Matt Holder

This trick works brilliantly with the 120fps on the gh4 - shoot shallow DOF (12-35 at f2.8 or 25 Voigtlander near wide open) and it looks great- and the codec doesn't have to work too hard to create sharps across the whole frame. 

What about the large portion of video shooters that never use AF? Seems like more of a hobbyist hangup than something that'd hold back a working pro. 

Insane Image stabilisation, Slow motion, weather sealed and 24mm fov with a $300 camcorder - good luck with that!

http://www.photobyrichard.com/reviewbyrichard/panasonic-lumix-gh5-queenstown-tour-2017/
 

That softness can be really nice - skin , especially on older people in interviews looks great at .095 - if they move during an interview eyes come in and out of focus though!

The 25 / .095 is my favourite lens - although for practicality I almost always have the 12-35 and 35-100 lenses on my GH4. Every time i use the 25 i just want to lick the screen - it looks so good - and i could recognise the look in your excellent little video.
 
Using 1 focal length and lens delvers a really nice consistent look. 
You did a great job of keeping the jitters out of a lot of shots -considering how hard this lens is to use handheld - i always have at least a monopod on mine- the pana 12-35 works great handheld though
 
Funnily enough the voigt focuses backwards compared to my panas. I usually stop it down to at least 1.2 unless i am in a desperate low light situation. 
Weirdly enough i find it easier to get focus below f2 on this lens as the extra depth of field blur allows me to locate my sharps / focal plane more easily. Its ironic actually... i have got into trouble shooting at f5 on my 7-14 Oly because its hard to pick if you have just missed critical focus slightly.  
 
The Voigt 25/ .095 lens is going to SHINE on my GH5 though, and see a  lot more use- the IBIS is going to be a godsend! 

THANK GOD SOMEBODY SAID IT!  I have been using my GH4 commercially since it came out - it is one of the pillars of my business.  I can tell you for a fact that paying clients
notice (in approximateorder of importance)
- engaging content, good sound , lighting,dynamic range  , saturation and contrast pop, resolution/ definition (often they want less if its a more mature female talking head) and then waaaay down the list is accurate skin tones
I actually SLIGHTLY prefer the Canon look over panasonic but have been more than happy with Panasonic's colors.
 
You can waste a lot of productive time grading - my advice to being productive is to get a nice look in camera and get on with the process of refining your story - do a basic cut and paste grade at the end if you REALLY think its necessary. Deliver the project to your client and get on with your next project.
I am not as strict on color accuracy and don't mind a look - mostly because it is part of our job to take viewers on a journey. 
 

THANK GOD SOMEBODY SAID IT!  I have been using my GH4 commercially since it came out - it is one of the pillars of my business.  I can tell you for a fact that paying clients
notice (in approximateorder of importance)
- engaging content, good sound , lighting,dynamic range  , saturation and contrast pop, resolution/ definition (often they want less if its a more mature female talking head) and then waaaay down the list is accurate skin tones
I actually SLIGHTLY prefer the Canon look over panasonic but have been more than happy with Panasonic's colors.
 
You can waste a lot of productive time grading - my advice to being productive is to get a nice look in camera and get on with the process of refining your story - do a basic cut and paste grade at the end if you REALLY think its necessary. Deliver the project to your client and get on with your next project.
I am not as strict on color accuracy and don't mind a look - mostly because it is part of our job to take viewers on a journey. 
 

OK...let me create a shitstorm...all this crap about color science is fucking exhausting...so I'll say....in a camera choice, for me, I prefer Panasonic as more color accurate...I don't want a camera or a computer or a fucking iPhone to create colors that are NOT in front of me and make me think what an incredible photographer I am...it's an easy cheat IMO...I prefer to start with an accurate WB and have a colorist do what I need....in post....to suit the storyline or the mood I'm attempting to create...that's all I want from a camera...an unvarnished image of what is in front of me...for me, the rest comes from post....very little is really ever created by zooming in 400% on still image on a desktop and finding flaws in images.... on the other hand a lot of beautiful work is created by people with imagination on deeply flawed cameras...and reading between the lines, I love this camera....warts and all....

Does ANYBODY have a proper comparison video up yet?
What about a direct split screen comparison between the 10bit and 8bit mode? And does 10bit make a difference in the grade?
Aside from Neumann all the coverage this time has been total lightweight fluff. Really lazy. Quickly punted out, to collect hits. I honestly don't think any of the testers have put more than 5 minutes of work per video into what they have done. Can't find anything comprehensive at all.
They really should have given me a camera, the retards 
 
 
I have to agree with your sentiments here - however Griffin Hammond's work was fantastic  - it was great to see a complete production done in low light with such a great look.
I reckon your gh3 and Gh4 guides helped sell a lot of ghs in the past- I am really surprised you didn't get a GH5 - much  of the GH5 content posted has certainly been very amateurish.

