GH5 How interested are you in a GH6 anymore?

At this point, less talking & more seeing...all of these new specs from everyone have to show major visual improvements from multiple people on YouTube to consider it as a legit offering.

If suddenly we watch 20 different Olympus videos and the DR quality looks really good, like something's up, something is different with it...then we know it's legit.
 
did we already talk about how the new olympus is squeezing out an extra stop or two of sensitivity and DR thanks to the quad bayer situation? just like was supposed to happen with the a7siii but they likely held it back...

The A7SIII cripple hammer hit the resolution on the noggin ... in favor of the low ISO and DR.

It should have had both.
 
did we already talk about how the new olympus is squeezing out an extra stop or two of sensitivity and DR thanks to the quad bayer situation? just like was supposed to happen with the a7siii but they likely held it back...

The quad bayer sensor is an interesting approach. I can't view raw photos from the OM-1 yet on a Mac but the jpegs at ISO 6400 looked very clean. Clearly some NR going on for the jpegs but its not as butchered as it could have been. Maybe. Really hard to judge the noise from a jpeg. Video NR on Panasonic also uses temporal NR which might yield better details vs jpeg NR. We will have to wait 5 days to see what the GH6 will really manage

If it is two stops better I hope we finally get dual native ISO in the more photo centric m43 cameras vs just the GH5s. Let us all hope we get full V-log this time as well. Not sure is quad pixel can help dynamic range or not to make full V-log worth it but one can hope.
 
One other note I'll add is that higher priced lenses can also be good for a buyer's image/business.

I know not everyone can afford them, but when you're using nice cameras not everyone wants a $100 50mm STM pancake on it.

You want superior glass for your superior camera.

As we all know, 8,10 years ago there weren't too many lenses out there for the EF mount besides Canons and Rokinons, and you paid the same premium back then for the best red ring lenses.

And the fact that they are still around the same price is pretty good (although companies didn't have much of a choice because $2,000-$2500 is just about the limit for normal folk interested in at least one premium piece of glass and even that's kind of pushing it).

I would have liked to see the f/2.8 red ring glass around $1500 so I could at least consider two lenses rather than one for ~$2400.

I really wish I could do that. I don't make money from my camera gear anymore like I used to. I would love to just get the higher end RF lenses and be done with it but I'm looking at around $5k to do so for just two f2.8 zooms. Thats why I love Tamron lenses. I'm really hoping Sigma and Tamron start creating some RF lenses this year. Sigma has said they plan to but who knows how long that will take. Tamron has been really hitting it out of the park recently with E mount lenses. Some of those options on RF would be killer.
 
Bunch more leaks on the GH6 now. Looks like a monster with a fan for cooling. Internal ProRes 422 HQ to card at 1.9 Gb/s. Also physically quite a bit larger than the GH5. Nothing about this looks cheap. I’m guessing three grand?
 
holy ****

  • 25 million pixel PLF-less sensor
  • High resolution shooting of 100 million pixels
  • 5.7K video
  • Sensor readout up to 300fps
  • High-speed readout of 120 fps at 4K resolution
  • Rolling shutter suppression
  • Computational processing capacity is about double
  • New intelligent details New 2D noise reduction High-performance 3D-NR (video) Improved AF performance Processing speed is 3 times faster than before DFD performance has evolved
  • New recording mode 4K120p 4: 2: 0 10bit 300Mbps 4K 60p 4: 2: 2 10bit 800Mbps / 600Mbps 5.7K 60p 4: 2: 0 10bit 300Mbps C4K 120p 4: 2: 0 10bit 300Mbps C4K 60p 4: 2: 2 10bit 800Mbps / 600Mbps Recording file method supports Apple ProRes in addition to MP4 and MOV 5.7K 30p Apple ProRes 422 HQ 1.9Gbps
  • Card slot: CFexpress TypeB slot, UHSII compatible SD card slot Weight: 739g
  • Dynamic range boost function: It is possible to shoot a wide dynamic range image at a maximum of 60 fps by synthesizing an overexposed image and an underexposed image in real time. Achieves a dynamic range of up to 13+ stops approaching the full size. The minimum ISO sensitivity is 800, and when using V-log it is 2000, so an ND filter is essential. Image stabilization: Adopts an ultra-high performance gyro sensor and a new algorithm, and has a correction effect equivalent to 7.5 steps. Smooth image stabilization that is ideal for movies. Dark place performance: High-sensitivity noise is much suppressed compared to GH5II while increasing the number of pixels. It can be used normally up to ISO3200. Built-in microphone evolved from 16bit to 24bit. 4 channels can be recorded when using an XLR adapter. Phase-difference AF is not installed, but AF is much better. The AF calculation speed has tripled, the background omission and tracking performance have been greatly improved, and the AF speed has also become considerably faster. There are 315 AF points in the full area. Human, face / pupil, animal + human subject recognition can be used in all AF modes. The focus range can be set with the focus limiter.
 
