GH5 tips tricks and questions only

[Fritz Pierre]

1 hour ago, Dude_ger said:

Zebras in vlog: 80% will clip, unlike 100% in rec709

He suggests setting Zebras to 80%....then backing off on any highlights till Zebras disappear.

In all fairness though...I don't have a GH5 in my hands to test...I'm just repeating what he posted.

[Orangenz]

55 minutes ago, Fritz Pierre said:

He suggests setting Zebras to 80%....then backing off on any highlights till Zebras disappear.

In all fairness though...I don't have a GH5 in my hands to test...I'm just repeating what he posted.

You are correct. I had set them to 100 but somehow both 1 and 2 are now set to 80 for vlog. At 80 the Zebras exactly follow what the waveform display does, showing clipping at the same time. Zebras are way easier to see. While it is easy to clip the highlights in normal lighting you have to realllllly underexpose to get anywhere near the other end. 

[Orangenz]

Tips. As far as I can tell the monitor LUT feature is purely cosmetic. It does not change the waveform monitor output from the very compressed range of vlog or help the contrast af.

BATTERY CHARGER: the GH5 charger is 0.65A and takes a day to charge one battery so trying to charge 5 is impossible. A charger like https://goo.gl/EM1NyP charges 2 batteries at up to 2A each (3x faster each). It also charge checks very quickly in a matter of seconds, even when not connected to mains. 

[lmackreath]

Interested in feedback from people who have used the electonic image stabilsation function ? I have the GH5 and have never gone near it as heard horror stories about using this with warping etc in previous cameras with this feature.

The dpreview says the crop is minimal when in use and no obvious loss in quality?...makes me think it might be worth a try?

[Stab]

1 hour ago, lmackreath said:

Interested in feedback from people who have used the electonic image stabilsation function ? I have the GH5 and have never gone near it as heard horror stories about using this with warping etc in previous cameras with this feature.

The dpreview says the crop is minimal when in use and no obvious loss in quality?...makes me think it might be worth a try?

I've tried walking with it and it was warping all over the place. Much like Warp Stabilizer. And since it crops the image also, I would just stick to Warp Stabilizer if necesarry.

From my first tests, the IBIS of the GH5 (at least with non-native lenses like I use) is not suitable for heavy motions or stuff like walking. It is however very capable of reducing shake and jitter and that always comes in handy.

[Stab]

I've just did some more testing and came to the following conclusions:
(I shot all clips in 4k 50fps 8-bit 150mbps and a couple in 25 fps with the VFR on)

- IBIS is working very well at 35mm, pretty good at 24mm and horrible / unusable at 18mm. This is with a 18-35mm on a Speed Booster XL.
- The VFR mode on 1080p is a bit soft after looking at 4K clips for a while, but the worst thing is the horrible moiré and aliassing. Even small waves on water do it. Plants and grass in the background induces it also. The only way to shoot in this mode is filming people with the background out of focus in my opinion. Still a nice trick to use once in a while.
- Battery life of the camera is heavily decreased compared to GH3 / GH4.
- CineLike-D has more shadow-detail ánd highlight detail than any other profile except for V-LOG. It does however take away some color tonality. I like the colors of Natural the best, but I prefer the extra DR of Cinelike-D. So I'm going to stick with the latter.
- This camera overexposes pretty quickly, but when shooting 1-2 stops underexposed, the image grades very nicely and there is a lot of detail in the shadows that can be brought back. So, similar to other GHx camera's actually.

Last but not least, I've made an edit of some test footage and my computer is able to handle it all and provides playback in realtime and full resolution! I honestly didn't expect this as my specs aren't that great in 2017. 
CPU: I7 3770 / 12 GB mem / GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / Premiere CC 2017.

The montage was just 1:30 long but I added some effects (Warp Stabilizer, Filmconvert) and did some cuts and fade-ins. Sometimes it slightly hesitates but when I press spacebar again it's smooth as butter. Not having to transcode the footage is very convenient and I hope the playback will stay smooth on longer projects with more clips and effects.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

[Charlie]

5 hours ago, Stab said:

I've tried walking with it and it was warping all over the place. Much like Warp Stabilizer. And since it crops the image also, I would just stick to Warp Stabilizer if necesarry.

From my first tests, the IBIS of the GH5 (at least with non-native lenses like I use) is not suitable for heavy motions or stuff like walking. It is however very capable of reducing shake and jitter and that always comes in handy.

I'd have to disagree on the IBIS, I think its great...here is a take from a film I am currently editing, shot with a zeiss distagon 28mm lens (unstabalised lens obviously)

I am actually blown away by this camera in every way!!! 

 

[Orangenz]

Daniel Peters fixes the live view problem during HFR. Use shutter speed, not shutter angle. 

