Gordon Laing from CameraLabs (Click here) published the Lumix G6 review which is the most detailed to date – it’s 20,000 words long, which would be about 30 pages on most magazines or websites! So take a coffea and sit down when reading this 🙂
In very short this is his conclusion: “I’ll cut to the chase and say the Panasonic Lumix G6 is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying cameras I’ve used, sporting a powerful feature-set that’s the envy of rivals and great image quality that’s essentially as good as any of Canon’s 18 Megapixel APS-C models. I used this camera extensively during a driving trip around Europe and there’s little if anything more I could ask from it. Indeed I’d say it’s one of the best cameras at this price point whether you’re shopping for mirrorless or DSLR.”
Panasonic GF6 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Technikdirekt, Wex UK,
Panasonic G6 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here).
Panasonic 14-140mm lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here).
47 Responses
There’s no link to the CameraLabs review.
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_G6/
Thanks Ulli. Slpet 3 hours only tonight. Baby was a crying monster 🙁
Hey, just wait untill you have a second one and the new baby cries, waking up the toddler. Then the toddler won’t go back to sleep becaurse he’s awake now and wants to play ……… At 3 a.m.
Fortunately it only lasts a couple of months each time.
shut up guys, my first one just did her first complete night yesterday after 11 months, let me enjoy it without thinking about tomorrow!
Sorry, but your comment made me really laugh! 😀
Hey guys it does not get any easier when the get older, just wait for the teen age years when a girl gets dumped by her boyfriend, then you get the tears……….
@Val and @OMega
I’m in BOTH those boats right now! 🙂
@ Panasonic: How come reviewers get the G6 with the new 14-42 II , but in Germany only kits with the old 14-42 are available?
That is indeed very funny “omission.”
In Germany, the kit is “G6K” and bundled with the H-FS1442 lens, the original 14-42.
In US, the kit is “G6KK” (two Ks) and bundled with the H-FS1442A lens, which is the mk2 of the 14-42.
In other words, not only the kit costs less in the US, it also comes with a better lens.
P.S. But there doesn’t seem to be a kit-less version in US. In Germany, kit goes for 700€ vs. 630€ for body w/o lens, making it 70€ for the old lens.
That’s because those of us in the US are special. 🙂
(That should generate some chatter from the rest of you.)
There is no reply to that. Honestly. Or
Honesty dictates there is no reply to that. Or
There is no honest reply to that. Or
Honstly, should we believe that?
Hey the guy in the stop-motion video ate a lot of pizza!
Jokes aside this G6 is more bang-for-your-money than what I thought. I am seriously considering it.
I’d expect the G6 to be the beginning of a new update cycle for the G series. The camera has a lot of features, a capable sensor, and the handling has evolved very nicely.
Of course, the mirrorless market is changing constantly, could be that we see a G7 next year already.
The best thing you can say about the G6 is “there is nothing wrong with it”. It’s a regular camera. Perhaps it has less quirks than others and is more tamed and predictable, but it’s very me-too. Nothing inspiring, nothing that encourages you to explore and improve your photography. The comparison with the mini Rebel is rather appropriate because those two cameras share a similar utilitarian, run of the mill spirit.
And that’s what Panasonic wants it to be: the camera that people buy who would have otherwise bought a Rebel.
+1
“Nothing inspiring, nothing that encourages you to explore and improve your photography.”
I guess you could and should be inspired and get to improve your photography with any decent camera, which the G6 sure is.
I don’t think the look and “uniqueness” of a camera is what make people that great pictures.
TAKE great pictures. sorry.
Good photography does not depend on good gear, but the gear has to support your vision in a seamless manner. When I shoot artistically I prefer to use certain cameras. When my intent is documentary it doesn’t matter that much.
to a certain point this applies for me as well,no atter the format, i feel comfortable s long as the lens attached appeals to me(I would be rather unhappy with (slow) zooms)
Who knows, maybe you are correct. Nevertheless, such statement encourages me to be pedantic : one should not rely on gear to be encouraged to explore taking photography.
Rely on… no. Absolutely agree there.
But that does not change that certain cameras make you want to pick them up and press that shutter release, where others don’t.
Some are inspiring, others are cold picture capturing tools.
And why not use something that helps, not wanting to rely on ‘good gear’ is not the same as refusing to make use of things that are helpful.
Nothing wrong in getting gear you enjoy using. Once you got the right tool for the right job, the cool factor has to be taken out of the equation. Now, the OP may not have meant it that way and I don’t want to create a straw men, but if I rephrase correctly, the boring design of the G6 is a creativity crippler. I don’t buy that..
