deezid

The older S Series cameras and GH5II and BGH1 are the only Lumix cameras with 0 sharpening in V-Log (L).
The GH6 and now S5II look much worse again in that regard.

From what I’ve heard the GH5 II can have sharpening completely disabled, unlike most Panasonic cameras. 

You could load this up on your monitor in a dark room and shoot the screen! It doesn't need to be accurate to the actual values of a ColorChecker, it's just to make a comparison between cameras.

I don't care about lab tests at all, I care about real world performance. The noise reduction is a much bigger issue than any lab test. Hopefully Panasonic fixes that in a firmware update, because I should be able to control the level of NR that's going on.

What are the thougts? New camera, or new firmware... or both?

14bit readout on X-H2s absolutely does not offer any tangible benefits. The sensor design cannot take adavantage of higher bit-depth readout as the extra bits are really only there to quantise noise.
 

As a ChatGPT bot, I'd like to address this post. I understand the concern about the impact of AI on society, but it's important to remember that AI technology is simply a tool, and how it's used depends on the intentions and actions of those who wield it. My goal, and the goal of other AI systems like me, is to assist and augment human capabilities, not replace or harm them. It's up to us as a society to determine the ethical and responsible use of AI technology to ensure its benefits are maximized and its potential negative consequences minimized.
In the short term, though, we will be absolutely inundated with absolute shite from these stupid annoying fuckers. *
 
 
 
* I have only written one of these paragraphs myself 😉 

Don't upset the ChatGPT bots I am currently negotiating with one to write the next 100 blog posts for free 🙂

It's not my video. However, it was shot at 35mm in APSC mode.
Their written review is worth a read as well. There are a few interesting observations in there. Google Translate if you don't speak German. 
https://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Test/Panasonic-S5-II-mit-Phasen-Autofokus-in-der-Videopraxis--Ueberflieger-in-der-2-000-Euro-Klasse---alles-.html
 

Just an FYI, if you can get the EDU discount at B&H, there are deals to be had. Kinda want to get one to tinker...
Chris
 

Yes, if EF lenses are working well when adapted then this camera is a no brainer for a lot of people, including me.

Image quality is FX6 territory on Pannyboy, except rolling shutter. For image lovers with the willingnes to color grade, Pannyboy is fantastic. For ff 4k60 and 120 the Sonys are the way to go.

Using V-Log and internal ProRes, the amount of noise reduction is by far the least I've seen on any Lumix camera, especially chroma NR. Which also means that it outperforms the S Series when it comes to capturing chroma detail below middle gray (important for skin, foliage etc). On the S Series I can achieve the same using external BRAW, but that comes with a culprit: strong sharpening and spatial luma filtering.
Also I really don't think the second video was shot using V-Log at all, the sharpening halos on the S5 footage alone are a huge give away of using a regular sRGB/Rec709 profile with standard settings, or someone played around with the NR/sharpening settings to manipulate the outcome. The S5 shooting V-Log with default settings doesn't show any sharpening artefacts.

 

Using V-Log and internal ProRes, the amount of noise reduction is by far the least I've seen on any Lumix camera, especially chroma NR. Which also means that it outperforms the S Series when it comes to capturing chroma detail below middle gray (important for skin, foliage etc). On the S Series I can achieve the same using external BRAW, but that comes with a culprit: strong sharpening and spatial luma filtering.
Also I really don't think the second video was shot using V-Log at all, the sharpening halos on the S5 footage alone are a huge give away of using a regular sRGB/Rec709 profile with standard settings, or someone played around with the NR/sharpening settings to manipulate the outcome. The S5 shooting V-Log with default settings doesn't show any sharpening artefacts.

 

1st
Not using sRGB/Rec709 profiles here

2nd
Used standard settings? Sharpening/NR are super aggressive with standard settings with Rec709 profiles, which is definitely visible in your Video. Looks like when I push NR all the way up in V-Log, super mushy.

3rd
With V-Log the amount of noise reduction by default is super low, much lower than on the S series line up as well. There's tons of Chroma detail even in shadows which isn't really the case on the S series and other Lumix cameras.

Wow with the low NR and zero-sharpening the GH5 II is shaping up to be an organic beast!  The thing is cheap on the used market too!

Hoping for an update to the GH6 for that 🙂
Thankfully the GH5 II also barely has any NR, so the image won't be as mushy as on the GH5s or A7sIII/FX3.

