Panasonic GH5 first dive

[adamtaylor 28]

Hello all,

 

On both the Mirrorless and Video Gear threads there has been much speculation and desire for information on how the GH5 performs underwater.

 

I received my Nauticam Housing last week and got the camera in the water for a single dive on Sunday. I used my Olympus 12-40 f2.8 Pro lens in 180mm Nauticam glass dome which I used with my Olympus EM5

 

Full disclosure I am a rookie at video, and have even less experience editing. I have been shooting stills for 4.5 years and while I enjoyed the EM5 I found it a bit lacking lately with some of my deeper, darker dives doing conservation work on glass sponge reefs. Constructive criticism greatly appreciated.

 

I am in the process of upgrading both my hard drives and computer system as my old laptop is out of space, and horsepower.

 

Due to my current computer challenges videos linked below were shot 8 bit 1080p 60fps, and have been run through Windows Movie Maker which converted them to 30fps? (As stated, the technical side is currently beyond me)

 

No colour grading, exposure or other shifts has been applied. You will note the white plumose anemones are washed out / burnt at times but I really wanted to get a feel for the camera, and judging results on a small camera screen is not that easy. There is some focus hunting, which I honestly think was me hitting AF lock lever trying to re-focus.

 

Anyway, to keep things simple I shot 1/60, f8, Auto ISO, Manual White Balance and Single Autofocus.

 

The white balance was remarkably easy, simply hit the thumb lever, then up button to activate viewfinder, point at something white (I used my dry glove, or a white anemone) and hit OK. Perhaps a grey slate would work better? I don't know, this was the first time I have ever performed manual white balance.

 

Local water conditions can be challenging at times due to river run-off and plankton. This dive had pretty good conditions; decent visibility at depth with suspended particulate and a surprising amount of light considering the top 8 feet was river silt with 2 foot viz, and the next 10+ feet was plankton soup with 5ish foot viz.

 

Here are a few miscellaneous shots where I tried different scenarios https://youtu.be/ydu2t-w1Vis

 

 

Mother octopus grooming eggs (eggs start at 1:06) https://youtu.be/M7NrIMyTR4o

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Adam

Edited June 8, 2017 by adamtaylor

[stphnmartin 115]

Thanks for kicking this off Adam. I don't get my housing till next week so I can't comment on how to use it yet.

 

One thing I might suggest is to change your settings from shutter speed to shutter angle. For video you generally want the shutter speed to be double the frame rate. Since you shot at 60p, your shutter speed should be twice that--120. So, each time you change the frame rate, you'd need to change the shutter speed accordingly. If you shoot 24fps, then you'd set the shutter speed to 50, etc.

 

However, if you change the setting from shutter speed to shutter angle and set the angle to 180, the camera will make the adjustment for you no matter what frame rate you use. So, one less setting to deal with.

 

You can google on youtube for better explanations of the above.

 

I'm on a mac, so I can really tell you much about movie maker. I'd assume there's a setting to set the fps on the timeline if you wanted it at 60.

 

With my old camera I carry a grey slate to white balance with. I will probably continue doing this with the gh5. It provides much better results than trying to do it in post.

 

Did you have exposure peaking turned on? That might help with avoiding over exposure.

 

I'm planning on shooting full manual with exposure and focus peaking on to avoid the focus hunting if possible. But, I don't know how this will translate underwater.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[adamtaylor 28]

Thanks Stephen,

 

Had read somewhere 1/60 was OK for 60fps but wondered as most simply double the frame rate. Recall seeing an article on shutter angle and so will do more research.

 

Bottom line is the Nauticam housing was easy to use, even with dry gloves. Buttons and levers are all within easy reach and once I get used to them I am sure I can operate without having to look at them.

 

Will continue to experiment with video until I get the panasonic flash listed by Nauticam (not sold in Canada) then shoot some stills which I am more familiar with.

 

Love being able to white balance, my old EM5 on Auto WB created some pretty funky colour casts, especially with gloomy / murky water and video lights.

 

Going to be a fun, if steep learning curve. But I have a good group dive buddies and many interesting sites & critters to practice with.

 

Regards

 

 

Adam

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[stphnmartin 115]

Adam, did you add anything to adjust the buoyancy of the camera? Any floats needed?

