It seems that Sony isn’t the only company finally seeing vloggers as a serious market. With the rise in vloggers on YouTube over the past few years, and particularly in the last few months as many are stuck at home, it was only a matter of time before companies finally started giving them what they really wanted. Sony’s new ZV-1 vlogging camera seems to have been met with a very warm reception and now Panasonic’s apparently getting in on the action with the G100, according to 43Rumors, with an official announcement expected on June 24th.
Other than the image above, there’s no other information on 43Rumors. No mention of any specs, although I think we can probably speculate at a few minimums based on what we’ve seen in the Panasonic G80/G85 and G90/95.
Naturally, it will have a Micro Four Thirds sensor. But will they go with the G90’s sensor? Revert back to the G80’s sensor? Or go with something entirely new? 4K capability is obvious, hopefully at 60fps and 1080p offering at least 120fps. for some slow-motion action. Possibly even 180fps? If the GH5 is due for a replacement soon anyway there isn’t much need to hold onto that limit. Storage will probably just be a single SD cards slot, but whether or not it will be UHS-II likely depends on what footage it supports. If it offers 4K 10-Bit 4:2:2 footage internally, which would demand those kinds of speeds, then I’d be extremely surprised. But perhaps its stills capabilities might demand UHS-II? A 3.5mm stereo microphone input will also be a certainty, I would think, as it’s pretty essential for vlogging and already present in previous models, as is (I hope) the flippy-out LCD. I’ve recently converted to the Panasonic G80 myself as a vlogging camera and to be honest, I think it works pretty well as it is. I actually prefer it over the G90 because of the slightly lower resolution sensor which leads to less cropping when shooting in 4K (the G80 is about a 2.2x crop and the G90 is about a 2.5x crop when shooting 4K). If they do go with a higher resolution sensor like the G90’s, then hopefully they’ll figure out a way to make it use the full-frame and not crop 1:1 for 4K. One thing that I really would like to see on a vlogging-oriented camera from Panasonic in this product line is an obvious light on the front (that you can enable/disable via menus) to let you know when you’re recording. For many in the US running the G85 and G95, it’s not an issue because there is no record limit. But for those in the rest of the world using the G80 and G90, there is a 29 minute and 59-second limit. So, if you’re not careful, it can stop recording in the middle of your thing and you may not even notice. Well, we’ll find out in a little under a week, I suppose. [via 43Rumors]
