Panasonic GH5 review: The ultimate hybrid video and stills camera

Panasonic’s GH series of compact system cameras (CSCs) have been the hugely popular with amateur and independent filmmakers ever since the GH1 burst onto the scene in 2009. The GH4 made the leap to 4K in 2014, and with its outstanding picture quality, sublime ergonomics and a bumper set of features for both video and stills, there hasn’t been much to challenge it in the last three years. The only credible contender is the full-frame Sony a7R II, but at £2,500 that’s a lot more expensive.

The firm’s design team hasn’t been slacking though, and the Panasonic GH5 ups the ante yet again. It now offers 4K (3,840 x 2,160) video at frame rates up to 60fps, either for high frame-rate footage or for slow-motion playback at 24fps, 25fps or 30fps. Meanwhile, 1080p capture is at frame rates up to 180fps, allowing 7.5x slow motion at 24fps.

There’s an option to record in 10-bit colour, providing four times as many colour gradations per RGB channel compared to the usual 8-bit files. 4K video is captured using the full width of the frame rather than a 3,840×2,160-pixel crop, which delivers shorter effective focal lengths and should boost quality a little. There’s now a full-size HDMI socket, which is much more sturdy than the Micro-HDMI socket on the GH4.

This isn’t just a video camera, though; there are improvements for photographers, too. The camera’s 20-megapixel sensor is new and incorporates image stabilisation, which is handy if you use lenses without their own stabilisation and delivers a dual stabilisation system for lenses that do include it. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) is bigger and sharper with a magnification of 0.76x and 3.7-million-dot resolution. That’s among the biggest and highest resolution EVFs I’ve seen, and it’s a joy to use. One feature that has disappeared is the integrated flash. This allows for better placement of the internal microphone, which perhaps suggests that it’s videographers whose needs are paramount in Panasonic’s mind.

Various other new additions are likely to please both photographers and videographers. The LCD screen has grown a little, to 3.2in and has a 1.6-million-dot resolution. Dual SDXC slots make it easier to manage intensive shoots, with options to overflow, mirror for backup or save photos and videos separately to each. There’s a mini joystick that’s dedicated to moving the autofocus point, although I found it easier to use the touchscreen. The latter can be used for autofocus point control even when composing shots with the viewfinder; you can even with pinch-to-zoom to adjust the size of the autofocus area.

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Panasonic GH5 review: Autofocus

Panasonic is unique among CSC manufacturers in not incorporating phase-detect autofocus points onto its sensors to help with autofocus performance. However, with the GH5 typically taking only 0.1 seconds from pressing the shutter button to capturing a photo there’s clearly nothing holding it back. Panasonic’s Depth From Defocus (DFD) technology measures the amount of blur to estimate the focusing adjustment required so it can jump to the correct focus position rather than hunt through the scene.

This is a new feature since the launch of the GH4 and it does indeed appear to improve autofocus speed. Also new is the ability to customise the subject tracking performance in continuous autofocus mode, similar to the controls offered by high-end SLRs.

When it comes to video, autofocus performance isn’t so much about speed, but rather reliability and smoothness. When tracking a moving subject or shooting with a moving camera, very slight deviations may be forgivable but focus hunting, where the subject goes completely out of focus before locking on again, really spoils a clip. Meanwhile, a deliberate change in focus, perhaps to switch between two people in the frame, should be executed slowly and smoothly.

The GH5’s video autofocus options include two new controls for Speed and Sensitivity, similar to the photo autofocus customisation options but set independently for video. This lets the user choose between a smooth but slow response or a responsive but jittery one. Neither sounds ideal, but I found that somewhere towards the latter end gave the best results for automatic subject tracking.

^ Automatic subject tracking isn’t perfect but it may be good enough for serious use in some situations

Often the safest way to ensure accurate focus for video is to set it manually. This is vastly improved through the introduction of a Focus Transition function, which allows three focus positions to be saved for recall while recording. There’s also a choice of five transition speeds, ranging from almost instant to 15 seconds. A custom option in seconds would have been even better but it’s great to be able to perform precise, smooth, predetermined focus pulling.

^ Using Focus Transition to move between three predetermined focus positions via the touchscreen

It’s a shame that this can’t be controlled from the Android or iOS app, as this would avoid any risk of shaking the camera when touching the screen. Remote control from the app is otherwise comprehensive, including touchscreen-controlled spot focus and metering and manual exposure adjustment.

However, enabling Focus Transition on the camera locks the app completely and, while I’m moaning about the app, I didn’t get on well with the Bluetooth function, which is meant to make Wi-Fi pairing easier but proved to be much more problematic than with previous Lumix cameras.

Panasonic GH5 review: Performance

Capturing and encoding 4K video at 60fps requires a fast processor and lots of memory and that’s good news for still image performance, too. I recorded continuous shooting at 10fps and it lasted for 111 JPEGs or 65 RAW frames before slowing. That’s even better than the Nikon D500, an SLR that’s built for speed. Burst shooting with continuous autofocus rattled along at 7.5fps, slowing slightly when focus needed to be updated.

