Phil A

I have the GH5 since June and the gf just got her GX80 yesterday (we spent 2h walking around randomly and photographing stuff).

Obviously the pictures and videos look more or less the same (besides that she doesn't have V-Log L and me being rather indifferent to minuscule nuances in color differences) and there's all the differences you find on the spec sheet (10bit, 150 Mbit/s, slow motion framerates, burst shooting, etc.).

GH5 lies subjectively better in the hand, has better EVF, fully articulating screen, more buttons & wheels & the joystick while the GX80 is smaller, has the screen that swivels (keeping the footprint smaller than flipping it out to the side). Big lenses balance better on the GH5 but then you'll never get that into your coat pocket with the 20 1.7 on.

Horses for courses, best have both  We've put the GH5 into a cage for rigged handheld shooting, the GX80 will go on the gimbal. The GH5 is for shooting during the day, the GX80 you can also bring to a restaurant for pics, etc.

To be honest I'm kinda surprised how short the lag between camera movement to the monitoring seems to be, I expected it to be worse (based on experiences with dedicated field monitors).

Is anyone using an older macro lens? I used to be really deep into macro photography a few years ago and actually just recently got the idea that I would like to shoot some insect documentaries, seeing how I'm a sucker for watching animal docus.

I'm now considering what to get. I used a Tamron SP AF 90mm F/2.8 Di in the past and the image quality is great for such a cheap, plasticy lens while going down to 1:1. But this time I'm considering to get something else to adapt to a Panasonic GH5 where I could get other lenses to build a regular set (probably speed boosted 28 and 50mm lenses with f/2 aperture).

I'm currently looking into:
Canon FD 100mm f/4 Macro
Leica Macro Elmarit-R 100mm f/4
Minolta MD 100mm f/4 Macro
Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Micro-NIKKOR AI-s
SMC Pentax-M 100mm f/4

Curious if there's any experiences in that niche?

I have the Zhongyi Lens Turbo II for Canon EF to mFT and then use a cheap Nikon F to Canon EF adapter to put my Nikons on the GH5. Did exactly the same before with a Zhongyi Lens Turbo II for Canon EF to Sony E when I had the A6300.

For photography, 600 GBP max? Used Fujifilm X-T20 or even slightly cheaper a used X-T1.

Stumbled over the video from @Brother that VSCO now rolled out beta support for using their filters, etc. also on videos for VSCO X subscribers. Imho that's great, especially for the Instagram Stories users, now you can have a consistent look between your pictures and videos.

4 minutes ago, Orangenz said:

 

Did you even read what he asked?

To the op: yes, for your application perfectly fine. Just composite it into the 16:9 frame where you have your CGI or whatever you green screen for.

Not to derail the discussion, but if you want it exclusively to film green screen footage from a tripod, shouldn't you better invest into more light if you get image noise?

A faster lens (no matter if it's a fast MFT prime or fast full frame lens on focal reducer or whatever) will also give you less depth of field, probably more vignetting, etc and I'd think that's downfalls you'd want to avoid for what you're doing?

What aperture and ISO are you currently shooting the green screen work at that gives you the noisy image?

It's a beta version, so it's kinda expected to be buggy to some degree.

I have 12.5 on my desktop and 14 on my laptop (both Win10). A few days ago 14 crashed every time I tried to render out a video, but that was solved by rebooting the computer.

I'd say de-install, reboot and install it again.

On 6.8.2017 at 6:46 PM, Brother said:

I got the 8Sinn with basic top handle, been working great for my run and gun needs.

 

Saw the pictures of your rig on Flickr, nice. Can't wait for after market eye-cups for the GH5 to come out. The LCD viewfinder way makes imho no sense, seeing how the EVF has quite a bit higher resolution (1.6 vs 3.6 mio pixels)

Noticed that the Movcam cage has a pretty neat quick release with a hole in the middle so you can unmount the camera without removing the quick release from the cage. Alas, it seems it is a Movcam specific quick release, according to the product Q&A on BHphoto, so that's a no go. Does anyone know if it's a one off or actually Arca Swiss or so?

So what did people settle for by now? I'm considering getting a cage so I can mount a quick release plate via 2 screws but also to occasionally mount accessories like a field monitor, video mic or a top handle.

Looking at the market currently has a bunch of stuff but some prices are just silly for what a cage does (is it so expensive to CNC a piece of aluminium?) or badly fitting.  These seem to be the currently as of this post available cages I could find with a link to their product page (of existing) and a subjective opinion:

8Sinn http://www.8sinn.com/index.php/8sinn-gh5-cage.html - Around 199 $ for just the cage alone (ends up at 220€ in Europe).

CameTV - 298$ but comes with a riser for rod and a top handle.

