GH5 for Photography?

[austinchimp]

6 hours ago, OliKMIA said:

The Fuji would be much better for photo and the GH5 for video but if you just need instagram photo IQ the GH5 is more than enough.

I shot all this video with the GH5. Half of it is timelapse in still mode.
 

 

Nice work. What stabilisation did you use? Loved the smooth tracking shots.

[mercer]

10 hours ago, ajay said:

Another thought if you decide to go the M43 route...Don't overlook the G9. I find the autofocus and IBIS better than the GH5. Yes, you give up VLOG-L but it has excellent color science and it still has 60p 4k. CineD ain't bad as an alternative to VLOG-L. You also have to like the lens selection with M43 compared to Fuji.

With this said, I still struggle whether to hang on to M43 or go completely Sony. (Have the A7III at present.) I'm waiting to see the BlackMagic 4k Pocket as well as the A7SIII.

If you can rent the bodies first, you might be better off. Ergonomics and ease-of-use should be taken into consideration too.

But...it's hard to stay away from full-frame bodies. The 5D Mark III is still a great camera. Had one a few years ago.

 

 

Yes, I was checking out the G9 a couple weeks ago and thought it looked great but then I saw a few things that annoyed me about it... I think it was 30p playback with HFR and the low bitrate 1080p.

Everybody slams Canon for holding back features to protect their higher camera lines, but this all-i high bitrate 1080p omission from Panasonic is getting annoying.

I love CineLikeD though and wouldn’t use vLog on the GH5 anyway. Does it have 180 degree shutter? That was one feature I loved with the FZ2500. But I have seen some good prices on open box models, so it may still be worth a look. Thanks. 

[Phil A]

Do you photograph for huge fine art prints? Do you shoot sports in low light?

If the answers are "no" then any current camera will do.

 

Unless you permanently shoot at ISO 6400 or need FullFrame f/1.4 shallow DoF, I don't see how the GH5 could hold you back. It's clearly a more pleasant experience than shooting my A6300 was. And the 5D III isn't exactly amazing for post-processing either.

[ajay]

1 minute ago, mercer said:

Does it have 180 degree shutter? That was one feature I loved with the FZ2500.

I believe you are asking if it has degree settings instead of using shutter speed settings? No, it does not. It's really intended more towards the photographer not cinematographer. The one thing that was hard getting used to was the ultra-sensitive shutter button for stills. Eventually you get used to it, but I still occasionally bump the dang thing.

[OliKMIA]

4 hours ago, austinchimp said:

Nice work. What stabilisation did you use? Loved the smooth tracking shots.

Thanks. Gimbal Crane for the video and handheld for the hyperlapse with a lot of post-stab in AE.

[mercer]

15 minutes ago, Phil A said:

Do you photograph for huge fine art prints? Do you shoot sports in low light?

If the answers are "no" then any current camera will do.

 

Unless you permanently shoot at ISO 6400 or need FullFrame f/1.4 shallow DoF, I don't see how the GH5 could hold you back. It's clearly a more pleasant experience than shooting my A6300 was. And the 5D III isn't exactly amazing for post-processing either.

Haha, no none of those apply to me. I am a beginner stills shooter and a hobbyist/enthusiast video shooter, which is why the GH5 seems like a good idea, I just wasn’t sure if it was so video oriented that there were some stills features that were left out or oddly implemented.

[mercer]

26 minutes ago, ajay said:

I believe you are asking if it has degree settings instead of using shutter speed settings? No, it does not. It's really intended more towards the photographer not cinematographer. The one thing that was hard getting used to was the ultra-sensitive shutter button for stills. Eventually you get used to it, but I still occasionally bump the dang thing.

Yeah degree angle instead of shutter speed. I figured it didn’t have that feature... not the end of the world, just curious. 

I won’t be in the market until the holidays so for the time being I may pick up a cheap, small Nikon or Canon to see how much I’ll end up shooting stills and then upgrade if I am serious about it. In the end, price may be the biggest factor. 

[Timotheus]

14 minutes ago, mercer said:

Yeah degree angle instead of shutter speed. I figured it didn’t have that feature...

I'm not sure whether you're talking about G9 or GH5, but the latter sure has it, check

http://eng-ca.faq.panasonic.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/43089/related/1

 

[mercer]

@Timotheus yeah I was talking about the G9, but that is one of the best features, IMO, of the GH series. I can’t tell you how many times I forgot to change the shutter speed for 60p when shooting for slow motion. 

It’s those little video features that make the GH5 a stand out for me, even if a Fuji may be a more logical choice for stills.

But I just spent some time on Flickr and man those Fuji colors are just breathtaking. 

[austinchimp]

I own the GH5, Fuji x-t20, and the Sony A7Rii and have used the Sony a lot for stills, the GH5 as my main photo camera on a few trips, and the Fuji from time to time when I want to throw a small and light camera in a bag.

In my opinion the GH5 is a fine photo camera. Lately when weight and space has been an issue I've been finding myself selecting the GH5 to do both photo and stills as a compromise, as it does both jobs to a high standard.

If you're looking for pure quality then the A7Rii is on another level. There's something incredibly smooth and organic about the image. Creamy and deep. When I have to take photos professionally I use the Sony. But for personal use the GH5 is fine, although it feels more crispy and contrasty and perhaps over-sharp. It feels more digital and Panasonic-y where as the Sony could almost be medium format in terms of its quality.

