GH4 Panasonic GH5 coming in 2017

+1 On any information available regarding HDMI lag. Can some please confirm with any external monitor?? Surprised this wasn't mentioned in any of the feature upgrades.....which scares me into thinking there is still lag. I Pre-ordered regardless....but here's hoping a true LIVE view on an external monitor is finally here. This, in conjunction with the new automated and settable auto-focus and internal stabilization will finally let us run and gun shooters get those time killing dolly like shots.
 
Ok a couple of new considerations to think about.

1. Vlog 10bit so far seems to be pretty clean from some samples I downloaded. Applied the Panasonic V-log LUT built into the new version of FCPX.

2. mp4 10bit which is an odd format doesn't play in Quicktime on my Mac. The 60p clips do because they are 8bit.

3. 4k 24p 10bit doesn't playback at all on my 2012 i7 iMac with 2GB 680 GPU. It chokes really bad. Something to consider for many people about the 10bit internal files. You may end up having to convert them to ProRes intermediates or a proxy version to get decent playback. This was without any effects. Maybe the .mov form will play better but I doubt it.

4. So far even the 60p 8bit 4:2:0 stuff in V-log looks better. The encoder was really the worse offender of V-log on the GH4. I have used V-log external at 8bit which was always much better than internal 8bit on the GH4. Only 3 shots to play with so far but 8bit V-log may even be somewhat useful now when used internally.
 
+1 On any information available regarding HDMI lag. Can some please confirm with any external monitor?? Surprised this wasn't mentioned in any of the feature upgrades.....which scares me into thinking there is still lag. I Pre-ordered regardless....but here's hoping a true LIVE view on an external monitor is finally here. This, in conjunction with the new automated and settable auto-focus and internal stabilization will finally let us run and gun shooters get those time killing dolly like shots.


I use an external recorder all the time now and while the delay was annoying it was never a show stopper for me. My biggest complaint is that manual white balance doesn't work with 10bit on the GH4. Now that is extremely annoying. I have used V-log external at 8bits at times just because of that annoying issue.
 
Thomas, since you have experience with the GH4 vlog footage - what is your assessment of the Dynamic Range as far as you can tell from the downloaded footage?

Impossible to say right now without a side by side. Looks good but then so does the GH4 when using V-log. I don't agree that the noise is bad with V-log because I do any NR in post vs in the camera. I treat the GH4 as a kind of wanna be raw camera. With raw you do all your NR in post and thats what I do with the GH4 and v-log. Raw would be better of course but ProRes422 HQ holds up fairly well. I have done uncompressed external HD capture which does hold up better for post work but that is a pain to deal with. Haven't even attempted uncompressed 4k since my capture cards don't support 4k yet.
 
Yeah I was just playing with those same clips in Premiere on my 2014 5K iMac here at work and it was chugging a bit, and once I started messing with Lumetri Color it actually crashed Premiere (in fact the 10bit clips don't like being played back at anything but full res, Premiere doesn't seem to know what to do with them otherwise). Looked great though once I got some basic correction on them.
 
How do you determine USABLE stops vs claimed? Panasonic claimed 12 stops with VlogL for the GH4 and are claiming the same with the GH5 when using vlog, and said the DR hasn't really changed much. What you are saying sounds great, just wondering what makes you so confident that the GH5 is being undermarketted (when Panny did the opposite the VlogL upgrade in GH4), and has stated nothing has changed on DR?
"Usable" defined as a meaningful enough distinction between the noise and signal that they can be reasonably separated.

I am purely speculating here, and I could be dead wrong, but after reading everything and watching the two different videos with Panny reps, my guess is that the improved processing will allow us to cleanly reach a bit further into the highlights and the shadows. The HDR mode wouldn't make much sense otherwise.
 
Downloaded these raw clips from Youtube. This person seems like they knew what to shoot to really test V-log. I'm impressed so far. Applied the built in Panasonic lut in FCPX.

