If you’re a videographer or filmmaker, you’ve likely been waiting a few years for the arrival of the Panasonic GH6. Well, the good news is that, having missed its original 2021 launch slot, the exciting video camera finally has an official launch date.
The official Lumix Facebook page has revealed that the Panasonic GH6 will launch on February 21 at 8pm EST, which works out as 1am GMT / 11am AEST on February 23 for those in the UK and Australia.
This means that the GH6 will arrive more than five years after the original Panasonic GH5, a camera that became something of a classic among video shooters thanks to its ability to internally shoot 10-bit video with 4:2:2 color depth. That’s something that full-frame cameras have only recently been able to match.
But five years is a long time in camera world, so hopes are high that the GH6 will make a similarly big leap. We recently saw the arrival of the GH5 Mark II for video streamers, but the GH6 is expected to be the pro-friendly choice for videographers with features that rival the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro, Sony FX3 and even the Sony A7S III.
Panasonic has already teased some of the GH6’s specs, like the fact that it’ll have a new high-speed sensor. In this round-up, we’ve combined these known facts about the GH6 with the latest rumors to give you an idea of what to expect in the run-up to its imminent official launch.
Panasonic GH6 release date and price
Last year, Panasonic stated that the GH6 would be “available by the end of 2021”, but pandemic-related events clearly interfered with that plan.
Fortunately, it looks like those issues have been resolved, as the official Lumix Facebook page has revealed that the Panasonic GH6 will now launch on February 21 at 8pm EST, which works out as 1am GMT / 11am AEST on February 23.
It isn’t yet clear when the GH6 will actually be available to buy, or what the stock levels will be like, but hopefully we’ll hear about those details during the event.
Panasonic said during its GH6 development announcement that it will be aiming for a price point of $2,500 (around £1,770 / AU$3,225), which is in the ballpark that we expected.
The Panasonic GH5 Mark II, which is a minor upgrade of the Panasonic GH5, costs $1,699 / £1,499 (around AU$2,740). But given that we’re expecting the Panasonic GH6 to be a significant upgrade on both the GH5 and GH5 Mark II, thanks to that new sensor and processor, the higher price tag makes sense.
That GH6 price will, though, put it in a similar ballpark to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro, which you can buy now for $2,495 / £2,254 / AU$3,935, and the full-frame Panasonic Lumix S5, which launched for $1,999 / £1,799 / AU$3,199.
Panasonic GH6 specs and features
Panasonic didn’t reveal a huge amount about the GH6 during its development announcement, but we do know a few key details that you can also find in full at retailers like B&H Photo Video.
The GH6 will, according to Panasonic, have a new high-speed, Micro Four Thirds sensor that’s capable of shooting 5.7K/60p video. This will apparently be paired with a new Venus Engine Image Processor, which will support some impressive high frame-rate modes.
These will include 10-bit 4K/120p video, another very handy feature that’s absent on the Panasonic GH5 Mark II and GH5. This should give you the option of shooting high-quality slo-mo footage with lots of editing leeway, though we don’t know if there’s a crop in this mode yet.
Some other impressive modes, listed on the B&H Photo Video preview page, include 5.7K/60p video with 10-bit sampling and a 4K/60p 10-bit 4:2:2 mode with unlimited recording. These will give video shooters some great options for slowing high-quality footage down to half-speed, which is ideal for cut-scenes.
Those are the only official specs we have so far, though, so there’ll be a lot more to learn about the camera when it does land on February 21 / 22.
It looks unlikely that the GH6 will have the 8K powers that some were hoping for, but that new sensor should ensure it produces some lovely oversampled 4K video. In this sense, it could be a smaller, cheaper alternative to the likes of the Sony A7S III.
Despite the inclusion of a new Venus Engine processor, we’re expecting Panasonic to stick with its Depth by Defocus (DFD) system, rather than moving to the more common hybrid phase-detect AF setup. It seems likely that the latter would have been mentioned during the development announcement, it was indeed en route.
This wouldn’t necessarily be an issue for those who like to focus manually, but autofocus is one area where Panasonic’s GH series has started to lag behind rivals like Canon and Sony, so we’re hoping the GH6 builds on the promising work of the Panasonic GH5 Mark II.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Panasonic GH6 – alongside with autofocus details, Panasonic hasn’t revealed anything about its in-body image stabilization (IBIS), screen type, codec support, card slots, or connectivity.
We also only have the one image to go on, which reveals a new badge placement compared to the Panasonic GH5 and GH5 Mark II. But all of these details will be revealed soon at that official launch event.
Panasonic GH6 early thoughts
The dual announcement of the Panasonic GH6 and GH5 Mark II was a slightly odd and unexpected one, but there’s no doubt the GH6 is the more exciting camera for filmmakers.
The question is, has Panasonic left it too late? A lot of Micro Four Thirds fans have grown tired of waiting for a new camera body in the vein of the GH5 with improved resolution and frame-rates, and a wait to the end of 2021 could prove too long with so many compelling alternatives around from the likes of Sony, Blackmagic and Canon around.
But we reckon the GH6 will be worth the wait. It might not ultimately be quite as ground-breaking as the GH5, which was the first mirrorless camera that was capable of shooting 4K video with 10-bit color depth and 4:2:2 subsampling, but it should build nicely on the GH5 (and GH5 Mark II’s) very solid foundation.
