S1II/e/S1RII launch event feedback & wishes for 2025

[Jayneboo]

I think promotions is the name of the game in the whole photo industry. Look at how cheap a Nikon Ziii is now. Actually this is in every industry the same. Look at cars etc.

But it takes time and if you want to use the camera now and not in 1 year, you have to bite the bullet.

I normally buy second hand only. But I needed the S1RII now, not in 6 months.

Interestingly there are no bundles with the 24-60/2.8 available in Germany. No matter at which price.

Acceptable with the Nikon, it's been out nearly twelve months, the S1RII has been available around 2 months. I don't think this is the way to treat customers/consumers. Panasonic would be better to offer the deals to early adopters and on pre-orders, then sticking to RRP for at least a reasonable time. I would imagine I'm not the only one who said I would never pre-order a Panasonic again. The S5II had offers, free lens etc at around 3 months after launch.

Totally can see why you wanted yours early, have done the same myself in the past and there is nothing more special or impelling than catching your kids/grandkids important moments, so good luck with it, and for the teams season .

 

[dirk]

Needed or wanted?

Now you become philosophical. What do you "need" to live except water, air and a french baguette with good cheese

 

[Markuswelder]

Now you become philosophical. What do you "need" in live except water, air and a french baguette with good cheese

Exactly my point. What did we do years ago, to take photos of our kids running ary? Before Pro level cameras became somewhat affordable?
I've even had one d!(khe@d on another photography site tell me it was tantamount to child abuse if you didn't shoot photo's of your snotty nosed offspring with anything less than a full frame sports camera. Lol.
Toy's. That's all they are for the vast majority of us. And I'm at the top of that list.

 

[Quentinquirelino]

Acceptable with the Nikon, it's been out nearly twelve months, the S1RII has been available around 2 months. I don't think this is the way to treat customers/consumers. Panasonic would be better to offer the deals to early adopters and on pre-orders, then sticking to RRP for at least a reasonable time....

The deal Markus posted isn't a Panasonic promotion, it's a retailer discount.

It's almost every the case, early adaptors pay the full price. Sometimes there are preorder promotions, but there are rare actors all brands and most of the time less attractive than promotions a few months later.

It's also nothing unusual that you can get pretty good discounts only shortly after a release, for any brand. The Nikon Z6iii for example was already 200 € discounts by most retailers here in Germany in July 2024. It was released in June. Also the Z5II was already discounted up to 150€. It also the same with Sony or Canon cameras or lenses.

 

[Markuswelder]

The deal Markus posted isn't a Panasonic promotion, it's a retailer discount.

I'm not 100% certain, but I think it's backed by Panasonic. Same CF card bonus at at least a couple of retailers I've stumbled across, same price/discount too

 

[Jayneboo]

The deal Markus posted isn't a Panasonic promotion, it's a retailer discount.

It's almost every the case, early adaptors pay the full price. Sometimes there are preorder promotions, but there are rare actors all brands and most of the time less attractive than promotions a few months later.

It's also nothing unusual that you can get pretty good discounts only shortly after a release, for any brand. The Nikon Z6iii for example was already 200 € discounts by most retailers here in Germany in July 2024. It was released in June. Also the Z5II was already discounted up to 150€. It also the same with Sony or Canon cameras or lenses.

I believe the offer I posted is a Panasonic Promotion.

Having bought Sony, Canon, Sigma, and Leica at launch here in the UK, the only time I have felt short-changed has been with Panasonic. Of course I expect the prices to drop and offers to arrive after time, but with Panasonic it seems ridiculously quick. An example, I don't think the Sigma FpL price has dropped in 4 years, very hard to buy one new any less than original launch price, maybe the odd deal has cropped up now and then but it has the effect of keeping the value in the secondhand market also.

 

[Markuswelder]

Acceptable with the Nikon, it's been out nearly twelve months, the S1RII has been available around 2 months. I don't think this is the way to treat customers/consumers. Panasonic would be better to offer the deals to early adopters and on pre-orders, then sticking to RRP for at least a reasonable time. I would imagine I'm not the only one who said I would never pre-order a Panasonic again. The S5II had offers, free lens etc at around 3 months after launch.

