Lenses used= 12-35 2.8 Version 1 (Amazon)➡ geni.us/pUWF & 12-35 2.8 Version 2 (Amazon)➡ bhpho.to/2oGt01m For those of you who think I am hating on the camera or I have an agenda, this is simply not true. I just want to bring honest information to my viewers. This video cost me $400 or so to make, and because some viewers won't be buying the camera now I will lose another $2000-$5000 in the next 2-3 years from lost affiliate sales. Making videos with the honest truth like this one causes me to loose money, but I hope you guys appreciate the honest information and testing that we do here. If you do please hit that thumbs up button at least, and if you enjoy the content consider supporting us on Patreon or sharing our videos. patreon.com/MaxYuryev
Keep keeping it real, Max. Results don't lie. Very surprised with these results. My G85 seems like it does better. And my EM1 ii definitely does better...and my X-T2 does better than all of those!
Max Yuryev I still bought it. I would like to know if this is an improvement over the Gh4's AF system. For me, I have a lot of FF Nikon glass already. If anything this makes me question buying native m43 glass. Not the GH5. Thanks for the hard work!
For those of you who think I am hating on the camera or I have an agenda, this is simply not true. I just want to bring honest information to my viewers. This video cost me $400 or so to make, and because some viewers won't be buying the camera now I will lose another $2000-$5000 in the next 2-3 years from lost affiliate sales. Making videos with the honest truth like this one causes me to loose money, but I hope you guys appreciate the honest information and testing that we do here. If you do please hit that thumbs up button at least, and if you enjoy the content consider supporting us on Patreon or sharing our videos. patreon.com/MaxYuryev
Yes. No way reliable continuous video AF can be implemented without phase detection technology, and today only Canon and Sony has the technology. Panasonic was crazy not asking Sony to make PDAF into this m43 sensor, it would have been a killer. The A6500 kills this GH5 any moment in a number of arenas.
I'm pretty sure Sony makes the 20.4MP Olympus E-M1 mark II sensor and it has phase detection where the Sony 20.3MP sensor in the GH5 doesn't have it. It seems to be Panasonic's choice. Sony even makes the Samsung Galaxy S7 "Dual Pixel" sensor.
Max! Thanks SO much for making this! We just got our GH5 and we're trying to figure out how to get the most out of it. We'll definitely give you a shout out. It seems like the AF points are actually wider than it shows on the screen, and if it can find something in focus outside of the specified AF points, it'll be satisfied and not hunt for focus. Perhaps using even fewer AF points, or a smaller AF point, would help it find new subjects?
Tony & Chelsea Northrup No problem thanks for watching! If you guys have any input I'd love to hear it. I'm currently speaking to Panasonic about it. It does seem like the it is reading wider than it displays. Single point works better but for any sort of tracking or movement single point is hard to use unless you can be very predictable with it like in our test setup inside. We will have another video out tomorrow comparing to a6500 and with one of the tests we had to set to single because wide or zone would not pick up the subject even though it was clearly dominant and in the center of frame.
The AF is not slow. It's super fast. You just have to half press the shutter button and it catches focus super fast. The press all the way and it records. And turn the continuous AF off! It should be AF Single. Who needs the focus to change and for the camera to keep track during recording. You focus and begin recording. That's AF, not continuous AF! If you want the camera to pull focus for you use Focus Transitions!
Its the only reason why I have kept the a6300. I use it to shoot all my yt videos. You just set it up and it tracks AF like you want it to. Overheating aside its been way more reliable than my A7Rii ever was. But I still want that GH5. 4k 60fps, battery life, low rolling shutter, and no overheating! The a6300 and GH5 will be a good combo with some speed boosters and share same Canon glass for MF and then keep the Sony 10-18 on the RoninM for AF. Anyway thanks again for the test. I know how much work goes into it.
The 6300 is a monster of a camera. I recently sold mine, and now I have an olympus because the IBIS is literally second to none. But there is NO beating the 4k quality and phase detect autofocus on the Sony A6xx series in that price point. I may just buy another one.
You can eliminate the overheating by putting it on a cage. Battery life with an external battery set up that Max had shown. There is a hack to get rid of the 30 minute limit. Rolling shitter ... I pan very slowly and then speed it up during edit. Everyone is blown away everytime they see my a6300 video in the 4K 24fps mode.
The Post Color Blog Monster my ass...It is a mediocre body with terrible controls, horrible without ibis, jittery at the smallest shake, terrible, invisible in daylight screen, impossible menus, bad ergonomics, you name it. It has indeed a very good sensor, but the lens selection is beyond par...
Thanks for doing this video. The kind of testing I think is most relevant is the one you are doing at 15:04, handheld pointing and following your actor. That's where I hope Locked on will stay locked on well when moving walking around. I try to understand how +3 responsive is more responsive, though the mode that I was thinking might eliminate focus hunting would be Locked on face/object and then quick responsive change autofocus only when clicking on the screen again if for example to track something else. In your test it seems you mostly just set region point(s) and let it try to detect and auto focus by itself? Hopefully they can bring up all the framerate modes to same autofocus performance as for 4K60p with a firmware update? hopefully this can be improved. To be honest I've posted hundreds (maybe thousands) of videos filmed with GH3 on my channel in 2013-2015 that often had bad auto-focus performance (hunting, loosing focus, focusing on background, etc..), I skipped GH4, I was hoping GH5 improves autofocus by a lot.
Reading the comments on your channel is like dealing with grief counselling: first there is denial (it can't be that bad, so and so is getting great results!), then anger (you did it wrong), then bargaining (can you recheck, is yours a bad copy, can firmware fix it), then depression (man, I was hoping this would replace my old cam), and lastly, acceptance (guess Sony/Canon is better).
Great video Max. I'm looking forward to your calibration with PhotoJoseph. I'm wondering what you think about the restructuring happening at Panasonic? Digital Imaging Division is said to be moved to the Appliances Division? Cameras and Microwaves under one umbrella?
It seems like it may be because of a poor matching of sensor resolution and slow DSP from Panasonic and the fact that they rely on Contrast AF system. In contrast AF systems, DSP (Digital Signal Processor) has to scan every frame of an image vertically and horizontally to detect edges of visible objects and adjust it's focus until edges become the smallest (sharpest). This process happens on every frame of an image and the bigger the image resolution the more time it takes (a process that generally shouldn't be parallelised because dividing image into smaller chunks negatively affects edge detection algorithm) hence requiring a very fast DSP chip in order to be able to do so effectively. Also the higher the frame rate the more edge data it can gather and the faster in can focus. I'd love to be wrong here but your findings with zone focusing being the most reliable only confirm that. In zone focusing mode, the DSP scans selected area of an image significantly reducing amount of lines it has to go through to detect edges. Sometimes only basic edge detection is applied outside that area but that depends on manufacturer's implementation. The fact that it rack focus so poorly in that mode would suggest a software issue and adjusting area weighting in future firmwares could improve that. Also notice that AF performance was generally good whenever your assistant went out of the frame so that only the door with its strong pattern was left. The more distinct the pattern the easier it is to focus using contrast detection. I suppose you could try testing its AF on various surfaces to investigate this behaviour further if you'd have time but I think results will be close to what I'm talking about. Good video Max. You do a lot of in-depth testing, results of which can show technical limitations of various bodies especially to someone who understands underlying digital signal processing techniques. You're my go to guy for camera reviews.
Outstanding effort, thanks, Max! My conclusion: Canon should ritually set itself on fire for not taking advantage of its dual-pixel AF. If they put 4K, IBIS, proper auto-ISO, and decent codec into M5 (and most of it is sitting on their shelves), they would wipe the floor with competition.
I think it makes sense that 60 frames instead of 24 is performing better. I guess it probably means two things: 1. It gets more data per second to analyze. 2. The 60p frame data has smaller incremental changes than in 24p, so it's probably easier to catch movement when changes are small? The Fujis also show this behaviour.
