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Pansonic have just made me one of their Ambassadors this week ! I am working very closely with them now .

The GX80 is meeting my expectations for run & gun. I think this shoot exemplifies expectations one can have of this camera for your quick, set-it-up and shoot style videos… family, street, etc. Here’s my setup: GX80 Panasonic 25mm F1.7 Zoom H1 Sony ECMCS3 Clip style Omnidirectional Stereo Microphone Settings: GX80: Natural profile (Contrast = -5, Sharpness = -5, Noise Reduction = -5, Saturation = -5), White balance (Sunny, A3, G3), ISO (200), Sutter Speed (1/50), Aperture (F2.8), IBIS (on, but no electronic IS) Zoom: WAV (24-bit, 96K Hz sampling), Level (70) Description of shoot: This took me about 5 minutes to shoot. I saw an interesting opportunity, went to get the GX80 and Zoom H1 from my office. For the settings above, I only need to put the camera in “C” mode to start. The Zoom is always put back with the level at 70, I only need to place it near the subject and start recording. Post Processing: Imported sound from Zoom H1 (just connect, don’t take out card) - 30 seconds Imported video ~3 minute video file - about 3 minutes Synced files - 10 seconds Threw it on a 4k timeline - 1 second Expanded audio - 1 second Select camera audio and push “v” key - 1 second Added 1db to Zoom H1 audio - 1 second Collapsed audio - 1 second Make cuts - 10 minutes Color corrected (highlights = + 15%, midtones = +7%, shadows = +1%, Global color 110° = -3%) - 2 minutes Added FilmConvertPro2 effect (KD P400 Ptra, Grain = 0) - 10 seconds Added a simple title - 10 seconds Rendered video - ~20 minutes Total Post Processing time = ~40 minutes (with rendering) Re-rendered video at constant bitrate of 35000 kbps in 4k with Handbrake, resulting file 690 MB- ~10 minutes Uploaded to Youtube - 90 minutes Youtube processing - 10 minutes Final Product: Picture Quality: Hindsight is always 20/20. I think the scene was a little dark as her face falls into shadow from time to time. I probably could have bumped up exposure and just avoided the window blown out in the background, but it gives you an idea of the limitations in terms of dynamic range. For me, the colors are quite nice and pleasing after applying Filmconvert… before that, not so much as white balance was off due to keeping blue channel from going too low- I guess many cameras need to be tweaked. Notes: This is a video of my daughter trying to set-up a Canon Powershot A410 that I gave her. She practices from time to time and enjoys shooting. Capturing moments like this is one of the main reasons I bought the GX80 for family. Please excuse her coughing as she’s getting over the flu. Also, note that she’s constantly switching from English to French. Good luck trying to understand, but you still have an idea of the audio quality. Of the video I cut out was a portion that was probably unusable as I wasn’t holding the camera steady enough as I moved to another position. Yes, it’s prone to jitters if the IBIS goes past its limitations, but I could easily have avoided this hadn’t it been to user error (movements were simply too fast). Feel free to make comments on any of the above as I’m trying to improve everything! By the way, here’s a photo she took of me looking serious during this shoot.

If you want manual motion picture shooting when you move the dial to "C", then you'll have to build the camera state that you want. For instance, under menu 2 of the motion picture settings, I'd put "Exposure Mode" to "M" for manual, set all the other camera settings of my preference, then save the state of the camera in the menu: Custom (the wrench icon with a C next to it) --> Custom Set Mem.--> C1. After that, whenever I go to "C" on the dial, I'd have that camera state ready to go under the C1 option.

@Nikkor suggested to me a long time ago that I should get a pocket cam when I was struggling with grading/correcting 8bit footage. I wish I had listened to him sooner. Now that I have my BMMCC, the the robust files are something I couldn't even comprehend when using 8bit 4K. With that being said, I do think one can achieve great results with any 4K camera, I've seen it from a bunch of you guys, but I know I would rather have good solid 1080p than thin 4K.

Shot with vasile's 140 mbps. Still from 4k on 1080 timeline. Andrew's gamma DR settings but no LOG LUT. Just used visioncolor impulz rec.709 tetrachrome FC + Curves, saturation boost and vignette. Used 16-50S lens. Sick footage everyone! I'm surely having fun with the NX1!!

Yay, it works on the GX8 Many thanks, John and Fuzzy. I've spent ages puzzling over how to get manual exposure to work with the custom modes and couldn't find out how to do it in the operating manual. I have just been using the motion picture setting with exposure mode set to "M". These Panny cameras are really excellent. I'm so pleased that I moved to the GX8 from Nikon FF for pro photo and video work.

