Panasonic S1 and S1R

Team Backscatter · Issue 110, Sep/Oct 2019 · pp. 47–49

Products mentioned: Panasonic Lumix S1, Panasonic Lumix S1R, Canon 1DX Mark II, Sigma MC-21 mount converter, Canon 8-15mm fisheye lens, Canon 100mm macro lens, Sony A7 III, Nauticam NA-S1R housing, Panasonic LX10, Panasonic LX100, Panasonic GH5

Panasonic released its first full frame mirrorless cameras this year with the S1 and the S1R. The S1 is a 24MP version with great low light capability, while the S1R is a much higher resolution 47MP. The really big news is that both of these cameras shoot 4K 60p. 4K 60p is the holy grail for video, and few cameras have this spec. The Canon 1DX Mark II is the only other full frame camera to shoot 4K 60p, albeit at about 2 times the price. I was shooting the S1 version on this trip, and I stuck to shooting wide angle stills for the day. Being that Panasonic is new to full frame, there’s not a lot of native lenses for this camera, and certainly not any that are popular for us underwater photographers. Sigma makes a mount converter to adapt Canon EF mount lenses to the Panasonic body. I shot the S1 with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye lens. The image quality from the S1 was excellent. Very sharp de…