Thinking of making a movie? You probably know about 4K cameras, but what about something that does more? Panasonic is ready with a full-frame mirrorless that can go beyond 4K Ultra HD.
If you’re thinking of making a movie these days, there’s a good chance that you’re looking at a camera that can capture in 4K Ultra HD, because that’s where the bulk of the good TVs are.
While 8K Ultra HD has begun its transition into the home, it’s merely just a start, and filmmakers keen to shoot for that grade of video are likely forced to spend up big, not just on the camera itself, but also the lens compatibility as well. RED’s 8K cameras, for instance, start at around the $24K mark, and still need you to bring the lens along for the ride, making rentals more likely for folks in those situations.
There are far more options for 4K video out there, and quite a few of the mirrorless and digital SLRs offer the technology, so your choices are easily more varied, but if you want more resolution, the price hike is pretty steep.
But it might not be for that much longer.
Panasonic has announced that a new full-frame Lumix mirrorless interchangeable lens camera would be joining the ranks of the S1 and S1R, offering a staggering 6K resolution for the camera in the stills aspect ratio of 3:2, while the 16:9 film and video ratio would get 5.9K.
That’s higher than 4K, and could be used to crop video into 4K Ultra HD, or even downsample 6K video into 4K for a higher quality take on how 4K Ultra HD can look.
There’s also support for High-Dynamic Range (HDR) technology over V-Log and V-Gamut, and just to shine a light on the Lumix S1H’s video mode even more, Panasonic will make the camera capable of recording non-stop in every recording mode.
Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the announcement is a lack of a sensor resolution, with Panasonic not yet announcing what megapixels the Lumix S1H sensor operates at. No megapixels means no way of knowing just where the Lumix S1H sits in the Lumix range of cameras, especially against its full-frame siblings, the 47 megapixel Lumix S1 and the 24 megapixel Lumix S1R.
Hopefully we’ll know more soon, though, because with an expected retail target of autumn in America (which means spring locally), Panasonic has a few months to iron out everything else.