[BradDB 0]

White balance looks great.

I'm axious to get my GH5 into cold water this weekend (conditions permitting).

The settings choices the GH5 are almost overwhelming relative to my Canon SLR so it's interesting to see what has worked for you, particularly given I dive in similar conditions (Monterey). I would not normally consider auto ISO as an option for example.

Also, I had not encountered the shutter angle option (thanks stphnmartin).

 

-Brad

[adamtaylor 28]

Adam, did you add anything to adjust the buoyancy of the camera? Any floats needed?

The 180mm dome is relatively buoyant, but the rig is much heavier than my Olympus EM5 which was slightly negative with 4 large stix floats. Mind you I experimented with this on the surface and there was a heavy lens of mixed river water. Will try at depth next time to see if it is better balanced in straight salt water

 

I shot mostly stills with my EM5 so had a pair of YSD1 on a 10"+8" arm per side. Last year I got a pair of Archon video lights and added a triple clamp at the end of 10" which then split to two 8" arms (one with strobe, one with video light). Each 8" arm has 2 large stix floats.

 

For my first dive with GH5 I kept the same set up, but skipped the strobes as I don't have a flash for the GH5 yet (and one strobe needs repair). It was negative, but didn't drop like a stone. I could let it go for a few seconds, and it would start to slowly sink.

 

Macro setup will be much more negative, but likely workable. Will try and then consider adding more Stix or similar.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Adam

[adamtaylor 28]

White balance looks great.

I'm axious to get my GH5 into cold water this weekend (conditions permitting).

The settings choices the GH5 are almost overwhelming relative to my Canon SLR so it's interesting to see what has worked for you, particularly given I dive in similar conditions (Monterey). I would not normally consider auto ISO as an option for example.

Also, I had not encountered the shutter angle option (thanks stphnmartin).

 

-Brad

Hi Brad,

 

I tried Auto ISO because like you I find the choices overwhelming.

 

Basically I wanted to keep things simple, set a shutter speed, try Manual White Balance, start at f8 and go from there. I thought the added adjustments to ISO would be too much on my first dive, and besides I was curious to see what the camera would chose in different conditions. The more open green water shots were 6400 and the mid range shots 2500 with close ups and jelly shots 640 to 1600. It's not great footage & I have not pixel peeped, but with all the particulate I did not notice much graininess to the footage. May be different at 4K and clear water / lots of colour.

 

Perhaps once it is edited to get rid of washed out whites etc it could look worse, but compared to how my EM5 performed at high ISO I am happy.

 

Will try to get out to some of my deeper. darker sites in the next few weeks and push the settings a bit to see how it performs.

 

Considering you can access ISO by pressing a lever then spinning a dial I will be trying full manual settings soon, but one thing at a time...

 

As for cold water, even with thin dry gloves with liners all the controls were easy to use.

 

Will update over the next few weeks as I continue experimenting. The more we share the more we learn...

 

Regards,

 

 

Adam

[stphnmartin 115]

My housing arrived today so I'll take it for a dive tomorrow. Although, I only have the fish eye port. Macro port comes in next week. And, the viz reports are about 3-5 feet. So, it will be a chunky mess, but good for developing muscle memory where the controls are located.

[adamtaylor 28]

My housing arrived today so I'll take it for a dive tomorrow. Although, I only have the fish eye port. Macro port comes in next week. And, the viz reports are about 3-5 feet. So, it will be a chunky mess, but good for developing muscle memory where the controls are located.

Good luck and have fun with it

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[stphnmartin 115]

I did my first test dive with the GH5 today. Viz was 5-10 feet with lotsa particulate. I probably tried to much shooting 4K60p in vlog for the first try.

 

I'm adjusting from a video camera to the GH5. Also from locline arms to awkward ultralight arms. That will take a lot of getting used to. I had some trouble hitting the right buttons in dry gloves. That will probably come with practice. I turned the shutter angle a couple times by mistake. I was using the Olympus 1.8 fisheye. I don't have a focus ring for it so I was using a combination of manual and auto focus. Unfortunately, focus peaking doesn't show up when in auto focus mode. I also had my tripod on which made it even more of a challenge to get around with--until I"m used to it. And, I learned the fisheye is so wide it gets the tripod legs in the frame.

