Enjoying the Panasonic S1 again

[deezid]

15 hours ago, MeanRevert said:

Pretty obvious that there's a big quality jump.  I think you have to use an external recorded though.

And what is the file size difference between the 2?

I think with the new update and the NR -1 setting coming the amount of detail and texture should be quite similar to RAW.

[Mustafa Dogan]

On 5/16/2020 at 3:32 PM, Andrew Reid said:

What a gem this camera is.

I always get distracted by what else is coming out - GFX 100, SL2, X-T4, and the list goes on.

But when I look at my footage shot in Asia and Berlin on the GH2, I realised how effective locked down shots are with manual focus. Back when we had to use a tripod... Even the slightest shake is a distraction. There was no racking or AF during a shot either, that just ruined things. This was before follow focuses were common on mirrorless cameras... and the AF, well, it was useful for AF-S to lock off a subject and then you'd record and keep it there.

I continue to come back to the S1 because it is the spiritual successor to the GH2. It's not expensive (well, compared to an S1H or cine camera) so it's aimed at the same people. It's relatively small, smaller than an C200 or FS5 for example which are the smallest popular cine cameras. It has a very good battery and huge EVF. The IBIS is tip top. The image in V-LOG, 10bit 150Mbit astounding, yet the file sizes remain much smaller than 400Mbit ALL-I. The 4K 10bit image quality difference to the S1H hardly exists. The ability to load a LUT onto the live-view display and shoot with your favourite one - what other mirrorless camera does that for £1500?! It is amazing in low light, it's full frame, and you can leave the tripod at home.

I would take either over the X-T4 as it stands, good though that is.

Now the GFX 100 is marvellous... but it's £8k even used! The SL2 would be wonderful if it actually shot 4K without the battery error, so that ruins that. The Sony A7 III is fine, but the image just doesn't hold a candle to the S1.

So putting autofocus to one side and just shooting nice stuff the classic way... there is no better tool than the S1.

If you want to use manual lenses with IBIS and shoot 4K 10bit LOG, the S1 is the best camera out there, especially for the price. Although the Sigma Fp doesn't have the same amount of features or an EVF, or yet a LOG profile, I rate that highly as well.

Will do a round up of all the current cameras soon on EOSHD.

Andrew... with this, you finally made me sign up and send my first post! After nearly a decade of only reading, I read this and couldn't resist the strong urge to reply your thoughts about Panasonic S1.

After months of meticulous comparing, I reached the same conclusions as you highlighted here and bought an S1 with 24-105. As a reseller in ebay, I'm lucky to always have a closet full of interesting lenses. No other camera is better than Panasonic S1 at breathing life into those lenses. It is an extremely convenient camera, which can deliver a stunning image with absolutely minimal effort at post video editing. The superb EVF makes it a dream to manually focus. IBIS so good that you never need a tripod. Auto ISO and auto WB always work perfect. The list goes on and on.

It is not the perfect allrounder like A7III. But as you say, if your priority is to make videos with manual focus, this camera is a no-brainer! Of course, I'd be very happy if it were less clumsier, if AF were better and if it had a wider lens selection (I especially miss a Sonnar 2.8/35 type compact lens). But for the price, this is complaining on a high level.

Here are some shots with 4 nice old gems:

 

[Mustafa Dogan]

On 5/18/2020 at 4:25 AM, Andrew Reid said:

Just ordered the Hanimex 35-70 from eBay @PannySVHS

Looking forward to seeing if it takes the edge off digital

I can also recommend the Minolta 35-70mm MD (F3.5)

It's got a nice 3D rendering, and very compact.

I'd stay away from slow 35-70's made by Hanimex, Maginon, Cosina and etc.

The ones with 2.8 starting aperture are optically better in almost every regard.

Nikon, Vivitar and Tokina have such good lenses.

There is also the rare Zeiss Vario-Pancolar 35-70mm 2.7-3.5 which is my personal favorite. It has a prime-like character with superb central sharpness and awesome bokeh. Here is a sample:

Only slow but good 35-70 is Leica's and Minolta's fixed 3.5 or 4.0 versions.

