An adventure into the Panasonic GX85/80 begins - and a look at the Leica Nocticron for Micro Four Thirds

[jase]

8 hours ago, mercer said:

So, leaving sharpness at 0 and NR at -5 adds a subtle grain? Interesting... I wonder why it does that?

thats not what i meant - i didnt discover any relationship between NR and sharpness, i just like it a tad sharper, while -5 gives me already at iso's like 800+ a fine grain, but thats by no means a scientific test.

[sgreszcz]

On 28 July 2016 at 0:46 PM, jase said:

Nope, I am using the filter on all lenses i have currently. Just love it.

Hi Jase, I enjoyed you Splash! festival film.  The look really gave a nice feel to it.

It seemed to be quite sunny in a lot of the shots.  Do you use any ND filtering with the Ultra Contrast or just bump up shutter speed to correspond for the larger apertures that you are using?  I guess you used a lot of 1080p/50fps for slow motion, so that probably helps with a higher shutter speed?

Reminds me of the festivals I attended when living in Köln/Bonn (Rock Werchter / Rock am See 2003) which had great lineups and atmosphere, and HOT weather.  It is harder to get to festivals these days with small kids, although went to Bestival in 2013 with a three-year-old and my 8-month pregnant wife...  I don't know most of the bands anymore! 

[jase]

5 minutes ago, sgreszcz said:

Hi Jase, I enjoyed you Splash! festival film.  The look really gave a nice feel to it.

It seemed to be quite sunny in a lot of the shots.  Do you use any ND filtering with the Ultra Contrast or just bump up shutter speed to correspond for the larger apertures that you are using?  I guess you used a lot of 1080p/50fps for slow motion, so that probably helps with a higher shutter speed?

Reminds me of the festivals I attended when living in Köln/Bonn (Rock Werchter / Rock am See 2003) which had great lineups and atmosphere, and HOT weather.  It is harder to get to festivals these days with small kids, although went to Bestival in 2013 with a three-year-old and my 8-month pregnant wife...  I don't know most of the bands anymore! 

Thanks! honestly, i never use a ND filter ever and just bump up the shutter. i dont feel experienced enough to handle ND *and* MF at the same time - my subjects are not giving me the time I would need for such a proper composition. 

Yet that would also not represent the way I use my gear - since I see it more as a tool that should help me capture what i see within an instant - thats also the reason why i just set my GX80 to Aperture Priority with custom set WB and let the camera take care of the rest, with some exposure compensation sometimes of course.

and yes, i only shoot 1080p/50. I love the 4k image, but I love slowmo even more than it. Still, i am amazed what kind of quality Panasonic manages to pack into just 27mbit..

[mercer]

Any news on HDMI out? Also, does anyone know if the GX85 can down convert it's 4K to 1080p for HDMI out like the gh4 can? And since you can record internally and externally with SD cards and HDMI out respectively, does the LCD stay on while outputting HDMI?

[sanveer]

20 hours ago, mercer said:

Any news on HDMI out? Also, does anyone know if the GX85 can down convert it's 4K to 1080p for HDMI out like the gh4 can? And since you can record internally and externally with SD cards and HDMI out respectively, does the LCD stay on while outputting HDMI?

Panasonic cannot record both internally and externally (it's only either of them).

The LCD does stay on while recording externally. Dual recording may be a feature on ghr GH5. 

[mercer]

9 minutes ago, sanveer said:

Panasonic cannot record both internally and externally (it's only either of them).

The LCD does stay on while recording externally. Dual recording may be a feature on ghr GH5. 

I thought Andrew Reid confirmed that in this preliminary review? And I think I read that on another site. 

[aldolega]

The GH4 can record internally while outputting over HDMI, but only in 8bit mode, not 10bit.

[Miki de la Rosa]

Underwater housing 

http://www.ikelite.com/housings/panasonic/6961.85-panasonic-gx85-gx80-gx7-ii.html

[mercer]

So, is it confirmed that there is a new sensor in the GX85, or a tweaked sensor, because from my preliminary tests it seems to play in a different playground than the G7 does. Obviously, it's a whole lot sharper without the OLPF, but the colors seem different. With -5 Con, -5 Sharp, -5 NR and -2,-3 Sat, the results are almost perfect out of camera with still just enough room for some mild grading.  I even tested my Canon FL 35mm 3.5 with the poorly reviewed Fotodiox Excel+1 focal reducer, and it's sharp as a tack with gorgeous rendering. If this is any preview of the GH5... 

[PannySVHS]

Would still love to see a comparision between GX85 and G7 for lowlight and some shadows free of artefacts.

My G6 isn´nt the best performer shadow wise, otherwise beautiful cam.

A friend of mine and me did a lighting setup, kinda @andy lee style with beautiful gels, Orange Glow and Deep Blue, two 850w tungsten and one LED.

We compared her 600D and my G6. Canon color is still something, even when lit. But loving my G6. Starting to really love black wrap, flags and gels.

Great stuff for filming with the lower end bunch of cams. Very exited about the promises of Gx85 or G7 or XC10 or veterans such as F3 and such.

 

So again:

-GX85 vs G7 shadows would be great, hey throw in some G6 to show the generation gap and for the fun!:)

-Also, dual recording confirmation about internal and external recording please for the GX85.

-Another one, is there a grip for extending the height of the grip on the GX85? In the store it felt way too short for me. Met a guy with a Oly EM10ii last week with a beautiful extended grip. Awesome handling, really beautiful!

