S
REPORT BY BURROSTheLumixS1Rdoesn’tattemptto
hideitssize.It’sbiggerthaneitherof
itsmainmirrorlessrivals– Nikon’s
Z 7 ortheSonyA7RIII– butstillfeels
nicelybalancedinitshandling.PANASONIC
LUMIX DC-S1R
ON TRIAL
With its move into the full-35mm format,
consumer electronics giant Panasonic is now able
to compete with Canon and Nikon head-on,
and it has the weaponry to seriously challenge
both... as well as traditional rival, Sony.
BIG TOP
has been able to make up valuable
ground very quickly by virtue of
its membership of the L Mount
Alliance. Partners Leica and
Sigma are also contributing to the
lens ecosystem so, right now,
Panasonic is already ahead of
both Canon and Nikon in terms of
what’s available in native L mount
lenses... especially if you like fast,
high-performance primes. But also
working in Panasonic’s favour is the
same philosophy that has made
its Lumix G system so successful;
namely, give photographers what
they want when they ask for it.
And so straight into the Lumix S
cameras goes ten years of this
feedback... making the S1 and S1R
more ‘photographic’ in essence
and character than any of the
mirrorless models we’ve seen from
either Canon or Nikon so far.
Similar to the relationship between
the Nikon Z 7 and Z 6, the S1 and
S1R share identical bodyshells,
control layouts, feature sets and
most specifications, but have
different sensors so, in a nutshell,
only the resolution, sensitivity
ranges and continuous shooting
speeds are different.ll the popular
sensor sizes have
their devotees,
but it’s generally
been the case
that competition between the
mirrorless brands has tended
to be defined by format... so,
Panasonic versus Olympus in
M43, Fujifilm versus Sony in
‘APS-C’ and, until recently, Sony
versus nobody in full-35mm (theterm we’re sticking with here,
because ‘full frame’ is, in reality,
meaningless). With the arrival of
Canon, Nikon and Panasonic in
the full-35mm mirrorless category,
these battle lines are being redrawn
and we’ve finally arrived at the
contest we’ve been predicting
for a long time. The quest for the
dominance of the interchangeable
lens camera market (which, of
course, still includes D-SLRs) seesthe traditional photo brands of
Canon and Nikon line-up against
the consumer electronics giants
Panasonic and Sony. We’re not
dismissing the fine efforts of
Fujifilm and Olympus here, but
within the full-35mm sensor
world, things are going to get
interesting from now. Sony has the
advantage of being well ahead of
everybody in system development
(especially lenses), but PanasonicA