Panasonic GH6

[hyalinejim]

On 9/24/2022 at 1:54 PM, deezid said:

The GH6 is my favorite MFT camera atm.
Best processing and color science to me and already asked Panasonic Lumix engineers for an optional Sharpening OFF (maybe -1 sharpening like the S1H did with NR).

To be fair no other MFT cameras but the GH5 II was completely sharpening free

 

@deezid Are you seeing sharpening artifacts even with non-native glass? I ask because I know that there is unavoidable in-camera sharpening when using Lumix lenses. But when using adapted glass on a Speedbooster I don't notice objectionable sharpening in the files, even with sharp lenses stopped down.

[hyalinejim]

25 minutes ago, hyalinejim said:

Here's a handy little tip for, I guess, any V-Log shooters. If you use the default V709 monitoring lut using the V-Log View Assist function then you still get a relatively washed out image

....

I made a VLT file (link below) with much stronger contrast

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qYrz5lq4CUgWkKgudGI24f2VWp3CdkCu?usp=share_link

Apologies for the triple post, but if you're a V-Log shooter on any Panasonic cam check out the last post at the bottom of the previous page.

[hyalinejim]

15 hours ago, kye said:

Do you get streaks if you shoot:

• outside at night from streetlights / signs etc?

OK, I just popped outside the back door and pointed the camera at a street light at night at base ISO 250 and DR Boost 2000 and there was no streaking visible in the viewfinder.

3 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Panasonic needs to fix the streaking.

Honestly, it's such a non-issue. Don't let it put you off. Like I said, I had totally forgotten about streaking until now, because I simply haven't seen it since the time I succesfully attempted to reproduce it.

[deezid]

4 hours ago, hyalinejim said:

@deezid Are you seeing sharpening artifacts even with non-native glass? I ask because I know that there is unavoidable in-camera sharpening when using Lumix lenses. But when using adapted glass on a Speedbooster I don't notice objectionable sharpening in the files, even with sharp lenses stopped down.

Yes, the oversharpening is definitely showing with every kind of lens I tried.
I really hope for a lower sharpening setting with a newer firmware update. Already talked to Panasonic about this issue.

These slashcam charts really show how bad it is
GH5 II


GH6



The GH6 looks quite crispy despite the lens I'm using. Not great, especially with skin, hair, foliage etc.

[kye]

2 hours ago, deezid said:

Yes, the oversharpening is definitely showing with every kind of lens I tried.
I really hope for a lower sharpening setting with a newer firmware update. Already talked to Panasonic about this issue.

These slashcam charts really show how bad it is
GH5 II


GH6



The GH6 looks quite crispy despite the lens I'm using. Not great, especially with skin, hair, foliage etc.

Are you able to also post the GH5 chart for comparison?

I tried finding it on the site, but I can't seem to find the high-res ones..  Maybe my non-existent German is the issue 😕 

[PannySVHS]

15 hours ago, deezid said:

Yes, the oversharpening is definitely showing with every kind of lens I tried.
I really hope for a lower sharpening setting with a newer firmware update. Already talked to Panasonic about this issue.

These slashcam charts really show how bad it is
GH5 II

GH6
The GH6 looks quite crispy despite the lens I'm using. Not great, especially with skin, hair, foliage etc.

The article states rather in favour of the GH6 sporting a rather unsharpened image. But it does look more zippery than the GH5II chart. Could also be due to varying in testing conditions.

Do you have own hands on with the GH5II? If it gets a "deezid approved", I might have a new contender for personal 10bit hybrid. GH5 could be problematic with big pink blotches on reddish skin when filmed in VLog. How about colour from the GH5II and noise mush under high iso in lowlight conditions? Your findings are always highly appreciated. Thanks! @deezid

I think the GH5II chart is from the review and article about it. There is no direct comparision of the two charts afaik. @kye

https://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Test/Panasonic-GH5-II---zweite--R-evolution-.html

Article stating, in VLog there is no additional sharpening, resulting in the so called organic image. Sounds good and thanks to Deezid for pointing this camera out.

[kye]

6 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Article stating, in VLog there is no additional sharpening, resulting in the so called organic image. Sounds good and thanks to Deezid for pointing this camera out.