 

Here is a light from our setup to keep my post a little more interesting. I think BTS is a great thing on this forum, so maybe some lumix and canon faces next time.

EDIT: This bad mother or bad boy looks really funky!:)

[Michael Coffee]

Could someone do a jello test at 4k and 1080p? I'm hoping it might have a good result at 1080p if not at 4k..

[jagnje]

I have a question about stabilization...when using vintage manual lenses there you have to enter which focal lenght you are using right? So does that mean that if I use a vintage zoom lens I have to recalibrate the camera every time I change the focal lenght?

[tupp]

6 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Here is a light from our setup to keep my post a little more interesting.

Friendly reminder:  avoid blocking the light fixture's ventilation holes when using blackwrap.  Leave plenty of room around the vents (both top vents and bottom vents) for convection:  cool air comes in the bottom; hot air goes out the top.

 

I usually clip blackwrap just to the doors -- even when flagging light spilling out of the ventilation holes.

[Michael Coffee]

8 hours ago, jagnje said:

I have a question about stabilization...when using vintage manual lenses there you have to enter which focal lenght you are using right? So does that mean that if I use a vintage zoom lens I have to recalibrate the camera every time I change the focal lenght?

This is technically correct, though I remember one poster earlier in the thread saying they got acceptable results putting in the middle range of their zoom (say 35 on a 18-55) and getting good results - experimentation would be the key here methinks!

[jase]

Anyone using the GX85 with a metabones Canon EF speedbooster other than @Andrew Reid? I really would like to go down this route for evaluation purposes, together with the awesome Canon 35 2.0 IS - yet Andrews review really puts me off (switching the OIS off also switches off the IBIS which is a showstopper). I also emailed Metabones whether they can confirm Andrews findings and if yes, whether they will bring an update, but they remain silent..

[fuzzynormal]

11 hours ago, jagnje said:

I have a question about stabilization...when using vintage manual lenses there you have to enter which focal lenght you are using right? So does that mean that if I use a vintage zoom lens I have to recalibrate the camera every time I change the focal lenght?

Yes. If you want the stabilizer to be most effective.  I use only manual primes, so this ain't a problem for me. 

[Fredrik Lyhne]

17 hours ago, Michael Coffee said:

Could someone do a jello test at 4k and 1080p? I'm hoping it might have a good result at 1080p if not at 4k..

Here's a rolling shutter test: 

 

As you can see it's a lot better in 1080. 

@mercer did you buy a GX85? I haven't tried the G7 but I just sold my GH4 learned how out much easier it is to grade footage from the GX85. Will get a GH5 when it comes out and can live a few months with the limitations of the GX85.

 

[bunk]

15 minutes ago, Fredrik Lyhne said:

I just sold my GH4 learned how out much easier it is to grade footage from the GX85.

 

Just so I understand correct. You find it easier to grade your Natural footage shot on your GH4 than the Natural footage you shot on your GX85. How is it easier?

[Fredrik Lyhne]

2 hours ago, bunk said:

Just so I understand correct. You find it easier to grade your Natural footage shot on your GH4 than the Natural footage you shot on your GX85. How is it easier?

Sorry, I meant color correct. I find it easier to correct the white balance on the GX85, especially in mixed lighting. Don't know why but it just seems easier to get it right. It also holds up a lot better in the shadows and mids. 

Another thing which isn't exactly grading is that if I shoot a scene slightly underexposed to protect the highlights at iso 200 I can easily correct exposure in post without getting any noise in the image. On my GH4 I would often get a little noise if I missed exposure or WB. 

With that being said I would never have sold my GH4 if the GH5 wasn't on the way. As many has stated before me it's a great production cam. In fact the only thing I disliked about my GH4 was the low light performance. 

[mercer]

3 hours ago, Fredrik Lyhne said:

Here's a rolling shutter test: 

 

As you can see it's a lot better in 1080. 

@mercer did you buy a GX85? I haven't tried the G7 but I just sold my GH4 learned how out much easier it is to grade footage from the GX85. Will get a GH5 when it comes out and can live a few months with the limitations of the GX85.

 

Yeah, I bought one last week. Every time I opened my gear closet, a lens stared at me with sad eyes. 

But in reality I picked up a great deal for a new body, Panasonic travel battery kit, plus an instant rebate... So I couldn't pass on it. Eventually I wanted to get an interchangeable lens camera anyway, so this saved me some money because I probably would have bought a used C100.

Yeah, I agree, I think the GX85 is a lot cleaner in the shadows than the G7. ISO 800, SEEMS, to be completely noise free at 1-2 stops under. Of course I have been exposing differently since I picked up the XC10. With the G7, I used 100% zebras to expose to the left, with the XC10 I learned quickly that you need to underexpose... Or expose to the center for best results. So with the GX85, I have my zebras set at 100 to catch any glaring issue, but am really just watching the meter and trying to keep it under by about a stop. I've also found the camera plays well at 4400 Kelvin in mixed light. I've yet to test the A3/G3 theory, but I haven't done any skin tone tests yet... Probably today. 

I've been using it with only vintage lenses... Minoltas, Canon FL and a few c-mount lenses. They render beautifully and they are so sharp. Aliasing is a problem in 4K but it seems to go away once downscaled to 1080. 

The IBIS is fantastic... Not as good as the XC10, but not too far off either. With my 12.5mm c-mount, I get full coverage, but if I pan too quickly, the  image falls off the sensor's cliff into the dark abyss. 

All in all, it's a fun little cam... Wish the grip had a touch more meat to it.