ac6000cw

Yes, I know - I have my G9 setup like that, I use it a lot for wildlife video 🙂

The important (management) question for Panasonic - who don't have a market-dominant position in cameras like Canon do - is 'can we make a sensible return on investment' with a GH5 successor?
Making development prototypes isn't necessarily a big investment (I'm sure they've got all sorts of prototypes in the labs) but putting it into production and marketing it is.
Obviously there is less investment required if they just 'warm over' the GH5 and make it even more video-centric e.g. update the electronics, IBIS and DFD to G9 standard, switch to the GH5s sensor for better low-light, maybe replace the mechanical shutter with some sort of internal ND filter. Much beyond that it's probably a rather bigger development effort and is going to be a harder sell to the higher management in the current economic climate.
This wouldn't be a direct GH5 replacement, but personally I'd like them to put as much as possible of the GH5/G9 tech into the smallest possible camera body - a GX9 size body with 4k60p (even if it had to be cropped a bit) and a mic input would almost be my perfect camera. Combine lens IS with just EIS if IBIS is too space hungry. They could probably get away with dropping the mechanical shutter as well to save space - phones don't have them after all. Small size with good performance is the original ethos of m43, isn't it?

Towd - I think that's a perfect summary of how a lot of us feel about m43 versus the alternatives. A much more interesting post than people constantly ranting about AF performance.....

It is interesting that the top three spots on Andrew's list of the most popular cameras on EOSHD are all M43 cameras.  Yet every day we have new posts bemoaning the impending death of the format.  And here we are posting on a GH6 "rumors" thread that is 27 pages long and has been active for over a year.
 
It really feels like the death of M43 if it comes, will be due to a self fulfilling prophecy in the minds of its users and not based in any rational assessment of its adoption or the interest of its userbase.  
If Panasonic does decide to abandon a market that they lead and tries to cram the L-mount down our throat it will be one of the silliest decisions a corporation could make.  But I wont try to predict the future as it wouldn't be the first time corporate heads made a bad call.
For the last year or so now Panasonic has been pushing adoption of their new full frame camera line and they probably want to give it as much room to breath and grow as possible.  I think with the new release of the S5, they'll also want to give it some time for new adopters to buy in before they release any news about a GH5 replacement.   At least that is what makes the most sense to me, but I do agree the lack of guidance from them and full support of the format a bit worrisome.  For example, the EVA1 really should have been M43 with maybe a bundled EF adapter or an interchangeable mount-- that alone may have given their user base more confidence in its future.  It is also too bad that the L-mount and M43 have such similar flange distances that an adapter between the two is probably not in the cards.
That said M43 is still my favorite ecosystem and format and none of the full frame cameras have really pulled me away due to some combination of rolling shutter, cropped video, heat issues, or just the size of the bodies and lenses.  The A7S III looks the most promising to me, but I'm still not entirely sold on the need to move to full frame due to weight/size of the lenses and the shallow depth of field that I mostly consider a negative for video.
Anyway, It would be sad to see Panasonic walk away from a mount that arguably has one of the most diverse ecosystems of lenses and adapters on the market.  Hopefully, we'll get some good news soon from Panasonic after they have given the S5 some time to sell through.

You might find the GH5/GH5s/G9 'Lumix AF Guidebook' useful, download it from - https://www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/lumix/technologies/af.html

I've never used a GH5 so I can't compare them as a user of both (I own a G9).
The G9 is supposed to have better C-AF, has better IBIS/EIS,  and it's cheaper.
It does not support the XLR audio adaptor, does not have any 'All-I' codec modes (there is nothing above 150 Mbps), maximum record time is 30 minutes (10 minutes for 4k50p/4k60p) and doesn't have waveform monitors/vectorscopes/shutter angle control (and some other 'professional' video-specific features that are on the GH5).
It gained a range of long-GOP 10 bit, HEVC and high-bitrate 1080p codec modes in the recent firmware updates.
If you need to check for a specific feature etc., it's probably best to download the User Guide and have a read.
Effectively, it has a more stills/less video orientated feature set, but with the same basic video capture quality as the GH5 i.e. excellent 1080p and no-crop 4k up to 60p.

I've never used a GH5 so I can't compare them as a user of both (I own a G9).
The G9 is supposed to have better C-AF, has better IBIS/EIS,  and it's cheaper.
It does not support the XLR audio adaptor, does not have any 'All-I' codec modes (there is nothing above 150 Mbps), maximum record time is 30 minutes (10 minutes for 4k50p/4k60p) and doesn't have waveform monitors/vectorscopes/shutter angle control (and some other 'professional' video-specific features that are on the GH5).
It gained a range of long-GOP 10 bit, HEVC and high-bitrate 1080p codec modes in the recent firmware updates.
If you need to check for a specific feature etc., it's probably best to download the User Guide and have a read.
Effectively, it has a more stills/less video orientated feature set, but with the same basic video capture quality as the GH5 i.e. excellent 1080p and no-crop 4k up to 60p.

