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It's inevitable, but I agree and don't really see them as rivals. The GH line is a niche filmmakers dream. The OM-1 is clearly being marketed at folks who like adventure sports in extreme climes (or at least imagine they do, a bit like owners of 4WD vehicles in cities that never climb anything more than the occasional kerb) and wildlife people. I think the OM is also more hybrid/stills orientated whereas the GH's have always been about the video side of things really. I imagine as a result the OM is going to have much wider appeal all things being equal.

Right well you just kinda proved my point about AF being crucial if you're considering switching entire systems. I understand wanting compact/light especially if you're on the FF Panasonic system (one of the bulkiest/heaviest) but it shouldn't come at the expense of sub-par AF, especially if you're a hybrid shooter. This is where OM-1 seems to fit the bill with a lightweight body (510 grams), a class-leading quad-pixel AF system, 10-bit LOG 4K60p / 240fps FHD, BSI sensor, 8 stop IBIS and a bunch of computational wizardry allowing 50MP and such.

Not just bodies, but lenses also, so when a company has both... Before I went L Mount, Olympus was my first choice, - the brand that came closest to my spec as an entire system. The only 2 deal-breakers for me were I wasn't 100% convinced with the low light capability and the lack of 10 bit 4k 60p. OM-1 addresses both of those issues, at least in regard to the video side of the equation. No other brand does. I've checked every single combo possible including all the non-native lenses and there is not a single system that checks every box. L Mount = AF + lenses Fuji = lens fails for video. Canon = overheating, real or artificial warnings...no thanks, plus the R6 and R5 are big plastic lumps (EOS R came last in my build/feel test 2 years ago). Expensive RF glass and I don't want to adapt. Sony = A7iv closest to my needs, but has a couple of negatives for me. Sigma = let's not go there. GREAT glass, niche cameras. Nikon = Internal video spec on the Z6ii Panasonic GH6 = Obviously I don't know the answer 100% but I suspect the AF will be improved, but still not great (but happy to eat any one of my various hats if it proves to be otherwise) and it seems it will be even more video-orientated and has been to the pie shop. The OM-1 on the other hand fits that ethos I was chasing when I went from chonky boy D3s's with big zooms to dinky X Pro1's with primes, ie, more compact, lighter, more nimble...and after some familiarity, allowed the kit to get out of the way allowing for more creativity. I felt towards the end of my time with Fuji, I was beginning to fight the system and fudging various things in order to simply make it work as best as I could. That's how I feel about the current L Mount set up I currently have...in regard to my specific needs, - it's getting bloated and I'm wrestling with it somewhat and having to come up with workarounds and aaaaaaaaaaargh, I might talk about kit a lot, but I actually don't really care about it as anything but as a tool. I just want 'it' to do what I need it to do. Nothing less and also nothing more, which is why I don't give a fig about 4k 120p or 8k or 100 frames per second stills. Hold on to see what the XH2 is? Much as I'd like to as I like Fuji as a brand, the same question comes back, - what about the lenses? I don't want to have to select something that isn't quite right, but the best option available. 4/3rds between Panny and Olympus, IMO has the best lens options by a mile such as: 17mm f1.2, 45mm f1.2, 10-25mm f1.7, 25-50mm f1.7 and equivalence be damned, but 35, 85, 20-50 and 50-100 would be a DREAM combo for my needs so; 34, 90, 20-50 and 50-100 is as close as is possible. I had forgotten about the Pen F, - one of my favourite cameras I never owned. I was shooting Olympus (EM5 mkii's) for video when I moved to France 6 years ago and was toying with Pen F's for stills, but went all in on Fuji for photo and video so it never happened. Could be of interest, but if...and it's still an if (though more likely than not likely) I move to OM for my video needs, I will have to test for stills because right now, I can't see much touching my S1R (other than similar level cameras, but it crushes my old XT3 easily). Around 50% postponements from 2020 and 2021 and the rest new bookings. It would probably have been around 25 totally new bookings without the postponements as I had to turn a lot away. My comfort zone is actually around 20-24 as each job is an average 12 days commitment; travel, attendance, office etc.

