Panasonic Lumix GH7

[Davide DB]

All rumor sites are baffled that Panasonic will unveil its new micro four-thirds flagship mirrorless video oriented camera on June 5.
The GH6 is declared out of production in Japan only two years after its release.
We will only have to wait two days for official photos and features. for now the rumors report:

 

• Most features of the Lumix G9II (PDAF)
• internal RAW
• New 32bit float recording methods via a new XLR unit
• Large fan

 

 With the introduction of Phase Detection Autofocus and internal Raw format (to be seen which one, given the patent war on the subject) Panasonic seeks to repeat the huge success of the GH5

 

P.S.
I'm afraid I'll have to break my piggy bank this time...

 

[bghazzal]

Wow - that's exciting news (and might mean a few more GH5s housings on the market, for the vintage inclined crowd 😎).

 

Wonder if Nauticam's housing will finally switch to  video-centric ergonomics or keep the same still-based vertical shape as the GH6's

[Davide DB]

2 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Wonder if Nauticam's housing will finally switch to  video-centric ergonomics or keep the same still-based vertical shape as the GH6's

 

It would be another blow to my wallet!

After so many Nauticam housings, I am considering a change...

[SwiftFF5]

Wow, that might hurt my wallet, too.

[Guest]

On 6/3/2024 at 6:12 PM, Davide DB said:

All rumor sites are baffled that Panasonic will unveil its new micro four-thirds flagship mirrorless video oriented camera on June 5.
The GH6 is declared out of production in Japan only two years after its release.
We will only have to wait two days for official photos and features. for now the rumors report:

 

• Most features of the Lumix G9II (PDAF)
• internal RAW
• New 32bit float recording methods via a new XLR unit
• Large fan

 

 With the introduction of Phase Detection Autofocus and internal Raw format (to be seen which one, given the patent war on the subject) Panasonic seeks to repeat the huge success of the GH5

 

P.S.
I'm afraid I'll have to break my piggy bank this time...

 

I never felt autofocus was a limit underwater for me it was for most a topside issue with fast moving targets

 

The sensor performance has not really improved in the G9M2 compared to the GH5M2 and raw on MFt sensor is very noisy i think a  nice 422 10 bit long gop is good enough

[Guest]

Camera is out and simply this is the best hybrid camera with cropped sensor overall

[Guest]

Same body of the GH6 existing housings should fit

[Davide DB]

The camera has unique features for video and incorporates the same photographic functions as the G9II.
A rare piece of good news for us divers is that the camera body is identical to the previous GH6. The (few) lucky owners of a housing for the GH6 can upgrade the camera without changing the housing.
Thanks to an agreement between Panasonic and ARRI, it is possible to install a paid FW update that allows the camera to save footage in a certified ARRI CLog3 format. 

 

• 25.2MP BSI CMOS Micro Four Thirds Sensor
• 4K60 4:2:2 10-Bit Unlimited Recording
• 5.7K60, 4K120 HFR, FHD 240p VFR
• ProRes RAW, 32-Bit Float, 13+ Stop WDR
• Dual I.S. 7.5-Stop 5-Axis Stabilizer
• 3.68m-Dot OLED Electronic Viewfinder
• 3.0" 1.84m-Dot Free Angle Touchscreen
• CFexpress Type B & SD UHS-II Card Slots

 

 

[SwiftFF5]

Being able to use a GH6 housing will mean that we will be able to get housings right away.  I am severely tempted, and was wondering about housings, this answers the questions, thanks.  Now, I need to figure out if I can afford one.

[Davide DB]

I think a used GH6 housing is like a unicorn.

 

 

[SwiftFF5]

Just now, Davide DB said:

I think a used GH6 housing is like a unicorn.

 

 

Agreed, but at least new ones are available, if pricey, and won't need to be designed and manufactured.

[Davide DB]

And it was (actually is) an expensive one. The reason is a mystery to me.

[Davide DB]

My buddy has an Aquatica AGH5 and it's built like a tank.

I see Backscatter has the Aquatica AGH6 on sale while Aquatica doesn't list it on their site. 1K€$ less...

Isotta never made an housing for it.

 

Edit: Aquatica AGH6bis discontinued but I guess they will change the Sticker...

 

[Davide DB]

I see that Bluewater Photo lists Aquatica and Marelux GH7 housings for preorder.

Maybe they are changing the stickers 🙂

 

@Phil Rudin do you know anything about this housing?

 

https://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/marelux-panasonic-gh7-underwater-housing/

 

https://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/aquatica-panasonic-gh7-underwater-housing/

 

[Phil Rudin]

The only M43 housing announced by Marelux is the MX-OM1 housing. It was announced several months ago but does not yet seem to be in production. The OM-1 housing will require a completely new set of ports not yet announced. Current Marelux full frame and APS-C housings all use the same five inch port systems. Aquatica supports GH-5 (likely discontinued)  I believe, not aware of any other Panasonic cameras. 