I want to also add the very rare Konica AR 2.8/35-100 varifocal lens to this list. I was able to find one but it needed a repair first. I can't wait to have it back. The only similar lens I can find is Zeiss's Vario Sonnar 2.8/40-120 for Contarex.

[PannySVHS]

On 6/18/2020 at 6:17 AM, Mustafa Dogan said:

'd stay away from slow 35-70's made by Hanimex, Maginon, Cosina and etc.

The ones with 2.8 starting aperture are optically better in almost every regard.

 

I would NOT stay away from this great lens. My variante of it is beautiful, I cannot believe my eyes when coupled with my S1 and my GX85. As a photo lens it seems not sharp enough on a pixel level when wide open. As a film camera lens on a digital body- awesome rendering, fantastic colours except harsh backlight into the sun! By the way, that beauty starts at F2.5! Mechanically it is also a pure joy to use. Hanimex and Maginon are labels, not producers, just citing a bit of olypedia lens nerdom knowledge, if you allow.:) cheers

[Mustafa Dogan]

Yes, I know that yours is 2.5-3.5 and that is exactly why I recommended it. Most of the fast 35-70 lenses share a similar and good quality optical formula. I'm laying the emphasis on the aperture speed, not the brands. Special to 35-70 lenses, my personal experience is that nearly all "slow" aperture versions are mediocre. And nearly all 2.8 or below version are good. This definitely has to do with the formula of this focal range.

You can't generally say "faster is better" for 28mm, 50mm or 135mm for example.

2.5 version are quite rare to find nowadays. Very nice lens, especially if you enjoy this focal range.

[Video Hummus]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:17 AM, Mustafa Dogan said:

There is also the rare Zeiss Vario-Pancolar 35-70mm 2.7-3.5 which is my personal favorite. It has a prime-like character with superb central sharpness and awesome bokeh. Here is a sample:

That looks fantastic. Was this straight out of camera?

[Mustafa Dogan]

Raw with Sony A7rII. Slightly added some contrast and color.

They are becoming quite scarce and the prices skyrocketed. But if you are lucky, you can still find one. Most people still don't know this lens.

[johnnyBeee]

Quick Screen grabs from Lens testing Today.

Superb Kipon Mamiya 645 Speedbooster with the Mamiya 55mm F2,8. 

All handheld wide open.

LUIX S1/Iso 1000, 4K 10 bit. VLOG

[Rinad Amir]

@johnnyBee i love the colors.

[heart0less]

1 hour ago, johnnyBeee said:

Quick Screen grabs from Lens testing Today.

Superb Kipon Mamiya 645 Speedbooster with the Mamiya 55mm F2,8. 

All handheld wide open.

LUIX S1/Iso 1000, 4K 10 bit. VLOG

 

The last frame is a killer. 

Could've easily fooled me if you said it was taken out of a blockbuster. 

[Rinad Amir]

Could it be GhAlex lut? Creammyness is bless

[johnnyBeee]

13 hours ago, Rinad Amir said:

Could it be GhAlex lut? Creammyness is bless

it was something called  KINO lut i picked up many many years  ago for 15 quid, and decided was  going to be the look of my movie, and then modified ove many experiments  with an additional layer of film nitrate. I would say these medium format speedbosters (KIPON) are the secret sauce though.

[anonim]

On 6/26/2020 at 4:39 PM, johnnyBeee said:

Quick Screen grabs from Lens testing Today.

Superb Kipon Mamiya 645 Speedbooster with the Mamiya 55mm F2,8. 

All handheld wide open.

LUIX S1/Iso 1000, 4K 10 bit. VLOG

 

Sorry, it really must be that I'm little bit blind or incompetent (or both), but - what is so special or distinctive on this shots? On my laptop screen I see so much severely crushed blacks everywhere that even it's impossible to judge DR?

[heart0less]

15 minutes ago, anonim said:

Sorry, it really must be that I'm little bit blind or incompetent (or both), but - what is so special or distinctive on this shots?

Not really, it's a very subjective matter. To each their own.
( :

 

15 minutes ago, anonim said:

On my laptop screen I see so much severely crushed blacks everywhere that even it's impossible to judge DR?

Those darks are low, but looking at it on my screen (just a normal, non-calibrated consumer AOC monitor) I wouldn't necessarily call them crushed.
There is still plenty of detail in his shirt, one can see individual wrinkles on it. Same goes for the window frames - they slightly differ in level, some sort of depth to them was preserved.

Not a huge fan of this brownish hue in blacks, though.
I prefer mine to be neutral.

Skin shadows also look just a tiny bit too saturated, IMHO.

Having said that, it still possess this filmic quality to me.

[anonim]

11 minutes ago, heart0less said:

Not really, it's a very subjective matter. To each their own.
( :

Those darks are low, but looking at it on my screen (just a normal, non-calibrated consumer AOC monitor) I wouldn't necessarily call them crushed.
There is still plenty of detail in his shirt, one can see individual wrinkles on it. Same goes for the window frames - they slightly differ in level, some sort of depth to them was preserved.

Thanks, it's ok if detail are there - on my screen (let's pretend it's not guilty of my eyes) I see just detailed grain

[Jak234]

On 6/26/2020 at 4:39 PM, johnnyBeee said:

Quick Screen grabs from Lens testing Today.

Superb Kipon Mamiya 645 Speedbooster with the Mamiya 55mm F2,8. 

All handheld wide open.

LUIX S1/Iso 1000, 4K 10 bit. VLOG

Hello Johnny,

 

very nice still you got. But I am not sure wheter to go the same route going medium format.

I have FF Primes like the awesome Minolta Rokkor 58mm 1.2 (https://phillipreeve.net/blog/minolta-mc-rokkor-58mm-11-2/) and classis samyang 20mm 1.8 ,35mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.4

Coincerning depth of field I dont think I will get less depth of field going with a medium format lens than with this fullframe 1.2 or 1.4 lenses I already have.

But I would love to hear your comments

Cheers

 

Jakob

[Owlgreen]

Can someone tell me about the specs of the 180fps mode on the S1? Is manual exposure possible now? Is it 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p? What's the max bitrate and recording time? How do you think the quality compares to the XT-4s 200fps and 240fps? Thanks!

[Owlgreen]

On 6/26/2020 at 4:39 PM, johnnyBeee said:

Quick Screen grabs from Lens testing Today.

Superb Kipon Mamiya 645 Speedbooster with the Mamiya 55mm F2,8. 

All handheld wide open.

LUIX S1/Iso 1000, 4K 10 bit. VLOG

These shots look great. What do you make of the 645 lens plus telecompressor vs a faster lens? 55mm f2.8 x 0.7 is about like 40mm f2.0. Do you think it's worth the trouble to adapt the Mamiya 645 glass? Are you finding this adapter to introduce either barrell distortion? How's the sharpness when you stop down? Regardless, I like it.

[Mark Romero 2]

7 hours ago, Owlgreen said:

Can someone tell me about the specs of the 180fps mode on the S1? Is manual exposure possible now? Is it 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p? What's the max bitrate and recording time? How do you think the quality compares to the XT-4s 200fps and 240fps? Thanks!

I took a quick look on my S1

Yes, you can do manual exposure adjustments.

Please also note:

If shooting at 180fps, it is conformed IN CAMERA to 30fps, so the file you get on the card is a 30fps file, not a 180fps file.

No autofocus available (as far as I can tell).

No audio recording available  (as far as I can tell).

Did not see any info about the bit-depth or the chroma sub-sampling. 

My understanding though is that for anything above 60fps, the S1H gives superior codec options.

[Francesco Tasselli]

Dears, I just bought a Panasonic S1 and after the purchase I discovered something really bad: in Italy at the moment no dealer has the update for the V-log available anymore.

Do you know a dealer in Europe who still has it? There are resellers in America who would ship it to me in Italy, but it seems that the NTSC version is different from the PAL version.

Give me some advice, thanks a lot!