A tip of the Hat to you Andrew!
I am a professional video producer and have historically found my business benefits most from focus on story - grading / color has been down on my list of priorities in terms of what my clients notice and pay me for. I have seen a lot of my colleagues get bogged down in grading to the detriment of their delivery schedules.
However This workflow is so easy and fast and the results so powerful that I simply cant ignore it.
Indeed I am noticing dramatic results using the LUTS. Especially highlight roll off and color pop - I have always been a fan of those deluxe reds and blues from Canon and now I have them. Those popping colours are a matter of taste - i like candy colors so I am stoked. but one can always dial them down to taste.  (Of course I am bracing for the usual online slamming about how my colours are all wrong...) 
I put together a quick and dirty before (in camera using recommended settings) / after  (LUT applied) edit so you can intuitively feel the difference this LUT workflow makes - In my case on GH4 footage - with an Oly 7-14 at f7.1 - shutter speed way up as i don't have a vari ND set up for this lens yet.
Dont discount setting idynamic range to high if you are in a challenging dynamic range situation - i put an example of this at the end of the video. 
 
 

Shallow depth of field was a winner with 96fps on the GH4 -
it seems like the lack of required sharp detail encoding allowed the sub optimal bit rate to be good enough - plus its softness was good for skin / faces. I used this all the time for handheld dollies / close up product detail shots at 12mm / f2.8 Panny is 25-35  or  25/ F .095 and never got called out for image softness by any of my clients.
Philip Bloom had a great shot in slomo of a young girls face close up with the GH4 / 25 voigtlander combo  that he used in his CNN series. Its one of my favourite shots of his ever.
I suspect the same approach will work wonders with the 180 fps mode.

A tip of the Hat to you Andrew!
I am a professional video producer and have historically found my business benefits most from focus on story - grading / color has been down on my list of priorities in terms of what my clients notice and pay me for. I have seen a lot of my colleagues get bogged down in grading to the detriment of their delivery schedules.
However This workflow is so easy and fast and the results so powerful that I simply cant ignore it.
Indeed I am noticing dramatic results using the LUTS. Especially highlight roll off and color pop - I have always been a fan of those deluxe reds and blues from Canon and now I have them. Those popping colours are a matter of taste - i like candy colors so I am stoked. but one can always dial them down to taste.  (Of course I am bracing for the usual online slamming about how my colours are all wrong...) 
I put together a quick and dirty before (in camera using recommended settings) / after  (LUT applied) edit so you can intuitively feel the difference this LUT workflow makes - In my case on GH4 footage - with an Oly 7-14 at f7.1 - shutter speed way up as i don't have a vari ND set up for this lens yet.
Dont discount setting idynamic range to high if you are in a challenging dynamic range situation - i put an example of this at the end of the video. 
 
 

A tip of the Hat to you Andrew!
I am a professional video producer and have historically found my business benefits most from focus on story - grading / color has been down on my list of priorities in terms of what my clients notice and pay me for. I have seen a lot of my colleagues get bogged down in grading to the detriment of their delivery schedules.
However This workflow is so easy and fast and the results so powerful that I simply cant ignore it.
Indeed I am noticing dramatic results using the LUTS. Especially highlight roll off and color pop - I have always been a fan of those deluxe reds and blues from Canon and now I have them. Those popping colours are a matter of taste - i like candy colors so I am stoked. but one can always dial them down to taste.  (Of course I am bracing for the usual online slamming about how my colours are all wrong...) 
I put together a quick and dirty before (in camera using recommended settings) / after  (LUT applied) edit so you can intuitively feel the difference this LUT workflow makes - In my case on GH4 footage - with an Oly 7-14 at f7.1 - shutter speed way up as i don't have a vari ND set up for this lens yet.
Dont discount setting idynamic range to high if you are in a challenging dynamic range situation - i put an example of this at the end of the video. 
 
 

export the master file in pro res and tell them you shot it on whatever their favourite camera is. 
 
If the image is broadcast legal, in focus and has minimal noise you should be fine. i suspect you probably lens your work nicely- which is where so much of the look comes from.
 
As a Gh4 user i can strongly reccomend going with that and speed boosters for your current lenses.

export the master file in pro res and tell them you shot it on whatever their favourite camera is. 
 
If the image is broadcast legal, in focus and has minimal noise you should be fine. i suspect you probably lens your work nicely- which is where so much of the look comes from.
 
As a Gh4 user i can strongly reccomend going with that and speed boosters for your current lenses.

Being able to script / storyboard a concept - then shoot using beautiful lensing and sound capture - and follow up with editing where you move the viewer through the story in the 4 dimensions of time and space NEVER gets old.  Getting paid to do what you love totally rocks. Its money AND love as far as i am concerned. 
 
