Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-dc-s1ii-review

Editor's note: This review is based on Panasonic's November 2025 v1.2 firmware update for the S1II, which was provided to DPReview ahead of its public release.

91%

Overall score

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The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1II is the company's second-generation, high-end 24MP full-frame mirrorless camera, now based around a partially stacked CMOS sensor, and the same body introduced as the S1RII.

Key specifications

• 24MP partially-stacked BSI CMOS sensor
• Up to 70fps shooting, including Raw
• 1.5 seconds pre-burst capture
• 96MP multi-shot mode with in-cam combination and motion correction
• 10-bit HLG HEIF still images
• In-body stabilization rated at up to 8.0EV of correction
• Open-gate 6K video up to 30p
• Full-width 5.9K or 4K up to 60p
• 4K/120p video with slight crop
• 6K Raw output over HDMI
• Built-in fan for extended recording
• External SSD output for video
• V-Log with 15-stops in DR Boost mode
• Arri C-Log3 paid upgrade option
• 4 channel and 32-bit float audio with XLR2 adapter
• Bluetooth timecode sync

The Panasonic S1II is available now at a recommended price of $3199. As with the launch of the original S1, this is around $400 more than the list price of its nearest competitors from Nikon or Canon.

Index:

• What's new
• How it compares
• Body and handling
• Image Quality
• Autofocus
• Video
• In use
• Conclusion
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Press release

What's new

Partially-stacked CMOS sensor

The S1II becomes the second camera we've encountered to promise a 'partially stacked' CMOS sensor. This is a conventional BSI sensor with more complex readout circuitry applied as an additional layer around the edges of the sensor. This allows faster readout than with a BSI chip with single-layer readout circuitry, but without the significantly higher manufacturing complexity and cost of a fully Stacked CMOS design.

Panasonic says the 24MP sensor it's using is 3.5x quicker to read out than the BSI chip used elsewhere in its range. It's unlikely to be a coincidence that this is the same figure Nikon gave the improvement it saw between the Z6 II and Z6III.

The sensor allows the S1II to shoot stills at up to 70fps (10fps with mechanical shutter). Panasonic highlights that this capability, combined with pre-shot capture, is designed to help capture key moments, not to make it an out-and-out sports camera. We found it could shoot for around 3 seconds at full speed which, despite those reservations, is likely to be more than enough for a wide range of photography, though afterwards it can take several seconds for the buffer to fully clear.

ISO and dual gain

The sensor's base ISO is 100, when using the camera's Standard Photo Style. Other response modes have higher base ISO ratings to encourage the use of lower exposures to capture additional highlight information. The sensor is a dual conversion gain design on which Panasonic lets you manually select which gain mode the camera is using.

HLG HEIF

The S1II gains the ability to shoot 10-bit HEIF files using the HLG high-dynamic range tone curve. You can shoot with the standard color response, a mono mode or with a custom LUT applied. This allows you to shoot true HDR photos in-camera and do so while still capturing a Raw file alongside.

You can convert the HEIF to an SDR JPEG or, alternatively, you can re-process the Raw in-camera and output an adjusted version as a HEIF. This only works for Raws taken with the camera in HEIF mode, though: Raws shot alongside JPEGs can only be re-processed as SDR HEIFs or JPEGs.

This brings us another step closer to cameras being able to exploit the increasing prevalence of HDR displays. The HEIF format still isn't widely, reliably supported, and HLG files don't always live up to the promise of working equally well on SDR and HDR displays, but with Panasonic, Sony and Nikon all offering HLG HEIFs as an HDR option, it looks like the industry is approaching the adoption of a common standard.

Urban sports AF

The S1II gains a new subject recognition mode, Urban Sports recognition. This is designed for the likes of breakdancing or skateboarding, essentially: situations in which humans are making shapes that the basic human recognition mode isn't necessarily trained to recognize.

Settings backup and transfer

The S1II gains the ability to back-up its settings to an SD card. These can then be used to reset the camera to your preferred settings or to quick-configure other cameras. Panasonic says this capability will be extended to other models, with mutually-supported settings carrying over from one model to another.