I have not read all the posts here so forgive me if I am repeating things already mentioned. For pro video work we never rely on auto : focus, exposure, white balance, gain, aperture, shutter speed or auto audio. This may not be helpful for photographers who have become accustomed to auto everything, but there is nothing worse than a camera hunting for focus or adjusting exposure whilst action is in progress. Having said that, thank you for producing a very informative review.
Yes point to point is very good. The GH4 was the same, I used manual focus with the touch AF to set focus all the time! Thanks for confirming this Dan.
Max, that test at 19:22, do you think it was the lock on option that caused it to "lock on" the car? I agree with you that it is weird that even if you change the focus point that it doesn't respond to that. Good for staying locked on a subject I guess, but bad for focus pulls.
I was thinking of getting his camera but after your test I'll stick with my Leica SL and Leica Q. What camera can do 4K at 120fps at 8 or 10 bit other then the REDs? We do golf videos and having a slow motion swing in 4K would be amazing. 1080P at 120fps is just not cutting it.
10:45 haha nice burn, give us +15 responsive mode! I really hope Panasonic can improve the focusing with firmware updates but it might just be the limitation of using a contrast detection system. They clearly wanted to minimize AF hunting in video, which is good, but they had to sacrifice a lot of the speed to accomplish this.
there's a hugely long dpreview thread on the subject despite 99% of them never having seen the gh5. and i've read pages and pages of stuff and watched hours of video and yet i've never heard a single person quote this from the advanced manual: "To ensure highly accurate focus, 4K motion pictures are recorded at reduced Auto Focus speeds. It may be difficult to focus on the subject with Auto Focus, but this is not a malfunction."
Isn't that kind of a contradiction? It's like saying ... to ensure good focus in 4K, we're going to give you worse focus when you focus on a subject. Also, Max found 4K 60fps has the fastest focus (same as or slightly faster than 1080p 60fps).
My fear is that they're running out of bandwidth or processing power. They could be doing many calculations (algorithms) to get the contrast detection work, and running it on 4k might be too much.
There are still a lot of naysayers, but this is the most comprehensive test I've seen of AF-C with the GH5 so far, I don't expect to see better, how many are going to spend ten hours just testing one aspect of a camera online? None! Anyhow, I've become a Patreon supporter. Thanks so much for your great work, Max.
Thx Max, you delivered, and did a great job. I was one of the one's who asked for you to redo your tests! Wow did you ever! I can see that there's NO question that the GH5 AF sucks! I haven't received mine yet from B&H so I can only go by what people have put out there on UA-cam. This was very disappointing but the truth must be told. Looks like I could be sending mine back if this is the case :'(
Well it's confirmed, shoot 4k 60FPS if you want awesome AF on the GH5 lol, thanks max for these tests and this video! Very interesting results. Seems Panasonic made 4K 60FPS the mainstay in this camera not to mention it seems the AF does amazing in sunny conditions but doesn't do well in low light.... what's weird is that it looks like it locks onto the subject yet the background keeps shifting even when the subject lock on is solid... did you try using or selecting points via the joystick instead of touching?
Definitely very interesting results... even using my Metabones Speedbooster S model, when I use 4K 60fps and use -3 AF Speed, +3 AF Sensitivity it doesn't hunt... it locks on and stays locked on.... I wonder how adapted lenses vs native lenses handle the AF system... have you tried any adapted lenses? Some say their speedboosters don't work while others say it works great.
wow - you may have just single handedly killed this camera - i was thinking of getting this for my v-logging daughter - this thing is brutal - thanks for this AMAZING review!
this is ridiculous. gh5 was advertised as having a significantly faster AF refresh rate that was supposed to be great. but it's so poor it's totally unusable. the Sony a-mount has been way ahead of the AF curve even though it's handicapped at F3.5 and it's much faster at achieving AF even in its basic default setting. everyone complaining that video AF is for suckers, has finally realised the effectiveness but are now having to learn the quirks all over again.
Max, wow this is the best review of the camera focusing subsystem ever. Thanks a lot. I wish out of 100s of "reviewers" for mobile phones or other equipment at least one would have been as thorough as you are. Most dumbos just unbox, use one of the adjectives recommended by the manufacturer to describe the device and run the same benchmark 1000s of websites already posted, give their recommended glowing comments at the end and switch to another device. With that in mind you deserve to be in a the hall of fame of UA-cam reviewers.
Max thanks for this! Your review helped me dial in the auto focus settings to where the GH5 won't continuously hunt to the background and foreground when filming a simple review where I'm standing in the same place. It makes my reviews much easier to film without having to use MF with the Image app. Now I can just use a shutter release remote and let it focus so I don't have extra work. Very much appreciated. Keep being you and doing what you do!
Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it! It's awesome that you did this and was so painful watching the focus not change. I hope they can address this in firmware.
Thank you sharing. I have always used autofocus as a guide to get me started where I want to be before popping it into manual and using peaking. That being said, I use autofocus a lot for processionals during weddings. I have been excited to be able to shoot processionals at 4K60fps with autofocus so I preordered the GH5 the day it was possible to do so. I have been experimenting with the "processional" situation to find a setting that works well since that is the single most common situation when I will use it. The rest of the time I'm using the camera, I won't care about autofocus. I used the Olympus 75mm wide open at 1.8 and just bumped up SS. I had my son walk up and down the sidewalk both with and without a friend behind him in order to imitate both a bridal party procession and the bride by herself. I had him walk in shade with a sunny background that was very contrasty. What I have found is that the the AF Mode with a zoned auto focus area works better than face detection, target, or 225 point area. I have also found that AF speed is working great all the way at max (5). I have sensitivity at 0 and have found some pulsing, but very minimal. I may tweak the speed and sensitivity, but right now I am happy with these settings since i didn't see much hunting and was able to follow him sharply for the nearly 30 foot procession at a fast pace. Would love to know if anyone else has done a similar test and what results you found work well for the same situation/use.
The GH5 is awesome. The Sony stuff is awesome. Fuji stuff is awesome. Nikon stuff is awesome. Canon stuff is awesome. They all work but you have to work it. The camera just came out. It's SICK. Thanks for quickly revisiting the test man. Tons of work.
Max you are the best camera reviewer on UA-cam - and I am not accusing you of bias or bad testing procedures. I will do a test for UA-cam this weekend at your suggested using 2.8 and post the results on UA-cam Monday on my daughter's UA-cam channel (I will link it here also). My primary uses for the GH5 are slow paced walking videos on a fairly even surface and sit down interviews using a Tripod.
Huuuuuuuuge props for this video, i'm torn between the GH5 and the Fujifilm X-T2, and autofocus is a priority for me. It looks like after the 2.0 update for the X-T2 the autofocusing improved considerably
One day of vlogging on my GH5 and I hadn't reviewed my footage before seeing this. You had me quite scared. So I immediately started doing my own testing. I just spent an hour doing an abbreviated version of your test, and am now reviewing the footage. I'm testing with the 12-60mm and in not great lighting. Granted, This is a MUCH less thorough test (props for spending the time you did). But I am hugely relieved (and a bit baffled) to report that I could not duplicate those poor AF results you were getting. It's not phase detection responsive, sure. But it caught my face and held on regardless of the settings. Back and forth between face and product had no issues at all. Then reviewing my real-world vlog footage and my worst complaint is the micro-gitering. But face detection perfomred really well between me and my active kids. I'm not questioning your results or methods, as clearly it performed quite poorly for you. But I'm wondering if it was a bad copy or if you would get better results on the 12-60mm? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Epic fail! These tests seem to be in fairly "easy" conditions, yet the GH5 struggled in every one of them. Even the last test where you were holding the camera at a nearly uniform distance, the camera was constantly hunting until you were shooting in harsh, bright light. I didn't see any setting that I would be willing to rely on. I don't use any auto functions very often, but many shooters do. I would expect the 5th generation GH camera to perform better than this.