 

4 hours ago, Stab said:

I've just did some more testing and came to the following conclusions:
(I shot all clips in 4k 50fps 8-bit 150mbps and a couple in 25 fps with the VFR on)

- IBIS is working very well at 35mm, pretty good at 24mm and horrible / unusable at 18mm. This is with a 18-35mm on a Speed Booster XL.
- The VFR mode on 1080p is a bit soft after looking at 4K clips for a while, but the worst thing is the horrible moiré and aliassing. Even small waves on water do it. Plants and grass in the background induces it also. The only way to shoot in this mode is filming people with the background out of focus in my opinion. Still a nice trick to use once in a while.
- Battery life of the camera is heavily decreased compared to GH3 / GH4.
- CineLike-D has more shadow-detail ánd highlight detail than any other profile except for V-LOG. It does however take away some color tonality. I like the colors of Natural the best, but I prefer the extra DR of Cinelike-D. So I'm going to stick with the latter.
- This camera overexposes pretty quickly, but when shooting 1-2 stops underexposed, the image grades very nicely and there is a lot of detail in the shadows that can be brought back. So, similar to other GHx camera's actually.

Last but not least, I've made an edit of some test footage and my computer is able to handle it all and provides playback in realtime and full resolution! I honestly didn't expect this as my specs aren't that great in 2017. 
CPU: I7 3770 / 12 GB mem / GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / Premiere CC 2017.

The montage was just 1:30 long but I added some effects (Warp Stabilizer, Filmconvert) and did some cuts and fade-ins. Sometimes it slightly hesitates but when I press spacebar again it's smooth as butter. Not having to transcode the footage is very convenient and I hope the playback will stay smooth on longer projects with more clips and effects.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Great summary! I think you hit the points I'm seeing exactly!! (Indeed, almost a word for word conversation I just had with a friend here) Especially the ones I've put in bold. I tried the gx85 ibis on my 7.5 rokinon fisheye and it spewed over it. So a bit hit and miss with the non-pana wide lenses. Something to be wary of. 

3 hours ago, Charlie said:

I'd have to disagree on the IBIS, I think its great...here is a take from a film I am currently editing, shot with a zeiss distagon 28mm lens (unstabalised lens obviously)

I am actually blown away by this camera in every way!!! 

Nice video   Just to clarify, if you look at what you're quoting, he is not talking about IBIS. That comment is about the additional electronic stabilisation which has a crop. 

[Fritz Pierre]

So 18 mm vignettes on the XL speed booster and Sigma 18-35 @ 18 mm and not on the Ultra speed booster, but it really makes no difference as the XL gives you a wider FOV anyway, so it seems on the XL you would simply zoom on the Sigma until you match the FOV you would get using the Ultra speed booster...

[jonpais]

7 hours ago, Stab said:

I've just did some more testing and came to the following conclusions:
(I shot all clips in 4k 50fps 8-bit 150mbps and a couple in 25 fps with the VFR on)

- IBIS is working very well at 35mm, pretty good at 24mm and horrible / unusable at 18mm. This is with a 18-35mm on a Speed Booster XL.
- The VFR mode on 1080p is a bit soft after looking at 4K clips for a while, but the worst thing is the horrible moiré and aliassing. Even small waves on water do it. Plants and grass in the background induces it also. The only way to shoot in this mode is filming people with the background out of focus in my opinion. Still a nice trick to use once in a while.
- Battery life of the camera is heavily decreased compared to GH3 / GH4.
- CineLike-D has more shadow-detail ánd highlight detail than any other profile except for V-LOG. It does however take away some color tonality. I like the colors of Natural the best, but I prefer the extra DR of Cinelike-D. So I'm going to stick with the latter.
- This camera overexposes pretty quickly, but when shooting 1-2 stops underexposed, the image grades very nicely and there is a lot of detail in the shadows that can be brought back. So, similar to other GHx camera's actually.

Last but not least, I've made an edit of some test footage and my computer is able to handle it all and provides playback in realtime and full resolution! I honestly didn't expect this as my specs aren't that great in 2017. 
CPU: I7 3770 / 12 GB mem / GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / Premiere CC 2017.

The montage was just 1:30 long but I added some effects (Warp Stabilizer, Filmconvert) and did some cuts and fade-ins. Sometimes it slightly hesitates but when I press spacebar again it's smooth as butter. Not having to transcode the footage is very convenient and I hope the playback will stay smooth on longer projects with more clips and effects.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Not disagreeing with anything you have to say, as I don't have the GH5 yet, but my experience with the G85 (as well as every Panasonic I've owned before) leads me to believe that underexposing only leads to muddy images with lots of noise and low DR, and I find that exposing to the right and lowering luminance a touch in post gives much cleaner images, with brilliant highlights and velvety blacks. Exposing to the right on the G85 means setting the zebras to 100% and reducing exposure until the zebras disappear and the histogram is still somewhat to the right. There is far more recoverable detail in those highlights than I ever imagined. Could you clarify what it means to underexpose two stops? Which settings you use? Or better still, could we see a screengrab of one of your clips alongside the waveform monitor in your NLE as well as the image after color correction? Thanks!

[Charlie]

9 hours ago, Orangenz said:

Daniel Peters fixes the live view problem during HFR. Use shutter speed, not shutter angle. 

