Panasonic S1H vs Z CAM E2-F6 - 6K Full Frame Video Camera Comparison

These cameras are giving us some amazing technical features. It’s up to you to deliver the artistic and aesthetic parts.
If you want to know more about the physical camera features:
My E2-S6 review: • Z CAM E2-S6 Review - 6...
My S1H review: • Panasonic Lumix S1H 6K...
Subscribe to see my review of the E2-F6. I’m also starting to review the new PortKeys BM II 5.2” monitor with Bluetooth module.
Be sure to join the Z CAM E2 group on Facebook: / zcame2
These are Amazon, B&H and eBay affiliate links to some of the products I used in making this video:
Panasonic LUMIX S1H Digital Mirrorless Video Camera geni.us/nMc9Onf
Z CAM E2-F6 geni.us/fNI9elH
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Leica L geni.us/GT23h
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon EF mount geni.us/GACG
Panasonic GH5 geni.us/2hTph
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K geni.us/HgPI
Z CAM E2-S6 Super 35 6K Cinema Camera (EF Mount) geni.us/NA4hNAn
Z CAM E2 Professional 4K Cinematic Camera: geni.us/ZgwoBDB
Atomos Ninja V 5" 4K HDMI Recording Monitor geni.us/NurahC
PortKeys LH5 HDR monitor geni.us/pTB9BrC
Powerextra Sony NP-F970 with USB Output geni.us/HBgGmt
See more of the equipment I use at ninja.click/gear
You can find Flannel Ninja online at:
Website: flannel.ninja
Instagram: / flannel.ninja.tech
Facebook: / flannel.ninja.tech
Twitter: / flannel_ninja_t
Subscribe to my mailing list: flannel.ninja/...
This video was edited in Blackmagic Davinci Resolve Studio 16.
#s1h #zcam #e2

[@charles_wren_films]

I’ve watched your videos for a while now, and your content is remarkable. You deserve far more subs and views, and I’m sure you’ll get them over time. I really appreciate your non biased and generally grounded tone of delivery. Great work man.

[@raredreamfootage]

I can definitely see that the S1H is better suited for run n' gun.

[@joyoffilming9500]

... and if you use the ACEScc workflow in DR 16 instead of the Rec709 LUTs - you will be blown away by the results and the colors. It's an unbelievable step forward with VLog footage on the S1H.

[@maxmoviez]

thanks for all these details....I realy can tell you put a lot of work into these comparisons

[@DarrylCarey]

This video looks like a lot of hard work 😱Thanks for taking the time to put this together, I'm looking at getting my first Z Cam which will be the E2 because its a m4/3 and I can use the lenses from my GH5, quick question, when shooting slow-mo in 4K (120FPS) does the E2 crop in?

[@Frytech]

Great review! Love it that you go in depth on many quirky topics like crop factor and resolutions! Keep it up! If you have access to BMPCC6K that would be very interesting comparison, since all 3 cameras are relatively affordable, and all have 6K sensors (maybe even the same one?).

[@NatesFilmTutorials]

Z cam is intriguing! Has a better cinema form factor. One thing I do t like about my S1H is the HDMI Lag, I hope they can fix this. Great video flannel channel

[@creativegreats6924]

Did they fix it ?

[@BlackWarriorLures]

Nice! Thank you. I bought the E2C, and I'm loving it. The E2-S6 looks more real-to-life than the S1H in this comparison.

[@michaelroberts8397]

This is not the E2-S6 in the video.

[@BlackWarriorLures]

@@michaelroberts8397 thx

[@sempolak9889]

Love to see the BMPCC6K and E2-F6 footage side by side!

[@PVCLime]

Would be gold to see a A7S3 vs F6. This is a really nice video with important tests. :) Thanks!

[@creativenords]

Super informative video MR.Nijna! And yes framrates and crops are very important. That section helped me alot. Also it was hard to find information on ZRAW. Dissapointiong is maby the wrong word but 422 12bit RAW made it harder since AppleProresRAW i think is more like 444.

[@danielchen1655]

I preferred Z cam shots, surprisingly!

[@debtminer4976]

Agreed. . Looks more natural to me.

[@demont7574]

I get the feeling that might have a lot to do with the S1H doing more digital sharpening than the z cam (probably why the noise was a bit rough on the S1H)

[@grungyracer]

Such a great and in depth presentation of both cams abilities.

[@mackrun7029]

Superb review, no nonsense, detailed and objective. Thank you.

[@DollyRanch]

That S1H looked better on the cosplayers every time, but I'm still excited about the F6. I'm wondering, do you have a colour checker chart to compare them using the feature in Resolve?