Let's hope they finally include phase detection like most other brands. Just to clarify my office is very bright, I only need to use about base iso about 200.
As a long time GH user (GH2, GH3, GH4) I had high hopes for the GH5. I do think it offers significant new features that make it a valid and compelling investment. As I now shoot on a SONY FS5, my next B-cam will likely be the next iteration of the SONY A7S...but I am still curious about the GH5 as I have a large collection of MFT glass. Overall, I think the GH5 has a LOT of good things going for it, but AF is not one of them.
Max Yuryev Hi Max, isn't 2 years old NX1 still great competitor for those new commers? 😊 It seems that NX1 has much better AF than GH5, bigger and better sensor (especially DR in Raw photo mode)... no LCD dimming, no crop in 4k30p, better ergonomics, better menus than Sonys, with hack also higher bitrate ... shame it does not have IBIS.
Phase detection could work, but it's not the route panasonic chose to go. Contrast detection has its strengths imo, that when it locks focus it's most of the time sharp and good picture. I hope panasonic can find a way to get this to work better, without having to put PD
Max - I don't know how often you run into what I call the "whack a mole" type situations (where you pop up into the scene or suddenly hold something in the shot you want focused on that is fairly out of the plane) shooting weddings, but this camera definitely isn't the best for that. I'd like to see a "walk down the aisle" situation that is similar to how you shoot weddings (for another day, ;-0). However, I should note a few things, a couple of which you kind of found, though didn't explicitly state: 1. The "locked on" (-3) apparently IS for locked on to a certain distance with a slow willingness to change as new items appear in the frame. This appears to be best for vlogging, interviews, etc. where the distance to the subject doesn't change much and in which you might have objects moving either in front of or behind the intended subject (e.g. NAB floor interviews). 2. The responsive (+3) is what you want for quick distance changes (on face, then a background building; sudden subjects popping up ("whack a mole"); etc.). This appears best for quick subject movements and "whack a mole" appearances that you want to focus on. Also, changes from talent to background object. 3. You also want to change the "AF Sensitivity" under the "Movie" settings (AF Custom Setting(Video)) to +3 so that the camera makes distance changes more quickly. 4. Alternatively, make the change to #3 above to -3 if you want the focus to rack more slowly to the new focus point. 5. Apparently there are 4 custom autofocus settings you can set based on the type of situation you are in. This was an interesting, frustrating, and saddening video. It was interesting in the types of tests you put it through, especially the result that faster frame rates appears to increase responsiveness. It was frustrating when you had the camera set to -3 and then expected the camera to adjust quickly to something new in the frame. And it was saddening that the camera didn't perform better. I just hope that Panasonic puts out a firmware update that improves the autofocus. I'm especially disappointed that the camera identifies the face, but then fails to hold focus on it when set to face focus. Thanks for the time you've put into this!!! Note: The items above reference pg 167 in the GH5 "Operating Instructions for advanced features" manual.
It's frustrating as someone who mostly use the camera for photos. When doing video, I just want it to work. Panasonic was our last hope till the next generation. Regardless of what "old school" people say about using manual focus instead of AF, video AF is the future. The same happen with photo AF decades ago. Eventually, video AF will be the primary mode of focus for video. Come on, Sony, fix your colors and LCD and improve your ibis. Panasonic will be stuck for the next 3 years (gh5 lifespan) so we'll have to hope Sony's 2017 or 2018 releases improves the situation. I'm not banking on Fuji or Olympus. Canon has the power to solve all these problems, but they will refuse to do so because of profits.
Thanks so much for tearing into this with so much depth, Max. I know Panasonic has big plans for the upcoming firmware updates. Maybe they'll do some work on the AF.
Great job doing all these tests! Yes the Auto Focus function and speed is tied to the frame rate for a simple reason: All the AF algorithm has to work with as input is sensor readouts. In order to do contrast detection and other movement guesses, more input data = faster (and potentially better) AF operation. Phase detection is missing dearly here, but they should still fix the obvious algorithm bugs observed where AF is failing entirely.
Hey Max, quick question about your tripod plate adapter. Is that the Manfrotto 357 adapter? If so, what short plate are you using? I use the 357 adapters as well, but they always come with the long plate.
Okay, well this has me considering returning the GH5 that just arrived today. I'm waiting for my lenses to arrive and planned to switch from Canon. Been Canon since 1986. I'm shooting mostly adventure travel and adventure docs for broadcast television, with plenty of interviews where I'm having to operate and interview at the same time, so AF is extremely important, but so is 4k 60p for slow motion for all the action. I even bought all brand new Panasonic brand high end lenses, so I could be assured they would perform best with the AF. I was sad at first watching your test, then a bit happier that 4k 60p was the best mode, since I plan to shoot 60p all the time and conform down, using slow motion when appropriate. But then I kept watching, and saw all the issues where the focus would not lock on, or respond at all. There is now way I will invest all this money and go through the learning curve to switch just to deal with shitty AF. I'll just pay the money for a high end Canon, keep my lenses, and wait out the next version. Thanks for making the video.
Thank you for taking so much time and effort to create this comparison. It confirms that for my line of work, this camera is not for me. No point having 10Bit 4:2:2 that's out of focus!!!
very good review. Thanks for your work and effort. I like the way you are doing this review. Not just showing some video but explaining what you are doing. Great work!
Max, thanks so much for your honest, thorough analysis. This took time and was a risk, and could still result in loss of income. But you did it well and with integrity. This opened the door for discussion, problem solving, amongst GH5 users and hopefully if necessary, a firmware/software update from Panasonic. Props!!
Great job on your work on this video. I've been using the Mark IV for my video work, and it has been pretty great. Have to love the video quality of the GH5, but what's the point if you're not in focus? :)
What a dis-appointment! I have yet to make a move from all FX to any mirrorless. I just keep waiting and waiting for someone to nail it. They all seem to have one fairly major problem that keeps me waiting and hoping... Awsome review Max!
I'm so glad you added that star to the the best performance each time. That was a life saver. Thanks for doing this video. It must have been a lot of work. By the way I got my GH5 today. I think it is totally awesome The image quality is amazing. Maybe even better than my sony a6500. Everything is so sharp probably because of no anti analyzing filter. Im working on a review of my own.
Thanks so much for all your efforts. Having shot for around 50 years, I have been ready to move away from my old clunker full frames for a while now. I already have a Fuji, but video is not there. I have been waiting for the GH5 to sell up and move over entirely. Price isn't really the issue for me, but due to exchange rate in Australia, GH5 would be more than $2.5k. Plus new lenses. For a camera with clearly dodgy auto focus. Perhaps the technology is not here just yet. Might have to stick for a while to my heavy but ultra dependable clunkers. Thanks for your honesty. You will not loose money with an honest strategy over the longer term. Trust is priceless. 😀
Thanks Richard. I'm playing the long term game not short term profit. Have yo ulooked into the X-T2 or X-T20? They are quite good. The X-T20 is small but the same great sensor as the X-T2 and processor. I just put out my X-T20 review a few days ago and my X-T2 review is really detailed (imo). Check them out if you haven't. If you already have fuji lenses that may be the best path for you.
Thanks Max. Indeed I have been looking at them. The lack of flippy screen has been causing me to delay. Although I could just use the phone app. I have an Xe1 and an ex2 and the stills are as good as my full frames. I guess Im looking for that elusive hybrid that will do good stills and video with acceptable video auto focus. Just too hard to focus with mark 1 eyeball in video.
Good solid info here, particularly for us vloggers! I will say (without owning one yet) the autofocus issues are ruining what is otherwise the ultimate vlogging camera :( Is this an issue that could possibly be fixed with a firmware update do you think?
