GH5 focus excellence

[Cinegain]

S-AF and then voice activation control 'Lumix! Re-focus!'. ?

[Emanuel]

 

[Emanuel]

Seems the last GH5 testing entries on tap-to-focus are pretty positive to confirm Jon Pais' findings on the older GH5 sister (G85) BTW:

[Focus Pulling in both modes: Touchscreen & Focus Transition]

No idea on settings but lets us to infer those MY fastest settings were simply misleading. Reason why I never bought his tests as much reliable, likely to happen honest but biased IMO.

[Trek of Joy]

I'm in Tokyo right now and I went to Bic Camera's 8-story megastore to tinker with the GH5 and the EM1.2 - my Fuji lenses are sucking dust like a damn vacuum - so I'm considering a switch to m43 and Olympus Pro lenses.

Anyway, super impressed with both cameras, IBIS is great and AF was fantastic. I spent some time tinkering with both, there were Oly and Panny specialists in the shop that ran me through a bunch of the features and whizzed through the menus to demo the various AF functions. I have to say after walking around the the EM1.2, the IBIS is in another league compared to anything Sony and the GH5 - zero rolling shutter helps - but the Oly is so freaking smooth. The GH5 is larger and heavier than I expected, AF with the touchscreen was very impressive, but I didn't try a lot of tracking. I tried the 12-35, 12-60 and 35-100 on the GH5 and the 7-14, 12-40, 12-100, 40-150 and 300 Pro lenses on the EM1.2. At 12mm I was able to get reliable focus on my face vlog style using the touchscreen with both cameras. I used the 12-100 on the EM1.2 to follow my wife as she walked around the store in front of me, it did a better job tracking then my XT2. The only thing holding me back is downsizing the sensor after going from Sony FF to APS-c with Fuji. I shoot a lot off stills and m43 gets really noisy from 3200 on, but getting lenses cleaned every few months isn't realistic given the fact I'm on the road all the time so the GH5 and EM1.2 are on my radar as a photo/video dual camera setup.

I've been in a lot of dusty environments lately including Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and India - later this year I'll be in Africa and then Central/South America. I love my Fuji's, but the weather sealed zooms are huge and the 16-55 is not stabilized - not very travel friendly. I always keep my camera in a shoulder bag or backpack when not shooting and never changing lenses in the field (I carry two bodies and choose my lenses before heading out for the day) my lenses are full of dust and its easy to see in the images, I've uploaded a few images from the countries we've visited here with more to come: https://www.facebook.com/pg/trekofjoy/photos/?tab=albums

Side note: Bic is just an awesome store with everything electronic and lots more like toys, booze, bikes and so on. Fun place to roam for a few hours and tinker with all the gadgets as they have demo models of everything and you can freely try them out for as long as you like. My wife even had fun there, its great.

[Emanuel]

23 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

super impressed with both cameras, IBIS is great and AF was fantastic. I spent some time tinkering with both, there were Oly and Panny specialists in the shop that ran me through a bunch of the features and whizzed through the menus to demo the various AF functions. I have to say after walking around the the EM1.2, the IBIS is in another league compared to anything Sony and the GH5 - zero rolling shutter helps - but the Oly is so freaking smooth. The GH5 is larger and heavier than I expected, AF with the touchscreen was very impressive, but I didn't try a lot of tracking. I tried the 12-35, 12-60 and 35-100 on the GH5 and the 7-14, 12-40, 12-100, 40-150 and 300 Pro lenses on the EM1.2. At 12mm I was able to get reliable focus on my face vlog style using the touchscreen with both cameras. I used the 12-100 on the EM1.2 to follow my wife as she walked around the store in front of me, it did a better job tracking then my XT2. The only thing holding me back is downsizing the sensor after going from Sony FF to APS-c with Fuji. I shoot a lot off stills and m43 gets really noisy from 3200 on, but getting lenses cleaned every few months isn't realistic given the fact I'm on the road all the time so the GH5 and EM1.2 are on my radar as a photo/video dual camera setup.

