GH13 GH5 Rumors

4 is supposedly bad luck.

I'm shooting in Malaysia and my client put me up in a high rise apartment where there is no 4th, 14th or 24th floor. 3A, 13A, 23A. I asked what's the deal with that? They said nobody will buy an apartment on a floor with a 4 in it, so Ian you are on to something.
 
Looking today at some Canon 7D raw footage courtesy of Magic Lantern, a thought struck me and it's purely speculative. For the Panasonic GH series to take of professionally, it needs to exit the basic consumer market and in doing so upgrade the video to at least 10-bit resolution. Although flawed and still a work in progress, the 14-bit resolution of the 7D is quite stunning.

So what if the new successor to the GH2 is really the G6 with its cross segment appeal but with added IQ, and the GH5 or whatever it will be called, moves the camera in a different direction?
 
I'm shooting in Malaysia and my client put me up in a high rise apartment where there is no 4th, 14th or 24th floor. 3A, 13A, 23A. I asked what's the deal with that? They said nobody will buy an apartment on a floor with a 4 in it, so Ian you are on to something.

So maybe there will be no new Panasonic cameras in 2014 (there's a 4 in 2014!)? :-P
 
Looking today at some Canon 7D raw footage courtesy of Magic Lantern, a thought struck me and it's purely speculative. For the Panasonic GH series to take of professionally, it needs to exit the basic consumer market and in doing so upgrade the video to at least 10-bit resolution. Although flawed and still a work in progress, the 14-bit resolution of the 7D is quite stunning.

So what if the new successor to the GH2 is really the G6 with its cross segment appeal but with added IQ, and the GH5 or whatever it will be called, moves the camera in a different direction?

I don't really get what your saying. The G6 will not take off professionally as there are no external monitoring options on it so no hope of using an EVF or external monitor. The HDMI output is disabled while recording from what I understand and this is a pretty big deal holding it back. Apparently(!) Panasonic don't know how to do a Peaking function and external monitoring in the same camera. The Venus engine musn't be powerful enough. :wink :wink
 
Looking today at some Canon 7D raw footage courtesy of Magic Lantern, a thought struck me and it's purely speculative. For the Panasonic GH series to take of professionally, it needs to exit the basic consumer market and in doing so upgrade the video to at least 10-bit resolution.


Yep, as I said very early on in this thread, the GH5 really will need to be able to record 10bit if Panasonic want it to stay competitive. You can now buy a 2.5K BMCC that does RAW & ProRes (10bit) for $1995. The Pocket cam will do RAW and 10bit ProRes (ProRes is always 10bit) for $995. Both feature a sensor similar in size to M43 but slightly smaller so I see these camera as being in direct competition with the GH series. Currently the GH3 wins if you want a hybrid camera or need 1080p50/60
 
Last edited:
I don't really get what your saying. The G6 will not take off professionally as there are no external monitoring options on it so no hope of using an EVF or external monitor.

You didn't read what I wrote. The GH2 was never intended to be a professional camera and didn't have a headphone jack either. And its monitoring output was compromised. So please re-read.
 
You didn't read what I wrote. The GH2 was never intended to be a professional camera and didn't have a headphone jack either. Please re-read.

Cant be bothered. The GH2 gained popularity with many film makers, many of them semi-pro or professionals who would have used some external monitoring. I don't see the G6 appealing to them like the GH2 did for this very reason.
 
You didn't read what I said. I never said anything about a headphone output.

And I did read what you originally wrote, just couldn't be bothered re-reading it like you demanded. :-)
 
Last edited:
....as for no live hdmi out on the g6...watch this...starting about the 7 min mark.


oh btw...it's in german...but that doesn't matter. Look at the very small delay in the wifi monitoring. I'm guessing less than 1/4 second. Maybe someone with more guessing skill could make another estimate. Regardless....I think it's small enough to work for focusing . Imagine an unattached ipod touch with retina display with loupe !
 
I can't believe that I'm the first to say it, but there might not be a GH5. Hasn't that crossed anyone's mind?

Panasonic and Olympus are not doing very well financially. Camera sales are lower every year as people use their phones to take stills. Sony just bought into Olympus and they don't have any interest in furthering the m43 lens line. BMC and RED are shaking up the industry. And the general trend is for larger sensors. I don't see how another GHx camera fits into this picture.