[@DollyRanch]

This is what I get for commenting before finishing the video! But I wonder why you didn't use the passport for all the comparison shots?

[@gadgetshowlive452]

S1H is very sharp compared to the E2-F6 (20:09) the E2 looks very soft, however, in daylight, the E2 has some nice dynamic range and also the colour vibrance/science is better like a way better than the S1H (in my opinion)

[@2MuchSwag4Funzies]

I subscribed because this is the content I'm looking for when it comes to cameras. Wasted so much time on other reviews/comparisons that are either biased or talk about things that don't really matter when it comes to actual filming. I know know you're not comparing the E2 and S1H because of the 6k, but 4k on the E2 is definitely more than enough and for the price point, the S1H can stay on the shopping cart for now. Also the Z Cams look so cool lol.

[@tigran3409]

I wish Pocket 4k/6k had that zcam cube body

[@BlackWarriorLures]

Honesty I'm using the Varicam's LUTs with the E2C with great results. It's like having a Varicam Nano. Might be worth looking in to.

[@DangLeProject92]

Hi ! I love the form factor with the zcam S6. But I also want to use my Lumix S1 as B cam for my wedding business. Just a question, is it easy to grade the color between these 2 camera to be the same 80-90% ? Please let me know how you experienced

[@DangLeProject92]

@@FlannelNinjaTech the new firmware lumix s1 can shoot 6k & raw to hdmi. Should i still getting the S6 model ? The price of S6 is double than the S1 😗

[@DangLeProject92]

@@FlannelNinjaTech thanks for your comment. The Lumix S1 with future firmware 2.0 will able to shoot 5.9K and raw to hdmi. With the price point for the S1, is it worth the double price Zcam E2 S6 to buy at this time ? I know before S1 leak their fw update, the zcam is winner but this seem to be a big win for S1 ! But still, I like to have a cine camera in my list instead of 3 lumix S1. Please share your thought about my question ! Thanks

[@billyoung9538]

17:02 In my opinion there is to much bilateral smoothing going on. I'm very attuned to this as I built a post denoise filter set based on Bilateral smoothing and can tell you it's very easy to spot when to much gets applied to an image. While shapes remain identifiable the colors look more like simple gradients with luminescence variations on top. If over applied it's very unnatural looking, and those tree leaves are prime examples of over done on the E2. I'm sure Z-raw will fix the issue. In many ways it's more noticeable in the tree trunk on screen left.

[@aandjo]

18:25 I also look for this so it's very useful that you included it, this is why I think your reviews stand out. Overall looks like two really high performing cameras!

[@robholder5825]

Great review, many thanks! I find the 'tedious' frame rate and resolution detail very useful indeed.

[@YellowEdits]

Which ND’s were used? It seems that in some of the shots the difference in colour might be from polarisation. Were they identical and rotated / screwed on to the matching rotation?

[@adventureStaley]

Great Vid - Looking hard at both of these cameras.

[@financialliteracy_hr]

Hey there, just wanted to clarify that the 4k has a feature to turn the crop factor off. That allows you to use the full width of the sensor downsampling the 6k to 4k. Thats actually kne of the main reasons I bought this camera! I noticed you didn't mention that, and in the crop chart (very useful btw) you provide, it doesn't show this feature. So these are my two cents! Great video !!

[@creativegreats6924]

What camera are you referring to?

[@Fuzzmistro]

THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO. YOUR VIDEOS ARE ALWAYS WELL THOUGHT OUT AND INFORMATIVE. POST MORE ZCAM VIDEOS PLEASE. ESPECIALLY COLOUR GRADING THE ZCAM.

[@shagral_]

White balancing with Z cams video - will be waiting for it ;)

[@ThomazMartinez]

I would be really curious to see color science comparison with S1H with A7III / A7RIV / A9II

[@elbe1mediahamburg962]

Nice review! Do you know, if the S6 has less rolling shutter than F6?

[@TopshelfJunior]

Man, in the first half of this video.. I like the F6 look.. In the second half of the video (that bridge) I liked the S1H... With the camera being cheaper, a better form factor, better workflow IN/on the camera w/ custom buttons and modes, I think I would pick the S1H..

[@billyoung9538]

The E2 at 8:17 is applying a significant amount of over smoothing to the image. Freckles and pores are being reduced to an almost continuous tone on the right side of her forehead and right cheek (screen left). There is also a very hard shadow transition line on her right cheek next to her nose that looks like the result of a transition between two bilaterally smoothed zones. This smoothing gives an unnatural roll off to her face making it look overly filtered. The S1H on the other hand shows all the missing detail, and there is a narrow gradient instead of a hard transition line. If the S1H had the same issue I would have chalked the filtered look to KZbin compression, but clearly it's a pre-KZbin artifact.

