Panasonic GH6: Not What I Expected from Micro Four Thirds 

When testing stabilization, turn Boost IS off. Boost IS tries to lock the frame in one position for static shots, and makes it look jumpy and jittery with movement. Turn IBIS and Estabilization on but leave off Boost IS

When it comes to video M43 has never been lacking. It was just 5 years ago that the GH5 was the class leading mirrorless video camera. It's only the last couple of years that other companies have caught up or surpassed that camera at huge price points. M43 often have lots of other advantages too, like excellent weather sealing, great IBIS (which was invented by Olympus), low rolling shutter, great customization, small and excellent lenses, etc. Although I don't do much photography, one of the headliners of this camera is that it takes 100 mega pixel photos, Tony Northrup yesterday compared GH6 photos side by side with full frame Canon R6 and the GH6 blew the Canon away.

THANK YOU for pointing out the amazing flexibility that the 4:3 aspect ratio footage gives. I use this all of the time with my GH5. The GH6 will be a solid upgrade in terms of image quality.

This is one of the best reviews of the GH6 I've seen. You covered all the things that are the most important to video creators and is wholly objective. Bravo!

I never even though of the social media use cases and the versatility of 4:3 in that use case. Haven't seen that perspective any where else. Great video!!

This is so dope of a review. Your perspective and uses for the camera are what made me comment this! I ordered the GH6 and I’m excited.

That larger recording aspect ration + guides is pretty nice! Very interesting.

I‘m working as a professional Videographer and photographer since 1996! The GH6 is a fantastic video Camera! The perfect companion for a lot of videographers like me!

Congrats on discovering open gate on a MFT sensor. did you know that my 2018 Lumix G9 can shoot open gate in a 4:3 ratio? that's an 18MP video feed (ultra HD is 8MP) in 4:2:0 10bit HEVC at 30FPS in a camera that has a street price of less than a thousand dollars. you're limited to 10minute bursts, but that's plenty for shooting an Instagram banger. Good to see that it's utility is getting some recognition. Panasonic has always been way underrated in this and many other regards.

Former A6000 & GH4; Now GH5 and GH6 user here. Nice job, Tyler. Subbed.

Panasonic really does pack a punch - just wish it didn't have contrast based autofocus

👍🏾Love that you let the masses understand the advantages in shooting open gate with a simple explanation. 🙏🏾

Thanks for the input regarding 9:16 video output Tyler,never thought about this before and I've never seen reviewers with similar opinion before

This is the best review I've seen so far, coming from a longtime GH4 user looking to upgrade. Your real world examples of these new features are very thorough. Thanks for explaining and showing the aspect ratio preview. It seems as though video in social media is going vertical and that aspect is important to know.

Watched your video for the second time. Your the only reviewer of the 35 online reviews I have seen who points to the 4:3 square format and frame marker. Also that your client ask the feel of video capture by a video camera. No one had covered this point. Great covered of Dynamic boost in Vlog mode, nice to seen this. A tip about testing the AF you need to test this with a background with a lot of out of focus small light move not in linear manner from back to front or left to right but unpredictable manner. Also provide which lenses you have used and AF-settings (speed and accuracy settings). But overall a great video which coverage the features you are interested.

This truly is the ultimate social media camera holy snap.

That stabilization test didn't happen to have Boost I.S. (“virtual tripod mode”) on, did it? It looked like it was fighting your movements rather than smoothing them and reminded me of when I accidentally leave my GH5's Boost I.S. on.

I didn't notice the first time I watched this but I was impressed that you were at Sunshine. That's right in my backyard!

excellent video on the gh6. awesome explanation of the DR boost.

Welcome to the dark side. I switched from Canon to Panasonic Lumix MFT almost two years ago and it is interesting seeing you discover some of the MFT goodness that I have experienced. RU-vid influencers tend to focus on the AF and miss the many other things that make Lumix gear so loved by so many of us. For me animation was a primary factor and stills are important so started with the G9 but then adding the GH5 M2 for the anamorphic capabilities. I learned to love the MFT mount via camcorder usage - the MFT sensor on the DVX200, and then the MFT mount on the super35 sensor of the JVC LS300, so going full MFT was not a large leap for me. Lumix gear is feature-rich, and usability is great. The AF is not a big deal for me since I lean toward mostly manual anyway. Anamorphic to the full 4:3 sensor is a bigger deal than many people realize. I am loving MFT.