Kaboom, it's arrived!
Sorry, no YouTube unboxing video or reading of spec list, just an initial impression whilst the battery is charging.
I've come from 8-9 years of Fuji as my main cameras with some dabbling in 1" Sony and M4/3 Panasonic but have otherwise never owned a full frame mirrorless before.
I had Nikon DSLR prior to Fuji for stills with a D7000 for filming...but things have moved on since 2010!
First of all, it feels superb in the hand. In terms of size for handling and my use, just about perfect.
Weight, perfect and I currently have the 20-60mm 'kit' lens attached I bought it with which will become my personal travel lens and my stills work wide angle.
Build quality. Well all my old gear has now been sold but I'd say it's all a step up from Fuji and I had no complaints about that, but the build and finish are superb and the way the dials click and operate etc.
Next up, some stills and video tests to get a feel for how it all works etc and that all important AF test..., but so far, it's all looking good!

I'd agree - if you want to stay with m43, the G9 is the way to go, it's a great hybrid stills/video camera with superb quality 1080p and no-sensor-crop 4k up to 60p, plus outstanding IBIS/EIS.

I'd agree - if you want to stay with m43, the G9 is the way to go, it's a great hybrid stills/video camera with superb quality 1080p and no-sensor-crop 4k up to 60p, plus outstanding IBIS/EIS.

Update:
I recorded 25:00 of video then battery pull with no issue on my RP. All ~4GB MP4 segments were fine, with naturally the last one missing Don't let the recording reach the 29:59 legacy limit - if you do the camera will save the NVRAM settings when it automatically ends the recording The Ridgecrop formatter tool link I posted for Windows only worked once for me. After that the camera wouldn't accept any cards formatted with it. I then tried the formatter built into OSX using the FAT32 and MBR options (not GPT) - the camera accepts those cards but then displays an error whenever you take a photo or end a video recording. The only reliable and consistent way I've found to format > 32GB cards for FAT32 that my RP would accept and work with is under Linux. You can see instructions how to do so here. Here's a screenshot of the ~4GB segements on a 64GB SD card formatted to FAT32 for my 25:00 recording:

I agree with Kye that top-quality 1080p (e.g.  GH5/G9 level) isn't very far below 4k quality, particularly if your final output is heading for YouTube etc., and it is a lot faster to work with 1080p when editing. But the quality difference is more noticeable with a lot of cameras due to lower-quality down-sampling/scaling from the full sensor area to 1080p. The GH5 & G9 have the processing capability to do it properly.

The G9 has no 'All-I' compression modes (in fact nothing above 150 Mbps) but it did gain various 10-bit and 4:2:2 modes in the 2.0 firmware update.
It might be that the GH5 IBIS sensor movement isn't accurate/repeatable enough to do a good 'high res photo' mode - or it's just market segmentation.
If you look closely at the recent firmware updates for the GH5, GH5s and G9, a few changes have been only for the GH5s and G9 (the two more recent cameras) so I assume they have different (probably faster/more powerful) processing electronics than the GH5.
As I don't own a GH5 I can't compare it against the G9, but I don't think you would be disappointed with the G9 - it's in a different league to the G85, GX85 and earlier cameras....

These rules are here to make the forum as interesting as possible to read for others.
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Minimising the cost of media storage and distribution (bandwidth cost) is what has always driven the development of data compression. It is the reason that broadcast TV originally used interlaced image scanning (it halves the transmission bandwidth compared to using 'progressive' frames at the same picture update rate).

Logged on and what do I see
Yes another topic waylaid by Super8 causing arguments
If you keep it up, I will have to do what's best for the forum as an informative tool for filmmakers. And you know what that means.

LX100 isn't a M4/3 camera - it has a 16MP M4/3 sensor, but it doesn't use the whole area (it uses slightly different parts of it depending on the aspect ratio you select). That's why it's a maximum of 12.7MP stills. The lens needs to cover a smaller sensor area, so can be more compact. I think it relies very heavily on electronic correction of the lens distortions, as a trade-off for the small size - even so there is some barrel distortion visible at the wide end, and it's prone to flare sometimes.

As an erstwhile tech-oriented ad salesman I have to tell you that any such person - on finding out that editorial were devoting 3 or 4 pages to a favourable review of a particular camera would, within milliseconds, be on the phone to a decision maker at the manufacturer's HQ. There's nothing corrupt about that process, it's just how it works.

