GH5/GH5S/G9 has since then received a new firmware update which has improved the autofocus tracking performance: ruclips.net/video/rwpzn3AjWZY/видео.html
Viewing this in December 2020! So impressed with the G85, this was my first LUMIX camera and I still use it. It now has a GH5 and G9 to help out but I use the G80 much more than you would expect. However with the latest firmware updates on the GH5 and G9 the autofocus has been left behind. Great work back then thank you.
That is the best autofocus test video I have ever seen. Thanks for putting that together. I think the G9 probably meets my AF needs, it seemed to track you really well running towards the camera.
Photo By Richard When you shoot video through the EVF, can you see the AF points lock onto their subjects such as a face or can you see zebra stripe focus peaking in the EVF?
Photo By Richard So I guess the correct AF boxes are tracking the subject, but the lens might not be adjusting focus quickly enough to keep up with those boxes. Do you feel like AF can keep up with people at walking and jogging speeds most of the time, or does it miss focus a lot of times?
I don't think the problem is that the lens can't keep up. The newer lens has 240fps AF motor and the AF in AF-S mode is stupidly fast. Now I don't really know how the face tracking works, but just happen my master degree thesis was also about face tracking and analysis, so I'm guessing (really just a guess) this is how Panasonic face/body tracking works. Step 1. Using a low resolution image to detect the position of the face/body. This define the area where autofocus will perform at. Step 2. Perform the autofocus at the detected face/body position from step 1. Now it seems step 1 is almost always accurate and reliable. But somehow step 2 would sometimes fail to detect the changes in subject position, especially in the case of GH5. But again, this is all my guesses and assumptions so I could be completely wrong :)
Hey, Richard, your video tests of autofocus were an important part of my BIG decision this year. After several months of thinking about it I pulled the trigger on buying a G9 and have placed the order. Hopefully it arrives before Christmas. Thank you to your dedicated work.
at 6:56 replaying and listening to the music the gh5s wins. At 7:10 the G9 just beats out the GH5s with the g85 and GH5 coming in late at about the same time. At 7:26 bot GH5s and G9 lock on almost the entire run with a slight advantage to the GH5s at the end where the G85 and GH5 never do completely find proper focus. Fun test. Thanks for the video.
GH5s looks better than the Gh5, Better than I thought it would be but still more or less on par with the older A7sII which I sold a while back hoping the A7sIII was around the corner Cough Cough 1 year and a half later and that whole time have been tempted to jump to the GH5 and now s only bc of it's 60p 4k and color bit depth. I will still wait until the A7sIII is announced before making decisions. Thanks for the test!!!
Yea Id have to say the G9 did very well. Given that its the same sensor and IBIS as the GH5 (which in my opinion came in 4th overall) means there will most certainly be a GH5 2.3 firmware update this year which will include auto focus.
Yes my G9 arrives tomorrow! It was tied with gh5s and had same narrow dof as big 3. G85 good, but narrower aperture. I can see why GH5 users are complaining. Need to compare in 4k60p, so G85 can be removed. I also suspect G9 has best video IS, with 6.5 stops in spec.
yep thats why iam keeping the g80 i use it every 2 weeks not daily so spending more money on a camera thats not daily used would just be a pitty iam still happy with the ibis and even the af .......
This is the first and only comparison between all these cameras, thanks for doing the video, super helpful. In your real life usage, do you think the focus speed and functions are worth to choose G9 over GH5 and G85? 🤔
+Leica Dad in my real life usage, I would rate G9 and GH5s almost identical in terms of autofocus performance when shooting video. GH5 (with firmware 2.2) is not as responsive or consistent. If you shoot photo mostly I would recommend the G9. That's probably the camera I would get if I am upgrading my g85 today as I don't need the high end video features from the GH5 and GH5S
Photo By Richard thank you for the quick reply. I’m thinking about getting one for Mt RUclips video, professional quality is not needed, but good autofocus and face tracking can be very helpful. I was hoping the GH5S will improve auto focus system, but sadly not, and even IBIS was removed.
GH5S's video AF is better than the GH5, and very similar to the G9. Remember even though G9 was announced back in Nov, the actual shipping date is almost the same as the GH5S so the development I would assume must have happened at very similar time. For youtube videos (just realise I've watched quite a few of videos before! subscribing now) I think G9 is the best choice.
Photo By Richard Good point on the release date and the development time frame, they must be very similar in focus system. Thank you Richard, I love your channel and have watched many videos of yours as well (Subbed of course)!
Thank you for video, Richard. Tough! In the beginning, G85 rocked. In the end, G9 and GH5S did good job. GH5 disappoints me very much. Of course, we are expecting a firmware update for GH5, though.
Great video!! Wow, GH5S and G9 sure is better.. but the incredible part was the G85 fighting really hard to beat it's brothers. What a cam. I can understand why people diss Panasonic's AF so much (when compared to others), but to be honest, I think it's very very usable. It's not as bad as people said. And Panasonic keep working to make 'em better, even though it's kinda silly that they said they won't implement PDAF in the near future. Single AF, as fast as Lucky Luke's shoots it's shadow. Continuous AF, well, I think that's why PDAF is exist, right? I believe they can make their Continuous AF better. I think they need to find out how to make their CAF (Contrast AF) works even faster. Improve the G9's chip, use newer technology (ehem, Sony A9) to transmit the data faster. If they can implement it in their 4K/6K Photo gimmick and make it works somehow to get 30 FPS or even 60 FPS blur free photos (you know where I'm going with this) then it's basically a video. If they can extract photos from a video, I believe they can turn it the other way around. Well, maybe they can't because of the jitter in CAF is unavoidable. Maybe, who knows. But, yeah, they can try that one.
thank you. GH5 would be a very cool upgrade! Btw, please subscribe if you haven't already, there will be a lot more Panasonic and Olympus gear review (+ other brands) coming soon this year :)
Very nice and practical comparison and thanks for your great work. I think one thing is focus acquisition and on that score I was pleasantly surprised by the G85 performance! However, I think that when it comes to video in addition to focus acquisition the big problem the Lumix DFD system faces is maintaining AF in all of its flavors... I own a G85 and one of my main dislikes for video work is maintaining AF and the constant hunting... hence, I have decided to go all MF for my videos. Based on the results a saw in your test I am wondering if the problem will ever get solved with DFD alone or perhaps Panasonic decides to include phase detection at some point soon... I hope.
I'd like to greatly appreciate you for posting this video! I've been wrecking my brain trying to decide between the G85 & the G9. Honestly, I think the G85 will do just fine for me! The G9 would be awesome because of the huge viewfinder, higher frame rates and apparently slightly better color science too. But, I don't know if I want to spend $800 more for those things haha. Thanks again for the video! I'm definitely subbing 🙌🏾🙌🏾
+DJTronuk Glad the video helps you. Yes the g9 is definitely better camera but the g85 isn't too bad and very good value for money. Thanks for subbing. I am almost 1k :D
Photo By Richard Haha, yea I just don't understand why Lumix would double the price of the G9 compared to the G85. If it was only $200-300 more, I'd get the G9 for sure.
+DJTronuk all the previous G series cameras were like a cut down version of GH. Smaller, more plastic, lower spec, lower build quality. But the g9 is same level as GH5 they are both flagship built to same quality and very similar spec.ao basically it is a GH5 tuned for photographers. I wish it's 2-300 more too and I would have bought one already
Ok, I'll be the first to ask. Since Max Yuryev did his video AF comparison between the GH5 and Canon's Dual Pixel AF, I think it is time for the GH5s to challenge something like Canon's 80D to see how they compare. I'd also like to see some videos "selfie cam" style, with you walking around to see if the GH5s will hold AF on your face or drift off and lock on something in the background like the GH5 did/does. Thanks for these great videos!
I really want to test it against a Canon too. Unfortunately I couldn't source one to do the test. And yes I've already shot a very short video/vlog using the GH5S for exactly the same reason you mentioned. To test whether GH5S can focus on my face and also if it can hold on my face when I'm walking and moving around. Please check my channel in 1-2 day and I should have that video up :)
Good exercise routine for you Richard... I thought you might run right into the cameras! :) The G85 started off quite well but overall the G9 and the GH5s did better with the GH5 appearing to be in 4th place. I think the G85 was mainly struggling when your head was not center frame as much. Do you think the firmware improved it overall?
