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From the reviews seen so far there is everything and nothing. GU tested it in "lab mode" and slaughtered it. He was smart to report the bugs to Pana who fixed them for him via fw updates. Other youtubers reported problems found by GU but they didn't get the updates and didn't even know they existed. So people who look at their reviews think it all sucks. For example, some say AF is not up to par. If you look at Richard Wong's review the AF is perfect and aligned with Sony. He has fw 1.0. he is the only one who tested extensively on animals and cars and there are some smart features. Other youtubers have tried it on real projects or real use cases and there is very little criticism and they speak very highly of it. Moving the camera left and right like crazy and screaming that the RS is terrible or claiming on paper that having only 12 stops without DR is like swearing in church, seems like bullshit to me. The beloved 5DMKII ML had 9 stops of DR and yet everyone was wetting their pants. In short, lab is one thing and reality is another. BTW the same youtubers who now blast the S1RII are the ones who would hate an S1R that we like a lot.

Personally, I don't care about RS anyway so it's a non issue for my way of filming. But some things feel rushed in a way that they made it more complex it needed to be. For example, you can use our dual native ISO but if you want DR Boost you now have new base ISO settings. It feels counter intuitive to calculate small things like that while shooting for a gig. In a way it reminds me of the GH6 when it came out, in which you had to film in 2000 ISO when using with DR Boost on. Then a year later the G9II comes out and its like "dude just set your ISO level and I will boost the DR for you no matter what". And what's with the 120fps tops? Even my old S1 can shoot 180fps in FHD (crappy image but still). However, they finally have no crop up to 4K60, the moire issues of the past are non-existent and the beefy colour rendering (subjective) coming out of the image is more than welcome. I like the fact that they stuffed in every little thing they could, with not much left to be desired. I don't know/care if it's going to make Sony or Canon shooters swap, for me it's a safe upgrade path from the original S1 series.

Which is pretty much what every LUMIX user wanted, not 8k. Even if it’s 8k capable, IMO they should have launched it with up to 6k spec and left everything 8k for the future firmware upgrade. Except they botched yet another release. With the S9, it was that stupid f8 lens. I think 8k at this time is a similar scenario because you want folks talking about what it CAN do. LUMIX has a problem with the number 8.

I think it's clear: if you prefer RS performance over DR and tools, go for the Sony, Canon, or Nikon (and if you don't mind paying significantly more too). I'm sure there will be in-camera workarounds like with the S5ii (shooting in APSC). I'm betting the S1rii will get significant improvements over the next 2 years. Who knows what the final product will be by then. However, Sony, Canon, and Nikon are practically WYSIWYG. To get more features, you'll need to shell out another 3 grand or so after selling the old one.

I think so but as a LUMIX, it has to have a gazillion video options. I get why most manufacturers believe they need to appeal to the broadest base possible, but at the same time, they miss the mark as a result. Personally, if I was Mr LUMIX, I’d offer 2 cameras at the same time and say, this one is the photo one and this one is the video one and both would be able to tread on each others toes a little, but would otherwise be clearly defined. Here though we have folks running 8k 1 hour plus tests and calling something a failure because it overheats. FFS, who needs to record continuously in 8k?

I think people are being a lot more pessimistic than they need to be about this release and Lumix's future in general. As much as I am loathe to admit it, YouTubers are a big part of marketing these days and tons of them either went on the trip to Norway or were sent a camera to review, including prominent Sony, Canon, and Nikon shooters. Virtually all of them made positive videos about it. That's a move in the right direction, as far as marketing goes. The real professionals who did use the camera, including in real professional settings, were all extremely positive and compared it favorably to the competition while marveling at the price. It's a high resolution stills camera with excellent video features. A total 180 from what the original S1R was. Given what folks are saying and anecdotal evidence available, they seem to have things coming down the pipeline. They could be better at conveying that to us for sure, but there are enough hints out there. See: the new monitoring app. As someone that was very doom and gloom about Lumix for a while there and who still sometimes scratches his head about decisions they make, these are all positive steps. It's almost March. There are 9 months left in the year. Lets see what happens.

They need to watch this on YouTube next time.

Can be a good test for CIA recruitment. Look at the chart for only 8 seconds and close your eyes and anwser the question "in which modes 60p 4:2:2 is available?".

