zetty

23 hours ago, dr_jon said:

I struggle to see how splitting the Micro Four Thirds cameras off from the Professional Video Division (which seems an ideal fit, except the latter is profitable and the former not-so-much) and making people redundant is quite such a positive as they are trying to spin it... It will be interesting to see what happens, but IMHO "redoubled" seems like marketing spin to keep people buying the products. Not that I'm suggesting cameras are doomed, but I think the ILCs will get trimmed somewhat along the way...

I am not sure splitting them from pro video division is a necessarily positive thing either. However, if they had an intention to ditch MILCs, they wouldn't have put so much resources developing and marketing GH5 (and the predecessors, like GX85 and G80) -- neither the CEO nor the circumstances have changed so drastically for the Panasonic to suddenly take a u-turn.

6 minutes ago, Stab said:

Question. When I opened the package and held the GH5 in my hands for the first time, I realized it makes a noise when I move or shake the camera. Just tested again, and I stil hear it. No it's not the strap holders :P It's coming from deep within the camera. Now it could be the IBIS system or whatever that can move, but I just wanted to make sure I don't have a faulty unit.

It must be IBIS, they even warn about it in the manual. There is some noise in mine as well, even if I hold the strap connectors in place while shaking it.

BTW, reminds me I'll have to remove those..

38 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

 

If I cancelled the order, I'd miss out on the Panasonic's £200 cashback offer, which for the price of that camera really makes a difference (potential cause for backlog too) -- and in fact when I checked around at some point it was depleted in a number of stores, the-body only offers anyway. Bundled were in abundance. Now, the venodor (Fotosense) is promising 100% next week, so two new pannies to break in!

14 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

Nice, it's like these companies are starting to learn how to roll out products on time (or atleast to announce them with a realistic roll-out date).

Yes, that's really surprising as I actually ordered mine less than 2 weeks ago.. So couldn't be far up the preorder queue and Jessops is one of the biggest UK photography retailers, so there must have been lots of preorders.

On the other hand, though, the GX85 affair has been ridiculous.. Ordered mine at the end of December, still waiting! The vendor says Panasonic keeps screwing with them, unable to fulfil the backlog for 3 months. Maybe all the resources went into the launch of GH5

It actually seems to be in stock at Jessops and I just received an sms that my order is being delivered tomorrow :o

That was quick! Never thought I'd receive GH5 before my GX85, haha.

4 hours ago, Cinegain said:

- Upd. And gone! But they still have a 14-140mm kit, which I was unaware of was a thing: https://www.foto-mundus.de/detail/index/sArticle/23773/sCategory/639

Thanks!

Indeed, haven't seen this combination anywhere else :o

I'd like to get a body only though. Probably should call some stores in London, see if they have have any locally.

6 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

Noice! Now, I haven't pre-ordered anything anywhere, so tough luck, but I usually get my way if I keep my eyes opened and lines out.

Let me know if you find a channel in EU

I only preordered mine like 10 days ago in the UK and wouldn't really mind having it sooner, especially since I have to send off GH4 for repairs. If I see an opportunity to get one earlier elsewhere, might easily cancel my order.

Not very optimistic though, seeing as I still haven't received GX85 I ordered back in December from a vendor that actually listed it as in "stock" :|

13 minutes ago, jonpais said:

Glad to see my brain is still functioning. Just because tap to focus works with any AF lens on the planet, it does not follow that the Pull Focus will too. We'll have to wait and see...

My point was that the focus pull between A/B is such a basic feature that there is absolutely no reason why it shouldn't work as long as focus of the lens can be controlled from camera, which in obviously the case with working AF. So it would be an artificially imposed limitation from Panasonic if it is only "supported" by native lenses. But enough of that -- indeed, we'll see.

8 minutes ago, jonpais said:

Tapping the touch screen to focus works with any AF lens.

Then so should the A/B focus pull.

