Panasonic LUMIX GH5 for underwater video

[bubffm 178]

There's a guy who posted a little clip filmed wth a GH5 in a Leo III housing in Italy (I believe)

 

 

Looks pretty nice. Doesn't say in the clip description what settings / resolution he used.

[Lionfi2s 74]

I dont know what setting he used but the colors look really good.

[Lionfi2s 74]

I asked about the settings.

This is the reply i got:

"Hi, the setting are very easy, color profile natural and white balance automatic...the color of the gh5 are very good and natural, the footage was captured at 8 bit 4:2:0 50p"

[bubffm 178]

ok, I guessed it was 8 bit color as it looks similar to what I get on my AX100 in terms of color.

 

We're not much further in assessing GH5 4k 10 bit underwater Still nice that AWB seems to work quite well.

Edited June 26, 2017 by bubffm

[rollin 12]

Agree the conditions are too difficult to make any meaningful comparison. Any camera would strangle in these conditions IMHO.

 

This is a typical situation in my area. At 20m, it is dark.

 

This summer, I'm going to the mediterranean, if you still feel you want some footage, let me know.

Edited June 26, 2017 by rollin

[Davide DB 412]

A nice video properly shot and edited

 

 

 

 

 

[bubffm 178]

yep, thats nice. Also the latest dlip from Backscatter shows what this little cam is capable of doing.

 

[bubffm 178]

My own GH5-Rig is slowly taking shape. Today the brand-spanking-new DNC-5A Monitor from DiveandSee has arrived. It is so new, its not even on their webpage yet I am certainly gratefull to Alex for shipping me a unit for my upcoming trip before official release date.

 

5.5'' full HD resolution. Looks splendid on land, so it should underwater. Quite a bit heavier at 1.3kg (appr. 250g negative in water) than the earlier DNC-5 but I guess the larger and brighter screen just needs a significantly bigger battery and more electronics.

 

Size relation to the GH5 housing looks just right. I'll happily report more once I got it sufficiently wet.

 

[dreifish 347]

A nice video properly shot and edited

 

 

 

Cattura.PNG

 

 

Color looks great. But a lot of the shots are quite shallow or use lights, so I'm not sure we can reach a conclusion about the white balance one way or the other.

 

As for the stabilization -- does it seem a bit disappointing to anyone else? I think most of the video is shot using a fisheye lens, which may be contributing to the unusual look. Something about the motion definitely looks off to me though. I can't quite put my finger on it.

[thetrickster 328]

Color looks great. But a lot of the shots are quite shallow or use lights, so I'm not sure we can reach a conclusion about the white balance one way or the other.

 

As for the stabilization -- does it seem a bit disappointing to anyone else? I think most of the video is shot using a fisheye lens, which may be contributing to the unusual look. Something about the motion definitely looks off to me though. I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

 

I agree, the Manual White Balance stuff I've seen from the early videos (from ReefPhoto I believe) really (to me) didn't seem any better than the GH4, I did ask if they would get both cameras in the water at the same time to do a side by side, but nothing yet.

 

That Dive and See Monitor looks ACE. Much smaller than my 7" NA-Flame - and appears to be in a better viewing position too.

[bubffm 178]

tbh, I think those Komodo shots are, well, average. Poor white balance, and yes its mostly fisheye. The Backscatter clips are so much better. Almost looks like footage from a RED.

 

The DNC-5A turned out heavier than I thought, but the size is perfect for the GH5.

Edited July 18, 2017 by bubffm

[kc_moses 142]

The GH5 do look slightly better than GH4, in the sense that it has a bit of Sony look. I believe GH5 is using Sony sensor? The big advantage with the GH5 is the high bitrate and 60fps, which open a lot of opportunity for color grading and slow down (the IBIS could help too).

 

I don't know how it performs in term of noise. I read some where that Panasonic tend to introduce lots of noise once custom white balance underwater, especially below 60ft.

 

This is the only GH5 video from Reef & Photo that I can find. The macro scene was shot with Keldan light, I was diving with that guy (Lee Burghard) at Blue Heron Bridge:

 

 

From the video, you can tell it's better than GH4.

[bubffm 178]

I'd bet any money that the GH5 for sure does NOT use Sony sensors. It uses a Panasonic sensor. Optical sensors are a key differenciator in this industry and they wont plug a competitors sensors in their cams even with a gun pointed against their head.

[Davide DB 412]

Hummm...

 

Nikon sensors come from Sony and even Olympus sensors. Not sure about Fuji

[bubffm 178]

I thought Panasonic design their own sensors. They may be manufactured wherever... If not I lost some money 😃

Edited July 18, 2017 by bubffm

[Davide DB 412]

BTW guys I thought to post a video that looked good to me but you blasted me hahaha.

It seems to be at Sundance Film Festival.

[bubffm 178]

Davide, Some of the macro stuff in that clip is very nice, I love the jellyfish at the end. But look at the bended back of the turtle around 1:25. you cant do that with a fisheye - well ok for a holiday video but not some promotional stuff they put on the Nauticam webpage....

 

I'll promise to be nice again now.

[Davide DB 412]

Panasonic uses own sensor regardless of continuous cyclic speculation on using Sony sensors for some of their camera.

I'm sure about Nikon for all its flagship camera. Olympus for m43 cameras and even Fuji.

Sensors are designed by customer and produced by Sony to their specs. Moreover sensor it's only part of the story. All other components are designed by Nikon and co. Same for color science. Sometimes they are able to extract more juice from sensors than Sony itself.

Haha haha don't worry I'm jocking

[bubffm 178]

pew, you saved my money in the end. Haha

 

On Tuning: Sure, look at Apple. Their phones work much better with Samsung chips than the Samsung phones do

 

getting really off topic now...