Why the hell would you put an OLPF in a photography focused stills camera? Obviously this is geared for photography so is it surprising the video performance isn't what we want for the S1H II ? RS isn’t as big a deal as you seem to make it for the rest of us but whatever. If anything all this does is show me what we might be able to expect from the next model that IS for pro level video.

About sensors...I guess that some brands could develop, or financially pay the development, of some Sony sensors, splitting the costs between the brand and Sony Semiconductor by alowing the sensor (or some variation based on the same "foundation") to be sold to some brands after some time. This was VERY evident with the Sony APS-C 26mp sensor. Sony kept the old 24mp sensor with that horrible rolling shutter for ages in their A6xxx line, and Fujifilm had a 26mp much faster sensor made by Sony. After some years...presto, Sony used a Bayer version with some updates in their A6700 and FX30. The stacked Nikon Z9/Z9 sensor probably is the same case - developed or codeveloped by Nikon, be exclusive for some time, could be available down the line (and maybe Panasonic is waiting for it for a stacked sensor version of this new camera). Maybe even the "mysterious" supplier of the 25mp m4/3 sensor of the G9 II / GH7 is Sony too - but Panasonic have an exclusivity clause for it for some time, and that's why OM had to go to the stacked 20mp sensor (and, in reverse, this 20mp stacked is exclusive to OM for some time).

I think we've disagreed about this in the past and we continue to disagree about it. The camera reliably performs, in that when it overheats, it warns the user and then shuts down. And again, at least in Gerald's 21C basement, that was more than 1 hour of continuous recording in the most taxing mode. He also got it to record for over 4 hours by using an external drive and external power, only shutting it off when it became obvious that it wasn't going to overheat. This doesn't mean that the camera is unreliable - it means that you should understand your gear and its capabilities before bringing it on a shoot. If you need to shoot continuous shots lasting more than an hour, use external power and an external drive. If not, internal battery+storage will probably be fine since the camera will have more time to cool between takes. Anyway. It's not a camera for me since it doesn't do anything better than cameras that I already own and I don't have any L mount glass, but if I were an L mount shooter looking for a decent hybrid camera costing less than the Leica flagship, I think it'd be a no-brainer.

This is one of those instances where it feels like Lumix is damned if they do, damned if they don't. They gave their high resolution stills oriented line a huge video upgrade, holding back very little, and it's still not enough to satisfy a lot of folks. This is a very capable video camera for a camera that is meant for still/hybrid shooters. The only thing that is unacceptable to me, and it's a very big thing, is the overheating.

Indeed. S5iiR would be more logical than S1Rii as it's far closer to an S5ii than the S1R, but hey ho.

He also made a few mistakes regarding certain things such as the C-AF beep cannot be switched off. I highly doubt that. And menus, - no one really likes anyone else's menus and he's a Canon/Sony boi so... He says he is going to make a couple of other videos about a few things but I can tell you the end summary now which is he wouldn't spend his own money on it over a Canon R5ii or a Sony A7anything_recent_or_imminent. They should have asked me to go. I could have had a free S1Rii/S5iiR. Except I don't have a YouTube channel. Or rather I do, but my cat video has yet to go viral.

D'oh! I meant S5. Thanks for the correction. 😅 For sure - make.art.now is a big Ronin 4D user which makes sense for his day job of extremely high-end real-estate videos and the occasional TV interview. I'd keep in mind, though, that this interview which was full of glowing praise for the Ronin 4D was sponsored by DJI themselves. I'm guessing that the camera's use in the film was organic, but as soon as DJI caught wind of it, they offered to throw a pile of money at the DP and Gibson to have them say just how well it worked. Though their experience is, from the 4 shoots where I've used the camera now, very true to my own - a well-thought out camera with good ergonomics (provided you have some way to mitigate the weight!) that comes out of the bag and starts making really nice footage immediately - and one of the only gimbal setups where "I'm swapping lenses" doesn't lead to tears and screams of anguish from the rest of the cast/crew. (Sorry for the topic drift, I just really like mine and I'm not fortunate enough to have DJI paying me a bucket of money to say it)

Or an S5 (mk1 or mk2) This was a very interesting interview about the Ronin 4D I just watched tonight:

Yes. But that is running against the fundamental design principle of this camera - minimalism. After all, anyone who wants/needs EVF, internal ND, IBIS etc etc isn't short of choice. That need is already met. This camera is very clearly intended as a niche product for a design-aware type of audience. It is (far too) expensive for the feature set. It is unique at the price. Choose one. (Personally, I'm totally fed up with myriads of too-small-to-use buttons and seemingly infinite layers of menus... so definitely the second option for me).

The review I linked above has a lot of comparisons with S5II, A7CR and for IBIS even Z6III

See the Manny Ortiz review, he loved he shutter sound, heheheh

Regarding the flickering issue: https://youtu.be/97RscAXJfYE

IMHO Best overall review so far, very long but you can jump the desired chapter:

It does have active cooling (AFAIK the same system as used on the S5 ii). But it's having to deal with a lot more heat due to almost 2x the data rates if reading the full sensor area (compared to the S5 ii), and 8K video is 4x the pixels per frame vs. 4K video so the processing and encoding pipeline is working much harder. Based on the review comments and RS results, the less-than-8k video is oversampled from 8k capture, so probably great quality but a lot of heat to deal with (and short battery life).

As I predicted, its CPU must be ancient. But maybe the number of masked AF pixels is lower than Sony/Nikon so line skipping reduces the phase data to the point that is practically useless.

TBH I think overheating performance (let alone DR + low light) and price under $2.9K (€2.762 from my supplier) without VAT (for professionals, not consumers) for such small form factor (under 800gr!) are both a must : ) How come not having an active cooling system along with? Or a cheap semiconductor route instead, as Andrew mentions? 60p up to 5.8K is the price to pay for? Other than that, imagerie coming out from such features combo like IBIS + their same hybrid AF, once more this time for a 2nd round and turn to follow the S5 II, look like pretty hard to resist and stellar to me... I'll probably see myself to bite : P Who not, sooner or later? : X https://petapixel.com/2025/02/25/panasonic-s1r-ii-first-look-the-ultimate-hybrid/ PS: Something I guess I like to see going with them... they usually try to bring some cherry to the top, most of their tradition is that, more than any other brand except Blackmagic IMO who tend not to leave any rabbit out of their hat for next time, hence my hat. Their newer is their best can certainly be a good motto. I am sick of a few minutes before overheating, when it's supposed a professional use even being a hybrid one, no excuse, it's not a smartphone! You can go and burn in hell, shame on them, Canon and Nikon... They play games on us... Makes little to no sense to my book to say the least :- )

In the new firmware update they claim noise in NLOG is reduced. I wonder its an error fix in the pipeline or just a subtle NR applied.

Currently watching Hugh Brownstone's video. He isn't someone I'd consider a shill at all. He seems very excited about it. He's very thoughtful. Says it compares well to the A7RV.

Vistek used it on a real shoot, using it both for photo and video. Has a lot of good things to say and actually put it through it's paces.

I consider The Hybrid Shooter to be unbiased and he is very happy with the camera. He is, though, what his name suggests: a hybrid shooter, so this is kind of a camera made for him.

I'm not too bothered about 8K overheating, because has anybody tested overheating in 4K or 6K modes? As if the S1RII is rock solid in those modes, at least you then have an option which works for the types of shoots where you need rock solid reliability. Yeah people might have unreasonable expectations; simply because Panasonic has been so good in the past they've set expectations for Panasonic very high. Does there even exist an 8K hybrid camera that can shoot 8K without overheating?? That's a good way to look at the value of the S1RII Am glad it supports the DMW-XLR2 audio interface. Tromsø isn't a cheap place to be living in either, if you're going to be covering people's costs to visit.

Nice! I just however got offered a great deal on a 10 inch SDI monitor for only NZ$250 (US$143), so I'll be going for that instead of Viltrox DC-X3

The great low light performance lends some credibility to the idea that it's using the same sensor as (or a very similar sensor to) the Ronin 4D. I don't have an FX3 to test against, but some reviewers had said that the 6K performed better or similar to the FX3 and the 8K seems even cleaner. If it's the same sensor (or a variation of it), that might be a reason that people would opt for the S1R II. The image from the Ronin 4D 8K is really nice.

If I had to guess, it's "try to stop the few photographers who are using Panasonic from jumping ship." At this point, almost nobody who is starting out is going to opt for Panasonic, other than as a value option - and those people are way more likely to go S1 than S1R II. Though even for those photographers, I'm not sure that about the same number of megapixels and vaguely similar IQ, but nicer (but confusing) video is really a "spend $3,000" sort of thing. So I guess I'm talking myself out of thinking that this is a good answer to that question.

