Lumix S1 IIE

Everything you get from the S1 II, apart from the top speeds

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£2,399/$2,498 (body only)

Jump in your time machine and nip back to late 2018. It seemed the whole world was going full-frame mirrorless, with the original Canon EOS R, Nikon Z 6 and Nikon Z 7 following a precedent that the Sony A7 had set about five years earlier. Panasonic followed suit in February 2019, with the launch of the original 24.2MP Lumix S1 and 47MP Lumix S1R. The former was superseded in May 2025 by two new models, the Lumix S1 II and the Lumix S1 IIE, which we're reviewing here.

Both have a similar megapixel count of approximately 24MP, the crucial difference being that the S1 II has a partially stacked image sensor, whereas the S1 IIE doesn't. As featured in the Nikon Z 6III, the advantage of the S1 II's partially stacked sensor equates to fast readout speed, in Panasonic's case, with a stills burst rate of up to 70fps, and super-high frame rates for high-resolution video with minimal rolling shutter effect.

Even so, the S1 IIE is certainly no slouch, with a burst rate of up to 30fps and 6K video on demand, with a significantly lower purchase price. To my mind, Panasonic has always been particularly focused on hybrid cameras for shooting both stills and video, and the S1 IIE certainly aims to be a top all-rounder that's one of the best hybrid cameras on the market.

Build and handling

Full-frame 'all-rounder' cameras with about 24MP under the hood hit the sweet spot, as far as I'm concerned. I enjoy the typically excellent dynamic range and signal-to-noise performance, while also appreciating impressive levels of fine detail without going massive on data sizes for image files.