LUMIX S1 High ISO Range Side-by-Side Examples

Panasonic has launched some new full-frame mirrorless cameras. The LUMIX S1R has a 47-megapixel sensor and sells for $3700 for the body. The LUMIX S1 has a 24-megapixel sensor and sells for $2500 for the body.

I’ve been shooting recently with the S1. It has a native ISO range of 100 through 51200. If you’re using the default settings, that’s the ISO range that’s available to shoot with. But you can also enable the option to access an extended ISO range. On the low end, that gets you down to ISO 50. On the high end, it goes up to ISO 204800.

But native ISO and extended ISO are not the same things. The native ISO is the sensitivity to light that the sensor hardware is designed to handle to give optimum results. With the extended ISO range, the software takes over to boost the signal. Once you get into the extended ISO range, the image quality tends to deteriorate markedly as you climb further up the ISO ladder.

With a 24MP full-frame sensor, the resolution of the LUMIX S1 isn’t nearly as high as some of its competitors–or, for that matter to the S1R. But the lower resolution also means that fewer photosites have to be crammed into the limited physical space of the sensor. And that also means that each photosite can potentially be larger and more sensitive to light. The upshot of all of that is that scaling back on resolution can actually result in better low-light performance. Well, potentially, at least.

Of course, where the “acceptable” threshold is will depend on each photographer’s own tastes and intended uses, but I’ve found the ISO performance to be excellent up through at least ISO 20000. And that’s pretty impressive. But as you move beyond that, the negatives that come with high ISOs–noise and grain, inconsistent colors, reduced dynamic range, and an overall harsher look–become more pronounced.

I’ve posted separately a general set of photos I’ve taken with the LUMIX S1 that includes several images at higher ISOs, but I thought it might be useful to post some side-by-side comparisons. These are also designed to go alongside my detailed hands-on review.

High ISO Range Side-by-Side Examples

To give a visual sense of how the S1’s high ISO performance translates in real-world shooting, here’s a set of images of the same scene shot between ISO 3200 and ISO 204800.

I haven’t applied any post-processing on these, but the versions you see embedded in the page are necessarily converted from the original RAW to JPG for display (via Lightroom). So I’ve included links in the caption for each image that let you download the original RAW and JPG versions (I shot these with the RAW+JPG option turned on). In other words, the versions at the links are straight out of the camera without any processing. A heads up, though, if you’re using a mobile data plan or other metered web: each RAW file is around 36MB in file size.

Price & Availability of Panasonic LUMIX S1

Panasonic has set the MSRP for the LUMIX S1 at $2499.99 (body only). You can find it either as a standalone body or bundled with the very impressive and versatile LUMIX S 24-105mm f/4 Macro lens.

Check current price and availability at:

• B&H Photo
• Adorama
• Amazon

Fixing Image Quality Problems in Post

The general rule of thumb in photography is that it’s better to get the shot right at the time of capture rather than trying to fix it later.

That’s a great aspiration, but it’s not always possible to do if you’re shooting in especially challenging conditions or bumping up against limitations or flaws in gear, conditions, or technique.

But it’s worth mentioning that there are some excellent tools available to help address common image quality issues with digital images. And they’re getting better and better all the time as the power of AI machine learning ramps up.

They can deal remarkably well with anything from sensor issues like high-ISO image noise to lens issues like distortion, softness, vignetting, and chromatic aberration. (Note: I’m focusing here on corrections related to image quality, not image enhancement tools — that’s a different kettle of fish.)

All-round image processing apps like Lightroom Classic and Capture One have solid tools built in that are very good places to start.

But it’s also possible to take it much further with more specialized tools.

If you shoot in challenging conditions regularly and find room for improvement in the image quality coming out of the camera, these might well be worth a look (and they have free trials). Some are stand-alone apps; some integrate into image editing suites such as Lightroom Classic.

Some of these work only with RAW files, and those are the ones I’ve had the best results with. But there are also good options if you’re working with JPG or TIFF files.

Fixing Image Noise & High ISO Artifacts

The newest generation of tools can do some pretty remarkable improvements to image noise. These are some of the best tools for reducing image noise in photos. Most of them include a free trial to test out the results for yourself.

• Lightroom Classic’s Denoise tool. This was quietly added to recent versions of Lightroom Classic, and you can find it in the Develop module’s Detail panel. It only works on RAW files. It doesn’t have some of the more advanced features and more granular controls of some of the other apps here, but if you’re already using Lightroom, it’s a great option to have available.
• DxO PureRAW 5. Like Lightroom Classic’s Denoise tool, it only works on RAW files. It has become my go-to app for this kind of thing. I’m consistently amazed at how it can rescue photos with otherwise dodgy image quality from noise. It can also help with lens distortion, lens vignetting, and lens softness.
• DxO Nik Dfine. This product originated with the Nik Collection, and it focuses on the more traditional approach to digital image noise reduction. Something that’s especially notable about Dfine is that you can use U-point selections for precise application of different settings to different parts of the image.
• ON1 NoNoise AI. Its “deblurring” features are particularly notable, with an emphasis on restoring sharpness that is often a casualty in denoising operations. It works on JPG and TIFF files, and you can create sophisticated masks to apply corrections to specific parts of an image.
• Topaz Labs Photo AI. Topaz Labs used to offer its NoNoise AI as a standalone product, but it has now been integrated alongside several other image improvement tools in its Photo AI app.

Fixing Lens-Related Optical Issues

• DxO PureRAW. Again offers an impressive suite of automatic fixes that are applied before you start editing the images.
• DxO ViewPoint. Correcting for lens distortion and geometry skews. Lightroom Classic and Capture One also have excellent built-in tools for this.
• Topaz Labs Photo AI. Topaz Labs used to offer its sharpening tools as a standalone product, but it has now been integrated alongside several other image improvement tools in its Photo AI app.