Jon, LOL!! I actually re-shoot this quite a few time as there was always something wrong with one of the camera (some settings not right/match other cameras or memory card full or something random) so it was a real good exercise!! But yes that's pretty much the same as my conclusion too. my own G85 started off really quite well (and man I was happy!!!) until it started feeling the stress and failed to keep up later on. Yes the camera angle is a problem. I have already tried to adjust the camera position to minimise the difference but Ideally I should have shot at a longer focal length so there is less parallax difference. The latest firmware seems to have fixed all (most?) of the minor bugs I experienced with the 0.2 firmware, but in terms of autofocus performance, I don't see any noticeable difference. From my experience, this is usually the case with Panasonic pre-production camera/firmware. The 1.0 firmware is usually about bug fixing/improving stability. Most important features should have been almost finalised by the time they sent out prototypes to reviews/external photographers. The only exception I remember was the GX8 where the first pre-production firmware didn't have Dual I.S.
I think the GH5s was the winner, very closely followed by the G9, then the G85 performing respectably, and the GH5 lagging way behind every other cam. It was interesting, the G85 seemed to do very well in AF in the beginning and then started to get outdone by the G9 and GH5s pretty consistently after that. Maybe it was the camera angles?
Hello richard, can u pls help me out? i dont know, which camera i should buy? im noob on movies and i dont think i need the overkill features from gh5 oder gh5s... I make youtube videos as you see on my channel.. also halbtotale, inside with many lights, not many moves, most of the tiem sit and talk. I have to make photos for my social meadia ,too... do you recommend the g9 or the g85? and which lens for a nice bokeh do you use there?
G85 is fine for most people. I am also using a g85 for almost all my videos at the moment as well. I would like to have a g9 or GH5 too but it's not cheap. In terms of lens, the Leica 25mm f/1.4 would be great and versatile. Or the Panasonic 42.5 f/1.7 or 25mm f/1.8 are nice but cheaper
@@TheRealRichardWong Ah really? do you need the g85 for your videos?= Oh that sounds nice, the g85 cost a lot less than the g9... Did the g85 still firmware updates? Ad did then g85 still a firmware update for AF ,too? i woulkd buythe camera then with your affi link on amazon.. its works, im in germany and use amazon.de which is the best lens youj think?
I use g85 mainly. Re firmware update. Unfortunately don't think we will see any major upgrade in the future as it's a old model and processor is different to the GH5/g9 so update for those cameras can't be ported to the g85. Having said that, for the kind of videos you want to capture, the current firmware handles it quite well. No I don't have affiliated link but thanks for asking :)
You need to redo this with 30fps using the 179 Degree Shutter Angle to see if there's improvement in the GH5 and GH5s. The new hack works a lot better.
Thank you Richard for posting such a well done comparison. I agree with the general conclusions that GH5s is better than GH5. I also noticed more noise in the GH5 in skin tones. Do you recall what ISO you were shooting at?
Richard thanks a lot this test put in clear which one is better. I think you can do a test in the street with the gh5s and auto focus tracking, and face detection, or maybe with central area, and walk around the city, could be an I nterésting exercise. Thanks Rich
Bernardo, thanks for the suggestions! I will see what I can do. I still have 2-3 more videos coming so see if i can fit another AF test video before I return the camera to Panasonic
Hi Richard, so with this auto focus fix which one would you recommend for photoshoots and videoshoots? I'm about to upgrade from the G80/G85 and i see the G9 and Gh5 as potentials, which one though? I do music videos and also vlogging and also a lot of portraits and street photography, which one? thanks, Jay..
hey FacesOut, it's quite hard to choose. The G9 has a few extra features for photos such as high burst speed, no black out EVF, high res mode. But if you don't need those features (high speed and high res), then i would go for the GH5 as it has more advanced video features
yes ideally, all the cameras should be placed in the same position and recording exactly same movement. Unfortunately it's a bit hard to repeat the same movement with multiple takes so i have to place the camera side by side and record the same movement. But I did repeated this test multiple times on multiple days under different lighting and different camera position, and the result is pretty consistent with this video.
for the price g85 smashes it all v similar focus pan gets bashed for face detect auto focus but area focus i find good with g85 in reality running around land low light tests i guess some v rare situations love lumex elec viewfinder
Thanks for the video. I´m currently planing to upgrade from my (sometimes not so) trusty GX8, and TBH, it seems Panasonic still does a lousy job AF-wise even with high-end stuff, therefore I think I will not consider GH5 and G9. Let´s face it, the issue is the disadvantage of the CDAF system. When even the G85 has a minor advantage over newer and more expensive cameras there must be something wrong. TBH the performance here doesn´t seem much better of what I have seen some years ago on my GH1 and GH2. Panasonic should really think about switching to PDAF like Sony. But it seems they aren´t interested, instead they put out a boring GX9 some days ago. Yawn. The issue is that Sony also is not such a good alternative. The a6500 has better AF but then it has overheating issues, bad 1080p quality and no 4K50/60. Canon has also good AF performance with Dual Pixel but then there is the really lousy video quality. It´s not my concern that they don´t have 4K but that even 1080p on cameras like the 77D is abysmal. Hopefully one day there will be a camera with 4K50/60, PDAF, IBIS and no heat issues...all in one package.
Hi, great video! I think it would be better if whenever a camera focused first, the video put a check mark or lights up green. It's a little hard to keep track of 4 screens at the same time, but to me it seemed like g85 was the fastest. Was the autofocus set to AFC, AFF, or AFS?
+R C thanks for the suggestion. Will keep that in mind. All cameras were in AFC mode, face tracking and maximum aperture. Ideally I should have all four cameras using the same lens but I couldn't get 4 copirs of the same lens so the GH5, GH5S ,G9 had the Leica 12-60 and the g85 had the Lumix 12-60 which means the G85 were shooting at a slightly smaller aperture which does give it a bit advantage
Thanks for the great test though a little overwhelming to spot which camera was focusing the fastest consistently with four to watch simultaneously..I have a g85 but considering the others though I'm a photographer I'm getting more back into videography.. With Panasonic's poor reputation for autofocus in video it must be the the one with the fastest AF to date.. Is it the g9? Is it possible to do the test again with a shallower depth of field with the two fastest cameras from this test? Thank you
Hi Justin, sorry yes it is a bit hard to keep track of all 4 cameras at the same time, especially the difference isn't huge in a lot of cases. What I did is I just focused on two cameras at a time, e.g. GH5 vs GH5S and see which one is better, then re-watch and focus on another pair.. like G9 vs GH5S. you can also try play back the video at 0.5x or even 0.25x speed and that makes it easier to compare. re more shallow depth of field. I would love to do that too. Unfortunately arranging two copies of fast (both aperture and autofocus speed) proved a bit difficult :( I myself only have a Leica 25 1.4 which is not the best lens for testing autofocus because of it's slow autofocus speed. I also have some Olympus lens which also isn't good for testing DFD autofocus system. And if I borrow 1 fast lens and therefore have to test the two cameras separately instead of side by side, i feel it's not really a good controlled test as well. Reason is that the difference in autofocus performance between say G9 and GH5S is really quite small so if I can't 100% reproduce my test sequence then the margin of error would be too big which makes the result inconclusive
Photo By Richard ok thanks..I do appreciate your tests... Will play back slower but some people are saying the g85 of somehow the fastest but others and you say the gh5s and g9 are kind of the fastest (a tie), then the g85 and last the gh5.. is this what you agree? If it's between the g9 and gh5s I think I'd consider the g9 based on price, being a photographer and still reattaining ibis..
justinspirational I would say, while the g85 performs quite well at the beginning of the test, it is not as reliable in the second half of the test. Also remember the g85 has a smaller aperture lens so it has a bit of advantage as well. Yes If you ask me, I would rate both GH5s and G9 pretty much equal and best result. And GH5 the last. I myself would also buy a g9 if I am upgrading my g85 today as I dont need vlog and other advance video features and prefer to have G9's better photo capability
looking at this at slower playback in full screen on a monitor- it definitely actually seems the GH5s actually has the edge over the G9 and is the fastest of the four if you consider the more challenging tests like where you come in from camera right from off camera at 6'56" and all the tests immediately after that where you are running (moving quickly) towards camera the GH5s comes first place followed by the G9.. I wish it was the G9 first as I want the IBIS but still food for thought..do you think with the GH5s always having you in the center of frame compositionally gave it an advantage over the other cameras where you ended up off center (is it easier for the cams in general to focus on a subject in the center of frame compared to the edges)?