Chrosziel http://www.chrosziel.de/neu-system-700-gh5/?lang=en - 295€ for cage and top handle, has an integrated Manfrotto compatible dove tail

JTZ DP30 - Minimum configuration is the cage with a top handle, riser with rods. Very modular as camera to cage, cage to riser and riser to base plate have quick release connections (looks more Arca Swiss than Manfrotto though?). Difference to other cages is that the cage has electronic connections with camera and top handle (and optional hand grip kit, etc.). Starts at 359€.

Lockcircle https://www.lockcircle.com/store/?p=robotskingh5 - Half-cage alone is already 439€, 539€ for full cage.

Movcam - Looks like a copy of the slightly earlier released 8Sinn cage, also roughly same price it seems.

Seercam http://seercam.com/shop/cube-gh5/ - Starts at 250$ for cage only. Has an integrated dovetail for their optional rod riser.

SmallRig http://www.smallrig.com/smallrig-dslr-cage-for-panasonic-lumix-gh5-1965.html - I had the A6300 cage and that was great for the money but this one seems to fit rather poorly on the grip side. Is it comfortable to hold it? Also got mixed reviews regarding access to the top control buttons. 89$

Tilta https://tilta.com/shop/tilta-panasonic-gh-series-cage-es-t37/ - 350$ and comes with cage, top handle, rod riser, screw-on rod holder and HDMI clamp. Camera mounts into the cage via quick release plate.

Varavon https://varavon.com/products/zeus-gh5-cage?variant=40977115270 - Cage only incl cable clamp comes for 219$.

Zacuto https://store.zacuto.com/gh5-cage/ - Comes with a hand strap and is going to cost you 495$.

...and then there are of course all the generic cages and half cages that are just a aluminium square to mount your cam into or are two plates connected with 15mm rods for height adjustment.

You could say there is something on the market for everyone, different form factors, features and prices points (~ 90 - 500$ for the cages alone). What is important though: not all of the cages allow to use the XLR audio adapter on top, especially when using the top handle.

I really like what Tilta and JTZ DP30 are doing by having the camera mount into the cage on a quick release plate. This allows you to quickly take the camera out of the cage and slap it onto a gimbal where even the small weight increase of the cage might be a deal breaker. On the other hand there is something to be said for really form fitting cages like 8Sinn and Movcam.

On 31.5.2017 at 2:36 PM, BTM_Pix said:

Just been asked to leave John Lewis midway through hacking their LX15.

Was able to handshake it and fake the connection but they pounced as I was about to hit Deploy!

I'd already set the alarm off doing their GX800. Status on that was that it took the Deploy command without error but called up the Standard profile.However, the lighting in their was so poor and I had to be so quick that I wasn't able to do full compares to the real Standard profile to see if it was actually Cinelike D. 

So file that one under potentially possibly maybe until I have another opportunity. 

I'm intrigued by getting it on to their small cameras, particularly the travel zoom ones.

Did anyone try this under better circumstances?
The GX800 would be a great (= small & cheap) cam to shoot 4k24 from a small gimbal. 

I told my girlfriend that I'll buy her a camera so she can practice photography, while sharing my lenses (GH5). Secretly I actually want to buy a dedicated camera for my Crane so I don't have to take the GH5 out of a cage/handheld rig. With the GX800 being so light, I could use a quick release and the 14mm f/2.5 lens and still downgrade to the smaller Crane-M. If it does Cine-D would be amazing, but I guess I could also settle for Natural.

Really love what you're doing @BTM_Pix , stuff like this makes me wish I had paid more attention in university 

After playing around with the Panasonic 12-35 f/2.8 and the Olympus 12-40 f/2.8 in a store I opted for the Olympus, based just on the sole fact that it has solid, repeatable manual focus due to the clutch mechanic.
The way manual focus is executed in most mirrorless systems' focus-by-wire implementation is just awful. Wish there was (per firmware or camera setting or whatever) an option to have it mimic normal manual focus behavior without odd acceleration characteristics based on your focus speed.

Wish there was also more prime lenses with the feature (and not necessarily as expensive as the Olympus 25mm f/1.2). I love the Voigtländer lenses but my gf struggles bad without auto focus.

19 minutes ago, jase said:

Probably a very stupid question, but will ask anyway:

This weekend, I am forced to shoot in lowlight with the samyang f3.5 fisheye. Will I get lower noise if I film in 4k and downscale later on to 1080p, or should I go directly for 1080p (same fps)?

If you plan to de-noise in post production, 4k would definitively be advantageous. 

20 hours ago, AaronChicago said:

Yes there is a way. If you use the joystick you can highlight and change the numbers.

You can't imagine how happy I am that it was the case of me just being dumb. Thanks, I have no idea why I was so blind not to figure that out. Love it.

On 6.7.2017 at 5:20 PM, Rambalac said:

Also how to make joystick working properly in "Full" mode (when it follows both pan and pitch)? Shifting joystick vertically does not do anything and when I shift it horizontally it's going crazy and rolls instead of pan.

That's how it's supposed to work.