Video AF is becoming a thing, i thought i would never use video AF, but now i find its so improved i can use it on a gimbal and mimic a high production crane shot. With that said GH5 is not my camera, unless a update changes that. Thanks for the post, keep up the good work.
Could you Please try "remote touch focus" using the Panasonic app on your tablet or smartphone. If you could Pull focus/rack focus with a touch on your mobile device that could be a game changer. Thank you
I just tried it today. It rocks! I'm super impressed with my GH5. The App is just awesome! I depend heavy on the App due to my type of shooting and the Panasonic App has a little more functionality than the Canon App. I have an 80D, an A7R2, a Gh5 and and old C300 and the I can tell you unequivocally that the Panasonic App with the GH5 is super impressive, better even than my C300's browser based app! The touch focus is accurate and you can see and confirm it on the app (on your iPad or iPhone). The only App I wonder about is 5DMK iv but I don't have that camera so I can't say. But I can confirm the touch focus on the App works beautifully with the Lumix Lenses. I will try with a Speedbooster next!
The touch focus on the panasonic app is fantastic, can vouch for that too! I use the app with a DJI Ronin + GH5 now and it's perfect for use with gimbals :)
GH5 has all the functionality. Combine GH5 with the XLR module and you have the best low profile high end camera on the market at the present time! The only thing A7 has is the full frame look! That's all. But I must admit, that damn full frame esthetic makes it a hard bargain!! LOL! I hope Metabones can release a substantial update soon to address any issues with their speed booster and then you have an incredible camera for the buck! :)
The image quality is stunning, when it finally does focus. And the sensor size is more ideal for video because I usually want LESS depth in video than in stills anyway. The increased focus speed in 60 FPS reminds me of the EOS 70D. When you put the 70D in 720p60, it focuses at double speed, but that makes sense because I think the assumption is that you would slow it down to half in post. Either way, it's kind disappointingly slow, but hopefully (for my sake) they'll have to give it the EOS M treatment (Canon updated the firmware and made it focus like 3 times as fast in version 2, but it still had a horrible reputation from the version 1 reviews) and we'll be able to buy it at half price next year :P BTW, who is the model? He looks related.
Sony just needs to get their head off of their you know where and put an articulating screen on their Alpha cameras. It’s absolutely ridiculous that they don’t
I am finding that most of my lenses focus fast and well, except in low light. It doesn't do as well as the SONY does (A99 II), but it is doing much better than I am seeing on some videos-- like yours. I am often using point focus, but I also have had almost as good luck with various customs. I am typically shooting -1/-2 or -2/-2, which eliminates strobing, but yields good results. I will put up a video when I have a broad range of setting experience. So far, I see about 1 second focus around 70% of the time, 2-3 second focus about 20-25% and missed focus about 5-10%. It will take days of experimentation across many lenses, settings and environments to find what works well, good and poorly.
Let's put it this way - autofocus sucks. No way you can fiddle around with settings when you do serious production. If someone needs it, they should reach elsewhere. There is still chance for improvement with future firmware updates though. To me it looks like Panasonic rushed the release especially with Sony becoming more visible in their own waters recently. I had chance to work with Canon 80D for a while and their dual pixel autofocus was absolutely usable and really reliable. I just missed other things available on GH series that make it more pro. The ultimate camera would be these two combined... :o) Speaking of me, autofocus is nice to have, but I still prefer manual focus, so no big deal. The fact is that this is definitely going to shake with Panasonic's reputation, but on the other hand, they are known for listening to their community of users, so let's see what future will bring. Thank you for yours hard work Max, your insight is much appreciated!
Thanks for putting in all the hard work Max. I was hoping that the GH5 would be my NX1 replacement. I think that without better AF I'll have to do some more thinking, I do a bunch of my work on a steadicam.
Ok , I got my GH5 in last night and I am confused. How do I get the camera to keep focusing when I am hands free (for gimbal work). I can only get it to initiate the focusing with the AF-ON button (reprogrammed) or the half shutter press.
I just can't believe people say the settings are the main issue. Look, if an auto-focus system can't focus on something directly in front of it in normal light at DEFAULT SETTINGS, then something is not right. If it's constantly hunting for focus when nothing is moving at default settings, then something is not right. Of course settings are there to be optimized, but at the default focus settings, it should at least focus and hold it. They aren't going for extreme use cases. They are standing in front of the camera and it doesn't lock on.
Lenses used= 12-35 2.8 Version 1 (Amazon)➡ geni.us/pUWF & 12-35 2.8 Version 2 (Amazon)➡ bhpho.to/2oGt01m
For those of you who think I am hating on the camera or I have an agenda, this is simply not true. I just want to bring honest information to my viewers. This video cost me $400 or so to make, and because some viewers won't be buying the camera now I will lose another $2000-$5000 in the next 2-3 years from lost affiliate sales. Making videos with the honest truth like this one causes me to loose money, but I hope you guys appreciate the honest information and testing that we do here. If you do please hit that thumbs up button at least, and if you enjoy the content consider supporting us on Patreon or sharing our videos. patreon.com/MaxYuryev
watching with interest
max thanks for the test. This is really upsetting
Keep keeping it real, Max. Results don't lie. Very surprised with these results. My G85 seems like it does better. And my EM1 ii definitely does better...and my X-T2 does better than all of those!
Max Yuryev I still bought it. I would like to know if this is an improvement over the Gh4's AF system.
For me, I have a lot of FF Nikon glass already. If anything this makes me question buying native m43 glass. Not the GH5. Thanks for the hard work!
Jake Lindsay Well that really says something because X-T2s hunt a lot and are fairly poor at video AF.
For those of you who think I am hating on the camera or I have an agenda, this is simply not true. I just want to bring honest information to my viewers. This video cost me $400 or so to make, and because some viewers won't be buying the camera now I will lose another $2000-$5000 in the next 2-3 years from lost affiliate sales. Making videos with the honest truth like this one causes me to loose money, but I hope you guys appreciate the honest information and testing that we do here. If you do please hit that thumbs up button at least, and if you enjoy the content consider supporting us on Patreon or sharing our videos. patreon.com/MaxYuryev
Yea, that is bad. The fast/accurate autofocus is why I like Sony so much.
Yes. No way reliable continuous video AF can be implemented without phase detection technology, and today only Canon and Sony has the technology. Panasonic was crazy not asking Sony to make PDAF into this m43 sensor, it would have been a killer. The A6500 kills this GH5 any moment in a number of arenas.
I'm pretty sure Sony makes the 20.4MP Olympus E-M1 mark II sensor and it has phase detection where the Sony 20.3MP sensor in the GH5 doesn't have it. It seems to be Panasonic's choice. Sony even makes the Samsung Galaxy S7 "Dual Pixel" sensor.
Max! Thanks SO much for making this! We just got our GH5 and we're trying to figure out how to get the most out of it. We'll definitely give you a shout out.
It seems like the AF points are actually wider than it shows on the screen, and if it can find something in focus outside of the specified AF points, it'll be satisfied and not hunt for focus. Perhaps using even fewer AF points, or a smaller AF point, would help it find new subjects?
That's exactly what I think
Tony & Chelsea Northrup No problem thanks for watching! If you guys have any input I'd love to hear it. I'm currently speaking to Panasonic about it. It does seem like the it is reading wider than it displays. Single point works better but for any sort of tracking or movement single point is hard to use unless you can be very predictable with it like in our test setup inside. We will have another video out tomorrow comparing to a6500 and with one of the tests we had to set to single because wide or zone would not pick up the subject even though it was clearly dominant and in the center of frame.
