When it comes to still photography and videography, conventional wisdom holds that digital cameras intended for one of these mediums will be middling performers, at best, in the other. Or maybe the whining about every compromise or minor imperfection in our gear has just reached an absurd level.
I have followed the reports and reviews of the new Panasonic Lumix S1R II with some interest, and by most accounts, this camera may well be the best hybrid shooter on the market today. Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I’m inclined to believe it—and nobody is offering me any incentives, financial or otherwise, to hold this opinion.
The S1R II is capable of producing stunning still images with almost 45 megapixels of resolution—images which are, by all accounts, rendered all the more glorious by the camera’s excellent color science, which produces beautiful colors straight out of the camera. On the videography side, the S1R II can capture video in a wide variety of formats, up to and including 8K open gate shooting, which also includes 4K at 120 frames per second, along with its ability to capture ProRes RAW HQ internally.
With the kind of advanced specifications that are sure to excite the still photographer and videographer alike, the S1R II is an incredibly versatile camera that will likely prove to be a heavy hitter in both mediums.
But I have also been amazed at how some of the internet commentators seem to have focused their energy on the S1R II’s imperfections—in particular, its rolling shutter performance that can sometimes be visible in video clips featuring very rapid movement. This is an issue that is common to all digital video cameras to some degree, and in 99% of all the clips that most of us will ever shoot, we will never see it. One way to avoid rolling shutter is to use a sensor with a very fast read time, but there is a necessary compromise to be made when you also want your sensor to be a superb high-resolution engine for still photography. Panasonic clearly decided that some degree of rolling shutter being apparent in high-resolution video clips, captured under a very limited set of circumstances, was an acceptable compromise in order to create a really capable video camera that could also perform at a very high level for still photographers.
Yes, the technical compromise necessary to produce a camera capable of addressing the needs of professional photographers and videographers does entail some minor performance issues under a limited set of circumstances that are essentially edge cases. But the level of griping about this issue online is out of all proportion to its significance to most of the people who will ever use the S1R II. It’s a bit like somebody living in Florida refusing to buy a Toyota Prius because it does not handle well in deep snow.
Before being so willing to jump in and trash the S1R II based on some nitpicking of its specifications or some kind of artificial “lab” test designed to highlight its imperfections, how about checking out what this amazing hybrid camera is capable of in real-world conditions?
Which brings me to the video …
I have been a big fan of Ben Staley’s YouTube channel for some time now. Something I really enjoy about Ben’s approach is his contagious passion for getting out there and shooting, whether it be video or stills. Ben largely eschews the kind of technical reviews that gear channels tend to orient toward in favor of putting the gear through its paces in the real world. And believe me when I tell you that Ben’s experience of putting gear through its paces in the real world goes above and beyond what most of us have ever experienced.
I already introduced Ben Staley in a previous article, and even if his name is not familiar to you, you have almost certainly seen his work. Ben is an award-winning videographer and filmmaker whose stunning imagery has been featured on popular TV shows like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers. Ben also happens to be an avid (and excellent) still photographer and regularly features his still photography work on his YouTube channel, Adventure & Art.
In this latest video, Ben and the young runner who will be working with him as his subject hike up into the hills around Los Angeles to shoot video and stills using the new Lumix S1R II. This necessitates traveling light, and Ben really showcases the versatility of the S1R II, using it to capture stunning 8K video and stills in some pretty challenging light conditions. Ben’s approach to the gear he uses seems to be largely predicated on how it can help him get to where he wants to be as an artist and creator. This is what you might call a “proof of the pudding is in the eating” philosophy that I find to be a refreshing counterpoint to the kind of hand-wringing about technical specs that can risk becoming an obsession which derails us from our true purpose of getting out there and making great art.
Even 30 years ago, photographers and videographers could scarcely have dreamed of having gear that offers the kind of performance that we have come to expect today. Like the proverbial bad workman who blames his tools, if our artistic output lacks quality, it’s certainly not because our gear isn’t up to the job.