From memory the GH5II wasn't a bad update on the GH5, with a few useful (albeit incremental) improvements.  I think it didn't get a lot of attention because it wasn't flashy and due to the fact it wasn't the GH6, but my recollection is that it's definitely a better camera than the GH5.

[John Matthews]

There are some crazy deals right now for Black Friday, at least in France. I found the GH6 for 1579 Euros (tax included) with a 400 Euros cash-back scheme, an extra year of waranty and a SanDisk Extreme 1tb drive SSD thrown in (to be confirmed). Well, it looks like I'll be able to purchase on after all... along with the promised GH6 guide from @Andrew Reid. I was not expecting that, but now that I have a gazillion M43 lenses, it makes sense. The main problem now is that I have too many M43 cameras!

[PannySVHS]

Well John, dear Gx85 fellow friend:), congratulations! @John Matthews Afaik the Gh6 is resolving more detail and is holding onto colour much better in super lowlight than a GH5S, meaning it could be a next level colour wonder. Two things keeping me away from it, no true zero sharpening as the Gh5II actually provides. That's big, making the Gh5ii a compelling choice. Secondly, it does not provide the additional 1.4x Super16 crop mode as the Gh5 does. I think the Gh6 should excel regarding crop modes, since it allows open gate up to 60p. It should be the prime machine of crop modes all up to 60p, full height 1to1, kinda like S16 fullwidth x full width, 5to4, Super16 4to3. Prores LT!

Third point actually, is the price, though you get a whole lotta image, convinience and overall quality for the money. So how much did you pay, 1579 minus 400 cashback, making it 1179 EUR? Where did you get that deal???😄

[John Matthews]

17 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

Well John, dear Gx85 fellow friend:), congratulations! @John Matthews Afaik the Gh6 is resolving more detail and is holding onto colour much better in super lowlight than a GH5S, meaning it could be a next level colour wonder. Two things keeping me away from it, no true zero sharpening as the Gh5II actually provides. That's big, making the Gh5ii a compelling choice. Secondly, it does not provide the additional 1.4x Super16 crop mode as the Gh5 does. I think the Gh6 should excel regarding crop modes, since it allows open gate up to 60p. It should be the prime machine of crop modes all up to 60p, full height 1to1, kinda like S16 fullwidth x full width, 5to4, Super16 4to3. Prores LT!

Third point actually, is the price, though you get a whole lotta image, convinience and overall quality for the money. So how much did you pay, 1579 minus 400 cashback, making it 1179 EUR? Where did you get that deal???😄

To be honest, I have zero NEED for such a beast of a camera (I'd include the GH5S and GH5, ii in that as well). It was the price that convinced me- that's all. Also, I have too many cameras and I need to sell some. It's going to be a massive learning curve, I expect. Yes, the deal (as I understand it) is you buy a GH6 in France (maybe Europe), send your invoice and everything to Panasonic, they give you 400 back, an extra year of warranty (making it 3 years total, WOW!), and they send you a 1tb SanDisk Extreme SSD (again, WOW!). I'd say that the price is more like 1000 Euros for a GH6, which is crazy! I found the deal (for 1579 euros) both at FNAC.fr and Darty.fr, but the FNAC deal went away this morning. It should arrive this week and I'm super interested in seeing what it has to offer.

[John Matthews]

Now it’s available at a slew of places, including Amaevil.fr. Panasonic is going to sell tons of these at that price… seems like super aggressive marketing!

[Thpriest]

I bought my Lumix S5 with a 500€ cash back deal in Spain. It works as you say. I think it took a month or 2 to get the cash back. Great deals.

[Emanuel]

19 hours ago, John Matthews said:

To be honest, I have zero NEED for such a beast of a camera (I'd include the GH5S and GH5, ii in that as well). It was the price that convinced me- that's all. Also, I have too many cameras and I need to sell some. It's going to be a massive learning curve, I expect. Yes, the deal (as I understand it) is you buy a GH6 in France (maybe Europe), send your invoice and everything to Panasonic, they give you 400 back, an extra year of warranty (making it 3 years total, WOW!), and they send you a 1tb SanDisk Extreme SSD (again, WOW!). I'd say that the price is more like 1000 Euros for a GH6, which is crazy! I found the deal (for 1579 euros) both at FNAC.fr and Darty.fr, but the FNAC deal went away this morning. It should arrive this week and I'm super interested in seeing what it has to offer.

