GH5 Now with the BM Pocket 4K the GH5s seem expensive and obsolete

A

AndreyBlanco

Active member
I'm super happy with my GH5 for most of my travel stuff but I knew I need a low light camera for few situations. Now with the BM Pocket 4K the GH5s seem expensive and obsolete. Since launch had in my purchase list buying a GH5s but after Pocket 4K was announced I start having serious doubts about it. I know the GH5s is smaller and battery life should be lot better but how can justify buying 2x BMP4k for the price of 1 GH5s. Are you guys felling the same as me?
 
Not at all. Every years during NAB we hear BMD just killed the industry and every year comes and goes and people still buy Canon, Panasonic and Sony cameras.

Did the URSA kill the EVA1, Sony FS series or Canon C200/300 cameras? Did the original pocket destroy GH2, GH3, and Canon/Sony DSLR sales?

Not even close. This camera is exciting but you really need to look past the initial sticker price and factor in everything you need to invest in to make the camera equally usable as the GH5S. Then there is ergonomics and reliability.

By this logic the URSA should be the only camera people bother to buy anymore but we know that is not true at all. I buy a camera because I enjoy to use that camera. Besides there is little to no evidence that ProRes is in fact better quality than the 150mbps on the GH5S with files 1/5 the size.

It is of course extremely exciting to have the option of a 4K Pocket but no camera in history has ever made a current camera obsolete. If that were the case then the Gh4 would have killed Canon DSLR HD video a long time ago.
 
Cameras need to fit your needs and budget. Only the individual knows these details. The pocket looks interesting but I would wait to see reviews and learn about any gotchas. My guess is the GH5s might mysteriously drop in price around September.
 
Please excuse me for asking. I have never personally owned a M43 sensor camera. Can you speedboost the BMD Pocket cam? Its probably common knowledge ...so sorry for the redundant question.

Thanks
 
Thomas Smet said:
Plus when did we get to the point where $2,500 for a 10bit 4:2:2 4k camera shooting clean log video up to ISO 6400 and less clean video up to ISO 256000 in a pinch is too expensive? Thats still an insane value for what you get. It is important we not lose sight of that.
Click to expand...

Yup, agreed.
 
Thomas Smet said:
Plus when did we get to the point where $2,500 for a 10bit 4:2:2 4k camera shooting clean log video up to ISO 6400 and less clean video up to ISO 256000 in a pinch is too expensive? Thats still an insane value for what you get. It is important we not lose sight of that.
Click to expand...

I though the same just before Black Magic Pocket 4K was announced. but not anymore. for what I hear they share the same sensor now we gain all that plus a RAW format, XLR Connectors. With Davinci Resolve included.
 
Thomas Smet said:
Besides there is little to no evidence that ProRes is in fact better quality than the 150mbps on the GH5S with files 1/5 the size.
Click to expand...

I think I’ll beg to finger on that.

Your use of ProRes is also kind of generic. There are many flavours. But I doubt if you take the cameras out of the equation that ProRes 10 bit LOG HQ (in camera) or better will always trump the GHx internal codecs and that’s before you consider it can also do 12 bit LOG RAW.

Yes, there’s better utility, but anyone that argues that there’s no visual difference hasn’t had to spend much time trying to grade shots at those data rates from those codecs. Pulling a secondary key for example is always revealing.

JB
 
AndreyBlanco said:
now we gain all that plus a RAW format, XLR Connectors. With Davinci Resolve included.
Click to expand...

Single MINI xlr, so you will need an adapter. There are reason to want this camera, and probably reasons to avoid it. I'd do nothing until it is really out and we see what it has. I certainly wouldn't put of paying work to wait for it, I probably wouldn't even put of personal work to wait for it.
 
Q: If a GH5 / GH5s with XLR adapter and an envelope full of v90 SD cards was the exact same price as a Pocket Cam 4K with external power brick and USB-C SSD, both caged, kitted, rigged, with ideal lenses, which would be better?