I think your argument is based around the idea that lenses are an investment, but they're not, they're a consumable.
I understand why you might think that, because it's a myth that seems to be on endless repeat in photography circles.
To understand why I don't believe that lenses are an investment, have a look at the Camera-Wiki Lens Mounts page, or the Wikipedia Flange focal distance page, and see how many of the mounts are still in-use on a current model camera.  There are things like PL, and EF (although its days are numbered), but the vast vast majority of them are essentially dead.  Even if you take very good care of them (the best way by never using them!) they will still age and the rubber and lubricants will dry out, with plastics becoming brittle, and coatings changing over time (yellowing, for example).  A second hand market does exist for some of the exotic lenses of yester-year, but unless you're talking about the pinnacle of the range, then they're worth very little.
MFT is a dead mount in the same way that EF is a dead mount - it is supported by current flagship cameras with specs that remain desirable, but is likely to decline in the future.
I would hesitate to call PL mount a dead mount, but anything else probably has the writing on the wall, it's just a matter of time.
I invested in MFT glass considering it a purchase that I would use for a period of time, get value out of, and then at some point it would be worth nothing to me and likely to other people as well.  Just like the shiny new camera bodies that everyone loves to salivate over.  I have some of the most desirable MFT lenses around, but the total cost was still in the same league as buying a single camera body.
In terms of the GH5 having been left behind, do a count of how many current model cameras can match the 4K60, or the 400Mbps All-I 4K 10-bit internal, or the 5K 10-bit open gate h.265.  Odds are whatever it is you're using can't do that.  There are some cameras that can, but odds are that I can't get them into a museum or historical monument without security asking me if I'm a professional, which wouldn't matter because my arm would probably fall off having to carry it around all day.
All technology goes down in value over time.  Relying on the resale value of any piece of equipment to justify its ROI is a recipe for losing your money.
I don't understand why people think of equipment in terms of resale value - it's purpose is to be used, not traded.

Speaking as an experienced FPGA design engineer, if you can implement it in an FPGA you could put into an ASIC (or into software, depending on how fast you need your processing to run).
There is nothing magic or special about FPGAs other than their basic ability to be user programmed/re-programmed, which is their 'Unique Selling Point'. That makes them very attractive for low to medium volume products which need high-throughput data processing - instead of sinking a lot of up-front development capital into an ASIC. It also makes it a lot easier and cheaper to fix bugs and add features after you've launched the product.....

Speaking as an experienced FPGA design engineer, if you can implement it in an FPGA you could put into an ASIC (or into software, depending on how fast you need your processing to run).
There is nothing magic or special about FPGAs other than their basic ability to be user programmed/re-programmed, which is their 'Unique Selling Point'. That makes them very attractive for low to medium volume products which need high-throughput data processing - instead of sinking a lot of up-front development capital into an ASIC. It also makes it a lot easier and cheaper to fix bugs and add features after you've launched the product.....

Speaking as an experienced FPGA design engineer, if you can implement it in an FPGA you could put into an ASIC (or into software, depending on how fast you need your processing to run).
There is nothing magic or special about FPGAs other than their basic ability to be user programmed/re-programmed, which is their 'Unique Selling Point'. That makes them very attractive for low to medium volume products which need high-throughput data processing - instead of sinking a lot of up-front development capital into an ASIC. It also makes it a lot easier and cheaper to fix bugs and add features after you've launched the product.....

Here we go again
I'm not banning free speech. I'm trying to increase the quality of speech on this forum, which is after all a knowledge-base that is supposed to be of use to people and to help people.
It is not yours to abuse for a political agenda.
You are asked to leave.

I think a big thing missing from a lot of these discussions is perspective. When I first started making videos I was 10 years old and was using a VHS-C camcorder. In 1996, at 12 years old, I bought a RCA camcorder (with my first flip out screen!) In 2000 I bought a Hi8 camcorder. In 2002 I bought a miniDV camcorder. In 2011 I started using Sony handy cams. Eventually I bought my GH3, my first interchangeable camera. 
I had to work with what I had, and figure out ways to get around the limitations all of those cameras had. Back then that was even harder to do, but we did it and made it work! Looking back most of it sucks, but that had less to do with the equipment and everything to do with our skill level. 
My friends and I just wanted to create stuff. Things like dynamic range and low light capabilities really never crossed our minds. When I see people obsessing over full frame, or knocking the M43 system, I chuckle and think about the old days and how I never let that stop me.
I love creating. I'd still be using a VHS camcorder if it was all I had access to! Meanwhile people wanna act like M43 isn't adequate enough to create whatever it is you're trying to create.

I hear there is a new virus coming from cameras, the first camera to human transmission has happened already with Red users.
They say the species of camera which originally spread the virus is the GFX 100 so if you come across one of those at Map Camera you better let them know you have come to take it away. Don't forget to go in wearing a biohazard suit.
Wild camera markets should all be banned and any remaining Iscoramas sent to me so I can disinfect them safely.
There is a very small chance the virus may mutate into something even more serious which literally makes Blackmagic users brains go invisible.
To stop that happening and to avoid a worldwide blackmagic plague, Grant Petty must immediately put an EVF, IBIS, autofocus and E-mount on a 6K Pocket camera, and hand it out for free to EOSHD users. The WHO agrees that is the only solution.