Its a rather utilitarian camera, neither inspiring nor crippling creativity. A creative photographer will be perfectly able to use it for creative purposes, but it lacks this ‘pick me up and use me’ feeling that can work especially well for inspiring creativity. Once you used cameras that do trigger this feeling, then everything else does seem uninspiring and dull.
“Gordon Laing from CameraLabs published the Lumix G6 review”
Unexpectedly, a very good review!
Got mine yesterday, one of the first in France.
Latest Imac cannot read the RAW, neither Silkypix 3.1 SE given with the camera, neithe Iphoto or anything.
Constant visualisation is gone so far, really annoying while working in manual.
Avchd is just fine, fortunately…
Bonjour!
You may consider Darktable. It’s free. Or Rawtherapy.
Darktable works. Many thx !!!
hope Snapseed follows soon.
JB
Lots of words for the usual complacent review, a waste of space really. I would probably choose the Canon, it has fewer features but better implemented, starting from the viewfinder, and it has a proper system behind.
Does OVF offer magnification for precize manual focusing?
Unless you hate EVFs in general, I fail to see how the SL1’s dim OVF with only 0.87× magnification and 95% coverage is better than the 1.4M dot EVF with 1.4x mag and 100% coverage of the G6.
As for the part about “fewer features but better implemented”, let me know how good is Canon’s liveview compared to Panasonic’s.
Also, where’s all the EF-S Canon primes in the “proper system behind” the SL1?
Don’t get me wrong, I was a Canon user for years, but they have became complacent and have not improved IQ on their APS-C bodies since 7D as well as not produced many EF-S lenses specifically for their cropped body. Their focus is on FF, which is great if you’re a pro or a hobbyist with that sort of money.
So this guy tests cameras with the sub-par kit lenses? Does that bring out the max resolving power?
He concludes that the G3 has more or less the same IQ as the G6, and that the G6 has more or less the same IQ as the GH3.
In other words the G3 and the GH3 has the same IQ.
Right.
I will avoid Cameralabs for reviews from now on.
For all practical purposes, it is actually correct to say that those offer approx the same IQ. They won’t for critical applications and corner-case scenarios.
Of course, a review should point out both, there not being a significant difference for everyday use, but there being one for critical uses.
Christian – I read it quite differently: the G6 sits in between the G3 and the GH3 such that it narrows the gaps with successive models. This does not remove the fact that the GH3 is significantly better than the G3 – just that the G6 is a ‘bridge’ and IQ would not be the major decision that it used to be in buying the G6 compared to the others. The G6 uses basically the same sensor as the G3 but the processing takes it one level up (especially low light performance) and the GH3 is up a level again with a better sensor but not as good with the processing engine. Swings and roundabouts.
As he rightly (IMO) says, MFT sensor resolution has stalled since the G3 was released so I see that we are back to where we were with film where it is functionality that dictates the purchase not mere megapixels. He also takes pains to point out the naysayers who dream of quantum leaps with each model release – it ain’t going to happen. They either release the incremental change and people whine about ‘no real improvement’, or don’t release a new one and people whine about ‘my cmaera is now 6 months old, where’s the next model’.
I agree that the lenses he used does not show the full potential of the G6 but the review seemd to concentrate on showing how MFT have now closed the gap to entry level DSLR (but I think we knew that already).
The IQ is not about the megapixels – this is one of the absurd inferences in his “review”. The move from the G3 to the G5 is about Dynamic Range, and from the G5 to the GH3 it’s about DR and High ISO.
I’m not sure if that is supposed to refute what I said, but I don’t think it does (unless of course you choose to post something that actually ezplains your comment). Megapixels or not, the increases in image quality are getting ever smaller (with or without major shifts in sensor technology) and ever more irrelevant to all but pixel peepers or people who push cameras to the limit with major cropping or mega-sized output.
G6-> M I C R O four thirds…………
What? ??
The G6 does NOT use the same sensor as the G3.Period.
I know it doesn’t, which is why I said ‘basically’. The G5/G6 are developments of Panasonic’s own sensor, whereas the GH3 is apparently the Sony sensor which gave it the leap in performance.
“which gave it the leap in performance.” Thanks for agreeing.
Once again, I do not understand Panasonic policy :
– they seek providing a quite sophisticated camera (yes) to an amateur / enthusiast client base
– they succeed in nearly any aspect (tracking excluded – OK)
– And they still don’t care about default settings : too soft compared to the canon one
Dear Panasonic marketing, please choose : either you can convince Dpreview and Cameralab and the others to apply same settings to their tests… Either make your own settings more flattering when aiming amateurs !!!
CAMERA LABS have out did themselves on the G6 review.. Reserving one now.
It’s a great read and review.
They did done that.
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Good eco camera. Makes good use of old parts and technology. Good for the eco conscious buyer.