The Sony is also great in low light, where as the Panasonic crushes the blacks a lot even in raw, and needs more light.

Personally, in my limited experience, I'd put the GH5 and Fuji almost on the same level. The Fuji has naturally nicer colour and perhaps better dynamic range, but I don't feel there's a massive difference.

In terms of ergonomics and ease of shooting the GH5 is probably the best and fits in the hand nicer.

[ajay]

3 minutes ago, austinchimp said:

In terms of ergonomics and ease of shooting the GH5 is probably the best and fits in the hand nicer. 

Thumbs up on the ergonomics of both the GH5 and G9. I've owned a lot of cameras over the years and find them the best of the bunch. (I've had just about all the Canon mid and high end cameras, Panasonic and Olympus M43, and Sony.)

[Alex Uzan]

The GH5 is pretty capable for still, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I had to use it for shooting en Event, and it was not a pleasant experience ;

This camera is thought to make video, as its ergonomics.

[UncleBobsPhotography]

I have the GH5 and the Sony RX1RII and in my opinion the level of details and dynamic range on the RX1RII is on a completely different level. With the GH5 I have to nail the shot to get it right, with the RX1RII I can miss the exposure completely, mess up the framing and shoot straight into the sun and still get decent results in post. It's hard to have fun shooting pictures with the GH5 when I'm using to something better. The strength of the GH5 is that it's able to put all of it's picture quality into it's video, which means that the "6K" video mode is very close to it's capabilities in photo mode. The great advantage of the GH5 is therefore if you need high framerate photography. It's also nice to have a non-intrusive telephoto lens with stabilization.

[anonim]

Maybe taking a glance to some flickr pool may help? 

 https://www.flickr.com/groups/gh5users/pool/

 

[newfoundmass]

Micro Four Nerds on YouTube does a ton of hybrid shooting, including professional work, using the GH5. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAu6iO8En48gGBcEzoUl-sA

I think it's perfectly usable for photography, even professionally. 

[mercer]

Well, after some recommendations, I took a look at the photo pool on Flickr and there were some nice shots but then out of curiosity I took a look at E-M5 Mark II and E-M1 Mark II photo pools and there was a night and day difference in favor of Olympus.

I didn’t dig too deep, so the jury is still out but from what I saw, the GH5 stills looked like they were shot with a point and shoot compared to Olympus.

[newfoundmass]

30 minutes ago, mercer said:

Well, after some recommendations, I took a look at the photo pool on Flickr and there were some nice shots but then out of curiosity I took a look at E-M5 Mark II and E-M1 Mark II photo pools and there was a night and day difference in favor of Olympus.

I didn’t dig too deep, so the jury is still out but from what I saw, the GH5 stills looked like they were shot with a point and shoot compared to Olympus.

Olympus users are generally more photo than video shooters, while the opposite is true for Panasonic users, so it doesn't surprise me that they'd look better. 

[BTM_Pix]

32 minutes ago, newfoundmass said:

Olympus users are generally more photo than video shooters, while the opposite is true for Panasonic users, so it doesn't surprise me that they'd look better. 

I think in support of that, if you look at the G9 flickr pool then you can see a big difference from what I imagine is a very similar camera to the GH5 but just in the hands of more predominantly still image creators.

The first page of the GH5 pool that I looked at was nothing to write home about.

Unless you were writing home to say that you weren't going to buy it.

[Jonesy Jones]

1 hour ago, mercer said:

Well, after some recommendations, I took a look at the photo pool on Flickr and there were some nice shots but then out of curiosity I took a look at E-M5 Mark II and E-M1 Mark II photo pools and there was a night and day difference in favor of Olympus.

I didn’t dig too deep, so the jury is still out but from what I saw, the GH5 stills looked like they were shot with a point and shoot compared to Olympus.

I've noticed that about Olympus as well. 

Can I make an observation? Hopefully this is received in the same spirit as I intend it.

I think I've only ever seen you post still images. That one with the birds is rad btw.

You've been talking a lot about and referencing stills. Especially obviously in this thread.

Is it possible that you really want a stills camera? Maybe you'll just love telling stories with still images. At least with this camera... obviously you have the 5D for video... which btw is decent for stills as well.

I'm not saying you should hang up your video shoes. I'm just wondering if there is a photographer inside of you dying to introduce himself to the world. 

[sgreszcz]

I’m on holiday with my gh5 and the PL12-60 zoom and really enjoying it for video and photography. With the 4k50 and ISO 100 you can get away with little or no ND and still use 180d shutter. The IBIS is pretty much Olympus-class for static shooting and I like the colour and image quality.  I am at a family wedding today and got pulled into the role of hybrid photographer/videographer. Shot with the 12-60 zoom during the daytime and then a combo of 7.5mm, 15mm, and 42.5mm <f2.0 primes that fit in my dress shorts pockets.  Didn’t need to go above ISO1600 which is good enough for me.  The 4K crop mode and then Being able to further crop down for 1080p delivery is also great as is the 1080p slow-mostion.  With a couple of instamics placed here and there for audio that tiny setup works great and what keeps me with micro4/3 when I consider wondering to Sony or Fuji.

The Panasonic JPEGs and video colour are much better than they used to be too, since the GX80 was released. Before then I much preferred Olympus.

Been considering an EM1 or EM5 (4K) A cam with EM10iii B cam (for the better IBIS, colour, and viewfinder) but going to stick with Panasonic GH5/GX80 for now.