GH5 Who has some good setting adjustments to make the GH5S look less "video"?

[puredrifting]

Panasonic gave me a GH5S to test and I am having fun but I don't have time to do real testing to determine new looks, too busy with shooting, editing and deliveries. I am shooting "Natural" mostly and it looks okay. They only included one lens, but it's a good one, the Leica/Panasonic 12-60 F2.8-4.0 OIS. Anyone have some good recipes for some adjustments to get a less video, more filmic looking image out of the GH5S? Images look good but pretty detailed, deep DOF and ultra crisp, just not that flattering for people especially. Ideas? Links?

 

[ryancglover]

My suggestion would be to slap a 1/2 black pro mist filter on the lens, shoot V-Log and try using the GH5a color science from EmotiveColor.

These grabs are with my original gh5 from a recent music video (might be a bit extreme in the other direction, but at least not ultra crisp):

 

[TheDingo]

My go to lenses for a more cinematic look are adapted Nikon AI-S fully manual lenses, but pretty much any adapted Full Frame glass works. ( for newer glass I would pick the Voightlander Micro 4/3 f/0.95 lenses )

 

[joe12south]

- Deep DOF ... you know what you need there: wide open aperture. Fast lens on a Speedbooster will be your best friend.
- Taking the edge off ... as others have said, use a filter or less pristine glass. (I use Rokinon cine lenses, they are noticeably soft wide open.)
- Color ... Natural dialed back is a good choice. 10 bit V-LOG L is also good. Couple either with a film emulation LUT.
- Cinematic lighting and framing ... that's all you. ;-)

 

[Thomas Smet]

Get rid of as much electronic processing as possible. Video = electronic.

Sharpness -5. It is what the sensor actually sees. Well closer to what it sees at least, there may still be some level of edge enhancement going on. Some will argue against this but that’s how sensors work. Cameras don’t add a blur filter to the video so the sharpness turned off is what the sensor actually sees. Adding sharpness in post to compressed video has its own set of problems but I would argue that one should never add sharpness. If 4k at -5 isn’t sharp enough then it’s time for a different lens or check the focus of the shot.

Noise reduction -5. Again it is what the sensor sees. Noise reduction is a clear indicator of electronic processing. May not be as clean but film is never that clean to begin with. Some will argue against this but at the end of the day any form of NR will make what you shoot look more like processed video. That isn’t to say the NR can’t help deliver cleaner video but that it takes away from the organic look.

Adapted lenses. It is believed that m43 lenses have a certain level of auto correction that takes place. Using an adapted lens even on a $20 metal tube adapter pretty much gets rid of this. Any lens with electronic contacts to the camera likely has some level of enhancement taking place.

V-log. Natural is a good looking profile but it really a baked in contrast and look meant for video production. I use natural a lot when I don’t want to massage the material but v-log is “the” way to go if you want the least amount of image processing done to the video as possible with a video format on the camera. It is not raw but it gets you much closer to the lack of processing look of raw video. It means many of the same grading challenges that raw has but it gives you a much less baked in look and allows you to dial that back in as needed in post. As long as you use 10bit of course. I would steer away from v-log if you have to use 8bit.

Glass really does make a huge difference of separating the subject from the background. When I do use m43 lenses I prefer the Leica prime lenses for that reason. Even Shane Hurlbut did a test and found the Leica lenses to be the more organic looking electronic m43 lenses. My favorite m43 lens is the 25mm Leica f1.4. Darn good looking lens that just seems to be more organic than any other m43 lens around 25mm.

 

[sgttom]

Use vintage glass or a filter to take the digital edge off. Obviously shoot with noise reduction and sharpness at -5.

My suggestion for color profile is HLG, it uses more of the 10bit range then V-log. Portrait is good if you are looking for nice skin tones with minimal work. If you are shooting 8bit CineD is a good alternative to HLG.

 

[hscully]

My go to lenses for a more cinematic look are adapted Nikon AI-S fully manual lenses, but pretty much any adapted Full Frame glass works. ( for newer glass I would pick the Voightlander Micro 4/3 f/0.95 lenses )

I had a GH2 years ago and owned the Voigtlander 25mm. I freakin' LOVED that lens. It did something no other lenses do. I've never seen more interesting and beautiful bokeh which looked like it was brushed in oil paint. I have a GH5 now and I wish that I hung on to it.

 

[SuperbeastPanda]

I had a GH2 years ago and owned the Voigtlander 25mm. I freakin' LOVED that lens. It did something no other lenses do. I've never seen more interesting and beautiful bokeh which looked like it was brushed in oil paint. I have a GH5 now and I wish that I hung on to it.

Sold my set of 17.5mm/25mm/42.5mm Voigts when I got rid of my GH4 so I feel you pain and beyond. Beautiful lenses. Super sharp at 2.8 up and very interesting at 0.95.

Fantastic for portraiture, too. Thinking of selling my Nikon stuff and re-buying them. This is the 17.5mm up close to the model. https://imgur.com/a/DLv8R

 

[Sage]

My suggestion would be to slap a 1/2 black pro mist filter on the lens, shoot V-Log and try using the GH5a color science from EmotiveColor.

