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S1R II / S1 II / S1 IIE Hand held high res processing time

G

GizM0

New Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2023
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3
Hi everyone!
I have been considering one of the new S1 series camera mostly for landscape and some astrophotography.
I'd like to know from owners here how long does it take for the camera to process Hand Held High res shots (not counting actual shooting time) before the camera is able to shoot again.
Main use would be for static landscape to expand further dynamic range.
Many thanks for any input in advance!
 
About 30 seconds with my S1RII. I believe it should be faster with the S1II/S1IIe because of the difference in resolution.
 
With the s1II I get 16 seconds.
 
Thanks guys! I would then assume that the S1 IIe would also be around 16 seconds since it has the same processor and mpx dense sensor.
 
I have the S1Rii and can confirm 25-30s processing time. But i think it's worth asking why you would bother. I don't find the increase in resolution really worth having, and while it does improve DR, it has to be said that DR is already very good and shadows can be lifted a lot without much noise creeping in. And there's always the option of shooting an EV bracket and stacking later in PP if you are shooting a scene with really high DR.

But if DR is really important to you, the best camera to go for is the S1ii since it has "DR boost" - a feature that uses the dual integration time capability of the sensor to effectively take two exposures at the same time with different gain applied. It delivers the best low ISO raw file DR you will find on the market today.

But on balance, the S1Rii is probably the better choice for landscapes due to the increased resolution. For astro, the S1ii will take more ISO punishment so it's probably the best for that.
 
pdk42 said:
I have the S1Rii and can confirm 25-30s processing time. But i think it's worth asking why you would bother. I don't find the increase in resolution really worth having, and while it does improve DR, it has to be said that DR is already very good and shadows can be lifted a lot without much noise creeping in. And there's always the option of shooting an EV bracket and stacking later in PP if you are shooting a scene with really high DR.

But if DR is really important to you, the best camera to go for is the S1ii since it has "DR boost" - a feature that uses the dual integration time capability of the sensor to effectively take two exposures at the same time with different gain applied. It delivers the best low ISO raw file DR you will find on the market today.

But on balance, the S1Rii is probably the better choice for landscapes due to the increased resolution. For astro, the S1ii will take more ISO punishment so it's probably the best for that.
Click to expand...
Thanks Paul! it is a very good summary of strengths of the siblings!
 
Sony cameras have one of there multi-shot modes that is JUST for increasing dynamic range (at least my A1 had this). It sums up a series of shots, all at the base MP resolution. Unfortunately there is no in-camera processing with Sony, it is done in your computer, so multi-shot is a hassle. The new Sony A7V has outstanding dynamic range, more than even the S1II, so that camera with this multi-shot mode would be a real low noise see-in-the dark machine. That said, I wouldn't even think of swapping my S1II for an A7V - the in-camera processing is a huge advantage.
 
Keep in mind that handheld HR uses 16 exposures, while the tripod-based HR only uses 8. So if you want to minimize motion artifacts, use a tripod or some other method to stabilize the camera. And, although I have not tested the processing time, it would make sense that regular HR mode requires less processing time than HHHR.
 
pdk42 said:
For astro, the S1ii will take more ISO punishment so it's probably the best for that.
Click to expand...
According to photonstophotos, the DR advantage of the S1II vs. the S1RII evaporates at ISO 400. From ISO 400 to 6400 (and above) they measure the same. Since most astro is shot above ISO 400, they should behave similarly in that context.

Now, the S1II is closer to being “ISOLess” than the S1RII, which definitely is not. So, the S1II will be more tolerant of mistakes such as shooting with too low an ISO - just boost the exposure in post. Whereas with the S1RII, you need to be more careful in choosing the ISO - basically, go as high as you dare. Of course, the S1RII can handle a quite a bit of abuse, but it’s best if you raise the ISO as much as possible before shooting.
 
Apologies if this has already been discussed: Is in-camera "hi res" image processing time affected by media/card speed? Or is the processing done in the camera's (probably very fast) RAM memory? Of course, writing out the final image to the media/card is affected by the media speed, but what about processing/assembling the multiple exposures?
 
GeorgeHudetz said:
Keep in mind that handheld HR uses 16 exposures, while the tripod-based HR only uses 8. So if you want to minimize motion artifacts, use a tripod or some other method to stabilize the camera. And, although I have not tested the processing time, it would make sense that regular HR mode requires less processing time than HHHR.
Click to expand...
Good point. I checked the S1II in tripod mode, and it processes in 9.5 seconds compared to 16 seconds in the handheld mode.