Go on SpeedBooster Ultra and XL and you'll end just fine on S35/APS-C and even FF looks, respectively.

Nice report on touchscreen for focus as finest workaround to somehow overcome eventual AF limitations, thanks for your welcome entry :-)

[jonpais]

28 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

I'm in Tokyo right now and I went to Bic Camera's 8-story megastore to tinker with the GH5 and the EM1.2 - my Fuji lenses are sucking dust like a damn vacuum - so I'm considering a switch to m43 and Olympus Pro lenses.

Anyway, super impressed with both cameras, IBIS is great and AF was fantastic. I spent some time tinkering with both, there were Oly and Panny specialists in the shop that ran me through a bunch of the features and whizzed through the menus to demo the various AF functions. I have to say after walking around the the EM1.2, the IBIS is in another league compared to anything Sony and the GH5 - zero rolling shutter helps - but the Oly is so freaking smooth. The GH5 is larger and heavier than I expected, AF with the touchscreen was very impressive, but I didn't try a lot of tracking. I tried the 12-35, 12-60 and 35-100 on the GH5 and the 7-14, 12-40, 12-100, 40-150 and 300 Pro lenses on the EM1.2. At 12mm I was able to get reliable focus on my face vlog style using the touchscreen with both cameras. I used the 12-100 on the EM1.2 to follow my wife as she walked around the store in front of me, it did a better job tracking then my XT2. The only thing holding me back is downsizing the sensor after going from Sony FF to APS-c with Fuji. I shoot a lot off stills and m43 gets really noisy from 3200 on, but getting lenses cleaned every few months isn't realistic given the fact I'm on the road all the time so the GH5 and EM1.2 are on my radar as a photo/video dual camera setup.

I've been in a lot of dusty environments lately including Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and India - later this year I'll be in Africa and then Central/South America. I love my Fuji's, but the weather sealed zooms are huge and the 16-55 is not stabilized - not very travel friendly. I always keep my camera in a shoulder bag or backpack when not shooting and never changing lenses in the field (I carry two bodies and choose my lenses before heading out for the day) my lenses are full of dust and its easy to see in the images, I've uploaded a few images from the countries we've visited here with more to come: https://www.facebook.com/pg/trekofjoy/photos/?tab=albums

Side note: Bic is just an awesome store with everything electronic and lots more like toys, booze, bikes and so on. Fun place to roam for a few hours and tinker with all the gadgets as they have demo models of everything and you can freely try them out for as long as you like. My wife even had fun there, its great.

On Fuji lenses, the inner tube where the rear element is seated is at least 1cm deep, the rear optical element doesn't move, there are no slits for dust to get in and the lenses are weather sealed. Where is the dust coming from?

edit: according to Lens Rentals.com, all lenses have dust in them, and for the most part, unless there's an insect inside your lens, it's nothing to worry about.

[Trek of Joy]

2 minutes ago, jonpais said:

On Fuji lenses, the inner tube where the rear element is seated is at least 1cm deep, the rear optical element doesn't move, there are no slits for dust to get in and the lenses are weather sealed. Where is the dust coming from?

The 55-200 extends and its not well sealed judging by the mess in my lens even though everything feel really tight, though I've used it very little since arriving in SE Asia as the wildlife isn't very abundant in the temples and such. I've been very conscious about wiping dust off the lens and trying to prevent intrusion as much as possible. The 10-24 doesn't extend, just really poor sealing I guess. Neither are WR lenses. Disappointing as they both look like a star map inside, tons of specks. Nothing has made it to the sensor - its all internal and its really looking bad. I'm heading to Fuji's showroom/service center tomorrow. Hopefully I can get a quick turnaround on a cleaning.

Sorry to go OT.

As for the GH5, I realize 30 minutes with a camera in a store is not comprehensive by any means. But as we ran through the AF, I was impressed. The EM1.2 was still superior, PADF really makes a difference locking on to a moving subject. That's the one bugaboo about the GH5 for me since I'm using my cameras everyday to take hundreds of photos and lots of video - so I use AF a lot - and I need to be able to depend on it regardless of the light. I'm up before sunrise about once a week to drag my ass to shoot something, and I shoot sunsets and blue hour stuff a lot because I like the look. The DR/noise hit going down another sensor size make me nervous as many of the landscapes and historical sites we visit are destined for large wall prints. For video I'm not as concerned about noise, as others have mentioned, being out of focus is about the only thing most viewers notice.