I'd like to see a COMPARISON OF SHARPNESS / COLOR / GRADATION of REAL PEOPLE SHOT INDOOR at AMBIENT LIGHTS CONDITIONS (shutter 1/60, f2.8, Iso 3200) side by side between: Panasonic GH5s, the Canon 5D Mark III, 5D Mark IV and possibly the 1DX Mark II or the Sony A7R III... I like the GH5s but I recently shot some footage indoor with my 5D Mark III and I was surprised by its ability to remain SHARP and COLOR ACCURATE in a dark room at 3200iso, f2.8 and 1/60 while shooting 1080p 30fps. Thanks.
HI Alberto, I would love to see a test like that too. Unfortunately I would be quite hard (for me at least) to arrange all these cameras together for a side by side test. The 5DIII can capture some nice (but not great) 1080P footage, but the GH5S's 4K video and all the extra functionality (10bit out, 4:2:2, high bit rate, all those on-screen display options and input/output ports) make the GH5S a much more serious video camera in comparison.
Interestingly enough there are no video comparisons done against Canon 5Ds and the 1Dx Mark II which the GH5s could very well beat and Canon people currently on the fence (such as myself) may be able to make-up their mind.
Not many people use 5D2/1Dx Mk2 (the only one I can think of is Peter Mckinnon?) for video these days. Panasonic and Sony in general are just much better if you want a camera mainly for video. Canon is still really holding back when it comes to putting nice video features to their cameras.
Only question I have is how were these rendered. As long as it came out mathematically at the proper frame-size bit rate, then the G9 and Gh5s contest.
Remember the golden disc that Nasa put on the Voyager to explain what mankind is about? Well, they should put this video on the next deep space mission as it will tell all aliens how serious and dedicated our species is about, well, stuff! But seriously, well done, I much enjoy your work! I am still undecided where to go next from my G85. I am leaning towards G9 if there wasnt this annoying record time limitation on it (which apparently has to do with import tax in Europe, not sure whether that is an issue in NZ). Ideally I would keep the G85, which really does a decent job in your test, and similarly to my collection of lenses, which is ever expanding and perhaps the best way to adapt to usecases, I perhaps should just start collecting cameras. Hm!
Happy to hear you like my video, but not so sure about sending it to the outer space LOL! The recording time limit can be a bit annoying. but I think for most people, it shouldn't be a big problem? 30 minutes 4k 24/25 is quite a long limit, but if you do regularly record long video then it can be a bit of hassle. I'm really tempted to order a G9 as I want the slow motion and a second camera for my videos but need to save up a little while first. Already spent a lot of money on this channel :(
How does the AF on the G9 compare to the G85 after the 2.0 firmware update? Can the G9 do autoiso in 4k video? I have the G85 now. Is it worth upgrading to the G9 or should I wait for the next iteration now that it's already 2 years old? the G9 body only is now USD1000 and with the Leica 12-60 its USD1600. Is that a good price?
Sorry I haven't actually get time to try the 2.0 firmware myself this time. Being really busy with a few other reviews at the moment. I doubt there will be a replacement for g9 in the next 12 months. So it really depends on what you are not happy with the g85 and why you want to upgrade. The g9 price is definitely very good! I paid almost that for my g85
I think it’s worth you doing a ‘vlog-style’ comparison - walking while talking video which would show how well it keeps focus on your face. That I find with the G85 is pretty terrible compared to my Sony cameras which is frustrating as I’d much rather use the Panny
G85 looks great! I suspect that might have something to do with the non-Leica 12-60 lens its using. How would u compare the the video AF between the Lumix and Leica when used on the same body?
The faster Leica lens is more demanding when shooting at maximum aperture. Therefore this test gives some advantage to the g85. And please note this is an older test which the gh5..etc has older firmware. Gh5/s/g9 autofocus performance has improved quite a bit with the latest firmware
Amazing comparison video, and the music-choise is also very good! I have a question: I don't know which camera I should buy: The Canon 6D mark II (with an amazing autofocus) or the G9 (with the amazing sharpness). I shoot video's for dance-clubs, where there isn't a lot of light, so can you/somebody help me? Because I want to buy one of this camera's in this week!!
+Duani as much as I like canon's dual pixel autofocus system and their colours, buying a camera in 2018 with only very average quality 1080P video seems like a crazy idea to me. I would go for the G9 myself and get a fast lens, even those pretty affordable manual focus f/0.95 lens if you need to work in low light area. Remember G9 also has the amazing dual IS system make handheld footage a lot more stable and can do 180fps slow motion videos too.
Hey Richard! I’m thinking of getting the GH5S for a documentary I’m working on. I mainly need good autofocus when interviewing people (when they lean forward or backward). The GH5S seems like it would work well without much hunting for focus of “pulsing” when it’s trying to focus. Would you agree or is there a camera at a similar price that you think would work better? I need something that shifts focus without making the whole image pulse. Ideally, I’d get a Canon C200 or C300 Mk II but I don’t have the money for either of those.
The Sony A7 series may be better if you don't want the AF pulsing and able to record 4k footage. But if you want Panasonic, then the gh5s and g9 are the best in terms of AF performance. I would also suggest you finetune the AF settings and decrease the sensitivity to minimise pulsing when shooting interviews
I don't have that combo myself but @Jonathan Houldsworth tried his combo (i think it's the 0.64x metabone) on "my" GH5S and it seems there is quite a lot of vignetting, and not just at the widest angle as well.
Good morning, Richard, I have one question. I need a camera for "artistic" videos (including people), but I have never had a decent camera. So I'm not sure - in practice - what is more important: better autofocus of G9 or 10-bits in GH5?! I have watched sooo many videos, I am still confused. I would like to have video functions in GH5 (+ no limitations) but I'm afraid the autofocus could makes everything much more difficult. Thanks for this great video! It makes me more sceptic about GH5. : )
+Sara K it really depends on what kind of video you are going to create. The GH5's autofocus is not as good as the newer GH5S/g9 but it's useable if you don't change the focus all the time or give it a bit more time to follow your subject. I have asked if there will be a new gh5 firmware to update the autofocus to GH5S level but I didn't get a solid answer. 10 bit is only useful if you are planning to colour grade your videos and want to extract the best video quality. A lot of people I know don't even shoot at 10 bit so it really depends on you. Hope it helps? Feel free to ask any more questions .. oh and please consider subscribe if you haven't yet :)
Thanks for the test. In my opinion, it's not totally accurate this way, because all cameras are not placed in the exact same position, so the subject is not placed at the same distance for all lenses at the same time. To be very accurate, you should'ved change the position for every camera and restart the test until all cams have been got all positions. That said, i'm suprised by the G85, still on the match ! And for sure my baby G9, who seems to do the match against this bros dedicated for video.
hey Assoumanim, thanks for watching the video and feedbacks! Ideally i would want to have all the cameras filming from exact same position at the same time filming the exact same sequence/action. Unfortunately this is not possible, so I could either re-shoot from the same position, but I won't be shooting the same time and also won't be the same sequence . So angle is controlled, but lighting, action are not controlled which means the result won't be accurate at all. So in the end I decided to do it this way as at least the lighting, action are controlled even though camera angle is not the same. I also tried to do slightly different angle/movement/move to different side of the camera so I would be moving/standing at a certain angle to one of the camera at a certain point of the video. Sorry I understand this is not perfect. I guess if I can borrow 4 copies of Leica 200 f/2.8 and have me standing 20-30meters away and repeat this video, then it would be the best way to do this test. Unfortunately I don't have access to 4 copies of Leica 200mm lens. Thanks again for the feedback!
@@TheRealRichardWong Thank you, i'm glad you responde me. I understand your point, ideally the test should be in a studio, then the light, angle, even sequence could be controled. But i know that if you had the possibility to do it, it would already been done. Anyway, thanks again for your test and your investment. You got a new follower 👍
Hey Thanks for the sub!! Yeah i would love to improve my reviews and tests so really appreciate your feedback!! Just let me know if there is anything you want to see / do better in my future videos!
