Micro Four Thirds Cameras are Amazing for Handheld Video

I've had the opportunity to work with several Micro Four Thirds cameras, and I can tell you that they're incredibly capable devices. One of the most impressive things about these cameras is their ability to handle handheld video. The small size and weight of these cameras make them easy to hold and maneuver, even in tight spaces. The result is footage that's smooth and steady, with minimal shake or blur.

I've also been impressed by the quality of the viewfinder on some of these cameras. Panasonic has done a great job of designing a high-quality viewfinder that allows for precise control over the camera's movements. This is particularly important when shooting video, where even small movements can affect the outcome.

The Panasonic GH5 and GH5S are two of the best Micro Four Thirds cameras on the market, in my opinion. These cameras offer excellent low-light performance, thanks to their dual IS (image stabilization) system. This allows users to shoot at slow shutter speeds without worrying about camera shake or blur. The result is footage that's incredibly smooth and stable.

The GH5 and GH5S also have dedicated features for video recording, which sets them apart from still photography cameras. These cameras are designed specifically for video production, with features like 10-bit 4:2:2 color output and V-Log profile. This makes them an excellent choice for professional videographers who need high-quality footage.

But Panasonic is about to release a new camera that I think is going to shake things up in the mirrorless market. Dubbed the "Slim" or "single lens mirrorless camera," this device promises to deliver impressive performance and features. The exact specifications of the camera have not been announced yet, but based on what we've seen from Panasonic's previous releases, I'm excited to see how it stacks up.

One feature that I think is essential for a high-end mirrorless camera is face detection autofocus. This technology allows the camera to automatically detect and track faces in real-time, making it easier to capture sharp portraits and videos of people in motion. However, Panasonic's cameras have traditionally relied on older contrast-based autofocus systems, which can be slower and less accurate than more advanced systems.

I'm not sure why Panasonic hasn't updated their autofocus system yet, but I hope that this new camera will address this issue. A fast and accurate autofocus system is essential for professional videographers and photographers who need to capture high-quality images quickly. If Panasonic can figure out a way to integrate face detection into their autofocus system, it could give them a major competitive advantage.

Another possibility is that Sigma might develop a body that will go with the Micro Four Thirds mount. This would be an interesting development, as it would open up new creative possibilities for photographers and videographers. The Micro Four Thirds mount has proven to be incredibly versatile, and I think that adding another manufacturer to the mix could only make things better.

The Last Few Weeks have been Action Packed

In recent weeks, camera manufacturers have been releasing a flurry of new announcements and updates. These developments have shaken up the market and created some excitement among photographers and videographers. It's clear that everyone is trying to stay ahead of the curve, with advancements in technology and innovation driving the industry forward.

The Panasonic GH5 has been a big player in this recent surge of activity. As I mentioned earlier, it's one of the best Micro Four Thirds cameras on the market, offering excellent low-light performance and dedicated features for video recording. The fact that Sony is working hard to compete with Panasonic's latest releases speaks to just how strong the competition is.

While some might say that Sony has a significant advantage in terms of sheer technology and resources, I think it's worth noting that Canon and Nikon are still playing catch-up. These manufacturers have been around for decades, and they're finally starting to invest more heavily in mirrorless technology. This could be an exciting time for photography enthusiasts, who will get to experience the benefits of newer cameras and technologies.

The Future of Mirrorless Cameras is Exciting

As we look ahead to the future, it's clear that mirrorless cameras are going to play a major role in shaping the industry. With advancements in technology and innovation driving the market forward, it's an exciting time to be a photographer or videographer.

Panasonic has been making some big moves lately, with announcements and updates that suggest they're serious about competing with Sony and other major players. The new Slim camera is just one example of this, but I think there may be more to come.

One thing that's for sure is that the competition in mirrorless cameras is heating up. With Canon, Nikon, and Sigma all vying for market share, it's an exciting time for photographers and videographers who want to stay ahead of the curve. Whether you're a professional or just starting out, there are plenty of options available to suit your needs.

