Reading mode: Light Dark

Cinema5D GH5 Review finds disappointing problems

Go to last post
Having read the review, that title seems like a bit of an exaggeration, especially in relation to other cameras and using pre-production firmware..

F

Pro’s
  • MFT sensor works very well with Metabones Speedbooster Ultra for nice shallow depth of field.
  • 5-axis internal image stabilisation
  • Advanced video shooting functions like peaking, histogram or anamorphic mode
  • Very nice quality 8-bit mode! Up to 60fps in 4K
  • Good image detail
  • Up to 180fps (Quality is not up to 1080p standards though)
  • Good rolling shutter perfomance
  • Dual SD card slots
  • No recording time limit
  • Affordable price
Con’s
  • Vlog is seriously flawed at the moment
  • 10-bit 4:2:2 mode looks the same as 8-bit 4:2:0 mode
  • Dynamic range is limited
  • Lowlight is average
  • 180fps mode has much less quality than actual 1080p
  • Some Canon lenses did not work with the Metabones Speedbooster
 
You're a bit late to the party. That was last week and apparently triggered a shitstorm for C5D from multiple sources.

EOSHD's Andrew Reid was among those who called them out here

Eventually there was a response by the original author to which there was a counter response that you can see here

And apparently even the official Panasonic got involved who announced they'll be issuing an official statement on the subject within the week.

Plenty of drama for sure.
 
Well, if you'd follow PhotoJoseph's series - and you should be, it has been mentioned here enough, you'd know that this has already been discussed in some detail.

See

I'd expect following that channel might be your best source for upddated information.
 
Stejo said:
You're a bit late to the party. That was last week and apparently triggered a shitstorm for C5D from multiple sources.

EOSHD's Andrew Reid was among those who called them out here

Eventually there was a response by the original author to which there was a counter response that you can see here

And apparently even the official Panasonic got involved who announced they'll be issuing an official statement on the subject within the week.

Plenty of drama for sure.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I did a search on "Camera5D" and found nothing. I thought it would be good to hear all comments here about what Camera5D called "disappointing" findings and hopefully get to the truth eventually.

It's good to read what was said in EOSHD but not good to realise that 10 bit is not what many have been led to believe, if it's true that in the hands of ordinary users, it provides little noticeable difference than 8 bit as explained, I think, by EOSHD. Let's see what Panasonic will say and can do regarding this.
 
Last edited:
Sergey Borachev said:
Sorry, I did a search on "Camera5D" and found nothing. I thought it would be good to hear all comments here about what Camera5D called "disappointing" findings and hopefully get to the truth eventually.

It's good to read what was said in EOSHD but not good to realise that 10 bit is not what many have been led to believe, if it's true that in the hands of ordinary users, it provides little noticeable difference than 8 bit as explained, I think, by EOSHD. Let's see what Panasonic will say and can do regarding this.
Click to expand...
This forum is too stills oriented to discuss advanced video features in depth.

10bit was never intended for the hands of "ordinary users", in the same way that no $2k body is intended for such hands. It's for videographers who know why they need it and would have to buy or rent much more expensive equipment to get it otherwise.

My understanding from reading the C5D review is that the reviewer screwed up the testing intentionally or not.
 
Last edited:
Stejo said:
Sergey Borachev said:
Sorry, I did a search on "Camera5D" and found nothing. I thought it would be good to hear all comments here about what Camera5D called "disappointing" findings and hopefully get to the truth eventually.

It's good to read what was said in EOSHD but not good to realise that 10 bit is not what many have been led to believe, if it's true that in the hands of ordinary users, it provides little noticeable difference than 8 bit as explained, I think, by EOSHD. Let's see what Panasonic will say and can do regarding this.
Click to expand...
This forum is too stills oriented to discuss advanced video features in depth.

10bit was never intended for the hands of "ordinary users", in the same way that no $2k body is intended for such hands. It's for videographers who know why they need it and would have to buy or rent much more expensive equipment to get it otherwise.

My understanding from reading the C5D review is that the reviewer screwed up the testing intentionally or not.
Click to expand...
I suspect that a very big majority of GH5 buyers are not skilled cine photographers, and hence the issues brought up by such reviews, however skilled the reviewers may be, are still very useful due to apparently high expectations of some hyped features. In fact, it's the first review I read that pointed out that 10 bit is not what it seems to suggest in terms of performance improvement over 8 bit. I think it's good to have such reviews to look into the cameras more critically, definitely good to add to all the rosy reviews so far, to get some attention. I do not think that the reviewer "intentionally" screw up the tests as you apparently.suggested. There is no reason I can think of for any reviewer to do something so blatant and un-smart if he cares about his blog.
 
Last edited:
Sergey Borachev said:
Stejo said:
Sergey Borachev said:
Sorry, I did a search on "Camera5D" and found nothing. I thought it would be good to hear all comments here about what Camera5D called "disappointing" findings and hopefully get to the truth eventually.

It's good to read what was said in EOSHD but not good to realise that 10 bit is not what many have been led to believe, if it's true that in the hands of ordinary users, it provides little noticeable difference than 8 bit as explained, I think, by EOSHD. Let's see what Panasonic will say and can do regarding this.
Click to expand...
This forum is too stills oriented to discuss advanced video features in depth.

10bit was never intended for the hands of "ordinary users", in the same way that no $2k body is intended for such hands. It's for videographers who know why they need it and would have to buy or rent much more expensive equipment to get it otherwise.