Tempting... I am producing a feature film in France right now but wouldn't like to mix the things up. They look like to request a French bank for the rebate though.

Can you recommend anyone accepting nonresidents in order to open a local bank account?

I'd eventually buy a couple of units only because of this tip of yours now, go figure and ask your commission check from them! : D

 

I guess poor AF performance is taking them to have more units in stock than they should, hence this. Good for us, the GH series is a hell of a tool and will always be no matter what.

BTW, my fav capture device before P4K and even earning the podium to 5DII I left ten years ago when my three GH1 units arrived and still hold with me even today, despite to couple with more 4x G7 and the GX85 (and a FTZ1000 I bought used, oh well, practically new!).

[Emanuel]

PS:

Panny fanboy here but no less of other brands as well, only from Canon besides the 5DII I still keep with care, let's not forget the pearl Canon M I yet hold four units.

To be brand agnostic is a requirement of any filmmaker who loves this craft (EAG :- )

[John Matthews]

6 hours ago, Emanuel said:

Can you recommend anyone accepting nonresidents in order to open a local bank account?

Yeah, you might need an address. Anyway, as far as I can tell the 1579 euro deal is gone now.

 

6 hours ago, Emanuel said:

I guess poor AF performance is taking them to have more units in stock than they should, hence this. Good for us, the GH series is a hell of a tool and will always be no matter what.

Panasonic is getting it one all sides. I think there are many who think the X-H2s and OM-1 are better depending on their use-case. For me, I've always preferred video from my Panasonic cameras, but it's close. I'm still not 100% convinced I'm going to like the GH6, but I really want to try it, especially at that price.

M43 users who want Panasonic are probably upset about the AF and all the lying for years about DFD promises. In this regard, I've found Olympus CONTRAST AF in the E-P7 and E-M10 iv was much better at latching onto faces than many Panasonics I've used (not sure about GH6); so, I'm not even sure PDAF is necessary, but Panasonic users have made it necessary due to all those lies. Once Panasonic can pull their head out of the sand (and they will), they will be back with a vengeance as long as they continue with lenses. Sony is the Evil Empire and Panasonic is... never mind. 😀

[PannySVHS]

4 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Yeah, you might need an address. Anyway, as far as I can tell the 1579 euro deal is gone now.

 

Panasonic is getting it one all sides. I think there are many who think the X-H2s and OM-1 are better depending on their use-case. For me, I've always preferred video from my Panasonic cameras, but it's close. 😀

I´ve seen this test how the GH6 excels in holding onto colour under various conditions. It beats a GH5s by far in lowlight regarding colours, also providing much higher resolution in these super lowlight conditions. @Attila Bakos has recognized the Fuji XH2s having a lack in colour resolution, blurring the red channel. It seems indeed that the GH6 sensor and image pipeline is something extraordinary and very impressive. Like @deezid stated, it needs a true zero sharpening setting though, as footage is a bit on the crispy side, like Lumix S5 or S1, needing a -1 in Vlog, like the S1H is providing. For me it additionally need Prores LT, also Prores for UHD, not just Cine 4K. Plus it need a S16 crop mode like the GH5. Then I would be willing to pay good money for it.

[John Matthews]

1 minute ago, PannySVHS said:

I´ve seen this test how the GH6 excels in holding onto colour under various conditions. It beats a GH5s by far in lowlight regarding colours, also providing much higher resolution in these super lowlight conditions. @Attila Bakos has recognized the Fuji XH2s having a lack in colour resolution, blurring the red channel. It seems indeed that the GH6 sensor and image pipeline is something extraordinary and very impressive. Like @deezid stated, it needs a true zero sharpening setting though, as footage is a bit on the crispy side, like Lumix S5 or S1, needing a -1 in Vlog, like the S1H is providing. For me it additionally need Prores LT, also Prores for UHD, not just Cine 4K. Plus it need a S16 crop mode like the GH5. Then I would be willing to pay good money for it.

