GH2 sensor goes into impressive Panasonic G6, adds 1080/60p and focus peaking!

[Andrew Reid]

The Panasonic G6 has been announced and to be honest it is a bit of a surprise, culling very little in the way of features from the GH3 and quite possibly taking video to new levels on a mid-range camera. Based around the GH2's multi-aspect sensor (18MP total, 16MP effective), the sensor is larger than the one in the GH3 (1.86x crop vs 2x), the new camera updates the AVCHD codec (adding 1080/60p) and even focus peaking, something the GH3 doesn't (yet) have!

[url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/10172/gh2-sensor-goes-into-impressive-panasonic-g6-adds-108060p-and-focus-peaking]Read the full article here[/url]

[espertype]

It seems the multi-aspect sensor feature is still not in use in the G6 if you look at the pixel sizes of the stills:

GH2: http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gh2/specifications.html

"[3:2] 4,752 x 3,168, [16:9] 4,976 x 2,800"

 

GH3: http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gh3/specifications.html

"[3:2] 4,608 x 3,072, [16:9] 4,608 x 2,592"

 

G5: http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/g5/specifications.html

"[3:2] 4,608 x 3,072, [16:9] 4,608 x 2,592"

 

G6: http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/g6/specifications.html

"[3:2] 4,608 x 3,072, [16:9] 4,608 x 2,592"

 

Even though the G5 and G6 appear to use the same sensor as the GH2, neither of them records 16:9 and 3:2 stills with a larger crop according to the official specifications.

 

So where does this often-quoted crop of 1.86× actually come into use other than when the GH2 shoots 16:9 stills/video and 3:2 stills?

Is there any proof that the G5 and G6 use this larger crop in video mode even though we know they're not using it in stills mode? Because otherwise it seems like the larger sensor of the G5 and G6 is no real advantage over the GH3.

 

Or could a firmware hack bring the full sensor area back into use?

[/p/]

I'm really in love with the body design, wouldbang/10.

[Chrad]

Here's some footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oijsASQQ6k&feature=player_embedded

 

Looks like GH2 to me. 

Tempted to pick one of these up.

[xenogears]

Great B camera for the GH3

[MOONGOAT]

"25p is only available at 20Mbit in MP4 mode on the PAL camera, whilst 1080/60/50p is available in AVCHD 2.0 and MP4 at 28Mbit."

 

Strange...

[andy lee]

this is worth getting just for the 50/60p 1920x1080 so you can do slo mo at that resolution at last with the gh2 sensor

and also just wait for the hack to happen Im sure it will if it a venus engine

[Ernesto Mantaras]

Here's some footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oijsASQQ6k&feature=player_embedded

 

Looks like GH2 to me. 

Tempted to pick one of these up.

 

I saw that video last night, along with several others (which I posted below) but although colors seem to match, resolution is way off! That's soft, incomparable to what the GH2 can deliver. As much as I'd love for this to be a true GH2 improvement/replacement, I'm afraid the video capabilities are not up to par. I really hope I'm wrong, but if these videos are any indication of video image quality, then it's a bummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qhS49-_nHo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHoCFgzwibs

[tttulio]

I does have Focus Peaking!!!
I wonder if it is better than the GH2 for video, the new processor should be able to better 28Mbps.

It has a 3.5mm Mic input but appears not to have headphones.
 

[moebius22]

I saw that video last night, along with several others (which I posted below) but although colors seem to match, resolution is way off! That's soft, incomparable to what the GH2 can deliver. As much as I'd love for this to be a true GH2 improvement/replacement, I'm afraid the video capabilities are not up to par. I really hope I'm wrong, but if these videos are any indication of video image quality, then it's a bummer.
 

That's a shame. It's the same price as the original GH2.

[Chrad]

Apparently it doesn't feature the multi-aspect ratio feature, even though it's using the 18 megapixel GH2 sensor. When recording video it's a crop. Panasonic are clearly just trying to protect the non-MAR Sony sensor based GH3.

[andy lee]

I saw that video last night, along with several others (which I posted below) but although colors seem to match, resolution is way off! That's soft, incomparable to what the GH2 can deliver. As much as I'd love for this to be a true GH2 improvement/replacement, I'm afraid the video capabilities are not up to par. I really hope I'm wrong, but if these videos are any indication of video image quality, then it's a bummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qhS49-_nHo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHoCFgzwibs

you are watchin on youtube - mega compressed so beware...- lets not write it off before we have all downloaded files direct off the camera,

If it has Venus engine inside then its hackable....its been done before by Vitaliy and Driftwood etc

[/p/]

Is GH3 hackable?

[Andrew Reid]

No not hackable yet, though Vitaliy is working on it.

[andy lee]

gh3 kicks out 70mb/s so I dont think anyone has hacked it yet - ????

check on personalview.com and see if they have or are thinking of hacking it

[onedogdan]

A little off-topic, but... you mentioned rack focusing whilst looking through the EVF?  Sadly, I can't figure out how do touchscreen rack focus at all on the GH3 :(  Looked everywhere, can't figure out which settings I've got wrong.  Very much looking forward to the GH3 shooters guide!

[Ernesto Mantaras]

you are watchin on youtube - mega compressed so beware...- lets not write it off before we have all downloaded files direct off the camera,

If it has Venus engine inside then its hackable....its been done before by Vitaliy and Driftwood etc

 

I understand YouTube compression and those videos' softness has nothing to do with it (though I deeply wish it did). That can only come from either a bad encoding on the uploader's side or indeed the camera's true capabilities. Watch any good GH2 video uploaded to YouTube and you'll see there's no such softness in them, in spite of YouTube's compression. Here's one, for instance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcKuGoMN-VQ

 

Still, I'm rooting for this camera to be what all of us are hoping.

[Andrew Reid]

Very much looking forward to the GH3 shooters guide!

 

 

It's coming.

 

Have you tried the Touch AF options?

[johnnymossville]

Focus peaking!   If this ends up hacked and looking like the GH2 I might pick one of these up! 

[andy lee]

this camera keeps the legacy of the gh2 moving forward for a few more years

Im very pleased this G6 has been released - Panasonic are listening that we all say the gh2 sensor has some special magic about it!