4 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

Native as in 'Panasonic on a Panasonic system'. The other thing is e.g. an Olympus or Sigma lens, AF capable, on the Panasonic system. Hence the video posted above.

That would be an artificial limitation. What "lots of communication going on"? It's just reading and setting two focus points. Extremely simple, doesn't even need AF as such, just the ability to control focus distance from the camera.

25 minutes ago, jonpais said:

I thought Pull Focus was only available on native lenses, but I'd like to be wrong in this case.

Obviously it can only work on AF lens as it needs to pull focus electronically. If the adapter supports AF, I see no reason why wouldn't it work.

6 hours ago, lmackreath said:

Jessops say they have stock coming on Thursday (UK)

The guy on jessops chat said "It's only the Lecia kit that we're not getting enough of for all orders. As you've ordered the body we're got one for you!"

I just ordered mine from them a couple of weeks ago and their response to me yesterday about the availability was:

"I can advise that we are expecting to start shipping our pre-orders for the GH5 within the next few weeks. However, we have not yet had a more specific delivery schedule confirmed by Panasonic so I would be unable give an estimated delivery time for your specific order."

39 minutes ago, Arikhan said:

@jcs

 marketing" is in my eyes much more interesting at this point as the assumptions and postfactic claims done to this point on the GH5.

Another very interesting aspect is that this kind of reactions are predictable. The same process (hate from fanboys against criticism and other opinions and points of view) with a Pana camera was a review of Shaun Hurlbut and the GH4. Taking a look at this camera, Hurlbut - as a experienced, successful and well known filmmaker - said (really worth to read, because 3 years later Hurlbut was proven right):

..etc. @andy lee comments on these facts too and advocates the GH4 trying to explain Hurlbut "cinematic look"...:-))

It's interesting how the crowd of pistoleros tries to bash and scream a reputable filmmaker (Shaun) down, because expressing a opinion from professional point of view and not based on unexperienced fantasies of sub 2.000$ mirrorless shooters...

Simply try to read some comments and always consider: Who is Hurlbut and who are the self proclaimed GH4 lawyers? Mostly people who never could afford a Cx00 or any other more expensive pro camera in their hands...This posting is a good lession in "credibility" and worthless opinions...

I tend to trust a reputable pro filmmaker (Hurlbut) by far more than self proclaimed "experts" -.even if they scream very loud on internet.

What's your point?

I see people excited about great value for money and a great niche tool that fits their needs and workflow, with both its limitations and advantages when it comes to other competing cameras.

Frankly, I don't care what some fiction cinematographer says about mirrorless -- if I was shooting narrative features, of course I wouldn't be using GH4/5/whatever. Neither I would use 5D..

Hurlbut sounded biased from the get go too with all this "out of the box" nonsense, which is a typical consumer attitude (5D doesn't have Magic Lantern "out of the box" either). Besides, as far as I recall Hurlbut did another test of VLOG where he sounded much more positive.

On 18/03/2017 at 5:09 PM, webrunner5 said:

For all you guys and girls in England, hell free money!

http://mathersoflancashire.co.uk/category.aspx?cid=0&id=173

I wonder what the vendor margins are on each unit, if they can easily afford giving £150 in cashback..

23 hours ago, anchoricex said:

For those of you who dealt with the GH4 preorder: 

I want this camera, have the money for it but don't want to preorder yet (would like to get a new CC and get a min-purchase bonus if I'm going to do this). How long are cameras out of stock for when these things first unroll? If it's anything like a freaking iPhone release then I'll probably just suck it up and preorder now but I'm also weary of being a first adopter, I'd like to see how the camera fares first. Just don't want to be stuck months without a camera when the time comes.

Also going back to my CC bonus minimum purchase thing: I'm assuming B&H doesn't charge your card until the preorders become real orders?

This I am interested in as well. I don't want to jump on the preorder if I can safely buy it later, after deciding if I want to got with the PL 12-60 or maybe XLR box bundle.

