Chrad

So far in all of this lively discussion the link below has been the best information on the GH5's potential. All these "lab" tests mean little to me compared to seeing footage used in a edited film. While I do conduct tests all the time to find a camera's limits and give me direction to its potential, nothing beats a shoot. Despite liking what I see in the link, I do wish I'd see more tests or sample footage would involve flesh and bone humans in front of the camera and a little camera movement rather than the usual Phillip Bloom style "moving stills" approach. I've nothing against that style of shooting but it seems to overwhelm the sample footage these days. We all don't make landscape films to easy listening tunes. I'd love to see some stories, docs, etc shot on this camera because at the end of the day, we don't shoot to make tests.

Andrew, there was a Thai filmmaker you once featured that made an amazing short on perhaps a 5D (not sure) about a kick boxer I believe. I wish Panasonic would put the camera in his hands. That's the type of shooting that would tell me a lot about the camera - how flesh tone, movement, contrast, etc play into the drama. But I guess Panasonic (and Sony, and Canon, and....) rather give it to safe bets, blog presence or pretty ladies in Japanese gardens and other cinematic pablum.
 
 

Hallo,
to me it seems being the first video to show the big advantage of 10 bit vs 8bit on a Panasonic Hybrid! 8 bit is severly broken after the grade,
whereas 10bit remains the gradation. Have not been able to detect this obvious difference on the GH4 with internal vs external recording.
But as they say, always good to do ones own tests than waiting for others to do the hard testing work:)
Also very nice news from the slashcam testchart: exellent resolution in HD mode up to 60fps, C300 level, better than its older Panasonic silbings.
I must say, color science on the GX80 has greatly improved, first time I would accept footage ooc without grading.
So color should be great too on GH5.
 
 
Hey, I played it in 720p on a 27inch display. Even like that it look exellent.
So GH5 definately is  a player in the resolution department. Colors looked adequate not great though. Thanks for posting this video.
It shows some problems in the dark areas. But even on FS700 underexposing SLOG when recording to an Atomos shows chunky pixelation
as well, whereas my G6 on linear space did not. Still the FS700 is the vastly superior imaging machine! Isn´t it.

EosHD is my favourite camera blog by far, and I enjoy Andrews reviews and insights.  I like that he remains mainly focused on the smaller hybrid cameras and came back to these after a brief fling with the C300/FS5 empire, and that he gives some of the sleeper cameras some well deserved coverage like the E-M1, NX1 and Leica SL.  I agree that Panasonic should have given him a prototype to test given his history - how many GH2/3/4's have been sold because of his blog when the others can't get over the sensor size -really all of m4/3 video owes Andrew a lot for highlighting its strengths. I imagine its hard to keep a blog like this going and the passion levels must wax and wane at times, which I suspect is the reason we see a lot more 'first impressions' nowadays rather than extended reviews.  This maybe has lead to some of the negative first impressions like the XC10, E-M1ii, which to Andrews credit have been graciously corrected, but I imagine it might make a manufacturer a little anxious that their camera might get an emotive review. In any case, at least Andrews review are authentic and he has his own cash in the game.
Anyway I hope Andrew keeps it up -it would be a real loss to the filmmaking community if this blog closed it doors. Where would I go, when I am procrastinating rather than working :-) 

Commander Reid, following your dispatches all these years has been like visiting the front lines of the DSLR community where shooting truly magical cinematic images is within our grasp. You were the first one to show it was possible to mount vintage LOMO anamorphic lenses on a GH2 and how to hack the camera. That changed my world. I quit my day job, bought a GH2 from Andrew via Japan, and went out and made a feature film with LOMOs that is now coming out worldwide on March 20. Yep, that's a plug for the film, but it's also a testament to what Andrew has started and achieved here. You'll find him thanked in the credits. Can't wait to get my GH5 and get on with the next film.

Why don't Panasonic release an h.265 option for encoding 10 bit 4K? 200-400mbps. Problem solved.
I don't see why it should be exclusive to 6K anamorphic 8 bit.
And on that note, why not 400mbps h.264 IPB?

Why don't Panasonic release an h.265 option for encoding 10 bit 4K? 200-400mbps. Problem solved.
I don't see why it should be exclusive to 6K anamorphic 8 bit.
And on that note, why not 400mbps h.264 IPB?

Here's a basic formula:
When possible, take away all the light and carefully add light tuned for the story and emotion of the scene. Look at how often everything is dark, or overall not very bright in classic films. Paint with light. There are tons of books on this subject. Shoot at night and wet down the street. Set the frame rate to 24 (or 23.976), shutter 1/48 (or 1/50). That's for normal shots, you can go all over the place for emotional effect of the scene. Protect highlights so they don't clip and pay careful attention to exposure to keep skin tones in the sweet spot for your camera. Study film behavior for highlights and adjust your look in post to match the highlight and color response of film. Film generally never gets super white. Use a diffusion filter of some kind. Blur a little in post if necessary and add full resolution film grain (blur may not be needed if diffusion is used). Make sure there are no digital artifacts such as aliasing or Moire. Use depth of field to help tell the story by helping the viewer focus on what's important in the scene. If your camera has rolling shutter, make sure to move the camera in a way to minimize it. Try to make the scene a little 'unreal', in a way you would not see in normal everyday life. Like in a dream.

I think what's really important here is that any camera even under $500 can be used to make a great film. The right person, with the right story  can make a good film. The question becomes... if you have a t2i or a gh2 that cost you $300... is it worth spending a little more to get to the next threshold? A year ago, I could barely afford the G7 I was using. With some creative purchases and lucky sales, I am now able to afford a much better camera. But if all I could afford is a t2i, I would still want to make movies. And the only thing stopping them from being good would be me. So, if all you can afford is a t2i or a gh2, then go out and make the best film you can with that camera. But I don't think it's wise to make a film with a t2i or a gh2 just because you want to make a cheap movie... especially when there are so many great options for next to nothing.

