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

[jase]

Anyone with experience about the extra tele conversion feature?

if i got it right, it is a 2.4x zoom in 1080p mode without any loss in quality?

if thats right, then i could use a 10mm lens and have a 24mm lens with this feature at the same time? Would be quite awesome!

[jase]

And anyone knows how good / fast the AF is when using the speedbooster xl ( @Andrew Reid?) is CAF working?

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

4 hours ago, tupp said:

At Cinegear, I asked a Panasonic salesman about the HDMI output of both the GX85 and the G7, and he insisted that both gave 8 bit, 4:2:0 video out of HDMI.

 

 

Later, I went to the Atomos booth, and asked a rep if any of their recorders could sense the bit depth and chroma sub-sample of a camera signal (to test the outputs of the G7 and GX85).  He said no, but after taking a swig from his beer, he boasted that he knew the output specs on every camera and that the G7 was definitely 8 bit, 4:2:2.  After I offered a US$5 wager that the G7 wasn't 8 bit, 4:2:2, we went to the Panasonic booth to find out the answer.

 

 

With the tipsy Atomos rep at my side, suddenly the Panasonic salesman was not so sure as before.  He admitted that the output of some cameras haven't been tested, but that the corporate office instructed the sales reps to say 8 bit, 4:2:0 for most cameras.  However, he was definitely sure that the G7 output 8 bit, 4:2:0.

 

 

So, I don't know what to tell you.  Hopefully, someone will connect the GX85 to a capable monitor/recorder/analyzer and post the answer here.

Like all cameras it's most very likely 8bit 4:2:2. No reason this would be different, 

It's good enough for monitoring and getting ProRes files when needed. But not a route to get higher IQ out of the camera as all these cameras have virtually the same IQ internally and HDMI signal. 

 

[Henry Ciullo]

1 hour ago, jase said:

Anyone with experience about the extra tele conversion feature?

if i got it right, it is a 2.4x zoom in 1080p mode without any loss in quality?

if thats right, then i could use a 10mm lens and have a 24mm lens with this feature at the same time? Would be quite awesome!

I tested it briefly yesterday with the 12-32. I don't know the exact magnification, and theoretically you don't loose image quality, but you DO get more noise in the image, I shot a scene at iso800 and was slightly underexposed and you could definately see noise in the shadows.

[shoottheshot]

Any experience with rolling shutter on the GX85?  Specifically wondering if its comparable to GH4 when shooting 4K.  I'm consider getting a GX85 but will invest in a GH4 if its significantly less "jello-y".  Thanks.

[fuzzynormal]

6 hours ago, Henry Ciullo said:

I tested it briefly yesterday with the 12-32. I don't know the exact magnification, and theoretically you don't loose image quality, but you DO get more noise in the image, I shot a scene at iso800 and was slightly underexposed and you could definately see noise in the shadows.

That's certainly my experience with the LUMIX cameras I own.  ExTele is a neat-o feature, but low ISO is recommended.

[Andrew Reid]

You may as well shoot 4K and do the Ex-Tele in post by cropping a 1920 x 1080 box out of your 4K frame.

This way you can activate it at any time and in any part of the frame.

Also your normal shots will be oversampled from 4K to 1080p, rather than pixel binned 1080p straight off the card, which looks far worse.

[jase]

Makes sense, Andrew. Yet we loose the slowmo and get ugly jitters when panning

[Matt Holder]

On the Gh4 you can use ex tele in 1080p/60. I use it alot in events where i might need the slo mo option but want sound. I use 100mb / 60p and it looks great.

But not in variable frame rate 1080/ 96 p. (which is also silent).

 

[ATD]

On 6 June, 2016 at 1:10 PM, Basil said:

I'm a newbie, most of my video has been underwater (my beloved LX100, in a scuba housing)

I am kind of curious about the gx80/85/g7MarkII for both photo and video (I used to own an EM1, and I appreciate stabilized video).  I know the gx80/gx85 doesn't have either the Cine D or Cine V profiles, nor a Log profile -- which is fine for me at this point, since my color correcting experience in video is pretty limited.  But can you shoot 4K video using the L Monochrome photo profile, to play with black & white video?

Yes, 4K L-Monochrome video works.

[Henry Ciullo]

another boring test clip... this time the gx80 has wheels!!    testing it and my riding abilities on an electric skateboard...

 

[fuzzynormal]

4 hours ago, Henry Ciullo said:

Testing it and my riding abilities on an electric skateboard

Fun footage.  I'd say it would have even more potential if you put the camera on something that had a lot of mass:  For instance, something as cheesy as this would actually make a world of difference: https://fstoppers.com/diy/make-diy-steadicam-style-camera-stabilizer-71819

BTW, what's the shutter speed, ISO, and f-stop of that footage?

This footage does show the inherent limitations of a 5-axis stabilizer.  As been mentioned, 5-axis does not mean the camera can be used like a steady cam, (seems to be a misconception about that) but if you make the right shooting decisions (i.e. FOV, disciplined shooting technique) you can still get useful steadycam-emulated stuff with 5-axis helping out a little bit.

