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It's definitely tilted towards the needs of the professional user over the casual enthusiast I would say. Features like DR Boost, ProRes internal, and compulsory 4-channel audio (you can't take a stereo track into post as far as I can see), potentially make life better for the dedicated pro, but probably more fiddly for the enthusiastic amateur. Full V-log curve seems to be a bit of a gimmick as you're not able to stretch the DR past what V Log L would have allowed from what I can calculate (admittedly not my area of expertise). V Log highlight clipping occurs around 88 IRE (compared to 82 for V Log L, and 109 for full V Log range). That said, as previously mentioned, DR Boost is definitely worthwhile, and gives the crucial little bit of DR I've been crying out for with this series. It doesn't turn the camera into a dreamy DR monster, but it does take the edge off of that burnt-out DSLR look, and seems to help both highlights and shadows. I don't want to oversell it, because it really just adds a touch of latitude rather than a major transformation, but its a very useful addition in my book. What is also fantastic is full V-Log gamut, which seems to be providing much richer, more natural and accurate colours. I'm really enjoying shooting with it. I think that if you're not going to be using V Log you've got some problems though. DR looks much reduced, and from looking at online tests it looks like it may be even worse than the GH5! That's not good news really. Is there any point in using Linear DR+ mode when V Log (with DR+ Off) offers greater dynamic range? I'm really pleased with my camera so far. It's familiar enough that I'm getting some muscle-memory imbedded straight away, but progressive enough that its challenging me in some interesting new ways. As well as the obvious headline features, one thing that really strikes me is that Panasonic have really sat down and thought about how to make this camera better from top to bottom. Some innovations I really like are: Improved Custom Modes. You can now save 13 Custom Modes (and crucially give them names that come up on the screen when you turn the dial). That's up from 5 (un-nameable) on the GH5 if memory serves correctly. Same topic, but you can now choose how the custom modes respond to shutdown/sleep, etc., even to the point of excluding certain values. This is massive because the previous CM system was practically unusable due to the way it kept resetting exposure values 😖. There's a lock switch, and again, you can dial in exactly what you want it to lock and not to lock. I'm using it just to protect my shutter angle dial. Hallelujah! You can use 4-channel recording in conjunction with the (separate accessory) XLR input and the minijack socket. You can now (I think) use this setup to patch a safety channel from the XLR, which you annoyingly couldn't do before (despite the availability of the stereo channels). The exposure tools are improved. There's a nice luminance spot-meter which works well (though they want you to switch your thinking from IRE values to stop values when shooting log, which I'm finding a bit of an adjustment). The waveform is now bigger and actually useable (though it has no value scale). The camera is palpably heavier, which is helping me to get steadier footage when going handheld (along with the excellent IBIS of course), but I appreciate this will be a negative factor for some. You can get a surprising amount of functionality with the old GH5/GH4 batteries. I can't remember the exact limitations, but basically you just can't record in the super-duper modes (5.7K, 800Mbps and above, ProRes, etc.), but everything else works fine. I expected the limitation to be much more than that. I can see certain people just sticking with their existing batteries to be honest. The restrictions are similar (possibly identical) to those between V60 and V90 card recommendations from what I recall. The battery lock tab (inside the battery enclosure) is now white instead of black so you can easily locate it in the dark. Admittedly this is not a significant feature in any way, shape or form, but I'm really happy to see it because it tells me that somebody has been going over every inch of this camera series and trying to find incremental ways to improve it. Some things I'm not so keen on - The whole 2000 ISO or bust thing. It seems to me that if you are going to buy this camera, the top end DR improvement is one of the biggest draws. You will have to develop a new ND strategy to use it freely. To be honest it hasn't been the nightmare I was anticipating. I love the DR Boost mode image output, so I might just adjust my thinking and continue to operate at ISO 2000. It's nice for low-light in any case. Battery life, which used to be the strength of this series (GH4 💪) is now distinctly meh. But I guess that's just the price you pay for IBIS, Dual Gain sensor, fan, etc. I've only just started to get to know this camera. I haven't tested any of the high speed modes (look fantastic online!) or photo features (ditto). Overall , I'm really pleased with it. Coming from the GH5S, the improved image quality (I was already happy with the GH5S to be honest) and addition of IBIS is an absolute killer already. It doesn't lag too far behind the GH5S for low-light either, seeming totally useable up to 4000 ISO (VL DR+), which is more than enough for me.