The trick is to have control over the whole process - If you just shoot and hand off your shots then it can be hard to maintain the love. I know a lot of jaded "camera operators" who clock on and clock off with little job ownership.
 

Being able to script / storyboard a concept - then shoot using beautiful lensing and sound capture - and follow up with editing where you move the viewer through the story in the 4 dimensions of time and space NEVER gets old.  Getting paid to do what you love totally rocks. Its money AND love as far as i am concerned. 
 
The trick is to have control over the whole process - If you just shoot and hand off your shots then it can be hard to maintain the love. I know a lot of jaded "camera operators" who clock on and clock off with little job ownership.
 

Sign me up for the Gh5 even if  IBIS is all they bring to the table.
 
Right now with my current gear  - Gh4 and Olympus 7-14, Panasonic 12-35 and 35 - 100 - and the venerable Voigtlander 25  - Sliders, steadicams, panasonic's AMAZING native codec (it really is under rated) and the turbo editing speed of FCPX ..
 
-I reckon i could be QUICKLY creating great content for the next 5 years without any need of an update. 
 
Its nice to have too many stories to tell, a ton of forward bookings from clients and no new gear acquisition syndrome! 

Sign me up for the Gh5 even if  IBIS is all they bring to the table.
 
Right now with my current gear  - Gh4 and Olympus 7-14, Panasonic 12-35 and 35 - 100 - and the venerable Voigtlander 25  - Sliders, steadicams, panasonic's AMAZING native codec (it really is under rated) and the turbo editing speed of FCPX ..
 
-I reckon i could be QUICKLY creating great content for the next 5 years without any need of an update. 
 
Its nice to have too many stories to tell, a ton of forward bookings from clients and no new gear acquisition syndrome! 

Sign me up for the Gh5 even if  IBIS is all they bring to the table.
 
Right now with my current gear  - Gh4 and Olympus 7-14, Panasonic 12-35 and 35 - 100 - and the venerable Voigtlander 25  - Sliders, steadicams, panasonic's AMAZING native codec (it really is under rated) and the turbo editing speed of FCPX ..
 
-I reckon i could be QUICKLY creating great content for the next 5 years without any need of an update. 
 
Its nice to have too many stories to tell, a ton of forward bookings from clients and no new gear acquisition syndrome! 

First up I HATE Jitters - I have seen demos from operators who call themselves "Cinematographers" that are filled with lazy handheld jitter shots (usually wide open on a 25 - 50mm lens)  - So anything to get ride of them is good.
 
Secondly I really dislike unmotivated camera movement - slides just because you can etc etc I understand how handheld has a limited place because you are going for a "being there" dramatic feeling or a POV look.
Handheld in Run and Gun docos is OK where you are in an uncontrolled environment - The monopod gives you the handheld look without the jitters - I can go monopod free as I use an IS 12-35mm set up - but the monopod keeps the framing more considered and accurate. 
Each to their own i suppose - personally i found the shoulder rigs limited my style as they are terrible once you start walking - they transfer motion from shoulders (and your hips going with the tripod waist mount set up) - I have had so much footage from "traditional camera operators" who think its ok to walk with a camera on their shoulders - it totally ruins the shot. With the monopod i can use it as a semi steadicam and get a floaty shot if i have to start taking steps (in the absence of a controlled steadicam shot - which I will use if there is some control over the shooting situation (i usually have a separate dedicated gh3/ steadicam ready to go for these shots leaning up on a wall nearby)
Also Not a huge fan of gimbals as they tend to have robotic corrections in the movement - Surely I am not the only person to notice this? 
A balanced small steadicam  has a much more organic movement and is much easier on the body to operate. 
So i guess i am just warning some operators looking to find a functional solution that shoulder rigs aren't necessarily the answer to everything - and in many cases are more limited that they are promoted to be. The monopod has proven itself to pack a real punch in the simplicity / productivity stakes.
Looks and presentation on set will become increasingly important as clients  become more "executive"- (this is a natural part of your evolution as a video producer and business operator)  I dearly love my GH4  (especially the liberating small footprint) and have rigged it up a little bit  - more for client impression than functional reasons ( The basic matte box / flag / rails  trick works wonders) - Most clients just dont understand how sweet the little GH4 with good lenses performs and will judge the size of the camera. With the matte box on there I don't get asked why I am not shooting on a proper video camera !
I do respect that this may not be the case on narrative shoots or low budget production when you just need to achieve the result you need with limited resources. Sorry about the disrespectful "looks ridiculous" comment! 

Why not just use a monopod? Easy, cheap, low profile, effective, doesn't look ridiculous. 

The voigtlanders really do transform M43 to deliver a dreamy look - especially the 25 / .095
 
here are my shots with a GH4.  
 
The GX80 would be a mean low light low profile combo with this lens - I tried the combo in store (i didnt purchase a gX80 as I am waiting on the GH5) and THE IBIS was awesome with the NON IS VOIGT 25