[@genxtechguy]

Great review. I would like to know a little more about zraw and output recording specs (frame rates / bit depth / cropping for each).

[@TheFaustianMan]

This was amazing! Both cameras a great! And if you are lucky enough to have both, then you are a double winner!

[@ekphotography]

Wow, been waiting for this!!

[@YoManAlberto]

Wow! I just found another tech user in Spokane, WA! Thats awesome man, I live here too!

[@raredreamfootage]

16:44 - This is a good fact to know about! THANKS!

[@halimjukhasam2737]

Ipi nzuri kati ya hizi 2?

[@thefilmmaker84]

Hi, do you know if it's possible to know the WB value from S1H when we use custom WB? Because when I film in two cameras, I wanna use the same value on the second cam.

[@nicodehnhardt466]

i got the same issue as u with my S1H, in the minute 14:43 and i returned it so now they will give a new one, but i believe the new firmware 2.0 minimized this bugs

[@wilcurran3377]

I'm very interested in a S6 vs F6 comparison and I'm sure others are weighing up which to buy. If image detail is close enough, high ISO noise is only 1 stop difference and the S6 has less rolling shutter, I'll take it over the additional 20fps on the high end of the F6 (100 vs 120 fps). As an added bonus, I'd love to see the S6 image with a speedbooster next to the F6 image.

[@wilcurran3377]

@@FlannelNinjaTech Thanks for the reply. I'm with you, I value image quality over anything, unless it's a compromise I can't accept. For example if the rolling shutter was so pronounced it made the camera hopeless for any run-and-gun situation, all the image quality in the world wouldn't save it (if high paced run-and-gun was your primary objective). I wonder if any of the crop modes significantly decrease rolling shutter? I'm still on the fence, but the wind's blowing towards the F6 at this point. Thanks for the great overview of the camera!

[@denisdodo]

just green tint a bit shifted in s1h suppose for thats red looks more vibrant

[@shutterhouse]

Seeing your destroyed color checker passport makes me cry (this f***g thing is so expensive) :-D As always great video and really interesting comparison!

[@mmtv_au]

Excellent review. F6 is US$5K and S1H is US$4k at b&h. Pocket 6K is half the price at US$2.5K. I think I still like the F6 better. I have the nifty little G9 from Panasonic. It's awesome bang for buck, the IBIS is amazing. But it's also a limitation. I think when you get up to this sort of price bracket, you're really taking control on another level and you don't want your sensor floating about. AF doesn't matter. The S1 not being able to output HDMI over 4K is a serious issue for monitoring. WTF. I think I would rather pay the extra $1K since at that level, I think the Z-cam is a better workhorse. Also on the subjective side of things, I love that it's just a brick and works better with gimbals (Pocket 6K has camel's dick form factor for that) and can be mounted in more places. I prefer that it is EF mount. Thats one less adaptor to deal with when using my Canon glass. I think Panasonic's new range of L-mount glass is impressive and they are to be commended, but it makes more sense to use a mount where you have a tonne more top quality glass available to you in native mount. I love that Z Cam embraced h265. It's time. It was time in 2018 already. Samsung NX1 had it in 2015, but they were too early, and they have better things to do than penetrate this market space LOL. Black magic, WTF bro? h264 is the equivalent of having a floppy disk drive in your PC. There is still usefulness for mp4, just not decades old version of it. I prefer the F6, but I will probably end up getting 2 Pocket 6Ks for the same price and dealing with braw and building another NAS.

[@phoenixfunny4517]

Why not the Z Cam E2-S6? It's 3000 and has the same resolution as the F6 and other great qualities

[@IraklyShanidze00X]

Did you use ACEScc in DaVinci? I mean, it seems that you didn't. It would make matching colors between the cameras much simpler.

[@wangaries7334]

S1H looks like make a bit crop，very very subtle，and the color of E2F6 looks not so good，especially when Flannel shot the river， it seems S1H win the match.

[@LucasHJX]

Do they both use SONY sensor?

[@a_visual_novel]

Noise of Vlog/HLG has to do with the gamma curve for just the blacks (so noticeable in low light). Thanks for the video though, I think full-frame compact non-RAW solutions, the S1H is superior (H.265 HLG is enough for most web usage applications anyway). I saw the dual-IBIS 2.0 boosted in another video and that alone just negates the need for a rig or gimbal entirely combined with post stabilization.

