GH5(s) autoexposure

[Noa Put]

I always dial in my exposure manually on the camera's that I controll but I have a few weddings this year with outdoor ceremonies where I want to try out the autoexposure functionality of my gh5s as it will be partially unmanned during a ceremony. It's especially in partially cloudy conditions where the sun appears and disappears all the time that setting exposure is very difficult, untill now I always have set the exposure when the sun is shining and just let it underexpose when the sun goes into hiding behind a cloud, I can always correct underexpsoure to a certain extent but with overexposure it's often impossible to correct this.

I just have been testing in the garden by setting the camera to aperture priority because I don't want that to change and iso was set to auto, I also set the ev to -1 and the camera seemed to controll expsoure changes very well.

Does anyone else might have some more tips?

[Ron Evans]

I use my GH5 in the theatre unattended and operate just like I did the small Sony's for full stage shot. I set mine to shutter priority at 1/60 because I want the motion blur to be the same on all the cameras, auto gain with gain limit of 12db and set compensation to about -2 to -3. Like you I can correct underexposure a lot but do not want to over expose. I use the 12-60 Leica so frame the stage and then use touch focus to setup focus. Works well. I am shooting UHD60P by the way all the time on the GH5. Also use the app to control from my Samsung tablet so can start and stop or check touch focus from my camera position. I have tried full manual using the app too but unfortunately there is no smooth parameter change like a normal camcorder. Changing any of the parameter is a step, something that would be nice to get in a firmware update. The auto gain does however change smoothly so is the preferred parameter to be in auto for the smooth changing.

[Noa Put]

Thx for the reply, in my case the iso should not increase and it's important that the dof stays the same as I will be shooting between 40-150mm so changes in aperture would be very visible but I might decrease the ev to -2 as the exposure in my test looked spot on but as you said a minor underexposure is more easily corrected then over exposure.

I"m going to run some more tests before I use it next week, currently I set the camera to aperture mode using teh big dial on top, as this is normally for shooting stills, is there anything else that needs to e considered? Does the camera behave the same as when that dial is set to the video icon?

[Ron Evans]

I should add that because I am in the theatre and its a little dark with lens ramping the lens is wide open at about f3.7 and of course stays there so really the exposure is controlled by the auto gain.

[Ron Evans]

The dial on the top that is for still has no control over video. You need to set the video mode separately. I would create a custom preset for what you want and use the dial to select that when you want it. How to set the PASM settings when in Creative Video Mode. - DC-GH5, DC-G9 - Panasonic Canada.

[Ron Evans]

This is a good source for GH5 info LUMIX DC-GH5 Training Guide - Panasonic Canada

[Noa Put]

Thx Ron, I need to do my homework on teh GH5, so many possibilities yet I have covered only a small fraction of what it can do.

[Ron Evans]

You could try setting in full manual. Set iris and shutter for what you want, set gain to auto with a limit and use the exposure compensation to set how dark or light you want the scene. It should then maintain this with auto gain.

[Noa Put]

In my case that won't work as I plan to use auto exposure only on Sunny outdoor ceremonies meaning the iso will be at it's lowest all the time, it's the shutter I need to ramp up or down as the aperture stays locked.

[Ron Evans]

It should work the same if you fix iris and gain and let the camera control shutter speed. Set the exposure compensation to taste !!

EDIT: Having thought about it I really do not like shutter varying for video so you could use a fixed shutter and use an ND to force the camera to use some gain. The GH5 is very usable up to 12db so setting it so that it at most would use 6db and let the camera use auto gain as I described. You would get the DOF you want and not have varying shutter speed that will cause motion blur differences.

[Noa Put]

I"m planning on using a nd outside anyway so it could be that the iso will be raised at some point but I don't mind that the shutter raises either, I"m just shooting talking heads so there is very little movement in the frame, a changing shutter is something that you hardly notice in such a case. Going to perform some more tests the following days.

[Ron Evans]

Not sure if the shutter is variable in aperture priority but the gain I know is smooth changing so not noticeable when the exposure compensation is changed. Will be interested to find out if the changes are smooth because even with no movement an abrupt change would be noticeable.

[Enrique Orozco Robles]

Altought not a GH5 user, I have had very nice results with my G7 filming in shutter priority (60 for indoors, 125 outdoors) and ISO in auto mode ... I began to use this when filming with my gymbal with a 25 lens and also with focus continuous mode enabled ... the autofocus is a little slow, so I have to make slow movements with my gymbal letting the G7 make the aperture changes for itself ... with a little practice, very good results so far ..

my 2 cents... kind regards

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

Not sure if the shutter is variable in aperture priority

Did some more testing and it looks variable, at least I don't see any sudden jumps and exposure changes are smooth. I feel a bit more confident to try it at a wedding.

[Peter Riding]

I'm not familiar with the GH5 but perhaps there is a similar method to that which I use with my two Canon 5D Mark IV's and 5DS-R. for video.

I set the cams on full manual for shutter and for aperture. Then I set the ISO to auto, and crucially it is possible on these cams (not earlier ones like 5DII and III) to use exposure compensation via the auto-ISO up to plus or minus 3 stops in 1/3rd steps n.b. it doesn't affect the shutter or aperture.

Typically for indoor I set the shutter to 1/50th for obvious reasons and the aperture to f5.6 to have sufficient depth of field. The auto-ISO looks after itself. Often I set auto-ISO compensation to +1 over, depends on circumstances. The shutter and the aperture don't change so the clips don't alter midway.

However outside, like one I'm shooting later this week, 1/50th is often far too slow even with auto-ISO. I could use my variable neutral density filters but for wedding purposes I prefer to just bump up the shutter speed. But if sunlight is very bright one moment and subjects backlit or with specular highlights one moment then not the next its far trickier as you know.

Pete