Tony & Chelsea Northrup Two weeks ago at Photoshow Panasonic could not gave me an answer about slow AF on GH5. I was very disappointed with this model
The AF is not slow. It's super fast. You just have to half press the shutter button and it catches focus super fast. The press all the way and it records. And turn the continuous AF off! It should be AF Single. Who needs the focus to change and for the camera to keep track during recording. You focus and begin recording. That's AF, not continuous AF! If you want the camera to pull focus for you use Focus Transitions!
I hope my previous comment explains some use cases where continuous is very useful. (if the system works well)
Thanks for all the time running the tests. For those that require AF, the GH5 might be a frustrating camera to use.
Thanks for watching Dave. This was supposed to be a 10min video but I kept having to do more testing.
Agreed, which is a shame because in virtually EVERY other aspect it's pretty much unbeatable at this price point.
For those wondering how it compares to a6500, check out my latest video here: ua-cam.com/video/AEsSsdTKJs4/v-deo.html
Max, appreciate the time and effort this took... especially considering the quick turn around time addressing the comments from the last video.
This is an exhaustive test for just AF! Damn man, good job.
SO much work man. Thanks for making this video. I appreciate it. I'm hoping to get my GH5 soon. Looks like I'm keeping my A6300 for AF on the gimbal.
I will as well! We shot some comparisons with the a6500 (same af as a6300) should be a quick video that we will post tomorrow or the next day.
Its the only reason why I have kept the a6300. I use it to shoot all my yt videos. You just set it up and it tracks AF like you want it to. Overheating aside its been way more reliable than my A7Rii ever was. But I still want that GH5. 4k 60fps, battery life, low rolling shutter, and no overheating! The a6300 and GH5 will be a good combo with some speed boosters and share same Canon glass for MF and then keep the Sony 10-18 on the RoninM for AF. Anyway thanks again for the test. I know how much work goes into it.
The 6300 is a monster of a camera. I recently sold mine, and now I have an olympus because the IBIS is literally second to none. But there is NO beating the 4k quality and phase detect autofocus on the Sony A6xx series in that price point. I may just buy another one.
You can eliminate the overheating by putting it on a cage. Battery life with an external battery set up that Max had shown. There is a hack to get rid of the 30 minute limit. Rolling shitter ... I pan very slowly and then speed it up during edit.
Everyone is blown away everytime they see my a6300 video in the 4K 24fps mode.
The Post Color Blog Monster my ass...It is a mediocre body with terrible controls, horrible without ibis, jittery at the smallest shake, terrible, invisible in daylight screen, impossible menus, bad ergonomics, you name it. It has indeed a very good sensor, but the lens selection is beyond par...
Thanks for doing this video. The kind of testing I think is most relevant is the one you are doing at 15:04, handheld pointing and following your actor. That's where I hope Locked on will stay locked on well when moving walking around. I try to understand how +3 responsive is more responsive, though the mode that I was thinking might eliminate focus hunting would be Locked on face/object and then quick responsive change autofocus only when clicking on the screen again if for example to track something else. In your test it seems you mostly just set region point(s) and let it try to detect and auto focus by itself? Hopefully they can bring up all the framerate modes to same autofocus performance as for 4K60p with a firmware update? hopefully this can be improved. To be honest I've posted hundreds (maybe thousands) of videos filmed with GH3 on my channel in 2013-2015 that often had bad auto-focus performance (hunting, loosing focus, focusing on background, etc..), I skipped GH4, I was hoping GH5 improves autofocus by a lot.
who's like you're the only one a covering autofocus so detailed. I really appreciate it you save me a lot of hassle.
Reading the comments on your channel is like dealing with grief counselling: first there is denial (it can't be that bad, so and so is getting great results!), then anger (you did it wrong), then bargaining (can you recheck, is yours a bad copy, can firmware fix it), then depression (man, I was hoping this would replace my old cam), and lastly, acceptance (guess Sony/Canon is better).
Great series of tests! Best on YT at my opinion. Made a link to your channel at my last video. Keep it going!
lots of time spent on this. thanks!
Thank you so much for taking the time to do these AF tests so we don't have to. Mad respect.
Great video Max. I'm looking forward to your calibration with PhotoJoseph. I'm wondering what you think about the restructuring happening at Panasonic? Digital Imaging Division is said to be moved to the Appliances Division? Cameras and Microwaves under one umbrella?
It seems like it may be because of a poor matching of sensor resolution and slow DSP from Panasonic and the fact that they rely on Contrast AF system. In contrast AF systems, DSP (Digital Signal Processor) has to scan every frame of an image vertically and horizontally to detect edges of visible objects and adjust it's focus until edges become the smallest (sharpest). This process happens on every frame of an image and the bigger the image resolution the more time it takes (a process that generally shouldn't be parallelised because dividing image into smaller chunks negatively affects edge detection algorithm) hence requiring a very fast DSP chip in order to be able to do so effectively. Also the higher the frame rate the more edge data it can gather and the faster in can focus.
I'd love to be wrong here but your findings with zone focusing being the most reliable only confirm that. In zone focusing mode, the DSP scans selected area of an image significantly reducing amount of lines it has to go through to detect edges. Sometimes only basic edge detection is applied outside that area but that depends on manufacturer's implementation. The fact that it rack focus so poorly in that mode would suggest a software issue and adjusting area weighting in future firmwares could improve that.
Also notice that AF performance was generally good whenever your assistant went out of the frame so that only the door with its strong pattern was left. The more distinct the pattern the easier it is to focus using contrast detection. I suppose you could try testing its AF on various surfaces to investigate this behaviour further if you'd have time but I think results will be close to what I'm talking about.
Good video Max. You do a lot of in-depth testing, results of which can show technical limitations of various bodies especially to someone who understands underlying digital signal processing techniques. You're my go to guy for camera reviews.
Great insights! This makes total sense! People thumbs up this comment so everyone can understand this. Thank's Ninetou!
my dream camera... focus system of the canon 80d. low light and dynamic range of the a7s2. battery life of the gh4. features of the gh5.
Outstanding effort, thanks, Max! My conclusion: Canon should ritually set itself on fire for not taking advantage of its dual-pixel AF. If they put 4K, IBIS, proper auto-ISO, and decent codec into M5 (and most of it is sitting on their shelves), they would wipe the floor with competition.
I think it makes sense that 60 frames instead of 24 is performing better. I guess it probably means two things: 1. It gets more data per second to analyze. 2. The 60p frame data has smaller incremental changes than in 24p, so it's probably easier to catch movement when changes are small? The Fujis also show this behaviour.
This is really appreciated Max, I really think you're one of the best if not the best reviewer on UA-cam. A huge huge thumbs up for you.
IMHO the GH5 should be placed in the same bin Nikon placed the DL line. Great work Max.
I have not read all the posts here so forgive me if I am repeating things already mentioned. For pro video work we never rely on auto : focus, exposure, white balance, gain, aperture, shutter speed or auto audio. This may not be helpful for photographers who have become accustomed to auto everything, but there is nothing worse than a camera hunting for focus or adjusting exposure whilst action is in progress. Having said that, thank you for producing a very informative review.
It's been much worse than I expected. Seeing the same results as you. Point to point is good but continuous is horrible. Really nice tests Max
Yes point to point is very good. The GH4 was the same, I used manual focus with the touch AF to set focus all the time! Thanks for confirming this Dan.
Finally, an awesome GH5 in depth AF test video. Many kudos to you!
Max, that test at 19:22, do you think it was the lock on option that caused it to "lock on" the car? I agree with you that it is weird that even if you change the focus point that it doesn't respond to that. Good for staying locked on a subject I guess, but bad for focus pulls.
I was thinking of getting his camera but after your test I'll stick with my Leica SL and Leica Q. What camera can do 4K at 120fps at 8 or 10 bit other then the REDs? We do golf videos and having a slow motion swing in 4K would be amazing. 1080P at 120fps is just not cutting it.
