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

[Zak Forsman]

Seems people like pairing their S1H with Leica-R lenses... and I'm one of them! I'm shooting a short doc on my brother about his comic book, "I Am Not Okay With This", as it's currently being adapted into a series for Netflix. This will be the second time he's had a comic book adapted into a series. The first was "The End of the F*cking World" which did well, however, he told me that people would see him signing copies of the original comic at cons, and accuse him of "ripping off the show". So this time, i wanted to help raise his profile a bit when "I Am Not Okay With This" is released, and it gives me something to flex my creative muscles on. Anyway, some sample stills... Panasonic S1H, Leica Summicron-R 35mm, 50mm, & 90mm. Not a final grade -- just wanted to get some images out.

[Lux Shots]

Here is a video shot to really push the hell out of the grade and stress the 200Mbps H265 codec. Shot in 5.9K encoded at 50Mbps with 150Mbps Mbps maximum.

 

[thebrothersthre3]

9 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

Seems people like pairing their S1H with Leica-R lenses... and I'm one of them! I'm shooting a short doc on my brother about his comic book, "I Am Not Okay With This", as it's currently being adapted into a series for Netflix. This will be the second time he's had a comic book adapted into a series. The first was "The End of the F*cking World" which did well, however, he told me that people would see him signing copies of the original comic at cons, and accuse him of "ripping off the show". So this time, i wanted to help raise his profile a bit when "I Am Not Okay With This" is released, and it gives me something to flex my creative muscles on. Anyway, some sample stills... Panasonic S1H, Leica Summicron-R 35mm, 50mm, & 90mm. Not a final grade -- just wanted to get some images out.

 

That is really awesome dude! What did he think of the netflix adaption of his material. That top frame is btw

 

6 minutes ago, Lux Shots said:

Here is a video shot to really push the hell out of the grade and stress the 200Mbps H265 codec. Shot in 5.9K encoded at 50Mbps with 150Mbps Mbps maximum.

 

How do you think it did?

[mercer]

8 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

That top frame is btw

Yeah, that really is a great image @Zak Forsman !!! Images like that make me question if I really NEED raw video.

[Lux Shots]

4 minutes ago, mercer said:

Yeah, that really is a great image @Zak Forsman !!! Images like that make me question if I really NEED raw video.

When I hear comments like this, makes me think this camera will have legs for a very long time!

[mercer]

1 hour ago, Lux Shots said:

When I hear comments like this, makes me think this camera will have legs for a very long time!

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather shoot raw because I am a lazy shooter and I love the wiggle room that raw video affords, but as far as IQ goes... the S1H is my dream camera right now. Of course, being a lazy shooter... the IBIS makes it even more appealing.

With that said, I see no reason why the S1H wouldn't be a 5 year workhorse camera. The GH5 is almost 3 years old and that camera has, at least, a couple more good years left before it NEEDS an upgrade...

When the S1H's price drops a little next year, I may buy one and in all honesty... for some of the short films I've been writing... I'll probably shoot them in 1080p... lol. 

Btw, how is the 1080p on the S1H? And also doesn't it have a 3K anamorphic mode... is that 4:3? That could be the perfect mode for a clean 2K downscale/delivery for my shorts.

[Video Hummus]

12 hours ago, mercer said:

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather shoot raw because I am a lazy shooter and I love the wiggle room that raw video affords, but as far as IQ goes... the S1H is my dream camera right now. Of course, being a lazy shooter... the IBIS makes it even more appealing.

With that said, I see no reason why the S1H wouldn't be a 5 year workhorse camera. The GH5 is almost 3 years old and that camera has, at least, a couple more good years left before it NEEDS an upgrade...

When the S1H's price drops a little next year, I may buy one and in all honesty... for some of the short films I've been writing... I'll probably shoot them in 1080p... lol. 

Btw, how is the 1080p on the S1H? And also doesn't it have a 3K anamorphic mode... is that 4:3? That could be the perfect mode for a clean 2K downscale/delivery for my shorts.