For instance, some of the chatter I've seen is that it's not as easy to get the most out of it like it was with the GH5. That's not a bad thing, as it's due in part to it being such an advanced video camera, but I'd like to see the process/differences, especially as it pertains to people moving from the GH5 to the GH6. When the GH5 came out there were just ample videos of people going through all the menus, explaining what this feature does and what that feature does, and what they do together, and what's the optimal set-up. There were videos dedicated to getting the most out of the autofocus, colors, etc. Like, real videos about using the camera, not just "here are the specs, here's an example of DR boost, look at the stabilization" etc. Obviously, when you own a camera you want to go through that stuff yourself and make your own decisions, but those videos were a good starting point and gave you a good idea of what to expect, and also whether the camera is a good fit for you or not before even purchasing. I suppose it goes back to me being less interested in specs, and more wanting to see and hear about the genuine user experience. It hit stores 6 weeks ago, it's just kinda surprising (and disappointing?) that there hasn't been a lot of that so far.

I'm feeling very frustrated by this camera. I might be spoiled by the BMPCC 6K, but I'm finding it very hard to get anything other than ugly highlight rolloff. This is a matter of taste, I know, but it seems my tastes aren't aligning with this aspect of the camera. Half of the time, in addition to the ugly rolloff, I get a weird pink grid just below the clipping point. This is all in Resolve, however. In Capture One, processing a single frame, it looks better. Even then, the highlights blowout sooner than I'd like. I've tried all the possible Camera Raw options with and without CSTs. So far I like using the BMD colorspace the best. It seems to be the only way I can avoid having a yellow ring around my blown highlights. The noise floor is impressively low, I'll give it that. I guess the only way I'll be happy is to underexpose everything, and never let anything clip. I'm not sure how practical this is. I watched a video comparing the stills capabilities of the FP with a Sony A7something. The FP blew out the highlights earlier and more abruptly, but was less noisy when underexposed. So, I guess you could say they had similar DR, but the FP was kind of shifted to favor the shadows. Maybe by underexposing I can shift it the other way. Until the highlights blow, the camera does look pretty damn good.

Am not that old yet, I could still do this on my bike! (although, with a LOT of getting off and walking as I carry the bike down....)

Watching this video made me feel old. Very old.

(yeah, the MTBing is pretty cool too)

Great post - thanks! As a GH5 user I can see lots of interesting little improvements here that are against things that irk me about the GH5 so will be real-life improvements. A few thoughts: V-Log clipping at 88 isn't a big deal - for 10-bit footage the difference between 88 and 100 is inconsequential and it's designed to provide compatibility with V-Log cameras with larger DR on the GH5 the HLG mode contains the whole DR of the camera (unlike any of the other picture profiles) so if HLG is in the camera then that's a full-DR alternative to V-Log 13 modes rather than 5 is huge, and especially that there's 4 on the physical dial - I will definitely be using more than 5 of these modes Sleep function forgetting things was definitely a PITA so refinements to that is huge, and the extra custom modes help with that too I'll be particularly interested to see how the 1080p (or 2K?) Prores mode is integrated into the camera. In addition to image quality, it'll be interesting to see if it requires the newer batteries or not, etc. Can you give a bit more information about how well the current (h26x) 1080p ALL-I mode works? Particularly, I'm interested in how the footage looks from these modes: 1080p24 mode 1080p24 mode with 2X digital zoom 1080p60 mode 1080p60 mode with 2X digital zoom On the GH5 all those modes are downsampled and the footage looks flawless. Is the GH6 the same?

Thanks, Ole! I wish I'd seen this paper sooner.

Understand that you do not have a Ninja V available. So yes, I would try to use ISO 800 like Sigma intended. For the scenario you described, easily and ugly highlight clipping, they will recommend using ISO 800. Internal false color screen should help on setting exposure correctly. Have attached the additional fp manual from the developer, which tells you what ISO to use and when, including the chart. Keep in mind this is only true when you are using the in camera options including record to an external SSD. When recording ProRes RAW or most likely as well BRAW with an external recorder, you have to choose the approach which I have posted earlier to get the best quality. Hope that helps 🙂

I know what you mean about that, since I worry about the youth of today as well. But then every once in a while I realize that kids are a lot smarter than I am.