10:45 haha nice burn, give us +15 responsive mode! I really hope Panasonic can improve the focusing with firmware updates but it might just be the limitation of using a contrast detection system. They clearly wanted to minimize AF hunting in video, which is good, but they had to sacrifice a lot of the speed to accomplish this.
there's a hugely long dpreview thread on the subject despite 99% of them never having seen the gh5. and i've read pages and pages of stuff and watched hours of video and yet i've never heard a single person quote this from the advanced manual:
"To ensure highly accurate focus, 4K motion pictures are recorded at reduced Auto Focus
speeds. It may be difficult to focus on the subject with Auto Focus, but this is not a
malfunction."
Isn't that kind of a contradiction? It's like saying ... to ensure good focus in 4K, we're going to give you worse focus when you focus on a subject. Also, Max found 4K 60fps has the fastest focus (same as or slightly faster than 1080p 60fps).
THIS!
I'm getting a different GH5 to test tomorrow. We shall see.
My fear is that they're running out of bandwidth or processing power. They could be doing many calculations (algorithms) to get the contrast detection work, and running it on 4k might be too much.
+Tuze It is processing power, because they cheaped out where Samsung didn't on the NX1 and where Sony was foolish with their overheating.
There are still a lot of naysayers, but this is the most comprehensive test I've seen of AF-C with the GH5 so far, I don't expect to see better, how many are going to spend ten hours just testing one aspect of a camera online? None! Anyhow, I've become a Patreon supporter. Thanks so much for your great work, Max.
I really appreciate all the work you put in to create this. Very useful!
Thank you so much Max for in- depth testing and you make everything clear about this product.
Thx Max, you delivered, and did a great job. I was one of the one's who asked for you to redo your tests! Wow did you ever! I can see that there's NO question that the GH5 AF sucks! I haven't received mine yet from B&H so I can only go by what people have put out there on UA-cam. This was very disappointing but the truth must be told. Looks like I could be sending mine back if this is the case :'(
I use the default mode and shoot at 1080 60 on my Lumix Fz1000 and the video autofocus works like a charm.
Well it's confirmed, shoot 4k 60FPS if you want awesome AF on the GH5 lol, thanks max for these tests and this video! Very interesting results. Seems Panasonic made 4K 60FPS the mainstay in this camera not to mention it seems the AF does amazing in sunny conditions but doesn't do well in low light.... what's weird is that it looks like it locks onto the subject yet the background keeps shifting even when the subject lock on is solid... did you try using or selecting points via the joystick instead of touching?
Yes, 4K 60 is what you'd want. I should mention our office is not lowlight. We were testing at iso 200 (base iso) at 1/50th F2.8 so it's quite bright.
Definitely very interesting results... even using my Metabones Speedbooster S model, when I use 4K 60fps and use -3 AF Speed, +3 AF Sensitivity it doesn't hunt... it locks on and stays locked on.... I wonder how adapted lenses vs native lenses handle the AF system... have you tried any adapted lenses? Some say their speedboosters don't work while others say it works great.
wow - you may have just single handedly killed this camera - i was thinking of getting this for my v-logging daughter - this thing is brutal - thanks for this AMAZING review!
this is ridiculous. gh5 was advertised as having a significantly faster AF refresh rate that was supposed to be great. but it's so poor it's totally unusable. the Sony a-mount has been way ahead of the AF curve even though it's handicapped at F3.5 and it's much faster at achieving AF even in its basic default setting. everyone complaining that video AF is for suckers, has finally realised the effectiveness but are now having to learn the quirks all over again.
Max, wow this is the best review of the camera focusing subsystem ever. Thanks a lot.
I wish out of 100s of "reviewers" for mobile phones or other equipment at least one would have been as thorough as you are. Most dumbos just unbox, use one of the adjectives recommended by the manufacturer to describe the device and run the same benchmark 1000s of websites already posted, give their recommended glowing comments at the end and switch to another device. With that in mind you deserve to be in a the hall of fame of UA-cam reviewers.
Max thanks for this! Your review helped me dial in the auto focus settings to where the GH5 won't continuously hunt to the background and foreground when filming a simple review where I'm standing in the same place. It makes my reviews much easier to film without having to use MF with the Image app. Now I can just use a shutter release remote and let it focus so I don't have extra work. Very much appreciated. Keep being you and doing what you do!
Thanks so much for making this. Excellent work!
Thank you for the time your have dedicated to GH5. Much appreciated!
Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it! It's awesome that you did this and was so painful watching the focus not change. I hope they can address this in firmware.
Thank you sharing. I have always used autofocus as a guide to get me started where I want to be before popping it into manual and using peaking. That being said, I use autofocus a lot for processionals during weddings. I have been excited to be able to shoot processionals at 4K60fps with autofocus so I preordered the GH5 the day it was possible to do so. I have been experimenting with the "processional" situation to find a setting that works well since that is the single most common situation when I will use it. The rest of the time I'm using the camera, I won't care about autofocus. I used the Olympus 75mm wide open at 1.8 and just bumped up SS.
I had my son walk up and down the sidewalk both with and without a friend behind him in order to imitate both a bridal party procession and the bride by herself. I had him walk in shade with a sunny background that was very contrasty. What I have found is that the the AF Mode with a zoned auto focus area works better than face detection, target, or 225 point area. I have also found that AF speed is working great all the way at max (5). I have sensitivity at 0 and have found some pulsing, but very minimal. I may tweak the speed and sensitivity, but right now I am happy with these settings since i didn't see much hunting and was able to follow him sharply for the nearly 30 foot procession at a fast pace. Would love to know if anyone else has done a similar test and what results you found work well for the same situation/use.
Max. Thank you for your effort and honesty.
The GH5 is awesome. The Sony stuff is awesome. Fuji stuff is awesome. Nikon stuff is awesome. Canon stuff is awesome. They all work but you have to work it. The camera just came out. It's SICK. Thanks for quickly revisiting the test man. Tons of work.
Thanks for your hard work and information Max, keep up the good work.
Max you are the best camera reviewer on UA-cam - and I am not accusing you of bias or bad testing procedures. I will do a test for UA-cam this weekend at your suggested using 2.8 and post the results on UA-cam Monday on my daughter's UA-cam channel (I will link it here also). My primary uses for the GH5 are slow paced walking videos on a fairly even surface and sit down interviews using a Tripod.
great test! I've seen a few videos like this that shows the GH5 AF not great. at times it works but randomly at times doesn't. thanks for the test.
Great in-depth work Max! Thank you!
Huuuuuuuuge props for this video, i'm torn between the GH5 and the Fujifilm X-T2, and autofocus is a priority for me. It looks like after the 2.0 update for the X-T2 the autofocusing improved considerably
One day of vlogging on my GH5 and I hadn't reviewed my footage before seeing this. You had me quite scared. So I immediately started doing my own testing. I just spent an hour doing an abbreviated version of your test, and am now reviewing the footage. I'm testing with the 12-60mm and in not great lighting. Granted, This is a MUCH less thorough test (props for spending the time you did). But I am hugely relieved (and a bit baffled) to report that I could not duplicate those poor AF results you were getting. It's not phase detection responsive, sure. But it caught my face and held on regardless of the settings. Back and forth between face and product had no issues at all. Then reviewing my real-world vlog footage and my worst complaint is the micro-gitering. But face detection perfomred really well between me and my active kids.
I'm not questioning your results or methods, as clearly it performed quite poorly for you. But I'm wondering if it was a bad copy or if you would get better results on the 12-60mm? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Epic fail! These tests seem to be in fairly "easy" conditions, yet the GH5 struggled in every one of them. Even the last test where you were holding the camera at a nearly uniform distance, the camera was constantly hunting until you were shooting in harsh, bright light. I didn't see any setting that I would be willing to rely on. I don't use any auto functions very often, but many shooters do. I would expect the 5th generation GH camera to perform better than this.
