Full Spectrum Modified Panasonic S1R

[motorhead9999]

Well, after a frustrating issue that required an RMA, I've finally got my full spectrum modified S1R back. I took it out to Bok Tower Gardens today for a test run, and other than it being a super heavy camera, it performed very well. It's a very user friendly and customizable camera, with great image quality so far. I'm looking forward to using it more!

 

Lenses used: Pentax SMC series 28mm f3.5, 85mm f1.8, 135mm f3.5, Canon 14mm f2.8 i

 

These are a variety of filters. 590nm on the flowers, 720nm for the black and white landscapes, a Yellow filter to get the Hypercolor look, and a Kolari IR chrome.

 

If anyone has any questions about the camera, please feel free to ask!

[colinbm]

All are classically good examples, nice to see.

[dabateman]

Images look great.

What frustration did you have with the camera?

Also not sure I know what RMA is in this context? Return to Manufacture for Adjustment?

 

[GaryR]

Impressive CIR images!

 

I was surprised to see that the S1R body is slightly larger than even my Sigma sd Quattro.

Glad to hear that you have it back, safe and sound.

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed them all!

[motorhead9999]

Images look great.

What frustration did you have with the camera?

Also not sure I know what RMA is in this context? Return to Manufacture for Adjustment?

 

Yes. When I got the camera back the first time, there was a piece of dust/lint under the glass they installed, so I had to ship it back to them to have it fixed.

[motorhead9999]

Impressive CIR images!

 

I was surprised to see that the S1R body is slightly larger than even my Sigma sd Quattro.

Glad to hear that you have it back, safe and sound.

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed them all!

 

The size of the body isn't actually that bad. In fact, I kind of like it. But it's certainly a heavy camera, and you do feel it carrying it around for a while. And I tend to be someone who falls in the "Do you even lift, bro" when it comes to people complaining about camera equipment being too heavy.

[Andrea B.]

Hurray, Mike!! You got the S1R up and running!!! I am soooo eager to get mine going too.

 

Thanks for showing us those excellent photos. Looking good!!

 

Please tell us more: for example, are the menus easy to use like with other Pansonics?

What about using the buttons and dials?

Does the LCD have good detail? Does focus peaking work ok?

What app are you using to edit your S1R files? Does Panasonic offer a special S1R app?

Have you tested in-camera white balance under the various filters you used?

 

May I also ask please, who converted your S1R?

BTW, the dust thing can happen. What is important is that the modification service fixed it.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about the S1R.

[motorhead9999]

Hurray, Mike!! You got the S1R up and running!!! I am soooo eager to get mine going too.

 

Thanks for showing us those excellent photos. Looking good!!

 

Please tell us more: for example, are the menus easy to use like with other Pansonics?

What about using the buttons and dials?

Does the LCD have good detail? Does focus peaking work ok?

What app are you using to edit your S1R files? Does Panasonic offer a special S1R app?

Have you tested in-camera white balance under the various filters you used?

 

May I also ask please, who converted your S1R?

BTW, the dust thing can happen. What is important is that the modification service fixed it.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about the S1R.

 

So just as some background: I've had full spectrum modded cameras of the EOS R, the A7riv, and now the S1r. I did not spend much time at all with the EOS R.

 

I've found the menu system on the Panasonic to be much more organized and direct than on the Sony. I think Sony gets a bad rap for their menu system (it's not as bad as most make it out to be, but its just very disorganized, and some of the options aren't as clear as they could be. Setting the custom menu helps). The menu items are nicely organized, logical, and clear. Certainly it's the most customizable camera I've had, probably just below the Pentax K1. Changing white balance presets is easy, and you can store 4 of them, so i can easily have one for 720nm, 590nm, ir chrome and one other.

 

As for focus peaking, this has been one area where I'm still assessing. As of this moment, and only really having a day with the camera, I feel like Sony has the best peaking function. It seems to really identify focus areas well without having to use the zoom feature. The Panasonic has somewhat struggled with that, and I normally always have to zoom to get good focus. There's a focus peaking sensitivity setting on it though, which I haven't really tried adjusting yet, so it may be able to be on par with Sony. One thing I do like is that you get a literal rainbow of colors to choose for your peaking color. Sony I think gives only red, yellow or white, while Panasonic gives you every primary color to pick from. The LCD itself is pretty nice, and the 3rd axis flip out feature is extremely nice to have.

 

I used Capture One to set the white balance on my images, and then export to a TIF, which I load in Lightroom, and edit from there (channel swap done in photoshop). I couldn't actually find a Panasonic provided app, like Canon or Sony does. I think they had something called silky pix, but I thought it was fairly terrible, and once I got CO working, I didn't feel a need to have it.

 

I've set custom white balances in camera, and it works like a charm. As I said earlier, you can store 4 custom presets, and its super simple to do. The WB doesn't carry over into Adobe products, which is why I require CO to fix that.

 

I'll PM you about who I had the mod done through. It's one of the big companies. I don't necessarily want to call them out by name, because I don't think its fair to call them out on the problem in a public forum. Things happen, and the current environment we're in probably didn't help. They took care of me and the issue in a timely manner, covering shipping both ways (including an overnight return delivery to me), and that's what mattered. Its obviously always frustrating having a new toy and having to wait longer to get it fixed again.

[Andrea B.]

Thanks for these additional details about the S1R.

 

I certainly agree about the Sony menu system. It is not impossible, of course, but it could be better organized. As I used my (now retired) Panasonic conversion over the years, I became quite adept at making settings on it. It seemed very intuitive. I’m sure I would have gotten better with the Sony alpha if I had practiced more.

 

Yes, it is frustrating that the initial conversion got a trapped particle, but your mod shop did the right thing. That’s what we look for in a vendor - responsiveness and responsibility.

 

Focus peaking - I’ve always thought this was a mixed bag. First thing I learned about it was that it is not always useful in every shooting scenario. That is no surprise of course. For me It got in the way when shootimg close (YMMV). Then I found that focus peaking may not always work well under dark filters. However when it works well, it works really well. The adjustments of color and amount are important. Let us now how that works out for the S1R.