Panasonic To Announce GH5 Variant In January

[IshootbeforeItalk]

announcement will be on the 6th of januari for distributors. My guess is that the press release soon follows after that. 

[PannySVHS]

With full VLOG curve and option for turning off sharpness this already would make it an exellent buy for 2500 USD.

Additional 10bit in 4K 60p and 10bit HD from 72p upwards to 120p would be exellent and should be possible assets for marketing such an additional choice of GH5s camera.

[IronFilm]

3 hours ago, IshootbeforeItalk said:

announcement will be on the 6th of januari for distributors. My guess is that the press release soon follows after that. 

Major leaks will then happen immediately on the 6th ;-)

[Turboguard]

God I wish BMD comes out with something new this year at NAB within price range... otherwise I think I might jump on the wagon of GH5 users with this release (if it’s up to par with what everyone is wishing for that is).

[DBounce]

New leaked images:

 

[wolf33d]

On 1/2/2018 at 1:03 PM, DBounce said:

Well December has passed and nada so... 

Why create 2 topics? It is the same camera. Who cares if it is released in December or January. Stick to the original topic. 

[Mattias Burling]

Only a few days now. It needs to be extreme for me to consider it. But still excited. Its been a while since something big happened on the market. It needs a good stir.

[Mmmbeats]

No IBIS is being said quite a lot.  Would that cool people's interest?

[wolf33d]

49 minutes ago, Mmmbeats said:

No IBIS is being said quite a lot.  Would that cool people's interest?

Who said no IBIS?

[Thpriest]

54 minutes ago, Mmmbeats said:

No IBIS is being said quite a lot.  Would that cool people's interest?

That would be a bummer

[Mmmbeats]

15 minutes ago, wolf33d said:

Who said no IBIS?

Just comments on the rumour sites (purportedly passed on from two separate Panny sources). 

[IronFilm]

I quite highly doubt it will lack IBIS.

But we will all find out very soon!

[JordanWright]

No IBIS would be a huge step backwards, after you've used it its hard to go back

[DBounce]

1 minute ago, JordanWright said:

No IBIS would be a huge step backwards, after you've used it its hard to go back

The Sony A7Sii has IBIS so not sure why the GH5s could not. It's not like it is a small body after all.

[DBounce]

In some ways this camera and the G9 seem to make the GH5 somewhat irrelevant. The G9 shoots video well enough for most situations... it is superior for stills, and, is likely the best of the bunch for travel. AF is much improved over the GH5. Color science is said to be the best ever from Panasonic. While the GH5s is rumored to be the best choice for dedicated video, with usable lowlight performance for improved indoor usage. It seem likely that the new camera will also sport improved AF. For all its bells and whistles, I think these two cameras, in many ways overshadow the GH5. Relegating it to a more evenly balanced, but also more compromised hybrid use case.

[Cinegain]

Agreed. Beh-bye GH5, hello G9 and GH5S (one dedicated to stills & travel video, one dedicated for studio style shooting).

- btw, I was one to mention 'no IBIS' recently and a bit of a while ago already as well, if it's aiming at doing what I think it will (a proper all-in-one handheld compact pretty hardcore cinema camera (DR/Codec/etc), which traditionally means no IBIS; traditionally also means: no lowlight (ISO409600 type, not even anything over ISO6400) monster & C-AF you won't be relying on), also, helps to keep people (additionally?) going for the regular GH5 with the advanced video features that does have IBIS. Still though. You can shoot like a proper cinema camera and get that thick gradable footage out of it (nothing a vlogger would be looking forward to). Amazing for well set up and thought through shots/scenes. Of course, they're expecting you to work with rigs, gimbals, dollys and sticks. Not so much indeed for your casual inconspicuous aim & grab. 2... or should I say 3 different beasts. If you can live without the GH5's advanced options though, indeed the G9 seems to hit the right spot there.

[IronFilm]

5 hours ago, DBounce said:

In some ways this camera and the G9 seem to make the GH5 somewhat irrelevant.

If the new GH5s has a new 12 megapixel sensor then the original will stay very relevant as both  a cheaper option but also as a true hybrid.

[Cinegain]

34 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

If the new GH5s has a new 12 megapixel sensor then the original will stay very relevant as both  a cheaper option but also as a true hybrid.

That's exactly what he means..? The G9 is that cheaper and true hybrid option. GH5 is still a video cam first I'd say. I mean it has that V-Log L, HLG, DCI4K, Anamorphic, 10-bit, high bitrate, waveforms or vectorscope overlays, unl. rec time etc and of course the IBIS. So you know. Not that there isn't a space for it... and of course that's exactly what Panasonic needs and wants. But far less people now will be intrigued to get the GH5, because they're bound to lean more one way (consumer: bit of 'casual' stills & video) or the other (high end video production). Especially with a GH5S (supposedly) coming out at 2499,- it's certainly something else.