Video capabilities

It shouldn't come as a surprise to find the S1II's video feature set is extensive, building on the large array of options provided by the S1RII but underpinned by a much faster-reading sensor.

We detail the options as fully as possible, later in this article, but the headlines features are:

• Open gate recording
  The S1II can record 6K footage from its entire 6000 x 4000 sensor at up to 30p or 5.1K footage derived from the same region at up to 60p
• 4K up to 120p
  4K video can be captured in DCI or UHD 4K at up to 60p from the full width of the sensor or in 5.9/5.8K resolution from the same regions. Alternatively, with a small crop, the camera can capture 4K/120p
• Cinemascope 120p
  Another option is to shoot a very wide 'Cinemascope' style 2.4:1 region of the sensor in 4K resolution at up to 120p
• Anamorphic shooting
  Videographers using anamorphic lenses can capture 4.8K video from a 4:3 region the full height of the sensor at up to 60p
• ProRes RAW capture
  The S1II can also capture 1.89:1 ProRes RAW video from either the full sensor width at up to 30p or from a native DCI 4K region at up to 60p

Beyond this, the S1II offers highlight warnings set at two different thresholds (dual zebras), false color, the ability to specify exposure in terms of shutter angle (especially valuable on a camera that can so easily switch between frame rates), and the ability to preview corrected Log footage and record proxies.

Cinelike A2

Like the S1RII, the S1II gains the new Cinelike A2 color profile. It's essentially a midway between the low-contrast Cinelike D2 profile and the punchier, ready-to-use Cinelike V2 one. The color response is designed to be a little more like that of a major cinema camera maker.

On a similar note, Panasonic says that the ability to natively shoot Arri's Log C3 profile will be offered as an extra cost firmware upgrade to the S1II. They say this uses Arri's Log response natively, not shooting V-Log and —trying to map across to an approximation of C3.

DR Boost

The S1II has a Dynamic Range Boost mode when shooting video, allowing it to capture up to 15 stops of dynamic range. While Panasonic hasn't shared exactly how it's being delivered, it has said it's not comparable to the GH7's DR Boost function, which combines parallel readout paths, shot simultaneously (but with no option to turn the function off). Nor is it the same as the DR Expansion function on the S1RII, which changes the readout bit-depth to gain DR at the expense of more rolling shutter.

There is a significant rolling shutter impact for DR Boost on the S1II, and the available video modes top out at 30p (24p for the full-height 6K, 5.1K and 4.8K modes). Base ISO in V-Log mode increases by 2/3EV to ISO 1000, when engaged.

Panasonic promises a DR increase from "14+ stops" to "15 stops" of dynamic range if you engage DR Boost mode, but its lower speed not only makes many of the camera's video modes impossible, it also means you should only use it in situations with very little motion in the scene.

32-bit Float capability

As with other recent Panasonic cameras, the S1II is compatible with the optional DMW-XLR2 adapter, making it one of the only cameras able to capture 32-bit Float audio. This uses two different gain levels and clever data encoding to allow very quiet and very loud signals to be captured simultaeously, meaning you don't have to worry about audio levels.

AI-AWB

As well as the ability to re-process Raws as HEIFs (so long as you were shooting HEIF at the point of capture), the S1II gains a new, "AI Auto White Balance" option if you re-process a Raw file in the camera.

The mode is too processor-intensive to use as you shoot but will try to analyse the scene to give the best white balance. Panasonic also says additional processing should allow it to cope better with shots taken under mixed lighting.

How it compares

The S1II comes in at something of a premium, compared with its apparent peers. Its $3200 price tag makes it more expensive than the likes of Nikon's Z6III, with which it very probably shares a sensor, or the Sony a7 IV and Canon EOS R6 III with which the Nikon competes.

Following tariffs in the US, much of the competition sits between the mass-market $2500 models and the high-end, high-res options, which run nearer $4000. This essentially means one of its only direct competitors is its own sibling, the S1RII, whose list price is just $100 more, giving a high speed or high-res choice of second-gen S1 cameras.

Here we're going to show it against the Nikon, the Canon and its less-expensive sister model, the S1IIE (the 'E' stands for "essentials," Panasonic tells us).

