According to Japanese news outlet Nikkan the Panasonic GH5 will get a resolution bump to approximately 20MP, with 18MP stills pulled from the 6K video mode in 16:9 aspect ratio. 4K at higher frame rates such as 60p, likely with a crop of the sensor is rumoured to be possible.
2016 is a new GHx year for Panasonic fans. The GH4 is due a replacement around about Photokina time in September.
On EOSHD of course I have been a big fan of the video-orientated GH series of cameras right from the beginning, although the GH3’s appeal faded a bit for me and the GH4’s revitalisation was a little short-lived due to Sony’s blockbuster 2014 and 2015. I love the concept of the GH4 and the GH5 would definitely be one of the biggest releases of this year.
4K 60p would be welcome but more as slow-motion mode than an outright continuous shooting format. I don’t like to view video at 60p and prefer 24p. It will be interesting to see what codec the GH5 uses, as this has always been a very strong point of the series. For 6K or UHD 60p H.265 would be very welcome to keep the file sizes down but also a more edit-friendly format such as ProRes is needed. I think it’s time to move on from H.264 now.
Of course I’d like to see the increase to 20MP come not at the expense of low light performance, I’d rather they added a larger sensor. We can always crop into the image circle of our Micro Four Thirds glass. Super 35mm would be a far better fit for the rest.
I am sure we’ll be hearing more about the GH5’s spec as we get further along through 2016. Exciting times!
