes Raw recording up to 4.2Gbps via its CFexpress Type B card slot. The second slot is SD only, which is simply not quick enough to handle this. 

As the footage can be written to an external SSD via USB, Panasonic is the first to introduce a great new feature: if you have recorded onto the CFexpress card, then you can plug in an SSD via USB-C and copy all the data to it without a laptop. It’s not particularly fast, but the ability to make instant backups in the field with no laptop is simply brilliant.

Second opinion by John Owen

As a professional image maker, I juggle stills photography with video nowadays. As a confirmed Nikon DSLR shooter, I made a partial switch to Sony mirrorless, but since Nikon’s Z 8 came out, I’ve gone back to my favourite brand. So, although I have experience with Sony and Nikon, I’ve never used any camera from Panasonic.

I tried the S1 II alongside my Nikons on several professional shoots over a week, and that was after spending a day walking around and shooting with the Lumix to get used to it. When I first started, I’d somehow set the camera to 96-megapixel multi mode, so had some head-scratching moments, but a sit down and a proper look at the menus had it all sorted. I have to admit that I’m not usually one for working through menus on any camera – I just shoot until I encounter a problem!

Once I got the hang of the Panasonic and the two lenses I used with it – the new Lumix S 24-60mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 – I took it on its first real job: a corporate event shooting stills only. There was to be a band on for entertainment, and one of the singers was Robert Plant! It was all low-light work and I used AF tracking with auto detection, which worked perfectly. The shots turned out excellently – low noise, great colours and the IBIS was amazing. Sadly, I couldn’t get permission to release the photos to Photography News.

The next day was another corporate shoot with some outdoor interviews. I used the Lumix for some stills but mostly as the main camera for video, armed with an Atomos monitor-recorder, a DJI Mic 2 and plugged into a USB-C power bank. The results are fantastic and very natural. I’d heard how good Panasonics are for video; now I’m a believer.

I was so impressed with the results that I used the same set-up in a commercial fitness shoot indoors a couple of days later, lit with some LED lights.

It was a simply stunning camera, and the results – for stills and video – are very impressive. If I didn’t already have so much invested in my Nikon kit and have amazing help from Nikon Pro Service to keep my kit running smoothly, I would certainly be interested in exploring a full Panasonic Lumix set-up in future.

Conclusion

This new Lumix has some truly great technology, such as the eight-stop IBIS, which now extends to video stabilisation even in 4K/60p. This allows very stable handheld shooting, especially when using Boost IS mode. 

The camera also supports ‘cropless’ stabilisation, which cleverly uses the pixels at the edge of the sensor to be used for super-stable footage with no crop.

However, no camera is perfect, and the S1 II does have its quirks. The autofocus, while much improved, still isn’t quite as foolproof as some. The subject tracking is less intuitive than on some rival cameras, due to its slightly convoluted method of engaging the tap-to-focus.

The buffer depths could be better given the high burst rates for stills. Plus, the lack of frame rate options between 10fps and 70fps is a pain. And, of course, the L-Mount does mean that there aren’t loads of full-frame shooters with a bagful of lenses to fit. 

But none of these take away from the fact that the Lumix is a truly great camera for stills or video. It might have taken some time, but Panasonic’s flagship moment is here.