I’m also more and more impressed with the S1H. It has the balance between dynamic range, IBIS, internal recording options, and price. It has the tilt and angle screen...

It’s clear from the images above, with a nice set of vintage lenses and some shooting skill you can achieve some very nice footage.

I will probably end up getting one after my skills catch up with the price tag. 

[kye]

On 12/29/2019 at 9:33 PM, Zak Forsman said:

Seems people like pairing their S1H with Leica-R lenses... and I'm one of them! I'm shooting a short doc on my brother about his comic book, "I Am Not Okay With This", as it's currently being adapted into a series for Netflix. This will be the second time he's had a comic book adapted into a series. The first was "The End of the F*cking World" which did well, however, he told me that people would see him signing copies of the original comic at cons, and accuse him of "ripping off the show". So this time, i wanted to help raise his profile a bit when "I Am Not Okay With This" is released, and it gives me something to flex my creative muscles on. Anyway, some sample stills... Panasonic S1H, Leica Summicron-R 35mm, 50mm, & 90mm. Not a final grade -- just wanted to get some images out.

Great looking stills.  Nice work!

Awesome to hear that your brother was behind FEOTFW, that was one of the shows I binge watched when I first saw it - it was just a bit different to the normal narrative tropes and cookie-cutter plot lines.

There seems to be a ground-swell of comic adaptations to TV/Cinema so your brother may have many shows in his future.

While i’m not a huge fan of the medium, I think that comic books have a huge untapped potential in terms of narrative innovation.  Hollywood has only had the ability to create worlds that don’t function like our own (eg, aliens, outer space, different laws of physics, etc) for a few decades, but comics have had full creative control since the first cave paintings were made thousands of years ago, and so the plot-lines are much more creative.  They are also much more mature, instead of having a world like ours but with one twist (like including the afterlife and ghosts for example) instead you get a rich world where that twist has been fully integrated and all the ripples and implications are also present.

Lots of potential there I believe!

[Lux Shots]

On 12/29/2019 at 7:25 PM, mercer said:

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather shoot raw because I am a lazy shooter and I love the wiggle room that raw video affords, but as far as IQ goes... the S1H is my dream camera right now. Of course, being a lazy shooter... the IBIS makes it even more appealing.

With that said, I see no reason why the S1H wouldn't be a 5 year workhorse camera. The GH5 is almost 3 years old and that camera has, at least, a couple more good years left before it NEEDS an upgrade...

When the S1H's price drops a little next year, I may buy one and in all honesty... for some of the short films I've been writing... I'll probably shoot them in 1080p... lol. 

Btw, how is the 1080p on the S1H? And also doesn't it have a 3K anamorphic mode... is that 4:3? That could be the perfect mode for a clean 2K downscale/delivery for my shorts.

I have never shot a thing with the 1080p, even though I have a custom setting set to the 1080p 120hz HFR mode with audio and autofocus! ?

[crevice]

On 12/29/2019 at 5:33 AM, Zak Forsman said:

Seems people like pairing their S1H with Leica-R lenses... and I'm one of them! I'm shooting a short doc on my brother about his comic book, "I Am Not Okay With This", as it's currently being adapted into a series for Netflix. This will be the second time he's had a comic book adapted into a series. The first was "The End of the F*cking World" which did well, however, he told me that people would see him signing copies of the original comic at cons, and accuse him of "ripping off the show". So this time, i wanted to help raise his profile a bit when "I Am Not Okay With This" is released, and it gives me something to flex my creative muscles on. Anyway, some sample stills... Panasonic S1H, Leica Summicron-R 35mm, 50mm, & 90mm. Not a final grade -- just wanted to get some images out.

I just purchased the 35mm and 50mm summicron. Looking to get the 90mm next. My serial numbers aren’t all in the same years - are yours all close in years and if not, have you noticed a shift in colors, etc?

[Zak Forsman]

3 hours ago, crevice said:

I just purchased the 35mm and 50mm summicron. Looking to get the 90mm next. My serial numbers aren’t all in the same years - are yours all close in years and if not, have you noticed a shift in colors, etc?

my serials are all pretty close. but I wouldn't worry to much about color. any difference, if there even is one, is going to be a minor shift that's easy to account for in post.

