First Impressions of the GH5

Oleg Kalyan · April 8th, 2017, 02:44 AM

Hi everybody, so far great impressions on 10 bit Vlog colorimetry, quite flexible.

Steven Schuldt · April 8th, 2017, 02:51 PM

Can you share your 10bit video settings? Would like to see if there is anything quirky about mine that might be causing the compression artifacts I'm seeing in FCP. Thanks!

Chad Whelan · April 9th, 2017, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Burkett

Well to my utter surprise, I got mine delivered literally an hour before I was heading off to a Wedding yesterday in Essex. Mind it was a close call. I got the call Thursday at 7pm to take payment. Asked for an AM next day service and then the delivery van broke down Friday first thing, so was advised of some delay. A frantic call to the delivery firm and they were kind to make me first visit of the day once they were running.

If I made one of those awful unboxing videos, it would have lasted 30 seconds. Long enough to confirm all was there before it was packed with my gear. Started using it as soon as I arrived for the Wedding. Couldn't wait. :)

First impressions. Love having auto ISO with manual (finally), love 4K at 50p which I used for the Brides entrance, confetti, reception entrance and first dance. Definitely smoother auto focusing when in 50p. Much heavier to hold. Menus took some time to get use to. Literally finding my preferred settings on the fly, though my experiences with the GH4 and GX80 helped there.
The new custom menu is great, laying down my most used menu items in 1 place. Battery drains faster than the GH4, but that's to be expected.

And no crop. Much improved on the GH4. I'm now travelling to Ireland for another Wedding today and then will spend a few days visiting, so hope to become more familiar with it and have a tonne of footage by the time I return. However yesterday was a great start. Bit more a baptism by fire than I had with the GH4, but it held up well.

Steve - did you find out why your lcd looked soft? Compared to the gh4 I agree completely that it looks softer, hoping that was just a setting I have not played with yet. Anyone else feel the same?

Steve Burkett · April 10th, 2017, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad Whelan

Steve - did you find out why your lcd looked soft? Compared to the gh4 I agree completely that it looks softer, hoping that was just a setting I have not played with yet. Anyone else feel the same?

I think its just how the LCD is. Perhaps as I have sharpness turned down on the image, its better reflecting that. I shall have another look in the settings and see if there's something I can do to beef the display up a bit.

Oleg Kalyan · April 11th, 2017, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Schuldt

Can you share your 10bit video settings? Would like to see if there is anything quirky about mine that might be causing the compression artifacts I'm seeing in FCP. Thanks!

Steven, Hi.
I had a Slog setting default, and converted it to Prores 444, no compression artefacts, which I noticed also converting to 422.

Oleg Kalyan · April 11th, 2017, 11:57 PM

The Phone, short GH5. 10 and 8 bit scenes included.

also in youtube

Chad Whelan · April 12th, 2017, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Burkett

I think its just how the LCD is. Perhaps as I have sharpness turned down on the image, its better reflecting that. I shall have another look in the settings and see if there's something I can do to beef the display up a bit.

I was told the monitor on the gh4 shows more aliasing so maybe that was actually helping with the focusing. I have found doing the following definitely helps:

lowering the contrast all the way down on the monitor and also lowering the brightness by one or 2 clicks. I have also set the monitor luminance to 1, the brightest instead of auto. Seems to definitely help to me anyway.

Ugo Merlini · April 15th, 2017, 03:11 AM

Hi,

I'm going to buy this camera (probably) replacing my old hv30. As i'm going in the new world my choice is actually the bundle kit with leica lens.

my question is if the gh5 is suitable for animal / nature "hunting" like delphins, whales or in general fast scenes (many years ago I was in namibia and remained very impressed by a lions start run).

thanks

PS: will you so brave to put the gh5 out of the sailboat to get stunnig images?

Noa Put · April 15th, 2017, 04:33 PM

Max Yuryev just uploaded his video where he together with PhotoJoseph did some extensive testing on the GH5 autofocus capabilities and what I see is still borderline usable, it could work in repeatable shots but I never would use it for shots where you only get one chance to get it right, like with every wedding I shoot. It's clear the autofocus has been improved over the GH4 so I see that as something positive but for me it unfortunately would not be usable.

Ron Evans · April 15th, 2017, 05:26 PM

I have had my GH5 for a week now. First thing I did was compare autofocus to my Sony camcorders and to me it performs much the same with Custom OFF as they discovered. Just slightly slower but not noticeable. Got confused by the same things the camcorders do so no surprise. The GH5 has the advantage of specifying the area that it will look at to auto focus on and that area can be moved around with the joystick right next to your thumb. Can also be jogged into to resetting what it wants to focus on by pressing the shutter button as Max said. I will not use continuous auto focus in my use so interesting but not something of great importance to my application. I also find the WiFi app really good.

