SET- UP | MI RRORLESS CAMERA LAUNCHES
PANASONIC GOES LARGE An alliance with both Leica and Sigma sees Panasonic reveal a new full-frame mirrorless pro camera range with an established lens mount
WORDS TERRY HOPE
I n terms of a hush-hush preview, the briefing from Panasonic was right up there. Nothing revealed in the invitation, a non-disclosure agreement and a request that no images be taken of any product that might be shown. All highly intriguing and there were lots of inspired guesses as to what we might be shown, and the announcement of a pair of full frame mirrorless models a week before the world debut at Photokina certainly didn’t disappoint. All this hullabaloo was centred on the new Panasonic S1R and S1 , cameras firmly aimed at the top end of the professional market, and although there are scant technical details, there is enough to make it clear that these models will shake up the opposition in this fast-moving sector. With new full-frame mirrorless cameras from Nikon and Canon revealed in the past few weeks, joining established players Sony and Leica in the market, the march to a whole new world of professional is clearly underway. Panasonic’s big reveal was that the cameras would feature Leica’s L-Mount – perhaps not such a huge shock, given the relationship between the two companies – which means that there’s already a
sight of the lenses themselves nor any indication of likely price it’s difficult to judge just how well they will do. However, given the level that the new cameras are being pitched at it’s fair to surmise that these optics will be at premium level, powered by Leitz expertise. Regarding the cameras themselves, alongside the fact that we know the sensors will be full-frame, Panasonic would only reveal the S1R will feature 47 megapixels and the S1 24 megapixels – a similar scenario to Nikon’s 45.7-megapixel Z 7 and 24.5-megapixel Z 6, or Sony’s 42.2-megapixel A7R III and 24.2-megapixel A9. We were told that S1 and S1R sensors have been newly-developed and we asked, but were not told, whether these are proprietary Panasonic sensors. We’ll have to wait to find out in due course. Other tantalising facts revealed included that these cameras would be what Panasonic claims are the world’s first full- frame mirrorless cameras to support 4K 60p/50p video recording, so there is plenty here to appeal to the hybrid operator that needs to shoot video alongside stills. The only other mirrorless cameras to do this have smaller sensors, such as the APS-C Fujifilm X-T3 we test in this issue and
selection of quality optics out there ready and waiting. What is more surprising is that Sigma is also included, in an unholy alliance that will see the Japanese lens maker producing L-mount versions of its own well-respected glass. Panasonic will also be expanding the line-up by at least ten further lenses over the next two years, which will include a 50mm/f1.4 prime lens, 24-105mm standard zoom lens and 70-200mm telephoto zoom. That covers the most-used lenses by professionals, and differs wildly from the new glass announced by both Nikon and Canon which is firmly in the wide and standard-zoom ranges. At first sight this has all the makings of a really usable outfit, though without The announcement of pair of full-frame models did not disappoint
08 DEF I N I T ION | OCTOBER 20 1 8
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