Yes, if one has the means to acquire the best camera, then maybe use the best --but look at the images posted by the OP, do any of them look like they'd be impossible to capture/create with modern/cheap gear?
"400 Blows" especially. 
The more wonderful and advanced consumer gear gets, the sillier we all look [points finger at self] hanging out on-line talking about things rather than doing things.

Interesting topic that comes around time and time again. I think it's one of those eternal questions that has no real answer but here is my take.
Yes you can produce amazing work on a GH2 or an iPhone but there's a reason professionals use professional cameras. I shoot most days largely as a one man band shooting events, sports and interviews and when you use a tool every day you really get to know it's shortcomings and it's the same when you're shooting dramatic work. The point of a more Pro camera like an Alexa, or an Ursa mini, and a BMPCC certainly has more in common with these cameras than with a GH2, is not that it's a magic fix that gives you instantly cinematic results, although in some cases that is true. The point is that it won't let you down if you use it right, and it gives you far more options in post later.
Unless you're a world class cinematographer you will likely screw something up on set from time to time, exposure or colour balance are particular issues. And a camera like tweet BMPCC will give you a far better chance of fixing or hiding the error, which leads to a better result, which leads to a more 'cinematic' result. I believe that cinematic can often just mean professional. If your work looks like the work of a pro, you're more likely to provoke suspension of disbelief and that's the point at which an audience stops caring about the image and starts getting invested in your story.
But a GH2 or iPhone or Canon Rebel create all kinds of issues that you might not be able to handle on set or in post, thereby leading to an image which looks compromised or amateurish, and thereby reduces the audience's trust in you. An Alexa is so expensive because it largely gets out of the way and allows you to work with complete trust that the tool is gathering all the correct information, while you can get on with directing and shooting.
In summary, you can get great results with cheap DSLR style cameras, but it takes a lot of work and fiddling and mental energy, while raw and 10 bit log may not make your film great but will make it a hell of a lot easier to achieve greatness.
Take from that what you will.
 

I cut a concert film once where the two main cameras were a 5d and a gh1.  Liked the gh1 image more, but they were close enough IQ-wise that it didn't really matter. 
"Filmlook" really comes down to other things beside the sensor. 
I truly believe sensor preference is akin to choosing a particular film-stock. No more, no less. 
So...maybe you don't have the fastest and cleanest "film" for your movie, doesn't mean jack-squat that it would stop you from making a cinematic production.

I have loved all the GH series I have owned (going back to the GH-1).
I fail to understand the lack of including V-Log at this price point and place in time on the GH-5,
esp considering the clunky process of mail ordering an unlock code on paper.
The price point now officially markets to Indie / Prosumer crowd.
Not super happy about the firmware path either- but at least there's a plan.
Why can't it just work full specs out of the box?
I'm also disappointed to see there isn't a redesign of the YAGH or expressed compatibility with it.
The XLR cube accessory looks like an even worse design to me. Plugging and Unplugging XLR's- how long
before the hot shoe starts to show signs of stress? At least the YAGH is solid and gives you BNC's too.
Panny gets so many things right and then misses the mark in other ways. Hopefully they are paying more attention now.

Funny, the day of the official GH-5 Specs announcement, I just saw a bunch of used GH-4's pop up on Los Angeles Craigslist.
I'm NOT expecting to sell mine any time soon. Still gets a lot of use... and as Hammond says in the video- prob keep as a backup.
I had my EOS HD hacked GH-2 until this summer when I sold to younger filmmaker.

Thanks again ANDREW for all that you
have done to support this quirky platform.
- MJ

 

Finally here is the proof. I took the E-M1 Mk II sensor and superimposed it on top of the GH5. Marked the Oly sensor with red line for extra clarity.
GH5 sensor is 1,42:1 ratio. Same as the old GH2.
However, it's only utilized in C4K mode according to Driftwood.

In that case, please make a GH5 without ibis, so people who dont want ibis can have a GH5 cheaper. V-log is just a software update not even hardware. Everybody has already bought it for their GH4 to extend the GH4 life, now we need to buy it again on a brand new camera....? Well maybe were speaking too soon, lets wait on the actual broadcast.

Wow that's Canon logic, upgrade the camera to 10 bit 422 to improve vlog quality and then don't include vlog. Panasonic, sort it out, this is your top of the range camera, both Canon and Sony have log in cheaper models. This is a mistake on your part. 

Shogun Inferno will be able to, and I suspect we'll see more at NAB.

Highly doubt it. 43rumors said there would be no 4K crop in a post that got everything else right. 

It's useful for hobbyists who want to shoot handheld with no additional rigging. I've used it once or twice for doc work and a couple specialty shots on narratives where we couldn't use sticks or a rig.

It lets you be lazy and still get good results, so of course we're all dying for it.

And in the comment section they are talking about:
"REC709 preview when shooting V Log."
B

http://www.43rumors.com/david-peterson-says-the-new-gh5-will-have-full-size-hdmi-and-ibis/

Highly doubt it. 43rumors said there would be no 4K crop in a post that got everything else right. 

For now they can't talk pretty much about anything at all, so I'm guessing they are not that close to final product. It seems to me that the announcement was made too early just to have a flagship model presented at Photokina and to send a message to potential customers to be patient and not run to Olympus, Sony or Fuji.
http://www.newsshooter.com/2016/09/20/photokina-2016-panasonic-gh5-questions/

Shogun Inferno will be able to, and I suspect we'll see more at NAB.

18mp, 6K 30p, internal 10-bit 4:2:2 for 4K.

10-bit is only available in camera up to 4K 30p. Perhaps 10-bit 60p for external recording?