I think that's why complaints about Panasonic DR seem overblown to me. Yes, it's less than some LOG/RAW cameras, but the shadows are so recoverable, the highlight roll off so smooth, and the midtone noise so filmic that I rarely have a problem making it look good.

Ill keep them both for a while and pick the best one out, will be getting the samsung today. Unfortunately, all my friends are photography freaks, so the best I could get is an 5DMk2 Raw, which I might give a try and see if I can postpone this decision further..

4K is not worth giving up a stellar 1080p image for at this point in time (imo).

I've shot quite a few live music events & I always get my shots - never even thought about reframing, not once. In fact, most of the time i'm able to sync stuff from one song to make it look like it belongs to another - perhaps I'm just used to knowing what will work & what won't. And yes the Pocket's DR in ProRes (RAW's a luxury one can't afford when filming live stuff) is exactly what makes my task that much easier when editing it all up. That's the other thing as well, if you film but don't edit, you tend to be out of the creative loop - I'm always thinking about the edit when I film stuff, it would be stupid not to.

Congratulations! Can you confirm once and for all which actual bit depth and chroma sampling is coming out of the HDMI connector on the G7 and GX80/85? Also, what will you do with all of your camera gear after the feature finishes shooting?

Depends what's more important to you. Do you want a mic jack, larger grip, fully articulating screen, longer battery life, slightly larger viewfinder, cine profiles, and $200 cheaper RRP? G7. Do you want smaller size, a denser-feeling camera, a tilting screen, and the all-important in-body stabilization? GX85. From what I've seen, CineD provides no DR benefit over Natural. The only reason to shoot CineD (imo) is if you like the Leeming LUT workflow. Actual image quality is identical between the two, so choose based on ergonomics, features, and price.

Agreed. my wife is a film editor and much prefers working with filmmakers who go out and shoot exactly what they want, rather than gathering a bunch of material to be sorted out later. One of the first features she cut, the director asked "why didn't you use the close up here?" my wife's answer was, "you didn't shoot one." and the director's replied, "then punch in on the 2 shot." now she has a scene with these reframed close-ups and every now and then the other actor's nose creeps into frame. she did the best she could but it's still awkwardly composed. I realize for Sekhar covering an event is one thing, because he has no second takes. But shooting narrative benefits from specificity. unless you *are* on the level of david fincher and all the post resources he has available to him, this approach will start to undermine the experience of the movie. similar to deciding you wanted to slow a shot down in post back when all we had available to us was "frame blending" to smooth it out. few things signaled "digital video" louder. optical flow brings us much closer, but it's still better to do it in camera. and to have the vision to know that you need it that way.

Just to be very clear... not shot by me!! I wish it was! It looks great. But I just happened to come across it, and had to share it, as it is a nice example of what can be shot with GH2 in capable hands.

But they have. The G7 was a huge step forward in low light performance. Not as good as the Sony, but a damn good performance nonetheless.

There are various incarnations of this, and how to achieve, on this forum, but I agree completely with those that argue that Panasonic has got to increase the visual quality in terms of noise/low light performance very significantly. I have a GH2 (I still love) and GH3 (an extreme disappointment) and various lenses and support gear, so I would prefer to stay with them. The weak point of the 4/3s system has always been noise at higher ISO ratings and they must improve this a lot or they'll loose. If they go for the more easily achieved increase in resolution (6K or 8K and absolutely moronic in my book) over better image quality in low light then I'm dropping them forever.

Wait until you get to fuji 8, 17 and 35 then :D . If you do the measurements it's simply not possible to fit these lenses with no modification to the lens itself. I know you can, I'm not saying it wont work, all I'm saying is it doesn't look proper and you can't then easily/quickly just unscrew it from the adapter and put it on another camera.

Thanks, John. I'll try that on the GX8.

Yes. No problem. Put it in "M" mode and save it as a custom mode. You can adjust your aperture and shutter independently. I wasn't aware of the GX8 limitation...

@John Mathews On the GX80 can you use manual exposure, setting both SS and aperture independently, in "C" mode? I have been trying for months to find a way to use manual mode on the GX8 in its version of "C" mode. Thanks, Chris

Graduate film shot with Zeiss Super Speeds on S16mm Kodak Vision 3 250D & 200T along with some marco shots on a 5D mkIII with ML Raw. It was made about two years ago but has been going through festivals until now.

Thanks Stanley, we were fortunate to have a great composer write a score. It definitely elevates the film I think. I'm actually not sure about the scale of the models, the director and art director put all the time into that department.

