TDualmemorycardslotsare
providedfortheSD(withV90
speedsupport)andXQDformats.
Thelatterwillbeupgradabletothe
evenfasterCFexpressTypeB when
thisformatis eventuallylaunched
commercially.S L mount was originally devised
by Leica for its SL model, and
comprises a four-claw bayonet
fitting with ten contact pins. It will
also be used by Sigma on future
digital camera bodies.SSensor is a custom-designed
CMOS with a total pixel count
of 50.44 million, the highest
resolution in the full-35mm
category.
S The provision of a PC flash
terminal indicates the S1R’s
high-end aspirations.PANASONIC LUMIX DC
next year-and-a-half... especially as
Sony’s FE system has just ticked
over to 33 models and that’s not
including what’s available from the
independents. However, the point
that Panasonic probably wants to
make here is that it’s already in
a better place lens-wise than its
fellow debutantes in the full-35mm
mirrorless camera category.
Not surprisingly, the beefy S1R
is built tough with a magnesium
alloy chassis and body covers,
fully sealed against the intrusion
of dust or moisture, and insulated
to enable shooting in subzero
temperatures down to -10 degrees
Celsius. Additionally, Panasonic
says that the camera’s focal plane
shutter assembly is tested to
400,000 cycles which easily puts
it up there with any other pro-level
camera, reflex or mirrorless.
The monitor screen is an
RGBW display with a resolution
of 2.1 megadots and is adjustable
for tilt in both the horizontal and
vertical planes (similar to Fujifilm’s
arrangement on the X-T3 and GFX
50S). It enables touch controls,
including ‘Touch AF’ and ‘Touch
Pad AF’, the latter used for AF
point selection when viewing
through the EVF. The viewfinder
uses an OLED-type panel with
a resolution of 5.76 megadots.
Both the EVF and monitor screen
have adjustments for brightness,
contrast, colour saturation and
either red or blue tinting. Both
are also adjustable for luminance
(or backlighting) with either auto
control or manual setting over
seven levels (i.e. plus/minus
three steps).
SEEING MORE LIGHT
On the inside, the S1R is built
around an all-new “Panasonic
designed” full-35mm CMOS
sensor with a total pixel count of
50.44 million, of which 47.3 million
are gainfully employed turning
your ideas into images. It’s minus
an optical low-pass filter so all
those pixels are giving of their
best.
It’s not a BSI-type design, but
the microlenses are aspherical to
make for better light gathering at
the edges, and the photodiodes
are deeper so they’re more
efficient at capturing the longer
wavelengths of light (i.e. red and
orange). Both have the effect of
enhancing the signal-to-noise
ratio. The native sensitivity range
is equivalent to ISO 100 to 25,600
with expansions down to ISO 50
and up to ISO 51,200.JPEGs can be recorded in one
of three sizes, the largest being
8368x5584 pixels at the 3:2 aspect
ratio. There’s the choice of 4:3,
16:9 or 1:1 aspect ratios; all crops
of course, but still delivering plenty
of resolution thanks to having all
those pixels to play with.
A single image size is
additionally available in the 65:24
and 2:1 aspect ratios. RAW
files are captured at 8368x5584pixels with 14-bit RGB colour and
lossless compression.
Given there are already
compatible ‘APS-C’ lenses
available via Leica, the S1R will
automatically switch to this format
and the maximum image size is
still a healthy 5504x3664 pixels
(20.1 MP).
Indicative of how images
are being displayed these days,
there’s a new ‘HLG Photo’ mode
which captures an extended
dynamic range using the Hybrid
Log Gamma colour profile that’s
an international standard for HDR
TV panels. These images are
captured as .HSP files (HDR Still
Photo) with 10-bit RGB colour
and will reproduce on an HLGThecontrollayoutis moreD-SLR-
likethanmanyD-SLRs– perhaps
notsosurprisinggiventhetarget
marketfortheLumixS cameras.Mainmodedialis lockableandhasthe
drivemodeselectorlocatedbeneath.
Threepositionsareprovidedfor
customisedcameraset-ups.Arrayofkeyfunctionbuttons(forwhite
balance,sensitivityandexposure
compensation)is reminiscentofa similar
arrangementonCanon’stop-endD-SLRs.