Let Me Know Your Thoughts

Now that we've talked about some of the latest developments in mirrorless cameras, I'd love to hear from you. What do you think about these new announcements and updates? Do you have any thoughts on how the market is likely to shake out in the coming months?

Leave a comment below and let's get the conversation started!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlet's talk Panasonic last night there were two announcements from Panasonic that I think are extremely significant first one is there is now this kind of alliance this this conglomerate of three companies that are going to come together it's going to be Panasonic Leica and Sigma to work on a new camera system that's going to be a full-frame mirrorless that's number one number two is Panasonic announced the first two cameras they will be releasing in this there's the s-1 which is going to be a 24 megapixel camera there's the s-1 R which will be a 47 megapixel camera they didn't even give us all of the specs but I can tell you now that I think this is the first mirrorless system that has come along in the last couple weeks that actually threatens to give Sony a run for their money on this in a major way and I want to talk about that and break it down a little bit do you guys remember gosh it was a long time ago what like two weeks ago maybe when Nikon introduced the Nikon Z system and then Canon had the what was it back that was the Canon EOS R I'm joking around but anyway both those companies announced those cameras and those were supposed to be these full-frame mirrorless systems that were really going to dethrone them almighty Sony and then they came out and was kind of like okay and I don't know what they're doing now cuz both companies have kind of gone back to the drawing board and a minute announcement saying oh just kidding about that one card select thing we we're doing the pro cameras right now those will be out next year this is a weird way to introduce a camera system I mean you got to come out swinging and I think this is what Panasonic have done so let me break this down a little bit and let's talk about what they're doing how they're doing it I have been a big Sony user for years I love Sony cameras that use them for Stills and I use them for video I also use Panasonic and I've kind of stuck with some micro four-thirds stuff right now I'm filming with the Panasonic gh4 and I'm using the Vario Aylmer at 18 to 24 that is got the like a stamp on it too and the way those lenses are designed is that Panasonic comes up with the design they're very like a esque like approves them and then they come out with both companies names on them so what they're doing is and this is one thing I think is really brilliant is a business model for Panasonic because when you look at micro we've got Olympus and Panasonic the lenses are interchangeable the mounts are interchangeable and one of the biggest problems if you remember Sony about five years ago is they came out and it was limited what your lens selection was and it took them a long time to build enough lenses to where you started to have choices their partnership with Zeiss helped a lot with that and I think this is something similar going on that they're replicating now the mountain let's talk about that is based on this camera which is very heavy but this is the Leica SL which is on loan to me from like that I'm working on a review for and the camera is about two years old it's not a bad camera there's things I like about it but there's things that are starting to become a little bit dated about it the lenses on the other hand oh my gosh these are amazing and so with the SL camera I think we have a possibility now between Sigma Panasonic and like it to come together to build for this camera now here's the kind of weird part it's a little bit confusing the SL mount is now going to be referred to as the L mount the S has been bumped over and that's the S series from Panasonic so S series for Panasonic L mount this is the like SL it all comes together Panasonic also announced that they will be designing ten lenses for this thing over the next year so so by 2020 we will have ten lenses from Panasonic there are already eight lenses that currently exists from Leica that are ready to go now and they all be a little bit expensive pay our amazing lenses and then Sigma will also contribute to this as well the first three lenses from Panasonic will be a 50 millimeter f1 point for a 24 to 105 millimeter and a 70 to 200 millimeter but that's not all there was also another lens announced for Micro Four Thirds this is interesting because I think that that is a gesture to show that Panasonic is still committed to the micro four-thirds format I'll talk about that a little bit too but the lens that they announced is going to be a Leica lens also it's the Leica DG very asuma Lux 10 to 25 millimeter F one point seven across the board that's a very very big aperture for a zoom lens particularly from Micro Four Thirds now I want to talk about that a little bit too because this is significant that even though panasonic have been involved with Micro Four Thirds for a number of years now they've done very well with that system considering that