I'm expecting more than enough video settings than I'll ever need- a bit like driving a Lamborghini to work only 10 minutes away. However, I do like the idea of trying something new and making some photos and videos. This camera will offer new limitations that I'm not used to. Apparently, it'll be here tomorrow morning. Exciting. I'm also certain that the deal I got is simply extraordinary given the current market (new and used). If it turns out I hate the camera, I'll just sell it and get something else, but I want to give it a shot. This is not a beginner's camera; thankfully, I'm not a beginner and understand 90% of the settings and what they do thanks to EOSHD and YouTube. If I don't understand something, I know where to find the information.

[Beritar]

10 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

I´ve seen this test how the GH6 excels in holding onto colour under various conditions. It beats a GH5s by far in lowlight regarding colours, also providing much higher resolution in these super lowlight conditions. @Attila Bakos has recognized the Fuji XH2s having a lack in colour resolution, blurring the red channel. It seems indeed that the GH6 sensor and image pipeline is something extraordinary and very impressive. Like @deezid stated, it needs a true zero sharpening setting though, as footage is a bit on the crispy side, like Lumix S5 or S1, needing a -1 in Vlog, like the S1H is providing. For me it additionally need Prores LT, also Prores for UHD, not just Cine 4K. Plus it need a S16 crop mode like the GH5. Then I would be willing to pay good money for it.

I'm not sure about zero sharpening but I have the GH5, GH6 and S1, the GH6 is less "sharp" than the GH5 in 4K. There is far less artificial sharpening, even when I set the sharpness of the GH6 at +5, the GH5 at 0 is still sharper. However the Open Gate 5K of the GH5 is still beautiful, there is almost zero sharpening and noise reduction, the image is very "organic".
 
The issue I have with the GH6 is the new noise reduction algorithm (called 3D), it makes the low light really cleaner than GH5 but it also smear details in some areas of the image in low light even at ISO 200 (a bit like the Samsung NX1 but much less aggressive), even with the NR set at -5. I think there is no miracle, we speak about a M43 25MP sensor so some concessions must be made, but I was very surprised to see the GH5 retaining better details (the trade off is the noise).
The 5,7K is a different beast, it uses more sharpening and a bit less noise reduction (the footage is sharper than the 5,9K and 6K of the S1), however there is a little crop in this mode and nobody speaks about it.
For me the big advantages of the GH6 are the new color science, the 4K 120fps and the very good stabilization making (almost) possible handheld walking video.

[Emanuel]

17 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Yeah, you might need an address. Anyway, as far as I can tell the 1579 euro deal is gone now.

Yes, but not before. I tried to submit the order on Amazon France as matter of fact and some bug didn't allow me to complete the purchase. When I tried later on, the price had been changed... This doesn't make any sense especially when Black Friday is coming in three days in the end of the week, not in the beginning of the week, the Monday before. I still want to believe Monday is the first working day of the week, not Friday! Without mention, they didn't even let me comply the payment before a new price (extra EUR 200) had been placed. This is not aggressive marketing (now they say they only have 15 units in stock on Amazon France page), this is purely misleading to the customers, go figure loyal ones as myself for 36 years now!

[John Matthews]

1 hour ago, Emanuel said:

Yes, but not before. I tried to submit the order on Amazon France as matter of fact and some bug didn't allow me to complete the purchase. When I tried later on, the price had been changed... This doesn't make any sense especially when Black Friday is coming in three days in the end of the week, not in the beginning of the week, the Monday before. I still want to believe Monday is the first working day of the week, not Friday! Without mention, they didn't even let me comply the payment before a new price (extra EUR 200) had been placed. This is not aggressive marketing (now they say they only have 15 units in stock on Amazon France page), this is purely misleading to the customers, go figure loyal ones as myself for 36 years now!

Yes, that 1579 deal was definitely earmarked with a quota. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I've seen this situation before though. In 2020, I jumped on a deal for a E-P7 + kit14-42 EZ + 75mm f/1.8 for 899 euros, a great camera and deal. After, you had so many people buying that to only keep the 75mm at sell the E-P7... I didn't do that. I used that camera for about 6 months until it was replaced with a E-M5 iii (for free) from OMDS due to a IBIS problem and lack of stock. All that to say you have to strike super fast on those deals before people catch on because those deals disappear.  Companies have too much stock and they need to make quarterly results... I assume it's something like that. Still, I think the deal at 1779 (minus 400 + 1 year warranty + 1tb SSD) is still a great deal for that camera.