That's the thing, testing stuff in the real world and see how they work for you. I am 4 events in to my season and have made a couple of changes based on the experience of those 4 events. Not that I am unfamiliar with the kind of work I do, rather that the L Mount system I use combined with a very limited and sporadic number of events last year meant that I could not test anything as thoroughly as I would have preferred. It's been full on now for the last 3 or so weeks with 10 actual days attended, so getting a good flow and feel now. The S5 I have had in the 'B cam' role for a while. Since last year actually. That is, always on the tripod, longer duration stuff and also switched to 8 bit for that so I am not limited to 30 mins as I have been caught out a couple of times there and had to hit record again! It's also my 'AF tracking camera' with native lens, but back in 10 bit 50p mode for the best chance. With my S1H, my main filming camera that is always on me, I have treated it to a proper cine lens and Fotodiox ND adapter and have gone fully manual focus. I have mostly been shooting mf anyway, but my photo lenses not being ideal for video, found that it wasn't as great an experience as I'd like so might as well do it properly! The S1H/cine lens/ND adapter will get it's first run out early next week with a 2 day job. And last but not least, my S1R got an upgrade. Well, not so much an 'upgrade' as a lens upgrade plus a new sidekick companion. I do quite like the kit 20-60mm, but it's just a bit meh for me so bought the Sigma 20mm f2 which is perfect for how I start any day/event which is with some local scenery, the venue exterior and interiors, some establishing room shots, plus it's great for late on after dark dancing and getting in amongst them. The 'sidekick' is a used Leica TL2 armed with the now redundant (due to the cine lens) 35mm f2 and 65mm f2 Sigmas with the 35mm (50 ff equiv) doing candid duty and then using the 65mm (100 approx) doing the longer stuff my S1R with 28-70mm can't do. That also gets it's first taste of action this weekend and I expect it to do well as it's an 'extra' not an 'instead of' so anything it brings is a bonus. My DJI Action 2 however is getting far less well...action, than I hoped for but it's just too wide for my tastes really and just isn't adding much. I'll still use it for some BTS but otherwise, nah, not my thing really. Good to hear the S5 is working out for you. It's a decent piece of kit for sure.

Yeah, doing those big sweeping gimbal shots that run for ages and ages are a lot more work for EVERYONE. Art Dept, Director, Actors, Camera Dept, Sound Dept, etc etc I did late last year a very low low budget feature film (dunno about the budget, but I'd take a wild wild guess that it is probably to likely be sub $100K, but with all the favors pulled in we were "operating at" more like the $500K-ish level? Which is still ultra low budget level for a feature film). Bulk of it was shot on either a tripod or a dana dolly. (as a dana dolly gives you that movement in the scene, but also still allowing you a lot more fine control over the camera movement than anything else would. Well, anything else that is affordable that is!) A fair bit was shot handheld / easyrig as well. Oh and of course sometimes a high hat / sandbag / saddlebag. But perhaps a couple of times a week we'd get in a Steadicam Op, for particular scenes/days when camera movement made a lot of sense for the story. We also had at least three days of car shoots, of which two of those days were done with the car on lowrider being towed by a truck (with Director / AD / AC / Grip / DoP all in the back, in the truck bed. With myself, with my mixer & monitor, and the truck driver in the cab itself). Never used a crane. Never used a gimbal. Never used a drone. (although I wouldn't be surprised if there is a splinter unit done sometime after we wrapped main production which goes out to get some drone footage. Or perhaps they just use a bit of stock footage? I dunno) 100% shot on an ARRI Mini btw. The average YouTuber with a big following is totally disconnected to the reality of how the professional world works on film sets / tv productions / reality shoots / TVCs / etc

Agree! Unfortunately I came in too late for the V1 party. Bought the camera very well with V2 on it. Took me well over a year to figure out the correct settings, because of this misleading ISO behavior and combination with the Ninja V. But now I am extremely happy and even in direct sunlight find the DR not lacking at all. Most of the times I will even add more contrast back in the grade.

So I'm late to the party, but I've had the S5 for a few days and I must say I'm genuinely impressed. It's a real joy to use. It kind of blows my mind that it's an entry level camera, because it's capabilities are impressive. First, I was wrong to write it off because of the recording limit in 10-bit and 60p. It'd have been nice to not have those limits, but the 8-bit is quite nice with good colors SOOC. I think it will be more than sufficient for my event work, though I'll know for sure after this weekend. Low light is very good, at least as someone coming from a GH5. Speaking of the GH5, I've been able to match the two pretty easily. I was worried that wouldn't be the case, but I think using the GH5 and my G85 will work out okay as b and c cams. I LOVE that I not only can use the XLR module but that I can lower the pre-amps more than the GH5. That was always something that has bugged me. There aren't a ton of 3rd party accessories. It came with 3 OEM batteries, but I bought some third party batteries from Newmowa. They work pretty good, though after using the OEM batteries and seeing how long they last I probably didn't need to get them. They work with the GH5 though, so they're not a waste. I wish there was a third party battery grip, and more options for cages. Mine came with a Small Rig cage, which is okay, but it doesn't feel as robust and protective as the GH5 cage I have. Overall I'm very pleased. I had no intention of getting it until I was offered a great deal on one. Now I'm contemplating picking up a second one and going with two S5s and one GH5 for my set up. That probably won't happen for a while, but in the span of a week I went from being pretty resistant to going with Panasonic for full frame to debating buying a second FF Panny camera. 🤦🏻‍♂️

It's unfortunate, as I'd really like to see more in-depth dives into the GH6. Seeing those that own one discussing it is great, but I'd love to watch some truly deep dives on those things being discussed. I'd especially love to see the difference in the workflow to the GH5.

