GH5 Problems - Blurry View Screen - What does your screen look like?

I bought the GH5 when it was released and I think I'm going to send it back.

The display on the camera screen is so blurry I can hardly make out the details of a shot.  I use the Lumix 12-35 lens and with the GH5 the focus highlights are so faint I can barely tell when the camera is in focus, so not only can't I see when the image is crisp enough to be in focus, I can't see when the electronic highlighting tells me it's in focus.  Output through the HDMI and the picture is clear.  Yes, the lack of a crop makes it more difficult to see the picture detail than my GH4, but that body absolutely had a clearer picture.

On a separate note, the MOV files I recorded (4k, 30fps, 10-bit) will not play back on my computers; they play fine from the camera, but offload the file onto my Windows desktop and laptop and they won't play with VLC, Windows Movie or PowerDVD and they also won't play on a Mac with Quicktime player.

Can anyone else comment on what they've heard about these two issues?  What does the image look like on the view screen of your GH5?

it's going to take awhile for support for the 10-bit files. adobe announced support for premiere cc in about two months i think. in the meantime, you can transcode them if you have to shoot in 10-bit mode.

btw, this is a good thing. it lets you know you're on the bleeding edge.

/guy

Forkenbrock wrote:

I bought the GH5 when it was released and I think I'm going to send it back.

The display on the camera screen is so blurry I can hardly make out the details of a shot. I use the Lumix 12-35 lens and with the GH5 the focus highlights are so faint I can barely tell when the camera is in focus, so not only can't I see when the image is crisp enough to be in focus, I can't see when the electronic highlighting tells me it's in focus. Output through the HDMI and the picture is clear. Yes, the lack of a crop makes it more difficult to see the picture detail than my GH4, but that body absolutely had a clearer picture.

On a separate note, the MOV files I recorded (4k, 30fps, 10-bit) will not play back on my computers; they play fine from the camera, but offload the file onto my Windows desktop and laptop and they won't play with VLC, Windows Movie or PowerDVD and they also won't play on a Mac with Quicktime player.

Can anyone else comment on what they've heard about these two issues? What does the image look like on the view screen of your GH5?

Have you adjusted the diopter (if you mean EVF)?

GotForkenbrock wrote:

I bought the GH5 when it was released and I think I'm going to send it back.

The display on the camera screen is so blurry I can hardly make out the details of a shot. I use the Lumix 12-35 lens and with the GH5 the focus highlights are so faint I can barely tell when the camera is in focus, so not only can't I see when the image is crisp enough to be in focus, I can't see when the electronic highlighting tells me it's in focus. Output through the HDMI and the picture is clear. Yes, the lack of a crop makes it more difficult to see the picture detail than my GH4, but that body absolutely had a clearer picture.

On a separate note, the MOV files I recorded (4k, 30fps, 10-bit) will not play back on my computers; they play fine from the camera, but offload the file onto my Windows desktop and laptop and they won't play with VLC, Windows Movie or PowerDVD and they also won't play on a Mac with Quicktime player.

Can anyone else comment on what they've heard about these two issues? What does the image look like on the view screen of your GH5?

I understand it is frustrating about not being able to play 10bit files, but the main problem seems to be limited codec support on Windows for 10bit. Hopefully the situation will improve if/when windows adds native support or other software companies update their codecs. In the meantime, try potplayer (for windows). It will probably be quite laggy though.

For focus peaking, have you changing its settings to high or low, or the colour? I personally am OK with Peaking on High and Blue. Play with the settings until you find something that works for you. Focus peaking will not work on all subjects - it works best for detecting edges of colour. It works really well when combining it with magnified live view, which can be turned on if using AF+MF and turning the focus barrel or pressing the crosshair focus mode button.

Can you explain more about the blurry display? Is this the main display or EVF, or both? Is the entire screen/EVF blurry (text/icons and the live feed) or is it just the live feed from the sensor?

Hopefully we can all help you get to grips with the camera, and avoid having to return what is a great tool.

