GH5 Autofocus seems greatly improved in GH5S with new FW

Yeah, at least in that scenario it does seem much improved.

So, question for everyone here:
Is it just me, or would others agree, when in a face detection mode, a camera shouldn't change focus when a face isn't detected?

So, for example, in this test, when the gentlemen walks out of frame, I would want the camera to do NOTHING. It should wait until it detects a face again before refocusing. That's why I picked face detect focus...because I want the camera to focus on FACES. Am I crazy? This seems like the easiest possible improvement Panasonic could make that would single-handedly allow me actually use this feature.
 
Seeing substantially better performance from this video.

I have the GH5s on pre-order, I will have to run some gimbal tests with it when I get it. The only thing I would really use AF for in my personal workflow would be tracking a walking subject on a gimbal at around f/2.8-f/3.5 where I want to keep the subject's face in focus without a puller. And expect back and forth variance of camera to subject distance of 1-6 feet during walking. If the GH5s could pull that off, I'd be happy.
 
joe12south said:
Is it just me, or would others agree, when in a face detection mode, a camera shouldn't change focus when a face isn't detected?
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Yeah, that should be an option. We'll see how GH5s handles it in menus or updates I guess.

I imagine as AF matures on all platforms, we'll see robust software menus like in a smartphone app with all sorts of AF settings ie. "change focus only for face" "only for people (full body)" "only for preset face" etc.

Not to live outside the present, but within 10 years, I fully expect video based AF to be insane. I could see cameras with cheaper dual lens systems (non image acquisition) on the front for depth mapping, in unison with laser and infrared, all working in combination with what the main sensor is picking up. In combination with a full facial recognition scanning system pulled over from something like iPhone X. AF that can lock dead on with ultra fast mobile CPUs and smart sensors on the camera. Heck, at that point it could even tag metadata for actors faces when importing, and detect the type of shot based on framing via software (wide, medium, cu, etc.). 1 person, 2 person, etc. shots.

/End nerding out /end tangent. Suffice to say smart pro cameras and 2030 will be a crazy place...

Until then, GH5s looks like a solid improvement ;)
 
Agree about face detection not re-focusing if a face exits frame. I don't know if the GH5S has settings to allow that, or if the coffee machine behind the subject kind of had a face so it confused the camera. Or, of course, it just doesn't have that functionality.

I'm curious if this improvement can be brought to the GH5 via firmware?
 
Don't have a GH5-etc., but having worked with face detect focus on earlier Panasonic cameras I'd just say -- how is the camera supposed to know that the face that exited, was the only face in the frame? On other cameras you could set it to use only the primary (usually closest) face, or all faces. How does it know there aren't other faces in the frame it should be focusing on? It can't detect a face if the face is out of focus, so -- it's gotta check. And that next-closest face would then become the primary in that scenario...

If not, then the situation could be you're filming an interview in front of a crowd, the interviewee leaves, and the rest of the crowd stays blurry for no discernible reason.
 
Barry_Green said:
Don't have a GH5-etc., but having worked with face detect focus on earlier Panasonic cameras I'd just say -- how is the camera supposed to know that the face that exited, was the only face in the frame? On other cameras you could set it to use only the primary (usually closest) face, or all faces. How does it know there aren't other faces in the frame it should be focusing on? It can't detect a face if the face is out of focus, so -- it's gotta check. And that next-closest face would then become the primary in that scenario...

If not, then the situation could be you're filming an interview in front of a crowd, the interviewee leaves, and the rest of the crowd stays blurry for no discernible reason.
Click to expand...

In that scenario, I would actually want the crowd to stay blurry, or at the least I want to be able to make that decision. I'm shooting an interviewee, not the crowd.

When in face detect mode, the GH4 and GH5 display indicates when a face is recognized (yellow boxes.) Based on that, we already know Panasonic does a nice job finding faces and recognizing when there are no faces. The hard part already works. We really just need a switch that says, when you don't detect a face, just sit on your hands! I do understand that it then won't be able to then find a grossly out of focus face, but you might be surprised at how little detail it needs in order to lock that little yellow box. Bonus points if while in this mode, a half press on the shutter forces the camera to try again.

PS. I highly doubt the GH5s has the feature now, but it is definitely in the realm of something that could be added later. I can't remember if it is Sony or Canon, but one of them already has this feature.
 
filmguy123 said:
Yeah, that should be an option. We'll see how GH5s handles it in menus or updates I guess.

I imagine as AF matures on all platforms, we'll see robust software menus like in a smartphone app with all sorts of AF settings ie. "change focus only for face" "only for people (full body)" "only for preset face" etc.

Not to live outside the present, but within 10 years, I fully expect video based AF to be insane. I could see cameras with cheaper dual lens systems (non image acquisition) on the front for depth mapping, in unison with laser and infrared, all working in combination with what the main sensor is picking up. In combination with a full facial recognition scanning system pulled over from something like iPhone X. AF that can lock dead on with ultra fast mobile CPUs and smart sensors on the camera. Heck, at that point it could even tag metadata for actors faces when importing, and detect the type of shot based on framing via software (wide, medium, cu, etc.). 1 person, 2 person, etc. shots.

/End nerding out /end tangent. Suffice to say smart pro cameras and 2030 will be a crazy place...

Until then, GH5s looks like a solid improvement ;)
Click to expand...

Your scenario would be significantly accellerated if there was an open source development platform for the camera.
I wonder if Red is moving in that direction with a fast bus and modular form factor and computing potential of the Hydrogen phone.
 
filmguy123 said:
Yeah, that should be an option. We'll see how GH5s handles it in menus or updates I guess.

I imagine as AF matures on all platforms, we'll see robust software menus like in a smartphone app with all sorts of AF settings ie. "change focus only for face" "only for people (full body)" "only for preset face" etc.

Not to live outside the present, but within 10 years, I fully expect video based AF to be insane. I could see cameras with cheaper dual lens systems (non image acquisition) on the front for depth mapping, in unison with laser and infrared, all working in combination with what the main sensor is picking up. In combination with a full facial recognition scanning system pulled over from something like iPhone X. AF that can lock dead on with ultra fast mobile CPUs and smart sensors on the camera. Heck, at that point it could even tag metadata for actors faces when importing, and detect the type of shot based on framing via software (wide, medium, cu, etc.). 1 person, 2 person, etc. shots.

/End nerding out /end tangent. Suffice to say smart pro cameras and 2030 will be a crazy place...

Until then, GH5s looks like a solid improvement ;)
Click to expand...
I think at this point it's a lot easier to just pull focus the way you like it instead of fiddling with apps that may or may not work and second guessing yourself if you picked up the right set of options from the app. This is just nonsense when you can just do what you want using the good old God given brains and hands ;-) Some things are just beter left to humans and this is one of them. Part of being an expert in ones field is to know that difference....
 
optitek said:
I think at this point it's a lot easier....
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Huh? That whole post wasn't about at "this" point. It was about a speculative decade from now, where AF is so good the fiddling with manual focus would be a waste of time for all but the most particular of shots.

But yeah. Today. I own all manual focus lenses, with a few exceptions.
 
Decade from now everyone will be shooting with their eye glasses tracking their eyeballs for focusing while recording straight to their brain cells. Oh wait- we already have that ;-)
 
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