On 12/29/2019 at 4:25 PM, mercer said:

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather shoot raw because I am a lazy shooter and I love the wiggle room that raw video affords, but as far as IQ goes... the S1H is my dream camera right now. Of course, being a lazy shooter... the IBIS makes it even more appealing.

This is my first camera with IBIS and it takes getting used to. When using manual lenses you have to remember to set IBIS for the correct focal length and I've managed to bungle that a few times already. I also learned (the hard way a few months ago) that IBIS is not something you want to use with an 18mm lens. Ruined more than half of my footage. Now, what I'm liking about the IBIS is that it doesn't feel like stabilization (unless you screw up the settings). It almost feels like the type of handheld camerawork you get with a nice heavy 20lbs+ cinema camera rig.

On 12/29/2019 at 2:58 PM, thebrothersthre3 said:

That is really awesome dude! What did he think of the netflix adaption of his material. That top frame is btw

Oh he was really happy with it. But he has a healthy approach to it. He sees it as a separate work of art and encouraged them to make it their own and to not feel beholden to make a straight adaptation. That being said, it's pretty damn faithful. Some shots are basically live-action recreations of his panels. I was surprised just how faithful they were.

[mercer]

11 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

Now, what I'm liking about the IBIS is that it doesn't feel like stabilization (unless you screw up the settings). It almost feels like the type of handheld camerawork you get with a nice heavy 20lbs+ cinema camera rig.

I've had a couple crop sensor cameras with IBIS and in conjunction with a taut strap, it feels like solid handheld. If you have really still hands, widish angle lenses can fell like they're static tripod shots.

My issue is that now that I've shot FF, I don't know if I can go back to a crop sensor. 

I'm in the middle of a few projects right now, so I really can't switch systems, but with the quality you're getting, the S1H is on my radar when I'm ready for an upgrade.

How does the S1H compare to the FF Z-Cam?

[billdoubleu]

20 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

I also learned (the hard way a few months ago) that IBIS is not something you want to use with an 18mm lens.

Care to elaborate on this statement?

[kye]

1 hour ago, billdoubleu said:

Care to elaborate on this statement?

I can't speak for Zak, but wide angle lenses have significant stretching on the edges/corners and when combined with IBIS (and potentially other kinds of stabilisation) it gives the edges a strange kind of warping effect, kind of like the jelly effects of rolling-shutter but in a different way.  Depending on the motion involved it can look very very strange, and if you're doing pro work then it can absolutely ruin shots.

[Zak Forsman]

16 hours ago, kye said:

I can't speak for Zak, but wide angle lenses have significant stretching on the edges/corners and when combined with IBIS (and potentially other kinds of stabilisation) it gives the edges a strange kind of warping effect, kind of like the jelly effects of rolling-shutter but in a different way.  Depending on the motion involved it can look very very strange, and if you're doing pro work then it can absolutely ruin shots.

yep, this.

On 12/31/2019 at 12:13 PM, mercer said:

How does the S1H compare to the FF Z-Cam?

They are both fantastic. I love shooting full frame *and* having the option to switch over to a S35 crop anytime i need to. The S1H I reserve for run and gun doc work, behind the scenes on movie sets, travel or anytime I want a light setup. I'm also thinking of selling my EVA1 and buying a second S1H (or S1) for perfectly matching A-Cam / B-Cam interviews. Z-Cam F6 packs in much higher framerates, ProRes, swappable mounts: EF/PL with E and M coming soon, and its anamorphic mode uses the full height of the sensor. I'd choose it over the S1H for narrative shorts/features, or more "produced" doc work.

I fully intended to sell one or the other after auditioning both, but I love their individual strengths too much to let either go.

[billdoubleu]

On 1/1/2020 at 2:11 AM, kye said:

I can't speak for Zak, but wide angle lenses have significant stretching on the edges/corners and when combined with IBIS (and potentially other kinds of stabilisation) it gives the edges a strange kind of warping effect, kind of like the jelly effects of rolling-shutter but in a different way.  Depending on the motion involved it can look very very strange, and if you're doing pro work then it can absolutely ruin shots.

