Panasonic Lumix GH6 puts the ProRes into professional filmmaking
Blockbuster video
There’s never been a better time to jack in your old career and become a filmmaker. Sure, you may lack any original ideas or the slightest twinkling of talent, but these are mere trifles you can iron out later on – the important thing is you can get your hands on the tools right away.
The Panasonic Lumix GH6 perfectly embodies the fact that getting into video is easier and cheaper than ever. The new flagship model in the company’s range of Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras, it starts at a relatively affordable £1,999 (or £2,199 with a 12-60mm lens included) but can shoot in an almost comically large range of high-quality video formats, including 10-bit 4:2:2 Cinema 4K, 5.7K 4:2:0 and even Apple ProRes 422 HQ.
You’ll need a super-speedy CFexpress Type B card for some of the more demanding modes, so helpfully the GH6 includes a slot for one (as well as standard SD, natch), while an on-board cooling system ensures you can record clips as long as the storage allows – no overheating woes will curtail your cinema verité masterpiece this time.
Another big addition is a high-precision 5-axis gyro sensor that Panasonic claims improves image stabilisation over previous cameras like the GH5 Mark II, improving handheld performance with up to 7.5 stops of motion compensation. Vloggers who like to walk and talk, take note – this is a type of feature that’ll make your footage far less nausea-inducing. That Panasonic has crammed all this (and a brilliant ultra-flexible vari-angle screen, a full-size HDMI output and good-sized electronic viewfinder) into a body that weights under 1kg and fits easily into a smallish camera bag is all the more impressive.
The Panasonic Lumix GH6 will be available from March 2022 but we’ve already got our hands on a sample, so keep your eyes peeled for a full, in-depth review of this exciting video-first camera soon.
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
