Last Updated on 04/10/2019 by Mark Beckenbach
Another day, another sensor test; this time DXOMark has been putting the new Panasonic S1 through its paces.
For those of you who like to take into account every fine detail about a camera before you plop down your hard earned money, you’ll be pleased to know that the guys and gals over at DXOMark have been hard at work. These sensor testing gurus have been doing their thing to the Full Frame Panasonic S1, and they have determined just how the new kid on the block stacks up to the competition in the playground. Join us after the break to see how this interesting camera fared.
The Panasonic S1 is the cheaper sibling of the Panasonic S1R. The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1 is a mid-range, Full Frame camera designed to be used with the all new L Mount that Leica, Sigma, and Panasonic came up with. The camera is in direct competition with the likes of the Nikon Z6, the Canon EOS R, and the Sony A7 III. All of these cameras fall into roughly the same price category, and really target the same market, but just how well does that new sensor perform according to DXOMark?
Pretty well is the answer to that question. Out of the four cameras listed above, the Panasonic S1 sits in second place behind the Sony A7 III. The difference between it and the Nikon Z6 is negligible, but it’s comfortably ahead of the Canon EOS R by six points. The DC-S1 scored a 95 on the DXOMark test which puts it in 12th place overall on the sensor league table.
The sensor wizards determined that the 24.2MP Full Frame sensor is highly capable when it comes to portrait photography thanks to its color depth performance (25.2 bits). For landscape photographers, the sensor’s dynamic range capabilities are excellent too – being just 0.2 EV behind the Sony A7 III. The camera is also a strong performer when it comes to low light photography as well. It hit 3333 in ISO testing. In comparison the Nikon Z6 scored 3299, the Canon EOS R hit 2742, and the Sony A7 III scored 3730.
We were quite impressed with the Panasonic Lumix DC-S1 when we played around with a pre-production model earlier this year, but of course we won’t really be able to tell just how well this camera performs in the real world until we get our hands on a full retail unit. Having said that, we were happy with the images we captured with the camera we used. You can see all of the images in our First Impressions piece.
So there you have it. The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1 has been thoroughly lab tested and ranked by DXOMark. Do what you will with the information. If it helps you make a more informed camera buying decision, that’s great! If not, the world will keep on spinning just as it always has been.