The latest and greatest mirrorless camera from Panasonic will cost you an eye-watering $4,000!
Taken from Engadget …. The day that it came out, Panasonic’s S1H shot to the top of filmmakers’ lists of must-have mirrorless cameras for video. The company’s GH5 was already a hugely popular camera among vloggers and videographers, and the S1H is much like that model, on steroids. It has a dual-ISO, 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor that lets you shoot 60 fps, 4K and even 6K video. Better still, it recently became the first-ever mirrorless camera approved for Netflix productions.
The fact that it’s been poked and prodded by Netflix means you can be confident about the video quality. Still, I was very curious, and I’m sure you were, too, to see what else the S1H can do. At $4,000, it’s expensive for a consumer camera, but for TV and film producers, it will actually be a tempting low-budget option — especially given the artistic possibilities of a full-frame sensor.
With a flip-around screen, vloggers with some money (and muscle, because it’s heavy) will be looking at this big camera, too. All that said, the S1H is expensive and there are lot of other options in its price range. To see what it’s capable of, I brought it into Paris to shoot (a lot of) video and take some photos, too.
Pros
- Unbeatable video quality at up to 6K
- Awesome low-light performance
- Great ergonomics
- Five-axis in-body stabilization
- Flip-out rear display
- Excellent EVF
Cons
- Below par autofocus
- Mediocre burst-shooting speeds
- High price
Summary
With the Netflix seal of approval, the Panasonic SH1 has earned its title as the best mirrorless camera on the market for video. You can capture video at up to 6K with 10-bit colors, giving you sharp, rich video and HDR, with lots of flexibility in post production. The ergonomics are outstanding, and it has excellent low-light capabilities. It’s also good for hand-held video shooting thanks to the five-axis in-body stabilization system. The only drawback is the mediocre autofocus performance, but the AF is fine for vlogging and other types of shooting. It’s also very costly.
