GH5 Review: Is it BETTER than the A7s II? 

What's the best camera you've ever shot slow-mo on?

Can't wait until the gh6 comes out so I can afford gh4 :)

I just ordered the GH5, I'll receive it tomorrow, really excited!!

crap i just got a7s ii i dont want to watch this

Different tools for different jobs. Simple as that. If Sony makes an A7Siii with 10bit422, it wins... if Panasonic makes a GH6 with Full Frame and crazy ISO, it wins. I'm gonna invest in good glass first. Jason Lanier said it best... "a good lens will last you 30-40 years, a good camera 3-4"

The side to movement while walking is due to having the electronic (video) stabilization turned on. If you just use the IBIS and lens stabilization you will eliminate the side to side movement. Cheers!

fuck all that! Gh4 is still beast

This is one time when I really wish Film Riot was in 4k.

There are no direct answer to this question. Both cameras for different situations.

My opinion (I use a GH5 currently): A7R II: 1. The Sony A7R II is 42MP full frame over 20.3MP 4/3 sensor of the GH5. The A7R II produces a sharper, more detailed image and has more dynamic range than the GH5, especially with with SLGO 3 (although banding can be an issue in SLOG 3 because of 8-bit only color). You can have more out of focus backgrounds which are useful in some situations. Has issues with overheating when recording 4K. 2. Much better in low light than the GH5. Useful for using in situations where you can't use artificial lighting and have to work with natural light such as using it for wildlife photos/videos. 3. Better autofocus system than the GH5. 4. Less issues with aliasing and other sharpening artefacts than the GH5. I noticed the GH5 can have some slight issues with rough edges on thin lines, and its more noticeable when the camera is at an angle to those lines. Turning down sharpness in the camera just softens the whole image so not idea for solving it. 5. You can record internally and externally at the same time with an A7R II (not sure if that is possible on the GH5 since I sold my Atomos Ninja 2 recorder I used with my GH4 and can't test it) 6. No crop GH5 (Personally I wouldn't go above 1600 ISO on the GH5, above that the colors start to get worse looking and nose reduction is more aggressive and you get softer images. You can go a slow as ISO 100 on video on the GH5. but dynamic range isn't as good as at ISO 200): 1. The GH5 is overall easier to use, and has a nice feel to it. Its not likely to overheat. Can use more lenses via adaptors than the Sony. Menu layouts are better. Has 10-bit 4:2:2 over Sony 8-bit 4:2:0 and can record 4K 60fps internally (8-bit) and 4K 60fps 10-bit output. Has a downconvert option oer HDMI to take the 4K 50/60fps signal and convert it to 1080p before the recorder receives the signal. 2. M4/3 lenses are a lot smaller and easierr to carry around than FF lenses. The first time I used the Olympus 60mm macro, I was surprised just how small and lightweight it was compared to the heavier and bigger FF Sigma 105mm EX DG Macro lens I had used for years. 3. The GH5 having the smaller sensor gives more depth of field which is good in many situations where you want it and its easier to get focus with deeper DOF. 4. GH5 has the ability to do focus pulls in camera which you can't do on the Sony unless manually focusing yourself. Auto focus on video mode isn't the best at all and can be quite tricky to use to get good settings. For photos is very fast, especially using Panasonic lenses which have depth from defocus. 5. Panasonic's color science isn't the best at all and I do wish the colors looked better on the GH5. I think its an improvement over the GH4 which I used for over a year as it had a color cast to the images which ins't there on the GH5, but not a huge improvement. 4. Maybe better IS than the A7R II for most of the time, especially with Dual IS II, unless waking around with the GH5 as you showed, I have seen the slight jerkiness to the image. The GH5 has dual card slots, one being UHS-II and other a V90 slot for the most up to date and fastest SD cards. The A7R II has one USH-I slot. 5. V-Log L as a paid upgrade rather than coming with the camera like Sony SLOG. I have it on my GH5 and did on my GH4 and used with with an Atomos Ninja 2 recorder on the GH4 for 10-bit and found that it probably not as much dynamic range as SLOG 2 or 3, but I found V-Log L to produce an image that is a bit softer with less detail compared to other picture profiles on the GH5. Maybe you need sharper lenses to work with V-Log L? V-Log L has issues with magenta colors and pink banding in skies in 10-bit which isn't nice, similar on both the GH4 and GH5 when it comes to those color issues. If it were not for the softer image, and color issues, I'd use it all the time as its not that noisy at ISO400 and is much cleaner shadows than on the GH4, and the colors do look better than other profiles. I wish Panasonic would have made a dedicated LOG profile for the GH cameras rather than giving us a modified Varicam LOG which doesn't hold up as well on the GH cameras because of less dynamic range and color bits than the Varicams has. 6. Will get Hybrid Log Gamma and 400Mbps via firmware update and no other mirrorless camera to date will have Hybrid Log Gamma HDR. I don't know if the 400Mbps will increase the image quality at all since its ALL-I over the current LongGOP as I think you need higher bitrares for ALL-I to get similar results to LongGOP at lower bitrates. ALl-I is a bit better for editing and Panasonic rep said for 400Mbps recording, you'd only get 15 minutes of record time on a 128GB card, so will have to see how good the image quality is and if its worth using when its released. 7. The GH5 has the ability to select the focal length of the lens you are using if the lens doesn't communicate with the body. 8. Has x2 crop. Not always good when you want a wider FOV, but good for things like wildlife shooting when you can put a relatively small 300mm MFT lens on a have it the equivalent of a 600mm FF telephoto lens. Even the Leica 100-400mm is small as you'd need one of the huge FF 800mm lenses to get the same zoom at 400mm the Leica has. You can even adapt FF lenses and use one of the 600mm telephoto zooms like the Tamron 150-600 or Sigma 160-600 and get around a crazy long 300-1600mm zoom, although the darker aperture on the long end of those may be slightly an issue on M4/3.