[@andieymi]

Would love to like the F6. But as long as there's no ProRes or Z-RAW 6K it's kind of back to DSLR?

[@BigMike246]

I did not know there was such a thing as a white balance disc!!! Going to Amazon to order one! thanks

[@benhay2317]

I’d suggest the river could be an ND polarising issue. I had the same with the GH5, I assumed it was a low pass filter effect messing with the ND.

[@kiethwalker4237]

Does the F6 include ProRes support at all yet?

[@jfalex1751]

very very great video and great info for the frame comparison at the end. thanks

[@dev8996]

can you do compression between S1H and Sony A7S 3 ..it whould be very helpful for me .thanks.

[@kenambani]

Great presentation bro...Very educational

[@DonnieGQX]

I would only hope that somehow they ship some S6's with a full frame sensor :D As a gift to the customers.

[@phoenixfunny4517]

It's called the F6

[@YesItsKent]

Did you ever do the white balancing e2 video? I always run into trouble with that

[@tjpenton]

Great review as always!

[@RedEyrisFilms]

Can you do a comparison of the zcam full frame vs super 35 6k

[@ichidomo]

The native FHD 100fps/120fps HEVC 10 bit 4.2.0 is very soft and mushy with a lot of noise/blocking. Sadly this issue has not been addressed by Panasonic. I’ve reached out to the s-series facebook group and it seems a lot of users experience the same issue in this mode. Sadly it did not get a lot of attention the past year online. I hope panasonic will fix this bug in a FW update. I linked to your video to address the issue.

[@FlannelNinjaTech]

That's unfortunate because it's a great camera otherwise.

[@raredreamfootage]

FYI: The IBIS in the S1H was disabled for the Comicon shots.

[@78bakelit]

You must make the WB Manual, the Fix WB Preset is not correct by Panasonic, i have an S1.

[@HuFilms]

Nice one. I'm still enjoying the S1, but almost got the S1H. Next year! On a side note, I could film those Comic Con girls all day! 😎

[@ubarhd1]

Interesting and informative video thanks

[@Photographicelements]

Thanks for this video! I didn't know that both the F6 & S1H have the same sensor. I was expecting superior dynamic range from the F6; the way it was advertised, greater than the Ursa Mini Pro G2, but I'm not sure now, and the dynamic ranges seems quite similar to the S1H (the same sensor). I wish the S1H recorded in Raw or ProRes, but SD cards :[] Both cameras had great images.

[@motuscinema3979]

if i use the atomos for both of these cameras with external raw recording does the color science matter coming from the sensor? i know the sensor size matters as far as full frame and super 35 so would present any color matching issues? Thank you for the video.

[@FlannelNinjaTech]

That’s a good question. I believe these two cameras use the same Sony sensor and that would lead you to think they should produce the same results. However, Panasonic and Z CAM apply different voltages to the sensor for any given ISO settings and that changes the performance of the sensor. Still, they should be pretty close.

[@motuscinema3979]

@@FlannelNinjaTech voltage???! Wow I would’ve never thrown that into the equation. Thanks for getting back so quickly!

[@ruffprophetproductions]

can we talk about how sony has a LOCK on the imaging game? damn near every sensor out today is made by them

[@kptalteamtv6084]

Cause of image quality, though... But why are they sleeping!? Are they so busy for working sensors for others manufacturers, for smartphones..!? No 4k60fps, no 6k,no FHD 240...

[@cineoitoum]

I don’t understand why people bother so much with rolling shutter. It rarelly get in the way

[@thepropolys]

What do you mean? It shows in any fast pan move.

[@RyanJosephLong]

Wow! above my head on so much of this

[@aleksanderhaugdal2060]

Really suprised by the e2, the panasonic looked more natural to me, but still e2 impresses.

[@tim509]

"One side of the river had a different color." = More sewage. LOL! Great comparison video!

[@LunerversalFilmTV]

You are worth following. Thank you for taking the time to do this video. Especially the Anamorphic Part of the S1H. I wanted to shoot my first feature film “Loving Till It Hurts” on a anamorphic lens on my GH4, unfortunately I didn't have the budget but I still got a good project out of 16x9. So far I've gotten 3 awards for this project. The film was shot on a GH4, Panasonic 50mm, 14mm and my favorite heavy lens Voigtlander 35mm. Feel free to ask me any questions about the making of it. Can’t wait to shoot my next project with an Anamorphic Lens on Ether GH5s or SH1, I'm still undecided between those two cameras. Please show me some love and support and check out my film “Loving Till It Hurts” on Amazon prime or watch it for FREE here on TubiTV: tubitv.com/series/4311/loving_till_it_hurts?tracked=1

[@RuohongZhao]

Thank you! I just know E2 has the plugin for davinci

[@aleksanderhaugdal2060]

Did you do Dr comparison?