Just on the over inflated prices thing because people are falsely claiming B&H are better (they've said this when they were cheap) - probably minute differences to be honest & not worth getting worked up about. I don't use step rings to attach to my taking lens - Redstan Clamp gets it up close & personal. Personally, I don't abide by the getting the rear & front optics as close as possible - I love the light bouncing around inside, it gives you extra internal lens flaring. Also, don't forget about the coatings on the taking lenses - Gold is what you're ideally after.

Hi JazzBox, i have the first version of zhongyii speedbooster E mount - FD canon, and E mount - M42 . What i can say i achieve great resutls with Nex5r even with pics ( not video only. However, blue spot occurs if you point it in the sun, or you don't use a hood. That might be solved with the second generation. I do hope so. They cost however as little as 100 Euros. on the video it is less of the issue. . however i do think metaboens would do a better job, the only question is : "is it worth that amount of money ?" why not rather get a full frame ? cheers

Nice write-up. To be honest, I actually quite like the blown out window arround 0:30 - looks natural to me.

Convince them to put some sort of compressed raw into the cameras, it would make the gh5 a little bit more relevant.

I've been committed to Panasonic for 5 years now that's all I ever use . For my work the Panasonic G7 is an amazing camera , it does all I need and it is superb in low light for the style of cinematography I shoot , I'm regularly three or four stop under exposed , I shot a lot of contrast in light and in colours in the way I light the sets and the G7 handles that superbly it is in my opinion very very good detail in the black areas. No fizz and noise at all the image it produces is very clean . Pandora movie is nealy finished now we are 39 days into the shoot , once this is completed I move straight onto another movie - a classic British Spy movie that I'm directing and DOP on pre production starts on that next month....so I am shooting this movie all on Panasonic too......watch this space ...

Don't assume, stick to what you know. You haven't been in this conversation that's been going on for two years, if you had been I don't think you would think so. When a person basically calls anyone who doesn't shoot 4K or more exactly a Samsung NX1 an "idiot", " hack", "uninformed", etc and never stop and think, not for one second, that people just might not agree, then one will get a few cheap shots. I think you need to lift your eyes a little and realize that not everything is about you. I never said that 4K automatically means low bitrate. I was talking about one specific camera. I myself use lowbitrate consumer 4K all the time. But I don't think Tarantino and Spielberg are stupid idiots who would switch to a NX1 for their movies if someone showed them one. And if they rejected it go on to calling them "hacks". But maybe your right, maybe it won't be an intelligent conversation. A bit patronizing, but maybe your right.

To my eye, the G7's CinelikeD profile looks significantly flatter than its Natural profile: Here is a comparison of a few profiles between the GX80, G7, LX100 and the OMD E-M5II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGXsDFfKDxE

I hear all those Pocket gripes and I've experienced all of them, but I have a GH4, Pocket and Micro and the GH4 sits on the shelf. The image on those little cams is so much better IMO. If I need the extra slow mo I'd use it or borrow the FS7 from work, but when I look back at a whole summer of footage from last year the GH4 shots mixed with the Pocket the GH4 shots stand out and not in a good way. I guess if I didn't shoot with both maybe I wouldn't have a problem with it. And it definitely is the batteries on the Pocket. Like Renaissance Man, sounds like Wasabi Power or other cheap batteries. All my cheapie give me issues. Even are hard to get out of the battery compartment.

It's really meant to be used with an external battery. That's mainly how I use mine, and have had zero issues. I wouldn't rely on internal power for a long interview. Battery life is poor without an external solution, but no reliability problems. Are you using cheap Chinese batteries? Not sure how the metadata screen hurts reliability. Just don't use it if you don't like it. And my clock time has never shifted. Not sure what it'd hurt if it did.

Glad you enjoyed it. 5d was used for any of the extreme Macro stuff of the models. We had limited film stock and the models needed lots of takes. Used Film Convert to try match the raw footage to the 16mm.

Well shoot fellows... if the couple of us that ordered stuff from Pixapro had waited just a few days longer we would have gotten a lot better deal! The pound is tanking right now after the Brexit vote. So it's probably a good time to buy if anyone's still on the fence.

And the useless metadata entry, the clock time not staying set after a week, and general lack of reliability. The raw footage does look great and the dynamic range is great, but it's a scary camera to have on set for a paid interview shoot. Just too unreliable.

