ON TRIAL PANASONIC LUMIX DC-S1R
The Lumix S1R has pretty
much the same selection of in-
camera processing functions for
JPEGs as the high-end Lumix G
cameras, starting with a selection
of ‘Photo Style’ presets, although
these now number 14 with the
addition of a Flat profile (with
lower saturation and contrast) and
two for HLG capture in colour or
B&W. The choice of adjustable
parameters increases too – up
to nine, including Highlight and
Shadow which replace the
separate ‘Highlight/Shadow’
control found on the likes of the
G9. Grain Effect is available in the
monochrome ‘Photo Styles’ along
with the standard set of contrast
filters. Up to ten ‘My Photo Style’
user-defined presets can be
created with yet more adjustable
parameters added for Sensitivity
and White Balance.
There’s a choice of 22 ‘Filter
Settings’ effects (all adjustable
in some way), in-camera lens
corrections for vignetting and
diffraction, long exposure noise
reduction, ‘i.Dynamic Range’
processing, an intervalometer (for
sequences of up to 9999 frames)
and a multiple exposure facility
(up to four shots combined with
automatic brightness adjustment).
Auto bracketing modes are
available for exposure, aperture,
focus, white balance and, new
on the Lumix S camera, colour
temperature settings. Exposure
bracketing sequences can be set to
three, five or seven frames, while
aperture bracketing is performed
over three or five frames or ‘All’
which captures a shot at every
one of the attached lens’s full-stop
settings. The focus bracketing
is adjustable for the amount of
shift (from one to ten steps) over
sequences of up to 999 frames.
SMART THINKING
While the Lumix S cameras stick
with Panasonic’s ‘Depth From
Defocus’ (DFD) contrast-detection
autofocusing rather than the now
much more popular on-sensor
phase-difference detection, there
have been some interesting
upgrades, including much more
processing power.
DFD is operating at 480 fps
to compare the depth-of-field in
a rolling pair of images – which
is how it works – and Panasonic
claims a subject acquisition speed
of just 0.08 seconds.
Sensitivity now extends down
to -6.0 EV when shooting in low-
light situations (albeit with an
f1.4 speed lens) and down to -3.0
EV with low-contrast subjects.
However, the big deal is that, like
Olympus, Panasonic has adopted
AI-based ‘deep learning’ to drive
intelligent subject recognition and
tracking which is, subsequently,
much more reliable than the
conventional methodology.
However, while Olympus’s
E-M1X concentrates on action-
type subjects, the S1R has more
‘everyday’ modes for Face, Eye,
Body or Animal Detect which is
essentially designed for pets such
as cats and dogs, but will work
when shooting wildlife too. Deep
learning analyses the whole sensor
area, pixel by pixel, to identify the
selected subject and confirms
the scenario from a massive
database of like images. Similarly
to the E-M1X, once the subject
is detected and recognised, it’s
tracking via a target (or multiple
targets) which change shape and
size as the subject’s position in
the frame and distance from the
camera change. Where there are
multiple subjects, you can specify
the one you want by simply
touching its target on the monitor
screen. And, of course, the AI-
based tracking operates across the
entire frame.
The ‘conventional’ AF system
has 225 selectable measuring
points arranged in a 15x15
pattern to give pretty good frame
coverage. There’s a host of area
modes ranging from Pinpoint toZone, the latter with the choice of
vertical, horizontal, square or oval-
shaped clusters of points which
can be moved around the full
pattern of 225 points as desired.
Additionally, you can also change
the size of these Zones so, in the
case of the oval-shaped pattern
for example, it can range from
just five points up to 97 points.
Alternatively, you can create your
own custom AF area shape and
store up to three of them for future
recall. Obviously, the full set of
225 points is available for auto
point selection, but if you opt to do
it manually, there’s the choice of
1-Area or 1-Area+ modes, the latter
enabling automatic point switching
if the subject moves. Additionally,
both the 1-Area modes can be
adjusted to one of eight sizes to
vary the selectivity.
As noted earlier, the touch
screen allows for a range of
focusing-related operations,
including point/zone selection,
changing the AF area size,
moving the point/zone and a
handy ‘AF+AE’ function which
also adjusts the exposure at the
selected point/zone. The ‘Touch
Pad AF’ operation can be set to
Exact or Offset; the former self-
explanatory, but the latter moving
the AF point/zone via a drag action
on the touch screen, rather than
simply just tapping.
When not using the subject-
based tracking, there’s an ‘AF
Custom Setting’ menu for fine-
tuning tracking to suit other types
of subject movement (i.e. speed,
direction, etc.). It offers four
scenarios with three adjustable
parameters – AF Sensitivity, AF
Area Switching Sensitivity and
Moving Object Prediction.
Manual focusing is assisted
by a magnified image, a simple
distance scale or a focus peaking
display which has been expanded
to offer a choice of ten colours
and five levels of intensity. The
magnified image is shown either
full-screen (now up to 20x) or as
a picture-in-picture (up to 6.0x)
inset panel and it’s also available
for focus confirmation with
autofocusing. The S1R also has
a feature called ‘AF Point Scope’
which brings up a magnified
view – again either full screen
or PIP – but based on the active
focusing point or zone, rather
than the centre point. Finally,
AF+MF operation provides a full-time manual override along with
whatever assistance method has
been preselected.UP TO SPEED
Panasonic has expanded the Lumix
S cameras’ capabilities in terms of
exposure control too, so there’s
an additional highlight-weighted
metering mode, and the new focal
plane shutter lifts the maximum
flash sync speed to 1/320 second.
As with the Lumix G cameras,
the exposure metering is based
on 1728 on-sensor measuring
points with the rest of the modes
being multi-zone, centre-weighted
average and spot. As befitting
a camera of this calibre, there’s
only the standard set of ‘PASM’
exposure control modes, but a
fully-automatic ‘Intelligent Auto’
mode is retained and this performs
auto scene detection for portraits,
portraits with pets, landscapes,
close-ups, night portraits, night
scenery, food, sunsets and low-
light situations.
The S1R’s focal plane shutter
has a speed range of 60-1/8000
second with a bulb timer limited
to 30 minutes. The sensor-based
shutter has a speed range of
60-1/16,000 second and, of course,
enables silent and vibration-free
operation. However, to help
eliminate vibrations when using
the FP there’s a delay timer which
can be set to one, two, four or
eight seconds.
Unlike with the G9, there’s
no increase in the maximum
shooting speed when using
the sensor shutter (although, of
course, you do have the 30 fps
‘6K Photo’ option). The third
shutter configuration is the hybrid
‘Electronic First Curtain’ which
uses both shutters, starting
the exposure electronically and
finishing it with the FP shutter’s
second curtain, but the top speed
is reduced to 1/2000 second. This
reduces both noise and vibration
compared to when using only the
FP shutter, but still permits the use
of electronic flash. The S1R has
both a hotshoe and a PC terminal
for flash sync, and the flash control
options include manual control
down to 1/64.
The white balance correction
modes are expanded to three auto
settings called AWB, AWBc and
AWBw which is new. The latter
two either, respectively, reduce
or maintain the warmer tonesTHE STYLING IS,
SHALL WE SAY, ON
THE INDUSTRIAL
SIDE AND LEAVES
YOU IN NO DOUBT
THAT YOU’RE
LOOKING AT A HIGH-
END CAMERA WITH
PROFESSIONAL
ASPIRATIONS.