 

The conditions were so poor I didn't really get much video to share. I do feel an external monitor is needed to be able to better see the screen. It's too hard to try and get low to see the back panel. I managed to set the white balance with a grey slate. In full manual, at this point, I found it a challenge to keep exposure and focus in line. Like juggling for the first time. But, it will come with practice.

 

I'll post video from the next go around. The macro port comes next week and will be more suitable for the conditions.

[bubffm 178]

My housing is on its way and should be here mid next week. Then I need to get all the Focus / zoom gear 3D-printed, so it will be another two weeks or so before I will be operational.

 

I agree on the shutter angle issue, you can far too easily change this by mistake and without intention. This has already annoyed me during my overland testing of the GH5. Probably one of the downsides from moving away from a camcorder setup....

 

I will definitely go for an external monitor, the build in screen is too small and way too low for video monitoring. I have decided for a Diveandsee 5 inch, DNC-5, but its out of stock right now as a newer model will come out later this year. They give you good discount for a 7 inch until the new 5 inch is out, but thats just too large for me for normal reef dives, would be great for macro, though. But I cant invest in both...

 

So for the time being, I may have to live without ext. monitor.

 

bubffm

Edited June 11, 2017 by bubffm

[stphnmartin 115]

I did a test dive in the south San Juan Islands yesterday and here are some uncorrected video clips. I shot in manual at 1080/60p and custom white balanced against 2 solo 3000 lights. Use the Olympus PRO fisheye lens and the conditions were good enough viz wise to work with wide angle--which I'll confess isn't my strong point. Setting details are in the video. I was mainly trying to work with wide angle closeups. I ended up with a fair amount of footage out of focus. In manual mode I'd half press the shutter button to lock focus and then start recording. For the next fisheye tests, I'm going to just leave the aperture wide open and see how focus to infinity works.

 

Comments and critiques are welcome. My macro port arrives tomorrow and I'll do some tests with it this week as I have better competency with macro.

 

 

https://youtu.be/ETrESFIAato

[stphnmartin 115]

Oh, also learned I can get two dives on one battery. (Battery died during the 3rd dive.)

[adamtaylor 28]

I did a test dive in the south San Juan Islands yesterday and here are some uncorrected video clips. I shot in manual at 1080/60p and custom white balanced against 2 solo 3000 lights. Use the Olympus PRO fisheye lens and the conditions were good enough viz wise to work with wide angle--which I'll confess isn't my strong point. Setting details are in the video. I was mainly trying to work with wide angle closeups. I ended up with a fair amount of footage out of focus. In manual mode I'd half press the shutter button to lock focus and then start recording. For the next fisheye tests, I'm going to just leave the aperture wide open and see how focus to infinity works.

 

Comments and critiques are welcome. My macro port arrives tomorrow and I'll do some tests with it this week as I have better competency with macro.

 

Nice, how do you like the Olympus fisheye? Is it challenging to light such a wide field of view without burning the edges?

 

 

I've been wanting something wider than my Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 PRO and still on fence between the Oly fisheye and Oly 7-14mm so would live to hear pros and cons.

 

Tried macro with my GH5 today for first time using spare 10" & 12" arms on the tripod ball joints. The 60mm macro is a bit challenging and the CMC-2 would be best left until I dial in macro on its own.

 

Conditions were challenging to say the least. River silt, plankton and a couple curious seals kicking up the silty bottom....

 

Would prefer to experiment on settings using the 12-50mm as it isn't quite as tight as the 60mm. Still waiting for the replacement gear set from Nauticam which works with GH5.

 

Regards

 

 

Adam

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[stphnmartin 115]

I like the 180 degree view of the fisheye. I learned you cannot pan too quickly otherwise the distortion becomes quite apparent. Underwater the the lens can make for some dramatic scenes. Above water it has little use because any straight lines will reveal the distortion. I mainly want to use it for wide closeups. I may add a 7-14mm to my kit, once the financial damage of the initial investment wears off a bit.

 

My macro port with the GH5 gear arrives today. I'm going to try and test it tonight. I have the CMC-1 as well and will give it a go. I'm kinda used to super macro, so I'm hoping for a smooth adjustment from the video camera.