I see, the barrel distortion of the lens is the culprit.

Is this mostly due to the sensor reaching the outer limits of the image circle? For instance, would the same lens on a smaller sensor exhibit the same behavior? Or, would a wide lens that was actually designed for the specific use case of a full frame sensor with IBIS help minimize these characteristics?

I haven't noticed the problem while using my SLR Magic 8mm with IBIS on the G85/ GX85. I would think that lens was designed for a slightly larger sensor, as most SLR Magic lenses seem to be.

[kye]

13 hours ago, billdoubleu said:

I see, the barrel distortion of the lens is the culprit.

Is this mostly due to the sensor reaching the outer limits of the image circle? For instance, would the same lens on a smaller sensor exhibit the same behavior? Or, would a wide lens that was actually designed for the specific use case of a full frame sensor with IBIS help minimize these characteristics?

I haven't noticed the problem while using my SLR Magic 8mm with IBIS on the G85/ GX85. I would think that lens was designed for a slightly larger sensor, as most SLR Magic lenses seem to be.

Interesting question, and worthy of some testing. It will be to do with the level of distortion within the frame, but with all lenses there is a fundamental issue because the image projection is spherical and the sensor is flat, and it's worse on wider lenses, which I think is why wide lenses are either fisheyed or are very stretched in the corners.

Let me do some tests....

[kye]

Just did a couple of tests (8mm SLR Magic vs 7.5mm Laowa) and both wobbled a lot, although the 7.5mm wobbled a lot more.  7.5mm is only 6% wider than 8mm but it felt like there was more than 6% more wobble, although my test was very unscientific.

Thinking about it more, Bill is right that it must be a comparison between a lens designed for a larger vs smaller sensor, however I think it might just be that wider lenses are more problematic due to the 3D projection onto 2D plane.  I don't have any APSC or FF lenses wide enough for a real comparison as all my wider lenses are all MFT.  It would be interesting if someone else could do the test though.

[Video Hummus]

Could it be because the corners of the sensor actually moving more than the center when IBIS is correcting for horizontal panning motion and it’s made worst by the wide angle distortion. But I’m just guessing.

[Jak234]

On 12/31/2019 at 10:01 AM, Zak Forsman said:

my serials are all pretty close. but I wouldn't worry to much about color. any difference, if there even is one, is going to be a minor shift that's easy to account for in post.

This is my first camera with IBIS and it takes getting used to. When using manual lenses you have to remember to set IBIS for the correct focal length and I've managed to bungle that a few times already. I also learned (the hard way a few months ago) that IBIS is not something you want to use with an 18mm lens. Ruined more than half of my footage. Now, what I'm liking about the IBIS is that it doesn't feel like stabilization (unless you screw up the settings). It almost feels like the type of handheld camerawork you get with a nice heavy 20lbs+ cinema camera rig.

Oh he was really happy with it. But he has a healthy approach to it. He sees it as a separate work of art and encouraged them to make it their own and to not feel beholden to make a straight adaptation. That being said, it's pretty damn faithful. Some shots are basically live-action recreations of his panels. I was surprised just how faithful they were.

IBIS: So true, it feels like having a heavy shoulder camera on your back!

Concerning not using it on anything below 18mm. I have a Tokina 17mm 3.5 (fantastic lens!) and it worked okayish...

Your stills really look amazing and now I did my research on the Summicrons. Would be really an investment as I already have a samyang 35mm 1.4 (the 35 samyang is really good), a zeiss whatever 50mm 1.4 and the famous mc Rokkor 58mm 1.2 (best bokeh ever they say) and a samyang 85mm 1.4.

Why would you say the Summicrons are so special? Are we talking about real old ones or are they available new and it is recommended to buy the new versions?

What to take care of if i buy them? Buy them with the no aspheric version (not sure if i got this information right)?

Thanks and keep up the good work. Soon you will be shooting your brothers Netflix adaption, hopefully!

 

Best

 

Jakob