IN PRAISE OF THE S1R
A year ago, I made a silly eBay bid on this camera. When these cameras first came out, they were well over 3,000 dollars. And this auction, the camera was 1,300, so I bid on it, thinking there's no way I'll win it. The next day I got a notification, that I had indeed won this camera. I had immediate buyers remorse. After all, I had seen several "YouTube" videos about how Panasonic "S" series cameras were basically unusable because the autofocus was so bad. The more I thought about it, I decided that this camera would just be a legacy lens camera, and I wouldn't have to use autofocus. It would be usable that way.
So, for a couple of months, that's how I used it. I even took it to some weddings with a Voigtlander lens attached to it. That's when I saw how beautiful this sensor truly is. The colors, straight out of camera on this thing are truly remarkable. And I know the pixel peepers say that it gets noisy in lowlight, but honestly at ISO 6400, it's still pretty good. I'd compare it to maybe the grain you would get from a Canon 6d at ISO 6400. The dynamic range is great. So, after awhile, I decided to purchase a cheap 24-70 lens with some damage to see what the autofocus was really like on the S1R--to see if the talking heads on these review sites were right. The autofocus is indeed usable. It's actually pretty snappy. The continuous autofocus isn't great, but it isn't terrible. The only time as a wedding photographer I have issue is when people are walking fast towards the camera. But most cameras I've shot with, have had that issue. I even missed shots with the A7III before.
Would I recommend this as a wedding camera? Yes and no. Yes because the images are just beautiful (at least in my opinion.) This sensor has some magic to it. So, your brides will probably will be happy with how they look. Also, if you shoot at a lot of Catholic or Lutheran churches that don't like a lot of loud shutter sound, the shutter sound on this camera is beautiful and so quiet. I had several people tell me this year "your camera is SO quiet." A priest told me he didn't even notice I was taking pictures during the mass. I wouldn't recommend this camera if you expect to get every shot. You just won't. You will miss every now and then. But the more I've thought about it, the more I think, why on earth do we need to hit everything. And not everything needs to be tack sharp in focus. Some of the most beautiful photos are blurry or "missed shots." The only other negatives are it's a brick. It weighs as much as 2 Fujifilm x-pro3s. And when you couple it with a lens like the Panasonic 70-200 f2.8 (which is an amazing lens) it's about as heavy as a normal DSLR camera. But the ergonomics are nice and it feels good in your hand. I have medium to large sized hands and they fit well in the grip. The other negative is this: the space. The files are huge. You will spend lots of money on cards (xqd or CF express type B cards are still super expensive.) You will spend lots of money on external hard drives. I had one wedding this year that was over a terabyte.
In conclusion, I think I just wanted to write this because I get tired of the YouTube gatekeepers. You can use whatever camera you want for whatever job. If you love using an old Canon 1d Mark II for weddings, you still can do it. Tyler Wirken still does for some of his work, and his wedding pictures are amazing. Here's his shotkit article: shotkit.com/tyler-wirken/
The Panasonic S1r is truly an amazing camera. I'm glad I made the mistake of buying it. Is it for everyone? No. But it works for me!
IN PRAISE OF THE S1R
A year ago, I made a silly eBay bid on this camera. When these cameras first came out, they were well over 3,000 dollars. And this auction, the camera was 1,300, so I bid on it, thinking there's no way I'll win it. The next day I got a notification, that I had indeed won this camera. I had immediate buyers remorse. After all, I had seen several "YouTube" videos about how Panasonic "S" series cameras were basically unusable because the autofocus was so bad. The more I thought about it, I decided that this camera would just be a legacy lens camera, and I wouldn't have to use autofocus. It would be usable that way.
So, for a couple of months, that's how I used it. I even took it to some weddings with a Voigtlander lens attached to it. That's when I saw how beautiful this sensor truly is. The colors, straight out of camera on this thing are truly remarkable. And I know the pixel peepers say that it gets noisy in lowlight, but honestly at ISO 6400, it's still pretty good. I'd compare it to maybe the grain you would get from a Canon 6d at ISO 6400. The dynamic range is great. So, after awhile, I decided to purchase a cheap 24-70 lens with some damage to see what the autofocus was really like on the S1R--to see if the talking heads on these review sites were right. The autofocus is indeed usable. It's actually pretty snappy. The continuous autofocus isn't great, but it isn't terrible. The only time as a wedding photographer I have issue is when people are walking fast towards the camera. But most cameras I've shot with, have had that issue. I even missed shots with the A7III before.
Would I recommend this as a wedding camera? Yes and no. Yes because the images are just beautiful (at least in my opinion.) This sensor has some magic to it. So, your brides will probably will be happy with how they look. Also, if you shoot at a lot of Catholic or Lutheran churches that don't like a lot of loud shutter sound, the shutter sound on this camera is beautiful and so quiet. I had several people tell me this year "your camera is SO quiet." A priest told me he didn't even notice I was taking pictures during the mass. I wouldn't recommend this camera if you expect to get every shot. You just won't. You will miss every now and then. But the more I've thought about it, the more I think, why on earth do we need to hit everything. And not everything needs to be tack sharp in focus. Some of the most beautiful photos are blurry or "missed shots." The only other negatives are it's a brick. It weighs as much as 2 Fujifilm x-pro3s. And when you couple it with a lens like the Panasonic 70-200 f2.8 (which is an amazing lens) it's about as heavy as a normal DSLR camera. But the ergonomics are nice and it feels good in your hand. I have medium to large sized hands and they fit well in the grip. The other negative is this: the space. The files are huge. You will spend lots of money on cards (xqd or CF express type B cards are still super expensive.) You will spend lots of money on external hard drives. I had one wedding this year that was over a terabyte.
In conclusion, I think I just wanted to write this because I get tired of the YouTube gatekeepers. You can use whatever camera you want for whatever job. If you love using an old Canon 1d Mark II for weddings, you still can do it. Tyler Wirken still does for some of his work, and his wedding pictures are amazing. Here's his shotkit article: shotkit.com/tyler-wirken/
The Panasonic S1r is truly an amazing camera. I'm glad I made the mistake of buying it. Is it for everyone? No. But it works for me!