Panasonic LUMIX GH5: 6k still photography, 6K video in 30P and 4:2:2 10-bit 4K up to 60P!
Panasonic's flagship monster camera is officially announced at PhotoKina 2016, and it boasts some amazing specs. But, unfortunately it doesn't look like it will be arriving at the end of this year as initially suggested but now slated for an early 2017 release date.
Panasonic has been developing innovative digital cameras under the theme “Create a New Photo Culture in the Digital Era.” The world’s first Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera LUMIX DMC-G1 was introduced in 2008 and the subsequent DMC-GH1 achieved the world’s first Full HD video recording in 2009.
In 2014, Panasonic introduced the DMC-GH4, which realised 4K 30p/25p video recording for the first time in the industry. At the same time, Panasonic proposed a new and unique method of photography called ‘4K PHOTO’ which allows users to capture fleeting photographic moments that even the eyes cannot catch, by using super-fast 4K resolution video frames at 30 fps that can be saved as high-quality photos. As a result, the DMC-GH4 is highly acclaimed for its exceptional hybrid performance in both photography and videography by a wide range of professional users worldwide – not only photographers but also cinematographers in the film production field, as well as emerging photo/video-hybrid creators.
But Panasonic took it one step further by producing a really compact, and lightweight body. The LUMIX GH5 enables 4K 60p/50p and 4:2:2 10-bit 4K video recording which has never before been achieved previously. Another plus point is that Panasonic has done the right thing with the GH5 by keeping the same form factor as the GH4.This means that all official accessories for the GH4, such as batteries, microphones, cages and the YAGH interface unit are all fully compatible with the GH5. Instead of impressing us with big numbers for ISO, Panasonic decided to limit the ISO range. This allowed them to focus on optimising the signal processing so that images would be as clean as possible within this limited range. The GH5’s base ISO is 800. Lowering the ISO below this point is possible, but image quality– especially shadow detail– maight suffer. The GH5 tops out at an ISO of 12,800, which is very clean. In fact, there is barely any difference in image noise between 800 and 12,800 on the GH5. It’s almost unreal.
In the LUMIX GH5, the conventional ‘4K PHOTO’ function is dramatically advanced to form ‘6K PHOTO which lets the user cut a still image out of ultra-high-quality approx.18-megapixel video with approx. 9 times the pixel count than Full-HD. Taking advantage of its high-speed, long-time burst shooting capability, spur-of-the-moment shots can be saved in beautiful photos with higher resolution that complies with larger-sized printing by substantially increasing the resolution from approx 8-megapixel(4K PHOTO) to approx.18-megapixel (6K PHOTO). Furthermore, approx.8-megapixel 4K Photo images can be captured at a super-fast 60 fps.