I'm aware you shoot with a range of equipment as you've mentioned it in other threads, but you did literally just say "Give us S35/FF shooters a major incentive to revert to a smaller sensor" only 5 hours ago! The way that I think about the GH5 is that it fits a niche. That niche is where: you shoot handheld in rough enough conditions to need top-shelf stabilisation, or you shoot manual lenses handheld, or you want it for really long focal lengths you want 10-bit internal with >100Mbps codecs you care about camera size and weight Put simply, it's anyone that shoots in difficult uncontrolled conditions. Adventure film-makers, more wild events, serious travel, etc. 1) The stabilisation criteria eliminates most FF cameras as they don't have the IBIS travel. I've been reading carefully and almost all FF camera discussions include a few reputable people saying something like "the IBIS is good but isn't GH5-level". That leaves a number of MFT cameras and a few S35/FF cameras. 2) The 10-bit internal criteria eliminates most of the other MFT cameras, and the >100Mbps codec criteria eliminates most S35/FF cameras up until the most recent batch of RAW-capable ones (eg R5) or the high-bitrate ones (eg A7S3). Most of those are pretty expensive too. 3) The size and weight criteria eliminates almost all the rest, like the S1H, and eliminates all the ones that rely on external RAW and have poor internal codecs. I'm sure there's a few other candidates that meet the above, but it's not a huge number. There's a strange mindset in the camera industry that says you either: want a small camera and therefore you're an amateur who doesn't care about image quality want image quality and therefore you're happy to have a huge camera and rig it out This doesn't really cater to people who want a great image but want their setup to be super-portable and inconspicuous. Being inconspicuous is often misunderstood to mean doing something wrong, but in reality it means not having a massive impact on the things you're shooting. Having a large / complex camera (or a tripod) when shooting in public just means that instead of getting shots of real life you get shots of people all staring at you and then you get asked to leave by security. There's a reason that people who shoot in public a lot (eg Philip Bloom) use really freaking long lenses - not much use if you'd prefer a wide. The niche of small camera with great image quality is a very strange place, with things like the GH5, Sigma FP, BMPCC and precious few others, and almost all of those don't have stabilisation. I agree that those that don't fit this specific niche may be well catered for in other systems, or even the OM-1, but I still think there's a real niche where this is by far the best option, and depending on your situation, perhaps the only option.

Its almost like affordable app controlled motorised sliders with pan/tilt heads that can repeat moves ad nauseam don't exist isn't it ? I do think, though, that more emphasis needs putting on having an "AF Toolbox" as opposed to an unrealistic (at this moment at least) ideal of the "Sentient All Seeing Eye AF". Focus limiters, range traps, spot focus, hybrid AF-C with manual override etc can all combine into a powerful toolbox that can be used to more ideally match the different circumstances of shooting that people find themselves in. Manufacturers have a lot of these types of tools available but bury them in menus and don't really pay much heed to fast switching between them with hardware buttons, something which is essential if you want to provide a cohesive system. I also have a focus recorder function in the AFX that lets you record and playback a couple of minutes of real time focus moves sourced from any combination of AF-S, AF-C, manual or focus memories and then play them back so you can perfect the moves that you want for a scene and then replay them for take after take. Stuff like that can also help provide the tools to cover a lot of bases while we await the golden ticket with the bonus of it all being able to work on decades old manual lenses as well as it does with the latest and greatest fast AF lenses. We are definitely in an era of making perfect the enemy of the good when it comes to focus control. If we turned our definition of AF to mean Assisted Focus rather than Auto Focus, we might see a lot less angst about it.