Add a speedbooster and the m4/3 negative side gets even smaller

Was that "bigjosh"?

im actually gonna buy the gh5 after watching this..its a great camera the quality is beautiful

You can throw some Voigtlander Nokton primes on it (F0.95, manual-only, $800-$1,100 each) to get much better low light chops out of the GH4 and GH5.

has anyone noticed that most new cameras these days are always compared to the a7s ii? that says a lot about the camera. it means the a7s ii is good.

Well... autofocus is really important not only for vloggers, but also for every 1 person production, where you can not be behind the camera while shooting because you are filming yourself

For low light, while GH5 is certainly not the best, pop a very fast lens on it and it does totally fine. Great video Ryan!

definitively seems like some great upgrades from the GH4, I'd love to be able to get my hands on the GH5! Thanks for another great video Ryan, and everyone else at Film Riot.

As usual, excellent stuff my dudes. But one thing that I wish you would have compared is the exposure latitude between the a7s ii and the GH5. Low light is of course important, because retaining rich shadows/blacks is crucial, but part of what has me wanting to sell a kidney for the a7s ii is also it's ability to perform in bright daylight situations that also involve shade (say shooting under a tree or shooting through a sunlight doorway). Sure the GH5 has slightly better encoding and slightly better color bit-rate, but unless you're trying to do what you did with an extreme color edit, I personally value a camera that has better dynamic range as well as a perfectly acceptable and usable video encode/color bit-rate.

A7s ii is a beast in low-light. In all other aspects GH5 wins.

And if we get a Sony A9s, hopefully it records 10 bit 4k. Then I'll know for sure what to get. 😂

So when I hit Ryan up on twitter and asked this exact question he said- "A7S ii. No contest. It's better all around. GH5 is great for its price though." But here he doesn't actually answer the question...?

This is the only review of the gh5 I've seen that actually was able to demonstrate the difference between 4:2:2 10bit and 4:2:0 8bit. Good job!

ive been watching sony a7s ii videos for like a month now i want to switch over to it from using my nikon 750 for videos i cant wait !!! i like the GH5 cameras but it cant get with the micro 4 3rds sensor

RU-vid compression is a bitch. Please upload this video to Vimeo.

worth ever penny, the rolling shutter performance make for a much more filmic look to the motion. this is also likely the reason the slow motion looks as good as it does

I'll get the GH5 as an upgrade to my GH4. Because of the 4K60, the lower rolling shutter, the 10-bit colour, the dual card slots and Internal IS, the GH5 is a much better camera than the GH4.

That low light ability is over rated. In a professional shoot you always use lights. You want control over your shadows etc. Not a deal breaker in my personal opinion.

I've always felt that 8 bit has been the thing separating 'professional' cameras, like the Alexa, from 'consumer' cameras (in terms of image quality, at least). If Sony ends up throwing an A9S onto the market with 10 bit color, insane low light, FF and good dynamic range... the possibilities would be crazy...