G85 and G9 :) but of course lens plays a role and settings - but also your face was not facing the cameras exactly the same way - The reality is that Panasonic needs to include phase/dual pixel technology - DFD just cant compete for video focusing - and hard to see why Panasonic insists on using it especially for their GH5 and GH5s - I could understand DFD for stills oriented cameras like the G9 - and yes I understand that there are advantages with contrast based AF for stills in low light - and Panasonic does super well there - but as soon as the Canon 80D comes out with 4k and more video features - many will opt for the Dual pixel focus - So yes for the ultimate Pro's who do not need IBIS or tracking focus the GH5/s are fine - but there are many consumers doing home videos that need IBIS and need Dual pixel / phase detect - and yes I think Canons Dual pixel tracking AF is better then Sony's phase detect - but not in all aspects - and now Fuji coming out with an update do their X-t2 geared more for video - and they use phase detect - So Panasonic really need to do some thinking -
I´m a little bit shocked seeing the focus hunting of the new GH5s while watching the intro the first 26 seconds. Look a little bit to the left of his left ear, you can see the "pumping bokeh circle" in the background. Later, when he is talking with his hands, refocusing is ok. But it´s not ok while his looking direct in the cam (in good light conditions). I wished there is an reasonable upgrade for my G85, but the new ones can´t convince me, too bad. Panasonic focus engines becomes faster, but not more realiable. PS: I love Panasonic cams, filming a lot with them. I´m about half of my time reliant on a working autofocus. But the (re)focus issues with pany cams are really a shame.
Just default settings. Howeever remember G85 uses a slightly slower (in terms of aperture size) lens and hence it's easier for it to focus. And the GH5/GH5S/G9 autofocus performance has improved after the latest firmware update ruclips.net/video/rwpzn3AjWZY/видео.html
Hi Richard! I am about to buy a camera, but I am doubting between the g85 or the g9. Is the g9 worth the extra money? I want an overall camera (for stills en video). I havent seen a real side by side comparison between these 2. Except for this one with the autofocus. :) Thank you
+FrietjeM I have a g85 myself and have used the g9 quite a bit and shot quite a bit of video and photo with both cameras (check out my g9 revew if you haven't yet). Ok I think the g85 is a very capable camera and it has all the important features you need for both photo and video. Dual I.S. works very well and autofocus works a lot better than people thought as you probably have seen in this video. For the money it is probably one of the best choice for a good hybrid shooter. Now for the g9, it is a real step up in the G series. The build quality, feature set, handling everything goes up to GH5 level. I wasn't trally thinking of upgrading my g85 as it does almost everything I need. Unfortunately after using the g9 for a few weeks, the g85 all of a sudden really feels like a plastic toy now and the EVF, build quality..etc all feel quite a bit worse than the G9. So if I am buying a new camera today I would probably go for the g9. But there really is nothing wrong with the g85 and it is better value for money. Hope this helps
Photo By Richard Thank you very much! Yes it helps a lot! I can get the g85 (g80) with 12-60mm kit for €715,- and the g9 for €1650,- (with same 12-60mm).. it is more than double the g85.. Thats where I'm lost, because I am wondering if it's really worth €1000 more.. (I can get a nice lens or 2 for that price)
I would love to, unfortunately I don't have the cameras with me anymore. But there are quite a few reviews/youtubers done that hack and it seems to make some positive impact to the AF performance
I'm planning to do unboxing and gadget reviews on RUclips. I'm hesitating about getting G85 because of its famous bad AF. Surprisingly, the G85's AF did great in your review here! I'm now confused :/ Shall I get a G85 or spend my scarce money somewhere else?
The g85's autofocus is ok. Not amazing but I feel it is good enough if you are happy to try work around its limitations. I personally use it for almost all my videos at the moment. You could always just fix the focus for unboxing and review videos and don't need autofocus as well
They sound like New Zealand birds....you living in NZ? I am a kiwi who is currently living in China. Will be getting the Gh5 very soon. You are doing a nice job well done.
the g85 autofocus are the best & for the quality there is no big deference but the g85 are the best cheaper and there is no big deference as i say more pennies in my pocket
GH5/GH5S/G9 has since then received a new firmware update which has improved the autofocus tracking performance:
ruclips.net/video/rwpzn3AjWZY/видео.html
thank you for this video very helpfull straight to the point !!!! keep it up mister Wong!!
Thank you! @Hein Wauben
@@TheRealRichardWong i own a g80 because i cant afford a g9 or gh5 but iam very very happy with it very happy
@@TheRealRichardWong what do you think about the video quality and performance of the g80/g85
@@bachisquiri I think the video quality is excellent. I am using one for almost all my RUclips videos myself
i can't imagine what your neighbor thought watching you do this in front of 4 cameras
Viewing this in December 2020! So impressed with the G85, this was my first LUMIX camera and I still use it. It now has a GH5 and G9 to help out but I use the G80 much more than you would expect. However with the latest firmware updates on the GH5 and G9 the autofocus has been left behind.
Great work back then thank you.
That is the best autofocus test video I have ever seen. Thanks for putting that together. I think the G9 probably meets my AF needs, it seemed to track you really well running towards the camera.
SteveWithAnS I'm glad to hear you find this video useful.
Photo By Richard When you shoot video through the EVF, can you see the AF points lock onto their subjects such as a face or can you see zebra stripe focus peaking in the EVF?
Definitely can see face / body tracking box when recording. The box follows very nicely, even when AF fails haha
Photo By Richard So I guess the correct AF boxes are tracking the subject, but the lens might not be adjusting focus quickly enough to keep up with those boxes.
Do you feel like AF can keep up with people at walking and jogging speeds most of the time, or does it miss focus a lot of times?
I don't think the problem is that the lens can't keep up. The newer lens has 240fps AF motor and the AF in AF-S mode is stupidly fast. Now I don't really know how the face tracking works, but just happen my master degree thesis was also about face tracking and analysis, so I'm guessing (really just a guess) this is how Panasonic face/body tracking works. Step 1. Using a low resolution image to detect the position of the face/body. This define the area where autofocus will perform at. Step 2. Perform the autofocus at the detected face/body position from step 1. Now it seems step 1 is almost always accurate and reliable. But somehow step 2 would sometimes fail to detect the changes in subject position, especially in the case of GH5. But again, this is all my guesses and assumptions so I could be completely wrong :)
Wow, the G85 seems quite quick. I think that f/4 and the framing really helped it.
G85 autofocus is the best !
Gh5S the best autofocus and quality !!!
Wow the g85 did great
COMPARED TO WORST YES. COMPARE IT TO NX1 OR A7 III
Tomas Av. Indeed an a6300 will smoke all of them in AF and IQ
I think this video test was something wrong. G85 is not a good AF. Maybe the youtuber used the g85 with close F aperture lens
G9 / GH5s on par closely followed by G85, then GH5 last. G9 surprised me! GH5s the best picture quality, although for the price, G85 very very good.
Panasonic had released new firmware for a few models in end Nov 2019. Time to re-test the auto focus.
The G85 is still a great purchase in 2019. Thanks for the test👍
I'm still using one for my RUclips video and product photos!
IM TRYING TO GET ONE OF THESE MY BMPCC DIED ON ME
Hey, Richard, your video tests of autofocus were an important part of my BIG decision this year. After several months of thinking about it I pulled the trigger on buying a G9 and have placed the order. Hopefully it arrives before Christmas. Thank you to your dedicated work.
Hi Richard, thank you for the Video and especially your physical work with all the running :-) ;-)
you are welcome! A bit of exercise is good for me :D
A very good review, thanks. Simple , straight forward, no b.s.
Thank you, I'm glad you like it.
at 6:56 replaying and listening to the music the gh5s wins. At 7:10 the G9 just beats out the GH5s with the g85 and GH5 coming in late at about the same time. At 7:26 bot GH5s and G9 lock on almost the entire run with a slight advantage to the GH5s at the end where the G85 and GH5 never do completely find proper focus. Fun test. Thanks for the video.
GH5s looks better than the Gh5, Better than I thought it would be but still more or less on par with the older A7sII which I sold a while back hoping the A7sIII was around the corner Cough Cough 1 year and a half later and that whole time have been tempted to jump to the GH5 and now s only bc of it's 60p 4k and color bit depth. I will still wait until the A7sIII is announced before making decisions. Thanks for the test!!!
Thanks for your efforts in making these videos. Giving us a good chance to see real world performance for ourselves.
