Ken Ross

And I too find the AF quite acceptable as I've demonstrated with some of my videos, such as the one below. With that said, firmware improvements are always welcome.

^ And likewise, in other ways, you could contend that 4K, IBIS, internal 10 bit etc. makes the GH5 the better choice. Oh, and the GH5 is no slouch shooting stills, but of course we're talking video here.

Hmm, the 5D3 is more detailed than the GH5? I'm having trouble with that, particularly when comparing the 4K output of the GH5 to the HD output (no 4K on the 5D3). Doing that comparison, the GH5 blows the Canon away in detail. I'm not saying the Canon isn't a great camera, but for anyone shooting video, I can't see spending the money on a camera that can't do 4K. Not in today's world and especially considering how good HD looks when it's downscaled from 4K. Then there's IBIS. The footage out of the GH5 looks so much better to me. That's MO.

With some exceptions, I never considered zooming while shooting to be a good practice. I got into a lengthy discussion with someone on another forum who defended the practice. It's rarely used today in cinema. If you looked at old TV shows and movies, it was used far more frequently back then.

I'll never understand why when a discussion of zooms comes up, the question of 'how much reach do you need', never comes up.

Now there's a guy who knows his AF!

Looks like better DR on the GH5 and lots more in-camera sharpening on the NX1. I owned the NX1 and it still really holds up well today. Samsung was way ahead of its time with this camera. It's too bad they abandoned this market.

Emanuel, yup, version 2. It's now F3.5-5.6, so a bit faster.

I suggested on his YouTube video to try 1-area AF and turn off the custom settings. If those were the results I was getting, even though it's a difficult test, I'd certainly go to Plan B.

Well I can tell you that shot of the bear toward the end is precisely the same shot I've tried with both the A7Rii and A6300 (same exhibit, same bear). Both held focus for about 2-3 seconds, despite their PDAF. I'm not sure if the bear's dark fur presents a difficult task, but I was able to hold focus longer with the GH5 than the PDAF of the Sonys. Go figure. As for the micro vibration, I was shooting at close to a 400mm FL (FF equivalent) for many of these shots. I was at the max of the lens plus I used the lossless 1.4 ETC of the camera. The birds were relatively far away. So yeah, without being locked down, I can see a bit of micro vibration in some of these long shots. If you think that's bad, you should see similar shots with Sony's IBIS. This is far far better. I'm actually quite happy being able to hand hold at these focal lengths with just that amount of movement. Coming from Sony's IBIS, this is a delight. Just remember that no IBIS will create a locked down look at focal lengths like these.

So I originally wasn't going to post this video because I know there are few fans of 4K60p. That's OK, I love it. But since this is a thread on 'focusing excellence', it's entirely appropriate for me to post this. The video was shot yesterday at the Queens Zoo in N.Y. I used a variety of AF approaches (no MF at all), including 1-Area, Tracking AF, CAF and focus lock. The subject and its movement dictated which technique I chose. Interestingly, the shot of the bear toward the end, is something that's eluded me with both the A6300 & A7Rii. It's so difficult that my wife said, "What's the point, it won't come out". I've taken the same shots of that same bear, and for whatever reason (the dark fur coupled with the bear's movement?), both Sony's would only hold focus for two or three seconds before losing it. In the interest of full disclosure, I did have one GH5 shot of this bear that wound up on the cutting room floor due to a misfocus, but that's still a 50% hit rate for a difficult subject even for PDAF. Everything else I shot was absolutely fine.

Wait, no 4K60p like that hyped 'enthusiast' camera? I'm outta here.

Emanuel, I too have demonstrated that the AF can be used quite effectively, and this is without touch to focus. In the above videos, he certainly didn't use touch focus, but rather the CAF was running on the fly. I've tended to use 1-area AF and find it quite effective. There are many videos out there where people are getting good results. I also agree with Tony N., the Sony AF is certainly not perfect either. Been there done that. In fact the Sony, more than the Panasonic, would often refuse to focus on a face that filled up 1/2 of the frame, choosing the background instead. Yes, the Sony CAF is better in general, but having used both, I don't think it's that much better, I really don't. I haven't used the A9, so no comments there. Is the GH5 AF as good as it could be? No. Is the AF a lot better than some think it is? You betcha! Will Panasonic further improve it in the GH5? I'm betting yes.

I'm not sure I even believe that was his wife!

Emanuel, couldn't agree more.

I've never seen moire as bad with the GH5 as he shows in his video, but I shoot only 4K. Something seems odd though in his video. Toward the end he shoot in 4K50p, and the stutter as he pans is really bad. I'm not sure why that should be, it should present smoother motion. Who knows what transcoding errors he's done too and the video was only uploaded in HD for some reason. Considering my experience with this as pretty much a non-issue, and the rarity of others complaining about it, I don't put a whole of credence in this. No, webrunner, it's not as bad as he shows. Otherwise we'd be hearing rants all over the internet. It would be right up there with the AF.

Mercer, as good as the IBIS was in the G85 (I had it), the GH5's IBIS is even better. I'm not sure if actual physical changes were made to the IBIS or whether it's simply the fact that a larger camera is easier to hold steady. Either way, the IBIS is an incredible pleasure for hand-holding stability.

I found my Lexar 1000x card had about a 4 second lag after ending a clip on my GH5, while my Sandisk Extreme had almost no lag despite a lower speed. So much for specs.

There's simply no technical reason why you should see this other than someone using a high shutter speed or your computer not playing the clips back smoothly. It's certainly not inherent in any way with m43. I've never heard this before.

Yeah, but that's not generally the focus of NAB. It's more for broadcasters and their partners.

I'm not sure why some were expecting to see an A7Siii or equivalent at NAB. Traditionally, NAB has always been more geared to broadcasters and not where you expect to see premieres of enthusiast/prosumer/consumer equipment. I'm sure Sony is still working on their overheating issues and until they come up with a solution, it will be tough for them to compete with the GH5 on video features. They certainly can't introduce usable 4K60p until the overheating of 4K30p is solved.

Yes, that I've gotten. There is sometimes a lag after stopping a recording.

Never had that happen on either my SanDisc Extreme Plus (90MB/s) or a Lexar (150MB/s) cards. To me it feels like the recording begins within a second every time. Now I've never had 2 cards in the camera at the same time. So I don't know if that's a factor. Are you also getting this lag with just one card in Slot A?

Yes, that too, but I think it goes beyond that. In an effort to give it a 'filmic' look, I thing they deliberately tried to soften it and raise black levels to the point that it just looks muddy. I think that's more the fault of the grading than the camera. It seems that some just love to grade the life out of any camera. I know this s a highly subjective area, but that's just how it strikes me.

Too stylized and too muddy for my taste, but hey, that's what makes the world go round.