ntblowz

Got my S1RII and like I thought, I'm a bit disappointed.
Stills are great with very good resolution, the Dpreview studio test is odd because the camera is very sharp even when using not so sharp lenses like the 28-200mm. 
But there are better cameras for photography, AF implementation is weird, AF-S is only DFD and the buffer is a joke when shooting high fps pictures.
Video quality is the same than S5II, a bit less sharpening but still the same video engine, it still looks worse than the old gen, the resolution just feels not as good, no matter the mode or resolution used the image doesn't look really sharp in a good way, lines are not straight, some details are missing like if a filter or blur in some part of the image was added. The image looks like there is a slight oil painting touch softening the image at the core. Like on the S5II the rec 709 profiles are worse than V-log.
So it is a bit ironic from Lumix to say "discover unseen details" for their S1RII tagline. Because of this the moire is not too much prononced. Some will like this tradeoff. 
I tested Prores Raw 6K Pixel to Pixel and the image is much better, the weird processing is gone. But I can't get the image right when using Premiere Pro, colors are off, I don't think Prores Raw is really fully supported by Premiere. The crop and the data size also makes this mode hard to use and it is not supported at all by Resolve.
Using the Canon R5 or Z6III for raw is much easier as the files are better supported and there is no crop.
The rolling shutter is just bad when using the DR boost, I didn't think I could see it but I can see jello even with relatively slow movements. In addition 24fps is the max fps we can use with DR boost and Open Gate. I can't select 30fps, maybe a bug.
I think the best modes are 6k or 4k 60fps, there is only a slight crop, worse DR because no DR boost and the image quality becomes even slighltly worse but there is not a big difference with the 30fps and the rolling shutter is better.
I quickly tested the 4k 120fps and as if it isn't enough that the 4k30fps was not great, the 120fps is even worse : blurry, bad details, just unusable. When selecting Pixel to Pixel, the quality is better but again these crop make these Pixel to Pixel modes hard to use and feel like we are using a S35 camera. 
Stabilization is the best in the market and for me it's the main reason I still use Panasonic (with Open Gate too). But the S5II is as good ...
 
The S1RII feels like it was created for people taking mostly photography of still subjects. And for this the camera is good, not the best DR performance but nice colors and impressive 177MP handheld mode (the image makes a very long time to create though, much longer than on the S5II). For video it comes with marketing bait as 8k and 4k 120fps. The 8k like every other modes except raw is too much processed, it has high rolling shutter when the DR boost is enabled and the 4k120fps is not good at all. Yes we can do a lot of things with this camera but with big penalties most of the time.
The added Prores Raw is questionable too, the files are not supported in Resolve and the crop is really disappointing.

The fact remains, however, than the S1RII is the only affordable high resolution camera with acceptable autofocus for L mount. However, I don't see anything which could attract new users to Lumix or L mount, the S5II is a much better value for Youtube and other social media creators. And the A7RIV is much cheaper and has better AF for stills. 3600€ is a lot of money but I would have happily spend a bit more to get better video engine, better rolling shutter and 8k raw. 
As things stand at the moment with the current firmware, I think the right price should be more about 3200€.


About the reviews available online like the one from Northrup, I think the best is to always wait for some Chinese or Korean reviews, they provides much more informations and are much more unbiased than any Northrup or Undone reviews.

Here is an exemple of a good and accurate review :

 

They don't call it creative accounting for nothing

Very cool but I bet he can’t recreate Ana de Armas in my living room.
It’s his next challenge.

It's Sirui the 5th brand to join the L-mount alliance, after all... just announced:
https://www.newsshooter.com/2025/03/20/sirui-joins-the-l-mount-alliance/

And a fast lightweight tele is the 1st one to arrive...
https://store.sirui.com/products/sirui-aurora-series-85mm-full-frame-autofocus-lens
 

Good to see more and more uses Ronin 4D as main cam

That will be a longer wait

Manny just released a video saying that he made a mistake about the noise is stiils.

According to him, he made the comparison opening all the files in Lightroom - he found surprising that Adobe have compatibility on day one with the new camera. But Panasonic told them after that Adobe jumped the gun and the drivers were not optimized yet - and that he should compare in Capture One, because in C1 they worked together and the drivers were right.

After he opened the files from Panasonic in C1, the noise problem was gone, and the files from the three cameras, bar from color differences, were "indistinguishable". In fact, what cought his attention is that the files from all the cameras were much better (color, details, rendering) in C1 than in Lightroom...
 