Like I wrote, I think they've changed strategies. Like you noted, around the time of the S5 and S5 II.
I'm probably one of the manufacturers worst nightmares, only buying on sales/promotion offers. I don't pretend to understand it, I just take advantage of it.
And it helps that I don't "need" any of it

 

[Markuswelder]

See, I wasn't Bull$h!tting. There's another retailer offering the same deal floating around too. Now that makes it very hard for someone to buy the S1II E for 700 bucks less, or the S1II for a couple of hundred more. And it also makes one wonder where the pricing will head for the two newer cameras.
Me personally, If I was in the market I'd buy the S1RII in a heartbeat. I shoot single frame, no want for mega fps, the colour's coming out of that 44MP sensor look absolutely beautiful to my eye, it uses that same big, beautiful EVF -only downside to that is that it seems to make the camera a real battery hog, but I have zero want for 44MP image files. And with that particular deal, I wouldn't even need to buy a new card.

• -

Edit -now the Lumix bashers will claim that Panasonic are obviously leaving the camera scene, and going out of business. Lol.

 

[Quentinquirelino]

I believe the offer I posted is a Panasonic Promotion.

Having bought Sony, Canon, Sigma, and Leica at launch here in the UK, the only time I have felt short-changed has been with Panasonic. Of course I expect the prices to drop and offers to arrive after time, but with Panasonic it seems ridiculously quick. An example, I don't think the Sigma FpL price has dropped in 4 years, very hard to buy one new any less than original launch price, maybe the odd deal has cropped up now and then but it has the effect of keeping the value in the secondhand market also.

I can't help with your feelings, but I can see how quickly cameras from other companies dropped in price. And from Panasonic to Nikon, Canon and Sony, it's pretty similar in most cases. It's also in similar time frames.

Very high end products are a bit different, like a R1 or A1II. But with every manufacturer you get better deals if you can wait a view months. Also Sigma and Leica are different in general. Sigma lenses are priced aggressively from the start and Sigma cameras have very low production numbers. Leica is a luxury brand and they lower the production before they lower the price.

 

[dirk]

There is also another point to bear in mind. The brands differentiate between new customers (they did not have anything from that system before) and old customers, who want to upgrade.

The new customers always get the better price thanks to the bundle deals. They want to seduce these new people to enter into that system. The old customer has i.e. already that lens and only want that body or vice versa. Therefore the bundle deals are kess attractive for him.

This is very common in all industries. The best offers for any kind of subscriptions are always for new customers, never for current customers.

But we (old customers) fool ourselves by calculating the bundle price in two seperate prices, althought you can not buy them seperately and then we are angry

This is the name of the game.

The only way to beat this system is to buy the bundle deal with someone together, who wants the other half of that bundle and even then, your savings are not as big as you might have hoped, because both sides want to have the better price. If you cut the savings by 50%, they do suddenly not look as good as before.

 

[Pete_W]

See, I wasn't Bull$h!tting. There's another retailer offering the same deal floating around too. Now that makes it very hard for someone to buy the S1II E for 700 bucks less, or the S1II for a couple of hundred more. And it also makes one wonder where the pricing will head for the two newer cameras.
Me personally, If I was in the market I'd buy the S1RII in a heartbeat. I shoot single frame, no want for mega fps, the colour's coming out of that 44MP sensor look absolutely beautiful to my eye, it uses that same big, beautiful EVF -only downside to that is that it seems to make the camera a real battery hog, but I have zero want for 44MP image files. And with that particular deal, I wouldn't even need to buy a new card.

Here is the official Panasonic bonus offer page:

LUMIX More Power. More Creativity. Claim Your Bonus!

Get More with LUMIX – Bonus Gift with Purchase! For a limited time, score a bonus when you purchase select LUMIX cameras: • S1II / S1IIE / S1RII – Get a

blogs.panasonic.com.au

Edit -now the Lumix bashers will claim that Panasonic are obviously leaving the camera scene, and going out of business. Lol.

Ha ha, that's exactly what would be posted over on DPR forums by the OM wackos.

AUD $4,908 for the S1RII is a good price.

 

[CharlesH]

AUD $4,908 for the S1RII is a good price.

That is the same as the US list price. I wonder if they jacked up the Australian price at introduction and now make you feel good by reducing it to the standard price.

 

[Markuswelder]

That is the same as the US list price. I wonder if they jacked up the Australian price at introduction and now make you feel good by reducing it to the standard price.

