It has been confirmed that the Panasonic Lumix S1H, the company's 6K horsepower-packing cinema camera, does indeed possess in-body image stabilization (IBIS).
When the camera was originally announced, the details surrounding stabilization seemed very sketchy – perhaps intentionally so, since Panasonic itself made no statement about it.
The only allusion we had was from filmmaker Alicia Robbins, who had been tasked with shooting sample video for the announcement, stating that the 6K resolution made it easier to stabilize footage in post-production (using tools like Warp Stabilize on Adobe Premiere, to crop into footage and cut out wobble at the edge of frame).
This led to plenty of speculation that the Panasonic S1H, much like the video-oriented Panasonic GH5S before it, had eschewed IBIS (likely for the same reasons of heat dissipation and sensor noise).
Well, now the same filmmaker has confirmed (via L-rumors) that the new 6K camera does, in fact, have image stabilization.
A photo posted by @aliciacamchick on Jun 6, 2019 at 8:49pm PDT
In an Instagram post thanking the Lumix team for allowing her to shoot the announcement video on the camera, a user by the name of boumba2.0 asked, "Does this camera has IBIS like the GH5 or is it missing, as in the GH5s?"
Robbins' answer was quick and concise: "@boumba2.0 it has IBIS"
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While in-body image stabilization is in some ways less crucial on cine cameras, since they are usually paired with gimbals to provide stabilization, its apparent absence on the Panasonic S1H was one of the few blemishes on the camera's reveal.
However, the confirmation that it has IBIS gives this increasingly impressive 6K shooter the ability to shoot footage handheld – always a valuable ability, since gimbals are not always practical (or are often left in the boot of the car).
The only question is, given the amount of heat that will be generated by the stabilization system, how noisy will the fan be – will it be enough to interfere with audio recorded on the camera?
Read more:
Pansonic Lumix S1H revealed – a monster 6K cinema camera
Panasonic L-mount lens roadmap
The best 4K camera for filmmaking in 2019