 

Regarding technique and creativity, has anyone seen Adolescence on Netflix?
Among the most viewed TV series on Netflix is Adolescence, a four-episode British miniseries that is receiving rave reviews from audiences and critics just about everywhere. The praise is partly about the story it tells, and partly about the way the series was written, performed, and, above all, directed: each episode is in fact shot in a single, very long take, that is, all at once, with no cuts between shots and therefore no breaks for the actors and crew, and no editing required.
Adolescence was written by Englishmen Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. In addition to contributing to the screenplay, the latter also plays Eddie Miller, the protagonist's father and one of the main characters. The director, on the other hand, is compatriot Philip Barantini, who four years ago had directed Graham himself in the film Boiling Point - Disaster is Served, a thriller that was a good success in the United Kingdom and which, just like Adolescence, was shot with a single long take.
Adolescence centers on the story of Jamie Miller, a 13-year-old student who is arrested on charges of committing murder. However, the detective plot is set aside fairly early on because the point of the series is not so much to get to the resolution of a case, but to analyze the motives behind the actions of a teenager in our times, and to place them in the social and cultural context in which he lives.
For me, who has a 13-year-old son, the first two episodes were a punch in the gut. Perhaps the absence of editing also helps to give you no respite and lower you even more into the story. Truly a peculiar product.
Two scenes in particular struck me. For the first, at the beginning of the first episode, I had thought of a crane being moved on a trolley or truck. The second one is even more peculiar because the camera goes through the window and flies high above the houses. Netflix has released a BTS showing both scenes. (Spoiler: they used a drone)
Sorry, I couldn't find a YT link:
https://x.com/NetflixUK/status/1901617851192033326
It was entirely shot on the Ronin 4D:
Spoiler alert:
https://variety.com/2025/artisans/news/adolescence-one-take-episodes-netflix-1236339292/
 

Canon R8 does cropless FF supersampled 4k60p which none of other model can do for the same price. No IBIS but luckily most RF lens have IS which compensate for that.
So for pure image quality R8 is really out there, just DR is not so hot vs other FF cameras.

No body comment on the Gopro?  Maybe I should have use Gopro instead of Pana for the upcoming docu I m shooting 

No body comment on the Gopro?  Maybe I should have use Gopro instead of Pana for the upcoming docu I m shooting 

Having no 4K60P really killed C300MK2, its pretty much DOA
Same for C200 with no 10bit and TC, dumb move
C100 MK II have no 4K, that is really start of the fall
 
It was around that time I got the FS5/A7S/A7RII, a really nice set for slow mo/4K/AF and keep size reasonable small... while if you go Canon most of them only have 1080P except 1DC

If Blazer come in L mount that would be really nice
One downside when using anamorphic desqueeze in Sony, you lose both AF and IBIS. But on Panasonic you still get AF and Anamorphic specific IBIS
I m not a fan of that hex bokeh from the 40mm either, luckliy they fixed it with the 20mm which shows oval bokeh.
 

Their first 40mm 1.8 doesnt have L mount and have noisy AF, but seems that is all fixed up.
Just waiting for actual lens review on L mount camera before I jumped the ship

I mean, she can stand up in a car, but she ain't Sydney Sweeney.
 

Gerald DOES get a lot of dumb criticism, but he also uses that to deflect valid criticism by lumping it all together.
This thread, which also is related to another time Gerald got upset and decided to rant to his subscribers to make himself feel better, discusses most of the criticisms and his hypocrisy. He helped create the beast that bothers him so much today.
I remember making this post in October 2022, which is around the time I kinda realized what Gerald really is about. It still rings true, too. 
 

And in some context - main take away from the video is that if you are focussed on a compelling subject, rolling shutter is not what people are paying attention to: 
 

And the best ratio for that is 4:3.. aka M43, if Pana or Oly were smart about it they really could really make a ultimate content creator camera, but looks like Canon got the better idea than them argh.

I've lurked here for years but this S1RII stuff has gotten real silly. It's like there's resentment it's not an S1HII even though we all know it's the R series. And the criticisms of the S1RII are especially strange considering the Z8 (which I've owned) was subject to criticism when released (overheating, dynamic range, AF = nice try, but no Sony/Canon, no Bird Detect, not 1 but 2 recalls, did I mention overheating?). Now the Z8 is the model camera the S1RII just can't match. Almost as if firmware updates make a difference. Is Panasonic good at firmware updates? Gee, I dunno.
The new Slashcam review certainly seems bullish on the S1RII.

Why get the S1rii? 1) the versatility of the back screen; 2) open gate; 3) tools; 4) great IBIS; 5) decent AF. You won't find that combination elsewhere. In fact, the only other camera with that is the S5ii, but the S1rii is probably better.

Lumix releases a camera without EVF, hot shoe and mech shutter for 1.5K = "crippled".
Sigma releases a camera with the above shortages plus the lack of IBIS, SD, etc for 2K = "innovative".
A real example of it's not what you sell, it's how you sell it.

 

i don't think they necessarily do.
not to suck my own dick too much, but here's some stills of work I've shot that I mostly like (and one i dislike). some pocket 4k, alexa and fx6 in the mix. some still have a lut on, some are graded by me, and some are graded by someone else with my intentions as a DP taken away. feel free to guess which is which and why, since i feel like you guys love doing that.

 

That's what I keep telling my brides...but they don't listen 🤪