[mercer]

Yeah, I must say that the timing of the GH5s is quite frankly just weird. This couldn’t have been an afterthought and it must have been planned for at least a year, so why release it so soon after the GH5?

So if the rumored price is correct, I can only imagine that the GH5 will be getting a permanent $500 price reduction.

Now if the GH5s had a S35mm sensor, it would make more sense, but there is no evidence of this and I would assume that the price would be higher than $2499. 

So I am thinking there may be something more, maybe it will export Raw. Or maybe it won’t have IBIS to separate it from the GH5?

I don’t know what they’re doing over there... the EVA1 doesn’t have any all-i options yet and it’s limited to 4K 30p as of now. 

I’m sure it will a work out on the end, Panasonic usually makes a good product.

[Cinegain]

Yup, and again, that's something I've repeated just on the last page...

On 3-1-2018 at 1:47 AM, Cinegain said:

Still going to say it's only about one thing: pulling sensor data, processing and storing. (Yes, those are technically 3 things xD)

I'm going to go ahead and say they're pulling a BMPCC, but done right! So a handheld all-in-one fairly compact, yet capable, cinema camera body with a complete disregard for stills and prioritising and optimizing everything for shooting video. So, I'd say yes to new sensor, with heaps of DR and really good highlight roll-off. Full V-Log, no more lite. 4K60p 10-bit internally? Heck yes! Some clever trickery with dual cardslots and UHS-II to store footage as RAW DNG, ProRes or a new proprietary format (like Sony has XAVC-L for example), based on h.265? Or atleast something clever externally like that? Global shutter? Bit wishful thinking, but sure, why not? You can have it all!

Feeling like ISO409600? Well too flippin' bad! You can't actually have it all. Expect it to be just as much better as the GH5 is compared to the GH4, though perhaps even worse, because of prioritising DR and not lowlight sensitivity (remember BMD, RED, ARRI ain't much better either)... don't get your hopes up and be thinking anything above ISO6400 is going to look any good. Expecting C-AF to blow Canon's DualPixel AF out of the water? Sorry to break it to you, not even close, expect the same ol' performance we've always been getting out of these puppies. I even think... that they might possibly even leave out sensor stabilization for better performance (it might be hard to effectively pull data from a free floating sensor, also: try to cool down a free floating sensor... especially with the intensity you're pulling from it).

So... I think it's going to be a mixed bag. Great news for the cinematographer, some real pushable filmic looking footage. The photographer now has the Lumix G9 and Panasonic can still sell the GH5 as that more allround camera for both stills and video, that gives videographers that freedom with sensor stabilization and all (and them not feeling cheated for not having waited a bit longer for this GH5s to arrive).

Things I mentioned earlier last year:

On 26-11-2017 at 10:23 AM, Cinegain said:

Do we think it will lose the body image stabilizer (and using EIS instead) for better sensor data pulling ability (regular cinema cameras don't have in-body stabilization, also still making it more interesting to still own (and for them to sell you) a regular GH5)?

 

On 26-11-2017 at 4:32 PM, Cinegain said:

Well, one of the things they've said previously is that you can't have a proper heatsink on a free moving sensor. The whole thing is just limiting the access to the sensor in general of course, it's like de-boarding a full train through one door rather than all doors, or pretty much having a single lane highway between two major cities, rather than a multiple lanes one: limited flow, congestion, there's going to be more pushing, it's going to be slower/less efficient.

Ofcourse it's going to depend on what you want to pull from it and what technology you're relying on. The Samsung NX1 was ahead of its time and was reported to have some sick data pulling capability for instance due to having the right chip infrastructure in place. Think that's the thing you need if you want to pull 4K60p 10-bit 400Mbit/s LOG format internally. Also, better wiring may also reduce noise. And less pixels might be easier to handle as well (with larger photosites = better lowlight in general). Then it's all about finding a harmony between processing, buffer and writespeeds. I can also see a scenario for ProRes/RAW DNG recording of some sort, where you could use the dual cardslots for alternate frame dumping. They would need to be combined after recording.

Think that's one of the more intriguing things about it... they could really make it a proper cinema camera. An eVND solution would be pretty cool too, but might be in the way for certain lenses or speedboosters. But not having to cater for stills photography would allow them to greatly enhance the video capturing capability. Of course, for more serious video work, you'd see more folks going from handheld run 'n gunning to putting the camera on sticks, dolly, gimbal, shoulder rig, jib, crane, etc, so no IBIS shouldn't suddenly be something new for cinema style shooters and for new operators in that scene, it's a good lesson to learn, should they rent and operate a Blackmagic, RED, ARRI, etc one day. Of course there's something to say for people who aren't looking at all to shoot like that, that just want their MFT handheld powerhouse in a relatively compact package.

From Panasonic's perspective it would also allow them to keep other cameras still interesting and sellable. Where the GH5 is the handheld allrounder and the G9 the stills flagship. Unfortunately the segmentation game is still played strong by all parties.