 

Great summary! I think you hit the points I'm seeing exactly!! (Indeed, almost a word for word conversation I just had with a friend here) Especially the ones I've put in bold. I tried the gx85 ibis on my 7.5 rokinon fisheye and it spewed over it. So a bit hit and miss with the non-pana wide lenses. Something to be wary of. 

Nice video   Just to clarify, if you look at what you're quoting, he is not talking about IBIS. That comment is about the additional electronic stabilisation which has a crop. 

I was using the electronic stablisation in that clip. 

[conurus]

Pleased to let you know that a new Metabones firmware with GH5 support added has just been published: http://metabones.com/article/of/Firmware_Adds_Cinema_EOS_Lens_and_GH5

[Orangenz]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

I was using the electronic stablisation in that clip. 

Ah, wondered why the shake. Nice image though.

8 hours ago, jonpais said:

Not disagreeing with anything you have to say, as I don't have the GH5 yet, but my experience with the G85 (as well as every Panasonic I've owned before) leads me to believe that underexposing only leads to muddy images with lots of noise and low DR, and I find that exposing to the right and lowering luminance a touch in post gives much cleaner images, with brilliant highlights and velvety blacks. Exposing to the right on the G85 means setting the zebras to 100% and reducing exposure until the zebras disappear and the histogram is still somewhat to the right. There is far more recoverable detail in those highlights than I ever imagined. Could you clarify what it means to underexpose two stops? Which settings you use? Or better still, could we see a screengrab of one of your clips alongside the waveform monitor in your NLE as well as the image after color correction? Thanks!

We're actually saying the same thing... Go by the zebras. Sometimes (most of the time for me) this means the histogram will be down a stop or so, sometimes over. So in both cases go by the zebras because once those highlights clip you can't save them. That's what he means (I think) about avoiding being overexposed. 

[jonpais]

1 hour ago, Orangenz said:

Ah, wondered why the shake. Nice image though.

We're actually saying the same thing... Go by the zebras. Sometimes (most of the time for me) this means the histogram will be down a stop or so, sometimes over. So in both cases go by the zebras because once those highlights clip you can't save them. That's what he means (I think) about avoiding being overexposed. 

It's still not clear to me what Stab is referring to when he says to underexpose and lift the shadows, so I'd like to him to explain exactly how he meters and I'd like to see an example of a clip along with the waveform if he's got the chance.

[Orangenz]

20 minutes ago, jonpais said:

It's still not clear to me what Stab is referring to when he says to underexpose and lift the shadows, so I'd like to him to explain exactly how he meters and I'd like to see an example of a clip along with the waveform if he's got the chance.

Well when I read it I thought that it was just doing exactly what I am doing. And by the sounds, what you are doing. Most shots are mostly dark, say under a roof shade, but with a bit of sky that is really bright showing in the background. So as most of the image is quite a bit darker than that bit of sky by the time you have brought it down enough to not clip the sky (no zebras) the scene definitely is underexposed a stop or so. So in post you just bring the shadows up. That's the situation I think about. Expose for the zebras seems to result in underexposing more often than not. The point is, this is ok. Or more ok than one would have thought in the case of these new machines.  Does that help?

[jonpais]

2 minutes ago, Orangenz said:

Well when I read it I thought that it was just doing exactly what I am doing. And by the sounds, what you are doing. Most shots are mostly dark, say under a roof shade, but with a bit of sky that is really bright showing in the background. So as most of the image is quite a bit darker than that bit of sky by the time you have brought it down enough to not clip the sky (no zebras) the scene definitely is underexposed a stop or so. So in post you just bring the shadows up. That's the situation I think about. Expose for the zebras seems to result in underexposing more often than not. The point is, this is ok. Or more ok than one would have thought in the case of these new machines.  Does that help?

Could you share a clip along with the waveform in your NLE as well as the color corrected image. That would help me understand better. 

[Orangenz]

7 minutes ago, jonpais said:

Could you share a clip along with the waveform in your NLE as well as the color corrected image. That would help me understand better. 

It's just what you do, expose as far right as you can without clipping the highlights/zebras. Where the histogram lands is incidental.

My after-market batteries are being shown up by the GH5. They have to be pretty rigourous to stand up to things. Pana over 2 hrs on first test (but had a problem with screen turning off so I have to redo that one) but 2 of my other batteries are around the 1 hr mark. One battery only managed 5 minutes so pretty funny I didn't spot that earlier with GH4 use. Maybe I did and forgot about it or thought I'd forgotten to charge it. 

The running sound is quite loud if you put your ear up to the camera. That goes all the time recording or not, ibis on or not. I'm thinking the camera would flatten the battery after 2 hours even if you didn't record anything. Was there a firmware update for the GX85 that made it quieter?

[jonpais]

Here's what I'd like to see.

[Orangenz]

4 minutes ago, jonpais said:

Here's what I'd like to see.

Well the main problem I'll have is finding someone as handsome. Oh I added some extra stuff to previous comment for you to see on batteries.

[jonpais]

2 minutes ago, Orangenz said:

Well the main problem I'll have is finding someone as handsome. Oh I added some extra stuff to previous comment for you to see on batteries.

 My looks are becoming a running joke in the forums.