So glad I saw this presentation! You bring a freshness to the reviews of the GH6. And I learned some new features of the camera. It's great having an enthusiastic review coming from a Sony/Canon user👍

Mmmmm Panasonic needs more love like this. They create amazing packages of camera, just let down by that autofocus - From a bunch of reviews, looks like the DFD has been tamed substantially, but still not enough. Ya know, you're doing a circle strafe around a product, need it all in nice focus and to have it pulse is just irritating 😭 I'm 'still' on the GH5 because I love VLOG so much, so happy with the camera, wasn't even slightly tempted by the A7Siii - But I'm about to pull the trigger on a new camera. Given the choice, GH6 or R5C? One essentially takes all my savings but I have been saving for it, and the other gives me like £4K to spend elsewhere essentially 🤣

This was the Best GH6 video I have seen AND I have seen a lot here on youtube. great work.

new info i learned today about video 2 by 3 and prores

You do great reviews my friend! I have the GH5 and loved it. Now I can find this feature and use it. When the time time is right I will be picking up this upgrade model for my Wildlife and other Natural History shooting projects. Once again I really like your delivery and way of explaining things. Very calm confident and professional. Very well done

Holy crap yours is the only one I’ve seen on the open gate stuff and the framing markers. This actually is amazing. I love it

‘’Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets ... any sound investment will eventually pay off." - Carlos Slim Helu

Listened to your podcast for years and never checked your RU-vid, this was on my recommend list and when I was watching I was like "hey that sounds like Tyler from stalman podcast" , quickly looked at the name and it was 😂😂 I felt so dumb . Good to put a face to the voice. Great video btw.

Awesome job Tyler. Also, note the punch in to focus during record is a big deal for anyone coming up from the GH5. Cheers, Adam

the radial wipe to the sponsored segment was the cheesiest thing youve ever done and i CANNOT WAIT for you to do it again. haha so clever. well done, good sir .

The S1 w/ open gate 6k full frame is superior for social media in my opinion. The frame markers here is a great feature though.

Very interesting point about the shallow depth of field of the camera disguising itself as a smartphone. Most people scrolling on social media associate shallow depth of field/bokeh with high end cameras. And high end cameras are generally used on commercials. And nobody wants to spend their time watching a commercial.

been shooting Open gate on GH series for a while and it’s always been great for resizing in post since most things I produce go on Instagram anyway!

Great GH6 review! I snowboard and I absolutely loved you actually showed this thing in action vlogging out on the slopes! You're also convincing me to try 4:3 aspect ratios 👀

You might want to try the new OM-1. It's not quite as well-specced for video as the GH6, but I think it's a better run-and-gun camera due to the phase-detect autofocus. The stabilization is probably a smidge better than Panasonic as well. The video specs are certainly good enough for most use cases. It has 4K up to 60p (with no crop) 10-bit 4:2:0 internal / 4:2:2 external, ProRes RAW external, dual UHS-II card slots, and 1080p up to 240 fps.

Really nicely done video! I am a lumix junky and I’m looking forward to the gh6

Great video mate 👍🏻 I own two G7 & two GH5 & one GH5M2 cameras. I’m sticking with my GH5M2 $2100 AUD verses the GH6 $3,600 AUD! 😭

I was at sunshine a few days ago and I was looking around for a Tyler with a new camera. Sadly I missed you by a few days ;)

Hi Tyler, 1st time I've watched your channel. Very sharp review of the GH6. I'm a GH user and I just bought the Panasonic S5. Your review made me feel maybe I made a mistake. I love what Panasonic offers us as Creators. Your presentation skills are comforting and knowledgable. I hit your subscribe button but I won't hit the Bell...

this was fun to watch. I still love my gh5 and probably won't upgrade even though the vlog sounds great. Thanks for a great video.

