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Panasonic GH5S Timecode might be majorly flawed


IronFilm
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Was so extremely excited and happy over the Panasonic GH5S announcement:

 http://ironfilm.co.nz/leaked-the-specs-of-the-panasonic-gh5s-finally-we-get-the-first-stills-camera-with-timecode-i-o/


But now I'm starting to get very worried, extrashot just replied in the comments of their YouTube video:

 

Quote

 

I agree... it's a major disappointment the way things are at the moment. The GH5S isn't constantly jammed to the input... it jams when the menu option is pressed and then runs on it's internal clock until you jam it again.  And yes, the internal clock loses 9 frames each time the camera sleeps or is turned off.  I'm used to cameras that will stay perfectly sync'd to timecode for as long at you leave the BNC connected... so this is very frustrating.  If you're running a multi camera shoot on mains it could be useful... or if you remember to jam to the audio mixer every time before hitting record.  I was hoping that this T/C function wasn't quite right because we were using a pre-release version of the firmware... and I haven't heard any other reviewers pick up on it yet?

 

 

 

Wait... what?? No way, it can't be constantly jammed to the input??? I hope this isn't true in the shipping product. Otherwise I have to ask what were the Panasonic designers smoking at the time?! This is a major major issue that Panasonic needs to address asap!

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Nothing this won't solve... : D

http://ambient.de/en/product_custom_cat/Timecode-en/

Sorry mate but you gave me a chance to debunk certain myths any sort of FUD (even that one involuntarily) can erroneously make : ) to some uneducated minds lurking over here (believe me, they live! Carpenter's was right! LOL)

No trouble other than lack of IBIS will piss over the parade, once my pre-order does overcome it. Not even the extra $400 (since VLog L is $500 included) tax did it ;-)

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8 hours ago, Emanuel said:

OK, so such external lock boxes won't overcome the issue? No workaround at all? How does it occur when a DSLR has no such feature as happens now with the GH5S? What about YAGH and the previous GH4 and GH5 models? GH series didn't start with the GH5S...

I mentioned YAGH in my article, that no more counts than saying "oh because there is a Sony XLR-K1M or a Tascam DR60D, then thus the a7S has XLR inputs!"
Likewise the YAGH as an external piece of hardware, that doesn't mean the GH4 has a timecode input in the body itself. Plus the YAGH was just a god awful implementation of the idea. But still, a "first" in its own way. 

As for the GH5, it had nothing like the YAGH (unless if counting the DMW-XLR1, but that has no TC capabilities whatsoever. However as a way to provide XLR inputs, the DMW-XLR1 was a massive massive leap forward over the YAGH!). 

And yes, if you watch the video and look at the comment I quoted, then you can see that the GH5S doesn't maintain sync with the attached lockbox (LIKE ALL OTHER CAMERAS WOULD!!!). The lockbox might as well not even be there!! So unbelievably dumb as fvck. 
 

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So, from my understanding, it jams once you press the button and then stays in the internal clock forever right? So, apart from loosing 9 fps every time it sleeps, a drift will introduced after some time. It seems like a possible fix for a firmware update, as all it has to do to stay in sync with the generator is jamming every few seconds once you enable this in the menu. Is this correct?

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3 hours ago, jonpais said:

@IronFilm Did you update your blog to bring up the issue with TC, 'cause I'm not seeing it. :( 

I'm holding off a little rather than being premature, let's wait to see what is the result once these ship and get used?

 

3 hours ago, Dimitris Stasinos said:

So, from my understanding, it jams once you press the button and then stays in the internal clock forever right?

Yes, apparently the input only is used to take the TC input *once* and then it relies upon the internal clock instead!! (until you again, manually align them up again)
Which is a dumb as fuck way to do this!

 

3 hours ago, Dimitris Stasinos said:

So, apart from loosing 9 fps every time it sleeps, a drift will introduced after some time.

Yes, even without the issue when the GH5S goes to sleep, it is still an extraordinarily dumb idea to rely upon a camera's TC clock itself rather than an accurate external source. 

 

3 hours ago, Dimitris Stasinos said:

It seems like a possible fix for a firmware update, as all it has to do to stay in sync with the generator is jamming every few seconds once you enable this in the menu. Is this correct?

It shouldn't be updated "every few seconds", it should be continuously taking TC from the external source. 

And yes, I'd be very hopefully a firmware update is on its way (might even already have happened! Panasonic might have always intended to have this work right before the GH5S started shipping, even before extrashot pointed it out).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oktava!! I thought he has the 8050 and the Audio Technica for indoors sound. 

Too pity for the shortcomings, I am sure a software update will do. Also, pre production models, definitely didn't care much about sync sound. 

I have used the GH5 extensively the last 5-6 months, and truly, I believe the GH5s is a much more appealing camera for my video needs. I am waiting a Canon C100mkIII for a long time now, maybe the GH5s will do (and the C100 will never do 10bit, no frickin' way!).

You do the right thing @IronFilm waiting to see the real world cameras first.

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16 hours ago, Kisaha said:

Oktava!! I thought he has the 8050 and the Audio Technica for indoors sound. 


Maybe he is mixing it up, but yeah I thought he owned those too.

 

16 hours ago, Kisaha said:

I am waiting a Canon C100mkIII for a long time now, maybe the GH5s will do (and the C100 will never do 10bit, no frickin' way!).

Will also cost much more than a GH5 / GH5S will, maybe even double as much!

Plus there has to be a solid 20% chance that if the C100mk3 comes out early this year it won't even have 4K! :-P Ha

 

 

16 hours ago, Kisaha said:

You do the right thing @IronFilm waiting to see the real world cameras first.


Well I was never going to buy a GH5S I think (at least not this year, maybe in a year or two when the price drops down). 

On this topic kinda, in a couple of week's time am starting a feature film which will have a GH5 as C cam (A & B cam are a RED ONE).

Oh and this weekend am working on another short film with a GH5.

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  • 3 years later...
47 minutes ago, Grimor said:

I just bought a used GH5S and found hdmi timecode drifting so badly with my mixpre 3 II. 

What do you mean "drift", what exactly is  your process? As if you have the MixPre3 attached to a GH5 (any of their three variants) via HDMI, then all of their files should line up. (if you're referring to say nonstop 3hr recordings... then d'oh, they will drift apart! You need a high end camera with genlock to avoid that)

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5 hours ago, IronFilm said:

What do you mean "drift", what exactly is  your process?

I will try to explain what happens to me: Currently I only have GH5S and Mixpre 3 II connected via hdmi. Rec trigger and jamming seem to work fine. But when the mixpre takes the time that the cam sends, it does exactly 1 frame behind. After about 10 seconds, the count again loses another frame. And so it keeps losing frames. I have checked that the frame rate matches on both devices. My ultimate goal would be to synchronize multiple short shots, usually not more than 1 minute, during the recording of short films and video clips. I do not intend to sync long videos takes.

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