Cheers from the UK.
Andy
Hi Andy, I'm glad to hear you find the video useful :)
Good to see this comparison with 4 cams
I switch from GH5 to G9 and hope it was a good choice ;)
Thanks for sharing and greetings from Germany
+ECOLUTION-EDIT-BERLIN glad you like the video. Enjoy your G9
Photo By Richard
Thank you and good luck for your future.✌
Great review!
Thanks! Joy Joy
Thank you! On road will review when back.
Yea Id have to say the G9 did very well. Given that its the same sensor and IBIS as the GH5 (which in my opinion came in 4th overall) means there will most certainly be a GH5 2.3 firmware update this year which will include auto focus.
Yes my G9 arrives tomorrow! It was tied with gh5s and had same narrow dof as big 3. G85 good, but narrower aperture. I can see why GH5 users are complaining. Need to compare in 4k60p, so G85 can be removed.
I also suspect G9 has best video IS, with 6.5 stops in spec.
Need to record a video over a half hour so the G9 can be eliminated lol
It all depends on whether it is the same setting of each camera, good job!
yes, AF-C, face tracking, 4K24P, otherwise all default settings.
The reality is that the G85 is more than enough for most shooters, it stood up very well against it's much pricier bigger bro's
+Uncaged yes agree. But it doesn't stop me from wanting to upgrade to a g9 lol
Oh yeah, I would too if I had the funds, what I mean is the G85 is plenty capable if you don't 'need' the extra tech
yep thats why iam keeping the g80
i use it every 2 weeks not daily so spending more money on a camera thats not daily used would just be a pitty iam still happy with the ibis and even the af .......
Yes the g80/85 may not be the latest and greatest, but it is still a great camera even today
Very helpful Richard. Thanks for all the work there.
thank you for your important and perfect focus-test. many persons show everithing ma this is the most important!!!
The cheap G85 was the fastest to focus @Richard lol. PS: Your camera gear videos are getting better and better :)
+Cody Robinson thanks Cody! Learning and trying to improve everyday :)
Nice and it is so fun to watch with that dope BGM!
This is the first and only comparison between all these cameras, thanks for doing the video, super helpful.
In your real life usage, do you think the focus speed and functions are worth to choose G9 over GH5 and G85? 🤔
+Leica Dad in my real life usage, I would rate G9 and GH5s almost identical in terms of autofocus performance when shooting video. GH5 (with firmware 2.2) is not as responsive or consistent. If you shoot photo mostly I would recommend the G9. That's probably the camera I would get if I am upgrading my g85 today as I don't need the high end video features from the GH5 and GH5S
Photo By Richard thank you for the quick reply. I’m thinking about getting one for Mt RUclips video, professional quality is not needed, but good autofocus and face tracking can be very helpful.
I was hoping the GH5S will improve auto focus system, but sadly not, and even IBIS was removed.
GH5S's video AF is better than the GH5, and very similar to the G9. Remember even though G9 was announced back in Nov, the actual shipping date is almost the same as the GH5S so the development I would assume must have happened at very similar time.
For youtube videos (just realise I've watched quite a few of videos before! subscribing now) I think G9 is the best choice.
Photo By Richard Good point on the release date and the development time frame, they must be very similar in focus system.
Thank you Richard, I love your channel and have watched many videos of yours as well (Subbed of course)!
The GH5S is for pros with gimbals or glidecams, the IBIS would only disturb.
Thx for great comparison video. Hopefully I wanna see IBIS comparison as well.
Akira thanks for watching and the suggestion Akira!
Thank you for video, Richard.
Tough! In the beginning, G85 rocked. In the end, G9 and GH5S did good job. GH5 disappoints me very much. Of course, we are expecting a firmware update for GH5, though.
I’m so glad I’m getting a G9! Please do a full review on it :)
+Matt I have done one already on my website photobyrichard.com :)
Great video!!
Wow, GH5S and G9 sure is better.. but the incredible part was the G85 fighting really hard to beat it's brothers. What a cam. I can understand why people diss Panasonic's AF so much (when compared to others), but to be honest, I think it's very very usable. It's not as bad as people said.
And Panasonic keep working to make 'em better, even though it's kinda silly that they said they won't implement PDAF in the near future. Single AF, as fast as Lucky Luke's shoots it's shadow. Continuous AF, well, I think that's why PDAF is exist, right?
I believe they can make their Continuous AF better. I think they need to find out how to make their CAF (Contrast AF) works even faster. Improve the G9's chip, use newer technology (ehem, Sony A9) to transmit the data faster. If they can implement it in their 4K/6K Photo gimmick and make it works somehow to get 30 FPS or even 60 FPS blur free photos (you know where I'm going with this) then it's basically a video. If they can extract photos from a video, I believe they can turn it the other way around.
Well, maybe they can't because of the jitter in CAF is unavoidable. Maybe, who knows. But, yeah, they can try that one.
Nice comparison
Thank you!
awesome test video! planning to upgrade to GH5 . currently using the G7
thank you. GH5 would be a very cool upgrade! Btw, please subscribe if you haven't already, there will be a lot more Panasonic and Olympus gear review (+ other brands) coming soon this year :)
Photo By Richard sure!
+CamsManiax thank you!
Very nice and practical comparison and thanks for your great work. I think one thing is focus acquisition and on that score I was pleasantly surprised by the G85 performance! However, I think that when it comes to video in addition to focus acquisition the big problem the Lumix DFD system faces is maintaining AF in all of its flavors... I own a G85 and one of my main dislikes for video work is maintaining AF and the constant hunting... hence, I have decided to go all MF for my videos. Based on the results a saw in your test I am wondering if the problem will ever get solved with DFD alone or perhaps Panasonic decides to include phase detection at some point soon... I hope.
I'd like to greatly appreciate you for posting this video! I've been wrecking my brain trying to decide between the G85 & the G9. Honestly, I think the G85 will do just fine for me! The G9 would be awesome because of the huge viewfinder, higher frame rates and apparently slightly better color science too. But, I don't know if I want to spend $800 more for those things haha. Thanks again for the video! I'm definitely subbing 🙌🏾🙌🏾
+DJTronuk Glad the video helps you. Yes the g9 is definitely better camera but the g85 isn't too bad and very good value for money. Thanks for subbing. I am almost 1k :D
Photo By Richard Haha, yea I just don't understand why Lumix would double the price of the G9 compared to the G85. If it was only $200-300 more, I'd get the G9 for sure.
And yea man! Let's get you closer to 1k and continued monetization! LOL 🙌🏾🙌🏾
+DJTronuk all the previous G series cameras were like a cut down version of GH. Smaller, more plastic, lower spec, lower build quality. But the g9 is same level as GH5 they are both flagship built to same quality and very similar spec.ao basically it is a GH5 tuned for photographers. I wish it's 2-300 more too and I would have bought one already
+DJTronuk thanks man. My income from youtube is pretty tiny, just enough to pay for my Adobe subscription . But still better than nothing!
Grate video. I've have been looking at the g85 for a few weeks now. And this video has helped out a lot
glad the video is helpful! Enjoy your G85! :)
Ok, I'll be the first to ask. Since Max Yuryev did his video AF comparison between the GH5 and Canon's Dual Pixel AF, I think it is time for the GH5s to challenge something like Canon's 80D to see how they compare. I'd also like to see some videos "selfie cam" style, with you walking around to see if the GH5s will hold AF on your face or drift off and lock on something in the background like the GH5 did/does.
Thanks for these great videos!
I really want to test it against a Canon too. Unfortunately I couldn't source one to do the test.
And yes I've already shot a very short video/vlog using the GH5S for exactly the same reason you mentioned. To test whether GH5S can focus on my face and also if it can hold on my face when I'm walking and moving around. Please check my channel in 1-2 day and I should have that video up :)
Photo By Richard - Thanks! I'm looking forward to it!
Nice video man, thank you so much
Glad you like it. Please subscribe if you haven't yet as I will be doing more similar videos in the future :)
Good exercise routine for you Richard... I thought you might run right into the cameras! :) The G85 started off quite well but overall the G9 and the GH5s did better with the GH5 appearing to be in 4th place. I think the G85 was mainly struggling when your head was not center frame as much. Do you think the firmware improved it overall?
