GH6 and the future of M43

It’s my opinion that the future of the M43 system is being determined as Panasonic develops the GH6. Here are some things I’ve gathered which support a view as to where this is going.

• The current GH5S uses the Sony Exmor IMX299 sensor, which is a customization of the IMX294 sensor developed for the industrial/security market. It’s important to note that this sensor uses a Quad-Bayer design .
• The sensor in the GH5S is important because it is VERY closely related to what I believe is the next generation sensor for M43, the Sony IMX492 (or some customization of this sensor, which was also designed for industrial/security apps). The datasheets for these two sensors reveal striking similarities – they are clearly related designs.
• I think the GH6 is being designed to support several shooting modes including high-resolution (40+ MP), low light (10 MP like the GH5S), and an HDR mode. The high-res mode will also be used to support 8K video, although lower resolution video will be supported by enabling Quad-Bayer capture. Advantages of various modes include enhanced dynamic range, improved high ISO performance, or better HDR. It all depends upon which mode you select.
• If this sounds far-fetched, the IMX586 sensor using this same technology is already deployed in smartphones (Honor View 20, ZTE Axon Pro 10, OnePlus 7, Xiaomi Mi9, Asus ZenFone 6). DPR published an article about this sensor.

There are a couple of reasons why it makes sense for Panasonic to do this with the GH6:

1. Panasonic is dependent upon Sony for sensors, and it doesn’t appear that Sony is interested in further developing the IMX272 used in the GH5. The main reason Sony is still developing M43 is for other markets like industrial/security .
2. Given the market shift to Full Frame, I think Panasonic is taking a “go big or go home” approach with their flagship M43 model.
3. The future of M43 is going to be enabled by a clever new sensor design and lots of processing power, just like smartphones. This will offer a host of new functionality and features.

I will let others opine on whether this new direction is good or not. To me, it’s exciting and will attract new users to M43. Part of me just wants a dual-native ISO version of the GH5 (with better AF), but let’s be real – that won’t get M43 back into the game against FF. Time to be bold and do something innovative.

I also believe that gh6 is the future of m43. M43 shooters expect for a new sensor for a long period and is not coming. Hope that there will be a gh6 with a new sensor.

S5 launch might cause a delay in gh6 as Panasonic won't release 2 cameras at same period. S5 is a good chance to add some clients on l mount and a gh6 wouldn't help on that.

victorav wrote:

Some people are saying the S5 is the gh6, but other than the already established benefits of a 35mm sensor what's the difference?

MFT users with a lot of MFT lenses can use them all on a GH6. An S5 would require acquisition of an entirely new array of lenses. That alone makes "the S5 is the GH6" nonsensical to me.

Aside from that, in an interview from March, a Panasonic bigwig talked about the advantages of MFT format for video in some use cases.

But that interview and a more recent one also said that Panasonic is "considering" or "studying" the possibility of a GH6. Personally, I suspect that a GH6 will eventually arrive, but it sounds like it's in the discussion stages, far from any imminent release.

S5 is, to some extend, the replacement of several models, including S1, GH5 and GH5s, IMHO.. And I can see some GH5 users upgrade to S5 and start using L mount to compliment m43.

GH5 is selling at great price now. It was way ahead of its time when launches 2-3 years ago, but most features are about right today, except for Video AF..

I can see Panny will firstly introduce 8K to GH6 before next Olympic, but with faster DFD..

Seeing from some reviewers, AF on S5 on APSC model is better than A73, so with faster processor, GH6 should have much improved AF over GH5 (though I still prefer PDAF)..

I find the IMX492 sensor very curious.

It’s doesn’t appear to be a standard product because the flyer for standard products normally include words to the effect of: “individual specification change cannot be supported because this is a standard product.”

So it appears to be a custom sensor built for a specific customer/s.

Even though it states the applications are for “Surveillance, FA cameras, Industrial cameras”, why would there be a need for 8K 17:9 readout if not intended for the creative video market.

So my question is who commissioned the sensor?

brentbrent wrote:

victorav wrote:

Some people are saying the S5 is the gh6, but other than the already established benefits of a 35mm sensor what's the difference?

But that interview and a more recent one also said that Panasonic is "considering" or "studying" the possibility of a GH6. Personally, I suspect that a GH6 will eventually arrive, but it sounds like it's in the discussion stages, far from any imminent release.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the nuances in that. It may just  have been a bad translation. The real meaning could have been lost. Remember he also basically said the same thing in february for the S5, a "smaller mid-range FF camera". For it to be here already means it was well near the production stage when he said it.

Roger Monroe wrote:

I can’t imagine trying to anticipate the camera market , given all of the challenges. It seems that every manufacturer except Fuji is getting sucked into the FF vortex as a safe bet. It appears to be the safe route for manufacturers, and evidenced by the sentiment of many on dpreview.

I use my GH5 professionally for stills and video, but I’d like to see the GHX head more towards a video cam form and function direction. A new version of the AF100, with a new and improved GH5s sensor, would be great. A no compromise M43 motion camera would be awesome. A proper VF, tally lights and a menu setup optimized for motion shooting would be very welcome. Regardless of any external changes, I’d like to see Penny take Fujis approach and create separate menu structures for motion and still shooting. Let the G9 be the stills powerhouse and let the GHX do the same on the motion side. It would be tragic for Panasonic to close the door on M43, if no successor to the GH5 comes to market, I’ll pick up a Zcam M43 camera for my lens collection.

For the GHX to implement resolution larger than 4K would be unfortunate, too many pixels on too small of a sensor for no useful purpose other than marketing talking points. The resolution race is getting silly and unproductive.

I wouldn't mind if Panasonic produced essentially a twin GHX and G9-successor with basically the same underlying electronics and sensor but differing in form factor. We basically got that in a G9 after the firmware update to bring it close to the GH5.

In that sense, the GH5 and G9 morph into one hybrid flagship whereas the GH5s goes all out video and becomes a GHX or GHV(ideo) or whatever we like to call it.

It might be easier on the development costs as they'd essentially be the same inside but the form factor of the GHX/V would be completely geared towards video (maybe like a Z-Cam design for cage use or something, I'm only guessing since I'm really not into videography).

I'd like them to do 6K which would require a 27MP m43 sensor but 8K m43 sensors already exists so it just really depends on how good their downsampled 6k and 4K files are.

I don't think there will be a GH6.

Panasonic will provide m4/3 cameras for the 'prosumers', and full frame for the professionals.

Dad of 2 wrote:

• The sensor in the GH5S is important because it is VERY closely related to what I believe is the next generation sensor for M43, the Sony IMX492 (or some customization of this sensor, which was also designed for industrial/security apps). The datasheets for these two sensors reveal striking similarities – they are clearly related designs.

“Recommended lens F number: 2.8 or more
Recommended exit pupil distance: -100mm to -∞”

I may be wrong, but as-is, this clearly doesn’t look like it’s made for ILCs.

• Advantages of various modes include enhanced dynamic range […] or better HDR.

Isn’t that the same thing?

As you say, the existence of a mass of good quality, cheap lenses pretty much ensures another MFT camera.

Simply because, as time passes and the current MFT models get outdated, the buying interest in a new camera will keep increasing.

Like Sony releasing the A99 II.

Over time, it's possible that MFT will decline. But it's undoubtable that there are more MFT cameras coming up.