Edited July 18, 2017 by bubffm

[bubffm 178]

I don't know how it performs in term of noise. I read some where that Panasonic tend to introduce lots of noise once custom white balance underwater, especially below 60ft.

I'm not a technical expert by any means but the way I understand it, is that any white balancing at depth, whether manual or automatic, will introduce a certain amount of noise, because effctively you are 'artificially' inreasing the red channel - and that will add more noise to that channel, because by white balancing you are not adding any more information to that channel. Things should be better in 10bit because of the addl. color info compared to 8bit, so I am having good hopes in the GH5 in that respect

 

Whether there is more noise introduced on a Panasonic compared to lets say Sony I dont know. But I can tell you from my time with the Sony AX100 camcorder it was introducing plenty of noise if you where below 15 meters on ambient light only. I guess thats just a critical depth fo most cameras where they start to struggle.

Edited July 18, 2017 by bubffm

[dreifish 347]

tbh, I think those Komodo shots are, well, average. Poor white balance, and yes its mostly fisheye. The Backscatter clips are so much better. Almost looks like footage from a RED.

 

The DNC-5A turned out heavier than I thought, but the size is perfect for the GH5.

 

Bubffm, how much is the DNC-5A selling for? Are they also making a new version of the 7" monitor? I really need to get something, and, with my aging eyes, I'm thinking the benefits of 7" might outweigh the size disadvantage..

[bubffm 178]

Andrei, this is the the link to the 7'' equivalent: http://www.diveandsee.com/products/underwater-monitors/dnc-7ah1

 

The 7'' sells for USD 2650 incl. bulkhead, cables etc. The new 5.5'' is less - but not by much. As I have a pre-release version I don't want to talk about my price as I dont want to preempt what they may later put on their webpage as official price. Not a super bargain but you get an extremely solid and rugged piece of gear.

 

The 5.5'' is already a HUGE screen compared to the build-in 3.2'' of the GH5. If there would have been a lighter 5' version, I might have even taken that. Its not just the size itself, it's the much better viewing position having a monitor on top rather than that build-in LCD at the lower end of the camera housing.

 

7'' would be too big for me (and I am wearing optical glasses in my mask), but thats why there are different sizes

 

NB: Whether they make a new 7'' version you'd have to ask. I think the 7A is actually pretty new and may have the same specs inside (apart from screen size) The layout of the buttons and the menu operation (press-and-turn-wheel) has changed somewhat on the new smaller version.

Edited July 19, 2017 by bubffm

[dreifish 347]

Interes

 

Andrei, this is the the link to the 7'' equivalent: http://www.diveandsee.com/products/underwater-monitors/dnc-7ah1

 

The 7'' sells for USD 2650 incl. bulkhead, cables etc. The new 5.5'' is less - but not by much. As I have a pre-release version I don't want to talk about my price as I dont want to preempt what they may later put on their webpage as official price. Not a super bargain but you get an extremely solid and rugged piece of gear.

 

The 5.5'' is already a HUGE screen compared to the build-in 3.2'' of the GH5. If there would have been a lighter 5' version, I might have even taken that. Its not just the size itself, it's the much better viewing position having a monitor on top rather than that build-in LCD at the lower end of the camera housing.

 

7'' would be too big for me (and I am wearing optical glasses in my mask), but thats why there are different sizes

 

NB: Whether they make a new 7'' version you'd have to ask. I think the 7A is actually pretty new and may have the same specs inside (apart from screen size) The layout of the buttons and the menu operation (press-and-turn-wheel) has changed somewhat on the new smaller version.

Ah.. the 7A has definitely been around for a few years now. I remember looking at it at Backscatter maybe 3-4 years back now. Was hoping they'd updated it.

 

Still, the price seems to have gone down a little bit. All things considered, it's probably about half what you'd have to pay for a housed Atomos Shogun, so it's tempting. Just not sure about the quality of the display and tools available on it compared to more standard offerings from Atomos or SmallHD. But definitely a win when it comes to bulk, it seems! Part of me wants to go with the Atomos/Nauticam housing to also get the option of 10bit 4k60p recording in a slightly more robust prores codec, as well as the brighter screen and ability to use it on land.

 

I agree with you that a 5.5" monitor that you can position is already a great improvement over using the internal screen, but for critical focus and framing at 4k+ resolutions, I've never heard anyone complaining that a monitor was too big I suppose a lot depends on the boyancy and trim characteristics though. If the Atomos makes the Gh5 really negative or back heavy or impossible to operate well, then I guess it's a no-go.

[thetrickster 328]

I have to admit the new Atomos screens (in the Flame and Inferno units) are to die for underwater, ultra bright and sharp and using the RGB parade, I can manually adjust the WB using Kelvin instead of using slates while eyeing the Red channel.

 

BUT, and having spent a small fortune on one and all the bits to outfit my GH4, the viewing position is no way as good as the Dive and See and other 5" screens - I've had to modify (and still need to finish off) the way it fits on the handles to get the handles further back and the screen further forward, as the screen is just way too close to your face in the standard configuration - and I think my eyesight is going!

 

Looking forward to at some point towards the end of this year, upgrading to the GH5 and the better ergo of the NA-GH5 (still on the NA-GH3).

[bubffm 178]

Ah.. the 7A has definitely been around for a few years now. I remember looking at it at Backscatter maybe 3-4 years back now. Was hoping they'd updated it.

 

 

 

Are you sure you looked at the DNC-7A back then? They have updated the DNC-7 to DNC-7A a while ago, but I dont think it was four years ago but I may be wrong - tiem goes bye fast... Easiest would be for you to ping Alex at diveandsee. I am sure he'll give you some more on his plans.

 

Burkhard

Edited July 20, 2017 by bubffm