Presentation of the Panasonic Lumix S1R

One day before Photokina, the manufacturers Panasonic, Leica and Sigma announced their collaboration on the new L-mount. In short, this means that the L bayonet will become a new flexible standard that will give photographers new freedom. Among other things, the L-mount works with the existing Leica CL-, TL and SL cameras as well as the matching TL and SL lenses. This is not really a new mount in itself, but the alliance is giving it a whole new significance. In addition to high-priced luxury cameras and lenses from Leica, there will now also be cameras and lenses from Panasonic and Sigma. Although these are probably not low budget either, they are now extremely interesting for many photographers. It is possible that other manufacturers will follow in the future. The L-mount is designed to work with both full-frame and APS-C cameras. The bayonet diameter is 51.6 mm and therefore slightly smaller than the Nikon Z (55 mm) and Canon EOS R (54 mm), but also larger than the Sony FE mount (46 mm). This enables the flexible construction of fast lenses. UPDATE (26.9.2018): Last night, Sigma also announced the development of a camera with L-mount and Foveon sensor as well as several L-mount lenses. There will also be adapters from the previous Sigma and Canon EF mount to the L-mount. In future, it will also be possible to convert the mounts of existing Sigma lenses to the L-mount. All of this was announced for 2019. This shows that the L system will indeed become very flexible and universal.

The highlights of the L-System are certainly the new Panasonic full-frame cameras. The Lumix S1R will be equipped with an effective resolution of 47 megapixels, the Lumix S1 with 24 megapixels. This means that there will be a top "basic" model with the S1 and a high-resolution premium version with the S1R. As things stand, the other specifications appear to be the same. Both cameras use a Venus Engine processor, which should guarantee impressive image quality and creative freedom. As is typical for Panasonic, the Lumix S models are also characterized by their video function. Brilliant recordings in 4K with 60p are possible here. The display can be rotated and tilted and the body is extremely weatherproof, which makes a big difference to the full-frame cameras from other manufacturers. Panasonic also uses two memory card slots - an SD slot and a faster and more secure XQD slot - so that no discussions can arise. Panasonic also doesn't let itself down when it comes to image stabilization: thanks to the Dual I.S. image stabilization system, the image is protected twice against camera shake, in the camera and in the lens. All in all, this sounds very promising and we are looking forward to further details and prices. Sign up below to be informed by email as soon as more information is available. The cameras should be available from spring of 2019.