Jon, LOL!! I actually re-shoot this quite a few time as there was always something wrong with one of the camera (some settings not right/match other cameras or memory card full or something random) so it was a real good exercise!! But yes that's pretty much the same as my conclusion too. my own G85 started off really quite well (and man I was happy!!!) until it started feeling the stress and failed to keep up later on. Yes the camera angle is a problem. I have already tried to adjust the camera position to minimise the difference but Ideally I should have shot at a longer focal length so there is less parallax difference. The latest firmware seems to have fixed all (most?) of the minor bugs I experienced with the 0.2 firmware, but in terms of autofocus performance, I don't see any noticeable difference.
From my experience, this is usually the case with Panasonic pre-production camera/firmware. The 1.0 firmware is usually about bug fixing/improving stability. Most important features should have been almost finalised by the time they sent out prototypes to reviews/external photographers. The only exception I remember was the GX8 where the first pre-production firmware didn't have Dual I.S.
great test
This guy got the greatest job
Such a good review. Less speaking and more comparison!
Thanks!
thank you for the effort and the sharing. thumbs up.
Hi,
Thanks for this test!
My opinion:
1. Pany G85
2. Pany G9
3. Pany GH5s
.
.
.
4. Pany GH5
best tests!!! good luck
Андрей Кошкин thank you!
Thanks for the effort again.
Time to update this test when the new firmware comes out
I think the GH5s was the winner, very closely followed by the G9, then the G85 performing respectably, and the GH5 lagging way behind every other cam. It was interesting, the G85 seemed to do very well in AF in the beginning and then started to get outdone by the G9 and GH5s pretty consistently after that. Maybe it was the camera angles?
Hello richard, can u pls help me out? i dont know, which camera i should buy? im noob on movies and i dont think i need the overkill features from gh5 oder gh5s... I make youtube videos as you see on my channel.. also halbtotale, inside with many lights, not many moves, most of the tiem sit and talk. I have to make photos for my social meadia ,too... do you recommend the g9 or the g85? and which lens for a nice bokeh do you use there?
G85 is fine for most people. I am also using a g85 for almost all my videos at the moment as well. I would like to have a g9 or GH5 too but it's not cheap. In terms of lens, the Leica 25mm f/1.4 would be great and versatile. Or the Panasonic 42.5 f/1.7 or 25mm f/1.8 are nice but cheaper
@@TheRealRichardWong Ah really? do you need the g85 for your videos?= Oh that sounds nice, the g85 cost a lot less than the g9... Did the g85 still firmware updates? Ad did then g85 still a firmware update for AF ,too? i woulkd buythe camera then with your affi link on amazon.. its works, im in germany and use amazon.de which is the best lens youj think?
I use g85 mainly. Re firmware update. Unfortunately don't think we will see any major upgrade in the future as it's a old model and processor is different to the GH5/g9 so update for those cameras can't be ported to the g85. Having said that, for the kind of videos you want to capture, the current firmware handles it quite well. No I don't have affiliated link but thanks for asking :)
You need to redo this with 30fps using the 179 Degree Shutter Angle to see if there's improvement in the GH5 and GH5s. The new hack works a lot better.
Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have those cameras with me anymore but if I have chance I will definitely re-do it and try out the 179 degree hack :)
On GH5, I agree. And for me, I put it on AFC with Tracking mode, tap the face and find that works really well!
G85 looks like the winner to me. Glad I bought one :)
Nice Work! Helping me a lot! thx~
Glad the video help! Please subscribe if you haven't already, I got more micro four thirds gear reviews coming soon :)
What camera your choice ?
Спасибо большое-очень показательно и информативно! :) very informativ-thx!
Thank you!
Thank you Richard for posting such a well done comparison. I agree with the general conclusions that GH5s is better than GH5. I also noticed more noise in the GH5 in skin tones. Do you recall what ISO you were shooting at?
Excelente, gracias
thank you for watching!
that G9 is sweet
Richard thanks a lot this test put in clear which one is better. I think you can do a test in the street with the gh5s and auto focus tracking, and face detection, or maybe with central area, and walk around the city, could be an I nterésting exercise. Thanks Rich
Bernardo, thanks for the suggestions! I will see what I can do. I still have 2-3 more videos coming so see if i can fit another AF test video before I return the camera to Panasonic
I've since then did another autofocus test with new GH5 (2.3)/GH5S (1.1)/G9 (1.1) firmware: ruclips.net/video/rwpzn3AjWZY/видео.html
Hi Richard, so with this auto focus fix which one would you recommend for photoshoots and videoshoots? I'm about to upgrade from the G80/G85 and i see the G9 and Gh5 as potentials, which one though? I do music videos and also vlogging and also a lot of portraits and street photography, which one? thanks, Jay..
hey FacesOut, it's quite hard to choose. The G9 has a few extra features for photos such as high burst speed, no black out EVF, high res mode. But if you don't need those features (high speed and high res), then i would go for the GH5 as it has more advanced video features
It really only depends on where the light is. Correctly, you would have to put the cameras in one and the same place :-)
yes ideally, all the cameras should be placed in the same position and recording exactly same movement. Unfortunately it's a bit hard to repeat the same movement with multiple takes so i have to place the camera side by side and record the same movement. But I did repeated this test multiple times on multiple days under different lighting and different camera position, and the result is pretty consistent with this video.
for the price g85 smashes it all v similar focus pan gets bashed for face detect auto focus but area focus i find good with g85 in reality running around land low light tests i guess some v rare situations love lumex elec viewfinder
Thanks for the video. I´m currently planing to upgrade from my (sometimes not so) trusty GX8, and TBH, it seems Panasonic still does a lousy job AF-wise even with high-end stuff, therefore I think I will not consider GH5 and G9. Let´s face it, the issue is the disadvantage of the CDAF system. When even the G85 has a minor advantage over newer and more expensive cameras there must be something wrong.
TBH the performance here doesn´t seem much better of what I have seen some years ago on my GH1 and GH2.
Panasonic should really think about switching to PDAF like Sony. But it seems they aren´t interested, instead they put out a boring GX9 some days ago. Yawn.
The issue is that Sony also is not such a good alternative. The a6500 has better AF but then it has overheating issues, bad 1080p quality and no 4K50/60.
Canon has also good AF performance with Dual Pixel but then there is the really lousy video quality. It´s not my concern that they don´t have 4K but that even 1080p on cameras like the 77D is abysmal.
Hopefully one day there will be a camera with 4K50/60, PDAF, IBIS and no heat issues...all in one package.
Hi, great video! I think it would be better if whenever a camera focused first, the video put a check mark or lights up green. It's a little hard to keep track of 4 screens at the same time, but to me it seemed like g85 was the fastest. Was the autofocus set to AFC, AFF, or AFS?
+R C thanks for the suggestion. Will keep that in mind. All cameras were in AFC mode, face tracking and maximum aperture. Ideally I should have all four cameras using the same lens but I couldn't get 4 copirs of the same lens so the GH5, GH5S ,G9 had the Leica 12-60 and the g85 had the Lumix 12-60 which means the G85 were shooting at a slightly smaller aperture which does give it a bit advantage
I especially like the inclusion of the G9 in this excellent comparison. Thanks Richard. Was Face/Eye Detection auto focus mode used?
Glad you find it useful! Yes Face detection mode, 4K24P for all cameras (just updated description)
All standard colour profile
Thanks for the great test though a little overwhelming to spot which camera was focusing the fastest consistently with four to watch simultaneously..I have a g85 but considering the others though I'm a photographer I'm getting more back into videography.. With Panasonic's poor reputation for autofocus in video it must be the the one with the fastest AF to date.. Is it the g9? Is it possible to do the test again with a shallower depth of field with the two fastest cameras from this test? Thank you
Hi Justin, sorry yes it is a bit hard to keep track of all 4 cameras at the same time, especially the difference isn't huge in a lot of cases. What I did is I just focused on two cameras at a time, e.g. GH5 vs GH5S and see which one is better, then re-watch and focus on another pair.. like G9 vs GH5S. you can also try play back the video at 0.5x or even 0.25x speed and that makes it easier to compare.
re more shallow depth of field. I would love to do that too. Unfortunately arranging two copies of fast (both aperture and autofocus speed) proved a bit difficult :( I myself only have a Leica 25 1.4 which is not the best lens for testing autofocus because of it's slow autofocus speed. I also have some Olympus lens which also isn't good for testing DFD autofocus system.
And if I borrow 1 fast lens and therefore have to test the two cameras separately instead of side by side, i feel it's not really a good controlled test as well. Reason is that the difference in autofocus performance between say G9 and GH5S is really quite small so if I can't 100% reproduce my test sequence then the margin of error would be too big which makes the result inconclusive
Photo By Richard ok thanks..I do appreciate your tests... Will play back slower but some people are saying the g85 of somehow the fastest but others and you say the gh5s and g9 are kind of the fastest (a tie), then the g85 and last the gh5.. is this what you agree? If it's between the g9 and gh5s I think I'd consider the g9 based on price, being a photographer and still reattaining ibis..
justinspirational I would say, while the g85 performs quite well at the beginning of the test, it is not as reliable in the second half of the test. Also remember the g85 has a smaller aperture lens so it has a bit of advantage as well. Yes If you ask me, I would rate both GH5s and G9 pretty much equal and best result. And GH5 the last. I myself would also buy a g9 if I am upgrading my g85 today as I dont need vlog and other advance video features and prefer to have G9's better photo capability
Photo By Richard ok thank you
looking at this at slower playback in full screen on a monitor- it definitely actually seems the GH5s actually has the edge over the G9 and is the fastest of the four if you consider the more challenging tests like where you come in from camera right from off camera at 6'56" and all the tests immediately after that where you are running (moving quickly) towards camera the GH5s comes first place followed by the G9.. I wish it was the G9 first as I want the IBIS but still food for thought..do you think with the GH5s always having you in the center of frame compositionally gave it an advantage over the other cameras where you ended up off center (is it easier for the cams in general to focus on a subject in the center of frame compared to the edges)?
G85 does it best, felt like downgrade from G7 to GH5, think G7 also does better focus than GH5.
I'd like to see a COMPARISON OF SHARPNESS / COLOR / GRADATION of REAL PEOPLE SHOT INDOOR at AMBIENT LIGHTS CONDITIONS (shutter 1/60, f2.8, Iso 3200) side by side between: Panasonic GH5s, the Canon 5D Mark III, 5D Mark IV and possibly the 1DX Mark II or the Sony A7R III... I like the GH5s but I recently shot some footage indoor with my 5D Mark III and I was surprised by its ability to remain SHARP and COLOR ACCURATE in a dark room at 3200iso, f2.8 and 1/60 while shooting 1080p 30fps. Thanks.
HI Alberto, I would love to see a test like that too. Unfortunately I would be quite hard (for me at least) to arrange all these cameras together for a side by side test. The 5DIII can capture some nice (but not great) 1080P footage, but the GH5S's 4K video and all the extra functionality (10bit out, 4:2:2, high bit rate, all those on-screen display options and input/output ports) make the GH5S a much more serious video camera in comparison.
Interestingly enough there are no video comparisons done against Canon 5Ds and the 1Dx Mark II which the GH5s could very well beat and Canon people currently on the fence (such as myself) may be able to make-up their mind.
Not many people use 5D2/1Dx Mk2 (the only one I can think of is Peter Mckinnon?) for video these days. Panasonic and Sony in general are just much better if you want a camera mainly for video. Canon is still really holding back when it comes to putting nice video features to their cameras.
Only question I have is how were these rendered. As long as it came out mathematically at the proper frame-size bit rate, then the G9 and Gh5s contest.
Remember the golden disc that Nasa put on the Voyager to explain what mankind is about? Well, they should put this video on the next deep space mission as it will tell all aliens how serious and dedicated our species is about, well, stuff! But seriously, well done, I much enjoy your work! I am still undecided where to go next from my G85. I am leaning towards G9 if there wasnt this annoying record time limitation on it (which apparently has to do with import tax in Europe, not sure whether that is an issue in NZ). Ideally I would keep the G85, which really does a decent job in your test, and similarly to my collection of lenses, which is ever expanding and perhaps the best way to adapt to usecases, I perhaps should just start collecting cameras. Hm!
Happy to hear you like my video, but not so sure about sending it to the outer space LOL! The recording time limit can be a bit annoying. but I think for most people, it shouldn't be a big problem? 30 minutes 4k 24/25 is quite a long limit, but if you do regularly record long video then it can be a bit of hassle. I'm really tempted to order a G9 as I want the slow motion and a second camera for my videos but need to save up a little while first. Already spent a lot of money on this channel :(
Photo By Richard Best to help you cover some of the costs is subscribing I guess. Which I did :-)
Thank you so much!
GREAT!!!!!!Thanks, man!!G85??
How does the AF on the G9 compare to the G85 after the 2.0 firmware update? Can the G9 do autoiso in 4k video? I have the G85 now. Is it worth upgrading to the G9 or should I wait for the next iteration now that it's already 2 years old? the G9 body only is now USD1000 and with the Leica 12-60 its USD1600. Is that a good price?
Sorry I haven't actually get time to try the 2.0 firmware myself this time. Being really busy with a few other reviews at the moment. I doubt there will be a replacement for g9 in the next 12 months. So it really depends on what you are not happy with the g85 and why you want to upgrade. The g9 price is definitely very good! I paid almost that for my g85
They each seem to have the same dynamic range as well.
Good Video!!! The GX9 have the same autofocus performance of the G9?
Thanks Lionel! No GX9 doesn't have the same AF system. It uses the smaller/less powerful chip so performance isn't quite the same.
@@TheRealRichardWong thanks! waiting the comparison :)
I think it’s worth you doing a ‘vlog-style’ comparison - walking while talking video which would show how well it keeps focus on your face. That I find with the G85 is pretty terrible compared to my Sony cameras which is frustrating as I’d much rather use the Panny
Was the "IS Lock (Video)" option ON of OFF on the GH5? When ON , it reduces focus hunting.
G85 looks great! I suspect that might have something to do with the non-Leica 12-60 lens its using. How would u compare the the video AF between the Lumix and Leica when used on the same body?
The faster Leica lens is more demanding when shooting at maximum aperture. Therefore this test gives some advantage to the g85. And please note this is an older test which the gh5..etc has older firmware. Gh5/s/g9 autofocus performance has improved quite a bit with the latest firmware
Amazing comparison video, and the music-choise is also very good! I have a question: I don't know which camera I should buy: The Canon 6D mark II (with an amazing autofocus) or the G9 (with the amazing sharpness). I shoot video's for dance-clubs, where there isn't a lot of light, so can you/somebody help me? Because I want to buy one of this camera's in this week!!
+Duani as much as I like canon's dual pixel autofocus system and their colours, buying a camera in 2018 with only very average quality 1080P video seems like a crazy idea to me. I would go for the G9 myself and get a fast lens, even those pretty affordable manual focus f/0.95 lens if you need to work in low light area. Remember G9 also has the amazing dual IS system make handheld footage a lot more stable and can do 180fps slow motion videos too.
Photo By Richard Thanks for the answer!
Hey Richard! I’m thinking of getting the GH5S for a documentary I’m working on. I mainly need good autofocus when interviewing people (when they lean forward or backward). The GH5S seems like it would work well without much hunting for focus of “pulsing” when it’s trying to focus. Would you agree or is there a camera at a similar price that you think would work better? I need something that shifts focus without making the whole image pulse.
Ideally, I’d get a Canon C200 or C300 Mk II but I don’t have the money for either of those.
The Sony A7 series may be better if you don't want the AF pulsing and able to record 4k footage. But if you want Panasonic, then the gh5s and g9 are the best in terms of AF performance. I would also suggest you finetune the AF settings and decrease the sensitivity to minimise pulsing when shooting interviews
I think there is a connection between the DR and AF performance
i looking for a camera to do my short film and some wedding, party ,and take picture i see the gh5s good
Any chance you have the popular sigma and metabones combo everyone loved on gh5. Would love to see how those act on the new cameras!!
I don't have that combo myself but @Jonathan Houldsworth tried his combo (i think it's the 0.64x metabone) on "my" GH5S and it seems there is quite a lot of vignetting, and not just at the widest angle as well.
Thank for video 🙏🏽🙂
you are welcome! Glad you like it :) I got a few more GH5S videos coming in next few days
Gh5s and g9 seem to be doing well
I own the G85, the quality is amazing for the price. I shoot Music Videos with it.
g9 is the winnah! its useable.