Noa Put · April 16th, 2017, 03:06 AM

Now we know what to expect from the autofocus it's time to move on, I for one am most exited about it's ability to preset 3 focuspoints and then to do controlled focus pulls by tapping the corresponding numbers on screen. I see this as very valuable while covering a ceremony from a fixed location, I can now preset focus on the readers at the lectern, the priest at his altar and the position where the couple is standing for the vows and while panning between them nail my focus every single time with a perfect repeatable focus transition. Or just use it to perform a perfect rack focus between objects.

Ron Evans · April 16th, 2017, 06:18 AM

Must be careful if you are using one of the zooms not to zoom after setting the points. The zooms are not farfocal and the settings will be lost if you zoom. Just pan to set the points and it should work fine. Or if you shoot 4K and they are all in the full wide shot it works great.

Noa Put · April 16th, 2017, 07:20 AM

Yeah I know, focal length can't change once it's set but still a highly usable feature.

Mark Rosenzweig · April 16th, 2017, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Yeah I know, focal length can't change once it's set but still a highly usable feature.

Focus shifts do not look so great if there is focus breathing (small shift in perspective when the focus changes). Has anyone checked how bad this is on any of the (still) photography lenses (Lumix and others) used on mft cameras?

Noa Put · April 16th, 2017, 04:42 PM

That's a limitation of the lens, not the camera, I don't mind the breathing as long as I can nail focus.

April 8th, 2017, 02:44 AM	#76
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Hi everybody, so far great impressions on 10 bit Vlog colorimetry, quite flexible. Panasonic GH5 10 bit V-log test - YouTube

April 8th, 2017, 02:51 PM	#77
Steven Schuldt Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 90	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Can you share your 10bit video settings? Would like to see if there is anything quirky about mine that might be causing the compression artifacts I'm seeing in FCP. Thanks!

April 11th, 2017, 11:57 PM	#81
Oleg Kalyan Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: MOSCOW Posts: 860	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 The Phone, short GH5. 10 and 8 bit scenes included. on Vimeo The Phone, short GH5. 10 and 8 bit scenes included. also in youtube The Pnone, short, GH5 film in 4K, 10 bit scenes. - YouTube

April 15th, 2017, 03:11 AM	#83
Ugo Merlini Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Italy Posts: 34	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Hi, I'm going to buy this camera (probably) replacing my old hv30. As i'm going in the new world my choice is actually the bundle kit with leica lens. my question is if the gh5 is suitable for animal / nature "hunting" like delphins, whales or in general fast scenes (many years ago I was in namibia and remained very impressed by a lions start run). thanks PS: will you so brave to put the gh5 out of the sailboat to get stunnig images?

April 15th, 2017, 04:33 PM	#84
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Max Yuryev just uploaded his video where he together with PhotoJoseph did some extensive testing on the GH5 autofocus capabilities and what I see is still borderline usable, it could work in repeatable shots but I never would use it for shots where you only get one chance to get it right, like with every wedding I shoot. It's clear the autofocus has been improved over the GH4 so I see that as something positive but for me it unfortunately would not be usable.

April 15th, 2017, 05:26 PM	#85
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,222	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 I have had my GH5 for a week now. First thing I did was compare autofocus to my Sony camcorders and to me it performs much the same with Custom OFF as they discovered. Just slightly slower but not noticeable. Got confused by the same things the camcorders do so no surprise. The GH5 has the advantage of specifying the area that it will look at to auto focus on and that area can be moved around with the joystick right next to your thumb. Can also be jogged into to resetting what it wants to focus on by pressing the shutter button as Max said. I will not use continuous auto focus in my use so interesting but not something of great importance to my application. I also find the WiFi app really good.

April 16th, 2017, 03:06 AM	#86
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Now we know what to expect from the autofocus it's time to move on, I for one am most exited about it's ability to preset 3 focuspoints and then to do controlled focus pulls by tapping the corresponding numbers on screen. I see this as very valuable while covering a ceremony from a fixed location, I can now preset focus on the readers at the lectern, the priest at his altar and the position where the couple is standing for the vows and while panning between them nail my focus every single time with a perfect repeatable focus transition. Or just use it to perform a perfect rack focus between objects.

April 16th, 2017, 06:18 AM	#87
Ron Evans Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,222	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Must be careful if you are using one of the zooms not to zoom after setting the points. The zooms are not farfocal and the settings will be lost if you zoom. Just pan to set the points and it should work fine. Or if you shoot 4K and they are all in the full wide shot it works great.

April 16th, 2017, 07:20 AM	#88
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 Yeah I know, focal length can't change once it's set but still a highly usable feature.

April 16th, 2017, 04:42 PM	#90
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: First Impressions of the GH5 That's a limitation of the lens, not the camera, I don't mind the breathing as long as I can nail focus.