Just a correction on that anamorphic flare bit… I‘ve dealt with tons of anamorphic footage and I don’t believe flares go behind subjects in the 3D world - I think what you were seeing was the flare being more transparent in the middle making it look like it was behind you. Other than that, great review! Thanks for making it!

Great review. Thanks for demystifying some of the more arcane aspects of the utterly arcane menu structure. Loved the insights on 4:3 as well. I was wondering where that could go when I saw it demoed as unsqueezed anamorphic.

Kind of a back handed compliment @5:00

ALL Stab on for your ski test is a mistake. IS boost option is only meant to replicate locked-off tripod shots "sans-tripod". It will fight you when you pan/tilt/travel in-out. For handheld you should be good in IBIS (+ IOS if available) and maybe "video" option if you can live with small crop. IS BOOST is only meant to be used for handheld static shots.

Great review! My G85 was my first introduction to film and photography (which I got last year so I'm still a youngin :)). I'll get a full frame sometime down the road, but the GH6 looks like a compelling upgrade (and I get to keep using the lenses I've accumulated). Also, good to see the AF improved. It's not perfect but from what I saw here, it's a big step up from what the G85 does.

bro what the heck happened at 14:44 I'm shook

I've always thought it would be cool if Canon let us record in the full 3:2 aspect ratio.

Regarding bokeh, people don't understand how the M43 system benefits from its 2 x crop factor. Shoot at f1.2 and get the f1.2 light on the sensor and the depth of field of f2.4

Very good point about the open gate and using the full sensor for different delivery formats. I guess with higher res larger sensor mirrorless cameras it is technically possible to still get the same look if you shoot with a bit off a crop even in 16:9. For example with the R5 you could shoot a bit wider and achieve sort of the same effect as the larger sensor compensates for the lack of hight. With the Pocket 6K Pro you can set custom markers so I guess once again you could frame for the centre 4K image leaving you with some more above and below for vertical video.

I'm willing to bet you didn't know about the *additional* stabilizer function GH6 offers, called "E-stabilization" which likely works like iPhone's system. GH6 IBIS + lens OIS + E-stabilization would have gotten you much better results than you demonstrated here. Agreed? ☝🏽😲

Full sensor capture for 9:16 tip. 🤯 🙌🏽

if you hold one of the fn buttons then u can easily change it to what u want instead of going to the settings

Yes! I was looking forward to your review!

my GH6 is great. I'll be using it for years.

Beautiful. Thank you!

It looks like a great camera

I've been using the Sony A7C for a year but now... it's got to be the Panasonic Gh6. This is what I need. I do so many Shorts and TikTok videos.

6:55 I also wish that Canon and Sony would enable 3:2 open gate recording. I chose a Panasonic S1 over the Canon and Sony options specifically for its 3:2 open gate mode and I have not used a single other recording format since I got the camera a few months back.

I'm extremely partial to depth of field. I'd probably shoot medium format video if that was a thing. Panasonics are so enticing but I couldn't go that small.

The flare from the back light is still in front of you… that’s how flaring works. It’s just more transparent so looks like it’s behind you

I’m still filming with my GH5, but I might get the GH6!! Canon are good but overrated

Please forgive my ignorance, but are you applying the LUTS in FCPX or within the camera itself. I looked on Panasonic's website but got confused.

I am a heavy gh5 / gh5s user. Face detection sucks. But what rly good works is the tracking mode. I just take that one and it is great

Great video. Someone stole my Gh5, will buy gh6. Excited

Open gate is everything !!

Looks so compressed and sharp. :) Maybe it's just youtube.

I too wish Sony would allow open gate recording in some resolutions and frame rates. For anamorphic lenses. Since there are now affordable full frame anamorphic lenses with 1.5x 1.6x 1.8x squeezes, you’d need to at least record a full 3:2 sensor. And only Panasonic does that in the mirrorless world. But a lot of these lenses are also made in Sony (F)E-Mount. So there is some missed opportunities here to fully utilise some of those lenses.

vlog settings gonna need it cause i have one otw

I shoot live theatre, concerts and dance shows primarily so a deep depth of field is often what I need.

So how is the ibis affected when shooting open gate ?

