Panasonic: We will accelerate the LUMIX project under new structure

[Andrew Reid]

Reports in the media suggest Panasonic are dismantling the 'digital camera' division with some even speculating that Panasonic will pull out of the camera market like Samsung. In fact according to Yosuke Yamane of Panasonic, the company is re-doubling their focus on cameras like the GH5 and planning more releases in 2017.

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[Clayton Moore]

Wow this is exciting for sure!   If you read between the lines, its a shot across the bow to the main mirrorless competitor (SONY) - who knows what Panasonic may have in mind.  Id bet that even their camcorder lines will benefit as they become more lean and focused as a company.  

This is not likely a decision that was made in the last few months (of course) so they may even be more interesting things in store update wise for the GH5 then was previously announced publicly.  Either way a GH6 down the road and who knows what all?  By doing this, they are clearly in a place to raise the bar in the market.

VERY interesting and not negative news at all for us.

[ntblowz]

Hopefully they can come up with AG200 at similar price as FS5 - Super 35mm in MFT mount (JVC can do it, why not Panasonic?) I'd get it instantly.  I already given Sony a try for a year and half and is coming back to Panasonic this year! (bought A6300, A7RII, A7S and FS5), I just dont feel it when I shoot with Sony machine

[Philip Lipetz]

Did you catch the strong hint about "lens integrated"cameras?  

It seems like both Sony and Panasonic have decided to move into higher cost more professional cameras.

I would gladly sacrifice stills capacity in order to have integrated neutral density filters.

[Ken Ross]

4 minutes ago, Philip Lipetz said:

Did you catch the strong hint about "lens integrated"cameras?  

That could mean another in the FZ series. 

[Clayton Moore]

Did anyone see the post on SONY releasing a firmware upgrade for the FS5 and PXW Z150 that will enable Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) later this summer?  I wonder if other then the announced HLG upgrade for GH5 that Panasonic may be planning that kind of thing for their existing large single chip lens integrated camcorders as well.

[Lintelfilm]

Panasonic can shuffle around their company as much as they like, but until they offer colour science on par with Canon and Nikon, a log profile that is useable and good video AF, i stand by my switch from the GH line to an 8bit 1080 camera (C100Mkii) and for small body 4K an XC10. 

[Orangenz]

It's a whole new level from the GH4. It's got professional all over it and the image is stunning. Shooting in vlog on the GH4 always meant hours trying to get a shot to look ok without breaking apart of the magenta stuff. This is like 3 clicks and it looks ok. 

[Eno]

@Andrew Reid

A very interesting and invigorating article, thanks for sharing it!

27 minutes ago, Lintelfilm said:

Panasonic can shuffle around their company as much as they like, but until they offer colour science on par with Canon and Nikon, a log profile that is useable and good video AF, i stand by my switch from the GH line to an 8bit 1080 camera (C100Mkii) and for small body 4K an XC10. 

@Lintelfilm

I find the GH5 colors to the best I've seen so far in any ILC camera to date.

The V-Log is very nice if you have the skills or desire to grade it.

The AF is usable but not as good as Canon's dual AF. Anyway, for shallow dept of field applications I prefer a very good MF assist options to any current AF tech cause the camera doesn't know where I want the focus to be, how and when.

[Andrew Reid]

I agree the colours are stunning. They have a really advanced 3D colour science engine in there with a huge pop. All the footage I've shot so far I've not even felt the need to grade it or tweak in post, it's just super crisp and rich. Feels chunky and deep like a full frame Nikon still.

Dual Pixel AF is the only thing it lacks. This will be a camera that makes a lot of people very happy but obviously it cannot please everyone.

Yes it would be nice to have reliable and fast AF for video but we've coped with manual focus for a long long time.

The issue is that to do contrast detect AF you need 240fps+ refresh rate for speed and obviously 4K at 240fps is not doable yet and you can't do a separate low-res window of the sensor to perform AF while doing a 24fps full pixel readout, so it slows down compared to photos / live-view.

[zerocool22]

Hopefully the GH6 (or whatever new name they release in the future) has RAW(maybe writing to dual SD) and more DR. clean 1600 like the GH5 is enough for me. Which is the only thing lacking from the camera's for my needs. 

[Eno]

@zerocool22

GH5 has quite good low light capabilities with ISO 3200 very usable, heck even ISO 6400 is somewhat usable IMO. I don't know what more were you expecting from this camera?

[dvcrn]

I personally am holding back to see what Sony has to offer, but it has to be pretty good to make me change my mind. 

But yeah, if it only had something like dual pixel... I'd love to get rid of my 80D

[zerocool22]

31 minutes ago, Eno said:

@zerocool22

GH5 has quite good low light capabilities with ISO 3200 very usable, heck even ISO 6400 is somewhat usable IMO. I don't know what more were you expecting from this camera?

read my sentence again

Ah I get the mix up, my sentence order is maybe not the best. I mean iso 1600 clean is good enough for me. I just want more DR and RAW.

[Eno]

@zerocool22

I've read "clean 1600 like the GH5 is not enough for me."  Sorry.

[Dunjoye]

co-sign @Lintelfilm

 

Colours/Skin tones  will always be there Achilles heel

[Dustin]

Looking forward to your review/footage on the GH5 andrew! 

[Andrew Reid]

2 hours ago, Eno said:

@zerocool22

I've read "clean 1600 like the GH5 is not enough for me."  Sorry.

How about clean 3200 and an extra stop from the speed booster = clean ISO 6400 in reality compared to a 1D X Mark II that does the same but for $4000 more.

The people who complain about the GH5's footage haven't used one yet... The footage out there has been mainly poor and very compressed / 8 bit in feel

The files straight off the card are not like that.

They are mega chunky and astoundingly solid without a hint of compression, banding, mud or noise.

I will upload some ProRes

By the way you will need to transcode the files with this camera... EditReady does a superb job. Adobe did a really terrible job on the other hand. Editing native 10bit h.264 should be doable in 2017.

By the way Eno thanks for posting a link on Vitaliy's forum to the Panasonic article... He is always critical of my knowledge but when I am clearly right and even backed-up by the company's official statements, he never has the balls to say so. I am still wrong. I'd hate to have him as a parent... Rather have darth vader...Maybe Putin's dad was like this?

[Eno]

"The recent article featured on the Nikkei regarding Panasonic’s Imaging business was not announced by Panasonic and refers to a change in our internal organizational structure.
Integrating all consumer electronics divisions, our consumer Digital Imaging business will move under Panasonic Appliances Company and is not being dismantled.
The aim of this change is to further deepen our relationships with customers, strengthen our product capabilities, and continue to firmly develop and promote our business."

https://***URL removed***/news/4882489366/panasonic-likely-to-scale-back-camera-division

@Andrew Reid

I've enjoyed your article and think you are right. The above (just made public) Panasonic official response to those "dismantling" news say practical the same thing.

[kidzrevil]

looks like Panasonic is doubling down on the Lumix line. Can you imagine a Pana/leica designed body with an apsc sensor ? That would be a dream