An year back i choose sony rx10ii for its s-log and slowmo. But after doing 2 documentaries and a short film the lens became wobbly and s-log is pain in the ass to get right colors. Sharpness forget about it. I am eagerly waiting for 1dc mk2 or gh5. 4k60p/good low light performance/motion cadency are my priorities.

After seeing the DPAF of the Canon 1DX Mark II in action, I find myself seriously considering switching from my beloved GH4. If Panasonic can add a similar Autofocus to the GH5, it might keep me interested. Otherwise, I think I may need to go over to the dark side Canon. Which is a shame, because I have a bunch of m4/3 lenses that I love. But for my line of work (event video) the DPAF is too hard to pass up.

It's a video camera...it'll never be a non-video image.

GX80 manual says the same... I don't know why Panasonic is doing that to us- then they don't tell us if it's 8-bit 4:2:2 or 4:2:0. I believe the GX80 one-ups the GX8 on that point because it will record internally at the same time. I would say both cameras are very capable. However, I believe this person is after value based on what he said... I'm going to say the GX80 beats the GX8 because it's less expensive. If he wants weather-sealing though, the GX80 is NOT the way to go- choose GX8 of GH4. I just pixel-peeped it and still couldn't tell a difference. Staying with the original file.

Heres my way of thinking, and why theres this dilemma. Im aware the A7sII and Ursa are completely different cameras, for completely different purposes. This year, I've got 3 music video scheduled as well as a couple advertisement (apart from small gigs such as events/weddings). So, if I got the URSA, It could help improve the jobs I have control on, like the music videos and advertisement, however, if I got the A7sII it would still be great, but not as good, but I could use it as a Bcam for all other stuff. Why not an NX1 ? Well, as much as I love my camera, it is a dead system, and wouldnt make sense to keep investing in it, so the A7sII is the next best choice, not only it would complement my gear, it would improve my lowlight shots, as well as have the choice for a full frame aesthetic or S35. The BMPC4k is also a good choice, its cheaper and has 10 bit prores, however having only 3 ISO choices, lack of slow-mo, and other quirks threw me off a bit. The 5DMk2 is a great choice, which i've been also dating for a while..

The GH series of cameras are just fun to use. The plucky GH2's image still excites me all these years later. The GH4 is the camera that really made the GH a professional tool. Panasonic listens to users and gives us cool things. To me that deserves some loyalty. I'm looking forward to the GH5, but I'm not convinced I'll buy it until after some reviews come in. I'd like to see them offer something neat like programmable rack focus. The post focus feature they have now is halfway there, and it would be a fun feature to play with and perfect. I'd use it all the time.

Imo it was about the DR before 4K. And before HD. And before SD. And before Beta Max. And before colored film. Its always been the biggest focus on DR, still is and still will be tomorrow. DR has been the buzz word for as long as I can remember. 4K resolution is just like a slider, a flash, an EVF, 120fps, its just another feature. Until it becomes a standard. 720p took 10 years to become a standard, not in the world, but in a big enough part of the world. Now we are waiting on 1080p HD to become the next thing. After that maybe 4K will catch on so much that its a "need" instead of a "nice". But if it doesn't have the DR its not gonna stick. 50% of the Oscar nominees are still shot on film. And it isn't because of resolution.

I'm not sure if the conversation has gotten far from the original post but interesting points here. As an amateur, I jumped off the 5d3 bandwagon just to ride the GH4 one. After spending too many hours reading and watching for "sharpness" I have come to realize I, and all of my layman friends, prefer color, cadence, and highlight roll-off to sharpness. In an unscientific test a group of documentary and movie fan friends of mine chose canon over Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony when comparing sub $10K cameras. I did this independent of each other as to avoid group-think or "mob mentality" and without question: color, is what was the number one factor for them. I think paralysis by analysis and spec-sheet intellectual meandering gets away from what matters to the unbiased brain processing images. Again, in the video I posted the fact of the matter is world renowned DP's try to soften the image and focus on lighting, motion, and color to get an image that appeals to the audience. So the original question: is 4K necessary if most DP's and audiences are choosing HD images that demonstrate superior color to 4K sharpness? I'll weigh-in and say that unless 4K is demanded it is NOT needed at all and color space is where its at when looking at an image. While many Sony Fx cameras may boast specs superior to canons, the color depth of canon at 8-bit looks better to me and others. I may bypass 4K until a 4K camera combines color with sharpness at an image and price that is reasonable. The NX/A7S/GH series need too much to become appealing. I'll pass for now.

I just picked up the other 67mm Pentax "1:3.5/85~210mm". I'll do some more precise tests after it arrives. I've accumulated quite a few diopters now and I want to test them all at the same time.