How about Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 camera?

For a long time, Panasonic's GH series has always been the favorite of photographers who project on a miniature three-quarter system. The latest version of Lumix DC-GH5 (worth $65,438+0,999.99, fuselage only) introduces video games and adds rich recording options, including 400Mbps 4K settings. You can also get in-vivo stability, the option to add XLR audio using an adapter, and a very solid build. This is a camera that can be used in a professional environment. It also has attractive static capture ability, but if this is your main purpose, then you can choose better and cheaper options, for example, our editor chooses Fuji X-T2.

design

GH5 Amazon $ 1, 997.99 looks like the previous model. This is a compact camera (3.95.53.4 inch, HWD), but its weight is 1.6 pounds, and its surface is matte black. The fuselage is quite slim, but the handle is deep and comfortable. As a mirrorless camera, its size is smaller than that of similar SLR cameras such as Nikon D500(4.55.83.2 inches, 1.9 pounds), but the effect is not obvious.

In hand, GH5 feels like a high-end product. The body is made of comfortable rubber, and the magnesium alloy chassis is below the appearance. There are many physical controls, including the unmarked Fn6 button in front, which can be easily pressed by your ring finger. Like all Fn buttons, it can be programmed. By default, it switches the preview function. It shows the scene depth of setting f-stop, which is a function that photographers are used to, but extra pressing will also increase the shutter speed preview. This will show the effect of motion blur when shooting at a longer shutter speed. This is not what I saw in other cameras.

You will find a dedicated drive disk on the far left side of the top plate. In addition to the standard single shot, continuous shot and self-timer options, it also has the position of 4K and 6K photo modes. These functions use the video function to take 4K(8MP) photos at up to 60fps and 8K( 18MP) images at up to 30fps. Lock the focus in the standard shooting mode, but you can also set the turntable to use the back focal length to shoot continuous shooting images, and change the autofocus point of each lens of the camera, which is a useful tool for macro focus superposition technology.

The hot shoe is centered behind the lens holder. In addition to GH4, GH5 has no built-in flash-shoes can also accommodate DMW-XLR 1 audio adapter ($400), which adds dual XLR audio input.

The mode dial is on the right side of the shoes. There is a lock button in its center. Just press the button to fix the dial in place, or turn it to change the mode. Tension is the beginning of tension, but locking ensures that the mode will not change unintentionally. The on/off switch is located on the side of the dial.

Other top-level controllers include a shutter release button located at the top of the handle and a control knob located behind the handle. White balance, ISO, EV, Fn 1 and the record button put everything together-they are grouped behind the top dial on the right side of the mode dial.

Play and Fn5 can switch the view between the rear LCD and EVF, or make the eye sensor automatically switch and be located at the left rear of the eye mask. On the right, you can find a switch to switch the focus mode (AFS/AFF, AFC and MF are all options), and there is an AE lock button in the middle. There is also a small joystick and a special control to set the effective focus. This is very useful, completely placed; Setting the focus manually is fun.

Other rear options include the control dial (upper right corner), display, Fn2(Q.Menu), Fn3 (focus area), Fn4 (delete) and menu/setting buttons, and a plane command dial for rotating menus for navigation, as well as controlling movement in four directions. The flat dial has a great feeling-it is big enough to turn comfortably and provides resistance and braking, so you know you are turning it. By default, it will adjust the audio recording level, but you can change its function-I set it to directly adjust the electric compensation.

In addition to physical controls, the Q. menu on the screen can also be used to change settings. This is a useful tool-you just need to go deep into a wider menu system to adjust rather abstruse choices. For views that you want to change without losing frames (including video resolution and frame rate, metering settings, white balance and image format), you can use Q.Menu

You can navigate the menu by using the rear command dial or focus joystick or touch. The 3-inch LCD screen is as sensitive as the flagship smartphone, so you can easily navigate the menu, click to adjust the focus, or squeeze and enlarge the image during playback. The monitor itself is very sharp (6.5438+0.62 million dots) and can be designed from multiple angles, so it can be put aside, all the way forward or all the way down-this is essential for serious video work.

When you want to put the camera close to your eyes, there is also an EVF flush with your eyes. This is an organic light-emitting diode design with a magnification of 0.76 times and a resolution of 3.6 million points. This is the best of its kind.

Connection and power consumption

GH5 includes Wi-Fi for image transmission and remote control. Panasonic photo App for Android and iOS. The application displays live broadcasts from the lens, and supports click focusing and full manual exposure control. You can also access all Q.Menu settings-this is one of the best full-featured remote control experiences you can find.

Physical connections include dual UHS-II SD slots, PC synchronization of studio flash memory, 3.5mm microphone and earphone, HDMI and USB-C. The battery was charged outside the camera with the attached charger, which was evaluated by CIPA and took about 400 photos. Same as competitors-Fuji 390 points, Olympus OM-D E-M 1 Mark II 440 points.