Good morning, Richard, I have one question. I need a camera for "artistic" videos (including people), but I have never had a decent camera. So I'm not sure - in practice - what is more important: better autofocus of G9 or 10-bits in GH5?! I have watched sooo many videos, I am still confused. I would like to have video functions in GH5 (+ no limitations) but I'm afraid the autofocus could makes everything much more difficult.
Thanks for this great video! It makes me more sceptic about GH5. : )
+Sara K it really depends on what kind of video you are going to create. The GH5's autofocus is not as good as the newer GH5S/g9 but it's useable if you don't change the focus all the time or give it a bit more time to follow your subject. I have asked if there will be a new gh5 firmware to update the autofocus to GH5S level but I didn't get a solid answer. 10 bit is only useful if you are planning to colour grade your videos and want to extract the best video quality. A lot of people I know don't even shoot at 10 bit so it really depends on you. Hope it helps? Feel free to ask any more questions .. oh and please consider subscribe if you haven't yet :)
Thank you very much, Richard! Subscribing your channel is a pleasure. :)
+Sara K you are welcome! Have to chat and discuss camera and photography anytime :)
Thanks for the test. In my opinion, it's not totally accurate this way, because all cameras are not placed in the exact same position, so the subject is not placed at the same distance for all lenses at the same time.
To be very accurate, you should'ved change the position for every camera and restart the test until all cams have been got all positions.
That said, i'm suprised by the G85, still on the match ! And for sure my baby G9, who seems to do the match against this bros dedicated for video.
hey Assoumanim, thanks for watching the video and feedbacks! Ideally i would want to have all the cameras filming from exact same position at the same time filming the exact same sequence/action. Unfortunately this is not possible, so I could either re-shoot from the same position, but I won't be shooting the same time and also won't be the same sequence . So angle is controlled, but lighting, action are not controlled which means the result won't be accurate at all. So in the end I decided to do it this way as at least the lighting, action are controlled even though camera angle is not the same. I also tried to do slightly different angle/movement/move to different side of the camera so I would be moving/standing at a certain angle to one of the camera at a certain point of the video. Sorry I understand this is not perfect. I guess if I can borrow 4 copies of Leica 200 f/2.8 and have me standing 20-30meters away and repeat this video, then it would be the best way to do this test. Unfortunately I don't have access to 4 copies of Leica 200mm lens. Thanks again for the feedback!
@@TheRealRichardWong Thank you, i'm glad you responde me. I understand your point, ideally the test should be in a studio, then the light, angle, even sequence could be controled. But i know that if you had the possibility to do it, it would already been done. Anyway, thanks again for your test and your investment. You got a new follower 👍
Hey Thanks for the sub!! Yeah i would love to improve my reviews and tests so really appreciate your feedback!! Just let me know if there is anything you want to see / do better in my future videos!
G85 and G9 :) but of course lens plays a role and settings - but also your face was not facing the cameras exactly the same way - The reality is that Panasonic needs to include phase/dual pixel technology - DFD just cant compete for video focusing - and hard to see why Panasonic insists on using it especially for their GH5 and GH5s - I could understand DFD for stills oriented cameras like the G9 - and yes I understand that there are advantages with contrast based AF for stills in low light - and Panasonic does super well there - but as soon as the Canon 80D comes out with 4k and more video features - many will opt for the Dual pixel focus -
So yes for the ultimate Pro's who do not need IBIS or tracking focus the GH5/s are fine - but there are many consumers doing home videos that need IBIS and need Dual pixel / phase detect - and yes I think Canons Dual pixel tracking AF is better then Sony's phase detect - but not in all aspects - and now Fuji coming out with an update do their X-t2 geared more for video - and they use phase detect -
So Panasonic really need to do some thinking -
I´m a little bit shocked seeing the focus hunting of the new GH5s while watching the intro the first 26 seconds. Look a little bit to the left of his left ear, you can see the "pumping bokeh circle" in the background. Later, when he is talking with his hands, refocusing is ok. But it´s not ok while his looking direct in the cam (in good light conditions). I wished there is an reasonable upgrade for my G85, but the new ones can´t convince me, too bad. Panasonic focus engines becomes faster, but not more realiable. PS: I love Panasonic cams, filming a lot with them. I´m about half of my time reliant on a working autofocus. But the (re)focus issues with pany cams are really a shame.
What autofocus settings did panasonic g85 have during shooting?
Just the default settings.. that's the same for all the cameras
The G85 killed them! What settings were you using on the G85?
Just default settings. Howeever remember G85 uses a slightly slower (in terms of aperture size) lens and hence it's easier for it to focus. And the GH5/GH5S/G9 autofocus performance has improved after the latest firmware update ruclips.net/video/rwpzn3AjWZY/видео.html
It's so funny see him peeping the cameras 😂😂
My neighbor probably thought I am crazy
Other than the G85, the G9 seems to be beating Gh5 and Gh5s on the AF
but you didn't give your opinion at the end of the video??
Mr wong, has the g9 v-log profile?
No, only GH4/5 and now g95
@@TheRealRichardWong But it has a flat profile?
Yes it does. And no cropping when shooting 4k
@@TheRealRichardWong Dio you mean, thats the flat profile is sufficient for a non profi in colorgrade?=
I did not use flat profile when shooting these videos. But flat profile is usually enough for most usage and easier to do colour grading
Hi Richard! I am about to buy a camera, but I am doubting between the g85 or the g9. Is the g9 worth the extra money? I want an overall camera (for stills en video). I havent seen a real side by side comparison between these 2.
Except for this one with the autofocus. :)
Thank you
+FrietjeM I have a g85 myself and have used the g9 quite a bit and shot quite a bit of video and photo with both cameras (check out my g9 revew if you haven't yet). Ok I think the g85 is a very capable camera and it has all the important features you need for both photo and video. Dual I.S. works very well and autofocus works a lot better than people thought as you probably have seen in this video. For the money it is probably one of the best choice for a good hybrid shooter. Now for the g9, it is a real step up in the G series. The build quality, feature set, handling everything goes up to GH5 level. I wasn't trally thinking of upgrading my g85 as it does almost everything I need. Unfortunately after using the g9 for a few weeks, the g85 all of a sudden really feels like a plastic toy now and the EVF, build quality..etc all feel quite a bit worse than the G9. So if I am buying a new camera today I would probably go for the g9. But there really is nothing wrong with the g85 and it is better value for money. Hope this helps
Photo By Richard
Thank you very much! Yes it helps a lot! I can get the g85 (g80) with 12-60mm kit for €715,- and the g9 for €1650,- (with same 12-60mm).. it is more than double the g85..
Thats where I'm lost, because I am wondering if it's really worth €1000 more.. (I can get a nice lens or 2 for that price)
That's quite a bit of price difference. I would probably go for the G85
unless you are the kind of person always want the latest and greatest gear ;)
Photo By Richard thank you. Yes than I will get the g85 ;)
Can you try the yodameo hack at shutter angle 179°
I would love to, unfortunately I don't have the cameras with me anymore. But there are quite a few reviews/youtubers done that hack and it seems to make some positive impact to the AF performance
I'm planning to do unboxing and gadget reviews on RUclips. I'm hesitating about getting G85 because of its famous bad AF. Surprisingly, the G85's AF did great in your review here! I'm now confused :/ Shall I get a G85 or spend my scarce money somewhere else?
The g85's autofocus is ok. Not amazing but I feel it is good enough if you are happy to try work around its limitations. I personally use it for almost all my videos at the moment. You could always just fix the focus for unboxing and review videos and don't need autofocus as well
color science. Both are same
I love my g85 🙏🙏🙏
They sound like New Zealand birds....you living in NZ? I am a kiwi who is currently living in China. Will be getting the Gh5 very soon. You are doing a nice job well done.
wow yes I live in NZ!! i'm amazed you can tell by the song of the birds. And thank you !!
haha yea man it was a familiar sound. You have done well to get your hands on the GH5s so early!
I had the same reaction - I'm in NZ and thought I recognized the calls... so went and checked your website to see if you were in NZ and bingo! :)
haha thanks Mark! Might see you guys on the street one day! (i've already bump into a few of my blog readers on the street)
the g85 autofocus are the best & for the quality there is no big deference but the g85 are the best cheaper and there is no big deference as i say more pennies in my pocket
I think this video test was something wrong. G85 is not a good AF. Maybe the youtuber used the g85 with close F aperture lens
iso test please