The reason why the GH5 was so popular is because it combined compact dimensions, class-leading video features, a weather-sealed body and excellent in-body image stabilization (IBIS) in one relatively affordable package. And while the Four Thirds system has been gathering cobwebs a little in recent years, it still offers a huge range of small, affordable lenses. These will soon joined by a new Panasonic Leica DG 25-50mm f/1.7 lens, too.
Not all filmmakers can afford a Sony A7S III, Sony FX3 or Canon EOS R5, so there’s definitely still a space for the Panasonic GH6 to thrive and become a popular option for a new generation of filmmakers. The only problem is that the likes of Blackmagic, Sony (with the Sony A7C) and even Fujifilm (with hybrid cameras like the Fujifilm X-T4) are now all providing stiff competition in that space.
Still, the good news for us is that stiff competition means lots of choice, and it’ll hopefully force Panasonic to really pack some next-gen features into the GH6. We’ll update this page with those treats as soon as the GH6 officially launches.
What about the Panasonic GH5 Mark II?
Last year, Panasonic launched the GH5 Mark II. So what video skills does it have and how does it differ from the GH5 and GH6? You can read our full Panasonic GH5 Mark II review for an in-depth explainer, but in short the Mark II is aimed more at live-streamers than filmmakers. It uses the same body and sensor as the GH5, but brings a series of small tweaks including those new live-streaming powers.
There are a few different ways to live-stream video from the GH5 Mark II, all of which use the RTMP/S (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) standard and most of which can be setup using the Lumix Sync app. If high image quality is your priority, you can connect the GH5 Mark II to an external capture card via HDMI, then hook that up to a laptop to stream in 4K/60p quality.
Without a capture card, your alternative streaming options all deliver lower-quality HD video. You can connect the GH5 Mark II directly to your laptop via USB and use a combination of Lumix Tether (Panasonic’s beta streaming software for Windows and Mac) and the free OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), which lets you stream in 720/30p quality with remote control functionality.
Panasonic’s beta Lumix Webcam software (Windows/Mac) also lets you use the GH5 Mark II as a webcam (again streaming in 720/30p) or you can directly stream to some services over Wi-Fi via your phone in 1080/60p quality.
Beyond these live-streaming powers, which Panasonic is pushing as a big selling-point of the GH5 II, the camera is a pretty mild upgrade of the GH5. You get a larger battery, the same 2,200mAh unit as the one in the Panasonic Lumix S5, which promises to last at least an hour when you’re shooting 4K/60p video. The USB-C port also supports Power Delivery, which means you can charge the camera with an external battery while using it.
The GH5 Mark II’s dual memory card slot now also supports UHS-II U3 V90 SD cards (rather than the GH5’s slightly slower V60 card support) and it has some slightly improved autofocus, which now recognizes animals, heads and bodies alongside the existing Face/Eye recognition. The in-body image stabilization (IBIS) will apparently now give you 6.5-stops of compensation, a small boost on the 5-stops on the GH5.
Strangely, the GH5 Mark II has a slightly smaller rear display than the GH5 (at 3in, rather than 3.2in), but this is slightly higher-resolution at 1.84-million dots. Like on the Panasonic S1H, you also get support for the Cinelike D2 and V2 flat profiles, which gives you a little more highlight info than the standard Cinelike D on the GH5 and GH5S.
Otherwise, the GH5 Mark II is much the same camera as the GH5, with the same 20.3MP Four Thirds sensor, burst shooting powers (12fps, or 9fps with continuous AF) and weather-proof design.
This means existing GH5 owners are more likely to wait for the Panasonic GH6, with the GH5 Mark II a lower-budget option for those who need a streaming camera with a large choice of interchangeable lenses.
Talking of which, Panasonic is bringing a firmware update for 12 different Lumix G and Leica DG lenses that will let you choose between a non-linear or linear setting for their focus rings. The non-linear approach, which means that focus changes according to the speed you turn the focus ring rather than in fixed increments, was a slight frustration for some GH5 owners, so this could be another welcome update.
Does Micro Four Thirds still have a future?
The GH6 probably won’t be able to shoot in 8K, which puts it slightly behind the curve set by full-frame cameras like the Canon EOS R5. But that’s likely a tricky thing to pull off with a relatively small Four Thirds sensor (as the mysterious disappearance of the Sharp 8K camera appears to show).
The combination of 5.7K/60p and 10-bit 4K/120p video from a small, weather-sealed mirrorless camera is also a promising one that should provide stiff competition to the likes of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro.
While the dual announcement of the Panasonic GH6 and GH5 Mark II was an unusual one, it did provide a welcome shot in the arm for the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system. In their early days, MFT cameras were the small, charming flag-bearers for mirrorless tech, offering impressive shooting power in travel-friendly form factors.
But with smartphones decimating small, stills-focused cameras in recent years, a development that prompted Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds partner Olympus to exit the camera business in 2020, the future of the system has been in question.
Whether the Panasonic GH6 and GH5 Mark II are enough to keep Micro Four Thirds fans from jumping ship the compact APS-C and full-frame cameras from the likes of Sony and Canon remains to be seen. But after such a long wait for new GH cameras, it was great to see two of them finally arrive together in London bus fashion last year, and we now don’t have to wait long to see the GH6 revealed in full.
Share this news on your Fb,Twitter and Whatsapp
Times News Network:Latest News Headlines
Times News Network||Health||New York||USA News||Technology||World News