The Panasonic S1II is competitive on paper with all its immediate peers, even pulling ahead in terms of continuous shooting rate and its vast array of video modes. Its peers are starting to compete with the range of video support tools provided, but Panasonic still outshines them with specialist options such as full support for anamorphic shooting. The Panasonics are also the only cameras in this class to let you shoot multi-shot high-res images and have them automatically combined in camera (Raw and JPEG).

Only its price counts against it, with it commanding a premium compared with its immediate peers, though post-tariff adjustments have closed the gap since the S1II was launched.

Body and handling

The S1II's body is essentially identical to that of the S1RII: similar in size to the more basic S5 models but with a better grip design and a carefully-struck balance between being compact and giving an excellent level of direct control.

The camera is appreciably smaller and lighter than the original S1 model but still feels solidly built. It maintains an extensively environmentally-sealed design with gaskets at all the joins. It feels comfortable in the hand with a pleasant density to it.

The mic socket sits high up on the left hand side of the camera, comfortably clear of the rear monitor, which pulls out on a tilting cradle, as well as then flipping out and rotating, which lets you keep it clear of the headphone socket, further down its flank. A USB C socket with 10 Gbps transfer speeds sits below this, allowing charging, tethered shooting and video recording to SSD. A full-sized HDMI socket completes the left-side ports.

On the right-hand side of the camera is a 2.5mm remote socket. There's no flash sync socket on the S1II but anyone looking to sync timecode from the camera will find the S1 compatible with Atomos' Bluetooth timecode sync system.

Like the S1RII, and distinct from the S5 models, the S1II has one CFexpress Type B slot and one UHS-II SD card slot. It can also output video over its USB socket to an external SSD.

It has both the viewfinder and the adjacent cooling fans of the S1RII, meaning it has a 5.76M dot display (1600 x 1200 pixels). It has 0.78x magnification, making it pretty large. An eyepoint of 21mm means it can be a little difficult to see the extreme corners, if you wear glasses.

Battery

The S1II takes the same 15.8Wh DMW-BLK22 battery as most of the rest of Panasonic's range. This powers it to a CIPA rating of 360 shots per charge via the rear LCD or 320 shots using the viewfinder. Both figures are measured using an SD card, with both declining by 10 shots per charge if you use a CFexpress card. As always, these numbers are likely to significantly under-represent how many shots you're likely to achieve, but they provide a reasonably like-for-like comparison and these are reasonable numbers for this class of camera.

The S1II is compatible with the DMW-BG2, introduced alongside the S1RII. This adds a second battery and has a sensor on the battery door that switches the camera over to the internal battery when its open, allowing you to hot-swap batteries.

Image Quality

Our test scene is designed to simulate a variety of textures, colors, and detail types you'll encounter in the real world. It also has two illumination modes, full even light and low directional light, to see the effect of different lighting conditions.

The S1II performs well at shooting our test scene, providing great image quality. Looking at base ISO Raws, the S1II captures similar levels of detail to the other 24MP full-frame cameras on the market*, though Panasonic's JPEG engine doesn't seem to get rid of quite as much moiré artefacting as Nikon or Canon's.

Speaking of that JPEG engine, we've quite liked Panasonic's colors for a while now, and the S1II is no exception; like the rest of its competition and the company's previous cameras, its colors are solid.

At mid ISOs to high ISOs the S1II's noise levels are competitive. Its JPEG engine does an admirable job of reducing noise while still retaining detail.

* The S1II's price puts it in competition with much slower, but higher-resolution cameras like the Sony a7CR and Panasonic's own S1RII; if you care more about image quality than speed, that's worth noting.

Dynamic Range

Shadows boosted +3.5EV in ACR. Panasonic S1II | Panasonic S Pro 16-35mm F4 | F4 | 1/160 sec | ISO 100

The S1II provides a good amount of dynamic range, giving you room to pull your shadows up without the detail being overwhelmed by noise. Our tests showed that its shadows have less noise than the Nikon Z6III, which uses a similar 'partially stacked' sensor technology to improve readout speeds. However, the Panasonic doesn't show the read noise penalty that clips the usable shadows on the Nikon around a stop and a third earlier than its peers.

