Panasonic Lumix S1 IIE Review: Where the “Essential” Full-Frame Camera Fits In

Is Panasonic’s Lumix S1 IIE really a cut-down model, or just a smarter buy? With 6K full-frame capture, ProRes RAW, and a sizable price drop versus the S1 II, it may be the most interesting camera in the range.

Panasonic’s Lumix S1 II range currently includes three full-frame cameras: the $3199 S1 II, the $ 3299 S1R II, and the midrange $2199 S1 IIE. That’s a lot of choice, especially as there are some quite noticeable price offsets between them - and the wider market of mirrorless cameras has a lot more besides.

Some people seem to have concluded that the E stands for essentials. Even so, $2200 is enough money to expect some performance, and sure enough, modern cameras are such an embarrassment of riches that even this less-expensive model has a bulging spec list.

This, then, is not so much about the excellence of the S1 IIE — it’s hugely capable — but about the differences between it and its stablemates, and how the technical realities influence what we can expect from the market in general.

Familiar Essentials

Those essentials are familiar: it’s a compact, mirrorless camera adopting the highly compatible L mount, recording to either SDXC II or CFexpress Type B cards. The E-model has, like the S1 II, a dual-gain-capable, 24-megapixel sensor designed to produce images up to 6K wide, although all three cameras do use different sensors. That core difference changes what each of them can do, mostly based on how fast the image data can be offloaded from the sensor, influencing maximum frame rates and resolutions and rolling-shutter artefacts, among other things.

All modern cameras have a huge matrix of recording formats and resolutions, but what we broadly give up with the -E over the S1 II are full-frame 4K beyond 30p, which is cropped on the -E, and the 60fps 2.4:1 mode is 4K on the S1 II and 6K on the S1 IIE. There are other differences: the -E is marginally less sensitive as the higher dual gain mode is 4000 ISO rather than 5000, although that’s not even half a stop. It also lacks the S1 II’s dynamic-range expansion feature. All these cameras have HDMI raw output, although there seems like less need for external recording when there’s an internal ProRes RAW option.

Balancing Features

These are not limitations which will vex most content creators, but they might legitimately raise the interest of people with ambitions to shoot short films. Lightweight, mirrorless options like these will sell in large numbers to ambitious vloggers, especially people keen to shoot for both portrait and aspect frames simultaneously.

Still, the spec is probably a little overkill - and probably therefore a bit expensive and power-hungry - for the average YouTuber. Conversely, shooting a full-frame, 6K sensor for an eventual 4K centre extraction is a powerful way to achieve not only a multi-aspect finish for various social media outlets, but also a UHD, roughly-Super-35 finish with lots and lots of room for reframing and stabilisation. That can make blown takes into usable ones.

So the S1 IIE is a powerful weapon for content creators and short filmmakers. It lacks the S1 II’s 5.1K open gate option, so there’s no 3:2 60p, but that feels like a corner case for people who really need to satisfy social media in a very specific way. Anyone who wants a really large amount of pixels might equally reach for the S1R II, which recently gained firmware realizing 8.1K recording.

Further Options 

Somewhat unusually, Panasonic also offers the DMW-SFU3A firmware update, a $227 option which enables LogC3 recording licensed by ARRI. That’s not quite the latest thing - an Alexa 35 will give you LogC4 - but that’ll be a convenience for people using S1 IIEs as additional cameras on bigger shoots. It’s not clear whether this will offer much advantage over Panasonic’s own V-log in situations where we’re not trying to slot the S1 IIE into a multi-manufacturer workflow. This sort of thing, along with the hotshoe-mounting, 32-bit audio option and Bluetooth timecode really seems to punt for the high end.

And, yes, we could absolutely visit the people at Wooden Camera and rig this thing into a really usable cinema package with a monitor on top, although the S1 II series (all of which occupy exactly the same housing) already has a very flexible, very usable display that can be oriented to suit self-shooting or almost anything else. Yes, the folding mechanism which makes this possible will probably be the first thing on the camera to break, as it’s inevitably a little spindly, but it’s very convenient.

You Pays Your Money...

To people used to the most inexpensive mirrorless cameras, the S1 IIE will seem expensive for a cut-down version. Someone who’s just bought an S1 II might wince at the fact that the -E is about $1000 cheaper, while not giving up that much that matters to a lot of people.

An S5 IIX might seem like an even more cost-effective alternative, although it gives up CFexpress and thus the highest-bandwidth recording options. Existing S5 owners might reasonably eschew the upgrade and strap on an Atomos recorder for raw, but for new purchasers, the S1 IIE seems like a better option, unless you’re going for ultimate portability (and the S1 series is not huge). With electronic lenses, it also has notably smarter autofocus, and the IBIS is better, too.

...You Takes Your Choice

In the end the entire range is part of the modern world of almost-pocket-sized cameras which could happily be used to shoot a major motion picture without anyone getting upset. For mostly political reasons it likely won’t be, of course, although people said that about the FX3. The S1 IIE goes beyond common cinema and television delivery specifications if that’s really what you need. The SI II goes further beyond those specifications, and anyone who did shoot something like The Creator would probably buy the S1 II and still consider it a vanishingly inexpensive bargain.

Either way, the S1 IIE is certainly part of the hyper-competent raft of modern equipment which makes it hard for film students to claim that they can’t make proper pictures until they can spend more money on gear. Beyond that, it is is a very fair deal that bridges the vlogger-to-filmmaker gap nicely, and the decent-sized price offset will make it attractive to people who want the best possible options for a camera and a lens for under three grand.