[Emanuel]

8 minutes ago, Trek of Joy said:

As for the GH5, I realize 30 minutes with a camera in a store is not comprehensive by any means. But as we ran through the AF, I was impressed. The EM1.2 was still superior, PADF really makes a difference locking on to a moving subject. That's the one bugaboo about the GH5 for me since I'm using my cameras everyday to take hundreds of photos and lots of video - so I use AF a lot - and I need to be able to depend on it regardless of the light.

You can always correct it on touchscreen going with tap-to-focus, once it seems to accurately work on both AF and MF. Without mention @post on editing... :-D

2 hours ago, Emanuel said:

Seems the last GH5 testing entries on tap-to-focus are pretty positive to confirm Jon Pais' findings on the older GH5 sister (G85) BTW:

[Focus Pulling in both modes: Touchscreen & Focus Transition]

No idea on settings but lets us to infer those MY fastest settings were simply misleading. Reason why I never bought his tests as much reliable, likely to happen honest but biased IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpec03JocuE&lc=z125ixbpivbtsvptw23jjznhrmu2zfggb04.1492093607236256

"i was using the continuous af to tap to focus, i was using the pany 12-35mm 2.8 at f2.8, the 15-20 times i tapped back and fourth i didnt notice any hunting"

[Ken Ross]

6 hours ago, Emanuel said:

 

And how long have I preached the 1-area AF for the GH5? I've hit my head against the wall on the internet preaching this and showing that Max's tests were simply not giving the results I and others had gotten with 1-area. You can see in this guy's test that with the proper speed & sensitivity (and hey, he is absolutely correct that you might even get better results by turning the damn AF custom settings off) the results are essentially perfect.

[Trek of Joy]

38 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

You can always correct it on touchscreen going with tap-to-focus, once it seems to accurately work on both AF and MF. Without mention @post on editing... :-D

"i was using the continuous af to tap to focus, i was using the pany 12-35mm 2.8 at f2.8, the 15-20 times i tapped back and fourth i didnt notice any hunting"

I'm going to tinker some more over the next few days when I can spare the time from sightseeing and shooting. The touchscreen focus is nice, wish my Fuji had it. And IBIS....

[Davey]

6 minutes ago, Ken Ross said:

And how long have I preached the 1-area AF for the GH5? I've hit my head against the wall on the internet preaching this and showing that Max's tests were simply not giving the results I and others had gotten with 1-area. You can see in this guy's test that with the proper speed & sensitivity (and hey, he is absolutely correct that you might even get better results by turning the damn AF custom settings off) the results are essentially perfect.

I was thinking of you when I watched it this morning. It is pretty damned obvious that having 5 million focus points versus one single area is going to yield two types of results. For some reason, nobody is listening. He's do well to get one hundredth the views of somebody trying to focus underwater in the dark with the lens cap on.

[Ken Ross]

5 minutes ago, Davey said:

I was thinking of you when I watched it this morning. It is pretty damned obvious that having 5 million focus points versus one single area is going to yield two types of results. For some reason, nobody is listening. He's do well to get one hundredth the views of somebody trying to focus underwater in the dark with the lens cap on.

Davey, it's such a pity the word doesn't get out. Such a great camera where AF can absolutely be used successully with the proper settings. I was over at a friend's house just yesterday and he had been disappointed with some of the AF results he had gotten. I set the camera up for him and he's now delighted.

[jonpais]

22 minutes ago, Ken Ross said:

Davey, it's such a pity the word doesn't get out. Such a great camera where AF can absolutely be used successully with the proper settings. I was over at a friend's house just yesterday and he had been disappointed with some of the AF results he had gotten. I set the camera up for him and he's now delighted.

