Panasonic Lumix S1R Review

Whlie the Panasonic S1 is the workhorse of evo India’s video team, its sibling, the S1R with its 47MP lens proved to be extremely adept at the kind of shots regularly required for automotive videography. Like the S1, the S1R uses the ‘L’ lens mount developed by Leica and used by Panasonic and Sigma. The S1R gets a very high W resolution (5.7M-dot) viewfinder, top plate LCD panel, twin card slots and impressive build-quality that makes the camera weather resistant ― something we were able to put to the test while reviewing it. For the video team, the fact the S1R could shoot UHD 4K video at up to 60fps was a boon.

In our time with the camera, we could capture an amazing level of detail on a consistent basis, something that proved invaluable on the edit table. The S1R’s multi-shot high resolution mode gave us the option to get incredible 187MP raw files for those times when we needed that extra level of detail to play around with. While on shoots, the 5-axis dual IS system made it extremely easy to get highly stabilised even while shooting handheld. The fact that the whole system is weather sealed means that our video team never had to worry about rain or snow (we did find ourselves in freezing weather much too often). The S1R uses a dual gain design to achieve greater dynamic range at low ISO and better noise performance at higher ISO values. This enabled us to shoot great imagery both with the sun beating down on us and even when it decided to set.

The cherry on top is the responsive touchscreen. It is unbelievable how many cameras come with poor, laggy touchscreen interfaces. The Lumix S1R is anything but that and with an impressive set of features plus solid build quality, it is hard to not recommend.