GH5-v-log.jpg
GH5-v-log-lut.jpg
 
"Usable" defined as a meaningful enough distinction between the noise and signal that they can be reasonably separated.

I am purely speculating here, and I could be dead wrong, but after reading everything and watching the two different videos with Panny reps, my guess is that the improved processing will allow us to cleanly reach a bit further into the highlights and the shadows. The HDR mode wouldn't make much sense otherwise.

Agreed about the shadows. the improved s/n ratio should help a lot with the lows to pull in more detail. I tend to use NR in post to do that but having it in camera sure would be nice.
 
So confusing....does anyone know what bit depth and and bit rates will be available BEFORE all the firmware. No mention of what bit depths are available for HD either BEFORE the firmware. Essentially - what will the camera have available upon release? Firmware upgrades sound great but all the early footage by users is going to be shot before those happen. Very curious to know what the camera will be at release.....
 
Until we know for sure that is speculation. Panasonic has been very firm that the DR increase is marginal and if it really was better they would market the heck out of that. Marketing would love to print the GH5 has 13 stops of DR but alas they are not saying anything about the DR. In marketing typically if you don't flaunt a spec that means it isn't special. The sensor has smaller photo sites and while newer that means the DR may be a wash which is exactly what somebody from Panasonic just stated in a video. The m43 is really hitting a ceiling of DR and even newer sensor cameras like the GX8 and not capable of hitting any better DR.

If the GH5 would have stayed at 16MP perhaps it could have pushed 13 stops but we will never know.

Definitely just my speculation! But I think it's a reasonable guess. The GH4 promised 12 and delivered 10. With the more sophisticated processing of the GH5, I think there's a good chance it will bump the usable floor and the ceiling a stop. Since that was what was sold with the GH4, Panny can't trumpet that they are now actually delivering it.
 
Since there's no crop in 4K now, which Metabones speedbooster would be ideal, XL or Ultra?

Probably the XL still, unless you are using APS-C lenses in which case you may or may not get some vignetting. Not sure. But using FF lenses I can't imagine the XL with .64x crop wouldn't still be the best choice, as you'll now remove even more crop factor from the sensor.
 
The Metabones Speedbooster XL covers the full 17.3mm x 13mm Micro Four Thirds sensor area. So when used with full frame lenses it should cover the full (no crop) 4K imaging area of the GH5. With the GH4 due to the crop factor in 4K it was possible to use the Speedbooster XL with lenses designed for APS-C sensors, but on the GH5 these lenses may vignette, since there is no crop factor.

So basically any lenses that worked in Full HD mode with the Speedbooster XL on the GH4 (which had no crop factor), should work fine in 4K on the GH5.

Now, all of this assumes that there are no mechanical clearance issues with the Speedbooster XL and the GH5. Until it is tested on the camera, it's not clear that Speedbooster XL will actually fit the camera. The Speedbooster XL has mechanical clearance issues with most Olympus cameras and some Panasonic cameras released to-date:
http://www.metabones.com/products/details/MB_SPEF-m43-BT3
 
2015 MBPR:
- Resolve wouldn't decode the 10bit files. Realtime playback of native files with no fx was really bad.
- FCPX decoded. Realtime playback of native files with no fx was poor. Transcoding to ProRes allowed for good performance, even the 60P file.
- Premiere sort of decoded, with some errors (green frames) but crashed.
- VLC played back 10bit files with glitches and poor performance.
 
Side tangent here, no critiques, just an interesting observation:

The m43 mirrorless system is touted for its size and weight as the benefit to a smaller sensor. I am acutely aware that a large part of that is the LENS system... but I still found it ironic that upon some inspection, the Sony A7S ii is smaller in every dimension (WHD) and also lighter weight than the GH5.

Given that so many video people use FF glass with adapters on the GH series, it's just something to think about.
 
I like how the xlr adapter is a reasonable $400 and not some YAGH type nonsense. Paranoid question, the 5-axis stabilization applies to video right... not just photo? Big bummer on the low light - my #1 complaint about the GH4. So for me it's a wait and see.
 
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