Panasonic Lumix DC-S1H

The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1H is a full-frame mirrorless camera released in 2019, with 6K video recording among its headline capabilities. Its dimensions and weight mark it out as a working tool, not a casual everyday body.

Stills come from a full-frame sensor behind the Leica L mount, so it also serves as a photography camera when a shoot needs both.

Owning it means accepting some bulk: the body measures 151 x 114 x 110 mm and weighs 1052 g. Anyone planning long handheld days or light travel will feel that.

Still photography rests on a 24-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor handled by the Venus Engine processor. The Optics score of 74, which we assess as good, reflects that specification, and it places the camera in the top 17% of cameras in our database for Optics.

In-body stabilisation reduces camera shake, which helps handheld shooting. The ISO range runs from 100 to 51200, giving a broad span of settings across lighting conditions, from bright daylight to dim interiors.

Autofocus uses 225 points, and the shutter reaches 1/8000 of a second, allowing short exposures in bright light. Burst shooting tops out at 9 fps, a maximum figure rather than a sustained rate.

Framing goes through a 5.76-million-dot electronic viewfinder. That resolution gives a detailed preview of your scene and exposure before you commit to the shot.

A video score of 96 is exceptional, and it tells you where this camera's priorities lie. The maximum recording resolution is 6K, which gives you room to crop or reframe a shot in the edit while keeping the output detailed.

Frame rates reach 120 fps, so slow-motion shooting is available. The maximum resolution and the maximum frame rate are separate figures here, so treat them as distinct capabilities rather than a single combined mode.

Timelapse recording is built in, so interval sequences need no external timer. Footage records as MPEG-4 or MOV files.

The flipping screen earns its keep once the camera is rolling. You can set the camera low or high and still see the frame, or check yourself when you are both operator and subject.

The features score of 87 is very good. The 3.2-inch LCD screen carries 2.33 million dots and touch control, so menus and playback stay detailed and quick to navigate.

Weather sealing lets you keep working when dust or moisture is in the air, though it is not a waterproof guarantee for submersion.

There is no built-in flash, so dim interior work depends on the lens you choose or on adding an external flash unit, which the body supports.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are both built in as wireless connection options. GPS is absent, so the camera will not tag locations automatically in your files.

Two card slots accept SD, SDHC and SDXC media at UHS-II speed, giving extra capacity for long recording sessions.

The DMW-BLJ31 battery is rated at 400 shots. That figure carries no stated test conditions, so real endurance depends on how you shoot, and a second battery is a sensible part of the kit.

USB charging lets you top the battery back up between sessions.

The storage and battery score of 71 is good, with the battery rating the main factor holding it back. That makes a spare battery a more important part of the kit than the card setup or USB charging.