GH5 Game Over, Panasonic

I haven't looked too closely, but I wasn't able to find the bit depth of the RAW files from the pocket camera. If I'm not mistaken, the original pocket camera was 10bit RAW?

If this new pocket camera were 12/14bit RAW, that would be a compelling choice for a "stealing shots" camera. Currently, the Canon with Magic lantern hack has been a favorite for when you need RAW, high bit depth, but cannot look like you are filming...since it looks like a stills camera. For indies, this is key. If the new pocket camera can fill this niche, I could see it doing well in the low budget narrative world where not looking like a film crew may be the only way to shoot a certain scene. Maybe as a B or C camera.
 
mcbob said:
It's a very niche product, made for scripted narrative/commercial filmmakers, and that's about it. As many others have correctly stated, shooting longer than a few minutes at a time begins to introduce way too many logistical headaches.

Game's still very much on.
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Exactly.

Not selling my GH5 any time soon.
 
Tangent, but the next big breakthrough in battery tech is something we should all be very excited for. There's a lot of contenders and its years away, but when ion lithium goes last gen, the things they are trying to crack battery wise that are on the horizon will be revolutionary. Super short charge times with capacities of 5-6 times higher (or more) than today's batteries. Imagine a GH5 size battery powering an EVA1, Atomos Shogun, XLRs, and other accessories for an all day shoot with a 20 minute charge time.

It will pave the way for much more power hungry devices in ultra small/light form factors.
 
abreu-canedo said:
Currently, the Canon with Magic lantern hack has been a favorite for when you need RAW, high bit depth, but cannot look like you are filming...since it looks like a stills camera. For indies, this is key.
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Exactly. I was pretty psyched about this new BlackMagic until I thought of it in the context of Magic Lantern Raw on the six-year-old 5Diii. The 5D doesn't offer 4K or 60P/120P raw, but it's full-frame and inconspicuous as heck. And, it takes great photos.
 
Another thing to keep in mind about the display. BMD tends to not use the best quality the world has to offer. The 5" display might be nice for the camera controls and focusing but I would think twice about trusting it for color and contrast accuracy. There is still a pretty significant advantage to having a nice high quality 10bit 1000nit Atomos display. Not to mention you can never angle or position that Pocket display and have to stand directly behind the camera for decent results. I lost count how many times the articulating LCD on my GH1, GH2, GH3 and GH4 saved my butt.

Its cool that they added such a large display but once again I'm more interested in flexibility vs being forced to only shoot a certain way. Some of you will work around it with no problems but I am no longer shopping for a camera that requires work arounds.

Still tempted but every day past the initial press release my interest diminishes. By September I will likely no longer care.
 
Same here...,what has me much more excited is Prores RAW and the fact that the EVA will have it....may have to get over my EVF mount sulk on that one!....as for game over Panasonic GH5...mine isn't going anywhere...I like mine more and more by the day...Panasonic gets my money every time!
 
I really don't see this new BM camera as a replacement for the GH5 / GH5s, but rather as another body option to shoot with. I own quite a few m4/3 lenses, so having another m4/3 camera body that can also shoot RAW is well worth the $1300 to add it to my camera kit.
 
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A lot of doubts about it now, but it will be SO crystal clear once the footage starts rolling out and people start working with those CinemaDNGs for the first time.

When they see how filmic CinemaDNG motion (shutter is very important too though) looks with all of its individual frames, the natural grain on the footage, the insane flexibility in post, the BM color science...you will all fall in love.

No one should ever get rid of their GH5/S because it's a great camera, but they should all truly do themselves a big favor for their career - education - life - whatever, and try a Blackmagic camera at least once.

It would be such a shame to write it off based on what you read or hear or THINK you know about the camera(s) without ever just trying it at least once.
 
NorBro said:
It would be such a shame to write it off based on what you read or hear or THINK you know about the camera(s) without ever just trying it at least once.
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I would say this with just about any brand of the cinema cameras out there right now. So so many on these forums are always knocking a certain brand - without ever having tried it or used it. Not saying or defending BM products (I've never shot with them) - just sayin I won't knock em till I've at least tried em.
 
TheDingo said:
I really don't see this new BM camera as a replacement for the GH5 / GH5s, but rather as another body option to shoot with. I own quite a few m4/3 lenses, so having another m4/3 camera body that can also shoot RAW is well worth the $1300 to add it to my camera kit.
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+1

In another thread I mentioned my reservations, but still put down a deposit for the Pocket 4K.

Will be interesting to see how the Lumix lenses look without digital corrections, but it’s likely I’ll mostly be using other options from Canon, Veydra, & Voigtlander. Also interested to see if Metabones needs to release yet another SpeedBooster to account for the Pocket 4K’s Sensor Stack likely being half the thickness of Panasonic’s, & Olympus’.
 
Bern Caughey said:
+1

In another thread I mentioned my reservations, but still put down a deposit for the Pocket 4K.