I love my Gh5! Works great with Metabones and Nikon glass with the Atomos.

Thanks Ryan. Very helpful.

Retest low light with speed booster. This camera with speed booster destroys. The sensor down samples from almost 6k to 4k big plus added res and sharpness. Plus with speed booster your down sampling form full frame on top of the that giving you even more sharpness and light.

Yeah I'm getting this.

Ahhh now I don't know what camera I should get for what films I make (mostly car stuff)

love my Gh5 and Slow mo's low light not far from a7 my opinion check my channel #Mbagz101

Dear Film Riot. Are you covering the new Davinci Resolve 14 editor?

IMO - Other than the rotating screen and the 60 fps in 4K, Panasonic still has a LONG way to go to even compare to Sony picture quality. I will continue to be a Sony user. Sony auto focus and face recognition .... you just cant beat it. And as you say not all slo mo is created equal.... not all 4K or picture quality is created equal. The good thing is that Panasonic keeps trying!

I'll definitely get a GH5 as an upgrade to my current camera (Canon EOS 550D), since I want a flippable screen which my 550D doesn't have and some autofocus while recording which my 550D doesn't do unless I press the shutter button.

He didn't mention that the GH5 shoots 4K (4096x2160) and the A7Sii shoots UHD (3480x2160). I think he was referring to Split, with that window thing he said at the end.

micro 4/3rds is a deal breaker for me I don't wanna have to get different crop lens to use this camera comfortably...full frame cameras will always best this and u can even use aspc but going even smaller to the gh5 is just a deal killer

Even with the awesome stabilization, would you suggest getting a gimbal?

Thanks for the review! That ending though ;D

I see the dork in the ponytail is still playing touch-butt in the park :P

Interesting. Evidently you feel the benefits of the GH5 overcome the price of going to a Four Thirds sensor. Four Thirds sensors are about half the size of an APS-C sensor. And of course the A7s II's sensor is more than double that.

A7S is a much better option. :) FullFrame Baby! Give it to me! Who cares about slowmo?

I own the GH5 and for those of you who wish to gauge the ISO performance, it's about 1 stop worse than APS-C and 2 worse than full-frame. So ISO 200 is like 800 on FF. 400 is like 1600 on FF. 800 is like 3200 on FF, etc. I say that purely in terms of noise, not in light gathered. That being said, you can actually get slightly BETTER THAN APS-C performance with a speedbooster, so at that point, you're only about 3/4 of a stop behind FF. It isn't in the same ballpark as something like the A7S/A7S II for low light, low noise though, and it never will be.

Can someone help with my GH5 vLog question? So, I have had the GH5 for a few weeks and have a project coming up that is a video of an indoor event. There will be normal indoor lighting (not a dark bar but not super bright either). I'll probably shoot in 4K 8-bit 60fps and 1080p 120fps 8-bit. Am I better of using vLog or Cinelike D? I've been reading that in 8-bit and low light vLog isn't the best choice. I'll be editing in Premiere on my 2015 MBP and even with the 4K 60fps transcoded to Prores I get a little lag, so don't think it could handle 10-bit 4:2:2...Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Can I take Emily to prom?

The video finishes at 10:09 ...Thank me after you watched the end.

I went from the GH4 to the A7SII. What pushed me over the edge was I shot two events at night and the footage looked like complete garbage. I was at 2.8 with a speedbooster, so 1.8 and 6400 and I barely scraped by with usable footage. The lowlight of the A7SII isn't just for specific circumstances. Since I bought the sony, there's been a hundred paid shoot situations where the lowlight ability saved my neck. If you film for work/ fulltime then having the versatility of the low light capability is everything. The GH5 has some beast colors, but so does the A7SII if you know what you're doing, especially with EOSHD. I would say the GH4 to the GH5 is a no-brainer, but I won't be switching from my A7SII to the GH5 that's for sure. Having said all of that, the GH4 and GH5 slow-mo is amazing. You have to be careful with the shutter speed on the A7SII when shooting at 120fps and the optical flow in FCPX is almost a necessity to make it look dope.