Question GH5 people. Maybe I'm just too dumb but when you mount a lens that has no electronic contacts, you get prompted to enter the focal length. Below that, there are 3 preset focal lengths you can pick via touch (24mm, 35mm, 50mm). Is there any way to customize these 3 preset focal lengths to show something different? I can't find how but it would be a big flaw if not possible.

On 7/11/2017 at 6:44 PM, jase said:

Seems one reason more for me to get the PL 8-18mm 

Voigtländer 10.5mm f/0.95 

17 hours ago, TwoScoops said:

I have the 58 and 28. They are really nice. The MFT Voigtlanders are even better.

I've bought the 17.5mm after considering getting a Metabones SpeedBooster and some fast adapted lens and can only say I'm happy I decided this way. It's a great lens, both from a mechanical as well as an imaging standpoint. The downside? I now really lust to have the others!

I feel like the GH5 isn't really an ideal combination with the Zhiyun Crane when it comes to convenience.

Currently I have the GH5 with the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 as my gimbal setup and I directly screw the camera on the crane. This way I can still fully rotate all axes, as well as "fold" the Crane flat to put it into my backpack.

I tried to balance it with my Manfrotto and Cullmann quick releases but that moves the center of gravity far enough that I have to move some adjustments so far that they will lose full range of motion on some axes because it'll eventually collide. I also balanced it with the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 but then decided to buy a smaller lens for the gimbal, just simply for fatigue reasons.

I didn't manage to balance it at all when using the Voigtländer 17.5mm f/0.95 and a quick release plate because the roll axis ran out of adjustment range before I could get it to balance. This could probably be overcome by adding some additional weight (maybe with strong velcro) behind the motor that is responsible for tilt but my goal isn't to make the Crane as heavy as possible to loath even bringing it.

On 16.6.2017 at 10:21 PM, Aaron T said:

Hey Phil,

I'm super interested in how you attached the smallHD 501 to the Zhiyun-Tech Crane. What kind of mount/arm is on it? Which quick releases do you recommend for mounting the camera, as well as mounting the monitor to different accessories? If you use the monitor, do you not have any controls of the Sony a6500 on the Zhiyun since you did not plug in the control cable? 

I used the SmallRig 1138 clamp ( https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00SIRAYX0/ ) and added this quick release ( https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01LXOJTU4/ ) between the clamp and the magic arm. I have the same quick release on my handheld rig, so I can quickly change the monitor between the two.

For the Sony a6300 I just used a rather small Cullmann Revomax quick release ( https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00NHCMG6O ), have the same on the bottom of the Crane. 

With the A6300 you can't use the HDMI and the remote cable at the same time, there's just not enough space. That's a lot easier with the GH5 now. Also I've replaced the HDMI cable with a Sanho Hyperthin cable.

You're not really supposed to manually focus while flying the camera on the gimbal. So you basically have three choices:

A) a lens with auto focus (which rules out the vintage lens you want to use) on a camera with reliable auto focus (which rules out the A7sII)

B) set the lens to a small aperture with enough depth of field and use hyperfocal distance

C) set the lens to the desired aperture, focus it (you can put the gimbal into sleep for that if you fear it strains the motors) and keep the distance to what you film consistent

Using the GH5 for quite a bit of photography and some little video clips. Using it with a combination of the (really great) Voigtländer 17.5mm f/0.95, Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 and the Samyang 35mm f/1.4 & 85mm f/1.4 both on a dumb adapter and a focal reducer.

My personal opinion: it's maybe one of the least emotional/passion inducing cameras I ever had, I don't feel any excitement about it... but... it's probably the most usable camera I ever had. Can 100% approve and would recommend to 95% of all DSLR/MILC users without hesitation if asked. It doesn't have mind blowing dynamic range, the low light is just ok, the colors are good but not Fuji good, it's comically big for a camera with such a small sensor. But it just is very well thought out (nothing is perfect). The swively screen, high quality EVF, touch screen works well, WiFi function very usable, AF-S perfectly fine for my photography uses, focus peaking & magnification very well implemented, rather good battery run time (eh, I come from Sony!). I had none of the issues people complain about on the internet so maybe I'm just lucky. 

I think the only drawback is the native lens system if you come from an APS-C / FullFrame system with a good choice of fast native lenses and are completely set on that look.

On 9.6.2017 at 8:32 PM, sandro said:

Is it possibile to use nikon g lenses with full electronic support, auto focus and IS?

I don't think that's actually possible on any system but Nikon. There was talk about a non-speedbooster adapter that can do some level of auto focus but there was never much talk about it and it might have been only for e-mount.

15 hours ago, Gregormannschaft said:

That's REALLY good to know, thanks Phil. I'm also based in Germany, have you bought the Crane from somewhere you could rec?

I quickly went to search their FB feed, here's the post from March.

I bought mine via Amazon when they had a sale on it back in November, so it was way before that whole "authorized dealer" mambo jambo. From the stores that have it in Germany, I had good experience with Marcotec in the past, I also think they're an authorized dealer (they had the official Smooth Q pre-order in Germany).