It appears that, in most modes, the S1II combines the output from a low and high-gain readout of its sensor, using the low-gain information to preserve highlights the high-gain output for cleaner shadows. This hypothesis is further backed up by PhotonsToPhotos' data, which doesn't show the expected dynamic range bump at the second gain step that exists with the Z6III (and other dual conversion gain sensors), which would make sense if it's already using the data from that second step in its output.

This readout mode is available in both mechanical and electronic first curtain modes, where the mechanical shutter ends the exposure and gives the camera time to use the slower readout mode required for this DR Boost mode. When using the electronic shutter, it produces shadows that are similarly noisy to the ones from the Nikon Z6III, suggesting it's using its faster, single readout mode.

Exposure Latitude | ISO Invariance

Autofocus

Autofocus Operation

Panasonic S1II | Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8 | 60mm | F2.8 | 1/60 sec | ISO 100 Photo: Richard Butler

The S1II adopts the same phase-detection autofocus system found on the S1RII, which itself was a refresh of the one found on the S5II. This means it has several AI-derived recognition modes for subjects like humans, animals, planes, trains, vehicles and bikes.

Most of the autofocus adjustments can be made from the menu that comes up when you press the AF Area button. This lets you choose the size and shape of your autofocus selection point, and turn subject recognition off or on, as well as choose what kind of subject you want the camera to recognize.

The S1II supports everything from pinpoint selection to analyzing the whole sensor, though the former is only accessible in single autofocus mode. There's also a tracking area mode, though, as with Panasonic's other cameras in this generation, it won't fall back to this generic tracking mode if you have subject recognition on, but it doesn't find a recognized subject.

This means that if you want to use the track and recompose style of focusing, you'll have to constantly engage and disengage subject recognition mode, depending on what you're shooting. The S1II lets you set a custom button to toggle subject recognition on and off, though, which helps make that easier, but it's an extra step that other cameras don't make you conduct.

Autofocus Performance

Following the v1.2 update that came out several months after the camera's release, the S1II's autofocus represents a step-up in reliability compared to what we've come to expect from Panasonic. Our testing with the initial firmware yielded relatively disappointing results, with the camera's generic tracking system struggling to keep track of subjects, and the subject detection mode misjudging distance relatively frequently. Now, though, it provides substantially better results that are closer to (though still not quite on par with) what we'd expect from companies like Canon, Nikon and Sony.

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With firmware v1.2 the standard tracking AF did a good job of sticking to a subject, even as it changed the rate at which it approached the camera. During those moments, the camera struggled to judge the exact distance, resulting in strings of slightly soft, though still usable, photos. In our tests, we found that using AF Custom Setting 4, designed for "Situations where the speed of the subject changes significantly," earned us a better hit rate than the default Setting 1 did, with the camera more reliably staying with the subject, rather than losing track and snapping to infinity.

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The subject recognition mode performed similarly when the subject was further away from the camera, producing slightly soft images as the subject changed its rate of approach. As the subject got closer to the camera, though, the recognition appeared to improve; while there were still occasionally soft images, it was significantly faster to recover than with the generic tracking.

While we typically base our autofocus conclusions on both our day-to-day use and our autofocus tests, we also had the opportunity to get an opinion from Seattle-based sports photographer Aaron Benson. He had previously been using the original S1 and S5II, and was impressed by the S1II, saying he was able to rely on autofocus in situations where he would've previously only used manual focus. This was prior to firmware v1.2, which delivers even greater reliablility.

Video

As you'd expect from Panasonic, especially in a camera with a relatively quick sensor, the S1II has an extensive array of video features. In addition to its many, many recording modes, it has a considerable array of supporting features to help you get the best results and to give you more creative flexibility.

The S1II lets you control exposure in terms of shutter angle (handy for quick changes when using different frame rates), offers waveforms, false color and dual zebras for setting exposure, a vectorscope display for matching color and the ability to show a corrected view for Log, HLG or anamorphic shooting.

There's a tally lamp to make it clear when the camera is recording, the ability to record low-res proxy versions alongside your primary footage, a choice of mic gain levels. The list is near endless. On which note: the ability to add video modes to a custom list by pressing the 'Q' button, letting you quickly access just the modes you want to use, is hugely valuable on a camera with this many video modes.