I mean, not a deal breaker for you on autofocus, but some of us are TERRIBLE at manual focus. I needs me some autofocus.

why is it that every camera always has to lack just one thing before making it the perfect camera smh...GH5's terrible low light must be a deal breaker for a lot of shooters

You mentioned at 2:56 about how you wouldn't be using the autofocus in video, but this is exactly what I need in a camera, which is why I haven't pushed the "Purchase" button on the GH5. I do RU-vid videos and I'm a one-woman channel, so I need something that will accurately focus on me. I don't move around a ton, but if I shift to the side, or step back, I need a camera that will focus. Any other options you'd recommend for this type of shooting? Thanks!

GH5 footage works great with FCPX.

I definitely like the idea of having access to great low light capability with the a7sII but if there's one thing the M4/3 system will make you do, it's learn proper lighting. Don't let the a7sII be a crutch and use all natural/existing light sources! That's great for run and gun and certain scenes that call for it in a story but learn lighting techniques too! Most Panasonic users learn pretty quick because they have to lol.

Hi Ryan, I'm in a huge dilemma. I am a filmmaker who is dedicated to making documentaries and short films. I currently have an a6300, and I need a second camera. I would not bother to work a little more to match the colors of my a6300 with a gh5 thinking that it has different features like an excellent slow camera or unlimited recording, but perhaps it is a better idea to buy an a6500 to have a complete match. What do you recommend me Since you have both thank you very much (Excuse my English, it is not my native language)

"better" is a simplistic question. Each camera has different strengths for different scenarios.

*Now make it APS-C* plz!

Now I'm actually curious. I've owned the Pocket for a few years and I vowed to never get another camera that doesn't shoot 10-bit. Once you've had a taste of it you can't go back to that peasant garbage 8-bit lol. You wouldn't know unless you try grading it then you'll be enlightened

oh man i am totally stuck with my a7sII oi hope the a7sIII has 10 bit i'm ultra jealous about that ... but since i often have either no lighting when i have to film events and stuff i will never let go of the sony a7s series ... oh by the way if you "misuse" redgiant cosmo and denoise you can get rid of banding and artifacts in the background and so on so if you're a sony user get these plugins !

I just got the New GH5 and I'm really loving it for videos and photography! Check out the tester video i did on my channel. It's not as good as some of the others but it's a first for me with this camera. :D

that new sketchy white lines and the purple lighting looks SICK!

I really do love a lot about the Panasonic systems. If it wasn't for the fact that I tend to shoot a lot of natural-light (read low-light), run and gun kinda stuff, I'd probably still be using them.

Just wanted to update the community that a LUMIX DMW YAGH Interface Unit for time coding and audio input (as an attachment to a G4 or G5 ) as of 12.21.18, is up for sale on eBay....I can't use it but I know some of you can . Still love watching these vids, I send my film students to them to help them decide on their own budget rigs...cheers all. My old go-to slow mo cameras used to be casios and fujufilms...because they were the only companies who cared to include that high speed feature for the longest time.

@Ryan Anthony saying that just makes it more obvious you have no idea what you're talking about. I shoot with a GX8 and y pics regular garner much praise

I don't get why so many don't get the 10-bit 422 test right. This one is one of the very few that shows what 10-bit 422 is made for, it's not for direct out-of-the-camera comparison, it's for color grading, those that don't do that won't take full advantage of 10-bit 422. Thanks! Cinema5D is a joke.

Feature and menu-wise the GH5 wins hands down, hell even my GH4 beats my A7Sii in functionality, but that aside if you know what you're doing there isn't a camera this side of $6000AUD that can touch the A7Sii in terms of image IMO

The most annoying thing to me has to be that Sony won't let you shoot true 24 fps at 1/48 like I hear the GH4 & 5 do. Why is this? If I watch a movie, then watch 23.97 at 1/50 A7s footage, it looks slightly off. Now I have one theory on why. Why must you do this to us, Sony?

In Orlando buying Sony is not an option. The overheating was too much to warrant buying an a7x. I started with the g7 and worked with the g85. The image stab sold me enough to wait for the gh5. The lighting and the AF doesn't bother me, I do short films and comfortable lighting scenes. The RAC is also nice. The slow mo let's me do music video projects as well.

What camera did you shoot this video with? The clarity is stunning.

THANK YOU! finally someone who knows filming, mentions that autofocus is not important for "film makers".

Sweet, sweet content :) Autofocus is a big deal for many people shooting in uncontrollable situations. i.e: events, weddings etc.