Performance and imaging

GH5 is very sensitive. It opens, focuses and emits in about 0.8 seconds. Auto focus is very fast-the delay I recorded in strong light is close to zero, about 0.3 seconds in very dark conditions. The locked focus can be continuous shooting at the speed of 10.3fps, and GH5 keeps the speed of 64 Raw+JPG, 75 Raw or 194 JPG, which are 42.7, 37.4 and 18.2 seconds respectively, so as to empty the buffer after comprehensive cracking.

The autofocus system is purely based on contrast, so the camera will slow down when you switch the focus mode to continuous. If you are shooting a moving action, the speed limit is 6.5fps. Our standard focus test shows that most shots focus on this speed when the shooting target is towards and away from the lens, but this is not a perfect hit rate. Other cameras that use phase and contrast detection to focus, such as X-T2 and E-M 1 Mark II, can manage faster continuous shooting speed with higher or better focus hit rate when tracking moving objects.

The focusing system is very flexible even without the phase detection component. Panasonic uses what it calls DFD, which is the depth of defocus. It uses knowledge about how the lens draws the scene to speed up focusing and eliminate the back and forth actions we expect from the contrast system.

Most of the sensor is covered by the autofocus system. There are 225 optional boxes; You can choose any one of them individually, or you can set a focus area, covering any one of the four boxes, arranged in a cross pattern, up to 97 large groups. If you want to control the focus better, you can switch to the precise positioning mode, which will enlarge a part of the picture and let you choose a focus.

GH5 uses 20MP miniature three-quarter image sensor. It has an original ISO range from 200 to 25600, but ISO 100 can also be used as an extended low setting. I tested the JPG output of the camera with Imatest, and found that the noise was suppressed below 1.5% under each setting.

There is some noise reduction that is achieving this. You can get a clear image through ISO 1600. Under ISO 3200, we see some subtle details, which are similar to the image quality of ISO 6400. The quality in the output of ISO 12800 and ISO 25600 is obviously blurred.

You can shoot in the original format to avoid noise control in the camera. I used Adobe Lightroom CC to convert the original test image into the default development settings. Like JPG, the result of ISO 1600 is very powerful. There is a little rough detail between
O 3200 and 64000. The details of ISO 12800 in the original image are quite rough, but they are still different from JPG output. The highest ISO 25600 setting is very rough and the details are not very good, but it is not as vague as JPG.

videotape

It's unnecessary to boast about the video function of GH5. Just like the GH4, this is the only camera in the price range that provides so many cameras for photographers. Video recording can be recorded with 4K quality, with standard aspect ratio of 16: 9 or 2: 1, up to 60fps, and up to 30fps at 6K resolution, with a ratio of 4: 3. Cinematographers who want to watch 6K extensively can add anamorphic lenses.

The full-size HDMI port outputs 10-bit clean and uncompressed video with 4: 2: 2 quality, so you can use a professional monitor for real-time monitoring, or use a dedicated external video recorder supported by ProRes. You can also record on a memory card with this quality, although the compression is mild. This camera has a series of quality options, but the highest setting is 400Mbps full frame compression and LPCM audio.

Even at 100Mbps, 4K video looks great. You can apply the completed color profile in the camera, or choose to shoot in one of the two plane log color spaces, which can grade the lens more flexibly.

In vivo stability is the gospel of video use. Any lens you use will remain stable, so you are free to use traditional glass to achieve a specific appearance, or use a modern focal plane with precise manual focus control. Fans of handheld appearance will like its stability, because it does a good job while eliminating a little jitter, while maintaining the smooth style that many people pursue.

We use the built-in microphone for video testing, and we encounter typical problems with the built-in microphone. The omnidirectional design can pick up the sound around the camera, so you can clearly hear that the shutter of another camera is being used to shoot seagulls. The advantage will be to add an external microphone and the ability to use XLR and additional adapters.

conclusion

If video is your main concern, Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 provides the highest quality and feature set, and you can find cameras in this price range. Shooters who invest in micro-three-quarters system should not discount. It provides powerful image quality, fast focusing and 4K and 6K photo modes. Its shooting speed is not as fast as its closest competitor, Olympus OM-D E-M 1 Mark II. The same price, the same lens system, but not everyone needs the shooting speed of E-M 1

As good as GH5, we don't have the choice to name it editor. The high-end mirror-free market is very competitive. The mirrorless body of our favorite snapshot crop sensor is Fuji X-T2, which has a perfect autofocus system and 4K video (although it is not the same level as GH5), but the price is only $65,438+0,600. If you don't need speed or 4K, but want a Quan Huafu sensor, the Sony A7 II of $65,438+0,700 is our first choice.