A: that depends....

Most of these conversations keep revolving around price. I'm excited about how competitive this camera is too, but depending on who is answering this question and how they look at the overall package/pricing really informs the various perspectives you are hearing here. Not everyone lives and dies by the cameras total price. There are, in fact, other considerations. Likewise, not everyone lives and dies by an edge in IQ to one camera VS the other in certain metrics. It's more complicated depending on use case and scenario, etc.

GHx line is nowhere near obsolete, nor will it be. It will face pressure and likely some price reductions and/or feature enhancements, contingent on what Panny observes with sales figures and BMD reviews. We'll see in 2019.
 
I consider myself a value buyer I've owned a GH2, GH3, GH4 and now a GH5, Panasonic has been delivering value with their GH cameras for a long time. All that said competition is good for everyone, resting on laurels is bad!
 
6 months from now, and who knows perhaps it will be later as that would not be the first time for BM, perhaps Panasonic announces the next latest and greatest 6 months in advance, so great it would make the 4K pocket obsolete, then 6 months later BM announces ..... etc.

At one point you would just want to buy a camera. :)
 
I have huge doubts that the BMPCC 4K will ever replace the GH5 because of all the missing features...

- No dual UHS-II slots (means no relay or duplicate recording)
- No IBIS (very handy when you need it)
- No weatherproofing (sometimes I have to shoot in the rain)
- Short battery life (I don't want to have to carry bag of batteries or a big V-mount brick)
- Higher non-RAW bit-rates will eat memory cards faster and may be no better than their GH5 equivalents
- No EVF, which can be essential when shooting in sunlight and you can't see what's on the LCD screen
- Shooting still photos without an EVF really sucks
- No rotating LCD display for low angle, high angle, or selfie framing
- Mono XLR recording ( the GH5 XLR block is stereo )
- Harder to mount on a gimbal because of how wide the BMPCC 4K body is

I will probably buy a BMPCC 4K body as an add-on to my GH5 cameras because it shoots RAW and it's cheap.
 
Having just traded in my c100 for a GH5S if the BMPCC had been available I would have gone for it. One of my pet hates of the GH cameras is all the still photo stuff. I am not interested in shooting stills. I want all my buttons and menu controls to be about video. Also I never use the EVF and I find the LCD too small - plus the HDMI cable output restricts the rotation and positioning of the LCD. Also there are some very affordable and small SSD drives out at the moment. For my kind of work - Corporates, interviews etc the GH5S suits me but the BMPCC looks very compelling.
 
neilmac said:
One of my pet hates of the GH cameras is all the still photo stuff.
Click to expand...

I'm glad to have to have it, here's why. Go into your local retailer and check out the latest 4k HDR televisions. A good bit of the demo reel playing on them will be from photo cams shooting time lapse video. Consider the top 4k HDR videos on YouTube, assembled from time lapse photography and motion control. If you want your night time clips to have all the color and clarity of daytime, the only way to have it is with long exposure, and the only way you get that is with time lapse photography. Imagine that it is as easy as setting your gimbal atop your tripod, with an app on your phone you set the path with waypoints just like you're hiking in the woods with your GPS, the gimbal navigates your camera to each waypoint, stopping along the way to take long exposure pictures with no camera blur. The GH4/5/s are perfect for this.
 
yeah... maybe. I have been paid to do two time lapse shoots in 30 years. I still have a GH3 and a GX85 so if need be...

One thing I have been looking at is a 5 inch monitor such as the focus. Then out comes the ninja V for a bit more money... mmm the cost of shooting pro res onto SSD's compares well with 300 mbps SD cards. Then you think of the BMPCC and you think hey, Its like a ninja V which just happens to have a camera attached. I really think it will get down to what you need for the work you do.

By the way 95% of my videos end up being hosted on YouTube and viewed on PC's. Can't see HDR having an impact for me for some time.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top