When the Panasonic Lumix GH5 hit the stage in 2017, it changed the world of Micro Four-Thirds cameras, bringing Varicam color science and budget cinematography to new heights. In the years since, its loyal fan base of amateur cinematographers and professional event videographers have clung to it as a workhorse tool with millions of hours of video recorded of weddings, commercials, documentaries, music videos, and more. It’s the pipe-wrench of a plumber, a hammer of a builder, the ratchet of a mechanic, and the brush of a painter. It holds up, even today.
Its cousin, the GH5s, brought us high ISO and low noise in lieu of 5-axis sensor image stabilization. The second iteration, the GH5M2 brought some modest new features to a familiar body style. But, in this article, we will be discussing one of the most significant products in cinema technology — the Panasonic Lumix GH6, which was first released in February of 2022.
Panasonic Lumix GH6: A Pro-Level Mirrorless Camera
6K Video & Unlimited Recording Times
The GH6 brought pro-level codecs and frame rates to the M43 world above anything seen before. 6K video has slowly become the norm — it’s the standard for video shooters as both 5.8K anamorphic and 5.7K internal Apple ProRes recording are now available for a fraction of the cost of premiere cinema cameras and external recording devices.
The GH6 boasts unlimited record times at all resolutions and codecs. I’ll say that again. The GH6 boasts unlimited record times, as in the camera won’t stop when recording 6K, 4K, 120p, 240p. It will just keep on rolling. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that many of these codecs are 4:2:2 color sampling at 10-bit. This is a feat that other camera manufacturers have struggled with in recent video offerings. It is clear that Panasonic has done extensive research and development into sensor and processor tech.
The Lumix GH6 is recognized for its codec quality and recording versatility, while some may be more curious about how it performs in the auto-focus realm. In all honesty, I think the GH6 human-tracking and face-detect auto-focus performed quite well with native Panasonic Lumix Micro Four-Thirds lenses.
Lumix GH6 Key Specs:
- Unlimited C4K/4K 60p 4:2:2 10-bit recording
- High frame rate video and up to 12.5x in slow motion
- Internal recording in Apple ProRes 422 HQ and 422
- V-Log/V-Gamut; +13-stop dynamic range when boosted
- 7.5-stops 5-axis Image Stabilizer
Hands-On Testing the Lumix GH6
On a warm winter day in Austin, Texas I took the GH6 down to the waterfront of Butler Park across from the Austin city skyline with model McKaylyn to test the GH6 in a variety of settings configurations. I started off shooting in AppleProRes 422HQ at 5.7K. You would think the camera was recording simple 1080p. It never blinked. It never hiccuped. The GH6 did exactly what I wanted it to do.
I was recording simultaneously out to an Atomos Ninja V to capture the AF reticle and screen info overlay to show YouTube viewers how the camera was working while I filmed. Again, never a burp. I’m convinced that the GH6 is built for longevity. It’s built to be a mule, a workhorse, a Clydesdale.
I was filming in V-Log, which the GH6 has built-in. You will not have to purchase a “filmmakers firmware upgrade” to take advantage of the camera’s touted 13+ stops of dynamic range. The GH6 has dual native ISO at 400 and 2500.
Adhering to these settings, I did find a fair amount of noise in the image which is expected from a Micro Four-Thirds sensor in Log. I know I can work this out with little effort in post. A simple noise reduction filter can take care of this. I did not use any of the camera’s built-in noise reduction capability. I wanted the sensor’s raw image. The footage is buttery. The colors are true and accurate. I could visualize the video grading while I filmed because the GH6 has the ability to load CUBE LUTs as monitor preview overlays. A simple rec.709 LUT showed me what to expect when I got into FCPX later that night.
Auto-Focus Tracking
I captured a few shots, testing the auto-focus with the model walking towards and away from the camera. The tracking function worked fine. It locked on to her eye and held focus at f/1.7 (Lumix S-Pro 10-25 lens) without issue and same when I switched to the Lumix 42.5 f/1.7. It’s the first time reviewing a Panasonic Lumix camera where I didn’t get frustrated with auto-focus. It simply worked. The GH6 processes auto-focus three times faster than its predecessors thanks in part to its all-new internal processor that is two times faster than that of the GH5, GH5s and GH5M2.
