Pro Moviemaker Winter 2019

PANASONIC LUMIX S1

files. With the waveform and LUT customisation, you can get a far more accurate display of what your final footage will look like when converted to a standard Rec. 709 colour space. And if you want to play around with looks, custom LUT support means you can get the look just right, and match it to your other Panasonic cinema cameras if you have them. It’s obviously at a lower bit rate than the higher-end Super 35 Varicams, but the V-Log footage is still very robust thanks to the larger sensor and mixes in very well. Of course, capturing 4:2:2 10-bit 4K footage does mean you use up significant amount of memory space, either internally onto an XQD card if you shoot up to 30p, or externally in 60p. But that’s the price you pay for such high-quality files that you can do so much with. Despite such a huge list of changes with the new firmware upgrade, the one thing we really wanted was to allow full manual control in the headline 180fps frame rate setting. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been implemented, so you are left with fully automatic control that doesn’t even stick to the age-old 180° rule of using a shutter speed that’s twice the frame rate. It’s baffling for a professional camera to work like this. Maybe an even newer firmware will make Panasonic see sense. For now, you have to spend the extra cash and buy the S1H if you want manual control at 180fps and if you don’t mind the addition of the S1H’s low-pass optical filter, which affects image quality slightly. Now, you can use the far better and more useful V-Log in full 10-bit for a much more cinematic look, and in a workflow that matches more expensive Panasonic cameras. The rolling shutter performance and lack of manual control in the fastest frame rates haven’t been solved yet. For that, you need to upgrade to the S1H, which is a lot more expensive. For now, the Panasonic Lumix S1 remains incredible value and a very capable all-round camera.

Too often, filmmakers use Log settings on 8-bit mirrorless cameras then struggle to get everything looking right in post, as there just isn’t enough information in the file. A 10-bit file has so much more information that it makes using Log a really useful thing to do, especially when there is high contrast and you are struggling to keep highlight and shadow detail. Using V-Log – not the truncated V-Log L ‘light’ of the GH5 – the footage is very flat and can easily be restored in post using a simple Panasonic V-Log LUT that most editing programmes already have as standard. A little bit of tweaking in contrast and saturation and it looked even better, as you’d expect. Or if you have the skills, do your own colour correction and grading as the files have lots of information in them. Push and pull them around to get the look you want. It’s important to get the exposure right in camera, which is often a difficult task when using Log filmmaking, for either no money or a reasonable amount depending on where you live and when you bought your S1. For stills shooters, it’s probably not worth spending the cash, but for video use, it absolutely is. When we tested the Panasonic Lumix S1 earlier this year, we said it’s a stunner for shooting movies with smooth, rich and detailed 4K files that are incredible. Then, the only 10-bit 4:2:2 files were in HLG and we loved it as it gives so much colour information that grading is a delight. THE VERDICT The new firmware takes an already stunning camera and makes it even better for

96kHz/24-bit audio. That’s top-line pro level audio that’s far better than just using a DSLRmic or wireless audio solution plugged into the camera’s input socket. You can now load up third-party LUTs via the SD card. And Panasonic has also improved the performance of the five-axis in-body stabilisation by half a stop. So that’s 6.5 stops when using Panasonic’s own S series lenses or six stops on other glass. For autofocus, the system performance has been upgraded, especially when tracking in video mode and there are detail changes to AF menus, including Near Shift and Far Shift settings to give priority to subjects either nearby or far away. And live viewwhile using AF has also been improved to make it easier to see. There have also been changes to make XQDmemory cards more stable, too. But we never had any problems with the original. We tested the new firmware in a Panasonic S1 and really appreciated the on-screen waveforms that make judging exposure far easier. It turns the camera into a real filmmaking tool. The improvements to the AF system and stabilisation were much harder to notice, although the AF did seem to lock on to a moving subject and track faster than before. But the contrast-detect system is still no match for much faster, precise and advanced phase-detect systems used by the majority of its rivals. You have to think of Panasonic’s S series cameras in video mode as manual focus cinema cameras, where the AF can often help you get things in focus when there’s plenty of light and contrast and your subject isn’t moving too fast or too erratically. The real benefit is the addition of V-Log and 10-bit 4K capture, which is a great combination to allow you to really get the most out of the impressive 24-megapixel sensor.

ABOVE The update includes V-Log capture, which lends itself to a more cinematic look and fits into a workflow

that matches more expensive cameras

More information

panasonic.com/uk

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WINTER 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER

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