Ok, you can stop speculating and guessing now. Panasonic has finally officially announced the new Panasonic Lumix GH6 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera. Rather than a slight refresh like the Panasonic GH5 Mark II, the GH6 presents a pretty major upgrade over the GH5 for those that need it, with a new 25.2-megapixel sensor, 7.5 stops of IBIS and 5.7K video at up to 60 frames per second. It comes five years after the release of the Panasonic Lumix GH5 and it represented a significant step up in Panasonic’s video capabilities over its predecessor. The GH6 seem to be doing the same this time around. As well as seeing a resolution boost for both stills and video, we also see 4K video at up to 120 frames per second and 1080p up to a very impressive 300 frames per second.
The specs for the new camera were leaked a few days ago, although it was pretty shy when it came to the camera’s video specs, offering virtually nothing by way of those capabilities. With the camera being officially announced now, though, Panasonic has told us exactly what it can do. So, here’s the full list.
H.264/MOV/MPEG-4 AVC/ProRes 422 HQ 4:2:2 10-Bit5728 x 3024 at 29.97p [1900 Mb/s]5728 x 3024 at 23.98p/24.00p [1500 Mb/s]5728 x 3024 at 25p [1600 Mb/s]H.264/MOV/MPEG-4 AVC/ProRes 422 4:2:2 10-Bit5728 x 3024 at 29.97p [1300 Mb/s]5728 x 3024 at 25p [1100 Mb/s]5728 x 3024 at 23.98p/24.00p [1000 Mb/s]H.264 ALL-Intra/MOV 4:2:2 10-Bit4096 x 2160 at 47.95p/50p/59.94p [600 to 800 Mb/s]4096 x 2160 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [400 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 47.95p/50p/59.94p [600 to 800 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [400 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 200p/239.76p [800 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 100p/119.88p [400 Mb/s]1920 x 1980 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p/47.95p/50p/59.94p [200 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 50i/59.94i [100 Mb/s]H.264 Long GOP/MOV/MPEG-4 AVC 4:2:2 10-Bit4096 x 2160 at 50p/59.94p [200 Mb/s]4096 x 2160 at 47.95p [200 Mb/s]4096 x 2160 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [150 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 47.95p/50p/59.94p [200 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [150 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 200p/239.76p [200 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 100p/119.88p [150 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p/47.95p/50p/59.94p [100 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 59.94i [50 Mb/s]H.265 Long GOP/MOV 4:2:0 10-Bit5760 x 4320 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [200 Mb/s]5728 x 3024 at 47.95p/48.00p/50p/59.94p [300 Mb/s]5728 x 3024 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [200 Mb/s]4352 x 3264 at 47.95p/48.00p/50p/59.94p [300 Mb/s]4096 x 2160 at 100p/119.88p [300 Mb/s]4096 x 2160 at 47.95p/50p/59.94p [200 Mb/s]4096 x 2160 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [150 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 100p/119.88p [300 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 47.95p/50p/59.94p [200 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p [150 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 23.98p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [100 Mb/s]3840 x 2160 at 23.98p/25p/29.97p [72 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 200p/239.76p [200 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 100p/119.88p [150 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 23.98p/24.00p/25p/29.97p/47.95p/50p/59.94p [100 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 50p/59.94p [28 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 25p/29.97p [20 Mb/s]1920 x 1080 at 23.98p [24 Mb/s]
The dual UHS-II SD card slots have been swapped out for a CFexpress Type B and UHS-II SD card pair to handle those high 1900Mbps bitrates the GH6 is capable of. The 225 area Depth From Defocus (DFD) AF system has been upgraded to a new 315 point DFD AF system. No, we’re still not getting phase detection autofocus, but Panasonic says that the new DFD system inside the GH6 is three times faster than its predecessor and far more accurate.
There are a whole lot of other new and improved features in there, too, like 75fps continuous stills with the electronic shutter for up to 200 frames and a 3.6m-dot EVF. I’m sure over the coming days and weeks (and probably already on YouTube) we’ll see plenty of Panasonic GH6 reviews putting the new AF system through its paces as well as the rest of the camera’s features to see how they stand up in the real world. And speaking of reviews, here’s one from Micro Four Nerds.
Panasonic seems to have hammered its “$2,500(ish)” target price point announced last May. The Panasonic Lumix GH6 is available to pre-order now for a very attractive $2,197.99 or $2,797.99 with the Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 lens and begins shipping soon.