The only thing I can think of might be a higher res model...but then the OM-1 has both a handheld and tripod hi res mode so... They don't need a battery grip model as there is an additional battery grip available. So I don't know, - maybe the 'one and done' approach is all that is needed while they develop the OM-2 (speculation at a rumor site near you soon!) and depending on sales of this 'first' version? I've read a lot of comments on various channels now re. both OM-1 and GH6 and OK yes, the OM-1 has a slight current advantage in chatter terms because it's been officially launched whilst the GH6 has only been leaked (deliberately of course to counter some of the OM-1 chatter) and it doesn't matter whether it's a Panny or 'Olympus' focused or barnad agnostic channel, but there seems to be more love (and surprise) going in the OM-1 direction and less (and quite a bit of criticism) for the GH6? I'm surprised at my own reaction really which is (not GAS, but need related) in that the OM-1 ticks every single box for me regarding my video needs...and I mean EVERY single need) and I doubt the GH6 will and my current FF combo of S1H and S5 do not. Photography needs, not so sure and I don't think I could know the answer to that until I had tested myself so my S1R won't be going anywhere until that question was answered. So for now, the OM-1 has been marked 'potential' for my video needs. I'm still going to wait a few days and see what the GH6 is exactly, but the call I have to make is soldier on with a compromised system I cannot fully rely on (and have to fudge to get a result in my specific use case), or take the very narrow window of opportunity to start my next season of 33 booked jobs (after 2 years of drought) having removed all the compromise and fudging. I'm one of those people that hate change for the sake of change. I like and want as much consistency as I can get, but sometimes when you know you are just fighting the tide, it's better to take a hit and come back stronger. Decision not final, but mostly over the other side of the fence as things stand...

It seems OM1 has really good internal NR, applied at RAW debayer level: https://www.geh-photo.org/post/die-om-1-im-praxistest?continueFlag=143e81367b1d01290587846ff81073b9 Left EM1X, right OM1 OM1 ISO40000, yes forty thousand.

Time will tell but this isn’t the same mirrorless market than when GH5 was released in 2017. GH5 got many budget conscious pros on board back then as it was the only mirrorless offering 10-bit at an aggressive price. Today, most S35/FF cameras offer 10-bit, some RAW and Sony & CaNikon have flawless PDAF systems. BMD does ProRes/RAW and has ND’s to boot. I don’t have numbers but I suspect many users have switched, even to Pannys own FF system and I don’t see them going back to MFT. Not at that price and with AF still lagging behind. Just seems like a tougher market for Panny to expand outside leftover GH fanatics heavily invested in M43.

For years, people complained that they couldn't get internal raw video on their cameras and now Panasonic is releasing a camera with internal ProRes (the next best thing to raw) and people aren't impressed? ProRes is a professional codec. With that said, is $2500 too expensive for a GH camera... YUP! Can you imagine what the S2H will cost? $5000? Way too much for that camera too... even with ProRes. I'm curious why more of the pros, on this site, aren't buying a Komodo or C300 Mark III?

I think one of the problems MFT has is when they allow bodies or lenses to get too big because then folks cry, "but I can get a FF camera the same size!" often with higher spec and cheaper prices. With the shorter focal length 'pro' glass, there isn't much difference in size compared with FF equivalents, but when you get to the longer stuff, there is a much bigger difference. All I do know is that the appeal of MFT for me is when it's kept as compact and light as possible. Like Bruce Lee. I was thinking back earlier today that one of the 2 set ups I have enjoyed the most (not talking about ultimate quality of output or spec sheets, but the feeling I had using the kit) was: A pair of Fuji X Pro-1's with the original trinity lenses of 18mm, 35mm and 60mm. also A pair of OMD EM5 mkii's with the f1.8 trinity of 17mm, 45mm and 75mm. I want to get back to something like that, but with a requirement for a third body due to my hybrid capture work needs.

Sadly I must agree that MFT is dying. It would probably still exist in some sort of form for much longer beeing an open system I would imagine some manufactureses still produce MFT gear once in a while, but if OM and Pana fail to make any siginificant money out of those cameras they WILL shut down their MFT camera divisions. This is just a reality.