My first experience feeling very old (apart from interactions with young kids) was seeing a medical specialist for something and thinking "are they old enough to have graduated from medical school yet?". I suspect that most of life as (say) an octogenarian would be simply looking around and seeing kids running everything and being amazed the world doesn't fall apart.

Thanks for your reply - very useful, and also heartening that it's not the footage that is the challenge but the camera itself. I'm also further heartened that it seems the challenges are just in working out the camera rather than challenges that come up shoot to shoot (like fiddly buttons or confusing menus etc). I've done many (many...) of these types of tests in the past to learn to get the most from the GH5 (and other cameras). I've shot test scenes in different modes, uploaded to YT, downloaded back from YT at different resolutions and then studied the resulting images to see what is visible at the end of the whole pipeline and what is not (4K vs 1080p source material is essentially imperceptibly different when uploaded to YT at the same bitrate/resolution). etc etc. This means that those considerations are, for me at least, kind of inconsequential. I'd do some tests, evaluate my options, and then just work out my rules for shooting. On first glance, and knowing what I know about lighting levels (which I've talked about in another thread) I'd be tempted to have DR+ on all the time, have a fixed ND that I put on when outside during day, and then just let it expose with auto-ISO. I tend to shoot with aperture only varying a few stops anyway, so that sort-of doesn't factor in that much. Every time 100 people say "FF" on an MFT thread, one less review gets published. We're voting with every comment, and most people are voting against themselves. Go back in this thread and re-read the last 10-20 pages - you'll be left with the distinct impression that no-one is in the market for this camera and that AF has killed MFT. It might not be true, but it's how it sounds with all the moronic comments that people make.

Hi all, have uploaded a small video file to YouTube for you to check. It was recorded the way which I have described above. Think the dynamic range of the fp is great. 🙂

43rumors run any old bullshit. Turns out battery is entirely different! I am sure the stacked sensor is Sony manufactured and the EVF probably a Sony panel. But beyond that seems OM Digital has custom LSI & firmware, plus many of their own parts. Camera is assembled in Vietnam.

I think the trick with any kind of camera really is learning its capabilities and then settling into a workflow that is the ideal blend of convenience and perfectionism for your own personal tastes. I'd be a bit suspicious of anybody who didn't at least try to maximise the performance of their equipment, but I'd be equally dubious of anyone who claimed to make zero compromises in how they end up operating in the field. It's all a balance. The main quandary with the GH6 is in managing the jump between Base ISO 250 (V-Log, DR+ Off) and ISO 2000 (DR+ On). The Dr Boost function is very good and finally lifts the GH series into the heady realm of 'just about acceptable DR' 😅. Actually, so far in practical use it has been fairly easy to utilise DR+. I've invested in some high quality fixed ND (Breakthrough X4 - cannot recommend them highly enough) and just whack on the 6-stop and then calibrate a bit using ISO. Has been working well so far. Obviously this strategy will not cover all eventualities. I'm a bit torn as to whether to just stay in DR+ mode regardless of the actual dynamic range of the scene (thus negating the need to constantly jump between very different ISO values). It's going to be a close call actually.

The footage feels great. There's a definate shift towards more natural and accurate colour representation. This is probably helped perception-wise by the reduced artificial sharpening. It's producing really lovely natural tones that I'm very comfortable sliding in alongside my C70 footage (I'm not making a big effort to match the cameras at this point, but they are surprisingly close in any case). It's the camera itself that is tricky. A lot more to manage than previous GH models. That's a natural consequence of a more ambitious product, but there are a dizzying array of choices to navigate. DR Boost - sometimes or always? ND - fixed or variable? SD card or CFexpress? Even battery choice is a consideration if you've already built a legacy collection! None of the above are easy to answer and require a bit of strategising. If you're thinking any of that is simple to resolve you might not have given it enough consideration. It's a workflow pest! (but I'm very much enjoying using it).

I don't know man, tripod is honestly the way to go for most things. Most people don't have the budget to do good moving shots outside of really basic stuff. Everyone wants to be Euphoria without having any of the resources to pull it off.

After reading the original article I bought a GX85, and an adapter for my Panaleica 14-50 fourthirds lens. It was my first cam that could do video. Years later, I have now shot several concert (live or production) video's, up to 10 cam (mainly P4K), 3 manned cams. I currently have 3 fourthirds lenses (adapted to m43) and 8 mft lenses and 14-15 Samsung T5 ... The GX85 still serves (mainly photographs, or as a fourth cam when I am in a pinch). So, a big THANK YOU to Andrew. Without getting into video for music, the last two years would have been a personal disaster ...

Rereading the article by Andrew in a second, which started one of my favorite threads and follow ups. This thread deserves to be pinned again I think! I will be having a steamy cup of coffee and some delicous German cake with it while reading! Just as suggested by Andrew four years ago. See you later.:)