Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6
Other improvements that make the GF6 more attractive than its predecessor are outlined below:
The new camera will be offered in black, white, brown or red. A new power zoom digital interchangeable lens in white H-PS14042-W is bundled in the white camera kit as DMC-GF6X-W. Who’s it For? Like its predecessor, the GF6 will suit digicam upgraders who want a small compact system camera that is easy to operate and connects easily with online sharing sites ““ either through the Panasonic cloud-based service or via an internet connected ‘smart’ device. Photographers who are seriously into Wi-Fi will find a lot to like in this camera, which has one of the best integrations we’ve seen, augmented by NFC facilities that will please owners of Android tablets and smart-phones. Although the GF6 isn’t rated as weatherproof, it’s solid enough to withstand use for wildlife photography when triggered remotely via one of these devices. It would be possible to use the new 14-140mm lens at longer focal lengths in such situations, although Panasonic’s 100-300mm f/4-5.6 lens (which we haven’t yet reviewed) would provide a longer reach for flighty subjects. The GF6 retains all the advantages of its predecessor for street photography, while offering higher resolution, faster autofocusing and faster continuous shooting speeds. The tilting screen will make the touch operating function more versatile for these photographers, enabling them to focus and trigger the shutter by touch with the camera held at waist level or above the head. The built-in flash provides benefits for family photographers. Travellers will enjoy the compact size and light weight of the camera and the wide variety of scene pre-sets will make shooting easier in different situations. Most people will welcome the return of the mode dial to the top panel, making it easier to swap between different shooting modes. The special effects should please many snapshooters. However, photographers who require an integrated viewfinder should look at other options in Panasonic’s line-up. So should anyone who wants to fit an add-on flashgun to their camera. Build and Ergonomics Aside from the new mode dial and tilting monitor, changes to the body design are relatively minor. The top panel is now chromed and there’s been a minor re-shuffling of the button controls, the rear panel gains a Fn2/Wi-Fi button and a larger, shaped thumb rest and, although the rubber grip on the GF6 is smaller, not much else has changed. The base plate of the new camera is unchanged, with a metal-lined tripod socket on the lens axis and a combined battery/card compartment. The battery appears to be the same as the GF5’s and has a similar capacity, with a CIPA rating of 340 shots/charge with the 14-42mm kit lens. Connectivity The integrated Wi-Fi connectivity combines with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology to enable users to connect the camera to a smart-phone or tablet computer for recording, browsing and sharing images and movies. Both Android and iOS are supported. To use these facilities, you must install the Panasonic Image App from the Google Play Store (Android) or App Store (iOS) and the device you’re using must be compatible. A list of compatible devices is available at http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/. Once the app is installed, pressing the Wi-Fi button on the camera displays the SSID and password needed for directly linking the camera and mobile device. Alternatively, Android devices that support NFC can simply connect the camera with the smart-phone or tablet by just bringing them together. Launching Image App on the mobile device provides the following facilities:
We didn’t try out the ‘LUMIX CLUB’ cloud service but we were able to transfer JPEG images directly to a tablet PC without requiring the Image App interface with the camera’s basic Wi-Fi interface. From there, emailing them or transferring them to a computer or hard drive was straightforward. Panasonic was an early pioneer in introducing connectivity into cameras so it’s no surprise to find the Wi-Fi integration in the GF6 is the best we’ve encountered so far, thanks in part to the way it works with the camera’s NFC system. This is by far the easiest (and fastest) way we’ve found thus far for sharing files between cameras and Android tablets or smart-phones. Sensor and Image Processing The higher-resolution sensor and updated image processor have enables Panasonic to expand ISO sensitivity from a maximum of ISO 12800 in the GF5 to ISO 25600 in the GF6. Continuous shooting speeds have also been increased substantially to 20 frames/second in the Super High-speed (SH) mode, when focus and exposure are fixed on the first frame. With AFS re-focusing, shot-to-shot intervals drop to 4.2 frames/second, which is marginally faster than the maximum of four frames/second available in the GF5. The buffer memory has also been enlarged to accommodate seven RW2.RAWE frames, up from five in the GF5. The GF6 supports the same still picture options as its predecessor, recording both JPEG and RW2.RAW file formats as well as supporting the capture of stereo pairs for 3D viewing using the MPO file format. It also offers the same image size settings and aspect ratios. Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.
Video Video capabilities haven’t changed much. The DMC-GF6 still supports both AVCHD and MP4 /H264 format and offers a top resolution/quality setting of 1920 x 1080 / 50i (50 Hz) with full-time AF and high quality stereo sound in the AVCHD format. Users can adjust camera settings in the P, A, S and M modes and apply many of the Creative Control filters. The table below shows the settings available.