Let's hope they finally include phase detection like most other brands. Just to clarify my office is very bright, I only need to use about base iso about 200.
As a long time GH user (GH2, GH3, GH4) I had high hopes for the GH5. I do think it offers significant new features that make it a valid and compelling investment. As I now shoot on a SONY FS5, my next B-cam will likely be the next iteration of the SONY A7S...but I am still curious about the GH5 as I have a large collection of MFT glass. Overall, I think the GH5 has a LOT of good things going for it, but AF is not one of them.
Max Yuryev Hi Max, isn't 2 years old NX1 still great competitor for those new commers? 😊 It seems that NX1 has much better AF than GH5, bigger and better sensor (especially DR in Raw photo mode)... no LCD dimming, no crop in 4k30p, better ergonomics, better menus than Sonys, with hack also higher bitrate ... shame it does not have IBIS.
Phase detection could work, but it's not the route panasonic chose to go. Contrast detection has its strengths imo, that when it locks focus it's most of the time sharp and good picture. I hope panasonic can find a way to get this to work better, without having to put PD
Nx1 have hundreds of phase detection points if im not mistaken, glad i bought nx1 :D
Max - I don't know how often you run into what I call the "whack a mole" type situations (where you pop up into the scene or suddenly hold something in the shot you want focused on that is fairly out of the plane) shooting weddings, but this camera definitely isn't the best for that. I'd like to see a "walk down the aisle" situation that is similar to how you shoot weddings (for another day, ;-0).
However, I should note a few things, a couple of which you kind of found, though didn't explicitly state:
1. The "locked on" (-3) apparently IS for locked on to a certain distance with a slow willingness to change as new items appear in the frame. This appears to be best for vlogging, interviews, etc. where the distance to the subject doesn't change much and in which you might have objects moving either in front of or behind the intended subject (e.g. NAB floor interviews).
2. The responsive (+3) is what you want for quick distance changes (on face, then a background building; sudden subjects popping up ("whack a mole"); etc.). This appears best for quick subject movements and "whack a mole" appearances that you want to focus on. Also, changes from talent to background object.
3. You also want to change the "AF Sensitivity" under the "Movie" settings (AF Custom Setting(Video)) to +3 so that the camera makes distance changes more quickly.
4. Alternatively, make the change to #3 above to -3 if you want the focus to rack more slowly to the new focus point.
5. Apparently there are 4 custom autofocus settings you can set based on the type of situation you are in.
This was an interesting, frustrating, and saddening video. It was interesting in the types of tests you put it through, especially the result that faster frame rates appears to increase responsiveness. It was frustrating when you had the camera set to -3 and then expected the camera to adjust quickly to something new in the frame. And it was saddening that the camera didn't perform better.
I just hope that Panasonic puts out a firmware update that improves the autofocus. I'm especially disappointed that the camera identifies the face, but then fails to hold focus on it when set to face focus.
Thanks for the time you've put into this!!!
Note: The items above reference pg 167 in the GH5 "Operating Instructions for advanced features" manual.
It's frustrating as someone who mostly use the camera for photos. When doing video, I just want it to work. Panasonic was our last hope till the next generation. Regardless of what "old school" people say about using manual focus instead of AF, video AF is the future. The same happen with photo AF decades ago. Eventually, video AF will be the primary mode of focus for video. Come on, Sony, fix your colors and LCD and improve your ibis. Panasonic will be stuck for the next 3 years (gh5 lifespan) so we'll have to hope Sony's 2017 or 2018 releases improves the situation. I'm not banking on Fuji or Olympus. Canon has the power to solve all these problems, but they will refuse to do so because of profits.
Agreed!
Thanks so much for tearing into this with so much depth, Max. I know Panasonic has big plans for the upcoming firmware updates. Maybe they'll do some work on the AF.
I have to admit.... you have gotten better doing these test. You sir, get a like. Very scientific and consistent.
The only thing the autofocus is very consistent on is its inconsistency :(
haha lol.
great job man! not a lot of people put that much work into their videos!
Appreciate all the hard work you did in these tests. Thank you! I personally, don't use AF, so not a big deal for me. I still love my GH5.
Great job max. If people r buying this camera for AF, they clearly aren't buying it for the right reason.
Thank You for your hard work Max! This just gave me more reasons to wait for the a7s III to pair with my a6500
Great job doing all these tests!
Yes the Auto Focus function and speed is tied to the frame rate for a simple reason: All the AF algorithm has to work with as input is sensor readouts.
In order to do contrast detection and other movement guesses, more input data = faster (and potentially better) AF operation.
Phase detection is missing dearly here, but they should still fix the obvious algorithm bugs observed where AF is failing entirely.
Hey Max, quick question about your tripod plate adapter. Is that the Manfrotto 357 adapter? If so, what short plate are you using? I use the 357 adapters as well, but they always come with the long plate.
Okay, well this has me considering returning the GH5 that just arrived today. I'm waiting for my lenses to arrive and planned to switch from Canon. Been Canon since 1986. I'm shooting mostly adventure travel and adventure docs for broadcast television, with plenty of interviews where I'm having to operate and interview at the same time, so AF is extremely important, but so is 4k 60p for slow motion for all the action. I even bought all brand new Panasonic brand high end lenses, so I could be assured they would perform best with the AF. I was sad at first watching your test, then a bit happier that 4k 60p was the best mode, since I plan to shoot 60p all the time and conform down, using slow motion when appropriate. But then I kept watching, and saw all the issues where the focus would not lock on, or respond at all. There is now way I will invest all this money and go through the learning curve to switch just to deal with shitty AF. I'll just pay the money for a high end Canon, keep my lenses, and wait out the next version. Thanks for making the video.
Thank you for taking so much time and effort to create this comparison. It confirms that for my line of work, this camera is not for me. No point having 10Bit 4:2:2 that's out of focus!!!
I wonder if panasonic is watching this and shaking their heads at how much they fucked up
very good review. Thanks for your work and effort. I like the way you are doing this review. Not just showing some video but explaining what you are doing. Great work!
Max, thanks so much for your honest, thorough analysis. This took time and was a risk, and could still result in loss of income. But you did it well and with integrity. This opened the door for discussion, problem solving, amongst GH5 users and hopefully if necessary, a firmware/software update from Panasonic. Props!!
Great job on your work on this video. I've been using the Mark IV for my video work, and it has been pretty great. Have to love the video quality of the GH5, but what's the point if you're not in focus? :)
What a dis-appointment! I have yet to make a move from all FX to any mirrorless. I just keep waiting and waiting for someone to nail it. They all seem to have one fairly major problem that keeps me waiting and hoping... Awsome review Max!
AF seems really slow on the GH5, my phone camera focuses faster?
Galaxy S7 beats them all, including Sony A6500 - that's our experience
Too bad that doesn't matter in the slightest.
Snack Schmecker - Die besten Snacks im Test Too bad samsung is not making cameras anymore.
lol
Samsung S8 will be strong
What sort of lights were you using inside?
(Frequency)
Would that have a effect on AF?
Just a thought.
Pani will take notice. Great work. Wonder if this is a batch issue? So the XT2 is the king of mirrorless?
I'm so glad you added that star to the the best performance each time. That was a life saver. Thanks for doing this video. It must have been a lot of work. By the way I got my GH5 today. I think it is totally awesome The image quality is amazing. Maybe even better than my sony a6500. Everything is so sharp probably because of no anti analyzing filter. Im working on a review of my own.
nice video. amazing.. Have you test out the new firmware? Anything better?
