Mirrorless Showdown
Panasonic has been at the forefront of the mirrorless camera revolution ever since the GH5 came out a few years ago. Now they’ve added an ‘S’ to their lineup, similar to what Sony is doing with the a7 category. Does the ‘S’ also stand for better low-light performance? Let’s find out!
Shameless Shoutout
We have to give a special thanks to the people at Borrow Lenses! Thank you for supporting The Slanted Lens and lending us this equipment for the review!
If you need to borrow equipment for your shoot, take a look at their site! Borrow Lenses has a plethora of great quality gear – and they ship all over the world!
GH5 vs GH5s
The differences
Internal Stabilization
Ok, so let’s get down to it. What’s the difference between these two cameras? The base is the same and you’ll find the differences in some of the smaller features. To start off, the GH5 has internal stabilization, which means that the sensor compensates for shake – so good for handheld work or vlogging.
The GH5s does not have this feature, so your footage will look choppy if you don’t have it on some type of stabilization device. Not a dealbreaker if you’re going to be using this camera in more professional circumstances. But this was a nice feature to have on the 5 for run-and-gun types.
V- log
Also, something to note: the GH5s comes with v-log already installed! You’ll have to dish out an additional $100 for this feature on the GH5 – something that I think should already come included in your sub $2,000 camera. The v-log is just like s-log on Sony or c-log on Canon; it increases the latitude of your images and gives your more dynamic range. A must for doing more filmic productions.
Perhaps because the GH5 isn’t geared towards that type of consumer and more structured towards that run-and-gun vlogging style that we’ve talked about, they didn’t see the need or want of this feature for the average buyer.
Low-Light Performance
In our tests, we found that the GH5s was about a stop to a stop and a half better in low-light. This might not be too big of an issue if most of what you’re filming is well-lit.
Better low-light performance means you’ll be able to capture more with less. Great for weddings or event video when you’re limited to the amount of artificial light you can bring in.
Now, is this the best low-light camera on the market? Absolutely not. The Sony a7sIII still has this one beat. But, it’s still a camera you should consider for the price.
Sensor Coverage
The GH5s sensor is a bit bigger than the output picture which means it’s oversampling. Theoretically, this will give you sharper images and less cropping. We found that the crop was noticeable but the image sharpness was only visible at +100%.
Which Camera to Buy?
Go with the GH5 if you’re doing more vlogging and run-and-gun style filming. The image stabilization is going to save you. The GH5s has a little more bells and whistles on it. There are a few things like better low-light, included v-log, 240fps, and less crop — but other than that, they’re both the same.
Don’t take our word for it, you should try out these cameras for yourself before you buy so you can make your own informed purchase. And you should get them from Borrow Lenses 😉
Gear Used
GH5: B&H / Amazon / Borrow Lenses
GH5s: B&H / Amazon / Borrow Lenses