GH5 Show Off Your GH5 Rig

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Paul F

Veteran
Jim Arthurs said:
Pre-ordered from B&H within minutes of the option to do so, I see mine is shipping today... can't wait!

The GH5s is the closest I've seen to the "perfect" camera in so many categories for my particular needs... I had cash on hand for an EVA1, but most likely in the long run 2 GH5s bodies and all the trimmings will serve me better than a single EVA would...
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Jim's post from another thread got me thinking about how to rig a GH5 since it doesn't have all the niceties of the EVA1. I'm particularly interested in how people are dealing with ND and sound (other than the Panasonic DMW-XLR1 solution).
 
I'd post a picture but you'd be underwhelmed. It's a GH5. With a movcam cage, the XLR unit, the smallHD focus, and a scratch mic sometimes moutned to the top (rode video mic pro or stereo mic x). Manfrotto QR plate on the bottom to quickly pop on a monopod, tripod, zhiyun crane, shoulder rig, etc. Handle on top to clip to an easyrig minimix.

VND is from SLR magic paired with Xume Adaptors. Every lens has a stepup to 77mm, all Xumes mounts with magnetic lens caps.

When I see kitted out rigs to the nines I usually see mediocre content. Too many people focus on gear and making their rig look big and sacrifice mobility and speed. Creativity and freedom flow from being nimble and letting nothing get in the way of what your brain wants to shoot next.

I've studied scuba in the last year and it's been an interesting journey. Noobs always want every accessory, flashlight, pocket, satchel, etc. etc. on their big fluffy BC jackets. Dive Pros virtually unanimously are minimalists. They won't even wear padded BC jackets. It's extra buoyancy. It's a steel backplate, a wing, one single piece of webbing, and only what you absolutely need for that dive. Everything else is deadweight.

This ideology needs to come back to the camera crowd. YouTubers love to show their GH5 with mattebox and follow focus and a smallrig cage and a mic and 7" atomos and blah blah blah blah. Knock it off. Less is more. Sometimes I strip off the smallHD focus and sound gear and even the cage could go. If you don't absolutely have to have it, kill it.

On the flip, to clarify, keeping things modular is my preference. I do have the edelkrone follow focus one and a QR plate on a set of rails if I ever need to quickly pop into that setup, and I'm setting up a quick click in/out setup for use with an Atomos. But most of the time being weighed down isn't worth it, and I swear, half the people kitting out their rigs wouldn't actually need to do that to get extremely similar looking content, they just do it to show off their gear or play with video-legos.
 
npm said:
I'm equally interested. Has anyone used this Vari ND before? I have heard good things vs other variable ND's, but am not sure about the image quality of a VariND in general. Currently using Hoya PRO screw on ND's but hate unscrewing and screwing back on mid shoot.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...r_82vnd_ii_82mm_variable_neutral_density.html
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I have it in 77 and 82. It's good. Better than Tiffen. You are extremely unlikely to notice the the difference between this and dedicated NDs unless you push to the extreme end of the ND. In my experience. There are exceptions for sure, and YMMV depending on how picky you are, but I find it unlikely you will be disappointed for most normal use, especially in mid range of the VND wheel. And even if you were to be a bit picky on something, your client likely wouldn't have a clue what you're talking about. The only clients who I could imagine would even be able to level a mild concern would be the people who would never hire something with a GH5... bottom line: it's fine.
 
Paul F said:
I'm particularly interested in how people are dealing with ND and sound (other than the Panasonic DMW-XLR1 solution).
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So, I've tried a few things for sound. THe XLR solution is a must on the GH5. I did the JuicedLink Riggy Micro. Works fine. Little more of a PIA workflow. I've done external with sync. That's fine. I have a SoundDevices MixPre-D. That's good! But I feed it into the camera via XLR line in, so, the XLR unit comes in handy and provides best signal.

I'd say either do a SD MixPre-3 and sync, or do the XLR unit and shoot easy. If you aren't worried about the extra complexity, the SD MP3 is the way to go. If you really value on camera simplicity, the XLR unit from Panny is hyper convenient and gives good results. It won't match the SD MP3, but what does? And do you need that?
 
filmguy123 said:
I have it in 77 and 82. It's good. Better than Tiffen. You are extremely unlikely to notice the the difference between this and dedicated NDs unless you push to the extreme end of the ND. In my experience. There are exceptions for sure, and YMMV depending on how picky you are, but I find it unlikely you will be disappointed for most normal use, especially in mid range of the VND wheel. And even if you were to be a bit picky on something, your client likely wouldn't have a clue what you're talking about. The only clients who I could imagine would even be able to level a mild concern would be the people who would never hire something with a GH5... bottom line: it's fine.
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Great to hear, thanks. What happens when you start getting to the extreme end of the range?
 