I watched one review video on the GH5 that did ISO tests and got the same noise issues you guys did, but they also showed what it looked like with a denoiser plugin applied, I assume from Davinci. Did you guys test those low light shots with the denoiser on at all? Those test shots from the other video I saw were night and day with the denoiser. Like 6400 was very usable and even 12,000 was somewhat usable depending on what you shot. I'd be curious to see what those low light shots looked like with that applied to it because the test I saw was a very basic static shot, but it was hardly noticeable after it was applied.

For what I want to do Low light video NO! The a7sII is a fucking Beast.

well it looks a lot better than the GH4, I mean it looks cinematic. The GH4 looks like digital video, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell

GH5 is far better then a9 since the so call flag ship model using Marco USB and one of the ad card are just uhs-I only !!! Some small make you free no complete...

thanks for the great review, really nice!

autofocus is for GIMBAL work ryan!!! geez. its a great feature if it works well. track a face through a shot with a gimbal. come on man.

Does V-Log come straight from the manufacturer? I purchased the upgrade for the gh4, but was told I'd have to re-purchase for the gh5.

Check out the 1dx2 if you haven't. Great video camera with some flaws - but awesome picture quality and low light.

4:30-5:34 What Lenses?

I really like that grade at 8:00 It has a really cool modernized 80s vibe to it. But maybe the background music is influencing my opinion

I'm shocked this doesn't have more views. I'm not sure anything tops the A7s mk1 review tho. That was just creamy goodness.

At 7:03 it's like the light around the masts in the background changes a lot. I had a similar issues when filming a short film with this camera. And in that case I wasn't walking with the camera like Ryan is. It this something that can be avoided?

the video footage starting 4:40 doesn't look right guys, as if it was encoded with wrong values...

auto-focus is great for one-man gimbal work!! eventually i think it will be the standard for a lot of shooting. once the technology makes it really good.

I rented the A7s II once, and it blew me away! It also came with a Metabones for my Canon glass and that full-frame image was something I've never experienced before. I've worked with Blackmagic cameras for example, and I never realized how a large sensor plays such a big role in terms of getting not only the image quality that you want, as well as the influence played by the lens you choose. Low-light is obviously amazing, and I think that's where Panasonic struggles. The 10-bit, the 4K 60fps, the 1080 180fps, the tilt screen and all its great ergonomics make it an almost ideal camera, but if you can't get a clear image beyond 3200 ISO it's kind of a dealbreaker for me. I bought the a6300 for less than 1K, and the image I get out of that camera is even sharper than the A7s II because of its 6K readout, and the low-light is the best for a 1.5x crop sensor. In my opinion, if Panasonic doesn't deliver a camera with a larger sensor like an APS-C or full-frame, I'll stick to Sony, even with all their flaws. Let's not forget that the A7s II came out in late 2015 and when the next iteration of that model comes along it might deliver 10-bit internal recording, even better low-light, and of course, a higher price for all that goodness. The GH5 is a great camera for its price and overall revolutionary, but for me an MFT sensor makes it unworthy due to all the Canon lenses I have acquired.

Any1 noticed the triune store logo fully formed with the video buffering makes the illuminati sign? lmao

the window is not a real window..? which film is this... Sounds complete unfamiliar to me.. anyone?

Great review. people got caught too much on the af test. And forget all the great features this camera have.

Hey +Filmriot! Awesome review of the GH5! Just a recommendation when it comes to music, you should really check out Adobe.audionetwork.com. Its a premiere pro integrated music licensing Programm which is ultra low budget licensing and art list like music

I remember the last time you used auto focus! It was back in 2015 for U.F.OhYeah for the door shot.

i got the g7 which is kinda like a gh5, its like the gh5 baby. very pleased with my purchase!

What do you guys think about the Sony a6500? I’m looking into getting one and was curious about your thoughts on it?

At what picture profile did you shoot the low light test? I’m wondering because I’ve seen much better results from the GH5 in low light. I know that you get a lot of noise in the shadows when you are shooting V-Log which makes it pretty much unusable for low light.

Where is the review? Is this much advertising even allowed in RU-vid? Sorry but fail.

the lo light problem can be fixed with the Voigtlander MFT lenses that are f0.95

Ryan don´t do this to me, it has only been a month since I got my Sony.. :(

GH5 doesn't fit the more cinematic style of film riot. Canon line suits them better

Does the GH5 come with V-log or do you have to buy it? I've seen both and I'm confused.