GH4 GH5 Owner / User Reports

Not sure if I should post this here or over in the NLE section. Since this seems a GH5 issue, thought I'd post here first (moderator - pls move if needed):
I just shot my first 4k UHD 10bit on the GH5 (24p internally recorded). The MOV file imports into Premier Pro 2017 CC (Win) but plays very slowly, perhaps a frame every 45 seconds or so even after selecting 1/8 scale. I transcoded (ingested through Prelude & AME) same file to DNxHR HQX which is the 4:2:2 10bit flavor of DNx. The transcoded file plays in premier slow (not smooth) but much faster than the MOV file. The DNx file shows noticable banding in the sky. The MOV file, while it won't play, shows beautiful tonality as I move from frame to frame. I imported the same DNxHR HQX file into Davinci Resolve 12.5 and see no banding (same beautiful tonality as the MOV file in PP) and it plays fine however Davinci Resolve won't import the MOV file. Go figure. . .

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Installed Memory: 64 gGB
Processor: i7 6700k
Graphics: GeForce GTX 1080 w/8 GB memory
 
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Steve, not sure, but two things:

Try shooting in MP4 (LPCM) for Windows.

Try scaling the file in the timeline to 51% if you are in a 1080p timeline, not 50%. It's weird, but Premiere goes slow and choppy when I downscale 4K to 50% but plays fine at 51% scale.
 
Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow. The timeline was 4k (UHD). Most interesting thing to me was the banding in the DNx clip - not present in the MOV clip and when the DNx clip was imported in Resolve.
 
Sheldon, that certainly seems like a damaged lens. On my GH4 I don't have to squeeze the focus ring, and it is more responsive than what you show. (I presume you have the focus switch on the back of the camera set to MF; it looks that way in the video but it's kind of hard to tell.)
 
If anyone is interested in buying one, I decided to sell my 2 week old Leica 12-60mm and stay down the metabones route. The focus by wire thing doesn't fit with how I work.
 
Ha! I imagine my uses for the camera are different to about 90% of the people on here so I'm sure it will be perfect for a lot of people ;)
 
Ben Scott said:
Ha! I imagine my uses for the camera are different to about 90% of the people on here so I'm sure it will be perfect for a lot of people ;)
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Me too. I have it to get an improvement over my Sony FDR-AX1 exclusively to shoot UHD 60P on a tripod in the theatre. It will be in manual focus fixed at the beginning of the show, set with touch spot focus ( may even check that on occasion with the WiFi app ), fixed shutter speed and manual iris with auto ISO ( AE shift to taste ). I will only touch the lens to set the zoom to fill the stage at setup. May even control most from the app. I haven't got that far yet as I only got the GH5 Friday. It will be powered from an Atomos Power Station. Running the test on that now it has run for 2 hours and the first battery has used 1/4 of its power !!!
 
I don't use AE/AF/IS. I turn off NR as well. Basically anything with an acronym I switch off.

I did use IBIS the other day in a quick test as I didn't have a rig with me and need to shoot a walk along and I must say it took my handheld footage from 'completely s*%t and unusable' to only 'mostly s*%t and unusable'.
 
Yeah it's on manual. I was thinking that perhaps there was some kind of menu driven electronic focus assist turned on in the body that was fighting me, but I turned everything off I can find. There is a TON of AF stuff in the menu, and it's not very intuitive, at least for me. With everything off and the switch to manual, this is what I was getting. The 7-14mm performed fine but it's an older model. The 42.5mm Nocticron was slightly better, but to pull focus by hand from objects at3' and 14' from the lens, I had to turn the focus ring almost two complete revolutions, so I would have to turn as far as I could while contorting my wrist, and then let go and change position again. That's on a smooth pull. If I really cranked it fast, the focus ratio would be faster. I read that it is inertia driven, so if that means the speed changes the faster you crank, then I find that odd. Even with a follow focus on it, I think it would be hard to pull focus with that lens unless the subjects were closer together. If tracking, then it could be awkward IMO without a wireless follow focus.
 
Got my GH5 on Friday and just did quick test with most things on auto just sitting on the desk, UHD 60P. Ran for about 45 mins and shut down while I was just out of the room. I know the tie because I had set timecode to 0 before I started. I had anticipated this for my application I have a Atomos Power Station and just stopped that at 3 hours and it had used 1/2 of one of the 2 batteries. Just running the test on the internal battery again with everything in manual and lens image stabilizer off. Can't find a way of switching the body stabilzer off.
 
When I met with Panasonic about features to implement on the GH5 most the technical improvements were already in the works so I mostly focused on ergonomics.

Top of list was a linear focus response for their fly-by-wire lenses. Panasonics Reps were a bit surprised by the request, & thought Photographers in particular preferred their inertia driven system, which seems off-track to that profession's needs too.

Also a focus distance readout on the EVF/LCD similar the AF100's.

A tilting EVF, & better V-Log L, were some of the other items near the top of my list.
 
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Ron Evans said:
Got my GH5 on Friday and just did quick test with most things on auto just sitting on the desk, UHD 60P. Ran for about 45 mins and shut down while I was just out of the room. I know the tie because I had set timecode to 0 before I started. I had anticipated this for my application I have a Atomos Power Station and just stopped that at 3 hours and it had used 1/2 of one of the 2 batteries. Just running the test on the internal battery again with everything in manual and lens image stabilizer off. Can't find a way of switching the body stabilzer off.
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Go to menu
2nd menu down (the one with the movie camera icon only)
Top of page 3 (of 4) is Stabilizer. You can turn it off here.
 
ozmorphasis said:
Go to menu
2nd menu down (the one with the movie camera icon only)
Top of page 3 (of 4) is Stabilizer. You can turn it off here.
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Tried that and OFF isn't an option. But I did manually turn off the switch on the 12-60 lens and now I get a red hand with OFF on the LCD !!! Still no OFF select in that menu. I can and have switched off the E_ stabilizer which is the extra electronic stabilizer when in video mode.
 
Ben Scott said:
Speed booster perfect with my Otus. Not happy on the Sigma 18-35 at anything other than widest. Would lock up.

My friend has 5 Canon zooms and says none of them work, although until a firmware update there is a multi step workaround.
Click to expand...
From what focal length you've succeeded to overcome vignetting on XL version?

Any news on the firmware update?
 
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