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Official Panasonic G5 topic
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  • @8088

    Yes, it would be great. A 16:9 Raw file and a short clip (MTS file) taken from the same scene would be enough. So we can also compare the angle of view and the pixels used for video and still mode.

  • @OASYS

    Here you go. Let me know if you need anything else. http://preview.tinyurl.com/8r54dp3

  • Thanks @8088

    Now it's confirmed. It turns out no luck. The exif shows:

    Sensor width/height (16:9): GH2: 5208x2816 (17.2MB) G5: 4816x2608 (14.7MB) GX1: 4760x2592 (14.6MB)

    Image size (16:9): GH2: 4985x2816 G5: 4652x2608 GX1:4597x2592

    So it is restricted by the firmware. Also I checked the border beyond the image width. There're all junk pixels (see the right corner of the left picture). However, we can still see that the Raw file has larger field of view than that of video (right picture). The extra area should be for the lens correction.

    comparison.png
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  • Thanks OASYS for checking this out. Does this mean the G5 sensor is smaller than the GH2 sensor? I was hoping that the G5 had the same multi-aspect possibilities as the GH2 and that those only had to be unlocked with a hack.

  • @8088

    So far I can tell that the firmware of G5 crops the Raw file from the very beginning. As you can see, the file size of G5 is also smaller than that of GH2. My feeling is that G5 actually uses different sensor from GX1/G3 because their image sizes are slightly different. So there's still hope to get the multi-aspect mode back with a hacked firmware. Maybe a complaining letter to panasonic can do some help as well.;-)

    Thanks for your help again.

    Cheers.

  • @8088 Could you run this test on the G5 for us:

    1. Turn on the flicker reduction option to lock the shutter speed to 1/60 (or 1/50 in PAL mode).

    2. Set the Mode dial to A (aperture priority) exposure mode.

    3. Set ISO to AUTO.

    Questions:

    1. When you change aperture manually, does shutter speed stay constant while the G5 adjusts ISO to maintain correct exposure?

    2. When you change the Exposure Compensation, does shutter speed stay constant while the G5 adjusts ISO to change the exposure?

    3. When you record a video, do aperture and shutter stay constant while ISO varies with illumination?

    4. If you press the AE Lock button before recording a video, do aperture, shutter, and ISO stay constant during the video take?

    If the answer to all four questions is YES, the G5 can be used to record videos semi-manually much like the Nikon D5100, which allows you to preset aperture and shutter speed manually while auto-ISO controls exposure.

  • @LPowell I will run the test first thing tomorrow morning (central european time).

  • @LPowell

    Luckily I didn't buy my G5 for doing video. The lack of manual control is pretty disappointing.

    I set the ISO to manual, the flicker reduction to 1/50 and the dial to "A". Just like you suggested. Turns out there is no way to control the aperture when recording a video. The aperture information isn't even displayed on the screen. Just the shutter speed info is there when in flicker reduction mode (it stays 50/60 obviously). So even when the camera is set to Aperture Priority, the aperture keeps changing. I can see the iris blades moving.

    Exposure compensation can be set but only before recording. When recording everything is locked.

    AE lock has no effect when in video mode. I locked AE before recording, but after pressing the movie button the camera goes back to auto exposure.

    I am not sure about ISO but my guess is that it is always AUTO when recording video.

    Even so the G5 is great. For photos.

  • @8088 So with a manual lens it should work with only ISO changing. Did you try to press AE lock after you started recording?

  • @8088

    I set the ISO to manual, the flicker reduction to 1/50 and the dial to "A".

    That's almost, but not quite the same test I'm hoping you can do for me. What I'm interested to know is how the camera performs when ISO is set to Auto, not manual. In Auto-ISO mode using Aperture Priority with Flicker Reduction, I expect the G5 will adjust the ISO rather than the shutter speed, in order to maintain correct exposure. The Exposure Compensation button should allow you to alter the exposure it selects. If you then press the AE-lock button, it should lock down all exposure settings.

    Now press the video record button, and observe what happens. If all exposure settings stay the same, then the G5 can be used this way to shoot video in semi-manual mode. If not, it will need to be hacked before it will be usable as a video camera.

  • @ LPowell Sorry, I meant "I set the ISO to AUTO". I really did the test the way you described. Setting ISO to AUTO doesn't help to lock the exposure. Probably the ISO/gain in video is always automatically adjusted anyway. And so is the exposure. There seems to be no way to fix the exposure. You can't even see what exposure the camera chooses, you can't compensate it while recording and you can't lock it. @ oscillian Pressing AE lock both before and during recording have no effect. I will do some tests with manual lenses later on. That might still be a good solution for more manual control.

  • In the user manual I thought I read somewhere that ae-lock can be set but only when the camera is in manual focus? is it a weird thing like that?

  • @LPowell FYI Gf2/Gf3/Gx1 can't really lock the shutter speed with Flicker Reduction menu option. Sometimes the bodies changed ISO and shutter speed when the exposure is too low or too high.

  • Yep, it is very sad.

    This is why I need to push more working on manual patches.

  • @8088

    Can the G5 take a still while shooting 1080p @ 60 FPS video? If so try this. Set the camera to take full size RAW images during video. Then set the shutter speed to what you want it to be, take a video and take a picture. The RAW file will have the settings that you set before you hit record. The question is "will the video use those settings as well.

  • @adventsam Also in MF mode AE-lock doesn't work with video. I think what you are referring to is this line in the manual: "AE Lock only is effective when taking pictures with Manual Focus". What I think is meant by that is that of the combined functionality of the AF/AE lock button, only the AE lock is effective when focusing manually.

    The manual also mentions: "AE Lock is canceled when motion picture recording begins". So at least Panasonic is honest about that.

    I just did a test with a manual lens. I happen to have some old Olympus OM glass and an OM to M43 adapter. It is doable this way. Flicker reduction on. Aperture set on the lens. ISO setting doesn't matter, it is set to AUTO anyway when in video mode. Exposure compensation has to be set before starting the recording (that's a shame).

    So if somebody ever wants to do some serious video work with the G5: you need a manual lens or a hack.

  • @mpgxsvd Yes, you can take pictures when shooting video. There are two modes: Motion picture priority and Still picture priorities (see manual). Whichever I choose, the exposure settings for still pictures are never used by the video.

  • @8088

    Do the still picture priority images use the settings you set? The GH2 works that way.

  • @mpgxsvcd Yes, with Still picture priority you can set the settings for the pictures you make during video recording. Except the aspect ratio will be fixed to 16x9.

  • Vitaliy_Kiselev, are there perspectives to add video manual control on G5 ?

  • Vitaliy_Kiselev, are there perspectives to add video manual control on G5

    We do not have G5 in plans yet.

  • I get the impression there aren't that many G5s in the wild, with very few people in this thread actually owning one. Is that true, have there been many offers to test patches? I'm kind of in the camp where I'd only be interested in the camera if it had the features removed from the GH2 re-enabled (and I'm also waiting to see what the EP5 looks like). I supposed it's possible that it will never build up the kind of critical mass to make it worth working on, if enough people think like me!

    /negativity

  • Oh no .... Vitaliy_Kiselev! you are our last hope! .. Only a small patch (high bitrate video and manual control) ...

  • I really hope the G5 catches on, or gets at least popular enough to do a hack. It's a really nice camera, but at the moment I feel like it has about the same videoquality as my hacked GF2... If what they say about having almost the same sensor as the GH2 is true, then this could become an awesome machine with a decent patch!