Edited June 7 by Phil Rudin

[SwiftFF5]

How about this:

 

https://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/aquatica-panasonic-gh6-housing

 

Unfortunately, I have several ports for my current Nauticam housing, that I am probably going to have to stay with Nauticam.

[Davide DB]

1 hour ago, SwiftFF5 said:

How about this:

 

https://www.bluewaterphotostore.com/aquatica-panasonic-gh6-housing

 

Unfortunately, I have several ports for my current Nauticam housing, that I am probably going to have to stay with Nauticam.

 

Me too but I am trying to figure out if it is possible to adapt them to other housings.

I'm surethat Isotta provides adapters to mount Nauticam lenses. I don't know about Marelux and Aquatica.

 

We could open a thread 😉

 

[lutfu]

On 6/7/2024 at 10:45 PM, Davide DB said:

 

Me too but I am trying to figure out if it is possible to adapt them to other housings.

I'm surethat Isotta provides adapters to mount Nauticam lenses. I don't know about Marelux and Aquatica.

 

We could open a thread 😉

 

Marelux does

[jwmm2]

Has anybody tried the G9ii underwater? Seems to have most of the features of GH7, but a fair bit cheaper. I'm personally more of a hybrid shooter and don't need all the video bells and whistles of the GH7. It would be nice Nauticam were to bring out a housing for the G9Ii (I'm pretty tied to the Nauticam/m43) but Nauticam don't seem to be making as many housings as they once did.

[vkalia]

On 6/7/2024 at 12:49 AM, Davide DB said:

And it was (actually is) an expensive one. The reason is a mystery to me.

 

My theory is that a more expensive camera feels disgusted when placed in a cheap housing - and so to ensure smooth functioning, housing manufacturers price their housings proportionally to the camera that goes in them.     That’s the only reason i can think for such a big gap between various housings which require (more or less) the same amount of work to make.

 

🙂

[SwiftFF5]

Well, I found a used GH6 housing and was pretty much set to pre-order a GH7 and buy the GH6 housing now.  However, I had a talk with the sales rep (who would have been the one selling both of those items), and he suggested that I wait until they can get some time underwater with a GH7.  His reasoning is that one of the main problems with the GH6 that caused it to be such a flop is that Panasonic messed up something in the white balance, especially for video, which is all that I shoot, and he does not know if that has been corrected with the GH7.  That was enough to convince me to wait a bit for now.  I have a trip to the Blue Heron Bridge lined up for September, so I will need to have a camera for that trip.

 

Anyway, just wanted to update you with that, and see if anyone else has heard something similar?

[DreiFish]

From the specs and reviews, it looks like a nice, very capable camera. Almost makes me wish I'd stuck with m4/3 instead of moving to full frame... but actually the size and weight difference is not so much with the right lenses and dome choices, and you do get an image quality improvement on full frame.

 

One very important question for video is how the GH7 handles white balance at depth. My old GH4 was pretty bad, the GH5 only ok. Has Panasonic caught up, or is it still behind Canon and Sony in this area?

[Davide DB]

20 hours ago, DreiFish said:

One very important question for video is how the GH7 handles white balance at depth. My old GH4 was pretty bad, the GH5 only ok. Has Panasonic caught up, or is it still behind Canon and Sony in this area?

 

Which depth?
 

Here in the Med with medium viz I was able to get consistent results up to 10 meters. I can MWB up to 20 meters but with unpredictable results: the camera performs MWB easily but colors are completely off. Tons of greens. The camera probably sets the colour temperature to the maximum of its scale (even if it is insufficient) and gives a positive response to the user. 

Unfortunately, Mediterranean water (and it also depends on where) is completely different from tropical water (and it also depends on where) so the results are not at all comparable. Below 20 meters the only decent clips I saw were shot in RAW (Canon C300 MKII, another planet).
Maybe @lutfu tried with his GH5 in the eastern Mediterranean which has very clear water.

[DreiFish]

5 hours ago, Davide DB said:

 

Which depth?
 

Here in the Med with medium viz I was able to get consistent results up to 10 meters. I can MWB up to 20 meters but with unpredictable results: the camera performs MWB easily but colors are completely off. Tons of greens. The camera probably sets the colour temperature to the maximum of its scale (even if it is insufficient) and gives a positive response to the user. 

Unfortunately, Mediterranean water (and it also depends on where) is completely different from tropical water (and it also depends on where) so the results are not at all comparable. Below 20 meters the only decent clips I saw were shot in RAW (Canon C300 MKII, another planet).
Maybe @lutfu tried with his GH5 in the eastern Mediterranean which has very clear water.

 

Depths between 10-20(30) meters, I would say. Most cameras are pretty reasonable with white balance down to 10m. And that was my experience as well with the GH5 -- it was fine down to about 12m or so, with or without a red filter. It's past that that the different manufacturer's implementation starts to materially differentiate.

[Eric Hanauer]

I’ve been shooting a GH5 underwater for several years. Manual white balance works fine down to about 100 feet. You don’t need a white card. Sand or gray rock will work. It still will need color grading in post. Final Cut Pro does a good job of this.