These grabs are with my original gh5 from a recent music video (might be a bit extreme in the other direction, but at least not ultra crisp):

Wow. Those look pretty fantastic Ryan

 

[FoxAdriano]

Get rid of as much electronic processing as possible. Video = electronic.

Sharpness -5. It is what the sensor actually sees.

Out of curiosity: if I put Sharpness -5 then in post production I have to increase the sharpness to +5? I mean usually + or -. Thanks

 

[sgttom]

Out of curiosity: if I put Sharpness -5 then in post production I have to increase the sharpness to +5? I mean usually + or -. Thanks

The gh5 is very sharp and detailed at -5 sharpening. I'd only add sharpening in post if you want an artificial look

 

[Thomas Smet]

Out of curiosity: if I put Sharpness -5 then in post production I have to increase the sharpness to +5? I mean usually + or -. Thanks

No.

Well you can and really it is up to you but my own personal view says not to.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to detail in an image. Well perhaps more but we will just cover the two main schools.

One says an image should be as clean and unprocessed as possible and stay that way. Thats how raw works and how sensors in general work. There is nothing wrong with the lack of fine detail because thats how the camera captured it and it looks the most natural without any electronic processing. Anytime we (in post) or a camera add noise reduction, sharpness and color profiles it is processing and that is an electronic change to what the sensor sees.

The other school of thought is that video should be altered in camera as much as possible to mimic what the eye sees. We add things like noise reduction, sharpness and color profiles to match how we see the world through our own eyes. Shooting raw, log or having limited processing looks odd because we don't see the world that way. This school also believes since we don't have the ability to shoot raw video it is better to do this processing because the video compression. That is true to a certain degree and if the aim is to shoot realistic looking video and use it as is the video will ultimately benefit from baking in that look ahead of time.

 

[joe12south]

Also note that data coming off of a bayer pattern sensor (virtually every modern camera) requires processing to become a recognizable image. It's not a matter of IF it is processed, it is a matter of how and when.

 

[filmguy123]

the Leica/Panasonic 12-60 F2.8-4.0 OIS.

Others have covered this well and it's already been said, but that's your culprit. That, and make sure to be setting camera to -5 sharp.

GREAT lens. But the electronic corrections and enhancements are happening, and the Pana/Leica glass is also a very sharp lens to begin with. Someone else mentioned the Voigtlander 25 - true magic. And others have mentioned adapting lenses... pretty much anything... even dumb adapters.

Personally I would swap the lens in SOME capacity, before adding a diffusion filter.

Also re: vlog VS baked in, I don't understand why people say vlog takes more time. I just drop a Premiere adjustment layer above all my footage and dial in the LUT, edit from there. Once your edit is assembled, just copy/paste the LUT to every clip via selection (takes about 10 seconds), and then add a second correction layer to specific clips for Lumetri, Filmconvert, Colorista, or whatever your preferred brand - or roundtrip to Resolve - to fine tune things as desired. Or another adjustment layer. Or some combo. But I would shoot vlog over natural for sure as that is essential IMO for getting the desired look.

 

[hscully]

Sold my set of 17.5mm/25mm/42.5mm Voigts when I got rid of my GH4 so I feel you pain and beyond. Beautiful lenses. Super sharp at 2.8 up and very interesting at 0.95.

Fantastic for portraiture, too. Thinking of selling my Nikon stuff and re-buying them. This is the 17.5mm up close to the model. https://imgur.com/a/DLv8R

Damn! That image is freakin' awesome! I just love the look of those Voigts. Now don't get me thinking!

 

[Erik Naso]

I had a GH2 years ago and owned the Voigtlander 25mm. I freakin' LOVED that lens. It did something no other lenses do. I've never seen more interesting and beautiful bokeh which looked like it was brushed in oil paint. I have a GH5 now and I wish that I hung on to it.

I wished I kept it as well. It’s a special lens.

 

[SuperbeastPanda]

Damn! That image is freakin' awesome! I just love the look of those Voigts. Now don't get me thinking!

Thanks. I have a set of Zeiss ZF now, which are obviously made by the same company - Cosina. They are somewhat similar but I honestly preferred the rendering of the Voigts.

 

[macobra]

I have a set of three Samyang (Walimex Pro here in Germany) Cine Primes with native MFT mount - 12mm T2.2, 21mm T1.5 and 50mm T1.3. All the lenses are mirrorless only, so they are pretty compact, lightweight and I really like the build and feel of these lenses. They are also very good looking. And this set is pretty affordable compared to Voigtlander, Zeiss, Veydra etc - I paid 1.100 Euro for the three lenses - I think you pay more for one Veydra prime. I bought the GH5 with the Leica 12-60 and the 15mm 1.7, but I prefer these electronic lenses for photography - the full manual lenses are so much better for video work. They are a joy to use, you can adjust the aperture while shooting and the image is much more cinematic - not electronically distorted. All three lenses have great optics for the money, Dustin Abbott reviewd the photo-versions of all three lenses here https://dustinabbott.net/category/lens-reviews/#rokinon
In camera I use the HLG profile for REC709 with Leeming Lut One - the new Lut v502 is great, the colors are nice and cinematic. A good startig point for grading or film emulation like Filmconvert.