Thanks so much for all your efforts. Having shot for around 50 years, I have been ready to move away from my old clunker full frames for a while now. I already have a Fuji, but video is not there. I have been waiting for the GH5 to sell up and move over entirely. Price isn't really the issue for me, but due to exchange rate in Australia, GH5 would be more than $2.5k. Plus new lenses. For a camera with clearly dodgy auto focus. Perhaps the technology is not here just yet. Might have to stick for a while to my heavy but ultra dependable clunkers. Thanks for your honesty. You will not loose money with an honest strategy over the longer term. Trust is priceless. 😀
Thanks Richard. I'm playing the long term game not short term profit. Have yo ulooked into the X-T2 or X-T20? They are quite good. The X-T20 is small but the same great sensor as the X-T2 and processor. I just put out my X-T20 review a few days ago and my X-T2 review is really detailed (imo). Check them out if you haven't. If you already have fuji lenses that may be the best path for you.
Thanks Max. Indeed I have been looking at them. The lack of flippy screen has been causing me to delay. Although I could just use the phone app. I have an Xe1 and an ex2 and the stills are as good as my full frames. I guess Im looking for that elusive hybrid that will do good stills and video with acceptable video auto focus. Just too hard to focus with mark 1 eyeball in video.
Good solid info here, particularly for us vloggers! I will say (without owning one yet) the autofocus issues are ruining what is otherwise the ultimate vlogging camera :( Is this an issue that could possibly be fixed with a firmware update do you think?
Video AF is becoming a thing, i thought i would never use video AF, but now i find its so improved i can use it on a gimbal and mimic a high production crane shot. With that said GH5 is not my camera, unless a update changes that.
Thanks for the post, keep up the good work.
This!
I can't believe Max hasn't been cast in a movie yet, in some prototypical slavic-looking man role.
Panasonic being so bad at auto focus made my decision to buy a manual focus lens very easy lol.
Could you Please try "remote touch focus" using the Panasonic app on your tablet or smartphone.
If you could Pull focus/rack focus with a touch on your mobile device that could be a game changer.
Thank you
I just tried it today. It rocks! I'm super impressed with my GH5. The App is just awesome! I depend heavy on the App due to my type of shooting and the Panasonic App has a little more functionality than the Canon App. I have an 80D, an A7R2, a Gh5 and and old C300 and the I can tell you unequivocally that the Panasonic App with the GH5 is super impressive, better even than my C300's browser based app! The touch focus is accurate and you can see and confirm it on the app (on your iPad or iPhone). The only App I wonder about is 5DMK iv but I don't have that camera so I can't say. But I can confirm the touch focus on the App works beautifully with the Lumix Lenses. I will try with a Speedbooster next!
The touch focus on the panasonic app is fantastic, can vouch for that too! I use the app with a DJI Ronin + GH5 now and it's perfect for use with gimbals :)
Agreed ! The app is great and super useful. @Real World Endo , A7 or GH5? :)
GH5 has all the functionality. Combine GH5 with the XLR module and you have the best low profile high end camera on the market at the present time! The only thing A7 has is the full frame look! That's all. But I must admit, that damn full frame esthetic makes it a hard bargain!! LOL! I hope Metabones can release a substantial update soon to address any issues with their speed booster and then you have an incredible camera for the buck! :)
Mate a bloody unreal review.
Honest. To the point.
Pisses me off people are downplaying this issue. Cheers from aus !
The image quality is stunning, when it finally does focus. And the sensor size is more ideal for video because I usually want LESS depth in video than in stills anyway. The increased focus speed in 60 FPS reminds me of the EOS 70D. When you put the 70D in 720p60, it focuses at double speed, but that makes sense because I think the assumption is that you would slow it down to half in post. Either way, it's kind disappointingly slow, but hopefully (for my sake) they'll have to give it the EOS M treatment (Canon updated the firmware and made it focus like 3 times as fast in version 2, but it still had a horrible reputation from the version 1 reviews) and we'll be able to buy it at half price next year :P
BTW, who is the model? He looks related.
He's my full-time assistant/editor, and sometimes model lol. Oh and also my brother, vadim's the name.
notice you didn't say PAID editor .. / assistant LOL great vids Max .. are you aprt of 4k shooters they post alot of your articles ..
Oh heck yes definitely paid a decent wage with and good benefits.
If I could just have the sony sensor and autofocus in the GH5 camera build.... I would be so happy.
THATS WHAT I WANT!
Max Yuryev the struggle is real. I am so torn on buying this or a6500..
Caitlyn Johnston me too. Well I have a GH5 and an a6300+6500 but was hoping to buy 3-4 GH5's but now have to decide what to do.
Max Yuryev what have you decided to do? haha. I need advice!
Sony just needs to get their head off of their you know where and put an articulating screen on their Alpha cameras. It’s absolutely ridiculous that they don’t
Thanks for your time to make this video(tests)
The silver lining in this cloud is that the problem can be corrected in the software, if Panasonic is responsive.
I am finding that most of my lenses focus fast and well, except in low light. It doesn't do as well as the SONY does (A99 II), but it is doing much better than I am seeing on some videos-- like yours. I am often using point focus, but I also have had almost as good luck with various customs.
I am typically shooting -1/-2 or -2/-2, which eliminates strobing, but yields good results. I will put up a video when I have a broad range of setting experience. So far, I see about 1 second focus around 70% of the time, 2-3 second focus about 20-25% and missed focus about 5-10%. It will take days of experimentation across many lenses, settings and environments to find what works well, good and poorly.
Thanks for making this video. Very useful !!! Greetings from Bergamo Italy
Let's put it this way - autofocus sucks. No way you can fiddle around with settings when you do serious production. If someone needs it, they should reach elsewhere. There is still chance for improvement with future firmware updates though. To me it looks like Panasonic rushed the release especially with Sony becoming more visible in their own waters recently. I had chance to work with Canon 80D for a while and their dual pixel autofocus was absolutely usable and really reliable. I just missed other things available on GH series that make it more pro. The ultimate camera would be these two combined... :o) Speaking of me, autofocus is nice to have, but I still prefer manual focus, so no big deal. The fact is that this is definitely going to shake with Panasonic's reputation, but on the other hand, they are known for listening to their community of users, so let's see what future will bring. Thank you for yours hard work Max, your insight is much appreciated!
Thanks for sharing this! Would be curious to see G85 Auto Focus compared to GH5 if you're planning some comparisons.
Thanks for putting in all the hard work Max. I was hoping that the GH5 would be my NX1 replacement. I think that without better AF I'll have to do some more thinking, I do a bunch of my work on a steadicam.
I was hoping to as well. I still have 3 NX1's that I use along with Sony.
Totally appreciated by the amount of work you've put in there. Never have my hope up about the af from the start and I'm still getting one.
This was frustrating to watch lol.. I just want the thing to work perfectly
rjmphotoworks no phase detect so it's not going to be great at auto focus.
Surprisingly my 80D and even 70d both doing much better job on face tracking autofocus,I think they best cameras for vloging so far.
Its just funny to sit here and imagine what the Panasonic peeps were thinking when they finished the camera haha!
Ok , I got my GH5 in last night and I am confused. How do I get the camera to keep focusing when I am hands free (for gimbal work). I can only get it to initiate the focusing with the AF-ON button (reprogrammed) or the half shutter press.
Is GH4 right tool for long live streaming sessions in a studio? Let's say over 8h in full HD or even in 4K later on?
Thanks! :)
Is this something where Panasonic can put out a firmware patch to improve or fix this? Seems pretty unusable at the moment.
I just can't believe people say the settings are the main issue. Look, if an auto-focus system can't focus on something directly in front of it in normal light at DEFAULT SETTINGS, then something is not right. If it's constantly hunting for focus when nothing is moving at default settings, then something is not right. Of course settings are there to be optimized, but at the default focus settings, it should at least focus and hold it. They aren't going for extreme use cases. They are standing in front of the camera and it doesn't lock on.
Great Review,,,,Do You think You might have got a bad copy or if all the cameras do that maybe a firmware update could correct the problem ?