[Lionfi2s 74]

I did a test dive in the south San Juan Islands yesterday and here are some uncorrected video clips. I shot in manual at 1080/60p and custom white balanced against 2 solo 3000 lights. Use the Olympus PRO fisheye lens and the conditions were good enough viz wise to work with wide angle--which I'll confess isn't my strong point. Setting details are in the video. I was mainly trying to work with wide angle closeups. I ended up with a fair amount of footage out of focus. In manual mode I'd half press the shutter button to lock focus and then start recording. For the next fisheye tests, I'm going to just leave the aperture wide open and see how focus to infinity works.

 

Comments and critiques are welcome. My macro port arrives tomorrow and I'll do some tests with it this week as I have better competency with macro.

 

 

https://youtu.be/ETrESFIAato

Colors look good especially for such difficult conditions. Same with the focus. But the image is too soft in the corners IMHO. Is it vignetting at some point or just the lights fall off at the edge of the image?

[stphnmartin 115]

Colors look good especially for such difficult conditions. Same with the focus. But the image is too soft in the corners IMHO. Is it vignetting at some point or just the lights fall off at the edge of the image?

 

It's the fall off of the lights. No vignetting. Still getting used to the super wide view of the fisheye and didn't adjust the lights properly.

[stphnmartin 115]

Did another test dive last night using the 12-50mm and the cmc-1. I mistakenly shot everything in S mode which caused problems trying to set the white balance. It was a night dive and I couldn't see any of the button labels on the back of the camera. Also, with thick dry gloves on, I couldn't "feel" for the correct button. I had to pull one of the solas around to illuminate the back.

 

The 12-50mm nauticam port turns the focus wheel into a zoom wheel. There's also a knob on the port to switch between macro mode. I found the zoom wheel doesn't function when the lens is in macro mode. First you have to switch out of macro mode and then use the zoom. The auto focus worked okay on macro subjects. Sometimes it would focus on the wrong thing and I'd have trouble coaxing it to the right subject, sometimes having to move the tripod a little. (I'm wishing I had a manual focus wheel rather than the zoom wheel!) I think the appropriate strategy going forward is to sit back from the subject more and use the 4k image size to punch into the scene in post. This also provides the benefit of greater depth of field.

 

I did have an octopus move towards the camera and go out of focus very quickly. So, subjects moving towards and away from the lens will suffer from this. If it's moving side to side there won't be much of a focus issue. Do I dare try continuous auto focus?

 

The focus distance of the cmc-1 is very, very close. I almost have to hit the subject with the lens to get it into focus. It makes the process a bit more cumbersome when I want to move from wide open, to macro, to super macro on a single subject (something my old setup did with ease). If I have the camera setup perfect for macro and want to go to super, I have to reach out front and move the cmc into place. This can scare the subject and also stir up silt. With practice I'll become more smooth at this operation. The other option is to back away from the subject, set the cmc into place and then return. But, this can also stir up silt lifting the tripod as well as scaring the subject. (Really missing the internal flip macro diopter of the bluefin housing!!!)

 

With the tripod added to the setup the rig is quite heavy. I was using 6 Stix jumbo floats and it's not enough. I'll add two more at a minimum to make it less negative. When I add an external monitor, more floats will be needed!

 

The image quality is really, really outstanding and I'm excited about that.

 

Next test will be with the 60mm. Will post some sample footage perhaps over the weekend.

Edited June 21, 2017 by stphnmartin

[stphnmartin 115]

Still testing the camera, no footage to share, just experience. Tried the 60mm with the cmc-1. I don't have the focus gear so I was relying on auto focus--which I'm not all that happy with. Part of it is because I'm learning the general focus distance of the lens and the cmc. But, in general the auto focus hunts a lot. Even when using the back button focus lock.

 

I also tried the camera in AFC in tracking mode. Didn't really work. Right now my preference lies with the 12-50mm lens for flexibility. But, I'll give the 60mm more tries.

 

I still find myself hitting buttons and dials I don't want to with dry gloves on. I'm going to try a thinner liner and glove on my right hand to see if that helps.

 

I have decided setting the ISO to auto is probably the way I'm going to go. One less thing to adjust.

 

Hope you're getting along fine with the new setup. Please chime in a share any discoveries or more efficient setups.

 

Oh, I did place an order for the smallHD501 and na-502 housing. I expect to put those into action this weekend on next week.