Not in a huge hurry to get it either but if it really takes like months of wait until the preorders are satisfied, I might as well jump in the queue.

@Neumann Films Million dollar question: can you zoom in to check focus while recording?

Can you monitor VLOG recording in REC709?

Is there really a waveform monitor implemented?

34 minutes ago, Don Kotlos said:

The articulating screen is more of a reliability concern for me 

Yeah, mine has broken twice on the GH4 -- once my own fault, breaking it off physically, and just now the touch stopped working when flipped out for no good reason. Good to have 4 year warranty

9 minutes ago, Davey said:

No live feeds anywhere and no updates via live bloggers. Has the event finished?

Still 33 minutes till start!

58 minutes ago, Don Kotlos said:

I hope you are not saying that having the options of 150 & 400mbps but not 200-250 is disappointing, but the fact it will arrive later this year. 

Yes. I also hope there is a choice inbetween. But will have to test how the 150mbps holds up, maybe it's plenty enough for what I do.

Considering the stated bitrates, I assumed they are still having h264.

3 minutes ago, Don Kotlos said:

"Its now confirmed, the GH5 will offer maximum bit rate of 400Mbps in 4K video! The 400Mbps will come as a firmware update on the second half of 2017. Right now, the the camera will be launched with 150Mbps."

Get your cards ready! (yes the ones that are not available yet  )  

Bit disappointing but hopeful. My preferred range would have been 200-250mbps as a good compromise between quality and size for documentary shooting.

4 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

The A7sII is really not that far off in reality. Build one with a S35 sensor, 6k, internal ND filter, better codec, little bigger body for a larger battery, and sensor cooling ability. They could have done  some of that with the A6500, but I think they wanted to save that for the A7 series.

Less rolling shutter, better colour science, better codec, better ergonomics, flip out (better) LCD, etc..

5 hours ago, aldolega said:

Yea, a super FS5 is more of what I was picturing- still m4/3, real video camera shape, but very small for such, and bigger than the GHs... just big enough to have real controls, ergos, XLR, ND, etc. Although then you're not a whole lot bigger than the GH5 with the XLR box, so maybe it's just not worth it at that point. And the GH5/XLR combo is pretty similar to the C100 shape and layout. Just needs a rotating grip and a tilting EVF.

People speak of XLR as the end of it all but in my view XLR itself is nothing but a chunky connector standard that should have never left the studio. If anything, it's the mini XLR that should be used on the field cameras.

But then there's really no need for balanced inputs if the cable run is not very long and prone to interference -- and also phantom power is not something that is necessary with every good mic to be found, e.g. Ambient TinyMike is great and it doesn't require phantom power neither a battery. Feed from commonly used wireless receivers such as Sennheiser G3 also doesn't need phantom power; neither it is balanced, so a 3.5mm jack is totally fine. All you need is a decent preamp/ADC.

NDs and good AF have also been implemented in the mirrorless form factor -- and so if the heat isn't a problem, I really don't see any reason going for a bigger body. The ergonomics of GH4 with a few programmable buttons and touchscreen works great for me for the run and gun type of work.

8 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

Sure, "level" in my post also includes that.

Apologies for being anal, but "pro level" to me implies a level of expertise. The skills required in different fields are -- well, different, so you cannot universally say that a cinematographer who uses lighting is on a higher level that the one who doesn't (although it might well be the case).

7 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

It depends on the pro level. Anyway... I second your expectations and liking :-)

Not universally. There are fields where lighting is impractical, impossible or unnecessary.

41 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Because you might have decent audio, you might have ND's, you might have decent autofocus. Sounds like about 80% of what you need to get a decent video. YMMV.

I mentioned these compromises -- and they are actually not necessarily related to the form factor. I record audio externally, have a set of screw-on ND filters and definitely can live without AF, even on a gimbal. I'd rather say 80% for me is getting on the location, being able to film and engage the characters, and the portability and inconspicuousness of mirrorless certainly helps with that a lot.