If that’s still not fast enough you can turn to the 6K Photo mode. This is an upgraded version of the 4K Photo mode that has appeared on recent Panasonic cameras, which captures a 4K video at 30fps and lets you pick individual 8-megapixel frames to save as JPEGs after capture. Capture continues until the card is full, and there’s an option to buffer footage and save frames from before the shutter button was pressed.

On the GH5 there’s a choice of 4K capture at 60fps or 6K (for 18-megapixel stills) at 30fps. 10fps RAW capture is more useful in most cases but the 4K and 6K Photo modes are handy for very fast action such as golf swings or diving kingfishers.

Panasonic GH5 review: Video capture

The Panasonic GH5’s video mode is the star of the show and its 60fps 4K capture and 10-bit encoding set it apart from anything else at this price. Encoding at these settings is at 150Mbits/sec, which strikes a sensible balance of image information against file size. The 10-bit mode also uses 4:2:2 chroma subsampling, which means higher-resolution colour information compared to the usual 4:2:0. 10-bit and 4:2:2 are only available at 4K at 24/25/30fps and Cinema 4K at 24fps but that covers most people’s needs.

Panasonic also offers a colour profile called V-Log L, which records flat colours akin to shooting RAW photos. According to Panasonic it increases the dynamic range of footage from 10 to 12 stops. V-Log L is a $100 USD upgrade and I’d imagine that anyone who’s interested in 10-bit recording will consider it an essential purchase.

Software compatibility for 10-bit files is currently limited but I was able to work with them in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017. Direct comparisons with 8-bit footage showed a subtle improvement after applying heavy colour correction to footage. Popular distribution platforms such as Blu-ray and YouTube all use 8-bit, 4:2:0 colour so the benefit will only be felt during the editing process, particularly for aggressive colour correction and green-screen masking. Owners will need to decide whether these benefits are worth the drawbacks in terms of software compatibility and processing overhead, but it’s great to have the option.

The V-Log L colour profile provided more obvious benefits, revealing extra details in highlights and shadows and reducing posterisation artefacts after colour correction. Significantly, it was much more effective than the Cinelike D profile that’s included as standard for the same purpose. The ability to use Look-up tables (LUTs) to apply colour profile presets gave an editing experience that was closer to working with RAW files than JPEGs. Premiere Pro CC slowed significantly when working with LUTs and 10-bit footage, though. Selecting V-LogL on the camera pushes the base ISO speed up from 200 to 400, and there’s a bit of noise visible in darker parts of the frame but it’s not too hard to hide this in the shadows with careful colour correction.

^ Comparing details of frames of an overexposed sky shot using Cinelike D and V-Log L colour profiles in both 8-bit and 10-bit. I’ve been able to recover the blue sky using Premiere Pro CC’s colour grading tools, but there’s blocky posterisation of colour in the Cinelike D footage at both 8- and 10-bit. Graded V-Log L footage gives significantly better results, although there’s still some posterisation in the 8-bit V-Log L footage. 10-bit V-Log L comes out on top. [click image to enlarge]

^ A shadier corner of the same scene, shot with darker exposure settings. The shadows are almost black in the Cinelike D footage. I’ve been able to recover some shadow detail using colour grading but there’s quite a bit of noise as a result. V-Log L makes it easier to recover shadow detail without excessive noise, and there’s slightly more detail in the grass at the bottom-left of the crop in the 10-bit version. [click image to enlarge]

^ Comparing 8-bit 4:2:0 and 10-bit 4:2:2 for chroma keying (using Premiere Pro CC’s Ultra Key effect). The higher-resolution colour information in 4:2:2 footage means the mask is sharper but the difference is pretty subtle

^ This animated GIF directly compares the 8-bit 4:2:0 and the 10-bit 4:2:2 results on a static subject. This is a 1:1-pixel crop of 4K output. Note that the GIF format limits this image to 256 colours. [click image to enlarge]

^ The same comparison, but this time with graded V-Log L footage: the difference is more pronounced. [click image to enlarge]

The GH4 used a 1:1 pixel crop for its 4K capture, which meant it just used an 8-megapixel area of its 16-megapixel sensor. The GH5 always uses the full width of its 20-megapixel sensor, so its 5,184 x 2,916 frames are resized to 3,840 x 2,160 for 4K output. That means a lot more work for the camera’s processor but details should be a little sharper as a result. It also means lenses have the same equivalent focal length regardless of which recording mode you’re in.

In practice, the boost to image quality is subtle, but direct comparisons with our studio scene taken with the GH4 revealed smoother fine details such as strands of hair. I also noticed that the subtle grain of noise in the GH4’s 4K output at ISO 200 had disappeared in the GH5.