If I don't cancel my preorder, could you stop by and set my camera up for me too?  

[Ken Ross]

Sure, give me the word Jon, and I'll be over in 10 minutes.

[Fritz Pierre]

4 hours ago, Ken Ross said:

Davey, it's such a pity the word doesn't get out. Such a great camera where AF can absolutely be used successully with the proper settings. I was over at a friend's house just yesterday and he had been disappointed with some of the AF results he had gotten. I set the camera up for him and he's now delighted.

Ken...I think Panasonic will lose very few sales over this issue...as you know, in reality it's fixable for those needing AF...for those who hate this camera, you could put an Alexa sensor and processing at 4K in the GH5 body, and they'd still complain...because they made their minds up before the first image ever appeared online...I'm sure there are a few exceptions, but I think for the most part this already holds true...Jon...I can understand for your purpose that you may be on the fence...but then you already have the G85/80?...and the cameras are very close...but for anyone wanting to shoot anything, the IQ is a no-brainer...I can't keep thinking of the US election as a personal comparison to the GH5...to me with the election, the question that keeps coming up, WHAT PLANET DO YOU LIVE ON???...clearly not the same one I do!...anyway...it's the same with this camera...if someone hates this camera, I don't have either the verbal skill, nor the patience to persuade them...my only regret in this is that if Panasonic  sells many of these, more money to put into the next great GH camera from them a few years down the road... 

[Emanuel]

11 hours ago, Fritz Pierre said:

Ken...I think Panasonic will lose very few sales over this issue...as you know, in reality it's fixable for those needing AF...for those who hate this camera, you could put an Alexa sensor and processing at 4K in the GH5 body, and they'd still complain...because they made their minds up before the first image ever appeared online...I'm sure there are a few exceptions, but I think for the most part this already holds true...Jon...I can understand for your purpose that you may be on the fence...but then you already have the G85/80?...and the cameras are very close...but for anyone wanting to shoot anything, the IQ is a no-brainer...I can't keep thinking of the US election as a personal comparison to the GH5...to me with the election, the question that keeps coming up, WHAT PLANET DO YOU LIVE ON???...clearly not the same one I do!...anyway...it's the same with this camera...if someone hates this camera, I don't have either the verbal skill, nor the patience to persuade them...my only regret in this is that if Panasonic  sells many of these, more money to put into the next great GH camera from them a few years down the road... 

Exactly my point.

Reason why we should all fight for killing the misinformation over there

and absolutely, name all the incompetents to feed up FUD in great scale, in the name of what?!

[Emanuel]

 

[zerocool22]

wow this AF thing is looking actually pretty impressive, I have never used AF and would not even consider it. But this might be quite handy for shooting with a glidecam/gimbal. I wonder how well it works doing shots at F0.95 - 1.2. 

[Emanuel]

1 minute ago, zerocool22 said:

wow this AF thing is looking actually pretty impressive, I have never used AF and would not even consider it. But this might be quite handy for shooting with a glidecam/gimbal. I wonder how well it works doing shots at F0.95 - 1.2. 

You can even handle it going with tap-to-focus; mobile app can be really handy.

[scotchtape]

In the wedding processional AF vid, the background is pulsing in the first few clips.  In the last one with the same settings (AF speed 5, sens 3) it is pulsing less.

I still think A6500 AF-C far superior for video AF.  GH5 makes me think 3x about using af-c.  It's not the worst thing in the world but it's also not consistent enough for "prime time".  I'm not saying it's unusable, but it has a higher chance of not doing what you want it to do vs the competition.  IMO you're rolling the dice when you use it.  Maybe with firmware tweaks it will improve but there's only so much you can do with CDAF.  

I really wish they licensed or bought some of the other AF tech, that would have made this camera really great, like almost next level.

I don't regret my purchase too much, it's got a lot of great features and the people I work with are really looking forward to the 4K 60p.  Just wish the AF-C was better, that would have sealed the deal for them and avoided this whole controversy (although I'm sure we would have found something else to complain about, like someone said the audio is not seamless between long files?  still have to test this myself).