Pro video blog…Produced by Philip Johnston DoP/Editor

GH5

Some people tell me Panasonic have too much to lose going full frame especially when it comes to lenses. Micro four thirds as a sensor size has taken panasonic far but it has also hindered them with noise beyond 1600 ISO.

Sony on the other hand brought out the A7s full frame camera with some spectacular results with ISO settings of 6400 and above though cannot attain a good natural skin tone as the GH4 can.

Panasonic need a noise buster and I think full frame is their only option, they constantly cripple cameras with noisy sensors.

A few choice PFF (Panasonic Full Frame) Leica lenses like a 20mm f2.8, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4, 80mm f1.8, 24-80mm f2.8, 70-210 f2.8 and a 300mm f2.8 would do the trick. The adapter companies like Metabones would soon have a Canon to PFF.

I don’t think it would be that much hardship to re-invest in FF lenses as long as they were fit for purpose.

Video features as the GH4 plus 4K 50p, LOG, lemo to XLR connectors on the side please and make sure there is a headphone output and “NO” 29m record limitation.

Adding a hand/battery grip (2 batteries, twice the power) would also give you the ability to adjust the sound (2 channels) and the headphone volume manually and give us a full size HDMI.

Any other ideas ?

author

Having been working in the video business since 1988 I have amassed a great amount of knowledge of both the kit and production values over the last 30 years.

12 thoughts on “Panasonic GH5 full frame camera.

  1. They should do two GH5’s one as described by you above GH5 Grande (large) and a GH5N (normal) I would buy both.

  2. 120fps full frame and more in crop mode.
    Internal Image stabilisation.
    Maybe a wheel round back (assignable/clickless) to focus like the red rock scout?
    Ultra low latency hdmi transmitter built in with optional receiver?
    Some additional 1 man shooter/switcher software for iOS and Android?
    Log to Rec709 internal

    (Just a few ideas. Some already implemented elsewhere admittedly)

  3. I am fine with the noise reduction of the GH4 as it is , and I’m also fine with the bokeh on m43. What I’d like to have is a servo zoom from wide to tele and a faster processing to make a decent rolling shutter and blur panning. Two things that will probably never happen because they both were left out intentionally.

  4. Add false colour and wave forms, with a high bit rate, and .MOv codec and you would obsolete the externals save for monitoring on a larger screen when needed.
    What would you pay for that? Using Canons with adapter (electronic) and full frame FD legacy lenses available now with inexpensive adapters. If they came with all these features and charged less than Sony the shift to Panasonic full frame would be astounding. I’m sure the Panasonic engineers are chomping at the bit for such a challenge to the big full frame boys.

  5. I don’t think full frame on a Panasonic is likely any time soon. I think that there is far too much fuss over low light and dynamic range. Light your scene correctly; shoot it correctly. I expect we will see a steady incremental improvement in sensors. The GH5 will likely come out with the sensor from the GX8. Gerry in Calgary

  6. I fully agree with Gerry. MFT has been a really good format for me…. no complaints!

    HDW : I use a GH4 mainly for photography but its limited to 1600 ISO, though I sold my A7s as I felt it never gave me as good a skin tone as the GH4.

  7. By moving up to a full frame body they do risk a lot.
    How many of those who did buy the GH-series did it for the sweet spot of price and performance.
    And would the additional cost of going FF actually pay off soon?

    Why would anyone choose a GH FF instead of Canon, Nikon or Sony? Because I’m pretty sure the price of the GH FF would not that different from any of the other brand.

  8. How do you feel the gh4 colours be more natural than the sony’s? They are far away from Canons as well!! (due to the lack of color range)

    HDW : The GH4 produces far better skin tones than the Sony A7s. Sony produces magenta skin tones that make it hard to match with Panasonic.

  9. There are already many full frame camera, so let’s keep the GH5 with m4/3 and a better noise reduction system. 4K @ 50p would be great!

  10. I’m enjoying my LS300 using new MFT 12-35 and 35-100 lenses. I’m regularly shooting actors for dramatised corporate at a fast pace with long days and a small crew of 5. The client has commented how nice it’s looking. 400 ISO is the norm, sometime a little higher if we need to shoot at 50p.

    I’ve considered buying a GH4 as a second video camera, but also so I can use these lovely, compact, lightweight lenses to shoot stills.

    A full frame GH5 would be a daft idea.
    Call it something else – GF1.

    Also consider the size and cost of full frame lenses. My LS300 weighs nothing. The existing MFT customer base would be mighty annoyed.

  11. I only expect one key feature from the GH5 camera…

    Internal 10-bit 4:2:2 recording

    …If Panasonic can deliver this then I will be first in line for the GH5.

  12. I dont think Panasonic will ever abandon the MFT mount an sensors on their mirrorless camera. But it will be interesting if they adopt the JVC LS300 solution, with MFT mount + s35 sensor on some 4k camcorder.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *