Panasonic S1H review / hands-on - a true 6K full frame cinema camera

[thephoenix]

9 hours ago, Cliff Totten said:

This all hinges on weather Apple can shoot down RED's internal raw patent. Even Sony had to surrender on the F5, F55 and FS7 as they legally HAD to make an "external" Sony box to do their compressed raw format. I mean, Sony has already explored this RED patent from a legal perspective.

well if it ever happens it will take years before they come to a judgment so i wouldn't count on it in the next 2 years.

raw with the ninja v is great but i am not that sure resolve will handle it it would be a bummer for panasonic

 

[Dave Maze]

My hands on first look and footage vid is live. Love the camera! 

 

 

[ntblowz]

6K have better rolling shutter than 4K?

[New_E]

On 8/27/2019 at 7:03 PM, DBounce said:

I'll wait and see what Sony and Sigma and Red have to offer.  I suspect I'm not the only one here thinking this? I do wish they had surprised us with usable AF and internal ND.

Not convinced by the footage so far. Need to see more. 

Of course you'd find a way to be negative about this. Been putting down these S cameras post after post. Now the S1H will do RAW too courtesy of Atomos! I'm sure you have something negative to say about that too. Oh, and Sony doesn't even offer 10bit internal or external on any of their cameras. Stuck on 8bit no 4K60p! In 2019! LOL

[Simon Young]

2 minutes ago, New_E said:

Of course you'd find a way to be negative about this. Been putting down these S cameras post after post. Now the S1H will do RAW too courtesy of Atomos! I'm sure you have something negative to say about that too. Oh, and Sony doesn't even offer 10bit internal or external on any of their cameras. Stuck on 8bit no 4K60p! In 2019! LOL

Haha, this. The S1 and the Nikon Z6 seem to REALLY bother him.

[DBounce]

So I take it @New_E and @Simon Young have no interest in anything that Sony, Red or Sigma will be offering? 

And Haha, the Z6 doesn't bother me, it's a great camera. I owned the Z6 for awhile. But that said, I don't miss it either. 

As for the Panasonic, it's going to take a lot to convince me to adopt a whole new system. I'm not seeing that so far from Panasonic. Their new cameras are both large and heavy... especially for mirrorless bodies. There is nothing cutting edge about the glass either. And 10 bit 420 is somewhat of the new standard internally these days. 

Does anyone outside of Sony know what the A7S3 will bring? You seem sure it will be 8 bit... somehow, I doubt that will be true. Most of these companies source their sensors from Sony. So when the real innovation comes... it will be Sony who brings it first... that is, assuming you are buying sensors from Sony. Of course Canon makes their own sensors,  so who knows what the 1DXMk3 or EOS R Pro body will have to offer? Whatever they bring, unless they drop the ball completely, I already know I'll be adding one of their new flagships to my collection. I'm hopeful for quad pixel auto-focus. Improved DR.

Sigma, they are the only one of these companies that is actually planning to use their Sony sourced sensor the way it was originally conceived to be used. That is, as a HDR sensor, capturing two ISOs at once, to give true high dynamic range.  It seems that most camera companies have instead decided to merely offer dual native ISOs. I find Sigma's approach very inspiring. I love this feature in my Samsung Note 10 Plus, and my iPhones. It annoys me that my phones have superior dynamic range to my dedicated cameras. The Sigma fp is the first hybrid that I'm aware of that will finally offer this option. So I'm excited to see it in action. 

I'm not sure what the Red Komodo will offer. I, like most know more about what it isn't, than what it is. But we do know it will be the first camera... outside of Canon, that will offer an RF mount. As a Canon system owner, Red scored points by going that route. But almost everything else is up in the air. 

There's just too much going on right now for me to commit to jumping on a new system. I suppose some may not feel the same,  but I want to see all the major offerings before committing to a new system. My current gear works fine, so unless there is something of a breakthrough, I'm not feeling the need to drop $20k-30k on a new setup. I'll wait until the smoke clears and the dust settles.

 

[Stab]

16 hours ago, docmoore said:

No time limit and the ability to write a backup to the dual SD cards seems to be an advantage that might save you at least some embarrassment 

if you have a fail at a wedding. I hear that retakes are not that common for those events.

 

The S1 does support dual recording. It's just that it has one SD port and one XQD port.

[AaronChicago]

On 8/28/2019 at 7:54 AM, zerocool22 said:

Yeah not sure what the best investment is a new Camera or new lens. The atlas orions run 1K cheaper if you still decide to buy one in september though. But I will need to spread the cost over several years, so not sure if its going to be worth it. 

They're very nice. I've used them on a couple of projects now.

[zerocool22]

51 minutes ago, AaronChicago said:

They're very nice. I've used them on a couple of projects now.

I would be only buying the 65mm I think, which one did you prefer? Do you think its worth owning these?

[DBounce]

I'd be lying if I said this looks anything less than great.

 

[docmoore]

2 hours ago, Stab said:

The S1 does support dual recording. It's just that it has one SD port and one XQD port.

My mistake ...  the reviews of the S1H made it sound like the backup recording was not available prior to the two SDII slots .... makes sense that the XQD can keep up with

anything the SDII writes in the S1.

 

Thanks

Bob

[Trankilstef]

1 hour ago, DBounce said:

I'd be lying if I said this looks anything less than great.

 

Yes to me this is the most cinematic piece we have so far shot on the S1H (though the sci fi short is not bad).

[Stab]

It looks great but very soft. Probably didnt use sharp anamorphic lenses.

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the S1 and S1H when shooting 24 fps, 4k, V-log?

Panasonic said that the S1 has the 'full' v-log with 14+ stops as well, right? So that should look pretty much identical I suppose, especially at lower ISO's. Am I missing something?

[thephoenix]

2 hours ago, DBounce said:

I'd be lying if I said this looks anything less than great.

 

the thing is that you can find great footage with barely any camera

[DBounce]

9 minutes ago, thephoenix said:

the thing is that you can find great footage with barely any camera

I disagree, while a great story can make the viewer forget the camera,  turn down the sound and the footage needs to hold up. Many cameras can't help but feel digital. The S1H avoids this. That said, IQ is not really a weak point of any of the S lineup. Their Achilles heel tends to be autofocus. Granted if you are shooting with anamorphic lenses AF is probably not a concern, as anamorphic lenses usually require manual focus. 

[thephoenix]

6 minutes ago, DBounce said:

I disagree, while a great story can make the viewer forget the camera,  turn down the sound and the footage needs to hold up. Many cameras can't help but feel digital. The S1H avoids this. That said, IQ is not really a weak point of any of the S lineup. Their Achilles heel tends to be autofocus. Granted if you are shooting with anamorphic lenses AF is probably not a concern, as anamorphic lenses usually require manual focus. 

don't share that opinion, mostly it is just that grading is badly done. too many think grading is just about using a lut and that's it...

but sure it's all about the story.

[nathlas]

question :  why S1H is using dual SD cards and S1 had to use a XQD card along with SD ? 

S1 needs faster cards ? 

[DBounce]

10 minutes ago, nathlas said:

question :  why S1H is using dual SD cards and S1 had to use a XQD card along with SD ? 

S1 needs faster cards ? 

Poor planning, nothing more. After getting push back from reviewers and consumers they opted to return to SD cards plain and simple.

[Video Hummus]

The S1H has the potential to be a cult Indy favorite. The price will slowly creep down. Panasonic will release firmware to keep it fresh and exciting.

It has the capability to do ProRes Raw for people that want it (with extra cost and build out).

It seems to have a great 6K image with a strong codec to affordable and ubiquitous SD media.

It has IBIS, which is valued more in low budget Indy stuff, that can be locked down when you want to reduce the floating sensor affect.

I suspect it’s capable of more. Just as the GH5 was and the GH4 before it.

[nathlas]

On my opinion indy cinematographers would prefer buy BMPCC6K with 35% less money  and have internal Braw , save the money by avoiding buy new lenses(L mount), would  save the money for external recorder (who wants to use that anyway?) and having lack only of Ibis and still shooting capability.

 

BM "destroyed" all potentional caesars with one move.