Panasonic Lumix S1R Mark II coming soon

[ArashM]

The Z8 was a bit of a no go for me, never quite got the AF to work consistantly and while on paper it ticks all the boxes, in use it just was a bit of a let down for me and how I use it.

[Emanuel]

25 minutes ago, ArashM said:

The Z8 was a bit of a no go for me, never quite got the AF to work consistantly and while on paper it ticks all the boxes, in use it just was a bit of a let down for me and how I use it.

This is the kind of user report which immediately makes them to lose any $4K of my own, at least and to say the least no less...

PS: Not a lemon? I simply HATE lack of consistency practically about everything in life : ) I don't mind about rebels like our webmaster hence I am here, but don't come to sell me other than that. One thing is standing corrected when pops up -- no perfection on Earth; the other one is random attitude on stuff, we're talking about much different things. Kills any crush.

[Andrew Reid]

17 minutes ago, ArashM said:

The Z8 was a bit of a no go for me, never quite got the AF to work consistantly and while on paper it ticks all the boxes, in use it just was a bit of a let down for me and how I use it.

Do tell us more!

[ArashM]

I think we have to keep in mind that we all shoot different things and use and set up cameras in different ways.

I have no care who's name is on the top of the camera in my hand and have always used multiple brands at the same time, currently have 1x R6ii, 2x S5iiX and 1x Fuji XH-2s, I have shot Lumix and Canon for like ever, so naturally feel a lot more at home with them, however always curious so will rent gear to try out and sometimes shoot along with main rig on gigs to have identical footage to judge later.

I found the Z6iii and the Z8 AF inconsistent, they have a tendency to try to find what's closest to the camera and I had lots of shots where on a talking head either the nose or ear is sharp, the camera will maintain focus and not jump back and forth, the eye AF box is locked on the eye but after import when you look closely the focus point is a few centimetres behind or in front of the eye.

Again, it could be how I set up cameras, and I'm sure there are people out there that love their Z8/9 or 6iii...

@Andrew I see your other post, You are right, the Z line does have a lot going for it which is why I have been renting them on shoots, (there is no replacement for using the camera on an actual shoot) But it just didn't quite hit it out of the park the way I was hoping for me.

[Emanuel]

21 hours ago, John Matthews said:

For video, this is the most important feature of this high MP camera: 

 

You have no need for BBC approved cams -- even though Downing Street praise is always welcome to defeat aspiring dictators for real and those already established for many longer decades before worldwide, you only need that ;- )

[Walter H]

10 minutes ago, ArashM said:

I found the Z6iii and the Z8 AF inconsistent, they have a tendency to try to find what's closest to the camera and I had lots of shots where on a talking head either the nose or ear is sharp, the camera will maintain focus and not jump back and forth, the eye AF box is locked on the eye but after import when you look closely the focus point is a few centimetres behind or in front of the eye.

Again, it could be how I set up cameras, and I'm sure there are people out there that love their Z8/9 or 6iii...

Yes, there absolutely are a lot of people who love those cameras. Even some of those people are pretty clear about their Nikon's dendency to focus just before the eye (i.e. on the eyelashes) when using Eye-autofocus. I've read that over and over. #murf

Interested to read a more detailed evaluation from Chris Gampat about the autofocus's ability to find people of color in low-light situation.

[ArashM]

At least for me the AF works and works and then out of the blue decides to just lock on some where out of the focus box and refuse to let go, or keep focus on the subject ( not just people ) but slightly in front or behind.

Funny enough when I had the GH4 and GH5 I used AF, but always know when to just not bother and flip over to MF!

[Caleb Genheimer]

17 hours ago, Ninpo33 said:

I shot two short docs and part of a feature length doc on the GH5 and GH5s and wow, I’m surprised how often I miss those cameras. I had the GH5 with the Sigma 18-35mm and metabones speedbooster. And the GH5s had a few of the m43 Leica Primes and adapted Contax Zeiss glass, also on a speedbooster. Fast, small, light and pack able for air travel. Such a solid kit.

Yeah I had the GH5 briefly and swapped it back for a GH5S pre-order. They really were great. But the S1H is still their best camera. The full V-slog and excellent OLPF really still haven’t been surpassed at its price. Maybe equaled by the Pyxis, but I haven’t tried one yet. Really the two things I don’t love on my S1H are readout speed (a bit slow for using my Mercury especially,) and the HDMI output lag (which eliminates the possibility of giving a 1st AC a fair shake.) 

Speaking of, did anyone test the S1RII’s output lag? That’s plagued every S-series body somewhat since the beginning. 

[j_one]

1 hour ago, Caleb Genheimer said:

Speaking of, did anyone test the S1RII’s output lag? That’s plagued every S-series body somewhat since the beginning. 

If I recall it’s been improved only when recording with audio is disabled, otherwise it’s still about the same as s5ii speeds 

[IronFilm]

15 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

I see, so low end compared to ARRI.

Low end when it comes to professional shoots, yes. 