This is what I doubt - and was one of the reasons that I moved to Fuji. Panasonic last lens launches were the 1.7 zooms, and the only camera rumored was the GH6. OM is beaten the drum of "wildlife / ruggedness", and launching PRO lenses. Looks like that they will focus in these niches, and only in higher price / higher margins. After the G9 (which, maybe, got a sucessor, but I don't bet on it), Panasonic released the GX9 (VERY underrated camera, it is very good, but is a GX85 slightly upped) and the G95 (GX9 internals in a bigger body, plus some little extras). No proper GX camera (with good EVF, lots of controls), the GM line is vanished. Olympus crippled the amazing E-M10 MK II in the MK III, and the MK IV is just a new sensor. The E-P7 was kinda hinted to be the Pen F sucessor. The E-PL and E-PM lines are dead. My guesses: Panasonic will launch the GH6, maybe a G10, and wait. Maybe a G100 and a GX10, but if these cameras did not sell, they will kill their MFT line. And all these occasional financial publications talking about they thinking to sell their camera division remembers me a lot the Samsung and Olympus cases. OM will probably launch an OM-5. A proper Pen F sucessor would be amazing, but AFAIK, despite all the enthusiasts crying for a sucessor, the original Pen F sold much less than antecipated - because of the high price, and a sucessor proabaly would be in the US$ 1100 range, with a X100V costing $1400 with a lens, or an X-E4 at $849,00. If Panasonic and Olympus could make a turn in the MFT sales, I guess this is the last MFT generation.

People like to mention smooth skin tones when it comes to Fuji JPEGs. I prefer to have all the details and do my own smoothing, but for many people this phenomenon is actually a plus 🙂 I was searching online a lot after I discovered this, I couldn't believe that no one is talking about this. I think I only found one old topic from dpreview where someone mentioned chroma smoothing happening in Fuji JPEGs, but I can't find it now. So we are quite alone here 😄

That is with battery and memory, GH6 weighs 823g with those included. A far cry from OM-1’s 511g, the exact same weight as it’s original 1972 35mm counterpart! Gotta love that attention to detail..

I have a phase one p45+. This back is CCD but very old, it has a Kodak sensor and it's not that great in terms of DR, BUT compared to CMOS, I enjoy the shadows even if they are noisy. With modern CMOS there is a lot to recover from shadows, but it looks horrible, wrong, desaturated colors, with the p45+ it goes noisy but the color still look right. I guess if you pixel peep or do some measurments the DR will be better on the CMOS, but watched from a distance, the image as a whole looks better on the CCD to me. Not to speak about colors, but I believe this is because of the bayer filter strength. I think the reason to go for cmos was because it's cheaper and consumes less energy.

Even if they blur the crap out of it, they do it in a smart way, I'm not sure if it's visible in the video but the houses and vehicles have good chroma details in the Fuji, it's the foliage that suffers a lot, where you're not expecting too much color difference.

..but the size & weight factor now goes out the window with GH6!!! The body is bigger and heavier than Canon R6 or Sony A7IV. Both FF cameras that shoot high bitrate 10-bit internally and are in the $2.5K range..

Is this because it will impact the weather resistance? If that's what you mean, it makes sense. I've always been too afraid to test that kind of thing!

i thought we were waiting for a write up on the blog from the man himself, and some hard and fast rules ? the extra time has allowed a crucial piece of equipment to arrive however. Notice i didn't say winning piece of equipment 🙄

It's a rare day when a camera ticks all boxes for anyone.. I'd suggest buying a lottery ticket! It will be interesting to see people really put the OM-1 (and GH6) through their paces, both technically and also with the image. Unfortunately cameras tend to be mine-fields of incompatible features, like not supporting feature X while feature Y is on and it's in resolution Z, etc. It needs the Gerald Undone treatment essentially. Hopefully someone will post some SOOC footage soon and we can see how robust the image is, etc..

The AF section of this video is relevant. Essentially OM1 quad pixel AF is near perfect.

Same here.. never thought I'd be impressed over a MFT Olympus but one can't deny they've been very smart with the timing of this release! Quad-Pixel AF is such a breakthrough. But it remains to be seen exactly how good it is on video (smoothness & stickiness). Most of these "bleeding-edge AI and processing" features seem photo oriented. DCI 4K60p, LOG and 10-bit are all nice but to be expected and that low bitrate is a concern. How that log footage holds up and grades will be key but overall on the video side, GH6 should logically have a very clear advantage.. except on AF, which of course could be a deal breaker for many (and not so much for a hand few).

