Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 Panasonic - Review 🏆

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 is a mirrorless micro four-thirds camera that is aimed at professional photographers and videographers. Released in 2017, it builds upon the video capabilities of its predecessor, the GH4, while also featuring improvements for still photography.

The GH5's body is weather-sealed and constructed from magnesium alloy, making it durable and splashproof. It has a classic DSLR-style body with a large handgrip and lots of physical controls. The 3-inch rear LCD is fully articulating and touch sensitive.

For video, the GH5 can shoot 4K footage at up to 60fps with a bitrate of up to 400Mbps. It offers advanced video features like 10-bit 4:2:2 internal recording, making it a great choice for color grading. The 5-axis in-body stabilization provides smooth handheld footage.

For stills, the 20MP sensor provides good image quality and speed. It can shoot 12 fps with continuous autofocus or up to 20 fps with focus locked on the first frame. The 225-point autofocus system provides fast and accurate focus for photos and video.

Overall, the GH5 balances video and still photography capabilities in a rugged, weather-sealed body. It offers an attractive option for multimedia creators looking for advanced 4K video features and fast performance.

Body and Design

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 has a magnesium alloy body that is splash proof, dustproof, and freeze proof down to -10 degrees Celsius. Despite the durable construction, it still remains relatively compact and lightweight for a camera of its capabilities.

The body weighs just under 1.5 pounds with dimensions of 5.5 x 3.9 x 3.4 inches. There is a deep grip that allows for comfortable and stable hand-holding. The body also features extensive customizable buttons and dials so you can tailor the camera controls to suit your shooting style.

The GH5 has a large OLED viewfinder with high resolution and magnification for clear eye-level viewing. The rear LCD is free angle touch screen that provides flexible viewing and operation. Overall, the body design provides an excellent blend of durability, customization, and portability.

Another great option is the Panasonic Lumix TZ200D. This compact camera features a 1-inch sensor and 15x optical zoom, making it perfect for travel and everyday photography. It boasts 4K video recording capabilities and a variety of creative modes. The TZ200D also includes a viewfinder and a touchscreen for intuitive control, and it is designed to be portable without sacrificing performance.

Image Sensor

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 features a 20.3MP Micro Four Thirds Live MOS sensor. The sensor has no optical low-pass filter, allowing it to capture fine details in images with high sharpness and resolution. With a 17.3 x 13 mm sensor size, the Four Thirds format provides a 2x crop factor compared to full-frame cameras.

The resolution of 20.3MP strikes a good balance between having enough pixels for detailed prints while not being excessive. This helps keep image noise lower, especially when shooting at higher ISO settings. The sensor enables a native ISO range of 200-25,600 that is expandable down to ISO 100. Overall, the sensor provides excellent dynamic range and color depth for both stills and video.

Another remarkable camera in Panasonic's lineup is the Panasonic LUMIX DC-FZ10002EB. This camera boasts a 20.1MP 1-inch sensor coupled with a powerful 16x optical zoom lens, making it versatile for various shooting scenarios. It also offers 4K video recording and features like Post Focus and Focus Stacking to enhance your photography experience. The LUMIX DC-FZ10002EB is ideal for enthusiasts who need a compact yet high-performance camera.

Autofocus

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 has an advanced autofocus system with 225 AF points that cover a large area of the image frame. It offers lightning-fast autofocus speeds and can continuously adjust focus at up to 9 fps when shooting with AF-C mode.

The GH5 has a wide range of focus modes to choose from including Face/Eye Detection AF, Tracking AF, 49-Area AF, Custom Multi AF, 1-Area AF, and Pinpoint AF. Face and eye detection works very well for portraits, automatically focusing on the eyes of human subjects. Tracking AF is great for moving subjects, staying locked on the target as it moves across the frame.

Overall, the GH5's autofocus performance is extremely fast and accurate in both photo and video modes. The depth-from-defocus technology provides quick autofocus acquisition even in low light conditions. Manual focus options like focus peaking and magnification are also available for precision control. Thanks to the fast sensor readout, there is minimal rolling shutter effect when shooting fast moving subjects.

Image Quality

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 delivers excellent image quality for an enthusiast-level mirrorless camera. It features a 20.3MP Micro Four Thirds sensor with no optical low-pass filter, allowing it to capture fine details with minimal moire effects.

In terms of noise performance, the GH5 performs very well through its native ISO range of 200-25,600. Images are clean with minimal noise up to ISO 3200. At ISO 6400, a slight luminance noise starts to appear but it's not overly distracting. ISO 12800 shows more visible noise but is still very usable. At the highest ISO of 25600, noise and loss of detail becomes more apparent but may still be acceptable depending on the situation.

Dynamic range is also impressive for a Micro Four Thirds sensor. The GH5 provides roughly 2 stops of additional dynamic range in the shadows compared to an average compact camera sensor. Highlights are easily recoverable when shooting in RAW. This gives you more latitude when shooting high contrast scenes.

