Welcome everyone, this is Doug with B&H!
Today, we are here to get an in-depth look at something special: The Panasonic GH5S.
Yeah, it’s real.
Aimed at professional video creators, the GH5S is a little different from its cousin
the GH5.
It’s biggest point?
Low-light.
The GH5S shares a lot in common with the GH5, right down to an identical body, but with
a newly designed 10 megapixel sensor, the resulting image is completely different.
We took the GH5S to Overthrow Boxing in Brooklyn, to see how it fared in a dark, mixed light,
fast paced workout.
Now before we begin, let’s get a few things straight:
Both cameras record the same bitrates, codecs, and resolutions.
Every format the GH5 can record, so too, can the GH5S.
The variable framerate options are the same, as are the color profiles.
But with a sensor of only 10 megapixels, the GH5S can soak up a lot more light in the same
micro-four-thirds space, meaning the sensitivity, dynamic range, and noise levels, are dramatically
improved.
One of the biggest tradeoffs of the GH5S, however, is the in-body stabilization.
It still supports optical stabilization from Panasonic lenses, and we’ll compare those
differences later on.
For our first test, we’ve scaled aperture in relation to ISO, so the overall exposure
should remain the same in each test.
Since this is a somewhat dark indoor scene, we’re starting with ISO 1600.
First ungraded, then graded.
Here’s 3200.
And here’s 6400.
Let’s look a little closer.
Freeze frames reveal that the noise is still very manageable even into ISO 6400.
Once a grade is applied, most of the noise simply vanishes.
In this particular area, the GH5 also puts up a good fight, but with little room for
error.
Noise is evident even at 1600, though a grade does take care of most of the noise there.
One of my favorite features of the GH5 was the addition of slow motion up to 180fps.
Only problem is, when you use such a high framerate, you lose a LOT of light due to
the relative shutter speed increase.
You either need a faster lens, or you can crank the ISO to compensate.
Combine this with low light situations like this very gym, and you’ll find yourself
really pushing the camera.
By the way, the GH5S supports up to 240fps in Full HD.
Here’s both cameras, facing off at 120fps.
On one side, we have the GH5, and the other, the GH5S.
But some situations are so challenging, so painfully underlit, that you might not even
try it.
This is fully open at f/2.8, with 24fps at ISO 3200.
Noise only shows up in the deepest of shadows, but is once again, almost invisible once graded.
But if we slow things down to 120fps, we have no choice but to push the camera…
To ISO 10,000.
Now there’s noise here to be sure, especially if you look at the ungraded image, but it’s
far more manageable than the GH5, and should give a good idea of where the real-world limits
of the GH5S lie.
Believe it or not, this is not even close to where the GH5S tops out.
For that, join me in my lovely backyard, where I struggle to stay warm by the fire.
Don’t worry, it’s all in the name of science.
We’ll start at ISO 800.
This scene is not only dark, but features the harsh contrast of the flames and porch
light in the back.
ISO 1600.
ISO 2500.
ISO 3200.
ISO 6400.
ISO 12,800.
ISO 25,600.
Finally, ISO 51,200.
Now if you’re shooting cinema, this is probably a bit unrealistic for you, since you’ll
be lighting the scene anyway.
There is clearly noise as you climb up, but having usable ISOs beyond 3200, or even 6400,
opens the door to far more ambient lighting choices.
Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about the stabilizer.
The Dual IS 2 was one of the GH5’s greatest additions, and it’s proven especially useful
for handheld work.
The GH5S supports lens stabilization from Panasonic lenses that offer it, so what we’ve
done is placed the cameras above each other, and tracked similar shots.
First, we’re looking at the GH5 with stabilization enabled, and the GH5S, with no stabilization.
As expected, the lack of stabilization makes the shot a lot shakier.
Now, we’ll enable the lens IS on the GH5S.
Much better, but still not quite as good as the GH5’s Dual IS 2.
While it’s an unfortunate loss, I personally find the gain in ISO performance to be worth
it.
As long as you have stabilization on your lens, you should be able to get by.
Don’t forget that high ISO performance also means that if you used the GH5’s stabilizer
to compensate for a low shutter speed, you can now increase the shutter speed a little
bit and also boost the ISO comfortably.
Out of the box, the GH5S comes equipped with V-Log L, so unlike the GH5, there’s no need
to purchase it separately.
The 10MP sensor is also a multi-aspect sensor, allowing the camera to maintain its field-of-view
when switching from stills to video mode, or from UHD to DCI 4K mode.
There is red trim along some of the body, but it is otherwise physically identical to
the original GH5 right down to the battery, meaning accessories and rigs should be fully
compatible.
The GH5S is a very interesting camera.
As a stills camera, the 10MP resolution does feel limiting, but low light performance like
this in a micro-four-thirds sensor is literally unheard of.
Though the camera sacrifices things like the in-body stabilizer and 6k video mode, this
one feature has a big affect on the overall camera.
Slow motion is not only easier to pull off, but because there’s less noise overall,
the camera’s codec doesn’t have to work as hard to compress a noisy image when shooting
slow motion.
You can also stop down if you want deeper focus, or use slower lenses, taking advantage
of the ISO range in the process.
It cuts seamlessly with the original GH5, and unless you need the stabilization, provides
a cleaner, crisper image at every level.
This is Doug with B&H, I’ll see you next time.