I just love this video very detailed 🤯

Thank you!

Great video Tyler!

Hi,. Nice video great channel... Does Sigma fp shoot opengate ?? 3:2 , 4:3 ??

I know this is 2 years old, but it looks like you had Boost IS turned ON in your stabilization test. You would NOT want this to be on for how you were using it. Boost IS is only used for static handheld shots, to try to replicate a tripod shot. You only want to use IBIS and e-stabilization when moving around. With Boost IS turned OFF, the stabilization is near gimbal tbh.

I want to be able to plug in an external mic and also monitor that sound from the camera. What sort of audio I/O does this camera have? How does the audio quality compare other products in this price range? Ta.

Great review :) although Lumix always square aspect ratios for a while, even on their full frame cameras

great review

The GH6 is so versatile but auto focus is the weakest link. Canon and Sony cameras are strong in that dept but not as versatile for the rest. My next camera purchase is totally based on what I am willing to compromise.

It would be sweet if they would allow prores for the open gate 5.8k record mode! It’s not currently possible, right? Awesome review!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but DRB is not a color profile, but an option that could be applied to any color profile? If so, I wonder what changes with DRB boost to give it the recoverability that it looks in your example similar to using RAW. Or were you using ProRes with DRB boost, and just comparing it to 'old' vlog with a GOP codec?

I'm kind of interested, but the 6K doesn't look as sharp as Fuji's X-T4 downsampled 6K to 4K which I find odd since the Fuji is discarding information... Is it a lens thing?

You should have used electronic stabilization with IBIS for better smoothness.

I love 4:3 open gate and arri does that but I can’t afford arri. Neither gh6 well any giveaways HMU 🤙

Finally someone whose GH6 footage looks nice, I was getting worried by seeing all the awful clips that are out there. I really love your example of highlight recovery, also how difficult would it be to match the colors to the properly exposed image? P.S. Love the iPhone stabilization side by side. Now Panasonic has something to work towards to

Great review!

Informative video.

Great review

Good review. I have subscribed. 👍 Just one thing, I think you may have messed up your settings with the stabilization test. You should have got much better than that. Either your settings or something wrong with the particular camera you got sent. I have the G9 and it gets much better than that, but GH6 is supposed to be even better than G9.

14:44 wow 😮

What are those zippered mittin/glove thing at 1:18?

Do you know of a battery bank that will power the Panasonic GH6?

I also appreciate the MFT size, but i would not want to live with anything smaller than APS-C, it was already hard for me as a long time full frame user with 50 1.4 and 35 1.8 lens to "go down" to APS-C. But i also use similar to MFT sized sensor crop often on my APS-C Canon EOS R7 with 4k60 crop video (2,8x crop compared to full frame), like this the Canon EF 100-400 II 5.6 lens is basically a supertele and zoom "on the go" (160-640mm uncropped, 290-1150mm in 4k crop video). If i even want more reach or "uncropped" 120 fps or 4k30 fine video for more background blur i just have to use a heavier 150-600 6.3 lens on a tripod The GH6 is not too bad to be honest, but the low res viewfinder and screen.... I could not judge focus good enough on that and the autofocus isnt good enough to compensate for the low res screen. Besides the main reasons i could not take that camera: too expensive, APS-C give me still more bokeh/lowlight performance in the middleground between FF and M43 and i am still very photo centric, but getting more and more towards a 50:50 mix making the R7 just the best choice for me.

What is the best lens for POV on Panasonic Lumix GH6?

Fun fact their full frame line is just as dope

Why does the iPhone 13 look like it has way better image quality than the GH6? Even when paused and zoomed in theres so much more detail on the iPhone. 😯

Lol why you did backlight in the af test? Do you tried to cunfuse the af? I have seen wings af test and the gh6 did very well.

surprised you are still allowed to broadcast in Canada

Thanks Tyler very interesting 👍 Using the dynamic boost looks a real drag. And it seems your forced into using vlog to get any flexibility in dynamic range. I really love the open gate thing so useful and I also would have loved the 10-25 f1.7 with this camera. But it really doesn't seem suited to run and gun jobs.

What lens were the vlogging bits with? Thanks!