Panasonic has announced a new Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera designed for live event streaming, vlogging, mounting to drones and more. The box-shaped Lumix DC-BGH1 doesn’t have a viewfinder or rear display panel, but is compatible with an extensive lens lineup and capable of Cinema 4K and 10-bit video recording.
The BGH1’s light and durable aluminum and magnesium alloy body is home to a 10.2-megapixel Live MOS sensor and Venus image processing engine combination, making it a similar proposition to the Lumix GH5S. Indeed it also features the Dual Native ISO technology found in that camera, which chooses between two separate ISO circuits for optimal low noise output. Light sensitivity tops out at ISO51,200.
Eye, face and body detection of human subjects gets joined by head detection, with “advanced deep learning technology” able to track fast-moving animals too.
There’s no mention of stills photography for the BGH1 at all, with Panasonic squarely aiming this device at filmmakers. It’s reported capable of 4:2:0 C4K/4K video in 10-bit color at up to 60p or 4:2:2 C4K/4K at 30p with All-I compression. Footage at 4K 4:2:2 10-bit C4K/4K 60p can be output over HDMI. The USB-C, 3G-SDI and HDMI ports can all output simultaneously. Variable frame rate allows for up to 240 frames per second at Full HD. A new heat dispersion structure has been installed for unlimited recording potential, and the camera is home to dual UHS-II card slots for backup or relay recording.
In addition to Hybrid Log Gamma HDR modes in Photo Style and HEVC/H.265, V-Log L now comes with 13 stops of dynamic range cooked-in.
You won’t find a viewfinder or display panel on this model, but there are numerous accessory mount opportunities dotted around the camera body. The BGH1 offers power, signal transmission and control over Ethernet, with the company’s Lumix Tether for Multicam 2 application making it possible to control up to 12 BGH1 cameras from a single source. And Panasonic promises support for IP streaming in a future firmware update.
Elsewhere, there’s support for anamorphic lenses (with desqueezed output over SDI, USB-C or Ethernet), front and rear tally lights, Bluetooth 4.2 and 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi, a 3.5-mm audio in/out jack, and a Software Development Kit for camera control over USB will be provided with the camera free of charge.
Panasonic launches video-focused live-event box camera [New Atlas]