[John Matthews]

 Adobe Camera RAW update... GX80/85 is now supported. I started looking at it and I'm impressed so far.

Go here: 

mac: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=6067&sdid=952G4XMS&skim19445X767302Xf77773524ac4c51fd9957afb28a66c8e

windows: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=6068&sdid=952G4XMS&skim19445X767302X5f9888bb3155db5bc04227b1a3892c8c

[Henry Ciullo]

13 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Fun footage.  I'd say it would have even more potential if you put the camera on something that had a lot of mass:  For instance, something as cheesy as this would actually make a world of difference: https://fstoppers.com/diy/make-diy-steadicam-style-camera-stabilizer-71819

BTW, what's the shutter speed, ISO, and f-stop of that footage?

This footage does show the inherent limitations of a 5-axis stabilizer.  As been mentioned, 5-axis does not mean the camera can be used like a steady cam, (seems to be a misconception about that) but if you make the right shooting decisions (i.e. FOV, disciplined shooting technique) you can still get useful steadycam-emulated stuff with 5-axis helping out a little bit.

I used a homebuilt chest rig with pistolgrip and manfrotto ball head. I was holding the camera by the ball head, so I did actually have more mass (holding the bare camera with only one hand - the other is needed for the skate throttle - is quite hard).

it really was a quick test, have had very bad weather and little time to program shots, I haven't bought adapter rings yet for my 68mm ND filter so I had no nd on, I set the camera in Aperture mode with f11. When I checked quickly in M mode, it gave me a shutter of 1/250 at 200iso 1080P50. 

I am sure that with the right supporting hardware, a skate with actually round wheels (one of my wheels has become oval giving my body unwanted up-down movement), and trying to avoid pans should give some pretty decent results.

[feanorfinwe]

14 hours ago, John Matthews said:

 Adobe Camera RAW update... GX80/85 is now supported. I started looking at it and I'm impressed so far.

Go here: 

mac: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=6067&sdid=952G4XMS&skim19445X767302Xf77773524ac4c51fd9957afb28a66c8e

windows: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=6068&sdid=952G4XMS&skim19445X767302X5f9888bb3155db5bc04227b1a3892c8c

And where are Panasonic and Olympus lenses??? It's a bug?

 

[John Matthews]

5 hours ago, feanorfinwe said:

And where are Panasonic and Olympus lenses??? It's a bug?

Good question. Did they have them before? I've been using Lightroom 5, not CC... simply because I don't trust Adobe with any of my personal information. In Lightroom 5, I've never had that option even with the GX7 I used. To use this software, I simply converted the rw2 files into DNG's so that LR would read them properly. This might need more investigation.

[John Matthews]

Are Panasonic lenses and Olympus lenses corrected in-camera, even the RW2 files? No need to correct with Lightroom? I know that's what happened with my Sony Rx100, but I didn't know that's what happened with Panasonic and Olympus cameras.

[Inazuma]

8 hours ago, feanorfinwe said:

And where are Panasonic and Olympus lenses??? It's a bug?

 

I believe the corrections are already made in the raw files. There are some raw converters that open Panasonic files without the corrections

[sgreszcz]

On 6 June 2016 at 9:53 PM, fuzzynormal said:

At any rate, I've decided to buy the new GX85, so I suppose it's all a bit of a moot point.  I'll be using the newer camera regardless.

I'm really interested in hearing your feedback on the GX85, especially based on your experience shooting with the GX7 and EM-5 Mark II.

[fuzzynormal]

2 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

I'm really interested in hearing your feedback on the GX85, especially based on your experience shooting with the GX7 and EM-5 Mark II.

Sure 'nuff.  Based on how I shoot, and the fact I'll be using the same glass as always, I expect footage will feel and "look" exactly like what I get out of my 5-axis EM5II --with just a heck of a lot better resolution! 

However, from all accounts the color is better than the GX7 and now, of course, there's the 4K.  So, you know, sharper images all around, but I'm thinking my experience with the camera will be what I'm used to with the GX7.  Breezy.  Effective.  A little bland to use, but not difficult.

As it happens, I grown incredibly fond of the ergonomics of the EM5II.  Man, I like shooting with that camera.  Nice EVF, wonderful battery grip, direct audio input and monitoring!!! (I mean, that's really one of it's great underappreciated features.  So damn practical. I love being able to record subjects with a wireless mic straight to the card and monitor it while it's happening.  So nice for documentary film making.)  

*Sigh* I'll miss THAT for sure.  While I'm shooting AND in post.  Ugh, syncing b-roll audio...  

But the IQ of the GX85 can't be ignored, so I'll use it for now.  I suspect a year or so down the road Oly should be in the 4K game. ( curse you Olympus for not being there yet as I head into a big project! )  At that point, if they're even close to IQ of the Panys, I'll definitely head back to Olympus; simply for the ergos and the tidy audio set-up.  Seriously, for me, it just feels great to use.