sensor is in bad need of an update and it has size restrictions there's so many megapixels journaling you'll be able to get on there and it's just it's small a lot of people don't like it for that reason and I think that's probably impacted Micro Four Thirds sales along the way but I do like the fact they're still committed to micro four-thirds one thing that's interesting too when we look at the specs of the S cameras the S series cameras of the s-1 the s-1 are aside the megapixel big difference they will both be capable of doing 4k 60p video which is amazing Sony doesn't have a camera yet that does 60 P in 4k which is pretty cool they have the dual is which I have used a lot in the Micro Four Thirds cameras it is pretty amazing you can handhold it for video for Stills it's just it's unbelievable I have another review that I've been working on I haven't released it yet but for the last month or so I've had the Panasonic gene mind which i think is one of these sleeper cameras of the year and what impressed me the most about it is not only did they give you a gigantic viewfinder in this thing but the is is so good it's like all these elements that Panasonic are looking at the micro 4/3 sensor and they're saying ok well we're kind of limited as to what we can do with this so what can we do to enhance things well low light performance is not really optimal for micro four-thirds so they have designed a dual is system for stabilization around it that enables you to shoot at really slow shutter speeds and stay steady and I mean it really is some of the best I've seen so with that attitude towards technology bringing that over to a full frame system I think this is where things are gonna get interesting and this is where they're going to possibly give Sony a run for their money Sony do video wonderfully but I think with you have the gh 5 the gh 5s and Panasonic really have an edge on that because these things have dedicated features that normally are found on video cameras but they're incorporated into this dual purpose still and video type SLR package but this is not an SLR it's a mirror actually there's a name that they were calling it they were calling it a slim or a slim there's a single lens mirrorless camera whatever works I think it's going to be amazing and I'm actually really excited about this because even though like I said they haven't given us all the specs yet if this thing does what it says it's going to do it's about to get really interesting in the Sony world there is one very crucial specification that Panasonic have not told us about what this camera yet and it comes down to autofocus Panasonic cameras is great as they are they rely on an older system of contrast based autofocus so contrast base is usually very accurate but it is not as fast when you add face detection in most autofocus systems are some kind of high between those two but when you introduce face detection you get a much faster speed now one of the things that you have even with Kannon with their dual pixel autofocus and then also with Sony with their just phase detection autofocus is you have the ability to have an unmanned camera when you're shooting video they will literally do face detection in lock-on now god bless Panasonic they have done update after update with firmwares their autofocus has gotten a lot better and they do the best they can with the whole DFT the depth by D focus the technology that they've got but this camera needs to be face detection I don't know if that's something they've been stuck with with the Micro Four Thirds sensor they've just had to work around it but if they can figure the autofocus component out this camera is going to be scary that being said with the Micro Four Thirds cameras for stills the DF D is fine their contrast based autofocus if you're shooting stills or even when you're tracking a subject they work pretty well but to go over the top they're gonna need an introduced face detection I do think they've got something going with this it'll also be interesting to see if like it continues to contribute to mirrorless cameras I know they're obviously going to be working with the lenses but will we see an update to the SL I'll do a review on the SL I think it's a really interesting camera and like I said it's awesome but they're just some things it feels like it's about two years old which isn't a bad thing but it'll be interesting to see what goes into this in terms of development and another thing is a possibility is will Sigma develop a body that will go with this mount as well because then you start to have a lot of options and like I said this was the business model that helped micro four-thirds survive and I think it's a really smart thing to do if you guys haven't noticed over the last couple weeks I mean it's just camera report after camera report I have never seen this in our industry before it's obviously very competitive and a lot of money is being thrown at development of new camera systems so it's going to be really interesting to see what comes out of all this would love to know what you guys think do you think that there's no way Sony's ever going to be beat do you think this Panasonic thing has a chance maybe the Canon and Nikon