Forkenbrock wrote:

I bought the GH5 when it was released and I think I'm going to send it back.

The display on the camera screen is so blurry I can hardly make out the details of a shot. I use the Lumix 12-35 lens and with the GH5 the focus highlights are so faint I can barely tell when the camera is in focus, so not only can't I see when the image is crisp enough to be in focus, I can't see when the electronic highlighting tells me it's in focus. Output through the HDMI and the picture is clear. Yes, the lack of a crop makes it more difficult to see the picture detail than my GH4, but that body absolutely had a clearer picture.

On a separate note, the MOV files I recorded (4k, 30fps, 10-bit) will not play back on my computers; they play fine from the camera, but offload the file onto my Windows desktop and laptop and they won't play with VLC, Windows Movie or PowerDVD and they also won't play on a Mac with Quicktime player.

Can anyone else comment on what they've heard about these two issues? What does the image look like on the view screen of your GH5?

My images in the EVF and the touch screen are fine.

As far as video playback is concerned, you didn't mention how old your computers are.

If they're over say...two or three years old, you probably don't have the processor or video graphics card processing horsepower needed to play them as well as possible, and it won't matter what player you use.

I did a lot of searching for a portable way to view the 4K 60p .MOV files, and found that even the Samsung Galaxy Tab S, with what might be perceived to be a limited CPU, plays the 4K60P files beautifully in the native Windows 10 movie player application, and it has a QHD OLED display, which is stunningly superb, with no off axis angle viewing issues, and since each pixel is lit individually, inky and true blacks, along with magnificent contrast. The only issue I found is that there is only one USB-C port, however, you can overcome this limitation with a myriad of available adapters so you can plug in a microSD, or regular sized SD card. And, it weighs less than two pounds.

One can be had for about $700, but I believe this is going to be discontinued soon by Samsung.

Also, in order to play and edit the files adaquately, whether 4K30p or 4K60p, you're going to need at least a quad  core CPU, and a current iteration of one of the more recent nVidia or ATI (AMD) graphics cards, whether you buy a computer off the shelf, or build it yourself.

If you have an OLED TV, or OLED monitor, and you can afford the necessary computer ecosystem, you will be flabbergasted at the quality and resolution that the GH5 produces with 4K video. It's truly revolutionary.

I find the 10-bit files play okay on my PC with a combination of MPC-HC and suitable codecs (LAV filters in my case, using Nvidia's CUDA video decoding).

Two thoughts:

(1) Is it zooming in to beyond 1:1 so you are seeing the image stretched more than there is detail?

(2) Is it doing a quick initial visualisation and a better one will be along as soon as it sorts it out.

I've seen both the above on Panasonic m43 cameras.

fin3ak wrote:

I've also been going crazy with my display when taking stills and trying to see if they are sharp or not.
They mostly look pixelated, just bad quality but having just had a look in lightroom and exporting they are actually sharp. This causes me a huge headache though as when quickly wanting to get a preview of an image at a wedding for example, I'm left thinking all my images are unsharp. Not what I pay thousands for. For Video however, the playback on the display screen is crisp and impressive.
If you or anyone has a solution to this please do share!

Are you shooting RAW-only or JPG (ev. JPG+RAW)?

Did you peel off the protective film? Did you put on something else?

Do you have the peaking settings at the most sensitive "Low" setting?

I had the same problem with a G80. Panasonic replaced it.

Forkenbrock wrote:

I have since replaced the camera and there was no improvement. I have the same problems with my new Samsung Galaxy Note 8...I've come to the conclusion that these OLED screens are terrible on small devices. My LG OLED TV is gorgeous, but I will not buy another phone or camera with one of these screens.

This all seems a bit strange.  It would be helpful if you could take a photo to show what you are talking about.

I've handled a couple of GH5s now and both the back  large display and the EVF are sharp under all conditions.  I have also seen only sharp clear displays, including both OLED and LCD, never anything like what you are describing.

Are your eyes OK looking at other things close up?