For example, last week I was working on a documentary, which certainly was by far the lowest budget documentary I've worked on in a while. And what cameras did they use? 2x Sony FX6 + 1x Sony FX3. Kinda what you'd expect given the context. 

 

[Ninpo33]

4 hours ago, Caleb Genheimer said:

Yeah I had the GH5 briefly and swapped it back for a GH5S pre-order. They really were great. But the S1H is still their best camera. The full V-slog and excellent OLPF really still haven’t been surpassed at its price. Maybe equaled by the Pyxis, but I haven’t tried one yet. Really the two things I don’t love on my S1H are readout speed (a bit slow for using my Mercury especially,) and the HDMI output lag (which eliminates the possibility of giving a 1st AC a fair shake.) 

Speaking of, did anyone test the S1RII’s output lag? That’s plagued every S-series body somewhat since the beginning. 

HDMI has very little lag now. Major improvement finally. 

[Ninpo33]

9 hours ago, Walter H said:

Also, for those of us in the US, I just see that if you preorder the S1Rii from Adorama, not only is there the Sandisk memory offer, there is also an offer for one year (yes - subscription-based) of C1 for $50. If these are of value to you (and you will need the latest C1 for raw and tethering support), that makes the S1Rii effectively a $3k camera.

This is a pretty crazy price at release that I would not have imaged.

Plus I think there is a lens bundle deal for $500 more. Not sure which lenses it allows for but looks like a limited offer. Lastly, if you sign up for their online newsletter email thing you can get 10% off your first order. If it works at the $3k price level with no cap that’s an extra $300. 

[John Matthews]

12 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Slashcam tested 6K 60p with exellent results on a 4K timeline, almost as detailed and with resolution like 24 to 30p. No moire nor aliasing nor any other artefacts. Readout in that mode was tested with a result of 15.6ms.

I'd like to know how the 120fps 4k in the A1rii holds up to the GH7. Does anyone think it's better? Any tests?

[ita149]

11 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Slashcam tested 6K 60p with exellent results on a 4K timeline, almost as detailed and with resolution like 24 to 30p. No moire nor aliasing nor any other artefacts. Readout in that mode was tested with a result of 15.6ms.

Slashcam said the S5II had a flawless and quite "cinematic" video rendering in their review. This is not true at all, the bad processing just destroy the fine details, even more in 4k. So I would take their words with a grain of salt for now.

And I found very strange all these reviews showing there is still a good amount of moiré whereas in the video of hopkinsfilms the S1RII looks even better than the S1H.

Also it's hard to say because of Youtube compression but I found a video from Vistek showing a comparison between the R5II and S1RII in 8K, and like on the S5II I wonder if these are not the same smoothed out details on skin texture that I can see on the S1RII. His forehead looks more blurred on the S1RII (right image).

Never mind, I already pre-ordered the camera, I will compare the video engine to my S1 and S5II, but if it is close to the S5II, I will return the camera this time.

[ViciousMouse]

13 hours ago, Emanuel said:

You have no need for BBC approved cams -- even though Downing Street praise is always welcome to defeat aspiring dictators for real and those already established for many longer decades before worldwide, you only need that ;- )

I’ve seen BBC News use the A7III (and completely mess up the frame rate… for a report which went out on their global news channel!). So BBC approval really isn’t all that. 
 

 

[Andrew Reid]

Haha. Nice.

Must be confident in the autofocus performance then!

Although perhaps I am reading too much into it and it tells us more about the state of BBC News than anything camera related!!

[MrSMW]

2 hours ago, ViciousMouse said:

So BBC approval really isn’t all that

All the ex-BBC cameramen left to become wedding videographers ages ago.

I know this because they were always telling me so when I met them at weddings as a photographer. Which was really special for me.

[Caleb Genheimer]

9 hours ago, Ninpo33 said:

Plus I think there is a lens bundle deal for $500 more. Not sure which lenses it allows for but looks like a limited offer. Lastly, if you sign up for their online newsletter email thing you can get 10% off your first order. If it works at the $3k price level with no cap that’s an extra $300. 

Anything over $3K has me scrolling through Arri Alexa eBay listings anyway if I’m honest lol. Even a decent number of the fuller featured “classic” type Alexa’s are coming in around $4K, and often have cards/case/batteries.

 

But that assumes you want a cinema camera, not a hybrid that punches above its weight.

[John Matthews]

If the S1R II’s moiré performance is indeed better than the SH1’s, I cannot see any reason to choose the SH1 over the S1R II- except for cost.

[MrSMW]

5 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

If the S1R II’s moiré performance is indeed better than the SH1’s, I cannot see any reason to choose the SH1 over the S1R II- except for cost.

The new boy probably is a better option than the S1H now.

The S1H probably has the better build, albeit with a bit of extra size & weight.

The S1H has a higher res LCD and better battery life, but that's probably about it?

The S1H comfortably beats it on price however as you can pick up 2 for the price of a brand new S1Rii.

If I was shopping between the two today, with the cost taken out of the equation, it would almost certainly be the S1Rii even though I think the S1Rii is not a completely worthy successor to the S1R (which it is arguably replacing and not the S1H).