GH5 No audio in the first frames of every recording

M

macobra

Member
Hi,

this is my first post here. I'm reading this forum for a long time, thank you very much for the great input!

I just got my GH5 and went out shooting - I absolutely love this camera - great ergonomics, great features, great images. But when I reviewed the footage on my MacBook and load it into Final Cut Pro X, I noticed that the audio is missing in the first 7 to 18 frames of every take. I than tried out every recording mode and everything I could change about audio in the menus, but the first frames of every take where still without any audio.

Do you know that behavior? Is is normal for the GH5?

Please let me know what you guys think of that.

Thanks, Martin
 
This has been characteristic of all video capable cameras from Panasonic from the GH3 forward. I've been in the habit of "pre-rolling" a few seconds before calling "ACTION". Actually I'll call "Camera rolling", "sound rolling" (if using a separate audio recorder), then "quiet on the set" followed by "Action". If working with no crew I'll mentally check off those items then proceed.

This gives me "trim room" at the beginning of each "take". At the end of a take, I'll let about 5 seconds roll then call "Cut", let it run a few seconds more and stop the recording(s). This gives me "trim room" at the end too.

Nothing wrong with your camera. I love mine too.

Added benefit: Most of us use manual exposure mode in video, you don't have to go "menu diving" for this. With the dial on top set to creative movie mode (the movie cam icon next to an "M") the movie camera icon will appear in red in the upper left hand corner of your LCD screen. If you have touch enabled tap that icon and your four choices (P,A,S, & M) appear. Tap the M and you now have manual exposure enabled (but in Creative Movie mode ONLY). Now with CONSTANT PREVUE set to ON exposure changes will show lighter or darker on the LCD and in the EVF.

This works on the GH5, G85 (G80), GX85 (GX80), and just this morning I tried and found it works on the GX7.
 
Has been that way on the GH1, GH2, GH3, GH4 and as far as I know every H264 camera. I had a Panasonic HMC40 video camera at one point as well that did that. Not a big deal and another thing to keep in mind of sometimes the first first frame or two has extra macro blocking from the encoder so you really should trim that anyway.
 
Thank you all for your feedback - good to know that this behavior is typical for the GH series - I'm shooting video for 15 years with Canon and Sony cameras and never noticed something like this. But of course it will be no problem in any production.
 
Yes this is my first Panasonic camera too and I love it. But like your experience none of my Sony exhibit this characteristic. Not a problem now I know.
 
Hmm. My GH4 doesn't do that. Looking at the waveform there is audio from the first frame. I always record in MOV format.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is sometimes the first frame has extra macro blocking as well. Not sure if it is the encoder getting up to speed or not doing as well as other H264 encoders at judging how to distribute the bits in the first IPB group. I rarely if ever use the first frame in a video so it hasn't been a concern since the GH1. I owned a GH1, GH2, GH3, GH4 and a HMC-40 video camera from Panasonic and they all did this at times along with the missing audio on the first frame. I don't always see it but it is really a non issue of me so I don't even think about it anymore. I forgot all about it until this thread popped up.
 
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