Open gate and Anamorphic modes

Users wanting to crop or reframe in post or add digital stabilization during their edit are likely to appreciate the S1II's open gate recording mode, which captures the full area of the sensor.

As has become standard for Panasonic, the S1II can alternatively capture a full-height 4:3 region of the sensor for use with anamorphic lenses. It comes with the option to show a desqueezed preview when working with anamorphic lenses and, in a feature unique to Panasonic, lets you set the stabilization system to correct shake with anamorphic lenses, which require different corrections in their horizontal and vertical axes.

Widescreen modes

The S1II's partially stacked sensor reads out faster than any in previous S-series cameras, allowing it to offer full-width 60p capture or 4K/120 with a moderate crop.

There are also a host of 5.xK modes that capture most of the sensor width natively, rather than downsampling to 4K. The S1II, like its 'E' sister model, adds a very widescreen 2.41:1 mode, mimicking the CinemaScope movie aspect ratio of the 1960s. Conveniently, this also uses about the maximum height of the sensor that can be read fast enough for 120p output, without having to crop horizontally.

Video modes

Despite this table covering 166 different modes – without even delving into different compression levels or MP4 options – it's not quite complete, as there are instances of Pixel/Pixel and APS-C modes that have identical options and virtually identical crops existing alongside one another. For reasons of sanity, we've not tried to measure them all.

For similar reasons, we'd strongly suggest the use of the camera's 'My List' feature, which lets you quickly create a list of the modes you plan to use, preventing accidental use of a mode with the wrong frame rate, chroma subsampling method or crop factor and avoiding you needing to scroll through the whole list. We occasionally found ourselves wishing the company also let you filter by aspect ratio, but that option currently isn't available.

Raw options

The S1II can capture ProRes RAW footage, either in the Standard or HQ levels of compression. These are taken either from a 5760 x 3040 region of the sensor or a native 4096 x 2160 pixel region (imposing a 1.46x crop). In both instances, footage can be recorded either to the camera's CFexpress slot or to an external SSD.

Alternatively, if you have an Atomos or Blackmagic external recorder, the S1II can output a Raw stream over its HDMI port, which can be encoded into ProRes RAW or Blackmagic Raw.

While Raw recording may be useful for those on professional shoots who need the utmost control over their footage, Raw video isn't something that most shooters will likely find useful. In short, it doesn't offer the same benefits that stills shooters expect from Raw images versus JPEG ones, and it will require a lot of post-processing work, especially if you're using modern mirrorless lenses that have geometric distortion correction as part of their optical formula, as Panasonic's implementation of ProRes Raw doesn't embed them.

Video performance

With the S1II, Panasonic continues the tradition of offering "open gate" recording that uses the entire sensor area, which, like with the S5II, produces a roughly 6K 3:2 image (though the S1II's rolling shutter is substantially faster). This mode provides great levels of detail and more flexibility in post; if you're working on a 4K timeline, you have a fair amount of room to reframe a shot, and you can use the same footage for both landscape and vertical output.

The camera also has a 5.1K open gate mode with a little less resolution and detail. That cuts down on its flexibility, but allows for a first for full-frame Lumix cameras: open gate recording at 60p. The 5.1K 24p and 60p modes apparently have the same level of detail.

The camera's 4K modes are all oversampled from ∼6K capture, and have similar levels of detail to those of competitors like the Z6III and EOS R6 II, even at up to 60p, though its sharpening doesn't appear to be quite as aggressive. The S1II can't quite manage full-width 4K 120p in UHD or DCI, but the mode only requires a 1.24x crop, rather than a 1.5x crop like with the Z6III (or you can use the vertically cropped, full-width 'Cinemascope' 4K/120 mode). So while there's some reduction in detail compared to the slower framerates, it does capture a tad more detail than the Nikon, and will come with a smaller change to your field of view.

If you don't prefer oversampling, the S1II also offers a 16:9 5.9K capture mode and a 1.89:1 5.8K capture mode, both of which are available at up to 60p. The extra resolution offers a bit more detail and more flexibility in post, though not quite as much as the 6K open-gate mode.