systems are for you let me know down below can't wait to get talking about photography again but this has been another camera announcement kind of thing see you guys in the next video until then laterlet's talk Panasonic last night there were two announcements from Panasonic that I think are extremely significant first one is there is now this kind of alliance this this conglomerate of three companies that are going to come together it's going to be Panasonic Leica and Sigma to work on a new camera system that's going to be a full-frame mirrorless that's number one number two is Panasonic announced the first two cameras they will be releasing in this there's the s-1 which is going to be a 24 megapixel camera there's the s-1 R which will be a 47 megapixel camera they didn't even give us all of the specs but I can tell you now that I think this is the first mirrorless system that has come along in the last couple weeks that actually threatens to give Sony a run for their money on this in a major way and I want to talk about that and break it down a little bit do you guys remember gosh it was a long time ago what like two weeks ago maybe when Nikon introduced the Nikon Z system and then Canon had the what was it back that was the Canon EOS R I'm joking around but anyway both those companies announced those cameras and those were supposed to be these full-frame mirrorless systems that were really going to dethrone them almighty Sony and then they came out and was kind of like okay and I don't know what they're doing now cuz both companies have kind of gone back to the drawing board and a minute announcement saying oh just kidding about that one card select thing we we're doing the pro cameras right now those will be out next year this is a weird way to introduce a camera system I mean you got to come out swinging and I think this is what Panasonic have done so let me break this down a little bit and let's talk about what they're doing how they're doing it I have been a big Sony user for years I love Sony cameras that use them for Stills and I use them for video I also use Panasonic and I've kind of stuck with some micro four-thirds stuff right now I'm filming with the Panasonic gh4 and I'm using the Vario Aylmer at 18 to 24 that is got the like a stamp on it too and the way those lenses are designed is that Panasonic comes up with the design they're very like a esque like approves them and then they come out with both companies names on them so what they're doing is and this is one thing I think is really brilliant is a business model for Panasonic because when you look at micro we've got Olympus and Panasonic the lenses are interchangeable the mounts are interchangeable and one of the biggest problems if you remember Sony about five years ago is they came out and it was limited what your lens selection was and it took them a long time to build enough lenses to where you started to have choices their partnership with Zeiss helped a lot with that and I think this is something similar going on that they're replicating now the mountain let's talk about that is based on this camera which is very heavy but this is the Leica SL which is on loan to me from like that I'm working on a review for and the camera is about two years old it's not a bad camera there's things I like about it but there's things that are starting to become a little bit dated about it the lenses on the other hand oh my gosh these are amazing and so with the SL camera I think we have a possibility now between Sigma Panasonic and like it to come together to build for this camera now here's the kind of weird part it's a little bit confusing the SL mount is now going to be referred to as the L mount the S has been bumped over and that's the S series from Panasonic so S series for Panasonic L mount this is the like SL it all comes together Panasonic also announced that they will be designing ten lenses for this thing over the next year so so by 2020 we will have ten lenses from Panasonic there are already eight lenses that currently exists from Leica that are ready to go now and they all be a little bit expensive pay our amazing lenses and then Sigma will also contribute to this as well the first three lenses from Panasonic will be a 50 millimeter f1 point for a 24 to 105 millimeter and a 70 to 200 millimeter but that's not all there was also another lens announced for Micro Four Thirds this is interesting because I think that that is a gesture to show that Panasonic is still committed to the micro four-thirds format I'll talk about that a little bit too but the lens that they announced is going to be a Leica lens also it's the Leica DG very asuma Lux 10 to 25 millimeter F one point seven across the board that's a very very big aperture for a zoom lens particularly from Micro Four Thirds now I want to talk about that a little bit too because this is significant that even though panasonic have been involved with Micro Four Thirds for a number of years now they've done very well with that system considering that sensor is in bad need of an update and it has size restrictions there's so many megapixels journaling you'll be able to get on there and it's just it's small a lot of people don't like it for that