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Something I truly didn’t expect to get an announcement today is the new Panasonic S1IIE. This camera is designed to be placed in between the Panasonic S1II and the Panasonic S5II. The latter is a camera that arguably won over so many users from Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, and perhaps even film. It takes the S5II’s sensor and stuffs it into the S1II. But what’s even cooler, is that they’re dropping the price with it being only $2,499. So what we do think? Well, the Panasonic S1IIE has the “E” in the name for essentials. But it should probably stand for “excellent” instead.
The Big Picture: Panasonic S1IIE Review Conclusions
Our full review conclusions will be updated at a later point. As of writing this article, we’ve had the camera for only a few days.
Pros
- The shutter comes down over the shutter
- All the higher-end features of the S1R II and the S1II
- Weather resistance
- Panasonic is trying to keep things a bit more affordable
- Fast autofocus performance
- OH MY GOD THEY BROUGHT BACK MULTIPLE EXPOSURE MODE!!!
- Panasonic’s claim of making people selection easier and having 2x better scene detection with people
- 10 fps with a blackout-free viewfinder is cool
- CineLike A2 reminds us of Agfa film
- Constant preview has a new, improved adaptability
- They’re working closely with Godox on integration for affordable flash users
- Capture One tethering support from day 1
- False color for helping to get better exposures in-camera
- The screen tilts and flips in nearly every direction you could think of.
Cons
- We kind of wish they upped the megapixels into the 30s range
- Content authenticity should be built into the camera
Gear Used
Here’s what we’re using:
Innovations
Truly, there aren’t many innovations that the Panasonic LUMIX S1IIE has — and it’s not really designed for that reason. It’s more because of the fact that they’re trying to find a way to give consumers a more affordable camera with the latest features. That idea, in and of itself, could be an innovation. But a lot of things that the S1IIE has can be found in the S5II, the S1RII, and the S1II.
Honestly, the biggest difference between this and the S1II is the partially stacked full-frame sensor that you’d pay around $1,000 more for. But beyond that, the camera has a new Urban Sports autofocus mode and the ability to shoot HIEF in HLG with RAW alongside it.
Who Should Buy the Panasonic LUMIX S1IIE?
Truly, I’d buy this to complement the S5 II or to have alongside the S1RII. Either way, it could be a workhorse of a camera.
Hardware
The Panasonic S1IIE is pretty much the S1II and the S1RII on the outside. LUMIX is following pretty much the same philosophy as both Sony and Nikon when it comes to things like this. The only big changes are those that you’d find inside the cameras. With that said, this camera shares the same weather resistance, shutter coming down over the sensor, carbon shutter, and button layout as the S1R II.
Like its similarly capable cameras, one of the coolest things about this device is that the LCD screen can be used in pretty much every direction and angle.
We haven’t done any testing in the rain yet, so we’ll have to see what happens later.
Ease of Use
Two of the biggest new features that the camera has are the urban sports autofocus mode and the HEIF HLG mode. We have to give these more thorough tests still. But otherwise, Panasonic’s menu system is some of the best for being able to get to anywhere you want in the menu system within a few taps of the buttons. This makes it great for our inclusivity testing for photographers who have sensory issues and motor issues. At this point, we really think that it does a better job than anyone else, with perhaps Canon being neck-in-neck.
Just like the S1RII, the Panasonic S1IIE has multiple exposure, Live View composite, and Real-Time LUT. Honestly, it gives you everything you need to create images in-camera and not have to worry about post-production. We’re starting our tests before the camera’s launch, so Capture One hasn’t supported it yet, but Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW have. There’s nothing major to report yet. That, of course, means that it’s boring and also what’s to be expected.
We’ll update this section with more of our testing.
Focusing
We’re very curious to test the new Urban Sports mode. During our presentation, we asked Panasonic about how it will work with rock climbing. We’ll see that for ourselves soon. But otherwise, we tried to photograph a dog with it, and the Panasonic S1IIE couldn’t find the dog’s eyes.
Image Quality
We’re going to update this section later. But so far, we’ve been editing our images in Adobe Camera RAW and Bridge because we find them to be so much better than Lightroom in many ways. And we’re not finding too many problems at all.
Extra Image Samples
The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.
Edited
Unedited
Stay tuned! Our review is being worked on.
Declaration of Journalistic Intent
The Phoblographer is one of the last standing dedicated photography publications that speaks to both art and tech in our articles. We put declarations up front in our reviews to adhere to journalistic standards that several publications abide by. These help you understand a lot more about what we do:
- At the time of publishing this review, Panasonic LUMIX is running direct-sold advertising with the Phoblographer. This doesn’t affect our reviews anyway and it never has in our 15 years of publishing our articles. This article is in no way sponsored.
- Note that this isn’t necessarily our final review of the unit. It will be updated, and it’s more of an in-progress review than anything. In fact, almost all our reviews are like this.
- None of the reviews on the Phoblographer are sponsored. That’s against FTC laws, and we adhere to them just the same way that newspapers, magazines, and corporate publications do.
- Panasonic loaned the unit and accessories to the Phoblographer for review. There was no money exchange between us or their 3rd party partners and the Phoblographer for this to happen. Manufacturers trust the Phoblographer’s reviews, as they are incredibly blunt.
- Panasonic knows that it cannot influence the site’s reviews. If we don’t like something or if we have issues with it, we’ll let our readers know.
- Panasonic paid for the shipping of the units and met with the Phoblographer in an online meeting.
- The Phoblographer’s standards for reviewing products have become much stricter. After having the world’s largest database of real-world lens reviews, we choose not to review anything we don’t find innovative or unique, and in many cases, products that lack weather resistance.
- In recent years, brands have withheld NDA information from us or stopped working with us because they feel they cannot control our coverage. These days, many brands will not give products to the press unless they get favorable coverage. In other situations, we’ve stopped working with several brands for ethical issues. Either way, we report as honestly and rawly as humanity allows.
- At the time of publishing, the Phoblographer is the only photography publication that is a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. We champion human-made art and are frank with our audience. We are also the only photography publication that labels when an image is edited or not.
More can be found on our Disclaimers page.
Panasonic S1 II E Tech Specs
- Same 24MP full-frame sensor in the S5 II
- Same processor in the S1 II that’s also in the S1 II R, which is the Leica 2
- 10fps with blackout-free burst shooting in mechanical shutter
- 5760k OLED viewfinder
- 30fps in electronic shutter
- Shutter comes down before turning off the camera as long as that’s enabled
- 1.5 second pre-burst shooting
- Shutter comes down before turning off the camera as long as that’s enabled
- Same battery grip as the S1R II
- Godox flash validation
- Inclusion of the Cinelike a2 color profile
- Urban Sports autofocus: designed for things like skateboarding, breakdancing, etc.
- Various storage configurations
- CF Express type B and SD card storage
- HEIF recording capabilities while shooting RAW
- Real Time LUT, multiple exposure mode, and Live Composite all return
- $2,499 price point with sales starting in June
- Also called the S1IIE. The “E” is for the essentials