A related point, if you are using the HR mode to get more pixels, say for cropping - I'm finding that Super Resolution in Lightroom is as good or better solution than Panasonic HR. It seems to be an AI takeoff to what Topaz has done with Gigapixel AI, but it is a better implementation. Also Topaz can't handle Panasonic RAW, so I've completely gone away from Topaz and only use Lightroom for Denoise and Super Resolution.
 
PJD said:
Apologies if this has already been discussed: Is in-camera "hi res" image processing time affected by media/card speed? Or is the processing done in the camera's (probably very fast) RAM memory? Of course, writing out the final image to the media/card is affected by the media speed, but what about processing/assembling the multiple exposures?
Click to expand...
I tried to look at this question by recording the photos on the very fast CFExpress B card instead of the (also fast) SD card. This is with the S1II in tripod HR mode, recording both RAW and JPEG. With the SD card the processing time, from the end of taking the pictures until the camera indicated processing was finished, had been 9.5 seconds. A confusing result, with the CFExpress B card this was 11-12 seconds. So to answer your question, I would say it is unknown.
 
CharlesH said:
A related point, if you are using the HR mode to get more pixels, say for cropping - I'm finding that Super Resolution in Lightroom is as good or better solution than Panasonic HR. It seems to be an AI takeoff to what Topaz has done with Gigapixel AI, but it is a better implementation. Also Topaz can't handle Panasonic RAW, so I've completely gone away from Topaz and only use Lightroom for Denoise and Super Resolution.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Have you applied SR to an HR image? Or just AI sharpening?
 
GeorgeHudetz said:
Interesting. Have you applied SR to an HR image? Or just AI sharpening?
Click to expand...
I've not applied Lightroom's Super Resolution to Panasonic Hi Res images. This is a step too far for me and not what I'm interested in right now. Also Lightroom doesn't have AI sharpening per se.

To clarify this, the AI Detail section in Lightroom has three available functions: Denoise, Raw Details and Super Resolution. Denoise and Super Resolution are trained with gillions of images, just like the Topaz applications (and like the many other AI photo apps). Denoise obviously reduces noise, and Super Resolution doubles the number of pixels in both the X and Y directions. A 6000 x 4000 24 MP image becomes a 12000 x 8000 96 MP image, with AI processing filling in the detail it remembers from the gillion other images. Raw Details is somewhat different; it is an advanced demosaicing algorithm that converts the RAW Bayer sensor data with more detail, again with the AI training. By itself it doesn't show much if any sharpening effect. Raw Detail can be used by itself but usually in conjunction with either Denoise or Super Resolution, but not both of these at the same time.

Lightroom had major upgrades for these functions in the middle of 2025. They are now non-destructive and reversable, and no other files are created, so they work like the other tools in Lightroom. That is, they are easier to use and you can experiment and change your mind.

My limited experience is that Super Resolution with Raw Details gives high resolution results as good as, and sometimes better than, Panasonic Hi Res (including with high ISO noise). This is with the S1II - I've not looked at this with the S1RII yet. The Lightroom advantage is that Panasonic Hi Res doesn't do well with motion in the image. Also for me and my non-stable hands I can't get good hand held Hi Res results, so Hi Res only works for me with a tripod. The Lightroom approach doesn't care about motion - run up shutter speed and you are good to go, so it is much more useful than Hi Res.

I use Crop Zoom quite a bit. This makes any lens more versatile - with the CrZ function assigned to the lens focus ring you can use it like a zoom ring to frame any shot. On the S1RII I limit this zoom to 2X, and on the S1II I limit it to 1.4X. And Super Resolution lets you easily get back the pixels lost with CrZ.

Back to your question, could you use Lightroom Super Resolution on top of Panasonic Hi Res? I expect someone will explore this and get nice 707 MP images with the S1RII, but in my case Hi Res is too limiting so I'm not very interested.
 
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Thanks for the summary, Charles. I do agree it’s a bit silly to upscale a full HR image.

I’ll have to experiment with these new options in LR. I do wonder if Raw Details would work well with HR images - as you may know, HR raw files tend to come out a bit soft and normally benefit from more aggressive sharpening than normal raw files. Perhaps Raw Details would work better there, but it probably depends on how well the models are trained on HR images.
 
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