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Panasonic has just announced not one, but two new cameras and a new lens. The LUMIX S1 Mark II, the S1IIE, and the 24-60 f/2.8 lens. In this video, we're going to cover the S1II, but don't miss my other videos released at the same time as this one on the S1IIE and the 24-60 lens. For those who followed the S1RII launch, the new S1II and S1IIE are in the exact same body, including the new tilt monitor. Although the camera's sensors are completely different. For comparison, the S1II is 20% smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the original S1 — LUMIX's first full frame camera introduced back in 2019. This S1II features the first partially stacked sensor from Panasonic, a sensor design that reduces rolling shutter while maintaining dynamic range.
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For a little more on that, I've made a dedicated video, so be sure to catch that one. It's a 24 megapixel sensor with 779 point phase detect autofocus, including a new urban sports autofocus mode with 15 stops dynamic range with dynamic range boost enabled or 14 stops without. It features dual native ISO with base ISO in vlog at 640 and 5,000. The S1II can record video in 6K Open Gate 3:2 aspect ratio up to 30p, 5.9K 16:9 video up to 60p, and 4K and cinema 4K up to 120p, all full frame. At 120p, it does crop slightly; 1.17x crop for C4K 120, and 1.24x crop for ultra HD 120. It can also shoot 240p in full HD and that slight crop falls somewhere between the two 120p crops.
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It's worth noting that while this crop may seem annoying, the Nikon Z6III also crops when shooting 120p and it crops a bunch more. The S1II includes an interesting new crop ratio called Cs4K, as in Cinemascope 4K, that's C4K wide at 4096 pixels and just 1728 pixels tall, or in a 6K variation at 5952 by 2512, making a 2.4:1 crop ratio, giving you that cinematic crop straight out of camera. Plus, you can shoot up to 120p in Cs4K mode, and that's without the crop found on 4K120p. And of course it does all of this with up to eight stops Image stabilization. One of my favorite new features is timecode support over Bluetooth. I'm making a dedicated video for that, so be sure to check that out. I love shooting with timecode, so this is a really big deal.
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The camera supports – finally! – native UVC over USB. In other words, webcam mode. Your S1II can be your webcam for Zoom calls with just a USB cable. Another interesting new feature is that you can now move or copy files between the SD, CFexpress type B and external SSD drives.
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It supports raw over HDMI for both ProRes Raw to Atmos and Blackmagic Raw to Blackmagic recorders. Updates required for the recording hardware, which we don't have yet, so I couldn't test, but it's all coming. According to the specs though, we'll have support for 6K30p 3:2 ratio Open Gate… 5.6K60p, which I think will be 16:9… and Cinema 4K120p 17:9 pixel-for-pixel mode; all in raw. Plus you get internal proxy generation support for every format other than 120p. This means you can shoot raw and a proxy format simultaneously to speed up your editing workflow. Super cool. That I think deserves a dedicated video, once I have the recorder updates. I think it'll be especially interesting for those of us who edit in Resolve and like to shoot in ProRes Raw, for which Resolve still doesn't have native support for.
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For still photographers. The S1II will shoot up to 70 frames per second in continuous autofocus in electronic shutter and 10 frames per second with a blackout-free mechanical shutter and up to 1.5 seconds of pre-burst. That's where it captures up to one and a half seconds of photos from before you press the shutter. It's like having a built-in time machine. The S1II also now supports shooting stills to JPEG or HEIF and when in HEIF, you can choose to shoot in SDR or HDR/HLG mode like you get from your iPhone. You do need to expose differently for that, so I'll be making a dedicated video on that capability.
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The camera also has Godox flash validation. Details are scarce on this, but it essentially means that Godox flashes can be validated to be officially supported by LUMIX cameras. Most of us have been using Godox flashes for years, so this is just a nice bump to make the support official and possibly more integrated. As with the S1RII, these cameras now offer Capture One compatibility for both raw processing and tethered shooting. The camera includes a three month free trial to Capture One as well. There's an interesting new white balance feature that I haven't really gotten to play with yet called A.I. Auto White Balance. It doesn't actually apply it while shooting, but instead you reprocess the raw photo in camera with A.I. auto white balance enabled. Once I check it out, I may do a dedicated video on it. It sounds interesting, albeit a bit tedious to process each photo in camera. We'll see.
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There are already firmware updates planned. The first will include multiple frame markers. That's the feature where you can see framing guides for let's say both 16:9 and 9:16 simultaneously while shooting in a format like Open Gate. Currently, the camera can only show one frame marker at a time, so being able to show both will come soon. Bluetooth support for DGI Gimbals will be coming as well, which means you'll no longer need a USB cable between your LUMIX and your Ronan. Plus support for ARRI LogC3 will come in a paid software update. There's also a battery grip for this camera providing an additional battery and buttons for shooting vertically.
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You can choose to close the carbon fiber shutter blades when powering down the camera; a feature introduced in the S1RII. It shoots 96 megapixel photos in sensor shift high resolution mode. The S1II shoots ProRes and ProRes RAW internally, uses SD and CFexpress type B cards, and can capture 32-bit float audio and four channel audio with the XLR2 adapter. It has front and rear tally lights, along with a red frame record indicator on the LCD, so there's no question if you're rolling or not. You get waveform and vectorscope and false color… shutter angle and synchro scan, anamorphic desqueeze preview, the new Cinelike A2 color profile, true 24p in addition to 23.98, and of course all frame rates for NTSC and PAL frequencies. You have S&Q or slow and quick mode for in-camera, slow or fast motion, as well as Live View Composite, time-lapse. onion skin and stop motion capabilities. It supports real-time LUT with the LUMIX Lab app and the new LUMIX Flow app for storyboarding and for using your smartphone as an external camera monitor.
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It has internal proxy generation, frame.io integration, and built-in wifi or USB tethered RTMPS live streaming. It has full-size HDMI and 10 gigabit USB-C that supports PD power or recording to external SSD drives, microphone and headphone jacks all covered behind individual doors for maximum protection. User selectable active cooling modes. A ton of massively customizable buttons… is dust and splash and freeze resistance… is rated for temperatures from minus 10 degrees Celsius or 14 Fahrenheit up to 40 degrees Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit. Although we all know the camera works great well, beyond that… and just well, all the features you've come to love from LUMIX, all of this comes in at $3199, available June 16th, 2025. Here's a playlist of all of my S1II and S1IIE related videos. Click here next to be sure you catch 'em all.
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