| sent on July 07, 2025
Pros: Speed, menu, image and color quality, dynamic range and latitude, photo and (especially) video tools, auto focus, video quality capable of supporting the ARRI mini in the studio.
Cons: Battery life, buffer (manageable), non-automatic AF mode selector, infinite menu (but with great powers...)
Opinion: It is a camera with impressive speed. I needed a camera capable of taking photos and videos, both at a high level. I can't say I'm disappointed. On a photographic level, it does anything a camera can do and does everything well. From a pixel shift in camera, freehand, to 96MP, to 60fps RAW 14-bit (70, if you go down to 12-bit), there is no lack of a shot. The AF is always fast and precise, missing very few shots and in any case without ever jumping completely. In the video field, perhaps, we go even further. I use it with the always-on Dynamic Range Boost: it applies a double simultaneous readout of the sensor bringing the dynamic range to 14.6 effective stops and base ISO 1000. I used it on the entire ISO range and the colors remain substantially unchanged up to 25K, in 50K you have a very correctable shift, 100K I would not use it if not necessary. The only flaw that is not a flaw is the amount of data it uses: it's 3.5Gb/sec for ProResRAW/Braw, 256GB burns in less than 20 minutes of footage. An SSD solves the problem. For the rest, the tools are endless, not even imaginable in any other mirrorless body: vectorscope, false colors, an almost perfect stabilization (inferior only to the gh7, but the sensor is larger, it makes sense) and an infinite number of other useful tools depending on what you are doing. The defects: in photography, the only relevant one is the buffer. Honestly, I never filled it. I don't sprint for 3 seconds in a row and with CFExpress it empties rather quickly, but I see how in specific situations it can fill up quickly. In this the pre shoot of 1.5 sec helps: you shoot only when something happens and do not unnecessarily saturate the band. The most boring thing about the camera and perhaps the only objective flaw, is to select the subject to follow with af. As much as you can configure quick keys and the problem is largely contained, it remains annoying to have the subject to follow clearly in view, and to have the AF that does not react because first you took a picture of a person and now you frame a dog. Annoying, I missed a couple of shots, I hope they do something. Another "flaw" is the menu. Colossal, infinite. The flexibility of this room is such that for each mode it has menu items and buttons that are totally customizable. At least it's pretty intuitive, things are almost always where you'd expect them to be. You can also choose which things to leave the same between the various modes and which to change. Thank goodness they thought about it. OVERHEATING: Apparently they accuse this chamber of overheating. At basic thermal settings, recording 5.8K ProRes RAWHD (and only in this mode) does it, fast too (less than 5 minutes). If you set the fans to aggressive mode and set the thermal management to ''High'', I recorded two batteries in full sun in Naples without even the overheating light active and the body just warm. Like many settings, this camera requires you to look at the menu and think about what you're doing. The fans are there, of course, you can hear them in the internal recording, but if you are recording such a quality it is assumed that you also have microphones. Overall, the Panasonic S1II is one of the most impressive instruments I've ever used. Fast, capable, reliable and versatile like no other instrument I've ever seen. A well-deserved 10. |