Panasonic G6

[Bill Bruner]

Hi Howie – I am a GH3 shooter – but I moderate one of the largest and most active Panasonic G6 groups on Vimeo and have seen some great work being done with this camera:

Narrative: “I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed” by Avner Levona

Doc: “Creative Space: Kathy Ponce ” by Kevin Mayuga

Music video: “A. BELKIN – Good Morning Mr. Blues” by Romas

Wedding: “Junwei + Daohua” by Jon Wide

Sports: “Wavetest 2013 / Side On – Onshore Impression” by Gleiten.TV

Travel: “Riverbanks” by emeric

See more at Panasonic G6 on Vimeo.

Only downsides to this camera are that you are limited to the AVCHD codec (and MP4) and it doesn’t have a headphone jack – but other than that, this is the best large sensor, interchangeable lens video/still camera on the market below $1000.

Almost zero moire, 1080/60p for smooth action and slow motion, a high resolution viewfinder that continues to work while you’re shooting video, focus peaking, built-in intervalometer, no clip length limits – and not a bad still camera either: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 Pool on Flickr

As of this post, they are on sale with the 14-42 kit lens for $634 at Amazon.

If I didn’t already have a 3 Panasonic GH cameras, I would buy one 🙂

Hope this is helpful,

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Howie Young]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for responding to my post. I appreciate your feedback and for sharing the links to the G6 Vimeo forum.

How does one work around not having a headphone jack? Are there any special splitters or adapters that can be used?

What problems could I incur only having the AVCHD codec and MP4 to shoot with? Does the GH3 have more options?

Are there any issues editing footage shot with the G6 when using FCP X?

Thanks!

Howie

[Bill Bruner]

Howie,

You can work around the lack of headphones by plugging your mic into an external recorder such as the $100 Zoom H1 and a $37 Sescom splitter cable – or you can plug your mic into something like this $399 JuicedLink preamp with a headphone jack. The preamp is more expensive, but will give you better in-camera sound.

This video from JuicedLink explains their view of the advantages of using a preamp over an external recorder:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl-7vmShkgs

In neither case, however, are you monitoring what the camera is actually recording.

As far as the codec goes, with the G6 you’ll have to transcode from AVCHD to Quicktime for editing with something like Media Converter.

The GH3, on the other hand, supports Quicktime .MOV, and doesn’t require transcoding.

If you want to avoid the hassle of transcoding and the expense of hundreds of dollars worth of external recorders/preamps just to get a headphone jack, the $998 GH3 may be the better option.

Again, hope this is helpful!

Bill
Hybrid Camera Revolution

[Howie Young]

Bill,

Thanks again for your feedback.

Howie