Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsOne Camera to Rule Them All?
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2017
I will update this review as time goes on. At this point I have only experimented with the camera for several hours, but I already have enough information to form a solid foundation for a review (I have also used the GH4 for a few years).
I run a small video production company, and for years I have used the GH4 for capturing high quality video. The problem is that every video shoot also requires several high quality/professional photographs. While the GH4 excelled in capturing video as a true camera it always came up short. As a result, I was always forced to lug my Nikon D750 around with me. I would travel with two cameras, and two sets of lenses. Occasionally, I would substitute the Nikon for my Fujix100T or I would substitute the GH4 for my Osmo Pro (recently it has been more of the later).
What I need... want... would love .... is camera to do all of it. I guess I could invest in the FF Sony, but the idea of investing in a 3rd set of lenses doesn't exactly excite me. At some point.... either the video on the Olympus will come up... or the photo stills on the Panasonic will improve...right? Based on my tests - I think the GH5 will become my Holy Grail of cameras. I have 0% doubt that it will perform for video (and my the couple of tests I have run look very favorable), but my worry was IQ. The new 20.3MP resolution has me hopeful that the GH5 will become my one camera for all purposes.
Photos - Again - I will update this as time goes on
- The upgraded sensor seems to make a large difference.In the photos I attached the 1st picture was taken at ISO 400 while the rest were at ISO 1600. Frankly, I always got nervous taking my GH4 above ISO 800 the noise and grain really started to become noticeable. The GH5 looks very usable at ISO 1600 ( I need to check ISO 3200 a little closer). For full disclosure the ISO 1600 shots were taken with the Panasonic Leica f1.2 42.5mm gem of a lens.
This is a good point for a tangent,. The reason why i like the MFT format (in addition to the cameras being physically smaller) there are some very excellent lenses out there. I would stack the Olymous Zuiko lenses up against the branded Nikon lenses any day of the week. In addition, ignoring the difference in focal length my Panasonic/Leica f1.2 42.5 rivals my Otus f1.4 55mm for my Nikon (plus it has vibration reduction AND autofocus - eat your heart out Sigma). These high quality lenses are smaller and cost less than their full frame rivals to boot. Now there are some poor lenses too, but if you are willing to pay a little more I have found all of the Panny/Leica and Olympus Zuiko lenses to be very, very good.
Other notes -
- If you shoot in RAW and use Lightroom you will have to update to 6.9.
- The autofocus really is improved. It is very fast on the point.
- Has the ability to do focus stacking - I haven't tried this yet - but it is a very interesting function.
- Shooting manual is a breeze - I am not sure why Nikon can't copy Panasonic's focus peaking, but if they could... they should. I mentioned I owned the Otus f1.4 55mm.... that lenses would be soooooo much more useful if Nikon offered a similar type of focus peaking.
- Low light performance - others may disagree, but I do think that it is better than the GH4. I have very good stills at ISO 1600. However, this might be a counter-intuitive since Panasonic is using the same sized sensor but increasing the resolution. In order for the camera to have better low light performance and higher resolution would require either significantly better algorithms and/or improvements on the actual sensor gathers the light.
- Button placement and layout are still very solid. it is easy to navigate WB and ISO settings without moving your eyes (much more difficult on my Nikon D750).
- No built in flash. Honestly, I can not remember the last time I used a built in flash.
- The camera is not too much larger than the GH4, but it is noticeably heavier. This camera is dense, and while it still has an advantage over my full frame it's losing ground here.
Video-
- My early footage is excellent. The continuous autofocus is improved (although I do need to run a lot more tests on this one). I loved shooting footage with my GH4, but I usually filmed in manual focus. I never fully trusted the GH4 autofocus - it seemed to spend too much time searching.
- The ability to shoot at 180 FPS (you have first select a variable frame rate to get into this menu).
- Out of the box it will allow you to record 10 bit straight to SD card (I recommend the new high transfer rate cards).
- Image stability - I am very excited for the improvements - but I definitely need to do a lot of testing to see how it really performs.
- In short... for video the GH5 will do everything that GH4 will do, but it adds the ability to capture 10 bit footage directly to a SD card, offers weather protection, and in-body stabilization
- The screen and viewfinder are excellent.
Final Verdict - Again, I will have to update this review - there is MUCH still to be covered (especially for video). However, the early results are very promising and I do believe that Panasonic has made a significant improvement in IQ over the GH4. I may be naive, but I just ASSUMED it would be great for video (minor improvements in the GH4 would have helped maintain its status). The GH5 is roughly double the price of the GH4 so you will need to understand if the photo improvements and the upgrades in video are really worth it to you. For me... it is a no-brainer.... and I am optimistic that for now on I will be carrying just one camera with me!
5 Stars