In stills cameras CCD cameras have much nicer noise. A shame they stopped developing CCD sensors.

I wish things were different as well but what I expect in 2022 from a +$2K MFT camera is absolute innovation, IQ and speed. Give us S35/FF shooters a major incentive to revert to a smaller sensor. It probably wouldn’t sting so bad if it weren’t from a MFT camera nobody was expecting: OM-1. Now that camera really delivers. Quad-fuckin-pixel AF. A first! Also brings live-NDs, computational photography, AI AF etc.. That’s not to say GH6 doesn’t improve or bring valuable features to the table (namely ProRes & that wide DR mode) but is that going to be enough? Why is the AF still lagging and not stellar on version 6? Lets wait & see, a spec sheet may not tell the whole story but again OM-1 sort of stole the GH6 thunder away by raising that MFT bar pretty high!

I wish I could disagree with you. But I can't.

I have said before that one path for the GH6 would be to do what Sony did with the A7S3 - to keep the same resolution but make it a more serious camera by improving codecs and bitrates and other factors that influence the image, and this seems to be what they have done. To put it rather bluntly, the GH5 is 5K / poor DR / ok colour / ok codecs and the Alexa is 3.4K / crazy DR / spectacular colour / great codecs and the Alexa image absolutely kills the GH5 in every aspect except resolution, so the path is either to prioritise resolution and put the things that make a great image to the back burner, or to ignore resolution and try and catch up on the things that matter. Panasonic seem to have chosen to improve what actually matters... Cool - how does it look with vintage lenses? It sounds very similar to the Alexa pipeline - but that doesn't seem to be reflected in the DR numbers? Other companies who chase DR list much larger numbers in their specs. I'm not sure how that lines up. That looks like the ARRI pipeline from the ALEV sensor: (Source: https://www.arri.com/en/learn-help/technology/alev-sensors ) Any idea on how they are similar / different? Unlike @MrSMW I don't have a physics genius on the line!

RED who?

Or it could be that some find counting their camera's Ks more interesting...

I thought you were going to use your EOS-M for that Marty??

That is fine if you are in some super controlled environment but that is not always reality. Significant, hmm maybe not always. The old "if it can go to shit it probably will" apply pretty big time to Cine Photography. Video is so damn complex it is nearly impossible to do in any reliable sense.

Hold on, I have Albert on speed dial...

Most pleasing grain ( / noise) on a digital camera? Definitely the SONY F35 also Panavision Genesis Ikonoscop a cam dII Arri Alexa (If you are interested. I might be tempted to sell my F35 for the right price. It’s sitting on the shelf as most of my work now is photography based.)

OM-1, GH6, in 2022, both overpriced for what the competition is offering these days. My phone is shooting ProRes at this point, it’s not exactly a killer feature anymore, esp with how good hevc is these days.

All I can think about is imagining this camera with the OM-1 autofocus and how good it would be even at $2500. Love the tilt OR flip screen. Can they license that to Sony in exchange for PDAF please? 😂

I believe the ARRI and Canon DGO method is reading two gain circuits at the same time. Kinda sounds like they are doing frame blending from a super fast readout.

This guy has some low-light slow-mo footage. Interesting review, but I hate mouth-open thumbnails- sorry about that! He only has 500 subs.

I agree on the importance of AF. Especially in a mirrorless camera. In terms of the market, Blackmagic seems to have got a free pass though. Shit AF all round from them, and nobody complains and the cameras sell like hot cakes. So what's going on? Sony, Canon and Nikon all AF obsessed and producing very capable systems in both video and stills mode. Fuji is patchy. I thought maybe it's Sony patents holding Panasonic to ransom, or past mistakes. But then a literal Olympus CORPSE comes out of a graveyard and gives us Quad Pixel phase-detect AF on sensor. It's absolutely bizarre the whole thing isn't it? As for GH6, I have one but am under NDA so can't say anything about it until it launches for real.

Congrats, let us know how that works out for you!

I’ll only buy a new Panasonic camera if I can get continuous AF with my Helios 44M. Everything else is for amateurs.