The GH5 produces pleasing colors that are rich and vibrant yet still natural looking straight out of the camera. Skin tones are rendered beautifully. White balance is consistently accurate in different lighting. Overall, the image quality should satisfy both stills and video shooters.

Video Capabilities

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 is a top choice for videographers and filmmakers thanks to its impressive video recording capabilities. It can shoot cinema 4K video at up to 60fps and full HD video at up to 180fps.

Some key video features include:

• 4K video at 24/25/30p at 100Mbps
• 4K video at 60p at 150Mbps in 4:2:0 8-bit. There is a crop factor when shooting 4K 60p
• 1080p video at up to 180fps for beautiful slow motion
• Multiple high bitrate codec options including AVCHD, MP4 and MOV
• Ability to shoot in V-Log L gamma for maximum dynamic range and flexibility in post production
• 10-bit 4:2:2 internal recording with 4K 30p or 1080p 60p
• Clean HDMI output with 4:2:2 10-bit quality for external recording
• Dual SD card slots allow for relay recording, splitting video across cards, and backup
• Waveform and vectorscope monitors for professional monitoring of exposure and color

Overall, the GH5 provides an extensive range of video modes and frame rates to suit both filmmakers and videographers. The ability to record high bitrate 4K internally, and output even higher quality 10-bit 4K over HDMI, gives exceptional video quality straight out of the camera.

Connectivity

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 offers a good selection of physical and wireless connectivity options.

Ports: The camera has a USB 3.0 port which allows for fast transfer of photos and videos to a computer or external storage. It also has a full-size HDMI port for outputting video to external monitors or TVs. A 3.5mm microphone jack and 3.5mm headphone jack allow you to record better audio or monitor audio levels during recording. The GH5 has dual SD card slots which support UHS-II SD cards for fast write speeds when shooting lots of high resolution photos or video footage.

Wireless: Built-in WiFi allows you to connect the GH5 to smartphones or tablets running the Panasonic Image App. This allows for remote control, image transfer, or adding location data to photos. Bluetooth is also built-in for constant connection to smart devices. The camera supports wireless image syncing and backup to cloud services when connected to WiFi.

Battery Life

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 is powered by a DMW-BLF19 lithium-ion battery that is rated for approximately 410 shots per charge according to CIPA standards. This is a decent battery life that is on par with other mirrorless cameras in this class.

In real-world usage, the GH5's battery life will vary depending on usage. Shooting lots of 4K video will drain the battery faster, while still photography won't be as demanding. Power users may want to invest in a spare battery or two to get through a full day of shooting without needing to recharge.

The GH5 does offer helpful battery life extending features like Power Save LVF mode which turns off the EVF/LCD after a short period of inactivity. There is also a sleep mode to conserve battery when not in use.

Overall the DMW-BLF19 battery provides sufficient battery life for a day's worth of stills and video shooting. Carrying a spare battery is recommended for photographers who plan to shoot heavily over multiple days.

Pros

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 offers outstanding image quality and video capabilities in a rugged, weather-sealed body. Some of the standout positives of this camera include:

• 20.3MP Micro Four Thirds sensor with no optical low-pass filter provides exceptional sharpness and fine detail

• Dual I.S. 2 image stabilization system offers up to 5 stops of compensation for stills and video

• 4K video at 60fps, 4:2:2 10-bit internal recording with unlimited recording time

• 6K 30fps and 4K 60fps photo modes extract high-res stills from video

• 0.76x magnification OLED viewfinder with 3.68 million dots

• 3" free-angle touchscreen display with 1.62 million dots

• Fast autofocus with depth-from-defocus technology

• 12 fps continuous shooting with AF-C

• Rugged, splash/dust/freezeproof magnesium alloy body

• Extensive video controls and professional outputs

• Dual UHS-II SD card slots

• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity

The GH5 really shines for both stills and video shooters needing professional-level performance in a compact, durable body. The image quality, video capabilities, performance and handling are all impressive.

Cons

The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 has a few drawbacks worth considering.

• The camera body is relatively bulky and heavy compared to other mirrorless cameras. This may make it less ideal for travel or all-day shooting sessions.

• The autofocus system, while very capable, can struggle a bit in low light conditions. It's not quite as fast and accurate as some other mirrorless cameras in this price range.

• The GH5 uses the smaller Four Thirds sensor format rather than a larger APS-C or full frame sensor. This can result in some limitations for shallow depth of field and low light/high ISO performance compared to larger sensor cameras.

• The GH5's continuous shooting burst rate is decent but not blazing fast. Some other models offer faster burst shooting for action photography.

• Battery life is relatively short at around 400 shots per charge. You'll need multiple spare batteries for all-day shooting.

• The GH5 lacks any kind of in-body image stabilization (IBIS). You'll need to use stabilized lenses to benefit from image stabilization.

• The GH5's still image resolution tops out at 20MP, which is lower than some other high-end mirrorless options. This may limit the ability to crop images aggressively.

• There's no built-in flash, though the hot shoe can accommodate an external flash.

Overall the cons are relatively minor for this class of camera. The GH5 still provides excellent performance and features for both stills and video at this price point.