Panasonic Lumix G7 vs. S5II, used as camcorders

[John Matthews]

People might laugh at me, but I don't care. I've been doing some walk-around filming with my G7 and 9mm Leica versus my S5ii and the kit lens. I'm absolutely dumbfounded how little the differences are.

Here are my settings:

Panasonic Lumix G7 - 4k 25fps (EOSHD ProColor Settings, with minor tweaks), super-fast stabilization in Final Cut (InertiaCam- smoothing (.1), continuous video AF on with it's small box in the center (yes, that's right and it didn't really hunt), A Mode, Auto ISO, handheld only,  AWB

Panasonic Lumix S5II - 4k 25fps (Stadard profile), no stabilization in post (but had IBIS on), continuous AF  (mode 2), small box in the center, A Mode, Auto ISO, handheld only, AWB

I kid you not, the images were very similar, minus the color which seemed better on the G7 to my eye. After stabilization, there was little difference.

Here are some stills:

It would appear the 2015 G7 is still the little engine that could. It weighs a whopping 540g less than the S5II and kit lens. I could add the 14-140, the 25 f/1.4 and perhaps a recorder or mini tripod for that difference.  This is where M43 needs to go in the future: small, excellent value, with great features like 4k, PDAF, IBIS, 10 bit h.265, with a proper shutter and hot shoe. Even the previous generation(s) from 2015-2018 have so much to offer.

[Andrew Reid]

24 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

People might laugh at me, but I don't care. I've been doing some walk-around filming with my G7 and 9mm Leica versus my S5ii and the kit lens. I'm absolutely dumbfounded how little the differences are.

Here are my settings:

Panasonic Lumix G7 - 4k 25fps (EOSHD ProColor Settings, with minor tweaks), super-fast stabilization in Final Cut (InertiaCam- smoothing (.1), continuous video AF on with it's small box in the center (yes, that's right and it didn't really hunt), A Mode, Auto ISO, handheld only,  AWB

EOSHD ProColor looking great 😉

Much nicer than the Panasonic profile on the S5 II

[John Matthews]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

EOSHD ProColor looking great 😉

Much nicer than the Panasonic profile on the S5 II

Yes. Even in mixed lighting, it looks great. It was cloudy outside and I had 3000K lights going at the same time I filmed this today. The first time I did it, I left the G7 on sunny WB- it still looked great, but then it was too far of match with the S5II. I'll try to post the actual video tomorrow.

[newfoundmass]

It's a reminder that we're very lucky and have also probably hit a wall when it comes to image processing when a 2015 camera still looks so good 10 years later.