Don't forget the bonus $399 512GB CF card.
I suspect that Panasonic may have been trying to subsidise US tariff price's a little bit. Only a guess mind you. Now that it looks like there's a bit of a reprieve there -who knows for how long though, they feel comfortable to "discount" for a bit.
Much easier to do that than try to lift prices later I'd guess, and then really upset the consumer. Although, as we've already seen in one thread, both scenarios leave a bitter taste in the consumers mouth. (Lost where I was exactly, it was right here in this thread)
Once again, this is all just guessing.
For what it is, the S1R2 II is already cheaper here than what it's competing against I think, it just makes it more attractive.

 

[Markuswelder]

Ha ha, that's exactly what would be posted over on DPR forums by the OM wackos.

There's some bat$h!t crazy nut cases over there for sure. Even the moderators.
One who shall remain nameless was forever lamenting the loss of the GM1 and 5 series bodies. And I mean continuously.
I suggested the G100, on a couple of occasions, and was met with a wall of text as to every reason imaginable in the universe as to why the G100 was inferior and unsuitable.
The last couple of times I happened to cruise past that swamp, I've noticed he's become one of the greatest proponents of the model you could come across.
And I won't even get into the outcomes of some of the PM conversations I've had with the same person. Regarding other matters mind you

 

[Pete_W]

That is the same as the US list price. I wonder if they jacked up the Australian price at introduction and now make you feel good by reducing it to the standard price.

I am not sure that it's a deliberate tactic to make the discounts look good, but rather more just exchange rate management.

Most prices for products in Australia are set based on the US dollar which is the global default currency. The Australian dollar jumps around way more than it should given the level of economic stability we have had here for decades so international companies like Panasonic would set list prices based on a lower exchange rate to give themselves a buffer and thereby avoid the need to keep adjusting the list price.

Given the current economic turmoil coming out of the USA, the Australian dollar has been climbing so list prices here should be falling although we're not seeing that just yet, but that's perhaps why we are seeing discounts on the S1 line a bit earlier than might have otherwise been the case.

 

[Pete_W]

There's some bat$h!t crazy nut cases over there for sure. Even the moderators.
One who shall remain nameless was forever lamenting the loss of the GM1 and 5 series bodies. And I mean continuously.
I suggested the G100, on a couple of occasions, and was met with a wall of text as to every reason imaginable in the universe as to why the G100 was inferior and unsuitable.
The last couple of times I happened to cruise past that swamp, I've noticed he's become one of the greatest proponents of the model you could come across.
And I won't even get into the outcomes of some of the PM conversations I've had with the same person. Regarding other matters mind you

Yes, I know who you mean. The worst of the moderation is that so many OM wackos are allowed to cause dissent and provoke the few Panasonic users left in the forum, but as soon as someone responds they're warned, suspended or banned.

I can't see DPReview lasting the distance under the new owners. It's already a shell of what it was with reviews now much more limited in scope. Most of it is rehashed press releases. With cameras now very much hybrid devices, the lack of content and reviews of video features will be the death knell in time.

 

[GeorgeHudetz]

IMO, the two most obvious holes in the lineup are:

- A larger body with a fully stacked hi-resolution sensor, a large buffer, excellent thermal management, and a bigger battery. Something for handling large lenses and fast action, but with huge room to crop.

- One or two compact options.

I'm not overly eager to see a fixed-lens body (similar to the X100) mainly because I'm just not that interested in such a camera.

Additionally, I'm not a big fan of "photo-only" versions of the existing bodies, even though I'm mainly a stills photographer. Now, on the other hand, a wildcard body for me would be something akin to the Fuji GFX100RF, but with an interchangeable lenses. Which is to say, a body design that is truly targeted to the needs of a stills photographer, with things like the aspect ratio & photo style dials on the body (which could of course be customized to do other things). And tailored stills-specific firmware extensions to boot. But, again, with interchangeable lenses. THAT would be amazing. And, it's OK if it does a little video.

p.s. I'm not at all suggesting that this stills-body should look like the Fuji. Obviously, it should have Panasonic design DNA. Or Sigma, hint-hint.

 

[CharlesH]

a large buffer

The smallish buffer on the S1RII and the S1II is a mystery. It seems like these cameras would have started out with larger buffers.