Looks like we have some info on the GH6 https://www.43rumors.com/. Looks very interesting to my needs.

Looks pretty nice... a few highlights...
  • New recording mode 4K120p 4: 2: 0 10bit 300Mbps 4K 60p 4: 2: 2 10bit 800Mbps / 600Mbps 5.7K 60p 4: 2: 0 10bit 300Mbps C4K 120p 4: 2: 0 10bit 300Mbps C4K 60p 4: 2: 2 10bit 800Mbps / 600Mbps Recording file method supports Apple ProRes in addition to MP4 and MOV 5.7K 30p Apple ProRes 422 HQ 1.9Gbps
These bitrates are excellent and outclass the S1H! Also, if I understanding that correctly - Apple ProRes can be recorded internally? That would be amazing if so.
  • Card slot: CFexpress TypeB slot, UHSII compatible SD card slot Weight: 739g
Not a fan of them using a CFexpress slot, come on, the S1H and EVA1 and GH5 ii etc all use SD. What gives? I thought v90 SD cards would be fast enough even for all of these codecs? But maybe not, if that is the only way to support all of these codecs than I am for it. I assume it's for a good reason...? Just seems odd, they did this on the S1 and then reverted course back to dual SD on the S1H, and now back to CFexpress again
  • New 2D noise reduction High-performance 3D-NR (video)
  • Dynamic range boost function: It is possible to shoot a wide dynamic range image at a maximum of 60 fps by synthesizing an overexposed image and an underexposed image in real time. Achieves a dynamic range of up to 13+ stops approaching the full size.
So, it sounds like they are doing a bit of digital magic like what is being used on smartphones. Suppressing more noise via even better processing, and extending dynamic range via digital trickery. If it works really well I am for it, but I am a little skeptical... and I would like to know what the dynamic range of the sensor is without any such trickery. If it actually resolved 13 stops and looks indistinguishable from other cameras resolving that, it's good enough for me to be an A-camera.
  • The minimum ISO sensitivity is 800, and when using V-log it is 2000, so an ND filter is essential.
Yikes, this could be inconvenient. But I suppose no more inconvenient than shooting on a full frame sensor, it may just indicate that higher stopping power ND filters will be needed if outdoors in very bright sunlight and wanting to shoot at F/2.8 or wider.
  • Image stabilization: Adopts an ultra-high performance gyro sensor and a new algorithm, and has a correction effect equivalent to 7.5 steps.
What was GH5, 4-5 stops? And S1H was like 6.5 stops? Is that right? Regardless, I always felt stabilization of 4-5 stops on GH5 was superior to S1H at 6.5 stops, maybe just do to smaller sensor... which would mean 7.5 stops IBIS on a GH6 should be extremely good?
  • Dark place performance: High-sensitivity noise is much suppressed compared to GH5II while increasing the number of pixels. It can be used normally up to ISO3200.
I will be a bit disappointed if it can't match, or at least come close to, the GH5S performance in lowlight. Guess we'll see.
  • 4 channels can be recorded when using an XLR adapter.
Will this have a new XLR mic adapter then? The current only has 2 XLR ports. I don't really need that and I'd still prefer to record primary on my MixPre6 II, it's all about the pre-amps. But cool to see this anyway.
  • Phase-difference AF is not installed, but AF is much better. The AF calculation speed has tripled, the background omission and tracking performance have been greatly improved, and the AF speed has also become considerably faster. There are 315 AF points in the full area. Human, face / pupil, animal + human subject recognition can be used in all AF modes. The focus range can be set with the focus limiter.
Yeah, well, we'll see...

A few questions I still have:
  • What is the sensor, is it the same as OM's new camera? Quad Bayer?
  • How's that LCD screen? Please tell me it's very bright and very high res...
  • Will there be support for 4:2:0 on all modes, or will it be forced to use the better 422 on modes that support it? As of now, NVDEC and Adobe don't support hardware decoding of 4k 10-bit 422, but they do for 4K 10-bit 420.
  • Low light and dynamic range impressions in action, along with image mojo and motion cadence
 
Not a fan of them using a CFexpress slot, come on, the S1H and EVA1 and GH5 ii etc all use SD. What gives? I thought v90 SD cards would be fast enough even for all of these codecs?

V90 cards can write at a sustained 90 MB/s. The rumoured internal ProRes 422 HQ codec is 1.9 Gb/s or about 240 MB/s before various overheads. So V90 SD cards aren’t anywhere near fast enough. You’re burning though 1 GB every four seconds.

I will be a bit disappointed if it can't match, or at least come close to, the GH5S performance in lowlight.

I think that’s a safe assumption. However, it’s also safe to say it won’t beat the GH5S by much. There just isn’t much room left to improve low-light noise, unfortunately (at any given sensor size). Physics. Noise-reduction before writing the file can be improved, but even that has its limits and downsides.

In any case, the GH5S (I have one) can already practically see in the dark with an f/1.2 lens, and with the sensor size, f/1.2 is more often useable than it would be on Super 35 or full-frame.
 
The few seconds of footage in the video look good to me, a smoother and more organic look than previous GH cameras. I assume it's with the DR boost enabled as well, and it looks good. I like the image from those first few slivers of footage. I also got a peak at the menu, and indeed, looks like the 420 option is present on all the modes shown alongside 422 so that's great for flexibility and options.

The AF performance looked solid, no way it will be best in class, it is a compromise vs sony/canon. But it also seems "good enough" now unless AF is at the top of your priority list. For me I still shoot manual for most things, but I think from what I've seen I could successfully use AF for a good range of situations. It's maybe 80% of the way there. That's not really a fair statement with how little we've seen but I reason it will hold about true.

The specs otherwise look very good. It looked to me like the same batteries as GH5 cameras too, pretty crazy (in a good way) that it hasn't changed for so many generations. It also has a fan port on the side, similar to the S1H. I think this looks to my eye to meet all reasonable expectations I had so far, we'll see. Good sensitivity, improved dynamic range, image mojo looks better, codecs/fps/resolutions are nuts.

It doesn't tip over into life-changing territory (I.E. internal NDs, 32-bit internal recording with smoking pre-amps, perfect AF, crazy LCD screen, some other voodoo features) but I mean, come on. M43 haters gonna hate but this camera looks great if you're not against the smaller sensor size. The price looks like it will land around $2300 according to the yen to USD conversion in the video. There's not a lot to practically be disappointed with here, at least from what has been seen so far.
 
The price looks like it will land around $2300 according to the yen to USD conversion in the video.
If that’s the US price it’ll sell like gangbusters. Looks like an awful lot of camera … probably too much for me, frankly, so I’ll likely stick with my GH5S.

I didn’t expect Panasonic to put so much effort into this camera. Looks all new from the ground up. I guess we’ll see these new codecs and all the rest in Panasonic’s next-gen full-framers too.

Still, looks like Panasonic remains fully committed to Micro Four Thirds. Good to see. Maybe we’ll see a new lens or two too. That new tiny OMDS 40–150 mm f/4 is interesting.
 
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