Focus

In video, we found the S1II's autofocus to be quite reliable; for talking head footage, it did a good job of locking on to the presenter without getting distracted by other people walking by in the background, or hunting for focus. Its subject detection and tracking modes aren't available in its highest (>200fps) framerate modes, but for most shooting scenarios we found ourselves trusting them to get it right.

The S1II also provides the obvious suite of manual focusing tools, too, including focus peaking and the ability to magnify the preview, even while recording, to make sure you've achieved critical focus.

Rolling Shutter

In most of its S1II's standard dynamic range modes, it has excellent rolling shutter rates, so you likely won't see any artifacting unless you're moving the camera very quickly or shooting something that moves extremely fast. Its performance is competitive with the Nikon Z8 with its Stacked Sensor, though falls a little behind the EOS R5 II and, somewhat surprisingly, the Nikon Z6III.

As noted above, that story will change if you activate the DR Boost mode, so it's best to save that for scenes where you're prioritizing dynamic range capture over the capture of motion.

Overheating

The S1II is one of the few cameras in this class to have an internal fan, though it can still get quite hot, especially when recording to CFexpress cards. Panasonic is, however, quite transparent when it comes to providing estimates for how long you can expect to be able to record in the camera's most demanding modes.

In our use, we found that the camera was quite resilient as as long as we were shooting with sensible settings (Panasonic has directly told us that recording in open gate produces less heat than, say, DCI 4K at 60p). We were able to shoot for around forty minutes in direct sunlight, with an ambient temperature of around 30°C (86°F), without even getting an overheating warning, once we'd switched into the "High" recording max temperature mode.

Firmware v1.2 promises to make more use of the camera's ambient temperature sensors, so that the camera doesn't shut down until absolutely necessary, which can further boost recording times.

Stabilization

Panasonic has some of the best stabilization for video that we've seen, as it copes well with obviously intentional moves like pans and tilts, smoothing out any shakes without adding jarring ones of its own when you come to a stop. It also has a boost mode that will keep your footage as steady as possible, at the cost of not reacting as fluidly if you intentionally move the camera. In practice, we've been able to achieve great results with it, even when shooting in places where a tripod or gimbal would've been impractical.

As an example, we shot all the outdoor scenes in this video handheld with the S1II, and only had to stabilized a few shots in post.

New to the second-gen S1 series cameras is a cropless electronic stabilization mode, which Panasonic says utilizes pixels outside the standard region to gather information about the camera's movement. This means it only works with the company's own S-series lenses, rather than the full array of L-mount glass, but it gives you an option to cut down on peripheral distortion that happens from small shakes when you're using a wide-angle lens.

In use

By Mitchell Clark

We've already made known our feelings about how Panasonic's latest generation of autofocus interface separates subject recognition from generic tracking, but while testing the S1II, we found some ways to make it more agreeable. The first was to use the zone autofocus selection setting, and only switch to tracking or single point when trying to focus on smaller subjects. The second was to set a custom button to turn subject recognition on and off, which meant we didn't have to dive into the menu quite as frequently.

We still prefer the way that companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm handle tracking (using the tracking AF point to select a subject if it recognizes one and then falling back to generic tracking if it doesn't), but we were able to find a way to work with Panasonic's new system.

It's telling that Panasonic isn't marketing the S1II as a sports and action camera

While the S1II is capable of some extraordinarily high burst rates, it's telling that Panasonic isn't marketing it as a sports and action camera. The camera's buffer simply isn't large enough to support shooting at its highest framerates for very long, and it can take a while to clear. If you're not precise with your burst, you can wind up missing the shot altogether, though the inclusion of pre-burst capture helps a bit in this regard.

On release, the situation was made more difficult by the lack of more moderate burst settings, as there were no options between 10fps and 70fps. With the latest firmware, though, Panasonic has added a 30fps mode, providing a much-needed middle ground, letting you shoot for around five to six seconds while still capturing all but the fastest action. We still wish there was more room to customize the framerates for each mode, making it easier to manage your buffer, or a Sony-like option to temporarily bump up to a faster framerate for important moments.

The inclusion of a fan – something all its competitors lack – show how serious the S1II is about video.