[adamtaylor 28]

Still testing the camera, no footage to share, just experience. Tried the 60mm with the cmc-1. I don't have the focus gear so I was relying on auto focus--which I'm not all that happy with. Part of it is because I'm learning the general focus distance of the lens and the cmc. But, in general the auto focus hunts a lot. Even when using the back button focus lock.

 

I also tried the camera in AFC in tracking mode. Didn't really work. Right now my preference lies with the 12-50mm lens for flexibility. But, I'll give the 60mm more tries.

 

I still find myself hitting buttons and dials I don't want to with dry gloves on. I'm going to try a thinner liner and glove on my right hand to see if that helps.

 

I have decided setting the ISO to auto is probably the way I'm going to go. One less thing to adjust.

 

Hope you're getting along fine with the new setup. Please chime in a share any discoveries or more efficient setups.

 

Oh, I did place an order for the smallHD501 and na-502 housing. I expect to put those into action this weekend on next week.

Agree with what you say about the 60mm. It is a great lens, but has a fairly steep learning curve as it is much more powerful than the 12-50mm set to 43mm Macro. To limit focus hunting I set the focal range on lens to 0mm to 19mm.

 

I have the focus gear so especially when focus peaking (and optical zoom) is active it's easy to achieve focus at the START of the shot.... Confirming focus on a small moving subject during the shot is more difficult as the focus peaking dissapears.

 

Cannot wait for my flash so I can try focus peaking with still photography.

 

For the 60mm I find that if you have a subject surrounded by other things it can confuse autofocus. Try pre-focusing on something at a similar distance and it helps get autofocus in the ball-park.

 

 

Have only got the camera back in the water one more time. A dusk dive with 12-40 lens. Works with the tripod but I suspect it will not be super stable in current due to the size of the dome.

 

Lots of particulate in water so tried the spot feature on my lights to minimize backscatter. Interesting effect and will definately experiment more.

 

Video has always been an after thought for me, so still getting used to keeping the subject firmly in the focal range.

 

Will try to post some more sample footage.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Adam

 

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[stphnmartin 115]

I tried again last night with the 60mm and cmc-1. Getting a gauge as to the best subject size for this combination of lenses. Tried variations of MF and AFC with tracking. Couldn't get the latter to work at all probably due to the shallow depth of field. I'm using one area focus. I'm sure it's probably a familiarity thing, but when I get the camera underwater it doesn't respond like it does when I'm sitting at home just going through the settings! I tried AFC tracking on a hermit crab and the camera failed miserably. It would lock onto something when I was just trying to get it to auto focus!

 

Anyway, that was me screaming underwater in case you were wondering. Onward with the learning!

[stphnmartin 115]

A quick clip of an octo eye using the 60mm and CMC-1. There was lots of particulate in the water as you'll see.

 

[stphnmartin 115]

Learned something new today. Using a knockoff battery with the 12-50mm lens I've determined I can only get 1.25 dives before the battery dies. So, there is a drawback to cheaper brand-x batteries and I'll changed them out after each dive when using the 12-50mm. I think the electronic zoom helps to drain the battery.

 

Also giving up on auto ISO.

[thetrickster 328]

Also giving up on auto ISO.

 

Wow, can you explain? This is probably one of the main reasons why I'm looking to getting the GH5.

 

As at the moment I run the GH4 in S Priority and fix the ISO and let the camera adjust aperture, however a most of the lenses, this causes visible flicking, was hoping going for autoISO on the GH5 would get around this...

[stphnmartin 115]

 

Wow, can you explain? This is probably one of the main reasons why I'm looking to getting the GH5.

 

As at the moment I run the GH4 in S Priority and fix the ISO and let the camera adjust aperture, however a most of the lenses, this causes visible flicking, was hoping going for autoISO on the GH5 would get around this...

 

I've been getting a lot of graininess in video and I suspect it's the auto ISO. I shoot video in manual with 360 shutter angle. I adjust aperture for depth of field and was hoping auto ISO would adjust appropriately for exposure. The graininess could be related to custom white balancing, so I'm going to do another test to make sure that's not the issue. I've been setting a custom white balance and not resetting it as often as I should as depth and ambient light changes. Will let you know.