Yes, the oversharpening is definitely showing with every kind of lens I tried.
I really hope for a lower sharpening setting with a newer firmware update. Already talked to Panasonic about this issue.

These slashcam charts really show how bad it is
GH5 II


GH6



The GH6 looks quite crispy despite the lens I'm using. Not great, especially with skin, hair, foliage etc.

Maybe the global shutter Ursa/Production Camera 4k cameras. Relatively limited dynamic range but I always thought the color and look and feel of that camera was exceptional.

Well, the first thing that's worth mentioning is that I got USB power bank that I can hang from my tripod in its little bag. Now I can shoot all day (from a tripod!) without changing battery or getting into rigging. So that's cool.
The other thing is that I had been shooting a bit in DR Boost in order to get extra highlight range and to help with shooting indoors in natural light. BUT! I noticed the midtones were quite noisy so I did a little investigation. I shot a step wedge (from +1 to -8 in whole stops) at various ISO levels, slapped on the VLog to V709 conversion and looked at where the noise is, in a bid to figure out whether I should be aiming to shoot at 250 or 2000DRB in general
Here is ISO 250 and it's a familiar noise pattern. Midtones are clean, shadows are a bit noisy:

 
Compare this to ISO 2000 with Dynamic Range Boost on:

The extreme shadows are cleaner up to around stop -4, where noise is similar to ISO 250. But from stop-3 all the way up to stop +1 this is clearly much noisier than ISO 250! It's noisy in the midtones and clean in the shadows. Weird! And it looks a bit weird when you see it in a real world clip.
For comparison's sake, here's ISO 2000 without DR Boost:

Right around the midtones, from stop -1 to +1 the regular old ISO 2000 is cleaner than with DR Boost. Below that point the shadows get noisier in a way we are used to seeing.

So what's the conclusion? Well, I use some colour treatments that really push visible noise a bit, especially chroma noise. If I'm going to shoot with DR Boost on I get some distracting looking midtone noise. It depends on the shot but sometimes it's really quite shitty looking. NeatVideo's temporal settings do a good job of cleaning it up, though. So my conclusion is that I'm going to start using a bit of noise reduction again, when I need it.

DR Boost is not simply "one stop extra in the highlights" and that's that. It comes at the cost of noise in the midtones.
PS: all shots were long GOP

To all my friends at EOSHD I have some very sad news.
My sister has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
She is just 38.
I have just brought the news to the main blog page here, for the full story:
https://www.eoshd.com/news/my-sister-zara-reid-is-in-end-of-life-care-for-cancer/
I might need to rely on my friends here to get me through this very difficult time and keep working.
Anyone who pre-orders my Panasonic GH6 Shooter's Guide will really be helping. I am in financial difficulties too, on top of this.
I want to keep this blog going even though I am a wreak at the moment.
I am going to miss my sister enormously. She was at the heart of my family.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you wish to pass a message of support onto myself, Zara or my mum.
My email address is eoshd.com@gmail.com
In the future my aim is to get back to work and carry on EOSHD. Sorry it has been so quiet of late.
Thanks guys.

The GH6 is my favorite MFT camera atm.
Best processing and color science to me and already asked Panasonic Lumix engineers for an optional Sharpening OFF (maybe -1 sharpening like the S1H did with NR).
To be fair no other MFT cameras but the GH5 II was completely sharpening free and maybe the BMD P4K with CDNG before BRAW became a thing but had heavy Gen 4 color science flaws like gamut clipping.

The S series line up is a bit cleaner, perfect for greenscreen work but color science on the GH6 is definitely better.
The X-H2S doesn't work for me with its heavy chroma filtering, especially in dark areas, but also heavy oversharpening.
 

I have no doubt that if they'd switched to PDAF 3 or 4 years ago they'd be neck and neck with Canon and Sony. Sony no doubt has their diehard fans, but a Lumix S1 or S5 with PDAF would've been THE YouTuber camera. Whether we like them or not, those are the users that will help ensure a company's longevity.

Yeah the XH2S indeed looks over sharpened. It's obvious when compared to the bmpc6k and Komodo, because it looks a good deal sharper. 

GH5 II had no internal sharpening?  That’s very cool. NLOG on my Z6 feels a bit over sharpened; I’m thinking of going the Prores RAW update to be able to bypass sharpening and NR.