^ Comparing our studio scene with footage from the Panasonic GH4 and GH5 (both captured at 1/50sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, Standard colour profile). There’s less noise in the GH5’s output and fine details are a tad smoother

The faster processor allows 1080p capture at frame rates up to 180fps, delivering 7.5x slow motion at 24fps playback. Disappointingly, the anti-aliasing algorithm is lower quality for slow-motion 1080p capture compared with normal-speed capture, leading to slightly blocky details. It’s an issue that’s shared with the GH4 but I’d hoped the GH5’s faster processor would have resolved it. After all, it’s applying higher quality anti-aliasing for 4K at 60fps, which has an even higher pixel throughput. Still, this probably won’t upset many people.

^ Details from 1080p footage captured at 25fps and 180fps (the latter for slow-motion playback). The 25fps image is slightly sharper, most notably on the dial on the robot

^ It’s not particularly noticeable in real-world footage, though

^ 4K 50p footage from the GH5: what’s not to like?

Other video-related niceties include the introduction of in-camera wave and vector scopes. It’s now possible to set the shutter speed and aperture manually (to control motion blur and depth of field respectively) but leave the ISO speed on Auto for automatic exposure control. There’s also the promise of All-Intra recording at 400Mbit/sec via a firmware update this summer. All-Intra encoding describes each frame from scratch rather than as an update to the previous frame, which produces enormous files but virtually eliminates compression artefacts, even in busy, fast-moving scenes.

Panasonic GH5 review: Photo quality

The move from 16 to 20 megapixels is welcome, closing the gap for detail levels compared with rivals such as the 24-megapixel Fujifilm X-T2 and 20-megapixel Nikon D500. This new sensor lacks an optical low-pass filter (OLPF) which in theory boosts detail levels at the expense of an increased risk of artefacts. Sharp diagonal lines did look a little pixelated at times but this is a minor point. The Fujifilm X-T2 resolved the sharpest details of the three cameras in our studio test scene but it was a close-run thing.

Noise levels at fast ISO speeds were more varied, with the GH5’s smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor putting it at a slight disadvantage compared with its APS-C rivals. APS-C sensors are 67% bigger by surface area, and this was borne out in noise levels, with the GH5’s ISO 6400 output being closer to the Fujifilm X-T2 at ISO 12800. The Panasonic GH5 exhibited slightly less noise than the GH4, though, despite the increased resolution.

Taken on its own terms, the GH5 delivered reliably attractive photos throughout the vast majority of our tests, only becoming unstuck when tackling subtle textures such as skin and hair at ISO 3200 and above.

^ Rich, clean colours and lots of crisp detail — just what we’d expect from a large-sensor camera. (1/500sec, f/6.3, ISO 200, 24mm equivalent)

^ Colours really pop on default settings. The 20-megapixel sensor has picked out the individual hairs on these strawberries. (1/160sec, f/3.5, ISO 200, 34mm equivalent)

^ Shooting indoors pushes the ISO speed up to 3200. There’s a bit of noise, especially in darker, out-of-focus areas. (1/80sec, f/3.9, ISO 3200, 80mm equivalent)

^ Subtle gradations of colour have been smudged at ISO 1600, most noticeably on the floor and chairs, but overall it’s a solid result. (1/50sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, 40mm equivalent)

^ Higher-contrast details are less susceptible to smearing through noise reduction, even at ISO 3200. (1/60sec, f/2.9, ISO 3200, 26mm equivalent)

^ ISO 12800 is pushing JPEG quality to its limits. (1/20sec, f/3.8, ISO 12800, 68mm equivalent)

^ Clean, natural skin textures, although highlights on the girl’s hair are overexposed. Processing the RAW file allowed me to recover these highlights. (1/160sec, f/2.8, ISO 200, 90mm equivalent)

^ Skin textures are holding together well at ISO 1600 (1/125sec, f/3.9, ISO 1600, 96mm equivalent)

^ They’re looking a bit blotchy at ISO 3200, though (1/30sec, f/3.7, ISO 3200, 62mm equivalent)

Panasonic GH5 review: Buying decisions

At £1,699 for the body-only, the GH5 is the most expensive Lumix camera to date, up £400 compared with the GH4’s launch price and £700 more than what the GH4 cost when it was recently discontinued. This price hike will disappoint amateur filmmakers who’ll need to save up more of their hard-earned cash and who may not benefit from features such as 10-bit and V-Log L capture. After all, they’ll also need an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and an extremely powerful PC to be able to work with these files. Working with V-LogL and LUTs gives greater flexibility over colour grading but it’s a skill I can’t say I mastered in the few weeks I spent testing the GH5.

Professional users should have no qualms about spending this much, though, and the Panasonic GH5 will suit them down to the ground. The improvements will probably justify an upgrade so amateur filmmakers can look forward to a healthy market of secondhand GH4s.

The GH5 raises the bar for photography, too, with its higher-resolution sensor, superb viewfinder and in-body stabilisation. The slightly higher noise levels compared with APS-C cameras is its one notable drawback but it doesn’t register as a significant issue in normal use. This camera is not worth the expense if your interest is only in photography, but as a hybrid stills and video camera it’s way ahead of the competition.