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Panasonic S1R Performance


Timing and Performance

Very good overall performance, though buffer clearing can be sluggish.

Startup/Play to Record

Power on
to first shot
~1.5 seconds

Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.

Play to Record,
first shot
~0.6 second

Time until first shot is captured.

Powering on and taking a shot was reasonably fast for a mirrorless camera, at about 1.5 seconds. Switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was quite a bit faster, at about 0.6 second. Good performance here for a mirrorless camera, though most DSLRs are faster at startup.


Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Mechanical / Electronic Front Curtain / Electronic Shutter

Full Autofocus,
AFS, Center AF
0.153/0.148/0.173
second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting.

Manual Focus
0.063/0.068/0.110
second

For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".

Prefocused
0.056/0.057/0.094
second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Note: All timing performed with a Panasonic Lumix S Pro 50mm f/1.4 L-mount lens. Performance may vary with other lenses.

The Panasonic S1R's autofocus speed was quite good in our tests, especially for a camera that uses contrast-detect AF. In the lab, the S1R produced a full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) of 0.153 second in 1-area (center) AFS mode with the Lumix S Pro 50mm f/1.4 lens using default mechanical shutter mode. That's competitive with a lot of pro DSLRs.

Shutter lag in manual focus mode was very low at only 0.063 second, and prefocused shutter lag was even lower at 0.056 second. Good performance here.

Using the Electronic Front Curtain Shutter (EFCS) mode produced slightly faster full AF lag but slightly slower manual focus and prefocused lag, while the fully electronic shutter option increased shutter lag in all three cases though results were still pretty quick. Note that the S1R offers an Auto shutter mode which switches the shutter type to suit the recording conditions and shutter speed, but it defaults to mechanical shutter.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.


Cycle Time (shot to shot)

Single Shot mode
Large/Fine JPEG
0.28 second

Time per shot, averaged over 10 frames (we no longer test for buffer depth in single-shot mode).

Single Shot mode
RAW + L/F JPEG
0.31 second

Time per shot, averaged over 10 frames (we no longer test for buffer depth in single-shot mode).

Early shutter
penalty?
No

Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Continuous H mode Large/Fine JPEG
0.10 second
(9.6 fps);
62 frames total
17.3 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot before buffer fills. Slows to an average of 0.41s or 2.5 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.

Continuous H mode RAW
0.10 second
(9.6 fps);
39 frames total
12.3 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot before buffer fills. Slows to an average of 0.50s or 2.0 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.

Continuous H mode RAW + L/F JPEG

0.10 second
(9.6 fps);
33 frames total
18.1 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot before buffer fills. Slows to an average of 0.64s or 1.6 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.

Continuous H mode 6K JPEG
0.03 second
(30.0 fps);
Unlimited (?)
2.4 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot over 100 frames, with no apparent limit other than card capacity.

Flash Recycling
N/A

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a Lexar Pro 2933x XQD 2.0 400MB/s flash card. Slower cards can produce correspondingly slower clearing times and may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times were very fast at about 0.3 second for best quality JPEGs or RAW+JPEG files. (Note that we no longer test single-shot mode with just RAW files, as the results are usually somewhere in between.)

In Continuous H mode (the fastest full-res burst mode), the S1R captured images at about 9.6 frames-per-second no matter the file type, surpassing Panasonic's 9 fps spec. Note that autofocus is locked at the first frame of a burst in this mode (AFS). Panasonic claims the S1R can manage up to 6 fps with AF updated between frames (AFC) when using the mechanical shutter or EFCS, and 5 fps using electronic shutter, however we did not test those modes in the lab. In addition, the S1R offers medium (M) and low (L) speed continuous modes, rated at 5 and 2 fps respectively.

The S1R also has 6K and 4K Photo burst modes, which capture 18-megapixel JPEGs at 30 fps and 8-megapixel JPEGs at 60 or 30 fps respectively with no apparent buffer limit (other than card space or elapsed time).

Buffer depth was very good when shooting best quality JPEGs in Continuous H mode, at 62 frames using our Lexar Pro 2933x XQD 2.0 card, exceeding Panasonic's 50 frame spec. Buffer depth fell to 39 RAW frames and 33 RAW+JPEG frames, though that's still pretty good considering the file sizes, and pretty close to Panasonic's spec of 40 and 35 frames respectively.

Full resolution buffer clearing times were on the slow side for XQD, though, taking 17.3 seconds after a burst of 62 JPEGs, 12.3 seconds after 39 RAW frames, and about 18.1 seconds after 33 RAW+JPEG files in Continuous Hi mode. The camera does however let you make setting changes, review just-shot images and continue shooting while the buffer is clearing.

To see how a fast SD card compared, we re-tested Continuous Hi mode with our Lexar 2000x UHS-II SDXC card, and here are the results:

With Lexar Professional 64GB 2000x UHS-II SDXC

Continuous H mode Large/Fine JPEG
0.11 second
(9.2 fps);
56 frames total
17.4 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot before buffer fills. Slows to an average of 0.42s or 2.4 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.

Continuous H mode RAW
0.11 second
(9.2 fps);
38 frames total
18.3 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot before buffer fills. Slows to an average of 0.50s or 2.0 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.

Continuous H mode RAW + L/F JPEG

0.11 second
(9.2 fps);
33 frames total
19.8 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot before buffer fills. Slows to an average of 0.56s or 1.8 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.

Continuous H mode 6K JPEG
0.03 second
(30.0 fps);
Unlimited (?)
2.5 seconds to clear*

Average time per shot over 100 frames, with no apparent limit other than card capacity.

Flash Recycling
N/A

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a 64GB Lexar Pro 2000x UHS-II SDXC card. Slower cards can produce correspondingly slower clearing times and may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Interestingly, switching to a fast UHS-II SD card reduced the average burst rate slightly to 9.2 frames per second, but it did not impact buffer depths or clearing times by much. Buffer depth with best quality JPEGs only fell from 62 to 56 frames, RAW from 39 to 38 and RAW+JPEG was unchanged at 33 frames. Clearing times weren't much longer either, with the exception of RAW files, which increased from 12.3 to 18.3 seconds.

 

Bottom line, the Panasonic S1R's performance was quite good overall in the lab, with reasonably quick startup, fast autofocus, low shutter lag, very fast cycle times, very good burst performance and decent buffer depths. Buffer clearing was sluggish, though, even with a fast XQD 2.0 card.

Battery

Battery Life
Decent battery life for its class, with flexible power options.

Operating Mode Battery Life
Still Capture, CIPA standard
EVF with S-R24105 lens and XQD card
340 shots
Still Capture, CIPA standard
LCD Monitor with S-R24105 lens and XQD card
360 shots

The Panasonic S1R uses a custom DMW-BLJ31 rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with a single battery and a dedicated battery charger. In-camera battery charging and power supply via USB are both supported. Battery life is CIPA-rated for between 340 and 360 shots per charge depending on which display is active. That's about average for a mirrorless camera but not nearly as good as most DSLRs when using their optical viewfinders. However the S1R has a Power Save LVF mode which when enabled, increases battery life to an excellent 1,100 shots per charge according to Panasonic. And the optional DMW-BGS1R power grip can double battery life with a second battery.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

 

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