Panasonic Lumix S1R Mark II coming soon

[eatstoomuchjam]

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.

[Thpriest]

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?

[newfoundmass]

10 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

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.

It's bad for a camera, especially one that has active cooling, to overheat, yes. Is it a deal breaker? That's up to people to decide for themselves. But a camera should be able to reliably perform in every mode that is offered. I think going the S9 route, where it has a limit by default for more taxing modes, and then giving people the option but a warning to get rid of the limits, was a better way to handle it.

[Davide DB]

I don't like Gerald Undone but ATM his review is the most spot-on. 

Camera is packed with a lot of features but a lot of caveat and asterisks. 

IMHO is a camera for photographers who shot some video. If you shoot mostly video is not a camera for you. GU got a lot of overheating. Just check his review

 

[KnightsFan]

4 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

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?

I obviously have zero hands-on experience with Sony sensors, but if it's like other computing hardware, the sensor's interface might use a timing input pin. Driving the clock past a certain rate is unstable, like overclocking a CPU, leading to Sony's nominal max rates. So maybe it's the exact same sensor, but Panasonic has opted to use a different clock speed, possibly to reduce heat or because the limiting factor is the processor that the sensor data is fed into. Higher clock speeds means more heat, so that's a likely reason Panasonic doesn't drive the sensor to its max speed.

11 minutes ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

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.

Agreed, outside of extended DR mode, RS is similar to the S1/S5/S5II. Overheating after 40 min of nonstop recording in >4K seems reasonable for a hybrid. I mean obviously a dedicated video camera like the FX6 or C80 is better for... dedicated video. But as a jack of all trades, the S1RII hits a lot of high marks for both photo and video at a great value.

[Simon Young]

Maybe great for stills but underwhelming for video. Disgraceful RS numbers and no OLPF.

[ac6000cw]

Re: overheating and battery life, this is Geeky Nerdy Techy's comments about it (based on shooting outdoors in 34C temps in Australia) - it should play from 27:09, the 'Overheating & Runtime (Major Warning)' section:

 

[Thpriest]

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.

[ND64]

21 minutes ago, ac6000cw said:

Re: overheating and battery life, this is Geeky Nerdy Techy's comments about it (based on shooting outdoors in 34C temps in Australia) - it should play from 27:09, the 'Overheating & Runtime (Major Warning)' section:

 

So they postponed the 8k opengate as a future firmware update to escape the bad press it could generate, since if enabled today it would work for like 5 minutes outdoor. 

[MrSMW]

16 minutes ago, Thpriest said:

Hmm, it looks like a good camera for a photo first video second

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?

[Thpriest]

6 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

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.

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. 

[Django]

20 minutes ago, ND64 said:

So they postponed the 8k opengate as a future firmware update to escape the bad press it could generate, since if enabled today it would work for like 5 minutes outdoor. 

..and showcase 52ms RS 😂

[stephen]

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

 

[Davide DB]

36 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

FFS, who needs to record continuously in 8k?

 

@ 21°C 6,4K Open Gate 18 minutes and it shut off

[ac6000cw]

7 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

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 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.

[ND64]

24 minutes ago, stephen said:

On at least one 8K and mostly static shots I already can see rolling shutter effect.

In cvp video the RS was noticeable even on the face of the guy when they were trying to test the AF. Its not just "ok I don't pan and tilt like a maniac". With such a slow sensor you should also worry about the movements of the subjects. 

[MrSMW]

36 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

 

@ 21°C 6,4K Open Gate 18 minutes and it shut off

Well that’s not very good is it!

And somewhat surprising as I have had my S5ii’s rolling for over an hour @35+ direct sunlight in 6k 30p. Never even had a warning.

Very odd.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

2 hours ago, ac6000cw said:

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...

Yep. This camera have a ton of video features, but it was intended to be a hybrid - stills as important as video.

Guess that one point that they considered is that was A LOT of flak about DR in the stacked sensor cameras (if justifiable or not, is another story), and they didn't got stacked sensor to get better DR. And with it, have a cheaper camera as a collateral (price matters, the success of Nikon Z9, besides the obvious qualities of the camera, have a lot to do with the aggressive pricing).

It is not a jack of all trades, and problem even a master of one (maybe for landscape stills, specially with the 176mp multishot, portrait and street). Not well suited for fast action, both in still or video. But is a lot of camera for the money.

Maybe if it sells well could have a stacked version.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

And boy, they spent in marketing this time. Even got some small youtube channels to Europe, and even in the hands of a (very good) photographer here in Brazil, which as far as I remember NEVER received a pre-unit to look (albeit him being a Canon shooter for decades).

[eatstoomuchjam]

49 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

@ 21°C 6,4K Open Gate 18 minutes and it shut off

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