4K 120p Video Recording
Next, I moved on 4K 120p. This is true 4K 120 frames-per-second video. The GH6 doesn’t use a Variable Frame Rate function to process slow-motion in-camera and bake the results into the recorded file. It actually records a full 119 frames (or 240 in 1080p) for each second that you can manipulate later in post, allowing the footage to play in real-time and then speed ramp to slow down the footage easily on the editing timeline. The quality of the high frame rate video was mind-blowing. I’ve seen 4K 120 come out of other cameras recently and the quality was not this good. It’s clean, sharp, crisp and dramatic. I switched back and forth between my lenses and found the results to be replicable. This is good-quality 4K 120p.
5.8K 4:2:0 10-bit Anamorphic 4:3 Mode
I also had with me an a Sirui 24mm Anamorphic lens to test-drive the GH6 5.8K 4:2:0 10-bit anamorphic 4:3. I was looking for oval shaped bokeh and found it as the sun went down. The city lights of Austin were reds and greens and blues, soft and oblong. It’s only a f/2.8 lens and it’s wide so I couldn’t get too crazy with the anamorphic style but it works and any quality-shift in the footage being 4:2:0 wasn’t immediately noticeable. It’s still 10-bit so it holds up. Just the fact that we have the ability to film 6K anamorphic in 10-bit in a camera of this price range is remarkable and another testament to the GH6’s bar-raising position in this new era of budget filmmaking.
Tilt-able LCD Screen & Buttons
The flip out LCD of the GH6 moves more freely now that a slightly larger body containing a forced-cool mechanism allows the screen to flip out fully and rotate despite having a type-A HDMI cable plugged into the camera’s left side. Even with a USB cable attached to charge the camera’s battery and power the GH6 simultaneously, the screen was unobstructed. This is a nice surprise.
You have all of the programmable buttons that we’ve come to love about the Lumix series cameras plus the addition of a dedicated video record button on the front of the camera as well having one on the top and the ability to use the shutter button to trigger recording. Other than that, the GH6 feels like a slightly larger GH5M2. There’s even a quick info button on the top of the camera allowing you dedicated quick access to audio levels and sound settings.
7.5-stops 5-axis Image Stabilizer
The GH6 ups the image stabilization ante with 7.5 stops of optical image stabilization in-body. I chose to handhold the GH6 for this shoot opting to not use a gimbal or any sort of stabilizer. The footage is rock solid. When paired with lenses that contain I.S., you would think the camera was on rails. When recording at 120p (and slowed to 20% speed) you can’t tell the camera was free-held during a dolly push. The I.S. really is next-level in the GH6.
Enhanced Audio Recording
A few other firsts for the Lumix series aside from the addition of .cube LUT overlays in-camera include four-channel audio recording. You can now record two channels of ambient sound via the on-board camera microphone and then an additional two channels (mono or stereo) via the Panasonic DMW-XLR1 audio cold-shoe adapter. You’ve also got a timecode sync port on the front of the camera, allowing for a BNC adapter to attach and bring camera timecode synchronization in studio or live-broadcast settings.
Panasonic also notes there will be a future firmware update (timing to be announced later) that will bring the following features:
- DCI 4K Apple ProRes 422 & 422HQ recording
- Full 1080p Apple ProRes recording
- Direct to USB-SSD recording
- 4K 120p output during live-view (to see the slow-motion processing)
- 4K 120p RAW over external HDMI to Atomos Ninja V
I think I’m most excited for the direct to SSD recording because the GH6 requires CFExpress memory cards for many of the high bitrate codecs and SSDs are more economical and versatile in many production environments.
Panasonic Lumix GH6: A Feature-Rich Imaging Powerhouse
Bottom line: the GH6 is feature-rich and will undoubtedly change the landscape of small sensor, budget filmmaking and be a go-to camera option for the foreseeable future. Be sure to check out all of my test footage — graded and ungraded — in my video review of the GH6 on the Adorama YouTube channel.
Firmware Update
As of June 13th, 2022, Panasonic and ATOMOS have teamed up to provide firmware update program Ver.2.0 for GH6 users. The new firmware enables the output of up to 5.8K / 29.97p and C4K / 119.88p RAW video data over HDMI to be recorded as Apple ProRes RAW on ATOMOS NINJA V and NINJA V+ devices. The update will be available on July 5th, 2022.