While the length of this review's video section provides a good idea of how competent it is as a filmmaking tool, it's worth plainly stating just how capable it is. Panasonic has put in a lot of effort to make its cameras excellent at video, and it shows. That's not just in the dizzying array of resolutions and recording modes and top-of-class stabilization options, but in the built-in tools that just make your life a little easier.

The S1II has features that other companies simply don't offer, such as configurable frame-line guides, a hybrid zoom mode that adds an increasing amount of digital zoom as you optically zoom in with your lens, and the 'Focus Transition' tool that lets you do repeatable, configurable focus racks between two set distances. And as we've filmed several of our recent videos either in whole or in part with the S1II, we've found that it's these features that make that process just that bit easier (not to mention the combination tilting/fully articulating screen that's a massive benefit for video shooters).

The only real fly in the ointment is the fact that its ProRes RAW modes, for those that need them, don't currently support the lens corrections that many L-mount lenses require, making the option more awkward to use than it otherwise might be.

Conclusion

By Mitchell Clark

The S1II gives you the option of shooting with either maximum dynamic range, or at high speeds. Panasonic S1II | Lumix S Pro 16-35mm F4 | 35mm | F4.5 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100

The S1II might just be Panasonic's first great do-it-all full frame camera. While entries in the S series have always had something to recommend them, they always came with some asterisk, such as the depth-from-defocus system that couldn't really keep up with the phase detecting competition.

There aren't that many caveats with this camera. The baseline image quality is great and, thanks to whatever tricks Panasonic is pulling, you can get class-leading dynamic range or speed, as the situation requires. It also includes niche, but sometimes useful, features such as multi-shot high resolution and focus stacking, which it can process in-camera, that its competitors can't match.

The story is similar with video, but even more so. It has a borderline absurd range of features, assistance tools and recording modes, best-in-class stabilization and, again, support for niche types of shooting with things like its anamorphic desqueeze preview and stabilization.

The autofocus performs better than anything else the company's released up to this point

We may still not be the biggest fans of the direction Panasonic's taken its autofocus implementation, but as of the v1.2 firmware release, it performs better than anything else the company's released up to this point.* It might not be the very top of the pile, but it should be more than sufficient in most scenarios; Panasonic even included a special detection mode for humans in weird positions to make sure that's the case.

In many ways, the S1II is the most capable camera in this class; it lets you side-step the dynamic range concerns that the Z6III had with its partially stacked sensor, and it offers a suite of video features that no one else matches. However, it's also the most expensive in its class, and that just about keeps it to a Silver award. For people who mostly shoot stills, or just dabble in video, it'd be hard to justify the extra cost, unless you're really excited by the L-mount lens offerings. But you're a true video and stills shooter, we'd recommend starting – and maybe ending – your search with the S1II.

* The difference in our autofocus test results between the initial firmware and the update has me re-evaluating my ranking of which companies are best at putting out firmware updates for their existing cameras.

Scoring

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category. Click here to learn about what these numbers mean.

Compared to its peers

Compared to Panasonic's own S1IIE (and, by extension, the very similarly-specced S5II/X), the S1II represents a big step forward in terms of video capabilities. While Panasonic has long provided a wide selection of video assistance tools and format options, this is the first time we've seen those features paired with such a fast sensor. For purely stills shooters who don't capture that much action, though, it'd be hard to argue that the extra cost the S1II commands couldn't be better spent on an additional lens.

The Nikon Z6III's big advantage over the S1II is its autofocus system, which we've found to be that bit more reliable and nicer to use in most situations, at least when shooting stills. To gain that, though, you have to accept less flexible Raws for some shooting scenarios (it'll only be noticeable if you're really stretching your shadows), the lack of open-gate video recording and a more tightly-controlled lens mount.

We've not finished testing the Canon EOS R6III, but our initial impression is that it's a relatively even match for the S1II, providing a 16% increase in linear resolution, better autofocus and similar open gate/internal Raw recording capabilities. But while Canon's made a lot of improvements in terms of video assistance tools, it still can't quite measure up to what Panasonic provides, especially when it comes to heat-limited recording times, and the RF mount is still much more tightly controlled than L mount.

Sample gallery

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Pre-production sample gallery

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