filmguy123 said:
When I see kitted out rigs to the nines I usually see mediocre content. Too many people focus on gear and making their rig look big and sacrifice mobility and speed. Creativity and freedom flow from being nimble and letting nothing get in the way of what your brain wants to shoot next.
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I agree to a certain degree, particularly talking about DSLR's & mirrorless. However it doesn't take long to weigh any camera down with accessories on some shoots. Director needs a feed? Better add a Teradek and a V-lock to power it. Now it's too heavy to handhold and will have to go on your shoulder. So now you need grips. Now you've got both hands on the grips and need an AC & wireless FF focus - he'll be wanting proper cinema lenses for that, so you're weight's just gone up again; now you need longer rails to shift it all backwards and keep in balanced. Director wants to shoot at T1.5 outdoors? You'd max out the internal ND's on most cameras and now have to add a matte box and 4x5s too.... etc, etc. This is all pretty standard stuff too - there's a reason you see commercials & features shooting on rigs that often dwarf the actual camera itself.

Shooting light and fast with a small cam can be great, but I've got to say the most common problems I see in other footage are the micro-jitters of hand-holding a small camera, as well as the weird panning motion when a camera is held out in front (it looks & feels like the camera moves in an arc, rather than panning on the spot). Both of these things look amatuerish, and both of these can be fixed by adding weight and proper balance to the camera.
 
I've heard vari ND's mess with skin tones, so I've always avoided them. The convenience is super tempting though.
 
I think building out a GH5 gives huge advantages to IQ....better exposure tools, better focus tools....more weight for handheld on one's shoulder, and if recording to an external recorder 800 Mbps to Prores HQ....really no more reason the buildout will be responsible for poor IQ than shooting with a large heavy Cine camera, but included is the flexibility of the system which I value...with current camera selections, IQ today rests squarely with the operator/filmmaker....I can understand that for sports/documentary/run and gun light and agile is good, but for narrative work, IMO a heavy camera with pro exposure and focus tools is far superior.
 
filmguy123 said:
When I see kitted out rigs to the nines I usually see mediocre content. Too many people focus on gear and making their rig look big and sacrifice mobility and speed. Creativity and freedom flow from being nimble and letting nothing get in the way of what your brain wants to shoot next.
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This is why I started this thread. What I see being offered is bulky, cumbersome rigs. For example, if you search for 'DSLR rig' you get pictures of a rig with a matte box, two handles, and a focus puller. As one who is used to ENG cameras, I can't figure how I'm supposed to operate the camera if it takes two hands to hold it. And that focus puller, how does that help? Just put your hand on the focus ring. Is someone supposed to pull focus for you?

I'm trying to come up with a minimum system that is lightweight and practical. When it is on a tripod, I only need NDs, and external monitor, once in a while a focus puller, and maybe a flag. When on a gimbal, NDs. When on the shoulder, just a half-cage to give me rods, shoulder pad, and a place to hang the Vari-I loupe and a nice wooden handle to give me a sturdy way to hold in on the right side.

I'm looking into making my own filter holder/flag rig. 95% of the time, I won't need the flag; just NDs. I'm debating variable ND on the lens vs 100mm system. I'm buying both to play with and then decide. The matte box is from another era when they were actually used them for matte shots. The problem is, no one ever down-scaled them for today's needs.
 
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My run & gun

My run & gun

I used to use a cage, but in my effort to make my rig even smaller I now just use a manfrotto quick release knock off. The tripod plate fits a Sachtler Ace tripod - quick and easy from handheld to tripod. I put an Israeli or magic arm on the manfrotto side and use it as a gunstock point of contact, so I have 4 ponts of contact: shoulder, eye, and both hands. Can also use it as a handle and if I really need it I can put a light on it and not use it as a shoulder contact.

The audio thing is a Beachtek MCC-2 allows me to get 2 audio sources into the GH5. 1 is Senn wireless and a Rode shotgun for scratch. The other side of the Senn is usually a lav on talent or wireless plug to a boom shotgun. Or if I'm just getting ambient sound I can just use the Rode into the Beachtek and have 1 track at 50% for safety so I don't clip the audio.

Almost always use a Variable ND for true run and gun outside in So Cal light.

I keep the neck strap on and although it gets in the way sometimes, it is nice to be able to let the camera hang at my side and free up my hands. And with the arm folded up tight it looks no different than any other camera - which is handy when traveling, in sketchy neighborhoods or when you really need to keep a low profile.

Also have a quick release on my gimbal (although I have to take off the audio component).

camera rig.jpg
 

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Simple. Nice. But I would expect that shoulder arm to unscrew loose on the baseplate. Do you have that wrench tight to keep it in place?

Who's ND are you using?
 
No - it does not come loose, just hand tightened. I use a tiffen Vari ND. 1-6 stops I believe, but I never go all the way to avoid the X
 
 
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