14bit sensor mode 31ms 8K rolling shutter. 12bit sensor mode 24ms 8K rolling shutter. The year is 2025. Canon solved this problem in 2020 (R5) and Sony in 2021 (a1), also Nikon too. So we now have to assume Panasonic have retreated from the cutting edge or at least are giving the impression that their cameras are underperforming relative to the competition. This is a flagship camera and it should really be better. We also now have the partially stacked Z6 III with the very fast readout speeds. On the overheating side, that's another sign Panasonic have cheaped-out with the less-than cutting edge semiconductor tech inside. That said, the price is $3000 not $4000 or $6000, right? But then again... what is the fucking point of this camera. Is it to make mainstream working pros swoon and dump their Sony a1 or Nikon Z8 and move over to L-mount at the cost of $20k in lenses and a new camera? Does Panasonic think this is realistic? I don't. So is the point to make a truly unique "artisan" tool aka Sigma and Leica to capture a niche with a high margin to justify lower volume sales? No, because then the S1R II wouldn't look like a fucking dumpling or some sort of office tool would it? So I think it will struggle to attract either a niche customer or a mainstream one, and might even struggle to attract Panasonic's existing customers like me. I am really lukewarm on it!

I don't know which settings CVP used for that shot, but if they weren't using DR extended mode, the 25 ms 16:9 FF mode is not far off from the S5II's 22ms. Now I've said many times in the past that rolling shutter is the only part of the S5's image that I dislike, so I'm totally with you in absolute terms, and I personally am willing to pay more to get faster readout. So yeah I think for me personally, I'd be willing to pay more for a stacked sensor competitor, but many people are happy with the S5II or even A7IV, so all in all it's not terrible, if you view the extended DR as a specialty tool rather than the default. That's my opinion anyway.

If you're talking about Gerald's review, he said "An hour and 18 minutes." (about 18:30 in the video)

I agree. It's a tool, it's a piece of design engineering and like all designs it's full of compromises necessary to get a product 'out the door' to meet a price target and make enough profit to make it financially worthwhile. Panasonic are basically in the mid-price, good value area of the market, so compromising on the sensor speed (of a hybrid targeted camera) to meet a lower price point than an R5 ii or Z8 seems reasonable to me. In any case the Z8/Z9 sensor might not be available to them, and the R5 ii sensor probably definitely not. It's a mid-range highish-res camera, not a high-end one. It's launch price is $400 cheaper in cash terms than the S1r was at launch in 2019, which means if you allow for US inflation of 26% over that time it's about 40% cheaper in real terms than the OG S1r - with much better video and AF performance, in a smaller and lighter body.

If we look at S1R II as a photo camera with some advanced video features, then yes it is good. I would choose it over Sony A7R V. As a hybrid camera that can do both video and photo well it is not at Nikon Z8 and Canon R5 II level as those two have lower rolling shutter. Nikon Z8 price is the same, Canon R5 II is more expensive. S1R II rolling shutter at 6K and 4K 24p/30p is 23ms. Compared to S5 II (21ms) it is basically the same. Not interested in 8K. I am disappointed because was expecting similar to latest Canon and Nikon rolling shutter performance, sensor with faster readout times and improvement over the previous generation. Being also more at the video side I am not sure that 4K 60p and 120P are enough for upgrade. Maybe later when price goes down. I am beginning to realize that at this point in time only Canon and Sony as sensor producers are safe bet in the long run. Gerald Undone mentioned that Panasonic should consider giving as an option a line skipped version for 6K and 4K 24p/30p in order to improve rolling shutter performance. Line skipped 6K on a 4K timeline may look good. 4K 120p already does the like skipping apparently. We don't know what are the reasons for Panasonic to choose this sensor. I've heard before that Panasonic may not have access to all sensors Sony semiconductors produces. S1R II has a lot of nice features lets hope sales will be good. There is a more positive balanced review from Media Division. On at least one 8K and mostly static shots I already can see rolling shutter effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4_oyevhTc8

To reference my earlier post, I think that should have happened with the S5X. Along with the differences it has, it should have had 4k 50p FF and the pro 3-way LCD.