Will be interesting to see how the Lumix lenses look without digital corrections, but it’s likely I’ll mostly be using other options from Canon, Veydra, & Voigtlander. Also interested to see if Metabones needs to release yet another SpeedBooster to account for the Pocket 4K’s Sensor Stack likely being half the thickness of Panasonic’s, & Olympus’.
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Would it be any different than using the 4/3 Speedbooster (.71 or .64) on the original Pocket? The flange distance remains the same, right?
 
MurtlandPhoto said:
Would it be any different than using the 4/3 Speedbooster (.71 or .64) on the original Pocket? The flange distance remains the same, right?
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Imagine it be the same, but when Metabones released SpeedBoosters specifically for BlackMagic they accounted for the difference in sensor stack thickness.

Didn’t think this all the way through. Not only SpeedBoosters would be effected by a different sensor stack, but all Micro Four Thirds lenses would be effected.
 
NorBro said:
A lot of doubts about it now, but it will be SO crystal clear once the footage starts rolling out and people start working with those CinemaDNGs for the first time.

When they see how filmic CinemaDNG motion (shutter is very important too though) looks with all of its individual frames, the natural grain on the footage, the insane flexibility in post, the BM color science...you will all fall in love.

No one should ever get rid of their GH5/S because it's a great camera, but they should all truly do themselves a big favor for their career - education - life - whatever, and try a Blackmagic camera at least once.

It would be such a shame to write it off based on what you read or hear or THINK you know about the camera(s) without ever just trying it at least once.
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It didn't happen when the first Pocket came out and we were all shooting horribly scaled HD at that time. Why would it be different this time? I have used raw cameras in the past. Used the RED ONE a lot and honestly I have never been a fan of how BMD handles raw. I'm much more excited about ProRes raw and until BMD adopts that I'm totally fine with 10bit 4:2:2 log. I'm not missing out on anything. Raw isn't some sort of new buzzword we have never heard of. This is just more pixels of the same raw we have experienced from BMD for years now.

Its awesome to have raw but it also isn't the end all solution to film makers wet dreams. More and more Hollywood films are going the ProRes route vs raw on the Alexa due to budgets and realizing they never really gained a lot for the majority of films outside of the huge VFX films. Why is it indie film makers and corporate video shooters suddenly need raw more than Hollywood does? Don't get me wrong I would also love to have raw on the GH5 but I'm not about to sacrifice a lot of what I'm used to just to play with raw.

Maybe I'm more of a realist but having been around for a long time I started to realize there were more important things to worry about in a production vs if I have raw or not. I am fine with formats that provide some compromises. In twenty years I have also never been in a situation where even an 8bit compressed format couldn't be graded well unless a shot was royally screwed up. Having more flexibility is of course always welcome and having a more robust format is more true now that we shoot log but the Gh5 provides a lot of room to work with and I honestly don't feel like I am missing out at all.
 
It did happen for thousands...just not for you, which is totally fine. (And an entire forum was created for the cameras.)

I'm not here to convince you, man, but I have a very strong feeling you've never used a Blackmagic camera based on your posts.

I wanted to quote some and elaborate with my own thoughts but I just felt like I would have been picking a fight so I didn't...all I can say is give the camera a shot and for better or for worse stop comparing it to your GH5.

They are different cameras for different purposes and maybe for different people.
 
NorBro said:
but I have a very strong feeling you've never used a Blackmagic camera based on your posts.
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I know that many people equate BM color science with a "film look", but to me it has always been that brown-toned Blackmagic look that does not look like the original color of the subjects being shot. If I buy a BMPCC 4K camera I know that I will work hard to remove the Blackmagic look from my footage... ( hopefully somebody will make a BM ---> GH5s color transform LUT )
 
That may be IR contamination you're describing...if so, it was very heavy in the original Pocket. They have worked on the color over the years and updated their newer cameras.

I don't think you'd view it as brown anymore if you haven't used a new one recently...it would probably seem green or magenta depending on the model.

There is a tint slider in the Minis, and each camera off the conveyor belt will probably have to be adjusted to a different value based on user preference.
 
NorBro said:
It did happen for thousands...just not for you, which is totally fine. (And an entire forum was created for the cameras.)

I'm not here to convince you, man, but I have a very strong feeling you've never used a Blackmagic camera based on your posts.

I wanted to quote some and elaborate with my own thoughts but I just felt like I would have been picking a fight so I didn't...all I can say is give the camera a shot and for better or for worse stop comparing it to your GH5.

They are different cameras for different purposes and maybe for different people.
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Wow I guess I never realized the entire market bought BMD cameras and nobody buys Sony, Canon, Panasonic or Nikon cameras anymore...

While some did move to the BMD cameras there are a heck of a lot more that did not. Still a solid market out there for the other manufacturers.

I also do not hate the 4k Pocket. I wouldn't be on here considering one if I hated it. Just because I don't get all warm and tingly inside about it like you do doesn't mean I do not like it. I'm more of a realist and don't get all giddy when a new camera comes out. I take a step back and make an intelligent choice weighing all the pros and cons. This camera has just as many cons as it has pros and there is nothing wrong with all of us discussing that. I will never base my camera purchasing decisions on something we haven't seen an ounce of footage from yet.
 
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