Panasonic Enters Full-Frame Arena

2018.09.25

Panasonic just announced their entrance into the full-frame arena with a pair of new Full-Frame mirrorless digital cameras. Although in-development, Panasonic is preparing two full-frame digital cameras the S1R and S1 to be launched in early 2019.

Together with Leica and Sigma, Panasonic and company announced that the build a the new mirrorless system around the Leica L-mount. This full-frame capable mount has a 52mm width and 20mm flange-distance and is already in-use among Leica mirrorless digital cameras which obviously comes with several compatible lenses. This gives the new alliance a head-start in terms of lenses over rivals Nikon and Canon who just launched their own new full-frame mirrorless systems.

The pair of to-be-released digital cameras come in nearly identical bodies with different sensors. The high-resolution S1R will be built around a 47 MP sensor, while the S1 a 24 MP one. Both will be capable of recording 4K Ultra-HD video at 60 FPS, the first among Full-Frame mirrorless cameras. Panasonic is also including their own Dual IS system which combines sensor-shift image-stabilization and optical lens stabilization into one.

These new cameras are targeting professional users with a weatherproof body and dual memory card-slots, although asymmetric ones combining SDXC and XQD into a single body. Both the S1R and S1 are said to offer the highest resolution EVF among any camera.

Pricing and availability of these new full-frame cameras has not been announced, nor were images circulated yet. Stay tuned as we receive more information.

Panasonic is not abandoning the Micro Four-Thirds camera either, only expanding to target professional photographers who rely on larger sensors for more sensitivity, resolution and more shallow depth-of-field. To this effect, Panasonic also announced today the development of the Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25mm F/1.7 lens, the brightest zoom lens ever made!

• Digital Camera