The maximum recording time per clip is 29 minutes and 59 seconds ““ or up to 4GB in MP4 mode. You can check the recordable time on the monitor screen. Playback and Software Playback settings for still pictures are essentially the same as in other G-series models that include the same touch-screen capabilities. The software bundle is also the same and contains the latest versions of PhotoFun Studio and Silkypix Developer Studio plus a 30-day trial version of Super LoiLoScope. Owners of TV sets or Blu-ray disc players with SD Image Viewer slots can playback recorded images and videos by simply inserting the camera’s memory card. The Kit Lens We’ve covered the H-PS14042E 14-42mm power zoom kit lens in our review of the DMC-G5 but we felt we should include the results of our Imatest tests to reflect different performances (if any) on the two camera bodies. The results were quite similar, taking account for the higher resolution of the GF6. Lateral chromatic aberration wasn’t as thoroughly corrected in-camera as in the GF5. However, it remained within the ‘low’ band across most of the focal length range. The Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH Power O.I.S. lens, which was also supplied with the camera, is reviewed separately. Performance Overall performance was much as we expected on the basis of previous tests on G-Micro cameras, taking into account the resolution and image processor of the new camera. Images taken with the kit lens were sharp and detailed and colours appeared natural looking. This was confirmed by our Imatest tests, which showed colour accuracy to be generally good and saturation well controlled in both JPEG and RW2.RAW images. The raw files were converted with the latest release of Adobe Camera Raw (v.7.4), rather than the inferior Silkyix-based bundled software. The resulting 16-bit TIFF files were as good as those from the GF5 when differences in sensor resolution are taken into account. Imatest showed RW2.RAW files to be up to expectations for a 16-megapixel camera. As with the GF5, JPEGs were slightly below expectations. Resolution held up very well with both file types across the camera’s sensitivity range. Long exposures at night showed little visible noise right up to ISO 6400 where slight granularity became visible. Noisewas obvious in shots taken at ISO 12800, although images remained relatively sharp. At ISO 25600, images appeared both granular-looking and slightly soft. Flash exposures were roughly a stop under-exposed at ISO 160 when a 42mm focal length was used. But exposures were evenly balanced throughout the remainder of the camera’s ISO range. Colour reproduction was reasonably faithful at settings up to ISO 6400 but the influence of ambient lighting could be seen from then on and images became rather soft and flat at ISO 25600. The auto white balance setting delivered slightly better results than the GF5’s for incandescent lighting but couldn’t eliminate the inherent warm cast. Shots taken under fluorescent lights had no visible colour casts and retained natural colours. Both pre-sets introduced a faint purple cast but manual measurement produced neutral colours and there’s plenty of scope for fine-tuning colour rendition via the touch screen. Video quality was generally very good. Clips appeared equally sharp and clear in both movie formats and colour rendition was natural-looking. The dynamic range recorded appeared to be slightly wider than the GF5’s and backlit subjects were generally recorded with fewer blown-out highlights and blocked-up shadows. Soundtracks were clear and relatively free of noises from the camera operations, thanks to the powered lenses. Stereo ‘presence’ was very good for the size and positioning of the camera’s microphones. We noticed a slight improvement in autofocusing speeds for both stills and movie recording. The GF6 also appeared to have better re-focusing speeds when tracking moving subjects, including those that changed position erratically. We carried out our timing tests with the 16GB Panasonic SDHC card with a Class 10 speed rating. The review camera powered-up in just under a second and shut down almost instantly. We measured an average capture lag of 0.22 seconds, which was eliminated with pre-focusing. Shot-to-shot times averaged 0.4 seconds without flash and 1.15 seconds with flash. Image processing times were. It took 1.9 seconds on average to process each JPEG file, 2.2 seconds for each RW2.RAW file and 2.6 seconds for each RAW+JPEG pair. The fastest capture speed the camera was able to maintain was a fraction less than 20 frames/second with the Super-high speed setting and JPEG files, which switches off live view at the start of the burst. The camera recorded 39 frames in 1.9 seconds. It took 20.1 seconds to process this burst. In the continuous high-speed shooting mode, the review camera recorded 10 high-resolution JPEGs in 1.9 seconds. It took 6.1 seconds to process this burst. In this mode we were able to record 29 frames before the capture rate slowed. With the continuous low-speed mode, the review camera recorded 10 high-resolution JPEGs in 4.5 seconds. It took 5.4 seconds to process this burst. The buffer memory filled after seven RW2.RAW files, which were recorded in 1.4 seconds in the continuous high mode. Processing time for this burst was 12.6 seconds. For RAW+JPEG pairs, the same buffer limit applied as well as the same frame rate. It took 17.6 seconds to process this burst.
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In summaryLike its predecessor, the GF6 will suit digicam upgraders who want a small compact system camera that is easy to operate and connects easily with online sharing sites ““ either through the Panasonic cloud-based service or via an internet connected ‘smart’ device. Photographers who are seriously into Wi-Fi will find a lot to like in this camera, which has one of the best integrations we’ve seen, augmented by NFC facilities that will please owners of Android tablets and smart-phones. Although the GF6 isn’t rated as weatherproof, it’s solid enough to withstand use for wildlife photography when triggered remotely via one of these devices. It would be possible to use the new 14-140mm lens at longer focal lengths in such situations, although Panasonic’s 100-300mm f/4-5.6 lens (which we haven’t yet reviewed) would provide a longer reach for flighty subjects. The GF6 retains all the advantages of its predecessor for street photography, while offering higher resolution, faster autofocusing and faster continuous shooting speeds. The tilting screen will make the touch operating function more versatile for these photographers, enabling them to focus and trigger the shutter by touch with the camera held at waist level or above the head. The built-in flash provides benefits for family photographers. Travellers will enjoy the compact size and light weight of the camera and the wide variety of scene pre-sets will make shooting easier in different situations. Most people will welcome the return of the mode dial to the top panel, making it easier to swap between different shooting modes. The special effects should please many snapshooters. However, photographers who require an integrated viewfinder should look at other options in Panasonic’s line-up. So should anyone who wants to fit an add-on flashgun to their camera. Rating
RRP: AU$ tbc; US$599.99 (as reviewed with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens)
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