Hmm, it looks like a good camera for a photo first video second pro. I'm the other way around. I really wish they had differentiated the S5X from the S5mk2 by having that 3-way LCD screen and 4k 50p with no crop. That would have made a lot of sense.

I've only seen over heating in 8K running non-stop for an hour. Has it appeared elsewhere? I'm not sure if there are other cameras that can even manage that?

It's really interesting to me that he and others have mentioned that they think it's the same sensor as the Ronin 4D 8K, but that camera has only 16ms readout in 8K with DRE off and 32ms with it on... so maybe it's a variant of that sensor? Otherwise, the video modes are bit bewildering and confusing. Good on Panasonic for making so many of them, but I think the average buyer is going to go crazy with all of the asterisks. "So the camera can record in 8K?" "Yes." "So I'll plug in my external drive and start recording?" "Well, sort of. You'll need to use external power for that." "So I need external power to record in 8K?" "No, just to an external drive. With CF Express, you can do it in-camera." "OK, great. So I put in my CFE card and I'll just go start shooting 8K ProRes RAW." "Well, no. If you want raw, that needs to be 5.8K and with an APS-C crop." "Uhhh, how much was that Z8 again?" Meanwhile, the EOS R5, released almost 5 years ago, is over here happily recording 8K raw internally to CFE without a crop. And yes, overheating and without open gate and about 18 other things that the S1R II can do... but c'mon, Panasonic, a camera released in 2025 should have a battery that's powerful enough to allow recording to an external drive in full quality and if you're advertising internal raw, it should be at full resolution, just like what the competition are shipping, and have been shipping for several years. Is it cheaper than the competition? I suppose that depends. Compared to the Z8 and R5 II? Sure. Compared to a used R5? Well, no. Anyway, as for the RS and the overheating, they both seem to be a molehill that people are making into a mountain. Is 24ms great? No. Is it fine for most people? Yeah, pretty much. Is it bad for a camera to overheat after more than an hour in its most taxing internal recording mode? If you need to routinely run 2-hour interviews with a single take, yes, then it is not the camera for you. If you are pausing even for a minute or two between takes, will you overheat? I guess that remains to be seen, but I'm guessing no.

I think that pretty much agree. I also agree with Gerald Undone's comment that it should have a general no-oversampling/low rolling shutter option in addition to the normal/extended DR switch. The (line-skipped) 4k120p is around 8ms RS, so we know it's possible, albeit with less DR and less sharpness etc. But at the price (which will fall to sub-$3000 probably fairly quickly), it seems like a lot of camera for the money. If you want 8k video with much lower RS, go buy a more expensive camera...

8k is so overkill. When shooting raw, 8k eats too much storage. Best news of this camera is no crop 60fps 4k! Finally panasonic has done it. But I wont upgrade from s5ii zs qi dont see the need. The footage doesnt seem that much better vs the s5ii.

Ed Prosser has the best video-focused review I've seen thus far

Colors and skintones look better than the s5ii and seem closer to the first gen S models. Less magenta bias too. This is a big one for me. I like the new A2 profile, too. Despite the higher MP drawbacks we all predicted, I'm looking beyond: the supposed video-oriented camera on the way just may be the one. Last thing I'm looking to see is if the compressed recording options are plagued with the same processing issues as the s5ii.

Overheating with active cooling system is a milestone. 37 milliseconds RS is another.

I see, Thank you so much for your thoughts

Quick first impressions of the Viltrox DC-X3 Very nice build quality! Lot's of accessoires included. The NPF battery sits a bit loosely, not that it will detach, but when shaking the monitor the battery will rattle a bit. Probably not with every DC-X3. (And of course simple fixes for this) Scrolled through the menu a few seconds, screen seems nice and bright. Wondering however if my unit is really the amount of nits that it claims to be. The amount of guidelines for aspect ratio's seems very limiting? Just a few options, and no custom option if I'm not mistaken. Will look further into this when I have more time.

Lumix releases a camera without EVF, hot shoe and mech shutter for 1.5K = "crippled". Sigma releases a camera with the above shortages plus the lack of IBIS, SD, etc for 2K = "innovative". A real example of it's not what you sell, it's how you sell it.

Never mind no; grip, IBIS, second card slots, 4k 60p and all that, this one doesn't even allow for any kind of video or photo capture but simply has a voice recording device so you can describe the scene or quote poetry.