reason and I think that's probably impacted Micro Four Thirds sales along the way but I do like the fact they're still committed to micro four-thirds one thing that's interesting too when we look at the specs of the S cameras the S series cameras of the s-1 the s-1 are aside the megapixel big difference they will both be capable of doing 4k 60p video which is amazing Sony doesn't have a camera yet that does 60 P in 4k which is pretty cool they have the dual is which I have used a lot in the Micro Four Thirds cameras it is pretty amazing you can handhold it for video for Stills it's just it's unbelievable I have another review that I've been working on I haven't released it yet but for the last month or so I've had the Panasonic gene mind which i think is one of these sleeper cameras of the year and what impressed me the most about it is not only did they give you a gigantic viewfinder in this thing but the is is so good it's like all these elements that Panasonic are looking at the micro 4/3 sensor and they're saying ok well we're kind of limited as to what we can do with this so what can we do to enhance things well low light performance is not really optimal for micro four-thirds so they have designed a dual is system for stabilization around it that enables you to shoot at really slow shutter speeds and stay steady and I mean it really is some of the best I've seen so with that attitude towards technology bringing that over to a full frame system I think this is where things are gonna get interesting and this is where they're going to possibly give Sony a run for their money Sony do video wonderfully but I think with you have the gh 5 the gh 5s and Panasonic really have an edge on that because these things have dedicated features that normally are found on video cameras but they're incorporated into this dual purpose still and video type SLR package but this is not an SLR it's a mirror actually there's a name that they were calling it they were calling it a slim or a slim there's a single lens mirrorless camera whatever works I think it's going to be amazing and I'm actually really excited about this because even though like I said they haven't given us all the specs yet if this thing does what it says it's going to do it's about to get really interesting in the Sony world there is one very crucial specification that Panasonic have not told us about what this camera yet and it comes down to autofocus Panasonic cameras is great as they are they rely on an older system of contrast based autofocus so contrast base is usually very accurate but it is not as fast when you add face detection in most autofocus systems are some kind of high between those two but when you introduce face detection you get a much faster speed now one of the things that you have even with Kannon with their dual pixel autofocus and then also with Sony with their just phase detection autofocus is you have the ability to have an unmanned camera when you're shooting video they will literally do face detection in lock-on now god bless Panasonic they have done update after update with firmwares their autofocus has gotten a lot better and they do the best they can with the whole DFT the depth by D focus the technology that they've got but this camera needs to be face detection I don't know if that's something they've been stuck with with the Micro Four Thirds sensor they've just had to work around it but if they can figure the autofocus component out this camera is going to be scary that being said with the Micro Four Thirds cameras for stills the DF D is fine their contrast based autofocus if you're shooting stills or even when you're tracking a subject they work pretty well but to go over the top they're gonna need an introduced face detection I do think they've got something going with this it'll also be interesting to see if like it continues to contribute to mirrorless cameras I know they're obviously going to be working with the lenses but will we see an update to the SL I'll do a review on the SL I think it's a really interesting camera and like I said it's awesome but they're just some things it feels like it's about two years old which isn't a bad thing but it'll be interesting to see what goes into this in terms of development and another thing is a possibility is will Sigma develop a body that will go with this mount as well because then you start to have a lot of options and like I said this was the business model that helped micro four-thirds survive and I think it's a really smart thing to do if you guys haven't noticed over the last couple weeks I mean it's just camera report after camera report I have never seen this in our industry before it's obviously very competitive and a lot of money is being thrown at development of new camera systems so it's going to be really interesting to see what comes out of all this would love to know what you guys think do you think that there's no way Sony's ever going to be beat do you think this Panasonic thing has a chance maybe the Canon and Nikon systems are for you let me know down below can't wait to get talking about photography again but this has been another camera announcement kind of thing see you guys in the next video until then later\n"