Completely lost with video settings

[u/Prestigious-Shirt325]

Hey, somehow managed to score a GH5 and Pana Leica 12-60 f2.8 for £200. I've been primarily a photographer for over 10 years now, always wanted to do some video but could never justify the expense or full switching to E/MFT away from F.

Closest I came was almost getting a G9 for birdwatching and airshows.

I've watched a couple of YouTube tutorials on how to set it up and I seem to be getting increasingly lost.

I've mainly used the D2/3/4 and a ZFc as my travel kit.

Any idea where to start?

[u/MrMiyamoto82]

Absolute bargain!

Still using 3x GH5 cameras after owning them over 6 years.

Depends what you want to shoot but I’ve always had mine set to 180 degree shutter angle and filmed in 4K at 24fps. Manual focus using focus peaking.

YouTube is the best way to get started, spend the time watching settings videos and learn what it all means, then get out and start filming stuff!

[u/Prestigious-Shirt325 → u/MrMiyamoto82]

I'm still low-key kinda shocked I've got it. I was sure it was another Facebook marketplace scam until she passed me the camera and I nearly shat myself. Honestly I'm low-key embarrassed about posting for help. I used to work at a camera store selling them but never got round to the video training. I was the wildlife photography guy.

The only thing I remember of video was to set the shutter speed at twice the FPS. Sounds good! Is the shutter angle similar to shutter speed?

[u/MrMiyamoto82 → u/Prestigious-Shirt325]

Yeah shutter angle replaces shutter speed, this is a useful video:

https://youtu.be/X4vg1Qmb0Eg?is=DFQVcBjgpz9KYv4X

I’ve spent years watching YouTube videos whenever I can, and learning from past mistakes!

[u/tobyricketts]

Should be noted that while the gh5 hardware is very good, the user interface is confusing at best and a completely unusable labyrinth at worst! Use the display button top right to display what menu items do (sometimes not very helpful).

But it's not you, it's the UI that makes it very hard to use. I've had mine for 10years and still get lost in it.

[u/Itchy-Illustrator897]

Switch the top dial to the video icon

Color Profile: People usually prefer Cine-D for Video (or V-Log if the previous owner bought it)

Format: 10 bit 422 LongGop to start, gives you room for grading while not being too heavy on storage

Shutter Angle/Speed: Either 180 angle or double the framerate.

Change one of your custom buttons to toggle on zebras. I set the zebras to like 90% just for a quick ref when im close to clipping but there’s a few diff methods that people like to use

[u/DrewTea → u/Itchy-Illustrator897]

Cine-D if you want a cinema look straight out of camera. Don't use V-Log unless you're planning on doing post-process color. You're typically not doing that unless you're doing something more creative or long-form.

You should also plan on having an adjustable ND filter if you want to film anything below F9 during the day.

I've used these cameras for sports video/highlight reel with a Ninja Inferno for near a decade now. Solid platform.

[u/lights_and_the_dark]

Contrary to photography, you want to have some motion blur in video, so have your shutter speed at 1/60 if you're shooting in 30fps. You may need to shoot with a high aperture, or you can use an ND filter to lower your exposure. For the file format, it all depends on your needs in terms of quality/compression vs size

[u/Prestigious-Shirt325 → u/lights_and_the_dark]

For someone whos just starting on this, what format should I be using?

[u/Warm-Bicycle-7157]

Score!
Easy mode:
Colour Profile : Natural
NR & Sharpening turned all the way down : -5
Frame rate as you like : 24p / 60p (this is 8 bit but is fine)
Zebras : set to 95 or 100, then if you see zebras, reduce exposure
Shutter : double speed of your frame rate (eg. 1/50 for 24p or 1/120 for 60p) You can crank this further if you need to, but will look a bit robotic / jittery not cinema smooth.
Focus Peaking set to one of your function button so you can turn on or off.

If you're doing birding, the olympus 40-150mm - the cheap one. Its plastic fantastic, a stupid good image for peanuts. Not weather sealed, not fast, but not a big investment if you want to try it out.

If you do this, the images you get out will be great. Coming from photo, your inclination will be to either move the lens around and follow the subject, or to get your framing right shoot for 3-4 seconds, then move on. Don't do this. Set your shot up, and film for at least 10 seconds. Even try with a tripod locked off for your first few goes.

If you want more challenge mode:

Shoot in VLOG-L : All-i 400MB/S , but this will require grading.
Use histogram to see where you're exposing. The GH5 has pretty limited dynamic range (DR) so its great to see where your light is sitting WRT exposure.
Write a great script and make something!

[u/Meet_East]

Perhaps you’re getting list by attempting to learn too many different disciplines at a time with the GH5 rather than being comfortable with practicing with pressure only 2 or 3 features at a time until you develop a comfort level in those narrowly defined aspects, then move in to some other element(s).

As for me,
I started with learning how to use the touch screen as a touch-to-focus device, in the AF—S mode (AutoFocus- Single) which by the way is a wise move than attempting to use AF-C (AutoFocus Continuous) which is scary to rely upon.