[@miguelmontes5002]

Great comparison video!, but I don't think that the S1H as a Sony sensor... Panasonic as a long history in sensor manufactoring.

[@levelazn]

will z cam release firmware updates to the e2-f6 to allow it to film 120fps at 4k? if the e2 can do it, why cant the f6? which cost more than twice as much?

[@aandjo]

F6 will do 120fps at 4096x1728. There's samples available here drive.google.com/open?id=1-9D-KwQSdQdMhfhXxWOzt1iyHeP9YHqe

[@levelazn]

​@@FlannelNinjaTech i get the sensors are different, but to me the fPs is a bandwith issue and is related to the processing hardware, i would assume that the f6 would have more bandwith that should allow higher FPS at lower resolutions relative to the e2?

[@billyoung9538]

12:42 I think it might be time to consider investing into a new X-Rite Passport, because those color swatches look like they are about to fall off.

[@ondrejjanoska660]

Nice video. I would be interested what is it for a cable you using between ninja v and s1h... Thank you

[@khlymore]

the cat woman at 7:58 panasonic blacks look darker and looks sharper as well but im not sure if has something to do with the lens

[@DennisSchmitz]

@@FlannelNinjaTech In 6K there's absolutely no sharpening, but in the 4K modes it seems like there's a very sharp scaling filter like lanczos being used adding to that in-camera sharpening look. 6K modes deal with horrible ghosting and smearing artifacts though, so that's not a solution either.

[@CMVFactory]

how about Z CAM E2-F8? does it use the same sensor as F6?

[@CMVFactory]

@@FlannelNinjaTech Thanks. I like your review and cosplay films. Keep going, please!

[@JoeCnNd]

on a side note that captain jack sparrow was spot on.

[@DanielBasulto]

Great Video comparison. I went with the S6 instead am waiting for it to come in... I'm impatient.

[@sottosopra4769]

are you happy with the S1h?

[@DanielBasulto]

@@sottosopra4769 I purchased the S6, and fell in love with it. Shortly after I purchased two more ZCAM E2

[@IdaelDiaz]

What are those hdmi cables. Please

[@michaelroberts8397]

Keep in mind the s1h outputs raw via the NINJA V now guys

[@Gablarkin]

Really Nice review

[@peterstudiollc]

S1H Can work HD 180P , S1H Pro Res Raw is pending also .

[@badhonebrahim7707]

Nice video thanks

[@kylelowe]

Love that Freddie Wong Signature Ace!

[@kylelowe]

@@FlannelNinjaTech SAME! 2020 I'm hoping to get a set of Flowtech with the FS8 head, rigs are getting bigger and bigger!

[@nicodehnhardt466]

what it means open gate????

[@imaginationdevice]

damn that lumix looks great...

[@stsimon1713]

Z cam e2 f6 more dynamic range good colour.

[@BrannuStudios]

It's funny all of these new 4k, 6K video cameras and the users video quality is dictated by their internet speed which is usually only decent or terrible because they throttle it eventually.

[@Hamid-c7l6k]

I think f6 recognizes colors better!! I'm right?

[@KittyGuerrillaFilms]

thank you so much for this

[@sergiusblessed]

What about autofocus ?

[@khlymore]

Excellent content

[@GionniGordo]

What and where is that place? -> 11:39

[@GionniGordo]

Thank

[@Birkkromann]

FINALLY!!!

[@isart3757]

which one 🤔 iam confused 😉

[@JADURCA]

Great review!!! Thanks for sharing! The S1H looks more like a cinema camera, color and organic sharpness. Z Cam is to sharp, looks like a cellphone that everything is sharp and the artistic depth is not present.

[@JADURCA]

@@FlannelNinjaTech how can that it be? Maybe im not correct in the way I mean it. My main language is spanish. Im going to try again. I'm comparing right now. Head to head with your images and what I clearly see is that Z CAM is sharper than the S1H. I dont like image to be too sharp because for me, it lose an artistic perspective. Hope I make it clear this time.

[@CharlieVN]

the S1H anamorphic is such a fail, didnt know it was with such a huge crop, and the z cam uses EF mount........ cant use the 35 f1.2 ..... ugh, major flaws on both systems

[@Michael-dx8qz]

Your white balancing method is actually wrong. Imagine if you are shooting the sky and white balancing with the blurring device. You’ll get a grey sky instead of a blue sky. Same goes with scenes that are not meant to be grey.