GEAR
PANASONIC LUMIX S1R
the footage is crisp and super-slow, but the roadside fence posts do have a distinct lean. However, activating the 180fps function took some digging into the menus as it is greyed out unless you set the mode button on the top of the camera to movie. Once you know the trick, it’s obvious. It doesn’t record audio at the fastest frame rates, as many cameras don’t. However, that does leave it impossible to speed up footage to normal speed, then slow it down in post for a creative shot while still recording audio. Sony seems to have the market covered for this genuinely useful feature. Audio is via a standard microphone socket and monitoring is by a 3.5mm headphone port. Panasonic’s current DMW-XLR1
separating the subject from the background, especially when shot wide open. The 24-105mm costs £1300/ $1298 with 16 elements in 13 groups, with two aspherical lenses and two ELD elements. Both the S1 and S1R have six-stop Dual Image Stabilisation for stills and video, a very bright 5760K OLED display, dual-tilting screens and record to internal SD or XQD cards. Another stunning feature is that the S1R and S1 both shoot HD up to 180fps, recorded to the internal SD or XQD cards or externally via HDMI. This gives amazing super- slowmotion that’s simply addictive. However, slowing things down does show up some rolling shutter, so you do have to be careful. We panned along a busy road on some cars and
out of the sensor. There is also Cinelike-D, which prioritises dynamic range, and Cinelike-V, which is supposed to give priority to contrast. Both are made to be tweaked in post to give filmic results. We found the best results in Flat then changed settings in post for a film-like look, but don’t dismiss the standard Rec.709 settings as they are very good for the majority of subjects. The S1 adds as Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) for HDR output, proving its credentials for more serious filmmakers. We tested the S1R with two of three lenses Panasonic has made available so far, the 50mm f/1.4 and 70-200mm f/4. Panasonic and Sigma have formed an alliance with Leica to use the Leica L-Mount. Leica has a large range out already, and Sigma has unveiled 11 L-mount versions of its Art primes. Panasonic also makes a 24- 105mm f/4 Macro and both zoom lenses include image stabilisation and like the cameras, all the optics are weather resistant. The 50mm f/1.4 uses an 11-bladed iris for smooth, out-of-focus areas, with 13 lens elements in 11 groups. Three of the elements are Extra- Low Dispersion (ELD) and two are aspherical. At £2299/$2298, it’s a stunning lens with a high price tag to reflect it. Wide open it’s a beauty, with stunning resolution, bokeh and virtually no aberrations. The 70-200mm f/4 lens is £1749/$1698, with nine iris blades and 23 elements in 17 groups, with one aspherical element and three ELD lenses. In use, it is relatively compact and very useful for
IMAGES When fitted with an external monitor via the HDMI port, the S1R becomes even better for video
HAIL THE NEWKING OF STILLS!
Many image-makers are hybrid shooters – juggling stills with video for the same clients. And the Panasonic S1R really does deliver in the stills department. If you shoot Rawyou get big 65MB shots, which open up to 8368x5584 pixels. And the images it produces, especially in good light at low ISO, are stunning –much as you might expect from a high-resolution camera with a pricey prime lens on it. Images are clean, sharp and rich in detail. The S1R offers a high resolution mode in which eight shots are taken, with the sensor moving slightly between shots. This is then combined to get an equivalent resolution of 187 megapixels, with file sizes that are around 350MB. The detail is incredible, but you do really need to be shooting static subjects with the camera on a tripod to make use of it. In Mode 1 you need static subjects, while Mode 2 can handle gentle movement – but
it’s certainly not the right choice for anything that moves. When the light drops and the ISO goes up, the S1R also performs. At ISO 800 you see minimal difference to ISO 100 unless you pixel-peep. Noise increases as you go up but, it’s still very clean at ISO 3200.
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SUMMER 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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