My understanding from reading the C5D review is that the reviewer screwed up the testing intentionally or not.
Click to expand...
I suspect that a very big majority of GH5 buyers are not skilled cine photographers, and hence the issues brought up by such reviews, however skilled the reviewers may be, are still very useful due to apparently high expectations of some hyped features. In fact, it's the first review I read that pointed out that 10 bit is not what it seems to suggest in terms of performance improvement over 8 bit. I think it's good to have such reviews to look into the cameras more critically, definitely good to add to all the rosy reviews so far, to get some attention. I do not think that the reviewer "intentionally" screw up the tests as you apparently.suggested. There is no reason I can think of for any reviewer to do something so blatant and un-smart if he cares about his blog.
Click to expand...
that caveat about 'not intended for ...' comes off as elitist. i alone determine whether a device is 'intended' for me or not. i have over 5 decades of photography experience and i determined to teach myself video/cine skills and the first video camera i purchased for the purpose was one of the most user-hostile non-beginner cameras extant--the bmpcc. i figured that if i could learn that, i could learn anything.



so i am partly buying the gh5 to take advantage of what i've learned using the 1080p camera and applying it to quality 4k work.

/guy
 
Sergey Borachev said:
I suspect that a very big majority of GH5 buyers are not skilled cine photographers, and hence the issues brought up by such reviews, however skilled the reviewers may be, are still very useful due to apparently high expectations of some hyped features. In fact, it's the first review I read that pointed out that 10 bit is not what it seems to suggest in terms of performance improvement over 8 bit. I think it's good to have such reviews to look into the cameras more critically, definitely good to add to all the rosy reviews so far, to get some attention. I do not think that the reviewer "intentionally" screw up the tests as you apparently.suggested. There is no reason I can think of for any reviewer to do something so blatant and un-smart if he cares about his blog.
Click to expand...
I did not suggest anything. It has been suggested by many, based on C5D's history. I have no opinion on the subject. Don't know, nor care.

Now, there's a lot to be said about the usefulness of 10bit or even log internal recording, compressed to h264 150mbps or even 400mbps. And there's even more to be said about grading footage on a consumer 8-bit monitor.

I'd like to think that people who buy a GH5 know why they need it and that's why they get it. And if somebody gets it without needing it, it probably means that he got more money than sense, in which case I don't really care all that much. And I'd say something along the same lines about every single buyer of a full frame stills camera.
 
Sergey Borachev said:
Stejo said:
Sergey Borachev said:
Sorry, I did a search on "Camera5D" and found nothing. I thought it would be good to hear all comments here about what Camera5D called "disappointing" findings and hopefully get to the truth eventually.

It's good to read what was said in EOSHD but not good to realise that 10 bit is not what many have been led to believe, if it's true that in the hands of ordinary users, it provides little noticeable difference than 8 bit as explained, I think, by EOSHD. Let's see what Panasonic will say and can do regarding this.
Click to expand...
This forum is too stills oriented to discuss advanced video features in depth.

10bit was never intended for the hands of "ordinary users", in the same way that no $2k body is intended for such hands. It's for videographers who know why they need it and would have to buy or rent much more expensive equipment to get it otherwise.

My understanding from reading the C5D review is that the reviewer screwed up the testing intentionally or not.
Click to expand...
I suspect that a very big majority of GH5 buyers are not skilled cine photographers, and hence the issues brought up by such reviews, however skilled the reviewers may be, are still very useful due to apparently high expectations of some hyped features. In fact, it's the first review I read that pointed out that 10 bit is not what it seems to suggest in terms of performance improvement over 8 bit. I think it's good to have such reviews to look into the cameras more critically, definitely good to add to all the rosy reviews so far, to get some attention. I do not think that the reviewer "intentionally" screw up the tests as you apparently.suggested. There is no reason I can think of for any reviewer to do something so blatant and un-smart if he cares about his blog.
Click to expand...
Cinema5D has a history of knocking relatively inexpensive cameras and pushing expensive ones. They panned the Samsung NX1, which was widely loved by most users. So I take their reviews with a large grain of salt.
 
This new though brief GH5 review also suggests that there is little difference between 8 and 10 bits. He's a pro. The obvious question now is - Does it take some intensive learning to be able to use 10 bit and get some improvement over 8?

Loading…

fstoppers.com
 
Sergey Borachev said:
This new though brief GH5 review also suggests that there is little difference between 8 and 10 bits. He's a pro. The obvious question now is - Does it take some intensive learning to be able to use 10 bit and get some improvement over 8?

https://fstoppers.com/originals/panasonic-gh5-review-vs-sony-a7s-ii-and-nikon-d750-168286
Click to expand...
He's a pro still photographer, but doesn't seem like video is as much his thing.

8-bit vs 10-bit is almost unnoticeable in most situations by the naked eye, esp. given most displays are 8-bit (or even 6-bit). Where it is noticeable is in extreme gradients, but those tend to be rare. Most illustrations that demonstrate extreme banding in 8-bit vs 10-bit are exaggerated for effect. Dithering and noise makes things much less noticeable in the real world.

The main advantage to 10 bit is if you do chroma keying or lots of grading. That is provided however you have enough bitrate that compression doesn't kill all your color information. The cinema5d review you linked actually pointed out that the 10 bit footage on the GH5 provided much more room for grading.
 
Last edited:
Their testing of the GH5 has been proven to be flawed. Cinema5d has a habit of making errors in their testing. This is not the first time. They panned the NX1, one of the best cameras for video ever made. They don't like consumer/prosumer cameras.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top