Here's an interesting article by Roger Cicala over at LensRentals.com which touches on this matter.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/06/whose-camera-will-i-buy-in-2018
 
And here's an interesting article by Thom Hogan. Here's a small excerpt, but I encourage those interested to read the whole thing:

So certainly Olympus and Panasonic, with their small market shares, are under high stress in the camera business. That doesn't mean they're going away any time soon. There are two important things to remember here:
  1. History tells us that as long as there's perceived opportunity across product lines, the Japanese will stick by their sunk investments in cameras/lenses. Both Panasonic and Olympus have related businesses that get some benefit from continued development of cameras and optics, too, which helps them justify the expenses.
  2. If the camera is good today and it will last a long time (well built), then you need to evaluate it from that standpoint. It's not as if you're buying a new camera every year, and if you are, you really need to ask yourself why; today's cameras are excellent and can provide years of shooting satisfaction. See this article.
It's that second point that's most important here. If in your evaluation an m4/3 camera is the best choice for you today, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. And yes, I've put my money where my mouth is: I use an m4/3 system in my backcountry work because it has a high enough quality for the work I do but gives me that with far less size and weight than either my DX (APS) or FX systems. There are already plenty of lens choices, and enough m4/3 lenses have already been made that we'll have plenty of choice on the used market in years to come, no matter what happens to the camera makers.
 
The yearly purchase thing is a crazy concept.
Think of the time you have to spend in research and then getting comfortable with a new system...every year?

I've bought to camera systems in 5 years - 2 5DIIs and 2 GH3s.
I paid for each of them the first day we shot them - and we've continued to shoot with them virtually every week we've had them.

Because of the noticeably better resolution of the GH3 it's all we film with now (TV spots, docs and promotional films) but the 5D gets used constantly for photography.
Because of the low cost of the GH3 it was no issue to outfit them with a new set of MFT primes.
Having two sets of lenses makes a lot more sense than constant reinvestment in cameras for us, and now allows us to make easy purchases going forward either a BMC or future Canon.
But shooting the hell out of the cameras you have is the single smartest decision you can make IMHO.
 
Some here also seem to forget these are stills cameras that happen to shoot great video. As passionate as we are our rag tag band of video junkies is just a tiny sliver of the M4/3 market. The video aspects are important to Panasonic but are far from the major driving force of these cameras.

I also feel people are living in a fantasy world when it comes to things like 10bit and 4:2:2 color. Sure I would take them in a heartbeat but they are far from what would make a camera a great camera. Some amazing 8bit 4:2:0 material is shot everyday and I reLly think people are starting to lose a sense of reality when it comes to what a camera should do. It seems like nobody wants to make an effort to be creative anymore. They just want tools that do the job for them.

Blackmagic is cool and I use a lot of their video products but it is going to be a long time before they penetrate the consumer market. They are a niche company with a niche product in a niche market. Sure a handful of us vocal freaks get all warm and fuzzy about them but we are it in the world.

While all of you duke it out over how your life would be complete if the next camera could just do this or that I will continue to love my GH3 and enjoy the video I am shooting that others are not.

The GH5 doesn't need 10bit and 4:2:2 and bla bla bla to compete. Either some body wants this kind of camera or they do not. Most of the consumers who buy these cameras think we are all talking gibberish with all of these desires. They just want an affordable solid solution to shoot DSLR level stills as well as amazing video. GH3 and most of the other M4/3 cameras already do that. Joe Schmoe doesn't care about 10bit color. If we still want Panasonic to stick around they need features to get consumers excited not just the video geeks.
 
I'd love to see them introduce a real set of prime lenses geared towards video.

I'd love to see a whole lineup of lenses "geared towards video", which to me means:

1. Inner focus
2. OIS
3. Declicked aperture ring
4. Constant 2.8 or better
5. Parfocul

I mean, we already get the first two on every lens attached to a video camera they make, and we sort of get 3 on every model (some use a wheel instead of a ring, but it is 'declicked') so it seems pretty common sense that we need the same on lens seperates intended for video use. 4 and 5 are the two missing ingrediants in the video camera lenses, so this seems a good place to correct that for DSLR shooters.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top